Structural predictors of problematic friendship in later life

The purpose of this study was to examine the constraining and facilitating effects of social structural position (age, sex, race, class, financial sufficiency, and number of friends) on opportunities for friendship. We hypothesized that the greater the number of people who share a given social structural location and the more access they have to situations where it is possible to meet new people, the less likely they are to have problematic friendships. The sample comprised 53 male and female community residents aged 55 to 84 years who enjoyed fairly good health. Logistic and multiple regression procedures revealed outcomes opposite to our predictions: those who were supposedly more social structurally advantaged actually reported greater numbers of problematic friendships. Potential interpretations include the possibility that these people are more critical than others of their friend relationships or more willing to acknowledge problems, that the norms regarding commitment to friends are weaker among these individuals, or that they learn to acquire friends but not to avoid and solve problems in their relationships. Apparently, people with more friends are not more likely than others to terminate problematic friendships or to redefine them as mere associations.     

THE ROLE OF LOCUS OF CONTROL IN LEADER INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR1

This study investigated whether the leader's locus of control moderated the relationship between perceived leader influence behaviors and certain subordinate outcome variables. The results showed that locus of control did significantly moderate the effect of supervisor influence on productivity and subordinate satisfaction with supervision. The difference in satisfaction with supervision was more extreme at high levels of subordinate perceived supervisor influence on productivity. Implications for supervisor training are discussed.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CONTINGENCY MODEL TRAINING: A REVIEW OF THE VALIDATION OF LEADER MATCH1

Twelve studies testing the effectiveness of LEADER MATCH, a new approach to leadership training, are reviewed. The training program is presented in a self-paced, programmed instruction manual based on Fiedler's Contingency Model (1964, 1967). Five studies were conducted in civilian organizations and seven were conducted in military settings. The performance evaluations were collected from two to six months after training and in some studies included pre and post measures. The performance evaluations of 423 trained leaders were compared with those of 484 leaders who have been randomly assigned to control groups. All 12 studies yielded statistically significant results supporting LEADER MATCH training.     

RAINFOREST EMPIRICISM AND QUASI'-RATIONALITY: TWO APPROACHES TO OBJECTIVE BIODATA

Two approaches to objective biodata, designed to achieve the interpretability and stability of rational approaches, yet minimize socially desirable responding, were explored. The first was a quasi-rational attempt to derive biodata analogs to an existing temperament measure, and then use them as rational scales. The second was a theory-based variant of criterion-referenced keying, termed rainforest empiricism. Both were utilized with two consecutive classes of U.S. Military Academy cadets ( n = 2,565) to predict leadership performance over four rating periods. The biodata analogs to the temperament measure added incremental validity over the Academy's current admissions package and had significantly smaller correlations with a social desirability scale than their equivalent temperament scales. Scales developed with the rainforest approach had higher incremental validities and lower social desirability. Both methods demonstrated satisfactory stability upon cross-validation, and provided complementary interpretability. Advantages to each approach, and the implications for their use, are discussed.     

ETHNIC GROUP DIFFERENCES IN COGNITIVE ABILITY IN EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS: A META-ANALYSIS

The cognitive ability levels of different ethnic groups have interested psychologists for over a century. Many narrative reviews of the empirical literature in the area focus on the Black-White differences, and the reviews conclude that the mean difference in cognitive ability ( g ) is approximately 1 standard deviation; that is, the generally accepted effect size is about 1.0. We conduct a meta-analytic review that suggests that the one standard deviation effect size accurately summarizes Black-White differences for college application tests (e.g., SAT) and overall analyses of tests of g for job applicants in corporate settings. However, the 1 standard deviation summary of group differences fails to capture many of the complexities in estimating ethnic group differences in employment settings. For example, our results indicate that job complexity, the use of within job versus across job study design, focus on applicant versus incumbent samples, and the exact construct of interest are important moderators of standardized group differences. In many instances, standardized group differences are less than 1 standard deviation. We conduct similar analyses for Hispanics, when possible, and note that Hispanic-White differences are somewhat less than Black-White differences.     

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL: MEASUREMENT AND RELATIONSHIP WITH PERFORMANCE AND SATISFACTION

Two studies were conducted to analyze how hope, resilience, optimism, and efficacy individually and as a composite higher-order factor predicted work performance and satisfaction. Results from Study 1 provided psychometric support for a new survey measure designed to assess each of these 4 facets, as well as a composite factor. Study 2 results indicated a significant positive relationship regarding the composite of these 4 facets with performance and satisfaction. Results from Study 2 also indicated that the composite factor may be a better predictor of performance and satisfaction than the 4 individual facets. Limitations and practical implications conclude the article.