Reciprocal Influences of Personality and Job Characteristics Across Middle Adulthood

ABSTRACT The present research uses an economically diverse, middle-aged sample to examine the concurrent and longitudinal interplay between personality and occupational experiences. Using the Five-Factor Model of personality and the Demand-Control Model of the occupational environment as guiding frameworks, participants ( N =722) reported on their personality, job characteristics, and occupational history; a subset ( n =297) made the same ratings approximately 10 years later. Measured concurrently, emotionally stable, extraverted, open, and conscientious participants reported jobs with greater decision-making latitude, whereas disagreeable participants had more physically demanding and dangerous jobs. Longitudinal cross-lagged analyses revealed that personality was associated with changes in decision latitude, hazardous working conditions, and physical demands. None of the job characteristics predicted change in personality at the factor level. Thus, personality shaped occupational experiences, but occupational experiences had minimal impact on personality. Support for the Five-Factor Theory perspective and implications for environmental approaches to personality development are discussed.     

Ensuring Positiveness of the Scaled Difference Chi-square Test Statistic

A scaled difference test statistic [(T)\tilde]_d\tilde{T}{}_{d} that can be computed from standard software of structural equation models (SEM) by hand calculations was proposed in Satorra and Bentler (Psychometrika 66:507–514, 2001). The statistic [(T)\tilde]_d\tilde{T}_{d} is asymptotically equivalent to the scaled difference test statistic [`(T)]<sub>d</sub>\bar{T}_{d} introduced in Satorra (Innovations in Multivariate Statistical Analysis: A Festschrift for Heinz Neudecker, pp. 233–247, 2000), which requires more involved computations beyond standard output of SEM software. The test statistic [(T)\tilde]<sub>d</sub>\tilde{T}_{d} has been widely used in practice, but in some applications it is negative due to negativity of its associated scaling correction. Using the implicit function theorem, this note develops an improved scaling correction leading to a new scaled difference statistic [`(T)]_d\bar{T}_{d} that avoids negative chi-square values.     

From prejudice to discrimination: The legitimizing role of perceived threat in discrimination against immigrants

This research analyses the mediational role of threat perception in the relationship between prejudice and discrimination (opposition to immigration and opposition to naturalization of immigrants). In the first study, using representative samples in 21 European countries (N = 36 566) from European Social Survey (2002), we showed that the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration was more strongly mediated by realistic than by symbolic threat perceptions. In Study 2, using representative samples in two countries with different traditions of immigration (Switzerland, N = 940; Portugal, N = 1514), we showed that realistic threat more strongly mediated the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration, while only symbolic threat perception mediated the link between prejudice and opposition to naturalization. The theoretical implications of considering threat perceptions as factors that legitimize discrimination are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children as Research Collaborators: Issues and Reflections from a Mobility Study in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper reflects on issues raised by work with children in an ongoing child mobility study in three sub-Saharan African countries: Ghana, Malawi and South Africa. There are now 70 school pupils of varying ages involved in the project, but the paper is particularly concerned with the participation of those children 14 years and under. We examine the significant ethical issues associated with working with younger child researchers, and linked questions concerning the spaces open to them in African contexts where local cultural constructions of childhood and associated economic imperatives (which commonly drive family and household endeavour) help shape the attitudes of adults to children’s rights and responsibilities and inter-generational power relations.     

Computer-mediated communication and time pressure induce higher cardiovascular responses in the preparatory and execution phases of cooperative tasks

The cardiovascular (CV) response to social challenge and stress is associated with the etiology of cardiovascular diseases. New ways of communication, time pressure and different types of information are common in our society. In this study, the cardiovascular response to two different tasks (open vs. closed information) was examined employing different communication channels (computer-mediated vs. face-to-face) and with different pace control (self vs. external). Our results indicate that there was a higher CV response in the computer-mediated condition, on the closed information task and in the externally paced condition. These role of these factors should be considered when studying the consequences of social stress and their underlying mechanisms.     

Twice Hurt: How Newspaper Coverage May Reduce Empathy and Engender Blame for Female Victims of Crime

In a content analysis of 148 newspaper articles we examined whether victims of violent crime (excluding sex crimes) are treated differently according to their gender. Articles taken from 4 newspapers showed that accounts of violent crime personalize male victims more than female victims: more personal information was included about male victims, and males were significantly more likely to be referred to by name rather than by a noun (“the victi”) or pronoun. In a second study we investigated whether such treatment could affect both empathy for the victim and victim blame. Participants read an account of a murder that manipulated victim gender, degree of personal information, and the manner in which the victim was described. Empathy for the victim was increased across victim gender by both inclusion of personal information and referring to the victim by name. Victim blame was also reduced by the inclusion of personal information. Implications of how the news media may subtly reduce empathy and engender blame for female victims are discussed.     

How My Theory and Practice of Psychotherapy Has Influenced and Changed Other Psychotherapies

In this article I address three main questions: (a) how psychotherapy has changed the modern world of psychology, (b) how it has changed the modern world in general, and (c) how my special form of psychotherapy, rational emotive behavior therapy, and its derivative, cognitive behavior therapy, have changed the recent theory and practice of psychotherapy.     

Limited Information Goodness-of-fit Testing in Multidimensional Contingency Tables

We introduce a family of goodness-of-fit statistics for testing composite null hypotheses in multidimensional contingency tables. These statistics are quadratic forms in marginal residuals up to order r. They are asymptotically chi-square under the null hypothesis when parameters are estimated using any asymptotically normal consistent estimator. For a widely used item response model, when r is small and multidimensional tables are sparse, the proposed statistics have accurate empirical Type I errors, unlike Pearson's X ². For this model in nonsparse situations, the proposed statistics are also more powerful than X ². In addition, the proposed statistics are asymptotically chi-square when applied to subtables, and can be used for a piecewise goodness-of-fit assessment to determine the source of misfit in poorly fitting models. This research has been supported by the Department of Universities, Research, and Information Society (DURSI) of the Catalan Government, by grant BSO2003-08507 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, and an NSERC Canada grant. We are grateful to the referees for comments leading to improvements.     

On the asymptotic distribution of Pearson’s X 2 in cross-validation samples

In categorical data analysis, two-sample cross-validation is used not only for model selection but also to obtain a realistic impression of the overall predictive effectiveness of the model. The latter is of particular importance in the case of highly parametrized models capable of capturing every idiosyncracy of the calibrating sample. We show that for maximum likelihood estimators or other asymptotically efficient estimators Pearson's X ² is not asymptotically chi-square in the two-sample cross-validation framework due to extra variability induced by using different samples for estimation and goodness-of-fit testing. We propose an alternative test statistic, X _xval ², obtained as a modification of X ² which is asymptotically chi-square with C−1 degrees of freedom in cross-validation samples. Stochastically, X _xval ² ≤ X ². Furthermore, the use of X ² instead of X _xval ² with a χ _C −1² reference distribution may provide an unduly poor impression of fit of the model in the cross-validation sample. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Michael V. Levine. Requests for reprints should be sent to Albert Maydeu-Olivares, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, P. Valle de Hebrón, 171, 0835 Barcelona, Spain.     

From types to typological thinking: a reply to Asendorpf

We continue to disagree with Asendorpf ( 2006 ) on the best way to analyse Q‐sort data and on our priorities for personality research. We believe on statistical grounds that the large first factor found in inverse factor analyses of raw CAQ items tells us much about response norms, but little or nothing about individual differences. These emerge more clearly in analyses of standardised items, which show the familiar dimensions of the Five‐Factor Model. Based on our research on types and the mixed results reported by other researchers, we do not believe that replicable empirical types are likely to be found, and suggest that a more profitable line of research would focus on the heuristics of types and the configural interpretation of traits. Published in 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.