Validation of a Coping Scale in an African Context

The research aims were to compile and validate a multi-dimensional coping measure, taking African-centred coping behaviour into consideration. In a pilot study the Setswana-COPE (S-COPE) and the Africultural Coping Systems Inventory (ACSI) were administered to Setswana-speaking participants (N = 274). Selected items from these measures were combined into a single 35-item measure, the N-COPE, which was administered to another group of Setswana-speaking participants (N = 1050) together with a number of measures of psychological well-being. Reliability coefficients yielded a Cronbach alpha of.74 for the N-COPE total. Criterion-related validity was determined by correlating the N-COPE with other measures of psychological well-being. It was concluded that the N-COPE showed promising results for use in this context, but further refinement and validation is necessary.     

Associations between psychological characteristics and indicators of metabolic syndrome among Chinese adults

Current knowledge about the relationship between psychological characteristics and metabolic syndrome (MetS) components is limited in Asian populations. The purpose of this study is to investigate linkages between physiological markers of MetS and life satisfaction, hostility, and depression in Chinese adults. Secondary analyses were conducted using cross-sectional data from parents of randomly selected middle school students participating in a pilot study in Qingdao, China. Among 440 parents who consented to participate (237 women, 203 men), 368 provided valid responses in all three categories of psychological characteristics, and only those subjects were included in these analyses. General linear models and logistic regressions were run separately by gender, controlling for covariates. Among women, life satisfaction was inversely associated with triglyceride levels (p = .04), LDL-C (p < .01), risk of hypertriglyceridemia (OR[.53], p < .01), HDL-C (OR[.78], p = .03), and MetS (OR[.52], p = .03). No associations were found between life satisfaction and any psychological characteristics among men. Among women, hostility was positively associated with triglyceride level (p = .04) and risk of hypertriglyceridemia (OR[2.12], p < .05). Among men, hostility was positively associated with waist circumference (p = .04), waist-hip ratio (p < .05), and fasting plasma insulin (p < .01). Depression was not associated with any physiological measurement in either gender. These findings indicate that relationships exist between certain psychological characteristics and physiological indicators of MetS among Chinese adults, although there may be important differences between genders.     

Attitude similarity and attraction: Validation,positive affect,and trust as sequential mediators

Effectance motivation—an urge for certainty and a feeling of being able to know, predict, and control one's environment—was initially proposed as the mechanism underlying attitude similarity effects on attraction. However, this motivation was discarded as an explanation when positive affect was identified. The presence of alternative mechanisms did not deny a role for the validation of attitudes in attraction. Therefore, we investigated the validation of one's views by those of peers as an additional mediator and its relation with two previously known mediators of positive affect and trust. As hypothesized, validation mediated attitude similarity effects when measured alone (Experiment 1) and within sequential mediation patterns involving positive affect (Experiment 2A) and trust (Experiments 2B and 2C).     

Attachment, borderline personality, and romantic relationship dysfunction

Previous studies have implicated attachment and disturbances in romantic relationships as important indicators for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The current research extends our current knowledge by examining the specific associations among attachment, romantic relationship dysfunction, and BPD, above and beyond the contribution of emotional distress and nonromantic interpersonal functioning in two distinct samples. Study 1 comprised a community sample of women (N = 58) aged 25-36. Study 2 consisted of a psychiatric sample (N = 138) aged 21-60. Results from both Study 1 and Study 2 demonstrated that (1) attachment was specifically related to BPD symptoms and romantic dysfunction, (2) BPD symptoms were specifically associated with romantic dysfunction, and (3) the association between attachment and romantic dysfunction was statistically mediated by BPD symptoms. The findings support specific associations among attachment, BPD symptoms, and romantic dysfunction.     

Evaluation of the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute Clinical Psychology Internship: a replication and extension

This study extends three earlier investigations involving participants who completed their predoctoral clinical psychology internship at the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute. Intern graduates (N = 37) evaluated how effectively their internship training prepared them for seven aspects of their current work as practicing psychologists. Participants also rated the relevancy of 24 different internship training experiences to their current work and how much these experiences contributed to their development as clinical psychologists. The present study, in conjunction with the three previous studies, covers most of the 40-year period since the inception of the internship program. Analysis of the current data indicates the internship has improved over time and was deemed an exceptional training experience by its graduates. Findings may be of particular interest to internship directors and faculty interested in improving their training program and those who plan to conduct a self-study to maintain their accreditation for clinical psychology internship.     

Using network science to analyze concept maps of psychology undergraduates

Network science is an emerging area of complexity science that uses mathematical techniques to study complex systems and could represent a new way of quantifying and investigating the internal structure of domain‐specific knowledge as approximated by students' concept maps. Students enrolled in introductory psychology constructed concept maps to represent their understanding of a psychology chapter. Concept networks were constructed based on the concept maps generated by students. Network analysis revealed that the structure of concept networks differed across students (i.e., some networks were better connected than others), and network structure significantly predicted quiz scores, such that concept networks with larger average shortest path lengths (a network metric representing the average of the shortest paths between two nodes in a network) were associated with higher quiz scores, after controlling for network size. This paper illustrates how network science techniques can be used to quantify the conceptual structure of a learner's knowledge.     

What’s in the name? Categorical perception for unfamiliar faces can occur through labeling

The conditions under which categorical perception (CP) occurs for unfamiliar faces are unclear. Although CP is generally found only for familiar faces, it has been reported for unfamiliar faces after brief training (Levin & Beale, 2000) or even without any learning of the original faces (Campanella, Hanoteau, Seron, Joassin, & Bruyer, 2003). Three experiments investigated whether CP can be observed for an unfamiliar morphed face continuum without preexposure to the endpoints of the continuum (Experiment 1); with brief exposure to the endpoints (Experiment 2); or with exposure to named endpoints (Experiment 3). CP was always observed for matched pairs of famous faces. However, CP for unfamiliar faces was induced only when participants observed names paired with the endpoint faces before the start of the experiment. The results suggest that CP effects for unfamiliar faces can be observed extremely rapidly when clear category labels are presented.     

Individual differences in negative affect repair

The extant literature implicates affect repair ability as one source of individual differences in negative affect. Emerging from this literature are three regulatory traits that should predict repair ability (negative mood regulation expectancies, monitoring, labeling), yet no experimental examination of this possibility exists. Two studies explored this issue. Participants (Ns=305, 146) watched negative affect-inducing videos and completed a repair or control writing task, before and after which they reported their affect. Results revealed wide individual differences in repair ability. Specifically, participants with high expectancies of repair success and those who attend to and understand their affect experienced the largest decreases in negative affect and largest increases in positive affect following the repair tasks. These findings advance understanding of individual differences in affect regulation and have implications for future research.     

Sustaining work force inclusion and well-being of mothers on public assistance: Individual deficit and social ecology perspectives

This study compared theoretical perspectives on the psychological and paid labor activity implications of mandating mothers initially on US welfare to participate in labor force activities. Data were collected that reflected these areas: government public policy interventions, family social ecology measures, mother’s psychological and human capital, and community capital. A quasi-experimental design was used, and multiple source data was collected over time. In the initial part of the study, 144 welfare mothers and one of their children between 9 and 13 years were interviewed. Results indicated that having high levels of individual human and psychological capital and lower levels of family social ecological barriers predicted higher levels of maternal paid labor market activity and psychological well-being. Using archival records, additional analyses involved a 32-month review of state records for nearly 1200 mothers initially on welfare. Results revealed that the lower one’s initial capital—either educational (lacking GED or high school diploma) or community-based (residents spending a high percentage of gross income on rent), the greater one’s economic dependence on public welfare, regardless of whether one was assigned to a welfare to work program or to a control group. Thus, mandating labor market activity as a government public policy was not effective as an isolated strategy to uphold employability over time. These results suggest that employers and government leaders need to provide individual human capital and community capital investments to sustain work force inclusion of low-income mothers.     

Y haplogroups and aggressive behavior in a Pakistani ethnic group

Studies show that personality dimensions such as aggression are influenced by genetic factors and that allelic variants located on the Y chromosome influence such behavior. We investigated polymorphisms on the male-specific region of the human Y chromosome in 156 unrelated males from the same ethnic background, who were administered the Punjabi translation of the Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire that measures four aspects that constitute aggressive behavior, i.e. physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility. A value of .85 for Cronbach's coefficient alpha indicates considerable internal consistency and suggests that the psychometric properties of the aggression questionnaire can be adapted for the Pakistani population. A mean score+/-SD of 69.70+/-19.95 was obtained for the questionnaire. Each individual was genotyped following a phylogenetic hierarchical approach to define evolutionary Y haplogroups. Five Y haplogroups that are commonly found in Eurasia and Pakistan comprised 87% (n=136) of the population sample, with one haplogroup, R1a1, constituting 55% of the sampled population. A comparison of the total and four subscale mean scores across the five common Y haplogroups that were present at a frequency > or =3% in this ethnic group revealed no overall significant differences. However, effect-size comparisons allowed us to detect an association of the haplogroups R2 (Cohen's d statistic=.448-.732) and R1a1 (d=.107-.448) with lower self-reported aggression mean scores in this population.