Moderator Role of Looming Cognitive Style (LCS) in the Relationship Between Attentional Control and Anxiety: Difference Between Shifting and Focusing Dimensions

Attentional control (AC) that is composed of shifting and focusing dimensions had been suggested as a transdiagnostic risk factor, associated with development and maintenance of various psychological disorders. In comparison, Looming Cognitive Style (LCS) had been documented as a trait-based, disorders-specific characteristic that is linked to high levels of subjectively felt anxiety. The present study investigated whether individual differences in LCS moderated the association of shifting and focusing with anxiety. Participants were 402 individuals between ages 18 and 68 recruited through advertisements posted on various forums, e-mail groups, and social media websites. They filled out questionnaires assessing AC, LCS, anxiety, and depression online. Results of the moderation analyses indicated that at high levels of LCS, low attentional shifting ability was associated with more intense anxiety. A similar relationship with LCS was not observed for focusing. In conclusion, for individuals who have high LCS and low shifting ability, content of and distress coming from looming images is experienced in a more intense manner due to difficulty in shifting to another (perhaps less anxiety provoking) content more flexibly. The findings are providing support for the interactive–synergistic perspective, indicating that deficits in shifting capacity may potentiate negative impact of looming cognitions.     

Impact of Self-Orientations and Work-Context–Related Variables on the Well-Being of Public- and Private-Sector Turkish Employees

The authors (a) explored the impact of individual differences in self-orientations (i.e., relatedness and individuation) of 383 Turkish public- and private-sector employees on their basic need satisfaction at work and their well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and psychological well-being); (b) considered differences in perceived autonomy- and relatedness-supportiveness of the work contexts; and (c) tested a model in which the relationship between self-orientations and well-being is partially mediated by the perceived supportiveness of the work context and the need satisfaction of employees at work, using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that self-orientations of employees predict their well-being both directly and indirectly through the mediation of perceived supportiveness and need satisfaction provided by the work context, which seem to vary according to sector type.     

Parenting styles and learned resourcefulness of Turkish adolescents

This study investigated the differences among 834 high school students regarding learned resourcefulness in terms of perceived parenting style and gender. The data were gathered by administering the Parenting Style Inventory (PSI) and Rosenbaum's Self-Control Schedule (SCS). The results of ANOVA pertaining to the scores of learned resourcefulness yielded a significant main effect for parenting style groups. Neither the main effect for gender nor the gender and parenting style interaction effect was significant. The findings suggest that those who perceived their parents as authoritative had a relatively high level of learned resourcefulness as compared to those who perceived their parents as neglectful and authoritarian. Findings also indicated that those who perceived their parents as indulgent had a higher level of learned resourcefulness than those who perceived their parents as neglectful and authoritarian.     

Higher-order Traits and Happiness in the Workplace: The Importance of Occupational Project Scale for the Evaluation of Characteristic Adaptations

This study attempts to explain the relationship between job satisfaction and the Big Two, Stability and Plasticity, which are the higher-order traits of Big Five. Occupational Project, a narrative construct, was considered a mediator variable in this relationship. Occupational Project consists of affective and cognitive evaluations of an individual's work life as a project in terms of the completed (past), the ongoing (present) and the prospective (future) parts. The survey method was applied to a sample of 253 participants. The results supported the proposed model, in which Occupational Project mediated the relationship between the Big Two and both job satisfaction and affect in workplace. Discussion is focused on applying Occupational Project as a practical tool for management. Consideration of an employee's Occupational Project could provide management with a means to question, understand, intervene with and redefine the narrative quality of his/her occupational project that influences job satisfaction.     

Perceived sources and levels of stress,general self-efficacy and coping strategies in clinical dental students

The aims of this study were to identify sources of stress among clinical students and to evaluate the students’ perceived levels of stress, general self-efficacy and effective coping strategies in a private dental school environment. The study group consisted of 130 undergraduate clinical dental students in a Turkish private dental school, during the academic year 2014–2015. The students were surveyed using modified version of the dental environment stress (DES) survey, the perceived stress scale, the general self-efficacy scale (G-SES) and the brief coping scale. Age, sex, year of study, history of psychiatric treatment and factors that affected the choice of dentistry were also recorded. Final year and female clinical dental students, who were found to be the most stressful students, had moderate to high perceived stress scores. Total and ‘Faculty and administration’ related DES scores increased with the year of study. Stressors related to ‘Workload’ and ‘Clinical training’ affected females more than males. G-SES scores were higher in male students and students, who had no history of psychiatric treatment. The most and the least common coping strategies were ‘Planning’ and ‘Substance abuse’, respectively. ‘Religion’ was found to be one of the main coping strategies. Stress factors affecting Turkish clinical dental students studying at private dental school differed from the previously reported stress factors affecting students studying at a governmental dental school. Advanced year and female students experienced more stress than the other students.     

Friendship, real-ideal discrepancies, and well-being: gender differences in college students

Do men and women have different ideals for their friendships? What do men and women experience when their actual friendship experiences fall short of their ideals? The authors of the current study investigated gender differences in real-ideal same-sex best friendships and friendship discrepancy scores. Correlates of friendship discrepancies were also examined. For this purpose, a sample of 382 college students completed the McGill Friendship Questionnaire (M. J. Mendelson & F. E. Aboud, 1999), the Friendship Conflict Scale (M. Demir & L. A. Weitekamp, 2007), the Need Satisfaction Scale (J. G. La Guardia, R. M. Ryan, C. E. Couchman, & E. L. Deci, 2000), and the PANAS (D. Watson, L. A. Clark, & A. Tellegen, 1988). Results showed that (a) the real and ideal best friendships of women were higher in quality and lower in conflict when compared to those of men; and (b) men's discrepancy scores for friendship quality were significantly higher when compared to women, whereas no differences were obtained on friendship conflict discrepancy scores. Findings also revealed that for both women and men, discrepancy scores were negatively related to friendship satisfaction, happiness, and satisfaction of basic psychological needs. The authors discuss the findings in light of theory, highlight ways to address relationship discrepancies, and make suggestions for future research.     

Impact of self-orientations and work-context-related variables on the well-being of public- and private-sector Turkish employees

The authors (a) explored the impact of individual differences in self-orientations (i.e., relatedness and individuation) of 383 Turkish public- and private-sector employees on their basic need satisfaction at work and their well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and psychological well-being); (b) considered differences in perceived autonomy- and relatedness-supportiveness of the work contexts; and (c) tested a model in which the relationship between self-orientations and well-being is partially mediated by the perceived supportiveness of the work context and the need satisfaction of employees at work, using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that self-orientations of employees predict their well-being both directly and indirectly through the mediation of perceived supportiveness and need satisfaction provided by the work context, which seem to vary according to sector type.     

Investigating the Role of the Big Five on the Social Loafing of Information Technology Workers1

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the role of Big Five personality dimensions (Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Neuroticism, and Agreeableness) on social loafing (SL) in a field setting. Data were gathered from both employees and their supervisors working in three leading software companies in Ankara, Turkey. The study was conducted in two phases. In the pilot study, SL and perceived coworker SL scales were developed. The task visibility scale was adapted to Turkish. The internal consistency reliabilities of the scales were tested using a pilot study with a sample of employees. In the main study, hypotheses were tested by gathering data from 156 participants and their 33 supervisors. Results supported only the two hypotheses proposing positive relations between extraversion and SL and between neuroticism and SL. The results are discussed along with practical implications, limitations of the study, and future directions.     

Cognitive control of a simple mental image in patients with obsessive--compulsive disorder

The nature of obsessions has led researchers to try to determine if the main problem in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is impaired inhibitory control. Previous studies report that the effort to suppress is one of the factors that increase the frequency of obsessive thoughts. Based on these results and those of the present study that suggest inferior parietal lobe (IPL) abnormality in OCD and findings of a recent study that reported the importance of the right posterior parietal cortex in cognitive control of a simple mental image, the present cognitive control paradigm study aimed to determine whether there is a difference in brain dynamics between OCD patients and non-obsessive controls while performing tasks that necessitate cognitive control of a simple mental image, and whether the right posterior parietal region is one of the regions in which a difference in activity between the OCD patients and controls would be observed. Functional brain imaging was performed while the participants attempted to suppress, imagine, or manipulate a mental image. The general linear model showed that there was a main effect of group and main effect of task. Accordingly, in all contrasts (suppression minus free-imagination, erasing minus free-imagination, and imagination minus free-imagination), the right IPL, right posterior cingulate cortex, and right superior frontal gyrus activity were lower in the OCD patients than in the healthy controls. These results and the observed correlations between activity levels, and symptom and subjective performance scores are discussed. In conclusion, the results of the present study and those of previous studies suggest that the main problem in OCD might be difficulty activating the right frontoparietal networks during tasks that require cognitive control, which might result in the intrusiveness of obsessive thoughts.     

Public attitudes toward stuttering in Turkey: probability versus convenience sampling

Purpose: A Turkish translation of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) was used to compare probability versus convenience sampling to measure public attitudes toward stuttering. Method: A convenience sample of adults in Eski?ehir, Turkey was compared with two replicates of a school-based, probability cluster sampling scheme. Results: The two replicates of the probability sampling scheme yielded similar demographic samples, both of which were different from the convenience sample. Components of subscores on the POSHA-S were significantly different in more than half of the comparisons between convenience and probability samples, indicating important differences in public attitudes. Conclusions. If POSHA-S users intend to generalize to specific geographic areas, results of this study indicate that probability sampling is a better research strategy than convenience sampling.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) discuss the difference between convenience sampling and probability sampling; (2) describe a school-based probability sampling scheme; and (3) describe differences in POSHA-S results from convenience sampling versus probability sampling.