Women,Men, and Leadership: Exploring the Gender Gap at the Top

Elite-level leaders in business and government make significant and far-reaching decisions influencing many facets of society. However, relatively few of these powerful positions are held by women. This article explores gender in leadership by focusing on the difficulties women experience in attaining and being seen as effective in top leadership positions. It begins by revealing the lack of parity between the sexes in leadership and in the remaining sections it addresses empirical research that serves to illuminate the leadership labyrinth, or obstacles to women’s progress, also known as the glass ceiling. In the first section, research on gender and leadership styles, traits, and effectiveness is reviewed followed by a consideration of how both domestic responsibilities and current organizational cultures differentially impact women and men on their journey to top leadership positions. The focus then shifts to examining how stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination contribute to women’s under-representation in elite leadership roles by both impacting perceptions of and responses to women as well as impacting the experiences of women themselves. The final section concludes with thoughts on promoting parity in top-level leadership.     

THE EFFECTS OF THE QUESTION “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” ON MAND TRAINING OUTCOMES OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Mands sometimes are taught using the question “What do you want?” as a supplement to the required features of the mand relation: an establishing operation and a related consequence. Although verbal prompts have been used during mand training, they also may result in undesirable stimulus control. However, no direct empirical evidence exists to support this concern. The purpose of the present study was to compare mand training with and without supplemental questions on acquisition rate and maintenance when those questions were no longer presented. The 2 training conditions did not differ substantially in their outcomes for 2 children with autism.     

Emotional intelligence, teamwork effectiveness, and job performance: the moderating role of job context

We advance understanding of the role of ability-based emotional intelligence (EI) and its subdimensions in the workplace by examining the mechanisms and context-based boundary conditions of the EI-performance relationship. Using a trait activation framework, we theorize that employees with higher overall EI and emotional perception ability exhibit higher teamwork effectiveness (and subsequent job performance) when working in job contexts characterized by high managerial work demands because such contexts contain salient emotion-based cues that activate employees' emotional capabilities. A sample of 212 professionals from various organizations and industries indicated support for the salutary effect of EI, above and beyond the influence of personality, cognitive ability, emotional labor job demands, job complexity, and demographic control variables. Theoretical and practical implications of the potential value of EI for workplace outcomes under contexts involving managerial complexity are discussed.     

I can do that: the impact of implicit theories on leadership role model effectiveness

This research investigates the role of implicit theories in influencing the effectiveness of successful role models in the leadership domain. Across two studies, the authors test the prediction that incremental theorists ("leaders are made") compared to entity theorists ("leaders are born") will respond more positively to being presented with a role model before undertaking a leadership task. In Study 1, measuring people's naturally occurring implicit theories of leadership, the authors showed that after being primed with a role model, incremental theorists reported greater leadership confidence and less anxious-depressed affect than entity theorists following the leadership task. In Study 2, the authors demonstrated the causal role of implicit theories by manipulating participants' theory of leadership ability. They replicated the findings from Study 1 and demonstrated that identification with the role model mediated the relationship between implicit theories and both confidence and affect. In addition, incremental theorists outperformed entity theorists on the leadership task.     

Development of Self-regulation Abilities as Predictors of Psychological Adjustment Across the First Year of College

The first year of college can be a difficult developmental transition for many students, although it is also a time of personal growth and maturation. Little is known about how self-regulation abilities mature across this transition, nor whether maturation predicts better adjustment across the first year. We investigated the development of three self-regulation abilities (constructive thinking, emotional regulation, and mastery) and relations of this development to adjustment (depression, anxiety, and stress) in a sample of 162 first-year students. Data were gathered at two time points: just prior to their attendance at a large public northeastern university and then again at the end of the first year. Results indicated that, on average, students did not increase in their constructive thinking or emotion regulation abilities and actually decreased in their sense of mastery. In bivariate analyses, increases in all three self-regulation abilities were related to better adjustment across the year, effects that remained when examined simultaneously in multiple regression analyses. Further, analyses showed that change in self-regulation abilities, rather than mean levels per se, predicted changes in adjustment over the first year. Implications for interventions to assist students in the development of these self-regulation skills in regard to adjustment are discussed.     

Associations of positive and negative life changes with well-being in young and middle-aged adult cancer survivors

Both positive and negative changes are commonly reported by cancer survivors, and both may impact quality of life. Yet few studies have directly compared the associations of positive and negative changes across multiple life domains with multiple aspects of well-being. This study examined positive and negative changes and their conjoint relation to a range of well-being indices. We used correlational and regression analyses of data from 237 young to middle aged (X?=?45.3?years) cancer survivors, several years after treatment. Measures included demographic and medical variables, medical post-cancer positive and negative changes on multiple life domains, and a range of positive and negative adjustment indices. Demographic factors, especially income, related to both positive and negative outcomes. On average, participants reported no change on most life domains, although modest amounts of both positive and negative changes were reported. Negative change, rather than positive change, was closely associated with cancer survivors' adjustment. Detailed measurement of both positive and negative changes - as well as lack of change - is important to advance understanding of cancer's impact on survivors.     

Human visual short-term memory precision can be varied at will when the number of retained items is low

It has been debated whether human visual working memory is limited by the number of items or the precision with which they are represented. In the research reported here, we show that the precision of working memory can be flexibly and willfully controlled, but only if the number of retained items is low. Electroencephalographic recordings revealed that a neural marker for visual working memory (contralateral delay activity, or CDA) that is known to increase in amplitude with the number of retained items was also affected by the precision with which items were retained. However, willfully enhanced precision increased CDA amplitude only when the number of retained items was low. These results show that both the number and the (willfully controlled) precision of retained items constrain visual working memory: People can enhance the precision of their visual working memory, but only for a few items.     

The Relationship of Handwriting Speed,Working Memory,Language Comprehension and Outlines to Lecture Note‐taking and Test‐taking among College Students

A previous investigation of the cognitive processes underlying note‐taking found that handwriting speed was the only significant predictor of notes, and notes were the only significant predictor of test performance. This investigation sought to extend these results by evaluating the effects of handwriting speed, language comprehension, two measures of working memory (complex span and executive attention) and an outline on note‐taking and test performance (written summary). Participants were randomly assigned to an outline or not no‐outline group (Group) to determine the effect of an outline on handwriting speed. Results from a path analysis indicated that handwriting speed, language comprehension and Group were significantly related to notes. The relationship between the independent variables and the written summary was not completely mediated by notes as in the previous investigation. Notes, Group and language comprehension were related to the written summary. The implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Explaining Counterproductive Work Behaviors Among Police Officers: The Indirect Effects of Job Demands Are Mediated by Job Burnout and Moderated by Job Control and Social Support

The present study applied two theoretical frameworks (the demands–control–support model and the conservation of resources model) to investigate associations between job demands, job burnout, and counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) in the context of social support and job control. Data were collected among 625 police officers. Moderated mediation analysis showed that high job demands were indirectly related to high CWB, with job burnout acting as the mediator. These indirect effects were moderated by work-related resources (social support and job control). Job demands were associated with higher job burnout when social support was low. High job burnout was related to more frequent CWB when support was low and control was high. Finally, the job demands–CWB association was significant when support was low and control was high.     

Changes in Pediatric Health-Related Quality of Life in Cystic Fibrosis After IV Antibiotic Treatment for Pulmonary Exacerbations

Intravenous (IV) antibiotic therapy for pulmonary exacerbations (PE) has been shown to improve pulmonary functioning for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF); however, little is known about its effects on pediatric health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This prospective study assessed the impact of IV treatment of a PE on generic and CF-specific HRQOL for children and adolescents with CF. Participants included 52 children and adolescents with CF experiencing a PE (M _age = 13.6 years; 54% males; M_\textFEV1% M_{{{\text{FEV}}_{1\% } }} predicted = 58.8%). HRQOL, pulmonary functioning, and body mass index were assessed before and after IV antibiotic treatment. Results of this prospective, observational study indicated significant improvements on CFQ-R Respiratory (M _{change score} = 11.7; 95% CI = 6.3–17.1; p < .0001) and Weight (M _{change score} = 15.9; 95% CI = 7.9–23.8; p < .0001) scales. The CF-specific measure was more sensitive to changes in HRQOL than the generic instrument. These data suggest that CF-specific HRQOL improves with treatment for a PE with IV antibiotics. The noted statistically and clinically significant changes in the CFQ-respiratory scale indicate that the measure may be beneficial to pulmonary health care teams.