Primary, secondary, and emotional control across adulthood

Schulz and Heckhausen (1996) have recently formulated a theory of successful aging that centers on perceptions of control as a major theme in the developmental process. They suggest primary control is a universal phenomenon and that people will strive for primary control over secondary control. Secondary control mechanisms, on the other hand, may serve to mediate losses in primary control. This study evaluates the relationship between primary and secondary control among 327 men and women, by administering a general sense of control scale and an emotion control measure with four sub-scales. Consistent with previous research, both age and gender differences were found in primary and secondary control. The results of this study provide support for the theory of emotional selectivity which postulates that as people age they are more able to regulate their emotions, thereby directing energies at increasing secondary control mechanisms (Carstensen, 1986).     

Individualism and Resistance to Affirmative Action: A Comparison of Japanese and American Samples1

It has been proposed that part of the resistance to affirmative action in the U.S. derives from the American discomfort with categorical social arrangements. An instance of gender discrimination was described to samples of Japanese and American students. The students then evaluated a set of remedies, one of which was a classic affirmative action solution and filled out Singelis’ Self-Construal Scale (Singelis, 1994). The Japanese sample was more collectivist than the American sample and endorsed the affirmative action solution more strongly than the American sample.     

The prevalence of compulsive hoarding and its association with compulsive buying in a German population-based sample

The aims of the study were to estimate the prevalence rate of compulsive hoarding, and to determine the association between compulsive hoarding and compulsive buying in a nationally representative sample of the German population (N = 2307). Compulsive hoarding was assessed with the German version of the Saving Inventory-Revised (SI-R; Frost, R.O., Steketee, G., & Grisham, J. (2004). Measurement of compulsive hoarding: saving inventory-revised. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 1163-1182.). The point prevalence of compulsive hoarding was estimated to be 4.6%. Individuals with compulsive hoarding did not differ significantly from those without compulsive hoarding regarding age, gender, and other sociodemographic characteristics. Significant correlations were found between the compulsive hoarding and the compulsive buying measures. Participants with compulsive hoarding reported a higher propensity to compulsive buying than respondents without hoarding. About two thirds of participants classified as having compulsive hoarding were also defined as suffering from compulsive buying. In summary, these results suggest that compulsive hoarding may be relatively prevalent in Germany and they confirm the close association between compulsive hoarding and compulsive buying through the investigation of a large scale representative sample.