January, 2010

ISSN 0019-4247

Volume 36, Number 2

A Remedial Intervention for Addition and Subtraction in Children with Dyscalculia

Alireza Beygi, Prakash Padakannaya, and Gowramma, I. P.
University of Mysore, Mysore

This study investigated the impact of remedial intervention on students’ performance with dyscalculia in teaching addition and subtraction. Forty male students with dyscalculia (20 in experimental, and 20 in control groups) from fourth and fifth grades in Arak, Iran were the participants. The experimental group received a remedial program in addition to their regular classroom teaching (every other day). Data analysis indicated a significant increase in the subtraction and addition performance after remedial intervention. The article discusses implications for teachers, administers, researchers, teacher training institutions, and students with learning disabilities.

Keywords: Dyscalculia, Addition, Subtraction, Learning Disability.

Gender Differences in Alcohol Related Attitudes and Expectancies among College Students

Mustafa N. Kirmani and L.N.Suman
National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore

The study aimed at examining attitude towards alcohol and drinking, alcohol-related expectancies among undergraduate students. The sample consisted of 433 students (231 boys and 202 girls). The tools used in the study were Socio-demographic Data Sheet, Attitude Towards Alcohol and Drinking Scale (ATADS), Alcohol-Related Expectancy Questionnaire-Adolescent Version (AEQ-A) and the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12). Results revealed that boys had higher psychological distress along with a more favorable attitude towards alcohol than girls. Further, boys expected that alcohol use could lead to positive outcomes while girls expected that alcohol use could lead to negative outcomes. The findings have implications for prevention of alcohol abuse among college going students.

Keywords: Alcohol Expectancies, College Students, Gender Differences

Development of the Indian Gender Role Identity Scale

Jayanti Basu
Calcutta University, Kolkata

The paper reports the preparation of the Indian Gender Role Identity Scale (IGRIS) to assess psychological masculinity and femininity in our culture. Review of literature reveals that while scales for assessing Gender Role Identity are available in the West, no such scale has been prepared in India taking into account the rigorous methodological procedure recommended for such scale. At the same time there are ample evidences that use of items in one culture are likely to be invalid in a different culture, since the meaning of masculinity and femininity differs widely across cultures. In the present scale the methodology followed by Sandra Bem was roughly followed, accommodating for the major critiques of Bem’s scale. At various phases it utilized 2486 subjects between the age range of 16 to 50 years of age, among which 1240 were female and 1246 male. The final scale consists of 30 items to be judged on a 7 point scale to describe oneself. The item validity, construct validity, reliability and working norm are provided.

Keywords: Masculinity, Femininity, Indian Gender Role Identity Scale

Attitudes toward Physical Contact in a Therapeutic Setting: Role of Gender and Expertise

Priyanka D. Joshi, Maureen Almeida and Prabha D.Shete
University of Southern, St. Xavier’s College, University of Pune, California, USA Mumbai Pune

Counselor initiated touch in therapy is a much debated topic. Yet there is a growing consensus about the positive effects of therapeutic touch while acknowledging that when used inconsiderately touch can harm clients. 61 counselors and therapists completed a questionnaire about attitudes toward touch in therapy and the frequency of touch use. Most counselors believed that non-erotic and ethical touch had positive effects on clients. There was a significant main effect of therapist gender on attitudes towards touch, F(1, 57) = 9.05, p<.003, and frequency of touch use, F(1, 57) = 6.4, p < .05. Female therapists had more positive attitudes toward touch and were more likely to use touch in therapy as compared to male counselors. The paper calls for an open discussion among therapeutic community about the benefits and possible negative effects of touch in a therapeutic relationship.

Keywords: Physical contact, Therapeutic touch, Non erotic touch

Does Happiness Promote Emotional Intelligence?

Meetu Khosla and Vandana Dokania
University of Delhi, Delhi

The study examined the influence of happiness on experienced affect, emotion regulation and emotional intelligence. Happy (n=100) and unhappy (n=100) participants (mean age= 21 years) completed measures assessing affect (PANAS-R) and emotional intelligence (WLEIS) and emotion regulation strategies (ERQ). A 2x2 (gender x group) ANOVA revealed that happy participants as compared to unhappy participants reported significantly greater positive affect and emotional intelligence. Happy as compared to unhappy men had significantly greater emotional intelligence while happy women were found to be more emotionally intelligent than unhappy women. There were significant group and gender differences in the use of reappraisal strategies but not suppression strategies. The findings reveal the significance of happiness in promoting emotional intelligence.

Keywords: Happiness, Affect, Emotional intelligence

Do Personality Characteristics Change with Advancement of Age?

Hardeo Ojha and Meena Pramanick
T.M. Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur.

In order to examine whether personality characteristics change with advancing age, 1800 urban adults (service holder and retired) from six adjacent towns of Bihar and Jharkhand belonging to six age groups (with equal number in each), viz., early young (21-30 yrs), late young (31-40 yrs), early middle (41-50 yrs), late middle (51-60 yrs), early old (61-70 yrs) and late old (71-80 yrs), were administered standardized measures of life satisfaction, ego-strength, altruism, emotional stability and alienation individually by two project assistants in six months period. Analysis of data by ANOVA and accompanying test of significance revealed that life satisfaction decreases with advancement of age, while altruism and alienation increase with age. However, ago-strength and emotional stability have inverted U-shaped relationship with age, i.e. both go on increasing till late middle age but decline with the arrival of early old age and reach their lowest levels during late old age.

Perceived Organizational Support, Work Motivation, and Organizational Commitment as determinants of Job Performance

C. R. Darolia, Parveen Kumari, and Shashi Darolia
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra

This study explored the extent to which perceived organizational support, work motivation, and organizational commitment predict individual differences in job performance workers. We expected positive relationship between POS, WM, and OC, and their substantial contribution in predicting job performance. 231 male skilled workers (28-45 yrs.) from different units of National Fertilizer Ltd. India participated in the study and completed Perceived Organizational Support Questionnaire, Employees Motivation Schedule, and Occupational Commitment Questionnaire. The job performance of the participants was rated by their immediate superiors through Performance Rating Scale. The findings supported the hypotheses of modest level positive correlation between POS, OC, and WM and their significant contribution in determining job performance. Among all the three classes of predictor variables, POS showed highest correlation with job performance followed by WM measure monetary gains, and affective commitment. Continuance commitment, need for goal achievement and competition, and non financial rewards have shown modest level association with performance. The stepwise regression identified a set of five variables which predicted best the job performance. In close agreement with social exchange views, perceived organizational support appeared to be most potent predictor of job performance. Two components of work motivation, i.e., need for monetary gains and goal achievement and competition were found contributing significantly to the prediction of job performance. It points to the importance of extrinsic sources of motivation for lowly paid industrial workers but at the same time they value intrinsic sources also. Among three components of OC, affective and continuance commitments were the better predictors of JP.

Keywords: Perceived organizational support, Organizational commitment, Stepwise multiple regression.

Anxiety and Well-being among Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients: Overtime

D. Arora, M. Anand, V.K. Katyal, and V. Anand
Maharshi Dayanand, University, Rohtak,

Life has become, despite technological and other advancements, so complicated that a strain free life cannot be thought of. To put it simply, tension and stresses are the boon of present era. This creates various psychological problems in individual’s life such as anxiety, depression etc which can prove to be major risk factors for various types of diseases. Acute coronary syndrome is one of them. All these problems have negative impact on one’s life in general and well being in particular. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the anxiety and well-being among acute coronary syndrome patients. Initially a sample of 60 subjects was randomly selected (30 were having Myocardial Infarction and 30 were having Unstable Angina). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and PGI general well-Being scale were administered on these 60 subjects at baseline i.e. 4th-5th day of angina /attack and again at the time of follow-up i.e. after 1-2 months of the angina / attack making a total sample of 120 subjects. Findings reveal that significant differences exist between baseline and follow-up of acute coronary syndrome patients on state anxiety, trait anxiety and well being.

Keywords: Anxiety, Well being, Acute Coronary Syndrome, Myocardial Infarction, Unstable Angina.

Psychological Well being of Employed Women across Different Organisations

Srimathi, N. L., and Kiran Kumar, S. K.
University of Mysore, Mysore

The present study examines the level of psychological well being among working women in different professions. A total of 325 women working in different organizations – industries, hospitals, banks, educational institutions and in call centers/BPOs were randomly selected. They were administered Carol Ryff’s Medium Form of Psychological Well Being Scale. Results revealed that women employees working in industries had least psychological well being in all the sub factors and total psychological well being scores, followed by women working in health organizations. Women employees working in banks had medium level of psychological well being scores. Women teachers had highest total Psychological Well Being scores and also in the entire sub factors of Psychological Well Being. Each subscale of PWB is correlated significantly and positively with rest of the sub scales.

Keywords: Psychological well being, working women, organizations

Examining the Relationship between Organisational Culture and Leadership Styles

Sanjeev K. Sharma and Aditi Sharma
Panjab University, Chandigarh. Chandigarh Business School, Mohali, Punjab.

Culture is the medium by which organization expresses itself to its employees or members. The core of the culture is formed by the values which are not visible but are shared by people even when membership in group changes. Shared values and norms focus employees’ attention on organizational priorities and guide their behavior and decision making. In the present study organizational culture has been conceptualized along eight cultural values and beliefs: openness, confrontation, trust, authenticity, proaction, autonomy, collaboration, and experimentation. Leadership styles have been determined in terms of initiation, consideration and charismatic variables. To achieve competitive advantage the industry needs visionary leadership to drive change and performance. Results of the study on textile industry in North India show a positive association between cultural values and charismatic leadership styles. Organizational culture exhibiting characteristics of accountability, collaboration, decentralized leadership, alignment and adaptability hold the key to successful survival.

Keywords: OCTAPACE, Leadership styles, Initiation, Consideration, Organisational Culture

Five Factor Correlates: A Comparison of Substance Abusers and Non-Substance Abusers

Charu Dubey, Meenakshi Arora, Sanjay Gupta, and Bipin Kumar
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

Substance abuse is a multi-etiological, multi-dimensional and a worldwide problem with an alarming increase in its incidences. The present study investigates the personality traits of substance abusers as compared with non-substance abusers by using the NEO-Five Factor Inventory. The sample consists of substance abusers (N=100) along with non-substance abusers (N=100). In terms of Five Factor model of Personality Taxonomy, the present study revealed that substance abused group scored higher on Neuroticism and Extraversion dimensions, whereas non-substance abusers significantly scored higher on Openness and Conscientiousness dimensions of Big-Five. No significant difference was obtained on Agreeableness domain of personality.

Keywords: Five-Factor Model, Traits, Substance abusers, Non-substance Abusers

Creative Behaviour Questionnaire: Assessing the Ability of Managers to Produce Creative Ideas

L. K. Mishra and A. P. Singh
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

This paper presents the development process of a new scale for assessing creative behaviour in organizational setting. In this scale creative behaviour includes both behavioural and cognitive aspects. To assess the creative behaviour a scale was developed which consists of 17 items before standardization. In this scale subjects have to give responses based on self-perception about their thinking and behavioural creative ability. Sample of 155 managers working in different private sector organizations in India were selected for the standardization of this scale. The reliability index was ascertained by computing Cronbach’s alpha coefficient which is found to be 0.803 for this scale. Based on corrected item-total correlation, 4 items are excluded and 13 remaining items are retained from the original scale. This scale has good reliability index and could be a useful tool for assessing creative behaviour in organizational setting.

Keywords: Creativity, Creative behaviour, Competitive environment

Cognitive Functions and Psychological States among Clinical and Non-clinical Subjects

Latha, and R.P.Jaya Priya
University of Madras, Chennai

Cognitive quality of life is an important factor for adjustment and well being. Researchers have demonstrated the vulnerability for cognitive dysfunction and impairment in different clinical samples. Rehabilitation of the patients must include cognitive domain as an important quality of life. This becomes more important in conditions like Coronary artery disease, Diabetes, which have become a economic and social burden in addition to psychological burden in urban India. Screening these patients for their cognitive status is of primary importance. Using a case control design 57 cardiac patients, 59 diabetic patients and 50 normal subjects were assessed for self -reported cognitive states and cognitive performance. In addition, these groups were also assessed for anxiety and mood states. Statistical analysis of the data revealed significant difference between the groups and also the role of psychological states in influencing the cognitive performance. Implication of the results for training and rehabilitation are discussed.

Keywords: Cognitive quality, Adjustment, Well being

Personal Goal Survey Development and Preliminary Trial in the Indian Community

Deepali Rao and Seema Mehrotra
National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore

The paper describes the development and preliminary trials of a comprehensive tool for assessment of personal goals- the Personal Goal Survey (PEGOS), in an Indian setting. The review of existing measures, focus group discussions with expert psychologists and laypersons as well as interviews with community and clinical participants resulted in generation of the item pool. The initial version of PEGOS was administered to two independent community samples for examining the pattern of responses and testing its basic psychometric properties. Various scales of the PEGOS were found to have adequate internal consistency (ranging between 0.62 to 0.95) and convergent validity with scales of well-being (significant correlations ranging between 0.28 to 0.62). In addition to its utility in the context of well being research, the tool could also be used to rapidly and comprehensively identify goal-related problem areas & strengths in counseling settings. The directions for further research on PEGOS are highlighted.

Keywords: Personal goals, well being, goal assessment.

Mathematics Anxiety, Mathematics Performance and Overall Academic Performance in High School Students

Venkatesh Kumar, G., and Karimi, A.
University of Mysore, Mysore

This paper examined the relationship between Mathematics anxiety, Mathematics performances and overall academic performance of high school students. 424 (111 males and 113 females) of high school students from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala responded to a Mathematics anxiety and socio demographic questionnaire. The effects of gender on Mathematics anxiety, Mathematics performances and overall academic performance were also examined and Pearson correlation analysis and one way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results reveal that Mathematics anxiety significantly has negative correlation with Mathematics performances and overall academic performance. Moreover it was found that there is significant gender difference in Mathematics anxiety, whereas there is no significant difference between boys and girls in Mathematics performances and academic performance.

Keywords: Mathematics anxiety, Mathematics performances, overall academic performance, High school students

Performance Feedback, Mental Workload and Monitoring Efficiency

Anju L. Singh, Trayambak Tiwari, and Indramani L. Singh
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

The present study examined the effect of success and failure performance feedback on perceived mental workload and monitoring performance in flight simulation task. The revised version of the multi-attribute task battery (MATB) was administered on 20 non-pilot participants. The performances were recorded as hit rates, false alarms and root mean square errors. Mental workload was assessed using NASA-TLX questionnaire. A 2(success-failure feedback) x 2(30-min sessions) x 3(10-min blocks) mixed factorial design with repeated measures on last two factors was used. The obtained results revealed that performance feedback did not have a significant effect on mental workload and malfunction detection. The findings support the notion that monitoring inefficiency (i.e., automation-induced complacency) is a robust phenomenon and it can be observed in multi-task environment with high static automation reliability.

Keywords: Mental workload, Feedback, Monitoring performance, Automation-induced complacency, Flight simulation task

Anuloma-Viloma Pranayama and Anxiety and Depression among the Aged

Pranay Kumar Gupta, Manoj Kumar, Riti Kumari and J.M. Deo
Central Institute of Psychiatry,Kanke, Ranchi. BRABihar University, Muzaffarpur. MDDM College,Muzaffarpur. College of Commerce, Patna.

Anxiety and depression are two most common mental problems facing the aged and are often ignored. In a vast country like India, particularly the rural India where little mental health facilities are available, these people are little taken care of with regards to their mental health. However, our very own system of yoga holds so much promise for these sufferers. The present study is an attempt to find out the impact of pranayama on the anxiety and depression of the senior citizens living in the rural community. For the study, 30 senior citizens of Madhubani town have been selected. Their level of anxiety and depression were measured on Sinha Anxiety Scale and Beck Depression Inventory prior to their enrolment in Yoga sivir (camp) of 7 days duration where they were trained in anuloma-viloma technique of pranayama. Their level of anxiety and depression were again measured after 3 months during that period the subjects regularly practiced the pranayama. The comparison of the two scores showed significant impact of the pranayama on their anxiety and depression.

Keywords: Anxiety, Depression, Anuloma-Viloma Pranayama,

Stress and Well-Being of Lawyers

N. Hasnain, Iram Naz, and Samina Bano
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

The present study aimed at finding out the difference between civil and criminal ten years experienced lawyers and lawyers doing internship on stress and wellbeing with a 2 x 2 factorial design. There were 20 lawyers in each group consisting of a total of 40 civil and 40 criminal lawyers. Aggarwal and Naidu’s Life Stress Scale and Verma and Verma’s PGI Well-being Scale were administered. ANOVA showed significant effect of practice experience on stress. t-test showed significantly much higher stress among criminal experienced lawyers than their counterpart civil lawyers. All the other comparisons were found to be non-significant. In case of well-being non-significant effects for all variables were obtained. Results were discussed in the light of nature of works, intricacies and risk involved in the criminal cases, and involvement of police and political pressure.