Examining a model of dispositional mindfulness, body comparison, and body satisfaction

The present study examined the links between dispositional mindfulness, body comparison, and body satisfaction. It was expected that mindfulness would be associated with less body comparison and more body satisfaction. Two models were tested: one exploring body comparison as a mediator between mindfulness and body satisfaction and an alternative model exploring mindfulness as a mediator between body comparison and body satisfaction. In an online survey, 1287 Dutch women answered questions concerning dispositional mindfulness, body comparison, and body satisfaction. Results showed that body comparison was related negatively to both dispositional mindfulness and body satisfaction, whereas the two latter variables were related positively. Body comparison partially mediated the relation between mindfulness and body satisfaction. However, a stronger indirect effect was noted in the alternative model, where mindfulness partially mediated the link between body comparison and body satisfaction.     

Self and partner personality and responses to relationship threats

Two studies examined the relations between three different types of jealousy and personality characteristics of self and partner in two large heterogeneous community samples of heterosexual couples (459 and 230 couples, respectively). It was expected that partners would resemble each other to some extent in both the experience of different types of jealousy and personality characteristics, and that self-reported levels of neuroticism (+) and extraversion (−) would be related to higher levels of jealousy. Moreover, it was expected that partner extraversion would be related positively to levels of jealousy, and that similarity with regard to personality characteristics would be related to lower levels of jealousy. Results largely supported our expectations with regard to both partner similarity and self-reported personality characteristics. However, our expectations with regard to partner extraversion and similarity were not supported.     

Interactive effects of work group and organizational identification on job satisfaction and extra-role behavior

Past research has focused on the differential relationships of organizational and work group identification with attitudes and behavior. However, no systematic effort has been undertaken yet to explore interactive effects between these foci of identification. We predicted that in cases of positive overlap of identifications (i.e. high work group and organizational identification) identifications are more strongly associated with employee job satisfaction and extra-role behavior than when only one of the identifications is high—that is, the one identification augments the influence of the other. These hypotheses were tested and supported with data from two samples of bank employees (N = 358) and travel agency employees (N = 308).     

Teaching children with autism to respond to and initiate bids for joint attention

A multiple baseline design across 3 children with autism was used to assess the effects of prompting and social reinforcement to teach participants to respond to an adult's bid for joint attention and to initiate bids for joint attention. Participants were taught to respond to an adult's bid for joint attention by looking in the direction of an object at which the adult pointed, by making a comment about the object, and by looking back at the adult. Additional training and reinforcement were needed to teach the participants to initiate bids for joint attention. Findings are discussed in terms of the social relevance of teaching children with autism to respond to and initiate bids for joint attention.     

Time perspective, depression, and substance misuse among the homeless

Using the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI; P. G. Zimbardo & J. N. Boyd, 1999), the authors found that homeless people, in comparison with a control group, had a significantly more negative outlook concerning their past and present as evinced by high Past-Negative and Present-Fatalistic scores and low Past-Positive scores on the ZTPI. However, the homeless individuals were almost indistinguishable from control participants on measures of Present-Hedonism and Future thinking. The homeless individuals had significantly higher levels of depression, with 31 out of 50 (62%) reaching criteria for probable depression. However, this finding was unrelated to their atypical time perspective. There was no significant relation between substance misuse and time perspective. Despite their current difficulties, including depression and drug abuse, the homeless individuals maintained a propensity toward future thinking characterized by striving to achieve their goals.     

Line manager involvement in work-life balance and career development: can't manage,won't manage?

Line manager involvement in HRM is an increasing trend across Europe. With the numbers of employees taking advantage of work-life balance policies also on the increase, line manager responsibility for this specific policy area is likely to become more marked. In this paper, we argue that line managers have a critical role to play in the career development of reduced-hours employees, but that due to a number of cultural and institutional processes, the extent of this involvement is likely to be limited. Using qualitative data from interviews with police managers and police officers who have reduced their hours, we argue that gendered assumptions, deeply embedded in taken-for-granted organisational practices and structures, operate in ways that encourage line managers and reduced-hours workers to locate career barriers in the psyche of the latter. The implications of these processes for line manager involvement in the career development of reduced-hours professionals are explored and explicated.