From victimhood to sisterhood – A practice-based reflexive inquiry into narrative informed group work with women who have experienced sexual abuse

This paper will present some of the relational contexts and considerations of a female therapist’s role within an island community group for women who have shared experiences of abuse and injustice; her relationship to the group, to her systemic and narrative practices; and to the research that has ensued. Exploring the changing relational contexts as the group moves from a facilitator led to a peer support group; and the associated language shifts from a binary discourse of ‘other than’ to a collective definition of ‘sisterhood’ is part of the story, which also includes the important themes of community engagement, social action and the complexities of insider/practice-based research.     

Foreign Language Training Transfer: Individual and Contextual Predictors of Skill Maintenance and Generalization

Foreign language proficiency is a critical skill in which many U.S. military personnel receive extensive training. However, very little research has examined the factors associated with the successful transfer of this training. This study therefore investigates the impact of individual and contextual variables on two different types of foreign language skill transfer measures in a military context. Archival data were analyzed from 133 U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) teams, including 919 Soldiers who had completed job-required foreign language training. Results indicate that initial skill acquisition had a positive impact on both the maintenance and generalization of language skills. The posttraining time interval between training and transfer measurement was negatively associated with skill maintenance, suggesting significant skill decay over time. The team context also accounted for significant variability in skill transfer, and the team mean skill level moderated the relationship between individual initial skill and subsequent generalization to job performance.     

From Combat to Khakis: An Exploratory Examination of Job Stress With Veterans

Veterans are having a difficult time reintegrating back into the civilian sector following their service, with nearly 44% reporting some type of problem. The experienced stress and resultant strain associated with this reintegration may be caused by an incongruence between veterans’ military identities and their civilian work environments, a form of strain we term veteran identity strain (Vet-IS). To better understand the experienced strain associated with incongruent veteran and civilian work identities, we examine the effects of military rank on Vet-IS, the moderating role of political skill on the relationship between rank and Vet-IS, and how this relationship affects the outcomes of work intensity and vigor. A mediated moderation analysis of 251 veterans provided support for most study hypotheses, which predicted that rank would have an indirect effect on work intensity and vigor through Vet-IS, conditional upon veterans’ levels of political skill. Contributions and future research directions are discussed.     

Work Context Support and Portuguese Soldiers’ Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Autonomous Motivation

Using self-determination theory ( Deci & Ryan, 2008 Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Self-determination theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health. Canadian Psychology, 49, 182–185. 10.1037/a0012801[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) as the theoretical framework, we tested a model for this study that considers soldiers’ perceptions of organizational support and leader–member exchange (LMX), work motivation, and well-being at work. The hypothesized model was tested using a representative sample of 1,045 Portuguese soldiers. Results revealed that autonomous work motivation was significantly related to both contextual factors (organizational support and LMX). In addition, autonomous work motivation was positively related to work engagement and negatively related to burnout, and controlled motivation showed the opposite pattern. More interesting, the results showed that autonomous work motivation as a mechanism that helped to explain the relationship between both contextual factors and workplace well-being. The present results underscore the importance of understanding the mechanisms through which higher work engagement and lower burnout take place, eventually leading to appropriate interventions.     

The influence of motivational and emotional factors in mathematical learning in secondary education

IntroductionWhile motivation has, for decades, been investigated as a key component of academic learning and performance, academic emotions have often been left out of the scope of investigation. According to several researchers, mathematics learning seems to be particularly affected by students’ emotions.ObjectiveThis paper is aimed at characterizing the emotions and motivation of eighth grade students in a mathematical setting and highlighting the cluster of emotions–activity emotions vs outcome emotions–which best predict math value, math self-concept, behavioral engagement and math performance.MethodData were collected through questionnaires from 115 students and analyzed through means comparisons and linear regressions.ResultsResults indicated that eighth grade students give a relatively high value to mathematics have a positive mathematics self-concept and are moderately engaged in mathematical tasks. Regression analysis showed that mathematics value and behavioral engagement are better explained by activity emotions while mathematics self-concept and performance are better predicted by outcome emotions.ConclusionThe implications of these findings in terms of educational practices are discussed at the end of this study.     

工作压力对建设型和防御型建言的差异影响

以往研究普遍从建言行为的建设性意图特征出发, 探讨其关键前因、产生机制和情境因素, 但却较少关注建言行为的工具性目的。基于资源保存理论, 本研究构建了有调节的中介模型以探讨工作压力影响员工建设型建言和防御型建言的作用机制和边界条件。通过对某建筑企业386名员工进行两阶段调查, 结果表明：工作压力与防御型建言存在正向相关关系, 与建设型建言存在负向相关关系, 自我损耗在其中起中介作用; 另外, 领导开明性正向调节自我损耗和建设型建言的负向相关关系, 并正向调节工作压力通过自我损耗影响建设型建言的间接效应。     

Boredom at work: towards a dynamic spillover model of need satisfaction,work motivation,and work-related boredom

Boredom occurs regularly at work and can have negative consequences. This study aimed to increase insight in the antecedents and processes underlying the development of work-related boredom by (a) examining whether work-related need satisfaction and the quality-of-work motivation mediate the associations between the work characteristics defined in the Job Characteristics Model and work-related boredom, (b) investigating if this motivational process operates both on an “enduring,” between-person level and a daily within-person level, and (c) examining if and how daily experiences of work-related boredom spill over to the next day. Data among employees were collected in a cross-sectional study (N = 115) and a 5-day daily diary study (N = 90). Study 1 results showed that need satisfaction and quality-of-work motivation mediated the association between work characteristics and work-related boredom. This motivational process was also found on a day-to-day basis in Study 2. This study further revealed that work-related boredom spills over to the next day through its associations with increased negative work attitudes and decreased intrinsic motivation. These findings provide insight in the process by which momentary experiences of boredom at work may develop into a more enduring experience of work-related boredom.