Building up resources in the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout among firefighters: moderators of guanxi and emotion regulation strategies

This study investigated the moderating effects of supervisor–subordinate “guanxi” alongside relevant emotional regulation strategies, including cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, undertaken by 402 firefighters experiencing burnout caused by work–family conflict, as revealed through the application and analysis of the job demands–resources model. According to the regression model for the moderating effects, high levels of supervisor–subordinate guanxi may improve the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout, while frequent suppression of expressivity may enhance this relationship. Moreover, when supervisor–subordinate guanxi is high, cognitive reappraisal may effectively mitigate the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout. To this end, both guanxi and cognitive reappraisal are crucial for supporting emotional regulation in the workplaces of ethnic Chinese societies.     

Same face,same place,different memory: manner of presentation modulates the associative deficit in older adults

One of the more severe and consequential memory impairments experienced by older adults is the loss of the ability to form and remember associations. Although the associative deficit is often assumed to be unitary, memory episodes may contain different types of associations (e.g., item–item, item–context). Research in younger adults suggests that these different association types may involve different neural mechanisms. This raises the possibility that different association types are not equally affected by aging. In order to investigate this, the current study directly compared memory across item–item and item–context associations in younger and older adults by manipulating the manner of presentation of the associations. Results indicate that the associative deficit in aging is not uniform and that aging has a greater impact on item–context compared to item–item associations. The results have implications for theories of associative memory, age-related cognitive decline, and the functional organization of the medial temporal lobe in aging.     

Intersectionality in Clinical Medicine: The Need for a Conceptual Framework

Intersectionality has become a significant intellectual approach for those thinking about the ways that race, gender, and other social identities converge in order to create unique forms of oppression. Although the initial work on intersectionality addressed the unique position of black women relative to both black men and white women, the concept has since been expanded to address a range of social identities. Here we consider how to apply some of the theoretical tools provided by intersectionality to the clinical context. We begin with a brief discussion of intersectionality and how it might be useful in a clinical context. We then discuss two clinical scenarios that highlight how we think considering intersectionality could lead to more successful patient–clinician interactions. Finally, we extrapolate general strategies for applying intersectionality to the clinical context before considering objections and replies.     

Clarifying the dynamic interrelation of conflicts between the work and home domain and counterproductive work behaviour

This study investigates the daily relationship between experiencing home–work conflict (HWC) and an employee’s performance of counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) directed towards the individual (CWBI) and CWB directed towards the organization (CWBO). Moreover, we examine whether these relationships are buffered by family supportive supervisor behaviour. Finally, we investigate whether CWBs directed towards the individual and the organization are related to feelings of work–home conflict (WHC). We examined the daily diary data using multilevel path analyses. We found support for a significant positive relation between HWC and same as well as next-day CWB enacted towards the individual, and same-day CWB directed towards the organization. General levels of family supportive supervisor behaviour buffered an employee’s daily relationship between experiencing HWC and enacting counterproductive work behaviour towards the individual, and are directly and negatively related with enacting CWB towards the individual and the organization. Furthermore, daily CWB enacted towards the individual was significantly positive, whereas CWB enacted towards the organization was significantly negatively related to WHC. Future research would benefit from examining buffering effects on the resource-depleting relationship between counterproductive work behaviour enacted towards the individual and WHC.     

Information structuring improves recall of emergency discharge information: a randomized clinical trial

This article examines the extent to which structuring Emergency Department discharge information improves the ability to recall that information, and whether such benefits interact with relevant prior knowledge. Using three samples of students with different levels of prior medical knowledge, we investigated the amount of information recalled after structured vs. non-structured presentation of information. Across all student samples, the structured discharge information led to a relative increase in recalled items of 17% compared to non-structured discharge information (M = 9.70, SD = 4.96 vs. M = 8.31, SD = 4.93). In the sample with least medical knowledge, however, the structured discharge information resulted in a relative increase in recall by 42% (M = 8.12 vs. M = 5.71). These results suggest that structuring discharge information can be a useful tool to improve recall of information and is likely to be most beneficial for patient populations with lower levels of medical knowledge.     

Plurality and prevalence of sexual motivations in a sample of young francophone adults

IntroductionUnderstanding the motivations that lead to the adoption of sexual behaviors is of major interest to both the individual and public health.ObjectivesThis work (i) questions the reasons that lead students from two French universities to adopt sexual behaviors, (ii) examines the motivational similarities and differences between men and women, (iii) compare the results to data from north American subjects.MethodIn total, 657 subjects (526 women; 131 men, mean age: 22.6 years) were requested to take part in an online study investigating sexual behaviors. Reason for Having Sex Questionnaire (Meston & Buss, 2007), was used as a basis for the identification of sexual motivations.ResultOn average 53.05 different motivations led to the adoption of sexual behaviors. Significant differences of men/women were found between men and women (72% significant differences in p < 0.05) but mainly of small amplitude (d < 0.33: 58.33%). Men and women also differ in the structure of interrelations between motivations and by the role played by the different motivations. Overall, female motivational system is more sectorized and more organized than the male system, which seems more resilient (density of interrelations Men: 46.3%; women: 34.2%; distance between motivations: 5.44 vs. 3.86, p < 0.001, d = 2.07). Cultural comparisons showed significant differences of low to moderate amplitude between young adult students in France and those who come from North American universities. Gender differences in sexual motivations for sex were more marked in France than in the US.ConclusionOur results argue for a bio-psychosocial and systemic approach of sexual motivations. Theoretical, methodological and practical perspectives are envisaged.     

Relational categories are more mutable than entity categories

Across three experiments, we explore differences between relational categories—whose members share common relational patterns—and entity categories, whose members share common intrinsic properties. Specifically, we test the claim that relational concepts are more semantically mutable in context, and therefore less stable in memory, than entity concepts. We compared memory for entity nouns and relational nouns, tested either in the same context as at encoding or in a different context. We found that (a) participants show better recognition accuracy for entity nouns than for relational nouns, and (b) recognition of relational nouns is more impaired by a change in context than is recognition of entity nouns. We replicated these findings even when controlling for factors highly correlated with relationality, such as abstractness–concreteness. This suggests that the contextual mutability of relational concepts is due to the core semantic property of conveying relational structure and not simply to accompanying characteristics such as abstractness. We note parallels with the distinction between nouns and verbs and suggest implications for lexical and conceptual structure. Finally, we relate these patterns to proposals that a deep distinction exists between words with an essentially referential function and those with a predicate function.     

Muscular Activation Pattern of Bilateral Extensors Response to Asymmetric Hand Lifting During Trunk Flexion–extension Performance

The authors' purpose was to test the effect of asymmetric hand lifting on muscular activation patterns of 3 bilateral extensors. Eighteen male university students without back pain were volunteered. Each performed flexion–extension randomly with conditions of right lifting, left lifting, and nonlifting. Surface electromyography from bilateral thoracic, lumbar erector spinae, and hamstring was recorded. The cross-correlation and relative intensity in paired muscles of bilateral extensors was calculated in flexion as well as extension period. The results showed that the cross-correlation coefficient was decreased and the phase lag as well as the relative intensity of bilateral extensors was increased significantly in thoracic level. The phase lag as well as the relative intensity of bilateral extensors was increased significantly in lumbar level. It was concluded that asymmetric lifting has a significant effect on muscular activation of bilateral extensors in thorax level, which causes the ipsilateral extensor to activate larger and longer. Asymmetric lifting also has some effect on muscular activation of bilateral extensors in lumbar level but with less extent than in thorax level, which causes contralateral extensor to activate larger and longer. Asymmetric lifting seems to have no significant effect on muscular activation of bilateral hamstring.     

Relations of positive and negative expressivity and effortful control to kindergarteners’ student–teacher relationship,academic engagement,and externalizing problems at school

The current study examined the role of naturally-occurring negative and positive emotion expressivity in kindergarten and children’s effortful control (EC) on their relationships with teachers, academic engagement, and problems behaviors in school. Further, the potential moderating role of EC on these important school outcomes was assessed. Emotion and engagement were observed at school. EC was assessed by multiple methods. Teachers reported on their student–teacher relationships and students’ externalizing behaviors. Children’s emotion expressivity and EC were related to engagement and relationships with teachers as well as behavioral problems at school. Children low in EC may be particularly vulnerable to the poor outcomes associated with relatively intense emotion expressivity as they struggle to manage their emotions and behaviors in the classroom.     

Development of mother–infant interaction in tickling play: The relationship between infants’ ticklishness and social behaviors

This study examined the development of mother–infant tickling interaction and the relationship between infants’ ticklishness and social behaviors including infants’ looking at mothers’ face, mothers’ narrative tickling, and mothers’ laughter. Twenty-two Japanese infants aged 5 months (n = 10, five girls) and 7 months (n = 12, four girls) and their mothers were videotaped. Results revealed that the mothers’ narrative tickling was more frequent at 7 than at 5 months and the infants’ strong ticklishness showed the same tendency. The infants’ strong ticklishness was linked with the occurrence of other social behaviors. In conclusion, infants’ ticklishness was heavily connected with social behaviors. The mode of the tickling interaction at 7 months was different from that at 5 months especially in the increase of mother’s narrative tickling. A possible function of such mother’s narrative tickling to facilitate infant active communication at a higher cognitive level including anticipation, was discussed.