Interview anxiety across the sexes: Support for the sex-linked anxiety coping theory

The sex-linked anxiety coping theory states that females’ anxiety levels may be less detrimental to their selection test performance because they have more available coping resources and engage in more constructive coping strategies prior to and during selection tests. This research project sought to investigate whether gender moderates the link between interview anxiety and interview performance. Co-op students (N = 125) participated in a mock interview as part of a course requirement. The results indicated that gender moderated the relation between self-rated interview anxiety and interview performance. Males were no more anxious than were females, but experienced significantly greater impairments to performance in the job interview as a result of interview anxiety. Of interest, interviewer-rated interview anxiety did not interact with gender to predict interview performance, which supports preliminary research evidence that perceptions and the experience of interview anxiety are not necessarily congruent.     

Development and Validation of the Children's Assertiveness Inventory

The development and validation of the Children's Assertiveness Inventory are reported. Psychometric properties of the scale are detailed for the normal samples of grade school children and one sample of socially withdrawn children. Initial analyses indicate that the scale possesses high test-retest reliability and acceptable stability over time. Further, it adequately discriminates between normal and withdrawn samples, has acceptable convergent and discriminant validity, and possesses a meaningful factor structure. The potential research and clinical utility of the scale is discussed, and important social and developmental issues affecting the expression of assertiveness in children are addressed.     

Differences in Self-Report Among Incest Family Members

A questionnaire study was conducted among incest families to study their perceptions of social background factors, how long the incest relationship lasted, who was involved, the history of incest in the family, emotional and psychological factors, and the consequences of the incest for the family. It was hypothesized that incest offenders, their spouses and incest victims all tend to report the above in a manner that reflect positively upon their own role in the incest relationship. The results showed clear differences in the reposts of the three groups. The paper concludes that such differences in perceptions must be incorporated in family therapy strategies as well as in our knowledge base of incest families.     

Contribution of parents' adult attachment and separation attitudes to parent‐adolescent conflict resolution

This study examined the contribution to parent‐adolescent conflict resolution of parental adult attachment styles and attitudes toward adolescent separation. Questionnaires were completed by 295 couples with early to late adolescent children. Structural equation models were used to test self and partner influences on conflict resolution for three attachment orientations: confidence (model A), anxiety (model B) and avoidance (model C). Model A showed self influences between parents' confidence orientation and negotiation and also via positive attitudes towards separation. Also, the fathers' use of negotiation was facilitated by the mothers' confidence orientation and vice versa, indicating partner influences as well. Model B showed self influences between parents' anxiety orientation and the use of dominance and withdrawal and also via negative attitudes towards separation. Model C showed self influences between parents' avoidance orientation and dominance and withdrawal, and a partner influence between fathers' avoidance and mothers' use of dominance. The results indicated that the parents' adult attachment system and the parenting system were related in the area of conflict resolution, and that self influences were stronger than partner influences.     

Bottled memories: On how alcohol affects eyewitness recall

This study investigated how different doses of alcohol affected eyewitness recall. Participants (N = 126) were randomly assigned to three groups with different blood alcohol concentration (BAC), either a control group (mean BAC 0.00%, N = 42), a lower alcohol dose group (mean BAC 0.04%, N = 40), or a higher alcohol dose group (mean BAC 0.06%, N = 44). After consumption, participants witnessed a movie of a mock crime and were interviewed one week later. The main results showed that witnesses with the higher intoxication level recalled fewer details compared to witnesses with the lower intoxication level. The amount of alcohol consumed did not have an impact on the accuracy rate. No sex differences were found. The results are discussed in the light of past research. We conclude that more studies are needed before recommendations can be made to an applied setting.     

A comparison of computer and questionnaire methods of history-taking in a genito-urinary clinic

Abstract

Information on the medical history and symptomatology of 69 patients presenting at a genito-urinary (GU) clinic was obtained either by a computerized interview or a paper questionnaire and the results compared. A comparison was also made between these methods and notes taken during a standard physician interview. Significantly more symptoms were elicited by the computer than the paper questionnaire. Both methods also elicited significantly more symptoms than were recorded by the physician. The patients reported having previously attended a GU clinic more often to the computer than to the physician whereas the questionnaire was no different from the physician. The results indicate that computers can be used satisfactorily to facilitate medical history- taking in GU clinics and may result in a more complete profile of symptoms than either written questionnaire or physician interview.     

Do Cognitive Interview Instructions Contribute to False Beliefs and Memories?

To examine whether exposing people to false events using instructions taken from the cognitive interview creates false beliefs and false memories, we conducted an experiment where participants took part in two sessions. First, they rated how confident they were that they had experienced certain childhood events and their memories of those events; they also rated how plausible they thought the events were. Second, 2 weeks later, participants were exposed to two of three false target events: one high, one moderate, and one low plausibility. For the first event, participants were instructed to either report everything or mentally reinstate the event context. For the second event, participants received both instructions. The third event was the control event about which participants received no instructions. Finally, participants rated their confidence and memories the second time. The results showed that the cognitive interview instructions had little to no effect on the development of false beliefs and false memories. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anxiety in Swedish School Children: Situational Specificity,Informant Variability and Coping Strategies

In a school sample, 463 Swedish children aged between 8 and 12 years reported their experience of anxiety during 11 "typical" home and school setting activities. In addition to rating the frequency and type of anxiety experienced, the children reported whether they used coping strategies to reduce their anxiety. Parents and teachers also rated the anxiety levels in the same children. Nine percent of the children reported that they experienced anxiety "often" during at least 1 of the 11 home and school activities and 1.5% reported an anxiety level of "often" averaged across all of the 11 activities. The parents reported that 9% of the children experienced "moderate" to "very much" anxiety levels averaged across the home-related activities, whereas the teachers reported that 38.5% of the children had such anxiety levels at school. Overall, the children's ratings of their frequency levels of anxiety were found to depend more on age than on gender. The children and their parents both regarded anxiety to be most common during "leaving home for school" and "going to bed at night" activities. The correspondence between child, parent and teacher reports of overall anxiety in the children was low; similar findings were obtained for anxiety among children in the various setting activities. The 8-year-old children reported a higher use of various coping strategies than did the 12-year-olds. The results are discussed in view of the current literature on anxiety and fears in children.     

Parent-rated socio-emotional development in children with language impairment in comparison with typically developed children

Children with language impairment (LI) and children with typical development (TD) were assessed by their respective parents using The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (Swedish version SECDI) and Greenspan Socio Emotional Growth Chart (GSEGC). The aim was to investigate socio-emotional and language development in children with LI and TD with respect to possible differential patterns and relations between the groups. The results highlight a clear association between language and socio-emotional development. Children with LI were rated similar to young language-matched children with TD, but significantly lower relative to age-matched TD children, particularly concerning symbolic stages of development: the use of linguistic symbols as well as related areas such as symbol play and symbolic mental ability. The results are discussed in light of presumable background factors and possible consequences for children or sub-groups of children with LI.