Suchergebnisse

The authors studied the influence of maternal reproductive characteristics on their pre-school children's body traits in a village in southern Spain, assuming that children's size at pre-school age is associated with their future reproductive patterns. The variables considered
were: 1) mother's age at menarche, as a more genetically informative variable, 2) as a more environmental variable, they propose a new index of maternal time availability, and 3) birth weight to control its influence on early patterns of growth. The children's body traits considered
were weight and height, and a body mass index was also computed. According to these results, the mother's age at menarche is related to those body parameters which probably influence the children's future reproductive strategies.

This study evaluated the relationship between several dimensions of parental and family religiosity with adolescent drug use behavior. Analysis was based on self-reported responses to a questionnaire administered to 1,036 undergraduate college students at Brigham Young University, of
which 99.1% are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). About 86% reported having never used drugs. The most commonly reported reasons for abstention from drugs were that drug use violates the participants' religious beliefs and their personal moral
code. In contrast, concern about legal consequences, harming family reputation, and avoiding dishonest behavior were among the least common reasons for abstaining from drugs. Children of parents who were neutral, versus critical, about religion — or who considered religion of minor importance
— were more likely to have a history of drug use. Protective factors against drug behavior included also parental positions of responsibility in the church and frequent family discussions involving religion and Christian conduct. The mother's view of religion was a stronger indicator
of previous drug use behavior than either the father's view of religion, positions of church responsibility held by the parents, or arguments about religious teachings with parents. Discussion on topics of Christian conduct was a stronger indicator of previous drug use behavior than were
either church attendance or discussions on topics of religious doctrine.

The object of the present study was to see whether there are tendencies towards reactive arson, measured as a relation between frustration, intoxication and a disposition to start fires. One hundred individuals, 50 men and 50 women, participated. All were students and they were randomly
assigned to each of five experimental groups, namely a Control Group, a Placebo Group, a Frustration Group, an Alcohol Group and an Alcohol + Frustration Group. A projective test was devised which required the participant to complete a short story where the content involved a person who
had suffered humiliation and persecution and who was fingering a box of matches in his/her pocket. Results indicated that frustration increases the probability of starting fires, but, in this study, alcohol did not increase the degree of relation to fire. Results also suggest that there
are strong cognitive barriers in a population of university students against fantasizing about starting fires.

The purpose of this study was to test a model of relations among goal orientation, study strategies and achievement. The model postulated that academic achievement and goal orientations are related where achievement is related positively to mastery and performance goals but related
negatively to avoidance. The mastery goal was postulated as a positive predictor of deep processing but a negative predictor of disorganization; the performance goal was posited as a positive predictor of surface processing and deep processing and a negative predictor of disorganization. The
performance avoidance goal was posited as a positive predictor of disorganization, but a negative predictor of deep processing and surface processing. As predicted, the mastery goal was a positive predictor of deep processing, the performance goal was a positive predictor of surface processing
and avoidance was a positive predictor of disorganization. Achievement was a positive predictor of both surface processing and disorganization

There is evidence that American economics undergraduates are more likely than others to act self-interestedly and less likely to behave cooperatively. In two experiments, differences between Americans and Canadians and between economics students and psychology students were examined.
Data from simple bargaining and a prisoner's dilemma game are presented, which suggest that Canadian students may be more co-operative than American students, and psychology students less selfish than either economics students or students from other disciplines. However, these results
suggest also that these relationships are not simple, and that other variables – such as gender – need to be taken into account.

What conditions moderate the association between introspectiveness and mental health? This research tests the hypotheses that self-esteem, mastery, and social support moderate the association between introspectiveness and depression. Based on a community sample of 850 respondents,
results show that introspectiveness and depression are more positive under the conditions of low esteem, mastery, and support. Results are interpreted in light of theories of the self-concept, personality dispositions, and mental health.

In 1998, the Jordanian Council of Higher Education authorized the construction of a standardized aptitude test that would be used to assist colleges and universities in admissions decisions. This paper reports the results of a study that examined whether test items were operating as
desired and path analyses that explored predictors of student performance for a highly selective sample of Jordanian students. Item analyses indicated that thirty percent of the items showed inadequate discrimination or inappropriate difficulty levels, and an additional nineteen percent of
the items showed evidence of differential item functioning attributable to sex. The path analyses indicated that the strongest predictors of performance emerged for female students and included parental educational level and whether students attended a government-sponsored school or a private
school. For males, the same predictive relationships were negligible.

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of breast self-examination (BSE) and components underlying compliance or non-compliance using the Health Belief Model (HBM) adapted by Champion (1993). Purposive sampling was used to obtain participants from community groups and
the general population within the Northern Suburbs of Victoria, Australia. The 87 participants were women aged between 18 and 64, with a mean age of 34 years. The research hypotheses were supported and are consistent with previous research findings using American participants. Using multiple
regression, the overall model of the HBM variables and the frequency of BSE were significant ( F(6,80) = 13.3443, p<.0001), indicating that frequency of BSE is significantly related to perception of seriousness of the disease, confidence in performing BSE, perception of susceptibility
to breast cancer, the benefits of— and barriers to— performing BSE, and level of health motivation. Perceived confidence in performing BSE and perception of personal susceptibility to breast cancer were most strongly related to frequency of BSE and accounted for a significant amount
of the variance of the HBM.

This paper presents an experiment demonstrating that the way in which students stereotype themselves and managers in terms of dressing style becomes more consensual when these stereotypes are (i) formed within an intergroup context, and (ii) created via interaction premised upon shared
social identity. This is because the way people dress is often related to their collective identity (Davis, 1992), and because dressing styles may be used as a potent symbol of shared beliefs and values. These findings are consistent with the analysis of stereotyping put forward by self-categorization
theorists.

A study was conducted to investigate how voluntary simplicity lifestyle (VSL), hedonism and anti-materialism affect environmentally responsible behavior (ERB). Questionnaires containing multi-item 5-point or 7-point scales of ERB, VSL, hedonism and anti-materialism were administered
to 130 undergraduates (51 males and 79 females). Factor analysis was applied to each of the scales. The VSL scale yielded two factors: 1) Careful shopping attitudes intended for long-term use and 2) self-sufficiency oriented attitudes. A measure of positive attitudes toward ERB was also obtained
from this VSL scale. Multiple regression analysis was carried out on ERB, with other indices entered simultaneously as predictors. Results indicate that careful shopping attitudes intended for long-term use and positive attitudes toward ERB make a substantial contribution to ERB.

This paper reflects on the work of Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan as a missing chapter in the counseling curricula, and discusses the explanatory power of each theory. The paper illustrates how Kohlberg's theory mirrors the "separate" truth of theories of development,
and the alternative truths suggested by Gilligan.

The objective of this study was to identify the psychosocial characteristics of participants who obtained a high social desirability score on the measures in the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Aging (QUELSA). Two groups were drawn from the 1997 QUELSA sample (n=780) according to
the scores obtained on a social desirability scale (high or low). These two groups were compared on the scores obtained on the main psychosocial variables of the QUELSA. The results show that individuals who give desirable responses tend to obtain higher scores on instruments measuring "self-image"
features. Consequences of this bias are discussed.

The self-identity and past behavior measures were included in a structured TPB (Theory of Planned Behavior) questionnaire, with the major aim of providing support for the hypothesized main and interaction effects. Results supported the validity of the TPB model, with subjective norm as the strongest predictor of intention. In addition, self-identity (β=.10,p<.049), and past behavior (β=.25,p<.001) emerged as significant predictors of intention in the augmented model. Moreover, a moderation effect was observed for past behavior on self-identity- intention relations (β=-.15,p<.001), the significance of which was confirmed by simple slope analysis. Based on the findings, the possibility of integrating the self-identity perspective within the TPB is suggested. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This article examines the agreement and accuracy of teachers' judgments of their pupils. The data were collected in a primary school in the Netherlands where four teachers and 87 pupils, ranging from grade 2 to 5 (aged 7 to 10 years), participated in this study. The teachers appeared
to make use of the same pupil characteristics and the same scale levels in judging their pupils. These teachers generated pupil characteristics that included sociability, self-confidence, troublesomeness and working attitude, which correspond substantially to the Big Five. However, it was
found that teachers are not particularly accurate in judging their pupils. Except for 'troublesomeness', there was little correspondence between teachers' ratings of pupils and the behavior of those pupils in the classroom, observed independently by 'naive' observers.
Clearly, teacher judgments are very important and often play a decisive role in children's school careers. Higher levels of agreement and — in particular — accuracy are therefore needed in teachers' judgments. This study implies that specific elaborations of the central
constructs of the critical realistic approach to personality judgment agreement and accuracy can be useful in describing and assessing judgments made by individual teachers.

The only consistent gender difference in management style reported in the literature is the more democratic style of women. Democratic leadership is a cornerstone of the feminist approach. The current exploratory study attempted to differentiate between the effect of feminist self-definition
and gender in explaining differences in democratic attitudes of managers. Israeli male (43) and female (28) managers were questioned about their managerial attitudes and whether they are feminist or non-feminist. Results suggest that a surprisingly high number of both male and female managers
defined themselves as feminist. Furthermore, feminist selfdefinition was found to explain several democratic managerial attitudes better than gender.