Relationships among Coach Leadership,Peer Leadership,and Adolescent Athletes’ Psychosocial and Team Outcomes: A Test of Transformational Leadership Theory

Transformational leadership theory provided a framework to examine the relationships of coach and peer leadership with individual and team outcomes among team sport athletes. Adolescent female soccer players (N = 412) completed measures assessing coach and teammate transformational leadership behaviors, perceived competence, intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, team cohesion, and collective efficacy. Structural equation modeling revealed that coach leadership was more influential than peer leadership for predicting individual outcomes and collective efficacy, peer leadership was more strongly related to social cohesion than coach leadership, and both peer and coach leadership were equally important for task cohesion. Results are discussed relative to the viability of using transformational leadership theory to understand coach and athlete leadership in the sport domain.     

Information and Communication Technologies,Genes, and Peer-Production of Knowledge to Empower Citizens’ Health

The different and seemingly unrelated practices of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) used to collect and share personal and scientific data within networked communities, and the organized storage of human genetic samples and information—namely biobanking—have merged with another recent epistemic and social phenomenon, namely scientists and citizens collaborating as “peers” in creating knowledge (or peer-production of knowledge). These different dimensions can be found in joint initiatives where scientists-and-citizens use genetic information and ICT as powerful ways to gain more control over their health and the environment. While this kind of initiative usually takes place only after rights have been infringed (or are put at risk)—as the two cases presented in the paper show—collaborative scientists-and-citizens’ knowledge should be institutionally allowed to complement and corroborate official knowledge-supporting policies.     

Effects of Gender, Education, and Age upon Leaders’ Use of Influence Tactics and Full Range Leadership Behaviors

Relationships of gender, age, and education to leadership styles and leaders’ influence tactics were examined with 56 leaders and 234 followers from a variety of organizations. Leadership behaviors were measured with the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ—rater version). Influence tactics were measured with Yukl’s Influence Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ). Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to test behavioral differences attributed to leaders’ gender, age, and education groups, as well as the interaction of age and education with gender. Results show that gender produced a small direct effect on leadership behaviors. The interaction of gender and education produced consistent differences in leadership behaviors. Implications for future research are provided, and a call for re-analysis of previously published work is advised.     

How Do Happy Leaders Enhance Team Success? The Mediating Roles of Transformational Leadership,Group Affective Tone,and Team Processes1

Extending previous research regarding the relationship between leader positive moods and team performance, the present study examined 2 mediating mechanisms that explain the leader positive moods–team performance linkage: transformational leadership, and positive group affective tone. Data were collected from 85 sales teams (85 team leaders, 365 team members). Structural equation modeling analyses were performed to test the hypotheses. The results showed that leader positive moods not only directly enhanced team performance, but also indirectly led to improved team performance through the explicit mediating process (i.e., transformational leadership) and the implicit mediating process (i.e., positive group affective tone). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Mother–Infant Joint Attention and Sharing: Relations to Disorganized Attachment and Maternal Disrupted Communication

The normative development of infant shared attention has been studied extensively, but few studies have examined the impact of disorganized attachment and disturbed maternal caregiving on mother–infant shared attention. The authors examined both maternal initiations of joint attention and infants’ responses to those initiations during the reunion episodes of the Strange Situation Procedure at 12 and 18 months of infant age. The mothers' initiations of joint attention and three forms of infant response, including shunning, simple joint attention, and sharing attention, were examined in relation to infant disorganized attachment and maternal disrupted communication. Mothers who were disrupted in communication with their infants at 18 months initiated fewer bids for joint attention at 12 months, and, at 18 months, mothers of infants classified disorganized initiated fewer bids. However, the infant' responses were unrelated to either the infant' or the mother' disturbed attachment. At both ages, disorganized infants and infants of disrupted mothers were as likely to respond to maternal bids as were their lower risk counterparts. Our results suggest that a disposition to share experiences with others is robust in infancy, even among infants with adverse attachment experiences, but this infant disposition may depend on adult initiation of bids to be realized.     

“Getting the Knowledge Right”: Patient Communication,Agency, and Knowledge

In 2013, in accordance with a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010), the U.S. government began fining hospitals with “excessive” patient readmission rates. Those working to respond to this issue have identified discharge communication with patients as a critical component. In response to this exigency and to contribute to the conversation in the medical humanities about the field’s purview and orientation, this article analyzes studies of and texts about communication in health and medicine, ultimately arguing that the on-going circulation of compliance rhetoric and assumptions has limited efforts to improve patient communication. The article, furthermore, considers that humanist ideals of agentic action, the patient-centered care movement’s emphasis on the patient, and biomedicine’s tendency to treat evidence-based knowledge as fixed and given may have combined to support a rationale for using patient adherence to treatment guidelines as metrics in measurement studies designed to identify effective communication strategies. Finally, the article proposes that those working in the medical humanities consider the value of interdisciplinary posthumanist scholarship—specifically, its treatment of agency and knowledge as emergent, distributed, and contingent—and its potential to transform or extend in productive ways the conversation about what constitutes effective communication with patients.     

The Influence of Relational Knowledge and Executive Function on Preschoolers’ Repeating Pattern Knowledge

Children’s knowledge of repeating patterns (e.g., ABBABB) is a central component of early mathematics, but the developmental mechanisms underlying this knowledge are currently unknown. We sought clarity on the importance of relational knowledge and executive function (EF) to preschoolers’ understanding of repeating patterns. One hundred twenty-four children aged 4 to 5 years old were administered a relational knowledge task, 3 EF tasks (working memory, inhibition, set shifting), and a repeating pattern assessment before and after a brief pattern intervention. Relational knowledge, working memory, and set shifting predicted preschoolers’ initial pattern knowledge. Working memory also predicted improvements in pattern knowledge after instruction. The findings indicated that greater EF ability was beneficial to preschoolers’ repeating pattern knowledge and that working-memory capacity played a particularly important role in learning about patterns. Implications are discussed in terms of the benefits of relational knowledge and EF for preschoolers’ development of patterning and mathematics skills.     

How Do Leaders and their Teams Bring about Organizational Learning and Outcomes?

How do leaders generate a learning climate that yields favorable organizational outcomes? To address this question, we offer and test a model linking charismatic leadership with the team‐emergent states of shared vision and trust within the team, as predicting organizational learning climate, and long‐term assessments of organizational outcomes by key stakeholders. We examined this model in a sample of 69 Arab elementary schools in Israel using multiple sources of raters, predicting long‐term assessments by key stakeholders of respective schools (parents and superintendents) at 2 points in time: 1 year and 3 years following the survey of the teachers. In line with our expectations, we obtained an overall, indirect effect between charismatic leadership and organizational learning climate. We also found support for both the direct and indirect effects of leader charisma through trust within the team on organizational learning climate and school outcomes. Although charismatic leadership predicted shared vision among team members, shared vision did not predict organizational learning climate, and hence, our proposed mediating effects of shared vision on organizational learning climate and outcomes were not supported. We discuss both theoretical and practical implications for the effects of leaders on learning processes and outcomes.     

When Do Leaders Initiate Changes? The Roles of Coping Style and Organization Members’ Stability-Emphasizing Values

We explore the roles of leaders’ coping style and organization members’ emphasis on stability in predicting leaders’ initiation of changes in their organizations. Specifically, we hypothesized that leaders’ problem-focused style will be positively, and emotion-focused style negatively, related to the initiation of change. We further proposed that organization members' emphasis on stability will moderate the effect of leaders’ problem-focused style. We tested our model using time-lagged data from 75 school principals and 495/409 (Time 1/Time 2) teachers. Our results support the moderating role that the emphasis on stability has on the effect of problem-focused coping on leaders’ initiation of changes and provide some support for the negative effect of emotion-focused coping. Our findings complement the psychological literature on recipients of change with psychological insights about the factors that make leaders become change agents.     

Patient–Provider Communication About Sexual Health: The Relationship with Gender, Age, Gender-Stereotypical Beliefs, and Perceptions of Communication Inappropriateness

This investigation examined patient–provider communication about sexual health related to gender and age. Data were collected from 277 individuals, aged 18–60, via convenience and snowball sampling at a large university in southwestern United States. Results indicate women are more proactive about their sexual health than men and tested for STDs more frequently. Women, more than men, initiate discussions with their healthcare provider about sexual health matters and healthcare providers are more likely to initiate communication about such matters with women than men. Men hold stronger gender-stereotypical beliefs than women, are less likely to initiate conversations about sexual issues with their provider, and believe sexual discussions with their partner are inappropriate. Age relates to sexual activity initiation and perceived STD risk.     

The Knowledge,Skills, Abilities,and Other Characteristics Required for Face-to-Face Versus Computer-Mediated Communication: Similar or Distinct Constructs?

Purpose

This study investigated the convergence of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) required for either face-to-face (FtF) or text-based computer-mediated (CM) communication, the latter being frequently mentioned as core twenty-first century competencies.

Design/Methodology/Approach

In a pilot study (n = 150, paired self- and peer reports), data were analyzed to develop a measurement model for the constructs of interest. In the main study, FtF and CM communication KSAOs were assessed via an online panel (n = 450, paired self- and peer reports). Correlated-trait-correlated-method minus one models were used to examine the convergence of FtF and CM communication KSAOs at the latent variable level. Finally, we applied structural equation modeling to examine the influence of communication KSAOs on communication outcomes within (e.g., CM KSAOs on CM outcomes) and across contexts (e.g., CM KSAOs on FtF outcomes).

Findings

Self-reported communication KSAOs showed only low to moderate convergence between FtF and CM contexts. Convergence was somewhat higher in peer reports, but still suggested that the contextualized KSAOs are separable. Communication KSAOs contributed significantly to communication outcomes; context-incongruent KSAOs explained less variance in outcomes than context-congruent KSAOs.

Implications

The results imply that FtF and CM communication KSAOs are distinct, thus speaking to the consideration of CM KSAOs as twenty-first century competencies and not just a derivative of FtF communication competencies.

Originality/Value

This study is the first to examine the convergence of context-specific communication KSAOs within a correlated-trait-correlated-method minus one framework using self- and peer reports.

     

The Implications of Adolescents’ Academic Word Knowledge for Achievement and Instruction

The purpose of the current study was to determine relationships between orthographic and morphological awareness of academic words and achievement across content areas. Participants (n = 256), diverse seventh and eighth graders, took three word knowledge measures; two standardized achievement measures were used as outcomes. Orthographic awareness of academic words explained variance in achievement, beyond overall breadth of vocabulary knowledge, with significant changes in R² ranging from 0.02 to 0.08. Morphological awareness of academic words explained variance in achievement, beyond overall breadth of vocabulary knowledge, with significant changes in R² ranging from 0.06 to 0.16.     

The Relation Between Test Formats and Kindergarteners’ Expressions of Vocabulary Knowledge

This study tested how 53 kindergarteners’ expressions of depth of vocabulary knowledge and use in novel contexts were related to in-context and out-of-context test formats for 16 target words. Applying multilevel, multi-categorical Logit to all 1,696 test item responses, the authors found that kindergarteners were more likely to express deep knowledge on the out-of-context test format and partial or decontextual knowledge on the in-context test format. No significant differences in kindergarteners’ uses of vocabulary in novel contexts were found that were related to test type. These results suggest that educators select test formats for kindergarteners based on their vocabulary learning objectives.     

Reciprocal Relations between Emerging Adults’ Representations of Relationships with Mothers,Fathers, and Romantic Partners

This study employed a fully cross-lagged, longitudinal model to examine reciprocal relations between representations of relationships with parents and romantic partners at ages 20 and 22. Representations were assessed with continuous measures of dismissing/avoidant and preoccupied relationship styles across the attachment and affiliation systems for parents, and across the attachment, affiliation, and caregiving systems for romantic partners. Earlier relationships with both mothers and fathers independently predicted changes in later views of romantic relationships, and earlier romantic relationships predicted changes in later views of relationships with both mothers and fathers. This evidence of a developmental system of interconnected representations across relationships has theoretical implications about the nature of working models, and practical implications alerting parents to the onset of dating as a potentially fertile context for changes in their relationships with children.     

Adolescents’ Conflict Resolution Styles Toward Mothers: The Role of Parenting and Personality

In the present research, we examined associations between contextual and individual factors and adolescents’ conflict resolution with mothers. In Study 1, we explored links between maternal responsiveness and psychological control and adolescent conflict resolution styles (positive problem solving, conflict engagement, withdrawal, and compliance) with two informants. In Study 2, we examined the unique contribution of adolescents’ personality above and beyond perceived parenting in the prediction of conflict resolution styles. Results of both studies indicated that responsiveness was related positively to problem solving and negatively to withdrawal. Psychological control was positively associated with destructive resolution styles. Study 2 indicated that extraversion predicted more problem solving and conflict engagement, and less withdrawal. Agreeableness predicted more problem solving and less conflict engagement. Finally, certain personality traits moderated associations between parenting and conflict resolution, indicating that some adolescents are more sensitive to these parenting dimensions than others.     

Wisdom and Knowledge: The Outline of Eastern and Western Aesthetic Spirits?

Wisdom and knowledge are the basic spirits of Eastern and Western aesthetics. The shortcoming of the aesthetics based on knowledge, i.e., the aesthetics of knowledge, lies in the fact that it clings to the opposing differences between Western- and Eastern-centered theories. These differences include essentialism and anti-essentialism; harmonious and non-harmonious relationships between person, self, nature and society; art or nature as the highest aesthetic realm; metaphysics or psychology as the aesthetic domain; dualism and Advaita; and so on. The aesthetics based on wisdom, namely aesthetics of wisdom, is valuable due to its adopting an impartial attitude toward Eastern and Western aesthetics, essentialism and anti-essentialism, philosophical horizon and psychological horizon, theory of harmony and theory of antagonism, beauty of art and beauty of nature, dualism and Advaita, up to aesthetics of knowledge and aesthetics of wisdom. Contrasted with this understanding of the aesthetics of knowledge, non-dualism and non-Advaita are the soul of the spirit of the aesthetics of wisdom.     

Linking Peoples’ Pursuit of Eudaimonia and Hedonia with Characteristics of their Parents: Parenting Styles, Verbally Endorsed Values, and Role Modeling

Research on eudaimonia (seeking to use and develop the best in oneself) and hedonia (seeking pleasure, enjoyment, comfort), two dominant ways of pursuing the good life, has previously focused on their well-being consequences and correlates. Little is known about their predictors. Two retrospective studies with undergraduates began investigating the links between the behavior of one’s parents when one was a child, and the degree to which one pursues eudaimonia and/or hedonia and derives well-being from these pursuits. Study 1 (n = 105) showed that participants engaged in eudaimonic pursuits if their parents had been high on responsiveness and/or demandingness, the two dimensions that define positive parenting. Hedonic pursuits did not relate to either parenting dimension. Study 2 (n = 110) showed that people engaged in eudaimonic pursuits if their parents had either verbally endorsed eudaimonia or actually role modeled it by pursuing eudaimonia themselves. However, people derived well-being from eudaimonic pursuits only if their parents had role modeled eudaimonia, not if their parents had merely verbally endorsed it. The same pattern was found for engaging in hedonic pursuits and deriving well-being from them. It was also found that parents who role modeled eudaimonia had children who grew up to derive well-being not only from eudaimonia but also from hedonia. Parents who role modeled hedonia had children who grew up to derive well-being only from hedonia and not from eudaimonia.     

Marriage and Family Therapists’ Use and Comfort with Online Communication with Clients

Despite the growth in computer and Internet use, marriage and family therapists’ (MFT) use of such technologies to communicate with clients has received limited attention. The purpose of the current research was to understand the frequency and ways in which MFTs are communicating online with clients and identify their level of comfort with online treatments. We administered a survey to practicing MFTs across the US to identify the frequency with which they used online communications with their clients, and the extent to which they felt comfortable using online communications in various treatment modalities. Implications for research, training, and practice are discussed.     

The Relations Among Maternal Depression,Maternal Criticism,and Adolescents’ Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms

This study examined the relations between maternal criticism and externalizing and internalizing symptoms in adolescents who varied in their risk for psychopathology. Both maternal-effects and child-effects models were examined. The sample consisted of 194 adolescents (mean age = 11.8~years) and their mothers; 146 mothers had a history of depressive disorders and 48 did not. When adolescents were in 6th and 8th grade, maternal criticism was measured with the five-minute speech sample and adolescents symptoms were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist. Maternal criticism was significantly associated with both adolescents externalizing and internalizing symptoms, beyond the contribution of the chronicity/severity of mothers depression history. Maternal criticism did not mediate the relation between maternal depression and adolescent symptoms. In contrast, adolescent externalizing behaviors mediated the relation between chronicity/severity of maternal depression history and maternal criticism in 6th grade. Prospective analyses showed that adolescents externalizing symptoms in 6th grade significantly predicted maternal criticism in 8th grade, controlling for maternal depression history and prior maternal criticism. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of examining child-effects models in studies of maternal criticism.