Scandinavian journal of psychology最新文献

Laissez-faire leadership is considered a negative form of leadership, potentially harming employee health, well-being, work environment, and performance. However, research on boundary conditions explaining its negative effects remains limited. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study examines the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and employee performance, and the buffering effect of self-compassion, defined as being supportive towards oneself when facing suffering or pain. Data were collected from 220 full-time employees across various industries in Norway. To assess discriminant validity and address common method bias, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted before regression analyses. Consistent with hypotheses, laissez-faire leadership was negatively associated with employee performance. Moreover, self-compassion moderated this relationship, with no decline in performance among employees demonstrating moderate to high levels of self-compassion. Our study contributes to the laissez-faire leadership literature by testing whether a coping strategy identified for active destructive leadership also applies to passive forms. Furthermore, we contribute to the self-compassion literature by responding to calls for research on its link to organizational outcomes and the level needed to buffer negative effects, while addressing generalizability beyond the healthcare sector. Implications for future research, leadership development, and employee training are discussed.

This study developed and validated the Critical Right Scale (CRS) to measure emerging critical right attitudes and revised the Critical Social Justice Attitudes Scale (CSJAS-R), replicating its psychometric evaluation. A nationwide convenience sample of Finnish adults (n = 626) completed an online survey. Item screening used exploratory factor analysis with oblique rotation and loading and residual correlation criteria. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and measurement invariance testing were conducted in lavaan using full information maximum likelihood. The final CRS consisted of five items with high reliability (α = 0.89, ω = 0.90) and good model fit in both male and female subsamples, with pooled-sample residual misfit judged minor given subgroup results. The CSJAS-R comprised six items with strong reliability (α = 0.88, ω = 0.89) and excellent fit. Both scales met configural and metric invariance; partial scalar invariance was achieved after freeing a small number of item intercepts. CRS scores were strongly associated with right-wing and conservative self-placement with higher scores concentrated among Finns Party and Christian Democrat voters, and weakly linked to perceived oppression. CSJAS-R scores were strongly associated with left-wing and liberal self-placement with higher scores concentrated among Left Alliance and Greens voters, and had a small-to-moderate association with justification of political violence. CRS and CSJAS-R were strongly negatively correlated (r = -0.62), indicating divergent validity. Both CRS and CSJAS-R demonstrated strong psychometric properties and distinct ideological profiles, providing validated tools for studying political attitude structures at opposing ends of the ideological spectrum.

Disgust helps humans avoid potentially pathogenic substances such as bodily effluvia. This reduces illness risks and is difficult to overcome with cognitive strategies or through short-term habituation (minutes to hours). Whether long-term habituation (months to years) exists is an unsolved question. While regular professional exposure to disgust elicitors is associated with lower disgust sensitivity and avoidance, this could reflect selection and survivorship bias. We use the natural quasi-experiment of parenthood: it greatly increases exposure to bodily effluvia, but disgust does not usually inspire individuals to start or stop being a parent. Parents (N = 99) and controls (N = 50) completed self-report and behavioral avoidance measures. We used parent-specific items in disgust-sensitivity questionnaires, and child-related stimuli (soiled diapers) in a preferential-looking task. These included diapers with pre-weaning (yellow and runny) or post-weaning feces (adult-like). While the control group showed the expected behavioral avoidance, parents of weaning or weaned children showed almost no avoidance of stimuli depicting child-related or general bodily effluvia. These results suggest that parents habituated to disgust induced by feces in diapers, and that this had generalized to other bodily effluvia. Contrary to our expectations, parents of pre-weaning children showed similar disgust avoidance to the control group, even if they had older children. This could point to an adaptive response to reduce the risk of illness in young infants. After the sensitive milk-feeding stage, continuous exposure to their children's bodily effluvia inoculates parents to disgust.

Psychological treatment has shown promising results in the treatment of pain after breast cancer (BC) but could benefit from treatment optimization. The present mixed-methods study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of delivering components drawn from third-wave cognitive behavioral therapy to women with persistent pain after BC using the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST). Using a factorial experimental design, women with pain after BC were randomized to eight experimental conditions consisting of either zero, one, two, or three treatment components, namely Mindful Attention, Decentering, and Values and Committed Action. Primary outcomes of pain intensity and pain interference, secondary outcomes, and presumed change processes were measured at baseline and post-intervention. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at post-intervention. The study took place at The Department of Psycholog and Behaviorual Sciences at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark, and all sessions and interviews were conducted online. Thirty-four women were included. Three dropped out, and one withdrew consent and was excluded from all analyses. Qualitative manifest content analysis indicated no major barriers to treatment engagement, validity of treatment components, and overall participant satisfaction. No absolute increases in pain outcomes or significant adverse effects associated with any treatment components were observed. The study results indicate that the project procedures and treatment components are acceptable, valid, and safe, and illustrate how an optimized intervention for pain after BC can be developed using MOST. We therefore recommend proceeding with a larger scale trial to evaluate the effects of the individual and combined treatment components. Trial Registration: NCT04841928 [ClinicalTrials.gov].

Students' well-being is a critical concern due to its significant implications for university adjustment and long-term outcomes. Recurrent results of low well-being levels highlight the need for comprehensive research to uncover its psychological mechanisms. This study examines the relationship between basic psychological needs fulfillment and affective states in explaining subjective well-being, grounded in a novel framework: the macro-theory of positive functioning. A sample of 1552 French students (1209 women) aged 18 to 25 completed an online questionnaire assessing well-being, positive and negative affect, and satisfaction/frustration related to the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Path analyses supported the theoretical hypotheses: satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs positively predicted well-being via positive affect, while their frustration did so through negative affect. Only satisfaction and frustration of autonomy exhibited direct paths to well-being. Gender comparisons revealed that these pathways differed between men and women, a finding reinforced by strict measurement invariance. The discussion explores the integration of positive functioning and self-determination theory, emphasizing their interconnectedness and outlines practical implications for enhancing students' well-being.

The aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which symptoms of school burnout (exhaustion and cynicism) during the comprehensive school years played a role in individuals' long-term mental health problems. The data were collected in four municipalities (i.e., one big, one rural, and two medium-sized) around Finland. The sample included 673 students (376 girls, 297 boys) whose symptoms of school burnout were assessed three times: in Grade 6 (ages 12-13), Grade 7, and Grade 9. Indicators of later mental health problems were the use of antidepressants at the ages of 16-20 years old and self-reported depressive symptoms during the first year of upper secondary education at ages of 16-17 years. Information on symptoms of school burnout and depressive symptoms was derived from self-reports, and information on the use of antidepressants was obtained from the National Drug Prescription Register data. The data were analyzed using logistic regression and hierarchical linear regression models. The results showed that symptoms of exhaustion in Grade 9 significantly predicted the use of antidepressants in late adolescence; the higher the level of exhaustion in Grade 9, the greater the likelihood of using antidepressants during the follow-up period. Similar findings were found for self-reported depressive symptoms, as higher levels of exhaustion in Grades 7 and 9 predicted significantly higher levels of subsequent self-reported depressive symptoms. Higher levels of cynicism in Grade 9 predicted significantly higher levels of subsequent self-reported depressive symptoms, but not the use of antidepressants. The findings indicated that school burnout symptoms are significant predictors of ongoing mental health problems, emphasizing the need for early preventive work and interventions. Symptoms of exhaustion and cynicism increase the risk of depressive symptoms, and exhaustion may also progress to clinical depression requiring medication.

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is one of the risk factors for problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) among adolescents. However, previous findings have been inconsistent and have not comprehensively considered the roles of cognition and emotion. Grounded in the I-PACE model, this study examines the role of desire thinking and craving in the predictive relationship between FoMO and PMPU among adolescents through path analysis, while employing network analysis to identify the most central and influential nodes within this mechanism. This study focused on adolescents and employed the FoMO scale, the Desire Thinking Questionnaire, the Psychological Craving Assessment Scale, and the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale to conduct a four-wave longitudinal survey of 509 adolescents. The results of the path model showed that desire thinking and craving played a role of chain mediation in this relationship. Network analysis revealed that the "irresistible longing" node was the strongest bridge node of the network. Among the associations between nodes of different communities, the strongest association was between the "difficulty stopping" node in Desire Thinking and the "irresistible longing" node in Craving, followed by the "stress relief" node in Craving and the "mood modification" node in PMPU. These findings provide empirical evidence for the I-PACE model and underscore the critical roles of desire thinking and craving. They also offer valuable insights for future research and clinical interventions targeting PMPU among adolescents.

Estrangement from adult children can be a painful experience. However, it remains to be investigated how older parents relate to estrangement and what factors predict these sentiments. This article investigated older parents' sentiments toward estrangement on dimensions of sorrow, ambivalence, and relief. Parent demographics and estrangement characteristics duration, initiative, and estrangement proportions were examined as predictors of parent sentiments. The study utilized cross-sectional data from 75 older estranged parents aged 75+ (m = 82). Descriptive statistics were used to determine the proportions of parent sentiments, demographics, and estrangement characteristics. Multiple logistic regression tested the predictive capacity of demographics and estrangement characteristics. The analysis found that sorrow and ambivalence both constituted parent sentiments, but not relief. More women than men expressed sorrow, while more men than women expressed ambivalence. Estrangement from all children was associated with ambivalence. Results support a theoretical emphasis on ambivalence as a framework for the understanding of estrangement and have implications for interventions aimed at reconciliation.

Insecure attachment styles are associated with psychopathology and mental health problems. However, there are only a few large, nationally representative studies on the relationship between attachment and mental health, leaving a gap in our knowledge about the distribution of attachment styles across age groups and gender. In this cross-sectional study of the Danish general population aged 18-79, we present self-reported attachment styles in 3597 adults assessed with the Relationship Questionnaire. We describe the distributions of attachment styles both categorically and dimensionally, their differences depending on age and gender, as well as the correlation with different indices of mental health. Overall, 65% of the respondents reported being securely attached, with slightly more women being securely attached than men. 35% of the respondents reported being insecurely attached, with men being more likely to be dismissing and women more likely to be preoccupied. In terms of age, there was a steady increase in attachment security until around the age of 60 years. Self-reported attachment in the population showed low to moderate correlations with symptoms of mental health disorders, psychosocial function, and well-being. Secure attachment was positively correlated with well-being and negatively associated with poor psychosocial functioning. The high level of self-reported attachment security in Denmark is likely the result of it being a relatively wealthy and gender-equal society. Gender and age differences in terms of attachment insecurity can be understood in terms of both socio-cultural norms, social comparison, and maturation theories. Whether these findings reflect common developmental trajectories or cohort effects remains a topic for further investigation.

Superstitious behavior is highly prevalent in sports, providing athletes control over anxiety, psychological comfort, and perceived performance benefits. The first literature review on the topic was published in 2016. Since then, new research has expanded the knowledge in the area from cultural, psychological, and situational perspectives. Following the PRISMA guidelines, this systematic review aimed to update and expand the first review on the area. PubMed and Google Scholar articles were scrutinized after the original 2016 review (from 2016 to 2024), and Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest databases (not included in the original review) were examined without a time limit. We found 27 eligible studies, including 26 observational and one experimental study. We used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) to assess study quality. The included studies stem from India, Canada, Taiwan, Greece, Türkiye, Ghana, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, the UK, the USA, Italy, Serbia, and Congo. Data extracted included age, gender, sport type, athletic level, cultural influences, psychological traits, and validated measurement tools. Superstitions in sports remain widespread. About 55.1% of athletes reported engaging in at least one superstition, and over 90% reported sport-specific rituals. Younger athletes exhibited higher levels of superstition than older ones. Gender differences were nuanced and context-dependent. Team and elite athletes relied more on superstitions than individual sports and amateurs. Cultural practices strongly influence superstitions, which often serve as coping mechanisms. They reduce anxiety and improve performance through placebo-like effects. However, excessive reliance on them can lead to burnout. This review confirms the enduring relevance of superstitions in sports. It emphasizes their cultural, psychological, and situational roles. The findings highlight gaps in understanding the placebo effects and long-term impacts of superstitious behaviors. Multidisciplinary research is needed to deepen insights into this complex phenomenon.