Connecting the intrapersonal to the interpersonal: Autonomy,voice, parents,and romantic relationships in emerging adulthood

Multiple forms of adolescent autonomy (emotional autonomy, voice, and cognitive autonomy) were examined as correlates of parental and partner relationships. Measures included parental warmth and psychological control, and romantic support and negative interactions. Participants were 206 students (age 17 to 20, M _age = 18) who had romantic partners. Those who reported more emotional autonomy from parents (e.g., individuation and nondependence) reported less voice with parents and less cognitive autonomy. Adolescents reported less independence from their parents, more voice with parents and more confidence in their own choices when they reported more parental warmth. Adolescents reported less independence from their parents and less voice when their parents were more controlling. Participants reported more independence from parents and more voice when they reported more romantic partner support. The results show how necessary it is to consider multiple aspects of autonomy and relationships to understand how the intrapersonal and interpersonal are connected.     

Infant-holding bias variations in mother–child relationships: A longitudinal study

This longitudinal study examined the associations between maternal depressive symptoms and infant holding bias in a sample of N = 43 women during three prospective sessions: during pregnancy, two months after childbirth, and when the child was 19 months of age. The majority of mothers (65.8% on average) held their children on the left side of their body at all three sessions; approximately 30% demonstrated a change in their preference, in particular between the pre- and first post-natal session. Examination of reciprocal associations between holding bias and depression revealed that prior and concurrent depression did not predict changes in holding-side biases, whereas women's holding preferences when their infant was two months old predicted change in pre- to postnatal depressive symptoms; women favouring a right-sided holding bias were significantly more likely to report increased depressive symptoms across the perinatal period, whereas a left-sided holding bias was associated with decreased depressive symptomatology.     

Flourishing students: A longitudinal study on positive emotions,personal resources,and study engagement

The aim of this two-wave questionnaire study with a 4-week interval among 391 Dutch university students was to test a gain cycle of positive emotions, personal resources, and study engagement. As a theoretical basis, this study drew on the broaden-and-build (B&B) theory and the conservation of resources (COR) theory. More specifically, it was hypothesized that the experience of positive emotions predicts students’ future personal resources and study engagement. Moreover, it was expected that there is a longitudinal relationship between personal resources and study engagement. Furthermore, we hypothesized that positive emotions, personal resources, and study engagement are reciprocally related. Results, obtained by means of structural equation modeling, confirmed both causal (except for the positive relationship between positive emotions and study engagement) and reciprocal hypotheses, thereby successfully integrating the B&B theory with the COR theory.     

Attachment,Mental Health,and Verbal Aggressiveness in Personal Relationships

This study examined the association between verbal aggressiveness and individual differences in attachment orientations and mental health, defined as a state of emotional well-being. One hundred and thirty-two college-aged students completed measures assessing their attachment orientations, mental health, and verbal aggressiveness. Results indicated that security in attachment was negatively associated with verbal aggressiveness, and preoccupation with relationships was positively associated with verbal aggressiveness. In addition, mental health was negatively associated with verbal aggressiveness. Results indicated support for a statistical model in which mental health mediated the association between attachment orientations and verbal aggressiveness.     

Fear in Adolescent Dating Relationships

The aims of this study were to assess fearful and aversive aspects of dating relationships among teens and to examine those experiences by gender. We examined both survey data and cognitive interviews with teens to understand how teens experience their dating relationships and how they interpret the meaning of the items in a fear measure modified for use with teens. We found that fearful and aversive dating situations are common in adolescent dating relationships. As teens move along the continuum from friendships to romantic involvement, both boys and girls experience the aggressive and coercive behaviors that sometimes accompany these new emotional and interpersonal situations.     

Comprehension of Sexual Consent as a Key Factor in the Perpetration of Sexual Aggression Among College Men

The comprehension of sexual consent is a crucial factor in healthy sexual relationships. This study examined the connection between the understanding of sexual consent and perpetration of sexual aggression. We surveyed 217 heterosexual male college students (M age = 20.9 years) using measures of sexual aggression, comprehension of sexual consent, rape myth acceptance, conformity to masculine norms, peer support of abuse, and attachment to abusive peers. We tested models examining factors related to comprehension of consent and the extent to which comprehension of consent was related to perpetration of sexual aggression. Rape myth acceptance, peer support of abuse, and conformity to masculine norms were found to predict comprehension of consent, which mediated the relationship between the social and cognitive variables and sexual aggression.     

The use of artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in modelling work–health relationships: Translating theory into analytical practice

Although psychological theory acknowledges the existence of complex systems and the importance of nonlinear effects, linear statistical models have been traditionally used to examine relationships between environmental stimuli and outcomes. The way we analyse these relationships does not seem to reflect the way we conceptualize them. The present study investigated the application of connectionism (artificial neural networks) to modelling the relationships between work characteristics and employee health by comparing it with a more conventional statistical linear approach (multiple linear regression) on a sample of 1003 individuals in employment. Comparisons of performance metrics indicated differences in model fit, with neural networks to some extent outperforming the linear regression models, such that R ² for worn-out and job satisfaction were significantly higher in the neural networks. Most importantly, comparisons revealed that the predictors in the two approaches differed in their relative importance for predicting outcomes. The improvement is attributed to the ability of the neural networks to model complex nonlinear relationships. Being unconstrained by assumptions of linearity, they can provide a better approximation of such psychosocial phenomena. Nonlinear approaches are often better fitted for purpose, as they conform to the need for correspondence between theory, method, and data.     

Self-improvement and cooperation: How exchange relationships promote mastery-approach driven individuals' job outcomes

In the present research we argue that mastery-approach goals may be beneficial in social achievement contexts because these goals lead to constructive exchange relationship building. An examination of three methodologically complementary studies revealed that mastery-approach goals lead to more cooperative and higher-quality exchange relationships than performance-approach goals and are, ultimately, associated with better job outcomes, as well. The results of a questionnaire study demonstrated that mastery-approach goals are more strongly related to cooperative motives and more weakly related to competitive motives than performance-approach goals. Furthermore, an experimental study indicated that mastery-approach driven individuals show a higher concern for others and are more strongly inclined to cooperate with an exchange partner when engaged in a complex reasoning task than performance-approach driven individuals. Finally, an organizational field study showed that team–member exchange mediates the effect of mastery-approach goals on job performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.     

The study of organizational behaviour in family business

Family businesses (FBs)—enterprises that are significantly influenced by family members and kinship ties—are ubiquitous and play a crucial role across all world economies. Because of the embeddedness of family and business systems in FB, these organizational forms are theoretically distinct from their non-family counterparts. Curiously, FBs have been largely overlooked in the organizational behaviour (OB) literature. The limited available research at the interface of OB and FB highlights the importance of FB as a unique context to advance OB theories, and of OB as a promising discipline to increase our understanding of FB. In a selective review of literature focused on the four topics of values and goals, leadership and power, trust and justice, and conflict, we discuss how insights from the general theory of communal and exchange relationships open exciting avenues for research at the FB-OB interface. Rich fruits of intellectual harvest await scholars who focus on behavioural research in FB.