Parental history of hypertension and screening attendance: effects of wellness appeal versus threat appeal

This study examined whether the orientation of a health appeal differentially influences health beliefs and early-detection practices among young individuals who are potentially at risk. Undergraduates with and without a hypertensive parent were given printed material about hypertension and the importance of early detection framed in either a wellness or illness-threat format. The major dependent measure was attendance at a blood pressure screening during the week following the experimental session. Results showed that parental history (PH) participants were more than twice as likely to attend the screening when given a wellness message in comparison to threat. In the threat condition, PH participants also reported that hypertension was less preventable in comparison to participants without a hypertensive parent. Reported likelihood of developing hypertension was inversely related to subsequent screening attendance among PH participants only. Factors accounting for the efficacy of wellness-oriented appeals among individuals who report a family history are discussed.     

Representative realism and absolute reality

This paper has benefitted from criticism by Allen Bäck. Of course, no one but myself is responsible for any of the ideas presented herein.     

The Stress-Buffering Effects of Control on Task Satisfaction and Perceived Goal Attainment: An Experimental Study of the Moderating Influence of Desire for Control

The purpose of the present study was to examine the extent to which Desire for Control (DFC) interacts with experimental manipulations of demand and control, and the consequences of these interactions on task satisfaction and perceived goal attainment (i.e. task performance and task mastery). It was expected that the proposed stress‐buffering effects of control would be evident only for individuals high in DFC. Moreover, it was anticipated that control may have a stress‐exacerbating effect for those low in DFC. These hypotheses were tested on a sample of 137 first year psychology students who participated in an in‐basket activity under low and high conditions of demand and control. Results revealed that the proposed stress‐buffering effect of control was found only for those high in DFC and a stress‐exacerbating effect of increased control was evident for those low in DFC on task performance and task mastery perceptions. Future research directions and the implications of these findings to applied settings are discussed. Cette recherche avait pour objet de voir dans quelle mesure le besoin de maîtriser la situation (DFC) interagit avec des manipulations expérimentales portant sur les exigences et le contrôle, ainsi que d’observer les conséquences de ces interactions sur la satisfaction liée à la tâche et à la réussite perçue (relative à la performance et à la maîtrise de la tâche). On a fait l’hypothèse que seuls les individus présentant un haut niveau de DFC verraient leur stress atténué par la possibilité de maîtriser la situation. En outre, on pensait que la maîtrise de la situation pouvait accroître le stress de ceux ayant un faible niveau de DFC. Ces hypothèses ont été mises à l’épreuve sur un échantillon de 137 étudiants de première année de psychologie qui subirent un in‐basket test dans des conditions de haut et de bas niveaux d’exigence et de contrôle. Les résultats montrent que l’atténuation du stress par la maîtrise de la situation n’existe que pour les hauts niveaux de DFC, alors qu’une maîtrise accrue stimule le stress chez les bas niveaux, aussi bien sur la perception de la performance que sur celle de la domination de la tâche. On propose des orientations pour de futures recherches et l’on réfléchit aux retombées de ces résultats sur la vie pratique.     

Psychological Comparison Processes and Self-Concept in Relation to Five Distinct Frame-of-Reference Effects: Pan-Human Cross-Cultural Generalizability over 68 Countries

The concept of self is central to personhood, but personality research has largely ignored the relevance of recent advances in self-concept theory: multidimensionality of self-concept (focusing instead on self-esteem, an implicit unidimensional approach), domain specificity (generalizability of trait manifestations over different domains), and multilevel perspectives in which social-cognitive processes and contextual effects drive self-perceptions at different levels (individual, group/institution, and country) aligned to Bronfenbrenner's ecological model. Here, we provide theoretical and empirical support for psychological comparison processes that influence self-perceptions and their relation to distal outcomes. Our meta-theoretical integration of social and dimensional comparison theories synthesizes five seemingly paradoxical frame-of-reference and contextual effects in self-concept formation that occur at different levels. The effects were tested with a sample of 485,490 fifteen-year-old students (68 countries/regions, 18,292 schools). Consistent with the dimensional comparison theory, the effects on math self-concept were positive for math achievement but negative for verbal achievement. Consistent with the social comparison theory, the effects on math self-concept were negative for school-average math achievement (big-fish-little-pond effect), country-average achievement (paradoxical cross-cultural effect), and being young relative to year in school but positive for school-average verbal achievement (big-fish-little-pond effect—compensatory effect). We demonstrate cross-cultural generalizability/universality of support for predictions and discuss implications for personality research. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM), and Set-ESEM: Optimal Balance Between Goodness of Fit and Parsimony

Abstract

CFAs of multidimensional constructs often fail to meet standards of good measurement (e.g., goodness-of-fit, measurement invariance, and well-differentiated factors). Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) represents a compromise between exploratory factor analysis’ (EFA) flexibility, and CFA/SEM’s rigor and parsimony, but lacks parsimony (particularly in large models) and might confound constructs that need to be kept separate. In Set-ESEM, two or more a priori sets of constructs are modeled within a single model such that cross-loadings are permissible within the same set of factors (as in Full-ESEM) but are constrained to be zero for factors in different sets (as in CFA). The different sets can reflect the same set of constructs on multiple occasions, and/or different constructs measured within the same wave. Hence, Set-ESEM that represents a middle-ground between the flexibility of traditional-ESEM (hereafter referred to as Full-ESEM) and the rigor and parsimony of CFA/SEM. Thus, the purposes of this article are to provide an overview tutorial on Set-ESEM, juxtapose it with Full-ESEM, and to illustrate its application with simulated data and diverse “real” data applications with accessible, heuristic explanations of best practice.