A Person-Centered Approach to Subjective Well-Being

Rooted in Diener’s (Psychol Bull 95:542–575, 1984) three-component model of subjective well-being (SWB), the present work employed a person-centered approach to studying SWB based on Shmotkin’s (Rev Gen Psychol 9:291–325, 2005) dynamic systems framework. Within-individual configurations of life satisfaction (LS), positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA) were explored using cluster analysis. Five distinct SWB configurations replicated within and across two samples (N = 756 first-year undergraduates; N = 550 community adults). A substantial number of participants reported a profile indicative of “high SWB” (high LS, frequent PA, infrequent NA). Consistent with expectations, these individuals were characterized by elevated mental, physical, and interpersonal functioning. In contrast, people with a “low SWB” profile reported the greatest dysfunction. Across the five clusters, however, adaptive functioning was not unique to individuals reporting a high SWB profile, nor was dysfunction unique to people characterized by a low SWB configuration. Results are discussed in terms of compensation and strain processes hypothesized by Shmotkin (2005). Implications for future research on SWB are considered.

青少年同伴依恋：基于发展的视角

同伴依恋是青少年时期的一项重要的发展任务, 目前测量青少年同伴依恋的工具主要包含IPPA、PIML以及近年来才出现的AFAS量表等。在同伴依恋的影响因素中, 青少年与父母之间的依恋关系以及青少年自身的性别都可以在一定程度上预测其同伴依恋的发展状况, 性向和同伴的性别也会影响青少年对同伴依恋对象的选择, 而年龄与同伴依恋之间的关系尚不明确。此外, 安全的依恋风格预示着青少年较高的同伴关系质量, 而良好的同伴依恋关系还可以促进青少年的社会性发展。未来的研究应该着力于研究方法的改进、研究切入点的变化以及研究方向的多样化。     

Personal and Social Facets of Job Identity: A Person-Centered Approach

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine ego-identity (Erikson, Psychol Issues 1:1–171, 1959; Identity, youth and crisis, Norton, New York, 1968; Marcia, J Pers Soc Psychol 3:551–558, 1966) and social identity (Tajfel and Turner, In: Austin WG, Worchel S (Eds.) The social psychology of intergroup relations. Brooks/Cole, Monterey, pp 33–47 1979; Turner et al., Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Blackwell, Oxford, 1987) theories within the organizational literature. We adopted a person-centered approach to analyze whether employees classified in various identity statuses and identification profiles exhibited differences in job outcomes (i.e., burnout, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors). We also analyzed interconnections among identity statuses and identification profiles.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants were 515 employees (85.4 % women) between 24 and 64 years old. They completed self-reported questionnaires assessing personal identity, social identity, and job outcomes.

Findings

Cluster analysis indicated that participants could be classified into four identity statuses (i.e., achievement, early closure, moratorium, and searching moratorium) and into four identification profiles (i.e., orthogonal combinations of high vs. low organizational and group identification, respectively). Employees classified in the various identity statuses and identification profiles reported meaningful differences on job outcomes. Further, findings highlighted significant associations between identity statuses and identification profiles, giving rise to various identity configurations associated with job outcomes.

Implications

This study highlights the importance of integrating different facets of job identity. These findings have relevant implications in terms of suggesting which dimensions of identity should be promoted in order to reduce workers’ burnout, and enhance their satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Originality/value

This study provides evidence for integrating ego-identity and social identity theories. In doing so, it bridges developmental psychology literature on personal identity with social and organizational psychology literature on social identity, setting the basis for a comprehensive line of research.     

Types of Leaders Across the Organizational Hierarchy: A Person-Centered Approach

Leadership pipeline research typically has taken a “skill-centered” approach to describe the changing skill requirements across management positions. However, the current study advances previous research by taking a “person-centered” approach to investigate the prevalence of different leader types along the organizational hierarchy. Based on an inverse principle components analysis, this study identified three unique patterns of skill configuration. We labeled the three leader types: (a) Driven Experts, (b) Principled Partners, and (c) Charismatic Advocates. It was found that the prevalence of one type (Principled Partners) decreased across organizational levels, whereas the other two types (Driven Experts and Charismatic Advocates) increased in the prevalence from the low to high management levels. The implications of the findings on leadership development are discussed.     

Crafting Mosaics: Person-Centered Religious Influence and Selection in Adolescent Friendships

This research addresses the intersection of two key domains of adolescents’ lives: religion and peer networks. Religion scholars argue that religion is multi-faceted and better understood by focusing on combinations of indicators (i.e., mosaics), versus a variable-centered approach. We adopt this framework and investigate the interplay between religion and peer networks, both in how religious mosaics are shaped by friends and how religious profiles affect friend selection dynamics. With data from two schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate religious mosaics using latent class analysis (LCA) to identify profiles consisting of combinations of commonly available survey-based measures of religious attitudes, behaviors, and identities. Finding evidence of theoretically expected profiles, we then use stochastic actor–based models (SABMs) to investigate network dynamics for these LCA-based religious profiles. We demonstrate how the profile data can be integrated within the SABM framework to evaluate processes of friend selection and influence. Results show evidence of adolescents influencing one another's religious mosaics, but not selecting friends on that basis.     

A Person-Centered Approach to African-American Gender Differences in Racial Ideology

This study uses a person-oriented approach to examine gender differences in the meaning of race in the lives of a sample of African-American college students. Seven hundred twenty-four self-identified African-American students from two universities completed the ideology subscales of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity. Cluster analysis was used to group students into five groups with distinct patterns of responses to the ideology subscales. Results showed relatively few gender differences in cluster distribution, in separate male and female cluster solutions, or in the relationship between cluster membership and racial background and race-related behavioral outcomes. Overall, clusters did not vary in terms of SES, but did reflect the racial context of participants' upbringing and race-related choices made in college.     

Adolescent Perception of Peer Success: A Gendered Perspective over Time

Adolescent males and females (grades 6–12) (n = 552) were presented with nine brief vignettes from the Teen Apperception Scale, describing high-achieving hypothetical female (or male) peers, across nine domains: leadership, academics, athleticism (two), musicianship, art, popularity, humor, and multitalentedness. Teens rated likability, popularity, and attractiveness of vignette subjects in each domain. The sample was roughly evenly divided by gender (47% male and 53% female); students ranged in age from 11 to 18 years. The sample was ethnically diverse, and the socioeconomic status of the students' families ranged from lower middle to upper middle class. MANOVA analyses showed female vignette subjects to be rated significantly higher than male subjects by both genders and all grade groupings, at p < .0001 overall, and at values ranging from p < .05 to p < .0001 for six of nine subscales. Results are contrasted with those from highly similar studies 30 years ago, and used to reflect a possible shift in attitudes toward high achievement in women.     

A Person-Centered Approach to P-E Fit Questions Using a Multiple-Trait Model

The current study first longitudinally examines the validity of person-environment (P-E) RIASEC congruence, adopting a job analytic method to assess the environment and using P-E difference scores to compute congruence, to predict a range of intrinsic career outcomes—including job satisfaction, skill development, work involvement, and perceived stress—in a sample of 401 college seniors involved in the labor market. Second, the incremental validity of an alternative conceptualization of the P component (i.e., the Five-Factor Model of personality [FFM]) is examined over and beyond RIASEC congruence scores. Congruence across RIASEC types significantly predicted job satisfaction and skill development, but FFM traits significantly and substantially contributed to the prediction of all intrinsic career outcomes. Finally, a person-centered perspective to P-E questions is introduced, demonstrating that cluster analysis of individuals' FFM scores resulted in two clusters (i.e., internalizers/externalizers and resilients) showing very different positions on the labor market and reporting differing initial career outcomes. It is concluded that RIASEC P-E fit congruence studies should be complemented with FFM assessment to increase predictive validity. Applications of an FFM-based, person-centered approach in I/O and P-E fit research and practice are discussed.     

Peer Cluster Theory: Drugs and the Adolescent

The authors review several theories advanced to explain adolescent drug use to provide background for describing peer cluster theory. Peer clusters, small subsets of peer groups, including pairs, dictate the shared beliefs, values, and behaviors that determine where, when, and with whom drugs are used and the role that drugs play in defining cluster membership. Peer cluster theory incorporates those psychosocial factors that promote or inoculate against drug use in youth.     

Dialectical Thinking and Coping Flexibility: A Multimethod Approach

ABSTRACT Coping flexibility refers to the formulation of flexible coping strategies that meet distinct demands under changing circumstances. Dialectical thinking was proposed to be related to flexible coping across situations. The hypothesized link between dialectical thinking and coping flexibility was explored by a multimethod approach. In Study 1 , the association between dialectical thinking and coping flexibility was examined using a cross-sectional design. In Study 2 , the hypothesized link was tested using an experimental paradigm in which dialectical thinking was manipulated by priming procedures. Participants' responses to different hypothetical stressful situations were assessed after priming. Study 3 adopted a prospective design in which dialectical thinking assessed at an initial phase was a predictor of changes in coping flexibility and state anxiety over a 12-month period. Results from the three studies consistently revealed a positive relationship between dialectical thinking and coping flexibility.     

Using a Person-Centered Approach in Community-Based Instruction for Adults with Developmental Disabilities

Instruction is a variable that has enhanced community access for adults with developmental disabilities. Community-based instruction emerged as an especially useful format to teach individuals daily living and work skills in the settings where skills would be used. As advocacy and self-advocacy for individuals with developmental disabilities increased, professionals recognized the importance of empowerment and self-determination in gaining community access. Adult education that incorporates the values of person-centered planning will evolve beyond what has traditionally been viewed as community-based instruction. This article describes the characteristics of community-based instruction designed to enhance not only community access, but also the participant's overall quality of life.     

Coping with Social Stress: Implications for Psychopathology in Young Adolescent Girls

This study investigated the impact of social stress on symptoms of psychopathology at the entry into adolescence (111 girls, Mage = 11.84, SD = 0.77). We examined whether peer stress and pubertal timing were associated with internalizing distress and aggression, and whether responses to stress and cortisol reactivity mediated or moderated these associations. Cortisol samples were collected from saliva samples during in-home visits, and the YSR was used to assess psychopathology. Interestingly, pubertal timing demonstrated a trend association with cortisol. Responses to stress mediated the association between social stress and symptoms of internalizing distress and aggression. Specifically, early maturers and girls with higher levels of peer stress exhibited more problematic responses to stress, in turn demonstrating higher levels of internalizing distress and aggression. Significant moderation effects also emerged. For example, early maturers who experienced higher levels of emotional/cognitive numbing in response to peer stress were at greater risk for aggression. Findings identify coping strategies that may be used in evidence-based programming to help girls transition more successfully into adolescence will be discussed.

A Systematic Approach to Peer Group Supervision

The structured peer group format encourages skill development, conceptual growth, participation, instructive feedback, and self-monitoring. The procedure is described and illustrated.     

A Sequential Analysis of Depressive Behaviors Within Adolescent Peer Interactions

This study examined depressive and positive patterns of interactions among clinical and nonclinical adolescent peers within an interpersonal context. Ten clinical dyads with a depressed partner and 10 nonclinical dyads engaged in 16-min audiotaped conversations under positive and negative task instructions discussing positive and negative experiences. Conversations were unitized and coded according to depressive, aggressive, positive, and neutral behaviors. The clinical dyad-group demonstrated over two times more depressive behaviors than did the nonclinical dyad-group. Both dyad-groups exhibited increased depressive interactions during negative task instructions and increased positive interaction during positive task instructions. The loglinear approach to sequential analysis demonstrated significant overall bidirectional influence in the adolescents' dyadic interaction. Specifically, we found that the depressed adolescents' depressive behaviors decreased the likelihood of partners' aggressive behaviors, and increased the likelihood of partners' positive behaviors. Clinical and nonclinical dyad-groups showed reliable patterns of positive interaction sequences. Results demonstrate that depressive and positive behaviors are functional in adolescent dyadic interaction.     

Child Conduct Problems Across Home and School Contexts: a Person-Centered Approach

To examine patterns of conduct problems across the home and school context, we used latent class analysis to analyze primary caregivers’ and teachers’ ratings on the conduct problems subscale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 581–586, 1997) in the Family Life Project (N?=?1,292), a prospective study of child development in rural and small town contexts. We found a similar four-class solution at 5 and 7 years of age. In decreasing prevalence, the following classes were identified: (1) low symptoms reported by both informants (low cross-context); (2) high parent-reported symptoms, low teacher-reported symptoms (home context); (3) low parent-reported symptoms, moderate teacher-reported symptoms (school context); and (4) high symptoms reported by both informants (high cross-context). Classes exhibited stability from age five to age seven: children were more likely to remain in the same class than to transition to a different class, and longitudinal stability was especially high for children in the low cross-context class at age 5. A number of child and family characteristics measured in early childhood (executive function, verbal ability, poverty-related risk, sensitive parenting, and parental depressive symptoms) were associated with class membership at age five and age seven, but were generally not associated with longitudinal transitions between classes.     

Creativity Profiles and the Role of Interpersonal Relationships in Primary School Pupils: A Person-Centered Approach

This study aimed to investigate the heterogeneity of creativity and the role of interpersonal relationships for creativity subgroups among primary school students. We used latent profile analysis to identify subgroups of creativity among pupils. We then used logistic regression analysis to investigate the role of teacher-student and peer relationships in these subgroups. A total of 1,047 primary school students (M_age = 10.97, SD = 0.91; 47.80% girls) completed the Chinese version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking Figural Form A, the Teacher-Student Relationship Scale, and peer nominations. First, the results revealed five creativity profiles for pupils in primary school: high-creativity individuals, innovators, medium-creativity individuals, adaptors, and low-creativity individuals. Heterogeneity across the five subgroups was reflected in the differing creativity levels and differences in creativity dimensions. Second, students who had better teacher-student relationships were more likely to be high-creativity individuals and innovators than low-creativity individuals. In addition, students who had higher perceived popularity tended to be high-creativity individuals, innovators, adaptors, and medium-creativity individuals than low-creativity individuals. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis and empirical support for the targeted cultivation of creativity in primary schools.