Does the Formulation of the Decision Problem Affect Retirement?-Framing Effect and Planned Retirement Age.

The aim of the study is to fill the research gap in relation to one of the behavioral factors that have a potential impact on retirement decisions-the framing effect. A research question addressed in the study is whether the way in which the decision-making problem is formulated (the framing effect) influences decisions on the planned retirement age. To answer this question, an original research questionnaire was developed. It included a description of a hypothetical pension system and experimental vignette questions. The research was conducted on the basis of answers given by 1079 randomly selected respondents who were participants of the pension system in Poland before retirement. In the analysis of the results, non-parametric tests and multiple logistic regression were used to compare response distributions. As a result of the conducted research, it was proven that the framing effect significantly affects the extension of the planned retirement age. At the same time, it was found that loss framing affects pension decisions to a greater extent than gain framing. It has also been noted that women are more susceptible than men to the framing of pension decisions. An application conclusion resulting from the conducted research is indicated as the possibility of the intentional use of the framing effect by decision-makers in order to increase the effective retirement age.

Social support and psychosocial functioning in women after mastectomy.

OBJECTIVE: Social support has been reported as beneficial for the psychological functioning of people coping with a disease. The objective of this study was to verify whether levels of perceived social support are associated with psychosocial functioning in women who have had a mastectomy and whether specific types of social support are linked to specific indices of functioning. METHOD: Seventy women with a history of mastectomy completed questionnaires measuring their psychosocial functioning as related to their health status: Disease-Related Appraisal Scale, Acceptance of Life with the Disease Scale and Beck Depression Inventory. All participants also completed a measure of perceived social support (Disease-Related Social Support Scale). RESULTS: Women who reported higher levels of perceived social support revealed statistically significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms, higher appraisals of their disease in terms of challenge and value, and lower appraisals of their disease in terms of obstacle/loss. Women with greater social support also revealed higher levels of acceptance of life with the disease compared to those with less social support. Regression analyses showed that spiritual support was the type of support that significantly accounted for the variance in the majority of functioning indices. Some indices of functioning were also significantly accounted for by emotional and instrumental support. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESULTS: The process of psychological adjustment to a life-threatening disease such as breast cancer depends on multiple variables; however, social support, including spiritual support, seems to be one significant contributor to this process.

Emotional control, styles of coping with stress and acceptance of illness among patients suffering from chronic somatic diseases.

The purpose of this study was to analyse the associations of emotional control with sociodemographic and clinical variables in a sample of patients with a range of chronic somatic diseases. The relationships between emotional control, coping styles and adjustment to the disease were investigated. The sample consisted of 300 patients with the mean age of 54.60 ± 17.57 years. Courtauld Emotional Control Scale was used to measure the patients' tendency to suppress negative emotions, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations was used to measure coping styles and Acceptance of Illness Scale was applied to determine adjustment to the disease. Patients with neurological conditions showed significantly lower suppression of anger. Levels of emotional control were found to be related to gender, age and educational level but not to the place of residence. Task-oriented style of coping with stress correlated positively with suppression of depression and anxiety, whereas acceptance of illness correlated negatively with suppression of anger. Levels of emotional control are only weakly related to the type of diagnosis; however, some clinical samples may show lower suppression of anger. Suppression of negative emotions is weakly related to adjustment indicators such as certain coping styles and acceptance of illness.

Health-related behavior, profile of health locus of control and acceptance of illness in patients suffering from chronic somatic diseases.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to determine health-related behaviors, profile of health locus of control (HLC), and to assess the relationships between these constructs among patients suffering from chronic somatic diseases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three-hundred adult patients suffering from various chronic diseases participated in the study. The patients' mean age was 54.6 years (SD = 17.57). RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found between the different clinical groups in health-related behavior, acceptance of illness, internal HLC or chance HLC. Patients with neurologic conditions showed slightly lower powerful others HLC than did some other clinical groups. Health-related behavior was significantly positively related to all three categories of HLC, with most prominent associations observed with powerful others HLC. Only one type of health-related behavior--preventive behavior--correlated significantly and negatively with acceptance of illness. Differences in the frequency of health-related behavior were also found due to gender (women showing more healthy nutritional habits than men), age (older subjects showing more frequent health-promoting behavior), education (higher education was associated with less frequent health-promoting behavior) and marital status (widowed subjects reporting more frequent health-promoting behavior). CONCLUSIONS: Health-related behavior in patients with chronic diseases seems to be unrelated to a specific diagnosis; however it shows associations with both internal and external HLC. Sociodemographic factors are also crucial factors determining frequency of health-related behavior in such patients.