Emotional intelligence: what is it,and do Anglican clergy have it?

The development of the term “emotional intelligence” (EI), its conceptualisation and three attempts to measure it are outlined. The Assessing Emotions Scale is used as part of a longitudinal study with Anglican clergy in England and Wales in their 14th year in ordained ministry. Clergy by their role are expected to be pastors, counsellors and visitors. Contrary to expectations, the clergy scored lower on EI than any other group reported by the authors of the Assessing Emotions Scale.     

The prediction of turnover intention by means of employee engagement and demographic variables in a telecommunications organisation

This study sought to determine the prediction of turnover intention by employee engagement and demographic variables in a large South African information and communication technology (ICT) organisation. Cross-sectional survey data was collected from the organisation. Using a sample of 2276 participants the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) was employed to measure employee engagement, while the Intention to Stay Questionnaire (ISQ) measured turnover intentions. Employee engagement was significantly negatively related with turnover intentions. A factor analysis conducted on the UWES indicated that activation accounted for 10% of the variance in turnover intentions. Age and tenure had statistically significant negative relationships with turnover intentions, whilst qualification and race had significant positive relationships with turnover intentions. The results also confirmed the predictive model of employee engagement as well as the impact of the demographic variables of race, age, tenure on turnover intentions. The study has practical implications in relation to its ability to contribute to human resources activities in the form of differentiated remuneration and retention strategies based on differences in age and tenure.     

An Activities Approach to the Treatment of Mentally Retarded Clients in an Acute Care Psychiatric Hospital

This article describes therapeutic activities offered in an occupational therapy treatment program for mentally retarded patients in an acute-care hospital facility. Implications of therapeutic activities for the building of ego strengths are discussed.     

Interoceptive Exposure Therapy Combined with Trauma‐related Exposure Therapy for Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder: a Case Report

Trauma‐related exposure therapy is a useful but not universally effective treatment for post‐traumatic stress disorder. Anxiety sensitivity may play an important role in this disorder, as it does in panic disorder. Studies have shown that interoceptive exposure therapy reduces anxiety sensitivity in panic disorder. The present case study was a preliminary investigation of the merits of including interoceptive exposure therapy in the treatment of post‐traumatic stress disorder, in order to improve treatment outcome for a patient who had no history of panic disorder or panic attacks. Interoceptive exposure therapy (4 sessions) was one component of treatment, combined with trauma‐related exposure therapy (4 sessions of imaginal exposure followed by 4 sessions of in vivo exposure). Treatment outcome was assessed with the Clinician‐Administered Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder Scale, a self‐report measure of post‐traumatic stress disorder symptoms, and measures of symptoms and cognitions commonly associated with post‐traumatic stress disorder. Scores on all outcome measures decreased over the course of treatment, with gains maintained at 1‐ and 3‐month follow‐up. Symptoms of anxiety sensitivity and post‐traumatic stress disorder decreased during interoceptive exposure therapy. The results indicate that interoceptive exposure therapy is a promising adjunctive intervention for post‐traumatic stress disorder. Further research is needed into the merits of combining interoceptive exposure therapy and trauma‐related exposure therapy as a means of boosting treatment efficacy.     

青少年自我价值感量表研究结果的元分析

采用元分析法对1998年到2011年间使用青少年自我价值感量表为工具的研究结果进行整合分析。结果发现,近十年来青少年自我价值感水平在各维度或层次上高于全国常模,且没有显著的性别差异;与年级常模相比,多数因子高于常模,中学生部分特殊自我价值感因子与常模差异不显著;青少年自我价值感的年代效应显著;研究目的、报告质量、地区、出版年代等因素仅对某些特殊自我价值感有影响,而对总体自我价值感没有系统的影响。     

Assessment of dispositional forgiveness in adolescence: a contribution to the Italian validation of the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated the factor structure, factorial invariance, and reliability of the Italian version of the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale (FLS) among 604 adolescents in Italy (217 boys and 387 girls) with a mean age of 16.6 years (SD?=?1.3). The FLS is a 10-item Likert-type scale created to assess the predisposition to forgive across situations. The sample was randomly split into two subsamples to investigate the FLS structure. Results indicated a unidimensional structure, and factorial invariance was found for the factor solution across gender. Scale reliability was adequate, revealing appropriate internal consistency (α?=?.75). Evidence for convergent validity was also found. The results suggested that the Italian version of the FLS can be reliably used to measure forgiveness among Italian adolescents. Practice implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Links Between Identity Formation and Political Engagement in Young Adulthood

Young adults’ decreased engagement in politics has theoretically been linked to issues in personal identity formation, but there are few and limited empirical studies on the subject. We examined, in a Finnish community sample of young adults (N = 744), for the first time the associations of diverse measures of political engagement with the identity processes and identity statuses as measured by the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale. In general, both the variable- and person-oriented analyses indicated that having future commitments but also exploring alternatives to some extent were associated with stronger political engagement. The links and differences among identity processes, statuses, and political engagement were, nonetheless, weaker than could have been expected.     

Response inhibition in the parametric go/no-go task and its relation to impulsivity and subclinical psychopathy

The current study utilizes the parametric go/no-go task (PGNG), a task that examines changes in inhibitory performance as executive function load increases, to examine the link between psychopathic traits, impulsivity, and response inhibition in a cohort of healthy participants. The results show that as executive function load increased, inhibitory ability decreased. High scores on the Cognitive Complexity subscale of the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS–11) predict poor inhibitory ability in the PGNG. Similarly, high scores on the Psychopathy Personality Inventory–Revised (PPI–R) Blame Externalization subscale predict response inhibition deficits in the PGNG, which loads more on the executive functions than the standard go/no-go task. The remaining BIS–11 as well as PPI–R subscales did not interact with inhibitory performance in the PGNG highlighting the specificity of associations between aspects of personality and impulsivity with inhibitory performance as cognitive load is increased. These data point towards the sensitivity of the PGNG in studying response inhibition in the context of highly impulsive populations and its utility as a measure of impulsivity.     

Development of a coping with stress scale for a non-western population of children and adolescents

Background and objectives: In the related literature numerous instruments have been developed to measure children and adolescents’ coping with stress. Considering the cultural differences in individuals’ choice for coping strategies, along with the limitations of the existing measures of coping for children and adolescents (e.g., being derived from coping measures developed for adults; unrepresentative samples with limited age range, etc.), the current study aimed to construct a self-report coping scale for a non-western population of children and adolescents.

Design and methods: The study design included both qualitative and quantitative methodology. Three consecutive studies were conducted for the development and validation of the Children and Adolescents’ Coping with Stress Scale (CACSS), a self-report measure assessing coping strategies of children and adolescents aged from 9 to 18 in response to self-identified stressors.

Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in a 61-item CACSS with 10 factors. The scale appears to have a clear factor structure; sufficient temporal stability; and good convergent, discriminant, and construct validity.

Conclusions: By addressing limitations of existing coping scales, CACSS is believed to contribute to the literature as a developmentally appropriate and multidimensional tool.     

The Disgust Scale-R: A valid and reliable index to investigate separate disgust domains?

The Disgust Scale (DS; Haidt, McCauley, & Rozin, 1994) is the most widely used instrument for assessing disgust propensity (i.e., individual tendency to experience disgust). Yet, psychometric evaluations of the DS are scarce while the literature shows that the reliability of its subscales are unacceptably low. Recently, it was suggested to reduce the number of subscales (Olatunji, Sawchuk, de Jong, & Lohr, 2007a). This study is a first exploration of this reduced three-factor solution in an independent sample. In study I, we examined whether a three-factor solution improves psychometric properties of the DS. Students from Maastricht University (N = 535) and the University of Groningen (N = 432) completed the DS. In study II, the DS was revised by dropping redundant items and revising its scoring format. The DS-R was administered to students from the University of Groningen (N = 472) and Ghent University (N = 41) to study its psychometric properties. The revisions improved the psychometric features of the DS, and showed that the DS-R is a valid and reliable index to establish core disgust, animal-reminder disgust, and contamination.