Correlates of organizational commitment: Differences in the public and private sector

Private and public sector managers were compared regarding their job characteristics and organizational commitment. We hypothesized that job characteristics would be positively related to commitment and that sector would moderate that relationship. Moderated regression analyses revealed partial support for both hypotheses. The existence of clarity and challenge were positively related to commitment. Job characteristics demonstrated a stronger relationship with commitment among private sector managers. Explanations for these findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Perceptions of maternal and paternal solicitude by birth children and adoptees: Relevance for maternal bonding theory

This study emanated from the long-standing question of whether a maternal bonding process similar to other mammalian species occurs in humans. The perceptions of adult adoptees and a matched sample of non-adoptees about their parents' behaviours towards them were compared on an original Parental Solicitude Scale. As hypothesized, birth children perceived their mothers as the more solicitous parent, but ratings of adoptive mothers showed a unilateral decline. Further, the differential ratings for birth and adoptive mothers occurred mostly for the factors labelled benignity vs abuse and tolerance vs control, rather than caretaking vs neglect, which was congruent to reported effects in prior studies of lack of mother-infant contact during the sensitive period for bonding. An alternative explanation of the data was also tested but not substantiated.     

Mental Arithmetic: A Componential Analysis of Speed-of-Processing Across Monolingual,Weak Bilingual,and Strong Bilingual Adults

Two experiments compared rates of solving simple and complex addition and multiplication problems in groups of speakers of French or English in Experiment 1 (n = 35) and Spanish or English in Experiment 2 (n = 84). Subjects were divided into groups of English unilinguals, weak bilinguals, and strong bilinguals according to their performance on a naming task. In both experiments, simple problems consisted of two single-digit numbers. At least three single-digit numbers were used for complex problems in Experiment 1 and double-digit numbers in Experiment 2. Mean solution times, particularly for complex problems, were lowest for the monolingual group, followed in turn by the weak bilingual and strong bilingual groups, but these differences were not statistically reliable in either experiment. In Experiment 2, however, componential analyses of solution times indicated that strong bilingual subjects were slower at executing the carry operation when solving complex problems, relative to the two remaining groups. Results were interpreted in terms of the relationship between bilingualism and the representation and processing of numerical information.     

The use of subtle items in detecting deception

When subjects attempt to fake psychopathology on the MMPI, scores on subtle subscales tend to be lower than those of nonfaking subjects. Our study hypothesized that this paradox comes about because the subtle subscales have no predictive validity, but their face validity for psychopathology is the opposite of the keyed direction for psychopathology. Subjects who attempt to fake psychopathology do so on the basis of item content and thus achieve lower rather than higher scores. Three groups of 80 undergraduates took the MMPI under regular, faking-good, or faking-bad instructions. As expected, faking-bad subjects scored significantly lower than regular subjects on the 100 most subtle items, and this was due to their responses to those. 73 of the items whose face validity was misleading. The results are consistent with other work showing valid uses of subtle items in detecting deception.     

Dispositional Optimism/Pessimism and Coping Strategies: Predictors of Psychosocial Adjustment of Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis Patients1

Because rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has a more unpredictable course than osteoarthritis (OA), we hypothesized that generalized expectancies (optimistic/ pessimistic) influence the psychosocial adjustment of RA patients, whereas disease severity influences the adjustment of OA patients. Path analysis (LISREL VI) revealed that pessimistic RA patients (N= 107) and the more physically disabled OA patients (N= 108) reported poorer adjustment. The hypothesized mediating role of coping was supported for the RA but not the OA sample; that is, pessimism was associated with poor adjustment through greater use of wishful thinking coping. Unexpectedly, problem-solving coping was not found to mediate the optimism adjustment relationship.     

Perceived Health Barriers and Health Value in Seniors: Implications for Well-Being and Mortality1

There is growing evidence to suggest that the ways in which people think about their health problems may have significant implications for psychological and physical well-being. This possibility has the greatest consequences for those groups facing health problems on a daily basis, in particular, the elderly. This study examined the role of perceived health barriers and value for health in later life. A Perceived Health Barriers (absent, present) by Health Value (low, medium, high) 2.3 factorial design was analyzed for younger and older seniors on: number of life-threatening diseases, need for health care, and life satisfaction. In addition, a longitudinal design was used to examine the joint roles of perceived health barriers (PHBs) and health value (HV) on mortality. Findings generally indicated that individuals’ PHBs and HV are associated with health-related outcomes; however, the results differed for young and old elders. Among young elders, those with PHBs and those with high HV had the most negati e profile. That is, they had more diseases, higher health care needs, and lower life satisfaction. Among older elders, the findings were more complicated in that the relationship between PHB and the outcomes depended on HV. Overall, the patterns for old elders suggest that perceived health barriers are most relevant among those with medium value for health and least relevant among those with low value for health.     

The prediction of adjustment at age 7 from activity level at age 5

One-hundred and ninety-two children (equally split between boys and girls) were studied when they were 5 years old in two settings, school and home. The children were observed in playgroups and at home, and were rated on activity level by their parents on the Rothbart Child Behavior Questionnaire. At age 7, the children were tested in our laboratory on the Harter Test of Perceived Competence and on an achievement task, and parents filled out the Child Behavior Checklist, the Child Behavior Questionnaire, and the Conners Parent Rating Scale. Home observations of activity level were significantly related to parent ratings of activity level, but not to school observations. Activity level at age 5 was related to parents' ratings of aggression and hyperactivity and to girls' learning problems at age 7. Activity level was not related to the children's self-perceived competence, but mothers' rating of high activity level at age 5 was related to low reading comprehension at age 7.Preparation of this paper was supported in part by the Center for Research for Mothers and Children, NICHD, U.S. PHS grant HD 19739 to Beverly I. Fagot.     

Child and adolescent psychopathology research: Problems and prospects for the 1990s

In November 1990 the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) convened a special conference of over 100 scientists and leaders to outline specific strategies and research initiatives that should be developed to implement the recently released National Plan for Research on Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders.Participants included journal editors, educators from psychology and psychiatry, representatives from private foundations, and leaders of research program areas in public funding agencies. Critical knowledge gaps were identified in five areas of child and adolescent psychopathology, including depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, the anxiety disorders, and the developmental disorders. For each of these areas, special emphasis was placed on developing new ideas and obtaining critical input from other areas of investigation. This report summarizes the identified research gaps and recommends research initiatives to implement the National Plan, as outlined by the conference participants.