Effects of the Interaction Between Reaction Component of Personal Need for Structure and Role Perceptions on Employee Attitudes in Long‐Term Care for Elderly People1

This study examined the interaction of reaction component of personal need for structure (reaction to lack of structure, RLS) and role perceptions in predicting job satisfaction, job involvement, affective commitment, and occupational identity among employees working in long‐term care for elderly people. High‐RLS employees experienced more role conflict, had less job satisfaction, and experienced lower levels of occupational identity than did low‐RLS employees. We found individual differences in how problems in roles affected employees' job attitudes. High‐RLS employees experienced lower levels of job satisfaction, job involvement, and affective commitment, irrespective of role‐conflict levels. Low‐RLS employees experienced detrimental job attitudes only if role‐conflict levels were high. Our results suggest that high‐RLS people benefit less from low levels of experienced role conflicts.     

Factor analysis of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire in adults with atopic dermatitis

The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the revised Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (IPQ-R) in adult participants with atopic dermatitis (AD). Two hundred and eighty-four participants who had a GP or dermatologist confirmed diagnosis of AD completed the IPQ-R. The factor structure of the IPQ-R was examined using confirmatory (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The results of the CFA did not indicate a good comparative fit with the IPQ-R subscales, while the EFA and a fixed six-factor principal components analysis largely replicated the original factor structure of the IPQ-R. The existence of the acute/chronic and cyclical timeline dimensions, and the illness coherence subscale was most strongly supported, while all items of the consequences and emotional representation subscales consistently loaded onto one factor. The EFA for causal attributions did not produce a stable solution. The findings indicate that although the factor structure of the IPQ-R was not confirmed in the sample of patients with AD using CFA, it was partly reproduced using EFA. Overall, the results suggest that in patients with AD the IPQ-R, in particular the consequences and emotional representations subscales, should be employed and interpreted with care.     

The high-hurdle technique put to the test: Failure to find evidence that increasing loading times enhances data quality in Web-based studies

Two Web-based experiments examined the usefulness of artificially delaying the loading of the first page of the study. The idea pursued in this technique is to filter out less-motivated respondents through a higher respondent burden in the form of waiting time. Participants who remain in the study despite having had to wait for the first page of the study to appear on the screenare expected to be more highly motivated, and thus to produce data of higher quality. In both experiments, as expected, the longer the loading time, the lower the likelihood of people responding to the study. However, contrary to expectation, the dropout rate and quality of data were independent of the loading time. Therefore, artificially delaying the loading of the first page of the study is counterproductive.     

Social support, coping, life events, and posttraumatic stress symptoms among former peacekeepers: a prospective study

This study examined both cross-sectionally and longitudinally the relationship between social support, coping strategies, additional stressful life events, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Dutch former peacekeeping soldiers. Two groups of peacekeepers were investigated: 311 peacekeepers who participated in the peacekeeping operation in Lebanon between 1979 and 1985, and 499 peacekeepers who were deployed after 1990. These peacekeepers completed a questionnaire in 1996 and again in 1998. The results show that more negative social contacts and fewer positive social contacts were associated with more PTSD symptom severity. More use of the coping strategies ‘wishful thinking’ and ‘accepting responsibility’ was related to more PTSD symptoms. Conversely, more planful problem solving and seeking social support was related to less PTSD symptom severity. In addition, a bilateral relationship was found between additional stressful life events and PTSD symptom severity. The results indicate that social support and coping strategies may be valuable aspects of prevention and intervention programs.     

Oral Motor Abilities Are Task Dependent: A Factor Analytic Approach to Performance Rate

Measures of performance rates in speech-like or volitional nonspeech oral motor tasks are frequently used to draw inferences about articulation rate abnormalities in patients with neurologic movement disorders. The study objective was to investigate the structural relationship between rate measures of speech and of oral motor behaviors different from speech. A total of 130 patients with neurologic movement disorders and 130 healthy subjects participated in the study. Rate data was collected for oral reading (speech), rapid syllable repetition (speech-like), and rapid single articulator movements (nonspeech). The authors used factor analysis to determine whether the different rate variables reflect the same or distinct constructs. The behavioral data were most appropriately captured by a measurement model in which the different task types loaded onto separate latent variables. The data on oral motor performance rates show that speech tasks and oral motor tasks such as rapid syllable repetition or repetitive single articulator movements measure separate traits.     

Death and Birth: An Initiation into Midlife

Throughout history people have created rituals and myths in an attempt to make sense of their existence and to provide life with structure and meaning. In postmodern societies, though, these traditional rituals have largely lost their meaning. Transitional turning points such as the highly charged threshold from adolescence into young adulthood are still celebrated but, they have mostly been diminished to social events and photo opportunities. Subsequently they have lost their power to break open the ego structure, which would allow for a new perspective and an opportunity for growth, propelling the youngster into adulthood. There is a growing understanding, though, that the psyche needs transformational experiences during times of transitions to channel the energies inherent in each stage of life. For most people living in Westernized societies, however, initiations happen spontaneously, when life suddenly rubs up so intensely that a person's only choice is to shed his or her skin and to emerge as a changed human being. The author explores the death of her father and the ensuing period of profound grief as an initiation from young adulthood into the more mature life as a mother and wife.     

Body language reading of emotion in schizophrenia: Associations with symptoms and functional outcome

Our aim was to explore how body language reading of emotion relates to neurocognition, symptoms and functional outcome in schizophrenia. Fifty‐four individuals with schizophrenia and eighty‐four healthy controls participated in the study. Emotion perception was assessed with a point‐light display (PLD) task, the Emotion in Biological Motion (EmoBio) test, neurocognition was measured with the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), and functioning was indexed by one measure of functional capacity and by one self‐report questionnaire. Clinical symptoms were assessed with a five factor Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) symptoms model. Participants with schizophrenia had impaired body language reading of emotions compared to healthy controls (Cohen's d = 0.69). In participants with schizophrenia, emotion perception was associated with neurocognition (r = 0.42), functional capacity (r = 0.27) and disorganization symptoms (r = –0.27). Mediation analyses showed that disorganization symptoms mediated the effects of emotion perception and neurocognition, respectively, on social functional capacity. These results suggest that in individuals with schizophrenia, reduced emotion perception from body movements has negative consequences for functional outcome, but that the effect is mediated through disorganization symptoms.     

The Factor Structure of ADHD – Different Models,Analyses and Informants in a Bifactor Framework

The methodological approach of exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) has only been applied once to the construct of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We decided to compare bifactor models based on confirmatory factor analyses (Bi-CFA) and exploratory equation modeling (Bi-ESEM) only, as there is a growing support of a bifactor structure of ADHD. To examine the factorial validity of the construct we compared three possible bifactor models. One model with two specific factors (inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity), another model with three specific factors (inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity) and an alternative, incomplete model with one general ADHD and two specific factors (inattention and impulsivity). We used parent- (N = 1386; Age: M = 11.70, SD = 3.18; Sex: 74.5 % male) and teacher-ratings (N = 110; Age: M = 11.27, SD = 3.04; Sex: 77.5 % male) from clinically referred children between the age of 6 and 18. The results indicate that both methods lead to equally good model fit and for both informants the reliable variance of the specific factor hyperactivity is almost completely explained by the general factor. However, in the teacher condition cross-loadings seem to be of particular importance. Across both methods and informants covariation among ADHD symptom items can be in most part attributed to a general ADHD factor as well as to three (inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity) or two (inattention and impulsivity) weakly defined specific factors. Further research regarding associations between the specific factors of ADHD and other disorders (e.g. conduct disorder) should be conducted.     

Reinforcement,Rationality, and Intentions: How Robust Is Automatic Reinforcement Learning in Economic Decision Making?

Reinforcement learning is often observed in economic decision making and may lead to detrimental decisions. Because of its automaticity, it is difficult to avoid. In three experimental studies, we investigated whether this process could be controlled by goal intentions and implementation intentions. Participants' decisions were investigated in a probability‐updating task in which the normative rule to maximize expected payoff (Bayes' rule) conflicted with the reinforcement heuristic as a simple decision rule. Some participants were asked to set goal intentions designated to foster the optimization of rational decision making, while other participants were asked to furnish these goal intentions with implementation intentions. Results showed that controlling automatic processes of reinforcement learning is possible by means of goal intentions or implementation intentions that focus decision makers on the analysis of decision feedback. Importantly, such beneficial effects were not achieved by simply instructing participants to analyze the feedback, without defining a goal as the desired end state from a first‐person perspective. Regarding intentions supposed to shut down reinforcement processes by controlling negative affect, effects were more complex and depended on the specified goal‐directed behavior. The goal intention to suppress the disappointment elicited by negative feedback was not effective in controlling reinforcement processes. Furnishing this goal with an implementation intention even backfired and strengthened unwanted reinforcement processes. In contrast, asking participants to keep cool in response to negative decision outcomes through the use of goal intentions or implementation intentions increased decisions in line with Bayes' rule. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.