bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The psychometric properties of the Lithuanian version of ASEBA adult forms
Authors: Šimulionienė R. , Brazdeikienė L. , Rugevičius M. , Gedutienė R. , Žakaitienė A.
Published: January 2019

ASEBA Adult Forms are designed to obtain information about the adaptive and maladaptive functioning of 18–59-aged adults and to facilitate comparisons between people’s perceptions of their own functioning and other people’s perceptions of their functioning. This article presents the major psychometric properties of Syndrome scales of the Lithuanian version of ASEBA Adult forms developed to evaluate behavioral and emotional problems. ASRs (Adult Self-Report) were administered to 18–59-aged adults comprising a random sample drawn from the whole Lithuania (N = 600). ABCL (Adult Behavior Checklist) forms were completed by people nominated by the participants (spouses, partners, friends etc.). After excluding ASRs and ABCLs of participants who reported mental health and substance use problems or did not respond to more than 8 items, the remaining 510 forms were used in data analysis. Four issues were examined: 1) the internal consistency of the forms, 2) item–total correlations, 3) cross-informant agreement, and 4) correlations between scales. Data analysis showed adequate psychometric properties of Syndrome scales. Cronbach’s alphas ranged from 0.62 to 0.95 for different ASR and ABCL scales. The Anxious / Depressed and Aggressive Behavior scales had the highest level of internal consistency, and the Thought Problems scale had the lowest alpha in both forms. The cross-informant correlations ranged from 0.36 for the Thought Problems to 0.61 for the Anxious / Depressed scale. The mean of the Q correlations between 0–1–2 scores on the problem items of ASRs and on the counterpart items of ABCLs was 0.51, indicating the moderate level of agreement between different informants. Correlations between scales confirmed the proposed structure of both forms and derivative scales (Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems). Differences between Lithuanian and USA samples were most strongly expressed among 18–35-aged females and 36–59-aged males. The majority of scale scores in the Lithuanian sample were higher than in the USA sample. The effect size of the differences between Lithuanian and American samples was moderate for most of the scales. Future research is needed to improve the psychometric properties of the Lithuanian version of ASEBA Adult forms.
Implicit detection of change: Can we do without awareness?
Authors: Norvilas A. , C. Miller J.
Published: January 2019

D. Fernandez-Duque and I. M. Thornton (2000) seemingly demonstrated “unconscious detection of change” (p. 338), i.e. a person being able to register stimulus change without being aware of it. However, as the authors themselves point out, their experiment might harbor a potential flaw: the failure to include a control condition. In a series of two experiments, we tested participants’ ability to detect change, while not being aware of it, both in the absence and in the presence of a control condition. With the control condition absent, both experiments failed to replicate D. Fernandez-Duque and I. M. Thornton’s finding of an increase in change detection for unaware trials. With the control condition present, change detection did exceed the chance level. We argue that a correlated conscious strategy hypothesis offers a better account of the change detection results for unaware trials than the unconscious change detection hypothesis.
Relationship between components of subjective well-being and sociodemographic variables in older schoolchildren
Authors: Šarakauskienė Živilė , Bagdonas Albinas
Published: January 2019

This research is focused on the importance of the adolescents’ subjective well-being (SWB) evaluation and on filling the in Lithuania lack of data on this topic. The aim of the study was to assess various SWB components and their relationship with the sociodemographic variables in the older schoolchildren’s sample (N = 655). The following SWB components were evaluated: satisfaction with life (Cronbach’s α = 0.79) and important specific domains (family (α = 0.83), school (α = 0.87), friends (α = 0.83), self (α = 0.77), living environment (α = 0.82)), positive and negative affects (respectively α = 0.77 and α = 0.87). Also, the following sociodemographic variables were measured: gender (58% girls), class (age) (8th (mean 14 years), 10th (16 years), 12th (18 years)), living place (41.8% from five biggest cities, 36.8% from regional towns, 21.4% from villages), learning success, family composition, parents’ education and employment, whether money is received for minor expences. Older schoolchildren evaluated by highest points satisfaction with friends (4.51–4.93) and self (4.30–4.70) and by the lowest – satisfaction with school (3.20–3.99) and living environment (3.12–4.21). Girls scored higher points in satisfaction with school (3.73 ± 0.95), negative affect (2.16 ± 0.68) scales in comparison with boys (3.50 ± 0.96 and 2.05 ± 0.64, respectively). Statistically significant differences of SWB components were most frequent among groups of school children of different age. No statistically significant relationships were found among group means according to the mother’s occupation. A relationship was found among SWB components and age, living place, learning success, family composition, parents’ education, whether money is received for minor expenses. Values of SWB components were higher for schoolchildren who learn in the eighth grade, live in a village, succeed better in learning, live with two parents, whose parents have a higher degree of education, and who receive money for minor expenses.
Perceived size of a line depending on its projection place on the retina
Authors: Dzekevičiūtė A. , Daugirdienė A. , Švegžda A. , Stanikūnas R. , Vaitkevičius H.
Published: January 2019

It is known that objects located in the centre of the visual field are perceived as larger than the objects located in the periphery (Пиаже, 1978). The image of an object differs from its perception object. The perceived size of an object depends on the size of its image in the visual cortex. This stems from the so-called cortical magnification factor. It is assumed that the same quantity of receptors sends information to the same area of the cortex. But photoreceptors are different – rods and the cones. It is not clear whether the different types of receptors make a different influence on the above-mentioned distortion of mapping. Also, the image of the object on the retina is perceived differently, depending on its location on the retina. Our goal was to explore how this subjective expansion changes while moving away from the centre of the retina, because there are no data on this, phenomenon.

Method. Thirty normal or corrected to normal vision adults participated in the study. Five different length lines (5, 7, 10, 13, 15 degrees) were represented on the computer’s monitor one line at a time. Participants had monoculary bisected lines into two subjectively equal parts fixating sight on a cross located at the given end of the line.Results. The ratio ρ (length of the line near the cross / length of the other part) was calculated. This ratio as a function of the length of the whole line was not monotonic: when the line was short, ρ decreased, but then it began to increase. Three groups of results were formed considering the ratio of the line length (where the function had the extremum point). The largest group (66.67%) had the extremum point when the line length was 7 deg. The second group (23.33%) had the extremum point when the line length was 13 deg. The last group (10%) had not clear extremum point and was excluded from the calculation. Changes of the ρ value cannot be explained by the perceptual instability of the length of the line (Brown, 1953). There could be a correlation between the value of ρ and the density of all receptors in the retina where the line was projected.Conclusions. Humans make a bias while monocular by bisecting a line: the part near the point of fixation is perceived as bigger than the other part. The function of the line size ratio changes not monotonically – it has an extremum point. Most often, the extremum point is observed when the line size is 7 deg. This point is near the point where the density of rods exceeds that of cones. Other subjects show the extremum point when the line size is 13 deg., but the reasons for such a point shift remain unclear. Some subjects have no extremum point.
Problems of career choice and personality traits
Authors: Pociūtė B. , Isiūnaitė V.
Published: January 2019

Many young people are faced a certain amount of indecision related to making career choice. This study investigates how the personality traits are related to career indecision and what psychological factors impede the career choice. Data were collected twice, 4 months apart, to study the possible changes in decision status. For the autumn term, 200 participants were 10th-grade and 182 12th-grade students from two gymnasiums (in Jonava and Vilnius). For the spring term, 70 percent of participants were 12th-grade students and 84 percent 10th-grade students who filled in the questionnaires in the autumn term. The career indecision was assessed by the Career Decision Scale (Osipow et al., 1976), the personality traits by the Big Five Adjective Test (Gintilienė and Standikė, 2009; Zdanevičiūtė, 2003), and a 28-item scale was devised for assessing indecisiveness. The vocational choice questionnaire was constructed for assessing some psychological factors of vocational choice. The results of this study demonstrated no differences in career indecision according to grade level. The means of indecision significantly decreased over time only for 10th-grade students from Vilnius. Upon analyzing the difficulties in career decision-making, the conclusion was that the lack of information about the occupation, the self and about the ways of deciding was an obstacle. During the career decision making process, students with a serious level of indecision paid more attention to the external factors such as financial resources. Students with a low level of career indecision paid more attention to the internal factors such as a hobby. Within this sample, career indecision was positively and significantly related to such personality trait as indecisiveness (girls, r = 0.513, boys, r = 0.451; p < 0.01). Career indecision was found to be negatively related to emotional stability and extraversion for schoolgirls (respectively r = –0.253, r = –0.224; p < 0.01). Participants with a low level of indecision were found to be more decisive and emotionally stable as compared with the participants with a middle and a high levels of indecision, more extraverted and intellectual being the schoolgirls’ sample.
Linking maternal psychological state and infant problem behavior
Authors: Čekuolienė D. , Jusienė R. , Širvinskienė G. , Zamalijeva O. , Breidokienė R.
Published: January 2019

The influence of maternal psychological state and emotional well-being on the child’s development is undeniable. Studies have documented an association of maternal depression during pregnancy and postpartum periods with several aspects of adverse infants’ development. Maternal depression is also considered to be a risk factor for individual psychopathology later in life. However, identifying the variables qualifying maternal psychological state and analyzing their complex relations with children problem behavior continues to be a challenging research assignment for psychologists. The main goal of the present study was to examine the manifold relations among the different indices of maternal psychological state and infants’ problem behavior. Participants of the study1 were 202 mothers and their full-term infants. Mothers completed several self-report questionnaires three times: on the 2nd/3rd day after delivery, and when the infants were three months and six months old. The women’s perception of the infant’s difficult behaviors scale (Bornstein et al., 2006) was used when infants were three and six months old. Maternal depression was measured with the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (Cox et al., 1987) in all three stages of the study. Results: Maternal depressiveness appeared to be the most important aspect of maternal psychological state, strongly linked to the infants’ problem behavior. The data have shown that maternal depressiveness and the quality of relationships with the husband / partner influenced the infants’ behavior through maternal difficulties to understand the reason for the infant’s crying. Maternal depressiveness during the postpartum period and the quality of relationship with the husband / partner has an indirect impact on the infant’s problem behavior, i.e. depressiveness affects the maternal understanding of infant’s crying, and the quality of relationship with the husband / partner has an impact on maternal depressiveness in the postpartum period. The results of structural equation modeling indicate that maternal ability to understand infant crying is the only significant variable having a direct effect on infants’ problem behavior, i.e. difficulties to understand the reasons for the infant’s crying influence the quantity of manifestation of infants’ behavior problems at the age of three and six months. A group comparison has demonstrated that single and lower educated mothers reported significantly more cases of infants’ problem behavior. These results support the theoretical premises and empirical findings that maternal psychological state determines infants’ problem behavior through the mother’s emotional well-being which is closely linked to the family structure and relationship quality.
Mental self and object representations of 7–10-year-old boys with behavior difficulties
Authors: Bieliauskaitė R. , Kuraitė E.
Published: January 2019

This study looked into the links between the external difficulties and the internal “self” and objects representations. The aim of the study was to compare the internal representations of the children with the behavioral difficulties to children with no behavioral difficulties in order to gain a better understanding of the inner structures which could be linked to inappropriate and aggressive behavior. Boys with behavioral difficulties aged 7–10-year-old were recruited and compared with the boys of the same age with no behavioral difficulties. 20 boys from the clinical sample and 10 boys from the control group – 30 boys in total – were assessed. The measure used to assess external difficulties was Child Behavior Checklist. Projective tools such as Children Apperception Test and Kinetic Family Drawing were applied to assess the representations. The results of the projective methods were analyzed with the “Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale“ (SCORS) and “The Global Rating Scale”. According to SCORS four dimensions of internal representations were assessed: complexity of representations of people, affective quality of representations, emotional investment in relationships, values and moral standards and understanding social causality. The study results show that inner “self” and object representations of the boys with behavioral difficulties are different from the ones of the boys without behavioral difficulties. Representations of the clinical sample are less differentiated, have a negative emotional tone. These boys also show a lower capacity for emotional investment in relationships and moral standards, an impaired understanding of social causality. Boys with the behavioral difficulties see others as indifferent, rejecting, vulnerable, unreliable, inconsistent and not being able to help. Their inner “self” is represented as vulnerable and rejected, unattached to his family. The projective method used in the study and analysis of the data allows us to predict behavioral difficulties. Mental representations of children with behavioral difficulties have specific characteristics. The different experiences in long term psychotherapy could transform those characteristics into more adaptable ones.
Effects of parenting styles and emotional intelligence on self-efficacy and self-esteem in late adolescence: Gender differences
Authors: Žukauskienė R. , Malinauskienė O. , Erentaitė R.
Published: January 2019

Previous studies have found that parenting styles predict childrens’ emotional intelligence, i.e., their ability to perceive, express and manage their emotions. Parenting styles were also found to predict the self-efficacy and self-esteem of adolescents. Despite a high interest in the effects of parenting on the emotional charateristics and adjustment indicators of adolescents, researchers have rarely analysed the effects of gender on these links. Previous data suggest that adolescent boys have a higher self-esteem as compared with girls, while findings on gender differences in emotional intelligence are mixed. Moreover, some effects of the interaction between parents’ and adolescents’ gender have been found significant when predicting the adjustment of adolescents. The present study explores the way in which parenting styles and adolescents’ emotional intelligence (perception and understanding of emotions, expression and labeling of emotions, and managing and regulating emotions) predict the self-esteem and self-efficacy of adolescent boys and girls. Data for this analysis were taken from a longitudinal study in high schools of the Klaipėda region. The sample consisted of 1028 adolescents (624 girls and 404 boys) aged 16 to 18 (M = 16.29, SD = 0.93). The participants filled in the Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSE, Rosenberg, 1965), parenting styles questionnaire (EMBU: Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran, Arrindell et al., 1994), the Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire (ESCQ-45, Takšić et al, 2009), and the Generalized Self-efficacy Scale (GSE, Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1995). The results revealed significant gender effects: girls scored higher on all subscales of emotional intelligence (perception and understanding, expression and labeling, and managing and regulating emotions), including the total emotional intelligence score. In line with the previous studies, self-efficacy did not differ by gender, but boys had a higher self-esteem as compared with girls. Both parents showed more emotional warmth to their daughters, while fathers (but not mothers) showed more rejection towards their sons. Of all parenting styles, parental emotional warmth had the strongest links with the emotional intelligence of adolescent girls and boys. The other links between parenting styles and adolescents’ emotional intelligence were gender-dependent in both parents and adolescents. Self-esteem and self-efficacy in adolescents were strongly predicted by their emotional intelligence scores, whereas parenting styles (father’s emotional warmth) were only important in predicting boys’ self-esteem.
Manifestations, self-confidence, comparisons, and perfectionistic aspirations before orthognathic surgery
Authors: Makauskienė Ilona
Published: January 2019

Interest in the psychological factors involved in malocclusion appeared thirty years ago. The most frequent aspect of research is self-evaluation. However, up to date, there are no empiric half-structured interview investigations with subjects of this group, in which manifestations of confidence, comparison, and perfectionistic aspirations would be explored wider and in more detail. No studies with orthognathic subjects were conducted in Lithuania, so we hope the data of our research will help to fill this gap. Seventy-three subjects with some kind of malocclusion were involved. The research lasted from 2006 to 2010. Self-representations were investigated by means of a half-structured interview based on self-in-relation theory. Self-representations of the past, presents and future were explored, three significant others (mother, father, and best friend) were distinguished. A qualitative analysis of self-representations was conducted, and six categories were singled out. Self- representations of comparison were estimated considering the ideal and standards of the self, peer, father, mother, or partner. The assessments were divided into positive and negative. The subjects were grouped and compared according to parents’ relationship experience, age group, education, taunting experience.The data suggest that in subjects just before the surgery statistically significant changes occurred according to taunting experience; positive comparison representations diminished, more of statistically significant differences between the standpoints of mother and father self-representations showed up, unconfident representations increased. Based on the research results, we can predicate that the biggest risk pre-operative group comprised subjects with taunting experience and subjects with the experience of violence in the family, as these subjects expressed most negative self-representations of distrust and comparison. These subjects expressed statistically significantly more adolescent and actual distrust in mother representations. Comparison of data according to subjects’ age has revealed that subjects of the oldest group most of all seek to meet health, appearance, and profession perfectionist standards. Subjects of the youngest group most often compare themselves with standards of peers and father. Subjects aged 26–30 years after the surgery statistically significantly expect to be more satisfies with one’s own appearance. While comparing subjects according to education, appearance, self-representations of knowledge, and comprehension diverged. Self- representations of confidence/distrust and perfectionistic aspirations were most expressed in adolescent and actual time spans, while manifestations of comparison were expressed in all life spans.
Associations between cognitive functions and apoliprotein E Ɛ4 genotype: Systemic review
Authors: Sapranavičiūtė Laura , Tamošiūnas Abdonas
Published: January 2019

Deterioration of cognitive functions is becoming a more and more important issue in the context of aging. So there is a growing interest in studies looking for the risk factors of deterioration of cognitive functions. Apolipoprotein E is a plasma protein whose major function is lipids transportation. APOE ɛ4 allele of the Apolipoprotein E gene is known as a risk factor of Alzheimer disease. Previous researchers stated, that APOE ɛ4 also might be related to cognitive performance in normal aging. However, results of previous studies are quit confusing: different studies established various associations between APOE ɛ4 and specific cognitive functions. Moreover, longitudinal studies failed to establish prognostic value of APOE ɛ4 genotype to different levels of cognitive functions deterioration. So the purpose of this study is to review prospective, observational, cohort studies that had researched the association between APOE ɛ4 and cognitive functions using a systematic analysis method.The weight of evidence suggests that APOE ɛ4 is associated with cognitive functions in healthy adults. APOE ɛ4 carriers are likely to have a lower level of cognitive functions. Associations between specific cognitive functions and APOE ɛ4 genotype are quite confusing. The most consistent finding was a negative relationship between APOE ɛ4 genotype and performance of memory and executive functioning. The presence of APOE ɛ4 and attention test results were less likely to be associated. Reasoning and verbal abilities were mostly not connected to APOE ɛ4 genotype. Associations between APOE ɛ4 and cognitive function differ in the groups of healthy adults, adults with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer disease. There were established that APOE ɛ4 is associated with cognitive functions in a cognitively impaired population. People with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer disease more often tended to be APOE ɛ4 carriers in comparison with people who are not cognitively impaired. Longitudinal studies revealed different links between APOE ɛ4 and cognitive functions. Although APOE ɛ4 might be a risk factor of deterioration of cognitive functions in healthy and impaired cognitive functions groups. Yet prognostic value of APOE ɛ4 in deterioration of cognitive functions in Alzheimer population is confusing. The current review suggests that APOE ɛ4 has an effect on cognitive functions. It might be a risk factor for the deterioration of cognitive functions in healthy adults and cognitively impaired population. However further researches are needed to establish specific associations between APOE ɛ4 genotype and different cognitive functions in healthy adults and disease populations.
Basic points of the Antropic Attitude Theory
Authors: Nadirashvili D. , S. † Nadirashvili
Published: January 2019

The reason for the introduction of the concept of attitude was the explanation of illusory perceptions. On the basis of experimental studies D. Uznadze demonstrated that the illusions of perception are connected not solely to the motor activity sphere. It can appear in every modality of perception. J. Piaget called the phenomenon identified in the above-mentioned method “the Uznadze effect” and used it for the characterization of specific stages of the development of intellect.Social attitude, in addition to the unprejudiced objective reality, implies disposition towards other people, social environment. Attitudes, besides differing by the content and components that are depicted in them, differ from each other by ways of formation.Characterization of social attitudes is performed according to what disposition exists towards the social values expressed through them. Its peculiarities are measured on a number scale. For this purpose we use an 11-point scale. On this scale, attitude is characterized by: valency – positive-negative disposition for social values; valency intensity – how more intensive is attitude valency according to positivity and negativity; the zone of acceptance, which expresses the intensity of attitudes acceptable for a person; the zone of toleration – a zone of the intensity of attitudes, which can be tolerated by a person; sharpness-diffusivity attitude, which shows by how many steps can the attitude of a person be characterized, etc.On the human being level of psyche development, conscious, cognitive, and moral behaviors emerge. Attitudes are actively involved in these processes as well. At the highest level of psyche development, the activity of a human being is determined by social attitudes.
Relationships between problem behaviors, role changes in areas of work, love, and achievement of adult character qualities among emerging adults
Authors: Vosylis R. , Raižienė S. , Žukauskienė R.
Published: January 2019

The goal of the current study is to evaluate the relationships between externalizing and internalizing problems, partner and work commitment, and the achievement of adult character qualities. A sample of 241 Lithuanian emerging adults participated in the study (mean age 22.22, SD = 2.91, 198 women, and 43 men). Participants filled an internet-based questionnaire which consisted of Arnett’s questionnaire on adulthood criteria, additional questions on achieving these criteria, and the Adult Self-report questionnaire which measures internalizing and externalizing problems. Both partner and work commitments were found to be negatively related to anxiety/depression problems, and commitment to work was positively related to intrusive behavior. Achievement of independence was negatively related to anxiety/depression and withdrawal problems. The effect of commitment to work and to partner on anxiety/depression and the effect of commitment to partner on withdrawal was suppressed when it was controlled for achieving independence. Commitment to work positively predicts a more intrusive behavior even when achieving adult character qualities is taken into account.
Phenomenological research of meaning-making for the bereavement of a close person
Authors: Stanaitytė J. , Kočiūnas R.
Published: January 2019

The study analyzes the phenomenon of meaning making for the bereavement of a person with whom they had close relationships, based on the experience of seven research participants. All of them had been nursing a relative till the death from an incurable disease. The study aims to identify the essential structure and get a clear and systematic description of meaning-making for the bereavement. All the data were collected in depth semi-structured interviews (lasting 50–80 minutes). The main question of the interview was “please remember and describe the specific situation or the moment when you understood that you have lost your a close person. What does this understanding mean to you?” An analysis of the interviews was performed on the basis of the A. Giorgi phenomenological psychological analysis method. At the end of the study, there were discovered and identified 13 essential aspects, 5 directions, and 2 fundamental spaces of meaning-making for the bereavement. All the findings were shared by every participant. The results were summarized into a single definition. First of all, results of the research have revealed that meaning-making for the bereavement is a process rather than a one-off event or situation. The results show that the meaning-making for the bereavement of a close person is mainly expressed by qualitative changes in relationships and in the world-view. In the area of qualitative changes in the relationships, it is worth to distinguish changes in the relationship with the relative one: here one can find a big concern for nursing the loved one, experiencing the ongoing existence of a dead relative and feeling a strong spiritual support from them because of the deep relations before death. The other changes in the area are qualitative changes in social relations.The area of qualitative changes in the world-view unfolds in three levels. The first level concerns the evaluation of experiences in time perspective: change in the attitude towards bereavement is reavealed; the evaluation of its emotional states becomes objective; and all these aspects are summarized as a valuable lesson for personal grow. The second level concerns the identification and appreciation of discovered benefits: the relevance of living here and now; the importance of changes in the personal system of the relevance of living here and now; the importance of changes in the personal system of values; and the recognition that relative’s attitude towards death affected the worldview of others. The third level unfolds the discovery of fundamental truths: the meaning of the experience of loss is perceived as metaphysical and beyond the limits of the human mind; the temporality of existence and the unknowability of death is recognized.
Organizational citizenship behavior: The psychometric properties of the questionnaire
Authors: Bagdžiūnienė D. , Lazauskaitė-Zabielskė J. , Urbanavičiūtė I.
Published: January 2019

Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is defined as “individual behaviour that is discretionary and not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system and in the aggregate promotes the efficient and effective functioning of the organization” (Organ et al., 2006). The concept of OCB was initially introduced in the 1980s, and it soon became a widely internationally and cross-culturally investigated phenomenon. Empirical evidence suggests that OCB is related to a number of positive outcomes at individual, group, and organizational levels. Therefore, the last three decades were abundant in studies aimed towards the clarification of OCB dimensionality and identifying its antecedents and consequences in a variety of settings.The Lithuanian research on this topic, however, is scarce. Due to the fact that the construct of OCB is quite culturally sensitive and studies on OCB in Lithuania are still in their preliminary phase, there is no valid and reliable instrument that could be used to measure it. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to gather data on OCB in a Lithuanian employee sample and to develop an instrument that would enablemeasuring citizenship behaviours in Lithuanian organizations. In order to develop the Lithuanian version of the OCB questionnaire, we chose an integrated approach, i.e. first an extensive theoretical analysis of classical OCB models had been carried out. Next, three qualified psychologists selected the OCB dimensions that appeared most commonly across different OCB models. Finally, based on this selection, a composite 53-item questionnaire was developed, encompassing various aspects of organizational citizenship. The study was carried out in a sample of 289 employees from a number of Lithuanian organizations (22.1% of male, 77.9% of females; mean age 32.32 years). To identify the dimensionality of OCB, exploratory factor analysis was conducted. Next, after conducting the item analysis, 29 items were retained and repeatedly factor-analyzed. The results have revealed five OCB dimensions: altruism, courtesy, civic virtue, conscientiousness, and initiative. An overall questionnaire and all its subscales have proven to have high reliability coefficients (Cronbach alphas > 0.76). Moreover, the analysis has shown that the distinguished OCB dimensions were separable from in-role performance and correlated to a number of factors reported as the most common OCB correlates (e.g., organizational identity, commitment, and job satisfaction). To generalize, preliminary findings strongly suggest that the Lithuanian version of the OCB questionnaire, developed in this study, has adequate psychometric properties and is congruent to the classical concept of OCB. Naturally, in the future, additional empirical evidence will be necessary to support the identified OCB factor structure.
Students’ occupational commitment: Relationship with the satisfaction of occupational choice, career aspirations and career adaptability
Authors: Jokštaitė Kristina , Pociūtė Birutė
Published: January 2019

Student’s readiness to become successful in their future profession is one of the most important goals not only in the realization of academic aims, but also in making the commitment to their profession. At the moment a student enters the university, college, or vocational school, we assume that his or her commitment toward a career choice is essentially made. However, not all students can make an occupational commitment on the basis of a rational choice. Even if the occupational choice is successful and matches the student’s abilities, desires and market needs, this does not guarantee that after graduation a student will choose the career path related to the chosen occupation. The development of occupational commitment begins with occupational choice, and changes are based on individual experience related to occupational choice satisfaction, expectations for the future work, a student’s ability to collect information about oneself and possible career options and to overcome the obstacles of the chosen career path. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between vocational technical school, college and university students’ occupational commitment and occupational choice satisfaction, career aspirations, career adaptability.In the study, 356 students from vocational technical schools, colleges and universities took part. The Career Aspirations Scale (Gray & O’Brien, 2007) and the Career Adaptability Scale (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012) were used with the authors’ permission. Also, the four-factor Occupational Commitment Scale, Occupational Choice Satisfaction Scale, and a questionnaire for demographic data were designed for the study. The psychometric properties of the instruments were sufficient.The results have revealed that occupational commitment and its correlates differ among student samples from vocational technical schools, colleges, and universities, but the affective commitment is higher than the other forms of commitment. Occupational choice satisfaction and satisfaction with studies are positively related with affective, normative, and accumulated occupational commitment. Affective commitment is positively related with career adaptability. Career aspirations and occupational commitment are related with students’ future intentions. According to our results, students with a higher level of career adaptability and a greater occupational choice satisfaction have higher career aspirations. Students’ higher limited alternatives commitment is related to lower career adaptability scores and lower career aspirations.
Behavioral difficulties and personality traits in childhood
Authors: Barkauskienė Rasa , Kundrotaitė Gabija , Grauslienė Izabelė , Gervinskaitė-Paulaitienė Lina , Čekuolienė Danguolė , Zbarauskaitė Asta
Published: January 2019

The destructive behaviors in childhood may have many negative consequences not only for children themselves, but also for their closest social environment and for the wider society. Therefore, the behavior difficulties and conduct disorders in childhood are among the most important focuses of the developmental psychopathology research and practice. Introduction of personality dimensions into this area of investigation is one of the latest routes in these studies. Recently, the Five-factor model, also known as the Big-Five, has been considered to be one of the most compelling perspectives on the personality structure in adults and children. The present study examines multiple links among behavior difficulties and personality traits in children. Another important focus of the present study is on investigating the specific constellations of personality traits that are more likely to manifest with respect to certain patterns of behavioral difficulties in middle childhood. Data provided by the mothers of 451 children (age, 6 to 11 years) are analyzed in the paper. Children’s behavioral difficulties were measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL6/18). The Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC, Mervielde & De Fruyt, 1999) was used for evaluating personality traits. Analysis of the links among behavior problems and personality traits revealed that children who scored higher on externalizing difficulties had lower expressions of Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Imagination, and Emotional stability traits. These results are in accordance with the data obtained by other authors in the field. No correlation between Extraversion and Aggressive Behavior and Rule-breaking behavior was found. The positive correlation between the Emotional Instability dimension and the subscales of behavioral difficulties was discovered – children with higher scores on behavioral difficulties appeared to be more anxious and less self-confident. Four clusters based on personality traits were identified – adaptive, expressive, moderate, and vulnerable. The current study has indicated that children who do not demonstrate behavioral difficulties are more likely to be characterized by the adaptive personality profile with a higher expression of Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Imagination, and Extraversion and the moderate personality lower expression of Emotional Instability traits as well as by the profile with the expressed Benevolence trait which was labelled as the moderate group. In turn, children with behavioural difficulties, more often than expected by chance, may be characterized by the expressive personality profile with the expressed Extraversion and Imagination traits and by the vulnerable personality profile with a high expression of Extraversion and a low one of Benevolence and Conscientiousness traits.
Relationship between errors on Raven’s Progressive Matrices (SPM plus and APM) and eductive ability
Authors: Eismontaitė Katažyna , Gintilienė Gražina
Published: January 2019

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between errors on Standard Progressive Matrices Plus (SPM Plus) and Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) and eductive ability. A large sample (n = 4535) of secondary school pupils aged 11 to 19 was used. For both SPM Plus and APM, the two-parameter logistic model which includes item difficulty (b) and discrimination (a) parameters was used for the eductive ability estimation. At first, analysis of responses to SPM Plus and APM items (including such response options as “a subject omitted an item” and “a subject didn’t reach an item”) was conducted using the Classical Test Theory (CTT) difficulty and discrimination power indices as well as the Item Response Theory (IRT) Option Characteristic Curves (OCCs). The analysis has confirmed that response alternatives lacking only one correct feature are more likely in the middle range of ability and from this range upward, whereas subjects of low ability often choose alternatives that are incorrect on more than one and / or more salient features. It has also been found that higher ability subjects are prone to omit an item that is too difficult for them instead of guessing an answer as opposed to lower ability subjects who may use a random guessing as a RPM solving strategy. The analysis has also shown that higher-scoring subjects have no time enough to finish all the RPM items more often than lower-scoring individuals. This finding suggests that higher-ability subjects invest more time in solving RPM items, and therefore a time limit is not suitable for assessing a high eductive ability. Next, the APM types of error analysis has revealed that the type of errors made on APM is related to the ability level of the subjects. Errors due to failure to attend to all relevant aspects of the item, i.e. incomplete correlate errors, were made by subjects of higher ability as compared to errors due to the confluence of ideas or repetition. This finding suggests that an answer of incomplete correlate type shows a relatively high eductive ability (as compared to the confluence of ideas or repetition type answer) since it requires a correct, although incomplete, reasoning.
Detection of verbal lie cues in written and oral communication
Authors: Markevičiūtė Laima , Vanagaitė Kristina
Published: January 2019

The ability to analyze verbal information (speech content) in order to identify lie is very important, especially in situations when a conversation is held without direct contact, or available only as a written text. In most cases, analysis of verbal lie cues is based on scientific research which analyses oral statements. There are not enough studies investigating the manifestation of verbal lie detection cues in written accounts. So, it is not clear if the methodology used for oral statements analysis can be applied to written accounts. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the manifestation of verbal lie detection cues (visual, sound, temporal, spatial details, and cognitive operations) in truthful and deceptive written and oral accounts.The participants of this study were 120 11-th and 12-th grade high school students (age, 17–19). All participants were shown a staged videotaped robbery. The participants were sorted into four groups according to their task to produce: deceptive oral, deceptive written, truthful oral, and truthful written stories. Truthful stories had to contain only the information that was shown in a videotape. Those who had to lie had to imagine that the robber was their friend and lied in order to help him. Two independed examinators encoded all stories based on a specially prepared methodology.The results showed that the manifestation of verbal lie cues differed not only according to the truthfulness of the story, but also according to the stories’ presentation form (oral or written). Truthful oral accounts contained more visual and temporal details and less cognitive operations than did deceptive oral accounts. Deceptive written accounts contained more sound details and more cognitive operations than truthful written accounts. A comparison of written and oral accounts showed that: 1) truthful oral accounts contained more sound details than did truthful written accounts, 2) deceptive written accounts contained more temporal details than did deceptive oral accounts. The manifestation of verbal lie cues was influenced by emotions and efforts to control emotions, behavior, and speech content: stronger emotions and efforts to control can increase the amount of verbal lie cues in oral and written statements. The results showed that the best predictors of lie (oral and written) were visual details and cognitive operations.
Automatic two-digit number processing by people of different age groups and sex
Authors: Grabauskaitė Aida , Daugirdienė Aušra
Published: January 2019

Currently, there is a growing body of papers on the topic about two-digit (2D) number processing. Separate studies revealed the importance of subjects’ age (e. g., Nuerk, Kaufmann et al., 2004) and sex (Pletzer et al., 2013) in a 2D number representation. The aim of this study was to investigate an automatic 2D number processing in people of different age and sex. 2nd graders (average age 8 years and 5 months), 4th graders (average age 10 years and 5 months), and adults (average age 27 years and 2 months) performed two experimental tasks in which they had to judge the numeric or monetary value of presented stimuli (e. g., which is more, 82 ct or 14 Lt). Results were obtained by totalizing the reaction time and error rate. In statistical analysis, the Wilcoxon criteria were used to distinguish the difference in each participants’ group between blocks of different stimuli. In addition, the results were counted for each participant individually. As in previous studies (e. g., Chan et al., 2011), 2nd graders, 4th graders and adults processed 2D numbers automatically. In this study, 2nd graders processed two-digit numbers in a holistic fashion, while 4th graders and adults used a decomposed parallel processing. The ‘holistic’ 2D number processing in children can be explained as a ‘transition’ stage between decomposed sequential and decomposed parallel. The ‘holistic’ result may derive from approximately equal frequency in using sequential and parallel ways of processing.The data did not support the hypothesis that during adulthood, males process two-digit numbers in a different fashion from females. In this study, both sexes processed 2D numbers in the same way (decomposed parallel). In contrast, Pletzer et al. (2013) found the holistic 2D number processing to prevail in males. In this paper, potential influences on this difference are discussed. First, it could be due to different languages, or it could be due to experiment arrangement. The probability of the same participant using different strategies in response to different (simple or more complex) stimuli is suggested.
Costa Rica, el Reino Mosquito y el “mulato intérprete” Francisco Corella (1711-1724)
Authors: Mendiola Daniel Matthew
Published: January 2019

Este artículo examina las relaciones entre la Costa Rica colonial y el Reino Mosquito, una confederación afroindígena que surgió en la costa caribeña de Centroamérica durante el siglo XVII. El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar el periodo de negociación durante la primera mitad del siglo XVIII, a través del estudio de los intermediarios que manejaban estas negociaciones en la práctica. Una figura central de esta narración es el “mulato intérprete” Francisco Corella, quien fue el principal negociador del año 1711 hasta al menos 1724.  Además de contar la historia de estas negociaciones, este artículo demuestra las contribuciones importantes de poblaciones diversas, incluso personas afrodescendientes a la historia de Costa Rica.