Aleksandra Peplińska

Stress and the level of perceived anxiety among mariners: the mediating role of marital satisfaction

The challenges of professional life are becoming more and more demanding on peoples private life, especially if a given profession requires many sacrifices and has negative consequences for ones physical and psychological health, as is the case of professional mariners. The purpose of this study is to attempt to verify the correlation between the quality of emotional bonds, manifested in marital satisfaction, and the level of stress and anxiety perceived by mariners. The study encompasses 210 mariners working on seagoing ships. The following research tools were employed for the purpose of the study: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Stress Experience Questionnaire (PS) and Well-matched Marriage Questionnaire (KDM). The results indicate that marital satisfaction is correlated with the level of stress and anxiety among mariners, constituting a stress inhibitor.

Personality determinants of health behaviours of merchant navy officers

BACKGROUND AND AIM An individuals health behaviours are highly correlated with selected areas of their personality as well as their values, needs and goals. However, this relationship may be modified by a number of objective factors associated with the individuals functioning, lifestyle or occupational activity. The main objective of the presented study was to investigate the relationship between personality profiles and health behaviours of merchant navy officers. MATERIALS AND METHODS The influences of personality on health behaviours were additionally compared between two groups: mariners and managers. Thirty-two seafarers of an officer rank and 45 managers aged between 29 and 48 took part in the study. Three research tools were used: NEO-Five Factor Inventory, Health Behaviour Inventory and Inventory of Physical Activity Objectives. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that selected personality variables are significant predictors of individual aspects of health behaviour, however the strength of their influence may differ, depending on the peculiarities of the performed work.

Long-term follow-up for organic dysfunction in breech–presenting children

Summary Background The authors performed a long term outcome analysis of minimal brain damage in children delivered in breech presentation, and related the results to the mode of delivery (vaginal or by cesarean section). Material/Methods In the Department of Obstetrics at the Medical University of Gdansk (Poland), 917 breech deliveries took place between 1981 and 1990. Excluding stillbirths and multiple pregnancies, 874 deliveries were analyzed. We received positive responses from 232 mothers, who provided us with considerable information about the children’s further development and problems that had arisen during their school years. All the respondents were contacted by telephone, and 83 of them agreed to visit our Department with their children to undergo a psychological examination – the following tests were performed: 1) the Bender-Kopitz Test (BKT), and 2) the Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT). Results The mode of delivery for all groups and subgroups had no influence on the incidence of organic brain disorders in later childhood, assessed by the Benton Visual Retention test and by the Bender-Kopitz test. Conclusions Vaginal breech deliveries are safe in both primiparous and multiparous mothers.

Who is a dangerous driver? Socio-demographic and personal determinants of risky traffic behavior

background The aim of this study was to search for comprehensive socio-demographic and personal (personality and temperamental) determinants of risky on-the-road behavior. Based on the results of previous studies, we assumed that the main predictors of dangerous traffic behavior include: internal locus of control, sensation seeking, risk seeking and risk acceptance, as well as high self-esteem, a low level of reactivity combined with a high level of endurance and activity (which together determine a strong need for stimulation and a preference for hedonistic values); and among socio-demographic variables – age, gender, education and duration of having a driving license.

Postawy rodzicielskie a preferencje zawodowe młodzieży

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between parental attitudes and occupational preferences of adolescents according to A. Roe’s theory. It was hypothesized that there is a close correlation between the emotional aspect of parental attitudes and the shaping of job preferences in adolescents directed to people or to things. A significant relation between parent’s and child’s gender was also predicted. The research was conducted in 2012 and 2013, and it included a total of 314 individuals – students of the last year of high school and technical school, as well as first-year students of Tricity’s public and private universities, both women and men. Two psychometric tools were used: A Parent-Child Relation Questionnaire by A. Roe and M. Siegelman (translated by W.S. Kowalski) and A Multidimensional Preferences Questionnaire by A. Matczak, A. Jaworowski, A. Ciechanowicz, E. Zalewska and J. Stancza, which measured professional interests. On the basis of the results, it can be assumed that parental attitudes together with the quality of emotional relations between parents and children are closely connected to specific professional preferences which, at the same time, differ depending on child’s and parent’s gender.