Reciprocal relations between workplace bullying,anxiety, and vigor: a two-wave longitudinal study

Background and Objectives: Workplace bullying has been classified as an extreme social stressor in work contexts and has been repeatedly linked to several negative consequences. However, little research has examined reversed or reciprocal relations of bullying and outcomes. Design: We conducted a two-wave longitudinal study with a time lag of six months. Methods: The study sample consisted of 348 employees of the Spanish workforce. The present study examined longitudinal relationships between workplace bullying, psychological health, and well-being. On the basis of conservation of resources theory, we hypothesized that we would find reciprocal relations among study variables over time. Results: Results of cross-lagged structural equation modeling analyses supported our hypotheses. Specifically, it was found that Time 1 (T1) workplace bullying was negatively related to Time 2 (T2) vigor and positively related to T2 anxiety. Additionally, T1 anxiety and vigor had an effect on T2 workplace bullying. Conclusions: Overall, these findings support the validity of the theoretical models postulating a reciprocal bullying–outcome relationship, rather than simple one-way causal pathways approaches.     

Entry and Emergent Agendas of Adults Visiting an Aquarium in Family Groups

ABSTRACT

Understanding visitors' agendas is important in providing insights about learning experiences in informal settings, particularly if we consider learning to be both a product (what they learn) and a process (how they learn it). Accordingly, a handful of studies have investigated the impact of visitors' agendas on learning. However, little attention has been directed to investigating the impact of individual and collective agendas on the nature of the visit experience for the adult members of family groups, or the dynamics and evolution of these agendas during and after a visit to an informal setting. This article examines the roles that personal agendas play in shaping and framing the aquarium experiences of the adult members of 13 family groups visiting the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre in Canada. It explores the dynamic and changing character of entry and emergent agendas within the family group context and the factors that constitute and shape such agendas. The roles of these agendas in the overall on-site learning experience of the adult members of the participating family groups, and the longitudinal impact of the aquarium visit are further discussed.     

Gender Differences in the Relations among Patriarchal Beliefs,Parenting, and Teen Relationship Violence in Mexican Adolescents

Teen relationship violence is a global phenomenon associated with adverse outcomes. As in other countries, teen relationship violence is of concern in Mexico. However, few studies have examined the risk and protective factors of teen relationship violence among Mexican adolescents. This study examined whether patriarchal beliefs and exposure to authoritarian parenting among Mexican adolescents are associated with perpetration and victimization of physical and verbal-emotional teen relationship violence. Two hundred and four students (15–18 years old) from Monterrey, Mexico, completed questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analyses controlling for age revealed that among girls, authoritarian parenting was associated with physical and verbal-emotional victimization and verbal-emotional violence perpetration. Among boys, higher endorsement of patriarchal beliefs was associated with lower reports of physical perpetration and physical victimization.     

Cognitive Factors in Fibromyalgia: The Role of Self-Concept and Identity Related Conflicts

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by the presence of diffuse and chronic musculoskeletal pain of unknown etiology. Clinical diagnosis and the merely palliative treatments considerably affect the patient's experience and the chronic course of the disease. Therefore, several authors have emphasized the need to explore issues related to self in these patients. The repertory grid technique (RGT), derived from personal construct theory, is a method designed to assess the patient's construction of self and others. A group of women with fibromyalgia (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30) were assessed using RGT. Women with fibromyalgia also completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and a visual-analogue scale for pain, and painful tender points were explored. Results suggest that these women had a higher present self–ideal self discrepancy and a lower perceived adequacy of others, and it was more likely to find implicative dilemmas among them compared to controls. These dilemmas are a type of cognitive conflict in which the symptom is construed as “enmeshed” with positive characteristics of the self. Finally, implications of these results for the psychological treatment of fibromyalgia are suggested to give a more central role to self-identity issues and to the related cognitive conflicts.     

The Demand–Control model and target's reports of bullying at work: A test within Spanish and Belgian blue-collar workers

The present study explores whether Karasek's Job Demand–Control (JDC) model's strain hypothesis can be applied to target's reports of bullying at work in matched samples of Spanish and Belgian blue-collar workers. In the Spanish sample, results reveal a positive main effect of workload and a negative main effect of autonomy. The relationship between workload and bullying is particularly strong under the condition of low autonomy (i.e., interaction), in line with Karasek's strain hypothesis. In the Belgian sample, results show a positive main effect of workload and a significant workload–autonomy interaction effect in accordance with the strain hypothesis. In sum, high strain jobs associate with target's reports of bullying in both the Spanish and Belgian sample. Karasek's JDC model may accordingly be extended to target's reports of bullying as a form of social behavioural strain. These findings furthermore enhance research in the realm of bullying at work by introducing a well-established theoretical framework to account for the relationship between workload, autonomy, and target's reports of bullying.     

Missed first appointments: Prevalence and associated factors in first-time attendees at an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Nigeria

In Nigeria, outpatient care forms the bulk of the psychiatric service. While there are no published data, empirical observations indicate that default may be high and exerting a huge toll on the cost of care. The aims were to determine the first-appointment default rate among newly seen outpatients in a psychiatric clinic and to identify factors associated with it. The study was a survey of all newly seen patients from 1 January 2006 to 31 January 2006, and who were given a follow-up appointment. A total of 223 new patients were seen. Of these, 151 (67.7%) turned up for their appointment, 61 (27.4%) defaulted, and 11 (4.9%) were referred. Defaulters were more likely to be Christians, younger in age, and in employment. On using correlation statistics, respondents’ religion and occupational status demonstrated a linear relationship and a significant association with follow-up attendance/non-attendance. The rate of non-attendance at first follow-up is of clinical concern, and the possible contribution of religion to this may be enormous. Clinicians and health policy makers need to be sensitive to this. The introduction of community psychiatric services and collaboration between orthodox and traditional/religious practitioners may help reduce default rates.     

Dimensions of achievement goal orientation and coping in South African wheelchair rugby players with quadriplegia

This study investigated the relationship between dispositional achievement goal orientation (task and ego) and coping ability in wheelchair rugby players with quadriplegia. The sample consisted of 16 (15 males and 1 female) players between the ages of 25 and 44 (M=33.7 years; SD=8.7) who were selected for South Africa's national training squad in preparation for the 2011 International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) Asia-Oceania Championship. Players self-reported on their perception of success and athletic coping skills. The data were analysed for correlational associations between dimensions of achievement goal orientation and psychological skills associated with coping in sport. Findings revealed that players have both high task and fairly high ego orientation of which task orientation was significantly correlated with coping ability.     

Is Milkman a superhero like Batman? Constituent morphological priming in compound words

In the present study, we examined morphological decomposition of Basque compound words in a series of masked priming lexical decision experiments. In Experiment 1, Basque compound words could be briefly preceded by other compounds that shared either the first or second constituent, or by unrelated noncompound words. Results showed a significant priming effect for words that shared a constituent, independently of its position. In Experiment 2, compound words were preceded by other compound words that shared one of their constituents, but in a different lexeme position (e.g., the first constituent of the compound that acted as a prime was the second constituent of the compound that acted as a target). Results again showed a constituent priming effect (i.e., location in the string is not necessary for priming to occur). In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that these priming effects were not due to mere form overlap: pairs of noncompound words that shared either the beginning or the ending chunk did not produce a priming effect. Taken together, the present results converge with previous data on orthographic/morphological priming and provide evidence favouring early morphological decomposition.