Kamel Gana

Positive illusions and mental and physical health in later life.

There are three competing conceptions concerning the relationship between positive illusions and mental health: the ‘traditional’ mental health model, according to which an accurate perception of the self and the world is a cornerstone of psychological well-adjustment; Taylor and Browns Social Psychological Model on mental health, which assumes that positive illusions promote good mental health; and Baumeisters Optimal Margin Theory, which states that too much accuracy is harmful to mental health, as are exaggerated illusions. These three models were evaluated in the elderly (n = 857 retirees ages 60–95) using the youthful bias, which is the illusion of being younger than ones real age. As a whole, the Social Psychological Model obtained the strongest support. Retirees who harboured an exaggerated youthful bias (more than 15 years) reported more satisfaction with leisure time, higher self-esteem, better perceived health, and less boredom proneness than those who felt as old as they were or who, except for perceived health, entertained a moderate youthful bias (between 1 and 15 years).

Predictive value of age for coping: the role of self-efficacy, social support satisfaction and perceived stress

Objectives: The present study was prompted by the lack of agreement on how coping changes with age. We postulate that the effect of age on coping is mediated by coping resources, such as self-efficacy, perceived stress and social support satisfaction. Method: The participants in the study were community dwelling and aged between 22 and 88 years old. Data were collected using the General Self Efficacy Scale, the Social Support Questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (life-events) and the Way of Coping Checklist. Results: We performed path analyses for two competitive structural models: M1 (age does not directly affect coping processes) and M2 (age directly affects coping processes). Our results supported a modified version of M2. Age was not found to predict either of two coping strategies: problem-focused coping is predicted by self-efficacy and social support satisfaction; emotion-focused coping is predicted by social support satisfaction and perceived stress. Discussion: Changes in coping over the lifespan reflect the effectiveness with which a persons adaptive processes deal with age-associated changes in self-referred beliefs and environment perception.

Structure invariance of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI)

Abstract Based on Cloningers psychobiological model of personality, the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was designed to assess seven dimensions reflecting two major components of personality, temperament and character. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used in order to evaluate the internal structure of the TCI. Using the general approach to representing personality constructs suggested by Bagozzi and Heatherton (1994), 25 measurement models were tested. None of them provided a compelling fit to our sample data (N=689). Moreover, the reliability of some of the subscales of the TCI was very weak. We discuss the importance of CFA on construct validity.

Age differences in temperament, character and depressive mood: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION This study explores the effect of age on mean-levels of the personality traits defined in Cloningers personality taxonomy, and investigates the relevance of personality traits for predicting depression levels in adults aged 18 to 94 years. METHOD We divided our sample (466 participants) into four age groups (young adult, adult, mature adult and elderly). Personality was measured using the Temperament and Character Inventory, and depression was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. RESULTS Analysis of variance showed mean-level changes for all the personality traits except Self-D. Post hoc analyses revealed a decrease in the level of novelty seeking with age and an increase in the level of self-transcendence for the two oldest age groups. Reward dependence was highest among the youngest participants, whereas harm avoidance was highest for both the youngest and the oldest age groups. Depression correlated positively with harm avoidance and age but negatively with self-transcendence. DISCUSSION Impulsiveness, curiosity and social dependency decrease with age, whereas spirituality increases. Young and elderly adults are more fearful and socially inhibited. Harm avoidance and self-transcendence are the most relevant personality traits for predicting levels of depression.

Factorial Structure of the French Version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Among the Elderly

Ten different confirmatory factor analysis models, including ones with correlated traits correlated methods, correlated traits correlated uniqueness, and correlated traits uncorrelated methods, were proposed to examine the factorial structure of the French version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). In line with previous studies (Tomas & Oliver, 1999; Wang, Siegal, Falck, & Carlson, 2001), our results support the existence of a single global self-esteem factor underlying responses to the scale, in spite of the fact that method effects appear to be associated more with negatively worded items than with positively worded ones.

Relationship between infertility-related stress and emotional distress and marital satisfaction

The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive effects of infertility-related stress on psychological distress and marital satisfaction. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate a nonrecursive model hypothesizing the impact of infertility-related stress on both emotional distress and marital dissatisfaction, which were supposed to have a reciprocal influence on each other. The model was estimated using data from a sample of 150 infertile patients (78 males and 72 females). Findings confirmed the predictive effects of infertility-related stress on both emotional and marital distress. However, infertility-related stress was found to have more impact on emotional distress than on marital satisfaction.

Examination of the Hierarchical Structure of the Brief COPE in a French Sample: Empirical and Theoretical Convergences

This study aimed to determine whether the various factors of coping as measured by the Brief COPE could be integrated into a more parsimonious hierarchical structure. To identify a higher structure for the Brief COPE, several measurement models based on prior theoretical and hierarchical conceptions of coping were tested. First, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results revealed that the Brief COPEs 14 original factors could be represented more parsimoniously with 5 higher order dimensions: problem-solving, support-seeking, avoidance, cognitive restructuring, and distraction (N = 2,187). Measurement invariance across gender was also shown. Second, results provided strong support for the cross-validation and the concurrent validity of the hierarchical structure of the Brief COPE (N = 584). Results indicated statistically significant correlations between Brief COPE factors and trait anxiety and perceived stress. Limitations and theoretical and methodological implications of these results are discussed.

The effects of temperament, character, and defense mechanisms on grief severity among the elderly

BACKGROUND The aims of this study were to examine the relationships between Cloningers psychobiological model of personality, defense styles, and severity of grief, and to identify the influential temperament and character dimensions that differentiate subjects with prolonged grief from those without prolonged grief. METHOD A sample of 72 bereaved elderly persons for whom the loss of a loved one occurred on average 2.58 years (SD = 1.92) prior to participation in this study were assessed using the Inventory of Complicated Grief-Revised, the Temperament and Character Inventory, and the Defense Styles Questionnaire. Using the algorithm developed by Prigerson et al. (2009) for diagnosing prolonged grief, 18 of our participants were identified as having this disorder. RESULTS A multiple regression analysis revealed that time since loss, persistence, an immature defense style, and the age of the bereaved person positively predicted severity of grief, whereas cooperativeness and the age of the deceased loved one negatively predicted severity of grief. A binary logistic regression showed that gender, a close kinship relation to the deceased, time since loss, self-directedness (SD), and self-transcendence (ST) were predictors of prolonged grief, whereas the age of the deceased and cooperativeness (CO) were negatively related to prolonged grief. LIMITATIONS Our sample was small. Self-report measures of grief were not supplemented with clinical evaluation. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that only character dimensions (high SD and ST, and low CO) are involved in the psychopathology of prolonged grief. Also, according to Cloningers character cube (Cloninger, 2004), high SD and ST scores, and low CO scores are indicative of a fanatical character.

L’âgisme : Adaptation française d’une mesure et test d’un modèle structural des effets de l’empathie, l’orientation à la dominance sociale et le dogmatisme sur l’âgisme

Cet article présente deux études portant sur l’âgisme. La première avait pour objectif d’adapter et de valider la Fraboni Scale of Ageism-Revisited (FSA-R) comprenant 23 items, alors que la seconde se proposait de soumettre à l’épreuve des faits un modèle structural mettant en jeu l’âgisme mesuré par la FSA-R et le « Big Three », à savoir l’empathie, l’orientation à la dominance sociale, et le dogmatisme, sous le contrôle du sexe et de l’âge des participants. Les résultats de la première étude (n = 323) ont permis de retenir une version du FSA-R comprenant 14 items, dont les qualités psychométriques se sont révélées très satisfaisantes. Les résultats de la seconde étude (n = 284), en l’occurrence la modélisation structurale et la procédure de rééchantillonnage (Bootstrap Procedure), montrent un effet négatif direct de l’empathie sur l’âgisme. Ils montrent aussi que cet effet négatif est médiatisé par le dogmatisme et l’orientation à la dominance sociale qui exercent, quant à eux, un effet positif sur l’âgisme.

Psychometric Properties of the French Version of the Adult Dispositional Hope Scale.

In this article, we present a French adaptation and validation of the Adult Dispositional Hope Scale (ADHS). The sample was composed of 310 French adults. We found that the ADHS scores demonstrated good reliability as well as adequate temporal stability. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported a bifactorial structure of the scale. The two factors (agency and pathways) were highly correlated, but discriminant validity was established by comparing their shared variance against their average extracted variance. Multiple-group CFAs revealed evidence of configural, metric, scalar, and factorial invariance across genders. ADHS total scores as well as scores on agency and pathways were significantly and negatively related to hopelessness, negative affectivity, anxiety, and depressive mood and positively correlated with optimism and positive affect. We believe these findings show evidence for the construct validity of the ADHS.