On the relation between demographic variables and neuropsychological test performance

This paper reports a study of the relation between demographic variables and neuropsychological test performance in a sample of 141 normal subjects. A preliminary analysis demonstrated the importance of age, educational level, sex, and Verbal IQ for the prediction of neuropsychological test performance. The main study is a detailed analysis of the relation between these four variables and neuropsychological test performance. The results are presented in the form of standardized regression coefficients and are discussed in relation to the problem of predicting expected premorbid performance in neuropsychological tests.     

The mediating role of work climate perceptions in the relationship between personality and performance

Although past research has demonstrated a link between personality and job performance, potential enabling factors of this relationship have yet to be explored comprehensively. We hypothesized that perceptions of work climate, specifically relationship dimensions—cohesion, supervisor support, and job involvement—might be the mechanism through which the relationship between personality and job performance can be explained. Two hundred and thirty Australian employees completed an online survey measuring personality, relationship dimensions of work climate (job involvement, coworker cohesion, and supervisor support) and job performance. Results revealed that the relationship dimensions of work climate fully mediated the relationship between agreeableness and job performance, and extraversion and job performance, while the relationship between neuroticism and job performance was partially mediated by relationship dimensions of work climate. Supervisor support primarily accounted for this mediated effect for the neuroticism–job performance relationship, whereas for extraversion only job involvement explained significant unique variance. Our findings suggest that the relationship of agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism with job performance is indirect, and perceptions of the work environment itself play a role in this relationship. This implies that organizations should consider the work environment, in addition to personality during selection procedures. Future research should examine whether different levels of work environment dimensions, foster greater job performance in employees.     

The relationship between psychometric test scores and reconviction in sexual offenders undertaking treatment

The evidence is mixed regarding the utility of psychometric test scores in prediction of the likelihood of sexual reoffending. This paper summarizes the research examining the relationship between psychometric measures and sexual recidivism, before detailing the findings of four large-scale studies in England and Wales, and comparing the findings of these studies to similar studies from other countries. The implications of the evidence to date are discussed, and recommendations are made for the future of psychometric testing as a way of determining risk of recidivism, dynamic risk factors, change over treatment, and the efficacy of rehabilitative programs.     

The relationship between self-control and health: The mediating effect of avoidant coping

Trait self-control is related to a number of positive outcomes, including mental health, interpersonal success, academic success and health-related behaviours. This study sought to explore the relationships between self-control, reports of mental and physical health symptoms and coping styles. The results revealed that higher self-control was related to fewer mental and physical health symptoms and less avoidance coping. There was not a significant relationship between self-control and problem-focused or emotion-focused coping styles. Further, the relationships between self-control and mental and physical health outcomes were partially mediated by avoidance coping style. Specifically, the data suggest lower self-control is associated with unhealthy coping strategies (avoidance coping), which in turn are associated with worse mental health outcomes and greater reports of physical health symptoms. Thus lower trait self-control can serve as an indicator, suggesting circumstances in which individuals’ tendencies to engage in unhealthy coping strategies are increased. These findings add to a growing body of literature underscoring the importance of trait self-control.     

The relationship between self-control and health: The mediating effect of avoidant coping

Trait self-control is related to a number of positive outcomes, including mental health, interpersonal success, academic success and health-related behaviours. This study sought to explore the relationships between self-control, reports of mental and physical health symptoms and coping styles. The results revealed that higher self-control was related to fewer mental and physical health symptoms and less avoidance coping. There was not a significant relationship between self-control and problem-focused or emotion-focused coping styles. Further, the relationships between self-control and mental and physical health outcomes were partially mediated by avoidance coping style. Specifically, the data suggest lower self-control is associated with unhealthy coping strategies (avoidance coping), which in turn are associated with worse mental health outcomes and greater reports of physical health symptoms. Thus lower trait self-control can serve as an indicator, suggesting circumstances in which individuals' tendencies to engage in unhealthy coping strategies are increased. These findings add to a growing body of literature underscoring the importance of trait self-control.     

The effect of culture on the curvilinear relationship between performance and turnover

Although researchers have theorized that there exists a curvilinear relationship between job performance and voluntary turnover, their research has been tested in the United States or culturally similar Switzerland. Through a study of the performance-turnover relationship from a multinational service-oriented organization in 24 countries, we demonstrate that the general relationship between performance and turnover is similar across countries but the details of that relationship change across countries. Using 4 cultural dimensions--in-group collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and performance orientation--we find that cultural factors alter the overall probability of voluntary turnover and influence the degree of curvilinearity in the performance-turnover relationship. Our findings have implications for research on the performance-turnover relationship, turnover research, and practice.     

The role of performance-avoidance goals and worry in mediating the relationship between stereotype threat and performance

To understand the process underlying stereotype threat better, we developed and tested a model integrating the extant stereotype threat research with insights from achievement goal theory. The core tenet of this model is that stereotype threat impairs performance through performance-avoidance goal adoption and worry about one’s performance. To test this model, women under stereotype threat and not under threat reported their test-related achievement goals before completing a difficult math test. In addition, participants reported their state test anxiety, including worry, immediately before or after completing the math test. Results revealed that performance-avoidance goals and worry mediated the effect of stereotype threat on performance. Contributions of this model to the stereotype threat literature are discussed.     

Diminished effect of age and education on neuropsychological test performances of older children with learning disabilities

Previous research has shown that age and education have a significant effect on neuropsychological test scores among normals, but that these effects are sharply diminished, or perhaps totally obliterated, among adults with brain damage and children with brain damage. These findings would have their major practical clinical significance in limiting the use of age and/or education adjustments of raw scores for subjects with brain damage, especially if the adjustments were based on data derived from the study of normal subjects. The present investigation studied the effects of age and education on the Neuropsychological Deficit Scale (NDS) for Older Children scores of children with learning disabilities, aged 9 through 14 years. No significant effects among age and education variables and NDS scores were found. In fact, younger and older subgroups as well as lower- and higher-educated subgroups earned mean NDS scores that were not significantly different. It appears that the neuropsychological consequences of learning disabilities override the effects of age and education in the 9- through 14-year age range.     

Assessing the influence of maternal depression on the validity of the child behavior checklist

The relative effects of maternal depression, child gender, and child psychiatric status on mothers' ratings of their children were assessed in a study of the validity of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Both maternal depression and gender were found to be significantly associated with mothers' ratings of their children on the CBCL. Nevertheless, mothers' ratings continued to differentiate groups of children with and without psychiatric problems even after the variance accounted for by maternal depression and child gender was removed. These findings support the criterion validity of the CBCL, and point also to the importance of assessing parents as part of the clinical evaluation of children.     

大学生生活事件与抑郁的关系：有调节的中介作用

基于当前抑郁的实证和理论研究现状,对大学生抑郁的形成过程进行探究。采用大学生生活事件量表、流调中心用抑郁量表、自尊量表、多维度多归因因果量表、大五人格神经质分量表,以882名大学生为被试展开调查。结果发现：（1）大学生生活事件、自尊、抑郁、神经质、归因方式等两两显著相关;（2）大学生抑郁的形成过程是多路径的,多层次的,既有生活事件对抑郁的直接作用,又有生活事件对抑郁的间接作用;既有归因方式的简单中间作用,又有归因方式和自尊的链式中介作用,并且神经质在自尊到抑郁的路径中起调节作用。结果表明,大学生生活事件对抑郁的影响是有调节的中介作用,对此进行有针对性的干预可以减少抑郁的发生。     

Reliability and validity of the direct observation form of the child behavior checklist

This article reports reliability and validity data for the Direct Observation Form (DOF) of the Child Behavior Checklist. Observational data were collected on two samples of boys aged 6-11 in classroom settings. Interobserver agreement was high: r = .92 for behavior problem score and r = .83 for on-task score. Generalizability, as measured by the one-way intraclass correlation, was .86 and .71 for behavior problem score and on-task score, respectively. In terms of validity, DOF scores correlated significantly and in the expected directions with teacher-reported problem behavior, school performance, and adaptive functioning. In addition, boys who had been referred by their teachers due to problem behavior obtained significantly higher behavior problem scores and significantly lower on-task scores than a matched sample of normal boys observed in the same classrooms.     

Faking under a nonlinear relationship between personality assessment scores and job performance

This study investigated whether faking in personality assessments affects the prediction of job performance and consequences of selection decisions when a nonlinear relationship was assumed between personality scores and job performance. It was also examined whether a selection strategy suggested for nonlinear relationships reduces the adverse impact of faking on consequences of selection decisions. The findings from the item response theory‐based simulations indicated that the prediction of job performance was affected by faking, whereas selection accuracy was not substantially affected by faking. The improvement in selection accuracy due to the strategy suggested for a nonlinear relationship was not noticeable. However, the suggested strategy reduced adverse impacts of faking on the estimation of selected applicants' performance scores.     

Effects of task interdependence on the relationship between helping behavior and group performance

The authors examine whether task interdependence moderates the relationship between the helping form of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and group performance. In a laboratory study, 62 groups with 3 members each completed a card-sequencing activity in which the level of task interdependence among group members was manipulated. Independent evaluators assessed helping by viewing videotapes of the groups' interactions during the sequencing activities. Performance was measured as a combined function of group speed and accuracy. Two prior field studies reported contradictory results regarding the impact of helping on group performance. Results from this study suggest that task interdependence may explain these results, and that the relationship between helping and group performance depends on the level of task interdependence required of group members.     

IQ stability: the relation between child and young adult intelligence test scores in low-birthweight samples

The stability of IQ from childhood to adulthood in low-birthweight subjects was measured in two independent samples with follow-up intervals of approximately 14 and 9.5 years. In both samples, intelligence was assessed with the WISC at a mean age of 9.5. Twenty-six subjects were retested with the WAIS at a mean age of 23.5, and 78 subjects with the BPP (the Danish Military Draft Board Intelligence Test) at the age of 19.1. Both samples obtained childhood and adult test scores below the expected means. For the Wechsler Verbal, Performance and Full-Scale IQs, the stability quotients were 0.86, 0.86, and 0.89 in the WAIS sample, and the retest correlations for the three IQs with the BPP score were 0.66, 0.65, and 0.74. Thus, the majority of children showed stable patterns of intellectual development from middle childhood to young adulthood.     

The relationship between maladaptive perfectionism with burnout: Testing mediating effect of emotion-focused coping

This study investigated the influence of maladaptive perfectionism with burnout in a sample of nurses. Specifically, structural equation modeling analyses were employed to examine the effect of maladaptive perfectionism with burnout and to test the mediating effect of emotion-focused coping. The results of this study suggested that emotion-focused coping fully mediated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and burnout. Nurses with higher levels of maladaptive perfectionism reported a higher habitual usage of emotion-focused coping, and maladaptive perfectionism had a direct effect on the choice of coping style. The results of this study broaden the current knowledge on perfectionism in relation to vocational behaviors and provided important managerial strategies and psychological interventions.     

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。