Maria Kaźmierczak

Sense of Purpose in Life and Escape from Self as the Predictors of Quality of Life in Clinical Samples

Depression is a leading mental disorder from which suffer Europeans and especially women. In clinical groups with elevated risk of suicidal tendencies, both the negative factors and psychological variables that can protect a person should be analyzed. The aims of the current study were analysis of purpose in life function in perceived quality of life—self-efficacy and life satisfaction among people suffering from depression in comparison with control group and analysis of escape from self (EfS)-function as an indicator of suicidal thoughts occurrence, for suicide attempt and perceived quality of life (life satisfaction). Two studies were conducted on two clinical groups. The first study consists of females, 20 of them with depression and 40 without depression disorder as a control group. Measures used in this study are Purpose in Life Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The second study consists of 60 participants, including 20 who attempted suicide. Measures used in this study are SWLS Scale and an EfS measure. There is a significant meaning of the sense of purpose of life for well-being and self-efficacy. The ability to maintain the feeling of sense of one’s existence seems to be a significant factor that protects from a decrease in life quality and keeps the feeling of being able to deal in difficult situations, as well as helps to accept depression symptoms.

Self-esteem and styles of coping with stress versus strategies of planning in people with psychopathic personality disorders

Summary Background Psychopathy is a notion that has been difficult to define. The operational definition of psychopathy by Hare is one of the most commonly used in psychology and it is usually identified with the scale used to measure this type of personality, which is the Psychopathy Checklist - Revision (PCL-R). PCL-R is composed of two factors: Factor 1 describes a constellation of psychopathic traits considered by many clinicians to be basic for this type of personality, and Factor 2 describes types of behaviour indicating impulsiveness, lack of stability and antisocial lifestyle. The aim of the research was to verify a hypothesis that people with psychopathic personality disorders are characterised by high self-esteem, unconstructive strategies of planning actions and non-adaptive styles of coping with stress. Material/Methods The group of participants included 30 people at the age of 22–36 convicted with a legally binding sentence. Methods were: 1. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revision (PCL-R); 2. Antisocial Personality Questionnaire (APQ); 3. Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS); 4. Generalised Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES). Results The participants were diagnosed as psychopaths (PCL-R), and more specifically – as primary psychopaths (APQ). They revealed a grandiose sense of self-worth, increased self-control, impulsive style of functioning, perceived high self-efficacy (which might be considered as a defence mechanism). Psychopaths prefer a coping style focused on emotions and avoidance. Conclusions The hypothesis was confirmed, that people with psychopathic personality disorders are characterised by high self-esteem, unconstructive strategies of planning actions and non-adaptive styles of coping with stress.

Making space for a new role – gender differences in identity changes in couples transitioning to parenthood

Abstract Changes in life roles reflect the process of reorganization of identity, which is an important component of adaptation during transition to parenthood. During this family transition gender differences are significant. Despite the fact that in Western societies women and men are encouraged to share family and work responsibilities, female self-concept is more strongly associated with motherhood, whereas men still highly value the role of a breadwinner. Therefore, relative perceived and desired salience, and directly assessed importance of main life roles (a spouse, a worker and a parent) before and after the birth of the child were examined. One hundred and eighty-seven couples participated in the study. The perceived (relative and directly assessed), and relative desired salience of a parental role increased after the child’s birth in both genders. Women valued the parent role higher than men who deemed the worker role more salient to their identity after the child’s birth. Spouse identity seemed to be created in the couple itself as both partners assessed it similarly. Inclusion of couples and repeated measurement of all variables allowed for the analysis of complex changes in self-perceptions in transitions to motherhood and fatherhood.

The quality of parental relationships and dispositional empathy as predictors of satisfaction during the transition to marriage

ABSTRACT The transition to marriage is a normative task in the family life cycle and must be analyzed at the individual and couple levels. This longitudinal study explores the impact of partners’ empathy and their evaluation of their parents’ marriage on couples’ satisfaction with a relationship before and after the wedding. During the first stage of this study, 162 engaged couples who were planning to marry in the near future participated. During the second stage of the study, the couples were assessed after 6–7 months of marriage. The results of the study indicate that the empathy of both partners predicted relationship satisfaction for engaged couples and husbands. The female partners’ assessment of their parents’ marriage was a predictor of their relationship satisfaction before the transition to marriage. At the couple level, partners’ romantic satisfaction before the wedding mediated the association between their empathy and relationship satisfaction after the transition to marriage.

Empatia a postawy wobec przemocy – doniesienie z badań

Opis projektu badawczego i fragmentaryczne wyniki badan z udzialem cześci osob badanych zostaly zaprezentowane podczas XXXVII CICA International Conference on Conflict and Aggression, Zielona Gora 2014.

Charakter więzi rodzinnych oraz uwarunkowania ich kształtowania się w sytuacji okołoporodowej

Exploring bonds and its determinants within the family with newborn infants In the psychological literature there are theories of mother-infant bonding defined as a process that begins in prenatal life. The authors explored the perceived family cohesion amongst people who has just become parents from the perspective of bonding theories. The studies were conducted during 2-3 days after the childbirth. Mothers (the first and the second study) and fathers (the second study) described the current perceived structure of their family system (the position of a newborn child, parents, others in the family), Associations between the perceived family cohesion and personality traits of participants, as well as factors connected with childbirth were examined. The research project was comprised of two studies. Fifty two women took part in the first study, and a group of young parents participated in the second study (29 women and 25 men, including 24 pairs), All women were hospitalized at the Neonatal Clinic – Department of Gynecology and Obsterics at the Medical University of Gdansk, and were 2/3 days after giving birth to a child. Results of the research indicate that mother-infant bonding is a process associated with creating the stability of a family system. Factors that facilitate this process include orientation towards others among mothers, and differentation of self of fathers, as well as their participation in childbirth.