Trajectories of Procedural and Interactional Justice as Predictors of Retirement among Swedish Workers: Differences between Three Groups of Retirees

Organizational justice is an important aspect of the psychosocial work environment, but there is a lack of studies on whether justice perceptions also predict retirement decisions. The aim of this study is to examine trajectories of procedural and interactional justice perceptions prior to retirement of three groups of retirees while considering self-rated health and important demographics. Data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (2006–2018, N = 3000) were used. Respondents were grouped into early retirement, normative retirement and late retirement. Latent growth curve models and multinomial logistic regressions were conducted to test whether trajectories of justice perceptions prior to retirement differed between retirement groups while controlling for self-rated health development and demographic variables. Late retirees had higher intercept levels of interactional justice and higher intercept levels of self-rated health prior to retirement, compared to early retirees. Late retirees also showed a slower decrease in procedural justice compared to early retirees. Only intercept levels of self-rated health differed between early retirees and normative retirees, such that early retirees had lower levels of self-rated health prior to retirement. Keeping employees in the workforce is a major challenge for any aging society. Organizational justice perceptions in the years prior to retirement seem particularly influential for delaying retirement.

Depressive symptoms as a mediator between impulsiveness and suicidal ideation among Chinese medical college students

Background: Suicidal ideation is thought to be of high risk for attempts and behaviours. Researches have suggested that depressive symptoms and impulsiveness can affect suicidal ideation, attempts and behaviours independently. But how they work together in influencing suicidal ideation remains unclear. This study is aiming to investigate the reciprocal associations among impulsiveness, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation and to confirm the mediating effect of depressive symptoms on impulsiveness and suicidal ideation through cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.Methods: The Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11th version (BIS-11) and Self-rating Idea of Suicide Scale (SIOSS) were applied, as well as a list of demographic information. Multilinear regression and parallel process latent growth curve models were applied to conduct cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, respectively.Results: (1) Participants with suicidal ideation scored higher in depressive symptoms and impulsiveness than those without suicidal ideation (P<10-5). (2) The three variables and the three dimensions of impulsiveness were significantly reciprocally correlated with each other (P<0.01). (3) For the impulsiveness total score, non-planning, motor and attention, the multilinear regression models fit well (adjusted R2>0.3, SRMR<0.05). Their indirect effects on suicidal ideation through depressive symptoms were all statistically significant (BIS-SDS-SIOSS, indirect effect coefficient=0.557, P<0.001; non-planning-SDS-SIOSS, indirect effect coefficient=0.480, P<0.001; motor-SDS-SIOSS, indirect effect coefficient=0.486, P<0.001; attention-SDS-SIOSS, indirect effect coefficient=0.504, P<0.001). (4) Four parallel process latent growth curve models fit well (RMSEA<0.05). The total indirect effect of impulsiveness on the growth rate of suicidal ideation through the initial level and growth rate of depressive symptoms was significant (indirect effect coefficient=-0.450, P=0.001). The indirect effects of non-planning and attention impulsiveness were -0.336 (P=0.005) and -0.314 (P=0.002), respectively. However, the indirect effect of motor function on the growth rate of suicidal ideation was not significant (coefficient=-0.379, P=0.067).Conclusions: This study mainly revealed that individuals with impulsive personalities might be at higher risk for and experience more rapid changes in suicidal ideation. The effects were indirect and mediated by depressive symptoms. This implies that impulsive personality with depressive symptoms is critical for suicide prevention and needs more attention.

Reliability in Latent Growth Curve Models

In this chapter I give an overview of reliability in the context of latent growth curve models. Although conceptually similar to latent factor models, reliability is more complex in a growth context. Two different conceptions of reliability were compared: growth curve reliability and growth rate reliability. The former evaluates the reliability of a measurement at a specific time point, the latter evaluates the reliability of the estimate of change over time. The differences, strengths, and limitations of these approaches are discussed, and demonstrated with an example on memory change in older adults. I show that using multiple measurements at each time point (with a second-order latent growth curve model) can improve growth curve reliability but will not necessarily improve growth rate reliability.

Mutual relationships between the levels and changes in interest, self-efficacy, and perceived difficulty during a task

This study examined how students’ interest, self-efficacy, and perceived difficulty change during a task, how those changes relate to each other, and how they predict performance. Sixth-graders (N = 1024) rated their interest, self-efficacy, and perceived difficulty repeatedly during a dynamic problem-solving task. Results from the estimated non-linear and piecewise latent growth curve models showed interest and self-efficacy to decrease, and perceived difficulty first to increase, and then to decrease, over time. The levels of and changes in interest and self-efficacy correlated positively with each other, but negatively with perceived difficulty. Task performance was positively predicted by initial interest and less negative change in self-efficacy, and negatively by initial perceived difficulty and steeper increase in it. The results suggest perceived difficulty to have a distinctive role in the dynamics of task-specific motivation, and on-task changes to be relatively independent of more general motivation and competence.

A magnifying glass for the study of coupled developmental changes: Combining psychological networks and latent growth models

In recent years, methodological advances for analyzing developmental data are coming thick and fast. Two of the most popular and rapidly developing frameworks are (i) longitudinal structural equation modeling and (ii) network modeling. The present paper outlines the incremental gain in what we can learn from data about co-developing skills and challenges when using these two frameworks in tandem. First, we discuss the proposed analytic paradigm in the context of fundamental questions in developmental psychology. Second, we present two different paths to formalize such questions, introducing, first, a recently developed network model for longitudinal panel data and, second, the notion of growth parameter networks based on latent growth curve models. Used in tandem, they can provide new insights into the longitudinal co-development of developmental domains. Specifically, we focus on integrating growth parameters from latent growth curve models into networks and analyzing them as such. Third, we illustrate these analytic steps with an empirical example using longitudinal data from the Millenium Cohort Study (N=7623). As illustrated and discussed in the real data example, the proposed approach offers a magnifying glass to the study of coupled developmental changes. Teasing apart the processes underlying the heterogeneity of childhood development can, in turn, add to substantive developmental theory.