The relationship of compliance with anxiety,self-esteem,paranoid thinking and anger

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the relationship of compliance with anxiety, self-esteem, paranoid thinking, and anger. The Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Paranoia/Suspiciousness Questionnaire (PSQ), and the Novaco Anger Scale (NAS) were administered to 167 University students Compliance correlated positively with state and trait anxiety, low self-esteem, paranoia and suspiciousness, and negatively with acting out feelings of anger (the Behavioural Domain of the NAS). Multiple regression of the test scores showed that paranoid thinking was the single best predictor of compliance. The implications are discussed. It is important to replicate the study on special populations, such as offenders and psychiatric patients, who have problems with low self-esteem, paranoid thinking, and anger.     

Student/trainee-professional implicit theories of paedophilia

Abstract

This research investigates student/trainee-professional implicit theories of paedophilia and their explanations for the current crisis of paedophilia. The research methodology is based on a previous research design (Sternberg, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 607–627, 1985), and consists of two interrelated studies. Study 1 (n=60) develops scales for student/trainee-professional implicit theories of paedophilia and Study 2 (n=188) uses these scales in conjunction with other scales to define the student/trainee-professional implicit theories of paedophilia and to measure the potential explanations for the current crisis of paedophilia. The findings indicate that student/trainee-professional implicit theories of paedophilic personalities (pathology, abusive and mentally disordered old offender) and behaviours (devious, child focused, cognitive distortions, secretive, child lovers, sexual abusers, socially inept and grooming) seem to reflect both previous research and expert opinion. These tentative findings suggest that student/trainee-professionals' implicit theories of paedophilia, and as such the current crisis of paedophilia in modern society, seem to have developed in part from the transfer of expert knowledge (explicit theories), the impact of the media, and social constructionalism; and not from the student/trainee-professionals' individual personality and coping traits.     

Framing and perceptions of stalking: the influence of conduct severity and the perpetrator–target relationship

Research has demonstrated that the way in which questions are presented (i.e. framed) has the capacity to influence responses to subsequent questions. In the context of stalking, perception research has often been framed in terms of whether or not particular behaviours constitute stalking. The current research investigates whether the framing of the opening question (question frame), conduct severity and the perpetrator–target relationship influence perceptions of stalking. Two studies employed experimental 3×3 independent factorial designs: one to examine question frame and conduct severity, the other to examine question frame and the perpetrator–target relationship. Participants in both studies (total N=449) were presented with vignettes and asked to answer six questions relating to the behaviour described. Question frame was found to impact on the classification of behaviour, with a greater proportion of participants indicating that the behaviour represented harassment or stalking rather than an illegal act. Consistent with previous research, conduct severity and the perpetrator–target relationship influenced perceptions of stalking. However, there was no evidence to suggest that the framing of the opening question influenced these perceptions. The implications of these findings for previous perception research are discussed.     

The impact of increasing vs. decreasing harassing behaviours on perceptions of hypothetical instances of repeated sexual harassment

ABSTRACT

Sexual harassment is a traditionally underreported crime. One factor that might affect perceptions and willingness to report harassment is its occurrence over time: harassing behaviours that gradually increase or decrease in severity over time might impact its perception. In the present research, 177 female participants read a series of daily scenarios about increasing, decreasing, or steady harassment, and completed measures regarding their perceptions of and willingness to report it. Participants displayed increases and decreases in negative reactions as harassment increased and decreased, respectively, suggesting that each instance of sexual harassment is interpreted independently of earlier harassing behaviours, and that early, strongly harassing behaviours have little impact on how subsequent instances of harassment are perceived. This explanation is supported by the similar ratings in the midpoint (day 4) of the scenario series, regardless of whether harassment was increasing or decreasing.     

MPs' Role Orientations in Newly Emerged Democratic Legislatures

Understanding the behaviour of the elected representatives at the beginning of the transition period in former Communist countries provides an insight into some of the first freely elected parliaments after decades of authoritarianism. The role perception grasps the essence of how MPs position themselves in their decision-making process in a fuzzy institutional setting. By relying on the sole established institutions for that period (that is, political parties), this article tests to what extent the party type and size explain role orientations of the MPs in terms of delegates (from the party), trustees, and politicos. Using a dataset that includes over 600 MPs from four parliaments, this cross-national analysis reveals that MPs belonging to newly emerged and rather small parties are more likely to be party delegates compared with their colleagues.     

Written in Their Own Voice: First-Year and Older Students' Perceptions on Their University's Identity

Undergraduate students (218 women, 57 men) attending a Roman Catholic, suburban university with a Franciscan charism tradition completed open-ended items assessing their perception on the mission, vision, and values of their university. However, only 41 lower division, first-year students (33 women, 8 men) and 29 upper division students (22 women, 7 men) actually wrote about different aspects of their school's identity. Qualitative themes emerged in regard to students' assessment of their school identity, such as university mission activities are perceived important, and overall support for different institutional values within the university community.     

The Spiritual Well-Being of African-Americans

SUMMARY

This multi-method study explored the relationship between gender, spirituality, spiritual well-being, and several indices of religiosity including religious participation and religious motivation. Different patterns of relationships among these indices emerged for men and women. For men Spiritual Wcll-Being was related to the presence and influence of church-oriented socializing agents as well as to the belief in God's power to influence the course of events. Mean scores on measures of the importance of religion, current religious participation, religious motivation, as well as spiritual well-being were not significantly different for men and women.     

Swedish 10-Year-Old Children's Perceptions and Experiences of Bullying

Abstract

The main aim of the present study was to describe children's perceptions and experiences of bullying: the way they define it, their thoughts about why children are bullied and their experiences of the way adults respond to bullying. The study group comprised 960 children in the fourth grade. The most frequent answers concerning why some children get bullied were that these children have a different appearance (43%) or that they are deviating in other ways than by appearance (31%). Two groups of bullied children seem to be of special concern; the children who do not tell adults about their situation (9% of the bullied children) and the children who do not perceive that they have received help from adults at school (24% of bullied children). The children's perceptions and experiences are discussed in relation to interventions in Swedish schools.     

Racial history,legacy and economic development

For more than a century, white communities across the United States employed strategies to remain all-white, including violent acts, forcibly driving minorities out of town, and racist local ordinances. One particularly widespread and effective approach used by many towns to exclude certain groups of people from living there was the creation of a ‘sundown town’: towns that purposely signalled to African Americans and other non-white groups that they were not welcome within the city limits after dark. Crowe and Ceresola seek to understand how historical racial policies affect present-day community life and, in particular, one component of community with which many towns currently struggle: economic development. In exploring the effect of cultural legacy on perceptions of race and economic development in five mid-sized communities in central and southern Illinois—two former sundown towns and three without histories of racial exclusion—their study uses interviews, observation and content analysis to examine how historical legacy can carry over to the present and affect economic development. Overall, the findings suggest that the values and beliefs passed down through a community's legacy influences current local economic development.