The psychological sense of economic hardship: measurement models, validity, and cross-ethnic equivalence for urban families

Poverty is a community stressor that disproportionally affects ethnic minority families. One aspect of programmatic research on poverty focuses on the psychological sense of economic hardship. In a study of 319 African American, European American, and Mexican American urban families, parents completed objective measures of economic status and scales of perceived economic hardship that were adapted from previous research. Measurement models identified a coherent construct of psychological sense of economic hardship that was essentially equivalent for mothers and fathers, English- and Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans, and the 3 ethnic groups. In support of the validity of this construct, relations between objective indicators of economic status and perceived economic hardship showed equivalence across these same groups.     

Revisiting Group Attachment: Ethnic and National Identity

The study of ethnic and national identity, owing to the complex interaction between individuals, groups, and systems, has not remained confined to traditional disciplinary boundaries. In particular, a branch of social-psychological research has provided insight into the most fundamental aspect of this phenomenon, subjective bonds between individuals and groups. Here, data derived from a Q-methodological study of Basque national identity are used to show that claims advanced within the existing literature appear to be restricted in their ability to explain subjective attachment to the nation; that is, they cannot adequately account for the types of bonds that emerged from the Basque case study. Primarily through Q methodology, an alternative explanation and method for uncovering the ties between individuals and groups is offered. In the place of previously vague and restrictive a priori categories of collective attachment, Q is shown to offer a means by which to explore the subjective nature of ethnic and national identification.     

Social Dominance and Social Identity in the United States and Israel: Ingroup Favoritism or Outgroup Derogation?

American and Israeli university students completed questionnaires in their native languages assessing ingroup identification, social dominance orientation (SDO), and ingroup and outgroup affect. The interrelationships among the variables were examined for high- and low-status groups in three intergroup contexts: whites and Latinos in the United States, Ashkenazim and Mizrachim in Israel, and Jews and Arabs in Israel. Theoretical predictions of social identity theory and social dominance theory were tested. Results indicated that for all high- and low-status groups, stronger ingroup identification was associated with more positive ingroup affect, and for nearly all groups, higher SDO was associated with more negative affect toward the low-status group. In addition, SDO was positively associated with ingroup identification for all high-status groups, and negatively associated with ingroup identification for almost all low-status groups. Explanations for cross-cultural differences in the factors driving group affect are suggested, and theoretical refinements are proposed that accommodate them.     

Course of Treatment During a Cohort-Based Inpatient Program for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

This study examined one group of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over the course of a four month inpatient treatment program. The aim of the study was to examine treatment process factors that may contribute to the generally poor outcome reported in previous studies. Group members made weekly ratings in the domains of PTSD symptoms, morale, interpersonal relationships, and physical problems. Results contrasted with clinical assumptions usually made regarding the treatment process in these programs. Despite an appearance of cohesion among group members, variation of scores on functional domains was explained largely by individual differences. Progress through the program showed a strongly linear pattern, with no phase effects. Somatic complaints did not increase during the phase when traumatic material was explored. Degree of improvement or worsening was best predicted by level of PTSD symptoms at admission, indicating that more symptomatic veterans did worse in the program. Additional factors of race, combat exposure, childhood abuse, and application for disability had no effect on the process variables measured.     

Corporal Punishment by American Parents: National Data on Prevalence, Chronicity, Severity, and Duration, in Relation to Child and Family Characteristics

We present data on corporal punishment (CP) by a nationally representative sample of 991 American parents interviewed in 1995. Six types of CP were examined: slaps on the hand or leg, spanking on the buttocks, pinching, shaking, hitting on the buttocks with a belt or paddle, and slapping in the face. The overall prevalence rate (the percentage of parents using any of these types of CP during the previous year) was 35% for infants and reached a peak of 94% at ages 3 and 4. Despite rapid decline after age 5, just over half of American parents hit children at age 12, a third at age 14, and 13% at age 17. Analysis of chronicity found that parents who hit teenage children did so an average of about six times during the year. Severity, as measured by hitting the child with a belt or paddle, was greatest for children age 5–12 (28% of such children). CP was more prevalent among African American and low socioeconomic status parents, in the South, for boys, and by mothers. The pervasiveness of CP reported in this article, and the harmful side effects of CP shown by recent longitudinal research, indicates a need for psychology and sociology textbooks to reverse the current tendency to almost ignore CP and instead treat it as a major aspect of the socialization experience of American children; and for developmental psychologists to be cognizant of the likelihood that parents are using CP far more often than even advocates of CP recommend, and to inform parents about the risks involved.     

Improving staff nutritional practices in community-based group homes: evaluation, training, and management.

We evaluated the effectiveness of a staff training and management package on nutritional practices in two community-based group homes serving adults with developmental disabilities. Food storage, menu development, and meal preparation were trained in a multiple baseline format, followed by supervisor feedback. All staff behaviors increased after training and were maintained for up to 1 year. Biological indices reflected collateral improvements in the health of consumers, and surveys of staff and parents established social validity.     

Robust Improvements on Reasoning Performance Following Discussion in Japan

Group discussion significantly improves performance on intellective problems. However, most experiments have been conducted in Western cultures. Cross‐cultural psychology suggests that members of Eastern cultures might be less likely to benefit from group discussion. One experiment in Japan suggested that this was not the case, but this experiment suffered from some limitations. To address these limitations, Japanese participants were asked to solve an intellective task four times: individually (pre‐test), in small discussion groups (test), individually again (transfer task, post‐test), and individually after a delay (delayed post‐test). The results revealed a robust improvement during group discussion. Groups in which at least one member had found the correct answer individually agreed on it during the discussion. Moreover, and in contrast with results obtained in Western cultures, most groups with no such member also found the correct answer. The gains obtained during discussion were maintained in the transfer tasks. This result provides further evidence that the improvement of reasoning performance in group discussion is a universal phenomenon, and provides support for the practice of collaborative learning in Japan.     

Minority representation,tokenism, and well-being in army units

Racial and ethnic diversity is increasing in the US Army and women are moving into more combat roles. This puts minority soldiers at risk for being underrepresented in their work units. Tokenism theory predicts that when a work group has less than 15% representation in a social group, the numerically underrepresented minority (i.e., token) members are subject to three disadvantages: higher visibility, informal isolation, and role encapsulation. In the Army, where many companies contain small numbers of women and racial minorities, some soldiers may face additional stressors and constraints. We explored psychosocial, organizational, and health outcomes of all identifiable token women (N = 4,425) and Black soldiers (N = 5,040). Tokens were remarkably similar to non-tokens and majority soldiers on outcomes such as coping skills, adaptability, organizational trust, sleep, substance use, and pain. The intersection of token status in terms of race and gender was not related to any appreciable differences. One potential explanation is the shared Army culture that emphasizes group unity and the importance of the mission above individual characteristics and goals. The Army depends on cohesion, organizational identification, and commitment to the group in order to reduce stress and anxiety, and to maximize combat performance. For soldiers who have internalized this culture, it could be easier to see past individual differences such as gender and race and identify others in the unit as fellow soldiers primarily.     

“In‐Group Love” and “Out‐Group Hate” in Repeated Interaction Between Groups

Costly individual participation in intergroup conflict can be motivated by “in‐group love”—a cooperative motivation to help the in‐group, by “out‐group hate”—an aggressive or competitive motivation to hurt the out‐group, or both. This study employed a recently developed game paradigm (Halevy, Bornstein, & Sagiv, 2008) designed specifically to distinguish between these two motives. The game was played repeatedly between two groups with three players in each group. In addition, we manipulated the payoff structure of the interaction that preceded the game such that half of the groups experienced peaceful coexistence and the other half experienced heightened conflict prior to the game. Enabling group members to express in‐group love independently of out‐group hate significantly reduced intergroup conflict. Group members strongly preferred to cooperate within their group, rather than to compete against the out‐group for relative standing, even in the condition in which the repeated game was preceded by conflict. Although both “in‐group love” and “out‐group hate” somewhat diminished as the game continued (as players became more selfish), choices indicative of the former motivation were significantly more frequent than choices indicative of the latter throughout the interaction. We discuss the implications of these findings for conflict resolution. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Defying conventional wisdom: A meta-analytical examination of the differences between demographic and job-related diversity relationships with performance

Conventional wisdom in the diversity literature holds that job-related dimensions of diversity are the domain of positive performance, whereas demographic dimensions of diversity are the domain of negative performance effects. In a meta-analysis (N = 146 studies, 612 effect sizes), we show that this conclusion may be based on rater biases; it does not apply to studies involving more objective assessments of performance, assessments that cannot be influenced by knowledge of a team’s composition. We also show that the influence of job-related diversity is moderated by task complexity and that job-related diversity is more positively related to innovative performance than to in-role performance. We discuss how these results invite a reconsideration of the role of the job-related/demographic diversity distinction and provide suggestions on how to further advance our understanding of diversity’s effects.