Examining the Relation Between Visual Imagery and Spatial Ability Tests

Research evidence indicates that self-report imagery ability is psychometrically distinct from objective, spatial test measures. One hypothesis put forward in the literature to explain this finding is that the nature of the stimulus is important. The aim of this article was to examine the relation between spatial abilities and measures of visual imagery obtained using different types of stimulus material. The main finding was that imagery tasks that required the mental synthesis or transformation of visual forms, such as alphanumeric characters and simple geometric shapes, correlated strongly with tests of spatial ability. In contrast, images of familiar items retrieved from long-term memory did not correlate with spatial test performance. It is argued that tasks that better control the stimuli imagined and the standards used to rate the quality of the image provide more objective measures of imagery ability. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Relationship between Imagery Ability and Imagery Use among Athletes

The present study aimed to provide a better understanding of the relationship between imagery ability and imagery use. Athletes completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire—Revised Second Version, the Motivational Imagery Ability Measure for Sport, and the Sport Imagery Questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that imagery ability explained 20 to 41% of the variance in the use of the functions of imagery. Visual and kinesthetic imagery ability predicted cognitive specific imagery use; motivational general-mastery and motivational general-arousal imagery ability predicted the use of the motivational general functions of imagery. To assess imagery ability multiple methods of assessment must be used.     

Examining Spouse/Partner Presence as a Moderator in the Relationship Between Mental Health Symptoms and Alcohol Use in OEF/OIF Veterans

Veterans from the conflicts in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom; OEF) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom; OIF) have reported elevated rates of alcohol consumption, and greater depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are associated with increased alcohol use. Presence of a spouse/partner, which has been associated with reduced drinking, may buffer the relationship between mental health symptoms and alcohol consumption. To examine this hypothesis, the current study utilized baseline survey data from OEF/OIF veterans (N = 325) enrolled in a brief alcohol intervention. Spouse/partner presence moderated the relationship between depression symptoms and alcohol consumption such that depression was positively associated with drinking for veterans without a spouse/partner. Exploratory analyses indicated that the relationship between depression and alcohol use may be particularly salient for veterans without a spouse/partner and a lower number of deployments. Spouse/partner presence did not moderate the relationship between PTSD symptoms and alcohol consumption. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Examining the Relationship of Substance Use and Sexual Orientation

In this article we examine the effects of self-reported sexual orientation on substance abuse. Using data on a random sample of 6,713 individuals in Washington State, this study examines causes and correlates of substance use by sexual minorities, an at-risk and treatment underserved population. Logistic regression results indicate homosexual orientation is a significant positive predictor of past year marijuana use, past year hard drug use, past year binge drinking, and lifetime alcohol addiction. Bisexual orientation is a significant predictor of past year marijuana use, past year hard drug use, and past year binge drinking. Potential causal mechanisms for these elevated patterns of substance use are discussed.     

西方表象活动周期理论与中国周易思想的一致性

在表象研究方面,继表象认知理论之后,新近提出的表象活动周期理论对表象的作用进行了深入的研究。它重申表象在问题解决中对目标计划、管理和调控的促进作用;更强调表象活动是一个周而复始的循环动态过程。同时,文章把表象活动周期理论与中国古传统文化周易等思想做了比较,发现两者有某些一致性,在表象研究方面中西方文化将趋于高度融合,其研究成果将为世界范围内的教育改革提供心理学理论依据。     

Examining the Relationship Between Personality and Work Values Across Career Stages

The study examines the strength of association between personality and work values, and their variations across career stages of exploration, establishment, and maintenance. The results showed that the executives in exploration stage were lower on needs of altruism and economic returns as compared to executives from establishment and maintenance stages, but higher on neuroticism and conscientiousness dimensions of personality. Neuroticism negatively predicted creativity and aesthetics; and conscientiousness negatively predicted management. Security was positively predicted by extraversion, but negatively predicted by openness. However, the variance explained was very weak, indicating that these constructs could be independent or unrelated. The implications have been discussed in the study.     

印象管理与心理健康表现之相关

本研究旨在考察中国人印象管理与心理健康表现的相关.研究采用印象管理问卷和一般健康问卷,对某石油国企员工进行调查,发现印象管理程度越高的人,其心理健康程度越差;自我推销和威胁策略与焦虑失眠呈正相关;迎合策略与躯体化症状呈正相关,但和严重抑郁呈负相关;示弱策略与社交障碍呈正相关;做秀策略与心理健康各维度均没有显著相关.结果表明不同的印象管理策略对心理健康有不同的影响.     

Examining the Relationship Between Worry and Sleep: A Daily Process Approach

There is growing evidence suggesting that worry and sleep are intimately linked. However, the relationship between these two phenomena over the course of a day remains largely unstudied. It is possible that (a) worry predicts sleep disturbance that night, (b) sleep disturbance predicts worry the following day, or (c) there is a bidirectional relationship between worry and sleep disturbance. The present study examined the daily relationship between worry (both during the day and immediately prior to sleep onset) and sleep in 50 high trait worriers who were randomly assigned to one of two interventions aimed at reducing worry as part of a larger study. A daily process approach was utilized wherein participants completed daily reports of sleep and worry during a 7-day baseline period followed by a 14-day intervention period. Results of repeated measures multilevel modeling analyses indicated that worry experienced on a particular day predicted increased sleep disturbance that night during both the baseline and intervention weeks. However, there was no evidence of a bidirectional relationship as sleep characteristics did not predict worry the following day. Additionally, the type of intervention that participants engaged in did not affect the daily relationship between worry and sleep. Results of the present study are consistent with the cognitive model of insomnia (Harvey, 2002) and highlight the importance of addressing and treating worry among individuals with high trait worry and sleep disturbance.     

Examining the Relationship Between Gender DIF and Language Complexity in Mathematics Assessments

This study investigated whether the linguistic complexity of items leads to gender differential item functioning (DIF) on mathematics assessments. Two forms of a mathematics test were developed. The first form consisted of algebra items based on mathematical expressions, terms, and equations. In the second form, the same items were written as word problems without changing their contents and solutions. The test forms were given to a sample of 671 sixth-grade students from 10 middle schools in Turkey. The tests were administered to the students with a 4-week interval. Explanatory item response modeling and logistic regression approaches were used to examine gender DIF. Several word problems were flagged as having gender DIF in favor of female examinees, whereas mathematically expressed forms of the same items did not function differently across male and female examinees. The verbal content of word problems seems to influence the way males and females respond to items.     

Examining the Link Between Exercise and Positive Relationship Events in Clinical Couples

This study contributes to the literature on potential interventions couple therapists can use outside therapy for couples. We examine this research question: Are couples that exercise on a given day more likely to experience positive events in their relationship that day? Participants were 33 couples in a treatment-as-usual setting who completed the Daily Diary of Events in Couple Therapy for up to the first 28 days they are in therapy. Multinomial logistic regression showed increased women's daily hours of exercise were significantly associated with an increased report of daily positive events for both men and women. Men's daily hours of exercise were not significantly related to daily positive events reported by either partner.     

Mental Imagery in Counseling

Heightened interest in conscious mind phenomena such as mental imagery has been evident among professionals and lay people in recent years. In this article the author discusses some of the uses of mental imagery techniques in counseling. Special emphasis is given to the potential of mental images in the tapping of creative energy and other positive aspects of the “higher self that may enhance daily living. These uses of mental imagery have significant implications for contemporary counselors.     

时间管理倾向与心理健康关系的相关研究

时间管理倾向是我们在有关理论基础上提出的时间维度上的一种人格特点,指个体在运用时间方式上所表现出来的心理和行为特征。我们对时间管理倾向的有关研究表明,时间管理倾向不但对个人的工作绩效具有预测作用,而且与主观幸福感、自我价值感等人格特质存在显著的正相关,并且时间管理倾向与生活质量存在一定的关系。本研究将继续探讨个体时间管理倾向与其心理健康的关系,并进一步验证我们对时间管理倾向的理论构想。     

Examining the Role of Gender in the Relationship Between Use of Condom-Related Protective Behavioral Strategies when Drinking and Alcohol-Related Sexual Behavior

The present research aimed to examine the relationships among gender, condom-related protective behavior strategies (PBS), and condom use during alcohol-related sexual behavior. Heavy drinking, sexually active U.S. undergraduate college students from a large northwest university (N?=?454; 61.7% female) completed a web-survey that included measures of drinking, sexual behavior, and condom-related PBS. MANOVA findings suggested that males were more likely to use condom-related PBS than females. Negative binomial regression results suggested that use of condom-related PBS by both genders was positively associated with condom use during alcohol-related sexual behavior, but especially for women. These results suggest that condom-related PBS may be useful to incorporate in interventions targeting alcohol-related sexual behavior among heavy drinking college students.     

Examining the Relationship Between Text Processing and Text Comprehension in Fourth Grade Readers

This research investigates the relationship among various processing behaviors and their link to comprehension. Thirty-four students from three fourth-grade classrooms orally read the first chapter of a short story. The reading was followed by an unaided recall and probes by the researcher. Each clause as finally read was evaluated for semantics (acceptable/unacceptable) and maintenance of author's meaning (yes/no). Finally, words read per minute and number of total, corrected, and uncorrected miscues was calculated. The impact of miscues on retelling performance on the clause and story event level was evaluated using nonparametric, parametric, and multivariate analyses. On the clause level, findings indicate that a similar proportion of clauses were recalled irrespective of whether the clause had been read with no miscues, corrected miscues, or uncorrected miscues. There was a significant difference, however, in the proportion of recalled clauses depending on miscue type. Uncorrected semantically unacceptable/meaning disrupting clauses were less likely to be recalled, whereas clauses containing uncorrected miscues that did not change meaning were more likely to be recalled than clauses read with no miscues. On the story level, strong retellings were associated with fewer meaning changing and meaning disrupting miscues and with more corrected miscues and reading speed. Total number of miscues, miscues that did not change meaning, and reading grade level were not significantly associated with strong story retellings. These findings suggest that the concept of accuracy may not be as significant as miscue meaningfulness and that speed is best understood as part of a matrix of behaviors associated with strong comprehension.     

Closeness and Control: Exploring the Relationship Between Prayer and Mental Health

This study explored closeness to God and God‐mediated control as mediators in the relationship between prayer and mental health. The authors tested 3 models for mediation using structural equation modeling to assess the separate and combined effects in an online sample of 330 praying adults from predominantly Christian backgrounds. Although both mediators were relevant when entered separately, closeness to God proved to be a superior mediator when both variables were entered in 1 model. Counselors should consider prayer behaviors when culturally relevant and encourage meditative and colloquial prayer for clients where increased sources of perceived social support would be beneficial.