Development and Validation of the Multicontextual Interpersonal Relations Scale (MIRS)

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-95
Author(s):  
Melissa Simone ◽  
Christian Geiser ◽  
Ginger Lockhart

Abstract. Interpersonal relationships provide insight into a wide range of adult psychological health behaviors and well-being. Modern advancements in relational contexts (e.g., social media and phone use) have caused debate about the implications of technology use on overall interpersonal relationships and psychological health. Thus, the Multicontextual Interpersonal Relations Scale (MIRS) was developed to measure three unique processes of interpersonal relations and four unique contexts in which these activities take place. In total, N = 962 adult participants (aged 18–78 years) were recruited from the United States through Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online recruitment tool. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were conducted to examine the hypothesized factor structure, and bivariate correlations were computed to assess concurrent validity. CFA results supported a model with three process and three context (specific) factors, where face-to-face relations served as the reference context factor. Bivariate correlations revealed that the interpersonal relations factors correlated with the related constructs in the hypothesized ways. Overall, strong standardized factor loadings, item-level reliability, concurrent validity, and internal consistency support the structure and use of the MIRS. Findings suggest that participation in interpersonal relations is a multicontextual construct, requiring measurement of all unique processes and relational contexts.

Author(s):  
Deborah Carr ◽  
Vera K. Tsenkova

The body weight of U.S. adults and children has risen markedly over the past three decades. The physical health consequences of obesity are widely documented, and emerging research from the Midlife in the United States study and other large-scale surveys reveals the harmful impact of obesity on adults’ psychosocial and interpersonal well-being. This chapter synthesizes recent research on the psychosocial implications of body weight, with attention to explanatory mechanisms and subgroup differences in these patterns. A brief statistical portrait of body weight is provided, documenting rates and correlates of obesity, with a focus on race, gender, and socioeconomic status disparities. The consequences of body weight for three main outcomes are described: institutional and everyday discrimination, interpersonal relationships, and psychological well-being. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ways that recent integrative health research on the psychosocial consequences of overweight and obesity inform our understanding of population health.


2020 ◽  
pp. 9-27
Author(s):  
I. Baranauskiene ◽  
A. B. Kovalenko

The article presents the research on the characteristics of older preschool-age orphans’ interpersonal relationships. It reveals differences between the functioning of the sphere of orphans’ interpersonal relations and that of children brought up in families. Orphans show higher interest in adults, indicating that orphans’ need in adults’ attention is not satisfied. The main motives for communication with adults in families are mutual interactions and cognitive needs, while the dominant motive of orphan children is searching for attention and kindness. Orphans show increased inclination to conflicts, cause for which are every-day issues and the struggle for adults’ attention and friendliness. The main cause of conflicts characteristic for family-raised children is their selfaffirmation in games. Orphans are less and less likely to express their own emotions when communicating. They rarely turn to their partners for some advice, support, and sharing of experiences, unlike children in families. Orphaned children feel indifference in relationships with peers. Differences were found between orphaned children and family-raised children as for well-being of relationships: orphans’ well-being is quite low, while family-raised children’s well-being is high. Orphaned children, due to problems in interpersonal relationships with adults and peers, have some deviations in the most important psychological formations: distortion of self image, delayed formation of subjective attitude to oneself, as well as slow and abnormal development of activity, which may further negative affect their psychological well-being.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S639-S640
Author(s):  
Lisa A Hollis-Sawyer ◽  
Alison O’Neil

Abstract By 2050, older adults ages 65 or older will account for 83.7 million people in the U.S. population (An Aging Nation: The Older Population in the United States, 2014). It is imperative that products and technologies are designed to accommodate age-related changes that older adults are likely to experience. Given this population surge of older adults, there is a growing interest in identifying consumer products that are usable for older adults or “senior friendly.” Senior-friendly product testing (e.g., Senior Select®) focuses on the usability of various health and consumer products targeted to people with diminishment of any of the following: hearing, vision, taste, touch, smell, mobility & dexterity and /or mental acuity. A usability evaluation study was conducted in three senior living communities located in the Atlanta area. Twenty-nine participants ranged in age from 66 years old to 102 years old. Participants were shown a snack bar product and then asked to use the product themselves to perform a series of prepared tasks. After interacting with the product, participants were asked to share any comments that they had concerning the product. Issues of color contrast between the main packaging and the pull tab, easy of gripping and tearing the wrapper, the labeling of the nutrition information, and the package labeling (should refer to “adult” snack) were reported. Many respondents suggested that senior-friendly package design relates to their health and well-being. Implications toward a wide range of products for older adults of varying ability levels will be discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (28) ◽  
pp. 7290-7295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noreen Goldman ◽  
Dana A. Glei ◽  
Maxine Weinstein

Although there is little dispute about the impact of the US opioid epidemic on recent mortality, there is less consensus about whether trends reflect increasing despair among American adults. The issue is complicated by the absence of established scales or definitions of despair as well as a paucity of studies examining changes in psychological health, especially well-being, since the 1990s. We contribute evidence using two cross-sectional waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study to assess changes in measures of psychological distress and well-being. These measures capture negative emotions such as sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness, and positive emotions such as happiness, fulfillment, and life satisfaction. Most of the measures reveal increasing distress and decreasing well-being across the age span for those of low relative socioeconomic position, in contrast to little decline or modest improvement for persons of high relative position.


2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Di Giunta ◽  
Nancy Eisenberg ◽  
Anne Kupfer ◽  
Patrizia Steca ◽  
Carlo Tramontano ◽  
...  

The Perceived Empathic Self-Efficacy Scale (PESE) and the Perceived Social Self-Efficacy Scale (PSSE) were developed to assess, respectively, individuals’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding both empathic responding to others’ needs or feelings and managing interpersonal relationships. In this study of young adults, a unidimensional factorial structure of both scales was found in Italy, the United States, and Bolivia. Complete invariance at the metric level and partial invariance at the scalar level were found across gender and countries for both scales. The construct and incremental validity of both PESE and PSSE were further examined in a different sample of Italian young adults. Patterns of association of the PESE or PSSE with self-esteem, psychological well-being, and the use of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies were found, often over and beyond their associations with empathy or extraversion, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S194-S194
Author(s):  
Shelia Cotten ◽  
Shelia R Cotten ◽  
Travis Kadylak

Abstract Older adults are increasingly using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to communicate with social ties, gather information to make decisions, and for entertainment purposes. Research is increasingly showing that using ICTs has a range of potential benefits for older adults. However, less research examines the potential negative outcomes of ICT use for older adults. Data from a nationally representative sample of older adults in the United States is used to examine positive and negative outcomes of ICT use. Traditional well-being and social connection outcomes are examined as well as new stressors associated with mobile phone use. Our findings suggest that ICT use has varying effects on older adults, depending upon the type, level, and purposes of use. Implications are discussed for entities seeking to encourage ICT use to enhance health and quality of life among older adults.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Devrim Erginsoy Osmanoğlu

Open and healthy communication plays an important role in the determination of human relations. While people are interpreting the bodily feedbacks given by the people they are communicating with to understand their intentions, they rely on the information they give about themselves; that is, their explanations about themselves. The Johari Window technique is the technique that supports the creation of trust in interpersonal relations, as well as the elimination of problems arising in the communication used in counseling processes. According to this technique, the area including an individual's behaviors, attitudes, feelings, experiences, skills or clear information about how he/she looks is called the open area. This area’s being broad plays an important role in the individual’s developing close relationships with other members of society, in his/her happiness or in his/her living positive emotions. In many studies, it was determined that both the physical health and psychological health of the people who shared their knowledge about themselves were positively affected. The purpose of the current study is to expand the open area of the group members participating in nine-session group work by using Johari window so that their understanding and awareness of themselves can be improved and their understanding of others can be enhanced and they can be enabled to see interpersonal differences. The study group of the current research is comprised of 12 students; 5 females and 7 males, from the Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance who participated in the study on a volunteer basis. In the current study, in order to collect data, the Psychological Well-being Scale, which was developed on the basis of Ryff's (1989) psychological well-being model and the Johari Window Evaluation Form developed according to the model proposed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham were used. According to the posttest results obtained at the end of the study, it was observed that the open areas of the university students participating in the group work were expanded and their scores taken from the sub-dimension “positive relationships with others” of the subjective well-being increased.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Argyriadis ◽  
Athina Patelarou ◽  
Vasiliki Kitsona ◽  
Alexandra Trivli ◽  
Evridiki Patelarou ◽  
...  

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused the pandemic since March 2020, has affected among others, health professionals who work in covid-19 units by facing social discrimination. The aim of this study was to record the experiences of health professionals working in the first line of treatment of the pandemic, to analyse the effects of the pandemic on the interpersonal relationships of health professionals, and to ask about the stigma they faced during their work with people with covid-19. This is a qualitative study with an ethnographic approach based on 160 semi-structured interviews with health professionals living and working in the Epirus Region, Greece. For the data collection we used semi-structured interviews, discussions and participatory observation. Specifically, the interviews were conducted on health professionals and more specifically doctors, nurses, rescuers, physiotherapists and administrative staff, working in covid-19 units at the University General Hospital of Ioannina (Reference hospital for Ioannina, in Epirus), which assists in the treatment of patients with covid-19, and in the branch of the rescue department of Ioannina. The data were analysed in four thematic units based on their common characteristics: a) emotions and experiences of health professionals, b) interpersonal relations of health professionals, c) social exclusion and discrimination, and d) health professionals as patients. The results showed that the main emotions that health professionals experienced when they were moved to covid-19 clinics were fear, anxiety, distress, anger and insecurity. These feelings worsened when their family environment treated them with fear and hesitancy. Their social environment tended to avoid them, leading to a state of self-isolation. To conclude, health professionals faced discriminating behaviors and stigma both from their families and social environment, and from other health professionals. The government struggled to handle the situation in keeping a balance between both the security and well-being of health professionals as it was not prepared for a pandemic like this.


According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in the two decades preceding 2014 two member countries, Italy and Spain, experienced productivity decline, while just four member countries, Korea, Ireland, Finland, and the United States, managed to achieve rates of productivity growth in excess of one percent per annum. Rates of productivity growth slowed following the global financial crisis in nearly all member countries. These diverse national productivity performances are aggregates of the productivity performances of individual producers, which are influenced by organizational factors such as the quality of management practices and the adoption of new technologies, and also by institutional features such as the stringency of product and labor market and environmental regulations. At the level of the individual producer, productivity has an important impact on financial performance and survival, while at the aggregate level, productivity is a critical determinant of national well-being. The essays collected in the Handbook provide significant contributions to our understanding of the causes and consequences of productivity growth. Part I contains the editors’ introduction. The chapters in Part II address a variety of measurement issues, from both analytical and practical perspectives. The chapters in Part III address a wide range of productivity issues at the level of the individual producer or industry. The chapters in Part IV address a range of aggregate productivity issues, both domestic and international.


Author(s):  
Leslie Richardson ◽  
Bruce Peacock

Economics plays an important role not only in the management of national parks in developed countries, but also in demonstrating the contribution of these areas to societal well-being. The beneficial effect of park tourism on jobs and economic activity in communities near these protected areas has at times been a factor in their establishment. These economic impacts continue to be highlighted as a way to demonstrate the benefit and return on investment of national parks to local economies. However, the economic values supported by national parks extend far beyond local economic benefits. Parks provide unique recreation opportunities, health benefits, preservation of wildlife and habitat, and a wide range of ecosystem services that the public assigns an economic value to. In addition, value is derived from the existence of national parks and their preservation for future generations. These nonmarket benefits can be difficult to quantify, but they are essential for understanding and communicating the economic importance of parks. Economic methods used to estimate these values have been refined and tested for nearly seven decades, and they have come a long way in helping to elucidate the extent of the nonmarket benefits of protected areas. In many developed countries, national parks have regulations and policies that outline a framework for the consideration of economic values in decision-making contexts. For instance, large oil spills in the United States, such as the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989 and the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010, highlighted the need to better understand public values for affected park resources, leading to the extensive use of nonmarket values in natural resource damage assessments. Of course, rules and enforcement issues vary widely across countries, and the potential for economics to inform the day-to-day operations of national parks is much broader than what is currently outlined in such policies. While economics is only one piece of the puzzle in managing national parks, it provides a valuable tool for evaluating resource tradeoffs and for incorporating public preferences into the decision-making process, leading to greater transparency and assurance that national parks are managed for the benefit of society. Understanding the full extent of the economic benefits supported by national parks helps to further the mission of these protected areas in developed countries.


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