The Interplay Among Levels of Personality: The Mediator Effect of Personal Projects Between the Big Five and Subjective Well-Being

Comprehensive models of personality aspire to integrate the several aspects related to the study of personality in a coherent whole. One of the great research challenges in this field is to understand if and how different levels of personality analysis interrelate to promote human well-being. The aim of the present study is to explore the mediator effect of personal projects’ efficacy on the relationship between Big Five and subjective well-being (SWB) components. We conducted a cross-sectional study in which a battery of self-report questionnaires was used to assess personality and SWB in 396 teachers. Path analysis results indicated that personal projects’ efficacy fully mediated the effects of openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness on life satisfaction and on negative affect. The effects of neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness on positive affect were direct but also indirect, partially mediated by personal projects’ efficacy. Neuroticism had a direct and an indirect effect through a decreased personal projects’ efficacy on the three components of SWB. Extraversion only directly predicted increased positive affect. These findings corroborate the conceptualization that these two types of personality analysis units (Big Five and personal projects) have their own direct, unique and irreducible effect on life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. However, their impact on SWB components seems to be also explained through their effect upon personal projects’ efficacy.     

Health messages to promote fruit and vegetable consumption at different stages: A match-mismatch design

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of matching health messages promoting fruit and vegetable intake to the Health Action Process Approach stages of change.

Design: In a randomised controlled trial, 205 undergraduate students (non-intenders n = 123; intenders n = 82) were exposed to one of three health messages, targeted at non-intenders, intenders and controls.

Main outcome measures: Three longitudinal assessments of stage, fruit and vegetable intake, and social-cognitive determinants were obtained.

Results: Stage-specific effects of the interventions were confirmed. For self-efficacy, a stage by health message crossover interaction emerged, with both non-intenders and intenders in the matched conditions scoring higher in self-efficacy. Furthermore, in line with predictions, non-intenders in the matched condition showed higher risk perception, outcome expectancies, intention, and stage progression immediately after message exposure, and lower levels of action planning and coping planning a week later in the mismatched condition, but for these outcomes no differences across conditions were obtained among intenders. Multiple mediation analyses confirmed the facilitating role of self-efficacy and behavioural intention among non-intenders.

Conclusions: Stages should be considered when designing health messages, although more interactive interventions for intenders and extended measurement time frames may be required.     

Is Weiner's attribution‐help model stable across cultures? A test in Brazilian subcultures

The effect of attribution of responsibility on the intention to help is a well‐studied effect. The Weiner model of attribution‐emotion‐help is the main theoretical development to describe the structural relation between these variables. Some research results have suggested that culture influences the relation between model variables. Collectivists tend to show more compassionate emotions independent of attribution of responsibility whereby emotion is no longer a mediator. The present research aims to test the Weiner model in Brazil, a country with established subcultures and clear distinctions in the collectivism–individualism dimension across its regions. An experiment with 1,569 participants from all five Brazilian regions was conducted. Path analysis revealed that more socially oriented participants tended to feel more compassion for the experimental scenario's protagonist, independent of controllability manipulation, decreasing the effect of emotions in the model. These results depict the effect of culture on the model, questioning the stability of the model across cultures.     

Short- and long-term memory are differentially affected by metabolic inhibitors given into hippocampus and entorhinal cortex

Rats were implanted with cannulae in the CA1 area of the dorsal hippocampus or in the entorhinal cortex and trained in one-trial step-down inhibitory avoidance. Two retention tests were carried out in each animal, one at 1.5 h to measure short-term memory (STM) and another at 24 h to measure long-term memory (LTM). The purpose of the present study was to screen the effect on STM of various drugs previously shown to affect LTM of this task when given posttraining at the same doses that were used here. The drugs and doses were the guanylyl cyclase inhibitor LY83583 (LY, 2.5 microMg), the inhibitor of Tyr-protein kinase at low concentrations and of protein kinase G (PKG) at higher concentrations lavendustin A (LAV, 0.1 and 0.5 microMg), the PKG inhibitor KT5823 (2.0 microMg), the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor staurosporin (STAU, 2.5 microMg), the inhibitor of calcium/ calmodulin protein kinase II (CaMKII) KN62 (3.6 microMg), the protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor KT5720 (0.5 microMg), and the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK) inhibitor PD098059 (PD, 0.05 microMg). PD was dissolved in saline; all the other drugs were dissolved in 20% dimethyl sulfoxide. In all cases the drugs affected LTM as had been described in previous papers. The drugs affected STM and LTM differentially depending on the brain structure into which they were infused. STM was inhibited by KT5720, LY, and PD given into CA1 and by STAU and KT5720 given into the entorhinal cortex. PD given into the entorhinal cortex enhanced STM. LTM was inhibited by STAU, KN62, KT5720, KT5823, and LAV (0.5 microMg) given into CA1 and by STAU, KT5720, and PD given into the entorhinal cortex. The results suggest that STM and LTM involve different physiological mechanisms but are to an extent linked. STM appears to require PKA, guanylyl cyclase, and MAPKK activity in CA1 and PKA and PKC activity in the entorhinal cortex; MAPKK seems to play an inhibitory role in STM in the entorhinal cortex. In contrast, LTM appears to require PKA and PKC activity in both structures, guanylyl cyclase, PKG, and CaMKII activity in CA1, and MAPKK activity in the entorhinal cortex.     

Religiosity,Marital Quality and Couple Generativity in Italian Couples Belonging to a Catholic Spiritual Association: A Quali-Quantitative Study

The current studies aimed, firstly, at exploring the relationship between the level of religiosity and marital outcomes, in terms of relationship quality and couple generativity; secondly, at gaining insight into which strategies the couples use to ensure their marital quality/couple generativity, and understanding if religious practices have a positive influence on the development of such strategies. The studies focused on a specific aspect of religiosity, that is the active involvement in a Catholic association, and compared couples with a high level of religious involvement (HRI) belonging to a Catholic international association (New Families) and couples with a low level of religious involvement (LRI). Study 1 (N = 194) adopted a quantitative approach and analyzed data from questionnaires administered in two phases. Study 2 (N = 32) adopted a qualitative approach (grounded theory) and analyzed data from semi-structured interviews. Results of Study 1 showed that HRI men scored higher in relationship quality and couple generativity than LRI men, while HRI women scored higher in couple generativity than LRI women. In Study 2, no differences were found between HRI and LRI couples with respect to the factors that ensure marital quality and generativity (care of the relationship, dialogue, sharing, maintenance of the centrality of the relationship), but HRI and LRI couples used different strategies to achieve these goals.

     

Burnout among healthcare workers at L’Aquila: its prevalence and associated factors

Burnout, which is now recognized as a real problem in terms of its negative outcome on healthcare efficiency, is a stress condition that can be increased by exposure to natural disasters, such as the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. This study aims to evaluate burnout syndrome, its associated risk factors and stress levels, and the individual coping strategies among healthcare professionals at L’Aquila General Hospital. A cross-sectional study of 190 healthcare workers was conducted. There was a questionnaire for the collection of the socio-demographic, occupational and anamnestic data, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the General Health Questionnaire-12 items (GHQ-12) and the Brief COPE were used. The burnout dimensions showed high scores in Emotional Exhaustion (38.95%), in Depersonalization (23.68%) and in lack of Personal Accomplishment (23.16%), along with the presence of moderate to high levels of distress (54.21%). In addition to factors already known to be associated with burnout (job perception and high levels of distress) exposure to an earthquake emerged as a factor independently associated with the syndrome. Adaptive coping strategies such as religiosity showed a significant and negative relationship with burnout. Our research highlights the need for interventions directed at a reduction in workload and work-stressors and an improvement of adaptive coping strategies, especially in a post-disaster workplace.     

Profiles of Racial Socialization Among African American Parents: Correlates,Context, and Outcome

Self report and observational data on racial socialization practices in a sample of 218 African American parents of young children were used to determine whether or not parents could be characterized in terms of their pattern of racial socialization practices. Parents fell into four groups: silence about race, emphasis on cultural socialization, emphasis on cultural socialization and coping strategies, or a balanced approach. Silence about race was more common among parents of boys, whereas an emphasis on cultural socialization was more common among parents of girls. Silence about race was less common in neighborhoods with high levels of negative social climate, and a combination of cultural socialization with coping strategies for discrimination was more common in neighborhoods with high neighborhood potential for community involvement with children. The coping emphasis/cultural socialization approach was associated with significantly lower child problem behavior, although some gender differences were evident. A cultural socialization emphasis was associated with higher cognitive scores among girls, and a combination of cultural socialization, coping with discrimination, and promotion of mistrust was associated with higher cognitive scores among boys. Implications of this profile approach for the study of racial socialization practices in ethnic minority families are discussed.     

Oral administration of guanosine impairs inhibitory avoidance performance in rats and mice

Extracellular guanine-based purines, mainly the nucleoside guanosine, have recently been shown to exert neuroprotective effects, which seem to be related to antagonism of the glutamatergic system. In this study, we investigated the effects of acute oral administration of guanosine on inhibitory avoidance task in rats and mice. We also studied its effects on locomotor activity, anxiety-related behaviors and mechanisms of action involving the purinergic system. Guanosine (2.0 and 7.5mg/kg, per os), administered 75min pretraining, dose-dependently impaired retention of the inhibitory avoidance task in rats and mice, an effect not prevented by the adenosine receptor antagonist caffeine. Guanosine presented no effects on locomotor activity and anxiety-related behaviors. This amnesic effect of guanosine may be compatible with inhibition of glutamatergic system and seems to be not mediated by adenosine.