Employee and customer perceptions of service quality: A look at India

Customers (n = 128) and employees (n = 93) from a large service organization in India responded to a survey regarding their satisfaction with the organization and their satisfaction with key processes regarding their specific service area. As in the United States, there was agreement between Indian customer and employee ratings. However, there were also some major differences. The impact of these differences on strategic organizational initiatives is discussed.     

Affective Forecasting: Predicting and Experiencing Satisfaction With Public Transportation1

Affective forecasting in public transport was investigated in 2 studies. Study 1 revealed differences in satisfaction between users (n = 870) and non‐users (n = 137). Users were more satisfied than were non‐users with regard to reliability and safety, as well as with regard to overall satisfaction. It was also found that non‐users mispredicted their satisfaction with public transport. Study 2 revealed that habitual car users (n = 106) reported greater satisfaction after using public transport for 1 month than they had predicted initially, which provided additional support for the hypothesis that habitual car users would mispredict their satisfaction with public transport. Satisfaction with public transport also increased in comparison with a random sample of car users (n = 63).     

Association between attachment insecurity and couple adjustment: Moderation by couple memory networks

This study investigated whether couple‐related memories and their organization in memory networks could act as cognitive resources to protect against the negative impact of insecure attachment on couple adjustment. In two studies (n1 = 153, n2 = 567), participants in a romantic relationship described a significant couple‐related memory and provided networked memories associated with their couple‐related memory, to assess its organization in the memory system, and rated each memory for its level of need satisfaction. Findings across the two studies revealed significant moderations of need satisfaction in couple‐related memory networks, such that a higher level of satisfaction need within couple‐related memory networks was associated with a reduced negative association of attachment anxiety and avoidance with couple adjustment. When examined separately, it was shown that need‐satisfying networked memories, but not main couple‐related memories, moderated the negative association of insecure attachment with couple adjustment.     

African American and White Women’s Experience of Sexual Assault and Services for Sexual Assault

This article presents the results of a study assessing the needs and experiences of African American and White female survivors of sexual assault in the state of Maryland. Eight specific hypotheses regarding differences in the needs and experiences of African American as compared to White women receiving partial or no support through analyses of interview data drawn from 213 survivors (African American survivors, n = 133; White survivors, n = 80) were explored. No differences were reported in medical care received; however, in comparison to their White counterparts, African American women reported decreased use of sexual assault crisis centers and mental health services, and postassault help-seeking through use of sexual assault hotlines. Barriers and facilitators associated with treatment experiences differed by ethnicity. Findings are discussed in relation to future directions for research, and service and policy improvement for survivors of sexual assault.     

Clarifying Heterogeneity of Daytime and Nighttime Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress in Combat Veterans With Insomnia

Daytime and nighttime symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are common among combat veterans and military service members. However, there is a great deal of heterogeneity in how symptoms are expressed. Clarifying the heterogeneity of daytime and nighttime PTSD symptoms through exploratory clustering may generate hypotheses regarding ways to optimally match evidence-based treatments to PTSD symptom profiles. We used mixture modeling to reveal clusters based on 6 daytime and nighttime symptoms of 154 combat veterans with insomnia and varying levels of PTSD symptoms. Three clusters with increasing symptom severity were identified (n1 = 50, n2 = 70, n3 = 34). These results suggest that, among veterans with insomnia, PTSD symptoms tend to exist on a continuum of severity, rather than as a categorical PTSD diagnosis. Hypotheses regarding possible targeted treatment strategies for veterans within each identified cluster, as well as ways to generalize these methods to other groups within the military, are discussed.     

Different functions of emotion regulation in linking harmony seeking and rejection avoidance to life satisfaction and social support in Germany,Hong Kong,and Japan

This study examined whether two facets of interdependence, harmony seeking and rejection avoidance, were differently related to life satisfaction and social support from friends across cultures through the differential use of emotion regulation strategies. Specifically, we propose that individuals who seek harmony and avoid rejection regulate emotions differently to achieve social adaptation in their sociocultural contexts. University students from Germany (n = 129), Hong Kong (n = 136), and Japan (n = 123) completed our online survey. Data were analysed through multigroup structural equation modelling. Across cultures, harmony seeking was positively while rejection avoidance was negatively related to indices of social functioning (life satisfaction or social support). For Germans, emotion regulation (more rumination, less reappraisal, more suppression) completely mediated the associations of rejection avoidance with life satisfaction. Germans may emotionally overreact when fearing rejection, which is reflected in using dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies. In contrast, rejection avoidance was only weakly related to emotional dysregulation among Hong Kong Chinese and Japanese who might be adapted to fearing exclusion due to living in low relational mobility societies. Our findings demonstrate cultural similarities and differences in the interplay of harmony seeking and rejection avoidance with emotion regulation, life satisfaction, and social support.     

“Good mothering”: Maternal attitudes and mother-infant interaction

Two groups of mother-infant pairs, with infants aged 1 to 5 months, were recruited by child health nurses. One group (n = 10) of infants had rational difficulties, whereas the other group (n = 22) did not. The research team was blind to group membership. The mothers were interviewed about background variables, their cognitive-emotional orientation during pregnancy and early motherhood, their self-confidence as mothers, their satisfaction with support from their husbands, and living conditions. Mother-infant interaction was observed in à diaper change and à face-to-face situation. Comparisons between the two groups showed no differences with regard to background variables, while significant differences were obtained with regard to interview and observation data. The problem group reported less satisfaction with and focus on maternal role, less self-confidence as mothers, and less satisfaction with husband support and living conditions than the no-problem group. With regard to observation data, the no-problem group mothers and infants both showed higher levels of what was à priori regarded as desirable interactional behavior. Correlations between interview and observation data, calculated within the no-problem group, showed the same kind of connection between mothers' cognitive emotional orientation and interactional behavior as was indicated by the group comparisons.     

Job choice and career relevance for today's college students

Previous research on college student employment has focused on differences among students based on year of college attendance but included relatively few participants over the age of 25. The current study investigated the relationship between job choice, job/career relevance, and job satisfaction for students under age 20 (n = 143), students ages 20–24 (n = 253), and students over age 25 (n = 141). Results revealed significant differences among age groups in reasons for job choice and reaffirmed the positive correlation that past research had found between job satisfaction and career relevance. Findings emphasized the importance of choosing employment for career‐oriented reasons rather than for reasons of convenience.     

Concordance Between Mothers' and Children's Reports of Somatic and Emotional Symptoms in Patients with Recurrent Abdominal Pain or Emotional Disorders

Mother–child concordance regarding children's somatic and emotional symptoms was assessed in children with recurrent abdominal pain (n = 88), emotional disorders (n = 51), and well children (n = 56). Children between 6 and 18 years of age and their mothers completed questionnaires assessing the children's somatic symptoms, functional disability, and depression. Mothers of children with recurrent abdominal pain reported more child somatic and depressive symptoms than did their children, and mothers of children with emotional disorders reported more child depressive symptoms than did their children. Higher levels of maternal distress were associated with greater mother-child discordance in the direction of mothers reporting more child symptoms than did their children. No significant child age or sex differences were found in concordance patterns.     

Children’s Perspectives and Evaluations of Safety in Diverse Settings and Their Subjective Well-Being: A Multi-National Approach

There is a need to explore variations in children’s safety perceptions for different settings (home, school and neighbourhood) and their relationship with subjective well-being (this including satisfaction with safety and satisfaction with life as whole) by comparing a variety of cultural contexts. A further objective is to explore to what extent gender, age group (10 and 12-year-olds) and level of SWB (measured using the SLSS -Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale- and the BMSLSS -Brief Multidimensional Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale) play a role in this prediction. Results obtained through binary logistic models with samples from Spain (n = 2,724), Algeria (n = 2432), South Africa (n = 2192) and Israel (n = 1914), show that children’s perceptions of safety are predicted by their different perceptions and evaluations of school, home and the nearby area. Perceptions of safety in the nearby area and satisfaction with safety (O.R. = 1.080) contribute to predicting higher levels of satisfaction with life as a whole to a greater extent than scores on the SLSS (O.R. = 1.036) and the BMSLSS (O.R. = 1.050) scales. The country participants live in (especially when combined with satisfaction with safety) and, to a lesser extent gender, also make important contributions. The age group they belong to plays a significant role in predicting higher perceptions of safety at home, in the area nearby, at school, and in predicting higher satisfaction with safety. Results open the door to the introduction of specific interventions (e.g. improving parent-child communication, enhancing public spaces for children to play and promoting children’s participation at school), aimed at promoting higher satisfaction with safety and also indirectly at higher satisfaction with life as a whole, on the basis of achieving positive changes of those factors which make the highest contribution.

     

Students’ suggestions for eliminating bullying at a university

Students’ suggestions for how to eliminate bullying at universities were gathered as part of an e-questionnaire sent to each university student (N = 10,551) at a Finnish university. The suggestions (n = 2804) regarding how to address bullying at universities were divided into the following four classes: support (944), punishment (78), support and punishment (65), and no suggestions (1717). Further analysis concerning support revealed the following five categories according to Houses’ (1981) classification: instrumental/material support (n = 265), informational support (n = 263), emotional support (n = 139), and appraisal support (n = 69). In addition, there were 208 inexact suggestions regarding how to stop bullying. Analysis concerning resources for help revealed the following five categories: Finnish Students Health Service/student association/police/university priest (120), university teachers (49), other students/peer support (41) and administration (36). In this classification, there were 698 inexact suggestions. This is a sign of the difficulty in addressing bullying situations.     

Children's Earliest Experiences with Death: Circumstances,Conversations, Explanations,and Parental Satisfaction

Parents (n = 140) of children 2 to 7 years responded to an online survey regarding their children's experiences and conversations about death. A total of 75% of parents indicated that they had spoken to their child about death, and the majority of conversations were first initiated when children were between 3 and 3.5 years of age. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore factors that could predict conversations about death. Parents (n = 88) provided narratives of the explanations of death that they gave their child and subsequently reported their level of satisfaction with their explanation. The content of the explanations was coded and examined in relation to children's age and parental satisfaction. Results revealed that parents who provided explanations to a continued existence after death reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction than those parents who discussed the absence of a future physical relationship after death. Finally, explanations of a continued existence were not always in reference to an afterlife and could include discussing the memory of the deceased or their continued impact even after death. Thus, when talking to young children about death, parents may feel greater satisfaction in finding ways to discuss the continued legacy of those who have died compared to more biological explanations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Referrers' Perceived Utility and Outcomes of Clinical Neuropsychological Assessment in an Adolescent and Young Adult Public Mental Health Service

Despite frequent informal or anecdotal acknowledgement of the usefulness of neuropsychological services within various settings, including mental health settings, few studies have formally investigated the satisfaction, perceived utility, or outcomes associated with such a service. This survey‐based study evaluated referring clinicians’ (n = 35) perceptions of the usefulness and outcomes associated with the provision of clinical neuropsychological assessment and feedback within an adolescent and young adult public mental health service in Melbourne, Australia. The results suggest that referrers perceive the neuropsychological service, including formal neuropsychological assessment report and verbal and written feedbacks, as a highly useful adjunct to their clinical practice. In addition, referrers frequently reported clinically meaningful outcomes in association with the neuropsychological service, including diagnostic changes or additions (11% of clients referred), changes to approaches in treatment (52% of clients referred), and increased or appropriate access to services, education, or work (33% of clients referred). Referrers also reported that almost 60% of neuropsychological assessment reports were forwarded to other services or clinicians involved in the client's care. The findings suggest that mental health settings are likely to benefit from routine inclusion of specialist neuropsychology services. However, future research should also examine client and family perceptions regarding the satisfaction and usefulness of neuropsychological services.     

The Simple Copy Task: Detecting Higher Order Visual Processing Deficits in Schizophrenia,Dementia, and Movement Disorder Groups

The Simple Copy Task (SCT) is a figure copying test with inherent appeal due to its short administration time, graded task difficulty, varied stimuli, and potential to eliminate floor effects. Despite this, there is a lack of data regarding its construct validity and diagnostic utility. The present study compared SCT performance of schizophrenia (n = 29), dementia (n = 64), and movement disorder (n = 12) groups with that of unmatched healthy control participants (n = 49). Movement disorder patients committed a high degree of misplacement errors, whereas dementia patients tended to omit items, add extraneous detail, and perseverate. The schizophrenia group was most similar to the dementia group in their performance on the SCT, committing primarily omission and perseveration errors. The SCT was most closely related to the Rey Complex Figure Task (r = 0.68, p < .01) and the Block Design Task (r = 0.62, p < .01). Age (r = ?0.14, p < .01) and education (r = 0.35, p < .01) effects were present; however, there was no impact of gender and handedness. Taken together, these findings provide support for the utility of the task and directions for clinical interpretation.     

Correlates of satisfaction with body function and body appearance in middle- and older aged adults: The activity counseling trial (ACT)

Abstract

This study examined the dimensional structure and correlates of body satisfaction among middle-aged and older adult men (n = 471) and women (n = 383) who were participants in the Activity Counseling Trial. Correlates were grouped as (1) fitness parameters, (2) demographic characteristics, and (3) components of subjective well-being. Factor analyses demonstrated that body function and body appearance were independent components of satisfaction in this population. Body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness were directly related to satisfaction with body appearance; however, satisfaction with body function was most strongly related in expected directions to measures of subjective well-being. Age was positively related to both measures of body satisfaction, whereas data on race revealed that blacks were more satisfied with their body appearance and function than whites. The observed relationships for body satisfaction suggest that older adults may value body function more than body appearance. Furthermore, the associations of race and age with body satisfaction have important implications for intervention research.     

Attractiveness and relationship longevity: Beauty is not what it is cracked up to be

Across four studies, we examined the relational repercussions of physical attractiveness (PA). Study 1 (n = 238) found that those rated as more attractive in high school yearbooks were married for shorter durations and more likely to divorce. Study 2 (n = 130) replicated these effects using a different sample (high‐profile celebrities). Study 3 (n = 134) examined the link between PA and the derogation of attractive alternatives, a relationship maintenance strategy. Study 4 (n = 156) experimentally manipulated perceived PA and examined its relation with both derogation of attractive alternatives and current relationship satisfaction. PA predicted likelihood of relationship dissolution and decreased derogation of attractive alternatives. Furthermore, PA predicted greater vulnerability to relationship threats—in this case, relationship alternatives—resulting from poor relationship satisfaction.     

Rape Myth Acceptance: A Comparison of Military Service Academy and Civilian Fraternity and Sorority Students

Although both the military and fraternities have been theorized to be characterized by norms and attitudes that serve to legitimize violence against women, no previous work has examined the potential similarity and differences in rape-supportive beliefs of these 2 environments or the people drawn to them. Further, the belief systems of women within these organizations have received little attention. As such, the current study sought to serve as an initial exploration of the rape-supportive belief systems of people drawn to these groups. Participants were recruited from students entering 2 military service academies (U.S. Military Academy, n = 1,169, 1,003 men, 166 women; U.S. Naval Academy, n = 1,916, 1,551 men, 365 women) and fraternities and sororities at a Midwestern university (n = 393, 188 men, 205 women). All participants completed the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale–Short Form. Consistent with previous findings related to gender, men were more accepting of rape myths than women. Further, there was more variability in the levels of rape myth acceptance among military service academy and fraternity men than among military service academy and sorority women. Although across all groups the women expressed significantly lower levels of rape myth acceptance than the men, women and men from the United States Military Academy were more closely aligned in their beliefs than women and men from the other samples. Implications for sexual assault prevention education are discussed.     

New Concepts for a New Age: Information Service Organizations and Mental Information Work

Abstract

To describe and conceptualize new forms of work and organization a questionnaire survey in service organizations (n = 845), and a telephone survey among workers (n = 1168) were held. New concepts are introduced to identify the types of work and organization found, i.e. “Information Service Organization” (ISO) and “Mental Information Work” (MIW). ISOs are characterized by activities such as collecting, storing, and processing data; advising people; and informing people. They also make a lot of use of IT (computers, programs) and electronic network connections. Most ISOs appear to be traditional in terms of working hours and places of work. MIW is a form of knowledge work characterized by mental manipulations of information; IT is often used. Flexi-time is relatively frequent in MIW, but most people work on a fixed place of work.     

Exploring Different Forms of Job (Dis)Satisfaction and Their Relationship with Well‐Being,Motivation and Performance

Job satisfaction is often treated as a one‐dimensional construct. In contrast, Bruggemann ( 1974 ) postulated six distinct forms of (dis)satisfaction: four types of satisfaction (progressive, stabilised, resigned, pseudo) and two types of dissatisfaction (constructive, fixated). Despite her theory's practical relevance, few researchers have explored its assumptions or applications. The current study aimed to characterise a German‐speaking employee sample (n = 892) according to Bruggemann's theory using mixture modelling. We investigated stability of the (dis)satisfaction forms over a five‐month period, as well as their relationship with well‐being, motivation and (self‐reported) performance. We found latent clusters corresponding to most Bruggemann types, though no distinction between progressive and stabilised satisfaction was possible. While cluster membership varied over time, some clusters (e.g. resigned satisfaction) were more stable than others (e.g. constructive dissatisfaction). Overall satisfaction level explained 25–51 per cent variance in well‐being and motivation, and 13–16 per cent variance in performance. Including forms of satisfaction improved cross‐sectional prediction by 2–6 per cent explained variance. Results suggest that unfavourable consequences of job dissatisfaction may be limited to fixated—not constructive—dissatisfaction, though no consistent longitudinal effects emerged. We argue that exploring qualitative differences in job satisfaction promotes a more nuanced and potentially useful understanding of the relationship between satisfaction and work outcomes.