Strategies of feigning mild head injuries related to validity indicators and types of coaching: Results of two experimental studies.

OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we analyzed differences between uncoached, symptom-coached, and test-coached simulators regarding strategies of feigning mild head injuries. METHOD: Healthy undergraduates (n = 67 in the first study; n = 48 in the second study), randomized into three simulator groups, were assessed with four experimental memory tests. In the first study, tests were administered face-to-face, while in the second study, the procedure was adapted for online testing. RESULTS: Online simulators showed a different approach to testing than face-to-face participants (U tests < 920, p < .05). Nevertheless, both samples favored strategies like memory loss, error making, concentration difficulties, and slow responding. Except for slow responding and concentration difficulties, the favorite strategies correlated with validity indicators. In the first study, test-coached simulators (m = 4.58-5.68, SD = 2.2-3) used strategies less than uncoached participants (m = 5.25-5.88, SD = 2.26-2.84). In the second study, test-coached participants (m = 3.8-5.6, SD = 1.51-2.2) employed strategies less than uncoached (m = 6.21-7.29, SD = 1.25-1.85) and symptom-coached participants (m = 6.14-6.79, SD = 1.69-2.76). DISCUSSION: Similarities and differences between online and face-to-face assessments are discussed. Recommendations to associate heterogeneous indicators for detecting feigning strategies are issued.

The Impact of Parental Education on Schoolchildren's Oral Health-A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study in Romania.

The present study is part of the first national oral health survey for children in Romania. The aim of this study was to determine caries prevalence in correlation with the level of the parents' education, preventive behavior, and socioeconomic parameters in 11-14-year-old schoolchildren in Romania. A cross-sectional epidemiological survey was designed and conducted in 2019-2020. The sampled children were selected from 49 schools distributed in rural and urban areas of Romania, including its capital. Data were collected using the Oral Health Questionnaire for Children developed by the World Health Organization and described in the WHO Oral Health Surveys-Basic Methods, 5th edition, 2013, after positive informed consent. To express prevalence and severity of carious lesions, International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) criteria were recorded in school for 814 schoolchildren (388 boys and 426 girls) aged between 11 and 14 years old (mean age 12.29 ± 0.6). Elements regarding the specificity of the child (gender, age, and parental education) were tabulated against preventive behavior. The parents' education was correlated with three clinical indices in order to assess the existence or lack of certain significant differences among schoolchildren in Romania. In terms of correlation between the mother's education and preventive behavior, results showed a significant positive correlation in case of dental check-ups (rs = 0.08 *, p < 0.05), brushing (rs = 0.02 **, p < 0.01), and use of different types of dental hygiene aids (rs = 0.06 **, p < 0.01) and a negative correlation with tooth pain or discomfort (rs = -0.01 **, p < 0.01). A statistically significant positive relationship was highlighted between the mother's education and the presence of restorations (rs = -0.09 **, p < 0.01). Regarding the father's education, there was a positive relationship with oral hygiene behavior (rs = 0.18 **, p < 0.01) but a negative relationship with the D3T index (rs = -0.18 **, p < 0.01). In conclusion, there was a strong correlation between the parents' education, preventive behavior, and oral health status of Romanian schoolchildren.

Dental Caries, Oral Health Behavior, and Living Conditions in 6-8-Year-Old Romanian School Children.

Dental caries still have a high prevalence in Romania. The aim of this paper is to determine the prevalence of caries in children (aged 6 to 8 years) correlated with individual-level predictors and socio-economic variables. A stratified, randomized nationally representative sample was established, taking into consideration the total number of preschool children and based on administrative units and residence. Self-assessment was performed by means of the Oral Health Questionnaire for Children (WHO). Examinations were conducted by 10 standardized examiners, with International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) caries codes higher than 3 considered as dentinal caries, missing teeth as MT, and restorations as FT. DMFT and SiC indexes were calculated accordingly. The dataset for each outcome variable was analyzed by the Hurdle approach analyzed. The gender distribution was similar (47.22% male and 52.78% female), with 42.65% residing in rural areas. The mean DMFT value for the sample was 4.89 and SiC index 9.83. A negative association could be seen between DMFT and the father's level of education (ß = −0.33, SE = 0.07, p < 0.01) as well as the mother's education (ß = −0.25, SE = 0.07, p < 0.01). In conclusion, caries prevalence is very high in Romania as compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for this age group in correlation with socio-economic factors and oral health behavior.

Evaluation of Various Detection Strategies in the Assessment of Noncredible Memory Performance: Results of Two Experimental Studies.

OBJECTIVE: This article investigates the accuracy of individual and combined indicators based on different strategies for detecting noncredible performance as part of a new test for the continuous assessment of short-term memory. METHOD: In two independent studies, we assessed three groups of simulators, cognitively impaired patients, and nonimpaired community members with four tasks separated by a distractor. RESULTS: Pairwise comparisons between receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves revealed significant differences between two clusters of indicators: mean recognition, inconsistent responses in recognition, and false positives (area under the ROC curves > .800) proved more accurate than delayed recall and false negatives (area under the ROC curves < .800) in discriminating simulators from patients. Likewise, both studies revealed that adding the false positives indicator based on cued recall to mean recognition incrementally improved classification accuracy (including sensitivity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value ) compared with the recognition indicator alone. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the association of two distinct indicators for the assessment of noncredible performance, of which one should be a forced-choice indicator.

Caries Prevalence Associated with Oral Health-Related Behaviors among Romanian Schoolchildren.

Oral health-related behaviors and living conditions play an important role in general and oral health. This study aimed to evaluate caries prevalence and severity in schoolchildren residing in rural and urban areas of Romania, and to correlate these with oral health-related behaviors. An estimation of the required sample size was conducted (sampling error of ±3% at a 95% confidence level), followed by the stratification of administrative units and then the selection of 49 schools. The Hurdle approach was used to analyze the dataset, requiring two sets of analyses for each outcome variable: a multilevel binary model to predict prevalence, and a multilevel Poisson analysis using only non-zero values. The mean and standard deviation (SD) for the dentinal caries index was 4.96 (5.33). Girls were more likely to have non-zero restoration codes (ß = 0.14, SE = 0.08, p < 0.05). Low education levels of each parent were associated with an increased likelihood of having non-zero carious tooth surfaces (ß = 0.23, SE = 0.06, p = 0.01; ß = 0.22, SE = 0.06, p < 0.01). The presence of cavities was predicted by the consumption of carbonated soft drinks (ß = 0.19, SE = 0.07, p < 0.01), candies (ß = 0.13, SE = 0.06, p < 0.01), sweetened milk (ß = 0.12, SE = 0.06, p < 0.05), tea (ß = 0.16, SE = 0.08, p < 0.05), or cocoa (ß = 0.13, SE = 0.06, p < 0.05). Furthermore, the non-zero values of the dentinal caries index were more likely in rural schools (ß = -0.37, SE = 0.11, p < 0.01), and a negative association between the county development index and the fillings/restorations index (ß = -0.01, SE = 0.01, p < 0.05) was also established. The outcome of this research highlights that the presence of caries (dentinal caries index) in Romanian schoolchildren is influenced by their socioeconomic background, as well as their specific consumption behaviors.

Not all Perfectionists Are as They Are Assessed: An Investigation of the Psychometric Properties of the Perfectionism Inventory in the Teaching Profession.

Perfectionism has been studied for almost 30 years. In the present study, we investigated the internal validity of The Perfectionism Inventory (PI-Hill et al., 2004) in an occupation that encourages perfectionistic tendencies in own behavior or in students' behavior. We collected data from a large sample of schoolteachers (N = 633, 81.18% female, 63.02% from urban areas, 46.66% from secondary schools, mean age = 42.11 years) recruited using a snowball sampling approach, and we analyzed the factor structure of the PI using confirmatory factor analyses. We found that the 8-factor structure of PI provided a reasonable fit root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA = 0.055, 90% CI = (0.053-0.057); SRMR = 0.071]. However, additional analyses revealed problematic divergent validity only in the case of the scales associated with self-evaluative perfectionism, not in the case of the scales associated with conscientious perfectionism. We found that teachers displayed distinguishably different forms of perfectionism only when it referred to own person, not when it referred to perfectionism imposed to others. Based on these findings, we suggested that the PI could provide a useful framework for investigating the role of conscientious-related forms of perfectionism in the development of teacher beliefs regarding their school behavior.

Decoupling Office Energy Efficiency From Employees' Well-Being and Performance: A Systematic Review.

Energy efficiency (i.e., the ratio of output of performance to input of energy) in office buildings can reduce energy costs and CO2 emissions, but there are barriers to widespread adoption of energy efficient solutions in offices because they are often perceived as a potential threat to perceived comfort, well-being, and performance of office users. However, the links between offices' energy efficiency and users' performance and well-being through their moderators are neither necessary nor empirically confirmed. The purpose of this study is to carry out a systematic review to identify the existing empirical evidence regarding the relationships between energy-efficient solutions in sustainable office buildings and the perceptions of employees' productivity and well-being. Additionally, we aim to identify relevant boundary conditions for these relationships to occur. A systematic literature search of online databases for energy efficiency literature (e.g., Environment Complete, GreenFILE), employee literature (e.g., PsycINFO, Business Source Complete) and general social science literature (e.g., Academic Search Complete) yielded 34 empirical studies. Also, inclusion and exclusion criteria were set. The results suggest that it is possible to decouple energy costs from organizational outcomes such as employee well-being and performance. Also, they indicate the existence of moderators and mediators in the relationship between green office building solutions and well-being/performance. Directions for future research and the implications for practice considering different stakeholders interested in implementing green building solutions, adopting energy-saving measures in offices, and improving employees' functioning are suggested.

Personality characteristics that are valued in teams: Not always "more is better"?

This study investigates the relationships between personality traits and contributions to teamwork that are often assumed to be linear. We use a theory-driven approach to propose that extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness have inverted U-shaped relationships with contributions to teamwork. In a sample of 220 participants asked to perform a creative task in teams, we found that extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness were curvilinearly associated with peer-rated contributions to teamwork in such a way that the associations were positive, with a decreasing slope, up to a peak, and then they became negative as personality scores further increased. We replicated the results concerning the non-linear association between extraversion, conscientiousness and peer-rated contributions to teamwork in a sample of 314 participants engaged in a collaborative learning exercise. Our results support recent claims and empirical evidence that explorations of personality-work-related behaviours relationships should move beyond the linearity assumptions. We conclude by discussing the implications of our research for personnel selection.

Coping and defence mechanisms: What are we assessing?

The present research study addresses the disparity between theoretical considerations and empirical evidence regarding the relationships between coping strategies and defence mechanisms. Self-reported measures of coping and defences were administered to a Romanian adult sample (N = 542; 74.53% female, mean age = 31.28). Using structural equation modelling, models that assumed independence between coping and defences were compared with models that assumed the existence of relationships between the two concepts. Findings identified strong relationships between coping and defences, indicating large common variance between the two concepts. Furthermore, results suggested that coping and defences can be classified into two independent types of adaptation processes. Results of this research study suggested that coping and defences are facets of common adaptation processes.

Personality, relationship conflict, and teamwork-related mental models.

This study seeks to explore whether neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness moderate the influence of relationship conflict experienced in groups on changes in group members' evaluative cognitions related to teamwork quality (teamwork-related mental models). Data from 216 students, nested in 48 groups were analyzed using a multilevel modeling approach. Our results show that the experience of relationship conflict leads to a negative shift from the pre-task to the post-task teamwork-related mental models. Moreover, the results indicate that conscientiousness buffered the negative association between relationship conflict and the change in teamwork-related mental models. Our results did not support the hypothesized moderating effect of agreeableness and show that the detrimental effect of relationship conflict on the shift in teamwork-related mental models is accentuated for group members scoring low rather than high on neuroticism. These findings open new research venues for exploring the association between personality, coping styles and change in teamwork-related mental models.