939 resultados para path analysis


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[Abstract] Verbal communication strategy (VCS) refers to a programmed knowledge applied by individuals to understand and express intentions via language symbols in their realization of communicative objectives according to social conventions. As an important index of social development, verbal communication strategy has provided a new perspective for social skill studies. However, more work has to be done in the investigation of LD children’s VCS developmental pattern and affecting mechanism. Through contextual test, structured interview and role-play, the present study, by adopting integrated measurements of instrumental and interpersonal effectiveness, explored the developmental characteristics of Chinese learning-disabled primary school children across 3-6th grades at both comprehension and application levels. Then, their social perspective-taking performance and verbal retelling competence of each participant were examined, on the basis of which, path analysis was conducted, with social perspective-taking, verbal retelling and verbal communication strategy comprehension as independent variables, to reveal the inner mechanism affecting LD children’s application of verbal communication strategy. Finally, an intervention study was carried out through a combination of polite request strategy understanding lessons and social perspective-taking training dramas. The results indicate that:(1) No significant grade differences were found in LD group for polite request strategy, while significant differences were reported across different grades of non-LD children. For indirect reply strategy, significant grade and gender differences were found among LD children, but the developmental trajectory between the two groups was different. For both polite request and indirect reply strategies, the strategy comprehension level of LD children was significantly lower than those without learning disabilities. (2) No significant grade and gender differences were found in LD group in their application of polite request strategy, while for non-LD children, significant differences were reported across different grades. For indirect reply strategy, both LD and non-LD groups exhibited similar developmental characteristics. Significant group differences only exist in the over-all application level of polite request strategies, not in indirect reply strategies. However, the differences of the latter between the two groups were found at significant level only among the 11-12 year olds. (3) LD children’s perspective-taking and verbal retelling competence were significantly lower than those of non-LD group. For polite request strategy, the influence of social perspective-taking to strategy application was indirect and must be via strategy comprehension, while for indirect reply strategy, strategy comprehension was found to play as a partial mediator between social perspective-taking and strategy application. The influence of verbal retelling to strategy application was indirect on both types of strategies. (4) LD children’s strategy comprehension and social perspective-taking level can be improved, and the improvement of these two competences has significant positive impact on the increase of their strategy application level. Key Words: learning disabilities, verbal communication strategy, social perspective- taking

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The arguments on self discrepancy can be traced back to the old ages, but the systematic investigations were started by Higgins et al. at 1985.Compared to the large number of foreign studies, only a few ones have been conducted in our own country. Numerous characteristics of undergruaduate’s actual-ideal discrepancy and a great many determinative factors have been found as well as many of its negative effects—especially the greater the actual-ideal discrepancy, the more negative on the mind and behavior. Nevertheless, there are still many issues to be solved, such as the extend of the undergruaduate’s actual-ideal discrepancy level in own country. On the other hand, although there are a great many internal and external determinative factors of actual-ideal discrepancy, how they overally influence the discrepancy of the same individual is still unknown; to what extent does actual-ideal discrepancy influence the human mind and behavior and whether the influence is positive or negtive? This research collected a sample consisting of 4 undergraduate grades and 5 majors from a middle-ranked university. We adopted questionnaires in the study, and analyzed the data using correlation analysis, regression analysis, variances analysis, and path analysis. Our aim focused on the general characteristics of the undergruaduate’s actual-ideal discrepancy in own country, the overall working mechanism of the determinative factors including environmental and personal factors on the actual-ideal discrepancy of the same individual, and the effects of the actual-ideal discrepancy on psychological adaption, motivation, and behavior. The main results are as following: (1)The improved measurement instrument possesses good validity and reliability, and can be used in future research. (2) The actual-ideal discrepancy level among undergraduates is slightly bellow medium. The proportion of undergraduates who have a higher actual-ideal discrepancy level is small. There is significant gender difference in actual-ideal discrepancy level, but no significant difference across different majors and grades. (3)This research probed the overall working mechanism of the parenting style(environmental factors) and the personality factors(personal factors) including stability, flexibility, cleverness, and esteem on the undergruaduate’s actual-ideal discrepancy. The results shows that the parenting style of warmth and understanding, stability, flexibility, and esteem influence the actual-ideal discrepancy. Esteem entirely moderate the relationship between the parenting style of warmth and understanding and actual-ideal discrepancy, partially moderate the relationship between the flexibility, stability and actual-ideal discrepancy. Furthermore, the above factors can be order as stability, flexibility, and parenting style of warmth and understanding in terms of decreasing impact on the actual-ideal discrepancy. No significant effect of cleverness and other parenting style was found. The parenting style of warmth and understanding, stability, and flexibility interactively influence the actual-ideal discrepancy in the following manner: the stability and flexibility, both of which have independent influence on the actual-ideal discrepancy, entirely moderate the relationship between the parenting style of warmth and understanding and actual-ideal discrepancy. (4) Actual-ideal discrepancy plays a negative role in adaption indices, including self-efficacy, self-identity, self-actualization. Actual-ideal discrepancy also has negative effects on the 9 symptoms measured by SCL-90, vitality, approach motivation, avoidance motivation, and performance goals. No significant influence on mastering goals was found. Actual-ideal discrepancy uniquely correlates with depression symptom. The above results contribute from the point of self-discrepancy to the understanding of self-identity of undergraduates, and they enrich the knowledge of the development of self and contribute to the understanding of the development of human personality.This research advances on the two key problems of the developmental mechanism of actual-ideal discrepancy and that promotes the knowledge of the developmental mechanism of actual-ideal discrepancy. The research probed the relationship between the actual-ideal discrepancy and motivation which is an important phenomenon and this enlarges the domain of the actual-ideal discrepancy research. The results make sure that actual-ideal discrepancy is one of the important factors influencing undergruaduate’s mind and behavior. The conclusions can provide reference and guidance in the diagnosis and intervension strategies for mental health education and counseling practice in university.

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Stigma is defined as a sign of disgrace or discredit that sets a person apart from others. Stigmatized individuals had been significantly influenced by their group-based stigma. Through the methods of laboratory experiment and questionnaire surveys, the current study started with examining the attitudes of middle school students to the students with learning disabilities (LD), systemly explored the characteristics of perceived stigma and self-stigma of LD students, the mechanism that the influences of stigma on students with LD, and the mental control required to cope with the stigma. The results of the present studies had significant implications for the understanding of the LD phenomenon and the intervention of LD adolescents. The results indicate that: 1. Generally, middle school students had negative implicit attitude and negative explicit attitudes towards the LD students. The effect size of the phenomenon of this study is large. The LD students showed a more positive attitude than others on the explicit attitude measure; all students consistently had negative attitudes toward LD students on the implicit attitude indices, in addition, no group differences and gender differences were observed in the implicit attitude. 2. Eight hundred and seventy two students were surveyed to test the reliability and validity of the new developed perceived stigma scale and self-stigma scale. Both questionnaires showed sufficient content validity, construct validity, criterion-related validity and adequate internal consistency reliability. Then, both questionnaires were administered to student with high academic achievement (high achiever), students with middle academic achievement (middle achiever), and LD students. Results revealed that the LD students mildly stigmatized by the social culture. The LD students had more stigma perception and self-stigma than the middle achievers and high achievers. The results also indicated that there were more stigma perception and self-stigma for LD students in grade two than that of LD students in grade one and grade three; meanwhile, male LDstudent hade more stigma perception and self-stigma than female LD students in all grades. 3. A latent variable path analysis was conducted to investigate how the stigma affect the academic goals using the data collected from 186 LD students. The results suggested that the LD-related stigma did not have direct influence on academic goals. The LD-related stigma indirectly influenced the academic goals through mediating effects of self-stigma and academic efficacy. 4. Stereotype threat could have some influences on the relationship between the task feedback and self-esteem. The results of study using eighty-four LD students showed that: when the negative stereotype was not primed, the self-esteem of the LD students was significantly influenced by the feedback of the task: an enhance self-esteem following a positive feedback and a lower self-esteem following a negative feedback. When the negative stereotype was primed, there was no significantly difference between the positive feedback group and negative feedback group. All the results showed that priming the negative stereotype could weaken the influence of feedback to the self-esteem of LD students. 5. There was more cognitive and behavioral control when LD students tried to cope with the stigma by concealing negative academic achievement during an individual interview with an unfamilar expert. The LD students whose academic achievements could be concealed had more thought suppression and thought intrusion and reported more self-monitoring behavior than the participants in the other experimental conditions.

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The research objectives were to investigate the psychological structure of employees' organizational commitments(OCs), and its antecedents, and to examine the relative effects of employees' OCs to their performances. In order to deeply uncover the nature of OCs, some standard methods, such as in-depth interview, focus-group, semi-open questionnaire, standard questionnaire etc., were employed. In data analysis, not only some common statistical methods, such as multivariate analysis of variance, cross-table analysis, factor analysis, but also some forefront ones, such as confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis of SEM, were used. The paper covers six chapters: 1) In the first chapter, Firstly some previous empirical studies, which examined structures, antecedents, correlates, and/or consequences of organizational commitment in China and Western countries, were summarized. This summary covers most of the respectable researchers' works of this field, such as H.S.Becker, B.Buchanan, L.W.Porter, G. Ritzer, H.M.Trice, J.A.Alutto, L.G.Hrebiniak, R.T.Mowday, J.P.Meyer, N.J.Allen, G.W.McGee, R.C.Ford, R.Eisenberger, etc. Then three theoretical hypothesis were put forward as following: ① In China, OCs should be multidimensional psychological structures, which means there should exist more than one type of OCs; ② There should be some different antecedents to different OCs; ③ Employees with different types of OC should perform differently in their works. Finally the theoretical and practical significance were discussed. 2) In the second chapter, great efforts were made to investigate the OC types. Firstly, in-depth interview with managers and employees, semi-open questionnaire, and some other methods were used in the pilot research to gather much qualitative material. Then OC questionnaire was designed to get quantitative data in about 20 enterprises, including state-owned, collective-owned, wholly foreign-funded, and joint-ventures. During revising of this questionnaire, there were about 5000 samples surveyed. after factor analysis, the data shows that there should be 5 types of OCs in China, which were respectively named as Affective Commitment, Normative commitment, Ideal Commitment, Economic Commitment, Choice Commitment. Thirdly, confirmatory factor analysis method was used to successfully confirm this 5-factor model. Finally, Cronbach a and test-retest correlate indicate that this questionnaire is reliable. Since factor analysis result has show its construct validity, a simple criterion-related validity research was conducted. 3) In order to investigate the correlation between different OC and employee performance and different antecedents of OC, 5 other questionnaires, such as Employee Satisfaction Questionnaire, Perceived Organizational Support Questionnaire, Social Exchange Questionnaire, Altruism Scale, and Leader Confidence Scale were revised in the third chapter. 4)In the fourth chapter, a lot of correlates, cross-table analysis were conducted to show the correlation between different OCs and 10 performances, which indicate employees with different OCs will show different performance in 10 variables, such as altruism, etc. 5) In the fifth chapter, correlate analysis, multivariate of analysis, and path analysis of SEM were used to investigate the antecedents of OC. A satisfactory model showing the correlation between OC and their antecedents was confirmed. 6) In the last chapter, all researches about OC, and its limitations were summarized.

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The research studied self-efficacy and job mechanism of insurance salesmen in China by the methods of in-depth interview, focus-group, semi-open questionnaire, standard questionnaire. There were about 1300 samples surveyed. The way of data analysis such as factor analysis, correlation analysis, regreesion analysis and structure equation was used. Four following conclusions were drawn: First, self-efficacy of inssurance salesmen in China consists of eight factorswhich are interview skills, manner, persistence, control of emotion, plans and comments, master of knowledge, intuition and judgement, preparation. Second, the relationship between self-efficacy and other job variables such as achievement motivation, work incentive, coping strategy, view of ability, performance, goalsetting, colleague relationship, the way of feedback from leader, job satisfaction and exertion were tested and all the correlations were significant. Third, regression analysis was used to test the relationship between self-efficacy and the antecedent variables. The result was that four antecedent varialbes enter equation (p<.05). They are self-oriented achievement motivation, stability of emotion, performance and colleague relationship.. Finally, vertified by path-analysis, the research posits a comprehensive model about job for insurance salesmen, in which self-efficacy was the most important factor. On the one hand, self-efficacy has dominant effects on the consequent variables, such as mastery goal, performance- approach goal, job satisfaction, exertion, coping strategy, on the another hand, self-efficacy was found as mediator of the relationship between the antecedent variables and consequent variables.

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In this study, we made research on coping with stress in undergraduate students. The whole work included two parts: (a) We developed the Coping Strategies Questionnaire and had it tested. Five kinds of coping strategies were found by factor analysis: Problem Solving, Passive Acceptance, Support Seeking, Emotion Regulation, and Unadaptation. The reliability and validity coefficients of the questionnaire was high. (b) We examined the relations among personality characteristics (Locus of control, Extraversion, Neuroticism), emotion state, cognitive appraisal (psychological pressure, controllability, resource of social support), and the specific coping processes in several specific stressful events. The results indicated that coping have some degree of consistency across different situations which suggested that there is a general coping tendency, and that this general coping tendency, in addition to the above considered variables, have different degree of effects on subjects' choice of specific coping strategies. Finally, theoretical model of the relationship was tested through path analysis.

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Efficient searching is crucial for timely location of food and other resources. Recent studies show diverse living animals employ a theoretically optimal scale-free random search for sparse resources known as a Lévy walk, but little is known of the origins and evolution of foraging behaviour and the search strategies of extinct organisms. Here we show using simulations of self-avoiding trace fossil trails that randomly introduced strophotaxis (U-turns) – initiated by obstructions such as ¬¬¬self-trail avoidance or innate cueing – leads to random looping patterns with clustering across increasing scales that is consistent with the presence of Lévy walks. This predicts optimal Lévy searches can emerge from simple behaviours observed in fossil trails. We then analysed fossilized trails of benthic marine organisms using a novel path analysis technique and find the first evidence of Lévy-like search strategies in extinct animals. Our results show that simple search behaviours of extinct animals in heterogeneous environments give rise to hierarchically nested Brownian walk clusters that converge to optimal Lévy patterns. Primary productivity collapse and large-scale food scarcity characterising mass extinctions evident in the fossil record may have triggered adaptation of optimal Lévy-like searches. The findings suggest Lévy-like behaviour has been employed by foragers since at least the Eocene but may have a more ancient origin, which could explain recent widespread observations of such patterns among modern taxa.

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Food webs are the complex networks of trophic interactions that stoke the metabolic fires of life. To understand what structures these interactions in natural communities, ecologists have developed simple models to capture their main architectural features. However, apparently realistic food webs can be generated by models invoking either predator-prey body-size hierarchies or evolutionary constraints as structuring mechanisms. As a result, this approach has not conclusively revealed which factors are the most important. Here we cut to the heart of this debate by directly comparing the influence of phylogeny and body size on food web architecture. Using data from 13 food webs compiled by direct observation, we confirm the importance of both factors. Nevertheless, phylogeny dominates in most networks. Moreover, path analysis reveals that the size-independent direct effect of phylogeny on trophic structure typically outweighs the indirect effect that could be captured by considering body size alone. Furthermore, the phylogenetic signal is asymmetric: closely related species overlap in their set of consumers far more than in their set of resources. This is at odds with several food web models, which take only the view-point of consumers when assigning interactions. The echo of evolutionary history clearly resonates through current food webs, with implications for our theoretical models and conservation priorities.

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What influences how well-prepared student teachers feel towards working in schools upon completion of their initial teacher preparation (ITP)? In order to investigate this question, we used a path analysis using data from a longitudinal study investigating the experiences of trainee and early career phase teachers in England. The data were generated via self-complete questionnaires and follow-up telephone interviews with 1,322 trainees. Those on undergraduate or school-based programmes felt better prepared to work as teachers than one-year postgraduate trainees, perhaps because the former give higher ratings of the quality of assessment of, and feedback received on, teaching practice, and because of the clarity of theory-practice links in programmes. Across different kinds of ITP programme, good relationships with school-based mentors significantly boosted trainees' confidence that their ITP had effectively prepared them for teaching. Trainees' motives for entering the profession and their initial concerns about and expectations of ITP also affected their perceptions of its effectiveness, by shaping the way they experienced aspects of their courses. Implications of these findings for policy and practice in teacher preparation are discussed. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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We investigated whether imagining contact with an out-group member would change behavioral tendencies toward the out-group. In Experiment 1, British high school students who imagined talking to an asylum seeker reported a stronger tendency to approach asylum seekers than did participants in a control condition. Path analysis revealed this relationship was mediated by out-group trust and, marginally, by out-group attitude. In Experiment 2, straight undergraduates who imagined an interaction with a gay individual reported a stronger tendency to approach, and a weaker tendency to avoid, gay people. Path analyses showed that these relationships were mediated by out-group trust, out-group attitude, and less intergroup anxiety. These findings highlight the potential practical importance of imagined contact and important mediators of its effects.

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Following trauma, most people with initial symptoms of stress recover, but it is important to identify those at risk for continuing difficulties so resources are allocated appropriately. There has been limited investigation of predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder following natural disasters. This study assessed psychological difficulties experienced in 101 adult treatment seekers following exposure to a significant earthquake. Peritraumatic dissociation, posttraumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, depression, and emotional support were assessed. Path analysis was used to determine whether the experience of some psychological difficulties predicted the experience of other difficulties. As hypothesized, peritraumatic dissociation was found to predict posttraumatic stress symptoms and anxiety. Posttraumatic stress symptoms then predicted anxiety and depression. Depression and anxiety were highly correlated. Contrary to expectations, emotional support was not significantly related to other psychological variables. These findings justify the provision of psychological support following a natural disaster and suggest the benefit of assessing peritraumatic dissociation and posttraumatic stress symptoms soon after the event to identify people in need of monitoring and intervention.

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The current study sought to elaborate and test a theoretical proposition that introjective personality functioning, which has been implicated in various psychological difficulties (e.g., self-critical depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder), has an emotional foundation in the self-conscious emotion of shame and is supported by dissociation. Moreover, introjective functioning was predicted to be associated with reduced interpersonal intimacy. To test the model, a Web-based survey design using path analysis was used. Three hundred and fifteen university students were assessed with measures of self-conscious emotions (i.e., shame, guilt, and embarrassment), introjective (self-definition) and anaclitic (relational) personality style, pathological dissociation, and interpersonal intimacy. Introjective personality was found to be associated with increased shame and reduced interpersonal intimacy. However, the path between pathological dissociation and introjective functioning was not significant. The results are discussed with reference to the moderating influence of introjective functioning between shame and reduced interpersonal intimacy.

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Conventional wisdom on party systems in advanced industrial democracies holds that modern electorates are dealigned and that social cleavages no longer structure party politics. Recent work on class cleavages has challenged this stylized fact. The analysis performed here extends this criticism to the religious-secular cleavage. Using path analysis and comparing the current electorates of the United States, Germany, and Great Britain with the early 1960s, this paper demonstrates that the religious-secular cleavage remains or has become a significant predictor of conservative vote choice. While the effects of the religious-secular cleavage on vote choice have become largely indirect, the total of the direct and indirect effects is substantial and equivalent to the effects of class and status.

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SCOPE: This study explores the relationship between aflatoxin and the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis and its potential effect on child growth.

METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred and ninety-nine Kenyan schoolchildren were studied for aflatoxin-albumin adduct (AF-alb), IGF1 and IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP3) levels using ELISA. AF-alb was inversely associated with IGF1 and IGFBP3 (p < 0.05). Both IGF1 and IGFBP3 were significantly associated with child height and weight (p < 0.01). Children in the highest tertile of AF-alb exposure (>198.5 pg/mg) were shorter than children in the lowest tertile (<74.5 pg/mg), after adjusting for confounders (p = 0.043). Path analysis suggested that IGF1 levels explained ∼16% of the impact of aflatoxin exposure on child height (p = 0.052). To further investigate this putative mechanistic pathway, HHL-16 liver cells (where HHL-16 is human hepatocyte line 16 cells) were treated with aflatoxin B1 (0.5, 5 and 20 μg/mL for 24-48 h). IGF1 and IGFBP3 gene expression measured by quantitative PCR and protein in culture media showed a significant down-regulation of IGF genes and reduced IGF protein levels.

CONCLUSION: Aflatoxin treatment resulted in a significant decrease in IGF gene and protein expression in vitro. IGF protein levels were also lower in children with the highest levels of AFB-alb adducts. The data suggest that aflatoxin-induced changes in IGF protein levels could contribute to growth impairment where aflatoxin exposure is high.

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Biodiversity, a multidimensional property of natural systems, is difficult to quantify partly because of the multitude of indices proposed for this purpose. Indices aim to describe general properties of communities that allow us to compare different regions, taxa, and trophic levels. Therefore, they are of fundamental importance for environmental monitoring and conservation, although there is no consensus about which indices are more appropriate and informative. We tested several common diversity indices in a range of simple to complex statistical analyses in order to determine whether some were better suited for certain analyses than others. We used data collected around the focal plant Plantago lanceolata on 60 temperate grassland plots embedded in an agricultural landscape to explore relationships between the common diversity indices of species richness (S), Shannon's diversity (H'), Simpson's diversity (D1), Simpson's dominance (D2), Simpson's evenness (E), and Berger–Parker dominance (BP). We calculated each of these indices for herbaceous plants, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, aboveground arthropods, belowground insect larvae, and P. lanceolata molecular and chemical diversity. Including these trait-based measures of diversity allowed us to test whether or not they behaved similarly to the better studied species diversity. We used path analysis to determine whether compound indices detected more relationships between diversities of different organisms and traits than more basic indices. In the path models, more paths were significant when using H', even though all models except that with E were equally reliable. This demonstrates that while common diversity indices may appear interchangeable in simple analyses, when considering complex interactions, the choice of index can profoundly alter the interpretation of results. Data mining in order to identify the index producing the most significant results should be avoided, but simultaneously considering analyses using multiple indices can provide greater insight into the interactions in a system.