Personal Characteristics Research Articles

Development of a risk index for cognitive decline predicted by adverse radiation events and diet in older oral cancer patients

Professor Norimasa Ogama, Faculty of Nursing, Soka University, is interested in how symptoms such as dry mouth and changes in taste in elderly oral cancer patients could predict the risk of decline in cognitive function with the use of different sensory food experiences. He is developing an index to predict this. While previously at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, Ogama saw a range of problems among patients caused by radiation and chemotherapy, including reduced eating and swallowing function, changes in body image and ongoing issues with being able to eat and speak. He began to consider how it might be possible to improve quality of life for such patients, including the ability to enjoy food. This inspired him to work to develop an oral rehabilitation programme that takes into account post-operative life evaluation and its influencing factors in order to significantly increase patientsâ–™ life satisfaction. Ogama and the team are developing a risk index for cognitive decline predicted by the adverse events of radiation and the diet of elderly patients with oral cancer. The goal is to accurately determine the risk of cognitive decline early based on changes to eating preferences and the taste of food, as well as worsening of oral mucositis and symptoms of dry mouth due to radiation therapy. This will be done through the concept of ‘eating deliciously’, based on personal preferences and characteristics.

Identity in the context of physical activity and smoking: A scoping review among adults aged 45+

Abstract Background Identity (i.e., self-perceptions of oneself) plays an important role in health behaviors such as physical activity (PA) and smoking. This review offers a comprehensive synthesis and comparison of how PA- and smoking-related identity is associated with PA and smoking behavior in adults aged 45+. It further synthesizes and compares identity terminology and measurement tools used to capture identity concerning smoking cessation and PA among adults aged 45+. Where applicable, the role of personal, PA-, and smoking-related characteristics were considered. Methods A thorough search across 11 databases, updated in May 2023, yielded 5801 unique publications. Ensuing careful screening procedures, 45 peer-reviewed empirical studies were systematically reviewed. Experts in the field contributed to validate and structure the narrative. Results The review reveals a complex, enduring connection between identity and behavior in both PA and smoking domains, encompassing processes like identity formation, maintenance, change, and loss. In essence, identities linked to PA and abstaining from smoking emerged as pivotal for promoting active lifestyles and successful smoking cessation. Many parallels but also distinctions emerged within this association, alongside variations in the terminology and measurement tools pertaining to identity. Factors such as gender, age, and behavioral history emerged as influential in shaping identities related to smoking and PA. Conclusions Despite variances, findings suggest that the relationship between identity and behavior, including associated processes, may not fundamentally differ between health-promoting and health-compromising behaviors. There is however need for more unified identity definitions and measurement tools. We propose avenues for future research, including exploring causality between identity and behavior to facilitate the development of identity-related smoking cessation and PA-promotion interventions. Key messages • Identities associated with physical activity and refraining from smoking are associated with a physically active lifestyle and successful smoking cessation. • Despite differences, the relationship between identity and behavior may not fundamentally vary between health-promoting and health-compromising behaviors.

Suspicious activity reporting in emerging economies: the case of Iran

PurposeCountries with high levels of corruption can experience collusion between powerful elites and accountants to conceal, disguise and clean the proceeds of criminality. This study investigates the willingness of accountants to report evidence of money laundering in an emerging economy, Iran, notwithstanding potential personal and professional risks implicit in such due diligence. It evaluates the relevance of personal characteristics of accountants to the propensity to report, and the implications for policy makers in terms of audit team composition.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is quantitative. Data was gathered by means of a suspicious activity scenario-based questionnaire administered to 1,128 of Certified Public Accountants in Iran, of which 281 responses were received. Four hypotheses were tested relating to the implications, if any, of gender, age, education and working experience for the propensity to report red flags indicative of money laundering.FindingsData revealed that accountants were generally more willing to report activity indicative of money laundering than was anticipated in an environment perceived to be characterised by professional and personal risks. Older accountants are more risk averse and more likely to report suspicious activity than younger counterparts who tend to disregard borderline indicators of money laundering. A significant red flag indicator of money laundering is a client's reluctance to provide information regarding controlling shareholders, debtors and creditors or to explain contrived and opaque corporate structures. Audit teams may be more effective when gender-balanced: female accountants tend to be more willing to report suspicious activity than male counterparts, reducing the risk of interference by powerful elites.Research limitations/implicationsThe time frame over which the research was conducted was a single year; if it had been conducted over several years it may have revealed more nuanced and evolving reporting behaviour. The study was limited to Iran: a cross-comparison with another emerging economy or economies may have revealed useful contrasts.Originality/valueThe study contributes to behavioural accounting research in emerging economies. Limited empirical data is available regarding the influence of personal characteristics of accountants on their willingness to report suspicious activity in corrupt environments where personal safety and professional security may be at risk from powerful elites. It evaluates the implications of these for suspicious activity reporting policy, and for improving the effectiveness of the scrutineering role of audit teams. An innovative questionnaire was designed which may be suitable for future comparable research in emerging economies.

Marital status and the “S” in ESG management

ABSTRACT We analyse the ways CEO marital status and corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) might interact. Firms with married CEOs have lower incidence of negative CSI news coverage. Such firms also tend to have better employee relations and stronger diversity initiatives – employee relations and diversity initiatives are associated with reduced incidence of negative CSI coverage, but only for firms with married CEOs. Results suggest married CEOs foster a work environment that is more conducive to corporate social responsibility. We conclude that marriage is an observable proxy for pro-social behavioural tendencies that manifest in the form of less CSI. Our findings extend the literature on CEO personal characteristics and corporate outcomes.

Understanding Charitable Consumer Behavior on Digital Crowdfunding Platforms: Exploring the Influence of Cultural Values, Motivations, and Platform Attitudes

ABSTRACT Charitable crowdfunding on digital platforms has become a viable way for NGOs to raise funds. This study aims to investigate determinants of charitable behavior (CB) on digital crowdfunding platforms (DCPs), including national culture dimensions, motivations, crowdfunding platform attitude, and donors’ personal characteristics. Data were collected through a CAWI survey of 680 Amazon MTurk users from Europe, the Americas, and Southern Asia. Findings indicate that of the three national culture dimensions considered, CB on DCPs is positively associated with collectivism and negatively with uncertainty avoidance. The link between power distance and CB could be either positive, neutral or negative, due to the interactions with motivations for charity, uncertainty avoidance, and age. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivations do not show significant direct effects on CB but appear to exert their influence through interactions with other motivations, national culture dimensions and respondents’ attributes. People with higher incomes tend to donate more the better is their attitude toward the DCP. CB is stronger among donors more involved in voluntary activities and those living in the Americas as compared to Europe and Asia. The study addresses the knowledge gap concerning the antecedents of CB on DCPs and suggests how NGOs could improve their fundraising effectiveness.

Purging frequency and number of purging methods as indicators of severity in bulimia nervosa: Interactive effects with binge eating episodes.

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5, severity of bulimia nervosa (BN) is defined by the frequency of purging behaviour. Previous research suggests the number of purging methods as an alternative rating. The current analysis investigated characteristics (sociodemographic and treatment-related variables, body mass index [BMI], eating disorder-specific and general psychopathology) of persons with BN as a function of purging frequency and number of purging methods in order to examine which approach might be better suited for indicating severity of BN. Two-hundred and sixty-one persons (98.5% female; mean age 25.2years, SD=9.41; mean BMI 22.0kg/m2, SD=3.79) with BN completed self-report questionnaires on eating disorder-specific and general psychopathology at admission to inpatient (n=214) or daypatient (n=47) treatment. Higher severity based on either purging frequency or number of purging methods tended to relate to lower BMI and higher eating disorder-specific and general psychopathology. In addition, binge-eating frequency differentially related to eating disorder-specific and general psychopathology as a function of severity groups. This study partially supports the utility of both purging frequency and the number of purging methods as indicators of severity in persons with BN. However, focussing only on purging behaviours may be short-sighted as it appears necessary to consider the number of binge-eating episodes as well when evaluating severity of BN.

Anxiety, depression, stress, and resilience among undergraduate nursing students at Al-Quds university: the impact of war started on October 7 in Palestine

BackgroundThe current outbreak of war in Palestine on the 7th of October 2023, heightened concerns about mental health and well-being of individuals, particularly undergraduate students in Palestine. Such traumatic experiences and political conflict did affect the social, economic, psychological, and academic status of university students in Palestine, in particular, nursing students. However, resilience is one of the moderators which may positively decrease the severity of those negative war-related symptoms.AimThe study aimed to examine the moderation effect of resilience on the relationship between sociodemographic and personal characteristics and depression, anxiety, and stress among undergraduate nursing students in Palestine.Design and methodsA quantitative, descriptive-correlational design utilized to investigate anxiety, depression, stress, and resilience among nursing students. A convenience sample of 325 nursing students recruited from Al-Quds University were asked to respond to a self-administered questionnaire.ResultsA total of 325 nursing students participated in this study. The analysis showed that the majority of the participants were experiencing extremely severe anxiety levels (43.7%, n = 142), while 25.5% (n = 83) were experiencing extremely severe depression and 14.5% (n = 47) were experiencing high-stress levels compared to 60% (n = 195) of the students were at their normal resilience level. There were statistically significant differences in the resilience based on sex (t323 = 2.994, p = .003). Knowing that males have higher resilience mean scores (M = 3.06, SD = 0.35) than females (M = 2.93, SD = 0.41) indicates higher resilience in males than females. After performing two steps of hierarchical regression, the results revealed that resilience negatively moderated the relationship between sociodemographics and depression, and anxiety.ConclusionThis study offers valuable insights into the mental health status of undergraduate nursing students in Palestine during the war. The results indicated that resilience is one of the pivotal moderators that may buffer anxiety and depression. The findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to address the diverse mental health needs of this population, considering the complex interplay of individual, demographic, and contextual factors. Future research should continue to explore these dynamics and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions promoting mental well-being during conflict.

A multidisciplinary approach to forensic biological profiling on a single tooth and nail sample.

Analysis of a single tooth and nail can provide valuable forensic information, including year of birth, year of death, age, sex, DNA-profile, geographic residence during childhood and at time of death and drug exposure. The aim is to minimize the amount of used bodily material and to validate the applicability of a multidisciplinary sampling protocol. A nail of the big toe, a tooth and blood of seven deceased individuals were collected postmortem. Collected materials were sampled and segmented in accordance with the multidisciplinary sampling protocol. DNA analysis was conducted on the pulp of the tooth, isotope analysis (Sr, Pb, O and C) on the enamel and 14C-, toxicological and tooth cementum annulation analysis on root segments. DNA-, isotope (Sr, Pb, O and C) -, toxicological-, and 14C -analysis were conducted on toenail segments. The acquired DNA profiles were compared with profiles acquired from blood. Material from seven deceased persons was analysed. 45 out of 56 analyses on dental samples were successful, constituting a success rate of 80%. Additionally, 27 out of 35 analyses were successful on nail samples, yielding a success rate of 77%. DNA-, toxicological and 14C- analyses performed better in nail than in tooth. Isotope analyses performed better in tooth than in nail. A profile with personal characteristics was constructed and matched for 62% of parameters with collected medical information. The performed sampling protocol for simultaneous multidisciplinary forensic analysis on a single tooth and nail sample provided applicable results and valuable information.

Covid-19, working from home and work–life boundaries: the role of personality in work–life boundary management

Working from home (WFH) has accelerated in occurrence following social distancing measures directed at stemming the spread of Covid-19 globally. Using a sample of 41 in-depth qualitative interviews and measurement of the personality scores of the 41 interviewees, who are UK academics, using the IPIP test questionnaire, we explored how mandatory WFH impacts the boundary management of different academics based on their personality and the role of personality in their boundary-management approach to enhance work-life balance (WLB) during Covid-19. Our results suggest that mandatory WFH impacts academics differently depending on their personality, with academics high in conscientiousness and introversion (compared to their neurotic and extroverted colleagues) more suited to managing work and life domains to maintain a WLB while working from home. Building on boundary theory, we uncovered that while conscientious and introverted academics preferred and used integration as their boundary-management style, extroverted academics preferred segmentation in favor of family, but used volleying as a boundary-management style. Neurotic academics leaned toward our newly uncovered boundary-management style – quitter. Our findings suggest that the family circumstances of academics play an important role in their boundary-management styles. Overall, our study suggests relationships between personality and boundary-management styles and characteristics.

Exploration of Student Experiences and Perceptions of Self and Peer: Implications for Tailoring Supports.

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students have reported learning new behaviors, enhanced self-awareness, and personal and professional growth during their first year of DPT school. The purpose of this study was to explore in greater depth, through semistructured interviews, the student perceptions of self-identity and social identity. Seventeen early second-year DPT students from 3 universities. This investigation is an extension of a larger multisite study. Qualitative interviews were employed to enable the use of a constructivist lens to explore the importance of personal context in participants' experiences during the first year of DPT school. Students across programs shared similar characteristics and experiences. Three themes emerged: DPT students share common perceptions of themselves and classmates; sociocultural experiences shaped their actions and perceptions of self; and students recognized the need to change to be successful. The voices of the older second-career students and racially minoritized students were uniquely different from other participants. Doctor of Physical Therapy student experiences are similar across programs except for older students and racially minoritized students. Early professional identity formation was noted as well. A richer understanding of the personal characteristics, influential sociocultural factors, and student perceptions of self and classmates could enable educators to customize supports and educational strategies to help students understand the role their past and present experiences play in shaping their professional identities.

The Place of Gladue in Constitutional Law

The central aim of this paper is to outline and explain the place of Gladue in constitutional law. I start with a brief treatment of the majority decision in Sharma before moving to the reception of Gladue sentencing in the section 12 context, outlining and contributing to a debate that has circled in this area for years: whether it is acceptable to consider personal characteristics in constructing the reasonable hypothetical offender.

Personal and Socio-economic Characteristics of Farmers in Peri-Urban Area of Raigad District, India

Personal and Socio-economic Characteristics of Farmers in Peri-Urban Area of Raigad District, India

Understanding the role of social media influencers’ personal and content characteristics in affecting consumers’ intentions to purchase

ABSTRACT This study attempts to determine factors influencing consumers’ purchase intentions for products endorsed by social media influencers (SMIs) using the theory of planned behaviour as the base theory. Specifically, it aims to examine how SMIs’ personal and content characteristics impact consumers’ attitudes towards purchasing these endorsed products. A total of 217 data were collected from social media users by means of a survey method. Partial least square structural equation modelling is employed to verify the proposed hypotheses. The study shows that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control have a significant positive influence on purchase intentions. Furthermore, trustworthiness, creativity, and design quality have a significant influence on attitudes. However, attractiveness, expertise, and information quality have no significant influence on attitudes. This is one of the very few studies to examine consumers’ purchase intentions from two different perspectives based on SMIs’ personal and content characteristics integrating the theory of planned behaviour.

Young Women’s Financial Satisfaction: The Roles of Financial Decision-Making Power, Spousal Relative Resources, and Personal Financial Characteristics

Young Women’s Financial Satisfaction: The Roles of Financial Decision-Making Power, Spousal Relative Resources, and Personal Financial Characteristics

The Effect of Employee Engagement on Employee Performance by Moderation of Generational Characteristics of Employees in Private Agencies

Employee engagement is an important issue that is the main concern of the organization's leaders in managing its employees. The changing characteristics of the employee generation are becoming a specific challenge for human resource management. Employees who are engaged with their work will exert all their abilities, efforts, and thoughts and significantly contribute, where the engagement and personal characteristics possessed by employees in carrying out their work can directly impact their performance. This study aimed to analyze employee engagement's effect on employee performance by moderating the generational characteristics of private agency employees in the City of Padang, West Sumatra. Data was collected through questionnaires distributed to 100 employee respondents working in private institutions in the city of Padang, with purposive sampling technique. Then, the data is processed using the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method. The results of this study indicate that employee engagement generational characteristics (Y and Z generation) have a positive and significant effect on employee performance. Generational characteristics (Y and Z generation) also positively and significantly impact employee engagement. Generational characteristics do not moderate the relationship between employee involvement and employee performance, but directly employee engagement and employee performance can be improved with generational characteristic variables. Organizational leaders should pay attention to employee engagement and the characteristics of the generation of employees and can make it a potential to improve employee performance.

The association between perceived sensitivity to medicines, reported side effects and personal characteristics: A secondary analysis of an RCT.

A patient's perceived sensitivity to medicines (PSM) might influence the reported side effects of a treatment. The experience of side effects can result in personal and structural costs (such as nonadherence). Research on nocebo mechanisms and the workings of side effect reporting has been disproportionally smaller compared to the emerging evidence of the individual and clinical impact of the matter. In this study, we explored and re-examined the association between PSM and reported side effects within a specific population (chronic low back pain patients receiving acupuncture treatment), including possible mediating variables (i.e., gender, medical and nonmedical care utilization, optimism, pessimism, anxiety, depression and treatment expectation). We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial that examined the influence of treatment outcome expectations in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. All measures in the analysis were self-assessments. We explored the association between PSM, reported side effects and personal characteristics using correlational and regression analyses. Our sample consisted of 152 CLBP patients (65.8% female), the mean age was 39.5 years (SD = 12.5). We found positive correlations between PSM and reported side effects (r = 0.24; p < 0.01) and between PSM and anxiety (r = 0.21; p < 0.05). However, the subsequent regression analyses did not confirm a mediating or moderating effect of anxiety between PSM and reported side effects. We confirmed and extended earlier research on PSM. Our study involved a specific pain population receiving a nonpharmacological intervention. Our results highlight the importance of targeting PSM and anxiety within a treatment to take measures to mitigate the prevalence of side effects.

Resilience of nursing students: A concept analysis study

ObjectivesThis study aimed to identify attributes of resilience among nursing students. DesignThe concept analysis method was used. Data sourcesLiterature reviews from the past 10 years were searched in Science Direct, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed, and the Wiley online library. The literature search database and review period were determined after verification of validity by five experts (nursing professors). The inclusion criteria for the literature review were that the paper must be written in English, and the abstract or title of the paper should have included attributes of nursing students' resilience. Exclusion criteria were papers written in languages other than English, papers that did not include the attributes of resilience of nursing students, and duplicate papers. Seventeen studies were included in the analysis. ResultsResilience among nursing students comprised three attributes and 28 sub-attributes. The three attributes were individual, educational, and situational. Individual attributes included personal competency characteristics (e.g., self-confidence and self-efficacy) and consisted of 15 sub-attributes. Educational attributes included characteristics related to academic and clinical practicum (e.g., coping with academic work pressure) and consisted of seven sub-attributes. Situational attributes comprised characteristics that changed according to circumstances (e.g., coping with increased levels of patient acuity during the crisis), such as the COVID-19 pandemic and social support from significant others, and consisted of six sub-attributes. ConclusionsThis study identified resilience attributes reflecting the characteristics of nursing students and recent situational changes. Consequently, tools to assess resilience should be developed based on study findings and utilized in various studies aimed at enhancing the resilience of nursing students.

Is Anyone Ready to Save a Life? An Examination of Cardiac Emergency Preparedness in Schools.

This study explored the cardiac emergency preparedness of school employees in Illinois, as well as their attitudes toward cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) training. One thousand two hundred seventy-six school employees completed an online survey regarding their school's cardiac emergency preparedness, as well as their access to CPR/AED training, confidence and willingness to perform CPR/AED, and attitudes toward CPR policies and mandates. In total, results from 1273 school employees were analyzed. School employees in Illinois are not prepared to respond to a cardiac emergency, but desire training, plans, and drills. Demographic analyses revealed statistically significant differences in cardiac emergency preparedness between individuals of different personal and school characteristics. School employees in Illinois are not prepared to respond to a cardiac emergency. To increase preparedness for cardiac emergencies at school, schools should implement CPR/AED training for all employees, cardiac emergency response plans, and cardiac emergency response drills. Policies should be implemented at the state and local level to support cardiac emergency preparedness in schools, including mandated CPR/AED training for all school employees, cardiac emergency response plans for every building, and required cardiac emergency response drills.

We need to aim at the top: Factors associated with cybersecurity awareness of cyber and information security decision-makers.

Cyberattacks pose a significant business risk to organizations. Although there is ample literature focusing on why people pose a major risk to organizational cybersecurity and how to deal with it, there is surprisingly little we know about cyber and information security decision-makers who are essentially the people in charge of setting up and maintaining organizational cybersecurity. In this paper, we study cybersecurity awareness of cyber and information security decision-makers, and investigate factors associated with it. We conducted an online survey among Slovenian cyber and information security decision-makers (N = 283) to (1) determine whether their cybersecurity awareness is associated with adoption of antimalware solutions in their organizations, and (2) explore which organizational factors and personal characteristics are associated with their cybersecurity awareness. Our findings indicate that awareness of well-known threats and solutions seems to be quite low for individuals in decision-making roles. They also provide insights into which threats (e.g., distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, botnets, industrial espionage, and phishing) and solutions (e.g., security operation center (SOC), advanced antimalware solutions with endpoint detection and response (EDR)/extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities, organizational critical infrastructure access control, centralized device management, multi-factor authentication, centralized management of software updates, and remote data deletion on lost or stolen devices) are cyber and information security decision-makers the least aware of. We uncovered that awareness of certain threats and solutions is positively associated with either adoption of advanced antimalware solutions with EDR/XDR capabilities or adoption of SOC. Additionally, we identified significant organizational factors (organizational role type) and personal characteristics (gender, age, experience with information security and experience with information technology (IT)) related to cybersecurity awareness of cyber and information security decision-makers. Organization size and formal education were not significant. These results offer insights that can be leveraged in targeted cybersecurity training tailored to the needs of groups of cyber and information security decision-makers based on these key factors.

Unveiling the Influences: Self-Esteem and Peer Impact on Luxury Consumption Among Consumers

In order to examine the impacts of peer influence and self-esteem on luxury consumption. This research employed online and offline questionnaire to gather customer self-esteem degrees, personality characteristics, along with conspicuous consumption behaviors. The information and data were construed through one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis. Accordingly, it was indicated that customers with higher degrees of self-esteem showed firmer willingness and action in luxury purchase intentions, and peer influence remarkably impacted their conspicuous consumption. In brief, self-esteem and peer influence are both key players in luxury consumption.Researches have revealed that consumers buy articles of luxury, in an attempt to satisfy the demands for materials and improve their self-worth and social positions. Luxury consumption is prominently impacted by collective self-esteem, since consumers believe that when they purchase luxury goods, their social position and personal image will improve. Moreover, peer correlations exert a highly important effect on young customers, which is deeply intensified by social media and celebrity effects.According to the findings, luxury brands need to take into consideration these points with regard to developing marketing tactics: for starters, meeting the demands of customers with discrepant degrees of self-esteem through individualized marketing tactics, with a focus on the product uniqueness and brand recognition. Secondly, through the transmission of brand stories and values, enhance emotional connections among consumers. Finally, leverage the influence of social media and opinion leaders to attract and retain young consumers. Through these strategies, luxury brands can better meet consumer needs and enhance market competitiveness.