Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Individual Differences That Moderate The Effectiveness Of Relational Reasons For Self-Improvement, Jonathan Gore

Jonathan Gore

Two studies tested the hypotheses that relationally-autonomous reasons (RARs) for goals predict attainment, and that this relationship is stronger among highly relational and agreeable people than others. Study 1 (n = 134) assessed participants’ self-construal and Agreeableness, and their tendency to pursue subgoals for RARs, relationally-controlled reasons (RCRs), and personally-controlled reasons (PARs). One month later, they indicated the number of subgoals they had attained. RARs were positively correlated with attainment, and this relationship was stronger among highly relational and agreeable people than others. In Study 2 (n = 74), self-construal and Agreeableness were assessed then participants generated possible outcomes of …

Identifying Students With Emotional Disturbance: School Psychologists' Practices And Perceptions, Ryan Allen, Timothy Hamilton

Ryan A. Allen

From its inception as a disability category in the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, serving students under the special education category Emotional Disturbance (ED) has been a challenging task for school psychologists. In particular, the vague and ambiguous federal definition has created an environment in which inconsistent assessment practices and decision making are almost inevitable. In this study, we examined school psychologists' ( N = 214) assessment practices when determining initial eligibility for ED, as well as their perceptions regarding the language contained within the federal ED definition. Findings indicated that although school psychologists recognize the need for a …

E-Mails, Statutes, And Personality Disorders: A Contextual Examination Of The Processes, Interventions, And Perspectives Of Parenting Coordinators, Sherrill Hayes, Melissa Grady, Helen Brantley

Sherrill W. Hayes

The current study uses a survey instrument to examine parenting coordination through the lens of Bronfenbrenner's Person, Process, Context, Time (PPCT) model. The survey focused on contextual factors such as statutes, local rules, interpersonal characteristics, dynamics of the clients, and background characteristics of parenting coordinators. Responses from a sample of PCs were obtained using list serves and a snowball sampling procedure. Results included the extent to which the parenting coordination process occurs through email and other technology rather than in-person sessions. Mental health disorders and inability to pay were primary barriers to the PC process.

Refeeding After Acute Food Restriction: Differential Reduction In Preference For Ethanol And Ethanol-Paired Flavors In Selectively Bred Rats., Clinton Chapman, Nancy Dess, Laura Cousins, Phuong Nguyen

Clinton D Chapman

Rats' voluntary ethanol intake varies with dispositional factors and energy status. The joint influences of these were of interest here. We previously reported that rats selectively bred for high voluntary saccharin intake (HiS) consume more ethanol and express more robust conditioning of preference for flavors paired with voluntarily consumed ethanol than do low-saccharin consuming counterparts (LoS). Three new experiments examined the effect of refeeding after an episode of food restriction on ethanol intake and on preference for ethanol-paired flavors in HiS and LoS rats. A 48-h episode of food restriction with wheel running reduced intake of and preference for 4% …

College Women’S Experiences Of Intimate Partner Violence: Exploring Mental Health Issues, F. Christopher, Tiffani Kisler

Tiffani S. Kisler

College women’s experiences with sexual and physical violence are so common that campus interventions are needed. To help guide these, we surveyed 339 college women and asked: (a) are college women’s experiences with different types of relational violence interrelated and (b) are there patterns of association between types of violence and mental health symptoms? Analyses showed that experiences with verbal aggression, and minor and major physical violence overlapped. Experiences of sexual assault and minor physical violence also co-occurred. Moreover, women who encountered verbal and physical, but not sexual violence, suffered from symptoms of hostility, anxiety, and depression; those who encountered …

Depression Symptoms Improve After Successful Weight Loss With Emotional Freedom Techniques, Peta Stapleton, Dawson Church, Terri Sheldon, Brett Porter, Cassandra Carlopio

Peta B. Stapleton

Ninety-six overweight or obese adults were randomly allocated to a four-week EFT treatment or waitlist condition. Waitlist participants crossed over to the EFT group upon completion of wait period. Degree of food craving, perceived power of food, restraint capabilities, and psychological symptoms were assessed at pretreatment, posttreatment and at 12-month follow-up for combined EFT groups. Significant improvements in weight, body mass index, food cravings, subjective power of food, craving restraint and psychological coping for EFT participants from pretreatment to 12-month follow-up (p<0.05) were reported. The current paper isolates the depression symptom levels of participants, as well as levels of eight other psychological conditions. Significant decreases from pre- to posttreatment were found for depression, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsivity, paranoid ideation, and somatization (p<0.05). Significant decreases from pretreatment to 12-month follow-up were found for depression, interpersonal sensitivity, psychoticism, and hostility. The results point to the role depression, and other mental health conditions may play in the successful maintenance of weight loss.

Quitting Smoking: How To Use Emotional Freedom Techniques, Peta Stapleton, Brett Porter, Terri Sheldon

Peta B. Stapleton

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) have been gaining strength in the published literature as strategies to reduce arousal symptoms such as anxiety. EFT falls under the umbrella of energy psychology techniques which combine physical or somatic processes with cognitive focus in order to reduce psychological distress. This article discusses the practical application of EFT to smoking cessation, and the associated physical and psychological concerns that can be addressed.

Health Locus Of Control, Self-Awareness, And Integrative Eating Styles In University Students, Peta Stapleton, Hayley Smith

Peta B. Stapleton

The psychological and physical well-being of students is a cause for concern. For the majority of the student population this means substantial changes in healthy behaviours including eating habits. The current research was aimed at investigating integrative eating in 170 Australian university students. Self-awareness and health locus of control were measured in order to assess their relative impact on positive integrative eating practices. The self-report measures included Your Personal Eating Style Profile, Forms A and B of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, and the Situational Self-Awareness Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses provided tentative support for the hypothesis that …

The Effects Of A Computer Malfunction On Subsequent Task Performance, Nicole Zimmerman, Everett Sambrook, Jonathan Gore

Jonathan Gore

Although previous research has examined the effects of computer malfunctions on employee frustration, to our knowledge no research has explored computer malfunction's effect on subsequent task performance. It was hypothesised that participants who experience a malfunction would perform worse on a subsequent task than those who experience no malfunction. Participants (n = 204) were randomly assigned to experience either a computer malfunction or not during the first task. Participants then completed a subsequent task. The results confirmed that the Malfunction group performed worse than the Control group on both tasks. Implications for workplace performance are discussed.

DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2012.733412

Moderated Path Analysis Of The Relationships Between Masculinity And Men’S Attitudes Toward Seeking Psychological Help., Ronald Levant, Dimitre Stefanov, Thomas Rankin, Margaret Halter, Chris Mellinger

Ronald F Levant

This study tested a theoretical model of one mediator and four moderators of the relationships between two masculinity variables (Traditional Masculinity Ideology and Gender Role Conflict) and Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychological Services (Attitudes). Self-stigma was the hypothesized mediator and the hypothesized moderators were: 1) Depression, 2) General Self-efficacy, 3) Precontemplation, and 4) Barriers to Help-Seeking. A sample of 654 men responded to an online survey of 9 questionnaires. After evaluating mediation in the absence of moderation, moderated path analyses were conducted for each moderator. The relationship between Traditional Masculinity Ideology and Attitudes was partially mediated by Self-stigma, whereas that …

U.S. Policies To Enhance Older Driver Safety: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Elizabeth Dugan

Elizabeth Dugan

The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature related to state policies concerning older drivers and to draw policy conclusions about what policies appear to work to reduce older driver crashes and to identify areas needed for further research. Specific policies examined in this paper concern medical reporting and medical review, license renewal processes, and driver testing. A study was included in the systematic review if it met the following criteria: published in English between 1991and January 2013; included data on human subjects aged 65 and older residing in the United States; included information …

The Effects Of Somatisation, Depression, And Anxiety On Eating Habits Among University Students, Peta Stapleton, Morreen Brunetti

Peta B. Stapleton

While it is known that depression and anxiety are associated with poor eating habits, little is known about the relationship between these common psychological disorders, somatisation and poor eating habits. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of depression, anxiety and somatisation on eating habits across gender. University students (N = 167) participated in the study by completing an internet based survey. No specific gender differences were found for depression, anxiety or eating habits scores. However, females had significantly higher somatisation scores. Higher somatisation scores were significantly positively associated with reported depression, reported anxiety and poorer …

The Metamorphosis Of Leadership In A Democratic Mexico (2010), By Roderic Ai Camp, José Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

No abstract provided.

School Psychologists Need More Training In Providing Services To Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders (Asd), Lee Wilkinson

Lee A Wilkinson, PhD

As more and more children are being identified with ASD and placed in general education classrooms, school psychologists will play an ever increasingly important role in identification and intervention, as well as offer support, information, consultation, and recommendations to teachers, school personnel, administration, and families. Therefore, it is essential that they be knowledgeable about evidence-based assessment and intervention strategies for this population of students. Despite the limitations inherent in survey research, the data from these studies suggest that school psychologists are not adequately prepared to provide evidence-based assessment and intervention services to children with ASD. The survey research illustrates a …

Development, Confirmatory Factor Analytic Investigation Of Structure, And Measurement Invariance Across Gender, Ronald Levant, Rosalie Hall, Thomas Rankin

Ronald F Levant

The current study reports the development from the MRNI-R (Levant, Rankin, Williams, Hasan, & Smalley, 2010) of the 21-item Male Role Norms Inventory-Short Form (MRNI-SF). Confirmatory factor analysis of MRNI-SF responses from a sample of 1017 undergraduate participants (549 men, 468 women) indicated that the best-fitting “bi-factor” model incorporated the hypothesized seven-factor structure while explicitly modeling an additional, general traditional masculinity ideology factor. Specifically, each item-level indicator loaded on two factors: a general traditional masculinity ideology factor and a specific factor corresponding to one of the seven hypothesized traditional masculinity ideology norms. The bi-factor model was assessed for measurement invariance …

O*Net's National Perspective On The Greening Of The World Of Work, Erich Dierdorff, Jennifer Norton, Christina Gregory, David Rivkin, Phil Lewis

Erich C. Dierdorff

No abstract provided.

Legal Issues In Clinical And Counseling Psychological Testing And Assessment, Elizabeth Swenson

Elizabeth V. Swenson

This three-volume handbook is a comprehensive presentation of the theory and application of tests in psychology and education. It begins with an in-depth portrayal of psychometrics: the quantitative underpinning of testing. It then provides thorough, up-to-date and informative chapters related to five general application areas of testing: industrial/organizational psychology clinical psychology (including health psychology) counseling psychology school psychology educational testing In each of these five areas, this handbook is probably the most comprehensive review of the use of testing and assessment in the subfield.

University Business Models And Online Practices: A Third Way, Beth Rubin

Beth Rubin

Higher Education is in a state of change, and the existing business models do not meet the needs of stakeholders. This article contrasts the current dominant business models of universities, comparing the traditional non-profit against the for-profit online model, examining the structural features and online teaching practices that underlie each. It then offers a third option for existing non-profit universities that would enable them to continue offering multiple value propositions while increasing efficiency and quality of outcomes. This involves emphasizing online instruction, separating research from teaching, and adopting a more complex structure based on differentiated faculty roles that would enable …

News Of Corporate Failure: Evaluating The Relationship Between Individual Assessments And Market Investments, Ann Williams

Ann E Williams

Individuals’ comprehension of communication is shaped by the use of metaphor. This study illustrates how the use of metaphor in business and economic news coverage shapes individuals’ responsibility attributions in ways that can ultimately influence consumers’ investment decisions. In a randomized experimental design, participants were invited to read news articles that described the bankruptcy of a business. The treatment text narrated the bankruptcy using metaphor, while the control text narrated the same event without the use of metaphor. After exposure to the communication text narrated with metaphor, responsibility attributions and subsequent investment decisions were significantly altered. The findings suggest that …

The Impact Of Pathological Narcissism On Psychotherapy Utilization, Initial Symptom Severity, And Early-Treatment Symptom Change: A Naturalistic Investigation, William Ellison, Kenneth Levy, Nicole Cain, Emily Ansell, Aaron Pincus

William D Ellison

The impact of pathological narcissism on psychotherapy has seldom been investigated empirically, despite extensive clinical theory proposing that highly narcissistic individuals should be reluctant to engage in treatment and derive smaller benefits from therapy. In this study, we investigate the relationship between scores on the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI; Pincus et al., 2009), which assesses both narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability, and clinical variables in a sample of outpatients (N = 60) at a community mental health center. Results indicated that grandiosity, but not vulnerability, was negatively related to the use of adjunctive services and positively predicted client-initiated termination of …

Emotional Distress In Mothers Of Preterm Hospitalized Infants: A Feasibility Trial Of Nurse-Delivered Treatment, Lisa Segre, Rebecca Chuffo-Siewert, Rebecca Brock, Michael O'Hara

Lisa S. Segre

OBJECTIVE: Mothers of preterm infants in a hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are at risk for clinically significant depression and anxiety, but for these women their own treatment is likely a secondary priority. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of an evidence-based, nurse-delivered, on-site depression treatment: listening visits (LVs). STUDY DESIGN: Therapeutic LVs were delivered on site to 23 distressed mothers of NICU infants. The intervention was conducted by a neonatal nurse practitioner and the outcome was examined in an open-trial, pre-post evaluation. RESULT: A part-time nurse practitioner delivered six LVs to each participant within a 1-month …

Defining The Importance Of Mental Preparedness For Risk Communication And Residents Well-Prepared For Wildfire, Christine Eriksen, Timothy Prior

Christine Eriksen

Building on a recognised information-to-action gap in wildfire risk communication, this paper examines what being physically and mentally ‘well prepared’ actually means to wildfire agency staff and volunteers in charge of disseminating risk information. Using the results of an open-ended survey conducted in southeast Australia, we examine how a set of preparedness messages is interpreted. The paper demonstrates that the concept of wildfire preparedness is ambiguous, and that being ‘well prepared’ is a complex mix of practical and mental preparedness measures. Many of the individual interpretations of preparedness messages are found to not align with the official outlined intent. In …