Ömer Faruk Şimşek

Self-determined choices and consequences: the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfactions and aggression in late adolescents.

ABSTRACT. This research examined the mediatory role of life purpose and career indecision in the relationship between the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and aggression. Data were collected from high school students (n = 466) and results showed that life purpose and career indecision fully mediated the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and aggression. These findings suggested that unsatisfied basic psychological needs foster late adolescents’ aggression by promoting less clear life purposes and career indecision.

Pathways From Personality to Happiness Sense of Uniqueness as a Mediator

Personal sense of uniqueness, a major construct in humanistic psychology, has been recently shown to be a robust correlate of happiness. Yet the antecedents of this experience are not known. To address this limitation, we focused on extraversion and openness to experience, the two traits referred to as plasticity in higher-order framework of personality, as predictors of uniqueness and happiness. In light of theory and past empirical research, we proposed that the two traits representing plasticity would promote a sense of uniqueness, which in turn influence happiness. This model was tested in a college sample (N = 370) by relying on structural equation modeling. Results showed that uniqueness mediated the associations of extraversion and openness to experience with happiness. This model was supported when the effects of neuroticism, a marker of vulnerability to psychopathology, on uniqueness was taken into account. The implications of the findings for future research were addressed and sense of uniqueness as an element of a good life was highlighted.

Higher order structure of personality and mental health: does general affectivity matter?

The higher order personality model, namely the Big Two, was tested in 2 studies (Ns = 878 and 467, respectively) by controlling for the effects of both general affectivity and common method variance. Study 2 also examined the associations of the metatraits with different mental health indicators through regression analyses. The results consistently provided support for the validity of the Big Two model in the latent space, with and without the effects of general affectivity and the common method variance. Moreover, in both studies, the high correlation between stability and plasticity decreased when these 2 method effects were controlled statistically. The regression analyses also showed that the associations of plasticity and stability with the indicators of both subjective and psychological well-being, as well as psychopathology, were consistent with the theoretical arguments behind the Big Two.

The Need for Absolute Truth and Self-Rumination as Basic Suppressors in the Relationship Between Private Self-Consciousness and Mental Health

ABSTRACT Self-reflection has not so far been shown to have any specific benefits for mental health except for self-knowledge. Recent research showed that the controversy concerning the relationship between self-reflection and mental health could completely be eliminated if self-rumination and the need for absolute truth, especially the need for absolute truth, were considered as suppressor variables. This research replicated these findings in a different sample and expanded these findings by showing that the same is true for private self-consciousness. The need for absolute truth as a new variable was shown to be highly important in understanding the effects of self-consciousness on mental health.

The gap that makes us desperate: Paths from language to mental health

Although past research provided some clues about the relation of language use with mental health, the mediatory functions of personality variables in this relationship have been ignored. This research examined the mediatory role of self-concept clarity in the relationship between language use perceived by individuals and mental health indicators including anxiety, depression, and alexithymia. Based on the theoretical framework suggested by Şimşek (2010), two studies sought to test two alternative structural equation models in data from university students in the first study (n = 250) and data from other groups in the second study (n = 331). The first model assumed that the relationship of language use with anxiety, depression, and alexithymia was mediated by self-concept clarity. The second model tested the mediatory role of both anxiety and self-concept clarity in this relationship. The results of the first study showed that the second model fitted better to the data than the first. Consistent with the first study, the results of the second study confirmed that the second model produced better goodness of fit statistics than the first model.

Factor structure of the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptic treatment Scale-short form in schizophrenic outpatients: Five factors or only one?

Abstract Backround and aim: The Subjective Well-Being under Neuroleptics Scale, short form (SWNS), is a self-report measure that evaluates the states of well-being of schizophrenia patients using antipsychotic drugs independently from psychopathology of disease. This study examined the factor structure of the Turkish version of the scale using high-level statistical analyses. Methods: The SWNS was translated into Turkish and applied to 103 schizophrenic patients. A type of multi-trait–multi-method (MTMM) confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine the factor structure of the Turkish version of the scale. Results: The results of factor analysis of the SWNS were incompatible with the factor structure of the original scale. A set of MTMM analyses showed distinct method effects for both positive and negative item wording in the scale. In light of these findings, the factor structure of the SWNS was determined as having a one-dimensional structure, with bias due to item wording. Conclusions: The results of the present investigation indicated that the sub-factors of the SWNS failed to emerge from the data. This study is the first to show that there is an urgent need for further examination of the factor structure of the SWNS with regard to method effects. This issue has important implications for the use of sub-factors by both researchers and practitioners.

Relationship of the Gap Between Experience and Language With Mental Health in Adolescence: The Importance of Emotion Regulation

ABSTRACT Although past research has provided important information about the relationship between language use and mental health in the period of adolescence, the role of intervening variables in this association has been seriously neglected. The aim of the present study was to illuminate the association between language use (operationalized by “the gap between experience and language—GAP”) and mental health (e.g., adjustment and depression, with the mediator role of emotion regulation). Three-hundred-and-seventy-four adolescents (220 female, 154 male; 16.08 mean age) participated in the study. The results provided support for the mediator role of emotion regulation in the relationship between GAP and mental health. Moreover, it was shown that the relationship between emotion regulation and depression was mediated by adjustment.

The Relationship Between Language Use and Depression: Illuminating the Importance of Self-Reflection, Self-Rumination, and the Need for Absolute Truth

ABSTRACT The main aim of the present study was to provide additional knowledge about the mediatory processes through which language relates to depression. Although previous research gave clear evidence that language is closely related to depression, the research on intervening variables in the relationship has been limited. The present investigation tested a structural equation model in which self-concept clarity and self-consciousness mediated the relationship between personal perceptions of language and depression. Since “the need for absolute truth” construct has been shown to be important in providing greater consistency in estimates of the relationships among the variables, it has been added to the model as a control variable. The results supported the model and showed that personal perceptions of language predicted self-concept clarity, which in turn predicted the participants’ self-reflection and self-rumination. Self-reflection and self-rumination, in turn, predicted depression.

Development culture and TQM in Turkish healthcare: importance of employee empowerment and top management leadership

Total quality management (TQM) is directed at quality consciousness throughout all organisational processes. A successful TQM practice requires a culture that can adapt to changes and promote innovation. Development culture focuses especially on improvement, flexibility and external environment, concerning with growth, innovation and adaptation. From this perspective, the present study aims to examine the link between development culture and TQM in Turkish healthcare organisations and to explore the mediating roles of top management leadership and employee empowerment. Data were collected by using survey method and analysed by using structural equation modelling while being controlled for common method bias. The findings revealed that while development culture has a positive influence TQM, it is the top management leadership which mediates this relationship, not the employee empowerment. The results are discussed considering the difference in these mediating effects and organisational implications of the findings are provided.

Higher-order Traits and Happiness in the Workplace: The Importance of Occupational Project Scale for the Evaluation of Characteristic Adaptations

ABSTRACT This study attempts to explain the relationship between job satisfaction and the Big Two, Stability and Plasticity, which are the higher-order traits of Big Five. Occupational Project, a narrative construct, was considered a mediator variable in this relationship. Occupational Project consists of affective and cognitive evaluations of an individuals work life as a project in terms of the completed (past), the ongoing (present) and the prospective (future) parts. The survey method was applied to a sample of 253 participants. The results supported the proposed model, in which Occupational Project mediated the relationship between the Big Two and both job satisfaction and affect in workplace. Discussion is focused on applying Occupational Project as a practical tool for management. Consideration of an employees Occupational Project could provide management with a means to question, understand, intervene with and redefine the narrative quality of his/her occupational project that influences job satisfaction.