How Does Self-Complexity of Identity Moderate the Relationship between Strain and Crime?

Studies are inconclusive as to which characteristics exacerbate or inhibit criminal reactions to strain. This study examines how self-complexity of identity conditions the relationship between strain and crime. Those who are lower in self-complexity, or those with few overlapping identities, should be more likely to respond to strain with crime than those who are higher in self-complexity. This proposition was tested through analyzing a cross-sectional survey of 357 undergraduates at a Southeastern university. Strong support was found for the conditioning effect of self-complexity on serious crime while partial support was found for this effect on property crime.     

Does Conscientiousness Moderate the Relationship Between Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Performance Appraisal and Rating Behavior?

Attitudes, beliefs, and orientations of 253 managers toward performance appraisal, along with the personality dimension conscientiousness, were used to predict rating behavior (i.e., mean ratings and measures of performance dimensions discrimination and ratee discrimination). As predicted, relationships between rater attitudes and rating behavior were moderated by conscientiousness; correlations between the attitudes and rating behavior were strongest for raters who were relatively low on conscientiousness.     

Do Partner Attachment Behaviors Moderate Avoidant Conflict-Resolution Styles and Relationship Self-Regulation?

ABSTRACT

Relationship self-regulation refers to the “work” partners put in to keep their relationships healthy. Past relationship self-regulation research has not taken into account distal variables that may affect it, such as respondents’ own and parental avoidant couple conflict-resolution styles. Using data from 4,456 people in their first marriages who completed the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE) (Busby, Holman, & Taniguchi, 2001 Busby, D. M., Holman, T. B., & Taniguchi, N. (2001). Relate: Relationship evaluation of the individual, family, cultural, and couple contexts. Family Relations, 50, 308–316.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the current study found a positive correlation between parents’ couple avoidant conflict-resolution style and respondents’ avoidant couple conflict-resolution style. Respondents’ avoidant couple conflict-resolution style was also negatively correlated with relationship self-regulation. Perception of partners’ secure attachment behaviors, however, had a significant strong relationship with respondents’ ability to do relationship self-regulation.     

Characteristics of Athletes’ Approach to the Question of Physical Health and Health Behaviors: Do Athletes Lead Healthy Lifestyles?

Athletes are people for whom physical health is a key value. Health promoting behaviors are an integral part of athletes’ success. The aim of this article is to identify health criteria and health-related behaviors among athletes and their determinants in terms of temperament and personality features. The concept of healthy lifestyle as understood by athletes and their most important health criteria were defined. Neuroticism and extraversion correlated with and were significant predictors of health behaviors; there were no significant relationships between health-promoting behaviors and temperament. Four groups of athletes, each characterized by a different approach to health, were identified. These groups were described with respect to various personality and temperamental determinants. Knowledge about the above-mentioned aspects of athletes’ performance can assist sport psychologists in providing athletes with more personalized support.     

How Do Athletic Status and Disability Status Affect the Five-Factor Model of Personality?

This article addresses the issue of whether athletic status and disability status affect the Big Five personality dimensions (Surgency, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect/Openness to Experience). Scores were compared between groups of athletes and nonathletes who either did or did not have disabilities. Individuals with disabilities had higher scores for Emotional Stability and Conscien- tiousness and lower scores for Extraversion than did fully able respondents. Athletic status did not affect scores, although the time of onset of impairment had significant effects on scale scores. The personality model's internal psychometric properties (reliabilities, means, variances, correlational structure) among people with disabilities did not differ appreciably from fully able respondents. Implications are discussed.     

Do Personal Dispositions Affect the Relationship Between Psychosocial Working Conditions and Workplace Bullying?

There is scarce research on the interaction between psychosocial working conditions and being a target of workplace bullying with individual characteristics as a moderator. We therefore examined 3,363 employees from 60 Danish workplaces to test whether sense of coherence moderates the relationship between the job demand-control model and bullying. This work is exploratory in nature, as no previous study to assess this moderation was found. Hierarchical linear regressions showed that demand-control model was significantly associated with bullying. Sense of coherence displayed a significant though practically negligible moderating effect. This suggests that negative psychosocial working conditions are associated with bullying independently of personal characteristics, at least in terms of sense of coherence.     

The Parent–Child Relationship as an Archetype for the Relationship Between God and Humanity in Genesis

This article explores the idea that the relationship between a parent and developing child may serve as an archetype for understanding the changing relationship between God and humanity in Genesis. With Adam, Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph representing successive stages of human development, the narrative structure of Genesis is said to portray the relationship between God and humanity as changing in a way that parallels a parent's changing relationship with his or her children across their growth toward psychological integration. This changing relationship with God, which starts out with a symbiotic union with the divine, progresses through separation and individuation, and culminates in reintegration with God, may offer a Biblical approach to psychological growth and healing, as well as a theoretical conceptualization for both the parental and mutable nature of God.     

Is Laughter the Best Medicine? Humor, Laughter, and Physical Health

This article examines research evidence for the popular idea that humor and laughter have beneficial effects on physical health. Potential theoretical mechanisms for such effects are discussed first. Empirical evidence for beneficial effects of humor and laughter on immunity, pain tolerance, blood pressure, longevity, and illness symptoms is then summarized. Overall, the evidence for health benefits of humor and laughter is less conclusive than commonly believed. Future research in this area needs to be more theoretically driven and methodologically rigorous.     

Do Gender and Age Moderate the Relationship between Friendship Quality and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Community Children and Adolescents?

In the present study, we investigated the relationship between friendship quality (dimensions) and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) as well as the moderating role of gender and age in this relationship. The sample consisted of 463 children and adolescents (50.10% female, age range: 9–17 years). Friendship quality and NSSI were measured using the Friendship Qualities Scale (FQS; Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1994) and the Self Harm Inventory (SHI; Sansone, Wiederman, & Sansone, 1998), respectively. Overall, total friendship quality and NSSI were significantly and negatively related. Additionally, the relationship between total friendship quality and NSSI was moderated by gender and age. Specifically, girls with low friendship quality reported more NSSI; whereas for boys an opposite effect was found. As for age, friendship quality and NSSI were positively related in older participants. In younger participants, a relationship between friendship quality and NSSI seemed rather absent. This study highlights the important association between friendship quality and NSSI, as well as gender- and age-related differences in this association, which should be taken into account in the prevention and treatment of NSSI.     

Socioeconomic Status and Health: What is the role of Reserve Capacity?

ABSTRACT— A robust, linear association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health has been identified across many populations and health outcomes. This relationship is typically monotonic, so that each step down the SES hierarchy brings increased vulnerability to disease and premature mortality. Despite growing attention to health disparities, scientists and policymakers have made little progress toward confronting their causes and implementing effective solutions. Using the reserve capacity model ( Gallo & Matthews, 2003 ) as an organizing framework, the current article examines the contribution of resilient psychosocial resources to socioeconomic disparities in physical health. Findings suggest that deficient psychosocial resources, such as low perceptions of control and social support, may be one of many factors that connect low SES with poor health. Additional research is needed to test these relationships and their underlying mechanisms, to consider interventions to enhance reserve capacity, and to evaluate the efficacy of such efforts in fostering resilience to socioeconomic hardship.     

What Mediates the Relationship Between Religious Service Attendance and Aspects of Well-Being?

Religious service attendance predicts increased well-being across a number of studies. It is not clear, however, whether this relationship is due to religious factors such as intrinsic religiosity or due to nonreligious factors such as social support or socially desirable responding. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between religious service attendance and well-being while simultaneously examining intrinsic religiosity, social support, and socially desirable responding as potential mediators of the relationship. A sample of 855 participants (71 % female, average age 19.5) completed questionnaires assessing religiosity, social support, socially desirable responding, and well-being. Path models were estimated using maximum likelihood estimation to analyze the data. Intrinsic religiosity was the strongest mediator of the relationship between religious service attendance and depressive and anxiety symptoms. This suggests that the mental health benefits of religious service attendance are not simply the result of increased social support or a certain response style on questionnaires; rather, it appears that the relationship is at least partly the result of people trying to live their religion in their daily lives.     

Effects of Socioeconomic Status,Parental Stress,and Family Support on Children’s Physical and Emotional Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal of Child and Family Studies - In the current study, we conduct an exploratory study on children’s emotional and physical health in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The direct and...     

Do We Know Where We Stand? Neighborhood Relative Income,Subjective Social Status,and Health

Bridging research on relative income and subjective social status (SSS), this study examines how neighborhood relative income is related to ones' SSS, and in turn, physical and mental health. Using a survey sample of 1807 U.S. adults, we find that neighborhood median income significantly moderates the relationship between household income and self‐reported physical and mental health. Low‐income individuals living in high‐income neighborhoods (i.e., relative disadvantage) report better physical and mental health than low‐income individuals living in low‐income neighborhoods. In addition, high‐income individuals living in low‐income neighborhoods (i.e., relative advantage) report higher SSS (relative to neighbors), whereas low‐income individuals living in high‐income neighborhoods (i.e., relative disadvantage) also report higher SSS. We draw from social comparison theory to interpret these results positing that downward comparisons may serve an evaluative function while upward comparisons may result in affiliation with better‐off others. Finally, we demonstrate that SSS explains the relationship between neighborhood relative income and health outcomes, providing empirical support for the underlying influence of perceived social position.     

Stressed and Happy? Investigating the Relationship Between Happiness and Perceived Stress

Developing interventions to increase happiness is a major focus of the emerging field of positive psychology. Common beliefs about the need to reduce stress to obtain happiness suggest that stress management activities should be included in these interventions. However, the research on the relationship between positive and negative affect is equivocal. Theoretically, they are conceptualized as independent dimensions, but research has often found an inverse relationship between happiness and stress. In addition, the research generally attempts to assess stress objectively rather than in terms of the cognitive appraisal process. The current study examines the relationship between perceived stress and happiness among 100 college students to determine if the same inverse relationship exists. Linear correlations between happiness and perceived stress were significant indicating that there was an inverse relationship between these variables. The discussion focuses on several factors that might help to explain the observed relationship.     

A Great Many Things to Do and Not a Minute to Spare: Can Feedback From Supervisors Moderate the Relationship Between Skill Variety,Time Pressure,and Employees' Innovative Behavior?

Workplace changes necessitate employees' innovative behavior. Developing and implementing new ideas can be enhanced by focusing on situational characteristics and adjusting them to improve employees' working conditions. To date, mostly interactions between situational and personal characteristics on innovative behavior have been researched. This study focused explicitly on the interaction between 3 situational characteristics: time pressure, skill variety, and feedback from supervisors. A questionnaire study was administered to 81 employees (age range 40–64 years) from different organizations. Results indicated direct positive correlations between time pressure and skill variety with idea generation and implementation. Feedback from supervisors moderated the positive relationships while controlling for effects of creative thinking abilities. Implications are explored.     

What Are the Costs of Marital Conflict and Dissolution to Children's Physical Health?

Do parental marital conflict and dissolution influence the risk trajectory of children's physical health risk? This paper reviews evidence addressing this question in the context of understanding how early environmental adversities may trigger a succession of risks that lead to poor health in childhood and greater risk for chronic health problems in adulthood. We first review existing evidence linking marital conflict and dissolution to offspring's physical health outcomes. Next, we provide evidence supporting biopsychosocial pathways that may link marital conflict and dissolution with accelerated health risk trajectories across the lifespan. Specifically, we posit that consequential to the stresses associated with marital conflict and disruption, parenting practices are compromised, leading to offspring deficits in affective, behavioral, and cognitive domains. These deficits, in turn, are hypothesized to increase health risk through poor health behaviors and by altering physiological stress-response systems, including neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and neurotransmitter functioning. On the basis of the available direct evidence and theoretically plausible pathways, it appears that there is a cost of marital conflict and disruption to children's health; however, more comprehensive investigations are needed to further elucidate this relationship. In the final section, we address limitations in the current literature and identify research that is needed to better evaluate the association between marital conflict and dissolution and children's physical health.     

Does Conscientiousness Explain the Relationship Between Integrity and Job Performance?

There is a meta-analytic evidence that scores on integrity tests are related to measures of overall job performance, but it is not clear why this relationship exists. One hypothesis that would account for this correlation is that both integrity and performance measures are related to the personality trait conscientiousness, and that statistically controlling for conscientiousness would substantially reduce the integrity-performance correlation. To test this hypothesis, we used the results of three meta-analyses to estimate the components needed to calculate the partial correlation between integrity and performance, controlling for conscientiousness. Partialling had little effect; the best estimate of the corrected zero-order and partial correlations between integrity and performance were 0.34 and 0.28, respectively. Sensitivity analyses suggest that imprecision in the estimates of the various components of this partial correlation cannot reasonably explain the small effects of partialling.