The inheritance of cognitive interest styles among twins

Through twin studies, research in behavioral genetics has demonstrated significant genetic components in many personality traits. Less research has been done on inheritance of vocational interest preferences, partially because of the lack of a wholistic conceptual model for understanding the relationships among diverse occupational interests. With the development of scales for the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) to measure the six cognitive interest styles propounded by Holland, a parsimonious and comprehensive mapping of the occupational world was available and lent itself to the study of measuring inheritance of vocational preferences among twins. Median intraclass correlations for 409 pairs of monozygotic males, tested with the SVIB, was r = .50; for 570 pairs of monozygotic females, r = .55; for 237 pairs of dizygotic males, r = .27; and for 370 pairs of dizygotic females, r= .27.     

Correlates of Dispositional and State Flow in Tennis Competition

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between psychological correlates and flow in tennis competition. Using a cross-sectional design, the sample of 261 junior tennis athletes showed moderate-to-strong correlations between flow (dispositional and state) and confidence (r _disp = .59; r _state = .35), imagery use (r _disp = .58; r _state = .32), and action control (r _disp = .41; r _state = .40), whereas absorption was orthogonal to flow. Commonality analysis revealed that imagery and confidence accounted for 34.2% of the variance in dispositional flow. The results are discussed for the development of intervention studies in order to enhance flow in competition.     

British research productivity in psychology 1980–1989. Does the Lotka-Price law apply to university departments as it does to individuals?

This study replicated two American studies which set out to look at research productivity in British (university and polytechnic) psychology departments based on publication in the seven BPS journals over the last decade. Composite productivity scores were calculated, rank-ordered, and compared with previous reputational ratings. The correlation between the productivity score and Rushton's [(1989) The Psychologist, 2, 64–68] citation score was r=0.79 and his publication score was r=0.77. Despite the fact that quite different methods have been used to rate or rank departmental excellence or output, they seem to show highly significant correlations. The effect of highly productive individuals within departments was considered. The dangers and limitations inherent in this particular productivity count are listed. The results seemed to suggest that the Lotka-Price law of scientific productivity partly applied to departments in that half of all scientific contributions are made by (slightly more than) the square root of the total number of scientific contributors (in this sense psychology departments).     

The Interpersonal Adaptiveness of Dispositional Guilt and Shame: A Meta‐Analytic Investigation

Despite decades of empirical research, conclusions regarding the adaptiveness of dispositional guilt and shame are mixed. We use meta‐analysis to summarize the empirical literature and clarify these ambiguities. Specifically, we evaluate how guilt and shame are uniquely related to pro‐social orientation and, in doing so, highlight the substantial yet under‐acknowledged impact of researchers’ methodological choices. A series of meta‐analyses was conducted investigating the relationship between dispositional guilt (or shame) and pro‐social orientation. Two main methodological moderators of interest were tested: test format (scenario vs. checklist) and statistical analysis (semi‐partial vs. zero‐order correlations). Among studies employing zero‐order correlations, dispositional guilt was positively correlated with pro‐social orientation (k = 63, Mr = .13, p < .001), whereas dispositional shame was negatively correlated, (k = 47, Mr = –.05, p = .07). Test format was a significant moderator for guilt studies only, with scenario measures producing significantly stronger effects. Semi‐partial correlations resulted in significantly stronger effects among guilt and shame studies. Although dispositional guilt and shame are differentially related to pro‐social orientation, such relationships depend largely on the methodological choices of the researcher, particularly in the case of guilt. Implications for the study of these traits are discussed.     

Meta-analysis of the relationship between intelligence and inspection time

This study replicated and extended Kranzler and Jensen's [Intelligence 13 (1989) 329] meta-analysis of the relationship between inspection time (IT) and intelligence (IQ). Separate meta-analyses were conducted on obtained correlations (r's) between IT and general IQ for the total sample and for studies using samples of adults and children. Two new meta-analyses were also conducted. The first compared the IT–IQ r between visual and auditory IT; the second compared the r between strategy users and nonusers. For the total sample (N>4100), the r was −.51 after correction for artifactual effects (−.30 prior to correction). No statistically significant difference was observed between the mean corrected r of −.51 for adults and −.44 for children. The mean corrected r for visual and auditory IT measures were −.49 and −.58, respectively, suggesting that the relationship between IT and IQ is comparable across type of IT task. The mean corrected r of −.77 for strategy nonusers was statistically significantly higher than the r of −.60 for strategy users. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

Phenotypic and genetic relationships between vocational interests and personality

Relationships between personality and vocational interest factors were examined at the phenotypic and genetic levels. Twins and siblings (N = 516) completed self-report personality and vocational interest scales. Following factor analyses of each scale, five personality and six vocational interest factors were extracted. At the phenotypic level, correlations between personality and vocational interests ranged from zero to .33. Heritability estimates of the scales showed that genetic components accounted for 0–56% of the variance for the vocational interest factors and 44–65% for the personality factors. Genetic correlations between the two areas ranged from zero to .50. The results suggest that personality is related to some vocational interest dimensions and that some of these observed relationships have a common genetic basis.     

Random‐effects meta‐analysis of correlations: Monte Carlo evaluation of mean estimators

Several authors have cautioned against using Fisher's z‐transformation in random‐effects meta‐analysis of correlations, which seems to perform poorly in some situations, especially with substantial inter‐study heterogeneity. Attributing this performance largely to the direct z‐to‐r transformation (DZRT) of Fisher z results (e.g. point estimate of mean correlation), in a previous paper Hafdahl (2009) proposed point and interval estimators of the mean Pearson r correlation that instead use an integral z‐to‐r transformation (IZRT). The present Monte Carlo study of these IZRT Fisher z estimators includes comparisons with their DZRT counterparts and with estimators based on Pearson r correlations. The IZRT point estimator was usually more accurate and efficient than its DZRT counterpart and comparable to the two Pearson r point estimators – better in some conditions but worse in others. Coverage probability for the IZRT confidence intervals (CIs) was often near nominal, much better than for the DZRT CIs, and comparable to coverage for the Pearson r CIs; every approach's CI fell markedly below nominal in some conditions. The IZRT estimators contradict warnings about Fisher z estimators' poor performance. Recommendations for practising research synthesists are offered, and an Appendix provides computing code to implement the IZRT as in the real‐data example.     

Multidimensional Perfectionism and the Big Five Personality Traits: A Meta‐analysis

Multidimensional perfectionism includes the dimensions perfectionistic concerns and perfectionistic strivings. Many studies have investigated the nomological network of multidimensional perfectionism by relating perfectionistic concerns and perfectionistic strivings to the Big Five personality traits. Results from these studies were largely inconsistent. In the present study, we meta‐analytically integrated 672 effect sizes from 72 samples (N = 21 573) describing relations between multidimensional perfectionism and the Big Five personality traits. Perfectionistic concerns correlated positively with Neuroticism (r = 0.383) and negatively with Extraversion (r = ?0.198), Agreeableness (r = ?0.198), Conscientiousness (r = ?0.111), and Openness (r = ?0.087). Perfectionistic strivings correlated positively with Conscientiousness (r = 0.368), Openness (r = 0.121), Neuroticism (r = 0.090), and Extraversion (r = 0.067) and were unrelated to Agreeableness (r = 0.002). The measures of perfectionistic concerns and perfectionistic strivings moderated most of these relations. Meta‐analytic structural equation modelling allowed controlling each perfectionism dimension for the respective other. This partialling increased all correlations with the exception of the previously positive correlation between perfectionistic strivings and Neuroticism, which ceased to be significant. The findings support the distinction between perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns and demonstrate how multidimensional perfectionism is situated in the context of broader personality traits. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Serum Lipids in Suicide Attempters

As other studies have shown possible associations of low serum cholesterol concentrations as well as serotonin and corticosteroid deviances with suicide or depression, the present study was undertaken to investigate the serum lipid levels in subgroups of suicide attempters. Serum lipids were determined in 72 suicide attempters. Cerebrospinal fluid monoamine metabolites and plasma cortisol levels were measured, and dexamethasone suppression tests were performed. Hopelessness and suicidality were rated by the Hopelessness Scale (HS) and the Suicidal Intent Scales (SIS). The mean total serum cholesterol (TSC) level was 5.0 ± 1.2 mmol/L. We found no significant correlations between TSC and the monoamine metabolites. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol showed positive correlations with the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (r = 0.39, p = 0.04) and the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (r = 0.34, p = 0.07). The SIS and HS scales did not correlate significantly with serum lipids. “Violent” attempters showed somewhat higher serum lipid levels than “nonviolent” attempters. We found no significant differences in serum lipid levels between the diagnostic subgroups. Hence, we could not find much support for the hypothesis of associations between low cholesterol levels and decreased serotonin activity in the brain. However, this field merits further investigation.     

Family influences on the association between sleep problems and anxiety in a large sample of pre-school aged twins

Research suggests that environmental influences are important on the association between sleep problems and anxiety in children. This study examines family influences on the association between sleep problems and anxiety in 6000+ twin pairs. Parents provided information on their twins’ anxiety and sleep problems at ages 3 and 4 years. The family influences maternal depression, life events, socio-economic status, family illness, and family disorganization, were examined using parent-report. Family disorganization and maternal depression showed the strongest correlations with sleep problems (r = .20, .21, respectively) and with anxiety (r = .24, .28). Subsequent analyses indicated that family disorganization and maternal depression (examined individually) each accounted for approximately 30% of the association between sleep problems and anxiety (r = .18). The remaining association was mainly explained by environmental factors making children in the same family alike and genetic influences. This study specifies family influences that may be important in the association between sleep problems and anxiety and highlights areas of research that may be worth pursuing in order to further understand the childhood association between sleep problems and anxiety.     

‘I feel better when…’: An analysis of the memory-experience gap for peoples’ estimates of the relationship between health behaviours and experiences

Objective: People often overestimate how strongly behaviours and experiences are related. This memory-experience gap might have important implications for health care settings, which often require people to estimate associations, such as “my mood is better when I exercise”. This study examines how subjective correlation estimates between health behaviours and experiences relate to calculated correlations from online reports and whether subjective estimates are associated with engagement in actual health behaviour.

Design: Seven-month online study on physical activity, sleep, affect and stress, with 61 online assessments.

Main Outcome Measures: University students (N = 168) retrospectively estimated correlations between physical activity, sleep, positive affect and stress over the seven-month study period.

Results: Correlations between experiences and behaviours (online data) were small (r = ?.12–.14), estimated correlations moderate (r = ?.35–.24). Correspondence between calculated and estimated correlations was low. Importantly, estimated correlations of physical activity with stress, positive affect and sleep were associated with actual engagement in physical activity.

Conclusion: Estimation accuracy of relations between health behaviours and experiences is low. However, association estimates could be an important predictor of actual health behaviours. This study identifies and quantifies estimation inaccuracies in health behaviours and points towards potential systematic biases in health settings, which might seriously impair intervention efficacy.     

Assessing declarative memory in 12-month-old infants: A test – retest reliability study of the deferred imitation task

This study examined whether declarative memory in infants can be reliably assessed using the deferred imitation task. Twenty-four infants at the age of 12 months were given the same deferred imitation task twice within a short period of time (week-to-week assessment). Replicating the results of former studies the second memory test yielded better memory performances on the group level than the first one, indicating a memory benefit as is typically found in older children as well as in adults. Stability of memory performance level was analysed using two indicators, namely test – retest correlations assessing stability of individual memory performances for the whole sample, as well as corrected test – retest correlations using individual consistency scores. Test – retest reliability was highly significant (r = .52, p = .009), as well as corrected test – retest reliability (r = .62, p = .001), thus demonstrating that the individual memory performance level in infants can reliably be assessed using the deferred imitation task.     

Religiosity and forgiveness among first-married and remarried adults

The current study examined the relationship between religiosity and forgiveness among first-married and remarried adults. Seven hundred and eighty-seven married adults from the Flanders region in Belgium completed the Enright Forgiveness Inventory and a four-item Religiosity Scale measuring forgiveness and religiosity, respectively. The results indicated that religiosity positively correlated (p?=?0.0001, r?=?0.15) with forgiveness. There was a significant difference between the religiosity of the first-married and the remarried adults (p?=?0.0001 (two-tailed) d?=?0.61). In an analysis by gender, the women showed a statistically significantly higher religiosity than did men (p?=?0.00005 (one-tailed) d?=?0.28). Among the demographic variables, age (r?=?0.26), number of children (r?=?0.35), and number of years in marriage (r?=?0.34) showed a statistically significant (p?=?0.0001) positive correlation with religiosity. The basic purpose of this study was to inform clinicians of the value of forgiveness and religiosity in therapeutic interventions.     

Circadian preferences and personality traits: A meta‐analysis

In this study we report results of a meta‐analysis of studies linking personality to circadian rhythms. A total of 35 independent samples, 96 correlations and 8589 participants were included. Results showed that conscientiousness is the personality dimension that mostly related to morningness (r = .29). Agreeableness was also related to morningness although to a lesser degree (r = .13). Openness to experience, extraversion and neuroticism, contribute to a very small degree (i.e. ?.09, ?.06 and ?.07, respectively). Furthermore, moderation analyses suggested effects of personality measure (big five vs. other) and sample (students vs. workers). Average age of participants had no significant impact on the relationship between morningness and personality, apart from a very trivial influence on openness to experience. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meta-analyses of Big Six Interests and Big Five Personality Factors

This article presents a series of meta-analyses examining the 24 samples to date that have revealed the overlap of the three most widely used measures of Holland's Big Six domains of vocational interest, namely the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1985a), the Strong Interest Inventory (Hansen & Campbell, 1985; Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994), and the Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1985b), with the most widely accepted measure of the Big Five personality factors, namely the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The meta-analyses showed the mean effect sizes for each of the 30 correlations between the six interest dimensions and the five personality dimensions. Of the 30 correlations, 5 appeared to be substantial for both women and men and across the interest measures. They are Artistic-Openness (r=.48), Enterprising-Extraversion (r=.41), Social-Extraversion (r=.31), Investigative-Openness (r=.28), and Social-Agreeableness (r=.19).     

Attitudes and uptake of a screening test: The moderating role of ambivalence

This study examined the extent to which ambivalence moderates the relationship between attitudes and screening behaviour in a clinical setting using an objective measure of behaviour. For this study 979 pregnant women eligible for prenatal Down syndrome screening completed questionnaire measures of attitudes, ambivalence and intentions towards undergoing the test. Screening behaviour, assessed by test uptake, was determined from medical records. Attitudes predicted intentions to undergo the test and screening behaviour. The correlations between attitudes and intentions and between attitudes and behaviour were greater in women with lower levels of ambivalence (r?=?0.85 and r?=?0.58, respectively) than in those with higher levels of ambivalence (r?=?0.50 and r?=?0.27, respectively). Regression analyses revealed that ambivalence moderated the relationships between attitudes and intention and between attitude and behaviour. In addition, a three-way interaction was found between ambivalence, attitudes and intention when predicting behaviour. Given that behaving consistently with attitudes is central to making an informed choice, ambivalence appears to undermine the making of such choices.     

Temperamental Vulnerability and Suicide Risk After Attempted Suicide

The aim was to extend recent findings of suggested temperamental features in attempted suicide and to explore possible domains of vulnerability to suicide risk after attempted suicide. Fifty-four psychiatric inpatients hospitalized after a suicide attempt underwent lumbar puncture for analysis of CSF 5-HIAA concentration and also completed the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) before discharge from the hospital. Suicide attempters scored high on Somatic Anxiety, Psychic Anxiety, and Muscular Tension, and low on Socialization, findings that support recent findings in suicide attempters followed up after an emergency room visit. Five patients committed early suicide, i.e., within 3 years, and the overall long-term suicide mortality after attempted suicide was 13%. There were significant correlations between survival time among early suicides and CSF 5-HIAA (r = .87;p = .054), and the following KSP scale t scores: Somatic Anxiety (r = ?.96;p < .05), Impulsivity (r = ?.88; p < .05), and Socialization (r = .90; p < .05). KSP Socialization showed correlations with CSF 5-HIAA (r = .89; p = .046) among the early suicides. Features of temperamental vulnerability to suicide risk after attempted suicide might involve anxiety proneness, impulsivity, low socialization, and low CSF 5-HIAA.     

Maternal and paternal parenting styles associated with relational aggression in children and adolescents: A conceptual analysis and meta-analytic review

How does parenting affect relational aggression in children? The goal of the present series of meta-analyses based on 48 studies (28,097 children) was to analyze and integrate the findings on the associations between various types of parenting behaviors and relational aggression, and to identify potential substantive and methodological factors that may moderate these associations. To distinguish between different parenting strategies, experts sorted the parenting measures used in the studies into 10 groups. Results of a multiple correspondence analysis revealed four separate clusters: Positive parenting, psychologically controlling parenting, negative/harsh parenting, and uninvolved parenting. The meta-analyses demonstrated that more positive parenting was associated with less relational aggression (combined effect sizes r = −.06, p < .05, for mothers, r = −.08, p < .01, for fathers). More harsh parenting (combined effect sizes r = .11, p < .01, for mothers, r = .12, p < .01, for fathers) and more uninvolved parenting (combined effect sizes r = .07, p < .01, for mothers, absent for fathers) were associated with increased relational aggression. Paternal psychologically controlling parenting was positively related to relational aggression (r = .05, p < .01), whereas maternal psychologically controlling parenting was not (combined effect sizes r = .04, p = .09). The effect of several moderators is discussed. The findings of this study suggest that dimensions of positive and negative parenting behaviors of mothers and fathers are associated with children’s relational aggression and that these associations are – in case of fathers – contingent upon a number of sampling and procedural characteristics.     

Reality-Testing a Vocational Choice: Congruence Between Self,Ideal, and Occupational Percepts Among Student Nurses

A total of 168 student nurses (24 each at 7 levels of vocational experience and preparation) Q-sorted 50 self-relevant, socially neutral statements to measure self-concept, ideal self-concept, and occupational role percept. Mean r's for congruence between ideal and occupational percepts tended to exceed and to reach higher levels of significance than corresponding r's for congruence between either self and ideal or self and occupational percepts. Congruences between self, ideal, and occupational percepts reach significance at p = .01 for graduate students, who have attained “adult” professional status. However, no significant relationship appears to obtain between either pre-professional or professional nursing experience and congruence between self and ideal, self and occupational role, or ideal and occupational role percepts. Results are interpreted in terms of a self-concept theory of vocational development.