Chronic Illness and Child Behavior Problems in Low-SES Families: The Mediation of Caregivers’ Mental Health

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Childhood chronic illness is associated with deleterious effects on caregivers’ mental health and children’s socio-emotional development. This...     

The Effect of Relative Income Concerns on Life Satisfaction: Relative Deprivation and Loss Aversion

Journal of Happiness Studies - Income comparisons are important for individual well-being. We examine the shape of the relationship between relative income and life satisfaction, and test...     

Using Autonomous Teams to Improve Quality of Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities

Applied Research in Quality of Life - This research study tested an intervention, based on autonomous teams and the service co-creation approach, to improve the social inclusion and...     

The daily spillover and crossover of emotional labor: Faking emotions at work and at home

This diary study among 75 Spanish dual earner couples investigates whether emotional labor performed by employees at work has implications for themselves and for their partner at home. On the basis of the Spillover-Crossover model, we hypothesized that individuals' surface acting at work would spill over to the home domain, and that surface acting at home, in turn, would reduce individuals' levels of well-being. Moreover, we predicted crossover of experiences lived at home between the members of the couple. Participants filled in a diary booklet during five consecutive working days (N = 150 participants and N = 750 occasions). The results of multilevel analyses show that daily surface acting at work has an indirect relationship with daily well-being through daily surface acting at home. In addition, we found a bi-directional crossover of surface acting at home and well-being between both members of the couple. These findings indicate that emotional labor has implications not only for employees themselves, but also for their partner at home – on a daily basis.     

Effects of the dialectical behavioral therapy-mindfulness module on attention in patients with borderline personality disorder

It is known that patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) show attention deficits and impulsivity. The main aim of this study was to explore the effects of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy-Mindfulness training (DBT-M), used as an adjunct to general psychiatric management (GPM), on attention variables in patients diagnosed with BPD. A second objective was to assess the relation of mindfulness formal practice on clinical variables. A sample of 60 patients with BPD was recruited. Forty of them were allocated to GPM + DBT-M treatment and the other 20 received GPM alone. At the termination of the mindfulness training, DBT-M + GPM group showed a significant improvement on commissions, hit reaction time, detectability scores from the CPT-II neuropsychological test, and also on the composite scores of inattention and impulsivity. Further, the more minutes of mindfulness practice were correlated to greater improvement in general psychiatric symptoms and affective symptomatology, but not in CPT-II measures. This is probably the first study so far assessing the effects of this single DBT module in patients with BPD. The results suggest a positive effect of such intervention on attention and impulsivity variables.     

Differences between men and women with a dismissing attachment style regarding their attitudes and behaviour in romantic relationships

Research to date has revealed that the association between gender, attachment and the quality and functioning of intimate relationships is complex. This study examined the relationship between gender and attachment styles in attitudes to communication with one's partner and in the number of past relationships in a sample of 746 Spanish undergraduates. The Relationship Questionnaire was administered to them to determine the adult attachment style. The results revealed the existence of differences according to the adult attachment style and gender with regard to the two measured variables, and a significant effect of the interaction between gender and attachment. Dismissing men reported the highest average scores in the number of past relationships, with significant differences appearing when they were compared with secure and preoccupied men. However, dismissing women did not differ from the rest of the women with other attachment styles. When men and women with the same attachment styles were compared in this variable, the only significant differences were found between dismissing men and women (with the latter reporting fewer partners). In the case of attitudes to expressing feelings to one's partner, dismissing men reported the most negative attitudes, compared with secure and preoccupied men. Dismissing women, unlike the men, did not differ in their attitudes either from preoccupied or fearful women. Moreover, clear differences were shown between dismissing men and women in these attitudes (more negative in the case of men).     

The effect of achievement goals on enjoyment, effort, satisfaction and performance

This study examined the effect of achievement goals and achievement emotions on sport satisfaction, performance and effort among competitive athletes. Participants were 200 athletes. Structural equation modeling was used to test the indirect effect of mastery-approach goals on satisfaction with sport experience and performance, the direct effect of mastery-approach goals on enjoyment and effort, the direct effect of performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals on performance, and the direct effect of mastery-avoidance goals on effort. Results showed a positive direct effect of mastery-approach goals on enjoyment and an indirect effect, through enjoyment, on satisfaction, performance, and effort. We did not find support for the hypothesized effect of performance-approach or performance-avoidance goals on performance. The applied implications of endorsing mastery-approach goals are discussed.     

Semiorders with separability properties

We analyze different separability conditions that characterize the numerical representability of semiorders through a real-valued function and a strictly positive threshold. Any necessary and sufficient condition for the numerical representability of an interval order by means of two real-valued functions is proved to also characterize the Scott–Suppes representability of semiorders provided that a key additional condition of regularity with respect to sequences holds.     

Self-concept clarity and religious orientations: prediction of purpose in life and self-esteem

The present study concerns the relationship between self-concept clarity, religiosity, and well-being, as well as the mediating influence of religiosity on the relationship between self-concept clarity and sense of meaning in life and self-esteem. Self-concept clarity was found to be a significant predictor of sense of meaning in life and self-esteem; intrinsic religious orientation was found to be a predictor of sense of meaning in life, while the quest religious orientation was a predictor for self-esteem. The cross-products of self-concept clarity and intrinsic religious orientation were found to be related to the sense of purpose in life, which would point to religiosity being a mediator of the relationship between self-concept clarity and sense of purpose in life. The cross-products of self-concept clarity and quest religious orientation were found to be a predictor of self-esteem, which indicates a mediating effect of this religious orientation in the relationship of self-concept clarity and self-esteem.