Browsing by Author "Altan-Atalay, Ayse"

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Cognitive flexibility and depression: The moderator roles of humor styles
(Springer, 2024) Altan-Atalay, Ayse; Boluvat, Mustafa Fatih
Humor style, which involves both adaptive and maladaptive forms, refers to the ways people use humor in daily life. Maladaptive humor styles (self-defeating and aggressive) can be risk factors for various mental disorders, including depression and anxiety. In contrast, adaptive humor styles (affiliative and self-enhancing) are perceived as resilience factors and buffer the negative impact of other risk factors. Cognitive flexibility reflects a capacity to come up with alternative interpretations and resolutions to demanding situations while perceiving them as controllable. Although the connection of high cognitive flexibility with low depression levels has been consistently documented, its interaction with trait-like factors received limited attention. The current study aims to explore the moderator role of humor styles in the association of cognitive flexibility with depression. Data were gathered from 436 (320 women) participants aged 18 and 70 (M = 35.4, SD = 9.18) through scales assessing humor styles, cognitive flexibility, and depression. The results revealed that the interaction of affiliative humor style with cognitive flexibility was significantly linked to the individual differences in depression levels, highlighting that affiliative humor is functional if individuals have difficulty approaching problematic situations from different angles. However, a similar pattern was not observed for other humor styles.
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Looming Cognitive Style: How It Mediates the Association of Harm Avoidance with Trait and State Emotion Regulation Difficulties
(Springer int Publ Ag, 2023) Altan-Atalay, Ayse; Gokdag, Ceren; King, Naz; Tezel, Selin; Sozeri, Yaren
Understanding the factors that are associated with individual differences in emotion regulation (ER) difficulties, which is one of the common transdiagnostic factors underlying many psychological disorders, is crucial for understanding and treating psychological disorders. The aim of the two investigations was to examine the mediator role of looming cognitive style (LCS) in the relationship of harm avoidance (HA) with both state and trait forms of ER difficulty. A total of 362 adults participated in Study 1 and 236 adults in Study 2. They completed measurements of HA, LCS, and ER. In Study 2, participants were induced into an anxious mood state and filled out a scale measuring ER in that process. Path analysis demonstrated that social looming between HA and trait ER and physical looming between HA and state ER had mediator roles. Finally, the alternative models which included HA and ER as the outcomes yielded poor fit. The results revealed that LCS significantly mediated the relationship of HA with both trait and state forms of ER difficulty, providing support for the model that aimed to explain how LCS contributes to the development and maintenance of psychological disorders.
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The roles of intolerance of uncertainty and mindfulness in psychological distress: a two-wave longitudinal study
(Springer, 2024) Altan-Atalay, Ayse; Abdulcebbar, Amal; Kantarci, Lacin; Yilmaz, Erturk
Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a vulnerability factor that is believed to play a significant role in the development and maintenance of many affective disorders. Previous research indicated that the strength of the association between IU and psychological distress tend to change depending on certain trait characteristics. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine whether the interaction between IU and mindfulness will prospectively predict anxiety and depression measured five weeks later. The data were collected from 243 university students (129 female) between ages 18 and 29 at two different time points via questionnaires assessing intolerance of uncertainty, mindfulness, anxiety, and depression at time 1, followed by only measures of anxiety and depression at time 2. The results revealed that higher IU scores were associated with higher levels of depression for the participants who have low levels of mindfulness. A similar pattern was not observed for anxiety. The findings indicated that mindfulness prospectively predicts lower levels of depression only for the individuals who have lower levels of intolerance of uncertainty.
Tolerance of Uncontrollability and Psychopathology: the Role of Maladaptive Emotion Regulation
(Springer/plenum Publishers, 2024) Sener, Gamze; Altan-Atalay, Ayse
BackgroundTolerance of uncontrollability (TOU) can be defined as the ability to endure the discomfort resulting from uncontrollable events. In the absence of perceived control, people utilize strategies that regulate and enhance the inner perception of control. Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and thought suppression (TS) are some of the strategies that give illusory control in the short term. However, many studies revealed that these strategies increase distress in the long term. The present study aimed to explore the relationship between TOU, RNT, TS, depression, and anxiety. It was anticipated that TOU would be associated with both depression and anxiety, and RNT and TS would mediate these relationships.MethodA sample of 448 participants aged between 17 and 56 (80.4% females) completed measures assessing TOU, RNT, TS, depression, and anxiety.ResultsFindings showed that higher levels of TOU were associated with low levels of depression and anxiety, however when anxiety was controlled, the correlation with depression disappeared. While RNT was the mediator in both outcomes, TS only mediated the relationship between TOU and anxiety.ConclusionsThe current study emphasizes that TOU can be a concept specific to anxiety and highlights one of the mechanisms behind TOU and psychological distress.
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Understanding the Immediate and Longitudinal Effects of Emotion Reactivity and Deviation from the Balanced Time Perspective on Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety: Latent Growth Curve Modeling
(Springer int Publ Ag, 2024) Ranjbar, Hamed Abdollahpour; Altan-Atalay, Ayse; Eskin, Mehmet
Emotion reactivity (ER) captures the depth, sensitivity, and endurance of our emotional reactions, while deviation from a balanced time perspective (DBTP) characterizes our inflexibility and rigidity in adhering to specific time frames. This study investigates how ER and DBTP might predict the symptoms of depression and anxiety and DBTP's mediating role between ER and the symptoms of anxiety and depression in a three-wave longitudinal investigation. Data from 148 university students (82 males, 55.4%) with the age range of 18-29 (Mage = 19.92, SDage = 1.36) were collected at three time intervals using Emotion Reactivity Scale, Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, Future Negative subscale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9. The study utilized latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) within a structural equation modeling framework. Results showed that greater DBTP at baseline predicted increased anxiety and depression symptoms and longitudinally reduced anxiety symptoms. The mediation model clarified that, initially, DBTP mediated the relationship between ER and anxiety/depression symptoms; however, over time, DBTP functioned as a suppressor of anxiety symptoms. This study establishes DBTP's predictive and dynamic significance for anxiety and depression, unveiling its mediating role in the interplay with emotional reactivity. These findings can inform tailored therapies addressing ER and temporal biases in this population.
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Vertical individualism orientations and mental health stigma: the mediating role of belief in free will
(Springer, 2023) Tatar, Burcu H.; Ozkok, Hazal; Altan-Atalay, Ayse; Turan, Bulent
Even though the stigma related to mental health is widespread, stigma related to suicide and substance use are less researched areas. This study investigates whether belief in free will mediates the association between vertical individualism and stigma against those who use substances or attempt suicide. Turkish adult participants (n = 200, M-age = 29.8, SD = 11.9) completed self-report measures of cultural orientation, belief in free will, substance use stigma, and suicide stigma. Results revealed that individuals' belief in free will mediates the association of vertical individualism with both suicide and substance use stigma. This suggests that free will belief may be one of the ways in which cultural orientations are linked to stigma. These results can contribute to the design of sophisticated stigma reduction interventions that take into account belief in free will and cultural orientation.