The psychological process of reintegration following a nine month/260 day solo sailboat circumnavigation of the globe

The focus of this case report is on the psychological reintegration process following the achievement of a highly challenging long‐duration and solitary endeavor. The participant was a 29 year old male who successfully circumnavigated the globe during a 260 day solo sailing expedition. We assessed the psychological aftermath in terms of stability and change in personality characteristics and personal beliefs prior to, and at 180 and 360 days after the completion of the journey. Overall, the personality configuration reflected adaptive personality functioning. A belief in an internal locus of control was consistent throughout, as were perceptions of personal growth as a result of the circumnavigation experience. NEO PI‐R Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, and Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (Tri‐PM) Boldness scores remained stable. Positive personality change was reflected by an elevation in Conscientiousness; negative change by a decline in Agreeableness and an increase in Tri‐PM Disinhibition. While overall the participant exhibited positive change as a result of his journey, there were also some negative aspects of the reintegration phase in regard to interactions with other persons. This latter change may be related to the effects of isolation from usual social contacts over an extended period.     

Entitlement,exploitativeness, and reasoning about everyday transgressions: A social domain analysis

Social domain theory was used to examine the role of entitlement and exploitativeness in reasoning about everyday transgressions in two studies. Exploitativeness was positively associated with believing that transgressing was acceptable, whereas entitlement was negatively associated. Exploitive participants justified these judgments using personal (e.g., appeal to choice) and less moral (e.g., appeal to welfare of others) reasoning, whereas highly entitled people used more prudential but less personal reasoning. Exploitive participants were less likely to acknowledge the relevance of non-personal concerns (i.e., morality, conventions, and prudence) when considering transgressions. The association between exploitativeness and acceptability of transgressing was mediated by the degree to which issues were believed to involve a concern for others. Implications for narcissistic behavior and decision-making are discussed.     

Structural validity of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form: The bifactor model of emotional,social and psychological well-being

The Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) is a growingly popular questionnaire designed to assess three components of well-being: emotional, social, and psychological. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the structural validity of the MHC-SF and test the bifactor model of the MHC-SF, which includes one general factor and three specific factors of well-being. Sample 1 consisted of 1095 Serbian students (aged 18–26 years), while Sample 2 included 325 Serbian adults (aged 27–63 years). The bifactor model of the MHC-SF yielded the best fit to the data across the two samples. The results showed that the general factor of well-being accounted for substantially greater amount of variance of the MHC-SF than three specific factors of well-being. After controlling for the general factor, three specific factors explained a small portion of variance in well-being. In addition, the three subscales of the MHC-SF showed low reliability as estimated by omega-subscale coefficients, indicating that these subscales comprise too small amount of reliable variance to interpret. The present findings suggest that researchers should not calculate separate scores for three types of well-being when using the MHC-SF and that alternative measures of specific components of well-being should be considered.     

Examining the role of psychological need satisfaction in sleep: A Self-Determination Theory perspective

Although ample research has shown the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as defined within Self-Determination Theory, to be related to well-being, the relation with sleep-related functioning has not yet been examined. Hence, the present study explored the association between basic psychological need satisfaction and subjective measures of sleep and daytime dysfunction, as well as the explanatory role of need satisfaction in the relation between mindfulness and financial strain and these outcomes, in an adult sample (N = 215, 61% female; Mean age = 31). The results indicated that low psychological need satisfaction related to poor sleep quality, lower sleep quantity, and more daytime dysfunction. Finally, mindfulness and financial strain related, respectively, negatively and positively to poor sleep quality and daytime dysfunction through need satisfaction, suggesting that need satisfaction represents a critical explanatory mechanism. The role of psychological need satisfaction in the adequate regulation and satisfaction of the physiological need for sleep is discussed.     

Affective commitment as a moderator of the adverse relationships between day-specific self-control demands and psychological well-being

Recent research has focused on the day-specific adverse effects of stressors at work. Thus, in the present study, we examine the relationships between day-specific work-related self-control demands (SCDs) as a stressor and day-specific indicators of psychological well-being (ego depletion, need for recovery, and work engagement). On the basis of the limited strength model of self-control, we predict that SCDs deplete limited regulatory resources and impair psychological well-being. Furthermore, we propose affective commitment as a buffering moderator of this relationship. Consistent with the broaden and build theory of positive emotions and the self-determination theory, we suggest that affective commitment satisfies employees basic psychological needs and provides positive emotions, which, in turn, help restore limited regulatory resources. Thus, affective commitment should buffer the negative relationships between day-specific SCDs and day-specific psychological well-being. To examine our hypotheses, we conducted a diary study with N = 60 employees over 10 working days and used multi-level models to test our predictions. Our results demonstrated that day-specific SCDs indeed impaired indicators of psychological well-being. Furthermore, affective commitment buffered these adverse relationships; thus, on days with high SCDs, highly committed employees reported higher levels of psychological well-being than did less committed employees.     

Expressive writing promotes self‐reported physical,social and psychological health among Chinese undergraduates

The present study examines the efficacy of expressive writing among Chinese undergraduates. The sample comprised of 74 undergraduates enrolled in a 9‐week intervention (35 in experimental class vs. 39 in control class). The writing exercises were well‐embedded in an elective course for the two classes. The 46‐item simplified Chinese Self‐Rated Health Measurement Scale, which assesses psychological, physical and social health, was adopted to measure the outcome of this study. Baseline (second week) and post‐test (ninth week) scores were obtained during the classes. After the intervention on the eighth week, the self‐reported psychological, social and physical health of the experimental class improved. Psychological health obtained the maximum degree of improvement, followed by social and physical health. Furthermore, female participants gained more psychological improvement than males. These results demonstrated that the expressive writing approach could improve the physical, social and psychological health of Chinese undergraduates, and the method can be applied in university psychological consulting settings in Mainland China.     

Challenging the State: Teaching Alternative Historiographies in Early Modern Politics

This article argues that we can improve the way we teach early modern political philosophy if we introduce students to alternative views about the development of the state. First, it summarizes the work of contemporary philosophers and historians who are critical of the modern state. Second, it points out ways in which early social contract theorists take the state for granted. Third, it argues that alternative views about the development of the state can help students take a more critical perspective on standard works of early modern political philosophy. Fourth, it argues that these alternative views will help students better understand dissenting voices in early modern political philosophy.     

The Recaptured Scale Technique: A Method for Testing the Structural Robustness of Personality Scales

Tellegen and Waller advocated a complex and time-consuming scale construction method that they called “exploratory test construction.” Scales that are constructed by this method—such as the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ)—are presumed to be more “psychologically coherent” and “robust” than scales constructed by other means. Using a novel procedure that we call the “recaptured scale technique,” we tested this conjecture by conducting a megafactor analysis on data from the 411 adult participants of the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart who completed the MPQ, the MMPI, and the CPI. We extracted and obliquely rotated 21 factors from a matrix of gender-corrected tetrachoric correlations for the 1,102 nonredundant items of the three omnibus inventories. Robustness of the 11 MPQ scales was assessed by the degree to which these factors recaptured the MPQ item groupings. Our results showed that nine factors were clearly recognizable as MPQ scales and two additional factors represented a bifurcation of an MPQ scale. A higher-order factor analysis of all 21 factor scales yielded five factors that clearly resembled the Big Five. Our results provide strong support for (a) the method of exploratory test construction, (b) the structural robustness of most MPQ scales, and (c) the utility of the recaptured scale technique.     

Psychological‐Mindedness and American Indian Historical Trauma: Interviews with Service Providers from a Great Plains Reservation

The concept of historical trauma (HT) was developed to explain clinical distress among descendants of Jewish Holocaust survivors and has since been ascribed new meanings to account for suffering in diverse contexts. In American Indian (AI) communities, the concept of AI HT has been tailored and promoted as an expanded notion of trauma that combines psychological injury with historical oppression to causally connect experiences with Euro‐American colonization to contemporary behavioral health disparities. However, rather than clinical formulations emphasizing psychological injury, a focused content analysis of interviews with 23 AI health and human service providers (SPs) on a Great Plains reservation demonstrated strong preferences for socio‐cultural accounts of oppression. Reflective of a local worldview associated with minimal psychological‐mindedness, this study illustrates how cultural assumptions embedded within health discourses like HT can conflict with diverse cultural forms and promote “psychologized” perspectives on suffering that may limit attention to social, economic, and political determinants of health.     

LMX,Breach Perceptions,Work-Family Conflict,and Well-Being: A Mediational Model

Despite research advances, work-family scholars still lack an understanding of how leadership constructs relate to an employee's ability to effectively manage the work–family interface. In addition, there remains a need to examine the process through which leadership and work-family conflict influence well-being outcomes. Using a sample of 312 workers, a mediated process model grounded in social exchange theory is tested wherein the authors seek to explain how leaders shape employee perceptions, which, in turn, impact organizational fulfillment of expectations (i.e., psychological contract breach), work-family conflict, and well-being. A fully latent structural equation model was used to test study hypotheses, all of which were supported. Building on existing theory, findings suggest that the supervisor plays a critical role as a frontline representative for the organization and that work-family conflict is reduced and well-being enhanced through a process of social exchange between the supervisor and worker.