Effects of work–family culture on employee well-being: Exploring moderator effects in a longitudinal sample

This present panel study had three aims: (1) to shed new light on the work–family culture (WFC)–well-being (work–family conflict, work engagement, job exhaustion) linkage by investigating lagged associations between the phenomena; (2) to consider the multidimensional nature of WFC by specifying whether its lagged effects on well-being would vary by its dimensions; and (3) to explore whether the positive aspects of WFC would prevent its negative ones from spilling over into employee well-being. The study was based on a 2-year longitudinal sample (N = 409) gathered among Finnish health care workers. The results showed that WFC was a bidimensional construct containing both negative (work–family barriers) and positive (work–family support) facets. Only its positive facets (work–family support) showed a lagged negative effect on the outcomes studied (work–family conflict). No signs of moderator effects were observed.     

Stability and change model of job resources and work engagement: A seven-year three-wave follow-up study

Using the stability and change model, conservation of resources theory and the job demands-resources model, this study aimed to determine: (1) the extent to which work engagement and job resources can be explained by a component reflecting stability and a component reflecting change in these constructs, and (2) the strength and direction of the relationship between work engagement and job resources when their stable components are controlled for. The study was carried out among 1,964 Finnish dentists over a seven-year time period (2003–2010), using a three-wave dataset. Some of the dentists had changed jobs during the follow-up, and therefore the research questions were validated among groups of job stayers and job changers. The stability and change models were examined using structural equation modelling. The results showed that 69–77% of the variance of dentists’ work engagement, and 46–49% of the variance of job resources was explained by the component reflecting stability. However, although there was a positive relationship between job resources and work engagement, the primary direction of this relationship could not be determined. Either job resources or work engagement may be considered as the initiator of this relationship. Job change did not affect the results.     

Male Violence Toward Females: Victim and Aggressor Variables

Two studies investigated the effect of exposure to psychology on male and female college students' pcrceptions of the truthfulness of psychologists as researchers. Study I (N # 72) compared the perceptions of freshmen in general psychology courses at the beginning and the end of the semester. Study II (N # 70) compared the perceptions of upperclassmen who had had no psychology courses with upperclassmen who had had at least five psychology courses. Both studies found that students with training in psychology perceived psychologists to be significantly less truthful than students with no training in psychology.     

Effects of age and ability on components of cognitive change

Prior experience with a cognitive task is often associated with higher performance on a second assessment, and these experience effects can complicate the interpretation of cognitive change. The current study was designed to investigate experience effects by obtaining measures of cognitive performance separated by days and by years. The analyses were based on data from 2017 adults with two longitudinal occasions, of whom 948 had also completed a third occasion, with each occasion consisting of three parallel versions of the tests on separate sessions. Change across short intervals was typically positive, and greater among older adults and adults with low levels of cognitive ability, whereas change over intervals of approximately three years was often negative, particularly at older ages. In contrast to the expectation that change over short intervals might be informative about change over longer intervals, relations between short-term change and long-term change were negative, as the individuals who gained the most with assessments separated by days tended to experience the greatest losses across assessments separated by years.     

Common ground on object use associates with caregivers’ gesturese

Caregivers modify their communication when interacting with infants, and these modifications have been related to children's language development. However, the factors influencing caregivers’ modification of gestures are understudied. This study examined whether infants’ object knowledge, considered as common ground shared with the caregiver, relates to caregivers’ gesturese. Six caregiver-infant dyads were videotaped every two months for 15 min in their homes, from child age 8-to-16 months, while they played with two separate objects (i.e. toys). Results indicated that the changes in infants’ object knowledge were paralleled by associated changes in caregivers’ gestures: parents increased both the amount and the complexity of their gestures.     

Reprint of: stuttering treatment control using P300 event-related potentials

Positron emission tomography studies during speech have indicated a failure to show the normal activation of auditory cortical areas in stuttering individuals. In the present study, P300 event-related potentials were used to investigate possible effects of behavioral treatment on the pattern of signal amplitude and latency between waves. In order to compare variations in P300 measurements, a control group paired by age and gender to the group of stutterers, was included in the study. Findings suggest that the group of stutterers presented a significant decrease in stuttering severity after the fluency treatment program. Regarding P300 measurements, stutterers and their controls presented results within normal limits in all testing situations and no significant statistical variations between pre and post treatment testing. When comparing individual results between the testing situations, stutterers presented a higher average decrease in wave latency for the right ear following treatment. The results are discussed in light of previous P300 event-related potentials and functional imaging studies with stuttering adults.Educational objectives: The reader will learn about and be able to describe the: (1) use of P300 event-related potentials in the study of stuttering; (2) differences between stuttering and non-stuttering adults; and (3) effects of behavioral fluency treatment on cerebral activity in stuttering speakers.     

Intellectual ability in young men separated temporarily from their parents in childhood

We examined the effects of early life stress (ELS) on intellectual ability in 2,725 20-year-old male participants, of whom 321 were separated temporarily (mean 1.7 years) from both their parents during World War II, at an average age of 4.3 years. Intellectual ability was tested when entering compulsory military service. The separated men had − 0.28 (95% CI − 0.39, − 0.16), − 0.13 (95% CI − 0.25, − 0.01), − 0.18 (95% CI − 0.29, − 0.06), and − 0.19 (95% CI − 0.30, − 0.07) SD units lower verbal, visuospatial, arithmetic, and composite score of intellectual ability, respectively, compared to non-separated. Participants who were separated for more than a year and between two and four years had the lowest ability scores. ELS showed most consistent associations with verbal ability, but were not limited to it. Children beyond infancy and before their school-age may be the most vulnerable to the adverse effects of the ELS.     

The impact of breastfeeding on mothers' attentional sensitivity towards infant distress

Background

Maternal response towards infant distress has an important impact on infant development. In animals it is established that lactation and pup suckling plays an important role in maintaining maternal responses. Previous research suggests that breastfeeding is associated with sensitive maternal responses in human mothers. However, this may be because women who are more sensitive to their infant choose to breastfeed. The current study investigated the attentional sensitivity towards infant distress in women who went on to breast or formula feed during pregnancy as well as after birth. We hypothesised that differences in breast and formula feeding mothers would only emerge after birth once feeding had commenced.

Method

Women were recruited during pregnancy through community midwives as part of a longitudinal study. 51 women were seen during late pregnancy and between 3 and 6 months after birth (27 were breast and 24 were formula feeding). Sensitivity to infant distress was measured as the extent of women's attentional bias towards infant distress stimuli.

Results

After birth, we found that our index of attentional bias towards infant distress was 37 ms (0.5 S.D.s) (CI; 6-69, p = 0.021) higher in breastfeeding compared to formula feeding mothers. However, mothers who went on to breastfeed did not show greater attentional bias towards infant distress already during late pregnancy.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that the act of breastfeeding may influence mothers’ attentional sensitivity towards infant distress. Previous research suggests breastfeeding is indicative of sensitive parenting. The current findings may suggest a mechanism by which breastfeeding and/or associated infant interaction could contribute to this sensitivity.     

American undergraduate students' value development during the Great Recession

The Great Recession's influence on American undergraduate students' values was examined, testing Greenfield's and Kasser's theories concerning value development during economic downturns. Study 1 utilised aggregate‐level data to investigate (a) population‐level value changes between the pre‐recession (2004–2006: n = 824,603) and recession freshman cohort (2008–2010: n = 662,262) and (b) overall associations of population‐level values with national economic climates over long‐term periods by correlating unemployment rates and concurrent aggregate‐level values across 1966–2015 (n = 10 million). Study 2 examined individual‐level longitudinal value development from freshman to senior year, and whether the developmental trajectories differed between those who completed undergraduate education before the Great Recession (freshmen in 2002, n = 12,792) versus those who encountered the Great Recession during undergraduate years (freshmen in 2006, n = 13,358). Results suggest American undergraduate students' increased communitarianism (supporting Greenfield) and materialism (supporting Kasser) during the Great Recession. The recession also appears to have slowed university students' development of positive self‐views. Results contribute to the limited literature on the Great Recession's influence on young people's values. They also offer theoretical and practical implications, as values of this privileged group of young adults are important shapers of societal values, decisions, and policies.