Behav. Sci., Volume 8, Issue 12 (December 2018) – 9 articles

The MacArthur Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas: Primeras Palabras y Gestos (IDHC) is a widely-used parent report measure for infant Spanish language comprehension. The IDHC was originally created for use with infants of Mexican background. According to the U.S. 2017 census, however, about 37% of U.S. Hispanics are not of Mexican origin. In Miami-Dade, a large county in South Florida, 98% of Hispanics do not identify Mexico as their country of origin. IDHC use in mixed Hispanic communities such as Miami may be problematic due to differences in dialect and object labels. This study explored whether excluding IDHC words flagged as unknown or not commonly used by adults from mixed Hispanic communities affects bilingual infants’ vocabulary size. Data were collected from Hispanic 16-month-old infants (N = 27; females = 13) from a mixture of Latin American backgrounds residing in Miami, FL, USA, and compared to archival data from the IDHC Mexican norming sample (N = 60; females = 31). Findings indicate significant differences in the rate of comprehension between the two samples with infants from mixed Latin American backgrounds demonstrating lower rates of comprehension for words flagged as unknown/uncommon. Moreover, Spanish vocabulary scores for infants from mixed Hispanic communities were significantly lower compared to the Mexican norming sample. Use of total vocabulary score (i.e., Spanish + English) attenuated these issues in administrating the IDHC to bilingual infants from mixed Hispanic communities. Results suggest that comprehension of some IDHC words is influenced by Hispanic family background. These preliminary findings highlight potential issues in IDHC administration that require further investigation in additional samples spanning the full age range of the IDHC and from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds to effectively tune how we assess infant Spanish language comprehension to cultural differences. Full article

Posttraumatic growth has garnered increasing interest as a potential positive consequence of traumatic events and illnesses. However, scientific investigations have yet to demonstrate the validity of self-reports of posttraumatic growth. The most common measure used to assess this construct is the Post Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI); however, the extent to which the PTGI (as well as other self-report measures of perceived posttraumatic growth; PPTG) assess actual positive change remains unknown. The present study aimed to examine the validity of PPTG measures. We assessed 83 adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors at two time points, one year apart. We measured the stability of PTGI from T1 to T2, correlated three measures of PPTG that used different methods (only positive, positive or negative, positive and negative change) with wellbeing measures, and compared PTGI scores with changes in psychosocial resources. PTGI scores were stable over time. More nuanced measures of PPTG appeared to capture more perceived change, although no measure of PPTG was favorably related to wellbeing. Finally, PTGI did not correlate with change in psychosocial resources, with the exception of spirituality. Overall, our results suggest that measures of PPTG do not capture actual positive changes experienced by AYA cancer survivors. Full article

Despite the growing interest in differences in thinking, much less is known about differences in how children think and how they come to think. The aim of this scoping review is to map out the key concepts underpinning the conceptual boundaries of children’s (5–12 years of age) individual differences in thinking. The scoping review identified eight papers for analysis; all of which were set in an educational context. The findings presented inconclusive results regarding learning and thinking differences related to students’ academic achievement. This review has identified two main drawbacks with this research area. Firstly, there is little consensus between the models employed to understand the different ways children think. To further place these findings into context we look at conceptualisations of individual differences, where individuality is considered a process of stable characteristics interacting with more dynamic structures. This analysis highlights the second drawback, previous research has solely focused on exploring thinking characteristics that are not stable and are therefore subject to change depending on the context. The review found that there is little to no research which explores thinking preferences in children that are consistent across contexts and time. Moreover, there was no research identified that explored the impact of differences in thinking outside the educational domain, such as children’s wellbeing. Further research is required to identify the more stable characteristics that reflect and capture children’s different ways of thinking. Full article

Organizations need to be innovative for their long-term survival and this can be achieved when their employees demonstrate innovative behaviors at the workplace. Innovative behavior has thus received considerable attention from researchers, particularly on exploring the factors which foster employee innovative behaviors. Based on human resource system strength theory, the objective of this study is twofold. First, it examines the direct and indirect relationship between perceptions of performance appraisal quality (PPAQ) and innovative behavior mediated through psychological empowerment. Second, it examines the moderating effect of perceptions of HRM system strength in the hypothesized links. A total of 360 faculty members participated in the study from twelve public sector higher education institutes in Islamabad, Pakistan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used for statistical analysis of the quantitative data collected through self-administered questionnaire. Results demonstrated that PPAQ is positively related with innovative behavior. The findings also support the mediating role of psychological empowerment and the moderating role of perceptions of human resource management (HRM) system strength. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating that HRM content and process are two complementary facets of an HRM system in bringing out positive work behaviors. A number of practical implications and directions for future research are outlined. Full article

Little is known about fostering sustainable, collaborative community-academic partnerships that effectively improve physical activity and health in residents of under resourced communities using Participatory Action Research (PAR) driven models. The purpose of this PAR study was to evaluate the impact of an urban, intergenerational, and physical activity dance program by identifying community preferred measurable outcomes that promote program participation and sustainability. A descriptive, qualitative design was employed using semi-structured interview guides to facilitate discussions for two adult focus groups and one youth focus group. Exactly 19 community-residing adults and six youth who lived in urban neighborhoods in West Philadelphia participated in the discussions. The audiotapes were transcribed and analyzed using directed content analysis. Five outcome themes emerged and included: (1). Enhancing the psychological and emotional well-being of the individual, (2). Enhancement of social well-being and management of interpersonal relationships and responsibilities (3). Enhancing and promoting physiologic well-being (4). Changes in health promoting behaviors and skill acquisition, and (5). Concerns about accessibility of dance for health and other physical activity programs in the community. Focused attention to measuring community preferred outcomes can promote sustainability of Dance for Health and possibly other urban-based physical activity dance programs. Full article

Bowlby’s attachment theory has been employed as a broad and integrative framework to explore human wellness across a range of disciplines. Attachment theory has even been labelled one of the last surviving “grand theories” not to have been completely dismissed, replaced, or extensively reworked. However, despite the ubiquitous nature of some of the theory’s fundamental tenets, there are always possibilities for new conceptual development, extension, and revision. In this paper, we critically explore the idea of “context-specific” attachment within parent-child relationships. We briefly outline critical assumptions and key areas of attachment and articulate potential rationale, conceptualization, and relevance of contextual attachment. Full article

Few previous studies have formally examined people’s wishes regarding what they want to do before they die. This study aimed to describe responses to an activity within a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) where people considered what was important when faced with their own mortality. We asked participants to complete the following: “Before I Die, I want to…”. The content of participants’ responses (n = 633) was analysed qualitatively with a coding schema developed and then applied. All authors independently coded the first 100 “Before I Die” statements, followed by a second round of coding where themes were verified and confirmed. Following this, two independent raters coded all 633 responses, obtaining 95.24% agreement (Cohen’s Kappa = 0.789, p < 0.0005). Twelve themes emerged from the data: family; do an activity; personal aspiration; live life fully, happiness; love; the greater good; peace; legacy; gratitude; religion; and health. Responses could also be distinguished as being inward-facing (about the self), and outward-facing (about others). Reflecting on what is important and on what a person wishes to achieve or address before they die can be seen as a companion process to advance care planning which addresses what an individual wants to plan to manage their actual death. Full article

The study aims to highlight the impact of practicing recreational figure skating by evaluating the relationship between the perceptions of motor, mental and social benefits of practicing figure skating and the frequency and duration allocated for this recreational activity. The study included 143 students of physical education and sport specialization. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate the students’ perception about the benefits of practicing recreational figure skating; it included 30 items divided in three parts: motor, mental and social benefits. Each of them contained 10 items to be assessed by students using the Likert scale, with 2 items related to the duration and frequency of practicing figure skating during recreational time. The results were processed using SPPS 24. The results were statistically significant at p < 0.05. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was α = 0.965, suggesting that the items had high internal consistency. Using the Likert scale, we found the following: concerning the high score 5 points—the motor capacity 62.9%, the mental capacity 49.7%, the social capacity 49.7%; and for a low score of 1 point—mental and social capacity 1.4%, motor capacity 0.7%. The effect size was medium for almost all items. No statistically significant correlations were found between the result of the questionnaire and the frequency and duration of practicing figure skating during free time. Figure skating is considered by students to be one of the activities through which a series of parameters of physical development and level of physical fitness can be improved through the expansion of motor skills. Also, the practice of figure skating contributes to the formation of proactive behaviors by improving the mental and social abilities of practitioners. Full article

Employees’ working relationships were long determined to be crucial to their overall wellbeing and performance ratings at work. However, a few studies were found to examine the effects of positive workplace relationships on employees’ working manners. This study aimed to investigate the effects of healthy workplace relationships on employees’ working behaviors, which in turn affect their performance. In doing so, an integrated model was developed to examine the primary performance drivers of nurses in Vietnamese hospitals and focus on the effects of high-quality workplace relationships on the working attitudes of the staff. This study analyzed a questionnaire survey of 303 hospital nurses using a structural equation modeling approach. The findings demonstrated the positive effects of high-quality workplace relationships on working manners including higher commitment, lower level of reported job stress, and increased perception of social impact. Notably, the results also demonstrated that relationships between leaders and their staff nurses make a significant contribution to the quality of workplace relationship and nurses’ performance. In addition, the social impact was illustrated to positively moderate the association between healthy workplace interactions and job stress; however, it had no significant effect on job commitment. Unfortunately, job commitment was surprisingly found to not be related to performance ratings. This paper provides some suggestions for the divergence of performance drivers in the hospital context in Vietnam. Full article