Effects of personal meaning among patients in primary and specialized care: associations with psychosocial and physical outcomes

Personal meaning is thought to serve as an important resource among individuals adapting to the demands of illness. However, some work in this area has been marked by vague conceptualization, or use of assessment instruments that are confounded by well-being. This investigation evaluated relationships between psychosocial and physical outcomes and one theoretically important dimension of attained global meaning - perceptions of life purpose and commitment. Study 1 evaluated 175 patients followed in a primary care gynaecological practice. Study 2 assessed 104 cancer patients in a specialized stem cell transplantation centre. In both samples, personal meaning was concurrently associated with reduced emotional distress, enhanced coping efficacy, and closer intimate relationships, after controlling for social desirability bias and relevant demographic and medical covariates. Associations with lower distress and improved coping efficacy remained significant after additionally controlling for other psychosocial resource variables (i.e. social support, religiousness, emotional control). Personal meaning appears to be independently related to concurrent psychosocial adjustment in a range of medical settings.     

Self-Concept and School Adjustment

This study attempted to relate self-concept to several dimensions of the child's experience that are deemed fundamental to effective academic adjustment. It was hypothesized that a child's conception of school would be related to his conception of himself, and thus might be construed as an extension of his self-concept. 80 6th-grade students were used as subjects for all phases of the investigation. Significantly positive correlations were obtained between self-concept measures and the following variables: conception of school, social status at school, emotional adjustment, mental ability, reading achievement, and mathematical achievement.     

Self-concept and psychosocial adjustment in adolescence

This study analyses the relationship between a multidimensional measure of self-concept, Self-concept Form-5 Questionnaire (AF5), and a broad set of adolescents' psychosocial adjustment indicators. From the responses of 1,281 participants (53.7% females) aged 12 to 17 years ( M = 14.98 years, SD = 1.74 years), results indicated that higher self-concept scores corresponded to better psychological adjustment, good personal skills and fewer behavioral problems. Although a positive relationship between social self-concept and drug use was found, this significant relationship disappeared once the adolescent's age and sex was controlled for. These results support the idea that the self-concept is a basic theoretical construct closely related to the psychosocial adjustment in adolescence. Also this study helps explain some contradictory results reported in the literature (i.e., a positive relationship between social self-concept and drug use), by showing how the statistical control of a third variable effect (i.e., age) avoids reaching conclusions based on spurious relationships.     

Emotional adjustment in victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying and traditional bullying

Given the rise in cyberbullying among secondary education students and the importance of certain psychological adjustment variables for the comprehension of this type of violent behavior, both in bullies and in victims, the purpose of the present study was to analyse the emotional adjustment of those involved in cyber- and traditional bullying. The adjustment variables studied were self-concept, perceived stress, loneliness, depressive symptomatology, social anxiety, life satisfaction, and emotional intelligence. Using a sample of 1318 adolescents (47% boys), aged between 11 and 17 years, four groups were established to compare victims and cybervictims (uninvolved students, traditional victims, cybervictims, and traditional–cybervictims). The analysis of variance showed that students who performed the same role (bully or victim) in both contexts (at school and online). In particular, those who suffered traditional or cyberbullying or both conjointly presented lower scores in physical and social self-concept, life satisfaction, emotional clarity, and emotion regulation, as well as higher scores in perceived stress, loneliness, depression, and social anxiety. In bullies—traditional, cyberbullying or both simultaneously—higher scores were observed in perceived stress, loneliness, depressive symptomatology, fear of negative assessment, avoidance, and general social anxiety, and lower scores in the dimensions of academic and family self-concept, life satisfaction, emotional clarity, and emotion regulation. In general, the findings indicate that students who were involved in bullying situations, both victims and bullies, presented more damaged emotional profiles than those who are uninvolved, especially students who performed the same role (bully or victim) in both contexts (at school and online).

     

Self-knowledge and social desirability of personality traits

Research into the self-concept has shown that self-knowledge is affected by factors such as trait desirability, trait vagueness, and self-variability. Among these, social desirability appears to play a prominent role. In a multidimensional view of the self, however, several studies indicate that in special conditions people show adequate self-knowledge in specific personality dimensions. The present study tests this with respect to extraversion and anxiety predisposition on a sample of 160 late adolescents. The main results confirm the prominent influence of social desirability, but they also provide support for the hypothesis of the specificity of self-perception. Despite a common pattern, the effects of desirability appeared, to some extent, to be less strong for anxiety than for extraversion. Several possible interpretations of this finding are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Performance Among College Basketball Players

This study explored the nature of the relationship between muscle dysmorphia symptoms and self-concept as well as negative affect variables. Female (n = 183) and male (n = 103) college students completed a packet of questionnaires. Data were analyzed using canonical correlation analyses and revealed significant relationships between the sets of variables. Specifically, the variance explained by muscle dysmorphia symptoms in self-concept and negative affect variables was greater than the variance explained in muscle dysmorphia symptoms by self-concept and negative affect. Perceived body attractiveness and social physique anxiety were the individual variables that predominantly contributed to the multivariate relationships.     

Warning Against Faking on a Personality Test: Effects on Applicant Reactions and Personality Test Scores

To reduce faking on personality tests, applicants may be warned that a social desirability scale is embedded in the test. Although this procedure has been shown to substantially reduce faking, there is no data that addresses how such a warning may influence applicant reactions toward the selection procedure or the relationships among personality constructs. Using an organizational justice framework, this study examines the effect of warning on procedural justice perceptions. Additionally, the extent to which warning changes the relationships among personality variables, socially desirable responding, and organizational justice variables, was explored. The results suggest that warning did not negatively affect test‐taker reactions. However, the relationships among the justice measures and the personality variables and socially desirable responding differed across the warned and unwarned groups. The organizational justice model fit best and there was less multicollinearity among the personality variables in the warned condition, compared to the unwarned condition. Thus, providing a warning appears to have positive consequences when using personality measures.     

The structure of the self-concept and its relation to psychological adjustment

Research on the relation between the structure of the self-concept and psychological adjustment has produced seemingly inconsistent findings. Some research suggests that greater pluralism in self-concept structure enhances adjustment, whereas other research suggests that greater unity in the structure enhances adjustment. Four studies examined the relations among measures of self-concept structure and their relations with adjustment. The measures of self-concept structure included two that we viewed as reflecting self-concept pluralism (self-complexity and self-concept compartmentalization) and four that we viewed as reflecting self-concept unity (self-concept differentiation, self-concept clarity, self-discrepancies, and the average correlation among participants' self-aspects). The measures of self-concept pluralism were unrelated to one another, were unrelated to the measures of self-concept unity, and were unrelated to the measures of adjustment. The measures of self-concept unity were moderately related to one another and were moderately related to the measures of adjustment.     

Comparison of self-concept of nonobese and obese university junior female nursing students

Obesity appears to be one of today's most common health problems. Its incidence has doubled in the past 75 years (Waxler & Leef, 1969), and it is estimated that 45 million Americans are obese (body weight 15% over ideal weight). There also seems to be preoccupation with dieting, as evidenced by the proliferation of weight-control devices and schemes. It has been noted that depression, distorted body image, problems in peer and family relations, and poor school performance are evident among the obese (Bowers, Faulkner, & Michel, 1979). The literature is replete with evidence of body image distortion in obesity. Among the factors contributing to this distortion are age of onset, presence of emotional disturbance, and negative evaluation of the obese person by significant others (Wineman, 1980). Since body image is an important concept, perhaps movement can be made to other areas of self-concept, such as family, social, identity, and personal conceptions of selfhood. The purpose of this study is to provide information about the total self-concept of obese students as compared to nonobese students in a junior nursing class. A determination is made of the relationships between self-concept and variables of obesity, age of onset, and social class. Implications for nursing care are described.     

Patterns of Cultural Adjustment Among Young Migrants to Australia

In response to appeals for empirical data on culture-specific differences and developmental pathways of acculturative stress among young migrants and refugees, the present study examines the cultural adjustment patterns of ethnically diverse migrants to Australia. Two hundred and seventy three primary and high school students (comprised of former-Yugoslavian and Chinese cultural groups) participated in this investigation. Participants completed self-report measures of acculturation, internalising symptoms, social support, self-concept/esteem, ethnic identity, and future outlook, and were compared by gender, school level, cultural group, heterorganic ethnicity, and residential duration variables. The main findings from this study indicate: (1) patterns of cultural adjustment differ for children and adolescents according to cultural background, gender, age, and length of stay in the host culture; (2) former-Yugoslavian migrants generally report greater identification and involvement with Australian cultural norms than Chinese migrant youth; and (3) the divergent variables social support and bicultural adjustment are not universally paired with acculturative stress, as previously indicated in other adult migrant and acculturation studies. Specific cross-cultural trends and differences are discussed.     

The impact of social desirability on psychometric measures of aggression

Although many studies have focused on the effects of social desirability in personality measures, few have analysed its effects on such highly undesirable behaviour as aggressiveness. The present study analyzes the impact of social desirability on measures of direct and indirect aggression and on the relationships between both kinds of aggression with impulsivity, using a method that enables the content factors of the measures to be isolated from social desirability. Results showed that aggression measures are highly affected by social desirability and that the relationships between the two forms of aggression and impulsivity are due to the content measured by the tests and not to a common social desirability factor.     

The link between religion and spirituality and psychological adjustment: the mediating role of optimism and social support

Although optimism, social support, religiousness, and spirituality are important predictors of adjustment, rarely have studies examined these variables simultaneously. This study investigated whether optimism and social support mediated the relationship between religiousness and adjustment (distress and life satisfaction) and between spirituality and adjustment. Findings indicate that the relationship between intrinsic religiousness and life satisfaction and between prayer fulfillment and life satisfaction was mediated by optimism and social support. Furthermore, the relationship between religiousness and adjustment varied depending on how religiousness was operationalized and whether positive versus negative adjustment indicators were used. That is, intrinsic religiousness and prayer fulfillment were associated with greater life satisfaction, but extrinsic religiousness was not associated with life satisfaction. These findings were significant even after accounting for covariates (age, gender, ethnicity, social desirability). Results suggest religiousness and spirituality are related but distinct constructs and are associated with adjustment through factors such as social support and optimism.     

Quality of Relationship with Parents and Emotional Autonomy as Predictors of Self Concept and Loneliness in Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: The Moderating Role of the Relationship with Teachers

The present study aims to investigate the impact of family-level variables (emotional autonomy and the quality of the parents-adolescent relationship) on socio-emotional adjustment (loneliness and self-esteem) in adolescents with learning disabilities (LDs) and the role of the quality of the teacher-adolescent relationship in moderating the effects of these impacts. The participants are 293 typically developing adolescents (TD group) and 50 adolescents with learning disabilities (LD group), aged between 13 and 20. The following measures were administered: the Emotional Autonomy Scale (EAS), the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA), the Assessment of Interpersonal Relations (AIR), and the Multidimensional Self Concept Scale (MSCS). The data showed that adolescents with LDs display significantly higher levels of peer-related loneliness, and lower levels of self-concept and perceived quality of relationships with parents and teachers. No significant differences emerged between the groups in emotional autonomy and in parent-related loneliness. Path analysis indicated that, in adolescents with LDs, emotional autonomy was more closely related to self-concept than in typically developing adolescents. A positive teacher-adolescent relationship could have a moderating effect on the relationships between the dimension considered only in the LD group. The findings have important implications for the implementation of intervention programs focused on social and emotional competences in young people with LDs.     

Narcissism, Self-Esteem, and Defensive Self-Enhancement

This study investigates the relationships among narcissism, self-esteem, and defensive self-enhancement in samples of 60, 84, 300, and 57 subjects. Using various self-report indices of these constructs we found that (a) defensive self-enhancement is composed of two orthogonal components: grandiosity and social desirability; (b) grandiosity and social desirability independently predict self-esteem and may represent distinct confounds in the measurement of self-esteem, (c) narcissism is positively related to grandiose self-enhancement (as opposed to social desirability), (d) narcissism is positively associated with both defensive and nondefensive self-esteem, and (e) authority, self-sufficiency, and vanity are the narcissistic elements most indicative of nondefensive self-esteem. The results are consistent with several theories that postulate a two-component model for self-esteem regulation and personality development.     

Organization Personality Perceptions and Attraction: The role of social identity consciousness

The current study explores the theory of symbolic attraction. The theory suggests that social identity consciousness moderates the relationship between symbolic inferences between organizations and attraction to those organizations. The study explored the two dimensions of social identity consciousness (i.e., social adjustment concern and value expression concern) as moderators of the relationship between organization personality perceptions (i.e., boy scout, innovativeness, dominance, style, and thrift) and organization attraction. The results of the study suggest that value expression concern moderates the relationships between boy scout, innovativeness, style, and thrift perceptions and attraction such that the relationships between these variables are stronger among those high on value expression concern. There was no support for social adjustment concern as a moderator of these relationships.     

Family adjustment,parental attitudes,and social desirability

This study examines the role of social desirability response set on the report of marital adjustment, child adjustment, and parenting attitudes. Results from 69 married couples closely replicate previous self-report findings suggesting that the more positive the report of marital adjustment, the fewer the number of child problem behaviors endorsed by parents (r = -.19(69), p less than .05). When social desirability is controlled, however, the marital-child adjustment relationship is nonsignificant. Previous reports of a global relationship between marital and child adjustment may have been inflated by individual differences in willingness to endorse problems on self-report measures. Parenting attitudes are not associated with social desirability or marital adjustment. Warmth, but not authoritarianism, is negatively correlated with child behavior problems in the home (r = -.25(69), p less than .01). The authors propose that family interaction research use a multimethod strategy to focus on circumscribed variables that influence marital and parenting behavior.     

Relationships between self-concept and achievement

This study is based on a multifaceted and hierarchical model of self-concept and explores the relationships between the various facets of self-concept and academic achievement. The model of self-concept has general self-concept at the apex, then academic self-concept, presentation of self, and social self-concept. There are 7 third-order factors: achievement, ability, and classroom self-concepts (academic), physical self-concepts (social). Further, there are four specific-subject and peer and family self-concepts (social). Further, there are four specific-subject self-concepts. The argument proposed in this study is that the relations between achievement and the facets of academic self-concept are greater than the relations between achievement and presentation of self and social self-concept. This argument is not rejected. Adolescents consistently evaluate themselves across various academic subjects, but there are no relationships between achievement and other aspects of the self.     

Empathy in children aged 10 to 12 years

The objectives of this research were: 1) to determine whether there were differences in empathy according to gender; 2) to analyze the relationships between empathy and social behaviour, self-concept, emotional stability, social interaction strategies, capacity to analyze emotions, intelligence, and creativity; and 3) to identify predicting variables of empathy. The sample consisted of 139 participants aged 10 to 12 years. ANOVA results showed gender differences in empathy, with significantly higher scores in females. Pearson coefficients suggest that participants with high empathy showed many positive social behaviours (prosocial, assertive, consideration, self-control, leadership), few negative social behaviors (passive, aggressive, antisocial, withdrawal) and many assertive strategies of social interaction; that they were named as prosocial classmates; and that they had high self-concept, high capacity to analyze negative emotions, high emotional stability and many behaviors and traits of creative personality. Multiple regression analyses permitted identification of the following predicting variables of empathy: high level of prosocial behaviour, low level of aggressive behaviour and high self-concept.     

Effects of social networks on cross-cultural adjustment

A total of 221 responses were obtained from a survey of international students in Japan, regarding the facilitative effects of social network formation on their adjustment. Regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationships among four types of adjustment revealed in a preceding study (“general adjustment,”“self-control,”“affiliative” and “dependent”), network size, demographic variables, expected social support, etc. For each adjustment type, predictive variables were identified. Two of the variables that showed network effects on adjustment were Japanese language proficiency and race (Asians vs. Westerners). From these results, it would appear that social network formation does facilitate adjustment, and insight into the effect of adjustment type and demographic variables on network functions was obtained. Furthermore, the actual conditions regarding network formation of international students in Japan were revealed.