Locus of Control and Attitudes Toward Work and Retirement

Fifty-three older workers (M = 57.2) enrolled in a preretirement training program were administered a battery of measures designed to further evaluate the role that locus of control plays in determining attitudes toward work and retirement. Results suggested that perceived control related to work commitment. The extent of the relationship between perceived control and attitudes toward retirement, however, was mediated by sex, level of education, and self-rated health. Consistent with previous research, perceived control related to measures of adjustment.     

Self‐criticism and self‐reassurance as mediators between mental health attitudes and symptoms: Attitudes toward mental health problems in Japanese workers

Japanese workers suffer high rates of mental health symptoms, recognised recently by the Japanese government, which has enacted workplace well‐being initiatives. One reason for poor mental health concerns negative attitudes about mental health problems such as shame, which may be mediated by self‐reassurance and self‐criticism. This study aimed to evaluate shame‐based attitudes toward mental health problems and explore the relationship between mental health attitudes, self‐criticism, self‐reassurance, and mental health symptoms. Japanese workers (n = 131) completed three measures: attitudes toward mental health problems, mental health symptoms, and self‐criticism/reassurance. A high proportion of workers reported negative attitudes about mental health problems. There were strong relationships between mental health attitudes, mental health symptoms, self‐criticism, and self‐reassurance. Path analyses revealed that the total and indirect effects (through self‐criticism and self‐reassurance) of mental health attitudes on mental health were larger than the direct effect alone. Hated‐self and family reflected shame were identified as predictors for mental health symptoms. The findings suggest the importance of self‐criticism and self‐reassurance in mental health and mental health attitudes. Implications for help‐seeking behaviours also are discussed. Interventions aimed at reducing self‐criticism and enhancing self‐reassurance are recommended to improve mental health attitudes and increase help‐seeking in Japanese workers.     

Attitudes toward suicide prevention in front-line health staff

A questionnaire assessing attitudes toward suicide prevention was constructed and shown to have satisfactory reliability and internal consistency. The determinants and distribution of these attitudes were investigated in four groups of health professionals who are in contact with suicidal patients: general practitioners, accident and emergency nurses, psychiatrists in training, and community psychiatric nurses. Attitudes toward suicide prevention were shown to differ significantly between professional groups. More positive attitudes were associated with mental health professionals, working in the community, and previous training in suicide risk assessment. Negative attitudes should be assessed and targeted in training designed to improve the management of suicide risk.     

Effects of conflict resolution training integrated into a high school social studies curriculum

The authors examined the effectiveness of conflict resolution and peer mediation training among California high school students. The authors randomly assigned 2 of 4 classes to receive 5 weeks of conflict resolution and peer mediation training integrated into the required social studies curriculum. The remaining 2 classes studied the same social studies curriculum for an identical amount of time (105 min every other day) without conflict resolution and peer mediation training. The authors investigated 2 issues. The 1st was the effectiveness of the conflict resolution and peer mediation training. The trained students, compared with the untrained students, learned the integrative negotiation and peer mediation procedures better, applied the procedures more completely, chose an integrative over a distributive approach to negotiation, and developed more positive attitudes toward conflict. The 2nd issue was the impact of the training program on academic achievement. Integrating conflict resolution and peer mediation training into an academic course promoted higher achievement, greater long-term retention of the academic learning, and greater transfer of academic learning in social studies to language arts.     

Factors Contributing to the Status of Group Programming at Psychology Internship Sites

ABSTRACT

Previous research has explored administrative factors that may predict the health of group programs in college counseling centers. The current study seeks to extend this research to a more diverse set of mental health agencies. Directors of training (N = 171) at mental health agencies that host doctoral interns in psychology completed a survey about their site’s group offerings, attitudes about group, and training opportunities for interns. Results were largely consistent with the previous study and suggested that efforts to foster expertise may predict better group program outcomes. While attitudes toward group were positive, sites could be doing more to cultivate their group programs, such as offering more regular trainings in group and allowing group coordinators to have hours to administer the programs.     

TRAINING TEAM PERFORMANCE-RELATED ASSERTIVENESS

The present paper extends the existing literature on assertiveness in a way that supports industrial training as well as the selection of individuals for team positions. Data are reported from three studies that examined determinants of team performance-related assertiveness. First, data from 149 college students demonstrated that assertiveness consists of multiple dimensions which were not all related to performance in a team decision-making task. Second, data obtained from 225 business students indicated that correlations among self-report measures and peer ratings of the same assertive responses assigned by intact team members varied according to the interpersonal context (i.e., personal, stranger, work related) in which scale items were framed. Third, data from 60 college students suggested that team performance-related assertiveness has a significant skill component. Whereas both attitudinally focused and skill-based training improved attitudes toward team member assertiveness, practice and feedback were essential to producing behavioral effects. Implications for selection and team training are discussed.     

Effects of Conflict Resolution Training Integrated Into a High School Social Studies Curriculum

Abstract

The authors examined the effectiveness of conflict resolution and peer mediation training among California high school students. The authors randomly assigned 2 of 4 classes to receive 5 weeks of conflict resolution and peer mediation training integrated into the required social studies curriculum. The remaining 2 classes studied the same social studies curriculum for an identical amount of time (105 min every other day) without conflict resolution and peer mediation training. The authors investigated 2 issues. The 1st was the effectiveness of the conflict resolution and peer mediation training. The trained students, compared with the untrained students, learned the integrative negotiation and peer mediation procedures better, applied the procedures more completely, chose an integrative over a distributive approach to negotiation, and developed more positive attitudes toward conflict. The 2nd issue was the impact of the training program on academic achievement. Integrating conflict resolution and peer mediation training into an academic course promoted higher achievement, greater long-term retention of the academic learning, and greater transfer of academic learning in social studies to language arts.     

Children’s Attitudes toward Aggression: Associations with Depression,Aggression, and Perceived Maternal/Peer Responses to Anger

Little is known about factors that influence children’s attitudes toward aggression, despite evidence that these attitudes are influential in promoting violent behaviors. The purpose of the present research was to examine the relation of self, peer, and parent social factors to school-age children’s maladaptive attitudes toward aggression. Specifically, symptoms of depression, peer overt aggression behaviors, and perceptions of maternal and peer responses to anger were evaluated as important factors associated with the use of aggression. These factors were examined separately for boys and girls, as research has consistently documented gender differences in the form and use of aggression. Hierarchical regression models were computed separately for boys and girls in grades three through five (N?=?167), with child-reported depression, peer-nominated overt aggression, and child-reported maternal and best friend responses to anger examined as predictors of maladaptive attitudes toward aggression. For girls, depressive symptoms positively predicted maladaptive attitudes toward aggression. For boys, the extent of peer-reported overt aggression (positively) and child-reported supportive maternal responses to the child’s anger (negatively) predicted maladaptive attitudes toward aggression. The value of examining social factors that relate to attitudes toward aggression is discussed as well as consideration of gender differences in these relations. In addition, discussion includes how these results highlight important targets for interventions that may be especially relevant for school-age girls and boys.     

Attitudes and perceptions of workers to sexual harassment

The authors investigated how individual factors (age, gender, gender role, past experiences of sexual harassment) and organizational factors (gender ratio, sexual harassment policies, the role of employers) related to workers' attitudes toward and perceptions of sexual harassment. In Study 1, participants were 176 workers from a large, white-collar organization. In Study 2, participants were 75 workers from a smaller, blue-collar organization. Individuals from Study 2 experienced more sexual harassment, were more tolerant of sexual harassment, and perceived less behavior as sexual harassment than did individuals from Study 1. For both samples, organizational and individual factors predicted workers' attitudes toward and experiences of sexual harassment. Individual factors-such as age, gender, gender role, past experiences of sexual harassment, and perceptions of management's tolerance of sexual harassment-predicted attitudes toward sexual harassment. Workers' attitudes, the behavioral context, and the gender of the victim and perpetrator predicted perceptions of sexual harassment. The authors discussed the broader implications of these findings and suggested recommendations for future research.     

??Do We Really Need Hepatitis B on the Second Day of Life??? Vaccination Mandates and Shifting Representations of Hepatitis B

In the decade following hepatitis B vaccine's 1981 approval, U.S. health officials issued evolving guidelines on who should receive the vaccine: first, gay men, injection drug users, and healthcare workers; later, hepatitis B-positive women's children; and later still, all newborns. States laws that mandated the vaccine for all children were quietly accepted in the 1990s; in the 2000s, however, popular anti-vaccine sentiment targeted the shot as an emblem of immunization policy excesses. Shifting attitudes toward the vaccine in this period were informed by hepatitis B's changing popular image, legible in textual and visual representations of the infection from the 1980s through the 1990s. Notably, the outbreak of AIDS, the advent of genetically engineered pharmaceuticals, and a Democratic push for health reform shaped and reshaped hepatitis B's public image. Hepatitis B thus became, in turn, an AIDS-like scourge; proof of a new era of pharmaceuticals; a threat from which all American children had a right to be protected; and a cancer-causing infection spread by teenage lifestyles. The metamorphosis of the infection's image was reflected in evolving policy recommendations regarding who should receive the vaccine in the 1980s, and was key to securing broad uptake of the vaccine in the 1990s.     

Some normative data on mental health professionals' attitudes about racial minorities and women

Although codes of ethics of the mental health professions and the recently developed race- and gender-specific models of counseling and psychotherapy stipulate positive and accepting attitudes toward racial minorities and women, formal assessment of these attitudes has been hindered by the absence of appropriate measurement tools and generalizable data. This study provides some normative data by reporting responses of 705 psychologists and social workers to the Quick Discrimination Index, a psychometrically sound 23-item self-report measure previously administered to several different professional groups. Analysis indicated psychologists and social workers reported particularly positive attitudes toward racial minorities and women but expressed the same racial and sex contradictions, ambivalences, and vulnerabilities reported by the general public.     

Factors contributing to the utilization of mental health services in a rural setting

The purpose of this study was to examine if age, attitudes toward help-seeking, education, and sex were related to previous or intended future mental health utilization in a rural population. Data were collected via a mail survey from 438 adults. Regression analyses suggested that positive attitudes toward help-seeking, being female, and being younger were significantly related to both previous and intended future mental health service utilization. In addition, prior mental health use was significantly related to whether one would seek out mental health services in the future, Implications for mental health practitioners in rural settings are addressed, and limitations of the study discussed.     

University students' Internet attitudes and Internet self-efficacy: a study at three universities in Taiwan.

This study was conducted to explore university students' attitudes and self-efficacy toward the Internet. Moreover, the relationships between their attitudes and self-efficacy toward the Internet were also investigated. The sample of this study included 1,313 students, coming from three universities in Taiwan. It was found that male students expressed significantly more positive attitudes than females on their "perceived control" of the Internet. The male students also revealed better Internet self-efficacy than their female counterparts. Moreover, students having more on-line hours per week, in general, displayed more positive Internet attitudes and Internet self-efficacy. In addition, students' grade level also played an important role in their Internet attitudes; graduate students tended to possess more positive Internet attitudes. More importantly, students' Internet attitudes were highly correlated with their Internet self-efficacy. The results in this study seemed to reveal that students' attitudes toward the Internet could be viewed as one of the important indicators for predicting their Internet self-efficacy. It is also suggested that some training programs or courses may be helpful in improving university students' attitudes and self-efficacy toward the Internet.     

Peer victimization and attitudes about violence during early adolescence.

Examined roles for attitudes about violence as a possible influence on the frequency of commonplace aggression toward peers among 1,033 adolescents in the 7th through 9th grades. The peer victimization measure adapted from prior studies yielded 2 reliable subscales: Victimization of Self and Victimization of Others. The attitudes and beliefs measure modified for this study yielded 3 reliable subscales (Aggression Is Legitimate and Warranted, Aggression Enhances Power and Esteem, One Should Not Intervene in Fights). These attitudes were meaningfully related to self-reported aggression toward peers but less clearly related to self-victimization. The attitudes were plausible mediators of the relation between gender and aggression toward others and appeared influential for both boys' and girls' aggression toward peers. Little support was found for these attitudes moderating the relation between self-victimization and aggression toward others, yet a clear link between victimization of self and aggression toward others was evident. Results support an emphasis on attitudes and values regarding aggression in violence-prevention efforts, as well as direct efforts to reduce self-victimization.     

The effect of peer comparison information in the context of expert recommendations on risk perceptions and subsequent behavior

The present study seeks to understand how social comparison information may be used to provide individuals with information about their level of risk and to promote health behavior. The effect of peer comparison information, presented alone or in the context of expert recommendations, was examined across two studies using distinct experimental manipulations. Study 1 showed that regardless of whether expert standards were available or not, participants who were provided with inflated estimates of peer flossing behavior demonstrated increased behavioral intentions and increased flossing behavior measured 3 months later. This pattern was replicated in Study 2 with effects on attitudes toward flossing and intentions to floss. These findings add to a growing literature identifying comparative feedback as distinct from objective information and are discussed in terms of implications for health promotion and risk communication. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Harnessing Cognitive Dissonance to Promote Positive Attitudes Toward Older Workers in Australia

Negative stereotyping of older workers has been identified as a major factor in employment discrimination against them. A study of Australian employers' attitudes toward older workers found systematic negative stereotyping and low likelihood of hiring older workers. The current study employed a national random sample of 267 employers, and tested 3 interventions aimed at promoting positive attitudes toward older workers and increasing the likelihood of their hiring. The first intervention was in the form of a fact sheet; the second aimed at inducing cognitive dissonance; and the third was a combination of the two. The combination intervention produced promising results. Employers in this condition showed more favorable attitudes toward older workers overall, and greater preference toward hiring older workers.     

Cooperation Patterns of Israeli Mental Health Practitioners

Abstract

The cooperation patterns of Israeli mental health practitioners were examined. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric social workers were asked to fill out a questionnaire for a study investigating the influence of therapists' authoritarianism and ideology on their therapeutic attitudes. The cooperation level in mental health clinics was higher than that in psychiatric hospitals, student counseling centers, and psychiatric departments of general hospitals. In all three professions, the trainees were more cooperative than the experts. The cooperation level of the psychiatrists was the lowest, and women were generally more cooperative than men, although there was a significant Gender × Profession interaction. The fact that the psychologists and social workers were more cooperative may be attributed to their training, which places more emphasis on the therapist's personality and attitudes. The high cooperation level in the mental health clinics may be explained by the almost exclusive focus on psychotherapy, which encourages introspection.     

USER ACCEPTANCE OF PEER APPRAISALS IN AN INDUSTRIAL SETTING

A survey of 218 industrial employees who had used a peer evaluation system for over a year found a higher degree of user acceptance than that reported in previous research. Users were significantly more favorable in their attitudes toward peer appraisals when the appraisals were used for developmental rather than evaluative purposes. Favorable user reactions were positively associated with the satisfaction that employees expressed with prior peer ratings and with the amount of leniency perceived in the peer rating process. User reactions were negatively associated with perceived friendship bias and years of company experience. No relationship was found between peer or self-ratings of performance and reactions to the peer appraisal process.     

An evaluation of self-esteem and impression management theories of anticipatory belief change

The predictions of self-esteem and impression management theories of anticipatory belief change were examined as a function of whether or not subjects were reminded that their preexperimental attitudes has been assessed, the source of the expected persuasive communication (expert vs. peer), and whether or not explicit instructions were given regarding the experimenter's concern with opinion change. Anticipatory shifts changed as a function of an interaction of all three variables. In the Reminder conditions, subjects changed their attitudes toward a peer's position when the experimenter explicitly referred to opinion change. In the No Reminder conditions, subjects shifted toward an expert when the instructions were explicit and toward a peer when the instructions were implicit. The results were discussed as qualifying previous research in this area and as problematic for both self-esteem and impression management approaches to anticipatory shifts.     

Suicide and Firearm Means Restriction: Can Training Make a Difference?

Along with physician education in depression recognition and treatment, restricting lethal methods is an effective suicide prevention strategy. The present study surveyed a random sample (N = 697) of Ohio licensed social workers regarding client firearm assessment and safety counseling. Analyses sought to determine what independent factors would predict the probability that a social worker would hold positive attitudes regarding firearm risk assessment and counseling. Findings indicated that prior training and reporting from an urban area significantly increased the odds (p < .05) of registering more positive attitudes toward firearm assessment and safety counseling by 91.1% and 44.7%, respectively. Training mental health professionals in firearm assessment and safety counseling is an important aspect in addressing the reduction of suicide by this means.