Effect of external motion on correspondence between infant actigraphy and maternal diary

Correspondence between infant actigraphy and mother-recorded diary differed significantly when receiver–operator function area under the curve, correlation, and logistic regression was calculated with and without excluding periods of external motion. External motion occurred in 40% of recording time and significantly changed activity count per epoch.     

Person-environment congruence in relation to career change and career persistence

This study examined Holland’s theoretical proposition, that personality-work environment congruence influences career stability and change, with a sample of 212 career changers (respondents who expressed an intent to change career and had engaged in preliminary career change activity) and 249 career persisters (respondents who indicated an intent to remain in their current career). Independent groups ANCOVA (controlling for age and current career tenure) indicated that career persisters scored higher on congruence than career changers, however, the effect size was within the small to medium range. Repeated-measures ANCOVA indicated, with a medium effect size, that career changers moved towards careers that were more congruent with their personality profiles than their current careers. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Person-environment congruence and employee job satisfaction: a test of Holland's theory

Person-environment congruence as assessed by Holland's model of vocational preference was tested in a sample of 362 employees from five environmental typologies (Realistic, Investigative, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional). Employees were classified as having congruent or incongruent person/environment pairings according to their occupation and their responses to Holland's Self-Directed Search. It was hypothesized that congruent employees would be significantly more satisfied with their jobs than incongruent employees. The results indicated that congruent employees were significantly more satisfied with the job facet satisfaction measures of work, pay, promotions, supervision, and coworkers as well as overall satisfaction compared to incongruent employees. In addition, the results revealed several Environment × Congruence interactions, indicating that the effects of person-environment congruence vary across different environmental typologies. The results are discussed in the context of establishing a fit between individual attributes and organizational environments.     

From repetition to conviction: Attitude accessibility as a determinant of attitude certainty

The present experiment investigated the influence of attitude accessibility on several meta-attitudinal strength measures. It was predicted that certainty and perceived likelihood of change, i.e., commitment-related attributes of attitude strength, are influenced by changes in attitude accessibility, while no effects were expected for importance and perceived centrality to values and the self, i.e., centrality-related attributes. Accessibility was manipulated by having participants express their attitudes either repeatedly or only once. As hypothesized, accessibility and measures of commitment were enhanced after repeated expression compared to single expression. Furthermore, mediation analyses supported the idea that subjective commitment may be inferred from the ease of attitude retrieval. Centrality-related attributes were found to be unaffected by the accessibility manipulation. The results are discussed in the light of a multi-dimensional structure of attitude strength and antecedent processes of meta-cognitive attributes of strength.     

A study of area conservation using a simple method of adjustment

The method of adjustment was adapted to study conservation of area with Papua New Guinea High School students. Subjects were shown a standard field, representing “a block of land”, with a “house” in each corner. An identical comparison field. with adjustable borders was presented under one of two conditions. In one condition the houses were placed along one side, and in the other they were placed randomly about the field. Non-conservers were invited to adjust the borders of the comparison field to match the area of the standard. Non-conservers in the Edge condition reduced, and those in the Random condition increased, the size of the comparison field.     

Gender characteristics and adjustment: a longitudinal study.

The present study used a prospective longitudinal design to investigate the long-term developmental implications of gender-related interests and traits. Archival data were available for Ss in the R. R. Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1957) study. Men, who at age 12 endorsed interests and undesirable traits more typically associated with women, had poorer social-personal adjustment at ages 31 and 41. No effects were found for women. Feminine expressive traits at age 31 did not impact on 41-year-old adjustment for either men or women, whereas masculine instrumental traits were positively related for both. These findings support a multidimensional view of gender and indicate that harsher consequences follow when adolescent boys endorse nontraditional gender-related interests and undesirable traits than when girls do so.     

Using latent class growth analysis to form trajectories of premorbid adjustment in schizophrenia

Premorbid adjustment varies widely among individuals with schizophrenia and has been shown to bear significantly on prodrome and onset characteristics, and on cognition, symptoms, and functioning after onset. The current analysis focused on the Premorbid Adjustment Scale, a retrospective measure assessing social and academic function at several time points from early childhood to illness onset. In an effort to explore discrete developmental subtypes, we applied latent class growth analysis to data from the Premorbid Adjustment Scale in our sample of individuals with schizophrenia (N = 208), finding three latent trajectory classes. The first of these classes showed consistently adequate-to-good social and academic functioning before onset; the second showed initially good function and deterioration with time until onset; the third showed poor functioning in childhood that deteriorated further during the years up to diagnosis. The classes differed significantly in terms of age of onset, processing speed, and functioning after onset. There were no significant differences in symptomatology. Our findings illustrate a potentially powerful methodological approach to the problem of heterogeneity in schizophrenia research, and add weight to the notion that aspects of premorbid history may be useful for subtyping schizophrenia patients. The potential implications of this subtyping strategy, including those pertaining to potential genetics studies, are discussed.     

Cognitive-psychology expertise and the calculation of the probability of a wrongful conviction

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Cognitive psychologists are familiar with how their expertise in understanding human perception, memory, and decision-making is applicable to the justice system....     

Person-environment fit,job satisfaction and intentions to leave: The moderating effect of leader empowering behaviour

This study sought to determine the possible indirect effect of person-environment (PE) fit on intentions to leave via job satisfaction and the moderating effect of leader empowering behaviour on job satisfaction and intentions to leave the work organisation. Participants were 398 employees working for a retail company in Gauteng Province, South Africa (females = 68.6 %, blacks = 58 %; managerial = 5.8 %; age range = under 20 to 60 years +). They completed the Perceived Fit Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, Turnover Intentions Scale, and the Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire. Statistical mediation analysis (of PE on JS and IL), and moderation analysis (of LEB on JS and IL) were conducted. Results indicated that PE fit has an indirect effect on intentions to leave via job satisfaction. Leader empowering behaviour moderated the relationship between job satisfaction and intentions to leave. Low PE fit leads to job dissatisfaction and intentions to leave, therefore leaders should instil a sense of empowerment in employees to alleviate the impact of poor fit.     

Aggression and self-esteem: a diary study of children's reactivity to negative interpersonal events

The study employs a daily diary design to assess self-esteem reactivity and its association with children's aggressive behavior. We test the hypothesis that the self-esteem of aggressive children will be more reactive to negative interpersonal events than the self-esteem of nonaggressive children. Results provide partial support for the aggression/reactivity hypothesis. Aggressive children's self-esteem was more reactive to negative peer events but less reactive to negative adult events than the self-esteem of less aggressive children. These findings are discussed in relation to the experimental literature relating self-esteem instability and ego-threat to aggression and in relation to the extensive body of research on childhood aggression. Intervention implications are also considered.     

Mismatches in social support and psychosocial adjustment to breast cancer.

Emotional support is known to provide psychosocial benefits for women with breast cancer, but women can experience a mismatch between support that is wanted and support that is received from their personal supporter. The role of wanted and unwanted support in psychosocial adjustment was examined in 79 women recovering from breast cancer. Four distinct patterns of desired support actions were found using cluster analysis. Patterns of wanted support were not related to better or worse psychosocial adjustment. However, a misalignment of support between the provider and the receiver significantly influenced psychosocial adjustment, and unwanted but received support (support commission) was uniquely associated with poor psychosocial adjustment. Clinical interventions using the support instrument could help match support providers' actions to receivers' preferences.     

Evaluation as a function of correspondence and hedonic relevance

An experiment was conducted to test and refine some of the implications of Jones and Davis' (1965) model of the attribution process in person perception. Subjects read anecdotes about actors who performed either in-role (low correspondence) or out-of-role (high correspondence) behaviors which were positive, negative, or neutral in the subject's estimation (hedonic relevance). Respect and admiration for the actor were influenced by both hedonic relevance and correspondence (did the action reflect an inner attribute?), but liking and friendship were affected by hedonic relevance only. The implications for the evaluation process in person perception were discussed.     

A neural network approach to identifying adolescent adjustment.

This study examined the relationship between the quality of adjustment in adolescents and a set of psychiatric diagnoses, personality traits, parental bonding, and social support variables. One hundred fifty adolescents were administered the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory, the Parental Bonding Questionnaire, the Social Support Questionnaire, and the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents. A neural network approach was then utilized, and it was found that several of the variables (e.g., Major Depressive Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Societal Conformity) had a significant role in classifying adolescents into three groups: maladjusted, nominally adjusted, and well-adjusted.     

Invisible support and adjustment to stress

Although there is abundant evidence that perceived availability of support buffers the effects of stressors on mental health, the relatively meager research on support transactions has failed to show an association between actual receipt of support and adjustment to stressors. The authors examined a possible explanation for this inconsistency, that awareness of receiving support entails an emotional cost and that the most effective support is unnoticed by the recipient. Using data from a daily diary study of support provision and receipt in couples, the authors show that many transactions reported by supporters are not reported by recipients. They also show that these invisible support transactions promote adjustment to a major stressor.     

Social support, depressed mood, and adjustment to stress: a genetic epidemiologic investigation.

A survey of 821 same-sex female twin pairs from a population-based registry assessed 8 dimensions of social support and social integration. Twin analyses documented significant common environmental influences on 5 of these 8 measures and significant genetic influences on 5 of the 8. A decomposition of the multiplicative association between support and a measure of stressful life experiences in predicting depressed mood--an association typically interpreted as providing evidence for a stress-buffering effect of social support--shows clearly that it is the environmental and genetic factors that cause support, rather than support itself, that buffer the effects of stress on mood in most cases. We discuss the implications of this result for future research on the relationship between social support and psychopathology.