The relationship between employment quality and work-related well-being in the European Labor Force

In this article, data from the 2005 European Working Conditions Survey are used to examine the relationship between contemporary employment arrangements and the work-related well-being of European employees. By means of a Latent Class Cluster Analysis, several features of the employment conditions and relations characterizing jobs are combined in a typology of five employment arrangements: SER-like, instrumental, precarious unsustainable, precarious intensive and portfolio jobs. These job types show clear relationships with separate indicators of job satisfaction, perceived safety climate and the ability to stay in employment, as well as with an overall indicator for work-related well-being. The findings from this multifaceted approach towards employment quality raise questions about the long-term sustainability of highly flexible and de-standardized employment arrangements.     

Entry and exit as embodied career choice in professional sport

The concept of an embodied career draws attention to the individual, corporally, socially, culturally and institutionally located in relationship with work. Career theories have tended to focus on psychological and social variables and measurements that narrow understanding of contexts and agency. It is thus timely to consider a more holistic approach to understanding contemporary careers as embodied processes. The paper works on three levels; first as an empirical illustration of professional sports careers as short-term careers, second as an application of Bourdieu's habitus to understand the relationship between social fields and accounts of career choice and, third in order to draw parallels with the embodied nature of work in a more general sense. Utilising empirical material from a study of elite UK professional rugby players, it is argued that understanding an embodied-career resonates with present concerns regarding career patterns of short-term contracts, which require the individual to be committed, flexible and adaptable, be prepared for exit, and yet remain immersed and dedicated to the current sphere of employment. It is proposed that this kind of immersion requires alternatives to be, temporarily at least, silenced and in this context renders the accrual of bodily capital as fit, but only temporarily fit for purpose.     

Emotional intelligence and health‐related quality of life in institutionalised Spanish older adults

This study explores the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) in a sample of Spanish older adults who are institutionalised in long‐term care (LTC) facilities. One hundred fifteen institutionalised individuals (47.82% women; 88.3 ± 7.9 years) from southern Spain completed a set of questionnaires that included measures of EI, health and personality. Data were analysed via hierarchical regression. After controlling for personality and sociodemographic variables, the EI dimensions, emotional comprehension and emotional facilitation, accounted for part of the variance in several HRQoL facets. These dimensions could have an important role in the HRQoL of residents in LTC. Moreover, the use of a performance measure addresses the limitations of previous studies that have relied on self‐report measures. These aspects underscore the importance of the results of this study.     

A Survey of Patients’ Experiences with the Cancer Genetic Counseling Process: Recommendations for Cancer Genetics Programs

In order to promote ongoing quality improvement of not only the Penn State Cancer Genetics Program, but also other cancer risk assessment programs throughout the country, we developed, piloted and conducted a survey to explore patient expectations, experiences, and satisfaction with the cancer genetic counseling process. The comprehensive survey was mailed to 340 eligible patients, 156 (45.9%) of whom returned the completed survey within the allotted time. Responses to closed-ended questions were tallied and open-ended questions were content analyzed. Major findings show that: (1) Patients were seeking cancer-related information and support throughout the cancer risk assessment process and were interested in participating in available research studies; (2) The setting in which patients are seen for cancer risk assessment may pose potential emotional ramifications; (3) Misperceptions regarding insurance discrimination and lack of insurance coverage persist; (4) Patients view the genetic counselor as responsible for updating them about new discoveries. Specific recommendations for cancer genetics programs are included.     

Reinforcement value and substitutability of sucrose and wheel running: implications for activity anorexia

Choice between sucrose and wheel-running reinforcement was assessed in two experiments. In the first experiment, ten male Wistar rats were exposed to concurrent VI 30 s VI 30 s schedules of wheel-running and sucrose reinforcement. Sucrose concentration varied across concentrations of 2.5, 7.5, and 12.5%. As concentration increased, more behavior was allocated to sucrose and more reinforcements were obtained from that alternative. Allocation of behavior to wheel running decreased, but obtained wheel-running reinforcement did not change. Overall, the results suggested that food-deprived rats were sensitive to qualitative changes in food supply (sucrose concentration) while continuing to defend a level of physical activity (wheel running). In the second study, 15 female Long Evans rats were exposed to concurrent variable ratio schedules of sucrose and wheel-running, wheel-running and wheel-running, and sucrose and sucrose reinforcement. For each pair of reinforcers, substitutability was assessed by the effect of income-compensated price changes on consumption of the two reinforcers. Results showed that, as expected, sucrose substituted for sucrose and wheel running substituted for wheel running. Wheel running, however, did not substitute for sucrose; but sucrose partially substituted for wheel running. We address the implications of the interrelationships of sucrose and wheel running for an understanding of activity anorexia.     

Fix and sample with rats in the dynamics of choice

The generality of the molar view of behavior was extended to the study of choice with rats, showing the usefulness of studying order at various levels of extendedness. Rats' presses on two levers produced food according to concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules. Seven different reinforcer ratios were arranged within each session, without cues identifying them, and separated by blackouts. To alternate between levers, rats pressed on a third changeover lever. Choice changed rapidly with changes in component reinforcer ratio, and more presses occurred on the lever with the higher reinforcer rate. With continuing reinforcers, choice shifted progressively in the direction of the reinforced lever, but shifted more slowly with each new reinforcer. Sensitivity to reinforcer ratio, as estimated by the generalized matching law, reached an average of 0.9 and exceeded that documented in previous studies with pigeons. Visits to the more-reinforced lever preceded by a reinforcer from that lever increased in duration, while all visits to the less-reinforced lever decreased in duration. Thus, the rats' performances moved faster toward fix and sample than did pigeons' performances in previous studies. Analysis of the effects of sequences of reinforcer sources indicated that sequences of five to seven reinforcers might have sufficed for studying local effects of reinforcers with rats. This study supports the idea that reinforcer sequences control choice between reinforcers, pulses in preference, and visits following reinforcers.     

Choice between single and multiple reinforcers in concurrent-chains schedules

Pigeons responded on concurrent-chains schedules with equal variable-interval schedules as initial links. One terminal link delivered a single reinforcer after a fixed delay, and the other terminal link delivered either three or five reinforcers, each preceded by a fixed delay. Some conditions included a postreinforcer delay after the single reinforcer to equate the total durations of the two terminal links, but other conditions did not include such a postreinforcer delay. With short initial links, preference for the single-reinforcer alternative decreased when a postreinforcer delay was present, but with long initial links, the postreinforcer delays had no significant effect on preference. In conditions with a postreinforcer delay, preference for the single-reinforcer alternative frequently switched from above 50% to below 50% as the initial links were lengthened. This pattern of results was consistent with delay-reduction theory (Squires & Fantino, 1971), but not with the contextual-choice model (Grace, 1994) or the hyperbolic value-added model (Mazur, 2001) as they have usually been applied. However, the hyperbolic value-added model could account for the results if its calculations were expanded to include reinforcers delivered in later terminal links. The implications of these findings for models of concurrent-chains performance are discussed.     

Factors Moderating Children's Adjustment to Parental Separation: Findings From a Community Study in England

Research findings show that there is marked variability in children's response to parental separation, but few studies identify the sources of this variation. This prospective longitudinal study examines the factors modifying children's adjustment to parental separation in a community sample of 5,635 families in England. Children's behavioral/emotional problems were assessed when children were aged 47 and 81 months; marital quality, maternal depression, socioeconomic circumstances, and demographic variables were assessed prior to the separation from maternal report. Results indicated that 346 mothers separated from their partners in the 3-year period. Preseparation differences were found for measures of family process and parent risk factors, with effect sizes ranging from small to trivial. Parental separation was associated with a significant but modest increase in behavioral/emotional problems, independent of marital quality, maternal depression, socioeconomic circumstances, and demographic variables. Moderation analyses showed that children of cohabiting parents had a greater increase in adjustment problems following parental separation than children of married parents. Further research elucidating the factors that moderate children's adjustment to parental separation is needed to improve our understanding of who may most likely benefit from preventive interventions.     

Conceptions of career choice and attainment: Developmental levels in how children think about careers

Children’s Conceptions of career choice and attainment were evaluated in two studies to test whether reasoning levels varied by grade level (Studies 1 and 2) and perspective-taking complexity (Study 2). Results indicated that younger children (Grade K) were more likely to use reasoning strategies associated with fantasy and magical thinking and older children (Grade 6) were more likely to consider personal interests, abilities, and job requirements. Study 2 replicated these results and also found that children evaluated as able to use more complex perspective-taking reported higher reasoning levels when discussing their Conceptions of career choice and attainment.     

Trait emotional intelligence profiles of students from different university faculties

This study investigated the trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self‐efficacy) profiles of 512 students from five university faculties: technical studies, natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, it was hypothesised that (a) social sciences would score higher than technical studies in Emotionality, (b) arts would score higher than technical studies in Emotionality, (c) arts would score lower than technical studies in Self‐control, and (d) there would be an interaction between gender and faculty, whereby female students would score higher than male students within the social sciences only. Several other exploratory comparisons were also performed. Results supported hypotheses (a), (b), and (d), but not hypothesis (c), although the differences were in the predicted direction.