A Study of Suicide and Socioeconomic Factors

The topic of suicide has long been an important socioeconomic issue studied in many countries. Suicides inject an atmosphere of unrest into society, and media attention furthers that social uneasiness. From the viewpoint of economics and management, suicide is a waste of human resource: it decreases the labor force in society and deteriorates human capital. This paper provides a series of analyses of suicide rate based on theoretical reasoning and empirical approaches. Aggregate data from G7 countries are obtained and stacked into panel data for analysis. Data are collected for different age groups. Even though suicide issues have been extensively discussed in the past, newly developed econometric tools are applied to her. Beyond previously recognized relationships between economic factors and suicide rates findings include that unemployment strikes men more than women in terms of psychological pressure: for middle age or older women, unemployment may even be positive for the entire family; and female labor force participation exerts pressure on male counterparts and increases its suicide rate. As a result, a low income family with an unemployed man and an employed woman is at high risk for adult male suicide.     

Indigenous measures of personality assessment in Asian countries: a review

This article reviews attempts to develop multidimensional personality measures in Asia and their applications in clinical assessment. Indigenous personality assessment measures in India, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan are examined. These early attempts have not yielded a comprehensive personality measure that integrates a theoretical framework and an empirical program of validation. The Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI) is cited as an example to illustrate the process of developing an indigenous measure that meets the testing standards of established assessment instruments. On the basis of the research findings from the CPAI, the authors discuss the relevance of indigenous measures in clinical assessment in native cultures as well as in informing mainstream personality assessment.     

重复知盲:刺激呈现时间及作业对反应时的影响

本研究用汉字材料及反应时的数据来探讨重复知盲现象及有关机制。在实验一中,被试必须判断快速连续呈现的两个字究竟是否包含两个或是只有一个动物字。结果显示在７０毫秒时,有重复知盲现象（重复动物字组比非重复动物字组的反应时为长）;在１００毫秒时则无;另外,在２００毫秒时则有重复启动现象产生（重复动物字组比非重复动物字组的反应时为短）。实验二采用同样的材料及呈现方法,但被试只需要判断以７０毫秒呈现之实验材料中的第二个字是否动物字。结果发现类似重复启动的现象,这些结果显示,呈现时间与作业是决定重复刺激究竟造成知盲或启动效应的重要因素。本文另外还讨论本研究的方法与结果对了解重复刺激心理加工的可能贡献。     

The COVID-19 threat and luxury advertising

The purpose of this research is to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the luxury goods industry. The authors hypothesize that pandemic threats drive consumers toward luxury consumption to increase their perceptions of control. The article reports results of three experimental studies conducted in the United States. In Study 1, after participants read an article about COVID-19, they respond favorably to an advertisement for a luxury brand. The comparative control participants read an article about a tofu dish and respond less favorably to the luxury advertisement. Study 2 provides further evidence that perceived control acts as a mediator, while ruling out alternative explanations. Study 3 indicates that threat evokes luxury preferences only when advertisements for both luxury and nonluxury products use abstract messages, as opposed to concrete messages. The findings provide practical insights showing that the most effective advertising strategy for luxury brand managers is to use abstract rather than concrete messages for targeting consumers who feel highly threatened by COVID-19.     

Estimating the polychoric correlation from misclassified data

Many variables that are used in social and behavioural science research are ordinal categorical or polytomous variables. When more than one polytomous variable is involved in an analysis, observations are classified in a contingency table, and a commonly used statistic for describing the association between two variables is the polychoric correlation. This paper investigates the estimation of the polychoric correlation when the data set consists of misclassified observations. Two approaches for estimating the polychoric correlation have been developed. One assumes that the probabilities in relation to misclassification are known, and the other uses a double sampling scheme to obtain information on misclassification. A parameter estimation procedure is developed, and statistical properties for the estimates are discussed. The practicability and applicability of the proposed approaches are illustrated by analysing data sets that are based on real and generated data. Excel programmes with visual basic for application (VBA) have been developed to compute the estimate of the polychoric correlation and its standard error. The use of the structural equation modelling programme Mx to find parameter estimates in the double sampling scheme is discussed.     

香港中学生人格特质的性别差异及其发展性分析

本文报告了新近发展的跨文化（中国人）个性测量表－青少年版（CPAI-A）对香港中学生人格特征的性别差异评估结果。CPAI-A是在CPAI-2（成人版）基础上发展而来的。研究发现性别是影响香港中学生人格特质的关键因素,并且性别差异在不同年龄组之间存在明显的延续性和发展性趋势。结合对已有研究的比较分析,文章从发展角度讨论了人格特质的性别差异特性在青少年不同年龄组之间的情形。文章还基于CPAI-2中国人常模的数据,比较分析了青少年与成人之间人格特征性别差异的特点。文章最后认为性别差异特征是体现人格特质在青少年期的不同年龄阶段,以及从青少年到成人阶段的发展性与稳定性的重要内容     

Socialized reflexivity and self‐exertion: Mandala Model of Self and its role in mental health

The Mandala Model of Self (MMS) refers to the well‐functioning self leading to ultimate happiness in various cultures. This research provides the first empirical examination of the role of MMS in mental health in Confucian societies. The MMS Scale (MMSS) was developed, and its psychometric properties are described. A correlational study demonstrated that the MMSS, along with its two factors—socialized reflexivity and self‐exertion—validly measures certain mental health constructs. A quasi‐experimental study reliably distinguished persons engaged in the cultivation of the Mandala self from those who had not. Finally, a study with adolescents demonstrated that the scores of the MMSS are a better predictor of resilience than is extroversion or neuroticism. The present research provides empirical support for the theory underlying the MMS and its key contribution to mental health.     

An epidemiological study on work and family stress among Chinese in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, with a population of over six million in a modern city, has been shown to be a very stressful place to live in. However, epidemiological data from a big-scale study in this regard are lacking. The present territory-wide survey, from a sample representative of the general population, was aimed to investigate the work and family stress of Chinese adults in the community with respect to the impact on their psychological well-being. The psychosocial context was considered as an important source of stress. The results showed that coping with work demands and rearing children were reported as the highest stress responses. Moreover, workers in Hong Kong took an instrumental attitude, i.e., one emphasizing material rewards, in order to reduce the job stress arising from interpersonal conflicts in the workplace.     

兼顾文化共通性与特殊性的人格研究：CPAI及其跨文化应用

本文在回顾华人社会人格研究与评估发展以及“跨文化(中国人)个性测量表(CPAI)”的研究与应用历程基础上, 比较了CPAI-2 (Form B)不同语言版本(包括中文版、英文版、韩文版、日文版)的跨文化应用结果。多种文化中的研究结果支持了CPAI的跨文化信度和效度。同时, CPAI在本土和跨文化应用研究中, 还从理论与实践的双重视角, 强调与支持了“兼顾文化共通性与特殊性的(etic-emic)人格研究方法”在人格评估领域的重要性。这也促使国内外相关领域研究者开始思考, 如何使用兼顾文化共通性与特殊性的人格研究方法以进一步推动人格心理学的研究。