Zdravko Marjanovic

The relevance of psychosocial variables and working conditions in predicting nurses’ coping strategies during the SARS crisis: An online questionnaire survey

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between psychosocial variables and working conditions, and nurses’ coping methods and distress in response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis in Canada. Participants and procedure The sample consisted of 333 nurses (315 women, 18 men) who completed an Internet-mediated questionnaire that was posted on the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) website between March and May 2004. The questionnaire was restricted to respondents who had to authenticate their RNAO membership with a valid username and password before accessing the questionnaire. This served a dual purpose: to ensure that only RNAO nurses completed the questionnaire and thereby safeguarding the generalizability of the findings; and second, to prevent any one nurse from contributing more than once to the overall sample. Results Correlational analysis yielded several significant relationships between psychosocial variables and working conditions, and the traditional correlates of burnout and stress. Three multiple regression analysis revealed that the model we evolved—including higher levels of vigor, organizational support, and trust in equipment/infection control initiative; and lower levels of contact with SARS patients, and time spent in quarantine—predicted to lower levels of avoidance behavior, emotional exhaustion, and state anger. Conclusions By employing models of stress and burnout that combine psychosocial variables and working conditions, researchers can account for significant amounts of variance in outcomes related to burnout. These findings highlight the importance of vigor and perceived organizational support in predicting nurses’ symptoms of burnout. For healthcare administrators, this means that a likely strategy for assuaging the negative outcomes of stress should address nurses’ psychosocial concerns and the working conditions that they face during novel times of crisis.

The Conscientious Responders Scale

This investigation introduces a novel tool for identifying conscientious responders (CRs) and random responders (RRs) in psychological inventory data. The Conscientious Responders Scale (CRS) is a five-item validity measure that uses instructional items to identify responders. Because each item instructs responders exactly how to answer that particular item, each response can be scored as either correct or incorrect. Given the long odds of answering a CRS item correctly by chance alone on a 7-point scale (14.29%), we reasoned that RRs would answer most items incorrectly, whereas CRs would answer them correctly. This rationale was evaluated in two experiments in which CRs’ CRS scores were compared against RRs’ scores. As predicted, results showed large differences in CRS scores across responder groups. Moreover, the CRS correctly classified responders as either conscientious or random with greater than 93% accuracy. Implications for the reliability and effectiveness of the CRS are discussed.

The impact of the recession and its aftermath on individual health and well-being

1 Wellbeing among Greeks and immigrants before and after the current financial crisis 3 AlexanderStamatios Antoniou and Marina Dalla 2 Socioeconomic adversity and family stressors in relation to school achievement among Greek, Serbian and Albanian students 23 AlexanderStamatios Antoniou, Marina Dalla, Ledi Kashahu, Dhori Karaj, George Michailidis and Evi Georgiadi 3 The impact of the recession and its aftermath on individual health and wellbeing 42 Esther Greenglass, Zdravko Marjanovic and Lisa Fiksenbaum 4 Workaholism and psychosocial functioning: individual, family and workplace perspectives 59 Diana Malinowska, Monika Trzebińska, Aleksandra Tokarz and Bruce D. Kirkcaldy 5 The mark of recession in the hightech industry: high stress and low burnout 89 Ayala Malach-Pines and Nurit Zaidman 6 The adverse effects of recessionrelated events on the health and wellbeing of individuals 101 Oi-Ling Siu 7 Temporary employment, quality of working life and wellbeing 117 Alfred F. Wagenaar, Michiel A. J. Kompier, Toon W. Taris and Irene L. D. Houtman

Impact of Economic Hardship and Financial Threat on Suicide Ideation and Confusion

ABSTRACT The present study tested the extent to which perceived economic hardship is associated with psychological distress (suicide ideation and confusion) after controlling for personal characteristics. It also explored whether perceived financial threat (i.e., fearful anxious-uncertainty about the stability and security of ones personal financial situation) mediates the relationship between economic hardship and psychological distress outcomes. The theoretical model was tested in a sample of Canadian students (n = 211) and was validated in a community sample of employed Portuguese adults (n = 161). In both samples, the fit of the model was good. Parameter estimates indicated that greater experience of economic hardship increased with financial threat, which in turn increased with levels of suicide ideation and confusion. We discuss the practical implications of these results, such as for programs aimed at alleviating the burden of financial hardship, in our concluding remarks.

The Role of Victim Embarrassment in Explaining Why Apologies Affect Reported (But Not Actual) Forgiveness

This research examines the mediating role of victims’ embarrassment in explaining why apologies from transgressors sometimes affect victims’ reported forgiveness, but not actual forgiveness toward transgressors. Victims sometimes insincerely communicate forgiveness following a transgressor’s apology because they feel put on the spot and embarrassed and try to escape the awkwardness of such situations. The results of an online experiment supported our hypothesis by showing that victim embarrassment mediated the relation between a transgressor’s apology and victims’ reported forgiveness but not between a transgressor’s apology and victims’ experienced forgiveness.

Believing Is Doing: Emotion Regulation Beliefs Are Associated With Emotion Regulation Behavioral Choices and Subjective Well-Being

Research in emotion regulation has begun to examine various predictors of emotion regulation choices, including individual differences and contextual variables. However, scant attention has been paid to the extent to which people’s beliefs about the specific consequences of emotion regulation strategies for the components of an emotional response and long-term well-being predict their behavioral regulatory choices and, in turn, their subjective well-being. Participants completed measures to assess their beliefs about the consequences of functional and dysfunctional strategies, behavioral choices of emotion regulation strategies in negative scenarios, and subjective well-being. The model that fit the data indicated partial mediation whereby beliefs were associated with approximately 9% of the variance in choices. Emotion regulation choices were related to subjective well-being, with an additional direct effect between beliefs and well-being. This suggests beliefs play a role in people’s regulatory choices. Future research should explore how beliefs interact with individual differences and contextual variables to better understand why people regulate their emotions in different ways and, ultimately, to help individuals make healthy emotion regulation choices.

Financial threat and individuals’ willingness to change financial behavior

Purpose - Financial threat is defined as fearful-anxious uncertainty regarding one’s current and future financial situation. This investigation examined predictors and outcomes of financial threat in two samples of students who completed an online questionnaire for course credit. The theoretical model we proposed tested the association between personal debt, anxiety, and economic hardship with financial threat, and in turn, financial threat’s relationship with willingness to change financial behavior (e.g., increase income, cut expenses, and reduce debt), job search activity, and psychological distress. Consistent across samples, structural equation modeling revealed that the data fit the model and supported all four hypotheses. Debt, economic hardship, and anxiety were all related positively to financial threat, which itself related positively to willingness to change, job search, and psychological distress. Importantly, financial threat mediated the relationship between these economic-situational predictors and affective-behavioral outcomes of financial stain. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. Design/methodology/approach - online survey Findings - Results of structural equation modeling revealed that the data fit the model and no modification indices were suggested. Examination of parameter estimates indicated that total debt, economic hardship, and anxiety were related positively to financial threat. Financial threat, in turn, related positively to willingness to change one’s financial behaviors, job search, and psychological distress. In addition, economic hardship and anxiety were related positively to psychological distress. That is, individuals who were feeling more threatened by their financial situation were more willing to change their financial situation and were more likely to engage in job search behavior. They were also more likely to report more psychological distress than individuals reporting lower levels of financial threat. Research limitations/implications - This study was cross-sectional and therefore precludes causal interpretations of the findings. Longitudinal data with repeated assessments of all measures would help determine the direction of causation. Also, our study relied on self-report data, which is prone to bias. For example, it is possible that some participants did not know their exact debt levels, which may have resulted in an under- or overestimation of debt levels. Future research should extend this line of research using objective measures. While the model tested in this study examined the impact of economic factors on perceived threat, behaviour, and psychological distress, it did not include social and psychological resources. For example, we did not include measures of social support, coping, or personality, which may moderate the impact of economic variables and stress on psychological distress. Although financial knowledge/literacy was not studied here, future research could include it since it has been associated with a variety of financial behaviours such as cash-flow management, credit management, saving, and investing. There is some evidence that financial literacy can decrease emotional stress and anxiety (Vitt et al., 2000). Practical implications - The current study can help researchers and practitioners understand the concept of financial threat among university students. For example, if students have incurred student loans and debt and begin displaying symptoms of distress, like anxiousness, worry, and irritability, they could be referred to a professional experienced in working with emotional and behavioural disorders related to financial issues. It can also help practitioners gain an understanding and insight into clients’ poor financial decision making. Government could initiate programs that help individuals cope with the negative effects of unemployment. Given that young people are experiencing disproportionately high unemployment that can have a lasting adverse effect on employment prospects and future earnings, the current post-secondary curriculum needs to prepare young people for the world of work, and gain a footing in the labour market. One way to achieve this is through high quality work experiences (e.g., internships/apprenticeships). Identifying ways to mitigate the effects of debt and economic hardship is also imperative. For example, money and debt advice may improve one’s financial circumstances, which, in turn, may improve their physical and psychological well-being. Originality/value - The study develops and tests an original theoretical model linking financial, emotional and psychological variable in a comprehensive framework that is then tested empirically. This model is original with this paper.

Reaching for the Brass Ring of Psychometric Test Standards: Commenting on Slaney, Storey, and Barnes

Slaney, Storey, and Barnes (2011), in delineating guidelines for data-driven psychometric test evaluation, advocate modern test theory for extending a prescriptive framework proposed in Slaney and Maraun (2008). Here, with an emphasis on noncognitive tests, we begin with a historical review of psychological testing and the developments of testing theory up to current standards and practices. We argue that although the efforts of Slaney et al. are commendable and may be superior in a field in which classical test theory still dominates, they may fall upon deaf ears for two reasons. First, present psychology training is negligent in keeping up with recent developments in statistics and measurement. Second, the practical advantages of modern test theory over classical approaches have not yet been sufficiently demonstrated to test users. This is not to say modern theory cannot produce better tests, rather, when we consider that the ultimate criterion has been and will be predictive validity, old, unsophisticated, classically developed tests still seem to perform satisfactorily. The prescriptive guidelines put forth in Slaney et al. are therefore better understood as aspirational targets, as recommendations, as challenges for tomorrows generations of test users and developers, and less like psychometric law.

The Conscientious Responders Scale Helps Researchers Verify the Integrity of Personality Questionnaire Data

The Conscientious Responders Scale is a five-item embeddable validity scale that differentiates between conscientious and indiscriminate responding in personality-questionnaire data (CR & IR). This investigation presents further evidence of its validity and generalizability across two experiments. Study 1 tests its sensitivity to questionnaire length, a known cause of IR, and tries to provoke IR by manipulating psychological reactance. As expected, short questionnaires produced higher Conscientious Responders Scale scores than long questionnaires, and Conscientious Responders Scale scores were unaffected by reactance manipulations. Study 2 tests concerns that the Conscientious Responders Scale’s unusual item content could potentially irritate and baffle responders, ironically increasing rates of IR. We administered two nearly identical questionnaires: one with an embedded Conscientious Responders Scale and one without the Conscientious Responders Scale. Psychometric comparisons revealed no differences across questionnaires’ means, variances, interitem response consistencies, and Cronbach’s alphas. In sum, the Conscientious Responders Scale is highly sensitive to questionnaire length—a known correlate of IR—and can be embedded harmlessly in questionnaires without provoking IR or changing the psychometrics of other measures.

Indiscriminate Responding Can Increase Effect Sizes for Clinical Phenomena in Nonclinical Populations: A Cautionary Note:

Indiscriminate (i.e., carless, random, insufficient effort) responses, commonly believed to weaken effect sizes and produce Type II errors, can inflate effect sizes and potentially produce Type I errors where a supposedly significant result is actually artifactual. We demonstrate how indiscriminate responses can produce spuriously high correlations in depression and hopelessness data in a nonclinical population (i.e., undergraduates), how this inflation occurs, where this misrepresentation is likely to happen, and how to guard against it. Although previous researchers have succeeded in showing this effect with samples of entirely simulated data, this study is the first to our knowledge to show that indiscriminate responding causes Type I errors in observed data.