Examining Relationships between Transformational Leadership and Employee Creative Performance: The Moderator Effects of Organizational Culture

This study examined whether organizational culture moderates relationships between transformational leadership (TFL) and employee self‐rated creative performance (CP). A convenience sample of 147 working professionals from 109 Fortune 500 organizations participated in the study by completing measures of their organizations’ cultures, their managers’ leadership styles, and their own CP, as well as relevant control measures. Adhocracy culture type moderated the relationship between levels of TFL and CP. Consequently, market culture type was a non‐significant moderator for predicting TFL–CP relationships. Both adhocracy and market culture types were non‐significant mediators of TFL on CP. The theoretical model in this study provides an important extension of TFL and organizational culture theories and a greater understanding of how adhocracy culture interacts with TFL to influence employee CP. This study also provides researchers and practitioners with a better comprehension of how to achieve higher levels of CP given the interaction between TFL and adhocracy culture.     

Happiness is Flextime

We study how work a schedule flexibility (flextime) affects happiness. We use a US General Social Survey (GSS) pooled dataset containing the Quality of Worklife and Work Orientations modules for 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. We retain only respondents who are either full-time or part-time employees on payrolls. For flextime to be associated with greater happiness, it has to be more than just sometimes flexible or slight input into one’s work schedule, that is, little flextime does not increase happiness. But substantial flextime has a large effect on happiness–the size effect is about as large as that of household income, or about as large as a one-step increase in self-reported health, such as up from good to excellent health. Our findings provide support for both public and organizational policies that would promote greater work schedule flexibility or control for employees.     

Maternal depression and developmental disability: research critique

Maternal depression in families having a child with a disability has been the subject of considerable research over the past 25 years. This review was designed to describe the literature on maternal depression, critique its research methodology, identify consensus findings across studies, and make recommendations for future research. A particular emphasis is on the distinction between exhibiting depressive symptoms and meeting clinical criteria for a depressive disorder, how or whether research studies made this distinction, and implications for our understanding of maternal adaptation to disability in a family member. Of the 42 articles reviewed, only eight were clinically diagnosed depression; most of them used a scale rating depressive symptoms. Across the studies, mothers of children with disabilities generally exhibited a higher than average rate of depressive symptoms and are more at risk for clinical depression, but the incidence may be lower than reported in previous literature. Child behavior problems, maternal stress, coping style, and support were consistently associated with depressive symptoms. We conclude that we know relatively little about clinical depression in mothers of children with disabilities. The distinction between clinical depression and depressive symptoms may be important in conceptualizing how a child with a disability can influence family members and the nature of support that may need to be provided. Future research should incorporate gold standard diagnostic tools and assess history, severity, and type of depression. Research is also needed to study treatments to reduce the occurrence of both depressive symptoms and clinical depression.     

Reactions to Affirmative Action: Substance and Semantics

For both theoretical and practical reasons, researchers have sought to map the motivations that underlie people's support for or opposition to affirmative action. In view of the amount of rhetoric surrounding the issues, it is possible that some of the apparent differences in degrees of support come from differences in how the words affirmative action are interpreted. The present investigation shows that the meanings that people ascribe to affirmative action statistically predict their attitudes toward the policy, even after one accounts for demographic and related attitudinal factors. The implications of our findings are important in both applied and conceptual ways.     

Playing Princess: Preschool Girls’ Interpretations of Gender Stereotypes in Disney Princess Media

Through their 11 official princesses, Disney circulates powerful and consistent messages regarding gender norms and roles. Inspired by the princesses’ ubiquity in the lives of young girls, we examined how preschool girls interpreted gender-role stereotypes in Disney Princess media both through their pretend play behaviors and their discussions of the princesses. Participants included 31 3- to 5-year-old girls who represented an array of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and who came from four classes at two preschools in rural New England. Data collected from a variety of methods, including pretend play observations, semi-structured interviews, and parent questionnaires revealed participants’ stereotypical beliefs about the princesses and their adherence to gendered behaviors when enacting the princesses. Thematic analyses identified four themes that defined the participants’ princess play: beauty, focus on clothing and accessories, princess body movements, and exclusion of boys. The implications of gendered princess play are discussed in relation to the social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Based on the outcomes of our study, parents and educators might reconsider the type and amount of media they provide their children, acknowledging the effects of these images on their children’s behaviors and understandings of gender.     

Cognitive-behavior therapy in the treatment of cancer patients

Cognitive-behavioral strategies are employed in the treatment of cancer patients to eliminate nausea, control anxiety, pain, and depression. Specific techniques including relaxation, systematic desensitization and hypnosis are discussed. It is shown how cognitive strategies can create a more favorable environment for treatment.William L. Golden, Ph.D. — Licensed psychologist in private practice in New York City and Westchester, New York. He also is on the faculty of Cornell Medical College, New York City, the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy, New York City, and the Institute for Behavior Therapy, New York City.Wayne Gersh, Ph.D. — Licensed psychologist and co-director of the Westchester Center for Behavior Therapy, White Plains, New York. He also is a psychologist for the American Cancer Society.     

The Positive Illusory Bias: Do Inflated Self-Perceptions in Children with ADHD Generalize to Perceptions of Others?

This study examined whether children with symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) demonstrate positive illusory perceptions of their own competence and others' competence. Participants (67 children with ADHD symptoms; 40 non-ADHD children) completed the Self-Perception Profile for Children and rated actors' competence in videos clips where inconsistent cues of performance had to be integrated in order to determine the actor's competence. Teachers completed the Teacher Rating Scale of Child's Actual Behavior. Children with ADHD symptoms overestimated their own competence relative to teachers' estimates in all domains significantly more than non-ADHD children. There were no significant group differences in perceptions of others' competence. Findings suggest that positive illusions are exclusive to perceptions of self and do not extend to perceptions of others.