Effects of occupational stress,job characteristics,coping, and attributional style on the mental health and job satisfaction of university employees

Well-being at work has been shown to be influenced by job characteristics and individual differences in coping styles. This study investigated the relationships between job demands, control, social support, efforts, rewards, coping, and attributional style in predicting anxiety, depression, and job satisfaction in a sample of 307 university employees from the UK. Results were compared to those from a sample of 120 members of the general population. Workplace demands, intrinsic and extrinsic effort, and negative coping and attributional behaviors were associated with high levels of depression and anxiety and low job satisfaction in university employees. Rewards, social support, job control, and positive coping and attributional behaviors were associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety and high job satisfaction. The study adds to the growing research on university samples by showing that a transactional approach should be adopted. This has implications for interventions and suggests that rather than just trying to change job characteristics one should identify at-risk individuals in this population and help them adopt appropriate positive coping styles.     

The halo model of origin images: Conceptualisation and initial empirical test

National origin has gained importance as a marketing tool for practitioners to sell their goods and services. However, because origin‐image research has been troubled by several fundamental limitations, academia has become sceptical of the current status and strategic implications of the concept. The aim of this paper was threefold, namely, to provide a state‐of‐the‐art review of origin‐image research in marketing, develop and empirically test a new origin‐image model and, present the implications of the study. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stimulus Properties of the Blacky Pictures Test

Abstract

Buss, A. H. Psychology of Aggression. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1961, Pp. X + 307, $7.95. Reviewed by Leonard D. Eron

Eiduson, Bernice T. Scientists—their psychological world. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1962. pp. 299, $6.50. Reviewed by John R. Weir

Ginott, Haim G. Group Psychotherapy with Children. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961, pp. 208. Reviewed by Gordon Filmer-Bennett

Holtzman, Wayne H., Thorpe, Joseph S., Swartz, Jon D., &; Herron, E. Wayne Inkblot perception and personality. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1961. 417 pp. $8.00. Reviewed by A. Barclay, Ph.D.

Ittelson, William H., Kutash, Samuel B., ed: Perceptual Changes in Psychopathology. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1961. 262 pp. $9.00. Reviewed by Donald L. Weston

Levitt, E. E. Clinical Research Design and Analysis in the Behavioral Sciences. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1961, pp. 199–xxii. $8.50. Reviewed by Wilson H. Guertin

Lindzey, Gardner. Projective Techniques &; Cross-Cultural Research. Published by Appleton, Century-Crofts, Inc., N.Y., 1961, 339 pp., $6.00. Reviewed by Sohan Lal Sharma, Ph.D.

Clifton, James A. and Levine, David. Klamath Personalities: Ten Rorschach Case Studies, University of Oregon Press, Eugene, 1961, 80 pp. Reviewed by Sohan Lal Sharma, Ph.D.     

HTP and DCT Indicators of Sexual Identification in Children

Sexual differences in responses of 7 to 14 year-old children on the Franck DCT and the HTP were examined as indicators of developmental changes in sexual identification. On the Franck significant sexual differences were found only at ages 12 and 13. On the HTP, the sex of the first person drawn was significant at all ages; sex of the larger person drawn was significant at all but ages 7, 10 and 13; and use of heavier lines by boys was significant at ages 11 and 12. Generally insignificant results were obtained with placement on the page, inclusion of chimneys, and type of tree. Strongest sexual identification is indicated at puberty with its greater awareness of sexual characteristics.     

A Child of the Empire: British Sociology and Colonialism, 1940s–1960s

British sociology was established as an academic discipline between 1945 and 1965, just as the British Empire was gearing up for a new phase of developmental colonialism backed by the social and other sciences. Many parts of the emerging sociological discipline became entangled with colonialism. Key themes and methods in sociology and the staff of sociology departments emerged from this colonial context. Historians have tended to place postwar British sociology in the context of expanding higher education and the welfare state, and have overlooked this colonial constellation. The article reconstructs this forgotten moment of disciplinary founding and explores three of the factors that promoted colonial sociology: the Colonial Social Science Research Council, the so‐called Asquith universities, and the social research institutes in the colonies; and the involvement of sociologists from the London School of Economics in training colonial officials.     

Item Selection for the Development of Short Forms of Scales Using an Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm

This article presents the use of an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm for the development of short forms of scales. An example 22-item short form is developed for the Diabetes-39 scale, a quality-of-life scale for diabetes patients, using a sample of 265 diabetes patients. A simulation study comparing the performance of the ACO algorithm and traditionally used methods of item selection is also presented. It is shown that the ACO algorithm outperforms the largest factor loadings and maximum test information item selection methods. The results demonstrate the capabilities of using ACO for creating short-form scales.     

Kinesthetic Recall And Information Bold>Reduction Activity

2 experiments are reported in which interpolated motor activity requiring either information reduction (1.86 bits) or no reduction was compared to a control to examine their effects on kinesthetic retention. Exp. 1 used an independent groups design and found only absolute error to increase over the delay intervals. Information reduction activity did not affect kinesthetic retention and there was increasing negative error for longer movements, with positive response sets for short movements and negative response sets for long movements. Exp. 2 replicated the retention interval conditions using a within-Ss design. No difference between conditions was found for either absolute or algebraic error, but an effect of Retention Intervals was found for absolute error. For both studies, the Interpolated Activity X Retention Interval interaction failed significance. No evidence was found to support interference or available processing capacity expalanation for the loss of retention.     

Math Anxiety,Mother's Education,and the Mathematics Performance of Adolescent Boys and Girls: Evidence from the United States and Thailand

ABSTRACT

In this study, I investigated the relationship of mathematics performance to math anxiety, mother's education, and gender. A secondary analysis was conducted using nationally representative samples of 13-year-old children in the United States (N = 4,091) and Thailand (N = 3,613) collected as a part of the Second International Mathematics Study (Garden, 1987). Separate ANOVAs (Math Anxiety × Mother's Education × Gender) were run within each country using a 40-item math performance test as the dependent variable. Math anxiety has an inverse relationship with mathematics performance in the United States (r = ?.24) and in Thailand (r ?. 14). The relationship between math anxiety and mathematics performance is significant in both countries after controlling for previous achievement, mother's education, and gender, although the data suggest that there is a three-way interaction between math anxiety, mother's education, and gender in Thailand.     

The Significance of the Fluctuations Experienced in Observing Ambiguous Figures and in Binocular Rivalry

This study investigated predictions from Mednick's remote associates theory as to unusualness of response in a word association task as a function of remote associational ability (high or low scores on the RAT), the nature of the verbal stimulus (flat or steep hierarchy words), and the serial position of the response. Ss were Ohio high school students. Although high RAT scorers gave significantly less unusual responses overall than did low RAT scorers, results were interpreted as generally supportive of the theory. Low RAT scorers moved more rapidly to less frequent responses than did high RAT scorers, later responses were more infrequent than earlier responses in the sample tested, and while word-type did not in itself determine unusualness of response, it did interact with the other variables in a manner consistent with the theory.