Mikloš Biro

My Neighbor, My Enemy: Attitudes toward justice and social reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia

In this study we examined the factors that may contribute to or prevent the rebuilding of war-torn societies, based on two surveys of attitudes and beliefs of the inhabitants of three cities – Vukovar, Mostar and Prijedor – in 2000 and 2002. The main goals of our study were: to investigate some of the underlying attitudes and beliefs of the population of Mostar, Prijedor and Vukovar toward the rebuilding of community and reconciliation. The total sample of the survey consisted of 1624 participants, divided equally among national groups in each city. The questionnaire consisted of 68 items and contained three scales and questions about attitudes toward nationalism and xenophobia, other national groups, reconciliation, the ICTY and war crimes, as well as questions about prior experience with members of the other national groups, traumatic experiences during the war and demographic data. The results suggest that authoritarianism, nationalism and ethnocentrism may be the most important obstacles to the process of reconciliation among ethnic groups in target communities. An important finding is that the level of traumatic experience by itself is not a significant predictor of reconciliation. However, when combined with negative experience with opposing group trauma becomes a serious obstacle. The relationship between trauma and the attitudes towards ICTY trials is even less clear, and the role of the ICTY in promoting reconciliation is far from being perceived as accomplished.

Did socio-political changes in Serbia changed the level of authoritarianism and ethnocentrism of citizens?

The subject of this paper is the comparison of the results of the survey of public opinion before and after the change of the regime in Serbia as of 5th October 2000. Both researches (May 2000 and June 2001) were field researches, reaching for households, using random sample of the citizens of Serbia, without Kosovo. The obtained results show that the change of regime in Serbia was followed with the change in the sense of decreased expression of authoritarianism and ethnocentrism after one year of democratic rule. However, the question which still remains is - whether the registered change is the result of social-political circumstances, and whether it is the reflection of essential changes of value systems, or just different experience of social desirability of particular attitudes.

Psychometric characteristics of the Beck depression inventory on a Serbian student sample

Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is one of the most popular instruments for measuring intensity and symptoms of depression in clinical and general population. The instrument has been translated into many languages and validated in many different cultures, but there is still no published paper on psychometric characteristics and the norms for the BDI in Serbian language. In this paper, we checked psychometric characteristics of the BDI-II on 400 students of the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Descriptive statistics (M=8.02; SD=7.10), internal consistency (α=.87), and test-retest reliability (.63) are satisfactory and similar to the results of other validation studies. Convergent and divergent validity of the instrument are also supported by moderate to high correlations with the measures of similar phenomena (r=.70 with Depression Symptoms Scale) and by low correlations with unrelated constructs (i.e., r=.19 with Impulsive Sensation Seeking Scale). However, the divergent validity is not supported by a high correlation with a measure of anxiety (r=.70), similar finding is commonly obtained in other validation studies. Our results suggest cut-off scores which are similar to those suggested by Canadian authors (Kappa coefficient=.85). Two-factor structure of the inventory is also in concordance with other authors. Cognitive-Affective factor explains 29.27% of the variance and its structure resembles those reported in other analyses. The second extracted factor explains 7.76% of the variance and is saturated mostly with somatic items; however, a significant contribution of some cognitive items has led us to identify the factor as Exhaustion, specific to our student sample. The two-factor solution is confirmed by Confirmatory Factor Analyses once the item related to sexual difficulties was eliminated. General conclusion is that BDI-II has satisfactory psychometric characteristics and can reliably be used with Serbian student population.

Coping strategies in PTSD

The aim of this study is to analyse the type of coping strategies used by patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSI)). For that purpose, two groups of war veterans (40 subjects in each group) were compared. The first group was made up of patients with PTSD, and the second (control) group comprised veterans who suffered combat trauma, but did not show any PTSD symptoms. Coping strategies were assessed using the Questionnaire of Coping Responses (McCrae, 1984). The results show that out of 118 items (examples of coping strategies) 10 show statistically significant differences between the group with PTSI) and the one without it. PTSD patients used more maladaptive strategies (avoidance, pseudo-planning, fantasizing, impulsive and depressive behaviour), while subjects from the control group were more likely to use the strategy of controlling impulses.

TENDENCY TO SELF-HANDICAPPING IN THE SITUATION OF EXPECTED FAILURE

The basic objective of this research is to determine what type of self-handicapping strategies subjects will use when they face potential failure, under the condition that they have the possibility of strategy choice. Another research objective is directed to the research of relation between the selected self-handicapping strategy and personality characteristics. 120 student of the second and third year of the Department of psychology, University of Novi Sad has been taken into sample. In the first research stage, all students administrated a series of personality self-report tests. In the second experiment stage, the participants were divided into four groups, on the basis of two criteria: the solvability of intelligence test tasks and the presence of hampering factors during task solving. The research results show that there are at least two types of self-handicapping strategies. One type is used by the majority of people when found in the situation where potential failure is expected. It refers to searching for alibis in external circumstances and it is probably the reflection of sound tendencies of facing possible consequences of information on one’s own incompetence. Another type of strategies presents consistent behaviour pattern, determined by the higher degree of adverse affectivity and negative image of oneself, and it is manifested in the use of poor psychophysical condition as the alibi for failure.

Research ethicality: The perceptions of participants and their participation willingness

In this examination of the use of cost-benefit analysis by subjects in the making of ethicality judgments and participation decisions, 318 subjects read one of eight hypothetical descriptions of a study representing four levels of possible subject costs and two levels of possible societal benefits. Six-point, Likert-type scales were used to assess: perceived level of risk; perceived level of benefit; meaningfulness of benefit; cost-benefit balance; participation willingness; and, ethicality of the study. Support for the use of cost-benefit analysis by subjects was found for both participation willingness and ethicality ratings. However, the data indicate that the subjects’ decision making uses a subject-determined, cost-benefit ratio that differs from the experimenter-determined ratio.

Family and individual factors of suicidal ideation in adolescents

The aim of this study was to better understand the phenomenon of suicidal behavior of adolescents by establishing relations between characteristics of a family system and suicidal ideation, as well as determining the influence of family and individual factors on suicidal ideation in adolescents. The systemic family therapy was used as the theoretical framework for this investigation. The study sample included 96 adolescents, aged 14-21 years, who assessed the functionality of their own families that were in the adolescent phase of a family life cycle at the time of the study. Participants were assigned to one of the three groups: the first consisted of adolescents who had previously attempted suicide, the second of adolescents who had another psychiatric problem at the time of the study, and the third was made up of adolescents who had never had psychiatric or psychological problems. The following instruments were used: Self-report Family Inventory (SFI), Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, and Beck’s Suicidal Ideation Scale (SIS). The results suggest that family has a significant, but indirect influence on suicidal ideation in adolescents. Suicidal ideation is primarily related to adolescents’ individual characteristics, which are indeed strongly influenced by family functionality.

Positive and Negative Affect in Illusion of Control

Research regarding the illusion of control was dominated by the studies examining the effect of depressive affect on the overestimation of control over uncontrollable events. However, the relative contributions of high Negative Affect (NA) and low Positive Affect (PA), as underlying dimensions of depressive states, has remained unclear. This study researched how both PA and NA had affected the illusion of control. Two weeks before illusion induction, trait PA and NA of 54 first-year university students were assessed, and just before and after illusion induction task their state forms were estimated. The induction consisted of solving unsolvable tasks and obtaining positive feedback for all the answers. The illusion of control was significantly correlated with all three PA scores, and none of the NA. After controlling for trait measures, the PA after illusion induction remained the only significant predictor of illusion. The relation of positive affect and illusory judgement in maintaining mental health were discussed.

Bezuvjetno samoprihvaćanje i mentalno zdravlje u eksperimentalnom ego-provodirajućem kontekstu

Although it is one of the central concepts of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), unconditional self-acceptance has not been sufficiently empirically examined, especially not experimentally. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of unconditional self-acceptance on mental health indicators in an egoprovoking experimental situation. For a sample of 182 students, we simulated the situation of public speaking. After the simulation, participants were given previously prepared and randomly assigned positive, neutral and negative feedback. We used the Unconditional Self-Acceptance Questionnaire (USAQ: Chamberlain & Haaga, 2001), Serbian Inventory of Affect based on PANAS-X (SIAB-PANAS: Novović & Mihić, 2008), Anxiety subscale (DASS-42: Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), State Depression Scale (SD: Novović, Biro & Nedimović, 2009) and Situational Attributional Style constructed for the purpose of this study (according to Peterson & Seligman, 1984). Data were collected during the winter semester 2013/2014 at the University of Novi Sad. In the case of anxiety and depression as outcome variables (posttest measures), the analysis of covariance revealed a significant three-way interaction between the level of unconditional self-acceptance, the type of feedback and the satisfaction with feedback. On the other hand, the same predictors did not influence the measures of positive and negative affect. Various expectations from the feedback, as well as the feedback, provoke a certain self-assessment. Different pattern of effects in case of different outcome variables is in accordance with REBT theory.

Prediction of school achievement and conative functioning among Roma and non-Roma children

The main aim of this study was to examine the validity of The School Maturity Test (SMT) in the prediction of school achievement among children of different socioeconomic status (SES). The sample consisted of 142 children: 46 Roma, 48 low SES non-Roma children, and 48 average SES non-Roma children. Moderate positive correlations were obtained between the SMT subscales and three indicators of school success: point grade average and average school marks in Serbian language and Mathematics. Regarding associations with teachers’ ratings of pupils’ conative functioning, results showed that the SMT subscales had the highest correlations with the ratings of self-confidence, interest in school and study habits. The lowest correlations were found between the SMT subscales and the ratings of self-discipline, peer acceptance and attitudes toward school. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that significant predictors of school achievement were: Information and Block design subscales of the SMT, socioeconomic status and group (Roma/non-Roma).