Sociometric Measures Research Articles

How signature strengths develop positive interdependence and empowerment in an inclusive education context

AbstractThis study evaluates the Individual Strengths, Collective Power! program in fostering students' use of strengths vocabulary and improving classroom relationships in an inclusive education setting in Switzerland, where students with and without special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) attend school together. The study involved 179 students, ages 8 to 12, divided into an experimental group that received specific training and an active control group that had access to program resources, regardless of their SEND status. The study used the Strengths Use Scale (SUS) and the Gratitude Questionnaire to measure students' awareness of their strengths and gratitude. In addition, a sociometric measure, the Peer Acceptance Index (PAI), was developed to assess classroom dynamics. Results indicate that strengths‐based interventions significantly expanded students' vocabulary of strengths and increased positive discourse, particularly among girls. Time and age were the main predictors of positive peer commentary, rather than the interventions themselves, which had no significant effect on PAI scores. The study suggests that strengths‐based tools, even without guided use, can positively influence students' language about strengths, although they did not change classroom relationships within the 9‐week period. Further research is recommended to explore the specific effects and mechanisms of strengths‐based interventions in inclusive settings.

The Sexual Double Standard and Adolescent Stigma: A Sociometric and Comparative Approach

ABSTRACT This study applied a sociometric approach to examine the traditional sexual double standard within a sample of Dutch adolescents (N = 1,175; 53.8% females; M age = 14.75). Drawing on script theory and the key concept of social stigma, this study examined associations between self-reported sexual partnerships and three measures of peer preference: (1) received friendship nominations, (2) peer dislike nominations, and (3) perceived popularity. Results from ordinary least squares regressions support the traditional double standard, indicating that girls who report a higher number of self-reported sexual partners receive fewer friendships and more peer dislike nominations than boys reporting similar numbers of sexual partners. Sexual partnerships are positively associated with boys’ and girls’ perceived popularity. Using sociometric measures of peer stigma, we found evidence of a traditional sexual double standard in an adolescent sample from a liberal and gender egalitarian Western democracy, while also pointing to the potential status rewards associated with adolescent sexual behavior.

When people start getting real: The Group Living Skills Survey for extreme work environments.

Group living skills (GLS), that is, being tidy and considerate of others, are an important skillset for teams who live and work together. However, this construct does not have a validated measure to enable an understanding of how group living skills influence team dynamics over time. We developed and validated a short measure of group living skills for teams living in extreme work environments. We collected data from 83 individuals in 24 teams living and working in space and spaceflight analog environments on missions of 45-240 days. We provide evidence of reliability and validity for the GLS Survey over time and identify a two-factor structure. We also demonstrate its use as a measure of team-level dynamics and its utility as a sociometric measure to identify a person's degree of group living skills. We outline recommendations for using this new measure in future research and applied settings to understand this unique aspect of teams living and working together.

Peer connectedness and substance use in adolescence: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Adolescents' relationships with their peers play a pivotal role in their substance-use behaviors. As such, decades of research have examined how substance use relates to adolescents' overall levels of closeness to their peers, here termed peer connectedness, with mixed results. This report sought to determine how the operationalizations of peer connectedness and substance use affect the nature of the relationship between them. We used a systematic review strategy to find a comprehensive set of studies investigating the relationship between peer connectedness and substance use. Three-level meta-analytic regression was used to empirically test whether the operationalization of these variables moderates effect sizes across studies. We found 147 studies, of which 128 were analyzed using multilevel meta-analytic regression models. Operationalizations of peer connectedness varied widely, encompassing sociometric and self-report measures. Of these measures, sociometric indices specifically pertaining to popularity were most strongly predictive of substance use. Less consistent relationships were observed between substance use and sociometric measures of friendship, as well as with self-report measures. Being perceived as popular by one's peers is positively related to substance use among adolescents. This relationship is stronger and more consistent than those between substance use and other peer-connectedness variables, underscoring the necessity of operationalizing these constructs specifically and clearly. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Social relationship provisions and loneliness in school: Child- and classroom-level effects

Building on social needs theory (Weiss, 1974), this study introduces the construct of classroom provision richness and examines the association between the exchange of social provisions among children in classrooms and children's feelings of loneliness in school. We examined the receipt of provisions from reciprocally nominated friends versus unilateral (one-sided) and non-friend classmates and examined associations between social provisions and loneliness at the child and classroom levels. Participants were 998 third- through fifth-grade children (468 girls, 530 boys; 88.5% White) in 38 classrooms who indicated which classmates they played with, helped, validated, and provided opportunities for self-disclosure. In addition to the social provisions nomination measure, children responded to (a) a measure of loneliness that avoided content overlapping with social provisions, (b) a rating-scale sociometric measure of peer acceptance, and (c) a measure that asked them to indicate which classmates engaged in prosocial, aggressive, or withdrawn-type behaviors. Multilevel analyses indicated that social provisions received from reciprocal friends and from unilateral–received friends were associated with children's feelings of loneliness in school. Furthermore, a measure of the provision richness of classrooms moderated the association between child-level provisions received and feelings of loneliness, such that children who received fewer provisions were less lonely in classrooms that were more provision-rich. Classroom provision richness was also associated with the general level of prosocial behavior and peer acceptance in the classroom. Together, findings suggest that efforts to foster the exchange of social provisions in classrooms could reduce loneliness and facilitate a more caring classroom environment.

What Is Rejection? Lexical, Experimental, and Analytical Specificity Is Needed to Drive Developmental Psychopathology Research Forward

There is increasing urgency in the quest to identify prospective risk factors for nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), driven by a growing teen mental health crisis. NSSI, which involves deliberately harming one’s physical body without suicidal intent, increases rapidly in early to middle adolescence and is a risk factor for suicidality and other mental illness ( 1 Nock M.K. Joiner Jr., T.E. Gordon K.H. Lloyd-Richardson E. Prinstein M.J. Non-suicidal self-injury among adolescents: Diagnostic correlates and relation to suicide attempts. Psychiatry Res. 2006; 144: 65-72 Crossref PubMed Scopus (1014) Google Scholar ). Accumulating research highlights social (e.g., rejection, poor relationships, low support) and affective (e.g., reactivity, lability, dysregulation) risk mechanisms, among others ( 2 Cipriano A. Cella S. Cotrufo P. Nonsuicidal self-injury: A systematic review. Front Psychol. 2017; 8: 1946 Crossref PubMed Scopus (224) Google Scholar ). However, social and affective risk mechanisms can be linked and may interact to confer risk for NSSI as well as mental illness more broadly ( 3 Hsu D.T. Jarcho J.M. Next up for psychiatry: Rejection sensitivity and the social brain. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021; 46: 239-240 Crossref Scopus (8) Google Scholar ). This is particularly relevant in adolescence, a time of rapid brain development and increases in both mental health struggles and reliance on peer affiliation ( 4 Guyer A.E. Adolescent psychopathology: The role of brain-based diatheses, sensitivities, and susceptibilities. Child Dev Perspect. 2020; 14: 104-109 Crossref PubMed Scopus (19) Google Scholar ). Despite the recognition that social difficulties are a common correlate of mental illness, few studies integrate robust measures of real-world peer experience within a neuroscience framework to prospectively predict the emergence of adolescent mental health struggles. Understanding whether neural diatheses confer increased vulnerability to specific stressful peer experiences in adolescence is a critical open question—interventions designed to target neural diatheses or to promote specific types of peer experiences may be critical for prevention efforts in the future ( 4 Guyer A.E. Adolescent psychopathology: The role of brain-based diatheses, sensitivities, and susceptibilities. Child Dev Perspect. 2020; 14: 104-109 Crossref PubMed Scopus (19) Google Scholar ). SEE CORRESPONDING ARTICLE ON PAGE 40 SEE CORRESPONDING ARTICLE ON PAGE 40 Neural Reactivity to Social Punishment Predicts Future Engagement in Nonsuicidal Self-injury Among Peer-Rejected AdolescentsBiological PsychiatryVol. 94Issue 1PreviewRates of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) increase dramatically in adolescence. Affective reactivity and adverse social experiences have been linked to NSSI, but less is known about whether these factors may separately or interactively predict NSSI, especially longitudinally. This study combined functional magnetic resonance imaging and a sociometric measure to test whether a combination of neural (e.g., amygdala) reactivity to social punishment and peer-nominated peer acceptance/rejection predicts NSSI longitudinally in adolescence. Full-Text PDF

ALGORITHM OF DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP QUALITIES IN FUTURE TECHNICAL SPECIALISTS AT THE NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY “KHARKIV POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE”

Abstract: The results of research on the development of leadership qualities in the process of professional training of students of a technical institution of higher education are highlighted in the publication. Special attention is paid to the personality development of the future leader. The results of a pedagogical experiment based on the following conducted methods are highlighted in the article: the method of sociometric measurements, Kettel's multifactorial questionnaire, and the “Personal Differential” test. Based on the results of the analysis of respondents' answers, the main leadership qualities of students were established. The importance of mandatory study of leadership disciplines in a technical institution of higher education has been proven. In the article, a program for the development of leadership qualities of students of a technical orientation was developed and tested in the process of a formative experiment. The results of the control experiment proved the effectiveness of the application of the leadership potential development program in the educational process of professional training of future technical specialists.

Neural Reactivity to Social Punishment Predicts Future Engagement in Nonsuicidal Self-injury Among Peer-Rejected Adolescents

BackgroundRates of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) increase dramatically in adolescence. Affective reactivity and adverse social experiences have been linked to NSSI, but less is known about whether these factors may separately or interactively predict NSSI, especially longitudinally. This study combined functional magnetic resonance imaging and a sociometric measure to test whether a combination of neural (e.g., amygdala) reactivity to social punishment and peer-nominated peer acceptance/rejection predicts NSSI longitudinally in adolescence. Amygdala reactivity was examined as a potential neural marker of affective reactivity to social punishment, which may heighten NSSI risk in contexts of social adversity. MethodsOne hundred twenty-five adolescents (63 female) completed a social incentive delay task during neuroimaging and school-based peer nominations to measure peer acceptance/rejection. NSSI engagement was assessed at baseline and 1-year follow-up. ResultsGreater amygdala reactivity to social punishment predicted greater NSSI engagement 1 year later among adolescents with high peer rejection. This effect for the amygdala was specific to social punishment (vs. reward) and held when controlling for biological sex and pubertal development. Exploratory analyses found that ventral striatum reactivity to social reward and punishment similarly interacted with peer rejection to predict NSSI but that amygdala connectivity with salience network regions did not. ConclusionsAmygdala reactivity to social punishment, in combination with high peer rejection, may increase NSSI risk in adolescence, possibly via heightened affective reactivity to adverse social experiences. Objective measures of neurobiological and social risk factors may improve prediction of NSSI, while therapeutic approaches that target affective reactivity and increase prosocial skills may protect against NSSI in adolescence.

Measurement of Anti-Corruption Literacy Index (ALI) & amp for the Young Generation Based on Perception, Participation

The study is emprical case of Young Generation Anti-Corruption Literacy Index (ALI). it was conducted with a scope of students from SMKN1 Gambut, Banjar, South Kalimantan. The number of registered students is 908, for various reasons it is estimated that only about 900 have reached as the target. The number of responsed collected was 724 or a “response rate” is 80.05%.
 Answering the question how is the ALI measurement carried out? Researcher describe: 1). By using the wellbeing methodology (WM) approach; 2). Designing object, defining sub-objects (variables) with expert group discussion (EGD); 3). Carry out sociometric measurements and design online e-survey instruments and cloud computing. The measurement includes an assessment based on the perspective of perception, participation and acceptability (PPA) on each variable, using a purposive population. The results of these measurements are then accumulated in the form of an index. This index is a kind of composite index.
 The value score is a numeric number from a scale of 9, no conversion is carried out, calculated accumulatively, all scores are tested for significance. The significance reference standard (SRS) was used. From the data presented, it can be seen that all scores show a much higher value than the SRS score. This means that the results of ALI for students at SMKN1 Gambut, Banjar are significant.
 From the comparison of scores, the highest value is on the X5 variable, namely "honestly conveying" with an assessment score of 7.97 (of 9) which is an almost perfect score. Very good. In the perception data, only 4.1% rated score 5 or below it. This means 95.9% of respondents rate 6 and above.
 The recommendations given by the researcher on the results of the ALI study at SMKN1 Gambut, Banjar, South Kalimantan are as follows: 1). Public Research, by e-Survey need to be conducted regularly (6 months) and continuously. If a students are in vocational school for 3 years, they will receive introduction and education of ALI for 6 times; 2). Schools need to conduct public research independently, via the school student council and collaborate with parties when necessary. To embed an anti-corruption attitude for the younger generation. The school publishes to students. Public Research is a kind of Open Science. The openness of knowledge is increasingly widespread in the digital era; 3). As an effort to participate in civil society, in this case schools are to help the government suppress extraordinary crimes (corruption, drugs and terrorism). Public research, is research that is easy, cheap and fast.

Развитие навыка интравербальной коммуникации в коммуникативных группах у детей младшего школьного возраста с расстройствами аутистического спектра

The development of intraverbal communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is usually associated with significant difficulties in the acquiring of communicative roles. Based on the experience of practical work, the author’s method «Whirligig of Questions» was developed. The approbation of the method was carried out on a group of 11-years old children (n=8) having ASD, without significant intellectual disorders. The research used case-study design, the example of a child who recently joined the class is given in the present article. The main goal was to develop the skill of intraverbal communication of the new student. At the beginning and at the end of the study, sociometric measurements and diagnostics of the child’s communication skills were carried out using the ABLLS-R. 10 group meetings were held, one per week. With the help of sociometry, the observation method and interview of teachers and parents, it was found that the use of the «Whirligig of Questions» technique made it possible not only to develop the skills of intraverbal communication in the student, but also to achieve the cohesion of the children’s team. This technique, after additional testing, can be recommended for practical use in educational institutions with children without intellectual disorders and with fairly well-developed speech skills.

Wiek rodziców a szkolne funkcjonowanie uczniów klasy szóstej

The article presents the results of empirical analyses of the relationship between the age of parents and the school functioning of their children from 6th grade of primary school. Previous research does not provide a clear picture of this relationship. In the case of older parents, the results more often indicate a positive prediction of school achievement, while the young age of parents rather increases the risk of problems. The analyses used the data from a large nationwide sample of sixth-grade students. Measures of cognitive functioning included Raven’s Progressive Matrices Test, standardised school achievement tests, and school grades. Social functioning was described by sociometric measures from the Student Integration Questionnaire. To minimise the risk of inaccurate causal interpretation, a rich set of control variables was included in the analyses, including measures of family SES. A MANOVA model with covariates was applied. Standard errors were calculated using the bootstrap method with data grouping (schools) included. The results did not support the hypothesis that older parental age promotes higher school achievement. It can also be stated with high confidence that young parental age is not a significant risk factor for a child’s intellectual functioning in school. The second hypothesis, that young parental age is a risk factor for a child’s social functioning at school, was not confirmed. In contrast, a slightly higher risk of peer rejection was found for students of older parents. Careful statistical control of the variables and a representative large sample allows us to have high confidence in the results obtained. The results support strong recommendation for teachers and educators: either young or advanced age of a student’s parents cannot be treated as a significant educational risk factor.

Assessing Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Structures and Outcomes Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Network Analysis Study.

BackgroundHealth care organizations (HCOs) adopt strategies (eg. physical distancing) to protect clinicians and patients in intensive care units (ICUs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many care activities physically performed before the COVID-19 pandemic have transitioned to virtual systems during the pandemic. These transitions can interfere with collaboration structures in the ICU, which may impact clinical outcomes. Understanding the differences can help HCOs identify challenges when transitioning physical collaboration to the virtual setting in the post–COVID-19 era.ObjectiveThis study aims to leverage network analysis to determine the changes in neonatal ICU (NICU) collaboration structures from the pre– to the intra–COVID-19 era.MethodsIn this retrospective study, we applied network analysis to the utilization of electronic health records (EHRs) of 712 critically ill neonates (pre–COVID-19, n=386; intra–COVID-19, n=326, excluding those with COVID-19) admitted to the NICU of Vanderbilt University Medical Center between September 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, to assess collaboration between clinicians. We characterized pre–COVID-19 as the period of September-December 2019 and intra–COVID-19 as the period of March-June 2020. These 2 groups were compared using patients’ clinical characteristics, including age, sex, race, length of stay (LOS), and discharge dispositions. We leveraged the clinicians’ actions committed to the patients’ EHRs to measure clinician-clinician connections. We characterized a collaboration relationship (tie) between 2 clinicians as actioning EHRs of the same patient within the same day. On defining collaboration relationship, we built pre– and intra–COVID-19 networks. We used 3 sociometric measurements, including eigenvector centrality, eccentricity, and betweenness, to quantify a clinician’s leadership, collaboration difficulty, and broad skill sets in a network, respectively. We assessed the extent to which the eigenvector centrality, eccentricity, and betweenness of clinicians in the 2 networks are statistically different, using Mann-Whitney U tests (95% CI).ResultsCollaboration difficulty increased from the pre– to intra–COVID-19 periods (median eccentricity: 3 vs 4; P<.001). Nurses had reduced leadership (median eigenvector centrality: 0.183 vs 0.087; P<.001), and neonatologists with broader skill sets cared for more patients in the NICU structure during the pandemic (median betweenness centrality: 0.0001 vs 0.005; P<.001). The pre– and intra–COVID-19 patient groups shared similar distributions in sex (~0 difference), race (4% difference in White, and 3% difference in African American), LOS (interquartile range difference in 1.5 days), and discharge dispositions (~0 difference in home, 2% difference in expired, and 2% difference in others). There were no significant differences in the patient demographics and outcomes between the 2 groups.ConclusionsManagement of NICU-admitted patients typically requires multidisciplinary care teams. Understanding collaboration structures can provide fine-grained evidence to potentially refine or optimize existing teamwork in the NICU.

Psychological Background of Age Differences in the Adaptation of Ukrainian Winterers to Living Conditions in Antarctica

The relevance of the article stems from the fact that every year for 26 years, the expedition of winterers goes to the Ukrainian Antarctic Station “Vernadsky Research Base” to carry out scientific research. Their effective adaptation to extreme conditions of life provides qualitative psychological diagnostics and psychological recommendations. The purpose of this article is to provide a theoretical justification and empirical evidence of the specific features of Ukrainian winterers’ age in the process of adaptation to the Antarctica conditions. To achieve the results of the study, the article uses the method of sociometric measurement J. Moreno, method of distributing topics by rank, questionnaire. The authors of the article analysed scientific works on the research problem, clarified the concept of “adaptation” and “adaptability” and age limits of the groups of winterers, described methodological tools and conducted empirical research on the specific features of the age of winterers groups during the adaptation. The article justifies the distribution and identifies groups of high, medium and low adaptability to life under extreme conditions in Antarctica. The authors analysed both the data from the empirical study and the interviews with the surveyed winterers. The study’s conclusions are: senior winterers have more experience adapting to extreme conditions than younger generations. They can build better interpersonal relationships in a closed community and easily carry distance from home and homesickness. The study revealed that senior persons (especially representatives of the “Generation of winners’ children”) motivate wintering in Antarctica with a desire for self-fulfilment, being worthy representatives of Ukraine on a distant continent, and feeling responsible for discharging their duties. After all, they are governed by more professional and social motivations that help to better adapt to extreme conditions. The practical value of the work is to develop tools for psychological diagnosis and to provide guidance on the selection of winterers among candidates for wintering

Capturing talk and proximity in the classroom: Advances in measuring features of young children's friendships

Young children's friendships fuel essential developmental outcomes (e.g., social-emotional competence) and are thought to provide even greater benefits to children with or at-risk for disabilities. Teacher and parent report and sociometric measures are commonly used to measure friendships, and ecobehavioral assessment has been used to capture its features on a momentary basis. In this proof-of-concept study, we use Ubisense, the Language ENvironmental Analysis (LENA) recorder, and advanced speech processing algorithms to capture features of friendship – child-peer speech and proximity within activity areas. We collected 12,332 1-second speech and location data points. Our preliminary results indicate the focal child at-risk for a disability and each playmate spent time vocalizing near one another across 4 activity areas. Additionally, compared to the Blocks activity area, the children had significantly lower odds of talking while in proximity during Manipulatives and Science. This suggests that the activity areas children occupy may affect their engagement with peers and, in turn, the friendships they development. The proposed approach is a groundbreaking advance to understanding and supporting children's friendships.

Social Skills and Social Acceptance in Different Educational Levels: A Cross-Sectional Study

This research examined whether social ability measures related to acceptance and rejection differ based on varying educational levels. 257 primary school children, 45 high school teenagers, and 126 university students, male and female participated in the study. They completed the Inventory of Social Abilities, the Test of Social Abilities for Children in School Situation and a Sociometric Measure, used to determine the sociometric position each participant occupied within the group, in three situations: hanging out with, playing, and studying with. Results suggest that social skills seem to decrease rejection, instead of enabling social acceptance.

The effect of psychodrama sessions on psychotic symptoms, depression, quality of life, and sociometric measures in patients with chronic schizophrenia

This study aimed to analyze the effect of psychodrama sessions on symptomatology in chronic schizophrenia inpatients and to evaluate the sociometric variances across groups. A psychiatrist and a psychiatric nurse assessed the symptomatology of 31 patients at pre- and post-treatment. Two sociometric assessments were carried out during sessions. A total of 19 psychodrama sessions were held weekly. Data were analyzed through the Wilcoxon Sign-Rank Test and sociometric measures were evaluated. The groups made significant improvement regarding psychotic symptoms and quality of life scores. Results of the sociometric assessment indicated that group affinity, sociometric status, group harmony, and group integrity significantly increased while group aversity significantly decreased after the treatment. Sociogram also demonstrated that elections increased and became varied, rejections decreased, and there were less isolated members; meaning that more members were selected by others at the end of psychodrama sessions.

Agonistic behavior and social hierarchy in female domestic rabbits kept in semi-groups

In semi-natural mixed-sex groups, rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) organize their social life by forming a hierarchy, which is characterized by linearity and stability. Compared to the natural environment, many factors are different in contemporary breeding systems, such as space allowance and, in the case of semi-group housing, a period of single housing around parturition. Aggressive interactions and the resulting injuries are frequently regarded as negative. However, there is not much information about the social dominance among does in these breeding groups. Therefore, the aim of this study was to generate knowledge about the hierarchy in female rabbits kept in “semi-groups” on farms by using sociometric measurements. Sixteen semi-grouped does of three or five rabbits each with various degrees of familiarity were first mixed one week before parturition. After a separation period of either two or three weeks for giving birth, they were remixed with the same group mates. Both mixing procedures were video-analyzed for agonistic interactions. The observed agonistic behavior was mainly characterized by one-sidedness. Mixing rabbits before parturition did not prevent aggression after the separation period. The resulting hierarchies were neither found to be totally despotic nor egalitarian, as linearity was revealed in most groups, but steepness levels varied between them. While dominant does turned out to be rather despotic, showing high win proportions, the other relationships among lower-ranked does were more balanced. In contrast to the stable hierarchical structure in natural breeding colonies, rank order stability was not confirmed in the studied semi-groups. A larger group size negatively influenced the rank stability. Our results point out some characteristics of the social life in semi-grouped rabbit does in contemporary breeding systems and the differences to semi-natural habitats.

Getting along And/Or Getting Ahead: Differential Hexaco Personality Correlates of Likeability and Popularity among Adolescents

Getting along (i.e. to be liked) and getting ahead (i.e. to be popular) are two fundamental psychological motives that have important consequences for adolescents’ well–being. Especially antisocial behavioural tendencies, which are less well covered by the Big Five than by the HEXACO model, have been shown to differentially predict likeability and popularity. In this study, possible differential relations between personality and likeability and popularity were investigated using the HEXACO Simplified Personality Inventory and sociometric measures of likeability and popularity among 552 (12 to 14 years old) adolescents. Results showed that agreeableness was the most important likeability predictor, whereas extraversion (positive), openness to experience, honesty–humility, and agreeableness (all three negative) were the most important popularity predictors. Facet–level analyses revealed that selected HEXACO facets (greed avoidance, fearfulness, social boldness, gentleness, prudence, perfectionism, aesthetic appreciation, and altruism) most strongly—and in opposite directions—differentiated in the prediction of likeability and popularity. Furthermore, none of the expected interactions but several masking and cancellation effects were observed. The results, which are also discussed in light of interpersonal circumplex, resource control strategies, hierarchical differentiation, and socioanalytic frameworks, suggest that—among early adolescents—differential personality predictors may make it difficult to both get along and get ahead. © 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley &amp; Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology

Three pathways from anger dysregulation to lower social status among chinese boys

During middle childhood, Chinese boys are particularly at risk to develop both externalizing (e.g., overt aggression) and internalizing behavioral problems (e.g., social withdrawal). A possible contributor to these problems is that boys cannot regulate their anger very well. Inability to manage anger may cause a particular social challenge for Chinese boys. Open expression of anger may be prohibited by prevailing Chinese cultural norms, because it emphasizes individuality over harmony. But anger is a socially disengaging emotion which works against social harmony. This situation requires Chinese boys to manage and express anger appropriately in social interactions. Based on the hierarchical model of social relationships and the three trends of human interactions, this study examined three pathways—aggression, social withdrawal, and sociability-leadership—that lead from Chinese boys’ anger dysregulation to their lower social status among peers at school. Participants of this study were 267 boys in Grades 3-6 from an elementary school in urban China. A self-report questionnaire of anger dysregulation was used to evaluate how often Chinese boys express their anger in dysregulated ways (e.g., attacking things or people). Peer nominations were used to measure children’s overt aggression (moving against peers), social withdrawal (moving away from peers), and sociability-leadership (moving toward peers). Social status was assessed by a sociometric measure which evaluates the degree to which children were liked by their classmates. Results showed that boys’ anger dysregulation was negatively associated with their social status. Moreover, aggression, social withdrawal, and social skills fully mediated this association. This study enriches our understanding of the mechanisms linking anger dysregulation to lower social status and provides practical implications to help Chinese boys improve social and emotional functioning in middle childhood.

Influence of Interlocking Directorates on Integration after the Acquisition of Warsaw Stock Exchange—Listed Companies

Acquisition processes are aimed at achieving value based on synergistic effects. One of the most important obstacles in achieving value is the manner of conducting post-transaction integration—a risk area often ignored. This study assumes that a factor that may be important for the course of integration after the acquisition of enterprises may be the fact of personal connections through interlocking directorates between transaction partners of acquisitions. The research was carried out in two stages. The first was to identify the scope of connections by interlocking between WSE-listed companies participating in acquisition transactions. This stage was implemented using the social network analysis method (SNA) and covered 188 companies. In the second stage, research was conducted using semi-structured interview techniques with the CEOs of the acquiring companies. The aim of the study was to identify the relationship between personal relations and the course of post-transaction integration. The analysis focused primarily on two factors: the dynamics of integration activities and their centralization. The research covered 38 companies that were included in the sample in the first stage of the research (including 19 personally related companies and, for comparison, in 19 unrelated companies). Studies have shown that the fact of connecting through interlocking affects the post-transaction integration model in the analyzed group. The dynamically centralized model dominates in enterprises related by particular persons. Many integration activities are carried out in the first 100 days. The factor affecting the implemented integration model is the durability of connections between participants before and after the transaction is conducted and the position in the network of connections determined by such sociometric measures as the centrality of proximity and own vector. Enterprises connected with long-term relationships usually demonstrate high dynamics of integration activities, which are conducted by joint teams whose group employees represent each of the merging enterprises. In addition, the CEOs surveyed from this group of companies declare having an integration plan with different levels of detail in each case.