Vol 16, No 2 (2019)

The article presents the results of an original cross-cultural study of the identity and time perspective in alcohol-addicted patients. Based on the materials of the two examined patient groups from the Central (N = 79) and Arctic regions (N = 66) of Russia, using a set of the following psychodiagnostic methods - test of 20 statements by M. Kuhn, T. McPartland, Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), a semantic time differential and the questionnaire of motivation for alcohol consumption by V.Yu. Zavyalov (MAC) - the regional differences in the identity matrix and temporal orientations were found and described. According to the results of a clinical and psychological research, it was found that for alcohol-addicted patients in general the most significant is a reflexive identity focusing on “negative past”, while considering the past and future in the categories of “activity”, “affective sentiment”, “magnitude”. The leading alcohol use motives are hedonistic, ataractic, and activation behavior. At the same time, the communicative identity, “perceptibility” of the entire psychological time, as well as pseudocultural motive causing alcohol abuse are significantly present in the identity matrix of the patients from Saint Petersburg. In the group of patients from Yakutsk, there is a significant orientation toward a “fatalistic present”, with the “structurization” of the past, present, and future. The intergroup correlations between the various aspects of personal identity and time perspective, as well as the hierarchy of motives in patients with alcoholism in a socio-cultural context are shown. The correlation patterns between the identification characteristics and time perspective have significant differences in the two groups studied. The data obtained reflect the social specifics of the central regions, as well as the cultural characteristics of the northern nationalities with their inherent desire to avoid uncertainty. From these data, it can be concluded that the socio-psychological factors in the etiopathogenesis of alcohol dependence are significant.

A pilot study of psychosocial status of 80 patients (85% males) with terminal chronic heart failure (CHF), during the preparation for heart transplantation (HT) has been carried out in the Almazov National Medical Research Centre. The correlation of psychological, medical, biological and socio-demographic characteristics of patients as well as the dynamics of patients’ emotional state (anxiety and depression) during a long cardiology hospital stay (4 measurements over half a year) has been studied. The authors’ structured interview and a set of psychodiagnostic methods (“Index of General Well-being”, “Brief neuropsychological examination of cognitive sphere”, depression scale (SDS), scale of anxiety (STAI), personality questionnaire BIG-V) have been used in the study. For mathematical and statistical data processing the following methods included in the software package SPSS v. 20.0 have been used: the Pearson’s chi-squared test (χ2), the Mann - Whitney U test, the Spearman and Pearson correlations, and ANOVA. The results revealed the absence of clinically significant signs of depression, cognitive impairment, personality and system of significant relationships in the majority of patients at the first stage of the study (upon admission into hospital). The exception was the increased level of situational anxiety (M ± m = 43.2 ± 7.1). The study of the dynamics of the emotional state of patients reflected a systematic increase in the average group indices of the depression scale (upon admission M ± m = 46.9 ± 6.7; after 2 months M ± m = 48.9 ± 7.4; after 4 months M ± m = 51.1 ± 7.6; after 6 months M ± m = = 52.6 ± 7.5), as well as a decrease in the level of situational anxiety at the second stage of the study compared with the first and a further increase starting from the second period: after 2, 4, 6 months of the stay in hospital, respectively: M ± m = 41.3 ± 5.2; M ± m = 46.7 ± 6.8; M ± m = 50.8 ± 7.9). It was revealed that the level of situational anxiety at the second (F = 6.18; p < 0.05) and the third (F = 4.11; p < 0.05) stages of treatment is significantly higher in the patients after myocardial infarction(s). Also, the level of situational anxiety is higher at the first (F = 4.00; p < 0.05) and third (F = 3.68; p < 0.05) stages of hospitalization of the patients who have rare meetings with relatives as compared to the patients who are often visited by their relatives. The results reflect the psychosocial potential of patients waiting for HT, and may have a prognostic significance in relation to adherence to treatment in the postoperative period, which, in turn, largely determines the survival of patients.

The article is devoted to the results of a theoretical and empirical study of the emotional state of the modern women raising children with developmental disorders. This subject is relevant not only in the context of the emotional health of modern women, but also in connection with close psychological interference of mother and child with developmental disorders. According to the modern literature these parents have specific emotional sphere and personality characterized by a prevalence of guilt, anxiety, changing of value system, self-deprecation, etc. The most relevant is the analysis of the level of stress and depression as significant indicators of not only the emotional well-being, but also the possibilities of activating and implementing the adaptation and mobilization mechanisms of the personality. A comparative empirical study of the emotional state was conducted in the women raising children with developmental disorders and women raising healthy children. In accordance with the PSM-25 Psychological Stress Measure and the Beck Depression Inventory there is a decrease in the manifestation of an acute reaction to stress factors, the chronization of stress state with a tendency of the transition of the emotional sufferings to a depressive phase in the women raising children with developmental disorders. The results of the “Sack’s Sentence Completion Test” technique show that 80% of the answers of the mothers raising children with developmental disorders as “emotionally negative” whereas in the control sample “emotionally positive” answers prevail (85%). The data obtained in the course of empirical research allow us to state the expressed disruptiveness of the emotional condition of the women raising children with developmental disorders, the tendency to depression, mainly negative nature of emotional experiences, and chronic mental tension. The decrease in the level of stress in combination with higher rates of depression, demonstrates a decrease in the emotional adaptation potential of such women, the transition of experiences to a deeper, immobilizing level. The analysis of the research data suggests that it is necessary to start psychological support of mothers raising children with developmental disorders as early as possible, to develop adaptive ways of responding to a stressful situation, which will help prevent chronic stress and developing of a depression.

This research examined the relative influence of pedagogical content knowledge and school climate on instructional effectiveness of secondary schools business teachers in Ijebu Division, Ogun State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale (PCKS), Organizational Climate Index (OCI) and Teacher Effectiveness Questionnaire (TEQ) were used as the instrument for data collection. The statistical method of analysis used for testing the raised questions were Simple percentage, Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and Regression Analysis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there was a positive relationship between pedagogical content knowledge, school climate and instructional effectiveness of secondary schools business teachers in Ijebu Division, Ogun State. Furthermore, pedagogical content knowledge, school climate significantly influenced the business teachers’ instructional effectiveness in secondary schools. It was recommended among others that principals should ensure that cooperative school climate that can inspire teachers to effectively fulfil their duties is created. The government should persuade and support business teachers to focus on conferences, workshops and seminars that will boost their pedagogical content knowledge in the fulfilment of their duties efficiently.

In 2019, Psi Chi celebrates its 90th and 10th birthdays as the National and International Honor Society in Psychology. This review of the glorious history of Psi Chi is in three parts: (1) its current mission, serving over 750000 life members in 1130 college campuses world-wide; (2) its humble but inspiring origins in 1929 at Yale University; (3) four points of impressive courage within the history of Psi Chi - in 1929, 1959, 1981, and 2009; and also includes a bibliography, for international and U.S. readers to access prior histories of Psi Chi.

Since 2009, when Psi Chi became the International Honor Society in Psychology, outstanding faculty and students across many nations have stepped forward to join the Psi Chi family of 750000 life members in 1130 schools on six continents. How is the Psi Chi experience changing lives around the world, as it has been doing since 1929 in the USA? Here, for the first time, Psi Chi “pioneers” in 9 international Chapters share in their own words and images their Psi Chi experiences.

-

-

The article is devoted to the 95th birthday of Galina M. Andreeva, an outstanding scientist, a wonderful, bright personality. Memories about the scientific supervisor brings back to the 90s of the last century, when students were lucky enough to listen to lectures of G.M. Andreeva on social psychology, history of western social psychology (shared with N.N. Bogomolova and L.A. Petrovskaya) and psychology of social cognition. Readers can easily imagine the founder of the Social Psychology Department at the Faculty of Psychology of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. A person with an outstanding life, that could hardly have been imagined otherwise: a voluntary participation in the WW2, studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, the rebirth of sociology in Russia, the foundation of the Department of Social Psychology, and many generations of social psychologists.