Application of Hellison's Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model in physical education to improve self-efficacy for adolescents at risk of dropping-out of school

This study evaluated improvement in self-efficacy and personal and social responsibility among at-risk of dropping-out of school adolescents participating in a program in which Hellison's Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model was applied in physical education classes during the course of an academic year. Thirty at-risk adolescents aged 13-14 years old (23 boys, 7 girls) were assigned to an intervention group (12 boys and 3 girls) or a comparison group (11 boys, 4 girls), the latter of which did not participate in the program. Quantitative results showed a significant improvement in the students' self-efficacy for enlisting social resources and in self-efficacy for self-regulated learning. Qualitative results showed an improvement in responsibility behaviors of participants in the intervention group. This suggests that the model could be effective for improving psychological and social development in at-risk adolescents, and that physical education classes may be an appropriate arena for working with these young people.     

The role of working memory in the association between number magnitude and space

In two experiments, participants performed a magnitude comparison task in single and dual-task conditions. In the dual conditions, the comparison task was accomplished while phonological or visuospatial information had to be maintained for a later recall test. The results showed that the requirement of maintaining visuospatial information produced the lack of spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect. The SNARC effect was not found even when the performance in the comparison task did not decline, as indicated by a similar distance effect in all conditions. These results show a special role for the visuospatial component of working memory in the processing of spatial representation of numbers and an interesting dissociation between SNARC and distance effects.     

The job involvement modulating role in the relationship between stress and job satisfaction

This paper analyzes the modulator role of job involvement in the relationship between stress and job satisfaction, using the OSI (Occupational Stress Indicator) model. For this purpose, we analyzed: six sources of stress, the OSI job satisfaction results, and a job involvement scale. The sample consisted of 779 professional soldiers from the Spanish Army. The results show that when the levels of the two dimensions job involvement (psychological identification and job-related feelings of duty-obligation are high, stress due to achievements and career development and social relationships will have no influence on job satisfaction. However, we found higher job satisfaction, even when stress is high, in those situations where psychological identification is low and job-related feelings of duty-obligation are high.     

Youth sport dropout from the achievement goal theory

This study examined dropout behavior, using the conceptual framework of achievement goal theory. We hypothesized that dropout could be predicted by a high ego-oriented goal disposition in combination with a low perception of personal skill and the perception that the coach and sport peers maintained ego-oriented sport success criteria. The participants were 134 adolescent athletes involved in high-level competitive sports participation. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) supported these hypotheses. Furthermore, the variables that directly predicted sport dropout were the participant's ego orientation (positively) and perception of skill (negatively). These findings and the research prospects are discussed.     

Functional links of obsessive,dysmorphic, hypochondriac,and eating-disorders related mental intrusions

Background/Objective

Unwanted mental intrusions (UMIs) are the normal variants of obsessions in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), preoccupations about defects in Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), images about illness in Hypochondriasis (HYP), and thoughts about eating in Eating Disorders (EDs). The aim was to examine the similarities and differences in the functional links of four UMI contents, adopting a within-subject perspective. Method: 438 university students and community participants (M_age = 29.84, SD = 11.41; 70.54% women) completed the Questionnaire of Unpleasant Intrusive Thoughts (QUIT) to assess the functional links (emotions, appraisals, and neutralizing/control strategies) of the most upsetting UMIs with OCD, BDD, HYP and EDs-contents. Results: HYP-related intrusions caused the highest emotional impact, OCD-related intrusions were the most interfering, and EDs-related intrusions interfered the least. The four UMI were equally ego-dystonic. Women appraised OCD-related intrusions more dysfunctionally, but men appraised the four intrusive contents similarly. All UMI instigated the urge to “do something”, to keep them under control and/or neutralizing them. Conclusions: Similarities among the functional links of intrusions related to OCD, BDD, HYP and EDs contents support their transdiagnostic nature and they might contribute to understanding common factors in these disorders.     

Anticipated emotions and personal experience for predicting behavioral intentions and behavioral expectations

We tested how anticipated emotions interact with personal experience in risk behavior to improve predictions from TPB on behavioral intention (BI) and behavioral expectation (BE) for sex without condom (Study 1) and excessive drinking (Study 2). In the moderate-high experience group, anticipated emotional profiles (AEPs) improve TPB prediction from 28% to 45% in the case of BI and from 19% to 40% in that of BE in relation to sexual risk behavior (Study 1), and from 23% to 36% in the case of BI and from 17% to 31% in that of BE in relation to binge drinking (Study 2). However, in the low-experience group (Study 2) AEPs improve TPB predictions for BI (12% to 34%) but not for BE, showing that in less experienced people BI and BE are not equivalent: anticipated emotions have different relevance in their prediction. These results were replicated using a general negative anticipated emotion index (averaging emotional categories).     

The use of partial information on weights in multicriteria decision problems

This paper addresses multicriteria decision problems in which only partial information is given in the decision-making process. We generalize existing results about preference relations induced by nonnegative inverse matrices, allowing linear relations on weights with upper and lower bounds. In addition we develop conditions for additional information that preserve the special properties studied and show how to incorporate the new information to the model. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotional ambivalence in risk behaviors: the case of occasional excessive use of alcohol

The purpose of this paper is to study the differential and complementary role played by the theory of planned behavior (TPB) variables and by participants' emotions when recalling and describing previous experiences of such risk behavior in the prediction of the intention to repeat a risk behavior in the immediate future. We chose the behavior of occasional excessive drinking, a risk behavior characterized by evoking attitudinal ambivalence and eliciting mixed emotions, joy and sadness. The results show that emotional ambivalence is not equivalent to attitudinal ambivalence (whose indexes include that of the affective component), and that this emotional information is relevant for predicting the intention to repeat the risk behavior in the near future, enhancing the prediction of the TPB model.     

Facilitation and interference in the color-naming task

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the phonological activation of the name of pictures when participants had to name the color in which these pictures were depicted. In Experiment 1, participants named the color of pictures whose names and color names shared the phonological beginning (phonologically related condition), the color of pictures whose names and color names did not share phonology (phonologically unrelated condition), and the color of abstract forms (neutral condition). A facilitatory effect was obtained, so participants were faster in the related condition than in the unrelated condition. However, naming latencies were similar in the neutral condition and the unrelated condition. In Experiment 2, the unrelated condition was replaced by a phonologically incongruent condition in which the name of the picture was phonologically unrelated to its color name but related to the name of other response color names. The results showed again a facilitatory effect when the related condition was compared with the incongruent condition. Importantly, an interference effect was also observed, so naming latencies were longer in the incongruent condition than in the neutral condition. These results are discussed in terms of language production models.     

Job insecurity in the younger Spanish workforce: Causes and consequences

The Spanish labor market is currently an example of a flexible labor market. However, it involves a set of detrimental conditions for its workforce, such as lower employability in the labor market and underemployment (i.e. over-qualification and underemployment in time). In this study, we assume that all these conditions promote higher job instability, which is especially serious for the younger population. Hence, the present study aims to examine, on the one hand, how these specific labor conditions affect younger employees' concerns about job loss or job insecurity and, on the other, how this job insecurity can affect their current job performance and the future development of their career. The study sample was composed of 3000 Spanish younger employees. Results showed a significant relationship between employability and underemployment and job insecurity, as well as a significant association between job insecurity and work involvement. Indeed, the relationship between employability and underemployment and work involvement was mediated by job insecurity. Lowemployable, overqualified and temporary young workers experience higher levels of job insecurity, which, in turn, negatively affects their work involvement.