Public self-consciousness moderates the link between displacement behaviour and experience of stress in women

Figures & data

Table 1. Ethogram of the displacement behaviours recorded in this study.

Behaviour	Definition, Troisi (1999)
Groom	The fingers are passed through the hair in a combing movement
Hand-face	Hand(s) in contact with the face
Hand-mouth	Hand(s) in contact with the mouth
Scratch	The fingernails are used to scratch part of the body, frequently the head
Yawn	The mouth opens widely, roundly and fairly slowly closing more swiftly. Mouth movement is accompanied by a deep breath and often closing of the eyes and lowering of the brows
Fumble	Twisting and fiddling finger movements with wedding ring, handkerchief and other hand
Twist mouth	The lips are closed, pushed forward and twisted to one side
Lick lips	The tongue is passed over the lips
Bite lips	One lip usually the lower is drawn into the mouth and held between the teeth

Table 2. Bivariate correlations of public self-consciousness, displacement behaviour, measures of stress and ratings of participants' nervousness.

	Public self-consciousness	Displacement behaviour	Experience of stress	Area under the curve heart rate	Number of mistakes in cognitive task
Displacement behaviour	r = −0.368
	p = 0.003
Experience of Stress	r = 0.390	r = 0.168
	p = 0.002	p = 0.191
Area under the curve heart rate	r = 0.167	r = −0.276	r = −0.119
	p = 0.196	p = 0.030	p = 0.359
Number of mistakes in cognitive task	r = 0.356	r = 0.017	r = 0.662	r = 0.000
	p = 0.005	p = 0.895	p < 0.001	p = 0.998
Rating of nervousness	r = −0.161	r = 0.387	r = 0.395	r = −0.200	r = 0.201
	p = 0.210	p = 0.002	p = 0.001	p = 0.119	p = 0.117

Significant correlations are highlighted in bold (n = 62 for all analyses).

Figure 1. Experience of stress during the TSST as a function of displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness. Low displacement behaviour/public self-consciousness was defined as below the mean − 1 SD; high was defined as above the mean + 1 SD. This figure displays the variation of experience of stress within the range of displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness using the test of simple slopes. The t-test results in conjunction with Bonferroni correction using median-split displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness revealed that the women high in both displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness (n = 15) reported significantly higher levels of stress than women low in displacement behaviour and high in public self-consciousness (n = 22); t(35) = 4.53, p < 0.001. Furthermore, women high in both displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness (n = 15) reported higher levels of stress than women high in displacement behaviour and low in public self-consciousness (n = 16); t(29) = 9.02, p < 0.001.

Table 3. Testing standardized moderator effects of public self-consciousness using a hierarchical multiple regression (n = 62).

Step and variables	b	SE B	95% CI	β	R^2	ΔR^2
Experience of stress as dependent variable
Step 1					0.265	0.265**
Displacement behaviour	0.726	0.242	0.243, 1.209	0.361**
Public self-consciousness	1.052	0.242	0.569, 1.535	0.523**
Step 2					0.388**	0.124**
Public self-consciousness X displacement behaviour	3.891	1.137	1.615, 6.166	1.934**
Area under the curve (heart rate) as dependent variable
Step 1					0.082	0.082
Displacement behaviour	−0.025	0.014	−0.053, 0.003	−0.244
Public self-consciousness	0.009	0.014	−0.019, 0.036	0.084
Step 2					0.088	0.007
Public self-consciousness X displacement behaviour	0.415	0.071	−0.096, 0.188	0.446
Number of mistakes in cognitive task as dependent variable
Step 1					0.152**	0.152**
Displacement behaviour	0.567	0.427	−0.287, 1.421	0.171
Public self-consciousness	1.385	0.427	0.531, 2.239	0.419
Step 2					0.269**	0.117**
Public self-consciousness X displacement behaviour	6.224	2.045	2.131, 10.317	1.881*
Rating of nervousness dependent variable
Step 1					0.150**	0.150**
Displacement behaviour	0.511	0.174	0.162, 0.859	0.379
Public self-consciousness	−0.055	0.324	−0.703, 0.593	−0.022
Step 2					0.234*	0.084*
Public self-consciousness X Displacement behaviour	1.012	0.400	0.211, 1.813	1.599*

*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.

SE = Standard error, CI = confidence interval.

Figure 2. Number of mistakes in mental arithmetic task during the TSST as a function of displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness. Low displacement behaviour/public self-consciousness was defined as below the mean − 1 SD; high was defined as above the mean + 1 SD. This figure displays the variation in the number of mistakes in the cognitive task within the range of displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness, using the test of simple slopes. The t-test results in conjunction with Bonferroni correction using median-split displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness revealed that the women high in both displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness (n = 15) made significantly more mistakes in the cognitive task than women low in displacement behaviour and high in public self-consciousness (n = 22); t(35) = 3.12, p < 0.01. Furthermore, women high in both displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness (n = 15) made significantly more mistakes than women high in displacement behaviour and low in public self-consciousness (n = 16); t(29) = 6.82, p < 0.001. In addition, women low in displacement behaviour and low in public self-consciousness (n = 9) made significantly more mistakes in the cognitive task than women high in displacement behaviour and low in public self-consciousness (n = 16); t(23) = 5.85, p < 0.001.

Figure 3. Observer's rating of nervousness of participants during the TSST as a function of displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness. Low displacement behaviour/public self-consciousness was defined as below the mean − 1 SD; high was defined as above the mean + 1 SD. This figure displays the variation in observers' rating of nervousness within the range of displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness, using the test of simple slopes. The t-test results in conjunction with Bonferroni correction using median-split displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness revealed that women high in both displacement behaviour and public self-consciousness (n = 15) were rated as more nervous than women low in displacement behaviour and high in public self-consciousness (n = 22); t(35) = 3.50, p < 0.01.

Troisi A. (1999). Etiological research in clinical psychiatry: The study of nonverbal behaviour during interviews. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 23:905–13

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