Commitment in relationships: An updated meta‐analysis of the Investment Model

This article provides a systematic review and updated meta‐analysis of the extant literature on Rusbult's Investment Model of Commitment. This meta‐analysis aimed to determine the strength of the associations between commitment and its antecedents and to investigate potential moderators of these associations. This meta‐analysis included 50,427 participants from 202 independent samples (collected between 1980 and early 2016) that had examined the intercorrelations between satisfaction, investment size, quality of alternatives, and commitment. Across all studies, satisfaction had the largest aggregate association with commitment (r = 0.65), followed by investments (r = 0.53) and quality of alternatives (r = ?0.43). Several significant moderators of the relationships between the antecedents and commitment were also identified. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

A longitudinal study of Q‐sort attachment security and self‐processes at age 5

Attachment theory predicts that a sense of self emerges from early interactive relationships with significant others. In the current study, concurrent and predictive relations of child–mother Q‐sort attachment security to self‐concept and self‐esteem in 5‐year‐old children is examined. Concurrent attachment security scores are positively related to a puppet interview measure of self‐esteem, and children who are able to admit imperfections in themselves have higher attachment security scores at age 5. Attachment security at age 2 is not positively related to self‐processes, however, and security at either age does not predict overall self‐concept as measured by the Harter Scales. The results suggest that a secure attachment relationship is important for children to feel comfortable in presenting a realistic perspective of themselves.     

Chinese undergraduates' preferences for altruistic traits in mate selection and personal advertisement: Evidence from Q‐sort technique

Human's preferences for altruistic mates have been confirmed by many researchers. Under the deep influence of Confucianism that authorised more parental control over offspring's mate selection, Chinese people's mating strategies and mate preferences may be different from what the evolutionary psychologists have suggested. This study used the Q‐sort technique to assess the roles of altruistic traits in mate selection and personal advertisement. A total of 200 university students participated in the Q‐sort procedures and were asked to sort 50 traits (among which altruistic traits were mixed) according to their importance when choosing (or advertising to) a long‐term (LT) or a short‐term (ST) mate. Our findings were quite different from prior studies. When Chinese participants chose a mate or advertised themselves to a potential mate, kin altruism was considered to be the most important trait; altruistic traits were more preferred by males than by females and females tended to advertise themselves as more altruistic; preferences for altruistic traits showed no difference between LT and ST mate selections (or between personal advertisement to a LT and a ST mate).     

Q‐sort methodology: Bridging the divide between qualitative and quantitative. An introduction to an innovative method for psychotherapy research

Q‐methodology offers unique opportunities for counselling and psychotherapy researchers and clinicians. It is an innovative technique capable of bridging the divide between clinical knowledge and the quantitative systematisation of it. It was initially developed by Stephenson as a data collection and data analytic method to empirically study human subjectivity. It was then extended by the British School to study shared viewpoints, thereby adopting a multi‐participant design and a highly unusual form of qualitative analysis. Finally, it was adapted by the Californian School for use as a standardised observer‐rated assessment tool. Its attractiveness stems from its aptitude to produce holistic data as it collects both quantitative and narrative data. This paper will provide an introduction to Q‐statistics and Q‐methodology (person‐centred) by contrasting it to R‐statistics and R‐methodology (variable‐centred). It will then provide an overview of the three schools of Q‐methodology and their various merits demonstrated with an example.     

How anxious and avoidant attachment affect romantic relationship quality differently: A meta‐analytic review

Adult attachment has been studied as an important predictor of romantic relationship quality in many empirical studies. This meta‐analysis quantitatively summarized the associations between the two insecure adult attachment dimensions, anxiety and avoidance, and cognitive, emotional, and behavioral indicators of romantic relationship quality based on 73 previous studies with 118 independent samples of 21 602 individuals. More importantly, we examined the different effects of anxiety and avoidance on relationship quality. We also tested the potential moderating effects of gender on the strength of these associations. Meta‐analytic results confirmed that both anxiety and avoidance were detrimental to the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of relationship quality. Compared with anxiety, avoidance was more negatively associated with general satisfaction, connectedness, and general support in relationships. In contrast, anxiety was more positively associated with general conflict in relationships. The moderating effect of gender was weak. However, supplementary analyses found that the type of couple interaction measures (self‐report versus observation) significantly moderated the relations between insecure attachments and the behavioral indicators of relationship quality. Our results integrate and extend previous findings about the dynamics of adult attachment and romantic relationship quality. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adolescent motherhood: a Q‐methodological re‐evaluation of psychological and social outcomes

Traditionally, adolescent motherhood has been associated with numerous negative social, psychological and societal outcomes. However, in recent years there has been a gradual acceptance that there are many positive features to adolescent motherhood, but methodological issues have been identified within the field. This study aimed to examine adolescent motherhood from the mothers' own perspectives, exploring their attitudes towards the issues that they described as being important in their lives, by using Q‐methodology in an attempt to counter some of these methodological limitations. The mothers within the study appeared to be coping positively in their role in that levels of symptomatology, as determined from questionnaire assessment, appeared to be relatively low and they indicated through Q‐sort analysis that motherhood had been beneficial to their lives. Three independent factors (clusters of attitudes) were identified within the sample (N = 23) which differed over the dimensions of: employment, social support, coping, partner co‐habitation, financial support, maternal role satisfaction, aspirations for the future, as well as the nature of the relationship with their child(ren)'s father and their satisfaction with the fathers' role. The significance of these findings with regard to educational and social services is discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Personality and team performance: a meta‐analysis

Using a meta‐analytical procedure, the relationship between team composition in terms of the Big‐Five personality traits (trait elevation and variability) and team performance were researched. The number of teams upon which analyses were performed ranged from 106 to 527. For the total sample, significant effects were found for elevation in agreeableness (ρ = 0.24) and conscientiousness (ρ = 0.20), and for variability in agreeableness (ρ = ?0.12) and conscientiousness (ρ = ?0.24). Moderation by type of team was tested for professional teams versus student teams. Moderation results for agreeableness and conscientiousness were in line with the total sample results. However, student and professional teams differed in effects for emotional stability and openness to experience. Based on these results, suggestions for future team composition research are presented. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stability of Maternal Sensitivity Across Time and Contexts with Q‐Sort Measures

This study examined stability of maternal sensitivity and efficacy of a Q‐sort measure of maternal sensitivity across time and context. Two versions of the maternal behavior Q‐set (MBQS) were employed, first during the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and second at home, 2.5 years later based on an available subsample. Findings revealed that the MBQS scores assessed at two time points in two contexts were significantly correlated, showing the stability of maternal sensitivity of the subsample over a time period of 2.5 years. The MBQS scores assigned to mothers of preschoolers were also significantly correlated with their children's early interactive behavioural scores given during the SSP. The current findings further support validating the consistency, the versatility and the efficacy of the MBQS as a sound measure of maternal sensitivity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marketing of Professional Counselors: A Q‐Sort Study of Best Practices

This quantitative Q‐sort research was designed to evaluate representations of counselor qualifications and to determine which configurations account for the variance in consumer preference and selection. The sample consisted of 161 graduate and undergraduate students in a regional university in Texas. An iterative inverse factor analysis produced 3 distinct factors that accounted for 65.85% of the variance in the data, explaining a majority of the differences in how consumers perceive counselor credentials.     

Parenting and self‐regulation in preschoolers: a meta‐analysis

A meta‐analysis of 41 studies was conducted to examine the strength of the relation between parenting (positive control, negative control and responsiveness) and self‐regulation in preschoolers. Results revealed significant associations between both types of parental control and self‐regulation, with effect sizes being small in magnitude. There was no significant association between self‐regulation and responsiveness. The strength of the association between parenting and self‐regulation varied with different conceptualizations of self‐regulation; positive and negative control were associated with child compliance, but not with inhibition and emotion regulation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotional arousal and gender differences in aggression: A meta‐analysis

This meta‐analysis investigated the possibility that gender differences in aggression, and the variability in these differences, are a function of gender differences in the regulation of arousal generated in emotionally evocative contexts. The sample of studies for this analysis was based on an exhaustive search of the relevant research reports from 1965–1999. Studies were excluded from the sample if they were case studies; investigated spousal/familial or societal violence, war, suicide, or political violence; involved clinical or deviant participants; included fewer than 10 participants; included all male, all female, all non‐Caucasian, or non‐US/non‐Canadian participants. Based on previous evidence that males may be more easily aroused by aggressive‐relevant emotional stimuli than females, and that males may have more difficulty regulating emotionally arousing states than females, we hypothesized that the magnitude of the gender differences in aggression would covary, in a nonlinear manner, with the emotional evocativeness of the study context. Consistent with our hypothesis, the magnitude of gender differences in aggression was relatively small in research contexts that appeared to produce no or large increments in emotional arousal and larger (favoring males) in contexts that appeared to produce small or medium increments in emotional arousal. Aggr. Behav. 28:366–393, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Prototypes of Faith: Findings with the Faith Q‐Sort

Defining religion and finding ways to assess it in individual lives has long challenged psychologists of religion. At first, open‐ended questionnaires were used, but with the advent of modern statistical methods, a succession of religiosity scales was developed. But these usually brief scales were typically based on the preconceptions of their authors, who were overwhelmingly Protestant Christian and often conservative, much as were those who completed them. To provide a more adequate way of assessing “faith,” a term here encompassing both religious and nonreligious attitudes, a new assessment device was developed that incorporates the singular advantages of Q methodology. The Faith Q‐Sort consists of 101 statements that respondents sort on a nine‐category continuum, indicating the degree to which each statement describes himself or herself. Factor analysis based on correlations of the sorts rather than individual items yielded, for the initial group of participants, three major prototypes and five minor ones, accounting for 67 percent of the variance. Of the 42 participants, 31 proved to be exemplars of one or another of the eight prototypes. Subsequent explorations illustrate the wealth of possibilities the FQS offers, both as a research instrument and a counseling tool.     

A meta‐analysis of serotonin metabolite 5‐HIAA and antisocial behavior

During the past 25 years, researchers have examined the relationship between neurochemical variables and antisocial behavior in human adults, but none has been studied more intensely than the serotonin metabolite 5‐hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5‐HIAA). The goal of the current study was to employ meta‐analytic procedures to quantitatively evaluate selected evidence on the relationship between 5‐HIAA and antisocial behavior. It was expected that antisocial groups would show reduced cerebrospinal fluid 5‐HIAA compared with non–antisocial groups. This study also aimed to assess moderators that could influence the relationship between 5‐HIAA and antisociality. An electronic search and strict inclusion criteria identified 20 reports used in this meta‐analysis. Results showed a significant overall mean effect size (ES = –.45, P < .05) in the direction of lowered 5‐HIAA in antisocial vs. non–antisocial groups. A significant moderating effect for age indicated that groups comprised of antisocial individuals younger than 30 years exhibited larger negative effect sizes (ES = –1.37, P < .05) than groups with older subjects (ES = –.31, P < .05). There were no moderating effects for gender, target of violence, history of suicide, and alcoholism. Age effects may help explain age‐related declines in crime. The fact that effects did not differ based on other moderating variables supports models of reduced serotonin in antisocial individuals, regardless of type of crime or psychiatric problems. Aggr. Behav. 28:299–316, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Sorting Out Support for Democracy: A Q‐Method Study

Support for democracy is crucial to democratic stability. Yet the nature and range of democratic belief systems, and whether these belief systems are idiosyncratic to specific individuals and polities or are more general, remain largely unknown. Such unknowns complicate an already daunting measurement task. Extant survey‐based measures are fraught with validity problems and say little about the democratic beliefs individuals most strongly hold or reject. To address these problems, this study blends focus groups, interviews, and Q‐sort methodology to examine patterns of subjective, behavioral renderings of democratic support profiles. It finds seven shared profiles of beliefs concerning democracy, alternative regimes, and political and civil freedoms across Chile and Argentina. Their resemblance to democratic belief systems found with other methods bolsters their validity and generalizability. The analyses reveal the relative weight of each orientation within each belief profile and their intensity across profiles. In so doing, they identify which items are crucial for within‐ and across‐case comparisons. Altogether, these insights should inform survey‐based approaches to detecting and describing the democratic support profiles latent in the polity.     

A meta‐analysis of psychopathy‐, antisocial PD‐ and FFM associations

This research meta‐analytically summarizes the relationships of the Five‐Factor Model (FFM) with psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). Effect sizes of the associations between psychopathy, APD and the FFM were compiled from 26 independent samples (N = 6913) for psychopathy and 57 independent samples (N = 16 424) for APD. The results revealed predominantly points of similarity and some differences in the FFM associations of both disorders. Symptoms of psychopathy and APD were negatively associated with Conscientiousness and Agreeableness facets and positively with scores on Angry–Hostility (N2), Impulsiveness (N5), Excitement Seeking (E5) and negatively with Warmth (E1). Only psychopathy had a small negative association with Anxiety (N1) and was characterized by stronger negative associations with Agreeableness and Straightforwardness (A2), Compliance (A4) and Modesty (A5) compared to APD. The moderator analyses showed that sample type, use of the NEO‐PI‐R and APD instrument moderated the APD FFM associations, while psychopathy instrument and age group were moderators in the psychopathy MA. Implications of this research for the assessment of APD and psychopathy relying on dimensional models of personality pathology are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of categorical moderators in mixed‐effects meta‐analysis: Consequences of using pooled versus separate estimates of the residual between‐studies variances

Subgroup analyses allow us to examine the influence of a categorical moderator on the effect size in meta‐analysis. We conducted a simulation study using a dichotomous moderator, and compared the impact of pooled versus separate estimates of the residual between‐studies variance on the statistical performance of the Q _{B (P)} and Q _{B (S)} tests for subgroup analyses assuming a mixed‐effects model. Our results suggested that similar performance can be expected as long as there are at least 20 studies and these are approximately balanced across categories. Conversely, when subgroups were unbalanced, the practical consequences of having heterogeneous residual between‐studies variances were more evident, with both tests leading to the wrong statistical conclusion more often than in the conditions with balanced subgroups. A pooled estimate should be preferred for most scenarios, unless the residual between‐studies variances are clearly different and there are enough studies in each category to obtain precise separate estimates.     

A meta‐analysis of the differential relations of traditional and cyber‐victimization with internalizing problems

This meta‐analysis examined the associations between cyber‐victimization and internalizing problems controlling for the occurrence of traditional victimization. Twenty independent samples with a total of 90,877 participants were included. Results confirmed the significant intercorrelation between traditional and cyber‐victimization (r = .43). They both have medium‐to‐large bivariate correlations with internalizing problems. Traditional victimization (sr = .22) and cyber‐victimization (sr = .12) were also uniquely related to internalizing problems. The difference in the relations between each type of victimization and internalizing problems was small (differential d = .06) and not statistically significant (p = .053). Moderation of these effect sizes by sample characteristics (e.g., age and proportion of girls) and study features (e.g., whether a definition of bullying was provided to participants and the time frame used as reference) was investigated. Results are discussed within the extant literature on cyber‐aggression and cyber‐victimization and future directions are proposed.