Childhood and Offense-Related Trauma in Young People Imprisoned in England and Wales for Murder and Other Acts of Serious Violence: A Descriptive Study

This study describes the prevalence of traumatic childhood experiences and the extent of trauma-related symptomatology in a group of incarcerated young men within the Young People’s prison estate in England. Semistructured interviews using the Trauma History Interview, the Intrusions and Ruminations Interview, and the Impact of Events Scale–Revised were conducted with 34 young men aged 15 to 17 years who had either murdered or committed serious violence and were serving indeterminate or long-term sentences. Many of the young men had experienced high levels of childhood trauma, and some were still experiencing trauma related to the committal of their offenses approximately 18 months after their offenses had been committed. This is an important finding in relation to the prevalence of unrecognized and untreated traumatized young prisoners.     

Predicting Prosocial Behavior Toward Sex-Trafficked Persons: The Roles of Empathy,Belief in a Just World,and Attitudes Toward Prostitution

Human trafficking has been identified as a global human rights violation. This study aimed to investigate the predictors of prosocial behaviors toward sex-trafficked persons. Participants were 223 undergraduates randomly assigned to read a vignette and answer follow-up questions along with measures of empathy, just world belief, attitudes toward prostitution, and proactive behavior. Empathy was highest for trafficked women, regardless of citizenship status. Trafficked foreign women received the highest empathy, and U.S. prostitutes received the least. Path analysis results indicate just world belief, beliefs about prostitutes, and family values relating to prostitution had direct effects on empathic concern; in turn, empathic concern had a direct effect on proactive behavior. Explanations for the results are discussed, along with educational and clinical implications.     

Contraries as an effective strategy in geometrical problem solving

A focused review of the literature on reasoning suggests that mechanisms based upon contraries are of fundamental importance in various abilities. At the same time, the importance of contraries in the human perceptual experience of space has been recently demonstrated in experimental studies. Solving geometry problems represents an interesting case as both reasoning abilities and the manipulation of perceptual–figural aspects are involved.

In this study we focus on perceptual changes in geometrical problem solving processes in order to understand whether a mental manipulation in terms of opposites might help. Four conditions were studied, two of which concerned the search for contraries as an implicit or explicit strategy.

Results demonstrated that contraries, when used explicitly in solution processes, constitute an effective heuristic: The number of correct solutions increased, less time was needed to find a solution and participants were oriented towards the use of perception-based solutions—not only were perceptual solutions more frequent, but also, more specifically, the number of correct perceptual solutions increased. These last results concerning perception-based solutions were found both when participants were advised about the usefulness of the strategy and when they were not advised. Differences concerning which aspects of a problem were focused on during the solution process also emerged.     

Organizational citizenship behaviour and employee's strain: Examining the buffering effects of leader support and participation in decision making

Investing in citizenship behaviours could entail personal costs for the employee. Specifically, we argue that OCB contributes to employee's strain above and beyond the impact of role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload. To study the buffering role of leader support and participation in decision making (PDM) on this relationship, we collected data from 457 employees at various organizations at different time points from multisources. The results supported our hypotheses: Higher levels of OCB were related to higher levels of employee's strain, above and beyond the impact of role overload, role ambiguity, and role conflict; and the relationship between OCB and strain was weaker for those enjoying a high degree of leader support or PDM.     

Measuring psychotherapy outcomes in routine practice: Examining Slovak versions of three commonly used outcome instruments

This study examined the Slovak mutations of three outcome measures for routine practice i.e. the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), the Outcome Questionnaire – 45 (OQ-45), the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS), and one control measure the Symptom Checklist 10 Revised (SCL-10R), with regard to their concordance or differences in outcome classification of pre-post change, when used by the same patients and when the criteria used for establishing recovery and improvement status are based on the same sample. Method: Non-clinical (252) and clinical (202) samples were used for the standardisation of all instruments. A portion of the clinical participants (N?=?140) completed all measures at the end of their treatment. Results: The CORE-OM, and the SCL-10R indicated a higher number of recovered and improved clients. With regard to the pre-post differences as expressed in the effect size, the CORE-OM showed the highest pre-post difference (pre-post effect size .98), followed by the ORS (.87), the SCL-10R (.83) and finally with the OQ-45 (.69). Conclusion: Even very similar instruments developed on the basis of similar theoretical conceptualisations and empirical findings may report different pre-post outcomes.     

Personality change following religious conversion: perceptions of converts and their close acquaintances

This study focuses on how converts and their close acquaintances perceive changes in personality characteristics after religious conversion and possible demographic influences of these perceptions. Sixty Slovakian respondents self-defined as having experienced conversions rated themselves twice on measures of Big Five personality traits, self-esteem, and meaningfulness in life. The first rating provided retrospective information concerning pre-conversion conditions and the second rating obtained data reflecting the convert's present self-understanding. In addition, every convert was rated on the same characteristics by someone who knew the person well during both pre- and post-conversion times. The convert and the rater both provided demographic information (age, education, religiosity, relationship to conversions and converts etc.). Analyses showed that the converts perceived several personality changes: neuroticism decreased while self-esteem, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion increased. They also reported a large increase in meaningfulness. Perceived changes were in part related to education level and age for converts, and to religiosity in both converts and close persons, suggesting a retrospective bias.     

慢性阻塞性肺疾病急性加重期临床路径应用效果评价

评价临床路径管理在慢性阻塞性肺疾病急性加重期（AECOPD）的应用效果。通过采用回顾性调查,比较进入临床路径（路径组）和没有进入临床路径（对照组）两组患者在住院费用、住院时间及治疗效果3项指标上的差别。结果显示实施临床路径患者（路径组）的平均住院费用、平均住院日等指标均有不同程度的下降,而治愈率有所上升。从而得出临床路径在AECOPD病种的应用能够规范医疗行为,提高医疗护理质量的结论。     

我国运动员主观幸福感内部结构及外部影响因素研究

通过探索我国运动员主观幸福感的内部结构,并对我国运动员主观幸福感的外部影响因素进行分析。研究结果发现,我国运动员主观幸福感由7个二级指标及38个三级指标构成,其中负性情感、生活环境、训练竞赛、人际关系等二级指标对我国运动员主观幸福感有重要影响。竞赛水平的发挥、教练员对运动员的公平性、运动员伤残补偿制度建设、运动队管理方式、运动成绩提升空间等三级指标是影响运动员幸福感的重要外部因素。     

Interpersonal perception in cross-group interactions: Challenges and potential solutions

This review provides a framework for theorising about the processes that give rise to interpersonal perception during encounters between two individuals who belong to different groups. Consistent with a dyadic approach, interpersonal perception is considered a function of the unique and combined effects of the perceptions and behaviours of both partners involved in the interaction. A model is presented in which negative expectancies give rise to feelings of anxiety and behavioural displays of anxiety, both of which in turn influence interpersonal judgements. Factors that vary at the level of the perceiver, target, and the interaction are examined as moderators of interpersonal perception. Lastly, given that the study of interpersonal perception within cross-group dyadic encounters is relatively new, several strategies that show promise for improving interpersonal perception are discussed. Turning towards the future this article concludes by discussing how research and theory outside the domain of intergroup relations can be used to develop innovative methods for improving perception processes.     

Using Rasch modelling to examine the international personality item pool (IPIP) values in action (VIA) measure of character strengths

This paper investigates the psychometric properties of the values in action (VIA) character strengths (Peterson and Seligman, 2004 Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]). A sample of 904 South African undergraduate students (female=77%, male=23%, black=70%, mean age=21.07 years, SD age=2.73 years) was assessed using a 380-item questionnaire that included the items from the international personality item pool (IPIP) values in action (VIA) measure of 24 character strengths as well as additional items based on the underlying theory of the particular constructs. Responses were analysed with the Rasch rating scale model. Reliability coefficients were computed for the retained scale items. The majority (21) of the scales demonstrated satisfactory Rasch model fit and good reliability of scores. The finding that a large proportion of strengths exhibited differential item functioning for at least one of (1) gender, (2) ethnicity and (3) home language group, challenges the assumption that character strengths are necessarily accultural, indicating qualitative distinctions in construct conceptualisations and measurement as a function of emic factors.