The Short Dark Triad (SD3): Adaptation and Psychometrics among At-Risk Male and Female Youths

The dark triad is a term used to describe a constellation of three socially harmful personality traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. The main aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Short Dark Triad (SD3) scale, a brief measure of the dark triad, among a sample (N = 412) of male (n = 200) and female (n = 212) at-risk Portuguese youths. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed the three-factor structure of the SD3 obtained an adequate fit, and measurement invariance across gender was demonstrated, although two items per dimension had to be removed. The Portuguese version of the SD3 scale demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, specifically the properties of internal consistency, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and known-groups validity, which overall justifies its use among this population. Findings are discussed in terms of the use of the SD3 scale with male and female at-risk youths.     

Addressing Unintended Consequences of Gender Diversity Interventions on Women’s Sense of Belonging in STEM

Sex Roles - Validated interventions that increase bias literacy (i.e., knowledge of gender bias) and decrease sexism are critical to addressing pervasive gender biases in science, technology,...     

Transitioning from recruit to officer: An investigation of how stress appraisal and coping influence work engagement

This study investigated stress, coping, and work engagement among Portuguese police officers while undergoing academy training and then 1 year later, when on duty. It was hypothesized that stress appraisal and coping preferences predicted engagement. Additionally, in order to test a full cross‐lagged prediction model, it was hypothesized that stress, coping, and engagement in recruits predicted these variables later when working as police officers. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. Results suggest that coping and stress appraisals do not seem to be strong predictors of work engagement among recruits and police officers on duty. With the exception of self‐blame, that seems to be a strong predictor of work engagement among police officers on duty. These results highlight the need to investigate other potential variables such as working conditions that may better explain work engagement. Considering the positive influence of engagement on health, wellbeing, and performance of police recruits and officers future applied and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Emerging School Refusal: A School-Based Framework for Identifying Early Signs and Risk Factors

A student’s academic and social-emotional development is increasingly jeopardized with mounting absence from school. School refusal (SR) is one type of school attendance problem (SAP) that is often associated with absence from school. Once established, it can sometimes be difficult to treat. To prevent established SR and associated problems, indicators of emerging SR and risk for SR should be efficiently identified and acted upon. Risk factors are often discussed in relation to SAPs generally rather than considering risk for specific types of attendance problems. Based on literature review, this paper provides an account of the likely signs and risks for emerging SR. A school-based framework is provided to support school personnel and parents in working together to identify these signs and risks. Several challenges associated with the implementation of the framework are discussed.     

Is this a family business? Effectiveness of implementing family businesses branding strategies on a radio platform

Understanding how family firms can use their family image to their advantage in communication strategies is an opportunity for business continuity. This study identifies the effects of family hotels' corporate brand strategy through radio advertising on customer perceptions and attitudes using family image communication literature and radio advertising research. Online experiment using radio ads from these hotels and a survey of 1002 participants from Chile and Spain were conducted. The results suggest that strategies improving the firm's ability to communicate the family image results in better consumer response in terms of expectation, perceived quality, visit intention, and willingness to pay more. We conclude that radio ads are an effective channel for communicating family firm images. Managers can take advantage of monetizing the benefits of family firm images through radio ads.     

Braille literacy as a human right: A challenge to the “inefficiency” argument against braille instruction

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) affirms a right to education for disabled persons and aims to ensure braille instruction for blind individuals. However, there is evidence that braille instruction is often circumvented or abandoned early in CRPD nations because it is perceived as an inefficient learning medium for blind students. This perception persists despite insufficient empirical evidence and a lack of understanding of the efficiency of reading versus listening for learning in sighted individuals. We therefore investigated the efficiency of learning written versus spoken words in blind and sighted samples. Participants (23 blind, 20 sighted) studied the written definitions of 70 rare English words in successive rounds, presented in conjunction with written or spoken wordforms. Blind participants learned with equal efficiency across modalities, whereas sighted participants learned spoken words more efficiently. The findings indicate the inefficiency argument against teaching braille is groundless, both because braille word learning is not less efficient than auditory word learning for blind individuals, and because reading is valued in the education of sighted individuals despite its apparent inefficiency in that population.     

Assessing Adult Attachment Across Different Contexts: Validation of the Portuguese Version of the Experiences in Close Relationships–Relationship Structures Questionnaire

The Experiences in Close Relationships–Relationship Structures questionnaire (ECR–RS) is one of the most recent measures of adult attachment. This instrument provides a contextual assessment of attachment-related anxiety and avoidance by measuring these dimensions in various close relationships (mother, father, partner, friend). To further explore its psychometric properties and cross-cultural adequacy, this study presents the validation of the ECR–RS in a sample of Portuguese community individuals (N = 236). The Portuguese version showed adequate reliability and construct validity. The original 2-factor structure was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. The ECR–RS is a psychometrically robust measure of attachment, representing an important advance in the measurement of adult attachment.     

Humor styles and personality: A meta‐analysis of the relation between humor styles and the Big Five personality traits

This research summarizes the knowledge generated in social psychology and positive psychology about the relationship between humor styles, personality and wellbeing. Specifically, a meta‐analysis was performed with the results of 15 studies on humor styles measured by the Humor Styles Questionnaire (Martin, Puhlik‐Doris, Larsen, Gray & Weir, 2003) in correlation with the personality traits measured by the Big Five Personality model (measured with different scales). Following the steps presented by Rosenthal (1991) for meta‐analysis in the case of correlational research, we calculated the total mean r as an indicator of effect size. Results show that affiliative humor has a strong and homogeneous relation to neuroticism and extraversion. The homogeneity and heterogeneity found between variables and possible explanations are discussed in the conclusion.