Insecure attachment and career indecision: Mediating effects of anxiety and pessimism

The purpose of this study was to examine a theoretically-based model in which insecure attachment is related to career indecision through the mediation of negative emotions. Two hundred college students completed questionnaires measuring anxious and avoidant dimensions of insecure attachment, negative emotions (trait and career-choice anxiety, trait and career-choice pessimism), and career indecision. Path analysis indicated that anxious attachment was indirectly related to career indecision through a full mediation of career-choice anxiety and career-choice pessimism (but not through the trait emotions). Avoidant attachment was neither related to the negative emotions nor to career indecision. These findings contribute to the understanding of the linkage between internalized relationships with significant others and career planning and development, and highlight the important role that career-choice-related emotions play in the process of career decision making. In light of the findings, implications and recommendations regarding career development, career counseling interventions, and preventive measures aimed at reducing career indecision are presented.     

The relationship between dispositional optimism, dispositional pessimism, repressive coping and trait anxiety

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between dispositional optimism, dispositional pessimism, repressive coping and trait anxiety. The Marlowe-Crowne scale (MC) and the Bendig version of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) were used to select repressor and control groups (N=143, aged between 18 and 47 years), who subsequently completed a measure of dispositional optimism, the Life Orientation Test (LOT), which consists of two sets of items: optimism and pessimism. Repressors (high MC, low MAS) reported significantly lower pessimism than all other participants. When the pessimism scale was divided into high and low categories, there were significantly more repressors in the low pessimism group than the other low trait anxiety group, low anxious (low MC, low MAS). However, for the optimism scale the opposite pattern of results was found, with significantly more low anxious in the high optimism group than repressors. These results support the assertion that the pessimism and optimism scales of the LOT are not the same construct and should be measured separately.     

Career adapt-abilities scale-France form: Psychometric properties and relationships to anxiety and motivation

The CAAS-France Form consists of four scales, each with six items, which measure concern, control, curiosity, and confidence as psychosocial resources for managing occupational transitions, developmental tasks, and work traumas. Internal consistency estimates for the subscale and total scores ranged from moderate to good. The factor structure was quite similar to the one computed for combined data from 13 countries. The CAAS France Form is identical to the International Form 2.0. Concurrent validity evidence was collected relative to motivation and anxiety given that adaptability has been identified as a meta-competency for career construction in information societies. Relations between career adaptability and motivation measures were as predicted. However, they provide partial support to the relations between career adaptability and general or career anxiety.     

Test anxiety and the hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation

This research was designed to incorporate the test anxiety (TA) construct into the hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation. Hypotheses regarding state and trait TA were tested in 2 studies, and the results provided strong support for the predictions. State TA (specifically, worry) was documented as a mediator of the negative relationship between performance-avoidance goals and exam performance. The positive relationship between performance-approach goals and exam performance was shown to be independent of TA processes. A series of analyses documented the conceptual and functional convergence of trait TA and fear of failure (FOF), and further validation of the proposed integration was obtained by testing trait TA/FOF and state TA together in the same model. Mastery goals were positively and performance-avoidance goals negatively related to long-term retention.     

Relationships between academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety in children and young adolescents

To test the hypothesis that academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety are negatively related when both are differentiated into academic subject areas, two self-report inventories measuring academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety were administered to fourth and seventh graders. Each inventory was differentiated into the subject areas of reading, math, social studies, and science to determine whether the relationship between academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety would vary according to subject area. The results supported the hypothesis and showed that the relationship is differentiated according to subject area. Fourth and seventh graders differed in the pattern of relationships. For seventh graders, negative correlations between academic intrinsic motivation and anxiety occurred only within corresponding subject areas, while for fourth graders the negative correlations occurred both within corresponding and between noncorresponding subject areas. Implications for assessment and school intervention are advanced.     

Perceived likelihood as a measure of optimism and pessimism: support for the Future Events Scale

The Future Events Scale (FES; S. M. Andersen, 1990) is an expectancy-based measure of optimism and pessimism, grounded in cognitive theories of depression, with implications for clinical practice. Although ample research has documented the utility of the FES in predicting important cognitive and behavioral outcomes, psychometric data on the scale are lacking. The current article presents multisample analyses to show that the FES has clear factor structure, good reliability, and a theoretically meaningful nomological network. The FES is shown to be distinct from the best known measure of optimism and pessimism, the Life Orientation Test (M. F. Scheier & C. S. Carver, 1985). Applications are discussed.     

Dental pessimism: Negative cognitions in fearful dental patients

The relationship between pain expectations and pain experiences was examined in a series of dental patients. Results showed that fearless patients had accurate expectations about dental pain, but fearful patients had inaccurate and negative expectations. The results are discussed within the framework of a cognitive theory of anxiety.     

Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and learning English as a foreign language

The objective of this study was to examine the relationships of amotivation, extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation with learning the English language. The 230 Iranian students at Shiraz University were tested using the Language Learning Orientations Scales to measure Amotivation, Extrinsic Motivation, and Intrinsic Motivation as explanatory variables. Grade point average in English exams was selected as a measure of English learning Achievement. Multiple regression analysis revealed that learning Achievement scores were predicted by scores on the Amotivation subscale, Introjected Regulation subscale, Knowledge subscale, and Stimulation subscale, whereas, the External and Identified Regulation and Accomplishment subscales did not have a significant relationship with Achievement. The results are discussed in terms of differences in Iranian context and culture.     

Differential recall of successes and failures: Its relationship to defensiveness,achievement motivation,and anxiety

Differential recall of completed and incompleted tasks under high and low stress was studied in 157 Ss. On the basis of repression, it would be expected that Ss identified as hysterics would recall fewer incompletions (ego threatening failures) under high than low stress. The results indicated that hysteria was not related to recall. On the other hand, Ss with high achievement motivation or low anxiety recalled more incompletions under high than low stress while there were no differences in their recall of completions under high and low stress. These results offered no support for repression. Furthermore, the relationships between recall and achievement motivation and anxiety suggest that the differential recall is due to differences in the original learning of the completed and incompleted tasks.     

Optimism and pessimism: Associations to coping and anger-reactivity

The purpose of the present study was to examine episodic coping and situational anger-reactivity in relation to optimism and pessimism while correcting for some of the limitations of previous research. In the present investigation, optimism and pessimism were operationalized as separate constructs. In addition, an attempt was made to ‘standardize’ the nature of the Stressor that subjects reported on, and to assess short-term emotional reactivity. Semipartial correlational analyses that corrected for multicollinearity among the coping subscales indicated that, independent of variability in the contextual features of the Stressors, scores on the optimism subscale of the Life Orientation Test (LOT) were positively correlated with confrontive coping and accept-responsibility coping, and inversely related to escape-avoidance coping. Pessimism scores were positively related to escape-avoidance coping and inversely related to confrontive coping and planful problem solving coping. Neither optimism nor pessimism were related to levels of ‘stress-induced’ anger reactivity. These data suggest that optimism and pessimism are distinct constructs, that each construct is associated with different coping strategies, and that coping differences between optimists and pessimists are not necessarily associated with differences in emotional reactivity. These findings have implications for future research examining dispositional optimism and pessimism as stress-moderating personality factors.     

An investigation of concurrent validity between two optimism/pessimism questionnaires: The life orientation test-revised and the optimism/pessimism scale

The purpose of this investigation was to investigate the concurrent validity of the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) (Scheier et al., 1994) and Optimism/Pessimism Scale (OPS) (Dember et al., 1989) by administering each questionnaire to the same group of participants. The 154 participants (84 men and 70 women) were volunteer university students enrolled in physical activity classes at a southeastern university. The questionnaires were counterbalanced to reduce possible bias due to taking one questionnaire before taking the other. Due to recent suggestions concerning scoring mechanisms for the LOT-R (Dember et al., 1989; Hummer, Dember, Melton & Schefft, 1992; Lightsey, 1996; Marshall and Lang, 1990) the instrument was scored to produce a unidimensional score and two subscale scores. The analysis suggested that the LOTR and OPS may not be measuring similar constructs. The results revealed that the LOT-R may be measuring “trait” optimism and pessimism, while the OPS may be measuring “state” optimism and pessimism. It was also suggested that future research investigate racial differences on these constructs.     

Looking away from death: Defensive attention as a form of terror management

Previous research has suggested that the physical aspects of human nature in general, and physical human frailties in particular become disagreeable and repugnant following death primes. The current research tested this hypothesis in two studies using an eye-tracking methodology. Participants were subliminally primed with death or with a control word and then viewed a series of arrays containing four pictures each, during which their eye-movements were monitored. In Study 1, the arrays included pictures of physical injury or neutral objects, and in Study 2 pictures of physical injury, threatening images, and neutral objects. The results indicated that in both studies death primes significantly decreased gaze duration towards pictures of physical injury, and did not have a significant effect on gaze duration towards neutral images. However, in Study 2 death primes increased gaze duration towards threatening images. The discussion examines the role of motivated unconscious attention in terror management processes.