Homeless mothers: is there a relationship between coping strategies,mental health and goal achievement?

This study examined the relationship between coping, mental health and goal achievement among homeless mothers. Seventy-two women took part and 44 were re-interviewed 4 months later. The Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES) were used to identify their coping strategies at the time of homelessness; the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) measured mental health problems; and a semi-structured questionnaire identified their goals. Outcome measures at follow-up were goal achievement and mental health. A variety of coping strategies were used, with some differences ascertained according to reason for homelessness and age of respondent. Lower use of problem-focussed coping was associated with poorer mental health at the time of homelessness. Mental health problems improved over time, but levels of psychopathology remained high at follow-up. Most women had achieved their primary goal of resettlement, and this was associated with use of problem-focussed coping. Lower use of problem-focussed coping, in particular, acquiring social support, was associated with continuation of mental health problems at follow-up, however the greatest predictor of mental health at follow-up was mental health status whilst homeless. Despite exposure to major stressors and poor mental health, mothers experiencing homelessness can maintain their ability to cope effectively, in order to achieve their goals. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Initial validation of the coach-created Empowering and Disempowering Motivational Climate Questionnaire (EDMCQ-C)

This article employs Duda's (2013) hierarchical conceptualization of the coach-created motivational climate to inform the validation of a questionnaire (Empowering and Disempowering Motivational Climate Questionnaire-Coach; EDMCQ-C) that assesses junior athletes' perceptions of the social environmental dimensions proposed by achievement goal theory and self-determination theory. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were initially employed to reduce the number of items required to measure the targeted climate dimensions. A series of competing models were then tested to determine the best representation of the questionnaire's factor structure. The findings revealed that exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) provided a better fit of the data to the hypothesised model than CFA solutions. Specifically, the bi-factor ESEM provided the best fit, although parameter estimates suggest that none of the ESEM solutions replicated the underlying theoretical model of the motivational climate proposed by Duda (2013). The evidence from this study suggests that the EDMCQ-C is a promising, parsimonious questionnaire to assess empowering and disempowering facets of the motivational climate albeit the development of the questionnaire remains a work in progress.     

Effectiveness in top management group meetings: The role of goal clarity,focused communication,and learning behavior

Bang, H., Fuglesang, S. L., Ovesen, M. R. & Eilertsen, D. E. (2010). Effectiveness in top management group meetings: The role of goal clarity, focused communication, and learning behavior. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 253–261. To explore the relationship between goal clarity, focused communication, learning behavior, and team effectiveness (i.e., task performance, relationship quality, and member satisfaction), self‐report and observer data from eight top management groups that processed 56 agenda items during meetings were analyzed. We found that goal clarity and focused communication was positively related to team effectiveness. The effect of goal clarity on team effectiveness was partially mediated by focused communication. Speaking up when a goal was unclear increased focused communication, task performance and relationship quality. Speaking up when the discussion was off track was not related to task performance and member satisfaction, and was negatively related to relationship quality. These findings have implications for how to conduct an effective management meeting.     

Proactive Goal Generation and Innovative Work Behavior: The Moderating Role of Affective Commitment,Production Ownership and Leader Support for Innovation

Building on goal‐regulation theory, we develop and test the hypothesis that proactive goal generation fosters individual innovative work behavior. Consistent with a resource‐based perspective, we further examine two‐three‐way interactions to assess whether the link between proactive goal generation and innovative behavior is jointly moderated by organizational affective commitment and production ownership, or, alternatively, leader support for innovation. In a sample of 442 municipal employees from the administrative division of an Italian city hall, proactive goal generation was positively associated with innovative work behavior. Additionally, as expected, this relationship was stronger when employees were highly affectively committed to their organization and when they exhibited a high level of production ownership or received extensive support for innovation from their supervisors. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Modeling the effects of within-person characteristic and goal-level attributes on personal project pursuit over time

The current study aims to overcome methodological constraints of previous goal pursuit research by exploring how people simultaneously rely upon person-level characteristic adaptations and unique goal-level attributes to pursue their personal projects. Undergraduate participants identified 10 projects they would pursue over an academic quarter and rated project meaningfulness, effort exerted, patience employed, and progress satisfaction at five time points. Multilevel structural equation models revealed the relative influence of person-level and project-level attributes on project appraisals. Person-level adaptations accounted for a large portion of variance in project pursuit appraisals, though significant project-specific trends were found over time as well, including mutual positive cross-lag influences between meaning, patience, and effort, and a negative predictive effect of progress satisfaction on meaning.