A Meta‐Analytic Investigation of the Within‐Person Self‐Efficacy Domain: Is Self‐Efficacy a Product of Past Performance or a Driver of Future Performance?

We conducted a meta‐analysis to determine whether the within‐person self‐efficacy/performance relationship is positive, negative, or null and to compare the strength of the self‐efficacy/performance and past performance/self‐efficacy within‐person relationships. The self‐efficacy/performance within‐person corrected correlation was .23 but was weak and nonsignificant (ρ = .06) when controlling for the linear trajectory, revealing that the main effect was spurious. The past performance/self‐efficacy within‐person corrected correlation was .40 and remained positive and significant (ρ = .30) when controlling for the linear trajectory. The moderator results revealed that at the within‐person level of analysis: (a) self‐efficacy had at best a moderate, positive effect on performance and a null effect under other moderating conditions (ρ ranged from –.02 to .33); (b) the main effect of past performance on self‐efficacy was stronger than the effect of self‐efficacy on performance, even in the moderating conditions that produced the strongest self‐efficacy/performance relationship; (c) the effect of past performance on self‐efficacy ranged from moderate to strong across moderating conditions and was statistically significant across performance tasks, contextual factors, and methodological moderators (ρ ranged from .18 to .52). Overall, this suggests that self‐efficacy is primarily a product of past performance rather than the driving force affecting future performance.     

Who Suffers More from Job Insecurity? A Meta‐Analytic Review

The present meta‐analysis examined the tenure, age, and gender differences in the relationship between job insecurity and its job‐related and health‐related consequences. A total of 133 studies, providing 172 independent samples, were included in the analysis. Our results basically replicated Sverke et al.'s (2002 ) meta‐analytic findings with an updated methodological approach and a larger database. The main differences between our findings and Sverke et al.'s are that the negative association between job insecurity and job performance was significant and that the relationship between insecurity and job involvement was smaller in our study. The moderator analysis also indicated that: (1) the positive association between job insecurity and turnover intention was stronger among employees with shorter tenure than those with longer tenure, and was stronger among younger than older employees; (2) the negative effect of insecurity on its health outcomes was more severe among employees with longer tenure than those with shorter tenure, and was more severe among older than younger employees; (3) the relationship between insecurity and the criterion variables was similar across gender. Results are discussed with reference to Hulin's (1991 ) theory of job adaptation and Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt's (1984 ) job dependence perspective. La présente méta‐analyse étudie les différences de statut (titulaire ou non), d’âge et de genre dans la relation entre l’insécurité de l’emploi et ses conséquences relatives au travail et à la santé. Un total de 133 recherches, comprenant 172 échantillons indépendants, a été inclu dans l’analyse. Nos résultats, obtenus avec une approche méthodologique actualisée et sur une plus grande base de données, sont pour l’essentiel congruents avec ceux de la méta‐analyse de Sverke et al. (2002 ). Les différences principales entre nos résultats et ceux de Sverke et al. sont les suivantes: d’une part, entre l’insécurité de l’emploi et la productivité la relation est significativement négative, d’autre part la relation entre l’insécurité de l’emploi et l’engagement au travail est moindre dans notre étude. L’analyse indique aussi que: (1) la relation positive entre l’insécurité de l’emploi et l’intention de le quitter est plus forte parmi les employés ayant un contrat à courte durée contrairement à ceux ayant un contrat à plus longue durée et est plus forte parmi les employés les plus jeunes; (2) l’effet négatif de l’insécurité sur la santé est plus important parmi les employés ayant un contrat de longue durée que pour ceux ayant un contrat de plus courte durée, ce qui est aussi le cas pour les employés les plus âgés; (3) le genre n’a pas d’effet sur la relation entre l’insécurité et les variables choisies. Les résultats sont discutés en référence à la théorie de l’adaptation au travail de Hulin (1991 ) et la perspective de dépendance au travail de Greenhalgh et Rosenblatt (1984 ).     

Less Adaptive or More Maladaptive? A Meta‐analytic Investigation of Procrastination and Coping

Despite the theoretical and empirical accounts of trait procrastination as reflecting avoidance of aversive tasks as a means of mood repair, research documenting its links to coping is scarce and inconsistent. There is also little if any research to date examining whether coping strategies might explain the procrastination–stress relationship. The current research aimed to address these issues by integrating current research on procrastination and coping with our own data into a first meta‐analysis of the associations of procrastination with adaptive and maladaptive coping and then testing the potential role of coping for understanding the procrastination–stress relationship. In Study 1, a literature search yielded five published papers and three theses, which were supplemented by seven unpublished data sets comprising 15 samples (N = 4357). Meta‐analyses revealed that procrastination was positively associated with maladaptive coping (average r = .31) and negatively associated with adaptive coping (average r = ?.24). In Study 2, a meta‐analysis of the indirect effects through coping across four samples revealed that the average indirect effects for maladaptive but not adaptive coping explained the link between procrastination and stress. These findings expand the nomological network of procrastination and highlight the role of maladaptive coping for understanding procrastinators' stress. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Does Natural Mentoring Matter? A Multilevel Meta‐analysis on the Association Between Natural Mentoring and Youth Outcomes

In this meta‐analytic review, we examined the relation between natural mentoring and youth outcomes in four domains: academic and vocational functioning, social‐emotional development, physical health, and psychosocial problems. Natural mentoring relationships are thought to foster positive youth development and buffer against the risks associated with the tumultuous years of adolescence. Two separate meta‐analyses were conducted on the presence of a natural mentor and the quality of the natural mentoring relationship, including thirty studies from 1992 to present. The findings indicated that the presence of a natural mentor was significantly associated with positive youth outcomes (r = .106). A larger effect size was found for the quality of the natural mentoring relationship in terms of relatedness, social support, and autonomy support (r = .208). The largest effect sizes were found for social‐emotional development and academic and vocational functioning. Risk‐status (e.g., teenage mothers, homeless youth, youth in foster care, and youth of alcoholic parents) did not moderate the relation between presence and quality of natural mentoring relationships and youth outcomes, which may indicate that natural mentors are generally beneficial for all youth regardless of risk‐status. Implications for theory and practice concerning the quality of the natural mentoring relationship are discussed.     

Does Treatment Integrity Matter? A Preliminary Investigation of Instructional Implementation and Mathematics Performance

This study examined the impact of three levels of treatment integrity on students' responding on mathematics tasks. Instruction was provided separately for addition and subtraction to six second-grade students who were referred due to poor performance with these operations. The treatment consisted of a computer delivered delayed prompt to use a counting strategy to solve problems, accuracy feedback, and intermittent presentation of animated praise sequences. Instruction was presented via computerized instruction to assure precise delivery of the varying levels of treatment integrity. The study examined the delivery of prompts for all, two-thirds, and one-third of instructional trials. Continuous delivery of instructional prompts was the most effective treatment or one of the most effective treatments for all participants. Lesser levels of prompt implementation were associated with poorer outcomes for the majority of the students. The implications of these findings for continuing research regarding the impact of reduced treatment integrity on student outcomes are discussed.     

Are Words Easier to Learn From Infant‐ Than Adult‐Directed Speech? A Quantitative Corpus‐Based Investigation

We investigate whether infant‐directed speech (IDS) could facilitate word form learning when compared to adult‐directed speech (ADS). To study this, we examine the distribution of word forms at two levels, acoustic and phonological, using a large database of spontaneous speech in Japanese. At the acoustic level we show that, as has been documented before for phonemes, the realizations of words are more variable and less discriminable in IDS than in ADS. At the phonological level, we find an effect in the opposite direction: The IDS lexicon contains more distinctive words (such as onomatopoeias) than the ADS counterpart. Combining the acoustic and phonological metrics together in a global discriminability score reveals that the bigger separation of lexical categories in the phonological space does not compensate for the opposite effect observed at the acoustic level. As a result, IDS word forms are still globally less discriminable than ADS word forms, even though the effect is numerically small. We discuss the implication of these findings for the view that the functional role of IDS is to improve language learnability.     

Out of Sight,Out of Time? A Meta‐analytic Investigation of Procrastination and Time Perspective

Recent theory suggests that trait procrastination is a form of temporal self‐regulation failure that reflects a disjunction between the present and future self. Yet research to date is sparse and inconsistent regarding the nature of the associations of procrastination with time perspective. The current study aimed to meta‐analytically summarize the evidence to date to address the question of how procrastination is linked to future and present time perspective, and to test whether stress and positive affect explained the link between procrastination and future time perspective. A search of the available literature yielded six published studies and three unpublished studies, which were combined with five unpublished data sets for a total of 14 samples with 4312 participants. The meta‐analysis revealed that procrastination had a moderate and significant negative association with future time perspective, and a small but significant positive association with present time perspective. Mediation analyses across two of the samples found that high stress and low positive affect explained in part the association between procrastination and future time perspective. Overall, these findings support the notion that procrastinators focus less on the future and highlight the dynamic interrelations of affect and cognition that underlie procrastinators' intertemporal choices. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Do Muscles Matter?—Women and Physical Strength: A Reply to Xinyan Jiang

In Hypatia's (1.5) 3, issue, Xinyan Jiang describes a failed experiment in sexual equality conducted during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. She believes the lesson to be drawn from it is that males will continue to have an advantage in societies requiring much physical strength. In contrast, I argue here that this failed experiment shows that the Maoist attempt to force women into men's roles was not feminist. American pioneers are cited as a counterexample.     

What Does God Know? Supernatural Agents’ Access to Socially Strategic and Non‐Strategic Information

Current evolutionary and cognitive theories of religion posit that supernatural agent concepts emerge from cognitive systems such as theory of mind and social cognition. Some argue that these concepts evolved to maintain social order by minimizing antisocial behavior. If these theories are correct, then people should process information about supernatural agents' socially strategic knowledge more quickly than non-strategic knowledge. Furthermore, agents' knowledge of immoral and uncooperative social behaviors should be especially accessible to people. To examine these hypotheses, we measured response-times to questions about the knowledge attributed to four different agents--God, Santa Claus, a fictional surveillance government, and omniscient but non-interfering aliens--that vary in their omniscience, moral concern, ability to punish, and how supernatural they are. As anticipated, participants respond more quickly to questions about agents' socially strategic knowledge than non-strategic knowledge, but only when agents are able to punish.     

Do Boys Fight and Girls Cut? A General Strain Theory Approach to Gender and Deviance

Research finds that males are more likely to engage in delinquency than females. General strain theory (GST) suggests that males and females experience different emotions in response to strain leading to different deviant outcomes. Tests of GST to account for this issue are mixed, perhaps due to the reliance on measures that fail to take into account the gendered nature of responses to strain. The current study examines the mediation of strain by negative affect in the pathway to deviance using both a measure of externalizing deviance more commonly found among males (fighting) and a measure of internalizing deviance that is more commonly found among females (cutting oneself). Results indicate that emotions mediate some of the impact of strain on deviance and, while the path from strain to emotions is similar for boys and girls, emotions have differential effects on externalized and internalized deviance depending on sex.     

To Have or To Be? A Comparison of Materialism‐Based Theories and Self‐Determination Theory as Explanatory Frameworks of Prejudice

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to delineate the psychological structure of materialism and intrinsic and extrinsic value pursuit. Moreover, we compared models based on self‐determination theory (SDT), Fromm's marketing character, and Inglehart's theory of social change to account for racial prejudice. In a sample of undergraduate students (n=131) and adults (n=176) it was revealed that the extrinsic value pursuit Financial Success/Materialism could be distinguished from the extrinsic value scales Physical Appeal and Social Recognition, and Community Concern could be distinguished from the intrinsic value pursuit scales Self‐acceptance and Affiliation. Moreover, Financial Success/Materialism and Community Concern were consistently and significantly related to prejudice, whereas the other SDT facet scales yielded weaker relationships with prejudice. Structural models based on SDT and Inglehart were not corroborated, but instead the present data supported a mediation model based on Fromm's work in which the effect of Community Concern was mediated by Financial Success/Materialism. Broader implications for SDT are critically assessed.     

Lots to Do or Lots of Ways to Do It? The Role of Mood and Mind‐set on Goal Motivation

This research explores how mood interacts with outcome and implemental mind‐sets to influence motivation to work toward a goal. We propose and demonstrate that being in a positive (vs. neutral) mood increases motivation for those in an outcome mind‐set. Conversely, being in a positive (vs. neutral) mood decreases motivation for those in an implemental mind‐set. We argue that the reason for this is rooted in the role of positive mood on the number of available goal attainment means: Positive (vs. neutral) mood was found to increase the number of accessible goal attainment activities. For those in an outcome mind‐set, the increased number of goal attainment activities increases motivation because more activities are perceived as more available opportunities or strategies that may aid in successful goal attainment. For those in an implemental mind‐set, where one considers detailed steps and processes required for goal completion, motivation is decreased, because availability of more activities increases perceived difficulty of goal execution. Five studies support these hypotheses, showing differences in available activities depending on mood, differences in perceptions of those activities depending on mind‐set, and differences in motivation depending on the interaction of mood and mind‐set.     

Can we Build on Social Movement Theories to Develop and Improve Community‐Based Participatory Research? A Framework Synthesis Review

A long‐standing challenge in community‐based participatory research (CBPR) has been to anchor practice and evaluation in a relevant and comprehensive theoretical framework of community change. This study describes the development of a multidimensional conceptual framework that builds on social movement theories to identify key components of CBPR processes. Framework synthesis was used as a general literature search and analysis strategy. An initial conceptual framework was developed from the theoretical literature on social movement. A literature search performed to identify illustrative CBPR projects yielded 635 potentially relevant documents, from which eight projects (corresponding to 58 publications) were retained after record and full‐text screening. Framework synthesis was used to code and organize data from these projects, ultimately providing a refined framework. The final conceptual framework maps key concepts of CBPR mobilization processes, such as the pivotal role of the partnership; resources and opportunities as necessary components feeding the partnership's development; the importance of framing processes; and a tight alignment between the cause (partnership's goal), the collective action strategy, and the system changes targeted. The revised framework provides a context‐specific model to generate a new, innovative understanding of CBPR mobilization processes, drawing on existing theoretical foundations.     

Are Eating Disorders and Related Symptoms Risk Factors for Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors? A Meta‐analysis

This meta‐analysis addressed whether eating disorders (EDs) are risk factors (i.e., longitudinal predictors) for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. We identified 2,611 longitudinal studies published through August 1, 2017. Inclusion required studies include at least one longitudinal analysis predicting suicide ideation, attempt, or death using an ED diagnosis and/or symptom. Fourteen studies (42 prediction cases) met criteria. Results indicated that clinically diagnosed EDs and disordered eating symptoms were significant but weak predictors of suicide attempts but not death. Effects remained weak when moderators were considered. By reviewing the methodological limitations of previous research, these results highlight avenues for future research.     

“Do Parents Matter?” Judith Rich Harris and Group Socialization Theory,a Challenge to Therapeutic Assumptions

The author reviews The Nurture Assumption (1998) by Judith Rich Harris against the background Magic Trees of the Mind (1998) by brain researcher Marion Diamond and science writer Janet Hopson. Harris challenges the widely respected assumption that parents form the characters of their children by offering a new model, group socialization theory, and supporting it by citing a wide variety of research.     

Can Thrift Bring Well‐being? A Review of the Research and a Tentative Theory

Contemporary forms of consumer capitalism encourage people to prioritize materialistic values, an orientation associated with lower personal well‐being. Such materialistic values stand in contrast to the economic attitude of thrift, which encourages saving, self‐sufficiency, reuse of goods, and avoiding debt. This article reviews the existing empirical literature on thrift and well‐being, finding it to be very contradictory, with studies showing positive, negative, and null associations between various operationalizations of well‐being and of thrift. A need‐based theory is presented to explain these inconsistent findings. The theory suggests that thrifty attitudes, behaviors, and lifestyles sometimes can work to satisfy psychological needs for safety/security, competence, relatedness, and autonomy (and thus promote well‐being) but sometimes interfere with satisfaction of these needs (and thus diminish well‐being). Empirical and anecdotal evidence is reviewed in support of this theory, and future directions for testing and refining it are proposed.     

Sticking to the Evidence? A Behavioral and Computational Case Study of Micro‐Theory Change in the Domain of Magnetism

Constructing an intuitive theory from data confronts learners with a “chicken‐and‐egg” problem: The laws can only be expressed in terms of the theory's core concepts, but these concepts are only meaningful in terms of the role they play in the theory's laws; how can a learner discover appropriate concepts and laws simultaneously, knowing neither to begin with? We explore how children can solve this chicken‐and‐egg problem in the domain of magnetism, drawing on perspectives from computational modeling and behavioral experiments. We present 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds with two different simplified magnet‐learning tasks. Children appropriately constrain their beliefs to two hypotheses following ambiguous but informative evidence. Following a critical intervention, they learn the correct theory. In the second study, children infer the correct number of categories given no information about the possible causal laws. Children's hypotheses in these tasks are explained as rational inferences within a Bayesian computational framework.     

Training self‐assessment and task‐selection skills to foster self‐regulated learning: Do trained skills transfer across domains?

Students' ability to accurately self‐assess their performance and select a suitable subsequent learning task in response is imperative for effective self‐regulated learning. Video modeling examples have proven effective for training self‐assessment and task‐selection skills, and—importantly—such training fostered self‐regulated learning outcomes. It is unclear, however, whether trained skills would transfer across domains. We investigated whether skills acquired from training with either a specific, algorithmic task‐selection rule or a more general heuristic task‐selection rule in biology would transfer to self‐regulated learning in math. A manipulation check performed after the training confirmed that both algorithmic and heuristic training improved task‐selection skills on the biology problems compared with the control condition. However, we found no evidence that students subsequently applied the acquired skills during self‐regulated learning in math. Future research should investigate how to support transfer of task‐selection skills across domains.