Charles E. Joubert

RELATIONSHIP AMONG SELF-ESTEEM, PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE, AND OTHER PERSONALITY VARIABLES '

69 women and 42 men responded to the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Hong Psychological Reactance Scale, and the Famous Sayings test. Also, subjects rated their happiness using a Likert scale. Men scored significantly higher than did women on the UCLA Loneliness, Hostility, and Psychological Reactance measures, and lower on the Conventional Mores and Social Acquiescence measures. Loneliness scores positively correlated with Psychological Reactance scores and negatively with Self-esteem and Conventional Mores scores and with happiness self-ratings for both sexes. Men who scored higher on Psychological Reactance tended to score lower on Conventional Mores. Happiness ratings correlated negatively with Psychological Reactance for all subjects and positively with Conventional Mores for men subjects only. Womens self-esteem scores correlated positively with self-ratings of happiness and negatively with Psychological Reactance, Hostility, and Fear of Failure. Finally, womens Psychological Reactance scores correlated positively with those on Basss Fear of Failure scale.

Narcissism and Hostility

Small to moderate correlations were observed for scores of 32 male and 66 female undergraduates on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. Developmental questions are raised.

Relationship of Self-Esteem, Manifest Anxiety, and Obsessive-Compulsiveness to Personal Habits:

75 women and 64 men responded to the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory, the Manifest Anxiety Scale, and the Maudsley Obsessional-compulsive Inventory in addition to responding to a questionnaire on personal habits. The results indicated that more frequent hair-pullers and nervous twitchers scored lower on self-esteem and higher on anxiety. People who giggled and those who bit their fingernails more often scored higher on obsessive-compulsiveness. Self-reported gigglers were higher on manifest anxiety. If the criterion of self-assessed seriousness of the behavior problem was used, people who bit their nails, picked their noses, pulled their hair, chewed on objects, giggled, ground their teeth, twitched nervously, and picked at scabs scored lower on self-esteem. Higher manifest-anxiety scores were found among the people who regarded their nail-biting, hair-pulling, object-chewing, nervous twitching, or giggling as serious problems. Finally, people who regarded their nail-biting as more serious tended to have higher obsessive-compulsive scores. The results in general suggest that the frequency of several of these behaviors is anxiety-related and that it is the persons assessments of these behaviors as problems rather than simply their frequency that is related to higher anxiety and lower self-esteem.

Subjective Acceleration of Time: Death Anxiety and Sex Differences

24 male and 50 female undergraduates reported that time seemed to pass more rapidly at the present than when they were one-half and one-quarter their present ages. Sex differences in the rate in which time seemed to pass were observed. Also, the results partially support Lemlichs (1975) hypothesis. Time perception did not correlate significantly with death anxiety.

Personal Names as a Psychological Variable

This article reviewed the empirically based research on given names in several areas. The preferences for personal names were discussed in terms of variables such as the frequency of occurrence of the name and characteristics of the preferee such as sex, age, race, and religion. Liking of ones own names was related to some variables, including self-esteem. Unusual names apparently do have some effect, often a negative one. Personal names tend to have certain stereotypes associated with age, intelligence, attractiveness, and other dimensions. These stereotypes may in turn yield positive or negative consequences; however, their influence may be limited by other variables. The research on self-presentation by means of personal names and titles was also discussed. Additional topics covered included the effects of nicknames, sexually ambiguous or misleading names, being named for another person, and alphabetical position of surname.

STRUCTURED TIME AND SUBJECTIVE ACCELERATION OF TIME

The present paper gives some evidence that differences in subjective time acceleration with aging are correlated with differences in the extent to which time is structured for the individual, as opposed to free time. Lemlichs 1975 hypothesis relating this speeding up of time to the subjective duration of the time interval was only partially supported by the evidence. Subjective change perceptions of happiness were not correlated significantly with this phenomenon of time perception.

Source of Sex Education in Relation to Self-Esteem and Attitudes towards AIDS Precautions among College Students

84 college students responded to Coopersmiths self-esteem scale, Moore and Barlings AIDS Questionnaire, and a background survey querying them as to their sex, race, religion, frequency of church attendance, marital status, college classification, and sources of their sex education. The results indicated that self-esteem scores correlated positively with having received sex education from the parents and negatively with not having received sex education from any of the listed sources. More frequent church attenders were more likely to have received sex education from their parents and to score higher in foreclosure status with regard to attitudes towards AIDS. Persons who scored higher on moratorium status for attitudes towards AIDS were less likely to have received sex education in high school, were more likely not to have received sex education from formal sources, and reported being less likely to use condoms.

Antecedents of narcissism and psychological reactance as indicated by college students' retrospective reports of their parents' behaviors.

49 men and 120 women responded to the Narcissism Personality Inventory, the Hong Psychological Reactance Scale, and a questionnaire regarding parental practices. Men reported that their fathers used spanking more heavily than did women, while women reported more than did men that their mothers provided encouragement toward independence. As compared to mothers on these reports, fathers were less likely to be described as “fair,” to use praise, money as rewards, or “grounding,” and to have interest in their childrens activities, but more likely to be described as “strict.” Men (but not women) reported that their fathers had been more likely to administer spankings than were their mothers. Persons who were more narcissistic tended to score higher in reactance and had fathers who used monetary rewards more and encouraged independence to a greater extent. These results are contrary to those expected from Kernbergs and Kohuts views linking narcissism to less nurturance by parents. Higher psychological reactance scores correlated with less praise, more scolding, and more verbal abuse from both parents. Psychological reactance scores also correlated with more spanking by fathers and with their being described as being less fair. These results suggest that punitive disciplinary styles are not related to narcissism but are to psychological reactance.

INCIDENCE OF SOME ORAL-BASED HABITS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS AND THEIR CORRELATIONS WITH USE OF ORAL STIMULANTS

This study explored the incidence of three personal habits and their correlates with popular tensional outlets. The 108 men and 202 women college students estimated how often they bit their fingernails, picked their noses, chewed on pencils or other objects, used specific tobacco products, used specific caffeine products, chewed gum, and exercised Also, they rated their happiness on a seven-point scale in Likert format. The fingernail-biting incidence observed here was higher than was reported in previous samples of young adults, and more men than women were nail-biters. More men than women admitted to nose-picking; and about 61% of persons of either sex reported being occasional object-chewers. Men were more likely to exercise, use tobacco products, or consume iced tea than were women but were less likely to chew gum. The intercorrelations among the habits were not significant, and they were unrelated to lower self-reports of happiness. Both men and women who were object-chewers reported drinking greater amounts of cola beverages; otherwise, the relationships between these habits and product uses were not significant.

Birth Order and Narcissism

29 first-born individuals were observed to have significantly higher narcissism scores on the Narcissism Personality Inventory than were 43 last-born individuals. Also, comparisons indicated higher narcissism among men than among women.