Children's objective and subjective sleep disruptions: Links with afternoon cortisol levels.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine possible relations between the quality and amount of children's sleep and cortisol in healthy children. Design: Children's sleep was monitored with actigraphs for 7 nights. Children came to the laboratory to provide saliva samples, which were used to assess cortisol. Children reported on their sleepiness and sleep/wake problems. Sixty-four healthy children participated (M = 8.75 years; SD = .55). Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported sleepiness and sleep/wake problems, actigraphy-measured total sleep minutes, sleep efficiency, minutes awake after sleep onset, and sleep activity, and afternoon cortisol levels. Results: After controlling for demographic variables and child characteristics, higher levels of cortisol were related to increased subjective sleep problems and objective measures of shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality. Conclusion: These findings are of importance for understanding critical facets of children's health and well-being, and are noteworthy given the high prevalence of sleep disruptions in otherwise normally developing children in the United States. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional style and depression in rheumatoid arthritis: The moderating role of perceived illness control.

Examined the moderating influence of perceived daily illness control on the relationship between disease-unrelated causal attributions and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) depressive symptomatology in a sample of 58 patients (aged 25–75 yrs) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Eight of the Ss met DSM-IV criteria for major depression. All Ss completed paper-and-pencil instruments measuring depression, attributional style, arthritis-specific helplessness, disease severity and pain and disability. As predicted, attribution?×? perceived control interactions contributed significant variance to depression, after controlling for disease variables and arthritis helplessness. Specifically, internal and global attributions for negative events were associated with increased levels of depression under conditions of decreased perceived illness control. The findings provide support for examining general attributional style in studies of depression in RA and for cognitive diathesis-stress conceptualizations of adjustment to chronic illness. Clinical implications of the results for cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches in RA are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empowering employees: The moderating role of perceived organisational climate and justice.

Previous research suggests that empowering managerial practises have small and variable effects on employees' behaviours. The objective of this study is to assess whether organisational climate and justice perceptions moderate the relationship between supervisor empowering managerial practises (SEMPs) and employees' behavioural empowerment. Self-report data were gathered from a sample of 358 employees from three service-sector organisations in a cross-sectional study. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that both perceptions of organisational climate and justice interact with SEMPs in the prediction of employees' behavioural empowerment. As expected, SEMPs were more positively related to behavioural empowerment when perceptions of organisational supportive climate and justice were higher. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The visual perception of objective motion and subjective movement.

(This reprinted article originally appeared in Psychological Review, 1954, Vol 61, 304–314. The following abstract of the original article appeared in PA, Vol 29:5103.) The question of movement involves at least 3 closely related questions: How do we see the motion of an object? How do we see the stability of the environment? How do we perceive ourselves as moving in a stable environment? The author draws together the experimental evidence on the 3 questions and draws out its implications, including a hypothesis for research. The article concludes with a discussion of the requirements for a psychophysics of kinetic impressions. 19 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support and adjustment among Puerto Rican adolescent mothers: The moderating effect of acculturation.

Associations between grandmother and partner involvement and adjustment were examined among 61 Puerto Rican adolescent mothers. Results indicated that associations between grandmother involvement and adjustment were moderated by the adolescents' level of acculturation. Greater support was related to less symptomatology and parenting stress when acculturation scores were low but to more symptomatology and parenting stress when acculturation scores were high. Social support from partners was related to less symptomatology (but not parenting stress). Although coresidence with a partner was related to greater symptomatology, a significant interaction effect revealed that coresidence was associated with greater symptomatology mainly when mothers perceived their partners as providing low levels of support. Results are discussed in light of Latino cultural values and normative developmental issues. Implications for intervention strategies are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationships among asymmetry in task dependence, perceived helping behavior, and trust.

Social relations analyses involving 132 working relationships among 60 individuals from 29 teams revealed that an increase in a team member's task dependence on another team member was associated with higher levels of perceived help from and interpersonal trust in that specific team member, provided the other member was highly task dependent on the focal member. The degree to which an actor perceived a relationship with a partner to be helpful partially mediated the relationship between task dependence and trust. These findings highlight the importance of attending to asymmetries in task dependence and provide valuable insights into mechanisms that can explain the development of trust in organizational work teams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testosterone and child and adolescent adjustment: The moderating role of parent-child relationships.

In a sample of established middle- and working-class families with normally developing children and adolescents ranging in age from 6 to 18 years, sons' and daughters' testosterone levels showed little direct connection to risk behavior or symptoms of depression. In contrast, testosterone's positive relation with risk behavior and negative relation with depression were conditional on the quality of parent-child relations. As parent-child relationship quality increased, testosterone-related adjustment problems were less evident. When relationship quality decreased, testosterone-linked risk-taking behavior and symptoms of depression were more in evidence. Few relations were found between parents' testosterone and child behavior. Boys' and girls' ages and stages of pubertal development were important for understanding the expression of hormone-related problem behavior in some cases but not in others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The moderating effects of personal reputation on accountability-strain relationships.

Although felt accountability has predicted positive outcomes in some studies, it has demonstrated anxiety-provoking properties in others. This inconsistency has led researchers to search for moderating variables that explain why felt accountability promotes or impedes favorable outcomes. Building on these studies, the authors examine the moderating effects of personal reputation on the felt accountability-strain relationship. As hypothesized, the results indicate that a positive personal reputation ameliorated the strain reactions caused by felt accountability. In particular, as felt accountability increased, individuals with strong personal reputations experienced less job tension and depressed mood at work, as well as more job satisfaction, but individuals with weak personal reputations experienced the opposite outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of perceived and experienced control among alcoholics and nonalcoholics.

Reports that alcoholics and nonalcoholics, matched on age and education, did not differ on perceived locus of control. Alcoholics experienced having proportionately less control over both internal and external pressures than nonalcoholics. The implication of results in relation to alcoholics' drinking behavior is discussed within a social learning framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adjustment to occupational stress: The relationship of perceived control to effectiveness of coping strategies.

A sample of 187 medical center nurses described 2 stressful occupational episodes varying in perceived controllability and provided information regarding the coping strategies used. Outcome measures assessed effectiveness of coping across 3 dimensions: perceived coping effectiveness, job affect, and psychological adjustment. Negative affectivity was measured to control for its tendency to inflate stress-adjustment relationships. Use of problem-solving strategies was related to perceived coping effectiveness only for high-control episodes. However, differential use of coping across levels of controllability was not related to job affect or psychological adjustment. Avoidant coping was strongly associated with negative affect at work. In contrast, problem-reappraisal and problem-solving strategies were related to positive affect at work. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring relationships among anger, perceived organizational support, and workplace outcomes.

The present study examines anger within a perceived organizational support (POS) theory framework. Using structural equation modeling, the authors explored relationships among POS, anger, and workplace outcomes in a sample of 1,136 employees in 21 stores of a U.S. retail organization. At both individual and store levels, low POS was directly associated with greater anger. At the individual level, anger partially mediated relationships among low POS and turnover intentions, absences, and accidents on the job. Anger had direct and indirect effects on alcohol consumption and health-related risk taking. At the store level, anger had direct negative effects on inventory loss and turnover. The authors interpret these findings in light of social exchange theory and emotion regulation theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding, prediction, and control as moderators of the relationships between perceived stress, satisfaction, and psychological well-being.

This study provides a preliminary test of a model proposed by Sutton and Kahn (1986). In the model, the ability to understand, predict, and control events in the work environment can reduce the potential adverse effects generally associated with certain work conditions. Using a sample of physicians, dentists, and nurses (N?=?206) from a large naval medical hospital, the present study examined the moderating effects of understandable, predictable, and controllable work situations on the relationship between perceived role stress, satisfaction, and psychological well-being. Understanding and control were found to have moderating effects on the relationship between perceived stress and satisfaction. Understanding, prediction, and control were found to have direct relationships with perceived stress, but only control had a significant direct relationship with satisfaction. None of these variables were found to have significant direct relationships with psychological well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job stress and family social behavior: The moderating role of neuroticism.

We investigated the role of neuroticism in the associations between job stress and working adults' social behavior during the first hour after work with their spouse and school-age children. Thirty dual-earner families were videotaped in their homes on two weekday afternoons and evenings. An observational coding system was developed to assess behavioral involvement and negative emotion expression. Participants also completed self-report measures of job stressors and trait neuroticism. There were few overall associations between job stress and social behavior during the first hour adults were at home with their spouse and school-age children. However, significant moderator effects indicated that linkages between work experiences and family behavior varied for men who reported different levels of trait neuroticism, which captures a dispositional tendency toward emotional instability. Among men who reported high neuroticism, job stress was linked to more active and more negative social behavior. Conversely, for men reporting low neuroticism, job stress was related to less talking and less negative emotion. These patterns were not found for the women in the study. The findings suggest that when work is stressful, men who are higher on neuroticism (i.e., less emotionally stable) may show a negative spillover effect, whereas men who are lower on neuroticism (i.e., more emotionally stable) may withdraw from social interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of stimulus range on perceived contrast: Evidence for contrast gain control.

Investigated whether the stimulus range affected the perceived contrast of vertical gratings whose spatial frequencies were either 1 or 4 cycles/deg to determine if adjustive processes apply to the contrast sensitivity of spatial frequency channels in a vision task. Nine Ss judged the perceived contrasts of 1 and 4 cycle/deg gratings intermixed within a session. Four different conditions were created by combining either a set of low-contrast or high-contrast gratings at 1 frequency with a broad range of contrasts at the other frequency. When the broad-range set was at 1 cycle/deg, contrast-matches across spatial frequencies were unaffected by changing the range of the 4-cycle/deg gratings. When the broad-range set was 4 cycles/deg, contrast matches were changed by changing the range of the 1 cycle/deg gratings. This asymmetry in the range effect was shown to be consistent with the characteristics of the 2 channels' receptive-field profiles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In charge but not in control: The management of teaching relationships by adults with low perceived power.

The paradoxical use of punitive force by adults with low perceived power was explored in teaching interactions. Punitive force was measured by the intensity of physical effort used in operating controls that displayed negative feedback to child trainees. Women who differed in perceived power were assigned to (a) situations in which they had high, low, or ambiguous control and (b) responsive, unresponsive, or ambiguously responsive children. women with low perceived power—when given ambiguous control— were more likely than other women to (a) use high levels of punitive force and (b) show elevated levels of autonomic arousal. Arousal, in turn, partially mediated the relationship between perceived power and use of force. Women with low perceived power were also more likely to attribute intentionality to children whose behavior was ambiguous. Results were interpreted as having implications for violence within adult–child relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationships between posttraumatic stress symptom clusters and marital intimacy among war veterans.

This study examined (a) the relationships between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom clusters and marital intimacy among Israeli war veterans and (b) the role of self-disclosure and verbal violence in mediating the effects of PTSD avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms on marital intimacy. The sample consisted of 219 participants divided into 2 groups: ex-prisoners of war (ex-POWs; N = 125) and a comparison group of veterans who fought in the same war but were not held in captivity (N = 94). Ex-POWs displayed higher levels of PTSD symptoms and verbal violence and lower levels of self-disclosure than did controls. Although ex-POWs and controls did not differ in level of marital intimacy, they did, however, present a different pattern of relationships between PTSD clusters and intimacy. In ex-POWs, self-disclosure mediated the relations between PTSD avoidance and marital intimacy. Verbal aggression was also found via indirect effect of hyperarousal on marital intimacy. The results point to the importance of self-disclosure and verbal violence as interpersonal mechanisms for the relations between posttraumatic symptoms on marital intimacy of ex-POWs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The intricate relationships between monitoring and control in metacognition: Lessons for the cause-and-effect relation between subjective experience and behavior.

Do we run away because we are frightened, or are we frightened because we run away? The authors address this issue with respect to the relation between metacognitive monitoring and metacognitive control. When self-regulation is goal driven, monitoring effects control processes so that increased processing effort should enhance feelings of competence and feelings of knowing. In contrast, when self-regulation is data driven, such feelings may be based themselves on the feedback from control processes, in which case they should decrease with increasing effort. Evidence for both monitoring-based control and control-based monitoring occurring even in the same situation is presented. The results are discussed with regard to the issue of the cause-and-effect relation between subjective experience and behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking goal progress to subjective well-being at work: The moderating role of goal-related self-efficacy and attainability.

Although goal progress is often hypothesized to be positively linked to well-being, existing research points to an inconsistent relationship and suggests that potential moderators need to be examined. This longitudinal study investigated whether 2 aspects of goal cognition—goal attainability and self-efficacy—influence the relationship between goal progress and well-being (viz., job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion) in a sample of 172 nurses. Work goal progress was not directly associated with well-being. Rather, the link between goal progress and well-being was moderated by goal cognition. Individuals who started off with unfavorable goal cognitions but who managed to achieve goal progress reported an increase in well-being, compared with those who had favorable goal cognitions and similar rates of progress. Progress appears to have compensated for low initial goal cognition in the prediction of well-being, and high initial goal cognition appears to have undermined this predictive relationship. Also, goal progress was associated with an increase in self-efficacy and goal attainability from Time 1 to Time 2. Results are discussed in relation to goal theories and the concept of self-correcting goal cycles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergenerational transmission of aggression in romantic relationships: The moderating role of attachment security.

This prospective study used longitudinal, multi-reporter data to examine the influence of parents’ marital relationship functioning on subsequent adolescent romantic relationships. Consistent with Bryant and Conger’s (2002) model for the Development of Early Adult Romantic Relationships (DEARR), we found that interactional styles, more specifically paternal aggression and satisfaction, exhibited in parents’ marital relationship when their adolescents were age 13 were predictive of qualities of the adolescent’s romantic relationships 5 years later. Continuities were domain specific: paternal satisfaction predicted adolescent satisfaction and paternal aggression predicted adolescent aggression. Attachment security moderated the link between paternal aggression and subsequent adolescent aggression, with continuities between negative conflictual styles across relationships reduced for secure adolescents. Results are interpreted as suggesting that attachment may help attenuated the transmission of destructive conflict strategies across generations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gastric ulcer: effect of healing on gastric acid secretion and fasting serum gastrin levels

In 15 patients with uncomplicated gastric ulcers, basal and peak gastric acid outputs and fasting serum gastrin levels were studied before and after healing. The mean basal acid output [4.0 +/- 1.3 (SEM) mEq H+/hr], the mean peak acid output (29.5 +/- 5.1 mEq H+/hr), and the mean fasting serum gastrin level (80.3 +/- 16.7 pg/ml) in these patients did not change significantly with healing. Failure of gastric secretory function to change with healing suggests that mucosal resistance factors are more important than gastric acid secretion in the pathogenesis of a gastric ulcer.