This research investigated how adults perceived their talents and whether adult clients (n = 132; average age = 35 years) entering therapy had a different perception of their talents than adults not attending therapy (n = 132; average age = 34 years. Establishing whether gender was associated with respondents’ talent ratings was also explored. Talents were measured using a questionnaire based on Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory. Respondents were asked to compare each of nine talents with items representing seven concepts of learning thereby linking talent with the methods used to learn and maintain the talent. Results showed nine factors emerged in conjunction with the seven conceptions of learning. Males were higher rating on the talents of Construction and Spatial Design and Mathematical and Logical. The therapeutic group of adults rated talents significantly lower than the nontherapeutic group. The rank of the concepts of learning based on their average contribution to each talent showed that both groups of respondents focused on performance and then natural ability, and least on effort when defining their talents. These findings support the suggestion that the client’s talent is an appropriate subject to incorporate into therapy to maintain and expand their skills and competence.

Background: The internet is increasingly used as a coping strategy by cancer patients for information and support (‘eHealth’), however its association with distress remains unclear. This cross-sectional study investigated whether eHealth use mediates the relationship between illness perceptions, social support, and distress. Methods: Adult heterogeneous cancer patients (n=88) completed a self-report battery of measures. Demographic, medical and psychosocial differences between eHealth users (n=50) and non-users (n=38) were analysed, and hierarchical multiple regressions were then used to test for mediations. Results: Compared to non-users, eHealth users were significantly younger, more highly educated and more likely to be employed. eHealth users had more negative perceived consequences resulting from their illness than non-users, but did not differ in levels of distress or social support. eHealth use was significantly positively related to three types of illness perceptions (consequences, identity, and psychological causes), and with distress, thus meeting the criteria for mediation testing. However, in multivariate mediation testing, eHealth use was not a significant mediator of the relationship between these variables. Conclusions: While eHealth use was related to illness perceptions and distress, its role as a mediator was not supported. A longitudinal evaluation of eHealth use as a coping strategy is recommended.

This study examined the beliefs underlying people’s decision-making, from a theory of planned behaviour (TPB) framework, in the prediction of curbside household waste recycling. Community members in Brisbane, Australia (N = 148) completed a questionnaire assessing the belief based TPB measures of attitudinal beliefs (costs and benefits), normative beliefs (important referents), and control beliefs (barriers) in relation to engaging in curbside household waste recycling for a 2-week period. Two weeks later, participants completed self report measures of recycling behaviour for the previous fortnight. The results revealed that the attitudinal, normative, and control beliefs for people who performed higher and lower levels of recycling differed significantly. A regression analysis identified both normative and control beliefs as the main determinants of recycling behaviour. For normative beliefs, high level recyclers perceived more approval from referents such as partners, friends, and neighbours to recycle all eligible materials. In addition, the strong results for control beliefs indicated that barriers such as forgetfulness, lack of time, and laziness were rated as more likely to hamper optimal recycling performance for low level recyclers. These findings provide important applied information about beliefs to target in the development of future community recycling campaigns.

Escalating stress and pressures, along with organisational change in universities has led to the increased importance of research in to the impact of perceived job stress, work-life balance and work-life conflict amongst academics. Yet, very few studies have examined academics’ ability to balance work and personal life, and overcome work-life conflict. Drawing on Spillover theory (Zedeck, 1992), our study hypothesised that high levels of perceived job pressure stress and job threat stress would predict increased levels of work-life conflict, and decreased levels of work-life balance. Due to the well-documented relationship between stress and health, the influence of job stress on wellbeing was also investigated in this sample of academics (N =139). Perceived job stress (threat and pressure-type stressors) was associated with poorer work-life balance, and increased conflict between academics’ work and personal lives. Perceived job threat-type stress made a stronger contribution and was a significant predictor of work-life balance and work-life conflict scores, than perceived job pressure-type stress. Perceived job threat-type stress among academics was also a significant predictor and associated with poorer wellbeing and increased ill-being, but perceived job pressure-type stress was not related to academics’ wellbeing or ill-being.

In recent years, attachment insecurities in the form of anxiety and avoidance have been found to be associated with Obsessive Compulsive (OC) symptoms and cognitions. The hypothesized buffering role of attachment security on OC-related processes, however, has yet to be assessed. In the current study, we examined the effects of experimentally-enhanced attachment security (security priming) on OC-related washing tendencies in a non-clinical sample (N = 85). As compared to a neutral priming, security priming reduced OC-related washing tendencies among participants scoring relatively high on attachment anxiety or avoidance. However, security priming led to higher OC-related washing tendencies than neutral priming among more securely attached participants (low scores on attachment anxiety or avoidance). Implications for theory and treatment are discussed.

Interpersonal judgments of others may differ based on participants’ deterministic versus libertarian attitudes as well as the amount and kind of information provided about a target individual. The two studies reported here explored how four factors impact judgments of blame and praise: 1) deterministic attitudes, 2) perceived similarity to the judged individual, 3) the childhood background information provided, and 4) an ability-versus-effort explanation of behavior. Based on vignette portrayals, blame was reduced when disability versus lack of effort was described as a possible explanation, when participants perceived themselves as similar to the target individual, when information about childhood hardships was provided, and when libertarian attitudes were lower (Study 1 only). Fewer factors were related to praiseworthiness, with coming from an impoverished childhood being the only consistent finding across the two studies. Judgments of blame fit more clearly with hypotheses generated from psychological theories, but praiseworthiness predictions are not as easily explained.

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and more than 20% of adolescents report current cigarette use. Schools are a viable setting in which to conduct brief interventions to reduce adolescent tobacco use; however, a standard therapy has not yet been established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a motivational intervention on cigarette use in a school-based adolescent population. The study utilized a randomized controlled design in which participants were assigned to one of two conditions: two 30-minute sessions of a motivational intervention or assessment only. Results demonstrated that the intervention was effective in reducing daily cigarette use and symptoms of cigarette dependence for participants in the experimental group. The current findings are unique in being the first school-based motivational intervention delivered by school personnel to effectively reduce adolescent tobacco use.

Attachment theory is an encompassing theory for understanding human reactions to life stressors, such as loss and separation, and interpersonal problems are common reasons for seeking psychotherapy. Psychotherapy may be an opportunity to revise insecure attachment and handle interpersonal problems. This study examined attachment styles and interpersonal problems in a clinical sample of psychotherapy patients (n = 168) at the start of psychotherapy. The main aim was to study how self-reported attachment styles, measured by the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), correlated with interpersonal problems measured using the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP). Avoidant-related and anxious-related attachment scales correlated positively to the total IIP scores. Inconsistent with findings in nonclinical samples, specific interpersonal problems in the dominant and affiliative parts of the IIP correlated positively to both the anxious-related and the avoidantrelated attachment scales. The findings imply that a challenge for the therapist at the start of psychotherapy is to balance providing security with encouraging exploration of feelings, thoughts, and behaviour in the patient’s interpersonal problems in current relationships. Exploring individual profiles of attachment styles helps to clarify motives in expressed interpersonal problems.

Survey of workplace bullying in a Norwegian hospital found that 10% of nurses, therapists, and physicians (N=440) had witnessed bullying. Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ) scores were low, Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) scores were positive, and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) scores were neutral. NAQ scores and having witnessed bullying both predicted low MSQ scores, low over-all job satisfaction, and low OCQ scores. By psychometric triage, some of the NAQ’s 22 negative acts can be identified for priority administrative intervention based on a) the degree to which NAQ items predict decreased satisfaction and decreased commitment, b) the prevalence rates of particular negative acts, and c) efficiency of intervention. Psychometric triage recommended intervention first on the problem of “necessary information withheld”, which had an 18% prevalence rate and predicted lower MSQ and OCQ scores. The second priority should be on “pressure to give up entitlements”, which had prevalence of 2% but also predicted lower MSQ and OCQ scores. The third and fourth priorities should focus on “tasks below level of competence” (reported by 51%) and on “unmanageable workload” (reported by 28%), neither of which predicted MSQ or OCQ scores.

Recent theories of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder have suggested that meta-cognitive beliefs, particular confidence in memory, may relate to the maintenance of symptoms. For example, individuals who worry that their memory is deficient may check in order to ensure that the doors are locked, regardless of their actual memory ability. While studies have related meta-memory beliefs to OCD symptoms, and have found that memory is affected by checking behaviours; to date, no experimental literature has attempted to ascertain whether lowered confidence in memory directly leads to greater checking behaviours. In the current study 46 non-clinical participants completed a battery of questionnaires measuring these constructs, before undertaking a “memory task” designed to manipulate their level of confidence in their memory. The effect of the manipulation on the level of checking on a visuomemory task was subsequently assessed. The questionnaires indicated that cognitive confidence predicted variation in obsessive-compulsive symptoms over-and-above the influence of depressive symptoms and other OCD-related beliefs. However, while confidence in memory was successfully manipulated, the group with increased memory confidence was not found to have lower checking behaviours. Limitations of the study are discussed and directions for further research are suggested.