Structural support,networking and individual survival: career changes in Italy and Spain

Southern European countries, like Italy and Spain, have been severely affected by the recent economic crisis. This has affected their labour market in terms of increased unemployment, while many of those in employment feel more insecure. As a consequence, many individuals turn to education as a step to making a career change. The opportunities and hindrances stemming from socio-economic institutions such as vocational education and training (VET) and higher education, labour market regulations and career guidance are highly influential in the ways in which individuals manage their career transitions and engage in lifelong learning. This article outlines the structural conditions in the two countries in respect to career guidance provision and reflects, based on individual accounts of mid-career workers, how individuals negotiate the system.     

The role of trait emotional intelligence in academic performance during the university transition: An integrative model of mediation via social support,coping, and adjustment

The authors propose conceptual models linking trait emotional intelligence (TEI) with achievement both directly and indirectly via perceived social support (PSS), engagement coping (EC), and adjustment, in the context of the university transition. The models were tested in a multiwave design with a sample of incoming Australian undergraduates (N = 470). In structural equation analyses, TEI was found to be a direct predictor of higher PSS and the greater use of EC strategies. Further, mediation analyses revealed that TEI was indirectly associated with academic adjustment via EC and psychological adjustment via EC and PSS operating in parallel. TEI was also found to be indirectly associated with achievement via EC and academic adjustment linked serially in a three-path mediated sequence. These direct and indirect relations were robust when controlling for known confounding influences. The empirically supported mediating processes extend the literature by elucidating some of the pathways through which TEI is linked with better adjustment and achievement.     

Validation française du School Burnout Inventory

IntroductionFirst studied in adults, the concept of burnout was recently extended to adolescents in order to evaluate the impact of school requirements on their health.ObjectiveThis study aim at assessing construct validity, reliability and concurrent validity of a French version of the School Burnout Inventory (Salmela-Aro, Kiuru, Leskinen, & Nurmi, 2009) that characterize school burnout by exhaustion linked to school demands, cynicism toward school and feelings of inadequacy as a student.MethodThree hundred and eighty-seven adolescents have filled the translated questionnaire and a confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the data.ResultsThe analysis confirmed the tridimensional structure of the scale and mainly show satisfactory psychometric qualities.ConclusionThis measurement scale should provide clinicians with a rapid and simple assessment of school burnout in adolescents. Researchers could also benefit from it in order to extend theoretical knowledge about this trouble.     

A church-based peer-led group intervention for mental illness

Religion and spirituality (R/S) can be powerful supports and provide important coping resources for individuals in recovery. Faith communities seem to offer many advantages for recovery-oriented support, but have rarely been the setting for empirically examined psychosocial rehabilitation efforts. This study describes the outcomes for individuals in Living Grace Groups (LGGs), a peer-led group intervention for mental illness that is based in churches and integrates R/S. Persons at all active LGGs were surveyed before and after participation using well-validated scales for recovery, psychiatric symptoms, and spirituality. LGGs attracted individuals with a broad range of persistent psychiatric difficulties, who described religion as important to them and rated the groups as very helpful. Participants reported improvements in recovery and spirituality as well as reductions in psychiatric symptoms. R/S-integrated support groups may improve care by increasing cultural match, as well as providing more access to recovery-oriented care by tapping the resources of faith communities.     

Giving and receiving autonomy support in a high-stakes sport context: A field-based experiment during the 2012 London Paralympic Games

ObjectiveRecognizing that high-stakes competitions tend to pressure coaches toward a maladaptive controlling motivating style, we sought to evaluate the capacity of an intervention to help coaches adopt a more autonomy-supportive style as they and their athletes prepared for the 2012 London Paralympic Games.DesignWe adopted a coach-focused experimental research design that longitudinally assessed coaches' and athletes' self-report, rater-scored, and objective dependent measures.MethodWe randomly assigned 33 coaches and their 64 athletes from 10 sports into either an experimental or control group and assessed their motivation and functioning longitudinally.ResultsIn the control group, athletes and coaches both showed a significant longitudinal deterioration in all measures of motivation, engagement, and functioning. In the experimental group, none of the measures of motivation, engagement, and functioning deteriorated but, instead, were generally maintained. In terms of performance, athletes of coaches in the experimental group won significantly more Olympic medals than did athletes in the control group.ConclusionEnacting an autonomy-supportive coaching style within the context of a high-stakes sports competition functioned as an antidote to coaches' otherwise situationally-induced controlling style.     

Predictors of help‐seeking behavior: Distinction between help‐seeking intentions and help‐seeking behavior

The overall goals of this research were to: (a) examine whether help‐seeking intentions, subjective needs, depressive symptoms, and social support can predict actual help‐seeking behavior; and (b) clarify the moderating effects of social support on help‐seeking behavior using a longitudinal design. University students (N = 370) completed questionnaires that measured social support, subjective needs, depressive symptoms, and help‐seeking intentions during Time1, and questionnaires that measured actual help‐seeking behavior during Time2. Only subjective needs showed a positive effect on both help‐seeking intentions and actual help‐seeking behavior. Although depressive symptoms had a negative effect on help‐seeking intentions, they had a positive effect on actual help‐seeking behavior. Moreover, social support had a positive effect on help‐seeking intentions, and moderated the influence of subjective needs on actual help‐seeking behavior. Simple slope analysis indicated that subjective needs did not facilitate help‐seeking behavior among those with low levels of social support.     

Structure also supports autonomy: Measuring and defining autonomy‐supportive teaching in Japanese elementary foreign language classes

Recent discussions of autonomy have included the perspective that, as a basic human need across cultural environments, it includes not only choice but also personal endorsement of action. The present study focused on the cultural experience of autonomy‐support in Japanese elementary school foreign language classes. Three studies were conducted to investigate how students understand autonomy‐supportive teaching. In Study 1, exploratory focus groups defined cultural perspectives on autonomy‐support and structure. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated that clarity, pacing, and teachers' positive affect correspond to students' perception of supportive teaching. Study 2 investigated teacher support in relation to in‐class engagement using longitudinal structural equation modeling. The results indicated a strong relationship between perceptions of support and classroom behavioral engagement, with stable effects over time. Study 3 longitudinally investigated teacher support in relation to students' perceptions of personal autonomy, relatedness, and competence need satisfaction. Findings show a strong positive relationship between teacher support and need satisfaction with high test‐retest reliability. Discussion focuses on how autonomy need satisfaction is experienced in different cultures with differing social norms.     

Perception of parents as demonstrating the inherent merit of their values: Relations with self‐congruence and subjective well‐being

This study focuses on the parenting practice of inherent value demonstration (IVD), involving parents' tendency to express their values in behaviours and appear satisfied and vital while doing so. Data from Chinese college students (n = 89) confirmed the hypothesis that offspring's perception of their parents as engaged in IVD predicts offspring's subjective well‐being (SWB) through sense of self‐congruence. Importantly, these relations emerged also when controlling for fundamental autonomy‐supportive (FAS) parenting practices such as taking children's perspective, minimising control and allowing choice. These findings are consistent with the view that parents concerned with their children's sense of autonomy may do well to engage in IVD in addition to more fundamental autonomy‐supportive practices. Future research may examine the role of IVD in promoting authentic values that serve as an internal compass that guides children to act in ways that feel self‐congruent.     

Motivational Predictors of Change in Oral Health: An Experimental Test of Self-Determination Theory

We tested the hypothesis that a psychosocial dental intervention formulated in terms of self-determination theory would increase patients’ perceived competence and autonomous motivation for dental care and would decrease their plaque and gingivitis over a seven month period, compared to standard dental treatment. We also tested a process model in which the intervention was expected to increase perceived dental competence and autonomous motivation, that they would be positively associated with oral health behaviors (i.e., brushing and flossing), which was expected to decrease plaque and, in turn, decrease gingivitis. We also examined whether: changes in perceived competence and autonomous motivation would mediate the effect of the intervention on dental-health behaviors; dental-health behaviors would mediate the links from changes in perceived competence and autonomous motivation to change in plaque; and change in plaque would mediate the relation of dental health behaviors to change in gingivitis. Finally, we examined the fit of the overall model with structural equation modelling. Results supported all predictions.