A Multimodal Study of Childhood Trauma and Distress Tolerance in Young Adulthood

Individuals with a history of childhood trauma experience deficits in emotion regulation. However, few studies have investigated childhood trauma and both perceived (i.e., self-report) and behavioral measures of distress tolerance. The current study evaluated associations between childhood trauma (i.e., physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing family violence) and measures of perceived (Distress Tolerance Scale) and behavioral distress tolerance (i.e., Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, breath-holding). Participants were 320 undergraduate students with a history of interpersonal trauma (e.g., sexual/physical assault). Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate associations between frequency of childhood trauma type and distress tolerance. Greater childhood physical abuse was associated with higher perceived distress tolerance. Greater levels of witnessing family violence were associated with lower behavioral distress tolerance on the breath-holding task. No significant effects were found for Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test performance. Associations between childhood trauma and emotion regulation likely are complex and warrant further study.     

Impact of Well-being Interventions for Siblings of Children and Young People with a Chronic Physical or Mental Health Condition: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Siblings of children and young people with a chronic illness are at increased risk of poor psychological functioning. A number of studies have attempted to implement and evaluate interventions targeting the psychological well-being of this at-risk group. This systematic review summarises the evidence regarding psychological functioning of siblings following an intervention targeting their well-being. The meta-analysis considered behaviour and knowledge, two of the most frequently studied outcomes. The following databases were used: PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. Seventeen studies were eligible to be included in the systematic review and eight in the meta-analysis. Results from the systematic review reflected the inconsistency of intervention evaluations in this area with a high level of heterogeneity and a total of 23 outcomes considered across the 17 included studies. The meta-analysis estimated effect sizes using a standardised mean difference (SMD) approach. Pre-post analysis suggested significant improvement in behavioural outcomes and knowledge of their sibling’s health conditions with a SMD of ? 0.44 [95% CI (? 0.6, ? 0.29); p = 0.000] and 0.69 [(95% CI = 0.42, 0.96); p = 0.000], respectively. The SMD was not significant for behavioural outcomes when considering treatment–control studies. In conclusion, the findings suggest interventions for well-being have a positive effect on the psychological functioning of siblings of children and young people with a chronic illness, but their specificity needs to be established. There is a need for further, more methodologically robust research in this area.     

The Effects of ‘Face’ on Listening Comprehension: Evidence from Advanced Jordanian Speakers of English

This empirical study examines the extent to which ‘face’, i.e. (audio visual dialogues), affects the listening comprehension of advanced Jordanian EFL learners in a TOFEL-like test, as opposed to its absence (i.e. a purely audio test) which is the current norm in many English language proficiency tests, including but not limited to TOFEL iBT, TOEIC and academic IELTS. Through an online experiment, 60 Jordanian postgraduate linguistics and English literature students (advanced EFL learners) at the University of Jordan sit for two listening tests (simulating English proficiency tests); namely, one which is purely audio [i.e. without any face (including any visuals such as motion, as well as still pictures)], and one which is audiovisual/video. The results clearly show that the inclusion of visuals enhances subjects’ performance in listening tests. It is concluded that since the aim of English proficiency tests such as TOEFL iBT is to qualify or disqualify subjects to work and study in western English-speaking countries, the exclusion of visuals is unfounded. In actuality, most natural interaction includes visibility of the interlocutors involved, and hence test takers who sit purely audio proficiency tests in English or any other language are placed at a disadvantage.     

Friends and Family: The Role of Relationships in Community and Workplace Attachment

Purpose

Most work–life research focuses on the spillover of the nuclear family to the workplace, offering little insight into how other family relationships and friendships can spill over to affect employees’ organizational attachment. Past research has also overlooked the role of relationship quality and the mechanisms underlying these life-to-work spillover effects. Addressing these shortcomings, we integrate the systemic model of community attachment with job embeddedness theory to develop a model of community relational embeddedness and then use this model to examine how nonwork relationships connect people to their workplaces.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We used survey data from a national sample of 2025 accounting professionals and tested mediation hypotheses using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Employees’ relationships with friends and family predicted their attachment to their communities, which in turn predicted their workplace turnover intentions. Supporting our theoretical model, bonds with friends and family predicted moving intentions, and community fit and sacrifice mediated these effects. Community fit and sacrifice also predicted work turnover intentions indirectly through moving intentions. Tests also revealed that, surprisingly, friendships had a stronger impact on community attachment than family.

Implications

Employees are connected to their organizations through an array of close community relationships that extend beyond the nuclear family (i.e., spouse, children). Organizations can enhance employees’ workplace attachment by recognizing the role of friends and offering work–life programs that use a broad conceptualization of family (e.g., adult siblings, parents).

Originality/Value

Our study illustrates the importance of community relationships to workplace attachment, and the need to incorporate relational quality, nonnuclear family, and friendships in future research.

     

Gender Bias Produces Gender Gaps in STEM Engagement

We explored whether the existence of gender bias causes gender gaps in STEM engagement. In Experiment 1 (n?=?322), U.S. women projected less sense of belonging, positivity toward, and aspirations to participate in STEM than did men when exposed to the reality of STEM gender bias. These gender differences disappeared when participants were told that STEM exhibits gender equality, suggesting that gender bias produces STEM gender gaps. Experiment 2 (n?=?429) explored whether results generalized to a specific STEM department, and whether organizational efforts to mitigate gender bias might shrink gender gaps. U.S. women exposed to a biased chemistry department anticipated more discrimination and projected less sense of belonging, positive attitudes and trust and comfort than did men. These gender differences vanished when participants read about an unbiased department, again suggesting that gender bias promotes STEM gender gaps. Further, moderated mediation analyses suggested that in the presence of gender bias (but not gender equality), women projected less positive attitudes and trust and comfort than did men because they experienced less sense of belonging and anticipated more discrimination. Results were largely unaffected by whether departments completed a diversity training, suggesting that knowledge of diversity initiatives alone cannot close STEM gender gaps.     

Reducing gender identity bias through imagined intergroup contact

Transgender individuals face high levels of stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and violence. However, there is a paucity of research (particularly experimental work) investigating the magnitude of gender identity bias (GIB) targeting transgender individuals, as well as interventions designed to ameliorate it. To address this gap, we conducted experimental investigations of reactions to identical, highly qualified men or women job applicants described as either transgender or cisgender (Experiments 1a, 1b), and tested the efficacy of an imagined intergroup contact (IIC) intervention (relative to a control condition) in ameliorating GIB against transgender women (Experiment 2). As expected, all applicants were perceived as equally highly competent, adding to the literature suggesting that clearly demonstrating excellent qualifications can prevent biased judgments of candidate competence. However, revealing GIB, transgender men and women were rated as less likeable and hirable than the identical cisgender applicants, despite the fact that they were viewed as equally competent (Experiments 1a, 1b). Providing additional evidence of GIB, in the absence of IIC, participants rated a transgender female applicant as less likeable and hirable than the identical cisgender applicant, and also reported less self‐other overlap and perspective taking for the transgender applicant (Experiment 2). However, these target gender identity differences were reduced (for likeability) or fully eliminated (for the remaining outcomes) in the IIC condition. Put another way, while reactions to the cisgender applicant were unaffected by intervention condition, IIC elevated perceptions of the transgender applicant, suggesting that it may function as an effective GIB intervention.     

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? The interweaving of values and science

The role of values in the scientific process is widely debated. But evidence and values cannot be neatly separated. Instead, values infuse the entire scientific process, starting with the choice of research questions. Research avenues are selected based on prior beliefs about the workings of the world. In fact, informally assigned prior probabilities and normalizing constants play an essential role in distinguishing causes from correlations and ignoring irrelevant associations that would otherwise be suggested by raw data. But since these initial probabilities often have a heterogeneous pedigree – often not all that went into their formation is known or knowable – it becomes difficult to cleanly separate evidence from values. At the same time, this reality does not undermine science’s unique status in generating knowledge. This is because it is not the evidence per se generated by science, but rather the method by which science generates it, that justifies science’s privileged role.     

When Practice Does Not Make Perfect: Effects of Strategic Cognitive Processes on Errors During Skill Development

This study looked at the contribution of strategic cognitive processes such as frequency gambling and speed and accuracy trade‐off in the production of errors during skill development. We developed a novel psychomotor task and trained participants on the task. We predicted that practice would change the nature of errors and be driven by strategic processes, rather than just change the overall number of errors. The first experiment investigated the effects of frequency gambling on errors during skill development by manipulating stimulus probability. The second experiment tested the separate effects of speed versus accuracy instructions to clarify the strategic contribution of response‐criterion setting. The results of these two studies refute the widespread assumption that skill development invariably reduces errors. Rather, errors can be a strategic feature of skill acquisition (e.g. gambling on low probability events), which, although results in speedy performance, would be a dangerous practice in many real‐life contexts. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.