Military personnel and first responders operate in complex operational environments, and must be able to perform under physical, psychological, and emotional stress. Research suggests that resiliency assuages stress and improves the performance of military personnel and first responders. However, there are no studies examining the effects of resiliency on military first responders in training. The purpose of this research was to determine whether the dispositional hardiness traits of commitment, control and challenge displayed by Marine aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) specialist trainees correlated to success in classroom performance, success during practical exercises, higher graduation rates. The theoretical foundation for this ex post facto quantitative study was psychological and organizational resiliency, as represented by Kobasa's hardiness theory. The convenience sample consisted of 60 Marine ARFF specialists trainees using self-report surveys during 2013. Independent samples t tests and hierarchical regression analyses revealed no statistical significance between higher hardiness levels and academic and practical application performance, although physical injury and other factors not measured by the hardiness construct were found to impact graduation rates negatively. The implications for positive social change include expanding organizational conceptions of resilience to measure dispositional factors not assessed by hardiness. This study may also offer insights into improving Marine Corps and first responder selection, training, and educational programs, as well as their performance and quality of life.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religious motivations mediate the relationship between the religious philosophy and perceived well-being of believers. The intrinsic-extrinsic-quest paradigm has been the dominant measure of religious motivation for more than 3 decades. However, the different effects of intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest motivation on the well-being of believers has not been tested on a stratified, purposeful sample of the major world religions. A quantitative, quasi-experimental research design was used with an online, self-report questionnaire and mediation analysis to examine the effects of religious motivation on the relationship between religious philosophy and well-being. A stratified, purposeful sample of 763 members of the major world religions completed assessments of religion and well-being. Linear regressions revealed that intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religious motivations were three distinct constructs, that they do exist across the world religions, and that they mediated the relationship between different religions and well-being, depending on which predictor and outcome variables were being examined in the mediation triangle. Positive social change is possible for counselors, therapists, psychologists of religion, religious leaders, and laypersons at the individual and societal level through knowing which religious beliefs, motivations, and practices are associated with positive affect, satisfaction with life, the fulfilment of basic human needs, eudaimonic well-being, and better physical health. Individuals come to religion mainly during times of personal crises as a way of coping, expecting urgent results, and these findings illuminate the effectiveness of their chosen coping strategy.

The development of emotion regulation skills is an imperative task early in development. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a physiological proxy of regulation, is indicative of one’s regulatory capacity and can be predictive of behavior in later life (Graham, Ablow, & Measelle, 2010; Moore, 2010). Children begin regulating their emotions at a physiological level early in infancy. Infants who are able to properly suppress RSA have higher quality social interactions in childhood (Graziano, Keane, & Calkins, 2007). Previous work has suggested that parents play a role in predicting infant RSA (Conradt & Ablow, 2010). For example, parent marital satisfaction is known to impact infants’ physiological regulation, such that infants whose parents are less satisfied with their marriages have a decreased ability to regulate physiologically (Moore et al., 2009; Porter, Wouden-Miller, Silva, & Porter, 2003). Previous research has found that parent personality impacts parenting strategies (Cummings & Davies, 1994; Prinzie, Stams, Deković, Reijntjes, & Belsky, 2009), however work examining how parent personality interacts with marital satisfaction to predict infant RSA is lacking. Moreover, the majority of previous work assessing the parent predictors of infant RSA focused on mothers (e.g., Moore et al., 2009). There are known differences in the way mothers and fathers interact with their infants, as well as differences in the way fathers and mothers respond to marital dissatisfaction (Forbes, Cohn, Allen, & Lewinsohn, 2004; Karney & Bradbury, 1995). The present study focused on examining how marital satisfaction and parent personality predicts infant RSA with mothers and fathers. The current study involved 38 families (6-month old infants, mothers, and fathers). Parents completed questionnaires measuring marital satisfaction and personality. Mother-infant and fatherinfant dyads participated in a baseline and face-to-face play task (Still Face Paradigm; Tronick, Als, Adamson, Wise, & Brazelton, 1978), where infant physiological regulation was assessed. Results involving mothers did not yield significant findings predicting infant physiological regulation. For fathers, results indicated that parent personality and parent marital satisfaction predicted infant physiological regulation. The current study highlights the importance of examining the roles of both mothers and fathers predicting infant physiological regulation.

The last few decades have seen a growing body of research on narcissism, however few studies have examined the relationship between subclinical narcissism and future orientation. The proposed study will examine how grandiose and vulnerable types of narcissism influence future orientation, and whether anxiety, depression, impulsivity and sense of control play mediating roles in this relationship. It is also hypothesized that anxiety will play a mediating role between future orientation and vulnerable narcissism, but not between grandiose narcissism and future orientation. Finally, it is hypothesized that grandiose and vulnerable narcissism will be correlated within individuals. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) will be used to test the hypotheses, and the a priori model is expected to have a good fit to the data. This study will further our understanding about how narcissists view their futures, and whether this is influenced by mediating factors.

The current study determined if a professional development on PTSD would improve pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy for helping students with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to learn. Participants consisted of 59 college students from one large, comprehensive, Mid-Southern university who were enrolled in an education program and an educational psychology course. Using a quasi-experimental method, participants either received the PTSD professional development (treatment) or regular instruction (control group). All participants completed a measure of demographics, a pre-test measure of selfefficacy for helping students with PTSD to learn, which was further dissected into four constructs (i.e., self-efficacy for identifying students with PTSD, adapting instruction to maximize learning, creating a safe and secure environment, and finding help), and a posttest measure of the same self-efficacy items. A one-way MANOVA indicated statistically significant differences between the two groups in self-efficacy for identifying students with PTSD. Furthermore, a paired-samples t-test revealed that the treatment groups’ selfefficacy scores on all four constructs significantly improved from pre- to post-test. Information is offered to support this finding; additionally, possible reasons for nonsignificant findings are discussed.

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This study investigated how adult children of alcoholics differ from adult children of non-alcoholics when measured on the personality characteristics of autonomy, inferiority and intimacy. The subjects were randomly selected from the employees of a large school district in southeast Virginia. Each subject received a questionnaire package that included the Adjective Check List, Personal Orientation Inventory, Children of Alcoholics Screening Test and The Personal History Questionnaire. The return rate for questionnaire packages was 72%. All subjects were volunteers and their identities remained anonymous to the researcher. The sample size was 130.;The subjects were placed in the adult children of alcoholics group (n = 86) if they were parented by an alcoholic and scored six or above on the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST). Subjects were placed in the adult children of non-alcoholics group (n = 44) if they were not parented by an alcoholic and scored below six on the CAST. The subjects were compared on the autonomy and abasement scales of the Adjective Check List, and the capacity of intimate contact (C) scale of The Personal Orientation Inventory. There was no statistically significant difference found between the two groups when a t-test was employed with the alpha level set at the.05. A Bonferroni method was used to control for alpha since several questions were studied. For this population which was primarily white, well-educated, employed, females, there was no statistically significant difference between adult children of alcoholics and adult children of non-alcoholics for the variables of autonomy, inferiority and intimacy. However, self-reported adult children of alcoholics scored statistically significantly higher on the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) than did self-reported adult children of non- alcoholics using a t-test with the alpha level set at.05. All self reported adult children of alcoholics scored six or above on the CAST.;This research was based on the work of Erik Erikson and his developmental stage approach. These findings would indicate that some children of alcoholics may not be in need of treatment or a recovery program.

This study focused on female elders living in age-segregated communities. It investigated the direction and strength of the relationship of Openness to Experience and Neuroticism to the resolution of Erik Erikson's Trust and Integrity stages, and to a Total Resolution score. The 62 volunteer subjects, age 67 to 99, lived in eleven retirement and/or assisted care facilities in Richmond, Virginia.;Personality domains were measured by the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI). The Measures of Psychosocial Development (MPD), an instrument based on Erikson's theories, was used to assess resolution.;It was hypothesized that Openness to Experience would show a significant positive correlation with each of the resolution scores. Additional hypotheses stated that there would be a significant inverse relationship between Neuroticism and each resolution measurement.;Data from the study were submitted to product-moment correlations to test the hypotheses. In addition, step-wise multiple regression was used, to determine the extent to which personality and demographic variables explained the resolution variables.;Results indicated no significant relationship between Openness and Resolution of Trust or Resolution of Integrity. There appeared to be a statistically significant positive correlation between Openness and Total Resolution. However, subsequent regression equations revealed that Openness did not add significantly to Neuroticism in explaining the variance in Total Resolution.;Correlation data showed that Neuroticism demonstrated a significant, apparently meaningful inverse relationship to each of the three resolution scores. The Neuroticism hypotheses appeared to be confirmed in this study. Other than Neuroticism, no demographic (age, education, marital status) or personality variable helped explain the variance in the resolution scores.;The study's data and observations, combined with the results of previous research, suggested three areas of application: counseling implications, promulgation of information about elders, and the importance of intergenerational contacts. It was posited that the study results could be generalized to other female elders living in age-segregated communities. A number of suggestions for further study were included.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of an individual difference variable (the Type A/B coronary prone behavior pattern) on intergroup conflict reduction. Undergraduates were first characterized as Type A/B based on a pretest. They then participated in a study that consisted of the presentation of two conflict-inducing tasks to each of two groups homogeneous with respect to the A/B dimension. There were three conditions in the study: sessions in which the groups were composed exclusively of "A"'s or "B"'s, and sessions which consisted of "A"'s and "B's. The two groups competed with one another on these tasks with the assumption that the group that produced the best product would be awarded extra credit. This conflict-inducing stage was followed by the presentation of two superordinate tasks, which required both groups to work together in order to gain a reward. Questionnaires were administered before and after the presentation of the superordinate tasks. These questionnaires assessed interpersonal attraction, tasks, and general processes. It was hypothesized that groups composed of Type "A"s would have less increase in attraction scores after completing the superordinate task than would groups composed of Type "Bs or groups composed of Type "A"'s and Type "B"s. In other words, the superordinate goal would be less effective in reducing intergroup conflict with Type "A" groups than Type "B" groups. Although no significant differences were found in attraction or cooperation ratings among the three conditions (AA, AB, BB), the trend of the group means offered some support for the initial hypothesis. However, AA conditions did indicate the perception that they were in more control during the study than did AB or BB conditions. This finding is consistent with the results found in studies assessing Type "A"'s perceptions of control (e.g. Sanders and Malkis, 1981). The clearest finding was that the superordinate goal was effective in reducing intergroup conflict. For example, all groups increased their ratings of outgroup members over time. Finally, the effect that individual difference variables can have on intergroup conflict and on the functioning of groups is discussed.

In a recent model of employability, Hogan, Chamorro-Premuzic, and Kaiser (2013) defined employability as the ability to gain and maintain employment and find new employment when necessary. The authors presented employability as a formative construct containing an ability dimension (the ability to do the job), a social skills dimension (being rewarding to work with), and a motivational dimension (being willing to work hard). There is no question as to whether these three dimensions affect one’s level of employability; research is abundant on the positive relationships between intelligence, social and emotional skills, motivation and career success. However, little research has been conducted to empirically test employability models in their entirety. Thus, the purpose of this research was to test the RAW model of employability, using various indicators of the three RAW dimensions of employability using structural equation modelling. Surveys were administered electronically eliciting both a student and community sample. Marginal support was found for the hypothesized model with post hoc modifications producing an acceptable fitting model. Findings suggest that having the ability and motivation to do the job are related to being employable. However, being rewarding to work may not impact levels of employability, suggesting that employers may be asking for one thing while rewarding another.