The intergenerational transmission of authoritarianism: The mediating role of parental goal promotion

This study examined the intergenerational transmission of adolescent authoritarian submission (Right-Wing Authoritarianism or RWA) and authoritarian dominance (Social Dominance Orientation or SDO). It was hypothesized that the type of goals that parents promote (i.e., conservation versus openness to change and extrinsic versus intrinsic goal promotion) would mediate any direct association between parents’ and adolescents’ authoritarian attitudes. This hypothesis was examined in a sample of middle adolescents and their parents. First, a significant parent–child concordance was found for RWA and SDO. Second, whereas parental RWA predicted parental promotion of conservation goals (rather than openness to change goals) as well as the promotion of extrinsic goals (rather than intrinsic goals), parental SDO predicted parental promotion of extrinsic goals only. Third, process analyses showed that, whereas parental conservation goal promotion mediates the relationship between parent and child RWA, parental extrinsic goal promotion mediates the relationship between parent and child SDO.     

攻击动机对特质愤怒与反应性攻击关系的中介作用：一项纵向研究

特质愤怒是影响反应性攻击的重要人格因素, 反应性攻击的提出是基于攻击动机, 但是特质愤怒影响反应性攻击的动机机制尚不清楚。本研究假设特质愤怒可以通过增强反应性攻击的特异性动机(即敌意性动机)以及反应性攻击与主动性攻击的共同性动机(即道德准许动机)来纵向预测反应性攻击。为了检验该假设, 对5个省市共1007名大学生的特质愤怒、敌意归因偏向(代表敌意性动机)和道德推脱(代表道德准许动机)、反应性攻击与主动性攻击进行了3次追踪调查。结果显示：(1)在控制性别后, 第一个时间点的特质愤怒可以通过第二个时间点的敌意归因偏向和道德推脱预测第三个时间点的反应性攻击; (2)敌意归因偏向只能纵向预测反应性攻击, 而不能跨时间预测主动性攻击; (3)道德推脱可以纵向预测反应性攻击和主动性攻击。这一结果支持了特质愤怒影响反应性攻击的动机模型, 发展了人格与攻击关系的理论与研究, 对于揭示反应性攻击形成的动机机制具有积极作用。     

The intergenerational transmission of relationship instability: A focus on emerging adult on-off relationships

This study extends prior research on the intergenerational transmission of relationship instability by examining parents' history of on-off relationships as a predictor of emerging adults' own cycling (i.e., breaking up and renewing with the same romantic partner). Data were collected at a large mid-western university from 702 emerging adults (18–25 years old). Multinomial logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood that participants had cycled in a past or current relationship. Results show that parental cycling increased the likelihood of offspring cycling in a past or current relationship relative to never cycling, and greater uncertainty about the future of the relationship was a mechanism through which such transmission occurred. Findings from this study demonstrate that parental relationship instability can even be consequential for the transient relationships within emerging adulthood, making family history a productive area to explore for practitioners working with cyclical partners and/or emerging adults.     

Female juvenile delinquency, motherhood, and the intergenerational transmission of aggression and antisocial behavior

The current study explored the intergenerational transmission of aggression and antisocial behavior by examining mothers' juvenile delinquency, their pregnancies, and its impact on their children's aggressive behavior. The sample consisted of the first 181 biological mothers recruited as part of the Vancouver Longitudinal Study on the Psychosocial Development of Children (British Columbia, Canada). Results indicated that mothers who were juvenile delinquents were more likely to experience social adversity, to use substances during pregnancy and to offend in adulthood. Furthermore, mothers who reported juvenile delinquency had children who were more physically aggressive and had an earlier onset of physical aggression. This pattern of association held when controlling for sociodemographics, social adversities, prenatal substance exposure, and criminal involvement in adulthood. The study findings highlighted the importance of understanding the role and impact of female delinquency and motherhood on the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior.     

Sampling in research on interpersonal aggression

The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of convenience samples in research on interpersonal aggression among adults. It was hypothesised that convenience sampled targets of aggression differs from targets in general with regards to both demographic characteristics and degree of aggression exposed to. A convenience sample comprising support-seeking targets of workplace bullying was compared with a representative sample of Norwegian targets of bullying. The results showed that the two samples differed significantly on all demographic variables investigated, except gender. A far higher percentage of the convenience sample had blown the whistle on illegal, immoral or illegitimate practice at their workplace, whereas they also reported significantly more frequent and more intense exposure to aggression. The findings confirm that convenience samples have low external validity when generalising to the general population. Such samples should therefore mainly be used to investigate tendencies in, and the phenomenology of, interpersonal aggression, in studies where generalisability is not the principal objective.     

The intergenerational transmission of fear of failure

The intergenerational transmission of fear of failure was examined in two studies with undergraduates and their parents. Parent-undergraduate concordance in fear of failure was documented for mothers and fathers, controlling for parents' and undergraduate's impression management and self-deceptive enhancement response tendencies. Love withdrawal was validated as a mediator of parent-undergraduate concordance in fear of failure for mothers but not for fathers. Mothers' and fathers' fear of failure was also a positive predictor of undergraduate's adoption of performance-avoidance goals in the classroom, and undergraduate's fear of failure was shown to mediate this relationship. Fathers' fear of failure was also a negative predictor of undergraduate's mastery goal adoption, and this relationship was likewise mediated by undergraduate's fear of failure. The results are discussed in terms of the reorienting of positive, appetitive achievement motivation toward negative, aversive achievement motivation.     

Working conditions predicting interpersonal relationship problems at work

Interpersonal relationships have been shown to be an important component of the psychosocial work environment that may affect health, job satisfaction, and productivity. The question whether interpersonal relationships at work are influenced by other psychosocial working conditions such as demands and control has not been studied. The aim of the present study is to investigate if high work demands and aspects of low work control could predict three indicators of detrimental interpersonal relationships at work. In a representative Swedish cohort study, data were obtained in two waves three years apart from 4049 participants, who did not change their jobs between the waves. These data were analysed by multiple logistic regression analyses. Odds ratios adjusted for possible confounders and negative interpersonal relationships at base-line showed that high demands predicted serious conflict and exclusion by co-workers. Low skill discretion predicted exclusion by co-workers. It is argued that these prospective findings are of relevance to interventions targeting troublesome and detrimental interpersonal relationships at work and that the findings can be important in understanding the development of work-related mental ill-health.     

The impact of training on interpersonal influence

Contemporary research on interpersonal influence has shown that individuals scoring high in Need for Cognition (NC) are able to generate a large number of arguments in order to convince other people. However, research has also shown that such an effort does not necessarily lead them to be more persuasive or more efficient in their group performance. The present research analysed this state of affairs, replicating and extending previous research by showing that appropriate training in socio-emotional group dimensions can increase group performance for individuals high in NC. Potential underlying mechanisms for such an effect are discussed.     

权力对人际敏感性的影响

高权力还是低权力的个体更能准确地理解他人的想法和感受？这个问题在人际关系研究领域没有定论。长期以来研究者认为,高权力者的人际敏感性要弱于低权力者,但近年来这一观点受到很多的质疑。研究发现,在特定情况下,高权力者的人际敏感性可能强于低权力者。虽然目前为止两种“矛盾”的观点都有各自相应的实证结论,但缺乏理论上的系统解释。通过对当前权力与人际敏感性关系的争议进行梳理,并以权力对认知的影响为基础,结合权力通过情绪和动机的作用,整合形成权力的影响机制,不仅可以在一定程度上诠释已有的“矛盾”观点,还可以由此明确未来从个人因素和社会因素出发进一步深入研究两者关系的方向。     

Increasing wealth inequality may increase interpersonal hostility: The relationship between personal relative deprivation and aggression

In most Western societies, wealth inequality is increasing, which in turn could increase people’s belief that one’s standing is relatively disadvantaged. Based on relative deprivation theory, we argue that such an experience of personal relative deprivation should causally lead to greater interpersonal hostility. Indeed, three experiments show that participants in a personal relative deprivation condition reported higher levels of aggressive affect and behaved more aggressively than participants in a personal relative gratification condition. Compared to a control condition, participants experiencing personal relative deprivation were more aggressive rather than participants experiencing personal relative gratification being less aggressive. However, personal relative deprivation increased aggressive behavior only toward targets that were the source for participants’ experience of disadvantage, but it did not increase aggression toward neutral targets.     

The mediating influence of role stressors in the relationship between mentoring and job attitudes

This study investigated the influence of two role stressors—role ambiguity and role conflict—on previously established relationships between mentoring activities—vocational support, psychosocial support, and role modeling—and prominent job attitudes. Full and partial mediation models were tested with a sample of 355 protégés. Results showed that both role conflict and role ambiguity completely mediated the relationships between psychosocial support and role modeling with job attitudes. There was also support for role conflict as a partial mediator of the relationship between vocational support and job attitudes. Additional analyses revealed that psychosocial support served as a suppressor-variable in this study. Implications for future research and mentoring practice are discussed.     

人际感恩对关系维持的影响

尽管关系维持策略对形成良好的人际关系和增强个人福祉有着重要意义,但也增加了个体被拒绝的风险和痛苦。以往研究已经发现人际感恩一方面能在关系面临威胁时激活威胁缓冲策略修复人际关系,另一方面也能在威胁解除时激活关系增强策略建立和促进人际关系,但人际感恩也增加了使用非适应关系维持策略的可能。此外,自我评价和他人评价有助于解释人际感恩的关系维持功能。未来研究应从二元互动视角考察人际感恩的关系维持功能;从多元评价视角考察自我评价和他人评价在人际感恩对关系维持的影响中扮演的角色;并结合多种研究方法拓展人际感恩的关系维持功能研究。     

The development of social aggression and physical aggression: A narrative analysis of interpersonal conflicts

Using conflict narratives reported by children and adolescents, this study investigated the development and social functions of social aggression in comparison to physical aggression. A total of 510 participants in two cohorts of a longitudinal study were involved (116 girls and 104 boys from Grade 4 and155 girls and 135 boys from Grade 7). Patterns of social aggression and physical aggression were identified based on interview reports in the first year of the study. Results showed that a triadic structure of social relationship was often reported in conflicts where social aggression was employed, whereas a dyadic structure was reported in conflicts involving physical aggression. Girls tended to use social aggression against girls, whereas boys tended to use physical aggression against boys. Children and adolescents who were central in peer social networks were more likely to employ social aggression than those who were peripheral in the networks. Social aggression was not reliably linked to concurrent or future problematic adjustment. Physical aggression, however, was not related to network centrality but was linked to concurrent and future maladjustment (e.g., low academic competence and school dropout). Aggr. Behav. 28:341–355, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

人际关系对社会责任感的影响

为揭示人际关系对社会责任感的影响及其机制, 该研究采用问卷调查和实验相结合的方法, 探讨了二者之间的相关与因果关系, 以及共情的中介效应。研究1采用问卷调查法探讨这三者的关系, 结果发现, 人际关系对社会责任感具有显著的正向预测作用, 并且共情在二者之间发挥着部分中介效应。研究2采用实验法操纵了人际关系效用, 结果显示, 高效用组的社会责任感显著高于低效用组和控制组, 并且低效用组显著低于控制组。这表明人际关系效用对社会责任感具有明显的影响。研究3进一步操纵了人际关系的亲密度, 结果发现, 亲密度对效用与社会责任感的关系具有调节作用, 在低亲密度条件下, 高效用组的社会责任感明显高于低效用组, 但是在高亲密度条件下, 社会责任感均维持较高水平。因此, 人际关系对社会责任感具有明显正向影响。     

The intergenerational transmission of need for closure underlies the transmission of authoritarianism and anti-immigrant prejudice

Previous research has identified need for closure (NFC) as an important motivational-cognitive basis of authoritarianism and prejudice. However, to date, the role of NFC in the intergenerational similarity in authoritarianism and prejudice has remained unclear. In a sample of 169 parent–child dyads, we investigated the similarity between parents and children in NFC and tested whether this intergenerational similarity may account for the intergenerational similarity in authoritarianism and anti-immigrant prejudice. Our results revealed that parental levels of NFC were indeed concordant with the levels of NFC in their children. Even more importantly, parental NFC was indirectly related to child authoritarianism and prejudice in two ways. The first pathway proceeded through the direct relationships between parental and children’s levels of authoritarianism and prejudice. The second pathway, however, bypassed parental levels of authoritarianism and prejudice and proceeded through the intergenerational similarity in NFC. Our findings thus indicate that a significant portion of children’s levels of authoritarianism and anti-immigrant prejudice can be explained by parent–child similarity in motivated cognition. Implications for developmental theories of prejudice acquisition are discussed.     

The influence of music on mild driver aggression

Automobile drivers were randomly assigned to either a “music” or “non-music” group. The music group listened to their favorite music, while the non-music group abstained from any music or talk radio, during their entire commute to or from school⧹work. Using a cellular telephone, state measures of driver aggression, time urgency, and stress arousal were obtained during a single commute in low and high congestion conditions. No predictors of mild aggression were found in low congestion. In high congestion, a music X time urgency interaction was found. Mild aggression was lower among those listening to music but only at low levels of time urgency. Results are interpreted in terms of the distractibility and relaxation effects.     

The mediating influence of unconditional self-acceptance and labile self-esteem on the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and exercise dependence

ObjectivesPrevious research has indicated that perfectionism may be an important antecedent of exercise dependence (Hagan, A. L., & Hausenblas, H. A. (2003). The relationship between exercise dependence and perfectionism. American Journal of Health Studies, 18, 133–137; Hausenblas, H. A., & Symons Downs, D. (2002a). Exercise dependence: a systematic review. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 3, 89–123, Hausenblas, H.A., & Symons Downs, D. (2002b). How much is too much? The development and validation of the exsrcise dependence scale. Psychology and Health, 17, 387–404). To date, however, few studies have sought to examine the psychological processes that underpin this relationship. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the degree to which self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism were associated with exercise dependence, and to ascertain whether the relationships were mediated by unconditional self-acceptance and labile self-esteem.MethodThree hundred and seven middle-distance runners completed a multi-section inventory that included Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. [(1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456–470] Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Chamberlain, J. M., & Haaga, D. A. F. [(2001). Unconditional self-acceptance and psychological health. Journal of Rational Emotive and Cognitive Behavior Therapy, 19, 163–176] Unconditional Self-acceptance Scale, Dykman, B. M. [(1998). Integrating cognitive and motivational factors in depression: initial tests of a goal orientation approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 139–158] Labile Self-Esteem Scale, and Ogden, J., Veale, D., & Summers, Z. [(1997). The development and validation of the Exercise Dependence Questionnaire. Addiction Research, 5, 343–356] Exercise Dependence Questionnaire.ResultsStructural Equation Modeling provided support for three hypotheses. First, that self-oriented perfectionism had a direct positive effect on exercise dependence. Second, that unconditional self-acceptance fully mediated the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and exercise dependence. Third, that labile self-esteem mediated the relationship between unconditional self-acceptance and exercise dependence. Multi-group invariance analysis further indicated that there were subtle variations in the nature of these relationships for male and female samples.ConclusionsThe findings from the present study indicate that both self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism may be critical antecedents of exercise dependence, but that the psychological mechanisms underpinning their association with exercise dependence may differ.