Diagnostic and sampling practices documented in studies of participants with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Korean journals were investigated. A reliable coding system was used under the supervision of a Korean psychology professor to analyze the diagnostic and sampling documentation practices in articles from high impact Korean journals. Interrater agreement was 88%. Articles in the Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology and the Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatry Association were reviewed and compared with one another and with archival data (Hartley, 2003) from leading American journals. Statistical comparisons were made between Korean psychology and psychiatry journals, Korean and American psychology journals, and Korean and American psychiatry journals. Results showed that important diagnostic practices and criteria are either not being employed or not being documented in Korean journals as well as in American journals. Discussion focuses on recommendations for the international research community.

Individualist and collectivist cultural approaches describe the relationship between an individual and his or her social surroundings. the current study had a two-fold purpose. the first was to investigate whether Brazilians, like other collective peoples, displayed more group self-representations, categorized items more relationally and paid more attention to context than Americans. the second purpose of this study was to investigate if counter-cultural primes played a role in activating either collective or individual selves. Both American (n = 100) and Brazilian (n = 101) participants were assigned either to a no-prime condition or a counter-cultural prime condition and then were asked to rate emotion cartoons, categorize items, complete the Twenty Statement Test (TST), and choose a representative object. As expected, unprimed Brazilian participants displayed more collectivist patterns on emotional (F[1,196] = 10.1, p = .001, ?²= .049; F[1,196] = 7.9, p = .006, ?²= .038; F[1,196] = 9.0, p = .005, ?²= .044) and cognitive (F[1, 196] = 6.0, p < .01, ?² = .03) tasks than Americans. However, Brazilians offered more individualist self-representations (F[1, 195] = 24.0, p < .001, ?² = .11) than American participants. Priming only had a marginal effect on item categorization (F[1,194] = 3.9, p = .051, ?² = .02). Understanding such cultural differences is necessary in the development of clinicians’ multicultural competence. Therefore, these findings, along with the strengths and limitations of this study and suggestions for future research, are discussed.

The current study examined the protective effect of parenting-adolescent communication about sex on four risky sexual behaviors (age of onset of sex, number of sex partners, condom use, and STDs) among youth, framed by the Theory of Planned Behavior. It also tested for potential mediation effects between parent-adolescent communication and risky sex measures by sexual cues, date rape attitudes, and acceptance of dating violence in a sample of 2,245 college students from Japan, Slovenia, Spain, and the United States. Results provided evidence of a weak effect of parent-adolescent communication about sex on risky sexual behaviors across samples. A number of cultural influences were also found in the effects by mediators: sexual cues predicted risky sexual behaviors only in the Japanese sample; date rape attitudes was a predictor in the American and Slovenian samples; acceptance of dating violence predicted more risky sexual behaviors only in the American sample; and no significant effects were found in the Spanish sample. Several competing explanations were examined in the discussion to better understand the complex and dynamic interaction between parents and their adolescents as well as the role of culture. More studies are needed to better understand the associations between parent-adolescent communication about sex and risky sexual behaviors.

The present study examined the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and business success in the context of SMEs in Australia and Malaysia. A “mixed-method” approach was adopted whereby two studies were conducted in a sequential fashion (Study 1 and Study 2). In Study 1, a qualitative method was adopted in which individual interviews were conducted with 20 entrepreneurs – 10 from Australia and 10 from Malaysia – who operated SMEs in the manufacturing and service sectors. The aim was to elicit behaviours that delineate competencies, and thus enable the identification of entrepreneurial competencies that are context-specific and of relevance in the current business environment. A content analysis of the interview data identified 12 competency domains: Strategic; Commitment; Conceptual; Opportunity; Organising and Leading; Relationship; Learning; Personal; Technical; Ethical; Social Responsibility; and Familism. Importantly, nine of these categories were well represented in existing models of entrepreneurial competencies, thereby providing evidence that these models offer a reasonable degree of cross-cultural generalisability. However, three new categories emerged, namely, Ethical, Social Responsibility, and Familism (broadly concerned with the role of “family” in building business success). There was evidence for Ethical and Social Responsibility competencies in both the Australian and Malaysian data, whereas Familism was specific to the Malaysian data and may well reflect the collectivist orientation of Malaysian culture. The identification of these additional categories of entrepreneurial competencies suggests that the existing models may need to be revised to further enhance their applicability to the measurement of entrepreneurial competencies in different cultural contexts. Study 2 Part 1 proceeded with validating the model of entrepreneurial competencies. This involved determining the psychometric rigour of the model and establishing the psychometric properties of all dependent variables (measures of business success) and covariates (i.e., business environment and entrepreneurs’ cultural orientations) using a sample of 391 SME entrepreneurs (179 Australians and 212 Malaysians). The two best fit models of entrepreneurial competencies – the “Comprehensive” model and the “Parsimonious” model – are fully described. The Comprehensive model revealed that all twelve competency areas were perceived as relevant to SME outcomes by entrepreneurs in Australia and Malaysia, even though the behaviours that defined the Organising and Leading competency domain, as well as the Familism competency domain (later renamed “Supporting and Cooperating” for Australia due to the omission of items related to “family”) were somewhat different. The other 10 competency areas identified in the Comprehensive model appeared to be invariant across countries. On the other hand, the Parsimonious model of entrepreneurial competencies showed that, although some competency areas were universal in nature (i.e., Conceptual, Opportunity, Learning, and Ethical), others were country specific (i.e., Relationship, Social Responsibility, and Familism). It was argued that the differences could be traced to cultural variations between the countries, in particular the extent of Individualism versus Collectivism. Study 2 Part 2 tested the causal pathway between entrepreneurial competencies and business success and the possible influence of covariates using a structural equation modeling (SEM) procedure. The results showed that entrepreneurial competencies were strong predictors of business success in SMEs for both Australia and Malaysia. It was also found that both Benign and Stable business environments were significantly related to business success in Australia whereas only a Stable environment was significantly linked with success in Malaysia. Moreover, environmental variables showed a less strong path to success than competencies. When the Parsimonious model of entrepreneurial competencies was used in the model estimation, the association between entrepreneurial competencies and business success was more strongly evident in Hostile and Dynamic environments than in more Benign and Stable environments (for both Australia and Malaysia). The results also showed that cultural orientations (both Collectivism and Tolerance for Ambiguity) have positive effects on entrepreneurial competencies in Malaysia but not in Australia (i.e., Individualism and Tolerance for Ambiguity). The effect of education on entrepreneurial competencies was mixed; significant for only the Comprehensive model for Australia but significant for both Comprehensive and Parsimonious models for Malaysia. The effects of training before and after start up, as well as previous work experience on entrepreneurial competencies appeared to be nonsignificant in both contexts. On the basis of the results of the thesis, it was concluded that self-reported entrepreneurial competencies are predictive of self-reports of success in both Malaysian and Australian SMEs. The models that describe success in both countries are consistent with existing models of entrepreneurial competency although differences in the behaviours that define a domain are evidenced between countries as are the domains that successfully define a parsimonious model in each country. These results are interpreted as supporting a training agenda that identifies entrepreneurial skills as a critical pre-requisite to business success for SMEs. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1297548 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Adelaide Graduate School of Business, 2007

As globalization is proceeding, it is more and more important to understand effective leadership also in terms of cultural dimensions. This new challenge in the business world has not been approached by scientists in a satisfactory way so far and was the main reason for the conduction of this study. The aim of this research is to investigate how effective leadership varies between cultures and to state the crucial differences of leadership effectiveness among Sweden, England, France and Germany. To be able to figure out these differences a research team out of four students and one professor designed a questionnaire which was sent out to employees in the four studied countries. In this questionnaire the subordinates had to assess different behaviours and skills of their direct leader. The different questions belong to a list of predetermined topic groups which were planned to be used afterwards to set the results into connection with existing theories. The results of this multinational survey offer a general picture about the differences among the average leaders in the four cultures. To be able to make statements about the different importance of leader attributes for effective performance, a statistical evaluation is made. After given the reader a general idea about the gathered data and its composition, the adequateness of the combinations inside the topic groups are revised and some additional topic groups are build up. The findings of the study are used to discuss and challenge McClelland’s Research on Managerial Motivation and to figure out the different relevance of Katz’ three skill dimensions for each national culture. The difference emphasis of task-, relations- and change oriented behaviour in relation to effective leadership as well as the importance of charismatic leadership for effectiveness is exposed and distinguished for every country. Hofstede’s theory of five cultural dimensions is used to provide the necessary explanation for the cultural differences regarding the different theoretical dimensions. As an additional theory the GLOBE Project is introduced. Unfortunately, the results of this project were not available on time, so that they could not be compared to the results of the study. The conclusion at the end of the paper summarizes the general outcome of the thesis and points out the found cultural differences of effective leadership in the four cultures. Charisma and Human skills were found to be important for effective leadership in all countries. However, for effective German leaders it is concluded to possess more technical skills as in the other cultures and to have a higher need of achievement. Controlling employees is much more important in Germany than anywhere else. In England the need of achievement is also higher than in France and Sweden. Effective French leaders have the strongest socialized power orientation. For Sweden no big difference to the others countries could be found. Effective Swedish manager mostly possess a good mixture of the different skills, needs and behaviours suggested in the theory, but were not outstanding significantly in one dimension in comparison to the other three countries. In total, a high concern for relations is concluded for them.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the validity of the main concepts of metacognitive theory in a Turkish sample and set the stage for metacognitive research in Turkey from the clinical psychology perspective. In addition to this, research attention was focused on two important topics remained to be empirically validated in the metacognition literature: (1) the unique contributions of &ldquo / cognitive content&rdquo / versus &ldquo / metacognition&rdquo / to the prediction of anxiety and depression symptoms, and (2) the vulnerability function of metacognitions in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms. To achieve these generic aims of the study, a two-step research plan each of which has its own specific objectives was followed. Data for cross-sectional and prospective parts of the study were collected from Turkish and British non-clinical samples. In the cross-sectional part, mainly the independent contribution of metacognitions to pathological worry, obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, and anxiety and depressive symptoms above and beyond the contribution of cognitive content was evaluated. By doing so, also the relationship patterns between metacognitions and psychological symptomatology were revealed in the Turkish sample. Consistent with the recent burgeoning of research, the association between increased levels of metacognitions and increased levels of anxiety and depression was shown in the Turkish sample, as well. Moreover, metacognitive factors were found to be associated with the symptoms of anxiety and depression independently of the relevant cognitive content. In most analyses, metacognitions emerged as slightly stronger predictors of a given symptom dimension compared to the relevant cognitive content. In the prospective part, the causal role of metacognitions following stress in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms was examined. In the Turkish sample, higher levels of negative beliefs about worry predicted augmentation in anxiety and depression symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. Besides, higher levels of lack of cognitive confidence interacted with higher levels of daily hassles to predict intensification of the anxiety scores. However, the British data did not support the causal role of metacognitions in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms. The statistical comparisons between Turkish and British samples indicated that the Turkish sample has a tendency to score significantly higher than the British sample on the metacognitive variables. Moreover, for all but one metacognitive factor, the interactions with cultural group (Turkish vs. British) were not significant in predicting psychopathology, indicating generalization of metacognitive theory to both the Turkish and British samples. Findings of this study were well in line with the metacognitive theory and discussed in the light of the relevant literature.

<p>As globalization is proceeding, it is more and more important to understand effective leadership also in terms of cultural dimensions. This new challenge in the business world has not been approached by scientists in a satisfactory way so far and was the main reason for the conduction of this study.</p><p>The aim of this research is to investigate how effective leadership varies between cultures and to state the crucial differences of leadership effectiveness among Sweden, England, France and Germany.</p><p>To be able to figure out these differences a research team out of four students and one professor designed a questionnaire which was sent out to employees in the four studied countries. In this questionnaire the subordinates had to assess different behaviours and skills of their direct leader. The different questions belong to a list of predetermined topic groups which were planned to be used afterwards to set the results into connection with existing theories.</p><p>The results of this multinational survey offer a general picture about the differences among the average leaders in the four cultures. To be able to make statements about the different importance of leader attributes for effective performance, a statistical evaluation is made. After given the reader a general idea about the gathered data and its composition, the adequateness of the combinations inside the topic groups are revised and some additional topic groups are build up.</p><p>The findings of the study are used to discuss and challenge McClelland’s Research on Managerial Motivation and to figure out the different relevance of Katz’ three skill dimensions for each national culture. The difference emphasis of task-, relations- and change oriented behaviour in relation to effective leadership as well as the importance of charismatic leadership for effectiveness is exposed and distinguished for every country. Hofstede’s theory of five cultural dimensions is used to provide the necessary explanation for the cultural differences regarding the different theoretical dimensions.</p><p>As an additional theory the GLOBE Project is introduced. Unfortunately, the results of this project were not available on time, so that they could not be compared to the results of the study.</p><p>The conclusion at the end of the paper summarizes the general outcome of the thesis and points out the found cultural differences of effective leadership in the four cultures. Charisma and Human skills were found to be important for effective leadership in all countries. However, for effective German leaders it is concluded to possess more technical skills as in the other cultures and to have a higher need of achievement. Controlling employees is much more important in Germany than anywhere else. In England the need of achievement is also higher than in France and Sweden. Effective French leaders have the strongest socialized power orientation. For Sweden no big difference to the others countries could be found. Effective Swedish manager mostly possess a good mixture of the different skills, needs and behaviours suggested in the theory, but were not outstanding significantly in one dimension in comparison to the other three countries. In total, a high concern for relations is concluded for them.</p>

The present study examined the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and business success in the context of SMEs in Australia and Malaysia. A “mixed-method” approach was adopted whereby two studies were conducted in a sequential fashion (Study 1 and Study 2). In Study 1, a qualitative method was adopted in which individual interviews were conducted with 20 entrepreneurs – 10 from Australia and 10 from Malaysia – who operated SMEs in the manufacturing and service sectors. The aim was to elicit behaviours that delineate competencies, and thus enable the identification of entrepreneurial competencies that are context-specific and of relevance in the current business environment. A content analysis of the interview data identified 12 competency domains: Strategic; Commitment; Conceptual; Opportunity; Organising and Leading; Relationship; Learning; Personal; Technical; Ethical; Social Responsibility; and Familism. Importantly, nine of these categories were well represented in existing models of entrepreneurial competencies, thereby providing evidence that these models offer a reasonable degree of cross-cultural generalisability. However, three new categories emerged, namely, Ethical, Social Responsibility, and Familism (broadly concerned with the role of “family” in building business success). There was evidence for Ethical and Social Responsibility competencies in both the Australian and Malaysian data, whereas Familism was specific to the Malaysian data and may well reflect the collectivist orientation of Malaysian culture. The identification of these additional categories of entrepreneurial competencies suggests that the existing models may need to be revised to further enhance their applicability to the measurement of entrepreneurial competencies in different cultural contexts. Study 2 Part 1 proceeded with validating the model of entrepreneurial competencies. This involved determining the psychometric rigour of the model and establishing the psychometric properties of all dependent variables (measures of business success) and covariates (i.e., business environment and entrepreneurs’ cultural orientations) using a sample of 391 SME entrepreneurs (179 Australians and 212 Malaysians). The two best fit models of entrepreneurial competencies – the “Comprehensive” model and the “Parsimonious” model – are fully described. The Comprehensive model revealed that all twelve competency areas were perceived as relevant to SME outcomes by entrepreneurs in Australia and Malaysia, even though the behaviours that defined the Organising and Leading competency domain, as well as the Familism competency domain (later renamed “Supporting and Cooperating” for Australia due to the omission of items related to “family”) were somewhat different. The other 10 competency areas identified in the Comprehensive model appeared to be invariant across countries. On the other hand, the Parsimonious model of entrepreneurial competencies showed that, although some competency areas were universal in nature (i.e., Conceptual, Opportunity, Learning, and Ethical), others were country specific (i.e., Relationship, Social Responsibility, and Familism). It was argued that the differences could be traced to cultural variations between the countries, in particular the extent of Individualism versus Collectivism. Study 2 Part 2 tested the causal pathway between entrepreneurial competencies and business success and the possible influence of covariates using a structural equation modeling (SEM) procedure. The results showed that entrepreneurial competencies were strong predictors of business success in SMEs for both Australia and Malaysia. It was also found that both Benign and Stable business environments were significantly related to business success in Australia whereas only a Stable environment was significantly linked with success in Malaysia. Moreover, environmental variables showed a less strong path to success than competencies. When the Parsimonious model of entrepreneurial competencies was used in the model estimation, the association between entrepreneurial competencies and business success was more strongly evident in Hostile and Dynamic environments than in more Benign and Stable environments (for both Australia and Malaysia). The results also showed that cultural orientations (both Collectivism and Tolerance for Ambiguity) have positive effects on entrepreneurial competencies in Malaysia but not in Australia (i.e., Individualism and Tolerance for Ambiguity). The effect of education on entrepreneurial competencies was mixed; significant for only the Comprehensive model for Australia but significant for both Comprehensive and Parsimonious models for Malaysia. The effects of training before and after start up, as well as previous work experience on entrepreneurial competencies appeared to be nonsignificant in both contexts. On the basis of the results of the thesis, it was concluded that self-reported entrepreneurial competencies are predictive of self-reports of success in both Malaysian and Australian SMEs. The models that describe success in both countries are consistent with existing models of entrepreneurial competency although differences in the behaviours that define a domain are evidenced between countries as are the domains that successfully define a parsimonious model in each country. These results are interpreted as supporting a training agenda that identifies entrepreneurial skills as a critical pre-requisite to business success for SMEs. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1297548 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Adelaide Graduate School of Business, 2007

A presente tese de doutorado teve por objetivo traduzir, adaptar e validar para o contexto brasileiro o Questionário de Comportamentos Agressivos e Reativos entre Pares (Q-CARP), instrumento italiano, de autorrelato, empiricamente baseado, constituído por duas escalas independentes. A primeira escala avalia o comportamento agressivo infantil e a segunda escala avalia diferentes reações frente à agressão entre pares. Também foi objetivo deste estudo, a validação transcultural do instrumento entre Itália e Brasil. O estudo de validação do instrumento no Brasil contou com a participação de 727 crianças (52% meninos), de 8 a 13 anos, estudantes do ensino fundamental de escolas públicas e privadas do Rio Grande do Sul. Análises fatoriais exploratórias e confirmatórias foram conduzidas para testar a estrutura do instrumento, a qual foi consistente com o instrumento original, apresentando uma solução unifatorial para a primeira escala (Escala de Comportamentos Agressivos – ECA) e uma solução de três fatores (Reação Agressiva – RA; Busca de Apoio – BA; Reação Internalizada – RI) para a segunda escala (Escala de Comportamentos Reativos – ERA). Análises de validade convergente e análises multivariadas por sexo e idade também foram conduzidas. Os resultados indicaram que o Q-CARP apresenta boas propriedades psicométricas e satisfatórias evidências de validade e de fidedignidade, configurando-se como um instrumento útil para avaliação dos comportamentos agressivos bem como da reação da criança frente à agressão de seus pares. O estudo de validação transcultural contou com a participação de 587 crianças italianas, de 6 a 11 anos (52% meninos), além das 727 crianças brasileiras. As análises confirmatórias multigrupos atestaram a invariância do instrumento, indicando que o Q-CARP é uma medida válida para avaliar os comportamentos agressivos e reações frente à agressão em ambos os contextos (brasileiro e italiano). Uma MANCOVA foi realizada para avaliar diferenças em meninos e meninas e em crianças brasileiras e italianas para cada uma das escalas do Q-CARP. Meninos apresentaram maior nível que as meninas na ECA e também apresentaram maiores médias no fator RA da ERA. Já as meninas apresentaram maiores níveis para o fator BA e para fator RI da ERA. Em relação à comparação entre países, crianças italianas apresentaram maiores médias para a ECA e crianças brasileiras maiores médias para RI. Os resultados são discutidos à luz da literatura. / The present doctoral dissertation aimed to translate, adapt and validate to the Brazilian context the Peer Aggressive and Reactive Behaviors Questionnaire (PARB-Q), an Italian self-report and empirically based instrument, composed by two independent scales. The first scale assesses child aggressive behavior, whereas the second scale evaluates different reactions to peer aggression. It was also conducted a cross-cultural validation of the PARB-Q between Italy and Brazil. Participants of the Brazilian validation study were 727 children (52% boys), ranging from 8 to 13 years old, students of public and private elementary schools of the Rio Grande do Sul State. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in order to verify the structure of the PARB-Q, which was consistent with the original instrument, resulting in a one-factor solution for the first scale (Peer Aggression - PA) and a three-factor solution (Reactive Aggression – RA, Seeking Teacher Support – STS and Internalizing Reaction - IR) for the second scale (Reaction to Peer Aggression Scale - RPA). Convergent validity analysis and multivariate analysis by sex and age were also performed. The results indicated that the PARB-Q presented good psychometric properties and satisfactory evidence of validity and reliability. The PARB-Q was configured as a useful tool to evaluate child aggressive behavior and child's response to peer aggression. Participants of the cross-cultural validation study were 587 Italian and 727 Brazilian students of elementary public schools. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses attested full measurement invariance of the instrument, indicating that the PARB-Q is a valid measure to assess the child aggressive behavior and responses to peer aggression in both Brazilian and Italian contexts. A MANCOVA (using age as a co-variable) was performed to assess differences in boys and girls and in Brazilian and Italian children for each of the PARB-Q scales. Boys showed higher levels than girls in the PA scale and also presented higher levels in the RA factor of the RPA scale. Girls presented higher levels of the STS and IR factors of the RPA scale. Regarding cross-country comparisons, Italian children presented higher levels in the PA scale whereas Brazilian children presented higher levels in the IR factor. The results are discussed in light of the literature.

The proposed study aims to investigate the effects of culture and mass media images of female bodies in an active or static pose on mood, body idealization, and body dissatisfaction. Participants included female students with Chinese heritage culture (age M =21.26, SD =2.5) and 130 female students who identified with American heritage culture (age M =20.82, SD =1.2). Participants filled out an online survey distributed through Qualtrics, which includes a pre-and-post negative affect and body satisfaction measure. They were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, viewing posing models, models in active poses, or scenery images. Consistent with previous findings, the current study results showed a main effect of body conceptualization on participants’ body dissatisfaction and choice of ideal body image. Viewing pictures of models either in static or active poses led to significant increase in body dissatisfaction and increased the likelihood of choosing skinnier ideal body image as compared to the control condition. However, there was no main effect of culture and interaction between culture and body conceptualization. Future research is needed to explore other variables that might moderate the association between body conceptualization and participants’ psychological outcomes after exposing to body ideals in mass media presentations.