Age differences in life stories and neuroticism mediate age differences in subjective well-being

We examined whether age differences in life stories and personality traits mediated age differences in subjective well-being. One hundred one young, 77 middle-aged, and 81 older participants completed measures of subjective well-being and personality traits. They described chapters and specific memories in their life stories and rated these on emotional tone and positive and negative self-event connections. Older participants scored higher on subjective well-being, rated their life stories as more positive, and scored lower on neuroticism compared with both young and middle-aged participants. Age differences in subjective well-being were mediated by life stories and neuroticism, with neuroticism being the strongest mediator. We suggest that changes in personality may enable older individuals to interpret events and themselves in a positive light, which help enhance their subjective well-being.     

The Impact of the Antitobacco Norm on the Selected Mode of Cognitive Dissonance Reduction

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that when behavior violates an antismoking injunctive norm, dissonance is aroused, but the injunctive norm constrains how people reduce their discomfort. In Experiment 1, participants with positive or negative attitudes toward public smoking wrote an essay for or against a ban on public smoking. Whereas attitude change occurred for those whose counter‐attitudinal essay supported the antismoking norm, those whose counter‐attitudinal essay violated the antismoking norm did not change their attitudes to reduce dissonance. In Experiment 2, participants who wrote against the ban on public smoking eschewed attitude change in favor of reducing dissonance through trivialization and act rationalization. The discussion focuses on how maintaining social connections makes cognitions resistant to change when dissonance is aroused.     

Work happiness among teachers: A day reconstruction study on the role of self-concordance

Self-concordant work motivation arises from one's authentic choices, personal values, and interests. In the present study, we investigated whether self-concordant motivation may fluctuate from one work-related task to the next. On the basis of self-determination theory, we hypothesized that momentary self-concordance buffers the negative impact of momentary work demands on momentary happiness. We developed a modified version of the day reconstruction method to investigate self-concordance, work demands, and happiness during specific work-related tasks on a within-person and within-day level. In total, 132 teachers completed a daily diary on three consecutive work days as well as a background questionnaire. The daily diary resulted in 792 reported work activities and activity-related work demands, self-concordance, and happiness scores. Multilevel analysis showed that—for most work activities—state self-concordant motivation buffered the negative association of work demands with happiness. These findings add to the literature on motivation and well-being by showing that the levels of self-concordance and happiness experienced by employees vary significantly on a within-day level and show a predictable pattern. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the findings to increase employees' well-being.     

The Effect of Intrinsic Motivation on the Affect and Evaluation of the Creative Process Among Fine Arts Students

The main aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the effect of intrinsic motivation on affect, subjective evaluation, and the creative process of young artists. Relations between motivation, affect, and evaluation were treated as a dynamic process and measured several times. The unique contribution of this study is that it concerned not only the effect of intrinsic motivation on the final result of creativity, but also changes in subjective evaluation and affect of the intermediate results at consecutive stages of the creative process. Thirty-six female fine arts students participated in the experiment. The creative task (collage making) was sampled on 3 occasions: after 5 min, 10 min, and at the end of the activity. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were induced by 2 types of instruction. The creative products were assessed by 13 judges in accordance with the consensual assessment technique. Intrinsically motivated art students experienced significantly higher levels of positive affect in the creative process and evaluated their performance significantly higher than extrinsically motivated students. The distribution of collage creativity scores suggests that there may be a complex effect of motivation on creativity among fine arts students. The study sheds new light on the effect of intrinsic motivation on evaluation, affect and product creativity.     

Factors associated with traumatic symptoms and internalizing problems among adolescents who experienced a traumatic event

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to identify factors that are related to the traumatic symptoms and problem behavior among adolescents who experienced the New Years fire in 2001 in Volendam, The Netherlands. Three groups of factors were considered: pre-trauma (personality and coping), trauma-related (physical and emotional proximity to disaster), and post-trauma factors (received social support). Forty-five adolescents completed the questionnaire. Two years after the disaster, these adolescents experienced significant traumatic stress reaction (70% within the clinical range) and showed clinically significant levels of internalizing problems (37%). Pre-trauma, individual factors were identified as the most important predictors of distress, followed by received social support. The indicators of physical and emotional proximity to disaster explained little variance in distress.     

Nature as therapist: Integrating permaculture with mindfulness- and acceptance-based therapy in the Danish Healing Forest Garden Nacadia

Nature-based therapy can be considered an umbrella term for a diverse range of psychotherapeutic and allied practices which integrate experiences and activities in nature as therapeutic means. The objective of this article is to describe the theoretical framework for nature-based therapy in a university-founded healing forest garden near Copenhagen, Denmark. The garden will offer a 10-week treatment for people who are on sick leave with stress-related illness. This article focuses on clarifying the integration between the psychotherapeutic and gardening aspects of the nature-based therapy. The psychotherapeutic aspects are based on mindfulness and an acceptance therapy, while the gardening aspects are highly inspired by permacultural principles and methods.     

Taking Our Own Medicine: On an Experiment in Science Communication

In 2007 a social scientist and a designer created a spatial installation to communicate social science research about the regulation of emerging science and technology. The rationale behind the experiment was to improve scientific knowledge production by making the researcher sensitive to new forms of reactions and objections. Based on an account of the conceptual background to the installation and the way it was designed, the paper discusses the nature of the engagement enacted through the experiment. It is argued that experimentation is a crucial way of making social science about science communication and engagement more robust.     

Parenting and self‐regulation in preschoolers: a meta‐analysis

A meta‐analysis of 41 studies was conducted to examine the strength of the relation between parenting (positive control, negative control and responsiveness) and self‐regulation in preschoolers. Results revealed significant associations between both types of parental control and self‐regulation, with effect sizes being small in magnitude. There was no significant association between self‐regulation and responsiveness. The strength of the association between parenting and self‐regulation varied with different conceptualizations of self‐regulation; positive and negative control were associated with child compliance, but not with inhibition and emotion regulation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive functioning, behavior, and quality of life after stroke in childhood.

Rationale: To provide a better understanding of cognitive functioning, motor outcome, behavior and quality of life after childhood stroke and to study the relationship between variables expected to influence rehabilitation and outcome (age at stroke, time elapsed since stroke, lateralization, location and size of lesion). Methods: Children who suffered from stroke between birth and their eighteenth year of life underwent an assessment consisting of cognitive tests (WISC-III, WAIS-R, K-ABC, TAP, Rey-Figure, German Version of the CVLT) and questionnaires (Conner's Scales, KIDSCREEN). Results: Twenty-one patients after stroke in childhood (15 males, mean 11;11 years, SD 4;3, range 6;10-21;2) participated in the study. Mean Intelligence Quotients (IQ) were situated within the normal range (mean Full Scale IQ 96.5, range IQ 79-129). However, significantly more patients showed deficits in various cognitive domains than expected from a healthy population (Performance IQ p = .000; Digit Span p = .000, Arithmetic's p = .007, Divided Attention p = .028, Alertness p = .002). Verbal IQ was significantly better than Performance IQ in 13 of 17 patients, independent of the hemispheric side of lesion. Symptoms of ADHD occurred more often in the patients' sample than in a healthy population (learning difficulties/inattention p = .000; impulsivity/hyperactivity p = .006; psychosomatics p = .006). Certain aspects of quality of life were reduced (autonomy p = .003; parents' relation p = .003; social acceptance p = .037). Three patients had a right-sided hemiparesis, mean values of motor functions of the other patients were slightly impaired (sequential finger movements p = .000, hand alternation p = .001, foot tapping p = .043). In patients without hemiparesis, there was no relation between the lateralization of lesion and motor outcome. Lesion that occurred in the midst of childhood (5-10 years) led to better cognitive outcome than lesion in the very early (0-5 years) or late childhood (10-18 years). Other variables such as presence of seizure, elapsed time since stroke and size of lesion had a small to no impact on prognosis. Conclusion: Moderate cognitive and motor deficits, behavioral problems, and impairment in some aspects of quality of life frequently remain after stroke in childhood. Visuospatial functions are more often reduced than verbal functions, independent of the hemispheric side of lesion. This indicates a functional superiority of verbal skills compared to visuospatial skills in the process of recovery after brain injury. Compared to the cognitive outcome following stroke in adults, cognitive sequelae after childhood stroke do indicate neither the lateralization nor the location of the lesion focus. Age at stroke seems to be the only determining factor influencing cognitive outcome.     

Bidirectional Effects between Parenting and Aggressive Child Behavior in the Context of a Preventive Intervention

Over time, developmental theories and empirical studies have gradually started to adopt a bidirectional viewpoint. The area of intervention research is, however, lagging behind in this respect. This longitudinal study examined whether bidirectional associations between (changes in) parenting and (changes in) aggressive child behavior over time differed in three conditions: a child intervention condition, a child + parent intervention condition and a control condition. Participants were 267 children (74 % boys, 26 % girls) with elevated levels of aggression, their mothers and their teachers. Reactive aggression, proactive aggression and perceived parenting were measured at four measurement times from pretest to one-year after intervention termination. Results showed that associations between aggressive child behavior and perceived parenting are different in an intervention context, compared to a general developmental context. Aggressive behavior and perceived parenting were unrelated over time for children who did not receive an intervention. In an intervention context, however, decreases in aggressive child behavior were related to increases in perceived positive parenting and decreases in perceived overreactivity. These findings underscore the importance of addressing child-driven processes in interventions aimed at children, but also in interventions aimed at both children and their parents.