Do You Approach Positive Events or Do They Approach You? Linking Event Valence and Time Representations in a Dutch Sample

In order to think and talk about time, people often use the ego- or time-moving representation. In the ego-moving representation, the self travels through a temporal landscape, leaving past events behind and approaching future events; in the time-moving representation, the self is stationary and temporal events pass by. Several studies contest to the psychological ramifications of these two representations by, inter alia, demonstrating a link between them and event valence. These studies have, however, been limited to English speakers, even though language has been found to affect time representation. The present study therefore replicated Margolies and Crawford’s (2008) experiment on event valence and time representation amongst speakers of Dutch. Unlike Margolies and Crawford (2008), we do not find that positive valence leads to the endorsement of an ego-moving statement. Future studies will need to determine the ways through which language might moderate the relation between event valence and time representation.

Practicing Other-Focused Kindness and Self-Focused Kindness Among Those at Risk for Mental Illness: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

People with reduced levels of mental well-being might be at risk for developing future mental illness. Although several positive psychology interventions successfully improve mental well-being and psychological distress, less is known about their efficacy in a sample at risk for mental disorders. A Dutch sample of 289 participants with low or moderate levels of well-being were randomly assigned to other-focused kindness with reflection, other-focused kindness without reflection, self-focused kindness, or waitlist control (Trial register: NTR6786). Results of multilevel growth curve analyses revealed that other-focused kindness, but not self-focused kindness, led to improvements in the primary outcome mental well-being relative to waitlist control up to 6-week follow-up. By contrast, only other-focused kindness without reflection led to improvements in psychological distress. The three kindness conditions mainly did not differ from one another, and mainly no differences were found up to 6-months follow-up. An exception was that perceived stress was significantly more reduced up to 6-week and 6-months follow-up when people practiced other-focused kindness without reflection then when participants had practiced self-focused kindness. These findings point to the benefits of practicing kindness for others when people might be at risk for future mental illness. The study also indicates that reflecting about practicing kindness does not seem to have added value.

Mood and Changes in Alcohol Consumption in Young Adults during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Model Explaining Associations with Perceived Immune Fitness and Experiencing COVID-19 Symptoms

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown on mood states, stress, alcohol consumption and perceived immune fitness in a Dutch sample. Analysis included a subsample from the “Corona Lockdown: how fit are you?” (CLOFIT) study, comprising N = 761 participants who reported consuming alcohol in 2020. Results show that, compared to pre-lockdown, the first COVID-19 lockdown (March 2020) was associated with experiencing poorer mood (e.g., anxiety, depression, loneliness, fatigue) and increased stress levels. Among younger participants (18 to 35 years old), a significant decrease in weekly alcohol consumption was found during COVID-19 lockdown, which was not significant in older individuals. For the younger age cohort (18 to 35 years old), increased stress significantly correlated to increased weekly alcohol consumption (r = 0.163, p = 0.003), which in turn, correlated significantly to reporting a poorer perceived immune fitness (r = −0.165, p = 0.002). Poorer perceived immune fitness correlated significantly with increases in the presence and severity of COVID-19 symptoms (r = −0.313, p < 0.001, and r = −0.325, p < 0.001, respectively). The data provides evidence for significant relationships between changes in mood, stress and alcohol consumption during COVID-19 lockdown, and supports a model that links these changes to perceived immune fitness and susceptibility to experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.

Interdependence between L1 and L2: The case of Syrian children with refugee backgrounds in Canada and the Netherlands

Children who are refugees become bilingual in circumstances that are often challenging and that can vary across national contexts. We investigated the second language (L2) syntactic skills of Syrian children aged 6-12 living in Canada (n = 56) and the Netherlands (n = 47). Our goal was to establish the impact of the first language (L1 = Syrian Arabic) skills on L2 (English, Dutch) outcomes and whether L1–L2 interdependence is influenced by the length of L2 exposure. To measure L1 and L2 syntactic skills, cross-linguistic Litmus Sentence Repetition Tasks (Litmus-SRTs) were used. Results showed evidence of L1–L2 interdependence, but interdependence may only surface after sufficient L2 exposure. Maternal education level and refugee camp experiences differed between the two samples. Both variables impacted L2 outcomes in the Canadian but not in the Dutch sample, demonstrating the importance to examine refugee children’s bilingual language development in different national contexts.

Trolls Without Borders: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Victim Reactions to Verbal and Silent Aggression Online

Trolling—the online exploitation of website, chat, or game mechanics at another user's expense—can and does take place all over cyberspace. It can take myriad forms, as well—some verbal, like trash-talking an opponent in a game, and some silent, like refusing to include a new player in a team effort during an in-game quest. However, despite this variety, there are few to no studies comparing the effects of these differing trolling types on victims. In addition, no study has yet taken into account users' offline cultural context and norms into the trolling victim experience. To fill this gap in the literature, the present study put participants from three culturally-distinct countries—Pakistan, Taiwan, and the Netherlands—in a simulated trolling interaction using the Cyberball game. Participants were either flamed (read: harshly insulted) or ostracized by a member of their own cultural group (ingroup) or a minority member (outgroup), and the participants' emotional responses, behavioral intentions toward the other players, and messages sent during the game were taken as indicators of their response to the trolling. Results showed that our Taiwanese sample used the most reactive aggression when trolled and our Dutch sample was the most passive. In addition, ostracism generally produced the desire to repair relationships, irrespective of cultural context, and perpetrator culture (ingroup or outgroup) only produced an effect in the behavioral intentions of our Pakistani sample. Overall, it would appear that online and offline culture interact to produce the variety of responses to trolling seen in extant literature. Additional implications for future research into computer-mediated communication and online aggression are also discussed.

Relational climates moderate the effect of openness to experience on knowledge hiding: a two-country multi-level study

Purpose Understanding employee knowledge hiding behavior can serve organizations in better implementing knowledge management practices. The purpose of this study is to investigate how personality and work climate influence knowledge hiding, by examining the respective roles of openness to experience and relational (specifically, communal sharing and market pricing) climates. Design/methodology/approach Multilevel modeling was used with two distinct samples, one from Vietnam with 119 employees in 20 teams and one from The Netherlands with 136 employees in 32 teams. Findings In both samples, the hypothesized direct relationship between openness and knowledge hiding was not found. In the Vietnamese sample, only the moderating effect of market pricing climate was confirmed; in the Dutch sample, only the moderating effect of communal sharing climate was confirmed. The findings of the Vietnamese sample suggest that people with a high sense of openness to experience hide knowledge less under low market pricing climate. In the Dutch sample, people with high openness to experience hide knowledge less under high communal sharing climate. The authors conclude that, in comparison with personality, climate plays a stronger role in predicting knowledge hiding behavior. Research limitations/implications Small sample size and self-reported data might limit the generalizability of this study’s results. Practical implications The paper highlights how organizational context (relational climate) needs to be taken into account in predicting how personality (openness to experience) affects knowledge hiding. Originality/value This paper contributes to a better understanding of the knowledge hiding construct by extending the set of known antecedents and exploring the organizational context in which such phenomena happen.

Refining Insights on the Impact of SES on Perceived Health: A Positive Health Perspective

BackgroundRecent insights and developments on health and society urge for a critical look at the positive relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health. We challenge the notions that it is sufficient to distinguish only between two groups of SES (low and high) and that only overall health is taken into account. MethodsA new grouping of SES was developed based on both income and education, resulting in six SES groups. Health was defined in terms of a new positive health concept, operationalised into six health dimensions generating a measure of total general health (TGH). Next, six socioeconomic and demographic determinants of health were included. Linear regression, T-tests and one-way ANOVA were applied to investigate the relationships in a Dutch sample. A subjective way to measure health was applied: self-rated health. ResultsFour out of six dimensions of health determined TGH: bodily functions, daily functioning, quality of life, and social and societal participation. Three out of six socioeconomic and demographic determinants impacted TGH: housing situation, age, and difficulties meeting financial obligations. While this is the general picture for the entire sample, there were interesting similarities and differences between the six SES groups. The similarities refer to the positive impact of the evaluation of bodily functions and daily functioning on TGH in all SES groups. The other dimensions affected TGH in some groups and some dimensions only in one SES group. None of the socioeconomic and demographic determinants affected TGH in all SES groups. New insights on health inequalities are provided. ConclusionsThe well-known positive relationship between SES and health is confirmed in this study. Further refining the health concept into six dimensions provides more detailed insights on which dimensions impact health the most. The subjective approach applied offers more refined information to better understand which health issues really matter to people. This yields new and more effective ways to develop interventions aimed at increasing healthy behaviour.

Two tales of community work

Community-oriented approaches in social work are highlighted in both social work literature and policy documents in post-financial crisis Europe, and in the Nordic welfare states where professionalized bureaucracy, universal benefits and institutionalized social work have been the norm. The aim of this article is to explore social workers’ experiences of role changes in the transition to a more community-oriented approach, characterized by ambulatory work, the facilitation of local resources, multi-disciplinary collaboration and user participation. The empirical data consists of qualitative data from two cases: a political reform in the Netherlands (The Social Support Act), and a user-initialized project in Norway. Ten social workers from nine different organizations were interviewed in the Netherlands, and four social workers from one community-based project in Norway. We analysed these as a multiple case study of a transformation towards community-based practice, but one in which the political and organizational context differs. A common theme was the changing of the roles of the social worker and the subsequent experiences of challenges in different contextual settings. We present our findings under the topics of identity work, differing organizational expectations and role conflicts. Social workers in both the Norwegian and Dutch sample express experiences of multiple roles, vague roles and conflicting roles, with our analysis showing that role stress was common in both cases, regardless of whether the initiative was top-down or bottom-up. Remedying role stress could be a crucial element in processes aiming at user participation, social cohesion, cross-disciplinary cooperation and strengths perspectives.

Do I trust you when you smile? Effects of sex and emotional expression on facial trustworthiness appraisal

Background Trust is a prerequisite for successful social relations. People tend to form a first impression of people‘s trustworthiness based on their facial appearance. The sex of the judging person and its congruency with the sex of the judged people influence these appraisals. Moreover, trustworthiness and happiness share some facial features, which has led to studies investigating the interplay between both social judgments. Studies revealed high correlation in judging happiness and trustworthiness across different facial identities. However, studies are missing that investigate whether this relationship exists on a within-subject level and whether in-group biases such as the congruency between the sex of the judging and judged individual influence this relationship. In the present study, we addressed these questions. Methods Data were collected in an online-survey in two separate samples (N = 30, German sample, N = 107 Dutch sample). Subjects assessed the intensity of happiness and trustworthiness expressed in neutral and calm facial expression of the same characters (50% males, 50% females). Statistical analyses comprised rm-Anova designs based on rating scores and estimates of within-subject associations between both judgments. Results Our findings replicate high correlations between happiness and trustworthiness ratings across facial identities based on average scores across participants. However, the strength of this association was strongly dependent on the methodological approach and inter-subject variability was high. Our data revealed an in-group advantage for trustworthiness in women. Moreover, the faces’ sex and emotional expressions differentially influenced the within-subject correlation between both judgments in men and women. Conclusion Our findings replicate previous studies on the association between happiness and trustworthiness judgments. We extend our understanding of the link between both social judgments by uncovering that within-subject variability is high and influenced by sex and the availability and appraisal of positive emotional facial cues.