“Discredited” Versus “Discreditable”: Understanding How Shared and Unique Stigma Mechanisms Affect Psychological and Physical Health Disparities

One of the few studies to examine judgments of personal control in a contingency situation found that participants did not overestimate their control on a task where actual control was possible. However, that study used a design that confounded control and reinforcement. In this study, control (none, medium, high) and reinforcement (low, high) were independently manipulated. College students (N = 100) participated in a computer task in which they pressed or did not press the space bar, after which a target or nontarget screen appeared. Participants rated their control over the appearance of the target screen. Support was found for the idea that in some situations of actual control, illusions of control are found: high-control participants with high reinforcement overestimated their control. Results also indicated that underestimators, accurate estimators, and overestimators used different information when estimating their levels of control. Causes and implications are discussed.     

The occurrences and correlates of bullying and harassment in the restaurant sector

The aim of this study was to explore the occurrence of bullying in the restaurant sector and its potential consequences. The sample consisted of 207 superiors and employees in 70 restaurants. The findings indicated that bullying prevails in the restaurant industry, with apprentices as a risk group. Bullying was negatively related to job satisfaction, commitment, employees' perceptions of creative behavior, and external evaluations of restaurant creativity level, and positively related to burnout and intention to leave the job. Some support was found for a mediation hypothesis, where bullying was the predictor, job satisfaction, commitment and burnout were mediators, and intention to leave was dependent variable. One implication of this study is that there is a need to challenge the attitude, common in this sector, that aggression and bullying is a natural and even necessary part of the work environment.     

Victoria's dirty secret: how sociocultural norms influence adolescent girls and women

The present studies tested whether the salience of sociocultural norms for ideal appearance leads women to base their self-worth more strongly on appearance, which in turn leads them to feel more concerned with others' perceptions and less satisfied with their bodies. Study 1 tested this model by manipulating the salience of the sociocultural norm among female university students. The model was supported. In Study 2 an intervention challenging the legitimacy of the sociocultural norm was delivered to female and male adolescents. Compared to controls, females who received this intervention were less accepting of the sociocultural norms for appearance, based their self-worth less strongly on appearance, and in turn were less concerned with others' perceptions and were more satisfied with their bodies. The implications for women are discussed.     

Control, denial, and heightened sensitivity reactions to personal threat: testing the generalizability of the threat orientation approach

The threat orientation model proposes three dispositional responses to threats: control, heightened sensitivity, and denial. Two studies explored the psychometric properties of the previously developed threat orientation scales and the relationship between the orientations and the responses to a variety of threats. Study 1 found that the control-based and heightened sensitivity-based scales are reliable and were related to perceptions of health, financial, and terrorist threats with a nationally representative sample. Findings held across gender, age, and ethnic groups. Furthermore, Study 1 suggested two types of denial processes: optimistic denial and avoidance denial. Study 2 used a diverse sample to gain additional evidence for two processes of denial and developed measures of each type.     

Variation in the Use of Pronouns as a Function of the Topic of Argumentation in Young Writers Aged 11 Years

In our view, the ability to impose moral values which may be, to some extent, either shared or conflictual, influences the strategy adopted when writing argumentative texts. Our hypothesis is that the greater the socio-moral distance between the writers’ representations (the writers in this case being children) and those of the recipients (here the parents), the more likely it is that writing will be successful. Three topics derived from a preliminary experiment and corresponding to significant differences in opinion between children and parents were tested in a population of 11-year-old pupils. The pupils had to write a letter designed to convince their parents about one of these topics. We analyzed the texts in order to identify the different configurations in the frequencies of use of the pronouns (frequencies of Je (I), Tu (You), Il (He), On (One/We)) and adverbs. These frequencies differed depending on the topic that was being written about (the moral context that is mobilized).

Prevalence and correlates of tattooing in Norway: A large‐scale cross‐sectional study

To our knowledge, no previous large‐scale study has examined the prevalences and correlates of having only easily concealed tattoos, or readily visible tattoos. We conducted an exploratory online survey in Norway asking 15,654 (6,151 females) persons aged 16–91 (m = 33.65 ± 12.27) about various demographic, sports, substance use, mental health, personality, and tattooing questions. The estimated prevalence of tattooing was 20.8% (females: 23.8%, males: 17.9%), of which 13.3% had readily visible tattoos. Results of multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that females, being older than 19 years, higher body mass index, lifetime anabolic‐androgenic steroid use (AAS), and higher scores on extraversion were associated with higher odds of having a tattoo. Factors associated with higher odds of having only easily concealed tattoos were being 40–49 (versus those ≤ 19) years old, being only high school or tertiary (versus being only primary school) educated, often or not (versus always) exercising in a gymnasium, and high scores on agreeableness. Females, and higher scores on extraversion and neuroticism were associated with higher odds of having at least one readily visible tattoo. Our findings delineate the significance of demographic variables, gymnasium exercise, AAS, and personality in the practice of tattooing.     

The effect of laughter expression modulation on emotional experience in 4 to 10 year-old children

According to the literature, in adulthood, facial expression control unconsciously generates a congruent change in emotional experience (facial feedback). Although only a few studies have been conducted on this phenomenon with children, it is to be expected that the strength of the link between facial expression and emotional experience will diminish with age, and consequently, that the facial feedback effect will decrease with age. In order to test this hypothesis, we used an emotional induction paradigm (based on funny video-clips) with an expressive change paradigm (i.e., free expression vs. laughter restriction vs. laughter exaggeration). The emotional experience of 4–10-year-old children was assessed a posteriori based on analyses of their narratives about the video-clips. Results indicated that the children benefited from a facial feedback effect on their emotional experiences without an age effect. They are discussed in the light of the literature on emotional regulation and emotional development.     

Bien-être à la retraite selon le genre et l’âge : lien avec la perception du travail ancien

We focused on the direct relationship between job satisfaction experienced during working life and life-satisfaction after retirement. Also we wonder on differences about aspects of the former work evoked as pleasant. These questions are treated by differentiating women and men perceptions, and the perceptions according to age. Data on 396 French subjects, 182 men and 214 women (age range 66 to 98) were used to examine how life-satisfaction in retirement is linked to the perception of former job satisfaction. Other indications of adaptation are retained, as self-esteem or conversely boredom. Results show a) that job satisfaction is a predictable variable for life-satisfaction after retirement, b) that this impact is weaker for youngest, c) a strong similarity between men and women, whatever is their age. We discuss observed links.     

Problematic video game use: estimated prevalence and associations with mental and physical health

A nationwide survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of video game addiction and problematic video game use and their association with physical and mental health. An initial sample comprising 2,500 individuals was randomly selected from the Norwegian National Registry. A total of 816 (34.0 percent) individuals completed and returned the questionnaire. The majority (56.3 percent) of respondents used video games on a regular basis. The prevalence of video game addiction was estimated to be 0.6 percent, with problematic use of video games reported by 4.1 percent of the sample. Gender (male) and age group (young) were strong predictors for problematic use of video games. A higher proportion of high frequency compared with low frequency players preferred massively multiplayer online role-playing games, although the majority of high frequency players preferred other game types. Problematic use of video games was associated with lower scores on life satisfaction and with elevated levels of anxiety and depression. Video game use was not associated with reported amount of physical exercise.     

Maximizing Efficiency of Enrollment for School‐Based Educational Research1

In this observational study, influences on research enrollment were examined in the context of an educational research study. Recruitment materials were sent to parents of kinder‐gartners in one of 23 classes across 7 public schools, as an invitation to enroll in a longitudinal study. For the 7 classes from 2 of the schools, the school principal prepared a cover letter as an introduction to the educational study. Inclusion of this cover letter was associated with a significantly swifter pace of recruitment and, to a lesser degree, with an increase in the number of children enrolled. However, when potential confounding variables were controlled, no significant increase in final enrollment count was associated with including the cover letter. Thus, inclusion of a cover letter from the school principal did not appear to dramatically increase the number of parents who elected to enroll their child in the educational study, and it did significantly decrease (by 6 weeks) the number of weeks required to achieve final enrollment counts.