Effects of occupational future time perspective on managing stressful work situations

According to the socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), older adults perceive their future time as increasingly limited, which motivates them to focus more on emotional goals and prefer passive emotion‐focused strategies. This study aims to investigate the effect of occupational future time perspective (OFTP) on the use of problem‐solving strategies in stressful work situations and to examine the effectiveness of these strategies on psychological well‐being. A sample of 199 Chinese clerical workers responded to a structured questionnaire on problem‐solving strategy use in relation to hypothetical work scenarios. Results revealed that relative to those with limited OFTP, workers with expansive OFTP preferred problem‐focused and proactive strategies in both low‐ and high‐emotionally salient scenarios. Workers with limited OFTP consistently preferred passive strategies irrespective of emotional salience. OFTP moderated the effect of problem‐focused strategies on psychological distress. In particular, there was a significant negative relationship between problem‐focused strategies and psychological distress among workers with expansive OFTP, but such pattern of relationship was not observed among workers with limited OFTP. Findings of this study inform the training strategies employed by practitioners to fit the developmental goals of workers in order to maximise their strengths at work.     

Parent–Child Discrepant Effects on Positive Youth Outcomes at the Aggregate Family Functioning Context in Hong Kong

Prior investigations concerning the influence of parent–child discrepancies in family functioning on child development seldom examined different family functioning components, e.g., parenting and family processes, in a single study, or they predominantly emphasized the negative side of child outcomes, e.g., delinquencies and psychological problems. What’s more, most studies considered parent–child discrepant effects independent of aggregate nature of the family dynamics under study and also did not consider any potential factors’ role in mediating the relationship. To fill in the research gap, a sample of 223 Chinese parent-youth dyads, in which the youth were mainly in their middle and late adolescence as well as young adulthood, was surveyed to examine the effects of parent–child discrepancies in family functioning in terms of effective parenting and positive family processes on the youths’ positive outcomes, i.e., self-control and other perspective taking behavior. In the current study, youth self-concept was included as a mediator, and the aggregate nature of family functioning components was taken into account. Results affirmed the adverse effects of parent–child discrepancies on the two positive youth outcomes directly or indirectly through self-concept. However, these adverse effects are found to be contingent on the aggregate family functioning. Implications and future study directions are also discussed.     

Drink alcohol and dim the lights: The impact of cognitive deficits on medial frontal cortex function

Scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings indicate that regions in the medial frontal cortex (MFC) are active following errors. Alcohol consumption reduces this error-related activity, perhaps suggesting that alcohol disrupts the operation of an error-monitoring system in the MFC. However, it could also be that alcohol consumption affects the MFC only indirectly, by impairing stimulus processing and thus making errors harder to detect. This interpretation leads to the prediction that stimulus degradation should likewise reduce error-related activity in the MFC. To test this hypothesis, behavioral and EEG data were collected as participants performed a speeded response task with either bright or very dim stimuli. The results using dim stimuli replicated the observed effects of alcohol consumption—with slowed responses accompanied by reduced error-related MFC activity. The sensitivity of the MFC to disrupted processing elsewhere in the brain suggests complications in interpreting evidence of disturbed MFC function. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health Conte Center for Neuroscience Research (Grant P50-MH62196 to N.Y.) and by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (to S.N.).     

Constructing sacred space under the forces of the market: A study of an ‘upper-floor’ Protestant church in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, over half of the Protestant churches are located in the upper-floor units in commercial and residential buildings. Because of their physical locations, these churches are sometimes dubbed ‘upper-floor churches’. Unlike those that occupy stand-alone religious buildings or dwell in church-run schools and social service centres, these are often invisible in the landscapes of the city. Through analysis of a case study, this paper aims to explore the spatial practices that a Protestant community has adopted in acquiring, representing, and ritualising a business unit in a residential high-rise for building up their church. Our analysis of the case study shows that in a metropolis like contemporary Hong Kong, the construction of sacred space is full of tensions between utilitarian calculations and concerns of human relations and religious values. While the congregation had been very creative in transforming a commercial unit into a religious site, it did not show much awareness of the oppressive powers of the capitalist market and had a strong tendency to represent its spatial practices as commodities for consumption.     

Development and evaluation of the positive psychology intervention for older adults

Although research suggests that positive psychology intervention can enhance subjective well-being and reduce depression, its effectiveness on older adults remains largely unknown. Therefore the present study aimed to develop and evaluate a custom-tailored positive psychology intervention program for older adults. The program offered nine-week group sessions to 74 older people recruited from district community centers and nursing homes in Hong Kong. The intervention program covers eight themes, including optimism, gratitude, savoring, happiness, curiosity, courage, altruism, and meaning of life. The participants consisted mostly of females aged between 63 and 105?years. One-group pre-test/post-test design was adopted to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention on depression, life satisfaction, gratitude, and happiness. Results revealed that the intervention reduced the number of depressive symptoms and increased the levels of life satisfaction, gratitude, and happiness. Effectiveness of the intervention is discussed in relation to self-awareness, education, self-reinforcement, and sensitivity to age and culture.     

Gender Labels on Gender-Neutral Colors: Do they Affect Children’s Color Preferences and Play Performance?

Gender-typed color preferences are widely documented, and there has been increasing concern that they affect children’s play preferences. However, it is unclear whether such color preferences exist across cultures, how they have emerged, and how gender color-coding affects performance. Chinese preschoolers (n?=?126) aged 59 to 94 months were tested. First, we assessed their gender-typed color preferences using forced-choice tasks with color cards and pictures of neutral toys in gender-typed colors. Second, we tested if gender labels could affect color preferences by labeling two gender-neutral colors as gender-typed and assessed children’s liking for them using a rating task and a forced-choice task with pictures of neutral toys in the labeled colors. Third, we assigned children a tangram puzzle (i.e., a puzzle using geometric pieces) painted either in the gender-appropriate or gender-inappropriate color and measured the number of pieces they completed and their speed. Results showed that Chinese children exhibited the same gender-typed color preferences as Western children did. Moreover, applying gender labels amplified a gender difference in color preferences, thus providing direct and strong evidence for the social-cognitive pathway underlying gender-typed preferences. Finally, color-coding as gender-appropriate or -inappropriate had no impact on performance but the gender labels improved boys’ performance. These results add to knowledge on how gender-related information affects children’s responses to the social world and suggest that the current gender color divide should be reconsidered.     

Developing equivalent Chinese and English scale‐point labels for rating scales used in survey research

Rating scales are the most frequently‐used response tool in surveys, and the scale levels are commonly described with words [verbal scale‐point labels (VSPL)]. In this study, Chinese VSPL were identified which employ five‐point scales that are psychometrically equivalent to English VSPL. In several bilingual studies, a total of 61 Chinese and 44 English items addressing intensity, frequency, and agreement rating modalities were tested. For each VSPL, three aspects were measured: position between minimum and maximum, familiarity, and appeal. The correspondence between pertinent Chinese and English words was also assessed. Based on these findings, we recommend specific VSPL that are best‐suited for achieving equivalence between Chinese and English in rating scales.     

Feeling good: autonomic nervous system responding in five positive emotions

Although dozens of studies have examined the autonomic nervous system (ANS) aspects of negative emotions, less is known about ANS responding in positive emotion. An evolutionary framework was used to define five positive emotions in terms of fitness-enhancing function, and to guide hypotheses regarding autonomic responding. In a repeated measures design, participants viewed sets of visual images eliciting these positive emotions (anticipatory enthusiasm, attachment love, nurturant love, amusement, and awe) plus an emotionally neutral state. Peripheral measures of sympathetic and vagal parasympathetic activation were assessed. Results indicated that the emotion conditions were characterized by qualitatively distinct profiles of autonomic activation, suggesting the existence of multiple, physiologically distinct positive emotions.