Psychological Reports

This study investigated whether specific peritraumatic emotions differentially predict PTSD symptom clusters in individuals who have experienced stressful life events. Hypotheses were developed based on the SPAARS model of PTSD. It was predicted that the peritraumatic emotions of anger, disgust, guilt, and fear would significantly predict re-experiencing and avoidance symptoms, while only fear would predict hyperarousal. Undergraduate students (N = 144) participated in this study by completing a packet of self-report questionnaires. Multiple regression analyses were conducted with PCL-S symptom cluster scores as dependent variables and peritraumatic fear, guilt, anger, shame, and disgust as predictor variables. As hypothesized, peritraumatic anger, guilt, and fear all significantly predicted re-experiencing. However, only fear predicted avoidance, and anger significantly predicted hyperarousal. Results are discussed in relation to the theoretical role of emotions in the etiology of PTSD following the experience of a stressful life event.

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is used to assess attitude beyond the limitations of explicit measurements. Nevertheless, the test requires opposition between two attitude objects and also measures an extra-personal dimension of attitude that may reflect associations shared collectively. The first limitation can be overcome by using a Single Category IAT and the second by a personalized version of IAT. This study compares attitudes to smoking measured using a Single Category IAT with a personalized version of the test. The results, collected from 111 students, showed that the Single Category IAT did not distinguish smokers from non-smokers; smokers had negative scores. The personalized version did distinguish smokers from non-smokers, and smokers' scores seem to be neutral.

A strong negative correlation between perceptions of risk for co-occurrent substance abuse and the variability associated with those risk perceptions was found in two independent samples.

In an analysis of 105 incidents of workplace violence in the USA from 1982 to 2002, the murderers who killed themselves after the incident killed more victims than those arrested. The workplace violence occurring at schools resulted in significantly more injured victims, but not more deceased victims.

The increased awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) over the last few decades as well as the potential association between ASD and offending behaviors has spurred a need for increased research in this area. In order to explore any possible relationship between ASD and violent or sexual crime the present study examines all forensic examination reports over a 10-yr. period in Norway where the charged persons were diagnosed with ASD and charged with either a violent (N = 21) or a sexual (N = 12) offense. Differences between these two groups regarding previous contact with child welfare and confessions to the offense were found. There was also a tendency toward more severe mental health problems and less intellectual problems among the violent offenders than the sexual offenders.

This study assessed the effects of a psychological group intervention based on positive psychology in women with breast cancer. 175 women were randomly assigned either to an experimental group, receiving the 14-session intervention (n = 87), or to a waitlist group (n = 88) that did not receive any type of intervention. For treatment, a group intervention was applied, based on improving psychological strengths and enhancing positive psychology-based styles of coping. Strength-related outcomes, self-esteem, well-being, and happiness were assessed before and after the intervention. The experimental group showed higher scores on all of the study variables after the intervention. Participants reported improved self-esteem, emotional intelligence-related abilities, resilience, and optimism, as well as positive affectivity, well-being, and happiness. The results show a beneficial effect of this psychological intervention based on positive psychology on female breast cancer patients' psychological health.

This study examined the relationship between humor styles and loneliness among a sample of Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese. A total of 159 Hong Kong undergraduates and 178 Hangzhou undergraduates were recruited to complete a survey composed of the Humor Styles Questionnaire and the Emotional and Social Loneliness Scales. Multiple regression analyses showed that self-defeating humor explained significant variance in both social and emotional loneliness for Hong Kong students, but only in social loneliness for Hangzhou students. Hong Kong students scored significantly higher on aggressive humor and self-defeating humor, and scored significantly lower on affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor than did their counterparts in Hangzhou. This could be attributed to the greater influence of Confucianism in Mainland China than in Hong Kong.

This study examined the role of enjoyment in people's decision to barter online. A survey in barter BBS/discussion forums and websites collected data from 135 participants (30 men, 105 women; 71% in the age group of 21–30 years) who barter online. To test a modification of the Expectation Confirmation Model, perceived enjoyment, confirmation of expectations, perceived usefulness, satisfaction, and continuance intention were measured. The data analysis showed that the expanded ECM had good explanatory power, with all paths supported except for perceived usefulness-satisfaction. In the proposed model, 33.1% of the variance in continuance intentions was predicted by the independent variables. Thus, the expanded ECM can provide supplementary information that is relevant for understanding continued online bartering usage. Barter website managers may encourage users' intentions to continue using these websites by emphasizing enjoyable aspects of online bartering.

This study examines whether mood states (a) influence decision making under uncertainty and (b) affect information processing. 200 students at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur participated in this study. Positive mood was induced by showing comedy movie clips to 100 participants and negative mood was induced by showing tragedy movie clips to another 100 participants. The participants were administered a questionnaire containing hypothetical situations of financial gains and losses, and a health risk problem. The participants selected a choice for each situation, and stated the reasons for their choice. Results suggested that the participants preferred cautious choices in the domain of gain and in health risk problems and risky choices in the domain of loss. Analysis of the reasons for the participants' choices suggested more fluency, originality, and flexibility of information in a negative mood compared to a positive mood. A negative (positive) mood state facilitated systematic (heuristic) information processing.

The goal of this study was to assess relations between public self-consciousness, private self-consciousness (self-reflectiveness and internal state awareness), and two emotion-regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. 59 employees of a public hospital completed a survey. Public self-consciousness was not associated with either emotion-regulation strategy, while both dimensions of private self-consciousness were related to the strategies. While self-reflectiveness was correlated with expressive suppression, internal states awareness was associated with cognitive reappraisal.

This research is an exploratory study toward development of the French version of the Questionnaire on Personality Traits (QPT/VKP–4). The goal was to assess its association with the Big Five Inventory (BIG–5) and to explore the personality characteristics of the elderly compared to young adults. The 241 participants included 83 elderly people and 158 young adults. Borderline and anxious personality disorders were less frequent in elderly women than in young women, and depressive personality disorder was less frequent in elderly men. Dimension scores were higher for Conscientiousness in the elderly, Agreeableness in elderly women, and Extraversion in elderly men. Statistically significant correlations were found between personality dimension scores using the VKP–4 and the BIG–5.

This study assessed the factor structure of the Work Regulatory Focus Scale, which includes work-related prevention and promotion as dimensions of regulatory focus. To examine the concurrent validity, these dimensions were correlated with the prevention and promotion subscales of the Chronic Regulatory Focus Questionnaire. Using computer-assisted telephone interviews, data were collected from 237 full-time working people in Hong Kong, with a response rate of 72.9%. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the two-factor model of the Work Regulatory Focus Scale fit the data adequately. Fit indices improved after two of the items with low factor loadings on the promotion focus dimension were excluded from the analysis, which left 10 items in the scale. Pearson correlations between work-related regulatory focus subscales and chronic regulatory focus subscales were low but significant (range, .19−.39). The mean score differences between regulatory focus subscales were mostly in the expected direction, providing convergent validity evidence. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research on the validity of the scale were discussed.

The objective of this research was to assess the psychometric properties of the Sport Satisfaction Instrument (SSI) in a Spanish sample of female athletes in team sports federations, to decide whether it constitutes a valid and reliable instrument to be used in the context of female competitive sport in future research. The SSI was administered to a total of 615 athletes from 12 to 38 yr. of age. Confirmatory procedures and psychometric analysis supported the hypothesized theoretical model of two factors (Satisfaction/fun and Boredom). For female athletes, the 7-item model showed better goodness-of-fit indexes upon eliminating Item 2 from the Boredom subscale. Concurrent validity was explored through the correlations with the Perception of Success Questionnaire and Sport Commitment, obtaining positive correlations between Satisfaction/fun and Task Orientation and Sport Commitment, whereas Boredom correlated positively but less closely with Ego Orientation. The importance of Satisfaction/fun in the prediction of Sport Commitment, starting from task orientation, is emphasized.

This study assessed the quality of the items of the School Anxiety Inventory using the Rating-Scale Rasch model. The Inventory was administered to 253 grade school pupils, ranging in age from 9 to 12 yr. (M = 10.2 yr., SD = 0.98); most were girls (52.8%). The results showed that the items and participants adequately fit the Rasch model. The average anxiety of these children was 0.32 logits (SD = 1.60). The inventory items revealed good reliability (Item Reliability Index = 0.98; Cronbach's α = .74), and the fit indicators for the response categories were adequate for 50% of the items, while the other items revealed dichotomous responses. No item functioned differentially for boys and girls. The psychometric properties of the inventory were good enough to encourage plans for further development.

The goal was to investigate the association of economic opportunism with self-efficacy, optimism, and positive emotion. It was hypothesized that economic opportunists should experience lower self-efficacy, less positive thinking, and less optimism. Study 1 (N = 206) showed that economic opportunism was negatively correlated with self-efficacy, optimism, and positive affect, and positively correlated with negative affect. Study 2 (N = 128) indicated that individuals reporting higher self-efficacy were less likely to defect on their counterparts in a game situation. These findings show the negative association of opportunistic propensity with self-efficacy and positive emotions. Implications for experimental research on economic opportunism and positive emotions are discussed.

The current study was an attempt to examine the interplay between domain-specific self-esteem and life satisfaction with middle-aged Koreans. For four domains (Social/Objective Ability, Positive Characteristics, Interpersonal Relationships, and Family), the mediating effects of the satisfaction index of domain-specific self-esteem between the importance index of domain-specific self-esteem and life satisfaction were tested using structural equation modeling. 364 Koreans in their 40s and 50s were recruited through stratified sampling. Overall, the satisfaction index of domain-specific self-esteem was found to be a strong mediator across all the four domains; for middle-aged Koreans, if they appraised their self-esteem in a given domain as important and they felt satisfied in that domain, their life satisfaction was likely to be higher. Additionally, results of multi-group analysis suggested that the strengths of associations in the model were different between men and women in the Interpersonal Relationships domain.

Prior work has indicated that sense of coherence and trait anxiety are overlapping constructs. This study assessed this overlap in explaining emotional states during a task situation. Participants were 150 students, randomly assigned to a control and an experimental group. The experimental task was to put a jigsaw puzzle together under time pressure. Sense of coherence (SOC) and trait anxiety were measured at baseline. The dependent variables, positive and negative emotions, were measured three times: at baseline, soon before the task, and after finishing the task. As expected, at each measurement point correlations between emotional state and sense of coherence did not differ significantly from the absolute values of the relevant correlations with trait anxiety. Also, from a repeated-measures perspective, for Low SOC vs High trait anxiety and also for High SOC vs Low trait anxiety, similar explanatory power for changes in emotional state was noted. The results support doubts in literature about insufficient discriminant validity of the Orientation to Life Questionnaire as a measure of the salutogenic construct.

Employing peer-rating methodology, this study examined relationship issues in narcissists versus individuals with authentic high self-esteem. Undergraduates (N = 147) were assigned to rate someone (a “target”) they knew well who was most similar to a narcissistic prototype, an authentic self-esteem prototype, or a control person. Participants rating narcissistic targets reported significantly more interpersonal problems with the target and more avoidant and revenge behaviors directed toward them than did participants rating authentic self-esteem or control targets. Authentic high self-esteem was associated with positive social relationships. Large effect sizes suggested substantial interpersonal differences observed by peers interacting with narcissists compared to authentic high self-esteem individuals.

This study examined the latent constructs of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) using two different groups of Korean English as a foreign language (EFL) university students. Maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis with direct oblimin rotation was performed among the first group of 217 participants and produced two meaningful latent components in the FLCAS. The two components of the FLCAS were closely examined among the second group of 244 participants to find the extent to which the two components of the FLCAS fit the data. The model fit indexes showed that the two-factor model in general adequately fit the data. Findings of this study were discussed with the focus on the two components of the FLCAS, followed by future study areas to be undertaken to shed further light on the role of foreign language anxiety in L2 acquisition.

A wide literature of the unsuccessful treatment of writer's block has emerged since the early 1970's. Findings within this literature seem to confer generalizability of this procedure; however, small sample sizes may limit this interpretation. This meta-analysis independently analyzed effect sizes for “self-treatments” and “group-treatments” using number of words in the body of the publication as indication of a failure to treat writer's block. Results of the reported findings suggest that group-treatments tend to be slightly more unsuccessful than self-treatments.

This study investigated the relations between attachment, resilience, and earned security in Japanese university students. It was hypothesized that resilience would have a positive relationship with attachment and that people who had an insecure attachment style but high resilience would also have high earned security. An earned security scale was developed, based on the Naikan thought scale and attachment theory. The earned-security scales, a resilience scale, and an internal working model scale were administered to 343 university students. Three trends were apparent: (1) positive correlations between secure attachment scores and resilience scores; (2) negative correlations between insecure ambivalent attachment scores and resilience scores, but people classified in the ambivalent attachment cluster and high resilience group had higher earned security; and (3) avoidant attachment scores had negligible correlations with resilience and earned security.

Statistical knowledge is widely used in academia; however, statistics teachers struggle with the issue of how to reduce students' statistics anxiety and enhance students' statistics learning. This study assesses the effectiveness of a “one-minute paper strategy” in reducing students' statistics-related anxiety and in improving students' statistics-related achievement. Participants were 77 undergraduates from two classes enrolled in applied statistics courses. An experiment was implemented according to a pretest/posttest comparison group design. The quasi-experimental design showed that the one-minute paper strategy significantly reduced students' statistics anxiety and improved students' statistics learning achievement. The strategy was a better instructional tool than the textbook exercise for reducing students' statistics anxiety and improving students' statistics achievement.

The HEXACO model offers a complement to the Big Five model, including a sixth factor, Honesty–Humility, and its four facets (Sincerity, Fairness, Greed-avoidance, and Modesty). The four facets of Honesty–Humility and three indicators of intelligence (one performance-based cognitive ability test, one self-estimated academic potential, and one self-report of previous IQ test results) were assessed in students entering higher education (N= 187). A significant negative correlation was observed between Honesty–Humility and self-reported intelligence (r =−.37), most evident in the Modesty facet. These results may be interpreted as tendencies of exaggeration, using a theoretical frame of psychological image-management, concluding that the Honesty–Humility trait captures students' self-ambitions, particularly within the context of an individualistic, competitive culture such as Sweden.

Independent self-construals in Western cultures may promote analytic information processing and low field dependence, while interdependent self-construals in Eastern cultures may foster holistic information processing and high field dependence. To examine these ideas, the social orientation and cognitive style of 254 introductory psychology students were measured. Multiple regression analyses indicated a non-significant relationship between the participants' social orientation and cognitive style (R²s ranged from .00 to .01, 95% confidence intervals for R² ranged from .00 to .05). These findings indicate that the hypothesis that collectivism and individualism are associated with differences in information processing between individuals needs further scrutiny. The possible reasons for the lack of association between social orientation and cognitive style are discussed.