An Evaluation of the Job Stress Questionnaire with a Sample of Entrepreneurs

A modified version of Caplan's Job Stress Questionnaire (JSQ) was administered to 169 male and 56 female entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs were found to have higher levels of stress associated with workload than with role ambiguity and underutilization of skills. Compared to scores reported previously for various occupational categories, the entrepreneurs scored significantly higher than did white collar, blue collar, and professional groups on the workload scale and significantly lower on scales measuring role ambiguity and under-utilization of skills. These results may be due to the nature of entrepreneurial activity, which is often characterized by heavy workloads, long hours, and a self-established role in the organization. Additionally, the factorial composition of the JSQ and its internal consistency were examined. Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity at the item and subscale level confirmed the a priori dimensions of the JSQ, although the internal consistency of the scales were low to moderate. The need for various improvements in the measurement of occupational stress is briefly discussed.     

Mental verb input for promoting children's theory of mind: A training study

An experimental study investigated the effect of the type of mental verb input (i.e., input with think, know, and remember) on preschoolers’ theory of mind development. Preschoolers (n = 72) heard 128 mental verb utterances presented in video format across four sessions over two weeks. The training conditions differed only in the way the mental verbs were presented: the form (statement or question), the referent (first person or other person), and the interaction style (overheard or interactive). Children who overheard the characters discussing the mental states of someone else, either in statement or question form, significantly improved in their false belief understanding. These experimental findings demonstrate mental verb utterances about other people, even when not directed to the child, scaffold children's attention to differing perspectives, thus more efficiently promoting some aspects of their ToM development.     

Partner aggression in high-risk families from birth to age 3 years: associations with harsh parenting and child maladjustment

Aggression between partners represents a potential guiding force in family dynamics. However, research examining the influence of partner aggression (physically and psychologically aggressive acts by both partners) on harsh parenting and young child adjustment has been limited by a frequent focus on low-risk samples and by the examination of partner aggression at a single time point. Especially in the context of multiple risk factors and around transitions such as childbirth, partner aggression might be better understood as a dynamic process. In the present study, longitudinal trajectories of partner aggression from birth to age 3 years in a large, high-risk, and ethnically diverse sample (N = 461) were examined. Specific risk factors were tested as predictors of aggression over time, and the longitudinal effects of partner aggression on maternal harsh parenting and child maladjustment were examined. Partner aggression decreased over time, with higher maternal depression and lower maternal age predicting greater decreases in partner aggression. While taking into account contextual and psychosocial risk factors, higher partner aggression measured at birth and a smaller decrease over time independently predicted higher levels of maternal harsh parenting at age 3 years. Initial level of partner aggression and change over time predicted child maladjustment indirectly (via maternal harsh parenting). The implications of understanding change in partner aggression over time as a path to harsh parenting and young children's maladjustment in the context of multiple risk factors are discussed.     

An Evaluation of an Ambiguous Loss Based Psychoeducational Support Group for Family Members of Persons Who Hoard: A Pilot Study

The current study is a pilot evaluation of a six-week psychoeducational-support group based in an ambiguous loss framework for family members of people who hoard. Findings suggest that participants who completed the six-week intervention group (N?=?8) indicated positive results at the two-month follow up interview, reporting an increased understanding of family members’ hoarding behaviors and their own experiences related to the hoarding behavior and its impact on the family system. Participants also reported that having personal and professional support from others who understand hoarding behavior was helpful to them in lowering psychological distress and improving interactions with their family members.     

Does power magnify the expression of dispositions?

Conventional wisdom holds that power holders act more in line with their dispositions than do people who lack power. Drawing on principles of construct accessibility, we propose that this is the case only when no alternative constructs are activated. In three experiments, we assessed participants' chronic dispositions and subsequently manipulated participants' degree of power. Participants then either were or were not primed with alternative (i.e., inaccessible or counterdispositional) constructs. When no alternatives were activated, the responses of power holders--perceptions of other people (Experiment 1), preferences for charitable donations (Experiment 2), and strategies in an economic game (Experiment 3)--were more in line with their chronically accessible constructs than were the responses of low-power participants. However, when alternatives had been activated, power holders' responses were no longer more congruent with their dispositions than were the responses of low-power participants. We propose a single mechanism according to which power increases reliance on accessible constructs--that is, constructs that easily come to mind-regardless of whether these constructs are chronically or temporarily accessible.     

Rats build and update topological representations through exploration

Although rats are able to build complex spatial representations of their surroundings during exploration, the nature of the encoded information is still a matter for debate. In particular, it is not well established if rats can process the topological structure of the environment in such a way that they are aware of the connections existing between remote places. Here, rats were first exposed for four 5-min trials to a complex environment divided into several sectors that were separated by doors allowing either unrestricted or restricted access to other sectors. In the fifth test trial, we measured the behavior of the animals while they explored the same environment in which, however, they faced changes that either altered or did not alter the topological structure of the environment. In experiment 1, closing previously opened doors prevented the rat from having direct access between corresponding sectors. In experiment 2, opening previously closed doors allowed direct access between sectors that had not been directly accessible. In each experiment, control doors allowed us to discard the mere influence of door manipulation. We compared the rats’ exploratory behavior in response to door manipulations that either strongly altered or did not alter the ability to commute between sectors and found evidence that the animals displayed differential reactions to the two types of door manipulations. This implies that during exploration rats build a precise map of the connectivity of space that can be flexibly updated and used for efficient navigation.     

Pathways to vocational services: factors affecting entry by veterans enrolled in Veterans Health Administration mental health services

The current study provides naturalistic data documenting the pathways-to-care to vocational services for 155 veterans who were receiving some form of mental health care from the Veterans Health Administration and had a vocational need but were not currently enrolled in vocational services. Of the participants, 94.2% had recognized their vocational need, 80.6% reported that they or someone else had sought help to alleviate the need, and 77.4% had previously received some form of vocational services. The median length of the participants' vocational need was more than 4.2 years. Delays associated with recognition, help-seeking, and treatment entry all contributed to the overall delay in entering appropriate care. Filtering factors associated with quicker recognition, seeking help, and receiving services included diagnosis, level of disability, type of vocational need, and support from primary providers, family, and friends. The results provide information for designing interventions to improve service entry by adults with mental health problems and vocational needs.     

EFFECTS OF PREFERENCE AND REINFORCER VARIATION ON WITHIN-SESSION PATTERNS OF RESPONDING

We examined correspondence between preference assessment outcome and within‐session patterns of responding in one subject with autism. Responding maintained by a single highly preferred item resulted in a greater total number of responses, a slower decline in within‐session response rates, and a greater proportion of short interresponse times compared to responding maintained by varied moderately preferred (MP) stimuli. Presenting varied MP stimuli within the same session produced greater levels and more sustained responding than presenting those same stimuli individually.     

EFFECTS OF A SIGNALED DELAY TO REINFORCEMENT IN THE PREVIOUS AND UPCOMING RATIOS ON BETWEEN-RATIO PAUSING IN FIXED-RATIO SCHEDULES

Domestic hens responded under multiple fixed‐ratio fixed‐ratio schedules with equal fixed ratios. One component provided immediate reinforcement and the other provided reinforcement after a delay, signaled by the offset of the key light. The components were presented quasirandomly so that all four possible transitions occurred in each session. The delay was varied over 0, 4, 8, 16, and 32 s with fixed‐ratio 5 schedules, and over 0, 8 and 32 s with fixed‐ratio 1, 15 and 40 schedules. Main effects of fixed‐ratio value and delay duration were detected on between‐ratio pauses. Pauses were longer when the multiple‐schedule stimulus correlated with a delayed‐reinforcer component was presented, with the longest pauses occurring at the transition from a component with an immediate reinforcer to one with a delayed reinforcer. Pause durations were shortest during immediate components. Overall, both the presence or absence of a delay in the upcoming component, and the presence or absence of a delay in the preceding component affected pause length, but the upcoming delay had the larger effect. Thus changes in delay had similar effects to past reports of the effects of changes in response force, response requirement, and reinforcer magnitude in multiple fixed‐ratio fixed‐ratio schedules.     

Dysregulated negative emotional reactivity as a predictor of chronic peer victimization in childhood

This study examined the relations of dysregulated negative emotional reactivity, emotional distress, and chronic peer victimization in childhood. A model was proposed whereby dysregulated reactivity was directly and indirectly related to concurrent peer victimization through victimization‐related emotional distress. The model further proposed that dysregulated reactivity directly incrementally predicted longitudinal peer victimization above and beyond the effect of concurrent victimization. Two hundred thirteen 9‐ to 13‐year‐old children and their parents completed measures of dysregulated reactivity and victimization experiences at baseline and 6‐month follow‐up. Children also related narratives of personal victimization experiences at baseline that were coded to assess victimization‐related emotional distress. Model testing strongly supported the direct association of dysregulated reactivity with concurrent victimization and incremental predictive effects of dysregulated reactivity on peer victimization over time. Model testing also provided support for an indirect effect of dysregulated reactivity on concurrent peer victimization through victimization‐related emotional distress. This study demonstrated the powerful role that dysregulated negative emotional reactivity plays in the development of chronic peer victimization over time. Aggr. Behav. 38:414‐427, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.