Assessing group-level participation in fluid teams: testing a new metric

Participation is an important factor in team success. We propose a new metric of participation equality that provides an unbiased estimate across groups of different sizes and across those that change size over time. Using 11 h of transcribed utterances from informal, fluid, colocated workgroup meetings, we compared the associations of this metric with coded equality of participation and standard deviation. While coded participation and our metric had similar patterns of findings, standard deviation had a somewhat different pattern, suggesting that it might lead to incorrect assessments with fluid teams. Exploratory analyses suggest that, as compared with mixed-age/status groups, groups of younger faculty had more equal participation and that the presence of negative affect words was associated with more dominated participation. Future research can take advantage of this new metric to further theory on team processes in both face-to-face and distributed settings.     

Developmental changes in the control of saccadic eye movements in response to directional eye gaze and arrows

We investigated developmental differences in oculomotor control between 10-year-old children and adults using a central interference task. In this task, the colour of a fixation point instructed participants to saccade either to the left or to the right. These saccade directions were either congruent or incongruent with two types of distractor cue: either the direction of eye gaze of a centrally presented schematic face, or the direction of arrows. Children had greater difficulties inhibiting the distractor cues than did adults, which revealed itself in longer saccade latencies for saccades that were incongruent with the distractor cues as well as more errors on these incongruent trials than on congruent trials. Counter to our prediction, in terms of saccade latencies, both children and adults had greater difficulties inhibiting the arrow than the eye gaze distractors.     

Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Profiles of Male Veterans With Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; L. C. Morey, 1991) is a promising tool for the assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but few studies have examined the PAI profiles of individuals with the diagnosis. In this study, the PAI was administered to 176 combat veterans with PTSD. Results showed significant elevations on scales measuring depression, somatic complaints, anxiety, anxiety-related disorders, schizophrenia, and negative impression management. The Traumatic Stress subscale was the highest point in the mean score profile and was moderately correlated with several established measures of PTSD. Veterans with and without comorbid major depression differed on PAI scales assessing depression, anxiety, and warmth. Analysis of two-point codetypes for the PAI and the MMPI-2 revealed substantial heterogeneity in symptom endorsement on both instruments, suggesting that there may be no clear PTSD profile on either instrument. Results provide a reference point for future work with the PAI in PTSD samples.     

PTSD and substance-related problems: the mediating roles of disconstraint and negative emotionality

The authors examined competing hypotheses regarding the role of 2 personality dimensions, disconstraint and negative emotionality, in mediating the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity and substance-related problems. Data were drawn from a large sample of male Vietnam veterans. The best-fitting structural model included significant indirect paths from PTSD to both alcohol- and drug-related outcomes through disconstraint, and a significant indirect path from PTSD to alcohol-related problems through negative emotionality. There were no direct effects of PTSD on either substance-related outcome. These findings indicate distinct pathways to different forms of substance-related problems in PTSD and underscore the role of personality in mediating these relationships.     

Are mergers always stressful? Some evidence from the higher education sector

The disappointing outcomes of many mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been increasingly attributed to the neglect and mismanagement of human aspects of the activity and the stressful and dysfunctional impact that such change events have on the employees involved (Cartwright & Cooper, 1996 Cartwright, S. and Cooper, C. L. 1996. Managing mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances: Integrating people and cultures, Oxford, , UK: Butterworth Heinemann.  [Google Scholar]). M&As in the Higher Education sector are less common than corporate M&As and have received rather less attention. This study considers the experiences of employees involved in the merger of two UK universities. It highlights the stressful potential of the premerger period and the positive role of consultation and involvement.     

Broaching the Subjects of Race,Ethnicity, and Culture During the Counseling Process

The authors define broaching as the counselor's ability to consider how sociopolitical factors such as race influence the client's counseling concerns. The counselor must learn to recognize the cultural meaning clients attach to phenomena and to subsequently translate that cultural knowledge into meaningful practice that facilitates client empowerment, strengthens the therapeutic alliance, and enhances counseling outcomes. A continuum of broaching behavior is described, and parallels are drawn between the progression of broaching behavior and the counselor's level of racial identity functioning.