Timing of Stressful Life Events Affects Stability and Change of Neuroticism

Neuroticism is a predictor of many health problems. To study the determinants of within‐subject change in neuroticism, three hypotheses were tested: (i) subjects who experienced stressful life events (SLEs) show an increase in neuroticism; (ii) high baseline neuroticism moderated this effect; and (iii) recent SLEs had a greater impact on neuroticism than distant SLEs. Data came from the Finnish Twin Cohort. Neuroticism data were collected in 1975 and 1981 and SLEs data in 1981 (n = 21 085). By entering baseline neuroticism as a predictor for neuroticism at follow‐up, the outcome measure was change in neuroticism. Changes in neuroticism were predicted from SLE indices or their interaction with baseline neuroticism. Timing of SLEs was taken into account by distinguishing recent from distant SLEs. To control for confounding by shared genes and environments, both within‐twin pair and between‐twin pair effects were tested for monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs separately. Neuroticism's six‐year stability was high (r = .58, p < .001). Exposure to SLEs modestly increased neuroticism (βs > .55, ps < .001), unconfounded by shared genes. This effect was not moderated by high baseline neuroticism. Recent SLEs (.09 < βs < .15) had more impact than distant SLEs (.03 < βs < .11; ps < .01). In conclusion, the findings strongly supported a model of environmentally driven SLEs causing dynamic fluctuations around a person's set point of neuroticism. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Within‐subject analysis of a prevention strategy for problem behavior

Although decades of research on functional analysis methodology have identified common contingencies that maintain problem behavior and effective interventions, relatively little research has been conducted on strategies to prevent the initial development of problem behavior. We conducted a 2‐part case study, the purposes of which were to illustrate the use of sensitivity tests as the bases for intervention (Study 1) and subsequently to assess the efficacy of a prevention strategy using a single‐subject design (Study 2). Results showed that the sensitivity tests identified establishing operations that may set the occasion for the development of problem behavior and that interventions based on differential reinforcement prevented increases in the severity of problem behavior relative to untreated and control baselines. Benefits and limitations to this individualized approach to prevention are discussed.     

Effects of perception on public bike-and-ride: A survey under complex,multifactor mode-choice scenarios

Bicycles are an environmentally-friendly, energy-saving mode of transportation. Public bike-and-ride is a term used to describe the use of public bicycles combined with transit as a means of transportation. A new stated preference (SP) design scheme based on the factors respondents felt were most important was proposed to augment the traditional SP design under complex multi-factor and multi-level situations. iPads were used to automatically administer the survey under each design scheme and collect the choice behavior data for public bike-and-ride. The concept of perceived psychological distance was further proposed and used to estimate Logit models. Comparative analysis of these models shows for the traditional SP design scheme, some factors, including perceived psychological distance, have reduced statistically significant effects on public bike-and-ride choice relative to the new SP design scheme. This indicates that in scenarios with complex decisions, the decision-makers would reduce their consideration of some factors and simplify their decision process making the new SP survey design scheme more suitable to analyze their choice behavior in those cases. Model analysis showed that perceived psychological distance for each traveler is the most critical factor during the decision process for travel behavior analysis. Finally, sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine which factors in the new survey design were important to increase the share of public bike-and-ride users. Practical findings for promoting public bike-and-ride use are presented in addition to theoretical references for improving the traditional survey methods.     

3～6岁儿童人格发展的群组序列追踪研究

目的:运用自编幼儿人格发展教师评定问卷对幼儿人格进行追踪测量,探讨其年龄及性别发展特点。方法:用整群抽样法选取3~3.5岁、3.5~4岁、4~4.5岁3个年龄群组幼儿为被试,采用群组序列的追踪设计,进行为期1年半的追踪测量,结合潜变量增长曲线模型和多层线性模型处理数据,探讨幼儿在3~6岁间人格的发展特点。结果:(1)幼儿的智能特征、认真自控、外倾性、亲社会性、情绪稳定性5个人格维度在3~4岁发展最快,4~5岁持续增长但发展速度放缓,到5~6岁时趋于平稳;(2)女孩的认真自控和亲社会性在3岁时显著高于男孩,但在3~6岁间的增长率不存在差异,即女孩的认真自控和亲社会性在幼儿阶段发展水平始终高于男孩。结论:从家庭进入幼儿园的环境变迁促使了幼儿人格的进一步发展,5岁左右幼儿人格开始初步形成;女孩的认真自控和亲社会性水平在幼儿阶段始终高于男孩。     

Change-oriented behavior: A meta-analysis of individual and job design predictors

We propose and meta-analytically test a theoretical model of individual and job-based predictors of change-oriented behaviors. Meta-analytic tests (106 effect sizes, N = 28,402) demonstrate that employee's proactive personality is a stronger predictor of change-oriented behavior than the five-factor model (FFM) personality traits of openness and extraversion. Also, enriched job characteristics (autonomy, complexity, and task significance) are more important in predicting change-oriented behavior, than un-enriched job characteristics (routinization and formalization). Finally, we establish work engagement as a mediator that provides an explanation for how and why proactive personality and enriched job characteristics predict change-oriented behavior. We provide both theoretical and empirical integration of the literature with practical implications for managing change-oriented behaviors, which are increasingly recognized as important to both organizational effectiveness and employee career management.     

A Comparison of Taped-Problem Interventions to Increase Math Fact Fluency: Does the Length of Time Delay Affect Student Learning Rates?

An alternating treatments design with a control condition was used to evaluate and compare the effects of two taped-problem interventions on addition fact fluency. Both taped-problem interventions were identical with the exception of the time delay between the auditory cue of the problem and the answer. One condition used a 2-s delay and the other condition used no delay. Results showed that both taped-problem conditions showed growth in student digits correct per minute scores and that the no-delay condition was slightly more efficient as the taped-problem no-delay procedure took approximately 33% less time. Discussion focuses on using comparative intervention designs to detect nuances in procedures to improve our understanding of math fact interventions that result in the highest learning rates.     

综合医院临床研究伦理初始审查常见问题及对策研究

为了探究综合医院临床研究的受试者权益是否得到有效保护,以某综合医院机构开展的临床研究项目伦理初始审查材料为例,进行了回顾性研究。选取2018年~2019年笔者所在医院开展的临床科研伦理审查项目存档资料进行评估。结果发现,在67项申请伦理审查的项目中,提出修改意见的项目占53.7%,其中知情同意书占47.8%;项目申请的主要问题集中于研究目的、研究内容和风险告知。研究方案设计的科学性、公平性、目的明确性、伦理合理性、风险告知充分等是研究者伦理意识和能力的关键。研究者和伦理委员会的工作能力仍需进一步提高以保护受试者的权益。