ABSTRACT
The relationship between two cognitive personality constructs (explanatory style and dispositional optimism) and retrospective self-reports of maternal and paternal behavior were investigated. College students (62 men and 145 women) completed the Life Orientation Test, Attributional Style Questionnaire, and Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire in a single session. As predicted, dispositional optimism was positively correlated with reported maternal and paternal warmth/acceptance and negatively correlated with aggression/hostility, neglect/indifference, and undifferentiated rejection during middle childhood. Unexpectedly, explanatory style was found to be more strongly associated with retrospective reports of paternal as opposed to maternal behavior. The implications of these results for future research concerning the developmental antecedents of differences in explanatory style and dispositional optimism are discussed.
Subject(s)
Cognition , Parenting , Parents/psychology , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
In line with Dabrowki's theory of Positive Disintegration, deGrace recently reported no significant difference in terms of anxiety level between groups of actualized and nonactualized Ss. Several methodological and theoretical flaws noted in the deGrace study led the present authors to hypothesize that actualized Ss would score significantly lower than nonactualized Ss on separate but conceptually related measures of manifest or neurotic anxiety. Ss (83 females and 42 males) were administered the Personal Orientation Inventory, the IPAT Anxiety Scale, and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. The results, which substantiate the hypothesis that levels of actualization and anxiety are correlated negatively, are discussed in relation to the conceptual distinction between debilitating and facilitating anxiety and their respective effects on psychological growth.
Subject(s)
Anxiety/psychology , Personality , Anxiety/diagnosis , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Manifest Anxiety Scale , Self-Assessment , Sex FactorsSubject(s)
Internal-External Control , Social Adjustment , Female , Humans , Male , Projective Techniques , PsychometricsSubject(s)
Internal-External Control , Self Concept , Social Adjustment , Empathy , Female , Humans , Psychological TheorySubject(s)
Parent-Child Relations , Personality , Adult , Child Rearing , Female , Humans , Individuation , Maternal Behavior , Paternal Behavior , Personality Inventory , Rejection, PsychologyABSTRACT
This study examined the hypothesis that self-actualization is negatively associated with reported frequency of active involvement in religious activities. A group of 63 male undergraduates enrolled in a Catholic coeducational institution indicated the extent of their involvement in religious activities and completed Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), a comprehensive measure of self-actualization. Results indicated substantial support for the hypothesis. Nine of the 12 Shostrom POI subscales were significantly correlated with the religious participation index in the predicted direction. It was suggested that self-actualizing students construe involvement in religious activities as being detrimental to thier psychosocial development.
