Self-talk and emotional intelligence in university students.

The purpose of this study was to examine self-talk, year of university study, and gender as predictors of emotional intelligence in a diverse sample of 126 undergraduate participants (42 male, 84 female). Self-talk has been discussed in the literature as a means of enhancing self-awareness and self-regulation, both of which are considered important in the construct of emotional intelligence. Participants completed self-report questionnaires on self-talk and emotional intelligence. The results indicated that year of study and self-talk were significant predictors of emotional intelligence and were associated with emotional intelligence in a positive direction. Contrary to expectation, gender was not a significant predictor. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of potential future research directions for the study of self-talk and emotional intelligence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychometric properties of a French-Canadian translation of Achenbach's Youth Self-Report.

Examined internal consistency, concurrent validity, and test-retest reliability of a French-Canadian translation of T. M. Achenbach's (1991) Youth Self-Report (YSR) in a nonreferred sample, aged 13-18 yrs. 48 bilingual and 64 English-speaking adolescents and their parents participated. Analysis of variance comparing the standard English YSR and Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991) indicated no main effects for adolescent gender or language, but adolescents reported more pathology than did their parents. The standard and French YSR scales were highly correlated (r=.96-.98), and parallel items elicited similar responses. Cronbach's coefficient alpha for the French YSR scales ranged from 0.83 to 0.92, and test-retest correlations were robust (r=.85-.88). Bilinguals who spoke predominantly French at home reported more internalizing pathology on the French than on the English YSR, but external validation is necessary to determine which report is more valid. Further investigation of the French YSR in referred samples is recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age, ego level, and the life-span development of coping and defense processes.

Developmental variation in coping and defense strategy use was examined in a sample of 100 male and female participants ranging in age from 10 to 77 years. Each participant was administered Loevinger's ego development task, the Ways of Coping measure, and the Defense Mechanism Inventory. In addition, a brief narrative of a stressful experience was assessed for the developmental level of the response and for its content. The results suggest that, in addition to age, the developmental measures of ego level and source of stress predict the use of particular coping and defense strategies. In keeping with other research, sex differences in coping and defense strategies were also found. These findings are discussed in light of the need for tasks that are able to assess both developmental and individual differences in the maturity of coping and defense strategy use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental affect and coping.

Parental affect and coping strategies have been identified as being important for the understanding of the processes involved in the socialization of children. In the present study, 24 fathers (mean age 35.21 yrs old) and 62 mothers (mean age 35.05 yrs) (unrelated) described a stressful incident with one of their children and completed questionnaires addressing their appraisal of the event, their affect, and consequent coping strategy. Both child characteristics (age, birth order, and gender) and parent characteristics (gender, affect intensity, and ego level) were examined in relation to parents' appraisal of the cause of the event, their affect, and their coping strategy. Feelings of being angry, afraid, sad, and guilty, and use of coping strategies are discussed in light of the need for further research on emotion in parenting situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of pre-adolescent depression and suicidal ideation.

S. Harter et al (see record 1992-39442-001) have developed a model that examines perceived competence and social support as predictors of depression and suicidal ideation in adolescents. This study applies a subset of concepts from Harter's model to a group of 92 9–12 yr old boys and girls and their parents. Children completed questionnaires assessing self perception, social support, and depression. Parents completed modified forms of the same questionnaires to assess their perceptions of their children. Using separate standard multiple regression analyses for child, mother, and father informants, support was found for perceived competence and social support as predictors of depression and suicidal ideation during pre-adolescence. Discussion focuses on how depression is manifest at different developmental levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Loneliness, attachment, and the perception and use of social support in university students.

This study examined factors related to family, social, and romantic loneliness in 173 undergraduate students (66 males, 107 females). Participants completed measures of attachment style, perceived availability of social support, use of social support coping, and loneliness. Results indicated that participants with greater attachment security reported lower levels of all types of loneliness compared to those with less attachment security, and this was partially mediated by perceived social support but not the use of social support coping. When examining underlying attachment constructs, a more positive model of others was related to less family and social loneliness, and these associations were mediated by greater perceived social support. Model of others also was associated with less romantic loneliness and model of self was associated with less loneliness in all domains, and these relations were partially mediated by perceived social support. Findings are discussed with respect to possible interventions to increase students' perceptions of available social support and to decrease overall loneliness levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)