The Connection between Perceived Workplace Discrimination and Viewing Work as a Spiritual Calling

Research shows that perceived workplace discrimination shapes an individual's job satisfaction and intent to leave a job. This study considers whether these impacts may be attenuated if an individual views their work as a spiritual calling. Using data from a nationally representative survey (N = 9,907), our analysis shows that perceived work discrimination due to race, gender, and religion are all independently associated with less job satisfaction net of a variety of other measures. Viewing work as a spiritual calling is associated with greater job satisfaction, even when accounting for traditional measures of religiosity. The negative impact of perceived discrimination on job satisfaction is weaker among those who view work as a spiritual calling. These findings provide evidence of the mechanisms underlying job satisfaction and have implications for understanding how religion might help mitigate the negative consequences of perceived discrimination in the workplace, or allow discrimination to potentially go unaddressed.     

Moderators of sex- and race-based subgroup differences in assessment center ratings: A meta-analysis

This meta-analysis tested a series of moderators of sex- and race-based subgroup differences using assessment center (AC) field data. We found that sex-based subgroup differences favoring female assessees were smaller among studies that reported: combining AC scores with other tests to compute overall assessment ratings, lower mean correlations between rating dimensions, using more than one assessor to rate assessees in exercises, and providing assessor training. In contrast, we found larger sex-based subgroup differences favoring female assessees among studies that reported: lower proportions of females in assessee pools, conducting a job analysis to design the AC, and using multiple observations of AC dimensions across exercises. We also observed a polynomial effect showing that subgroup differences most strongly favored female assessees in jobs with the highest and lowest rates of female incumbents. We found race-based subgroup differences favoring White assessees were smaller on less cognitively loaded rating dimensions and for jobs with lower rates of Black incumbents. Studies reporting greater overall methodological rigor also showed smaller subgroup differences favoring White assessees. Regarding specific rigor features, studies reporting use of highly qualified assessors and integrating dimension ratings from separate exercises into overall dimension scores showed significantly lower differences favoring White assessees.     

Symptoms associated with suicidal behavior in childhood and adolescence

In adulthood, depression is often accompanied by suicidal ideation or behavior. As a result, depression in adults is generally viewed as a sign of risk for suicide. However, according to a number of researchers, suicidal behavior in children and adolescents differs markedly from that in adulthood. Differences have been noted in frequency, gender distribution, and associated symptoms. This study examined age and gender differences in symptoms accompanying suicidal gestures and ideation in black children, aged 11–18, referred for psychiatric treatment. Results indicated that a difference exists in the types of symptoms associated with suicidal ideation as opposed to suicidal acts, and that these differences vary, depending on the age and gender of the child. Moreover, the findings indicate that depressed mood and other internalized symptoms are more common among disturbed children who manifest suicidal behavior than among those who do not.     

Passionate love and anxiety in young adolescents

Two studies tested the hypothesis that young adolescents who experience a great deal of anxiety will be more likely to experience passionate love as well. In the first study, 24 boys and 17 girls, ranging in age from 12 to 14, were given the Child Anxiety Scale (which measures trait anxiety) and the Juvenile Love Scale (JLS). In the second study, 32 adolescent girls and 32 adolescent boys, ranging in age from 13 to 16, were given the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (which measures both trait and state anxiety) and the JLS. The studies found significant correlations between anxiety (both state and trait) and JLS scores in these young adolescents.As you might guess, it is extremely difficult to secure permission to interview children and adolescents about their feelings of passionate love. Thus, we would like to thank Dr. Mark Silzer, Principal of Our Redeemer Lutheran Elementary School, for his help on this project.     

Cognition and Citizen Participation in Social Action1

Citizen participation in social action may depend, in part, on certain beliefs about the world and one's power to initiate change. Existing tests of internality and belief in a just world were modified, creating independent measures of belief in personal power and belief in possible injustices in society. The paper reports data on the reliability and the convergent and discriminant validity of the new Personal Power and Injustice scales. In Studies 1 and 2 the scales predicted outcomes in theoretically relevant experiments. In Study 3 they discriminated among community groups who did, or did not, engage in social action.     

Path model of multidimensional compliance with cancer therapy

Patients newly diagnosed with hematologic malignancies were followed for a 6-month treatment period to assess compliance with three regimen requirements for cancer therapy: anti-neoplastic medication self-administered intermittently, supportive medication self-administered daily, and monthly clinic appointments. The effect on compliance of three intervention "packages" (some combination of education, shaping of pill-taking behavior, and home restructuring) and the extent that patient satisfaction, knowledge, and uncertainty about illness-related events mediated the effects of the interventions were also examined. Blood levels of the drugs and self-report measures indicated that compliance with daily pill taking was higher for each intervention group compared to a control group. Similar results were obtained for compliance with clinic appointments. No improvement in intermittent self-medication was found. Although each intervention package increased patient knowledge and satisfaction, path analyses demonstrated that knowledge did not affect any aspect of compliance, whereas satisfaction was associated with increased appointment keeping only. Daily pill taking was influenced directly by the behavioral components of the interventions. Uncertainty did not influence compliance but was associated with depression, which was negatively correlated with intermittent self-medication.     

Negative priming from ignored distractors in visual selection: A review

Ignoring a distractor on a prime trial generally impairs responses to that object on a subsequent probe trial. This negative-priming (NP) effect supports the notion that distracting objects are actively inhibited during target selection (Tipper, 1985). Alternatively, NP may be caused either by amismatch between the features of items across prime and probe trials (Park & Kanwisher, 1994) or by the episodic retrieval of information from the prime trial which conflicts with the current, correct response (Neill & Valdes, 1992). These alternative accounts are called theselective inhibition,feature mismatching, andepisodic retrieval hypotheses, respectively. The present paper reviews the NP literature and considers the evidence for each of the three accounts. Feature mismatching does produce NP in a limited number of cases, but it is not a necessary condition for NP. In other cases, NP must be due to either selective inhibition or episodic retrieval of previously ignored distractors. Though results from critical tests designed to discriminate among these hypotheses have not yet been reported, such results are crucial for both theoretical and practical reasons.     

Evaluation of a Measure of Self-Esteem Based on the Concept of Unconditional Self-Regard

A measure of unconditional self-regard (USR) derived from Rogerian (client-centered) theory was evaluated in four studies. Results indicated that USR was highly reliable and was strongly related to other measures of self-esteem and negatively related to depression, anxiety, and symptoms of psychological distress. The measure was significantly related to the control and commitment dimensions of psychological hardiness but not to its challenge dimension. Evidence for discriminant validity was provided by findings that USR was unrelated to social desirability or private self-consciousness. Finally, female students'self-regard was significantly related to the unconditional positive regard they reported receiving from their mothers. Other correlations between self-regard and perceived regard from others, although nonsignificant, were often large in absolute value. Implications for counseling interventions are discussed.