Prescribing conventional antipsychotics at two Veterans Administration hospitals: are there geographical differences?

The medical records of 110 patients receiving conventional antipsychotics at two geographically distinct Veterans Administration hospitals (Syracuse, New York, and Omaha, Nebraska) were reviewed. The most common reasons for continuation of conventional antipsychotics were good response and patient or physician choice. Frequently, physicians did not discuss the reasons for continuing conventional antipsychotics or the availability of alternative therapies with their patients. Geographic differences in physicians' prescribing practices of conventional antipsychotics were apparent.     

Effect of Gender and Life-Stage on Love Styles in the Indian Context

This study examined how love styles evolve over a period of time and if gender shapes the use of love styles. The sample comprised 120 people (60 males and 60 females): 20 couples in a dating relationship, 20 couples married for less than 2 years (childless) and 20 couples married for more than 15 years (with children). The sample consisted of Indian population and only those married couples were selected who had married out of ‘love’. Results indicated significant differences across life stages for Eros, decreasing progressively with life stages. No other love style differed significantly across life styles. Gender differences were found on Pragma and Mania, with females using both Pragma and Mania more than males, in line with the evolutionary perspective.     

What personal selling and sales management recommendations from developed markets are relevant in emerging markets?

As emerging markets continue to grow, research on personal selling and sales management in these settings is coming to the fore, as this special issue of Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management attests. With an in-depth review of extant research, this contribution addresses three key research questions. First, are there differences between established/recommended theories or styles or paradigms for effective personal selling and sales management in developed markets and emerging markets? The survey suggests there are. Second, are culture variables, traditionally used in extant research, sufficient to differentiate between developed and emerging markets? The presented analysis suggests that culture must be combined with economic variables to establish clear contexts that reflect developed and emerging markets. Third, what classification framework can serve to examine personal selling and sales management strategies in terms of their applicability in both developed and emerging markets? This article derives such a classification framework by organizing extant sales research into categories where either small differences in research findings between developed and emerging markets are expected, or where large differences in research findings are expected. Propositions for the category of selling process and technique are derived. Overall, these findings suggest the need for substantial research that examines the differences between developed and emerging markets, because of the vast implications for theory, research, and practice.     

The moderating impact of temporal separation on the association between intention and physical activity: a meta-analysis

Previous meta-analyses have estimated that the intention–behaviour association in physical activity (PA) is large in magnitude. However, these prior meta-analyses have also revealed a large degree of heterogeneity, suggesting the presence of moderating variables. This study examines the impact of one such moderator, testing the hypothesis that the magnitude of the association between intention and behaviour decreases as the temporal separation between the two increases. A systematic literature search was used to identify published and unpublished studies that met the inclusion criteria. A random-effects meta-regression was conducted to test the study hypothesis. A total of 78 journal articles and 11 unpublished dissertations were identified, yielding 109 effect sizes. The mean number of weeks between the measurement of intention and behaviour was 5.4 (SD = 6.6, range = .43, 26). The average correlation between intention and behaviour was r = 0.51. In line with theoretical predictions, temporal separation was a significant moderator of the intention–behaviour correlation (B = ?.014, p < .001) and explained 24% of the between-study variance. This result remained unchanged when entered simultaneously with several control variables. The results of this analysis have important implications both for researchers and for intervention designers aiming to increase rates of PA.     

Prof. Ramesh K. Sharma on Late Prof. K.C. Pandey’s review of book entitled J.M.E. McTaggart: Substance,Self, and Immortality

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research -     

Sattva, Rajas and Tamas Factors and Quality of Life in Patients with Anxiety Disorders: A Preliminary Investigation

The most common approach to define personality has been in terms of characteristics or qualities within a person. A three-dimensional personality theory based on the Sankhya school of Hindu philosophy postulates human personality in terms of three gunas or factors namely sattva, rajas and tamas (SRT). Disequilibrium in any one of these factors has an adverse effect on one??s health and psychological well-being. This preliminary exploratory study assessed SRT factors and quality of life in persons with anxiety disorders. Thirty persons with anxiety disorders were compared with a community sample of 30 participants on measures of anxiety, SRT and quality of life. Results indicated higher scores on rajas and tamas factors in the clinical sample and scores on sattva factor were found to be higher in the community sample. Quality of life was found to be significantly better in the community sample in comparison to clinical sample. Rajasic and tamasic factors were associated with impaired quality of life in the persons with anxiety disorder.     

Comment: Starting to Solve the Method Puzzle in Salesperson Self-Report Evaluations

In a recent Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management paper, Jaramillo, Carrillat, and Locander (JCL) further extended our understanding of the errors of salesperson self-report evaluations when compared to managerial evaluations. Our paper provides contrary evidence on three major conclusions drawn in this study. First, we question the assertion by JCL that the correlation between self-report and objective measures of performance is consistently low. Second, we question JCL’s claim that the correlation between managerial evaluations and objective measures of performance is consistently high. Third, we question the key finding of JCL that self-report measures of salesperson performance are less accurate than managerial evaluations. We provide an alternative perspective to these issues by highlighting past research on performance measurement. Moreover, we reanalyze data from a previously published study to examine the issues raised by JCL. Our expectation is that this comment will serve as an impetus for further research in this area.     

Family Environment in Inner-City African-American and Latino Parents/Caregivers: A Comparison of the Reliability of Instruments

Inner-city, African American and Latino youth are at higher risk for the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Interventions usually focus on changing physical activity and dietary behaviors, yet family environment has the potential to influence response to these interventions. We aimed to identify instruments that could reliably be used to assess the family environment of children from high-risk populations. Selected indices from four instruments were used; the Family Environment Scale (FES), the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales IV (FACES IV), the Self-report Family Inventory (SFI), and the Family Assessment Device (FAD). Out of 15 indices evaluated, 9 were reliable in both ethnicities including FES cohesion, conflict and organization, SFI emotional expressiveness, conflict and family health/competence, FACES IV family communication and family satisfaction, and FAD general functioning. Perceived family environment characteristics did not differ significantly for inner-city African American and Hispanic families.     

A Personal Construct Approach to Understanding Stress in Mothers of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study explored the contribution of personal construct psychology (PCP) and the repertory grid technique to understanding stress when raising a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Associations between child level of functional impairment, parenting stress, psychological distress, and maternal construing were examined in mothers of 25 children diagnosed with ASD. Results suggest that a personal construct perspective may help delineate factors involved in parent adjustment to ASD.     

Challenging ‘Belief’ and the Evangelical Bias: Student Christianity in English Universities

Abstract

Popular and academic accounts of university-based religion tend to privilege evangelical Christianity, presented as a morally conservative, conversionist movement at odds with university contexts, which are widely assumed to be vehicles for a progressive Western modernity. This is especially the case in the UK, given the association of higher education with secularisation, yet virtually no research has studied this interface by examining the lives of students. This article discusses findings from the three-year project “Christianity and the University Experience in Contemporary England”, including a nation-wide survey of undergraduate students, in examining how the experience of university shapes on-campus expressions of Christian identity. We argue that a sizeable constituency of undergraduates self-identify as ‘Christian’, but evangelicals emerge not as the dominant majority, but as a vocal minority. The emerging internal complexity is masked by a public discourse that conceives of religion in terms of propositional belief and presents evangelicalism as its pre-eminent form.