Adaptation and coping strategies in Chinese Antarctic Expeditioners’ winter-over life

The harsh natural and social environments in Antarctica challenge the limit of physical and psychological adaptation. Psychological research on Antarctic expeditioners’ winter-over life can enhance our understanding of how humans adapt to isolated, confined and extreme environments. In this qualitative study, nine people who worked at either the Great Wall station or Zhongshan Station were interviewed. Most of the problems related to adaptation in Antarctica could be summarized and categorized into four types: physical, emotional, interpersonal and task-related. Two main sets of factors which impact quality of work and life in Antarctica were identified. The first set refers to internal factors comprising personality, attitude, age and previous experience. The second set is external factors including natural environments as well as conditions of stations and key persons, especially the chef and station master. A theoretical framework of coping strategies including organizational and individual aspects was developed. Among the seven ways of coping, energy transferring such as taking part in sports entertainment or learning played the most important role. The results not only provide a strong theoretical base for future research of polar psychology, but also provide an empirical base for more applications on Antarctic expeditions, flight and space missions

An Investigation of the Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form (Chinese TEIQue-SF)

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form (TEIQue-SF). Analyses were performed using a sample of undergraduates (N = 585) recruited from four universities across China. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Chinese TEIQue-SF supported the one-factor structure of trait emotional intelligence. Measurement invariance analyses were conducted across the Chinese sample and a sample of Canadian undergraduate students (N = 638). Although the two samples demonstrated configural and partial metric invariance, scalar invariance was not found. Cross-cultural implications and explanations of the present findings, as well as suggestions for future research are discussed

Cognitive effects of long-term residence in the Antarctic environment

This study examined whether prolonged residence in the Antarctica had a significant impact on cognitive performance. Participants were members of the 24th and 25th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expeditions. Cognitive performance was measured with tests designed to evaluate short-term recognition, memory search and spatial cognition, measured four times: January, March, April, and June 2010. Age was controlled as a covariate, and data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. The results revealed that subjects’ short-term memory and recognition ability remained stable, while 82% of team members exhibited improved scores on a spatial cognitive ability test. These findings have important implications for furthering our understanding of cognitive functioning in extreme environments

Does Perfectionism Predict Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Life Satisfaction After Controlling for Neuroticism?

Abstract. Neuroticism overlaps substantially with several perfectionism dimensions, depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction. Accordingly, research testing whether perfectionism dimensions explain unique variance in these outcomes beyond neuroticism is needed. Research on cultural differences in perfectionism is also scarce. And it is especially unclear whether the link between perfectionism and psychological distress differs across individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Our study addressed these important gaps in knowledge. A sample of undergraduates from a traditionally individualistic culture (Canada; N = 449) and a traditionally collectivistic culture (China; N = 585) completed measures of self-oriented perfectionism, personal standards, socially prescribed perfectionism, concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, depression, anxiety, stress, and satisfaction with life. To test the incremental validity of perfectionism dimensions beyond neuroticism, as well as to test potential moderating effects of culture, four hierarchical regression analyses with interactions were conducted. Results supported the explanatory power of concern over mistakes and doubts about actions, beyond neuroticism and culture, in the prediction of depression, anxiety, and stress. As the first study to explore the incremental validity of perfectionism dimensions across undergraduates from traditionally individualistic and collectivistic cultures, our research both extends and clarifies understanding of the predictive power of perfectionism in important ways. </jats:p

Measurement Equivalence Of The Wong And Law Emotional Intelligence Scale Across Cultures: An Item Response Theory Approach

The global popularity of emotional intelligence (EI) makes understanding its measurement equivalence across cultures an important issue. Although previous research examining the measurement equivalence of self-reported EI has failed to detect cultural differences, these results may be due to the use of measurement equivalence models that do not adequately specify item level differences between cultures or quantify the magnitude of differences. In this study, we adopted an item response theory (IRT) approach to examine differential item functioning (DIF) in the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS; Wong & Law, 2002) across American and Chinese cultures using both a dominance and ideal point IRT model. Our results revealed: 1) The dominance IRT model had good fit with the WLEIS compared to the ideal point model; 2) the WLEIS items varied in their DIF, which ranged from negligible to moderately large across American and Chinese cultures; and 3) the largest DIF was found for the Other Emotional Appraisal (OEA) dimension of the WLEIS, which indicated that Chinese respondents found these items substantially more difficult to endorse. Implications and future research directions are discussed