Narcissism and romantic attraction: Evidence from a collectivistic culture

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between narcissism and romantic attraction in a collectivistic culture (i.e., Thailand). In Study 1, participants completed a measure of narcissism and rated their attraction to four potential romantic partners. There was an overall preference across participants for caring targets. Additionally, high narcissists were more attracted to admiring and high status targets than were low narcissists. A similar pattern of results was found in Study 2 with targets that were either high caring/low status or high status/low caring. Overall, caring in a partner was highly valued in a collectivistic culture, but narcissism still predicted attraction to targets who offered the potential for self-enhancement. These findings suggest that classically Western self-enhancement can be found in Eastern samples; however, to uncover these self-enhancement processes, researchers might need to use a personality variable such as narcissism.     

The importance of including quality-of-life indices in international social and economic development activities

Psychology has not been a visible player in international social and economic development efforts. Through its demonstrated commitment to the concept of quality of life, psychology has an opportunity to help shape foreign policy and to improve the lives of countless people around the globe. Poverty has reached unacceptable limits of humanitarian tolerance and political consequence throughout the world. The United Nations estimates that 20% of the world's population now lives in conditions of absolute poverty in which there is an absence of even the bare essentials for living. Social and economic development efforts have often failed despite good intentions because they have often concentrated on improving peoples' material level of living but not their quality of life. This article addresses the need to include quality-of-life (QOL) indices in international social and economic development efforts. In addition, the article calls attention to the need to use valid cross-cultural measurement strategies (i.e., culturally equivalent) when assessing QOL across cultural and national boundaries. Current approaches to social and economic development rely heavily on interventions that do not reflect the actual peoples' perceptions of life satisfaction and subjective well-being. Self-serving political and economic national interests have kept new approaches to development from being implemented. New interventions must be holistic, decentralized, integrated, empowering, participatory, and human-resource directed, and must include culturally equivalent objective and subjective quality-of-life indices as the arbiters of success.     

Happiness,life satisfaction and positive mental health: Investigating reciprocal effects over four years in a Chinese student sample

Positive factors are increasingly recognized in the field of psychology, however, few studies have investigated the longitudinal measurement invariance (LMI) and reciprocal associations of positive core constructs, such as happiness, life satisfaction and positive mental health. This study evaluated the LMI of these constructs over four years in a Chinese Student Sample (n = 4400) using the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the Positive Mental Health Scale (PMH-scale). The longitudinal reciprocal associations of the constructs were examined within a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM). The results show that the SHS, SWLS and PMH-scale are measurement invariant over time and that the constructs are positively inter-related, but show different reciprocal patterns over time.     

Life experiences of people who stutter, and the perceived impact of stuttering on quality of life: personal accounts of South African individuals

The purpose of the study was to investigate the life experiences of a group of South African adults who stutter and the impact of stuttering on their quality of life. Participants were 16 adults with a mean age of 28.9 and ranging from 20 to 59 years. Methods involved individual interviews designed to explore the life domains of education; social life; employment; speech therapy; family and marital life; and identity, beliefs and emotional issues. Main findings of the study indicated that the majority of participants perceived their stuttering to have impacted on their academic performance at school, and relationships with teachers and classmates. Although their stuttering was not perceived to adversely influence their ability to establish friendships, people generally reacted negatively to their stuttering. Many felt that their stuttering did not have an adverse effect on their choice of occupation, ability to obtain work, and relationships with managers and co-workers, although it was perceived to influence their work performance and hamper their chances for promotion. Although the majority viewed their speech therapy experiences as being negative; more than half the sample believed that speech therapy had, nevertheless exerted a positive effect on their quality of life. Overall, stuttering did not appear to have influenced participants’ family and marital life. Most participants felt that stuttering had affected their self-esteem and self-image, and had evoked strong emotions within them. Findings are taken to suggest the need to incorporate subjective feelings about stuttering into the clinical practice of speech-language therapy; to provide information and coping strategies for teachers and employers; and for further research.

Educational objectives: After completing this activity, the reader will be able to: (1) describe and explain the perceived impact of stuttering on quality of life in terms of education; social life; employment; speech therapy; family and marital life; and identity, beliefs and emotional issues; (2) to interpret and utilize the subjective meanings that individuals attach to their stuttering to improve stuttering treatment, counseling and research.     

Differences in Fear of Isolation as an explanation of Cultural Differences: Evidence from memory and reasoning

Previous research suggests that members of East Asian cultures show a greater preference for dialectical thinking and sensitivity to context information than do Westerners. We suggest this difference is rooted in a greater chronic Fear of Isolation (FOI) in East Asians than in Westerners. To support this hypothesis, we manipulated FOI in a group of Westerners and assessed their relative preference for dialectical proverbs and sensitivity to context. For cross-cultural validation of our hypothesis, we assessed the relationship between chronic levels of FOI and dialectical reasoning in Koreans. Consistent with our proposal, both experimentally primed FOI (Experiment 1A and 2) and chronic levels of FOI (Experiment 1B) were positively related to relative preference for dialectical proverbs. This effect was independent of participants’ level of negative mood (Experiment 2). A third experiment showed that sensitivity to context was affected by FOI in a manner consistent with previous studies of cultural differences (Experiment 3).     

Quality of Life,Treatment Adherence,and Locus of Control: Multiple Family Groups for Chronic Medical Illnesses

The Multiple Family Groups (MFGs) approach for patients with a chronic medical illness and their families is a structured psychoeducational program that unfolds in six weekly 90‐minute sessions. In the MFGs, patients and family members explore new ways to balance illness and nonillness priorities in family life (Steinglass, 1998; Steinglass, 2000 Cuadernos de Terapia Familiar, 44‐45, 11; Steinglass, Ostroff, & Steinglass, 2011 Family Process, 50, 393).     

Relationships between core ideological motives,social and economic conservatism,and religiosity: Evidence from a Turkish sample

The “conservatism as motivated social cognition” approach posits two core ideological motives underlying political conservatism across cultures. However, there is a scarcity of tests from non‐Western cultures, and much research has failed to distinguish between social and economic conservatism. Using a relatively large undergraduate sample from a non‐Western, predominantly Muslim country (Turkey), we tested the associations among resistance to change and opposition to equality motives, social and economic conservatism, right‐wing political orientation, and religiosity. In line with the “conservatism as motivated social cognition” account, we found that (a) social conservatism is more strongly related to resistance to change (rather than opposition to equality), (b) economic conservatism is more strongly related to opposition to equality (rather than resistance to change), (c) social conservatism is the strongest predictor of right‐wing political orientation among other conservatism measures, and (d) political orientation and religiosity had divergent effects: While right‐wing political orientation was related to economic conservatism, religiosity was inversely related to the latter, providing support for previous work indicating a resemblance between leftists and Islamists in Turkey. The results generally support the motivated social cognition approach to conservatism while also highlighting the importance of distinguishing between social and economic conservatism.     

Extraversion,neuroticism, psychoticism and self-reported delinquency: Evidence from eight separate samples

Eight separate samples of high school and university students (Total N = 410) in Britain and Canada were used to test predictions from Eysenck's theory that delinquents should be high scorers on scales of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Self-report paper- and pencil-questionnaire measures of both personality and delinquency were administered under conditions that ensured anonymity. The evidence showed clear support for a relationship between high delinquency scores and high scores on both extraversion and psychoticism. These relationships held up across diverse samples and different ways of analyzing the data. No support was found for a relationship between delinquency scores and the dimension of neuroticism.     

Women’s occupational career patterns over 27 years: Relations to family of origin, life careers, and wellness

This study aimed at identifying and describing occupational career patterns (OCPs) from age 16 to 43 by applying optimal matching techniques to sequence data obtained from a sample of Swedish women. Women’s occupational trajectories were found to be diverse. Upward mobility (3 patterns) and stable careers (4 patterns) were prevalent, but there were also women characterized by downward mobility, fluctuation and being outside the labor market (1 pattern each). Women’s OCPs were related to family of origin, but more strongly to their overall life career (i.e., multiple role constellations over the life course). The study indicates that occupational mobility patterns do matter in terms of job perceptions, work attitudes, and quality of life. The results generally confirm the popular belief of the advantage of upward mobility, followed by stable occupational careers, whereas women with downward or fluctuating careers fared worst.     

Relationships between executive function,working memory,and decision-making on the Iowa Gambling Task: Evidence from ventromedial patients,dorsolateral patients,and normal subjects

The results of previous studies are inconsistent in regard to the relationship between the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), working-memory (WM), and executive tasks, and whether these cognitive processes could be considered as mechanisms underlying a decision-making deficit. Moreover, the relationship between the IGT and executive measures is examined based on a limited number of executive tasks, within different populations showing diffuse damage. In addition, there are fewer studies carried out within control participants, with those studies also being inconclusive. It is also suggested that the association of the IGT performance with executive tasks depends on whether the IGT was running under ambiguity or under risk. In this work, all of these issues are studied. Results showed that both patients with ventromedial (VMPFC, N = 10) and dorsolateral (DLPFC, N = 10) prefrontal cortex lesions are significantly impaired on almost all executive tasks, WM tasks, and the IGT. Furthermore, when the IGT is run under risk, there are significant correlations between executive measures and the IGT for the DLPFC patients and the control participants (N = 34) but not the VMPFC patients. No correlation was found between WM tasks and the IGT for both frontal subgroups and control participants. These findings suggested that the mechanisms underlying the IGT deficit differ according to the lesion locations.     

Distinguishing Caregiver Strain from Psychological Distress: Modeling the Relationships Among Child, Family, and Caregiver Variables

Although both have been used in studies of the impact of mental illness on the family, the constructs of caregiver strain (often referred to as burden of care) and psychological distress have not been clearly distinguished. The vagueness surrounding these constructs, and the lack of a cohesive conceptual framework for understanding how they relate, leads to contradictory interpretations of results. This compromises the building of the knowledge base needed to develop and evaluate interventions to support families as they struggle to meet the needs of their children with emotional and behavioral challenges. We utilized the ABCX Model as a framework for understanding caregiver strain and its relationship to psychological distress. Structural equations modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationship between caregiver strain and psychological distress, as well as the role of key child and family variables. These included child symptoms, stressful life events, social support, family functioning, and material resources. Our findings indicated that caregiver strain and psychological distress, although related, have distinct correlates and different implications in the family context.     

幼儿选择性信任与心理理论和执行功能的关联:来自追踪研究的证据

研究选取122名3到5岁幼儿,同时测量了选择性信任、心理理论和执行功能,并控制了幼儿的语言能力,通过追踪研究进行交叉滞后回归分析探讨了幼儿选择性信任与心理理论和执行功能之间的关联。结果表明:幼儿的选择性信任与执行功能呈显著正相关,控制了幼儿的年龄和语言能力之后,相关仍然显著;第一年的选择性信任可以正向预测第二年的执行功能,而第一年的执行功能不能预测第二年的选择性信任;选择性信任与心理理论之间不存在纵向的相互关联。该结果为幼儿选择性信任领域的争议提供了重要的证据支持。     

Relationships,Environment, and the Brain: How Emerging Research is Changing What We Know about the Impact of Families on Human Development

Recent research is providing family therapists with new information about the complex interaction between an individual's biological makeup and his/her social and physical environment. Family and social relationships, particularly during sensitive periods early in life, can affect a child's biological foundation. Additionally, stress during the early years can have a lasting effect on an individual's physical and mental health and contribute to the onset of severe mental illness. Community programs have been developed to intervene early with families who have an at‐risk child to prevent or minimize the onset of mental illness including providing partnerships with at‐risk mothers of infants to shape attachment relationships. Programs are also developing individual and family interventions to prevent the onset of psychosis. Practicing family therapists can incorporate emerging neuroscience and early intervention research and leverage the growing base of community programs to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of mental health outcomes for clients. Additionally, family therapy education programs should broaden student training to incorporate the growing body of information about how family relationships affect individual mental health development.     

Problematic,absent and stigmatizing diagnoses in current mental disorders classifications: Results from the WHO-WPA and WHO-IUPsyS Global Surveys

This study examined English- and Spanish-speaking psychologists’ and psychiatrists’ opinions regarding problematic, absent and stigmatizing diagnoses in current mental disorders classifications (ICD-10 and DSM-IV), and their perceived need for a national classification of mental disorders. Answers to open-ended questions included in WHO-WPA and WHO-IUPsyS surveys were examined using an inductive content-analysis method. A total of 3,222 participants from 35 countries were included. The most problematic diagnostic group was personality disorders, especially among psychiatrists, because of poor validity and lack of specificity. Complex posttraumatic stress disorder was the most frequent diagnosis suggested for inclusion, mainly by psychologists, to better account for the distinct processes and consequences of complex trauma. Schizophrenia was the diagnosis most frequently identified as stigmatizing, particularly by psychiatrists, due to lack of public understanding or knowledge about the diagnosis. Of the 14.4% of participants who perceived a need for a national classification system, two-thirds were from Africa or Latin America. The rationales provided were that mental disorders classifications should consider cultural and socio-historical diversity in the expression of psychopathology, differences in the perception of what is and is not pathological in different nations, and the existence of culture-bound syndromes. Implications for ICD-11 development and dissemination are discussed.     

Teamwork makes the dream work: Testing for shared perceptions on psycho-behavioural skills between athletes,coaches and parents

Psycho-behavioural skills play a key role in optimising progression through talent development, and this study investigated to what extent athlete’s self-perceptions align with those of their coaches and parents. Firstly, we examined if levels of alignment between these three raters differ across age of the athlete. To this end, 122 athletes between 9 and 18 years old (12.17 ± 2.41 years old; 47 gymnasts, 13 cyclists and 62 badminton players) completed a psycho-behavioural questionnaire. The ANOVA’s indicated low levels of correspondence between the ratings of the athlete, the coach and the parents during childhood, while better levels of shared perceptions were found in adolescence. Secondly, we investigated to what extent coaches and parents believed their own perception of the athlete’s and the perception of the athlete’s psycho-behavioural skills were accurate. Parents appeared to be more confident in accurately perceiving the psycho-behavioural skills of the athlete than coaches. Parents and coaches also believed that older athletes would be more honest on their psycho-behavioural shortcomings than younger athletes. Altogether, these findings highlight that athletes and other stakeholders in the talent development environment should strive for better alignment in perceptions on psycho-behavioural skills during the talent development pathway. With better integrated perceptions, a more functional and efficient talent development system for the athlete targeting the psycho-behavioural skills can be created.