Safety in Occupational Driving: Development of a Driver Behavior Scale for the Workplace Context

International statistics indicate that occupational, or work‐related driving, crashes are the most common cause of workplace injury, death, and absence from work. The majority of research examining unsafe driver behavior in the workplace has relied on general road safety questionnaires. However, past research has failed to consider the organisational context in the use of these questionnaires, and thus, there is ambiguity in the dimensions constituting occupational driving. Using a theoretical model developed by Hockey (1993, 1997 ), this article proposes and validates a new scale of occupational driver behavior. This scale incorporates four dimensions of driver behavior that are influenced by demanding workplace conditions: speeding, rule violation, inattention, and driving while tired. Following a content validation process, three samples of occupational drivers in Australia were used to assess the scale. Data from the first sample (n= 145) were used to reduce the number of scale items and provide an assessment of the factorial validity of the scale. Data from the second sample (n= 645) were then used to confirm the factor structure and psychometric properties of the scale including reliability and construct validity. Finally, data from the third sample (n= 248) were used to establish criterion validity. The results indicated that the scale is a reliable and valid measure of occupational driver behavior.     

Generativity and Productive Pursuits: Pathways to Successful Aging in Late Midlife African American and White Women

The current study aims to examine correlates of successful aging in the context of midlife, by examining its relationship to generativity, or providing for the next generation (Erikson in Dimensions of a new identity: the 1973 Jefferson lectures in the humanities, W. W. Norton & Co., Oxford, 1974). This research identifies productive activities (e.g., paid work, sports and recreation) and spiritual commitment as potential moderators of the generativity–successful aging relationship, since engagement in these activities has been suggested to benefit health. Furthermore, we examine how these interactions differ for a sample of 237 middle-aged women (mean age = 61), depending on race. Results indicate that, whereas generativity and successful aging are related for the overall sample, this relationship is moderated by sports and recreation activities, and to a lesser extent, spiritual commitment. Importantly, spiritual commitment is associated with a positive relationship between generativity and successful aging, while sports and recreation is associated with a negative one. When viewed by race, spiritual commitment, and sports and recreation activities moderate the relationship specifically for White women, while paid work does so for Black women. This research highlights the importance of examining different pathways between generativity and aging successfully.     

Effects of Alternate Modes of Administration on Rorschach Performance of Deaf Adults

This study examined two modes of administering the Rorschach Inkblot Technique to determine which was more appropriate for a college-educated, deaf population. Twenty-four prelingually deaf adults took the Rorschach in sign language and in written English, using a counterbalanced test-retest design, and their sign and written scores were compared to each other and to 1986 norms for Exner's Comprehensive System. Seventeen variables measuring such areas as perceptual accuracy, perceptual complexity, and self-focus were found to vary more than one standard deviation from Exner's norms. Differences between sign and written conditions on several affective variables were found. Written administration can be used by examiners who are informed about deafness and aware of variables that may be underreported by written inquiry.     

Adherence to exercise prescriptions: effects of prescribing moderate versus higher levels of intensity and frequency.

Sedentary adults (N = 379) were randomly assigned in a 2 x 2 design to walk 30 min per day at a frequency of either 3-4 or 5-7 days per week, at an intensity of either 45%-55% or 65%-75% of maximum heart rate reserve. Analyses of exercise accumulated over 6 months showed greater amounts completed in the higher frequency (p = .0001) and moderate intensity (p = .021) conditions. Analyses of percentage of prescribed exercise completed showed greater adherence in the moderate intensity(p = .02) condition. Prescribing a higher frequency increased the accumulation of exercise without a decline in adherence, whereas prescribing a higher intensity decreased adherence and resulted in the completion of less exercise.     

Selfless or Selfish? Generativity and Narcissism as Components of Legacy

Erikson’s concept of generativity, or caring for the next generation, acknowledges the presence of narcissism or any type of self-preoccupation as potentially negative. However, other theories articulate generativity as including features of self-involvement, such as a drive for symbolic immortality (McAdams and de St. Aubin J Pers Soc Psychol 62(6):1003–1015. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.62.6.1003, 1992). Recent empirical research also supports this view by identifying generativity and narcissism as both incorporating the beneficial components of agency and communion (Frimer et al. J Pers Soc Psychol 101(1):149–163. doi:10.1037/a0023780, 2011; Gebauer et al. J Pers Soc Psychol 103(3):854–878. doi:10.1037/a0029629, 2012). Moreover, creating a legacy—something left behind when one dies—entails levels of both generativity and narcissism; thus, in the presence of generativity, narcissism may be seen as positive rather than negative. The current study examined generativity and narcissism, and their association with legacy, which was coded from midlife adults’ narratives concerning the future (age 55–58; N = 155). The findings indicated that a combination of high generativity and high narcissism was associated with the highest level of composite legacy, one in which both self and other are implicated. Results are discussed in light of the potentially positive outcomes of narcissism and its synergistic properties for legacy creation when combined with generativity.     

Eyewitness Memory for Typical and Atypical Weapons in Cognitive Context

The present research addressed eyewitness memory for weapons, specifically for a modern semi‐automatic pistol and an antique flintlock, in order to address the influence of weapon novelty on recall for the given weapon. Additionally, the effect of explanatory backstory was examined in the same context; respondents were given prior information, which was either consistent or inconsistent with the presence of the flintlock in the scene, in order to gauge the influence of appropriate or inappropriate explanatory cognitive context. Finally, the effects of these variables on line‐up identification of the ‘suspect’ holding the given weapon were addressed. The results showed that weapon type did not influence recall accuracy for given weapons, although explanatory backstory did have a significant effect here, as initially predicted. Both weapon type and explanatory backstory produced significant effects on weapon recall errors, with the exotic weapon and the more prosaic backstory producing larger numbers of mistakes. Neither of these variables was associated with significant differences in line‐up performance. These results indicate the importance of prior cognitive context, as well as the physical appearance of weapons, in a full understanding of eyewitness processing of scenes involving firearms. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender Conceptualizations in Female High School Seniors: Relationships with Global Self-Worth and Multiple Measures of Body Image

This study was conducted to determine if gender-role conceptualizations in adolescent girls were related to their global self-worth and several dimensions of their body image. Self-report surveys were administered to 335 predominantly Caucasian Grade 12 girls from religiously-based high schools in the midwestern part of the United States. It was hypothesized that adolescent females?? gender-typing of themselves as well as their gender-related attitudes towards others would be significantly, and possibly divergently, related to their perceptions of themselves and their physical bodies. Obtained data were analyzed using multivariate canonical correlation procedures. The results of these analyses revealed support for the predicted overall relationship between gender conceptualizations and self-perceptions, but also indicated some differences in the way in which the two dimensions of gender-role conceptualizations (personal and attitudes towards others) were associated with adolescents?? perceptions of themselves. Specifically, girls exhibiting more egalitarian gender-related attitudes towards others scored higher on global self-worth and lower in body appearance orientation. In addition, higher self-endorsement on the masculine subscales was linked with higher global self-worth, lower social physique anxiety, and higher use of competence to evaluate the physical body. In contrast, high self-endorsement on the feminine subscales exhibited mixed links to the set of self-perceptual variables.