Introducing the Expectations and Preference Scales for Couple Therapy (EPSCT): Development,Psychometric Evaluation,and Suggested Use in Practice and Research

While it is known that client factors account for the largest proportion of outcome variance across treatment modalities, little is known about how clients’ characteristics affect the process and effectiveness of couple therapy. To further knowledge in this area, we created a brief, practice‐friendly measure, the Expectation and Preference Scales for Couple Therapy (EPSCT). Three self‐report scales assess clients’ Outcome expectations (e.g., I expect our relationship to improve as a result of couple therapy) and role expectations for Self (e.g., I expect to listen to my partner's concerns) and Partner (e.g., I expect my partner to blame me). Three Cognitive‐Behavioral, Emotionally Focused, and Family Systems preference scales use a forced‐choice format to measure the comparative strength of respondents’ preferences for interventions broadly reflective of each approach. A large item pool was developed from relevant literature and clinical experience and refined based on face and content analyses with two panels of experienced couple therapists and researchers. Across four studies with 1,175 participants, the scales’ internal consistency reliabilities were similar and their construct validity was supported with confirmatory factor analyses and significant correlations with several established measures, including expectation measures developed for individual psychotherapy and measures of attitudes toward professional help seeking and valuing personal growth. Across all studies, participants had stronger role expectations for themselves than their partners, although gender effects differed by sample. We discuss how to use the 15‐item EPSCT in clinical practice and in future research as a predictor of couple therapy processes and outcomes.     

Choosing goals that express the true self: A novel mechanism of the effect of self-control on goal attainment

Why is trait self-control associated with successful goal progress? Existing research has attempted to answer this question by focusing on individual differences in the process of goal pursuit. Herein, we propose and test a novel mechanism suggesting that self-control facilitates goal attainment not only by affecting the process of goal pursuit but also the type of goals people select in the first place. Three studies showed that high (vs. low) self-control individuals are more likely to report successful goal attainment and this association was mediated by their tendency to select the goals that reflect their true/authentic self. These results were obtained using cross-sectional and longitudinal designs and were robust against controlling for previously established mechanisms of the effect of trait self-control on goal attainment (habit strength, experiences of goal-conflicting desires). Overall, there findings contribute to the literatures on self-regulation, authenticity and goal management.     

Broken Bodies,Broken Spirits: How Poor Health Contributes to a Cynical Worldview

Cynical hostility (or cynicism) is often considered as a major factor leading to bad health outcomes. The present research proposes that poor health might represent both a consequence and a source of cynicism. Using cross‐lagged path analyses, we documented bidirectional associations between health and cynicism in a nationally representative sample of Germans (Study 1) and a large sample of the American elderly (Study 2): cynical individuals were more likely to develop health problems, and poor health promoted the development of a cynical worldview over time. These results were obtained using different indicators of health status, including both self‐reported and interviewer‐administered physical measures. Longitudinal mediation analyses showed perceived constraints to mediate the effect of poor health on cynicism. This effect remained robust even when adding an alternative mediator—depressive symptoms. Additional analyses showed that any particular health limitation was prospectively related to cynicism to the degree to which this limitation was associated with an increased sense of constraints in individuals' life. © 2018 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology     

From ideal to real: a longitudinal study of the role of implicit leadership theories on leader-member exchanges and employee outcomes

The results of the present longitudinal study demonstrate the importance of implicit leadership theories (ILTs) for the quality of leader-member exchanges (LMX) and employees' organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and well-being. Results based on a sample of 439 employees who completed the study questionnaires at 2 time points showed that the closer employees perceived their actual manager's profile to be to the ILTs they endorsed, the better the quality of LMX. Results also indicated that the implicit-explicit leadership traits difference had indirect effects on employee attitudes and well-being. These findings were consistent across employee groups that differed in terms of job demand and the duration of manager-employee relation, but not in terms of motivation. Furthermore, crossed-lagged modeling analyses of the longitudinal data explored the possibility of reciprocal effects between implicit-explicit leadership traits difference and LMX and provided support for the initially hypothesized direction of causal effects.     

Gender Differences in Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression and Behavior Problems in Adolescents

This study assessed gender differences in cognitive variables as an explanation for gender differences in depression and behavior problems; 856 adolescents (491 females and 365 males), aged 14–17, completed the Irrational Beliefs Scale for Adolescents, the Social Problem Solving Inventory—Revised Short Form, the adolescent version of the Burnett Self-Talk Inventory, and the Youth Self Report. Female adolescents lower levels of positive thinking and higher scores on negative problem orientation, need for approval and success, and self-focused negative cognitions partially mediated gender differences in depressive symptoms. Males higher scores on justification of violence beliefs and the impulsivity/carelessness style of problem solving partially accounted for differences in delinquent behavior. The influence of need for approval and success on depressive symptoms was higher among adolescents at ages 14–15 than among older adolescents. Justification of violence did not influence delinquent behavior among girls at age 14–15.     

The Effect Of Religiousness On Marital Satisfaction: Testing The Mediator Role Of Marital Problem Solving Between Religiousness And Marital Satisfaction Relationship

This study was focused on revealing the effects of religiousness on marital satisfaction, and also to test the mediator role of perceived marital problem solving between religiousness and marital satisfaction relationship in a Turkish sample. Subjects were 92 married couples, or a total of 184 participants. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that after controlling for the variance accounted for by the control variables, namely duration of marriage, marital style, educational level, hopelessness, and submissive acts; religiousness had a major effect on marital satisfaction, but a mediator role of problem solving was not observed.     

Neuropsychology of mildly disabled patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Previous papers have mainly demonstrated the presence of cognitive impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), these changes have been traditionally associated with the later stages of the disease. In the current study, a comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to 216 relapsing-remitting MS patients with mild clinical disability (EDSS相似文献   

Transformational leadership and moral reasoning

Terms such as moral and ethical leadership are used widely in theory, yet little systematic research has related a sociomoral dimension to leadership in organizations. This study investigated whether managers' moral reasoning (n = 132) was associated with the transformational and transactional leadership behaviors they exhibited as perceived by their subordinates (n = 407). Managers completed the Defining Issues Test (J. R. Rest, 1990), whereas their subordinates completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (B. M. Bass & B. J. Avolio, 1995). Analysis of covariance indicated that managers scoring in the highest group of the moral-reasoning distribution exhibited more transformational leadership behaviors than leaders scoring in the lowest group. As expected, there was no relationship between moral-reasoning group and transactional leadership behaviors. Implications for leadership development are discussed.