Emotional responses to work-family conflict: An examination of gender role orientation among working men and women.

The present study tested the effect of work-family conflict on emotions and the moderating effects of gender role orientation. On the basis of a multilevel design, the authors found that family-interfering-with- work was positively related to guilt, and gender role orientation interacted with both types of conflict (work-interfering-with-family and family-interfering-with-work) to predict guilt. Specifically, in general, traditional individuals experienced more guilt from family-interfering-with-work, and egalitarian individuals experienced more guilt from work-interfering-with-family. Additionally, a higher level interaction indicated that traditional men tended to experience a stronger relationship between family-interfering-with-work and guilt than did egalitarian men or women of either gender role orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual versus group goal conflict.

"An experiment was performed in which a conflict was produced between individual and group goal attainment. An overt situation was compared to a covert situation, and a high individualistic… with a low individualistic motivation condition… . [The] finding that individuals… feel freer to change secret… than public decisions is discussed." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and work outcomes for older working women.

This article examines the relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and four work outcomes for 489 working women over the age of 50. Survey results from two U.S. health care organizations and one U.S. financial services organization indicate that older working women experience differing amounts of work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, work-to-family enhancement, and family-to-work enhancement. Hypotheses relating organizational work-family culture to work-family conflict and enhancement were partially supported, and hypotheses relating conflict and enhancement to four work outcomes were partially supported. Work-to-family conflict and work-to-family enhancement partially mediate the relationship between organizational work-family culture and selected work outcomes. Implications for theory and practice, limitations of this study, and directions for future research are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a role conflict questionnaire for women: Some preliminary findings.

Describes a 252-item questionnaire which assesses 8 potential role-conflict areas: Time Management, Relations with Husband, Household Management, Financial, Child Care, Expectations for Self, Expectations of Others, and Guilt. Preliminary data from 242 female respondents suggest that the greatest role conflict for women today involves their self-image and that those areas which deal directly with self-concept are more stressful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex-role conflict in alcoholic women: Myth or reality.

Compared various dimensions of masculinity–femininity in 120 female alcoholics, 118 females in treatment for emotional or psychiatric disorders, and 119 women in a nontreatment normal control group. Measures included the Femininity scale of the California Psychological Inventory, Bem Sex Role Inventory, Franck Drawing Completion Test, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Limited evidence was found for the greater existence of sex-role conflict between "unconscious masculinity" and "conscious femininity" among alcoholic Ss than among nonalcoholic Ss. Less than 25% of the total alcoholic sample evidenced this pattern of sex-role conflict. Alcoholic Ss showed feminine role-relevant preferences similar to those of the nonalcoholic controls. They reported fewer "masculine" behaviors on a measure of sex-role style than did nonalcoholic, nontreatment, normal Ss. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediating conflict and control: practice challenges for nurses working in palliative care

A work-based professional development program was offered to a group of registered nurses working in palliative care. The goal of the program was to improve skills in psychosocial care (Yates et al., 1996). Participants were encouraged to reflect critically on their practice experience within a group setting. The focus of the group discussion and reflection were shared practice incidents. Each participant was given the opportunity to identify and describe an incident from their professional practice that presented a challenging issue within palliative nursing. This paper explores the themes of conflict and control, evident within the collection of fifteen practice incidents and discusses the nurses' role as mediator. The concepts of patient advocacy and professional autonomy are challenged through the nurses' experience of providing care within a hierarchical and bureaucratic health service. The outcome of reflection for the organization is most effective when shared experience and collective action (rather than individual practice) are the focus.     

Relational tools for working with mild-to-moderate couple violence: Patterns of unresolved conflict and pathways to resolution.

This article offers psychologists an insider’s view of couples’ experiences with partner violence. Eleven couples seen at a university-based family and marriage clinic provided data on escalation of violence; 10 provided data on de-escalation, with 8 common to both analyses. In the Patterns and Pathways intervention, the couples first detailed their patterns of unresolved conflict and described barriers that impeded their willingness to resolve their conflicts peacefully. The progressive stages of (a) First Signs of Conflict, (b) Stirring the Pot, and (c) Point of No Return repeat themselves if couples fail to find alternative routes to conflict resolution. In the intervention’s Pathways phase, the couples examined their strategies for interrupting these sequences and created nonviolent pathways to constructive resolution, which included (a) taking responsibility for self, (b) demonstrating respect for one’s partner, and (c) making efforts to improve communication. Psychologists can glean new perspectives from this intervention by understanding how internal experiences influence aggression in high-conflict couples, and clinicians may use it to assist couples in changing their conflict resolution methods from escalating and abusive to more constructive and respectful interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Item content versus item wording: Disentangling role conflict and role ambiguity.

The Role Ambiguity Scale and Role Conflict Scales (J. R. Rizzo et al [1970]) assess ambiguity with 6 negatively worded items and conflict with 8 positively worded items, respectively. This methodological confound between item wording and content precludes unambiguous interpretation. In the present study, confirmatory factor analysis of these 2 scales and the Role Overload Scale (T. A. Beehr et al; see record 1976-11156-001) which has positively and negatively worded items was used to disentangle this confound. Across 2 independent samples (N?=?767 and N?=?363), a 3-factor model consistent with conceptual definitions of role ambiguity, conflict, and overload fit the data better than models with (a) one general role-stress factor, (b) a general role-stress and a method (item wording) factor, or (c) two method (positive and negative wording) factors. These results support the construct validity of Rizzo's scales; the consistency of the results across 2 independent samples suggests their generalizability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nondieting versus dieting treatment for overweight binge-eating women.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of nondieting versus dieting treatments for overweight, binge-eating women. Participants (N?=?219) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: diet treatment (DT), nondiet treatment (NDT), or wait-list control (WLC). DT received a balanced-deficit diet reinforced with behavioral strategies. NDT received therapy designed to help participants break out of their dieting cycles. Treatment in both conditions was administered in weekly groups for 6 months, followed by 26 biweekly maintenance meetings, for a total of 18 months of contact. At 6 months posttreatment, DT lost 0.6 kg while NDT gained 1.3 kg. Both treatment groups reduced their Binge Eating Scale scores significantly more than WLC. At 18-month follow-up, both treatment groups experienced weight gain but maintained similar reductions in binge eating. Results indicate that neither intervention was successful in producing short- or long-term weight loss. Therapist biases, which may have affected treatment integrity, and other methodological issues are discussed in relation to the small weight losses achieved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genesis versus epigenesis: the odd jobs of the Polycomb group of genes

Cells need the products of the Polycomb Group of genes (PcG) to keep, through development, the memory of their genetic determination. The pleiotropic mutant phenotypes of PcG genes strikingly resemble morphological traits, considered as taxonomic characters with phylogenetic meaning, used in Dipteran classification. I argue that spatial modulation of the multimeric complexes formed by PcG products has played a role or escorted the genesis of species.     

Mental set and creative thought in social conflict: Threat rigidity versus motivated focus.

According to the traditional threat-rigidity reasoning, people in social conflict will be less flexible, less creative, more narrow-minded, and more rigid in their thinking when they adopt a conflict rather than a cooperation mental set. The authors propose and test an alternative, motivated focus account that better fits existing evidence. The authors report experimental results inconsistent with a threat-rigidity account, but supporting the idea that people focus their cognitive resources on conflict-related material more when in a conflict rather than a cooperation mental set: Disputants with a conflict (cooperation) set have broader (smaller) and more (less) inclusive cognitive categories when the domain of thought is (un)related to conflict (Experiment 1a-1b). Furthermore, they generate more, and more original competition tactics (Experiments 2 - 4), especially when they have low rather than high need for cognitive closure. Implications for conflict theory, for motivated information processing, and creativity research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role conflict and symptoms of psychological distress in college-educated women.

Studied sex role attitudes, need for achievement, and employment patterns of 136 women's college graduates out of college 10 yrs and 132 out of college 25 yrs in relation to symptoms of mental illness using a 3-wave mail questionnaire technique. Questionnaire returns totaled 71% of the selected sample and established validity of the Twenty-Two Item Screening Score in mail questionnaire studies. Neither employment status nor achievement motivation, assessed by stories written in response to verbal cues, were significantly related to symptom scores. However, Ss with contemporary sex role orientations, as indicated by the Revised Fand Inventory, exhibited significantly higher symptom scores. Also, the class out of college 10 yrs had significantly more members (a) with high need for achievement, (b) with contemporary sex role orientation, and (c) who had advanced degrees and were earning higher incomes. They also had significantly higher symptom scores. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of conflict frame: Disputant interpretations of conflict.

This research was conducted to uncover and define disputant cognitive interpretations of conflict. In Study 1, 31 disputants and 9 mediators were asked to describe a conflict with which they were currently associated. Multidimensional scaling techniques were used to inductively derive the dimensions necessary to represent people's cognitive interpretations of conflict (i.e., dimensions of conflict frame). The resulting configuration consisted of three dimensions: (a) relationship versus task, (b) emotional versus intellectual, and (c) compromise versus win. In comparison with disputants, mediator interpretations were more likely to be viewed by disputants in relationship, compromise terms. Study 2 replicated the multidimensional scaling findings of Study 1 using a different subject population (i.e., undergraduate students). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task versus relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction: A meta-analysis.

This study provides a meta-analysis of research on the associations between relationship conflict, task conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction. Consistent with past theorizing, results revealed strong and negative correlations between relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction. In contrast to what has been suggested in both academic research and introductory textbooks, however, results also revealed strong and negative (instead of the predicted positive) correlations between task conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction. As predicted, conflict had stronger negative relations with team performance in highly complex (decision making, project, mixed) than in less complex (production) tasks. Finally, task conflict was less negatively related to team performance when task conflict and relationship conflict were weakly, rather than strongly, correlated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling behavioral measures of error detection in choice tasks: Response monitoring versus conflict monitoring.

The present study investigated the mechanisms underlying error detection in the error signaling response. The authors tested between a response monitoring account and a conflict monitoring account. By implementing each account within the neural network model of N. Yeung, M. M. Botvinick, and J. D. Cohen (2004), they demonstrated that both accounts make different predictions as to how error signaling performance is influenced by varying the participants' response criterion. These predictions were tested in an experiment using the Eriksen-flanker task. The qualitative pattern as well as a model fit favored the response monitoring account, which states that error detection is mediated by detecting internal error corrections. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career choices of married women: Effects on conflict, role behavior, and satisfaction.

Sent a questionnaire concerning marital status, work activities, roles and role conflicts, and satisfaction to 450 female college graduates (classes of 1948, 1953, 1958, 1963, and 1968). 261 usable responses were received. 3 groups were studied: full- and part-time employment and full-time housekeeping. The main hypothesis, that satisfaction would be related to the extent to which women actually did what they ideally preferred to do, was supported in the case of housekeeping and volunteer activities but not for full- or part-time employment. Role involvements and conflicts were generally greater for workers than housewives, although full-time workers differed greatly from part-timers and were the most satisfied of the 3 groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Male gender role conflict, depression, and anxiety: Clarification and generalizability to women.

The purpose of this study was (a) to determine whether the relationship between male gender role conflict variables and mental health generalizes to women and (b) to investigate other aspects of social gender roles and mental health. An adaptation of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (I. M. O'Neil, B. J. Helms, R. K. Gable. L. David, & L. S. Wrightsman, 1986) and measures of depression and anxiety were administered to male and female college students. Men showed more restricted emotionality. more restricted affection, greater appropriate and inappropriate success, and more restricted affection, particularly for other men; there were no gender differences related to the conflict between work and family. However, for the most part these variables were related to depression and anxiety in similar ways in men and women. The major predictor of depression and anxiety for men and women was conflict between work and family. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conjunctive and disjunctive conflict: A theory of need conflict.

The ego disjunction theory of conflict for pairs of needs is revised to yield a theory of conjunctive and disjunctive conflict for individual needs: the concept of incompatibility is dimensionalized; the concept of compatibility is introduced; a combined dimension of compatibility-incompatibility is posited for all pairs of needs; however, joint scores of pairs of needs are not independent; the dimension of compatibility-incompatibility is therefore posited for all needs individually. Intensity of conjunctive or disjunctive conflict is specified as a function of the score for the need in relation to the degree of compatibility or incompatibility. Assumptions are made concerning variations of conflict within different populations. The assumptions generate predictions which are generally confirmed. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)