Gender differences in psychological morbidity,burnout, job stress and job satisfaction among Chinese neurologists: a national cross-sectional study

Women are an important part of the medical workforce, yet little is known about gender differences in psychological morbidity, burnout, job stress and job satisfaction among neurologists. This study assessed gender differences in a large national sample of Chinese neurologists. Multivariate analyses were performed to examine associations. A total of 5558 neurologists were included in the analysis. Compared with their male counterparts, female neurologists were generally younger; were less likely to be married or to have children; had higher levels of education; were in practice for a shorter period of time; were less likely to hold senior roles; and had lower incomes. Male and female neurologists worked similar hours and spent a similar number of nights on call. No gender differences were found in psychological morbidity, burnout, and high levels of job stress for female and male, respectively. Women had higher emotional exhaustion scores, while men were more likely to have low levels of job satisfaction. The multivariate analysis showed that factors independently associated with psychological morbidity, burnout, high levels of job stress and low levels of job satisfaction were generally similar for women and men. These findings increase our understanding of gender differences in psychological morbidity, burnout, job stress, and job satisfaction among neurologists. As more women join the medical profession, these differences may be useful in designing medical training and practice.     

The Experience of Intimate Relationships Among Homosexual Men in Malaysia

Malaysia is relatively conservative regarding topics like sex, and, especially, research on homosexual relationships is scarce. The current study aims to understand the experience of intimate relationships among homosexual men in Malaysia using a phenomenological qualitative approach. A total of 12 participants of various ethnic backgrounds (between 21 and 35 years of age) were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling via the Malaysian-based LGBT-friendly Facebook group. Thematic analysis was applied for data analysis, and themes emerged through looking into the perception and practice of intimate relationships. The findings of the current study reflect that the hetero-normative perception of intimate relationships is common among the participants, and is compatible with the cultural norms. However, in terms of sexual practices, the findings show similarities with more liberal parts of the world, as open relationships and casual sex is common among homosexual men. Hence, open relationships are being adopted as a strategy to improve the survivability of the relationship instead of just to satisfy sexual needs. The findings highlight the lack of a frame of reference for homosexual relationships in Malaysia. The current study adds to the scarce research on homosexuality in this country, which could assist professional helpers to better understand the different dynamics and beliefs of relationships among homosexual men and the challenges they may face.     

Perfectionism mediated the relationship between brain structure variation and negative emotion in a nonclinical sample

In maladaptive respects, perfectionism reflects an individual’s concern over making mistakes and doubting the quality of his or her own actions excessively, which would affect one’s emotion. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms associated with the perfectionism and negative affect. In this study, voxel-based morphometry was performed to identify the brain regions underlying individual differences in perfectionism, which was measured by the Chinese Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (CFMPS), in a large sample of nonclinical young adults. Our results showed that the two subdimensions of the perfectionism, concern over mistakes (CM) and doubts about actions (DA), were both positively correlated with the self-reported anxiety and depression as well as the gray matter volume (GMV) in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a pivotal brain region in cognitive control, affective state, and regulation. Moreover, CM, DA, and organization scores were respectively correlated with distributed brain regions involved in multiple cognitive and emotion processes. Our results furthermore revealed that the score of DA acted a mediational mechanism underlying the relationship between the GMV of ACC and self-rating negative affect (anxiety and depression). Taken together, these results might suggest the neuroanatomical basis of perfectionism and the association among the perfectionism, negative emotion, and brain architecture. This study emphasized that perfectionism could play a crucial role in the arousal of negative affect.     

Trait compassion is associated with the neural substrate of empathy

Individual differences in the personality trait Agreeableness underlie humans’ ability to interpret social cues and coordinate effectively with others. However, previous investigations of the neural basis of Agreeableness have yielded largely inconsistent results. Recent evidence has demonstrated that Agreeableness can be divided into two, correlated subdimensions. Compassion reflects tendencies toward empathy, sympathy, and concern for others, while Politeness reflects tendencies toward compliance and refraining from aggression and exploitation. The present study seeks to clarify the neural substrates of Agreeableness by examining whether structural differences in the brain show distinct associations with Compassion and Politeness. Results of a meta-analysis of fMRI studies examining empathy were used to generate hypotheses about the brain regions and networks that underlie trait Compassion. Results of a large-scale structural neuroimaging investigation (N = 275) were largely consistent with the meta-analysis: Compassion was positively correlated with gray matter volume in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insula (AI). Further, these differences appear to be associated with Compassion specifically, as opposed to Politeness, suggesting that these two traits have at least partially distinct neuroanatomical substrates.     

利他仅仅利他吗?——进化视角的双路径模型

利他对受助者及社会有弥足珍贵的价值,能提高群体的功能性,增加危机中的生存概率从而保持种群延续;但利他会降低助人者自身的适应性,使其生存与繁殖的可能性较其他个体,尤其是自利者,处于不利地位。利他行为是如何得到进化的这一难题吸引了各领域学者的关注。本文回顾了具有代表性的多水平选择理论与竞争性利他理论,结合利他研究的最新实证证据,提出利他增加助人者适应性的双路径模型。内部路径指利他行为可以通过自激励的内在过程,促进助人者身心的正性互动,带来内部效用增益,从而在某些时刻提高其适应性。外部路径为利他传递展现助人者品质的信号,有助于提升其群体内地位并增加合作、择偶机会。进而,利他行为能够在个体与群体层面的进化选择中得到保存。未来研究可以从身心关系的角度继续探讨利他问题,促成利他的正性循环。     

自然自明性的失落——Blankenburg精神分裂理论述评

传统的精神分裂研究,关注的主要是精神分裂的妄想症候群。因为精神分裂中相对特殊的症状,在妄想形式中可以得到最轻易的把握。Blankenburg则认为:精神分裂的本质结构变异是先于妄想的。因此,他致力于在精神分裂的症状贫乏型(主要是青春型和单纯型)中,寻找精神分裂的本质变异。他发现:精神分裂异常中的核心缺损是自然自明性的失落。根据胡塞尔的超越现象学,自然自明性失落有四个原因:与世界关系的改变、时间建构的改变、自我建构的改变、交互主体性的改变。Blankenburg的精神分裂理论,作为二十世纪有关精神分裂的最重要工作之一,对于今天的精神分裂研究仍然有极其重要的意义。     

组织员工的工作疏离感:人格特质与工作特征的交互效应

基于需要—满足的理论视角,分析了员工的大五人格特质、工作特征及其交互效应对工作疏离感的影响。以12家企业的442名员工为样本,结果发现:员工的大五人格对工作疏离感有显著影响,其中开放性对工作疏离感有积极影响,尽责性对工作疏离感则有消极影响;工作特征越积极,员工的工作疏离感越低;大五人格中的开放性、神经质与工作特征有显著的交互效应。基于研究结果,提出对工作疏离感的干预应兼顾员工人格特质和工作特征,进行权变管理。     

走神对中文阅读绩效的影响

选取36名大学生被试,采用探针检测的方法和逐句阅读范式,考察被试阅读中文材料时走神对阅读正确率和阅读时间的影响。结果发现:(1)中文阅读中出现走神的时间占34.80%;(2)走神会影响阅读理解,降低阅读理解正确率;(3)走神会导致阅读时间变慢。这些发现均证实走神对中文阅读绩效有影响,降低阅读理解正确率和减缓阅读时间。     

Resistance to Cultural Intervention: Formation of Inhibitory Collective and children’s Self-Defensive Regulation in a Chinese School

A sequel to the previous article “Roots of Excellence: The Releasing Effect of Individual Potentials through Educational Cultural Intervention in a Chinese School” (in press), the present study is on the unexpected reversal phenomena in the process of cultural intervention. The goal of the intervention is to construct the dynamics of Jiti (well-organized collective in Chinese) through creative activities to promote students’ development. In the intervention, the releasing effect (Wu et al. 2016) emerged as well, but the teacher’s concern about worsening discipline and academic performance evoked and reinforced his habitual notions and practices of education, turning the joint activities into a way of strengthening discipline. The energy that had been discharging at the beginning of the intervention was inhibited, so that many more problematic behaviors took shape. The whole class formed an inhibitory atmosphere, within which pupils formed self-defensive regulation strategies. By comparing with the productive collective in which intervention was effective and analyzing this unexpected reversal process, we can not only see pupils’ self-construction status in the inhibitory culture but illuminate the formation of the teacher’s resistance to educational and cultural transformation as well. Resistance is originated from teachers not being able to interpret pupils’ inner developmental needs but instead anxious about the ongoing problems.     

Non‐ignorable missingness item response theory models for choice effects in examinee‐selected items

Examinee‐selected item (ESI) design, in which examinees are required to respond to a fixed number of items in a given set, always yields incomplete data (i.e., when only the selected items are answered, data are missing for the others) that are likely non‐ignorable in likelihood inference. Standard item response theory (IRT) models become infeasible when ESI data are missing not at random (MNAR). To solve this problem, the authors propose a two‐dimensional IRT model that posits one unidimensional IRT model for observed data and another for nominal selection patterns. The two latent variables are assumed to follow a bivariate normal distribution. In this study, the mirt freeware package was adopted to estimate parameters. The authors conduct an experiment to demonstrate that ESI data are often non‐ignorable and to determine how to apply the new model to the data collected. Two follow‐up simulation studies are conducted to assess the parameter recovery of the new model and the consequences for parameter estimation of ignoring MNAR data. The results of the two simulation studies indicate good parameter recovery of the new model and poor parameter recovery when non‐ignorable missing data were mistakenly treated as ignorable.