Meaning in life and violations of beliefs and goals: reciprocal relations among individuals with congestive heart failure

Background and objectives: In the context of highly stressful experiences, violations of beliefs and goals and meaning in life may have a reciprocal relationship over time. More violations may lead to lowered meaning, whereas higher meaning may lead to lowered violations. The present study examines this relationship among congestive heart failure (CHF) patients.

Design: A cross-lagged panel design was used.

Methods: CHF patients (N?=?142) reported twice, six months apart, on their meaning in life and the extent to which CHF violates their beliefs and goals.

Results: Overall, results were consistent with a reciprocal relationship, showing that greater goal violations led to negative subsequent changes in meaning, whereas greater meaning led to favorable subsequent changes in violations of beliefs and goals.

Conclusions: Meaning in life and violations may contribute to one another, and therefore, in understanding the adjustment process, it is important to consider their interrelationship. The results are also broadly informative regarding the experience of meaning, showing that disruption of beliefs and goals may undermine meaning.     

Dialoguing Height Psychology into a life of interconnectedness: Response to commentaries by Hwang,Bhawuk, King & Hodgetts,Kashima, and Xie,Su, & Zhong

Liu (Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 000, 000) attempts to articulate an epistemology for the aspirational practice of Height Psychology as a human science informed by Kantian epistemology in dialogue with other philosophies, especially Confucianism and Taoism. Height Psychology is a framework or metatheory for the practice of teaching, research, and service rooted in Kantian epistemology, in dialogue with other philosophies. It provides a holistic philosophy for social scientists responding to wicked problems unfolding over long periods of time. In responding to commentaries, I suggest a corollary to Shweder's (Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 3, p. 207) ‘One mind, many mentalities’: ‘Many indigenous psychologies, interconnected by one epistemology’. Height Psychology is about holding to an invisible moral centre. The practical postulates are foundational to the moral and ethical practices of human societies: they are for doing, their value is ontological. Human agency, proscribed by natural science epistemologies takes centre stage in Height Psychology by facilitating social scientists to act reflexively from multiple positions (from basic to action research) to benefit society. Height Psychology is dedicated to articulating and actioning the moral and ethical basis of a human science that can assist present and future generations of social scientists to meet the grave situational futures facing us in different parts of the world.     

Applying the extended theory of planned behaviour to predict Chinese people's non‐remunerated blood donation intention and behaviour: The roles of perceived risk and trust in blood collection agencies

Against the backdrop of critical clinical blood shortage in China in recent years, the present research extends the theory of planned behaviour by incorporating two constructs potentially of importance in influencing non‐remunerated blood donation behaviour, namely perceived risk and individual trust in blood collection agencies to predict Chinese people's non‐remunerated blood donation intention and behaviour. A survey was conducted to measure variables of the theory of planned behaviour, and other variables such as experience of non‐remunerated blood donation, perceived risk and individual trust in blood collection agencies. Data to assess non‐remunerated blood donation behaviour were collected via phone interviews. Results of the path analysis are as follows. Subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and individual trust in blood collection agencies are all positively associated with attitudes toward non‐remunerated blood donation, explaining 46.9% of the variance in this variable. Perceived risk is negatively associated with blood donation intention, while subjective norm and attitudes toward non‐remunerated blood donation are both positively associated with blood donation intention. Together, the three variables account for 28.4% of the variance in donation intention. Both having a positive association with non‐remunerated blood donation behaviour, the combination of blood donation intention and donation experience explains 42.8% of its variance.     

Between God and self: exploring the attachment to God and authenticity/inauthenticity tendencies of South African Christian youths

The paper explores the relationship between attachment to God (AG) and authenticity/inauthenticity among Christian youths in relation to a range of socio-demographic variables. Cross-sectional data were collected from 100 South African Christian youths using measures of AG and authenticity/inauthenticity. The correlation results reveal that feelings of insecurity in terms of having anxiety in a relationship with God is positively related to self-alienation (feeling out of touch with oneself) and accepting external influences (conforming to the standards and expectations of others), but negatively correlated to authentic living (being in tune with one’s self). Feelings of insecurity in terms of avoidant God-attachment was also related to self-alienation. In addition, demographic differences were observed for gender and church denomination. These results suggest that insecurity with God may either be linked to feelings of authenticity or self-estrangement among Christian youths and have broad implications, both for clinical usage and further cross-cultural research.     

Gathering a few thoughts on ‘Neo‐Confucian epistemology and Chinese philosophy’

In Neo‐Confucian Epistemology and Chinese Philosophy: Practical Postulates for Actioning Psychology as a Human Science, Professor Liu offers a critique of the Cartesian underpinnings of psychology as a natural science. Drawing on Chinese cultural postulates, Professor Liu offers a vision for a global psychology more orientated towards the morally centered person and which developed a culturally‐informed ethics. This commentary explores the implications of this rethinking of psychology for indigenous and applied social psychologies in Aotearoa/New Zealand.     

Purpose in life and cognitive functioning in adulthood

With an increasingly aging population, more work is needed to identify factors which may promote the maintenance of normal cognitive functioning. The current study tested the concurrent association between sense of purpose in life and the cognitive variables of episodic memory, executive functioning, and composite cognitive functioning in adults (N = 3489, M_age = 56.3 years, SD = 12.27, Range = 32–84 years) from the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS). Correlational analyses suggested that purpose in life was associated with higher scores for memory, executive functioning, and overall cognition. Bootstrapping tests of moderation found no evidence for a moderating effect of age on purpose and the cognitive variables. Future studies should attempt to explain the mechanisms behind this relationship and explore the potential for interventions to promote healthy cognitive and purposeful aging.     

Coping self-efficacy and psychosocial well-being of marginalised South African youth

The aim of this study was to investigate coping self-efficacy and aspects of psychosocial well-being amongst youth from marginalised backgrounds. A total of 794 black South African marginalised youth (males = 54%, females = 46%, age range between 18 and 30 years) voluntarily participated in this cross-sectional study. The participants completed surveys of coping self-efficacy, mental health, and mood disorder. Structural equation modelling was applied to construct an explanatory model for coping self-efficacy and psychosocial well-being among the marginalised youth. The resulting structural model showed that coping self-efficacy significantly and positively predicted the emotional and psychological dimensions of psychosocial well-being among the youth. Psychosocial well-being was associated with of a lower risk for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in these marginalised young people.     

‘We’ve shared a lifetime with one another’: using reflective visual/verbal journals to develop graduate student relationships

The success of graduate students relies on factors beyond mere cognitive ability, with fostering peer and professional relationships as definitive influences on achievement. Research shows that positive faculty/student relationships are a significant factor in the success of graduate students and that art-making is an effective way to encourage the reflective thinking needed to nurture these relationships. In this article, we examine the relationship between arts informed pedagogy, specifically the use of a visual/verbal journal, and the formation of graduate relationships. The majority of the students in this collaborative inquiry entered their doctoral program at the same time the research class began and all engaged in an artfully imagined introduction to qualitative research course.     

Contribution d’une catégorisation des RPS à la prédiction du stress et du burnout (ou du mal-être au travail) des soignants

Health-care professionals are strongly affected by distress at work. Our goal is to study the usefulness of a psychosocial risk measure, compared to a measure of psychosocial and organizational work constraints, on the prediction of distress among a population of caregivers. This measure is based on the categorization of psychosocial risk factors issued from the College of experts chaired by Gollac. Seven hundred and fifty-seven health-care professionals filled out a questionnaire composed of measures of psychosocial risks, psychosocial and organizational work constraints specific to caregivers, as well as stress and burnout. Results indicate that the measure of psychosocial risk better predicted the levels of stress and burnout than the measure of psychosocial and organizational work constraints.