Workers' Sensation Seeking Matters: Development and Validation of the Need for Sensations at Work Scale (NSWS).

Although sensation seeking (SS) may be a highly relevant trait in the occupational context, it is still understudied in the field of work and organizational psychology. Probably, one reason is the lack of an appropriate SS instrument for the work context. We therefore developed a scale that measures work-related SS. Results based on a sample of 304 workers provided evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument. In an independent sample of 271 workers, confirmatory factor analyses supported a bifactor structure with a global SS factor and three specific domain factors (tension seeking, adrenaline seeking, and heartbeat increase seeking). Based on bifactor indices, essential unidimensionality of the instrument could be assumed. Work-related SS was positively associated with increasing challenging job demands, and a moderating effect of task variety on the relationship between work-related SS and job satisfaction was found. SS was not associated with the number of past job terminations. Overall, the findings indicate that SS may be relevant with regard to workers' proactive work behaviors and job attitudes. The Need for Sensations at Work Scale (NSWS) now provides a promising measurement instrument to further investigate SS in the work context.

ImaginYouth-A Therapist-Guided Internet-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Program for Adolescents and Young Adults With Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Study Protocol for a Two-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a relatively common mental disorder in adolescents and young adults, and is characterized by severe negative psychosocial consequences and high comorbidity as well as high mortality rates, mainly due to suicides. While patients in Germany have health insurance-financed access to evidence-based outpatient treatments, that is, cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT), waiting lists are long. Furthermore, patients with BDD report diverse treatment barriers, primarily feelings of shame and the belief that they would be better off with treatments that would alter the perceived flaw(s). Given adolescents' and young adults' high affinity to electronic media, the accessibility of evidence-based care for this severe mental disorder could be improved by providing an internet-based therapist-guided CBT intervention. Methods: In a two-arm randomized controlled trial (N = 40), adolescents and young adults (15-21 years) with a primary diagnosis of BDD based on a semi-structured clinical expert interview will be randomly allocated to an internet-based therapist-guided CBT intervention or a supportive internet-based therapy intervention. Assessments will take place at baseline, after mid-intervention (after 6 weeks), post-intervention, and at 4-week follow-up. The primary outcome is expert-rated BDD symptom severity at the primary endpoint post-intervention. Secondary outcomes include responder and remission rates based on expert rating, self-reported BDD symptoms, and psychosocial variables associated with BDD. Interventions: The CBT-based intervention consists of six modules each comprising one to three sessions, which focus on psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, work on self-esteem, exposure and ritual prevention, mirror retraining, and relapse prevention. A study therapist provides feedback after each session. The supportive therapy intervention consists of access to psychoeducational materials for the same 12-week period and at least one weekly supportive interaction with the study therapist. Conclusions: This is the first study to examine the feasibility and efficacy of an internet-based therapist-guided CBT intervention in adolescents and young adults with BDD. It could be an important first step to increase accessibility of care in this age group and for this severe and debilitating mental disorder. Clinical Trial Registration: German Register of Clinical Studies, DRKS00022055.

An empirically derived recommendation for the classification of body dysmorphic disorder: Findings from structural equation modeling.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), together with its subtype muscle dysmorphia (MD), has been relocated from the Somatoform Disorders category in the DSM-IV to the newly created Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders category in the DSM-5. Both categorizations have been criticized, and an empirically derived classification of BDD is lacking. A community sample of N = 736 participants completed an online survey assessing different psychopathologies. Using a structural equation modeling approach, six theoretically derived models, which differed in their allocation of BDD symptoms to various factors (i.e. general psychopathology, somatoform, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, affective, body image, and BDD model) were tested in the full sample and in a restricted sample (n = 465) which indicated primary concerns other than shape and weight. Furthermore, measurement invariance across gender was examined. Of the six models, only the body image model showed a good fit (CFI = 0.972, RMSEA = 0.049, SRMR = 0.027, TLI = 0.959), and yielded better AIC and BIC indices than the competing models. Analyses in the restricted sample replicated these findings. Analyses of measurement invariance of the body image model showed partial metric invariance across gender. The findings suggest that a body image model provides the best fit for the classification of BDD and MD. This is in line with previous studies showing strong similarities between eating disorders and BDD, including MD. Measurement invariance across gender indicates a comparable presentation and comorbid structure of BDD in males and females, which also corresponds to the equal prevalence rates of BDD across gender.

The structure of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12): two meta-analytic factor analyses.

The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) is a popular measure of psychological distress. Despite its widespread use, an ongoing controversy pertains to its internal structure. Although the GHQ-12 was originally constructed to capture a unitary construct, empirical studies identified different factor structures. Therefore, this study examined the dimensionality of the GHQ-12 in two independent meta-analyses. The first meta-analysis used summary data published in 38 primary studies (total N = 76,473). Meta-analytic exploratory factor analyses identified two factors formed by negatively and positively worded items. The second meta-analysis included individual responses of 410,640 participants from 84 independent samples. Meta-analytic confirmatory factor analyses corroborated the two-dimensional structure of the GHQ-12. However, bifactor modelling showed that most of the variance was explained by a general factor. Therefore, subscale scores reflected rather limited unique variance. Overall, the two meta-analyses demonstrated that the GHQ-12 is essentially unidimensional. It is not recommended to use and interpret subscale scores because they primarily reflect general mental health rather than distinct constructs.

Parameter accuracy in meta-analyses of factor structures.

Two new methods for the meta-analysis of factor loadings are introduced and evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations. The direct method pools each factor loading individually, whereas the indirect method synthesizes correlation matrices reproduced from factor loadings. The results of the two simulations demonstrated that the accuracy of meta-analytical derived factor loadings is primarily affected by characteristics of the pooled factor structures (e.g., model error, communality) and to a lesser degree by the sample size of the primary studies and the number of included samples. The choice of the meta-analytical method had a minor impact. In general, the indirect method produced somewhat less biased estimates, particularly for small-sample studies. Thus, the indirect method presents a viable alternative for the meta-analysis of factor structures that could also address moderator hypotheses. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.