<p> This study examined the relationship of sales employees' emotional intelligence (EI) to their organizational justice (OJ) perceptions, and examined if sales employees' job satisfaction (JS) moderated the strength of the relationship between their EI and OJ perceptions. Three assessments were administered electronically and completed by 135 participants. The Job In General (JIG) assessment measured overall JS of employees. The assessment used to measure employee EI was the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0). The assessment used to measure employee justice perceptions was the Perceived Overall Justice scale. Hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis (MRA) was used to identify any relationships. No statistically significant finding between EI, JS, and OJ were found when using hierarchical moderated MRA. Because of the violations of assumptions for MRA, it was determined that follow-up non-parametric testing was required. Non-parametric testing found a significant relationship between employees' EI and their OJ perceptions. The non-parametric testing confirmed previous findings of significant relationship between EI and OJ. Recommendations for future research include examining individual facets of EI and OJ, using different assessment to measure EI and OJ, and using a controlled environment to recruit participants.</p>

Introduction. There is evidence that psychosocial factors and social support are determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and health-care services use in patients with chronic diseases. Objective . To evaluate what physiological, psychosocial or HRQoL factors are predictors of health-care services use in COPD. Methods. A combination retrospective/prospective hospital-based cohort study was designed. 90 patients with stable COPD were selected from an out-patient registry at the Montreal Chest Institute. Patient evaluation included an interview with two disease specific HRQoL questionnaires: St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire and Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire; and five psychosocial questionnaires: Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, State/Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Index, NEO Five Factor Personality Inventory, and Interpersonal Relationships Inventory. Physiological measurements and symptom evaluation included spirometry, six-minute walking tests, and the American Thoracic Society Lung Disease Questionnaire (ATS-DLD-78). Outcome. Emergency room visits, return visits to the ER, and overnight hospitalisations were collected from patients' medical charts. Results. Independent associations were observed for age, gender, lung function, six-minute walking test distance, and use of oral cortico-steroids. HRQoL measures also demonstrated an ability to predict health-care service outcomes. Multivariate model selection identified disease severity and HRQoL as the strongest correlates of presentation for an emergency visit in COPD patients.

This study explores the tremendous pressure Japanese students must endure in the pursuit of academic achievement. It identifies the sources of student's pressure and discusses the cultural, social, and economic conditions that influence a fiercely competitive educational system. The focus of this study is the impact of academic pressures on Japanese students. / Japanese education is a single-minded drive for achievement that results in what many refer to as examination hell. The university entrance examination is at the root of the pressures that are placed on students and is the primary mechanism responsible for driving competition. The life-long ramifications of students performance on this examination are far reaching. As a result, the pressures that are exerted upon students to achieve are overwhelming. Mothers, teachers, peers, and society contribute to the pressures that are placed on students to achieve, while many children continue to fall victim to emotional, psychological, and physical harm. / The study provides richly descriptive narrative accounts of student's experiences, thoughts and feelings seen from a student's perspective. The study gives voice to Japanese students and invites them to tell it like it is.

<p> The present study examined the influence of UV photography (seeing an image of one's skin damage) and receiving choice-promoting sun protection information on college men's sun protection cognitions. In particular, the aim of this dissertation was to study whether promoting personal choice (by providing information on sun protection behaviors that emphasizes choices and options) enhanced the impact of UV photography on men's sun protection cognitions. The cognitions assessed in this study were informed by the Prototype Willingness Model: conditional perceived vulnerability to skin cancer and photoaging, attitudes toward sun protection, prototypes of the typical young adult male who does and does not protect his skin from the sun, willingness to engage in sun protection and risk behaviors, and intentions to engage in sun protection behaviors, sun-risk behaviors, and skin examinations. An additional goal of the study was to examine whether the promotion of choice in the context of UV photography would be particularly influential among men who report high levels of conformity to masculine norms. Therefore, masculinity was explored as a moderator of experimental effects on cognitions. Male young adults completed an initial online survey assessing background information, baseline cognitions, and masculinity, before participating in the experimental portion of the study. During the experiment, participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions that varied on two variables: (1) whether or not they received their UV photograph (yes versus no), and (2) the type of sun protection information that they received (no information, information that framed sun protection behaviors as recommendations to follow, or information that framed these behaviors as individual choices to make). Following the experimental manipulations, participants completed a second computer-based survey assessing sun protection cognitions. Results showed several significant main effects of UV photography, thus partially supporting results of prior studies that have found this intervention approach to be effective. Perceptions of choice correlated with several cognitions. However, the information condition manipulation checks, main effects, and interactions with UV photography provided only limited evidence for the hypothesis that receiving choice-promoting information would enhance the impact of UV photography, and no evidence that choice information is an effective standalone intervention. A significant three-way interaction between masculinity, UV photography, and the information conditions revealed a pattern similar to one found in a prior study - that the conditional perceived vulnerability of high masculine men was more affected by the interventions than was the conditional perceived vulnerability of less masculine men. There was a similar UV photography effect among high masculine men on protective prototypes, although additional moderation analyses showed inconsistent patterns. Overall, the results involving the information condition and masculinity were inconsistent; however, they suggest future directions for research on sun protection and risk cognitions, as well as strategies for informing young men about sun protection. </p>

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between a family's use of normalization and the psychosocial adjustment (personal adjustment, role skills, and perceived competence) of children with chronic physical disorders (CPD). Seventy-six mothers and their CPD children participated in the study. Families' use of normalization was related to CPD child's psychosocial adjustment. Specifically, mothers' perceptions that their families and other people perceived their family and CPD child as normal were strongly related to overall high personal adjustment, better peer relationships, and better productivity in the CPD child as well as less reported anxiety and depression, less dependence, less withdrawal, and less hostility. However, a family's use of normalization was not related to the CPD child's perception of self-competence in this study.

Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 245-251). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / [3], ix, 251 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Virtually all of the research on the ethnic identity development of children in intercountry adoption (ICA) has been on transracial adoptions (TRA). Little is known about the ethnic socialisation of internationally adopted children, raised in racially similar adoptive homes. Within the TRA literature, it has been found that transracially adopted children tend to ethnically identify with the white majority culture. That tendency has also been linked to adoptive parents' attitudes about the birth culture, and speculation that most parents are assimilating their children to the dominant culture. Research on TRA has also revealed that despite low ethnic identification, most adoptees score highly on indices of self-concept. In the present study, 162 New Zealand adoptive families of European descent, with children adopted predominately from Eastern Europe, were surveyed concerning their experiences and attitudes about the importance of their children's birth culture. Results from the surveys showed that the majority of families engaged in a range of cultural activities, and made efforts to socialise with people of their child's birth ethnicity. In addition, most of the adoptive parents expressed a desire that their children ethnically identify with the birth culture, as well as with the New Zealand culture. Almost all of the families researched the birth country before travelling to collect their children, and most parents kept part or all of their child's original name. A sub-sample of 52 of the adopted children was also interviewed in a second phase of the study. Measures of ethnic identity were obtained, using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992), as were adjustment scores, using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale (Piers, 1984). Findings revealed that overall, the children had moderate identification with the birth culture, and moderate to high self-concept scores, which were not correlated with one another other. From the parent surveys, a scale was derived to assess the parent's sensitivity to culture. Known as the 'Cultural Sensitivity Measure' (CSM), this score was statistically compared to the children's ethnic identity scores, to test the assumption that the parents' attitudes about the birth culture would influence the children's ethnic identification with the birth culture. While the parents had moderate sensitivity scores, no relationship was found between the parents CSM scores and the children's MEIM scores. Overall, these findings suggest that the internationally adopted children in New Zealand are well adjusted, interested in their ethnic origins, and being parented by New Zealanders who support the children's interest in their birth culture. Future areas of research were identified, and recommendations to families, professionals and policymakers were offered.

Virtually all of the research on the ethnic identity development of children in intercountry adoption (ICA) has been on transracial adoptions (TRA). Little is known about the ethnic socialisation of internationally adopted children, raised in racially similar adoptive homes. Within the TRA literature, it has been found that transracially adopted children tend to ethnically identify with the white majority culture. That tendency has also been linked to adoptive parents' attitudes about the birth culture, and speculation that most parents are assimilating their children to the dominant culture. Research on TRA has also revealed that despite low ethnic identification, most adoptees score highly on indices of self-concept. In the present study, 162 New Zealand adoptive families of European descent, with children adopted predominately from Eastern Europe, were surveyed concerning their experiences and attitudes about the importance of their children's birth culture. Results from the surveys showed that the majority of families engaged in a range of cultural activities, and made efforts to socialise with people of their child's birth ethnicity. In addition, most of the adoptive parents expressed a desire that their children ethnically identify with the birth culture, as well as with the New Zealand culture. Almost all of the families researched the birth country before travelling to collect their children, and most parents kept part or all of their child's original name. A sub-sample of 52 of the adopted children was also interviewed in a second phase of the study. Measures of ethnic identity were obtained, using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992), as were adjustment scores, using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale (Piers, 1984). Findings revealed that overall, the children had moderate identification with the birth culture, and moderate to high self-concept scores, which were not correlated with one another other. From the parent surveys, a scale was derived to assess the parent's sensitivity to culture. Known as the 'Cultural Sensitivity Measure' (CSM), this score was statistically compared to the children's ethnic identity scores, to test the assumption that the parents' attitudes about the birth culture would influence the children's ethnic identification with the birth culture. While the parents had moderate sensitivity scores, no relationship was found between the parents CSM scores and the children's MEIM scores. Overall, these findings suggest that the internationally adopted children in New Zealand are well adjusted, interested in their ethnic origins, and being parented by New Zealanders who support the children's interest in their birth culture. Future areas of research were identified, and recommendations to families, professionals and policymakers were offered.

Virtually all of the research on the ethnic identity development of children in intercountry adoption (ICA) has been on transracial adoptions (TRA). Little is known about the ethnic socialisation of internationally adopted children, raised in racially similar adoptive homes. Within the TRA literature, it has been found that transracially adopted children tend to ethnically identify with the white majority culture. That tendency has also been linked to adoptive parents' attitudes about the birth culture, and speculation that most parents are assimilating their children to the dominant culture. Research on TRA has also revealed that despite low ethnic identification, most adoptees score highly on indices of self-concept. In the present study, 162 New Zealand adoptive families of European descent, with children adopted predominately from Eastern Europe, were surveyed concerning their experiences and attitudes about the importance of their children's birth culture. Results from the surveys showed that the majority of families engaged in a range of cultural activities, and made efforts to socialise with people of their child's birth ethnicity. In addition, most of the adoptive parents expressed a desire that their children ethnically identify with the birth culture, as well as with the New Zealand culture. Almost all of the families researched the birth country before travelling to collect their children, and most parents kept part or all of their child's original name. A sub-sample of 52 of the adopted children was also interviewed in a second phase of the study. Measures of ethnic identity were obtained, using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992), as were adjustment scores, using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale (Piers, 1984). Findings revealed that overall, the children had moderate identification with the birth culture, and moderate to high self-concept scores, which were not correlated with one another other. From the parent surveys, a scale was derived to assess the parent's sensitivity to culture. Known as the 'Cultural Sensitivity Measure' (CSM), this score was statistically compared to the children's ethnic identity scores, to test the assumption that the parents' attitudes about the birth culture would influence the children's ethnic identification with the birth culture. While the parents had moderate sensitivity scores, no relationship was found between the parents CSM scores and the children's MEIM scores. Overall, these findings suggest that the internationally adopted children in New Zealand are well adjusted, interested in their ethnic origins, and being parented by New Zealanders who support the children's interest in their birth culture. Future areas of research were identified, and recommendations to families, professionals and policymakers were offered.

This research investigated the causes of behavioural difficulties among family businessers in two studies. Study one adapted the evolutionary theory of the firm to the family business context in an empirical study that involved 370 family businessers from 46 families. The study found that: (1) stakeholder cohorts within the family (employed by the business versus not employed by the business; owners of stock versus non stock owners; related to founder versus not related; male versus female) were significantly divided on business direction and planning, the introduction of new routines to the business and various roles, habits, norms and codes that made up the collective knowledge base of the firm; (2) the founding generation reported significantly higher levels of individualism and self-belief than second and third generation family businessers; and (3) the founding generation differed significantly to the third (but not the second) generation on business direction and planning related matters.The second study was a single case design study involving two second-generation family businessers and one third-generation family businesser from three separate family businesses. Using the Skinnerian theory-based technique of functional assessment and the recently formulated Valued Outcomes Analysis (VOA) each individual’s behaviour was analyzed after an initial interview. From this analysis, causes of behaviour were derived and presented to each participant with suggestions for behaviour change. As a result of adopting the suggestions, each individual reported improved functioning at a second interview conducted after a five-week lapse. It was found that individual functioning in family business could be improved by establishing (1) the function of the behaviour, and (2) the valued outcomes that drive the behaviour. The findings of the two studies are linked, limitations of the research are addressed and future projects discussed.