Managing personal networks: An examination of how high self-monitors achieve better job performance

Structural holes are important network structures that have positive implications for individuals' job performance. Although the emergence of structural holes is closely related to self-monitoring, little is known about how chameleon-like high self-monitors manage to occupy brokerage positions. We posited that leader–member exchange (LMX) quality and network diversity might serve as two important mediating paths through which self-monitoring links to structural holes and sequential job performance. Using structural equation modelling to analyse 10 department networks, we found that high self-monitors were more likely to build high-quality LMX relationships and diversified co-worker networks, which helped to enhance structural holes and job performance. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.     

Work values and the transition to work life: A longitudinal study

Research on career development has shown that work values play a key motivational role in job selection and career development. In the context of the current economic crisis, it is of particular relevance to examine the role of work values for employment in the transition from school to work. This longitudinal study examined the role of intrinsic (perceived importance of having a job that is interesting and matches one's own competences), rewards (having a good salary and high chance for promotion), and security (having a stable job) work values on subsequent employment status and person–job fit (how an individual's job matches one's own characteristics such as education and job preferences). Finnish participants reported their work values and background variables via questionnaire at ages 20 and 23 (Ns = 348 and 415 respectively). Intrinsic work values predicted a higher degree of person–job fit two years later. Rewards work values predicted lower chances of being unemployed; and security work values predicted higher chances of being unemployed later on. Family socio-economic status (SES) was not related to employment outcomes in this Finnish sample.     

Resilience and coping in trauma spectrum symptoms prediction: A structural equation modeling approach

Resilience is increasingly recognized as a relevant factor in shaping psychological response to natural disasters. Aim of the study is to examine in the context of a natural disaster the potential effects of resilience on the relation between coping and trauma spectrum symptoms, using structural equation modeling.A sample of 371 students who survived the earthquake in L’Aquila (Italy) were cross-sectionally evaluated using Resilience Scale for Adolescents, Brief Cope and Trauma and Loss Spectrum scale.The model shows a direct path of positive and emotional coping styles on resilience. Emotional coping shows also a direct impact on the outcome; positive and emotional coping results to be positively correlated as well as emotional and disengagement coping styles. Resilience directly affects the PTSD symptoms, partially mediating the impact of the coping styles. The model explains 30% of the variance in the outcome, i.e. the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, with very good fit indexes.Resilience operates as a protective factor from stress symptom development. It is likely that emotional and disengagement coping skills are rapidly involved after a traumatic exposure but when problem focused coping intervenes, resilience allows it to buffer the stressors or even guides toward a more successful outcome.     

Motor ability and self-esteem: The mediating role of physical self-concept and perceived social acceptance

ObjectivesOne important issue in sport and exercise psychology is to determine to what extent sports and exercise can help to increase self-esteem, and what the underlying mechanism might be. Based on the exercise and self-esteem model (EXSEM) and on findings from the sociometer theory, the mediating effect of physical self-concept and perceived social acceptance on the longitudinal relationship between motor ability and self-esteem was investigated.DesignLongitudinal study with three waves of data collection at intervals of ten weeks each.Method428 adolescents (46.3% girls, M_age = 11.9, SD = .55) participated in the study, in which they performed three motor ability tests and completed paper-and-pencil questionnaires for physical self-concept and perceived social acceptance, as well as for self-esteem, at all three measuring points.ResultsUsing structural equation modelling procedures, the multiple mediation model revealed both physical self-concept and perceived social acceptance to be mediators between motor ability and self-esteem in the case of boys. In girls, on the other hand, the mediation between motor ability and self-esteem only takes place via physical self-concept.ConclusionsGender differences in the relationship between motor ability and self-esteem suggest gender-specific interventions aimed at promoting self-concept.     

Development of Family Functions and Relationship in Families: A Mixed-Design Study

Abstract

This is a mixed-design study that examines the effects of a psychoeducation program on family functioning and the parent-adolescent relationship. The quantitative dimension of the study was quasi-experimental and included the pretest, post-test and follow-up model with control and experiment groups. The data were collected from both parents and adolescents. In the study, there were 32 adolescents in the experiment group (18 male, 14 female), while the control group consisted of 31 adolescents (15 male, 16 female). The results of the study show that the education program decreases the problem behaviors of adolescents while increasing family functions and promoting the adolescent-parent relationship     

Why do people rideshare? An experimental study

Enabled by mobile technologies and fueled by the economic downturn, ridesharing has emerged in recent years as a private transportation facet of the shared economy. Our study investigates the motives for participation in situated ridesharing. We propose a theoretical model that includes economic benefits, time benefits, transportation anxiety, trust, and reciprocity either as direct antecedents of ridesharing participation intention, or mediated through attitude towards ridesharing. We conduct a scenario-based survey, with 300 participants. Our findings indicate that, in situations where transportation anxiety is high (e.g. construction on the road), if people can trust the ridesharing service providers and participants, in the presence of economic and time benefits, they will have a strong intention to participate in ridesharing.     

Calibrating the mental number line

Human adults are thought to possess two dissociable systems to represent numbers: an approximate quantity system akin to a mental number line, and a verbal system capable of representing numbers exactly. Here, we study the interface between these two systems using an estimation task. Observers were asked to estimate the approximate numerosity of dot arrays. We show that, in the absence of calibration, estimates are largely inaccurate: responses increase monotonically with numerosity, but underestimate the actual numerosity. However, insertion of a few inducer trials, in which participants are explicitly (and sometimes misleadingly) told that a given display contains 30 dots, is sufficient to calibrate their estimates on the whole range of stimuli. Based on these empirical results, we develop a model of the mapping between the numerical symbols and the representations of numerosity on the number line.     

在亚健康状态研究中运用结构方程模型的合理性

亚健康状态是处于健康与疾病之间的一种“非病但非健康”的中间状态,主要表现为躯体、心理和社会适应等方面的不适,目前尚没有公认的概念和测量诊断工具。由于亚健康状态研究数据中含有潜变量、测量误差以及变量间关系需要确定等因素,不能使用传统的统计学方法进行处理。结构方程模型能够同时处理观测变量、潜变量、测量误差及变量间的关系,应用结构方程模型验证亚健康状况测量量表的结构效度和亚健康状态理论模型是非常合理的。     

Moderate structural realism about space-time

This paper sets out a moderate version of metaphysical structural realism that stands in contrast to both the epistemic structural realism of Worrall and the—radical—ontic structural realism of French and Ladyman. According to moderate structural realism, objects and relations (structure) are on the same ontological footing, with the objects being characterized only by the relations in which they stand. We show how this position fares well as regards philosophical arguments, avoiding the objections against the other two versions of structural realism. In particular, we set out how this position can be applied to space-time, providing for a convincing understanding of space-time points in the standard tensor formulation of general relativity as well as in the fibre bundle formulation.     

The role of gratitude in the development of social support, stress, and depression: Two longitudinal studies

In two longitudinal studies, the authors examined the direction of the relationships between trait gratitude, perceived social support, stress, and depression during a life transition. Both studies used a full cross-lagged panel design, with participants completing all measures at the start and end of their first semester at college. Structural equation modeling was used to compare models of direct, reverse, and reciprocal models of directionality. Both studies supported a direct model whereby gratitude led to higher levels of perceived social support, and lower levels of stress and depression. In contrast, no variable led to gratitude, and most models of mediation were discounted. Study 2 additionally showed that gratitude leads to the other variables independently of the Big Five factors of personality. Overall gratitude seems to directly foster social support, and to protect people from stress and depression, which has implications for clinical interventions.