Who Are We Missing? Examining the Graduate Record Examination Quantitative Score as a Barrier to Admission into Psychology Doctoral Programs for Capable Ethnic Minorities.

The field of psychology must racially/ethnically diversify to create a workforce that can meet the needs of education, training, and interventions in an increasingly pluralistic society. Systemic bias in psychology doctoral programs' admissions process may partially account for relatively few psychologists being underrepresented minorities (URMs). The use of the Graduate Record Examination Quantitative score (GRE-Q) is one important modifiable barrier. The purpose of the current study is to go beyond replicating the association between the GRE-Q and desired doctoral outcomes by examining if a cut-off score for the GRE-Q as a proxy for potential to succeed in psychology doctoral programs disproportionately impacts URMs. Participants (N = 226) were psychology doctoral students at a Carnegie-classified Highest Research Activity (R1) large Midwestern university, who were admitted to graduate school from 2001 to 2011. Our findings show that, while controlling for undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and prior master's degree attainment, the GRE-Q predicted grades in two required graduate statistics courses and overall graduate GPA. Importantly, all students, regardless of their GRE-Q score, demonstrated competence in their statistics coursework, as assessed by their course grades. Moreover, we found that guidelines that bar admission into the psychology doctoral program for students with low GRE-Q scores would have disproportionately impacted URMs, resulting in 44% being barred admission versus only 17% of their White/Asian/Pacific Islander counterparts. Practical implications include introducing holistic review protocols into the admissions process, while educating faculty on how heavy emphasis on the GRE-Q contributes to inequitable exclusion of capable URMs.

Age and health jointly moderate the influence of flexible work arrangements on work engagement: Evidence from two empirical studies.

Research and theory support the notion that flexible work arrangements (i.e., job resources in the form of formal policies that allow employees the latitude to manage when, where, and how they work) can have a positive influence on various outcomes that are valued both by organizations and their constituents. In the present study, we integrate propositions from various theoretical perspectives to investigate how flexible work arrangements influence work engagement. Then, in 2 studies we test this association and model the influence of different conceptualizations of health and age as joint moderators of this relationship. Study 1 focuses on functional health and chronological age in an age-diverse sample, whereas study 2 focuses on health symptom severity and subjective age in a sample of older workers. In both studies, we demonstrate that the influence of flexible work arrangements on work engagement is contingent upon age and health. (PsycINFO Database Record

Differential Reactivity and the Within-person Job Stressor-Satisfaction Relationship.

An experience sampling methodology was used to study the direct and conditional within-person relationship between job stressors and job satisfaction. One hundred and one full-time administrative staff completed momentary measures of job stressors and job satisfaction three times a day on six different workdays over a 3-week period (N = 1818 observations). Multilevel random coefficients models were specified, and the results suggest that within-person stressors are negatively related to within-person job satisfaction. These results stand when controlling for the effects of time, demographics, work characteristics, baseline levels of job stressors and satisfaction, and between-person effects of job stressors. Furthermore, consistent with the differential reactivity model, the results suggest that the observed within-person stressors-satisfaction relationship is conditional upon locus of control and positive affect. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The efficacy of paroxetine and placebo in treating anxiety and depression: a meta-analysis of change on the Hamilton Rating Scales.

BACKGROUND: Previous meta-analyses of published and unpublished trials indicate that antidepressants provide modest benefits compared to placebo in the treatment of depression; some have argued that these benefits are not clinically significant. However, these meta-analyses were based only on trials submitted for the initial FDA approval of the medication and were limited to those aimed at treating depression. Here, for the first time, we assess the efficacy of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) in the treatment of both anxiety and depression, using a complete data set of all published and unpublished trials sponsored by the manufacturer. METHODS AND FINDINGS: GlaxoSmithKline has been required to post the results for all sponsored clinical trials online, providing an opportunity to assess the efficacy of an SSRI (paroxetine) with a complete data set of all trials conducted. We examined the data from all placebo-controlled, double-blind trials of paroxetine that included change scores on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HRSA) and/or the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD). For the treatment of anxiety (k = 12), the efficacy difference between paroxetine and placebo was modest (d = 0.27), and independent of baseline severity of anxiety. Overall change in placebo-treated individuals replicated 79% of the magnitude of paroxetine response. Efficacy was superior for the treatment of panic disorder (d = 0.36) than for generalized anxiety disorder (d = 0.20). Published trials showed significantly larger drug-placebo differences than unpublished trials (d's = 0.32 and 0.17, respectively). In depression trials (k = 27), the benefit of paroxetine over placebo was consistent with previous meta-analyses of antidepressant efficacy (d = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: The available empirical evidence indicates that paroxetine provides only a modest advantage over placebo in treatment of anxiety and depression. Treatment implications are discussed.

Examining positive and negative perceptions of older workers: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This article presents an updated meta-analysis of field and laboratory studies that examine the influence of age on a number of evaluative workplace outcomes (advancement, selection, general evaluations, interpersonal skills, and reliability). Method. A random effects meta-analytic procedure was used. RESULTS: In line with the perspective that perceptions of older workers are multidimensional, the observed meta-analytic correlations indicate that age has medium-sized negative effects on majority of the outcomes investigated (r(advancement) = -.21, r(selection) = -.30, r(general evaluations) = -.24, and r(interpersonal skills) = -.23, and a medium-sized positive effect on perceptions of reliability (r(reliability) = .31). Additionally, evidence of moderation by study design for the selection outcome is presented, such that within-subjects designs elicit stronger effects of age than between-subjects designs. Discussion. The present study demonstrates that it is likely that older workers are not viewed entirely negatively or entirely positively in the workplace; rather, the perceptions of older workers are more are varied, and even positive in some cases.

How Work-Family Research Can Finally Have an Impact in Organizations.

Although work-family research has mushroomed over the past several decades, an implementation gap persists in putting work-family research into practice. Because of this, work-family researchers have not made a significant impact in improving the lives of employees relative to the amount of research that has been conducted. The goal of this article is to clarify areas where implementation gaps between work-family research and practice are prevalent, discuss the importance of reducing these gaps, and make the case that both better and different research should be conducted. We recommend several alternative but complementary actions for the work-family researcher: (a) work with organizations to study their policy and practice implementation efforts, (b) focus on the impact of rapid technological advances that are blurring work-family boundaries, (c) conduct research to empower the individual to self-manage the work-family interface, and (d) engage in advocacy and collaborative policy research to change institutional contexts and break down silos. Increased partnerships between industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology practitioners and researchers from many industries and disciplines could break down silos that we see as limiting development of the field.

Innovative Ideas on How Work-Family Research Can Have More Impact.

The commentaries on our focal article agreed with its main premise that work-family research should follow new strategies to improve its practical impact, and made suggestions clustering into three main themes. The first theme built on our suggestion to improve the research focus, terminology, and framing of work-family research. These essays offered additional ideas such as decoupling work-family from work-life research, and examining contextual factors more deeply. The second theme focused on how to better apply the findings from work family research. These commentaries provided social change approaches for making work-family issues more central to key stakeholders and to organizations. The third theme focused on broadening our scope to the societal level. These editorials advocated tactics supporting the development of basic rights of work-life balance within and across nations.

Community and family violence: indirect effects of parental monitoring on externalizing problems.

This study examines the mediating role of parenting on the relationship between exposure to violence and externalizing problems. Participants include 214 at-risk urban adolescents. Structured interviews assessed exposure to community and family violence, parental monitoring and warmth, as well as substance abuse and conduct problems. Structural equation modeling provided evidence of a mediation model that fits European Americans but is less predictive for African Americans. For European Americans, findings suggest greater exposure to community violence is associated with more externalizing problems, and also indirectly effects problems by disrupting parental monitoring. Although family violence relates to less parental warmth, no association exits between warmth and externalizing problems. Unmeasured variables that contribute to racial differences may explain how violence impacts African American teens.

Community violence: a meta-analysis on the effect of exposure and mental health outcomes of children and adolescents.

Meta-analytic techniques were used to estimate the effects of exposure to community violence on mental health outcomes across 114 studies. Community violence had its strongest effects on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and externalizing problems and smallest impact on other internalizing symptoms. Victimization by community violence most predicted symptomatology compared to witnessing or hearing about community violence. Witnessing community violence had a greater effect than hearing about violence on externalizing problems, but both types of exposure had an equal impact on other internalizing problems. PTSD symptoms were equally predicted by victimization, witnessing, or hearing about community violence. Compared to children, adolescents reported a stronger relationship between externalizing behaviors and exposure, whereas children exhibited greater internalizing problems than did adolescents.

Person-organization fit and work-related attitudes and decisions: examining interactive effects with job fit and conscientiousness.

This study examined boundary conditions that surround the importance of perceived person-organization (P-O) fit for work-related attitudes and decisions. The authors hypothesized that P-O fit is more strongly related to satisfaction and job choice decisions when needs-supplies (N-S) job fit or demands-abilities (D-A) job fit is low, and that P-O fit is more strongly related to job choice decisions for highly conscientious individuals. Hypotheses were tested among 299 participants in a 12-week internship program. Results indicated that P-O fit was more strongly related to satisfaction when individuals experienced low N-S job fit. P-O fit was more strongly related to job choice intentions when individuals experienced low D-A job fit or were highly conscientious. Finally, P-O fit was related to job offer acceptance for highly conscientious individuals.

The relationship between self-reported received and perceived social support: a meta-analytic review.

Social support is broad term encompassing a variety of constructs, including support perceptions (perceived support) and receipt of supportive behaviors (received support). Of these constructs, only perceived support has been regarded as consistently linked to health, and researchers have offered differing assessments of the strength of the received-perceived support relationship. An overall estimate of the received-perceived support relationship would clearly further the dialogue on the relationship between received and perceived support and thus assist in the theoretical development of the field. This study evaluated all available studies using the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB; Barrera, Sandler, & Ramsey, 1981, American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 435-447) and any measure of perceived social support. Using effect sizes from 23 studies, we found an average correlation of r = .35, p < .001. Implications of this estimate for further development of models of social support as well as interventions to enhance social support are discussed.

Does a structured free recall intervention reduce the effect of stereotypes on performance ratings and by what cognitive mechanism?

The purpose of this article was to extend previous work on the effect of racial biases on performance ratings. The 1st of 2 studies examined whether a structured free recall intervention decreased the influence of negative racial biases on the performance ratings of Black men. Results indicated that without the intervention, raters who endorsed a negative stereotype of Black men as managers evaluated Black men more negatively. However, the structured free recall intervention successfully reduced these effects. The second study examined in more detail the cognitive mechanisms underlying the success of the intervention. Results are consistent with the assumption that the reduction of the influence of racial biases under structured free recall conditions is a consequence of a modified strength threshold for retrieval of behaviors from memory.

Reduction of work-family conflict through the use of selection, optimization, and compensation behaviors.

Prior research has examined both the antecedents to and outcomes of work-family conflict. However, little is known about the existence and efficacy of behavioral strategies that may be used by individuals to reduce the amount of stressors experienced both on the job and at home, which result in work-family conflict. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) behaviors in relation to both job and family stressors and work-in-family (WIF) conflict and family-in-work (FIW) conflict. Results suggest that the use of general SOC behaviors in both the work and family domains are related to lower amounts of job and family stressors and subsequently lower amounts of WIF conflict and FIW conflict. In general, these results held true even when additional variables (e.g., hours worked, gender, job involvement, family involvement, social support, and supervisor support) were controlled. Implications of these results are discussed.