How do job characteristics contribute to burnout? Exploring the distinct mediating roles of perceived autonomy,competence, and relatedness

This study aimed to better understand the psychological mechanisms, referred to in the job demands–resources model as the energetic and motivational processes, that can explain relationships between job demands (role overload and ambiguity), job resources (job control and social support), and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment). Drawing on self-determination theory, we examined whether psychological resources (perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness) act as specific mediators between particular job demands and burnout as well as between job resources and burnout. Participants were 356 school board employees. Results of the structural equation analyses provide support for our hypothesized model, which proposes that certain job demands and resources are involved in both the energetic and motivational processes—given their relationships with psychological resources—and that they distinctively predict burnout components. Implications for burnout research and management practices are discussed.     

The relationship between forgiveness and history of suicide attempt

The sentiment of forgiveness in relationship to suicide attempts/completions has been mostly examined through studies of suicide notes and the experiences of survivors and therapists – not attempters. In a cross-sectional sample of 304 consecutive primary care patients, we examined sentiments about forgiveness using the Forgiveness Scale, comparing those individuals with versus without past suicide attempts. According to findings, individuals with past suicide attempts (N?=?55; 19.1%) evidenced significantly lower composite scores on the Forgiveness Scale. As for individual items, compared to participants without past suicide attempts, those with past suicide attempts were significantly less believing of forgiveness by others, were less likely to forgive themselves, and to a lesser degree, were less forgiving of others. There were no between-group differences with regard to confession of wrongdoing or existential forgiveness by God. Findings may offer some salient avenues of therapeutic inquiry and endeavour in the psychological healing of individuals with past suicide attempts.     

Distancing oneself from God: relationships with borderline personality symptomatology

Self-harm behaviour traditionally has been associated with borderline personality disorder. In this study, we examined the relationship between borderline personality symptomatology and intentionally distancing oneself from God as self-punishment, based on the assumption that such self-punishment may represent a form of self-harm behaviour. Data from four previous samples of primary care outpatients collected over a two-year period were combined (N?=?1511). Borderline personality was assessed with two measures: the borderline personality scale of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4) and the Self-Harm Inventory (SHI). Point-biserial correlation coefficients revealed that those who endorsed distancing oneself from God as punishment scored relatively higher on both the PDQ-4 (r?=?0.40, p?<?0.001) and the SHI (r?=?0.46, p?<?0.001). Similarly, when compared to respondents who denied ever having distanced themselves from God as punishment, those who did were more likely to exceed the clinical cut-off score on the PDQ-4 (47.3% vs. 10.9%, X^{2 ?}=?152.53, p?<?0.001) and the SHI (57.3% vs. 11.4%, X^{2 ?}=?224.12, p?<?0.001). Findings support our hypothesis that distancing oneself from God as punishment may be a form of self-harm behaviour associated with borderline personality symptomatology.     

Exploring the Validity of the Values-In-Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) in an African Context

This study explored the validity of the Values-In-Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) in an African context. A convenience sample of 256 African students completed the VIA-IS in English. The majority of strengths subscales had good reliability coefficients and mean scores comparable to those reported in a Western context. Satisfactory criterion-related validity was established through correlations with other well-being indices. First and second order confirmatory factor analyses only partly supported construct validity. All strengths subscales consisted of more than one factor. The hypothesised six-virtue cluster pattern was partially supported. Exploratory factor analysis suggested the possibility of an emic factor pattern of strengths consisting of 3 components: Within the first factor, Intrapersonal and Relationship Strengths, two clusters are distinguished, namely, Intrapersonal Strengths, and Horizontal and Vertical Relationship Strengths. The second factor was Integrity in Group Context. Thus, the VIA-IS has merit, but is not completely valid in its original form.     

Amélioration de la qualité de vie au travail dans les unités de soins : la démarche ORSOSA

Improve the quality of working conditions is a major issue for healthcare workers who have to deal with productivity obligations and multiple procedures. Based on the magnet hospital concept, the ORSOSA study (prospective cohort study of 4000 helthcare workers) helped develop and validate a methodolody that allows to quickly diagnose the levels of psychological and organizational constraints (CPO) from the staff’s point of view / of the staff. The ORSOSA method relies on an organisational psychologist who launches a dynamic during the diagnostic feedback phase. He gets the team to appropriate the strengths and weaknesses and to rank their recommendations. This article presents an overview of the method and it the first stages of its evaluations.     

The role of psychological control,socioeconomic status and academic achievement in parents' educational aspirations for their adolescent children

The present study examined the associations between mothers' and fathers' psychological control, socioeconomic status (SES) and their role in parents' educational aspirations for their adolescent children. Moreover, we examined to what extent SES and psychological control predicted their child's grade point average (GPA) and educational aspirations. A total of 1,034 Finnish adolescents aged 15 to 16 and their parents (720 mothers, 542 fathers) were surveyed at the beginning of the last grade of compulsory school. The results showed that the use of psychological control was more common among parents with lower SES. Moreover, the lower parents' SES was and the more psychological control they imposed, the lower were their educational aspirations for their adolescent children and lower was their child's GPA. The impact of SES was partially mediated by psychological control. The effects were similar for mothers and fathers.     

Character strengths and well-being among volunteers and employees: Toward an integrative model

The endorsement and deployment of character strengths in occupational contexts are two promising components for understanding how people create well-being. In this study, a model integrating character strengths, satisfaction with occupational activities, and meaning and well-being was proposed and tested in two samples of volunteers and a sample of working adults. The model fit the data well in all three samples. Results demonstrated that deploying strengths at work provided key links to satisfaction with voluntary and paid occupational activities and to meaning among both young and middle-aged volunteers, and adult working women. Among adult volunteers and paid workers, endorsing strengths was related to meaning, while both endorsing and deploying strengths were related to well-being. Together, these studies provide a model for understanding how strengths may play a role in how both volunteer and paid workers find meaning, well-being, and satisfaction.     

Selective impairment of masked priming in dual-task performance

This study investigated the impact of divided attention on masked priming. In a dual-task setting, two tasks had to be carried out in close temporal succession: a tone discrimination task and a masked priming task. The order of the tasks was varied between experiments, and attention was always allocated to the first task—that is, the first task was prioritized. The priming task was the second (nonprioritized) task in Experiment 1 and the first (prioritized) task in Experiment 2. In both experiments, “novel” prime stimuli associated with semantic processing were essentially ineffective. However, there was intact priming by another type of prime stimuli associated with response priming. Experiment 3 showed that all these prime stimuli can reveal significant priming effects during a task-switching paradigm in which both tasks were performed consecutively. We conclude that dual-task specific interference processes (e.g., the simultaneous coordination of multiple stimulus–response rules) selectively impair priming that is assumed to rely on semantic processing.     

Adult Israeli Community Norms for the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)

The study aim is to establish Israeli norms for the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). A nationwide representative sample of 510 community respondents (age range 35–65, 51.4% women) completed the Hebrew version of the BSI. The data showed high internal reliabilities for the 9 BSI scales, as well as for their total score, indicated by the General Severity Index (GSI). Higher levels of GSI were found for widowed, divorced, and single respondents than for married respondents. Higher GSI was also found for unemployed and retired men than the self-employed and employees, validating the GSI as a measure of distress. Most importantly, the scores of the Israeli GSI, as well as each of the 9 scales, were higher than those reported in either the U.S. or the British norms. These findings may indicate that Israeli society is experiencing relatively high distress, highlighting the need for establishing BSI norms for each culture.     

Personality Disorder Attributes as Supplemental Goals for Change in Interpersonal Psychotherapy

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a manualized, short-term (usually 12–16 sessions) based on the assumption that psychological disorders often emerge secondary to social and interpersonal problems that require active intervention to achieve symptom remission. The time-limited nature of IPT compels therapists to establish the goal of diminishing, on a weekly basis, a small number of focused interpersonal problems with a decided emphasis on proximal rather than historic conflicts and associated patterns of behavior. This strategy discourages the adoption of diffuse therapy goals and directions that have more opportunity to emerge in long-term, unstructured treatment modalities. The role of traditional personality testing in short-term therapy, when it occurs, is to identify and quantify symptom clusters that warrant attention as dependent measures in the treatment process. The role of personality factors in the genesis or maintenance of psychological disturbance is rarely addressed. The present article explores theoretical and pragmatic objections to the use of personality testing in IPT. A method is proposed for the limited but systematic incorporation of personality testing in the IPT treatment process using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III). While unreasonable to expect personality transformation through short-term therapy, the partial attenuation of maladaptive behavioral, attitudinal, and emotional reactions to stressors could prove exceedingly helpful to short-term treatments such as IPT.