Europe’s Journal of Psychology (PsychOpen)
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Troubling Methods in Qualitative Inquiry and Beyond
No full textThis present paper troubles and literally ‘shakes’ the idea of methods as the founding ground of qualitative inquiry. It does so by addressing the real-time messiness of research and the retrospective character of research reports. While the paper is not as such opposed to methods, it does suggest that many actual research practices do not follow defined and regular plans as the terminology of methods inclines. However, rather than seeing the messiness as a bias to be eliminated, a more constructive approach is suggested. With the intention of inviting more creative and thought-provoking research within qualitative inquiry, three specific ‘messy’ research strategies are suggested in the paper. These are: 1) Searching for associations between actors, of both human and non-human kinds, 2) following the traces of many kinds of actors and 3) doing a theoretical re-working of materials. The overall suggestion is that these open-ended and flexible strategies allow for an innovative approach to the development of a qualitative psychology while also serving to trouble (at least for a moment) the current popularity of methods in research
The Inner Philosopher: Conversations on Philosophy's Transformative Power
No full textNo abstract available
Predictors of Marital Adjustment: Are There Any Differences Between Women and Men?
No full textThe purpose of this study was to explore if there are differences between women and men in relationships among family-of-origin, romantic attachment, and marital adjustment. Two hundred and forty-nine participants filled out four self-reported measures: The Differentiation in the Family System Scale, Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale, Experiences in Close Relationship Scale, and Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. In order to analyze the data, multiple-group analysis with AMOS 16.0 was used. There was no difference between women and men in all observed variables. Regardless of gender, only the romantic attachment was a significant predictor of marital adjustment. Only in women, family-of-origin significantly predicted their romantic attachment. Across gender groups, the configural model fitted satisfactorily the observed data. When measurement and structural weights, as well as residuals were constrained to be equal across gender groups, the invariance of the model was also supported. The results suggest women and men could be similar when it comes to the relationships among constructions they both have regarding family-of-origin experiences, romantic attachment patterns, and marital adjustment. Some implications for research and clinical practice with marital couples are briefly discussed
Assessing the Influence of Sleep-Wake Variables on Body Mass Index (BMI) in Adolescents
No full textRecent work has established an association between overweight/obesity and sleep duration, suggesting that short sleep duration and timing of sleeping may lead to overweight. Most of these studies considered sleep-length rather than any other aspects associated with the sleep and wake rhythm, e.g. chronotype, which is a measure of timing of sleeping (‘when to sleep’; based on the midpoint of sleep). The objective of this study was to assess the influence of different factors of the sleep-wake cycle and of co-variates on the Body Mass Index in a cross-sectional questionnaire study. Nine hundred and thirteen pupils (406 boys, 507 girls) from Southwestern Germany participated in this study. Mean age was 13.7 ± 1.5 (SD) years and range was between 11 – 16 years. We found that chronotype (β = .079) and social jetlag (β = .063) showed a significant influence on Body Mass Index (BMI), while sleep duration did not. Social jetlag is the absolute difference between mid-sleep time on workdays and free days. Further, screen time (in front of TV, computer, β = .13) was positively related with BMI. Self-efficacy on nutrition (β = -.11), a psychological variable important in health-behaviour models, showed an influence with high scores on self-efficacy related to lower BMI. A high BMI was correlated with low fast-food consumption (β = -.12) suggesting that adolescents with high BMI may exert some control over their eating
Investigating the Predictive Role of Social Self-Efficacy on Authenticity in Turkish University Students
No full textThe aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between social self-efficacy and authenticity. The Perceived Social Self-efficacy Scale and the Authenticity Scale were administrated to a sample of 308 university students. The research data were analysed by correlation and linear regression analysis. Social self-efficacy is positively related to authentic living, and is negatively related to accepting external influence, and self-alienating. The linear regression analysis showed that social self-efficacy was a significant predictor of authenticity. The significance and limitations of the results are discussed
Sexual Compulsivity Comorbidity With Depression, Anxiety, and Substance Use in Students From Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
No full textThe main purpose of this study was to examine relationships between sexual compulsivity, depression (including level of self-esteem) anxiety, and the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs in a sample of 1,711 students from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sexual compulsivity, depression, and anxiety were measured with standardized scales and inventories (the Sexual Compulsivity Scale – SCS, the Beck Depression Inventory – BDI, and the Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait, STAI-T, respectively), whereas specific questions about tobacco, alcohol, and drug use were modified for the purpose of this study. Results indicated positive, significant but low correlations between sexual compulsivity and depression; sexual compulsivity and anxiety; and sexual compulsivity and substance use; whereas a low, negative but significant correlation was obtained between sexual compulsivity and self-esteem. The strongest predictor of sexual compulsivity was drug use; two other significant predictors were alcohol and depression. Limitations of the study are discussed in the end
Automatic Influences of Priming on Prosocial Behavior
No full textLiterature on the automaticity of social behavior indicates that, in some circumstances, priming a concept automatically activates related behavioral schemas. Previous research studies have used priming techniques to increase willingness to help, but most of these have simply measured intention to engage in prosocial behavior rather than real helping behavior. Two different studies investigated the effect of priming the concept of prosocial behavior on real helping behavior. After priming prosociality through a scrambled sentences test, participants were shown to increase their donation rate after a direct request coming from an experimenter's confederate (Study 1) and to spontaneously help to a greater extent a girl whose books had fallen on the floor (Study 2). The implications of this automatic behavior priming effect are discussed within the theoretical framework of the automatic effect of social perception on prosocial behavior
Cultural Models Shaping Stalking From a Content Analysis of Italian Newspapers
No full textThe increasing spread of stalking in recent years has captured the community’s and media’s interest and highlighted complex legal, clinical and cultural issues. This phenomenon, far from being an individual problem, can be considered as a product of a growing culture that seems to reveal the crisis of current rules of social coexistence. This work aims at detecting the cultural repertoires that organise the stalking discourse, from an analysis of Italian newspaper articles, within a socio-constructivist paradigm. Emotional text analysis was conducted on a corpus of headlines and subheadings derived from 496 articles. These articles were published in major national newspapers and helped to identify four cultural repertoires (clusters) that characterise the social representation of stalking: gender violence and women’s social independence (Cluster 1), psychological violence and control as illusion of intimacy (Cluster 2), anomic violence and intolerant individualism (Cluster 3), domestic violence and women’s marital obligation (Cluster 4). These repertoires are conceived along three latent dimensions which respectively refer to the cultural functions of stalking (Factor 1), representations of the victim (Factor 2), and gender inequalities (Factor 3). The paper offers a key to a social contextualisation of stalking in Italy, in order to re-think work practices within institutional agencies that deal with this phenomenon
Migration Status, Familial Risk for Mental Disorder, and Schizotypal Personality Traits
No full textMarkedly raised incidence rates of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders have been observed in several migrant and ethnic minority groups. To contribute to a better understanding of the elevated risk for psychotic disorders that is conferred by migration status, the present study examined effects associated with migration risk status on schizotypal personality traits, which are thought to reflect an underlying vulnerability to psychotic disorder. Effects of migration status were also compared to effects associated with a family history of psychopathology, which represents a robust nonspecific risk factor. We assessed schizotypal traits, using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), in a community-based sample of 62 Moroccan migrants and 41 Dutch nonmigrants, who were classified by the presence or absence of a family history of psychopathology. Overall, Moroccan migrants obtained higher SPQ scores than Dutch nonmigrants. However, migrants who had been classified as having a familial load of psychopathology displayed higher SPQ scores than migrants without such a family history, who in turn did not differ from Dutch nonmigrants. Furthermore, migrants with a familial load, relative to migrants without such a family history, reported higher levels of substance use and feelings of anxiety or depression, and perceived more often ethnic discrimination, which closely paralleled their SPQ scores. These findings indicate that primarily those migrants who are both intrinsically vulnerable and chronically exposed to social adversity, particularly ethnic discrimination, are at elevated risk for psychotic and other disorders. The results add to the evidence that migration status and perceived discrimination are associated with mental health
The Predictiveness of Achievement Goals: A 2 × 2 Framework Analysis From a Social Cognitive Perspective
No full textUsing the Revised Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ-R) (Elliot & Murayama, 2008), we explored first-year university students’ achievement goal orientations on the premise of the 2 × 2 model. Similar to recent studies (Elliot & Murayama, 2008; Elliot & Thrash, 2010), we conceptualized a model that included both antecedent (i.e., enactive learning experience) and consequence (i.e., intrinsic motivation and academic achievement) of achievement goals. Two hundred seventy-seven university students (151 women, 126 men) participated in the study. Structural equation modeling procedures yielded evidence that showed the predictive effects of enactive learning experience and mastery goals on intrinsic motivation. Academic achievement was influenced intrinsic motivation, performance-approach goals, and enactive learning experience. Enactive learning experience also served as an antecedent of the four achievement goal types. On the whole, evidence obtained supports the AGQ-R and contributes, theoretically, to 2 × 2 model