Religious and national group identification in adolescence: A study among three religious groups in Mauritius

Religious group identification is an important but understudied social identity. The present study investigates religious group identification among adolescents of different faiths (Hindu, Muslim, Christian) living in multicultural Mauritius. It further explores how religious and national group identities come together among religious majority and minority adolescents. For three age groups (11 to 19 years, N = 2152) we examined the strength of adolescents’ religious and national group identification, the associations between these two identities, and the relationships to global self‐esteem. Across age and religious group, participants reported stronger identification with their religious group than with the nation. Identification with both categories declined with age, with the exception of Muslims, whose strong religious identification was found across adolescence. The association between religious and national identification was positive, albeit stronger for the majority group of Hindus and for early adolescents. We examined the manner in which religious and national identities come together using a direct self‐identification measure and by combining the separate continuous measures of identification. Four distinct clusters of identification (predominant religious identifiers, dual identifiers, neutrals, and separate individuals) that were differently associated with global self‐esteem were found. Dual identifiers reported the highest level of global self‐esteem. The clusters of identification did not fully correspond to the findings for the direct self‐identification measure. The results are discussed in terms of the meaning of dual identity and the positive manner in which adolescents can manage their multiple identities while taking into account the ideological framework in which those identities are played out.     

Counselor Empathy or “Having a Heart to Help”? An Ethnographic Investigation of Chinese Clients' Experience of Counseling

Current understanding of counselor empathy is almost entirely based on Western culture. Clients'; perceptions of counselor empathy are scarcely investigated within any non-Western group. Using ethnographic interviews, this study explored the concept of counselor empathy from Chinese counseling clients'; perspectives by exploring their experiences of therapeutic relationships. Although informants did not commonly and explicitly consider counselor empathy as a priority in counseling, preliminary results suggest that they may perceive it in Chinese counseling relationships as a different phenomenon linguistically and conceptually.     

Human capital and objective indicators of career success: The mediating effects of cognitive ability and conscientiousness

The purpose of the current study is to examine the mediating processes through which human capital (e.g. education and work experience) contribute to objective indicators of career success (e.g. salaries and promotions). We are particularly interested in the ways in which cognitive ability and conscientiousness help explain the process through which human capital gets translated into performance effectiveness and tangible career attainments. Results from meta‐analytical structural equation modelling show that individuals' cognitive ability and conscientiousness mediate the effects of both education and organizational tenure on in‐role and extra‐role job performance. Ultimately, both in‐role and extra‐role job performance positively influence employees' salaries and promotions. The article concludes with implications for theory development and management practice.     

The incremental validity of organizational commitment,organizational trust,and organizational identification

Organizational commitment (OC), organizational trust (OT), and organizational identification (OI) are three types of psychological attachment to an organization. Each of these three variables captures an organization-targeted attitude toward an employment relationship, but it is unclear whether they have incremental validity over each other. To address this question, this study examined the incremental validity of each variable in predicting job involvement, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and non-self-report measures of task performance and citizenship behavior. It also examined whether perceived organizational support and psychological contract breach, two other organization-targeted attitudinal variables, were related to OC, OT, and OI when the latter were considered jointly. Meta-analytical evidence suggests that OC, OT, and OI have incremental validity over and above one another in their relationships with some, but not all, of the above correlates. This highlights the need for future research to distinguish these three types of psychological attachment to an organization.     

Inhibition of guanylate cyclase and protein kinase G impairs retention for the passive avoidance task in the day-old chick

Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly labile chemical messenger which has previously been implicated in memory processes in a variety of learning paradigms and species. However, there is only limited evidence to suggest which enzymes are acted upon by NO during the formation of memory. The present study investigates the role of guanylate cyclase (GC) and protein kinase G (PKG) in a form of passive avoidance learning known to be dependent on nitric oxide activity. It was determined that in vivo pharmacological inhibition of GC using either 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3,-a]quinoxalin-1-one or 6-anilino-5,8-quinolinedione resulted in two transitory memory retention deficits centred around 40 and 120 min posttraining, respectively. In contrast, inhibition of PKG with N-[2-(methylamino)ehtyl]-5-isoquinoline-sulfornamide hydrochloride (H-8) resulted in a single temporary retention loss centered at 120 min posttraining. These temporary retention losses appear to be specific to memory since they were dose-dependent and could not be explained by nonspecific performance effects. Further, these results suggest that these agents inhibit memory retrieval rather than formation, since memory is subsequently available. The current findings indicate that guanylyl cyclase mediates two memory retrieval processes, the latter of which appears to be PKG-dependent. In contrast, since inhibition of NO results in a permanent retention loss, it is suggested that NO is required for memory formation through GC-independent processes.     

The Relationship Between Parent and Child Dysfunctional Beliefs About Sleep and Child Sleep

Cognitive theories emphasise the role of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep in the development and maintenance of sleep-related problems (SRPs). The present research examines how parents’ dysfunctional beliefs about children’s sleep and child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep are related to each other and to children’s subjective and objective sleep. Participants were 45 children aged 11–12 years and their parents. Self-report measures of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep and child sleep were completed by children, mothers and fathers. Objective measures of child sleep were taken using actigraphy. The results showed that child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep were correlated with father (r = 0.43, p < 0.05) and mother (r = 0.43, p < 0.05) reported child SRPs, and with Sleep Onset Latency (r = 0.34, p < 0.05). Maternal dysfunctional beliefs about child sleep were related to child SRPs as reported by mothers (r = 0.44, p < 0.05), and to child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep (r = 0.37, p < 0.05). Some initial evidence was found for a mediation pathway in which child dyfunctional beliefs mediate the relationship between parent dysfunctional beliefs and child sleep. The results support the cognitive model of SRPs and contribute to the literature by providing the first evidence of familial aggregation of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep.     

The Relative Importance of Personality,Financial Satisfaction,and Autonomy for Different Subjective Well-Being Facets

Abstract

Using a nationally representative sample (N?=?507) from Singapore, this study examined whether personality, financial satisfaction, and autonomy were important to subjective well-being (SWB), and how the importance of these predictors varied across different SWB facets—life satisfaction, happiness, positive feelings, and negative feelings. The findings indicated that neuroticism, financial satisfaction, and autonomy, were important predictors of happiness. Personality was most important for affective well-being (i.e., positive and negative feelings), whereas financial satisfaction was most important for life satisfaction. Specifically, neuroticism accounted for substantial variance in positive and negative feelings, and was the strongest correlate among the Big Five traits. In contrast, financial satisfaction explained most of the variance in life satisfaction. This highlights that the importance of well-being predictors depended on the facet of well-being examined. The findings suggest that residents in an affluent nation like Singapore do not emphasize only postmaterialist values (e.g., autonomy) and disregard materialist concerns (e.g., financial satisfaction). Though certain SWB facets (positive and negative affect) are largely influenced by dispositional factors, other facets (life satisfaction and happiness) are closely related to factors (e.g., financial satisfaction, autonomy) that may be affected by social policies. Policymakers can thus target those aspects to enhance people’s SWB.     

What it means to be and feel like a "true" American: perceptions and experiences of second-generation Americans

Through semistructured interviews, the authors investigated the relationships between the definition of a "true" American, the impact of 9/11, and the war in Iraq and their impact on experiences of fitting into and being excluded from the American identity with a sample of 10 2nd-generation young adults. Using consensual qualitative research methods (C. E. Hill et al., 2005; C. E. Hill, B. Thompson, & E. N. Williams, 1997) the authors identified 6 major domains that described participants' experiences, including physical characteristics of true Americans, behavioral characteristics of true Americans, beliefs and values of true Americans, the impact of 9/11 on definitions of true Americans, participants' American identity, and experiences as 2nd-generation Americans.     

Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis comparing mentored and non-mentored individuals

The study of mentoring has generally been conducted within disciplinary silos with a specific type of mentoring relationship as a focus. The purpose of this article is to quantitatively review the three major areas of mentoring research (youth, academic, workplace) to determine the overall effect size associated with mentoring outcomes for protégés. We also explored whether the relationship between mentoring and protégé outcomes varied by the type of mentoring relationship (youth, academic, workplace). Results demonstrate that mentoring is associated with a wide range of favorable behavioral, attitudinal, health-related, relational, motivational, and career outcomes, although the effect size is generally small. Some differences were also found across type of mentoring. Generally, larger effect sizes were detected for academic and workplace mentoring compared to youth mentoring. Implications for future research, theory, and applied practice are provided.     

Can you get a better deal elsewhere? The effects of psychological contract replicability on organizational commitment over time

Previous research on psychological contracts has focused on whether or not employees feel their employers have fulfilled the promises made to them. Instead, here we examine how perceptions of the external labor market, particularly about whether present psychological contracts could be replicated elsewhere, influence employees’ attachment to their current employers. In a longitudinal study of a diverse employee sample, we found perceptions that psychological contracts could not be replicated elsewhere accounted for a substantial amount of the variance in affective commitment (.38) and normative commitment (.29) and a smaller, but significant, amount of the variance in continuance commitment (.04). We also found significant moderating effects of age, work experience, and career stage on these relationships. The article concludes with implications for psychological contract theory, organizational commitment theory, and management practice.