Environmental attitudes in China: The roles of the Dark Triad,future orientation and place attachment

Given the current environmental situation and social change in China, we explored the relationships between the Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) and environmental attitudes (beliefs regarding environmentally related issues), and the mediating roles of future orientation (the tendency to plan for meeting long‐term objectives) and place attachment (the emotional connection with the place of residence) in these relationships. Using a national sample from all 31 provinces of mainland China (N = 998), we found that the psychometric structure of the Dark Triad was well confirmed under Chinese culture. The Dark Triad as a whole was negatively related to environmental attitudes, but narcissism was not significantly associated with environmental attitudes when the three Dark Triad traits were considered as the predictors simultaneously. Future orientation and place attachment mediated the association between the Dark Triad and environmental attitudes. These findings enrich our understanding of the relevant variables of environmental attitudes and provide references for China's government and other developing countries to improve environmental issues. The uniqueness of narcissism could expand the understanding of the commonality and diversity among the Dark Triad traits, and an efficient tool of the Dark Triad was provided under Chinese culture.     

Chinese adolescents with higher social dominance orientation are less prosocial and less happy: A value‐environment fit analysis

This study aims to investigate the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO) and subjective well‐being among Chinese adolescents (N = 4246), and to examine the mediating role of prosocial behaviour in this relationship. The structural equation model's results showed that SDO was negatively associated with prosocial behaviour and subjective well‐being, that prosocial behaviour was positively associated with subjective well‐being, and also that (low) prosocial behaviour partially mediated the negative relationship between SDO and subjective well‐being. Multi‐group analyses showed that the mediation model was generally similar between boys and girls, but that the negative relationship between SDO and prosocial behaviour was somewhat stronger among girls than boys. This study sheds light on how SDO is associated with positive outcomes among Chinese adolescents and highlights the mediating role of prosocial behaviour as an underlying mechanism between SDO and subjective well‐being. Future studies are needed to further discover the role of culture values in the association between SDO and subjective well‐being.     

Head and Trunk Movements During Turning Gait in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Thirty children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 22 typical developing (TD) were tested with 3D-gait analysis. At turning, trunk rotation was larger in CP2 (GMFCS II) than in TD and CP1 (GMFCS I), and head flexion was larger in CP3 (GMFCS III) than TD. Maximum head and trunk flexion values during the entire trial were larger in CP3 than in the other groups, and trunk flexion was larger in CP2 than in TD. Trial time increased with GMFCS-level. Less trunk rotation than TD and CP1 reflects spatial insecurity in CP2, which in CP3 is compensated by the walker. The flexed head and trunk in CP3 and trunk in CP2 may reflect deficits in proprioception and sensation requiring visual control of the lower limbs.     

Does crying help? Development of the beliefs about crying scale (BACS)

Crying is often considered to be a positive experience that benefits the crier, yet there is little empirical evidence to support this. Indeed, it seems that people hold a range of appraisals about their crying, and these are likely to influence the effects of crying on their emotional state. This paper reports on the development and psychometric validation of the Beliefs about Crying Scale (BACS), a new measure assessing beliefs about whether crying leads to positive or negative emotional outcomes in individual and interpersonal contexts. Using 40 preliminary items drawn from a qualitative study, an exploratory factor analysis with 202 participants (50% female; aged 18–84 years) yielded three subscales: Helpful Beliefs, Unhelpful-Individual Beliefs, and Unhelpful-Social Beliefs, explaining 60% of the variance in the data. Confirmatory factor analysis on the 14-item scale with 210 participants (71% female; aged 17–48 years) showed a good fit to the three factors. The subscales showed differential relationships with measures of personality traits, crying proneness, emotion regulation and expressivity, and emotional identification (alexithymia). The BACS provides a nuanced understanding of beliefs about crying in different contexts and helps to explain why crying behaviour may not always represent positive emotion regulation for the crier.     

True versus strategic fairness in a common resource dilemma: Evidence from the dual‐process perspective

Common resource dilemmas involve collectively coordinating individual choices to promote group efficiency. Equal division represents one of the most important coordination rules. Previous research suggests that individuals follow the equality rule for different reasons. Some individuals behave cooperatively out of their concern for other's welfare, whereas some individuals cooperate strategically to enhance personal gains. Building on the dual‐process perspective, the authors aim to differentiate strategic fairness from true fairness in solving a resource dilemma. In four experiments, the effect of cognitive processing manipulations on individual harvesting behavior in a one‐shot resource dilemma was tested against participants with different social values. Results consistently showed that prosocials, who value joint outcome and equality, requested significantly less money than did proselfs, who value personal gain. More importantly, prosocials in the intuition and deliberation conditions request similar amounts, whereas proselfs in the intuition condition request more money than those in the deliberation condition. The results were further validated by a follow‐up meta‐analysis based on the four experiments. The implications of the dual‐process perspective for social coordination research are discussed.     

Towards explaining the “how” of positive orientation: The beliefs‐affect‐engagement model

As a higher order latent construct, positive orientation captures the common core of an individual's beliefs concerning oneself, life, and the future. This article aims at explaining how positive orientation may relate to activity engagement and stimulate persistence in action. It presents the beliefs‐affect‐engagement model, postulating that positive orientation stimulates positive affect, which in turn fosters activity engagement. A distinction between the trait and state components of positive orientation also is made, and specific mechanisms explaining engagement and persistence concerning the trait and two state components of each construct (relatively stable and temporal‐specific aspects of a state) are discussed. The proposed model may contribute to further development of the positive orientation theory.     

Pre-retirement anxiety: Development and validation of a measurement instrument in a Nigerian sample

Two studies were conducted to develop and provide evidence supporting the construct validity and internal consistency of scores from the Nigerian Pre-retirement Anxiety Scale (NPAS). The measure comprises three dimensions: financial preparedness, social obligation, and social alienation. In the first study, data collected from 424 civil servants supported the proposed dimensionality of scale scores and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha for the full scale = 0. 83). In the second study, data collected from a total sample of 216 employees who were also civil servants from different government agencies likewise supported the internal consistency of scores from the NPAS (Cronbach alpha for the full scale = 0.73), as well as validity. Scores from the NPAS appear to have evidence for research purposes.     

Predictive factors of quality of life in acquired brain injury

Background/ObjectiveThe sequelae and the disability and dependence that follow an acquired brain injury (ABI) may result in a significant reduction in the quality of life (QoL) of those affected. The objective was to assess the QoL of a sample of Spanish patients with an ABI and analyze the influence of certain sociodemographic and injury-related variables on their QoL. Method: The sample comprised 421 adults (60% male; M_age = 53.12; SD = 14.87). Professionals and relatives assessed the patients’ QoL through the CAVIDACE scale, an ABI-specific tool based on the eight-domain QoL model. Results: Univariate analyses showed statistically significant differences in the QoL scores in several sociodemographic (age, civil status, education level, prior employment status, type of home, level of supports, loss of legal capacity, recognized dependence, and degree of dependence) and injury-related (time since the injury, location of the injury, and presence of post-traumatic amnesia) variables. The multiple linear regression showed that loss of legal capacity, time since the injury, prior employment status, location of the injury, and degree of dependence were significant QoL predictors. Conclusions: These findings provide knowledge for the development of programs aimed at reducing the negative impact of ABI on QoL.     

Subjective well-being in adolescence: New psychometric evidences on the satisfaction with life scale

The main purpose of the present study was to test the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) in a large sample of Spanish adolescents. The sample consisted of 1020 non-clinical adolescents with a mean age of 15.96 years (SD = 1.68). The level of internal consistency of the SWLS Total score by means of McDonald’s Omega was .85. The one-dimensional model displayed appropriate goodness of-fit indices. Strong measurement invariance for the one factor model across age and gender was found. Younger adolescents reported higher levels of life satisfaction. In addition, SWLS total score was negatively associated with behavioural and emotional. The study confirmed that the SWLS is a useful tool for the screening of self-reported life satisfaction in adolescents.     

Ethnic hierarchies,ethnic prejudice,and social dominance orientation

Previous research in multi‐ethnic societies has shown that people rank, or form hierarchies of, the ethnic groups on the basis of social distance. Based on self‐report data from a community sample (N = 150 non‐psychology students), this study examined (1) the correspondence of ratings and rankings of six ethnic target groups among various subgroups of participants (Swedish and immigrant men and women), and (2) the relationship of inclination to ethnic ranking with ethnic prejudice and social dominance orientation. In accord with our hypotheses, the results disclosed that (1) irrespective of gender and ethnic origin, the various subgroups of participants ranked and formed similar hierarchies of the six ethnic target groups, and (2) people's inclination to ethnic ranking showed significant correlations with their ethnic prejudice as well as social dominance orientation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.