Reciprocal relations between workplace bullying,anxiety, and vigor: a two-wave longitudinal study

Background and Objectives: Workplace bullying has been classified as an extreme social stressor in work contexts and has been repeatedly linked to several negative consequences. However, little research has examined reversed or reciprocal relations of bullying and outcomes. Design: We conducted a two-wave longitudinal study with a time lag of six months. Methods: The study sample consisted of 348 employees of the Spanish workforce. The present study examined longitudinal relationships between workplace bullying, psychological health, and well-being. On the basis of conservation of resources theory, we hypothesized that we would find reciprocal relations among study variables over time. Results: Results of cross-lagged structural equation modeling analyses supported our hypotheses. Specifically, it was found that Time 1 (T1) workplace bullying was negatively related to Time 2 (T2) vigor and positively related to T2 anxiety. Additionally, T1 anxiety and vigor had an effect on T2 workplace bullying. Conclusions: Overall, these findings support the validity of the theoretical models postulating a reciprocal bullying–outcome relationship, rather than simple one-way causal pathways approaches.     

Entry and Emergent Agendas of Adults Visiting an Aquarium in Family Groups

ABSTRACT

Understanding visitors' agendas is important in providing insights about learning experiences in informal settings, particularly if we consider learning to be both a product (what they learn) and a process (how they learn it). Accordingly, a handful of studies have investigated the impact of visitors' agendas on learning. However, little attention has been directed to investigating the impact of individual and collective agendas on the nature of the visit experience for the adult members of family groups, or the dynamics and evolution of these agendas during and after a visit to an informal setting. This article examines the roles that personal agendas play in shaping and framing the aquarium experiences of the adult members of 13 family groups visiting the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre in Canada. It explores the dynamic and changing character of entry and emergent agendas within the family group context and the factors that constitute and shape such agendas. The roles of these agendas in the overall on-site learning experience of the adult members of the participating family groups, and the longitudinal impact of the aquarium visit are further discussed.     

Cognitive Factors in Fibromyalgia: The Role of Self-Concept and Identity Related Conflicts

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by the presence of diffuse and chronic musculoskeletal pain of unknown etiology. Clinical diagnosis and the merely palliative treatments considerably affect the patient's experience and the chronic course of the disease. Therefore, several authors have emphasized the need to explore issues related to self in these patients. The repertory grid technique (RGT), derived from personal construct theory, is a method designed to assess the patient's construction of self and others. A group of women with fibromyalgia (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30) were assessed using RGT. Women with fibromyalgia also completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and a visual-analogue scale for pain, and painful tender points were explored. Results suggest that these women had a higher present self–ideal self discrepancy and a lower perceived adequacy of others, and it was more likely to find implicative dilemmas among them compared to controls. These dilemmas are a type of cognitive conflict in which the symptom is construed as “enmeshed” with positive characteristics of the self. Finally, implications of these results for the psychological treatment of fibromyalgia are suggested to give a more central role to self-identity issues and to the related cognitive conflicts.     

Gender Differences in the Relations among Patriarchal Beliefs,Parenting, and Teen Relationship Violence in Mexican Adolescents

Teen relationship violence is a global phenomenon associated with adverse outcomes. As in other countries, teen relationship violence is of concern in Mexico. However, few studies have examined the risk and protective factors of teen relationship violence among Mexican adolescents. This study examined whether patriarchal beliefs and exposure to authoritarian parenting among Mexican adolescents are associated with perpetration and victimization of physical and verbal-emotional teen relationship violence. Two hundred and four students (15–18 years old) from Monterrey, Mexico, completed questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analyses controlling for age revealed that among girls, authoritarian parenting was associated with physical and verbal-emotional victimization and verbal-emotional violence perpetration. Among boys, higher endorsement of patriarchal beliefs was associated with lower reports of physical perpetration and physical victimization.     

When voices get emotional: A corpus of nonverbal vocalizations for research on emotion processing

Nonverbal vocal expressions, such as laughter, sobbing, and screams, are an important source of emotional information in social interactions. However, the investigation of how we process these vocal cues entered the research agenda only recently. Here, we introduce a new corpus of nonverbal vocalizations, which we recorded and submitted to perceptual and acoustic validation. It consists of 121 sounds expressing four positive emotions (achievement/triumph, amusement, sensual pleasure, and relief) and four negative ones (anger, disgust, fear, and sadness), produced by two female and two male speakers. For perceptual validation, a forced choice task was used (n = 20), and ratings were collected for the eight emotions, valence, arousal, and authenticity (n = 20). We provide these data, detailed for each vocalization, for use by the research community. High recognition accuracy was found for all emotions (86 %, on average), and the sounds were reliably rated as communicating the intended expressions. The vocalizations were measured for acoustic cues related to temporal aspects, intensity, fundamental frequency (f0), and voice quality. These cues alone provide sufficient information to discriminate between emotion categories, as indicated by statistical classification procedures; they are also predictors of listeners’ emotion ratings, as indicated by multiple regression analyses. This set of stimuli seems a valuable addition to currently available expression corpora for research on emotion processing. It is suitable for behavioral and neuroscience research and might as well be used in clinical settings for the assessment of neurological and psychiatric patients. The corpus can be downloaded from Supplementary Materials.     

Maladaptive personality traits in adolescence: Psychometric properties of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+

The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+ (PDQ-4+) is a self-report used for the assessment of personality disorder traits, however, its psychometric characteristics have yet to be tested in community samples of adolescents. The main goal was to analyze the psychometric properties of the PDQ-4+ scores in a large sample of non-clinical adolescents (N = 1,443; M = 15.9 years; SD = 1.2). The PDQ-4+ scores showed adequate psychometric properties. Reliability of the subscales, incorporating a Likert-type 5-point response format, ranged from .62 to .85. The study of the internal structure at item level revealed that the PDQ-4+ subscales were essentially one-dimensional. Analysis of the internal structure at the subscale level by means of exploratory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling yielded a possible three-dimensional solution. The PDQ-4+ subscales correlated moderately with emotional and behavioural variables measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The results have clear implications for the understanding of maladaptive personality traits in adolescents.     

Within-individual variability in self-concepts and personality states: Applying density distribution and situation-behavior approaches across cultures

Within-individual variability in self-concepts and everyday personality states and affects was investigated in two experience sampling studies using density distribution and situation-behavior approaches. In all seven cultures sampled, within-individual variability was substantial and self-concept and personality state variability exhibited moderate convergence. Variability in personality and affect states was moderately predicted by perceived need satisfaction in the situations. The density distribution and situation-behavior approaches were moderately convergent in identifying the most variable individuals, but the pattern of cultural differences differed in the two methods. Contrary to cultural psychology perspectives, cultural differences in within-individual variability did not consistently correspond to cultural differences in individualism–collectivism, dialecticism, or tightness.     

Arithmetic word problem solving: evidence for a magnitude-based mental representation

Previous findings have suggested that number processing involves a mental representation of numerical magnitude. Other research has shown that sensory experiences are part and parcel of the mental representation (or “simulation”) that individuals construct during reading. We aimed at exploring whether arithmetic word-problem solving entails the construction of a mental simulation based on a representation of numerical magnitude. Participants were required to solve word problems and to perform an intermediate figure discrimination task that matched or mismatched, in terms of magnitude comparison, the mental representations that individuals constructed during problem solving. Our results showed that participants were faster in the discrimination task and performed better in the solving task when the figures matched the mental representations. These findings provide evidence that an analog magnitude-based mental representation is routinely activated during word-problem solving, and they add to a growing body of literature that emphasizes the experiential view of language comprehension.     

Behavioral Inhibition and Risk for Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Latino Children Exposed to Violence

Latino children in urban contexts marked by poverty are at high risk of being exposed to violence and developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Nonetheless, there is great variability in individual responses to violence exposure. This study examines risk for developing re-experiencing, avoidance, and arousal symptoms of PTSD as a function of individual differences in behavioral inhibition and exposure to community violence. Participants were 148 Latino students (M age =11.43 years, SD?=?0.69; 55 % girls) living in an area marked by poverty and crime. Children completed self-report measures of behavioral inhibition and posttraumatic stress symptoms during a baseline assessment. During a follow-up interview 6 months later, children completed self-report measures of exposure to community violence since the baseline assessment and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Structural equation models revealed that behavioral inhibition at baseline was positively associated with PTSD avoidance and arousal symptoms at follow-up, after controlling for symptoms at baseline. Furthermore, behavioral inhibition moderated the association between violence exposure and symptoms such that violence was more strongly associated with the development of PTSD avoidance symptoms as behavioral inhibition increased. Results suggest that individual differences in behavioral inhibition contribute to risk for specific PTSD symptoms and are important for understanding variation in responses to trauma exposure. By examining diathesis-­stress models within a disorder, we may be better able to elucidate the etiology of a disorder and translate this improved understanding into personalized intervention approaches that maximize effectiveness.