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Hierarchical factor structure of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale short form (IUS-12) in the Italian version
Full text linkDespite widespread use, few translations are available for the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale short
form (IUS-12) as well as limited research on its psychometric properties in Italy. Moreover, recent evidence
has suggested a multifaceted hierarchical structure for this scale. We compared the two-factor
model to second-order and bi-factor models, in which a General IU factor was posited with two more narrow
factors: Prospective IU and Inhibitory IU. Models were tested on a pooled dataset of students (N =
609) taking the IUS-12 alone or with other IUS-27 items. The bi-factor model fitted the sample data better
than alternative models. The general factor accounted for 80% of the item variance. Presentation mode did
not impact scalar invariance. Convergent validity with neuroticism, need for closure, and the uncertainty
response scale was high for the total score. As such, scoring the IUS-12 total score is recommended in
clinical research and assessmen
Applying the implicit association test to measure intolerance of uncertainty
Full text linkIntolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is a key trans-diagnostic personality construct strongly associated with anxiety symptoms. Traditionally, IU is measured through self-report measures that are prone to bias effects due to impression management concerns and introspective difficulties. Moreover, self-report scales are not able to intercept the automatic associations that are assumed to be main determinants of several spontaneous responses (e.g., emotional reactions). In order to overcome these limitations, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) was applied to measure IU, with a particular focus on reliability and criterion validity issues. The IU-IAT and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Inventory (IUI) were administered to an undergraduate student sample (54 females and 10 males) with a mean age of 23 years (SD = 1.7). Successively, participants were asked to provide an individually chosen uncertain event from their own lives that may occur in the future and were requested to identify a number of potential negative consequences of it. Participants' responses in terms of cognitive thoughts (i.e., cognitive appraisal) and worry reactions toward these events were assessed using the two subscales of the Worry and Intolerance of Uncertainty Beliefs Questionnaire. The IU-IAT showed an adequate level of internal consistency and a not significant correlation with the IUI. A path analysis model, accounting for 35% of event-related worry, revealed that IUI had a significant indirect effect on the dependent variable through event-related IU thoughts. By contrast, as expected, IU-IAT predicted event-related worry independently from IU thoughts. In accordance with dual models of social cognition, these findings suggest that IU can influence event-related worry through two different processing pathways (automatic vs. deliberative), supporting the criterion and construct validity of the IU-IAT. The potential role of the IU-IAT for clinical applications was discussed
STABILITY AND CHANGE OF ATTACHMENT STYLES FOLLOWING IDIOSYNCRATIC LIFE EVENTS: PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE BASED ON THE STATE ADULT ATTACHMENT MEASURE (SAAM)
No full textAttachment security, anxiety, and avoidance styles are acquired in infancy to remain stable across
the life-span. Nonetheless, major life events influence attachment styles. We examined the extent to
which attachment ratings had stable trait and fluctuating state characteristics. To this purpose 46
participants took the State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM) on two different occasions (T1 and
T2) spaced one month apart. On T2 participants were asked if a major life change occurred between
T1 and T2. 25 participants reported no change, 21 reported a life change, in most cases with a
positive valence. Data were modeled in a PLS-SEM framework. For each of the three styles, an
exogenous and an endogenous latent variable loaded on T1 and T2 items, respectively. A regression
path was set to represent test-retest stability. According to PLS-SEM, the state account for a set of
measures is supported if the square root of the Average Extracted Variance (sqrAVE) is larger than
a test-retest coefficient. Multiple group analyses compared model’s parameters for participants who
experienced a life change and no change. The sqrAVE was larger than the test-retest coefficient for
security and anxiety scores, suggesting fluctuations in attachment states. Avoidance ratings
exhibited more stable trait-like characteristics. Multi-group analyses revealed that T2 scores were
less predictable for participants who experienced a life change, attaining statistical significance for
attachment security, only. Participants reporting positive life changes tended to score higher on
security on T2. Our data show that SAAM scores were affected by trait- and state-like components.
Security exhibited state-like characteristics for participants who reported a major life change.
SAAM is indeed sensitive to life events that influence attachment styles. Future studies, on larger
samples, involving clinical populations, and multiple measurement occasions are needed to cross-validate study’s results
Attitude toward ambiguity empirically robust factors in Self-Report Personality Scales
No full textTwo studies were conducted to examine the factor structure of attitude toward ambiguity, a broad personality construct that refers to personal reactions to perceived ambiguous stimuli in a variety of context and situations. Using samples from two countries, Study 1 mapped the hierarchical structure of 133 items from seven tolerance–intolerance of ambiguity scales (N = 360, Italy; N = 306, United States). Three major factors—Discomfort with Ambiguity, Moral Absolutism/Splitting, and Need for Complexity and Novelty—were recovered in each country with high replicability coefficients across samples. In Study 2 (N = 405, Italian community sample; N =366, English native speakers sample), we carried out a confirmatory analysis on selected factor markers. A bifactor model had an acceptable fit for each sample and reached the construct-level invariance for general and group factors. Convergent validity with related traits was assessed in both studies. We conclude that attitude toward ambiguity can be best represented a multidimensional construct involving affective (Discomfort with Ambiguity), cognitive (Moral Absolutism/Splitting), and epistemic (Need for Complexity and Novelty) component
Feeling Good in the Place We Live: The Moderating Role of the Perception of Environmental Resources in the Relationship between Values and Personal and Family Well-Being
Full text linkThe environmental psychological literature suggested that three different value orientations (egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric) are relevant for understanding environmental beliefs and intentions. We surveyed 365 Italian adults of different ages (range 18–87) to examine whether the egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric value orientations can lead to personal and/or family related well-being. Additionally, it is examined whether the perception of presence and accessibility of two types of environmental resources (natural and urbanistic) related to ecosystem services can moderate the relation between value orientations and personal and family well-being. Results of moderation analyses showed that people with high biospheric values felt themselves as more satisfied if they perceived high and medium (but not low) presence or accessibility of natural resources in their environment, while people with high egoistic values perceived their family more satisfied if they perceived the high and medium (but not low) presence of good infrastructures in their environment of living. No significant moderation model emerged considering the participants’ altruistic values. The implications for environmental beliefs and well-being are discussed
The role of urbanization of place of living in the relation between individual features and happiness (El papel del desarrollo urbanístico del lugar de residencia en la relación entre las características individuales y la felicidad)
No full textHappiness research tradition is focused on an independent form of happiness (Satisfaction with life, SWL), which in part neglects the social context and group well-being. We considered interdependent happiness (IH) to evaluate a collectivist conceptualization of happiness, which is based on harmony with others. We also considered the role of the perceived urbanization level of the place of living in the independent and interdependent happiness of people since in the literature there is no consensus about the impact of rural vs urban characterization of the living context on happiness. We hypothesized that place of living – rural vs urban – differently impacts on factors influencing independent or interdependent personal or familiar happiness. 290 university students of the Lazio Region in Italy participated to an online survey aimed to investigate the relation among self-construal, familism, personal and familiar independent and interdependent happiness. Results show that for people living in urban places, self-oriented individual factors concerned with self-realization, predicted satisfaction with life and interdependent happiness. For people living in rural places, other-oriented factors, more anchored to the group and community dimension, affected happiness for self and the family. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed
Family religiosity and climate: the protective role of personal interiorized religiosity in deviance propensity among justice-involved juveniles
Full text linkAccording to the literature, religious commitment could be a protective factor against dangerous behaviors, such as criminal offending, unsafe sex, and substance use. Our study aims to investigate the influence of Family Religiosity and climate on anger dysregulation and deviance propensity in a sample of 214 justice-involved boys from Italian Youth Detention Centers (range 14–25). The sample was divided into religious (n = 102) and non-religious (n = 112) justice-involved juveniles. Participants filled in the following questionnaires: Deviant Behavior Questionnaire, Aggression Questionnaire, Family Communication Scale, Moral Disengagement Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. We used a partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS_SEM) method to build our model and we found that Family Religiosity was positively associated with Family Climate which was negatively associated with Anger Dysregulation and Deviance Propensity, and Anger Dysregulation was positively related to Deviance Propensity. The multigroup analysis confirmed that for justice-involved juveniles who interiorized religious discipline and beliefs, Family Religiosity showed a positive association with Family Climate, which had a negative relationship with Anger Dysregulation, which strongly predicted Deviance Propensity. This result could be useful to promote new development goals and preventive activities and interventions based on positive religiosity values in juveniles’ behavior
Intolerance of Uncertainty: A Temporary Experimental Induction Procedure.
Full text linkBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a trans-diagnostic construct involved in anxiety and related disorders. Research focused on cross-sectional reporting, manipulating attitudes toward objective and impersonal events or on treatments designed to reduce IU in clinical populations. The current paper presents an experimental procedure for laboratory manipulations of IU and tests mediation hypotheses following the Intolerance of Uncertainty Model. METHODS:On pre-test, undergraduate volunteers (Study 1, n = 43;68% women. Study 2, n = 169;83.8% women) were asked to provide an idiosyncratic future negative life event. State-IU, Worry, Positive and Negative Affect were assessed after that a standardized procedure was used to identify event's potential negative consequences. The same variables were assessed on post-test, after that participants were asked to read-through increasing and decreasing IU statements. RESULTS:Temporary changes on IU were consistently reproduced in both studies. Participants receiving increasing IU instructions reported greater state-IU, Worry and Negative Affect than those receiving decreasing IU instructions. However, this latter condition was not different from a control one (Study 2). Both studies revealed significant indirect effects of IU induction instructions on Worry and Negative Affect through state-IU. LIMITATIONS:Both studies used undergraduate psychology students samples, younger than average population and predominantly female. Experimental manipulation and outcome measures belongs to the same semantic domain, uncertainty, potentially limiting generalizability. CONCLUSIONS:Results supported the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed IU manipulation for non-clinical sample. Findings parallel clinical research showing that state-IU preceded Worry and Negative Affect states
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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