Emotional Intelligence and resilience in mental health professionals caring for patients with serious mental illness

Emotional Intelligence (EI) and resilience may be considered as prerequisites for mental health professionals caring for patients with serious mental illness (SMI), since they are often exposed to severe emotional stress during daily work. Accordingly, this cross-sectional study assessed both EI and resilience and their interrelationship in 61 individuals belonging to an assertive outreach team for patients suffering from SMI compared 61 control subjects without healthcare-related working conditions. EI was assessed by means of the German version of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso-Emotional-Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), resilience was assessed using the German version of the Resilience Scale. Both groups showed an average level of EI in all categories of the MSCEIT and indicated high levels of resilience. They did not differ significantly from each other, neither in terms of EI nor resilience. Correlation analysis revealed a positive association between EI and resilience, albeit small in magnitude. Our results suggest that mental health professionals are not more resilient and therefore not more ‘protected’ from stressors than the general population. Though this finding warrants cautious interpretation, the positive correlation between EI and resilience suggests that EI may be a potential target for education and training in order to strengthen resilience even in healthy individuals and vice versa.     

A Gospel of Prosperity? An Analysis of the Relationship Between Religion and Earned Income in Ghana,the Most Religious Country in the World*

This study tests for a relationship between religious affiliation and earned income in Ghana. While microeconomic analyses have studied the relationship between religion and several socioeconomic outcomes in the United States, remarkably few have done so in developing countries, and none has explored the religion‐earnings relationship. Using the fifth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey from 2005 to 2006, we find that, among women, religious denomination correlates with earned income. Specifically, Spiritualists, Pentecostals, and Methodists earn higher income than the Presbyterian base group, while Traditionalists earn less. This article investigates the relationship and posits some of its causes, including the influence of a trend in neo‐Pentecostal religious groups that emphasizes wealth accumulation and self‐confidence.     

The Style Troika Model: A Structural Model of the Thinking and Creating Styles Scale

Individuals express their creativity through a variety of thinking and creating styles (Wechsler, 2006, 2007). These constructs underlie the Thinking and Creating Styles Scale (TCSS), which is used to identify individuals' creating styles. The aim of this research is to assess the factorial structure of the Portuguese version of the TCSS. Two studies were performed using 414 and 369 Portuguese participants with mean ages of 29.25 and 29.35 years, respectively. Study 1 consisted of an exploratory factor analysis that yielded a three‐factor solution. Study 2 consisted of a confirmatory factor analysis used to test the fit and compare the suitability of several factorial solutions. The three‐factor model (Non‐Conforming/Transformer, Cautious/Reflexive, and Logical/Objective) with the best statistical fit was called the Troika Model. In this model, each factor had five items and showed good and acceptable indices of fit. This new three‐factor structure results in a more efficient and attractive version of the TCSS: the Creating and Thinking Styles‐Troika Scale (CTS‐TS). Future studies should use the CTS‐TS and other creativity assessment instruments to explore the creativity level and style dichotomy.     

System‐justifying behaviors: When feeling dependent on a system triggers gender stereotype‐consistent academic performance

Based on system‐justification theory, we hypothesized that men and women would perform in accordance with gender stereotypes mainly when justification of the system is necessary. In this research, system‐justification motivation was triggered using a system‐dependency manipulation. Study 1 shows that when feeling highly (vs. less) dependent on the system, people endorsed system‐justifying beliefs more. In Study 2, men performed better in math than in verbal domains, while women showed the reverse pattern, but only when they felt highly dependent on the system. Similar results were obtained on performance self‐evaluation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Historical trends in counsellor education dissertations

There exists a dearth of literature on the content, research method and research design trends of dissertations in education. Within one large subfield of education (i.e. counsellor education), an online and full-text archive of dissertations has become available. This archive contains over 200 dissertations produced in Oregon State University’s Counselling Academic Unit from 1947 to 2014. Research questions concerning decadal differences in content, research method and research design were examined empirically. No decadal differences were discovered in the three aforementioned areas. Reasons for these findings were discussed.     

How do people respond to health news? The role of personality traits

When a patient receives a health diagnosis, their response (e.g. changes in behaviour, seeking support) can have significant consequences for long-term health and well-being. Characteristics of health news are known to influence these responses, but personality traits have been omitted from this line of research. The current study examines the role of personality traits in predicting response to health news. Participants (N = 298) read scenarios in which they received health news that was manipulated to vary in severity, controllability and likelihood of outcomes. Participants then rated how likely they were to engage in a number of response behaviours. We examined the main effects and interaction of situational manipulations and personality traits on ratings of these behaviours. Both situations and personality traits influenced behavioural responses to health events. In particular, conscientiousness predicted taking action and seeking social support. Neuroticism predicted both maladaptive and adaptive behavioural responses, providing support for the ‘healthy neurotic’ hypothesis. Moreover, personality traits predicted best in weak (unlikely, controllable) situations. Both personality traits and situational characteristics contribute to behavioural responses to health news.     

The Interplay of Self‐Certainty and Prosocial Development in the Transition from Late Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood

The transition from late adolescence to emerging adulthood is a period of the life span that offers young people the possibility to consolidate their self‐certainty and prosociality. Both aspects are of core importance for increasing personal and societal well‐being. The purpose of this longitudinal study was twofold: (i) to examine patterns of change and stability in self‐concept clarity and prosociality; and (ii) to unravel over time associations between these constructs in the transition from late adolescence to emerging adulthood. In addressing both aims, we explored the moderating effects of gender. Participants were 244 Dutch emerging adults (46% male; mean age at T1 = 16.73 years) who completed six waves of data collection (mean age at T6 = 22.7 years). Findings highlighted that (i) self‐concept clarity developed nonlinearly, with an initial decline from T1 to T2 followed by an increase thereafter, while prosociality increased linearly over time and both self‐concept clarity and prosociality were characterized by high rank‐order consistency; (ii) self‐concept clarity and prosociality were positively related over time, with the effect of prosociality on self‐concept clarity being stronger than the reciprocal effect of self‐concept clarity on prosociality. Gender differences were detected in mean levels of self‐concept clarity and prosociality (male participants reported higher self‐concept clarity and lower prosociality than female participants) but not in their developmental pathways nor in their reciprocal associations. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Positive psychology in context: Effects of expressing gratitude in ongoing relationships depend on perceptions of enactor responsiveness

Recent correlational evidence implicates gratitude in personal and relational growth, for both members of ongoing relationships. From these observations, it would be tempting to prescribe interpersonal gratitude exercises to improve relationships. In this experiment, couples were randomly assigned to express gratitude over a month, or to a relationally active control condition. Results showed modest effects of condition on personal and relational well-being. However, those whose partners were perceived as being particularly responsive when expressing gratitude at the initial lab session showed greater well-being across a range of outcomes, whereas this was not so for people in the control condition. Notably, evidence raises concerns about the effectiveness of artificial injections of gratitude when the partner is perceived to be low in responsiveness. Given the importance of close relationships, this work highlights the need for more theory-driven basic research tested in context before assuming what appears to work naturally will also work artificially.     

Humor-based online positive psychology interventions: A randomized placebo-controlled long-term trial

While correlational evidence exists that humor is positively associated with well-being, only few studies addressed causality. We tested the effects of five humor-based activities on happiness and depression in a placebo-controlled, self-administered online positive psychology intervention study (N = 632 adults). All of the five one-week interventions enhanced happiness, three for up to six months (i.e. three funny things, applying humor, and counting funny things), whereas there were only short-term effects on depression (all were effective directly after the intervention). Additionally, we tested the moderating role of indicators of a person × intervention-fit and identified early changes in well-being and preference (liking of the intervention) as the most potent indicators for changes six months after the intervention. Overall, we were able to replicate existing work, but also extend knowledge in the field by testing newly developed interventions for the first time. Findings are discussed with respect to the current literature.