Work-related stress and well-being: the roles of direct action coping and palliative coping

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the roles of direct action coping and palliative coping in the relationship between work stressors and psychological well-being, as well as their possible interactions, in a sample of 464 bank employees. Hierarchical regression analyses showed main effects of direct action coping on well-being. Palliative coping predicts higher levels of psychological distress. Contrary to what was expected, the interactions between work stressors and direct action coping were not significant. Palliative coping interacted with work stressors when predicting psychosomatic complaints. The interaction between the two types of coping was significant on psychosomatic complaints and psychological distress, but not on job satisfaction. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of these results, in order to design intervention strategies to prevent and manage job stress.     

《大学生主观幸福感量表》的编制

根据国内外关于主观幸福感的文献和已有的研究经验,编制了大学生主观幸福感问卷。以往大多数研究认为,主观幸福感由生活满意度和情绪体验两个基本成分构成,本研究认为主观幸福感还应包括社会性行为和人际关系等成分。对376名大学生进行初测,通过探索性因素分析,表明大学生主观幸福感由自我满意、家庭满意、消极情绪、积极情绪、精力、生活满意、社会性行为和人际关系8个维度构成,共41个项目。对511名大学生施测41个项目的主观幸福感问卷,进行验证性因素分析,结果表明,上述结构是合理的。     

Developing a Conceptual Framework of Employee Well-Being (EWB) by Applying Goal Concepts and Findings from Personality-Social Psychology

This paper reports an attempt to develop a foundation of a theory of employee well-being (EWB) by borrowing concepts and findings from research in personality-social psychology. The proposed conceptual framework has four central principles: The principle of goal selection based on valence, the principle of goal selection based on expectancy, the goal implementation principle, and the goal attainment principle. These principles have corollaries expanding the logic of the proposed theoretical relationships. Specifically, the principle of goal selection based on valence has nine corollaries: Approach versus avoidance goals, goal meaningfulness, high- versus low-level goals, goals related to cultural norms, goals related to deprived needs, goals related to basic versus growth needs, intrinsic versus extrinsic goals, goals producing flow, and autonomy in goal setting. The principle of goal selection based on expectancy has five corollaries: Goal-motive congruence, goal-cultural value congruence, goal-resources congruence, goal conflict, and adapting goals to changes in circumstances. The principle of goal implementation has two corollaries: Goal concreteness and goal commitment. Finally, the goal attainment principle has three corollaries: Recognition of goal attainment, intensity versus frequency of positive feedback, and progress reports.     

The Performance of Hamsters in the Maze Situation Utilizing Gravitation and the Vestibular Sense as Motivation

The hypotheses of this study of sex differences on a measure of self-esteem are as follows: 1) the scales good, nice, generous, pleasant, dependable, honest, and active will group together to form the outer esteem dimension of the semantic differential; 2) the scales strong, leader, powerful, confident, curious, inventive, sharp, and active will group together to form the inner esteem dimension of the semantic differential; 3) males will score significantly higher than females on the inner esteem dimension of the semantic differential; 4) females will score significantly higher than males on the outer esteem dimension of the semantic differential; 5) there will be a significant difference between the scoring patterns of males and females on the two dimensions of the semantic differential after controlling for the effects of race and social desirability. The sample of 442 sixth through eighth grade students consisted of two subsamples made heterogeneous on race, geographic location, and type of school. The Franks-Marolla Self-Esteem Semantic Differential and the Lunneborg and Lunneborg Child's Social Desirability Scale were administered. The findings support each of the hypotheses and indicate that there is a significant difference between the sexes on the Franks-Marolla Semantic Differential Measure of Self-Esteem. It is concluded that additional research in self-esteem might specify the meaning of sex differences in esteem by measuring esteem relative to an individual's structural social positions rather than measuring esteem in the general and environmentally nonspecific contexts as advocated by some.     

Adolescents and Microcomputers: Sex Differences,Proxemics, Task and Stimulus Variables

Questionnaires concerning attitudes toward use of microcomputers at home, in school, and at video arcades were administered to 879 high school students. Direct observations of adolescent proxemics and sex differences, and of various parameters of video games in 18 video arcades were made. A thorough and representative content analysis of sex bias of microcomputer software advertising brochures was carried out. Results supported previous findings of overrepresentation of masculine culture in the adolescent world of microcomputers, particularly regarding video games. Various types of computer-related activity were not related to socioeconomic class of the parents or to academic grades except for use of home microcomputers, which was mildly positively related to socioeconomic class (r = .124, p < .001). Nearly half the activity in the arcades was strictly solitary. None of the arcade video games allowed for cooperative play. Most allowed only for sequential competition (86%) or simultaneous competition (7%); as many as 7% did not provide a display of the scores for a second player.     

Mental Hygiene Counseling as a Part of Teacher Education

A test of productive thinking was taken by 265 university freshmen by mail during the summer prior to their matriculation and by 89 other freshmen, members of a subject pool, during the academic year. Although no time limits were made explicit in either case, the subject pool group reported significantly less time spent on the questionnaire. Apparently implicit time constraints differed for the two groups. Nevertheless, the relationship between ability and productive thinking was not different in the two groups.     

Resilience and affect balance as mediators between trait emotional intelligence and life satisfaction

The current study aimed to analyze the importance of trait emotional intelligence in life satisfaction and to extend the previous literature by investigating the potential mediating effects of resilience and affect balance in this relationship. To test the study hypotheses, self-report measures of trait emotional intelligence, resilience, positive and negative affect, and life satisfaction were administrated to 263 undergraduates. Correlation analysis indicated that trait emotional intelligence was positively correlated with life satisfaction. Mediational analyses showed that trait emotional intelligence exerted its indirect effect on life satisfaction through the simple mediating effect of affect balance and the three-path mediating effect of resilience–affect balance. In addition, resilience played as a partial mediator between trait emotional intelligence and affect balance. Furthermore, multi-group analyses showed that the mediational model was not moderated by gender. Therefore, this study makes a contribution to the complex nature of the association between trait emotional intelligence and subjective well-being.     

Relationships among higher-order strengths factors,subjective well-being,and general self-efficacy – The case of Israeli adolescents

We investigated relationships among five higher-order strengths factors, subjective well-being, and general self-efficacy in participants that live under challenging conditions. Therefore, a sample of 396 Israeli adolescents (aged 13–18 years) completed the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Affect Balance Scale, and the General Self-Efficacy Scale. An orthogonally rotated principal component analysis of the 24 character strengths yielded five strengths factors that explained 32% of the variance in life satisfaction, with the transcendence strengths factor as the most substantial predictor. The strongest predictors of positive affect were the transcendence and leadership strengths factors; the best predictors of negative affect were the transcendence and temperance strengths factors; and the strongest predictor of affect balance was the transcendence strengths factor. The five strengths factors explained 46% of the variance in general self-efficacy, with the leadership strengths factor as the most substantial predictor. Further analysis indicated that general self-efficacy mediated the relationship between leadership strengths and global life satisfaction. The results suggest that different strengths factors are relevant for different positive experiences (e.g., life satisfaction, self-efficacy beliefs). The findings shed light on the contribution of specific character strengths as a meaningful resource under stressful conditions.     

Psychological consequences of collective violence in childhood: the case of Monterrey,Mexico / Consecuencias psicológicas de la violencia colectiva en la niñez: el caso de Monterrey,México

Abstract

During the last years, different types of violence have severely damaged Mexico. In this paper we examine the consequences that violence could have in children, one of the most vulnerable segments of society. In short, we predict that exposure to any type of violence will lead to higher depression and that this could be explained through the effects of violence on childhood well-being. Our hypothesis was supported in two studies, showing that exposure to street violence (Study 1, N = 607) and exposure to collective violence (Study 2, N = 172) can increase childhood depression. Moreover, in both studies, this effect was explained by the decrease of childhood well-being caused by violence exposure. The implications of these results are discussed.