Adjustment of intellectually below-average men not identified as mentally retarded

A study was made of the adjustment of adult persons who were intellectually belowaverage but had not been labelled as mentally retarded, with the aim of revealing any groups among them at potential risk of being labelled in the future. In connection with enlistment for military service, a sample of 19-year-old men of below-average intelligence and a control group of intellectually average men were selected. A cluster analysis of 22 adjustment variables in the intellectually below-average group gave four homogeneous clusters with respect to social and personal adjustment: A well-adjusted cluster, a personal problem cluster, a crime cluster and work problem cluster. The subjects of the crime cluster had grown up in big towns and their parents were registered in the files of the social welfare authoritis. Work problems had more frequently been preceded by problems at school. The crime cluster and the work problem cluster were considered to run the greatest risk of being labelled mentally retarded in the future.     

Linking Service Climate and Disconfirmation of Expectations as Predictors of Customer Satisfaction: A Cross‐Level Study1

Research addressing customer satisfaction has not been conducted within an integrated framework. Two approaches have been developed separately with different levels of construct and analysis: organizational behavior and consumer behavior. Our research study provides an initial step in developing integrative strategies with the joint consideration of service climate and disconfirmation of expectations. We link these 2 concepts to customer satisfaction with services, using a cross‐level approach. Data from 105 work units and 1,033 customers confirmed the existence of a dual corridor of relationships, with independent and significant links from disconfirmation and service climate to customer satisfaction. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Gender and Trust in Science

It is now recognized that relations of trust play an epistemic role in science. The contested issue is under what conditions trust in scientific testimony is warranted. I argue that John Hardwig's view of trustworthy scientific testimony is inadequate because it does not take into account the possibility that credibility does not reliably reflect trustworthiness, and because it does not appreciate the role communities have in guaranteeing the trustworthiness of scientific testimony.     

Opinions of typical female and male sex-role behavior in Swedish children

The purpose of the study was to measure the opinions of typical female and male sex-role behavior in Swedish children. Sixty-two adults aged 20–30 years participated in a study designed to develop a method for the measuring of these opinions. In the main study, 515 children between the ages of three and twelve participated. The results showed that from the age of three, Swedish children share opinions about typical female and male sex-role behavior with adults to a large extent, and this became more pronounced with increasing age. The study also showed that the reliability of the method used was satisfactory. Factor analyses gave two orthogonal factors identified as a femininity factory and a masculinity factor, indicating that the validity also could be considered satisfactory.     

Perceived information ownership and control: Negotiating communication preferences in potential adoption reunions

In this study, the tension adoptees feel between learning information about their past and protecting themselves from negative or unwanted information about their birth/adoption was explored. Specifically, communication privacy management theory was used to explore adoptee preferences for information during a potential reunion with their birth mother/family. Findings suggest adoptees' preferences for information ownership and control correspond to the following privacy rules: (a) permeably boundary privacy rules, (b) privacy rule calibrations of boundary access, (c) protection privacy rules, and (d) privacy rules restricting boundary access. In addition, adoptees often expressed that they would like their birth mothers to serve as information guardians, revealing desired information and concealing unwanted disclosures. By assuming this guardian role, birth mothers and adoptees might have less stressful reunions, especially if both parties have similar expectations for information preferences.     

Understanding Betrayals in Marriage: A Synthesized Model of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is an issue that is problematic for many couples, particularly those in marital therapy. However, little attention has been paid to this construct in the psychological literature. The purpose of this article is to describe a synthesized model of forgiveness using constructs from multiple theories, including forgiveness, trauma recovery, cognitive-behavioral, family systems, and insight-oriented theories. Forgiveness is conceptualized as a process consisting of three stages, each of which has cognitive, behavioral, and affective components. Furthermore, these stages seem to parallel a person's natural response to traumatic stress. First, there is a response to the initial impact; second, there is an attempt to give the event some kind of meaning, or put it into context; and finally, the person begins to move forward and readjust. Forgiveness is conceptualized as attaining: (a) a realistic, nondistorted, balanced view of the relationship; (b) a release from being controlled by negative affect toward the participating partner; and (c) a lessened desire to punish the participating partner. Implications for marital therapy also are discussed.     

Adolescents’ own suggestions for bullying interventions at age 13 and 16

Frisén, A. & Holmqvist, K. (2009). Adolescents’ own suggestions for bullying interventions at age 13 and 16. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 123–131. In this study we examined adolescents’ perspectives on what interventions they consider to be effective in order to stop the bullying of a student. The adolescents’ suggestions were reviewed at two time points, age 13 and 16. Participants were 474 girls and 403 boys at the first point of examination, and 429 girls and 332 boys at the second point of examination. The participants’ suggestions were divided into categories based on some of the anti‐bullying strategies commonly presented by researchers. Results showed that some anti‐bullying strategies were more salient than others in the adolescents’ suggestions, and that their suggestions differed as a function of age, sex and to some extent, current experience of victimization. Having serious talks with the students involved was among the most common suggestions at both ages. However, girls were more likely than boys, and non‐victims were more likely than victims, to suggest this particular strategy.