Bullying in Danish work-life: Prevalence and health correlates

Given the pioneering role of Scandinavian research in the field of bullying at work, it is surprising that Danish researchers have largely ignored this problem. Presumably, this has led to a situation where many Danish company managers and unions ignore the high individual and organizational costs of workplace bullying. An additional effect of this lack of research is that it has been difficult to estimate the extent to which the prevalence of bullying varies in different sectors of Danish work-life. Furthermore, the scarcity of research has impeded us from determining whether a low prevalence of bullying is a general characteristic of Scandinavian work-life as indicated by previous Swedish and Norwegian studies. Yet again, making such between-nations comparisons in the prevalence of workplace bullying is difficult given the tendency amongst researchers to employ different ways of measuring bullying. The aims of the present study were: (1) to assess the prevalence of bullying in Danish work-life; (2) to investigate if exposure to bullying behaviours at work is related to self-reported psychological and psychosomatic stress symptoms; (3) to examine potential differences in the prevalence of bullying in various work sectors; (4) to explore the hypothesis that, generally, Scandinavian work-life is characterized by low levels of bullying; and (5) to investigate the extent to which using different criteria for assessing bullying results in disparate prevalence estimates. Results showed that 2-4% of the respondents reported being victims of bullying, in most cases only occasionally. Compared to self-reported bullying, prevalence levels based on an operational definition of bullying (i.e., weekly exposure to one act for at least 6 months) were higher in all the samples, between 8% and 25%. When using a more strict criterion of two acts a week, these figures were significantly reduced. Exposure to bullying was found to be associated with increased self-reported strain reactions.     

Job insecurity and the benefits of work

The presented study combines conservation of resource theory with latent deprivation theory to explain the negative relationship between job insecurity and mental health. Specifically, we propose that people who face the threat of job insecure would perceive worse access to the benefits of work, which would explain the negative effect of job insecurity on mental health. In a two-wave study, employees rated their perceived job insecurity, their access to the benefits of work, and their mental health. Cross-sectional multiple mediation analysis at Time 1 (n = 295) and Time 2 (n = 236) showed that the negative relationship between job insecurity and mental health was partly due to a perceived lack of the benefits of work. Longitudinal results (n = 173) revealed that job insecurity was related to a decrease in financial benefits, which in turn predicted mental health. However, this effect was only visible if it was not controlled for prior levels of the benefits of work. The results are discussed with regards to conservation of resource theory and latent deprivation theory and the potential of this framework for explaining negative mental health effects of job insecurity.     

Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Decrements in Mental Synthesis in Older Adults

The extent and nature of age-related differences in mental synthesis was examined in light of Baddeley's working memory model and resource theories. Mental synthesis performance of 30 young, young-old, middle-old and old-old adults was examined using a dual-task experiment and individual differences approach. Age-related differences in mental synthesis were shown, with an unprecedented heightened decrement evident after the age of 85. The central executive was not a mechanism of this decline. Executive function, speed of information processing, and working memory capacity were mechanisms underlying this decline, and together accounted for 86% of the age-related variance in mental synthesis. Environmental support enhanced mental synthesis.     

Lexical access revisited: Evidence from picture-pseudoword interference

In the present picture–word interference experiments, auditory pseudoword distractors were constructed to be semantically, phonologically, or doubly (semantically and phonologically) similar to the target. The degree and the location of segmental overlap with the target and/or the semantic alternative were varied systematically. The results reveal that different degrees of overlap with the target and/or the semantic alternative induce a fine-grained pattern of interference effects in picture naming, while the location of overlap is less influential. Implications of the present findings for models of lexical retrieval are discussed.     

The Factor Structure of the Figural Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: A Meta-Confirmatory Factor Analysis

To investigate the factor structure of the Figural Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Figural TTCT), a meta-confirmatory factor analysis was performed. A sample of 33 correlation matrices from 26 studies (N_individuals = 6,982) was included in the meta-analysis. Four different factor models previously presented in the literature were tested to determine which model fits the data best. The results supported a 2-factor structure model in which fluency and originality subscales loaded on the innovative factor; elaboration, abstractness of titles, and resistance to premature closure subscales loaded on the adaptive factor. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Dimensions of perceived control: A factor analysis of three measures and an examination of their relation to activity level and mood in a student and cross-cultural patient sample

Abstract

This study investigated whether measures of three perceived control (PC) concepts tapped independent dimensions, were invariant to population characteristics of health and culture, were differentially sensitive to health outcomes, and were discriminable from self-report disability. The Multidimensional Health Locus of Control, Generalized Self-efficacy, and Perceived Health Competence (PHC) Scales were administered to 106 Scottish students and 145 Scottish, Spanish and Irish patients, who also completed versions of the Sickness Impact Profile. Principal Components analyses revealed five factors reflecting scale constructions for students and six factors for patients, as PHC items fell on two factors. Disability items fell on a separate factor from all PC items. Results suggest: (a) PC is multidimensional regardless of health and culture; (b) adequate assessment requires multiple PC measures; and (c) it is meaningful to consider PC as a possible influence on disability.     

Conflict in psychoanalysis and in life

Abstract

Unconscious conflicts are at the center of Freudian psychoanalytic inquiry, in the psychoanalytic situation as well as in the theory of personality and pathogenesis. The core dynamic formulation, intrapsychic conflict resulting in new psychic formation, is addressed in the paper in the following steps.

First, the development of the concept of conflict throughout the history of Freudian psychoanalysis is reviewed. Next, the analytic and synthetic aspects of conflict theory are explored and the role of conflict in the development of personality organization and pathogenesis is clarified. Then, the contemporary extensions and elaborations of structural theory are presented.

To illustrate analysis focused on conflict, clinical material covering the phases of psychoanalytic process is highlighted. From the beginning stage of analyzing the patient's initial diffuse state of indifference and “weirdness”, analysis proceeds to address primary and secondary symptoms of impotence and exhibitionism and underlying passive-phallic personality organization with conflict around aggression. This leads to the patient's sense of mastery over previously enslaving and “immobilizing” internal turmoil.     

Hiring Discrimination Against Arab Minorities: Interactions Between Prejudice and Job Characteristics

Individuals of Arab descent have increasingly experienced prejudice and employment discrimination. This study used the social identity paradigm to investigate whether greater Arab identification of applicants led to hiring discrimination and whether job characteristics and raters' prejudice moderated this effect. One hundred forty-one American and 153 Dutch participants rated résumés on job suitability. Résumés with Arab name and affiliations negatively influenced job suitability ratings, but only when job cognitive demands and external client contact were limited. Within the Dutch sample job suitability rating of Arab applicants was lowest when Dutch raters' implicit prejudice was high. As expected, no effects of explicit prejudice were found: discrimination may operate in subtle ways, depending on the combined effect of applicant, job, and rater characteristics. Further research and implications for employment-related decision making, such as anonymous résumé-sifting, are discussed.     

Development of Cognitive Skills in Children with Motor Coordination Impairments at 12-Month Follow-up

The current study presents a 1-year follow-up investigation of the development of executive functions (i.e., inhibition, updating, and shifting) in children with motor coordination impairments. Cognitive and motor coordination skills of children (N = 94) aged between 5 and 7 years with and without motor coordination impairments were compared. A second focus of the study was on pre-academic skills. The results indicate marked stability of motor coordination impairments and persistent executive functioning deficits in motor-impaired children. Inhibition and shifting performance was consistently lower, compared to the children without motor coordination impairments. Moreover, children with motor coordination impairments showed lower pre-academic skills, facing a substantial disadvantage at the beginning of formal schooling. The combined cognitive and motor problems may be the result of an underlying inhibition deficit or a general automation deficit. Implications for intervention are discussed.     

Visuospatial Short-Term Memory Explains Deficits in Tower Task Planning in High-Functioning Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Previous findings on planning abilities in individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFA) are inconsistent. Exploring possible reasons for these mixed findings, the current study investigated the involvement of memory in planning performance in 15 children with HFA and 17 typically developing controls. In addition to planning abilities (measured with the Tower of London), short-term memory and delayed recall for verbal as well as visuospatial material were assessed. Findings suggest that particularly reduced efficiency in visuospatial short-term memory is associated with Tower task planning deficits in children with HFA.