A Replication of the Reker and Cousins’ Study About the Complementarity Between the Purpose-In-Life Test (PIL) and the Seeking of Noetic Goals (SONG) Among Spanish Young People

The main aim of this study was to replicate the Reker and Cousins’ (1979) work about the complementarity between the the Purpose-In-Life Test (PIL), which indicates the degree to which the person has found meaning and purpose in life (presence of meaning), and the Seeking of Noetic Goals (SONG), which measures the degree to which the person is motivated to find meaning and purpose in life (search for meaning). Participants were 349 Spanish undergraduates (224 women, 64.20 %, and 125 men, 35.80 %) between 18 and 26 years old, M = 20.81, SD = 2.17. Principal Component Analysis showed eight factors: four mainly related to the presence of meaning and four mainly related to the search for meaning. The PIL contributed four factors to presence of meaning, whereas the SONG contributed four factors to the search for meaning. The results confirmed the factorial structure, internal consistency, and validity of both scales and their complementarity.     

Curiosity and pathways to well-being and meaning in life: Traits,states, and everyday behaviors

This study examined curiosity as a mechanism for achieving and maintaining high levels of well-being and meaning in life. Of primary interest was whether people high in trait curiosity derive greater well-being on days when they are more curious. We also tested whether trait and daily curiosity led to greater, sustainable well-being. Predictions were tested using trait measures and 21 daily diary reports from 97 college students. We found that on days when they are more curious, people high in trait curiosity reported more frequent growth-oriented behaviors, and greater presence of meaning, search for meaning, and life satisfaction. Greater trait curiosity and greater curiosity on a given day also predicted greater persistence of meaning in life from one day into the next. People with greater trait curiosity reported more frequent hedonistic events but they were associated with less pleasure compared to the experiences of people with less trait curiosity. The benefits of hedonistic events did not last beyond the day of their occurrence. As evidence of construct specificity, curiosity effects were not attributable to Big Five personality traits or daily positive or negative mood. Our results provide support for curiosity as an ingredient in the development of well-being and meaning in life. The pattern of findings casts doubt on some distinctions drawn between eudaimonia and hedonic well-being traditions.

Employee Attachment: Implications for Supervisor Trustworthiness and Trust

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of adult attachment on perceptions of trustworthiness and trust in one’s supervisor. Specifically, we cast trustworthiness perceptions as the cognitive mechanisms by which attachment influences trust, which then influenced work outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

Data on attachment, trustworthiness, and trust were obtained from employees, and performance ratings were provided by the employees’ direct supervisor (n = 353, 157 supervisors).

Findings

Secure and counterdependent attachment had a significant impact on trustworthiness perceptions, and secure attachment was also significantly related to trust, even in the presence of trustworthiness perceptions. Overdependent attachment had no significant influence on trustworthiness or trust perceptions.

Implications

Adult attachment influences one’s regulatory processes in interpersonal relationships and will certainly influence trust in one’s supervisor. Understanding the process by which attachment influences trust in one’s supervisor via trustworthiness perceptions provides a more comprehensive picture of how trust develops. This study provides evidence that adult attachment influences trustworthiness and trust simultaneously, which may be helpful in the selection process but also in managing the interpersonal aspect of the employee–supervisor relationship.

Originality/value

Though trust has been linked to attachment in the literature, no research has examined adult attachment and its influence on trustworthiness perceptions. Our paper provides an examination of attachment and its role in a comprehensive model of interpersonal trust. In addition, we examine attachments influence on trustworthiness and trust beyond the influence of propensity to trust, a commonly studied dispositional variable in the trust literature.

     

Need for Meaning,Meaning Confusion,Meaning Anxiety,and Meaning Avoidance: Additional Dimensions of Meaning in Life

Two aspects of meaning in life have drawn much attention in previous research: presence of meaning and search for meaning. We proposed four additional aspects concerning individuals’ thoughts and feelings about meaning in life: need for meaning, meaning confusion, meaning avoidance, and meaning anxiety. We developed items to measure these dimensions. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the data fit the factors well. Convergent and discriminant validities of the four dimensions were demonstrated though their distinct patterns of correlations with other variables, such as personality traits, need satisfaction, personal aspirations, life satisfaction, anxiety and depression. Moreover, cluster analysis revealed that individuals could be divided into meaningful groups according to these dimensions, with each group demonstrating unique psychological features. Implications for future studies on meaning in life are discussed.     

To Love and Play: Testing the Association of Adult Playfulness with the Relationship Personality and Relationship Satisfaction

It is hypothesized that playfulness in adults is positively associated with relationship satisfaction and that specific types of attachment and love are related with this trait. Findings, based on two samples of adults that are currently in a relationship (N?=?161 and 598), show that playfulness is positively associated with relationship satisfaction—albeit low in effect size. Playfulness shares about 17 % overlapping variance with different types of love and attachment; particularly, Seduction, low Market Orientation, Attachment, and Love were predictive for playfulness. While gender differences only played a minor role it was shown that playfulness mediates about 5.7 % of the gender differences in the inclination to Sexuality. Overall, findings are in the expected direction. The discussion highlights the importance of considering multidimensional measures for playfulness and satisfaction and gives future research directions.     

The meaning of life (events) predicts changes in attachment security

Building on prior research, which has failed to find consistent effects of life events on change in self-reported adult attachment security over time, the present study tested the hypothesis that it is the meaning people attach to events, rather than the objective features of events, that is associated with changing levels of security. Participants engaged in an 8-week daily diary study, during which they completed daily self-report measures of attachment security, negative life events, perceptions of loss associated with events, and mood. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that perceptions of greater interpersonal (but not achievement) loss associated with life events were significantly associated with greater insecurity on a day-to-day basis, even controlling for objective features of events and for mood. Trait levels of security did not moderate this association. Results are discussed with regard to social-cognitive models of attachment security and the utility of understanding the meaning of life events to understand how attachment models may be confirmed or disconfirmed.     

Authenticity,presence of meaning,and struggle with ultimate meaning: Nuanced between-and within-person associations

Authenticity predicts greater presence of meaning in life, in general (between-persons) and in the moment (within-persons). However, little is known about whether authenticity predicts negative aspects of life meaning, such as struggles with ultimate meaning. Across three studies (total N = 719), two of which used daily diaries (daily reports = 1,980), correlations, confirmatory factor analyses, and multilevel path models together showed that higher levels of authenticity related positively to presence of meaning and negatively to struggle with ultimate meaning at the between- and within-person levels. These findings are consistent with humanistic, existential, and positive psychology theories of authenticity and meaning and raise the possibility that increasing authenticity states over time may predict sustained improvement in multiple aspects of meaning.     

Predicting well-being in managers: Test of a positive psychology model

Contemporary scholars in vocational, applied, and organizational psychology have emphasized that working must be understood as a relational act with important implications for worker well-being. Drawing upon emergent research extending the constructs of adult attachment security and authenticity to the workplace, this study tested a positive psychological model linking adult attachment orientations, and both experienced and expressed features of work authenticity, to the prediction of well-being within a sample of business managers. Findings indicated that, controlling for their gender and length of managerial experience, managers’ levels of adult attachment security and work authenticity accounted for significant and incremental variance in their reported levels of work stress and job satisfaction. In general, managers with high levels of adult attachment security and work authenticity reported lower work stress and higher job satisfaction. Implications of these findings for the counseling of distressed managers are briefly discussed.     

Struggle with ultimate meaning: Nuanced associations with search for meaning,presence of meaning,and mental health

Struggle with ultimate meaning reflects concerns about whether one’s life has a deeper meaning or purpose. We examined whether this construct could be distinguished from presence of meaning in life and search for meaning. In two US samples – a web-based sample (N = 1047) and an undergraduate sample (N = 3978) – confirmatory factor analyses showed that struggle with ultimate meaning loaded on a factor that was distinct from but related to presence (negatively) and search (positively). Moderated regression analyses showed that people with low levels of presence combined with high levels of search for meaning were particularly likely to struggle with ultimate meaning. Additionally, when compared to presence and search, struggle with ultimate meaning related more strongly to depressive symptoms than presence or search. These results suggest that struggle with ultimate meaning represents a distinct component of how people grapple with meaning that has implications for mental health.     

Bindungsrepräsentation bei stationär behandelten chronisch-depressiven Patientinnen

Background

Studies on the association between attachment and chronic depression are scarce.

Aim

This study was carried out to investigate attachment representations in chronically depressed female inpatients.

Material and methods

A total of 20 female inpatients with major depression were assessed with the adult attachment interview. Attachment representations were assessed following the method of Main et al. Furthermore, a dimensional evaluation of attachment representations according to Waters was compiled and related to symptom severity.

Results

The analysis of attachment resulted in a distribution of 5?% securely attached patients, 30?% with insecure-avoidant attachment, 15?% insecure-preoccupied attachment and 50?% disorganised attachment representation. For the dimensional approach along the secure-insecure dimension, attachment security was correlated with global assessment of functioning (GAF) and reflective functioning and insecurity was correlated with unresolved loss. For the dimension avoidance-preoccupation a relationship was found between avoidance and GAF.

Conclusion

In comparison to non-clinical samples the results demonstrate a high proportion of insecure and disorganised attachment in this sample of severely depressed female inpatients with high chronicity (mean course of illness 11.7?±?7.6 years) and high symptom load (Beck depression inventory BDI =?36.6?±?8.7 points). This result underlines the importance of psychotherapeutic interventions for depressed patients with unresolved loss experiences.     

When Feeling Mixed Can Be Meaningful: The Relation Between Mixed Emotions and Eudaimonic Well-Being

Whilst positive emotions benefit well-being, the role of other more complex emotional experiences for well-being is less well understood. This research therefore investigated the relationship between mixed emotions and eudaimonic well-being. A cross-sectional study (Study 1; N = 429) first demonstrated (using structural equation modelling) that mixed emotions are related to the presence of goal conflict. Importantly, it was also found that mixed emotions are positively related to eudaimonic well-being, and that one potential mechanism linking mixed emotions and eudaimonic well-being is via the search for meaning in life. Study 2 (N = 52) implemented a quasi-experiment regarding a naturally occurring meaningful life event (i.e., graduation day) and again demonstrated that mixed emotions are associated with a greater level of eudaimonic well-being. Implications of these findings include the importance of mixed emotions in the search for meaning in life, and the role of mixed emotions in goal conflict resolution.     

Attachment's Links With Adolescents' Social Emotions: The Roles of Negative Emotionality and Emotion Regulation

Recent research has attempted to explain the mechanisms through which parental attachment affects social and emotional outcomes (e.g., Burnette, Taylor, Worthington, &; Forsyth, 2007 Burnette, J.L., Taylor, K.W., Worthington, E.L., &; Forsyth, D.R. (2007). Attachment and trait forgivingness: The mediating role of angry rumination. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1585–1596. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2006.10.033[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Panfile &; Laible, 2012 Panfile, T.M., &; Laible, D.J. (2012). Attachment security and child's empathy: The mediating role of emotion regulation. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 58, 1–21. doi:10.1353/mpq.2012.0003[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The authors’ goal was to examine negative emotionality and emotion regulation as mediators of the associations that attachment has with empathy, forgiveness, guilt, and jealousy. One hundred forty-eight adolescents reported their parental attachment security, general levels of negative emotionality and abilities to regulate emotional responses, and tendencies to feel empathy, forgiveness, guilt, and jealousy. Results revealed that attachment security was associated with higher levels of empathy, forgiveness, and guilt, but lower levels of jealousy. In addition, emotion regulation mediated the links attachment shared with both empathy and guilt, such that higher levels of attachment security were linked with greater levels of emotion regulation, which led to greater levels of empathy and guilt. Alternatively, negative emotionality mediated the links attachment shared with both forgiveness and jealousy, such that higher levels of attachment security were associated with lower levels of negative emotionality, which in turn was linked to lower levels of forgiveness and higher levels of jealousy. This study provides a general picture of how attachment security may play a role in shaping an individual's levels of social emotions.     

Adult Attachment Styles and Psychological Disease: Examining the Mediating Role of Personality Traits

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in anxiety and depression related to differences in attachment models of the self and of others and whether personality traits mediate this relationship. The authors assessed attachment styles, anxiety, depression, and personality traits among 274 adult volunteers. Participants were classified into 4 attachment groups (secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing–avoidant) according to K. Bartholomew's (1990) Bartholomew, K. 1990. Avoidance of intimacy: An attachment perspective. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7: 147–178. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] model. The present authors found significant differences among attachment groups on anxiety and depressive symptoms with attachment styles involving a negative self-model showing higher scores than attachment styles characterized by a positive self-model. The authors also found that differences between attachment styles in anxiety and depression remained significant when personality factors related to attachment prototypes were entered as covariates. Results indicate that secure attachment in adults was associated with better mental health, while insecure attachment styles characterized by negative thinking about the self were associated with higher depression and anxiety scores. Our findings seem to evidence that attachment and personality are only partly overlapping and that attachment cannot be considered as redundant with personality in the explanation of psychological disease.     

The Place of Purpose in Life in Women’s Positive Aging

Purpose in life is an orientation associated with energy, effectiveness, and optimism. A general trend is for purpose to decline in the later years, with unclear implications for positive aging. This article, however, takes a new approach to exploring the role of purpose. Using data from the Mills Study, a 55-year study of women’s adult development, we examine four sharp patterns of change in purpose on Ryff’s scale (1995 Ryff, C. D. (1995). Psychological well-being in adult life. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 99–104. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.ep10772395[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) between ages 61 and 70: high at both times, low at both times, and changes from high to low or low to high. Guiding ideas are advanced about each kind of change and findings examined for each group. Looking at individual women's lives since childhood provides illustrative examples of each pattern. These lives show the impact of depression, inner resources, personality traits (especially Conscientiousness), attachment (secure and avoidant/dismissive styles), life situations (e.g., retirement), and events (e.g., early parental loss or widowhood), and of a motivation in one's 60s to grow or to transform regrets. Women differed in how traditional their lives were and in how much they associated purposiveness and goal attainment with life satisfaction. Implications for therapists include both helping women find the energy and commitment associated with purpose in life, and helping them value more process-oriented experiences such as appreciation, wonder, connection, and relationship. Emphasis on appreciation may become more common as women age. Positive aging is manifested in these ways, but also in acceptance and the courageous and steadfast coping with painful situations.     

Associations Between Attachment Narratives and Self-Report Measures of Attachment in Middle Childhood: Extending Evidence for the Validity of the Child Attachment Interview

The assessment of attachment security in infancy and adulthood is well-studied, but middle childhood has been relatively neglected in the literature. The Child Attachment Interview (CAI) represents a promising assessment of attachment in middle childhood; recent evidence supports its reliability and validity in restricted samples. We assessed the construct validity of the CAI among a diverse sample of 104 8–12 year-old children (M _age  = 9.80 years; 50 boys; 49 % family income <$40,000; 38 % Latino/a). We evaluated associations among CAI variables and self-report measures of attachment (convergent validity). Further, we evaluated whether CAI variables uniquely relate to theoretically-relevant constructs (internalizing symptoms) above and beyond self-reported attachment (incremental validity) and a theoretically-distinct construct, child temperament (discriminant validity). Our findings support the CAI’s validity, and have important implications for assessing and understanding attachment processes in middle childhood, as well as their development across the lifespan.     

The Friends and Family Interview: Measurement invariance across Belgium and Romania

The Friends and Family Interview (FFI; Steele & Steele, 2005 Steele, H. and Steele, M. 2005. The construct of coherence as an indicator of attachment security in middle childhood: The Friends and Family Interview, New York, NY: Guilford Press.  [Google Scholar]), a semi-structured interview assessing attachment representations, is used in the context of an international research project. In the current study, the first step in the validation process of the FFI was to check whether this instrument measures coherence in the same way across countries. Coherence in attachment narratives is a central marker of secure and organized attachment representations in childhood and adulthood. Analysis were conducted on the data from Belgian (n = 35) and Romanian (n = 43) adopted adolescents and revealed that the FFI coherence is similar across the two samples. Correlations between coherence and attachment categories were also computed, confirming the relation between both these variables. Empirical implications of these analyses on the FFI are discussed.     

Religion and Health: Anxiety,Religiosity, Meaning of Life and Mental Health

We examined the association among anxiety, religiosity, meaning of life and mental health in a nonclinical sample from a Chinese society. Four hundred fifty-one Taiwanese adults (150 males and 300 females) ranging in age from 17 to 73 years (M = 28.9, SD = 11.53) completed measures of Beck Anxiety Inventory, Medical Outcomes Study Health Survey, Perceived Stress Scale, Social Support Scale, and Personal Religiosity Scale (measuring religiosity and meaning of life). Meaning of life has a significant negative correlation with anxiety and a significant positive correlation with mental health and religiosity; however, religiosity does not correlate significantly anxiety and mental health after controlling for demographic measures, social support and physical health. Anxiety explains unique variance in mental health above meaning of life. Meaning of life was found to partially mediate the relationship between anxiety and mental health. These findings suggest that benefits of meaning of life for mental health can be at least partially accounted for by the effects of underlying anxiety.     

Applicant Personality and Procedural Justice Perceptions of Group Selection Interviews

Purpose

We investigated how job applicants’ personalities influence perceptions of the structural and social procedural justice of group selection interviews (i.e., a group of several applicants being evaluated simultaneously). We especially addressed trait interactions between neuroticism and extraversion (the affective plane) and extraversion and agreeableness (the interpersonal plane).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data on personality (pre-interview) and justice perceptions (post-interview) were collected in a field study among job applicants (N = 97) attending group selection interviews for positions as teachers in a Norwegian high school.

Findings

Interaction effects in hierarchical regression analyses showed that perceptions of social and structural justice increased with levels of extraversion among high scorers on neuroticism. Among emotionally stable applicants, however, being introverted or extraverted did not matter to justice perceptions. Extraversion did not impact on the perception of social justice for applicants low in agreeableness. Agreeable applicants, however, experienced the group interview as more socially fair when they were also extraverted.

Implications

The impact of applicant personality on justice perceptions may be underestimated if traits interactions are not considered. Procedural fairness ratings for the group selection interview were high, contrary to the negative reactions predicted by other researchers. There was no indication that applicants with desirable traits (i.e., traits predictive of job performance) reacted negatively to this selection tool.

Originality/Value

Despite the widespread use of interviews in selection, previous studies of applicant personality and fairness reactions have not included interviews. The study demonstrates the importance of previously ignored trait interactions in understanding applicant reactions.

     

Differentiation of Self and Attachment in Adulthood: Relational Correlates of Effortful Control

This study tested relations between differentiation of self, adult attachment, and effortful control in a sample of 225 adults. Results indicated that adult differentiation of self uniquely predicted greater effortful control, after accounting for variance due to attachment security. Greater ability to take I positions in relationships, along with lower emotional reactivity (ER) and attachment anxiety, were unique predictors of effortful control. Significant relationships emerged between dimensions of attachment and differentiation of self, with strongest associations observed between attachment avoidance and emotional cutoff (r = –.78), and attachment anxiety and ER (r = –.60).     

Attachment Quality And Depression In Iranian Adolescents

This study investigated the relationship of quality of adolescent’s attachment to mother, father, and peers with depression. 785 high school students (49.7 % male and 50.3 % female) aged between 15 and 17 years completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) as well as the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). In case of boys the results showed that their attachment to mother, father, and peers were meaningful predictors of depression during adolescence. Similar trend was noted for girls. Attachment to mother across both genders accounted for greater variance in depression in comparison to attachment to father and/or attachment to peers. Cultural implications are addressed.