Perspective on Thoughts and Feelings as a Predictor of Psychological Well-being in Daily Life, in a Community Sample

Decentering in Daily Life: Underlying Mechanisms and Impact on Well-Being

This project examines the psychological construct of decentering - a mindfulness-related construct marked by an observer perspective on one's ongoing mental processes. Specifically, this project seeks to explore the extent to which decentering modulates the relationship between people's affective states and their momentary mental health and well-being, and to test the psychological processes by which decentering might exert these effects. This study includes a baseline assessment followed by a 7-day study completed from home where participants respond to brief surveys about their current experiences six times per day (i.e., an Ecological Momentary Assessment [EMA] design).

The investigators hypothesize that decentering moderates the association of extreme affect with related symptoms (i.e., elevated negative affect with depression and anxiety; elevated positive affect with mania, narcissism, and histrionic traits) and well-being, such that the association is attenuated at high levels of decentering. This will be examined using the EMA data, analyzing between-person levels (i.e., trait) as well as momentary within-person processes (i.e., concurrent and prospective states).

Further, the investigators predict that broadened attentional focus and improved self-regulation are mechanisms that contribute to the beneficial effects of decentering in daily life. This hypothesis will be examined in two ways:

1. as individual differences, wherein greater self-regulatory abilities (e.g., higher heart rate variability) and less attentional biases towards emotional stimuli mediate the association between trait decentering and subsequent daily well-being/symptoms, and
2. as within-person momentary levels, wherein broader attentional processes and greater self-regulation in daily life mediate the concurrent and prospective association between momentary decentering and well-being/symptoms.

Note that the study uses a multimodal assessment of each of the proposed processes. For attentional processes, a variety of parameters extracted from an emotional eye tracking paradigm will be examined. For self-regulatory abilities, assessments will include self-report, physiological (heart rate variability), and behavioral ("go / no-go" task) measures of such abilities.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Health; Mindfulness

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 380

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Buffalo, New York, United States, 14260
      • University at Buffalo, Department of psychology

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The population from which the sample will be recruited will be residents of the greater Buffalo, NY metropolitan area.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 18-65, fluency in English

Exclusion Criteria:

• current cognitive impairments (i.e., intellectual disability, dementia, current psychotic symptoms) that preclude giving informed consent and accurately answering study questions

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Primary sample; Community sample of adults (18-65) from the greater Buffalo, NY region, oversampling people who are seeking mental health treatment.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Momentary psychological distress	2 items (developed new for this study) assessing the presence and impact of idiographic symptoms identified at baseline, and 4 items assessing dysphoria adapted from the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS)	6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment
Momentary eudaimonic well-being	2 items assessing eudaimonic well-being adapted from Breines et al. (2008) and Lambert et al. (2013)	6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment
Momentary hedonic well-being (state positive and negative affect)	8 items assessing hedonic well-being (positive and negative affect), taken from the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS).	6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment
State Decentering	4 items assessing current decentering, adapted from Fresco et al. (2007), Gillanders et al. (2014), and Shoham et al. (2017)	6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment
Trait Decentering: Experiences Questionnaire	Experiences Questionnaire is a trait measure of decentering, which assesses the Observer Perspective aspect of decentering. From Fresco et al., (2007)	Baseline session only
Trait decentering: Valence free decentering measure	This is an in-development measure of decentering that measures the construct of decentering without explicitly referring to negative thoughts and feelings.	Baseline session only
Trait decentering: Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire	The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire is a decentering measure that assesses the Reduced Struggle with Inner Experiences aspect of decentering. From Gillanders et al., (2014).	Baseline session only
Trait decentering: Toronto Mindfulness Scale-Decentering Subscale	The Toronto Mindfulness Scale-Decentering subscale is a decentering measure that assesses the Observer Perspective aspect of decentering. From Davis, Lau, & Cairns (2009).	Baseline session only

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-reported momentary self-regulation	3 questions assessing current perceived willpower & mental exhaustion, adapted from Davisson (2013) and Milyavskaya & Inzlicht (2017).	6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment
Self-reported momentary attentional focus	4 attentional emotion regulation items (distraction, positive rumination, negative rumination, and reappraisal) adapted from Brans et al. (2013), Feldman et al. (2008), and Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow (1991)	6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment
Baseline self-regulation: Go/no-go task	Go/no-go task asks people to respond to a large number of "go" trials (80%) and a smaller number of "no go" trials. The ability to inhibit the dominant "go" response is seen as an operative measure of self-regulatory abilities, consequently the number of "no go" signals responded to is one measure of self-regulatory abilities.	Baseline session only
Baseline self-regulation: Resting heart rate variability	Assessed with a Polar V800 athletic watch during a 5-minute vanilla baseline and a 5-minute paced breathing task.	Baseline session only
Baseline self-regulation: Self-Control Scale (short form)	A self-report measure of people's perceived self-control abilities and outcomes, developed by Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone (2004).	Baseline session only
Baseline attentional breadth: Emotional eye-tracking paradigm	Participants will view a series of emotionally expressive versus neutral faces, and the fixation time and number of fixations towards emotionally evocative (angry, sad, happy) faces will serve as indicators of attentional bias	Baseline session only
Baseline attentional breadth: Thought Control Questionnaire	Self-report measure corresponding to various emotion regulation strategies (distraction and reappriasal)	Baseline session only
Baseline attentional breadth: Responses to Positive Affect Scale	Self-report measure corresponding to various emotion regulation strategies (positive rumination)	Baseline session only
Baseline attentional breadth: Ruminative Responses Scale	Self-report measure corresponding to various emotion regulation strategies (negative rumination)	Baseline session only

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: State University of New York at Buffalo
• Collaborators: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kristin Gainey, Ph.D., University at Buffalo; Principal Investigator: Kenneth G DeMarree, Ph.D., University at Buffalo

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Watson D, Clark LA, Tellegen A. Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1988 Jun;54(6):1063-70. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.54.6.1063.
• Gillanders DT, Bolderston H, Bond FW, Dempster M, Flaxman PE, Campbell L, Kerr S, Tansey L, Noel P, Ferenbach C, Masley S, Roach L, Lloyd J, May L, Clarke S, Remington B. The development and initial validation of the cognitive fusion questionnaire. Behav Ther. 2014 Jan;45(1):83-101. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2013.09.001. Epub 2013 Sep 18.
• Tangney JP, Baumeister RF, Boone AL. High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. J Pers. 2004 Apr;72(2):271-324. doi: 10.1111/j.0022-3506.2004.00263.x.
• Watson D, O'Hara MW, Simms LJ, Kotov R, Chmielewski M, McDade-Montez EA, Gamez W, Stuart S. Development and validation of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS). Psychol Assess. 2007 Sep;19(3):253-68. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.19.3.253.
• Gross JJ, John OP. Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003 Aug;85(2):348-62. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348.
• Fresco DM, Moore MT, van Dulmen MH, Segal ZV, Ma SH, Teasdale JD, Williams JM. Initial psychometric properties of the experiences questionnaire: validation of a self-report measure of decentering. Behav Ther. 2007 Sep;38(3):234-46. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2006.08.003. Epub 2007 Apr 24.
• Naragon-Gainey K, DeMarree KG. Structure and validity of measures of decentering and defusion. Psychol Assess. 2017 Jul;29(7):935-954. doi: 10.1037/pas0000405. Epub 2016 Oct 31.
• Bernstein A, Hadash Y, Lichtash Y, Tanay G, Shepherd K, Fresco DM. Decentering and Related Constructs: A Critical Review and Metacognitive Processes Model. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2015 Sep;10(5):599-617. doi: 10.1177/1745691615594577.
• Shoham A, Goldstein P, Oren R, Spivak D, Bernstein A. Decentering in the process of cultivating mindfulness: An experience-sampling study in time and context. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2017 Feb;85(2):123-134. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000154.
• Naragon-Gainey K, DeMarree KG. Decentering attentuates the associations of negative affect and positive affect with psychopathology. Clinical Psychological Science. Epub 2017 Aug 11.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 6, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 7, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): December 17, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 25, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 7, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): November 8, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 30, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 29, 2019
• Last Verified: July 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Affect; Emotion Regulation; Well-being; Ecological Momentary Assessment; Self-control; Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia; Attentional bias; Decentering; Affective disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1R21AT009470-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); R21AT009470 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: All IPD that underlie results in a publication will be shared.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Materials will be made available 6 months after publication of the primary outcomes.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data and study materials relevant to any publication will be posted within 6 months of publication on the open science framework, which will be accessible by any interested party.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No