Attachment Security,Personality, and Adjustment of Elementary School Children

Children's development is assumed to be closely related to their attachment security and their personality. The authors’ aim was to examine the joint contribution of attachment security and personality traits to children's adjustment by examining diverse children's outcomes (emotional symptoms, social functioning, and behavioral problems) and using various perspectives (children, parents, and teachers). The sample comprised 247 8–12-year-old children from low socioeconomic status neighborhoods. Personality and attachment contribute to the different domains of adjustment. In cases of moderation, attachment security moderates the implications of personality traits on children's adjustment. The findings highlight the contribution of positive personality tendencies in playing down the difficulties of insecurely attached children.     

Gender Roles,Suicide Attempts,and Substance Abuse

In this article, the focus is on a comparison of suicide attempts and substance abuse in the United States. It is argued that suicide attempts and substance abuse may function as psychologically equivalent but gender-specialized forms of self-injurious behaviors. Possible explanations for the gender segregation of suicide attempts and substance abuse are reviewed, and the benefits of crossover theories and treatments are presented.     

Target Meaning-Making of Workplace Incivility Based on Perceived Personality Similarity with Perpetrators

Abstract

Target meaning-making of incivility (i.e., the ways targets assess uncivil events) has received attention as an important mediating mechanism in explaining the varied outcomes of incivility. The present study draws on person-environment (PE) fit theory, as well as the similarity-attraction paradigm and repulsion hypothesis, to uncover how perceived personality (dis)similarity affects both cognitive (i.e., attribution, negative appraisal) and emotional reactions (i.e., hostility) to incivility. Specifically, we examine whether incongruence between target personality and perceived perpetrator personality worsens target meaning-making (vice versa for personality congruence). Study 1 (N?=?479 employees) addressed (dis)similarity in agreeableness, while Study 2 (N?=?296 working adults) addressed (dis)similarity in neuroticism. Based on polynomial regressions with response surface modeling, the results generally supported the hypotheses. Along the line of dissimilarity, targets often assessed (i.e., attributed intent to, appraised, reacted emotionally to) uncivil events more negatively when they perceived personality dissimilarity with perpetrators. However, similarity in personality did not always have the opposite effect by buffering against negative assessments; meaning-making was worse when both parties scored high on neuroticism. Implications for workplace incivility and PE fit literatures are discussed, along with practical implications that highlight information elaboration and perspective taking.     

A Direct Study of Halo Effect

Five individuals were evaluated on a 7-point scale from strongly dislike (1) to strongly like (7). A week later the same people were rated on 16 relatively distinct traits, such as carefulness, sense of humor, fairness, and sociability. For three of the rated individuals, there were no extreme ratings on the general impression (liking) scale by raters, and the correlations between those scores and mean trait ratings were .26, .32, and .36. For the other two, there were sharp and extreme ratings on the general liking scale, and correlations between those scores and mean trait ratings were .60 and .76. This method provides a more appropriate and more meaningful index of halo effect than other methods because it is based more directly on Thorndike's (1920) original concept.     

Adolescents and Microcomputers: Sex Differences,Proxemics, Task and Stimulus Variables

Questionnaires concerning attitudes toward use of microcomputers at home, in school, and at video arcades were administered to 879 high school students. Direct observations of adolescent proxemics and sex differences, and of various parameters of video games in 18 video arcades were made. A thorough and representative content analysis of sex bias of microcomputer software advertising brochures was carried out. Results supported previous findings of overrepresentation of masculine culture in the adolescent world of microcomputers, particularly regarding video games. Various types of computer-related activity were not related to socioeconomic class of the parents or to academic grades except for use of home microcomputers, which was mildly positively related to socioeconomic class (r = .124, p < .001). Nearly half the activity in the arcades was strictly solitary. None of the arcade video games allowed for cooperative play. Most allowed only for sequential competition (86%) or simultaneous competition (7%); as many as 7% did not provide a display of the scores for a second player.     

Quantification of Electroencephalography

In Experiment 1, a study by Messer was replicated with use of 18 children aged 40 to 67 months and nonsense words in which the phonemes of the consonant onsets of permissible and impermissible words were equated for frequency of occurrence. The children did not choose significantly more permissible words at any age, indicating that they did not use phonological rules as a basis for choice. In Experiment 2, similar materials were used with 14 children aged 56 to 74 months. By means of an operant conditioning procedure and a learning set paradigm, an experimental group (five children) was reinforced for choosing the permissible member of 10 permissible/impermissible pairs of nonsense words to a criterion of 80 percent correct responses. On transfer to a test task (16 problems given at a rate of 12 trials per problem) the group reached a mean performance level of 76 percent correct responses, which was significantly greater than that attained by either of two control groups (nine children). It was therefore concluded that some evidence for the existence of implicit phonological rules had been obtained, although the conclusion had to be qualified because (a) the mean level of performance of the experimental group during the test task was relatively low, and (b) because only children with high 1Qs performed at a level better than chance.     

Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism,Adult Attachment,and Big Five Personality Traits

The author examined the role of anxiety and avoidance dimensions of attachment and Big Five personality traits in adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism among 604 (377 male, 227 female) Turkish university students. The results of 2 separate multiple regression analyses yielded that adaptive perfectionism was significantly predicted by conscientiousness, openness, and extraversion. Maladaptive perfectionism was significantly predicted by the neuroticism, anxiety, and avoidance dimensions of attachment. The authors discuss the implications, limitations, and future directions for research.     

Project ABLE

This paper describes a proposed model for the management of Army soldiers rendered ineffective due to inadequate skills in coping with life stress. The history of Army mental health programs is reviewed to establish the rationale for program development. The proposed treatment methods and staffing are discussed. The application of this peacetime treaetment model in the management of combat psychiatric casualties is presented. Emphasis is placed on the role of the Army occupational therapist as a professional skilled in the use of task-directed behavior to enhance daily living skills.