Adolescent coping scales: a critical psychometric review

Individual coping is identified as an important factor in relation to health and well-being. Although several coping scales have been developed, key terms of coping such as nature and a number of primary and secondary factors (dimensions) are obscure. Coping scales, such as those that have been developed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), have been criticized for poor psychometric properties, yet the critique so far does not evaluate development of the scales against best test-theoretical practice. The present study reviews six adolescent coping scales against ten detailed psychometric criteria in relation to statistical choices throughout the process of scale development. All six scales measured poorly on several criteria. Best practice had not been followed throughout their development and they suffered serious psychometric limitations. These findings indicate that there still is empirical research to be pursued in search of latent constructs and possible dimensions of coping through the implementation of EFA.     

Sexual orientation among Icelandic year 10 adolescents: Changes in health and life satisfaction from 2006 to 2014

Minority sexual orientation may add additional stresses to the period of adolescence thus affecting mental health and wellbeing. The whole population of year 10 students in 2006, 2010, and 2014 in Iceland were surveyed as part of the Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children Survey. Sexual orientation could be identified in 1,994 participants from 2006 (43.8% of population; 988 girls), 3,777 from 2010 (78.6%; 1,863 girls) and 3,526 in 2014 (80.1%; 1,731 girls). About 3.1%, 3.6%, and 4.4% were identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) in 2006, 2010, and 2014, respectively. Given the sampling proportions, the results reflect parameters (population values) rather than statistics (sample values). LGB adolescents were worse off across most of the psychosocial measures across the three surveys as compared with adolescents of unknown sexual orientation (USO). However, the gap between LGB and USO adolescents appears to be closing, at least for the 2010 to 2014 change, suggesting that outcomes for LGB adolescents have improved compared to four years earlier. Social support, liking school and one's classmates, being bullied, and physical and mental health all seem to play an important part in life satisfaction and general wellbeing. While advances have been made for LGB adolescents, gaps between LGB and USO adolescents still exist and need to be closed through evidence‐based school and society‐wide programs.     

Identity Hierarchy Within the Sudanese Superordinate Identity: Political Leadership Promoting and Demoting Subordinate Groups

Social psychology often emphasizes the link between superordinate identities and intergroup harmony. Other research, however, has illuminated the possible pitfalls of such approaches, pointing at the potentially hierarchical nature of superordinate identities. Yet the research largely ignores who invokes and mobilizes specific definitions of superordinate identities. Using interviews with political leaders and participants from the general population, this article explores a non‐Western conflict case with a hierarchical government‐defined superordinate identity: Sudan. Focus is on the government demoting and promoting different subordinate identities within the superordinate. The criteria for the highest‐level subordinate category within the superordinate identity are discussed as pertaining to three factors—Muslim, Arabic speaking and Arab. Most participants discuss this superordinate identity as yielding an identity hierarchy and strengthening subordinate identities, thereby demonstrating the potential detrimental nature of superordinate identities. The article highlights the context dependency of the link between superordinate identity and intergroup harmony and adds to the void in research on the role of leadership in constructing superordinate identities.     

Die Wüste Des Realen: Slavoj Žižek Und Der Deutsche Idealismus

Part of Slavoj iek's philosophical background is located in German idealism. In this article, his relation to German idealism is critically assessed, and the key to this assessment is found in iek's favorite medium: film. In film, reality can only appear as a new image, replacing an old reality as fictitious, the real itself, however, remains unreachable by thought. At this point, a parallel with German idealism appears: it was Kant who turned reality into a desert, and Hegel and Schelling who tried to retrieve it. Siding with Adorno and Heidegger, iek reaches a negative conclusion that does justice to neither German idealism nor indeed Schelling. His use of German idealism is one-sided and selective, regardless of the fact that it allows him to formulate an adequate critique of Western society. Perceiving a parallel between iek's conception of cinema and Kantian imagination [Einbildungskraft], the final conclusion is that he approaches German idealism not in terms of its conceptual system-character, but in terms of sensual multiplicity, not seeking unity in it, but precisely fragmentation.     

Adolescent psychosocial maturity and alcohol use: quantitative and qualitative analysis of longitudinal data

Based on a psyschosocial developmental framework, this study used a mixed model design, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, to examine the relationship between adolescents' psychosocial maturity and their alcohol use. A sample of 1,198 10th-grade students (51% female) was surveyed and followed up two years later. Both concurrent and longitudinal findings indicated that the more psychosocially mature adolescents were less likely to drink heavily than those who showed less maturity. At age 15 this relationship was even stronger for those whose peers also drank. Further, at age 17, this linear relationship was more pronounced for those who drank less heavily at age 15. Of the three psychosocial competencies examined, the construct of personal meaning was more strongly related to adolescent alcohol use than were the constructs of interpersonal understanding and interpersonal skills. To illustrate this construct, two of the adolescents were interviewed, a girl and a boy, individually at the end of both school years. Thematic and developmental analyses of the interviews revealed individual variations in how the adolescents made meaning of their drinking; these encourage speculations that go beyond the general pattern found in the study.     

Klaus B: The success story of an entrepreneur - a case study

Interorganizational teams are rapidly becoming more prevalent as a means to improve organizations' responsiveness. To achieve their objective, interorganizational teams must engage in extensive amounts of boundary spanning activity. This study juxtaposed three structural variables, namely team informational diversity, team boundedness, and extrateam links, in an integrated model aimed at promoting our understanding of how to increase interorganizational team boundary spanning activity and its effectiveness. The model was tested with 49 health promotion teams. Our findings indicated that three types of boundary spanning—scouting, ambassadorial, and coordinating—were positively associated with interorganizational team effectiveness. In addition, for team informational diversity, team boundedness, and extrateam links, scouting and ambassadorial activities fully mediated their relationships with team effectiveness; for team boundedness, coordinating activity also fully mediated its relationship with team effectiveness. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating structural considerations into the management of interorganizational teams.     

Sinnorientierte Interventionen in der Psychoonkologie

Patients with advanced cancer often suffer from existential distress. Although a variety of effective psychotherapeutic interventions for the treatment of psychological distress in cancer patients are available, concerns such as hope and meaning of life are only occasionally at the center of therapeutic attention. During recent years growing efforts have been made to develop and evaluate meaning-based interventions for cancer patients, particularly in the Anglo-American research literature. Meaning-based interventions are often realized as group therapy approaches to reduce emotional and spiritual distress and to promote hope, courage and control, to mobilize internal resources and to discuss future goals despite a noticeable limited life expectancy. Further aims include strengthening a patient??s self-esteem and sense of dignity, to appreciate strengths and past achievements, to reduce feelings of isolation, to strengthen the relationship with the partner and family members and to improve communication with the professional healthcare team.     

Recognizing the Fundamental Right to be Fat: A Weight-Inclusive Approach to Size Acceptance and Healing From Sizeism

Abstract

Sizeism permeates and shapes how scientific and professional communities—including therapists—perceive, understand, and behave toward anyone considered fat. In this article, we use scientific evidence to argue for the recognition and establishment of fat acceptance to subvert sizeism. We first critically review the Weight Normative Approach, which dominates scientific discourse on weight, despite being based on sizeist assumptions that are discredited by data. We then articulate the tenets of the Weight Inclusive Approach, which honors size diversity and the promotion of wellness within a social justice framework. We end with strategies for therapists to align their practice with the Weight Inclusive Approach.