Use of an Orientation Session May Help Decrease Attrition in a Pediatric Weight Management Program for Low-Income Minority Adolescents

This study examined predictors of attrition from a pediatric weight-control program in a low-income minority community and the potential usefulness of an orientation session to increase length of treatment. Participants were 342 children and adolescents (M age=13.0 years old; 54% female; 89% African American; M BMI=44.2, M BMI z-score=6.0) and their caregivers who attended FitMatters, a multidisciplinary cognitive-behavioral program focused on long-term participation. Those who attended an orientation session stayed in treatment significantly longer, but attrition was not affected by demographic factors, weight status, or psychological functioning. These results indicate that an orientation session that clearly delineates the structure of a program and expected attitudinal and behavioral requirements for the families may help align expectations, as well as more effectively identify families who are ready to make concerted efforts to change the family lifestyle in support of their obese children's efforts.     

The role of identity and work-family support in work-family enrichment and its work-related consequences

Despite growing research on the positive connections between work and family, antecedents and consequences of work-family enrichment are understudied. Using a sample of employees from a major insurance company, we assessed the relationship of (i) individual (i.e., work and family identities), (ii) family (emotional and instrumental support), and (iii) organizational (benefit use and work-family culture) antecedents to work-family and family-work enrichment. We also examined whether enrichment predicted important work outcomes including organizational commitment and turnover intentions. The strength of an individual’s identity and informal or emotional support within a domain, rather than formal or instrumental support, were associated with greater enrichment. Work-family enrichment positively predicted affective organizational commitment, and family-work enrichment negatively predicted turnover intentions. Implications for individuals and organizations wanting to foster enrichment are discussed.     

Religious Doubt and Spiritual Growth Among Adults Bereaved of a Grandparent

Religious beliefs and bereavement provide contexts for personal growth (Benore & Park, 2004). The death of a grandparent may be especially well-suited to prompt such growth. Using data from 164 adults, ages 18 to 51 years, bereaved of a grandparent, the authors examined whether religious doubt relates to current grief via perceived spiritual growth. Mediation analyses showed that fewer religious doubts were associated with spiritual growth in bereavement, but spiritual growth was associated with higher levels of current grief. Results are discussed within a framework for including family processes in bereavement research that includes religious doubt and spiritual growth.     

Effectively Analyzing Change over Time in Laboratory Research on Stress and Health: A Multilevel Modeling Approach

Stress and health researchers often utilize standardized laboratory stress tasks to evaluate the physical and psychological consequences of challenging experiences. These laboratory sessions usually include multiple measurements of physical and psychological responses collected over time. Multilevel modeling allows researchers to make use of all available data points to model the trajectory of change over time, and within distinct task periods such as baseline, stressor, and recovery. To effectively predict future health outcomes it is important to examine both stress‐related reactivity and recovery. In this paper, we review the analytic approaches used in recent laboratory stress research and note that many recent articles have aggregated multiple responses, used difference scores, or conducted repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Relatively few studies used a multilevel modeling approach. We highlight the advantages of a multilevel modeling approach and provide an example for using this approach as an alternative to repeated measures ANOVA and difference scores.     

Experimental Assessment of Cheating Prevalence in the Czech Republic as an Example of a Post-Communist Country

Dishonest behavior presents a serious problem in many countries’ institutions and was found to be relatively widespread in post-communist countries. We focus on the prevalence of cheating in a sample from such country, the Czech Republic, and individual characteristics influencing dishonest behavior. We used a die rolling task where participants can cheat on their reward to determine whether anonymity conditions increase the frequency of cheating. Participants playing alone did not cheat significantly more than the control group throwing dice publicly. We did not find that gender, cognitive abilities, risk and social preferences robustly predicted the rate of cheating.