Associations among body dissatisfaction,gender, and three latent profiles of religiosity

Body dissatisfaction is a too-common issue for young women in the US. Body dissatisfaction is a rising issue with young men too, although their average body dissatisfaction remains lower than young women’s. Religiosity has been negatively linked to body dissatisfaction for women, but the relation for men is unclear. The current study (N?=?5104) built upon a previous latent profile analysis of a large, diverse sample of US. college students Multi-Site University Study of Identity and Culture (MUSIC). We examined whether body dissatisfaction scores were related to three religious classes, when depressive symptoms were controlled for, and whether gender moderated that potential relation. Body dissatisfaction scores were significantly related to religious class. Gender had a main effect although not a moderating effect: men had better body dissatisfaction than women did, and their religious class similarly affected their body dissatisfaction scores. Religiosity appears important for emerging adult men’s body dissatisfaction, like for emerging adult women.     

Adaptive adjustment of vocational aspirations among German youths during the transition from school to work

The transition from school to work is a central developmental task with long-term implications for the financial and social status of individuals. We argue that dynamic adjustments of aspirations play a decisive role for a successful outcome of the school to work transition, particularly in the context of the German vocational training system. Latent growth curve analyses conducted on the self-reported occupational aspirations of German adolescents (N = 414) surveyed in a 5-wave longitudinal study during their senior school year support this assumption. Based on expectancy-value-models of achievement, we delineated an adaptive trajectory of aspirations as starting off with relatively high aspirations and subsequently gradually downgrading them until s is attained. Such a trajectory of adjustment should maximize both expectancy (i.e., probability of obtaining an apprenticeship position at all) and value (i.e., training position with promotion potential). Finally, we showed empirically that the trajectory conceptually proposed as most adaptive was characteristic for youth who reported phase-adequate goal engagement strategies as suggested by the life-span theory of control.     

Toward a three-dimensional conceptualization of performance anxiety: Rationale and initial measurement development

ObjectivesAn integrated three-dimensional model of performance anxiety was constructed to offer an alternative conceptualization that may contribute to understanding of the complex anxiety–performance relationship. In particular, the adaptive potential (producing positive effects) of anxiety was acknowledged explicitly by including a regulatory dimension. This model is characterized by five subcomponents, with worry and self-focused attention representing cognitive anxiety, autonomous hyperactivity and somatic tension representing physiological anxiety, and perceived control representing the regulatory dimension of anxiety. The overview of the conceptual framework and the underlying rationale are presented.DesignAs a necessary first step towards model testing, an initial measure was developed and the factorial validity of the model was investigated.MethodConfirmatory factor analysis was used in two independent samples (N = 286, 327) in a wide context of sports performance.ResultsA 25-item measure of performance anxiety was established. Findings of CFA revealed support for a three-dimensional first-order model.ConclusionsAlthough the present model of performance anxiety was best presented as a three-dimensional first-order structure, the integrity of the conceptual framework is considered intact as such a factor structure distinctly reflects the three major processes (i.e., cognitive, physiological and regulatory) that are proposed to be activated in the anxiety dynamics from a broad cognitive perspective.     

Job Satisfaction of Child Welfare Workers in an Urban Setting: Status and Predictors

Large urban areas present many challenges to those children and adults who reside in those settings. The social service workers in urban areas have clients with complex, multiple needs. Reliable and consistent workers are essential to successfully working with these families. In the current study, the job satisfaction of 29 social service workers in an urban child welfare agency was assessed using the Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS). The JSS measures satisfaction in 7 areas of one's job (i.e., work, supervision, coworkers, pay and promotion, work environment, training, and position). Data indicated that the staff were relatively satisfied, that satisfaction did not vary by staff position (family worker vs. social worker/supervisor), and that neither demographic factors nor prior experiences were predictors of job satisfaction. Implications for agency management and the provision of social services to urban families are discussed.     

Information processing in patients with first episode major depression

Hammar, Å., Kildal, A. B. & Schmid, M. (2012). Information processing in patients with first episode major depression. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 445–449. Few studies have investigated cognitive functioning in a group of patients experiencing a first episode of depression. The aim of this study was to investigate how patients diagnosed with a first episode of depression perform in effortful and non‐effortful information processing compared to healthy controls. An experimental paradigm based on a visual search test was applied. Thirty‐one patients and thirty‐one healthy controls were included in the study. All patients experienced a severe level of symptom load at the time of testing. Results showed no significant differences between groups under any of the conditions. Findings in the present study indicate that patients with a first episode of depression perform equally to healthy controls in tasks requiring visual attention in both effortful and non‐effortful information processing.     

The higher-order factor structures of five personality inventories

This study examined the internal higher-order structures of five personality inventories (the Hogan Personality Inventory, the Occupational Personality Questionnaire, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, the Personality and Preferences Inventory, Profile Match). A sample of 356 individuals from the UK working population completed various combinations of the five inventories. Overall, the results indicated sensible and interpretable factor structures for the inventories. Cross-inventory factor analyses of the extracted factors revealed a variant of the Big Five model underpinning them, enabling examination of inventory convergence and divergence. Our study also examined and compared representations of the General Factor of Personality in each of the inventories.     

Book reviews

Mary T. Malone, Women and Christianity, II: The Medieval Period AD 1000–1500 (Blackrock: Columba Press, 2001), ISBN 1–85607–339–4 (pbk), 198 pp.

Nicholas Sagovsky, Ecumenism, Christian Origins and the Practice of Communion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), ISBN 0–521–77269–9 (hbk), 221 pp.

John D. Zizioulas, Eucharist, Bishop, Church (trans. Elizabeth Theokritoff; Boston, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2001), ISBN 1–885652–43–7 (pbk).

Peter Matheson, The Imaginative World of the Reformation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), ISBN 0–8006–3291–5 (pbk), xiv + 153 pp. Illus.

Carol Rittner and John K. Roth (eds.), Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust (London/NY: Leicester University Press/Continuum, 2002), ISBN 0–7185–0274–2 (pbk), 256 pp.

Paul Freston, Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa and Latin America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), ISBN 0–521–80041–2 (hbk), xiii + 344 pp.     

Effects of Attentional Focus on Skilled Performance in Golf

Wulf and colleagues (e.g., Wulf, Lauterbach, & Toole, 1999 Wulf, G., Lauterbach, B. and Toole, T. 1999. The learning advantages of an external focus of attention in golf. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 70: 1219–126.  [Google Scholar]) have demonstrated that the adoption of an external focus of attention is preferable for the learning of complex motor tasks. The present investigation extends the attention focus literature in two ways: (a) it compared the effectiveness of three different foci (internal, proximal external, and distal external) in a sample of skilled performers in a naturalistic environment, and (b) it examined the use of attentional foci under conditions of anxiety. Thirty-three skilled male golfers were assigned to one of three attentional focus groups and completed five blocks of ten pitch shots, three in neutral conditions and two in anxiety conditions. Results from two separate mixed model analyses of variance (ANOVAs) indicated that regardless of anxiety condition, those assigned to a distal external focus of attention performed most accurately (p < 0.05), whereas assignment to an internal focus of attention was associated with the least accurate performance (p < 0.05). Findings offer support for the constrained action hypothesis and point to the importance of skilled performers adopting a distal external focus, especially in competition.     

Nurturing our future through effective mentoring: Developing roots as well as wings aaasp 1993 presidential address

Abstract

According to Scanlan, sport psychology is not for the faint hearted. She advises prospective sport psychologists to seriously assess the strength of their “pioneering spirit.” Sport psychologists, Scanlan continues, often have to travel uncharted routes, and they should make sure that they can handle the challenges, risks, and ambiguities. (Straub & Hinman, 1992, p. 307)