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Developing valid and reliable measures of psychological responses to climate change is of high importance, as this facilitates our understanding of people's psychological responses, including their pro-environmental behavior. Recently, the Climate Change Worry Scale (CCWS) was introduced. This study aimed to develop the first Polish version of the CCWS and explore its psychometric properties. Our sample comprised 420 Polish adults aged 18-70, with a mean age of 26.20 (standard deviation = 10.61) years. The CCWS's factor structure was assessed with confirmatory factor analysis. McDonald's omega and Cronbach's alpha coefficients were computed to assess internal consistency reliability. Pearson correlations between climate change worry (CCW) and experience of climate change (i.e., an individual's level of perception of being affected by climate change), pro-environmental behavior, ill-being (i.e., anxiety and depression symptoms), and well-being were calculated. Our results support the strong factorial validity of the CCWS, conforming to its intended one-factor solution, with excellent internal consistency reliability for the total scale score (i.e., McDonald's omega and Cronbach's alpha values of 0.93). We noted large positive correlations between CCW and experiences of climate change, as well as pro-environmental behavior, and medium positive correlations with psychopathology symptoms. CCW scores were not associated with well-being. As the CCWS represents a measure of a specific manifestation of worry, we also examined its discriminant validity against more general psychological distress markers, and it evidenced strong validity in this regard. Overall, the Polish version of the CCWS appears to have strong psychometric properties, and will therefore be a useful tool to use in research on psychological responses to climate change.
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Passion for studying can be considered a significant factor that promotes well-being and mental health in students. This study aimed to examine whether the psychological characteristics of students with a passion for studying differed from those of students without one. To compare these two groups, we used a set of different psychological variables (e.g., academic burnout and vitality), as well as integrated both person-centered (i.e., group comparison research) and variable-centered (i.e., correlational analysis) approaches. During classes, one hundred and fifty-four students from a Polish university completed a comprehensive set of short self-report questionnaires online on different psychological characteristics, including variables related to studying (i.e., passion for studying, academic burnout, and general academic self-efficacy), psychopathology symptoms, perceived stress and somatic complaints, as well as personal resources (vitality, resilience, self-esteem, and optimism). We noted multiple statistically significant differences in psychological characteristics between the two studied groups of students. Thus, harmonious passionate students tended to have more favorable psychological characteristics within variables related to studying, mental or somatic health symptoms, and personal resources compared to the non-passionate students. A harmonious passion for studying seems to have potential health-promoting and health-protecting effects, whereas a lack of passion for studying may lead to less favorable outcomes.
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BACKGROUND: The Perth Emotional Reactivity Scale - Short Form (PERS-S) is an 18-item self-report questionnaire that assesses emotional reactivity. The PERS-S measures activation, intensity, and duration of negative and positive emotions. The study aims to validate the Polish version of the PERS-S. Participants And Procedure: The study was performed on a sample of 675 people aged 18-80 (M = 28.88, SD = 13.17, 56.15% female). The factor structure and measurement invariance across gender, age and educational categories were verified with confirmatory factor analysis. Convergent and divergent validity were assessed based on the relationship between the PERS-S scale and the Emotional Reactivity scale taken from the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour-Temperament Inventory, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and the Subjective Vitality Scale. RESULTS: The intended 6-factor model was an excellent fit for the data (CFI = .963; TLI = .953; RMSEA = .053, 90% CI [.046; .061]; SRMR = .057) and was invariant across gender, educational level and age groups. All PERS-S subscales correlated with another emotional reactivity questionnaire, stress, emotion regulation strategies, well-being and vitality as expected. The reliability was high for all subscales (α > .70); it was slightly lower only for the positive-activation subscale (α = .68). Due to gender differences in emotional reactivity traits, group norms (sten scale) were calculated separately for females and males. CONCLUSIONS: The Polish version of the PERS-S has strong psychometric properties. Its practical applications are discussed.
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Multidimensional models of perfectionism postulate the existence of various perfectionism traits, with different effects on mental health. In order to suggest parsimonious targets in psychological interventions for university students, this study aimed to explore whether, how, and which individual perfectionism traits are uniquely associated with stress and well-being. The participants were 253 students aged 18-30 who completed the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Controlling for the common variance of perfectionism traits in statistical analysis, it was shown that (1) Personal Standards were associated with higher well-being and lower stress, (2) Concern over Mistakes and Doubts about Actions were related to lower well-being and higher stress, (3) Parental Expectations and Parental Criticism were not correlated with stress, and (4) Parental Criticism was associated with lower well-being. In the multi-predictor mediation model, with five perfectionism traits as predictors, perceived stress was a significant mediator between several perfectionism traits (i.e., Personal Standards, Concern over Mistakes, and Doubts about Actions) and well-being. Overall, Personal Standards, Concern over Mistakes, and Doubts about Actions seem to be parsimonious psychological targets, with Personal Standards expressing mental health-promoting effects, whereas Parental Expectations and Parental Criticism seem to be less important psychological targets.
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The Perth Empathy Scale (PES) is a 20-item self-report questionnaire that assesses people's ability to recognize emotions in others (i.e., cognitive empathy) and vicariously experience other's emotions (i.e., affective empathy), across positive and negative emotions. Originally developed in English, the aim of our study was to introduce the first Polish version of the PES and test its psychometric performance. Our sample was 318 people (184 females, 134 males) with ages ranging from 18 to 77. The factor structure was verified with confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was tested in terms of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. To explore convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity, we examined relationships between the PES and measures of depression, anxiety, and emotional intelligence. It was shown that the scale was characterized by the intended four-factor solution, thus supporting factorial validity. The internal consistency reliability was also good and test-retest reliability was moderate. The convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity were strong. The clinical importance of assessing affective empathy across both positive and negative emotions was supported. Overall, our results therefore suggest that the Polish version of the PES has strong psychometric performance and clinical relevance as a measure of the multidimensional empathy construct.
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The Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) is a 24-item self-report measure of alexithymia. Originally developed in English, it was designed to try to enable more comprehensive (i.e., facet-level and valence-specific) alexithymia assessments. This study aimed to introduce and validate a Polish version of the PAQ. Our sample were 1,008 people (69.44% females, 30.06% males and 0.50% non-binary) aged 18-78 (M = 29.69, SD = 14.15) from the general community. The PAQ's factor structure was verified with confirmatory factor analysis, and convergent and divergent validity were assessed via relationships with other measures of alexithymia and mental health symptoms. Our results indicated strong factorial validity, conforming to the intended subscale structure. As expected, all PAQ subscales correlated in expected directions with another established alexithymia measure, and markers of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. The PAQ showed good discriminant validity in terms of measuring an alexithymia construct that was separable from people's current level of distress. Test-retest and internal consistency reliabilities were also good. Overall, the Polish PAQ therefore appears to have strong psychometric properties. Our findings add to a growing body of literature supporting the validity of the PAQ, and the multidimensional nature of the alexithymia construct, across different nations and languages.
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The Climate Anxiety Scale (CAS) is a 13-item questionnaire for assessing climate anxiety (CA) as a psychological response to climate change. The CAS consists of two subscales, namely, cognitive impairment and functional impairment. This study aimed to validate the Polish version of the CAS. The sample included 603 respondents (344 females, 247 males, and 12 non-binary), aged 18-70 years (M = 25.32, SD = 9.59). Based on the exploratory factor analysis results, we proposed a 3-factor solution (i.e., intrusive symptoms, reflections on CA, and functional impairment), which seems to be theoretically more consistent with the content of the CAS statements. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the original 2-factor solution and the 3-factor one had a satisfactory and a good fit to the data, respectively, as well as both were invariant across different gender, age, and educational level categories. Despite the fact that the 3-factor solution had the best-fit indices, we recommended to examine the CAS structure in different samples and use the overall CAS score in cross-cultural research. Cognitive and functional impairment subscales were positively correlated with personal experience of climate change, behavioral engagement, environmental identity, and environmental motives, but they were negatively correlated with climate change denial and sense of safety. The CAS subscales were correlated with depressive symptoms, but contrary to expectations, they were not associated with anxiety symptoms and any cognitive coping strategies. The Polish version of the CAS has satisfactory psychometric properties. Overall, we reported low CA levels in the Polish sample. Women and younger people experienced higher CA.
