*Presentations authored/co-authored by student mentees.

Depression and Anxiety (Internalizing) Disorders

*Griesmer, A., Ward, J., & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Reactivity of alpha-band EEG asymmetry differentiates those with comorbid anxiety and depression from those with depression alone. Poster to be presented at the 50th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY.

• Introduction. Anxiety and depression are highly comorbid disorders, with their comorbidity conferring greater impairment than either disorder alone (Thibodeau, Jorgensen, & Kim, 2006). Depression is marked by persistent feelings of sadness and anhedonia and an increased sensitivity to interpersonal rejection, while anxiety is characterized by persistent, excessive, and unrealistic worry about everyday things. Given the high rates of comorbidity between depression and anxiety, and the increased functional impairment associated when both co-occur, it is important to identify biomarkers of mechanism for their comorbidity. One biomarker may be reflected in differential patterns of neural activity among those with anxiety and depression to disorder-specific stimuli (Coan & Allen, 2004). Guided by the tri-partite model, we examined whether electroencephalography (EEG) alpha band asymmetry at rest and in response to positive and negative stimuli (reactivity) differentiate those with comorbid anxiety and depression disorder from those with “pure” depression and healthy controls (Clark & Watson, 1991).
• Methods. 446 adults (67% female, Mage = 25.93, SD= 5) were identified as having lifetime histories of comorbid depression and anxiety (N=204), depression (N=81), or free of lifetime psychiatric disorders (n=161). EEG was collected during a 6-minute resting period, and in response to negative emotional probes that included a sad film clip (The Champ), speech-preparation portion of the Trier Stress Test (TSST), and losing trials on a gambling task. Positive emotional probes included a happy film clip (Something about Mary) and the winning trials on a gambling task. Asymmetry scores calculated using data fronto-medially placed electrodes (F3 & F4). Reactivity reflects the difference between task and baseline asymmetry scores.
• Results. While greater left-frontal asymmetry at baseline differentiated those with comorbid depression and anxiety histories from controls (b = 1.70, p < .05, OR = 5.48), neither baseline nor reactivity differentiated those with comorbid from pure depressive disorders. In contrast, those with comorbid anxiety and depression evidenced greater left-frontal asymmetry in response to positive probes relative to their “purely” depressed peers (b=0.36, OR=1.43, p<.05).
• Conclusion. Anxiety and depressive comorbidity may reduce positive (but not negative) information processing, that in turn may account for the greater functional impairment associated with this comorbid state. Clinical implications suggest that the utilization of alpha band EEG asymmetry can aid in identifying individuals with comorbid anxiety and depression due to an increase in left-frontal asymmetry when exposed to positive stimuli.

*Griesmer, A., Ward, J., Bodenbender, B., Najjar, K., Golias, L., Ponomariova, I. & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Social anxiety moderates the effects of depression on distress in response to social exclusion. Poster presented at the 50th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY.

• Introduction. Sensitivity to social exclusion is commonly associated with both depressive and social anxiety disorders. Depression is marked by persistent feelings of sadness and anhedonia and an increased sensitivity to interpersonal rejection. In a similar vein, social anxiety is linked to increased distress in response to perceived exclusion from social groups. While depression and social anxiety frequently co-occur, there remains a surprising dearth in the literature on whether such co-occurrence increases the intensity of dysphoria after social exclusion. Clarifying whether co-occurring social anxiety and depression confer an increased lability to experience heightened emotional reactivity in response to social exclusion is important as such experience may reinforce social avoidance that is known to prolong the course of both disorders. The goal of the present study was to explore whether the co-occurrence of elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms predicts incremental emotional reactivity to social exclusion than elevated symptoms in either disorders.
• Methods. Participants were 105 adults and undergraduate students (68% female, Mage 23.39, SD= 7.91) who completed measures of depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression, CES-D), and social anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, SIAS) and participated in an experimental protocol that involved social exclusion via the Cyberball task. The CB task is a virtual ball-toss game during which participants play with two computer-generated confederates who progressively exclude the participant from the game. This task has been shown to robustly induce negative mood states via social exclusion and rejection. Change in negative affect (i.e., composite of sad, angry, scared ratings) was ascertained by the different scores from ratings before and after the CB task. Anxiety was examined as a moderator of the relationship between depression and change in NA difference scores.
• Results. While the main effects of anxiety or depression symptoms did not predict change in NA, their interaction revealed incremental predictive value in predicting NA change, (β = .27, p < .01). Specifically, elevated depression levels predicted robust increase in NA only in the presence of high levels of social anxiety. Conversely, depression symptoms were linked to lower NA reactivity at low levels of social anxiety. Interestingly, high levels of social anxiety were linked to low levels of NA reactivity in the presence of low depression symptoms.  
• Conclusion. These findings may suggest that there may be unique patterns of association between interpersonal rejection and depression and anxiety disorders. Specifically, in the absence of social anxiety symptoms, depression may be linked to reduced emotional reactivity to interpersonal rejection. This would be consistent with the Emotion Context Insensitivity theory of depression. Conversely, some degree of depressed mood may be needed to potentiate distress experienced by those with elevated social anxiety symptoms. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

*Mann, M., Ward, J., & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Use of a novel IAT of mood repair in predicting depression outcomes. Poster presented at the 50th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY. 

• Introduction. Mood repair refers to self-regulatory responses that are used to attenuate sadness and dysphoria. Adaptive mood repair reduce distress in the short- and long-term, while maladaptive mood repair exacerbates it. While maladaptive mood repair robustly predicts depression outcomes, a growing literature shows mixed findings for adaptive mood repair’s role in the risk for depression symptoms and depressive disorders. These mixed findings may partly reflect that effects of adaptive mood repair are more influenced by contextual factors than are the effects of maladaptive responses, or that their effects are overshadowed by the use of maladaptive mood repair responses. However, much of the work on mood repair has relied on examining the effects of adaptive responses independent of maladaptive repertoires, as well as the use of self-report measures that are known to be affected by response bias and limited self-knowledge. This reliance consequently decreases the accuracy with which the constructs are measures and limits the utility of the mood repair for prevention and treatment purposes. This study tested the incremental validity of measuring adaptive and maladaptive mood repair via an implicit association test (IAT), which is known to overcome noted limitations of self-report measures. We hypothesized that (1) IAT indices of adaptive and maladaptive mood repair would predict depression symptoms incremental to their self-report counterparts, and (2) the effects of adaptive mood repair on depression symptoms would be moderated by maladaptive mood repair across IAT and self-report measures.
• Methods. Undergraduate students (N= 75, 52% female, Mage = 19.28, SD = 2.93) completed self-report measures of adaptive and maladaptive mood repair (Feelings and Me) and depression symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), as well as a novel mood repair IAT. The maladaptive IAT index reflects faster categorization of maladaptive response to the “Upset”-“Me” versus “Calm”-“Me” pairing. Conversely, the adaptive IAT index reflects faster categorization of adaptive responses to “Upset” – “Me” versus “Calm” – “Me” pairings. The combined effects of adaptive and maladaptive mood repair were examined via moderation analyses.
• Results. When examined independently, results showed that adaptive mood repair repertoires predicted lower depression levels, (b = -.30, p = .001), while maladaptive mood repair increased depression severity. Individual IAT indices were unrelated to depression symptoms, (b = .52, p < .001). In contrast, the effects of adaptive mood repair were moderated by maladaptive mood repair only on the IAT indices, (b = 18.09, p = .05). IAT-based adaptive mood repair predicted lower depression symptoms only in the presence of low maladaptive mood repair tendencies, and elevated depression symptoms in the presence of high mood repair tendencies.
• Conclusion. These findings support the validity of the novel mood repair IAT, and suggest that maladaptive mood repair may enervate adaptive mood repair. Clinical implications are discussed.

*Ward, J., Griesmer, A., Bodenbender, B., Najjar, K., Golias, L., Ponomariova, I. & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Depression histories differentially predict spontaneous emotion regulation and negative affect to social exclusions. Poster presented at the 50th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY.

• Introduction. Depression, marked by persistent feelings of sadness and anhedonia, impacts how people feel, think, and behave. Depressed individuals may be particularly susceptible to interpersonal rejection, which reinforces their negative self-schemas. Evidence from experimental studies suggest that symptomatic participants reported greater feelings of non-acceptance and personal rejection during interpersonal exclusionary tasks (Nezlek et al., 1997). It remains unclear whether the distress and dejection experienced by depressed persons after interpersonal exclusion reflects the activation of negative self-schemas or the use of ineffective emotion regulation (ER), which is closely tied to depression risk. ER refers to automatic and volitional responses aimed at modifying emotions. Literature points to the use of suppression as a maladaptive response that exacerbates distress and reappraisal as an adaptive response that attenuates distress. Much of this work has relied on trait measures of ER and analog samples of symptomatic individuals. It remains unclear whether in the moment use of ineffective ER, in the form of the use of suppression or reappraisal (state ER), can account for depressed individuals’ distress in response to interpersonal rejection. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of state suppression and reappraisal between depressive status and change in distress following an exclusion task among depressed, remitted, and healthy individuals.
• Methods. Participants were 128 adults and undergraduates (62.8% female, Mage = 24.74, SD = 9.98) who completed a clinical interview (SCID-I) and interpersonal rejection task, Cyberball (CB). Participants completed negative affect (NA) ratings (sad, angry, scared) that were used to index their distress before and after the CB task. State ER was measured following the CB task, but before post-task affect ratings. Thirteen participants were in the midst of a depressive episode (depressed), n = 45 had lifetime histories of depression (remitted), and n = 71 were free of lifetime histories of depressive disorders (controls).
• Results. Relative to controls, remitted participants evidenced a trend for greater distress, ΔNA b = 1.08, p= .053, and a lower use of reappraisal less during the exclusionary task, (b =-1.07, p < .05).
• Conclusion. The results of this study suggest that ineffective ER may account for the increased distress experienced by depressed individuals in response to interpersonal exclusion. These findings have clinical implications as they suggest that ineffective ER may be a robust target of treatment for depression.

Borderline Personality Disorder

*Richmond, J., Golias, E., Ponomariova, I., Najjar, K., Bodenbender, B. & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Emotion regulation strategies mediate the effects of borderline personality disorder negative and positive affect in daily life. Poster presented at the 50^th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York City, NY.

• Introduction. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is marked by heightened emotional intensity, impulsivity, and emotion regulation (ER) difficulties. Individuals with BPD are more likely to utilize maladaptive emotion regulation strategies that exacerbate distress than individuals without BPD symptoms (Salsmann & Linehan, 2012). Additionally, individuals with BPD experience heightened negative affect (Trull, 2001). However, it is unknown whether there is a direct link between the use of adaptive and maladaptive ER strategies and increased negative affect in individuals with BPD. This study aimed to determine whether the dispositional use of maladaptive and adaptive ER strategies aimed at reducing distress (termed mood repair) mediated the effects of BPD on momentary positive and negative affect in participants’ daily lives.
• Methods. One hundred seventeen community dwelling adults and university student (62.4% female, Mage = 25.01, SD = 10.17) completed a measure of BPD (Personality Assessment Inventory- Borderline Subscale), a measure of dispositional adaptive and maladaptive mood repair (Feelings and Me) in a single sitting, and a 7-day ecological momentary assessment protocol during which momentary positive affect (happy, excited, alert, strong) and negative affect (sad, nervous, upset, angry, frustrated, stressed) were ascertained five times during participants daily lives. Participants completed on average 81% of possible EMA prompts. 
• Results. BPD symptomology was a significant predictor of maladaptive mood repair (b =.37, t = 7.11, p .001) and adaptive mood repair repertoires (b = -.29, t = -4.75, p < .001). Maladaptive mood repair significantly predicted negative affect in daily life (b =.17, t = 2.27, p = .02), but not positive affect. Conversely, the dispositional use of adaptive mood repair strategies significantly predicted momentary positive affect (b = .18, t = 7.63, p < .001), but not negative affect. Mediation analyses revealed that BPD symptoms predicted negative affect via maladaptive mood repair (indirect effect = .06, 95% CI .01-.12), and positive affect via adaptive mood repair (indirect effect = -.05, 95% CI -.03 - -.08).
• Conclusion. Previous research has shown that individuals with BPD use less adaptive ER strategies and experience increased negative affect. However, the literature surrounding the relationship between adaptive and maladaptive ER strategies and positive and negative affect is largely unexplored. The results of this study suggest that the link between BPD and affect may be explained by mood repair, and that adaptive and maladaptive mood repair responses differentially relate between affective states. The implications of these findings is that while adaptive ER strategies are common targets of clinical intervention, they may not be an effective mechanism for reducing distress. Given the relative magnitude of associations between mood repair and momentary affect, clinicians may consider prioritizing the reduction of maladaptive responses as treatment targets.

*Scamaldo, K., Richmond, J., & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Emotion reactivity to interpersonal exclusion among those with BPD symptoms: The roles of Rejection Sensitivity and state Emotional Regulation. Poster presented at the 50th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY.

• Introduction. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by intense emotional responses to interpersonal situations. Recent work points to rejection sensitivity (RS), or the tendency to anticipate, identify, and overreact to interpersonal rejection, as a mechanism by which those with BPD symptoms experience heightened dysphoria to perceived interpersonal slights. While BPD and RS are both implicated in experiencing intense negative affect after interpersonal rejection, it remains unclear whether these links are due to these core personality features, or the cascade of ineffective emotion regulation (ER) responses that are triggered by the rejection event. Maladaptive ER strategies such as dwelling on feeling upset (rumination), attempting not to experience ensuing emotions (suppression), and ineffective adaptive ER use such as failing to reframe the negative event (reappraisal), or disallowing oneself to experience the emotion (acceptance) may explain the heightened affective response among those with BPD symptoms and rejection sensitivity. In this study, we test a model in which the relationship between BPD symptoms and distress from interpersonal rejection is mediated by RS and the reliance on ineffective ER responses.
• Methods. Participants were 123 community adults and undergraduate students (64% female, Mage 24.49, SD= 9.63) who completed measures of BPD (Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline subscale), rejection sensitivity (Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire), and participated in an experimental protocol that involved social exclusion via the Cyberball task. The Cyberball task is a virtual ball-toss game during which participants play with two computer-generated confederates who progressively exclude the participant from the game. This task has been shown to robustly induce negative mood states via social exclusion. Change in negative affect (i.e., composite of sad, angry, scared ratings) was ascertained by the differences in scores from ratings before and after the Cyberball task. State ER responses were measured via single items reflecting acceptance, suppression, reappraisal, and rumination, and were collected prior to participants’ post-Cyberball affect ratings. 
• Results. Consistent with expectations, BPD was significantly related to RS (r = .59, p < .001). Also as expected, both BPD symptoms and RS were related to state rumination (rs = .22-.27, p < .05), and robustly predicted increased NA during the Cyberball task (bs = .05 - .14, ps < .01). Path analyses that tested the proposed mediation model revealed that RS mediated the effects BPD on state rumination (indirect effect = .13, p < .05). However, of the predictors and proposed ER mechanisms, only state reappraisal significantly predicted change in NA in the full model (b = -.21, p < .05).
• Conclusion. Our findings suggest that while rejection sensitivity may be a key process by which BPD is linked to heightened distress in response to interpersonal rejection, the role of ER in this pathway in not entirely clear. The mixed findings on the effects of state ER in this study may, in part, be due to our use of single items to measure each ER response, which may have decreased the validity of each construct. Further, our use of an analog sample may have affected our results.

*Ward, J., Richmond, J., Najjar, K., Golias, L., Bodenbender, B., Ponomariova, I. & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Emotion regulation deficits differentially mediate the effects of childhood abuse on borderline symptoms as a function of abuse and source type. Poster presented at the 50^th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY.

• Introduction. It is understood that abuse during childhood is a robust risk factor for developing borderline personality disorder (BPD) in adulthood. While contemporary models place psychological abuse as a key liability for developing BPD, much of the empirical literature on BPD risk has focused on physical and sexual childhood trauma. The differential effects of the abuse source (maternal vs. paternal) and the mechanisms by which these effects confer BPD risk remain largely unknown. Gross’ (1998) process model of emotion regulation (ER) may provide a useful framework for understanding the intervening mechanism between childhood abuse and BPD risk. Through the lens of this model, emotion dysregulation that hallmarks BPD may be understood as a failure to regulate emotions before they manifest via antecedent focused responses, and to attenuate their intensity after their occurrence through response focused strategies. Antecedent focused responses include negative explanatory styles (NES), or the tendencies to explain the cause of negative events as internal, stable, and persistent, while response focused strategies refer to the suppression of affect (suppression) or failure to cognitively reappraise the meaning of the emotion (reappraisal). The present study aimed to test the differential effects of abuse type and abuse sources in the development of ER deficits in BPD symptoms via the process model of emotion regulation. Specifically, we test the intervening role of antecedent focused NES and response focused ER between childhood histories of psychological and physical abuse and BPD symptoms in adulthood, as a function of abuse type and source.
• Methods. Participants were 468 undergraduate students who completed measures of emotion regulation (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire), depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale), borderline personality disorder (McLean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder), and explanatory style (Cognitive Style Questionnaire) in a single session. Participants were primarily females (65.1%; M_AGE = 20.17, SD = 4.71).
• Results. Significant associations emerged between BPD symptoms and abuse across types and sources (maternal psychological abuse, (r = .38, physical abuse, r = .31, ps< .001); paternal psychological abuse, (r = .37, physical abuse, (r = .30, ps < .001). Of the types and sources of abuse, only paternal psychological abuse emerged as a significant predictor of NES, (b = .01, p = .05), with maternal psychological showing trend effects, (b = .01, p = .10). Regardless of abuse type or source, NES significantly predicted reappraisal, (b = -2, p > .001), which, in turn, significantly predicted BPD symptoms, (b = -06, p = .01). While NES predicted suppression at trend levels, and suppression was unrelated to BPD symptoms. Mediation analyses revealed that paternal psychological abuse predicted BPD symptoms via reduced reappraisal (indirect effect b = .01, 95% CI .00 – .02).
• Conclusion. These findings suggest that while abuse in general is associated with BPD symptoms, its detrimental effects on ER may be specific to certain forms and sources of abuse. Clinical implications are discussed.

Cultural Differences in Emotion Regulation and Internalizing Disorders

*Khalid, S., Najjar, K., Gaynier, L., Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Acculturation moderates the effects of suppression on depression among Arabs. Poster presented at the 50th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY.

• Introduction. Emotion regulation (ER) deficits in the form of the frequent use of maladaptive ER responses hold a central place in the risk of psychological disorders. Suppression is a maladaptive ER response that is linked to the risk for internalizing disorders. Suppression is the act of inhibiting overt emotional responses that has been found by numerous studies in European samples to predict adverse psychological and social consequences (Arens et al., 2012). While maladaptive for those from Western cultures, there is emerging evidence that points to suppression as being adaptive in for non-Western cultures. For instance, Asian women who held traditional values suppressed their emotions more frequently, but did not experience emotional distress or impaired social functioning as compared to their Westernized peers (Butler, Lee, & Gross, 2004). The innocuous effects of emotional suppression may extend to Arab populations whose values encourage interdependence and social unity. As Arabs are a growing cultural group in the US who are at an elevated risk for depressive disorders, clarifying cultural differences in the outcomes of emotional suppression would do much to improve early detection and treatment efforts among those of this cultural background. The purpose of this study was to examine whether emotional suppression is a risk factor for internalizing problems among Arabs. We hypothesized that, as compared to their Western peers, individuals of Arab backgrounds would: (1) report greater levels of emotion suppression, (2) be at a lower risk for elevated depression symptoms from the use of emotional suppression. Further, we hypothesized that (3) these cultural differences would moderate by the Arab sample’s level of acculturation.
• Methods. 140 participants (Mage = 25.83, SD= 9.01; n= 41 Arabs) were recruited from Arab-affiliated organizations throughout the US and online resources. Participants anonymously completed online measures of Arab identity, emotion regulation, and depression symptoms.
• Results. Contrary to expectation, those of Western and Arab backgrounds did not differ in heir levels of emotional suppression. Further, the effects of suppression were similar in both groups. That is, greater use of emotional suppression predicted elevated depression symptoms (β= .33, p < .05). However, moderation analyses revealed that the effects of suppression on depression symptoms among Arabs were influenced by their degree of acculturation: suppression was unrelated to depression symptoms for those who subscribed to traditional values. Conversely, a kin to their Western counterparts, suppression robustly predicted elevated depression symptoms among Arabs with nontraditional values.  
• Conclusion. These findings underscore the need to consider context when determining the adaptive or maladaptive value of a given ER response, and the need to consider culture as one important context. Further, these findings highlight the need to examine acculturation among non-Western clients when determining risk factors and treatment targets for depression.

*Najjar, K., Khalid, S., Gaynier, L., & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Mood repair strategies and depression risk across individuals of Arab and non-Arab descent. Poster presented at the 50th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY.

• Introduction. Emotion regulation (ER) includes the processes that alter the intensity or duration of an emotion. ER responses are broadly categorized as maladaptive or adaptive, with adaptive ER alleviating distress and maladaptive ER intensifying it. ER responses that lessen sadness are referred to as mood repair, and range across the behavior, cognitive, and social domains. While maladaptive mood repair robustly predicts risk for depression outcomes in US samples, findings on adaptive mood repair are mixed. This may be because the effects of adaptive mood repair appear to be contextual. One such context may be cultural mores, which guide emotional appraisal and response processes. For example, Asians experience significantly less negative consequences from the use of emotional suppression than do European Americans. Despite preliminary studies, the role of culture as a context for mood repair outcomes is virtually unexamined, particularly among the Arab population. Clarifying cultural differences in the use and consequences of mood repair among Arabs is important as they are a growing demographic in the US who are known to be at an elevated risk for depression. We examined whether 1) the use of mood repair strategies differs between those of Arab and non-Arab descent, 2) cultural differences in mood repair strategies explain disparities in depression risk across Arab and non-Arab participants, and 3) having an Arab identity accounts for cultural differences in the relationship between mood repair and depression.
• Methods. Arab (n=35) and non-Arab (n=31) participants (83% female, M_age = 27.89, SD = 9.14) were recruited from Arab-affiliated organizations throughout the US and online resources. Participants anonymously completed online measures of Arab identity (Arab Identity Scale), mood repair strategies (Feelings and Me), and depression symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale). 
• Results. Groups did not differ in their levels of depression, nor in their maladaptive mood repair repertoires, with exception of adaptive cognitive mood repair being higher for Arabs relative to non-Arabs, F(1, 63) = 4.28, p < .05. Consistent with expectation, maladaptive mood repair significantly predicted depression symptoms (βs = .38-.63, ps < .001), while adaptive mood repair was not related to depression. Contrary to expectation, the effects of adaptive and maladaptive responses on depression did not differ as a function of culture. However, these null findings were explained by acculturation levels among Arab Americans. Specifically, the use of adaptive interpersonal and cognitive mood repair responses were associated with reduced depression symptoms only among Arabs who subscribed to Western values. In contrast, these responses predicted elevated depression symptoms among Arabs with traditional values.  
• Conclusion. These findings suggest that while maladaptive mood repair strategies are robust predictors of depression across cultural contexts, the effects of adaptive responses are more nuanced. The inverse relationship between adaptive social mood repair responses and depression for Arabs holding traditional values may suggest that disclosing feelings of distress is not typically done until they become severe and overwhelming. Clinical implications are discussed.

*Najjar, K., Khalid, S., Gaynier, L. & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). Explanatory styles and depression risk in Arab Americans: A cross cultural perspective. Poster presented at the 50th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY.

• Inroduction. Explanatory styles influence the interpretation of stressful life events with respect to how internal, stable, and global the cause is. Negative explanatory styles (NES) place the causes of life events as self-generated, enduring, and pervasive. Such negative causal attributions worsen the already adverse effects of stress, and are a strong risk factor for depression. However, research on NES has been largely confined to European populations, raising the question as to whether NES carry similar risks to people of other cultures. The few cross-cultural studies that examine this topic show that NES are a more pernicious risk factor for depression for those hailing from collectivistic as compared to those of individualistic culture (Anderson, 1999). The Arab demographic continues to grow in the United States, yet there is little published research regarding the effects of NES in this group. Given that the Arab culture is collectivistic, their NES may function differently as a risk factor for depression as compared to their Western peers. This study aims to examine whether: (1) individuals of Arab descent differ from their non-Arab counterparts with respect to their NES, (2) NES differentially predicts depression symptoms between the two cultural groups, and (3) acculturation to the US culture reduces cross-cultural differences in the association between NES and depression.  
• Methods. Arab (n=38) and non-Arab (n=32) participants (83 % female, M_age= 27.90 years, SD = 8.98) were recruited nationally through Arab American affiliated contacts, organizations, and various social media platforms. Participants completed surveys on NES (Cognitive Style Questionnaire), depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) and acculturation (Arab Identity Scale).
• Results. Arab Americans tended to make have more negative explanatory styles relative to their non-Arab peers, (Beta = -.29, t(64) = 2.45,  p < .01. Post-hoc probes revealed that while NES exacerbated the effects of stress on depression for non-Arabs, a reverse pattern emerged whereby high levels of NES served a protective role for Arab Americans. Consistent with this finding, an examination of acculturation in the relationship between stress, NES, and depression symptoms revealed that the protective effects of NES were only present for Arab who held traditional values. In contrast, NES was a risk factor for elevated depression symptoms in the presence of stress for Arabs who did not identify with an Arab identity, a kin to their non-Arab peers.
• Conclusion. These findings suggest that traditional risk factors for depression, like negative explanatory styles, may not hold across cultures. The implication of these findings is that clinicians should consider cultural context and level of acculturation when working with individuals of Arab backgrounds.

*Osinski, K., Bodenbender, B., & Yaroslavsky, I. (2016, October). A Multi-Cultural Examination of the relationship between Sociotropy, Excessive Reassurance Seeking Behavior, and Interpersonal Stress. Poster presented at the 50th annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, New York, NY.

• Introduction. Sociotropy is a cognitive schema characterized by a dependency on others and a high need for approval and reassurance (Calvete, 2011).  Evidence shows that sociotropy is related to the generation of interpersonal stress (Daley et al., 1997), which, in turn, is linked to an increased risk for affective disorders. High levels of sociotropy also predict excessive reassurance seeking behaviors that paradoxically erode social relationships by attempts to reduce the uncertainty about other's regard (Beck, Robbins, Taylor, & Baker, 2001). While sociotropy may be risky for those from individualistic cultures that encourage autonomy, sociotropy may be innocuous for individuals from collectivistic cultures who value cooperation (Bailey & Dua, 1999). Further, relatively little is known about cultural differences in the link between sociotropy and excessive reassurance seeking, and the relationship between both constructs and interpersonal stress among those from collectivistic cultures. Thus, the present study explored the role of individualistic and collectivistic cultural backgrounds in the relationship between sociotropy, excessive reassurance seeking, and interpersonal stress. We hypothesized that while the effects of sociotropy on interpersonal stress would be mediated via excessive reassurance seeking, this relationship would be attenuated for those of collectivistic cultural backgrounds. 
• Methods. Two hundred and eighty-nine undergraduate students (87% female, M_age = 23.22, SD =5.97) measures of life event stress (Negative Life Event Questionnaire), sociotropy (Sociotropy Autonomy Scale, and excessive reassurance seeking (Depressive Interpersonal Relationships Inventory-Reassurance Seeking Subscale) in a single sitting. Those from a collectivistic culture included 91 participants (31%). 
• Results. Consistent with expectations, analyses showed that sociotropy predicted higher levels of excessive reassurance seeking (b =.10, p < .01), and elevated levels of interpersonal stress (b = .10, p p < .01). Excessive reassurance seeking  mediated the effects of sociotropy on interpersonal stress (b=.05, 95% CI [.02, .08]). While membership in the collectivistic cultural group significantly predicted elevated interpersonal stress levels (b = .48, p < .01), it did not moderate the associations of interest. However, being from an individualistic culture had a significant direct effect between sociotropy and interpersonal stress (b=.10, p=.05). 
• Conclusion. While the present findings support the relationships between sociotropy, excessive reassurance seeking, and interpersonal stress that have been previously found, our results suggest that culture may play a lesser role than we initially hypothesized. However, these findings should be considered preliminary, given the nature of the sample.