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PSYCHOLOGIA

PAEDAGOGIA

1/2017

STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI

PSYCHOLOGIA-PAEDAGOGIA

Volume 62, Issue 1, June 2017

STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEȘ-BOLYAI PSYCHOLOGIA-PAEDAGOGIA

EDITORIAL OFFICE: 7th Sindicatelor Str., Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA, Phone: +40-264-405337 Web site: http://www.studia.ubbcluj.ro/serii/psychologia/index_en.html

Contact: [email protected] EDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Associate Prof. ADINA GLAVA, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Associate Prof. DOROTHEA IONESCU, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania EDITORIAL BOARD: Professor VASILE CHIŞ, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Professor MUŞATA BOCOŞ, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Professor CONSTANTIN CUCOȘ, Ph.D., Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania Professor HARRY DANIELS, Ph.D., University of Oxford, UK Professor CĂLIN FELEZEU, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Professor ROMIȚĂ IUCU, Ph.D., University of Bucharest, Romania Professor ADRIAN OPRE, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Professor VASILE PREDA, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Professor VLADIMIR RADULOV, Ph.D., University of Sofia, Bulgary Professor CHARLES TEMPLE, Ph.D., Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, USA Assistant Prof. GIORGOS NICOLAOU, Ph.D., University of Ioannina, Greece Assistant Prof. FLORIN SALAJAN, Ed.D., North Dakota State University, USA Professor DOREL UNGUREANU, Ph.D., West University of Timișoara, Romania Professor ION ALBULESCU, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Professor CRISTIAN STAN, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Associate Prof. CAROLINA BODEA-HAȚEGAN, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Associate Prof. ANDREEA HATHÁZI, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Associate Prof. MIRELA ALBULESCU, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Associate Prof. IOANA MAGDAŞ, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Associate Prof. OANA DAVID, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Associate Prof. CĂTĂLIN GLAVA, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Lecturer LAVINIA CHEIE, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Lecturer OANA NEGRU, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Lecturer DANA OPRE, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Lecturer SILVIU MATU, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Lecturer JANOS REKA, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Researcher SEBASTIAN VAIDA, Ph.D., Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

YEAR Volume62(LXII)2017MONTHJUNEISSUE1

PUBLISHEDONLINE:2017‐06‐20PUBLISHEDPRINT:2017‐06‐30

ISSUEDOI:10.24193/subbpsyped.2017.1

STUDIAUNIVERSITATISBABEŞ‐BOLYAIPSYCHOLOGIA‐PAEDAGOGIA

1

STUDIAUBBEDITORIALOFFICE:B.P.Hasdeuno.51,400371Cluj‐Napoca,Romania,Phone+40264405352

SUMAR‐SOMMAIRE‐CONTENTS–INHALT

ANDREEABARBU,OANABENGA,TheExperienceofPostnatalDepressioninaSampleofRomanianMothers*DieErfahrungderpostnatalenDepressionineinerStichprobevonrumänischenMüttern................................................................5

VIORELMIH,CODRUȚAMIH,VIORELDRAGOȘ,ProactiveCoping,Engagementin Learning andDeep Processing asMediators betweenAutonomousMotivation andAdjustment at School *ProaktivesCoping,Engagement inLernenundTiefverarbeitungalsMediatorenZwischenAutonomenMotivationundSchulanpassung...........................................................................................................27

ANCAMAIER,MetacognitiveTrainingEffectsonMathematicalPerformanceofLearningDisabilityStudentsfromInclusiveClassrooms*MetacognitiveAusbildungswirkungen auf dieMathematische Leistung den LernbehinderteStudentenausInklusivenKlassenzimmern............................................................47

ÉVAKÁLLAY,TheRolePlayedbyResilienceandtheMeaningMakingProcessesinthePerceptionofStressandQualityofProfessionalLifeinaSampleofTransylvanianHungarians*DieRollederResilienzundderBedeutungProzesse in derWahrnehmung von Stressmachen und dieQualität desBerufslebensineinerProbevonSiebenbürgischenUngarn...................................61

CRISTINAPIELMUȘ,InvestigatingtheImpactofOrganizationalBehaviouron SchoolClimate *UntersuchungderAuswirkungendesOrganisativenVerhaltensaufSchulklima.................................................................................................85

STUDIAUBBPSYCHOL.‐PAED.,LXII,1,2017,p.5‐26(RecommendedCitation)DOI:10.24193/subbpsyped.2017.1.01

THEEXPERIENCEOFPOSTNATALDEPRESSIONINASAMPLEOFROMANIANMOTHERS

ANDREEABARBU1*,OANABENGA2

ABSTRACT.Maternal postnatal depression (PND) is a prevalent conditionafter birth,with significant effects on bothmother and childmental health.The aimof thepresent researchwas toexplore the experienceofpostnataldepression in a sample of Romanian mothers. Within an interpretative‐phenomenological approach, we interviewed and analyzed the data fromthree mothers, regarding their perception and experience of postnataldepression.AllparticipantswerescreenedforPNDinthe firstplace.Withintheinterviews,threemajorthemesweredelineated:1)postnataldepression:experience,significance,contextualization;2)ambivalence;3)socialsupport.Threespecificthemesalsoemerged:1)worriesanddysfunctionalcognitions;2)familyconflict;3)dissatisfactionwithself.Allthreemothersrecognizedtheconcept of postnatal depression and knew its meaning. The meaningsassigned by the mothers to postnatal depression, respectively to theirpsychological states were: disorder, tendency to harm the baby, sadness,apathy,dissatisfactionwithself.Mothers’perceptionoftheirPNDexperiencewas ambivalent, changing fromminimization or denial to acknowledgment.Social supportwas perceived as present,while emotional supportwas alsoacknowledged as understanding (of mothers’ experiences). Our resultsdepicted postnatal depression as a phenomenon experienced both in ruralandurbancontexts,withcommonandspecificfeaturesamongparticipants.Keywords:postnataldepression,mothers,experience,qualitativeresearch.ZUSAMMENFASSUNG.DieErfahrungderpostnatalenDepressionineinerStichprobe von rumänischen Müttern. Mütterliche postnatale Depression(MPD) ist eine verbreitete Erkrankung nach der Geburt, mit erheblichenAuswirkungen auf Mutter und Kind psychische Gesundheit. Das Ziel dervorliegenden Studie war die Erfahrung der postnatalen Depression in einerProbe der rumänischen Mütter zu erkunden. Innerhalb eines interpretativ‐phänomenologischenAnsatzeshabenwirdieDatenvondreiMütterninBezug

1DepartmentofPsychology,FacultyofPsychologyandSciencesofEducation,Babeş‐BolyaiUniversity2DepartmentofPsychology,FacultyofPsychologyandSciencesofeducation,Babeş‐BolyaiUniversity*Correspondingauthor:E‐mail:[email protected]

ANDREEABARBU,OANABENGA

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auf ihreWahrnehmungundErfahrungderpostnatalenDepression interviewtund analysiert. Alle Teilnehmer wurden in erster Linie auf MPD geprüft.InnerhalbderInterviewswurdendreiHauptthemenabgegrenzt:1)postnataleDepression: Erfahrung, Bedeutung, Kontextualisierung; 2) Ambivalenz; 3)soziale Unterstützung. Es gab auch drei spezifische Themen: 1) Sorgen unddysfunktionaleKognitionen;2)Familienkonflikt;3)Selbstunzufriedenheit.AlledreiMütter erkannten das Konzept der postnatalenDepression undwusstenihreBedeutung.DieBedeutungenzugewiesenvondenMütternzurpostnatalenDepression bzw. zu ihre psychologischen Zuständewaren: Störung, Tendenzdem Baby zu schaden, Traurigkeit, Apathie, Selbstunzufriedenheit. DieWahrnehmung derMütter in Bezug auf ihreMPD‐Erfahrungwar ambivalentundwechseltevonderMinimierungoderderAblehnungderAnerkennung.Diesoziale Unterstützung wurde als Gegenwart wahrgenommen, während dieemotionale Unterstützung war auch als Verständnis (der Erfahrungen derMütter) anerkannt. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigten eine postnataleDepression alseinPhänomen,dassowohlimländlichenalsauchimurbanenKontextauftritt,mitgemeinsamenundspezifischenMerkmalenunterdenTeilnehmern.Schlüsselwörter:postnataleDepression,Mütter,Erfahrung,qualitativeForschung

INTRODUCTION

Affectivedisturbancesinthepostnatalperiodcanbedifferentiatedinto1)postnatal bluesorbabyblues– amild intensity and temporary state,withonset in the first three to five days after birth (Nobel, 2005, Wisner, Parry,Piontek, 2002); 2) postnatal depression; and 3) postpartum psychosis – anacute disturbance, beginning in the first two to four weeks after birth (Sit,Rothschild, & Eisner, 2006).With a proportion of affected mother estimatedaround10–15%,postnataldepression(PND)isconsideredaprevalentmentalhealthcomplicationafterchildbirth(O’Hara&McCabe,2013,Robertson,Celasun,& Stewart, 2003). This condition (PND) may be characterized by sadness ordepressive disposition, crying, fatigue, sleep/ appetite/ weight disturbance,suicidalideation,thoughtsofharmingthebabyandinfanticideinextremecases.Itis included in the cluster of affective disorders, like major depression withpostnatalonset‐inthefollowingfourweeksafterdelivery(AmericanPsychiatricAssociation, 2013). According to a recent conceptualization, for example, thisconditionrepresents“anymajororsubsyndromaldepressionpresentanytimeduringthefirstyearafterbirth”(O’Hara&McCabe,2013,pp.380).Generally,aswe described above, the symptomatology is supposably similar to majordepressiondiagnosedatanyothertimeinlife(O’Hara&McCabe,2013).


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Postnatal depression is an important topic for research and practice(O’Hara&McCabe,2013)sinceitaffectsthemother,theinfantandtheparentalcouple(Beck,2002,Grace&Sansom,2003,Robertsonetal.,2004,Blisztaetal.,2010).Manywomenexperiencepostnataldistress,evenifnotataclinicallevelofdepression.Thishappensasgivingbirthrepresentsaconsiderablestressor,anew and complex life event. Therefore, it is possible that this stressor willproduceaffectivedisturbances(Cooper&Murray,1995,Robertsonetal.,2003).Inotherwords,postnataldepression isaffectingmothersbypredisposing theones without a history of depression to subsequent postnatal depressionepisodes.Moreover,formotherswithahistoryofdepression,PNDcouldleadtorecurrence of depressive episodes outside the perinatal period (Cooper &Murray, 1995,O’Hara&McCabe, 2013). Regarding the ongoing experience ofmotherhoodaftergivingbirth,PNDappearstoaffectinanegativewaymother’semotionalstate(e.g.elevatedlevelsofdistressornegativeemotions),caregivingpractices (e.g. problemswith breastfeeding, improper car safety practices forthe infant) and parenting (e.g. reduced synchrony in dyadic interactions andincreased irritability and hostility) (Field, 2010; Lovejoy, Graczyk, O’Hare, &Neuman,2000;O’Hara&McCabe,2013).Postnataldepressionalso influencescognitive processes. For example, depressive symptoms were shown to beassociatedwithreducedattentionindyadicinteractionandnegativeappraisalof infant’s behavior (Dix &Meunier, 2009).Wewill further discussmothers’perspectivesonPNDexperienceinthefollowingsection.

The adverse effects that postnatal depression has on the infant viamother‐infantinteractionaresupportedbynumerousstudies(Grace&Sansom,2003, Field, 2010, O’Hara & McCabe, 2013). In their meta‐analysis, Grace &Sansom (2003) show that postnatal depression has a negative effect onmother’scommunicativebehavior–reducedverbalandvisualinteraction,andupon mother’s affect towards the infant – less positive interactions, lesssensitivity. The impact of postnatal depression on infant development can befoundatvarious levels:emotional,cognitiveandbehavioral (Grace&Sansom,2003, Grace, Evindar, & Stewart, 2003). We briefly point here to effects oninfants’ attachment. There is an increased risk for children of mothers withpostnataldepressiontodevelopaninsecuretypeofattachment(i.e.,anxiousoravoidant), than for children of non‐affectedmothers (Wisner, Parry, Piontek,2002, Grace & Sansom, 2003). At the couple level, postnatal depression cangenerate conflicts or tension, due to the difficulties mothers encounter inmanagingtheirnewmaternityresponsibilities(Bilsztaetal.,2010).

Kumar (1994) outlined the fact that pregnancy and childbirth arecommon events around theworld, having the samephysiology.However, theexperience andperceptionof thesephenomena can vary amongmothers and


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theirsocialgroups(Kumar,1994,pp.251).AnotherwaytohighlightthisfactisthroughBeck’s(2002)analogyofpostnataldepressionwithachameleon:itmighthavethesameorganicorphysiologicalstructure,butcanhavedistinctivemanifestations and experiences. For example, Hall (2006) reported that theexperiences ofwomen she investigatedwere characterized by difficulties inspeakingabouttheircondition,believesthatpeerswillnotunderstandthem,perceptions that they were bad mothers, worries about bonding and theirmother‐infant relations. Moreover, their expectations for a good or happypostnatal experienceweredisconfirmedby the experience after givingbirth(Hall, 2006). Postnatal depression experience was described by mothersinterviewed in different studies as a phenomenon of morbid unhappinessafter giving birth (Oates et al., 2004) or an experience of major adaptationwhich often was exhausting (Buultjens & Liamputtong, 2007). Mothers’descriptionsoftheiremotionalexperiencewereconsonantwithatleastsomeoftheDSMcriteriafordepression:fatigue,lackofenergy,worthlessness,guilt(seeUgarizza,2002).

Oneresultweconsider important is thatofBilsztaetal. (2010),whofoundthatmotherswerenotawareoftheirpsychopathologicalconditionssincetheywereconceptualizingdepressiononlyintermsofseveremanifestations(e.g.notbeingabletogetoutofbedorphysicallyfunction).Womenoftendidnotaccessmentalhealthservices,duetothisimpercipientawareness,butalsoduetolackofknowledgeaboutspecializedaid(Bilsztaetal.,2010).Mothersalsoreported difficulties in telling others about their experiences, because of socialstigma, either real or imagined (Hall, 2006, Bilszta, 2010). These difficultiesmight be explained bymothers’ beliefs that nobody could understand them(Hall,2006)orbythefactthattheydidnotwanttobeperceivedasfailures,buttopreserveinsteadanimageofcapablewomenthatsuccessfullymanagematernity challenges (Bilszta et al., 2010). A revolving theme in qualitativestudies on postnatal depression refers to expectations regarding variousaspects of postnatal life; for example, mothers expected to be able to copebetterwithmaternaldutiesorwiththebaby,theyexpectedmaternitytobeaneasier phase compared to how it was in reality (Beck, 2002; Buultjens &Liamputtong,2007;Hall,2006).

Another important theme in the research devoted to postnataldepression issocial support.Regarding this,Bilsztaetal. (2010), forexample,showed that resistant attitudes towards PND displayed by family membersalteredwomen’shelp‐seekingbehaviorand theacceptanceof theiremotionalexperience.Regardingmothers’perceptionsofsocialsupport,thisisoftenseenby mothers as being inadequate, either emotionally or instrumentally(Buultjens&Liamputtong,2007).Moreover,theperceivedlackofsocialsupport


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is reported bymothers to be a contributing factor to their postnatal sadness(Oates, 2004). Mothers interviewed by Buultjens & Liamputtong (2007)described disagreements with husbands or their own mothers, along withinfants’negativereactivity(e.g.cryoragitation)andcontradictoryadvicefromothers,asmainpsycho‐socialfactorsrelatedtotheirdisturbedstate.

Also,interestingtonoteisoneresultofOatesetal.’s(2004)transnationalstudy, referring to “the term postnatal depression”. In most of the countriesincludedinthisstudy(i.e.France,Italy,Sweden,Austria,Japan,UnitedStatedofAmerica), mothers freely named their state of morbid unhappiness afterchildbirth using the phrase ‘postnatal depression′. On the other hand, thisphenomenonwasdeniedbyAustralianmothersinBilsztaetal.’sstudy(2010)(i.e. mothers reported that they cannot experience PND, this state cannothappentothem).Thispatternofresultscouldindicatesomeculturaldifferencesthatmarktherecognitionanduseoftheconcept‘postnataldepression.’

Beck(2002)synthesizedthephenomenonofpostnataldepression,afteranalyzingseveralqualitativestudies,inthefollowingthemes:internalconflictsbetweenexpectationsandtheexperienceofmotherhood;feelingoverwhelmed,anger, anxiety, guilt, loneliness, pervasive loss, which follow a pattern of“spiralingdownward“;cognitivepatternsofobsessivethinking, impairment incognitivecapacities,thoughtsofharmingoneself.Postnataldepressioncanalsoaffectwomen’s experienceswith their infants, in the sense that, later in theirchildren’sdevelopment,motherscanfeeltheymissedoutonthefirstperiodoftheirchildren’slife(Beck,1999,Beck,2002).

Thepresentstudy

Despite itseffectsand implicationsat the individual,micro‐andmacro‐social levels, postnatal depression remains largely “underdiagnosed” and“undertreated”(Stewart,Robertson,Dennis,Grace,&Wallington,2003).Assuch,research should examinepostnatal depression and its consequences indiverseethnicandsocioeconomicgroups(Stewartetal.,2003,pp.4).Inordertoaddresspostnataldepression,authorsposit that it isnecessary tobecome familiarwithmothers’experiences,specificallytounderstandtheperceptionandsignificancetheyassigntothiscondition(Dennis&Chung‐Lee,2006,Ugarizza,2002).Denis&Chung‐Lee (2006), proposed the idea that, to be addressed, childbirth andmaternal depression should be understood in relation to a specific culturalbackground, reflected in the ways mothers conceptualize and explain theirsymptoms.Inlinewiththis,ourresearchquestionfocusedontheexperienceofpostnataldepression.Thus,wewantedtomakeacontextualizedanalysisofthisphenomenon, exploring the experiencesof postnatal depression in a sampleofRomanianmothers.


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METHOD

Participants

Out of 46 participants recruited for PND screening in the preliminaryphase of the study, fivemothersmet the criteria for inclusion. Only three ofthemacceptedtobeinterviewed(SeeTable1,forparticipantinformation).Thestudy took place in a couple of urban and rural settings from Cluj and Albacounties.Theinclusioncriteriawere:1)theageoftheinfant–whichwasinthe1 to12monthsagerange;2) thescores for the twoscreeningquestionnaires(i.e.BDI‐IIandEPDS).FortheBeckDepressionInventory–II(BDI‐II)thecut‐offscorerecommendedandconsideredsuitableforprimiparaemothersinanearlypostnatalperiodis10,whileforprimiparaemothersinalatepostnatalperiodis12.ABDI‐IIcut‐offscoreof15isrecommendedincaseofmultiparaemothers,both for early and late postpartum periods. For the Edinburg PostnatalDepression Scale, a minimum score of 11 is recommended for primiparaemothersintheearlyperiodsandformultiparaemothersbothforearlyandlatepostnatalperiods,whileforprimiparaemothersinalatepostnatalperiod13isthe optimal cut‐point(Ji, Long, Newport, Na, Knight, Zach, Morris, Kunter, &Stowe, 2011). The reasons for choosing the infant age criterion of 1 to 12months are the following: 1) literature recommends taking into account theinterval 1 to 12 months postnatally for the onset of postnatal depression(Robertsonetal.,2003);2)inclusiveagelimitsareneeded,inordertoprovideanaccurateanddetailedinvestigationofthephenomenon.

Table1.Participantinformation

Participant Maternalage

Infantage Numberofchildren

Maritalstatus Educationallevel

P1 33years 10months 2 Married Vocationalschool

P2 33years 8½months 2 Married Vocationalschool

P3 21years 2months 1 Married Highschool

Instruments

BeckDepressionInventory–II(BDI‐II,Beck,Steer&Brown,1996)isascaledesignedformeasuringtheseverityofdepressioningeneralandclinicalpopulations. It comprises 21 items, each evaluating a specific symptom or


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attitudeofdepression.Theinventoryhasgoodpsychometricpropertiesintheclinical and non‐clinical samples from Romania: Cronbach α = .90 for theclinical, respectively Cronbach α = .89 for the non‐clinical sample; a validitycoefficientr=.72withHamiltonRatingScaleforDepression(adaptedbyDavid&Dobrean,2012).

Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS, Cox, Holden, Sagovsky,1987,Wisner,Parry,Pointek,2002)isthemostusedinstrumentformeasuringpostnataldepression.Itishighlycorrelatedwithclinicalevaluations(Coxetal.,1987).Coxetal.(1987)reportafidelitycoefficientCronbachα=.87.Thegoodpsychometric properties of the scale have also been shown by other studies:Gaynes et al. (2005), Matijasevich et al. (2014). We conducted a process oftranslationand retroversion for this scale. In theprocessof translation, threepsychologiststookpart.Theretroversionwasdonebytwootherpsychologists.All of themarenativeRomanian speakers and independentEnglish speakers.Thefidelityoftheinstrumentinoursample(N=46)isgood:Cronbachα=.79.

Asemi‐structured interviewwasused for investigating theexperienceof mothers with postnatal depression symptomatology. The interview wasdesigned following the guidelines of Baban (2002), Smith & Osborn (2003),Patton&Cochran(2002).Thismethodisconsideredanadequateoneindoinginterpretative phenomenological analysis (Chapman & Smith, 2002). Theinterviewsconsistedofgeneralquestions,ontopicslikethecurrentexperience,difficultiesencountered inthepostnatalperiod, thesignificanceof thecurrentexperience/postnataldepressionforthemother,theexperienceofmaternity.

Procedure

Participants were recruited via general practitioners (GP) and theirnurses.First,theannouncementofthestudywasdisseminated.GPs,nurses,andmotherswereinformedthatthestudyregardedmaternalwellbeingandmaternaladjustment after birth; GPs, nurses or the researcher obtained the verbalagreement of mothers for participation. In the preliminary phase, participantswerescreened for thepresenceofpostnataldepressionsymptomatology.Allparticipants received an informed consent, previously to answering thequestionnaire.The screening session tookplace invarious settings: theGP’soffice, mothers’ homes, at Babeş‐Bolyai University. The screening sessionswere organized as a group or individual sessions, depending on mothers’availability.Ineithercase,onlythemother(s)andtheresearcherwerepresentintheroom.TheGPsandthenursesdidnotattendanyofthesesessions.Forthe next phase, the researcher called the mothers and invited them to adiscussion based on the questionnaire they filled in. Mothers received a


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consent form again, with explicit information about the procedure of audiorecording the interview.Allmothersagreed.The interviewswereorganizedasindividual sessions. The length of the interviews was about 40 minutes. Weconducted interviews fromthe interpretative‐phenomenologicalperspective (IPA),with general questions followed by in‐depth inquiries (Smith, 2004). In otherwords,thedatacollectionwasguidedbutflexible, tobringto lightparticipants’answersandexperiences(Smith&Osborn,2003).At theendof thisphase,weexplicitlydiscussedwithmotherstheobjectiveofthestudyandalsotheresultsobtainedfromthequestionnaire.

DataAnalysis

The interviewswererecordedand transcribedentirelyafterward.Thedata were analyzed from an interpretative‐phenomenological perspective(Smith&Osborne,2003,Baban,2002).Theprocessofreading,re‐readingandcommenting, identifying initial themes, connecting themes and developingthematic clusters was repeated for each interview independently (Smith &Osborn, 2003). In the end, we searched for the common themes through aniterative process. The common themes or the superordinate themes wereestablished relative to their relevance for the research question and to theirinformational richness.We identified specific themes, based on differences inthecasesexplored.Theprocessofcodingandidentifyingthemeswasinductiveanddeductive.Itwasinductivebecauseitwashighlybasedonparticipants’data.Itwasalsodeductive,aswewereguidedbythetheoreticalissuesemergingfromliterature.

RESULTS

First theme: postnatal depression: experience, significance,contextualization

Threemajorcommonthemesemergedfromtheinterviews:1)postnataldepression: experience, significance, contextualization; 2) ambivalence; 3) socialsupport. The first theme referred to postnatal depression: the experience ofdepression, the significance of depression in the postnatal period and theintegrationof thisexperience inthesocialcontext.Mothers’descriptionsof theiremotionalstaterevealedsadness,nervousness,irritability,fear,fatigue,emotionaldiscomfort. The common emotion for all three participants was sadness. Forexample,thefirstparticipantdescribingherexperiencesaid:


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“Well,afterIgavebirth,IhadaperiodwhenIwasverysad.Iwas,howcanItellyou?Iwascryingabouteverything.Evenif,Idon’tknow,(for)nothing….Ifeltlikecrying…”(P1).

Moreover,thefirstandsecondparticipantsspokeabouttheirinabilityto relax. They (P1 andP2) confessed that evenwhenothermembers of thefamilytookcareofthechild(e.g.,thehusbandorthegrandmother),theycouldnot rest, as theywerecontinuouslyworriedabout the infantand thecarer’sabilitytomanagehim/her.Theyevenconfessedthattheywerehavingdoubtstheirfamilymemberscouldcareforthebabyasgoodasthemselves.

We observed in all three cases that participants had difficulties indescribingtheirstates.Theyacknowledgedtheywerenotfeelingwell,butin‐depth interviewing was needed in each case, to describe the quality of thedepressive experience explicitly. Crying was the most reported behavioralexpression.Thebehaviorwasmoreaccessibletoaverbalexplanationthantheemotionperse.Furthermore, fatiguewasrepeatedlymentionedbymothers.As it could be expected, this psychosomatic state was exacerbated by theprolongedmaternalduties.

Twoofthemothersprovidedantagonisticdescriptionswhenweaskedabouttheirperceptionsregardingownstatesandemotionsfromtheprenatalperiod. In the first and third cases, the descriptions of the prenatal periodreferredtobeingactive(P1),energetic(P3),“inaverygoodmood”(P1)and“alwayssmiling”(P3),whiletheonesof thepostnatalperiodspecifiedstateslike “very sad” (P1), “not in the mood” (P3) and tired (P3). The secondparticipant, on the other hand, presented her states and emotions as beingcontinuousintheprenatalandpostnatalperiods.Specifically,shementionedatendencytowardsworrying,fearsand“thoughts."Shealsoconfessedthatherongoing state was amplified: “I mean there are additional fears (now), butotherwise,Iwasthesameas(Iam)now...”(P2).

All mothers were familiar with the term “postnatal depression."Participants did not use the term freely to designate their state. Onlywhenthey were asked about knowing the phenomenon of postnatal depression,they answered affirmatively. The question was introduced subsequently tomothers’descriptionsoftheirexperience,anditwasaddressedapproximatelyattheendoftheinterview,inordernottoinfluencemothers’talkabouttheirexperience.An interesting findingabout theconceptofpostnataldepressionwas thesignificancemothersassigned to it.Wehighlight the fact that,whentalkingaboutthemeaningofthiscondition,mothersidentifiedtheiremotionalexperiencewith it and gave personal examples. Thus, themeanings for thispathologicalstatewere:


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‐ Depression as a disorder or a tendency to harm the baby: “Thisdepression,Idon’tknowifitisadisorderorwhatitis,butit’s…Iwasafraidnotto,asItoldyou,nottodosomethingmore…/Like,Idon’tknow,todosomethingwiththe baby, to kill himor I don’t knowwhat, I don’t know…To hit the baby if hecries…”(P1)

‐Depressionassadnessandapathy:“Maybethis–thatyoucryverymuchandyougetexhaustedand...youdon’tevenfeelliketakingcareofyourself.”(P2)

‐Depressionassadnessanddissatisfactionwithbodyimage:“Toalwaysbesadaftergivingbirth,orsomethinginyourbodychangesorthewayyoulookaftergivingbirthdisturbsyou?Ithinkso.”(P3)

In other words, postnatal depression is a disorder, with prominentsadness,apathy,andreactionslikecrying.Aswenoticed,forP1thesignificancerevolvesaroundtheideaofharmingthebaby,whichmayoccurinseverecasesas the mother herself said. Mothers’ conceptualization of this phenomenonincluded all range of symptoms, even possible severe reactions. The sourcesreportedbymothersasprovidinginformationaboutpostnataldepressionwere:thehusband,theInternet,andthetelevision.Itwassurprisingandsignificanttofindoutthathusbandsofallthreemothersidentifiedtheirspouses’conditionaspostnataldepression.Withnoexception,motherssaidthattheyhaddiscussedthissubjectwiththeirpartners:

“…He(thehusband,eventhoughhewasmainlygonetowork)stoodbesidemebecause he saw that therewas somethingwrongwithme./ I am telling you(things)thatIhaven’ttoldeventomymother.Soonlymyhusbandhasknown,insofar. /…with the husband (I had discussed about postnatal depression),because(Ithink)everybodytalkswiththehusbandfirst.”(P1)

“Yes,myhusbandtoldme(thattherewassomethingwrong).Idiscussedwithhimandhe toldmethat Imightbe like thisaftergivingbirth... the fact that Idon’thavethatmuchpatienceand…Idon’tliketogoout,Imean…Iratherstayathome.”(P2)

“MyhusbandtoldmewhyIhavethisstatethatIdonotlikehowIlook,IalwayssaythatI(must) loseweight,orthatIcryatnight,andthatIamsadderthanusually...Hesaid:‘Welllove,thismeanspostnataldepression.”(P3)

It appears that, for a daily observer– in our cases the husbands,whoregularly saw their partners’ manifestations, the symptomatology could notremain hidden. Thus, placing the phenomenon of postnatal depression in thesocialcontext,weconcludethatinthecaseofacouple,itisanovertcondition.Asfortheextendedfamilyorthemicro‐socialcontextofthemothers,onlythethird participant reported talking with her parents about her experience.Moreover, at the level of the community, postnatal depression was a covert


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condition.Mothersdidnotshowtheirstateanddidnotdiscusstheirexperiencewithotherpersons(e.g.,othermothersfromthevillage).Atthemacro‐levelofanalysis,themainsourceofinformationandinfluencefortheconceptualizationofthephenomenonwasmass‐media:internetandtelevision.Motherssaidtheyread information about postnatal depression on the internet or heard newsabout severePND cases.Mothers acknowledged the benefits of informationalinput, but recognized a reduced impact at the personal level: "Well, it is onethingtoread,tobeinformed,butitisonlyyouwhoknowhowitfeels.”(P3).

Secondtheme:ambivalence

The second theme refers tomothers’ ambivalence: i.e. acceptance anddenialoftheirexperience.Thistendencywasmostevidentinthefirstcase.P1hadrepeatedlyswungbetweencontradictoryaffirmations:

“IcansaythatnowIkindofgotwellabit,andthechildhasgrownabit…/Iamathomeall the time. I live in the village, athome…well, it ishard. / I cannotsay…No,nothingcomeshardtome.”

Additionally, the ambivalence or hesitation in identifying postnataldepressioncanbedepictedbythefollowinglines:

“Q:Andwhatdoyoumeanbypostnataldepression?

A:Thisdepression,Idon’tknowif it’sadisorderorwhat it is,but it’s…Iwasafraidnotto,I’vetoldyou,nottodosomethingmore(harmful)…

Q: I understand that you are familiarwith this term or that you have heardaboutit.Whatdoyouexactlymeanbyit?

A:Yes,Ihaveheard,ofcourse,thatIhaveheard.AndnotonlyhaveIbeen,ormaybe I have been…or haven’t been depressed like this, others may be more(affected)…”(P1)

The other two participants also ambivalently described symptoms ofpostnatal depression from their experience. They questioned or hesitated toadmitthepresenceoftheconditionintheircases.

Thirdtheme:socialsupport

Social support is anothermajor theme revealedby the analysis of theinterviews.Inouropinion,thisisanessentialtheme,asitleadstosimilaritiesto,but also differences from other research results. Social support refers to thehelpmothersreceive.Theextendedfamilyisthemajorsourceofsupport(e.g.:ownmother/parents,mother in law, sister) inourstudy.The firstparticipantevenregardsthefamilyastheuniquesourceofsupport.Theeffectivesupport


16

fromfamilymembersconsistsof:takingthebabyfromhomeandcaringforhimand housekeeping. Emotional support from parents or parents‐in‐law is lessmentioned. Itmay be due tomothers not expressing or communicating theirexperience.

“…(Mymother)tookthebabyformetorest.Withher,Idon’ttalktoomuch,totellherthatIamsad…IcannotsaythatIhavetoldhereverything,thatitishardwiththebaby.”(P1)

Fathersareseenasanimportantsourceofsupport.Thethreemotherssaid theyreceived instrumentalsupport fromtheirhusbands’.Theyhelpwithwalkingthebaby,feedingandputtingthebabytosleep(P1,2,3),cooking(P3)ordoinghomeworkwiththeolderchildren(P1,P2).Instrumentalsupportcanalso mean the time the father spends at home. The motif of time comes upwithout being questioned. Except for the third participant, for the first andsecondparticipants, the time theirhusbandswere spendinghomewas tacitlyunsatisfactory.

The fatherwasperceived by our participants as having a vital role inofferinginstrumentalandalsoemotionalsupport.Ourthirdparticipantexpressedclearlyherbeliefaboutthehusband’srole:

“Q:Andwhatkindofhelpdoyouthinkmothersshouldgetaftergivingbirth,maybeatanideallevel?

P3: “To be understood by their husbands. I believe there is not greater help.…Because theydidnot conceive thebabyalone, they (the fathers) shouldgetinvolvedalso.”

The desired emotional support appeared from the interviews asunderstanding(ofmothers’experiences).Forourparticipantsthisunderstandingrepresented husbands’ cognizance of their (mothers’) emotional states anddifficultiesencounteredincaringforthebaby,respectivelyinhomemaking.Asdescribedearlierintheresultssection,thefatherswereawareofthephenomenonof postnatal depression experienced by their wives: “he (the husband) knewtherewassomethingwrongwithme”(P1).

Specificthemes

Aswementionedbefore, the specific themes that could be delineatedfromtheinterviewswere:worriesanddysfunctionalthinking,intergenerationalconflicts, dissatisfaction with self. These themes, are relevant since they adddistinctivenesstoeachparticipant’sexperience.


17

Firstspecifictheme:Worriesanddysfunctionalcognition

The second participant’s discourse leads to this specific theme. Shedescribedherselfasalwaysworryingaboutherhealthandherchildren’sstates:

P2:“JustthatIhavethesethoughtsthatifanythingshouldhappen,atleastitshouldnothappentothechildrenbecauseIthinkthatIwould...ImeanIdon’tusually think ‘All is well,’ I think ‘What if something happens?’, ‘If’ all thetime.”(P2)

We could also see a negative attributional thinking applied to her lifecondition:

“... I am under the impression that everything is going wrong... It’s likeeverybodyaroundmehasjoy,(but)itseemsthatIdon’thave(it)...”(P2)

Secondspecifictheme:intergenerationalconflicts

Amajorsubjectforthethirdmotherwastheconflictwithherparents‐in‐lawandherhusband’sgrandmother.P3thoughtthattheonsetoftheconflictwas thebirthofherchild.Theseconflictswerearounddivergences regardingreligiousvalues,parentalpractices,andbeliefsaboutthematernalrole:

“Mymother‐in‐lawtaughther(thebaby)tostayonly,butonlyinone’sarms.…shecomesvisiting,holdsthebabyinherarms,carriesher,playswithherandyoucan imaginethat if I letherdown,shescreams fromthe topofher lungs(and I cannot do anything because of the baby)...And from there came theconflictsbecausehis(thehusband’s)grandmothersaysthatIamnotawoman,thatIdon’tironclothes,Idon’tdo(householdchores)…”(P3)

Thirdspecifictheme:dissatisfactionwithself

The dissatisfaction was expressed by the third participant. She wasdissatisfiedwithherbodyandhermaternalabilities.

“Iamnotsatisfiedatallwithmybody.IfeellikegoinginsanewhenIseemyselflikethisinthemirror…”(P3)

Regardinghermaternalabilities,thisparticipantsaidshewasexpectingtomanagemorethings,because,beforegivingbirth,shewasdoingmanyhomeduties,butatthatmomentshewasnotabletodoanythingmorethantocareforthechild.


18

DISCUSSION

We started our research by questioning “What is the experience ofpostnataldepressioninasampleofRomanianmothers?”Weinterviewedthreemothers,withinfantsrangingfrom1to12monthsold,whowerescreenedforPNDinthepreliminaryphaseofthestudy.FromtheinitialgroupofparticipantsinvolvedinscreeningforPND,whichconsistedof46women,onlyfivemothersmettheconditionsdescribedinliteratureasbeingnecessaryfortheassumptionofpostnataldepression.Inotherwords,depressivesymptomatologyofvaryingintensitywaspresent in 10.86%of the screened cases. This rate is similar tothosefoundinotherstudies;forexample,Stewartetal.(2003)concludedthatthisconditionaffectsapproximately13%ofwomeninthefirstyearafterbirth.Oneimportantaspectregardingparticipationinourstudyisthattwooutofthefive identifiedmothers refused to participate in the interview.Moreover, wedon’t know the real number of persons informed by the medical personnelaboutourstudy.Thephenomenonofpostnataldepressioncouldbeaprevalentyetunacceptedcondition.Itcouldbethecaseofminimizationorresistanceinacknowledgingthiscondition.

Maternalexperienceofpostnataldepression

We have presented in the previous section the manifestations ofpostnataldepression,asdiscussedbyourparticipants.Thesearesadness,crying,fatigue,nervousness,irritability,emotionaldiscomfort,fear,apathy.Ourresultsareinagreementwithotherfindingsintheliterature;forexample,Beck(2002)alsomentioned experiences of anxiety, anger, and feeling overwhelmed.Weobserved thatmother’s descriptions of their conditionwere similar to DSMcriteria and also to theexplanatorymodelofUgarizza’s (2002)participants.Our participants’ symptomatology was similar with DSM‐V criteria, as theydescribed sadness, cry, psychomotor agitation, fatigue, lack of pleasure orinterest. All participants mentioned states of sadness, nervousness, fatigue.The lack of pleasure or interestwas explicitly described only by the secondparticipant. She described herself as having a very low interest for therecreationalactivitiessuggestedbyherhusband.Forthethirdmother,activitieslikewatchingmoviesorwalkingwithherhusbandwerepresent,buttheyhadcoping value (e.g., distraction). The first participant, on the other hand,described her daily activities as a routine which consisted of intense andsometimesinsurmountablematernalduties.Itmaybethatpositiveemotionsorpleasure/interest foractivitiesarepresent inmoderateorsubclinical casesofPND, even though depressive symptomatology may also be present. As the


19

analysisofinterviewsshowed,mothersmentionedveryfewpleasantactivities,butwhattheydescribedinfact,werecyclicalstates.Thus,symptomsofsadness,cry,andapathyalternatedwithpleasantemotions(e.g.enjoymentofactivitieswiththebaby).

Regardingtheirdescriptionsofthepostnatalexperienceincomparisonwith the prenatal period, we saw that participants reported distinctions, butalso similarities between the two periods. On the one hand, the descriptionprovidedbyP2 is in linewiththerisk factors forpostnataldepression,asshereportedatendencytowardsneuroticism(Robertsonetal.,2003,Robertsonetal.,2004,O’Hara&McCabe,2013).Ontheotherhand,inthecaseofP1andP3,we did not find psychological precursors for depression, when comparingprenatalandpostnatalphases.Thiscouldbeexplainedbythemultiplefactorsinvolved in this condition, namely: the stressing experience of motherhood,discrepanciesbetweenexpectationsandreality,difficultiesatthelevelofsocialsupport and familial conflicts (Beck, 2002; Buultjens & Liamputtong, 2007;Robertsonetal.,2003).Theinformationmothersprovidedandtheirexperienceof being interviewedwere in accordancewith thehusserlianperspective thatfor a deeper understanding of individuals’ experience a scientific approach isneeded(Lopez&Willis,2004).

Themeaningofpostnataldepression

Animportant findingofourstudy is thesignificancemothersassignedtothephenomenonunderinvestigation.Astheanalysisshowed,motherswerefamiliarwiththetermpostnataldepressionfromvarioussources:theinternet, thetelevision.Aninterestingfindingwasthatpartnersweretheones conceptualizingmothers’ experiences as being postnatal depression. Beck (2002) describes adifferent phenomenon in her metasynthesis, in that mothers could not talkabouttheirexperience,sometimesnotevenwiththeirpartners.Inourcase,ontheotherhand,weobservedtheparticipationofhusbandsinrecognizingmothers’emotional experience, instead of ignorance or rejection, as revealed by Beck(2002).

Theexperienceofpostnataldepressioninsocialcontexts

Thephenomenonofpostnataldepressionisshapedinthesocialcontext,atvariouslevels.Atthecouplelevel,theperceptionofthisphenomenonanditsexperience are constructed, depending onwhat is accepted or not.We couldthusseethewifewhodoesnotcrybecauseherhusbanddoesnotliketoseeherdoing it. In theextended family,wecould find thewoman,nowamother,but


20

alsoadaughter,whodoesnotdiscussherproblemswithparents.Atthecommunitylevel,wesawthatthephenomenonofpostnataldepressionislargelyunspoken.Thus, acceptableandunacceptable topicsare sociallyconstructedandshared.Atthemacro‐level,weobservedtheinfluenceofmass‐media(i.e.thetelevisionand the internet). Thesemeansof informationhave an influence onmothers’perception or mental construction of the phenomenon. Explicitly, postnataldepressionwaspresentedasanillness,aconditionwhichpredisposestoactsofharmingthebabyorofinfanticide.Thelatterisasociallycreatedmyth,asimilarphenomenonwiththemythofmotherhoodasjoyfulandgratifying,asBeck(2002)described.

Ambivalence

Further in our analysis,we identified ambivalence as another distinctivetheme. This ambivalence refers to swinging between admitting and denying theemotional experience and thedifficulties encountered. Listening tomothers’voices,weobservedthattheywereambivalentregardingtheirownstatesandregarding the presence of postnatal depression in oneself. This theme highlightsparticipants’ tendencytodenytheirexperienceofpostnataldepression. If inthebeginning, theytalkedaboutaccommodatingtomaternalexperienceandaboutemotionalregulation,furtherintheinterviewtheyacknowledgedtheirnegativeemotionsanddifficulties in caring for thebaby,yetalternating thisacknowledgmentwithmomentsofdenialorminimization.All threemothersofferedcontradictorydescriptions,butthecontentofambivalencediffered,aswe showed in the results section. The ambivalence could be indicative of adissonance between the lived experience of postnatal depression and theexpectations for easiness andwell‐being thatmothers held prenatally. Mauthner(1998)alsoidentifiedconflictsandincongruencesinmothers’discourses.Onetypeofconflict,evidencedbyMauthner(1998),consistedinthisdiscrepancybetweentheantenatalexpectationsforhappinessandthepostnatal experienceofdepression.Asdepictedabove, theambivalencemothersexperiencecould also begeneratedbytheattitudestowardsmotherhoodandPND.Thus,mothersmayperceivetheirexperiencesareatvariancewiththeexpectationsorattitudesfromthesocialcontextormaynotfullyadmittheirexperiencesforfearofsocialstigma.

Socialsupport

Socialsupportwaspresentandwasprovidedbydifferentsources.Itisnot only the structure of support that is important, but also the functionaldimensionofsupport,whichismostrelevantforpostnataldepression(Leahy‐


21

Warren,McCarthy,&Corcoran,2011).Thesupportreceivedfromtheextendedfamilywasmainlyinstrumental.Spatialproximityfacilitatedthehelpprovidedby family members. In two out of the three cases, the young parents livedtogetherwith thewife’sorhusband’s familyoforigin; theotheryoung familylivednearbyboththehusband’sandthewife’sparents.Husbandsalsoreceivedcredit for offering instrumental support to their wives. The instrumentalsupportwasthemostevidenttypeofsupportinmothers‘discourses.

Emotional support is described in the literature as care and comfort(Curtona,1990,pp.7).Emotionalsupportappearedforourparticipantsintheformofunderstanding.Understandingcanbedefinedasfathers’acknowledg‐ment of the mothers’ experience of postnatal depression. Understanding ismoreofacoldcognitiveprocessforourparticipants.Itisdifferentfromotherconceptualizations of emotional support which imply empathetic, caringattitudesandcomfortingbehaviors.Theconsequenceofthistypeofemotionalsupportisinstrumentalsupportfromhusbands.

Inourstudyperceivedsocialsupportwasnotaltered.Weconsideritcould be that the intensity of the symptomatology may be a differentiatingfactor for the way mothers perceived social support. Another explanationcould be through the themes delineated by Bilszta et al. (2010): “not beingabletocope/fearoffailure”and“stigmaanddenial."Inotherwords,motherscould have been protecting the positive image of social support they have(theoretically)receivedandshowedsatisfactionwithit,inordernottopromptnegativeevaluationsorsocialstigma.Howcouldthesemothersadmittheirownhardships,ortheunsatisfactoryprovisionofsocialsupport,aslongas(withthewordsof oneparticipant) othermothers experiencemuchmoredifficulty? Inthelightofsuchcomparison,theycouldbediscreditedasmothers,forbeinginneedformoresupportorforhavingthepostnataldepressionexperience.Thus,onedirectionforfutureresearchcouldbethatofstudyingobjectivelythesocialsupport in the context ofmaternity, considering the different forms of socialsupport,aswellaspostnataldepressionintensity.

Specificthemes

We also identified specific themes regarding postnatal depressionexperience.Thesethemesarecomponentsofparticipants’individualexperienceand are important for our research, to create a thorough perspective on thephenomenon.Theyarealso factorsdescribedintheliteratureaboutpostnataldepression.


22

Intergenerational conflicts represent one of the causes of postnataldepression,accordingtothemothersparticipatinginthetransculturalstudyofOatesetal.(2004).IntheChineseculture,intergenerationalconflictsarepartoftheetiologyofthisdisorder’s(Leeetal.2004),theconflictbetweendaughter‐in‐law and mother‐in‐law being the third important stressor as magnitude(Zheng&Lin,1994).Inourstudy,theconflictswiththeextendedfamilydidnotgenerateadditionalconflicts.Onthecontrary,therelationshipwiththehusbandremaineda resilient factor for themother.Future researchshould investigatethe perceptions couples have regarding intergenerational conflicts and alsoinvestigatethespecificityofconflictsindiverseculturalbackgrounds.

The importanceofcognitions fortheetiopathogenesisofdepression iswell‐known from literature. Irrational thoughts and obsessive thinking havebeendescribedbefore,inthecasesofmotherswithpostnataldepression.Thesecognitionsrefertowomen’sperceivedfailureasmothers,todoubtsaboutownnormalityandworriesregardingthebabies(Beck,2002).Moreover,obsessivethinking regarding harming oneself or the baby have also been reported(Robertson et al., 2003). In our cases, the dysfunctional thinking consisted ofworriesregarding infants’healthandwellbeing;ownhealth; thepossibilityofharmingthebaby;mother’sbodyimage;andmaternalabilities.

Practicalrecommendations

Thescreeningofmothersafterchildbirthshouldreceivespecialattention.Aswehavementionedbefore,mothersinoursamplehadacovertexperienceinfrontofpersons fromtheirsocialcontext, includingthemedicalpersonnel.Thebehaviorwehaveobservedinthesemotherscouldbeacompensatorystrategy,aimed to cover the symptomatology for an outside observer. Additionally toscreening via questionnaires, clinical interviewing and psychoeducation shouldbetwosolutionstobetakenintoconsiderationandfurtherapplied.Wesuggestthis,sinceitispossiblethatmothersminimizetheirsymptomswhencompletingthequestionnaires,thusmisleadingtheidentificationofPNDbytheclinician.Itisalso important to take into consideration ambivalence when approachingmotherswithpostnataldepression.

Theoreticalimplications

We suggest that other’s understanding of maternal distressingexperiences functionsas a formofperceivedemotional supportandhas tobefurther considered in the theoretical perspectives on postnatal depression, in


23

relationship to cultural norms of expressing and regulating emotions. On theotherhand,ourresultsregardingpostnataldepressionexperience,dysfunctionalcognitions,andinstrumentalsocialsupportsustaintheoperationalizationofthephenomenon,asalreadydescribedintheexistingliterature.

CONCLUSIONS

Throughourphenomenologicalapproach,weidentifiedcommon,butalsodistinctive features of postnatal depression, relative to previous research. Insummary, we saw that postnatal depression was a condition present both inurban(P3)andruralsettings(P1andP2).Mothers’experiencewascharacterizedby ambivalence in acknowledging the symptomatology, although they werefamiliarwiththeconceptofpostnataldepression.Thedailyroutineofmaternityoffersstructure,butitcanbecomeburdeningduetothemonotonouscyclicityoftheactivities.Moreover,maternalsolicitationsdisconfirmtheexpectationsforafacile phase after childbirth. Also, like in a downward spiral, there are to beaddedtothispicturetheworries,fears,dysfunctionalthoughtsandperceptionsabout social support. We can thus conclude that postnatal depression is aphenomenon characterized by common and also specific experiences acrossgroupsorcontextsunderstudy.

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PROACTIVECOPING,ENGAGEMENTINLEARNINGANDDEEPPROCESSINGASMEDIATORSBETWEENAUTONOMOUS

MOTIVATIONANDADJUSTMENTATSCHOOL

VIORELMIH1*,CODRUȚAMIH2,VIORELDRAGOŞ3

ABSTRACT.Thestudyexplorestheroleofautonomousmotivationinpredictingproactive coping, motivational study strategies and tested strategies asmediatorsoftherelationshipbetweencopingstrategyandadjustmentatschool.A sample of 183 high school students completed a series of questionnairesassessingmotivation,coping,studystrategies,andperceptionsofadjustmentatschool.Findingsrevealedonemodelforconsequencesofautonomousmotivation.Analysesthatusedstructuralequationmodelingshowedthatthestudents’self‐determined motivation predicted proactive coping strategy autonomous goalsettingwithself‐regulatorygoalattainmentcognitionsandbehaviour.Further,these resilience resources predicted deep processing, students’ intentions topersist in school task, effort, and implicit academic adjustment like educationaspiration, homework and students’ intentions to persist in high school. Thefindings underscore the importance of autonomousmotivation and proactivecoping strategy in adjustment at school and suggest that interventions couldusefullytargettheconsequencesoftheseprocesses.Thetheoreticalandpracticalimplications aswell as the controversy over the relation betweenmotivation,copingandschooladjustmentarediscussed.Keywords:self‐determinationtheory,autonomousmotivation,proactivecoping,engagementinlearning,deepprocessing,adjustmentatschoolZUSAMMENFASSUNG. Proaktives Coping, Engagement In Lernen UndTiefverarbeitungAlsMediatorenZwischenAutonomenMotivationUndSchulanpassung.DieStudieuntersuchtdieRollederautonomenMotivationbeider Vorhersage proaktives Coping, Lernmotivation Strategien, und getestetenStrategien als Vermittler der Beziehung zwischen Bewältigungsstrategie undAnpassunganderSchule.EineProbevon183GymnasiastenfüllteeineReihevon

1DepartmentofPsychology,Babeş‐BolyaiUniversityCluj‐Napoca,Romania2DepartmentofHumanitiesDidactics,Babeş‐BolyaiUniversityCluj‐Napoca,Romania3DepartmentofEducationalSciences,Babeş‐BolyaiUniversityCluj‐Napoca,Romania*Correspondingauthor:E‐mail:[email protected]

VIORELMIH,CODRUȚAMIH,VIORELDRAGOŞ

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Fragebögenaus,dieMotivation,Coping,StudienstrategienundWahrnehmungenderAnpassunganderSchulebeurteilen.DieErgebnissezeigteneinModellfürdie Konsequenzen der autonomen Motivation. Analysen, die strukturelleGleichungsmodellierung verwendeten, zeigten, dass die selbstbestimmteMotivation proaktive Bewältigungsstrategie autonome Zielsetzung mitSelbstregulierung Ziel Erreichung Kognitionen und Verhalten vorhersagt.Darüber hinaus prognostizierten diese Resilienzressourcen eine tiefeVerarbeitung,dieAbsichtenderStudierenden,inderSchulaufgabe,AnstrengungundimpliziteakademischeAnpassungwieBildungsaspiration,HausaufgabenunddieAbsichtenderStudenten,imGymnasiumzubestehen.DieErgebnisseunterstreichen die Bedeutung der autonomen Motivation und proaktiverBewältigungsstrategieinderAnpassunganderSchuleundsuggerieren,dassInterventionen die Konsequenzen dieser Prozesse sinnvoll ansprechenkönnten.DietheoretischenundpraktischenKonsequenzensowiedieKontroverseüber die Beziehung zwischen Motivation, Coping und Schulanpassung werdendiskutiert.Schlüsselwörter:Selbstbestimmungstheorie,autonomeMotivation,proaktivesCoping,EngagementimLernen,tiefeVerarbeitung,SchulanpassungConsiderable research reveals that motivation can lead to important

outcomes, such as proactive coping, engagement in learning and adjusting atschool.Althoughmoststudieshavefocusedontheeffectsofintrinsicmotivation(Deci&Ryan, 1985, 1987),more recent researchbased on the tenets of self‐determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000, Ryan & Deci, 2002; 2008;Soenens&Vansteenkiste,2010)hasdealtwiththewholespectrumofmotivations.Thevariousformsofmotivationarepositedtodifferintheirinherentlevelsofself‐determination.SDT(Deci&Ryan,2000)theorizesthatbehaviorsvarywithrespecttohowautonomous,orself‐motivated,theyare(Ryan&Deci,2008)andfocuses on the presence of autonomy embedded in motives such as thoseoutlined by the functional approach (Vansteenkiste, Simons, Lens, Soenens &Matos,2005;Zhou,Ma&Deci,2009).FromSDTresearchautonomousmotivationconcerns actions that are experienced as emanating from or congruent withone’sself,orinattributionalterms,haveaninternalperceivedlocusofcausalityofanaction(Ryan&Connell,1989).Autonomousbehaviorsreflectone’svaluesorinterests,andonefeelslikean“origin”ratherthana“pawn”inenactingthem(deCharms,1968).

Becauseself‐determinationhasbeenhypothesizedtobeassociatedwithenhancedpsychologicalfunctioning,weexpectself‐determinedformsofmotivationtoleadtopositiveoutcomes,suchasproactivecoping,effortandpersistence,in

PROACTIVECOPING,ENGAGEMENTINLEARNINGANDDEEPPROCESSINGASMEDIATORSBETWEEN…

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domains such as work, sport and school (Ryan & Deci, 2000; Vansteenkiste,Niemiec&Soenens,2010).SDT’smaybeparticularlyrelevanttoadjustmentatschool(i.e.,satisfactionwithone’sacademiclife,intentionsofcontinuingone’sschooling, educational aspirations, etc.),which can stem either frompersonalvaluesandinitiativesorfromexternalpressures,andthusmightbeexpectedtovaryintheirautonomousmotives.

Autonomousmotivation

According to SDT, motivation is not just based on quantity (i.e., how

much motivation a person experiences), but also on the quality of one’smotivation to perform tasks (Sheldon, 2004; SheldonArndt&Houser‐Marko,2003).AccordingtoSheldonetal.(2003)andBenedetti,Diefendorff,Gabriel&Chandler (2015), the quality of one’smotivation ranges from autonomous tocontrolled with the former being higher in quality. Autonomous motivationoccurs when individuals identify with goal pursuits that are integrated foridentifiedorintrinsicreasons(Sheldonetal.,2003).Identifiedreasonsforgoalpursuit involve pursing goals that are set extrinsically (e.g., by the academicsetting),butarealignedwithone’sgoalsorvalues.Thisisanautonomousformofextrinsicmotivation,asindividualsengageinabehaviorbecausetheypersonallyfind it important, and he/she can regulate the behavior more willingly orvolitionally (e.g., planning to attend schoolbecauseof itspersonal relevance).Intrinsicmotivationinvolvesgoalsthatarepursuedbecausetheyareinherentlyenjoyableandself‐set (Deci&Ryan,2000;Gagné&Deci,2005). In remainingconsistentwithSDTandpriorwork,weoperationalizedautonomousmotivationas a combination of identified and intrinsicmotivations (Bono& Judge, 2003;Judge, Bono, Erez& Locke, 2005; daMotta Veiga&Gabriel, 2016; Sheldon&Elliot,1998;Sheldonetal.,2003).Bothintrinsicallymotivatedandwell‐internalizedactivities are regulated by autonomousmotivation (Soenens&Vansteenkiste,2010).

The degree to which student motivation is self‐determined predicteddifferent educational adjustment. Self‐determined reasons for engaging in aparticularbehavior are associatedwith successful adaptation andeducationaloutcomes(Reeve,2009). Incontrast, lessself‐determined formsofmotivation(representedbyexternalregulation, introjectedregulation)havebeenassociatedwith dropout from school (Sénécal, Koestner & Vallerand, 1995). Thus, self‐determined formsofmotivation lead to theuseof adaptiveof coping strategiesandhave beenproposed to promote amore active engagement (effort, taskpersistence)(Skinner&Edge,2002).Studieshaveshownthatpeoplehighin


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therelativelystableautonomyorientationtendtobeautonomouslymotivatedandhigh inproactivecoping (Williams,Grow,Freedman,Ryan&Deci,1996).Autonomous motivation and implicit proactive coping has been consistentlyassociatedwithmorepositiveoutcomes, includinggreater long‐termpersistence(e.g.,Pelletier,Fortier,Vallerand&Briere,2001)andmoreself‐regulatedlearning(e.g.,Vansteenkiste,Zhou,Lens&Soenens,2005).

Inthepresentstudy,weexaminedtheassociationbetweenautonomous,proactive coping, engagement in learning (effort, persistence) and adjustment atschool(i.e.,satisfactionwithone’sacademiclife,belongedattheschool,satisfactionwiththeschoolintentionsofcontinuingone’sschoolingandeducationalaspirations).Weexpectedthatautonomousmotivationwouldcontributepositivelytoproactivecoping,engagementandadjustmentatschool.Inaddition,weexploredwhetherproactive coping and engagement in learning could account for the hypothesizedrelationbetweenautonomousmotivationandacademicadjustment. Proactivecoping

Proactivecoping(e.g.,planning,information‐seekingpositivereinterpretation,

self‐encouragement)consistsofeffortsundertaken inadvanceofapotentiallystressfuleventtopreventitortomodifyitsformbeforeitoccurs.Itinvolvestheaccumulationofresourcesandtheacquisitionofskillsthatarenotdesignedtoaddressanyparticularstressorbuttoprepareingeneral,giventherecognitionthat stressors do occur and that to be forearmed is to be well prepared(Greenglass&Fiksenbaum,2009).Thus,proactivepeopletendtoberesilienttothe challenges they face and they find resources to help them overcome anuncomfortablesituation(Chiaburu,Baker&Pitariu,2006).Byusingtheseinteractivetools, people with high levels of proactive coping may reserve considerableresources to dealwith stressors,which leads to improved emotional stabilitywhen facing stressful events (Liu et al., 2007). They see risks, demands, andopportunitiesinthefuture,buttheydonotappraisethemasathreat,harm,orloss.Rather,theyperceivedemandingsituationsaspersonalchallengesSchwarzer&Taubert,2002).Individualsarenotreactive,butproactiveinthesensethattheyinitiate a constructivepathof actionand createopportunities for growthandbuilds up resources that assure quality of functioning, such engagement inactivityandself‐regulationstrategy.

Thelinkbetweenproactivecopingresponsesandbehaviorengagementisdeeply rooted in theself‐regulation theoryproposedbyCarverandScheier(1998).Specifically,theseproactivecopingstrategies(suchasproblemsolving,informationseeking,andself‐encouragement)aimtoactivelymanagetheacademic


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stress,sostudentswhoadoptbothofthesecopingresponseskeeponbecommittedtoandstrivefortheirgoalsandaremorelikelytoreporthigherratesofbehavioralengagementinlearning(Struthers,Perry&Menec,2000).

EngagementinlearningTheconceptofbehavioralengagementallowsalsoexplorationofwhat

studentsaredoinginclassrooms,andwhetherthestrategytheyusecontributesto their learning (Dunleavy&Milton, 2009). Studentswho are engaged showsustained behavioral involvement in learning activities accompanied by apositiveemotionaltone.Theyselecttasksattheborderoftheircompetencies,initiate action when given the opportunity, and exert intense effort andperseveranceintheimplementationoflearningtasks;theyshowgenerallydeepstrategyduringongoinglearningactivities(Claxton,2007).

Within the engagement domain, in this study we focused on twoconstructs – effort and persistence. Review of previous research reveals thatpersistence/effortisaproperindicatorofachievementoutcome(Elliot,McGregor&Gable,1999;Xiang&Lee,2002).Effortistheamountofenergyexpendedinalearningprocess.Persistence refers to the continuouseffort in learning especiallywhen the student is faced with some barriers or obstacles (Pintrich, Smith,Garcia&McKeachie,1993;Zimmerman&Risemberg,1997).Persistence/ effortsnot only reflect motivation but serve as important indices for achievementbehaviorandimplicitforacademicadjustment(Goa&Newton,2009).

Anumberofresearchershave,inthecontextofachievementgoalsexploredthe contribution of persistence and effort in students’ academic adjutement.Researchevidenceshowsthateffortandpersistencemakeapositivecontributiontothe prediction of academic outcome (Miller, Greene, Montalvo, Ravindran &Nichols,1996;Wentzel,1996).Inthisanalysis,botheffortandpersistencearefoundtorelatepositivelytoacademicadjustment(Simons,Dewitte&Lens,2004).Datadrawn fromotherstudieshaveshownthe interrelationsbetweeneffortsandpersistenceandothermotivationalvariables;forexample,studyprocessingstrategies (Fenollar et al., 2007), competence beliefs and utility (Chouinard,Karsenti&Roy,2007).Forexample,Chouinardetal.(2007)foundthatcompetencebeliefsactasadeterminantofeffort,whereasSimonsetal.(2004)reportedthattask orientation contributes to the prediction of persistence. In contrast, wepredictthateffortandpersistencemakesadirectcontributiontothepredictionofdeepprocessingstrategies.

The reasonsunderlying students’ adjustment to theacademic adjustmentare likely to be antecedents of the kind of strategies they use to face the


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academictask.Theself‐determinationframeworkhasbeenconsideredrelevantintheacademicsettingtoexplainacademicinvolvementandoutcomes(Deci&Ryan,2000;Vallerand,1997).

DeepprocessingResearchersineducationhavefoundasignificantrelationshipbetween

engagement in learning and strategy use (Goa & Newton, 2009; McWhaw &Abrami,2002;Mih&Mih,2013).Inthisview,studentengagementisviewedasmotivated behavior that can be indexed by the kinds of cognitive strategiesstudents choose touse (e.g., simpleor “surface”processing strategies such asrehearsal versus “deeper” processing strategies such as elaboration) and bytheirwillingness topersistwithdifficult tasks (Mih,2013;Skinner&Belmont(1993).Theconsequenceofengagementinlearningisthefactthatstudentswilluse of deep, rather than superficial and shallow, learning strategies to createcomplexknowledgestructures(Mih&Mih,2016),andweexpectthis

Taking into account the abovementioned findings, thepurposeof thepresent studywas to investigate the extent towhich autonomousmotivationpredicts subsequent proactive coping, and how proactive coping influencesadjustmentatschool.Additionally,wesoughttoinvestigatethemediatingroleofpersistenceandeffort,intherelationbetweenstudents’proactivecopingandtheirdeepprocessing.Hence,thetworesearchmainresearchquestionsofthecurrentstudywere:(a)Doesautonomousmotivationpredictsincreasedproactivecopingintheacademicdomain?and(b)Dopersistenceandeffortmediatetherelationshipbetweenproactivecopinganddeepprocessing?Ifpersistenceandeffortmediates the path between proactive coping and deep processing, thiswouldhighlightthefunctionalcentralityofengagementformsindeterminingdeepprocessingandimplicitadjustmentatschool.Figure1presentsthehypothesizedpaths diagram of the relationships between the variables mentioned in thepreceding discussion and the hypothesized mediation. On the basis of theargumentspresented,thefollowingspecifichypotheseswereadvanced. METHODS AimsandHypothesis

The study explored the predictors of adjustment at school within amodel including coping strategy,motivation, and engagement in learning andSRLamongadolescentstudents.Thepurposeofthepresentstudyistoexplore


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how these two dimensions relate to and predict: (a) adolescents’ copingstrategy,(b)theirengagementinlearning,(c)strategyforlearningwhichtheyuseinstudyandimplicit(d)adjustmentatschool.

Figure 1 presents a path diagram of the relationships between thevariablesmentionedprevious.

Figure1.Integratedtheoreticalmodels

Thefollowingspecifichypotheseswereadvanced:

Hypothesis1:Autonomousmotivationwillproducestrongerproactivecopingstrategy.

Hypothesis 2: Proactive coping will exert a positive effect on effort andpersistence, whereas effort and persistence will exert positiveeffectsondeeplearningandadjustmentatschool.

Hypothesis 3: Effort, persistence will operate as mediators between theproactivecopingandstrategyforlearning

Hypothesis5:Strategyforlearning(deepprocessing)willoperateasmediatorsbetweenengagementinlearningandadjustmentatschool.

Participants

The sample included 154 adolescents, attending nine classes in fourschools fromCluj‐Napoca.Themean chronological ageswere 16.7 (SD= .74)and 79 was female. All participants were in the 10th grade. There were nosubstantialdifferencesacrossschoolswithrespecttopreviousgrades.

Measures

Multidimensional academicmotivation. AcademicMotivation Scale

(AMS;Vallerand,Pelletier,Blais,Brière,Senécal&Vallières,1992).Thescaleiscomposedof20itemsgroupedinfivesubscalescorrespondingtothemotivationaltypesproposedbySDT(Deci&Ryan,1985,2000):IntrinsicMotivationtoKnow,


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IdentifiedRegulation, IntrojectedRegulation,ExternalRegulation, andAmotivation.Thesubscalescanbecombinedto formanautonomousmotivationcomposite(intrinsic motivation + identified regulation) (α= .65) and a controlledmotivation composite (introjection + external regulation) (α= .77) (Sheldon,Ryan,Deci&Kasser(2004).

Coping. The Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI): The PCI (Greenglass,

Schwarzer&Taubert,1999)isamulti‐dimensionalinstrumentthatcontains44itemsandsevensubscales:TheProactiveCopingScale,ReflectiveCopingScale,InstrumentalSupport,PreventiveCoping,StrategicPlanning,EmotionalSupportSeekingandAvoidanceCoping (Greenglass, 2002). Inour studyweusedonlysubscaleone,becauseitisanexclusivemeasureofproactivecoping.Itassessesan individual’s general coping style, rather than assessing reactions to aparticular stressor.TheProactiveCopingScale consists of 14 items and combinesautonomous goal setting with self‐regulatory goal attainment cognitions andbehaviors (α= .85).Respondentswere asked to answerhowwell each statementdescribedthereactionstheyhadtovarioussituations,withresponsesmadeona 4‐point scale, ranging from (1) “Not at all true” to (4) “Completely true”.Sample items include“Iama ‘takecharge’person”,and“When Iexperienceaproblem, I take the initiative in resolving it”. The subscale had high internalconsistency,withaCronbachalphaof.82.

Effort and Persistence. Effort was measured using three items from

ElliotMcGregor&Gable (1999)and two items from theMSLQ (Pintrich&Groot,1990).FouritemsfromElliotetal.’s(1999)scaleswereusedforthepersistencevariable. Reliability estimates (Cronbach’s alpha)were .76 for the effort scaleand.89forthepersistence.

Strategyuse.Deepprocessingwasassessedwithameasuredevisedby

Elliot,etal.(1999).FourcognitivescalesontheMSLQ(Pintrich,Smith,Garcia&McKeachie,1991)shouldberelated todeeperapproaches to learningormoretransformative,criticalthinking,orregulativestyles(Vermunt,1996).

Adjustment at school. To assess adjustment at school, we selected a

range of outcomemeasures to reduce the influence of potential item overlapbetween any single measures of adjustment. The first measure, the Index ofWell‐Being (Campbell, Converse & Rogers, 1976), asks respondents to rate“how you feel about your present life school” on 11 seven‐point semanticdifferentialitems(e.g.,boring–interestingandfull–empty).Thesecondmeasure,self‐reportedadjustment at school,was assessedwith six itemsdevelopedby


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Aspinwall & Taylor (1992). Three items asked students to compare theirhappinesswiththatoftheaveragecolleaguesattheschoolandtocomparetheiroveralladjustmentatschoolwiththeaveragecolleagueson5‐pointscales(e.g.,“Comparedtotheaveragecolleague,howhappydoyouthinkyouare?”1=muchlesshappy to5=muchhappier).Next,studentswereasked torate theiracademicadjustmentandoveralladjustment(eg.,“Overall,howwelldoyouthinkyou’veadjustedtoschool?”),theextenttowhichtheyfelttheybelongedattheschool(twoitems),andtheirsatisfactionwiththeschoolon7‐pointscales.Thethirdmeasureiseducationalaspirations.Asinglestatementwasdesignedtomeasurestudents’ future intentions regarding their studies. Participantswere asked “Untilwhendoyouintendtogotoschool?”andtheyhadtochoosebetweentwoanswers:(a)UntilIhaveasecondaryschooldiploma,(b)UntilIhaveauniversitydiploma.

Anapriorimeasurementmodelforthreelatentvariableswasestimatedby allowing each indicator to load on only one latent construct. The Index ofWellBeing,thesatisfactionwiththeschoolmeasureandeducationalaspirationswasusedtoindicatealatentadjustmentatschoolfactor.Thus,wecombinedthethreepreviousmeasures forobtainaglobalmeasureof adjustmentat school.The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for thismeasurewas .58. A higher score onacademicadjustmentindicatesindicatedmoresuccessfuladjustmentatschoolandimplicit,thatstudentshadhigherwell‐beingandadjustmentindex,andthattheywantedtocontinuetheirstudyingpastthehighschooldiploma.

ProcedureParticipantswereevaluatedattheirschool.Eachparticipantwasgiven

aninformationbookletwhichcontainedallabove‐mentionedscalesevaluatingvariablesofthestudy.Participantswereinstructedtoprovidehonestanswersoneachscale.

ResultsMeans, standarddeviations, and intercorrelationsof all variablesused

instudyarepresentedinTable1.Scaleandindicatorreliabilities(alphas)areincluded on the diagonal of Table 1. The reliability indices for the completescalesareshowninbrackets.Bivariatecorrelationswerecomputedemployedinordertodepicttheinterrelationsamongallstudyvariables.ThecorrelationmatrixshowninTable1revealstherelationsamongthepredictors,mediator,andcriterionvariables.


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Table1.DescriptivestatisticsandintercorrelationsamongAutonomousMotivation,ProactiveCoping,Engagementinlearning,processingandAdjustmentatschool

M(SD) 1 2 3 4 5 6

1.Autonomous Motivation 3.41(.65) ‐

2.ProactiveCoping 40.1(6.71) .44** ‐

3.Persistence 5.07(1.72) .09 .12* ‐ 4.Effort 4.21(1.37) .13* .09 .40** ‐ 5.DeepProcessing 3.88(.89) .12* .04 .08 ‐ 6.Adjustmentat School 2.63(.85) .06 ‐.07 .12* .07 .36** ‐

*=p<.05,**=p<.01The path analyses employed in the present investigation rely on

assumptions including linearity, causal closure, and unitary variables. In thisrespect,theassumptionoflinearitywasverifiedbyconductingthecorrelationanalysis. In order to perform a path analysis Wright (1968) suggested theassumptionof causal closure, referring to the fact that all direct influencesofone variable on another must be included in the path diagram. Finally, theassumptionofunitaryvariableswas testedbyverifying thatvariablesdidnotcomprisecomponentsthatbehaveindifferentwayswithdifferentvariables.

Linearregressionanalysesrevealedthatautonomousmotivationwasapositivepredictorofproactivecoping,β=.27,95%CI[.11,.47].F(1,149)=5.28,p<.05,whereasproactivecopingpositivelypredictedpersistence,β=.21,95%CI[.18,.36],F(1,149)=11.97,p<.01,andeffort,β=.34,95%CI[.16,.44],F(1,149)=19.81,p<.01.Inaccordwiththepositedstructuralmodel,resultsindicatethatdeepprocessingwaspositivelypredictedbypersistenceβ=.24,95%CI[.13,.40].F(1,149)=4.37,p<.05andeffortβ=.21,95%CI[.16,.39].F(1,149)=5.28,p<.05.Furthermore,theregressionprocedurerevealedthatadjustmentatschoolwaspositivelypredictedbydeepprocessing,β= .18,55%CI[.09, .37],F(1,149)=4.84,p<.05.

Finally, thismodel suggests that theeffectofpositivecopingon academicadjustingismediatedbypersistence,effort,anddeepprocessing,witharemainingdirecteffectonacademicadjusting.

Therelationshipsamongthevariablesalsoservedtotestformulticollinearity.Theresultsshowedthatnoneofthepartialcoefficientsexceeded.50,suggestingthatthemulticollinearityamongthestudyvariableswasrelativelylow(Tabachnick&Fidel,2001).Thevarianceinflationfactor(1.00–1.24)andtolerance(0.80–1.00)statisticsalsoresidedwithinacceptableranges.


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Figure2.Thefinalmodeldepictingtherelationshipsamongvariables.Solidpathcoefficientsrepresentstandardizedregressioncoefficients,whiledottedpathsrepresentsignificantpathwhichnot‐figureinfirstmodel.Allpathsrepresent

significanteffects(p<.05atminimum).

Theoretical relationships. In order to examine theoretical relationshipsamong dependent, independent, and mediating variables proposed in thehypotheses,weusedtheAMOSVersion19.0.Thehypothesizedmodel(Figure1)was initially tested for the data. This analysiswas conducted to determine thegoodnessofthemodelfittothedata.Thefitstatisticsobtainedfromthelastpathanalysisshowedthatthevalueofχ2(5,N=154)was7.68,p>.05whichindicatedagoodfit.Besidestheχ2value,itsratiotodegreesoffreedomwasalsocalculated.Thevalueofthisratiowasχ2/df=7.68/5=1.53whichimpliedagoodfitgiventhat, generally, values of less than 2 are accepted as a good fit (Tabachnick &Fidell,2007).TheotherimportantgoodnessoffitstatisticsthatwerecalculatedforthepresentstudywasRMSEA,GFI,AGFI,andNFI.TheresultsofthepresentanalysisshowedthatRMSEAvaluewas.02,GFIvalueswas.98,AGFIwas.99andNFIwasfoundtobe .98.Thesemultipleindicesalsoconfirmedtheadequacyofthemodelfit.Thefinalmodelweobtainedusingthetestsofthenestedmodels,includingthestandardizedpathloadings,isshowninFigure2.

DiscussionResults from thepresent studyprovide insight into the relationships

betweenmotivational components, coping strategy, engagement in learning(effort, persistence,) deep processing and adjustment at school. Using SDTapproach,amediationmodelwastestedinwhichautonomousmotivationwasproposedtopredictactivecopingstrategy,effortandpersistence,deepprocessingandadjustedatschool.Studentswiththehighautonomousmotivationengaged inmoreactivecopingstrategy.


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Autonomous motivation (i.e., intrinsic regulation and identifiedregulation) strongly predicted active coping strategy. Although this finding isnotnew,theuseofpathanalysisprovidesconvergentsupportfortheimportanceofautonomousmotivationasaprecursorofactivecopingstrategy.Researchhasshownthis formofmotivationtobeaccompaniedbytheexperienceofchoiceratherthanbypressureandbyproactivecopingandwell‐being(Grolnick&Ryan,1989; Ryan, Rigby& King, 1993). According to SDT, autonomousmotivation forlearningshouldbepositivelyassociatedwithfeelingsofpersonalaccomplishment.Infact,thelinkbetweenautonomousmotivationandpersonalaccomplishmentisabasictenetofSDT(e.g.,Ryan&Deci,2000).SDTandresearchbasedonitsuggestthatautonomousmotivationisaccompaniedbyfeelingsofvitalityandenergy that are theoppositeof feelingdrainedandexhausted (Niemiec et al.,2006). Consistentwith these findings,weposited that because autonomouslymotivated students perceive their engagement in various tasks as interestingandmeaningful, theywill experience lessexhaustion.Thus, students’ senseofautonomy at school may allow them to tolerate occasional frustrations andsetbacksandtopreventthosenegativeexperiencesfromleadingtofeelingsofexhaustion and loss of vitality and this is a good prerequisite experiencing aproactive coping. If students believe that their schoolwork is important andmeaningful, these commitmentsmay serve as energetic anchors, especially ifotheraspectsof theirmotivational systemsare fragile.Becauseof theenergy andorganization that purposefulness provides to the wholemotivational system,researchers recognize it as key to students’ academic resilience (Morrison &Allen,2007).

In line with our expectations, proactive coping positively predictedbehavior engagement. Adaptive coping strategies (such as problem solving,information seeking, and self‐encouragement) seem to provide both guidanceandaboostofenergytowardsthoseends(Boekarts&Niemivirta,2000).Whenstudents run into difficulties, they can cope inways that allow them to keepgoing despite worry or frustration (such as through help‐seeking or self‐encouragement),orthatallowthemtoregaintheirenthusiasmforchallengingtasks (suchas throughproblemsolving).Hence, constructive copingmaybekeystoengagementinlearning.Constructivecoping(includingself‐encouragementanddetermination)allowsstudentstopersistthefaceofdifficultschooltasks.So, students whose coping repertoires comprised adaptive strategies wereincreasingly likely to persist in the face of problems and implicit use ofmetacognitivestrategies(deepprocessing).Studentengagementisamotivationallyenrichedclassroomqualitythathasclearimplicationsforstudent’sadjustmentatschool(Skinner,Kindermann,Connell&Wellborn,2009).Byengagingthemselvesactivelyandenthusiasticallyinacademicactivities,studentslearn,developskills,and


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generallymakeacademicprogress.Consequently,boththeextentandqualityofstudents’classroomengagementhavebeenshowntopredictvariousaspectsofadjustment at school, including satisfactionwith one’s academic life (Ladd &Dinella,2009;Mih,2013).

Asexpectedeffortandpersistencewasasignificantindividualpredictorof deep processing. It appears that studentswhomake effort in solve schooltaskweremorecognitivelyandmetacognitivelyengagedintryingtolearnthematerial.These findingsparallel theworkofPintrich&DeGroot(1990),whofound that effort,was strongly related to students’ use of cognitive strategiesandmetacognitiveself‐regulation.Therearebothsurfaceanddeepapproachestolearning(Savin‐Baden&Major2004).Surfaceapproachestolearningconcentrateon memorization. In surface learning, the learner’s goal is often to completerequired learning tasks by memorizing information needed for assessments.Surface learnersmostly focus on factswithout integration, they are generallyunreflective,andtheyseelearningtasksasexternalimpositions.Incontrast,studentswith deep approaches to learning have an intention to understand. Theygenerallyengageininteractionwithcontent,relatenewideastooldones,relateconcepts to everydayexperience, relate evidence to conclusions, andexaminethe logicofarguments.Whiledoing this, theyconstruct theirownknowledge,understandandcomprehendinformationinamoreanalyticalmanner.Interestandlearnsubjectcontents inadeepmayfacilitate learnerstoengagemoreintheirownconsciousbeliefs,andthisleadtosatisfactionwithone’sacademiclifeand implicit intentions of continuing one’s schooling, satisfaction with one’sacademiclifeandsatisfactionwiththeschool.

Results from thepresent studysuggest somepreliminary implicationsforeducationalpractice.Using thissimple,proactiveapproach, teacherscouldgain important insights and know ahead of timewhich students are likely toneed more help regulating their learning experience. Nonetheless, educatorscandesigntheircoursesinawaythatenhancesbotheffortandpersistencetocompleteschooltasks.Forexample,students’effortcanbepromotedinseveralways, includingguidingandencouragingstudents tosetchallenging,proximalgoalsandscaffoldingstudents’metacognitiveself‐regulationbyprovidingthemwithtimely,honest,andexplicit feedback(Pintrich&Schunk,2002).Althoughnoneofthesesuggestionsareuniquetolearning,theyareconsideredbymanytobe“bestpractices”foralleducators.

Future research should continue to explore the relationships betweenstudents’engagementcharacteristics, theiruseofcognitiveandmetacognitivelearningstrategies,and,ultimately,theiracademicadjustment.Theusealternativeresearch methods, such as experimental study, might be especially useful inexploringtherelationsbetweenstudents’reported levelofself‐regulationandthe extent towhich deep processing and knowledge construction. These findingssuggestthatfutureresearchshouldinvestigatewhetherinterventionsdesigned


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toenhancemotivation(effortandpersistence)andscaffoldself‐regulationcanalsoimproveadjustmentatschool(satisfactionwithone’sacademiclife,belongedattheschool,satisfactionwiththeschoolintentionsofcontinuingone’sschoolingandeducationalaspirations). Limits

Several limitations of the present investigation should benoted. First,

the present sample consisted primarily of adolescent high‐school students. Itwould be important to further analyze whether the current findings can begeneralizedtoyoungerstudentpopulations,whoareperhapslessabletograspthe future consequences of their current behavior. Second, the correlationalandcross‐sectionalnatureofthisstudydoesnotallowustodrawanycausalinferences.Thevariableswereconcurrentlymeasuredandamoreaccurate testofthemediatingprocesseswouldimplypresumedantecedentsandconsequentstobeassessedwithinasufficienttemporalinterval.Futurelongitudinalstudiesmayhelptofurtherexaminethedirectionoftheeffects.Thus,wecannotinfercausality from cross‐sectional data, but, viewed in light of prior theory andresearch, the present study suggests that the proactive coping strategy helpsadolescents toacademicadjustment.Future longitudinal researchmayalso assessthe causal effect of the adoption of specific coping responses on subsequentengagementinlearningandadaptationatschoolandothervariables.Lastly,thepresent study did not evaluate the role of other relevant aspects, such associoeconomic status, dispositional coping style, causal attributions, and thecontrollability of stressors, on the adoption of coping responses when facingacademicadjustment.Futureresearchmayevaluatetheirroleinpredictingthechoiceofproactivecopingstrategy.

Conclusion

Insum,consistentwithsocialcognitivemodelsofSRL(Pintrich,2000;Zimmerman, 2000), findings support the view that students’ use of learningstrategies in learningcanbeexplained, inpart,byautonomousmotivation,byproactive coping and by engagement in learning (effort and persistence).Findingsfromthepresentstudysupportpriorresearchindicatingthatstudents’engagement in learning is related to their use of self‐regulated learningstrategiesinacademicsettings(Pintrich,2000).Specifically,students’effortandpersistencewere significant positive predictors of their reported use of deepprocessing(elaboration,criticalthinking,andmetacognitivestrategies).


41

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METACOGNITIVETRAININGEFFECTSONMATHEMATICALPERFORMANCEOFLEARNINGDISABILITYSTUDENTS

FROMINCLUSIVECLASSROOMS

ANCAMAIER1

ABSTRACT. InthecurrentstudyweinvestigatetheeffectsofametacognitivetrainingonLDstudentsmathperformance. It’sknownasmetacognitive trainingmayinfluencetheschoolmathperformance,butthereisnotenoughresearchon themetacognitive trainingof learningdisability students.Theparticipantswere7thgradestudentsfromtwodifferentinclusionschoolswhowererandomlyintooneofthethreegroups.Firstgroupreceivedanindividualmetacognitivetraining,thesecondoneametacognitivetrainingcombinedwiththecooperativelearningandthethirdonewasthecontrolgroup.Keywords:metacognition,training,learningdisability,mathperformance

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG. Metacognitive Ausbildungswirkungen Auf DieMathematische LeistungDen Lernbehinderte Studenten Aus InklusivenKlassenzimmern. InderaktuellenStudieuntersuchenwirdieAuswirkungeneinermetakognitivenAusbildungaufderMatheLeistungvonlernbehindertenStudenten. Es ist bekannt, dass metakognitive Ausbildung die schulischeMatheLeistungbeeinflussenkann, aber esgibtnicht genugForschungüberdiemetakognitiveAusbildungvonLernbehindertenStudenten.DieTeilnehmerwaren Schüler der 7. Klasse aus zwei verschiedenen Inklusionsschulen, diezufälligineinerderdreiGruppenwaren.DieersteGruppeerhielteineindividuellemetakognitiveAusbildung,diezweiteeinemetakognitiveAusbildung,kombiniertmitdemkooperativenLernen,unddiedrittewardieKontrollgruppe.Schlüsselwörter:Metakognition,Ausbildung,Lernbehinderung,Matheleistung

1SpecialEducationDepartment,Babeș‐BolyaiUniversity,Cluj‐Napoca,RomaniaE‐mail:[email protected]

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INTRODUCTIONLearningmathematicsisbecominganecessityinamodernsociety;the

societal expectancies, as appears on school curriculums, are higher, and thelearningdifficultiesaremoreobvious.Theinterestindesigningandinvestigatingefficiencyofremedialinterventionshasincreased.However,thenumberofstudiesinvestigatingtheeffectivenessofdifferentinterventionprogramstoimprovemathperformance is quite low (David & Maier, 2011, Desoete, 2001, 2004, 2009,Kramarski&Mevarech2003,Maier2009,2011,2016,Mevarech1999,Mevarech,Kramarski2003,Mevarech,Fridkin2006,Montague&Bos1990,Montague1992).

Basedonpublished literatureandtheresultsobtainedinthepreviousstudy(Maier,2011),wewantedtogofurther,byapplyingthesameresearchmodelonadifferentpopulation‐seventhgradestudentswithlearningdisabilities frominclusive classrooms, classmates of the students participating in the previousstudy.

Thus, based on the available data in the literature, emphasizing theimportance of multi‐method metacognitive assessment and the effect of themetacognitivetrainingonimprovingstudents'mathperformance,butalsotheresultsfromthepreviousstudy,wecamewiththefollowinghypotheses:

1. For the learning disability seventh grade students from inclusiveclassrooms,metacognitiveevaluationbyamultidimensionalmodelis important, as a result of supplementing the information frommultiplesourcesandatdifferenttimesofevaluation.

2. The learning disabilities students from the inclusive classrooms,whoreceivedanindividualmetacognitivetrainingwillhaveabettermetacognitiveperformancethanthosewhoreceivedmetacognitivetraininginsmallgroups.

3. The learningdisabilitiesstudents fromthe inclusiveclassrooms,whoreceivedanindividualmetacognitivetrainingwillhaveabettermathperformancethanthosewhoreceivedmetacognitivetraininginsmallgroups.

4. Predictionandevaluationmetacognitiveskillschangedifferentlyforthe math learning disabilities student, than for students withoutlearningdifficulties,asaresultofthemetacognitiveintervention.

5. Math learningdisabilities students show a differentmetacognitiveprofile,ascomparedtothosewithoutlearningdisabilities(differencesinthedevelopmentofthemetacognitiveskills,assessedbythestudentquestionnaire).

METACOGNITIVETRAININGEFFECTSONMATHEMATICALPERFORMANCEOFLEARNINGDISABILITY…

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METHOD

Participants

Subjects were 7th grade, learning disability students attending twoschools inCluj‐Napoca, from5different inclusionclassrooms.Thepretestwasadministeredtoanumberof26students.Afterthat,theywererandomlyassignedtooneofathreegroups,ofwhichtwowereadministeredthetrainingconditions.Onewasthecontrolgroup.Eachgroupincludesstudentswithlearningdifficultiesfromeachofthefiveclassesinthestudy.

Table1.–Participantsgroups

Studentswithlearningdifficulties

Group1–individualintervention

8

Group2–smallgroupintervention

8

Group3–controlgroup 10Total 26

Procedureisthesameusedinpreviousstudies,pre‐test,metacognitivetrainingperiodandpost‐test.

Measures are those of the previous study: mathematical knowledgeassessmenttest,metacognitivemeasurements(apudDesoete,2007)metacognitiveprospective Questionnaire ‐ The Prospective Assessment of Chidren (PAC),retrospectivemetacognitive questionnaire ‐ The Retrospective Assessment ofChildren(RAC),metacognitiveassessmentmadebytheteacher‐TeacherRating,predictionandevaluationTest‐TheEvaluationandPredictionAssessment‐EPA.

Themathematicsknowledge test is an informal instrumentdevelopedtogether with one of themath teachers, based on a sixth and seventh gradecurriculum and long range plans. It contains several mathematical problems,suchasequations,percentages,fractions,orderofoperations.

Metacognitionwasassessedwithoff‐line(prospectiveandretrospective),andcombined techniques.TheProspectiveAssessmentofChildren (PAC)andtheRetrospectiveAssessment of Children (RAC)wereused as off‐line ratingsforchildren,andTeacherRatingswereusedasoff‐lineratingforteachers.TheEvaluation and Prediction Assessments were used as combined (prospectiveandretrospective)assessment.

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Off‐linetechniquesTheProspectiveAssessmentofChildren(PAC)isachildquestionnaire,

adaptedfromDesoete(2007).Itisa25itemratingscalequestionnaireforchildrenonmetacognitivepredictions,planning,monitoringandevaluationskills.Childrenhavetoindicatebeforesolvinganymathematicalproblemona4pointLikert‐typeofscalewhatstatementisrepresentativeoftheirbehaviorduringmathematicalproblemsolving(1‐never,2 ‐sometimes,3– frequent ,4–always).ThePACscale,aswellasthesubscaleshaveanadequateinternalreliability.Cronbach’salpha for thePACscalewas .81 (25 items).For thePACsubscalesCronbach’salpha were .60 (9 items – prediction), .64 (4 items, planning), .76 (8 items,monitoring)and.52(4items,evaluation).

The Retrospective Assessment of Children (RAC) is the same 25 itemratingscalequestionnaireforchildrenonmetacognitiveprediction,planning,andmonitoringandevaluationskills.Childrenhavetoindicateona4pointLikert‐typeofscaletowhatstatementwasrepresentativeof theirmathematicalbehavior,the last6monthsduringmathematics.ThePACscale,aswellas thesubscaleshaveanadequateinternalreliability.Cronbach’salphaforthetotalscorewas.79(25items).FortheRACsubscalesCronbach’salphawere.44(9items,prediction),.59(4items,planning),.73(8items,monitoring),.56(4items,evaluation).

TheTeacherRatingAssessment (adapted fromDesoete,2007) is a20itemratingscaleteacher‐questionnaireonmetacognitionprediction,planning,monitoringandevaluationskills.ThePACscale,aswellasthesubscaleshaveanadequateinternalreliability.Cronbach’salphaof.91wasfoundforthetestscore(20 items).FortheteacherratingsubscoresCronbach’salphawere .81(7 items,prediction), .59 (4 items, planning), .62 (6 items, monitoring), .71 (3 items,evaluating).

CombinedtechniqueTheEvaluationandPredictionAssessmentisaprocedureforassessing

prediction and evaluation. In the measurement of prediction skillfulness,childrenwereaskedtolookatthemathproblemswithoutsolvingthemandtopredictona0‐10pointscale,howtheycansolve it.Aftertheysolvethemathproblems from the knowledge math test, they are asked to evaluate theiranswersonthesame0‐10pointscale.Itwasusedthesame0‐10pointscale,inanalogywith theRomanianEvaluationSystem.Wedida calibration score foreach item,whichmeansadifferencebetweenthemathperformancetheyhadandthepredictions/evaluationstheydid.


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DESCRIPTIONOFMETACOGNITIVETRAININGPROGRAMThesametraining,asinthepreviousstudy,wasused,aftertheIMPROVE

method(MevarechandKramarski,1997),designedtoimproveknowledgeandmetacognitiveskillsofstudentsfrominclusiveclassrooms‐learningdisabilitiesstudentsandtheirclassmates.Firstgroupreceivedindividualmetacognitivetraining,andthesecondone,metacognitivetraininginsmallgroups,wasassociatedwithcooperativelearning.Thethirdgroupisthecontrolgroup.Aftertraining,therewasapost‐testusingthesamemeasuresasinpre‐testphase.

Duration:bothtrainingswereconductedoverasixmonthsperiodwithonceaweeksessionsof50minuteseach.Sessionswereconductedindividuallyfor the firstgroupand insmallgroupsof4‐5students for thesecondone.Allsessions were conducted in school, in the Resource room, apart from theirclassrooms.

The first session was an introductory one, students found out someinformation about metacognition, cognition, metacognitive knowledge andmetacognitive skills, metacognitive trainings. We talked about the acronymIMPROVE,and thesevensteps thatare involved in thismethod.Thestudentshavetothinkaboutthesesevensteps,andtofindanacronymintheRomanianlanguage.

InthesecondsessionwereviewedthestepsinvolvedbyIMPROVE,andwe tried todefine them.Eachdefinition inRomanian language,needs tostartwiththecorrespondenceletterfromtheEnglishacronym:

I‐Introducereanouluimaterial(introducingthenewmaterial)M‐metacognitie(metacognition)P‐profesorulajutaeleviiinrezolvareaproblemei(theteacherhelpsthestudentstosolvetheproblem)

O‐orezolvarepecontpropriu(resolvingbyhimself)V‐verifcareaproblemei(verification)E‐ elaborarea alternativelor de rezolvare (finding different ways to solve theproblem).

WealsotriedtofindagoodacronyminRomanianlanguage:

C‐citireaproblemei(readingtheproblem)I‐intrebarimetacognitive(metacognitivequestions)R‐rezolvareaproblemeicuajutor(solvingtheproblemwithhelp)P‐planulderezolvarealproblemei(thesolvingplan)R‐rezolvareaproblemeifaraajutor(solvingtheproblemwithouthelp)V‐verificareaproblemei(verification)A‐alternativederezolvareaproblemei(findinggoodsolvingalternatives)

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ThethirdsessionconsistedofreviewofthestepsillustratedbytheacronymIMPROVE.Aswasdiscussed in thesecondstep; themetacognitivequestions. Thestudentsareaskedtocomeupwithasmanyquestionsastheycanthinkofwhentheyhavetosolveamathproblem. Inthefourthsessionwediscussedthemetacognitivequestionspointedoutbythestudents,andweidentifiedthefourtypesofmetacognitivequestions:

Comprehensionquestions: questions about theproblem task (What isthisproblemabout?)

Connectionquestions:questionsaboutsimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweentheproblemstheywork(Howisthisproblemdifferent/similarfromthepreviousone?)

Strategicquestions:questionsabouttheappropriatestrategiesforsolvingtheproblem(Whyisthisstrategyappropriatetosolvetheproblem?)

Reflection questions: questions to reflect on their understanding thesolutionprocess(Canyousolveitinadifferentway?)

Thefifthsessionconsistedofreviewingallofthemetacognitivequestionsfound by the students, andwriting them on colored posting cards.When thecardsaredone,studentsreadthemanddividetheminto4groups,oneforeachmetacognitivequestiontype.

Thenext sessions aredesigned forpracticing themethodondifferentproblems,fromdifferentmathbookchapters.

Thelastsessionisforreviewingthemethod,andtounderlineitsimportanceduringthemathsolvingprocess.

RESULTS,ANALYSISANDINTREPRETATIONOFRESULTSBasedonexistingliteraturethatemphasizedtheimportanceofmetacognitive

evaluation with a multi‐method design assessment for third grade students(Desoete,2007),we formulateda specifichypothesis topreserve this formofassessmentforseventhgradelearningdisabilitiesstudentsfrominclusiveclassrooms,especiallybecauseitisconsideredthatlearningdisabledstudents’self‐assessmentishigherthantheirteacher’s,althoughusuallytheirself‐assessmentislowerthantheir colleagues ones (Garrett,Mazzocco,andBaker, 2006). A correlational analysiswasconductedforeachofthethreegroupsinthestudy,dataallowingustoobservethattherearehighlysignificantcorrelationsbetweenthetwoforms,prospectiveandretrospective,ofthestudentquestionnaireforallfourmetacognitiveskillsassessed.


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In this study we sought a continuation of existing research, and thepreviousstudy,choosingthesameIMPROVEmethodasmetacognitivetraining,aimingtoinvestigatewhetherstudentswithlearningdisabilitiesfrominclusiveclassrooms,whoreceived individualmetacognitive trainingwill improvetheirmetacognitive and math performance more significantly than those who receivedmetacognitivetraininginsmallgroups.

AMann‐Whitneytestforindependentsampleswasusedtocomparethegroupsinthepretest.

Table2.ComparingPRE‐TESTstudentquestionnaireprospectiveform(a)–Mann‐Whitney

Group1‐ Group2 Group1‐ Group3 Group2–Group3 Z p Z p Z p

Pre‐teststudentquestionnaire,forma

‐.48 .63 ‐.62 .53 ‐.45 .65

PCEa_prediction ‐.38 .70 ‐.91 .36 ‐.55 .58PCEa_planning .00 1.00 ‐1.03 .30 ‐1.17 .24PCEa_monitoring ‐.27 .79 ‐.76 .44 ‐.36 .72PCEa_evaluation ‐.16 .87 ‐.63 .52 ‐1.12 .26

Note:**,p<.01,*,p<.05

Table3.ComparingPRE‐TESTstudentquestionnaireprospectiveform(b)–Mann‐Whitney


Pre‐teststudentquestionnaire,formab

‐.95 .34 ‐.09 .92 ‐.85 .39

PCEb_prediction ‐.90 .36 ‐.36 .71 ‐1.49 .13PCEb_planning ‐.49 .62 ‐1.68 .09 ‐1.71 .08PCEb_monitoring ‐.54 .59 ‐.45 .65 ‐.90 .36PCEb_evaluation ‐.54 .59 ‐.96 .33 ‐.23 .81

Note:**,p<.01,*,p<.05 There were no significant differences between groups in pre‐test forstudent questionnaire, both prospective and retrospective forms, or for thepredictionandevaluationtests.

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Table3.ComparingPRE‐TESTmetacognitivemeasurementmixte–Mann‐Whitney


Pre‐testPREDICTION ‐.90 .37 ‐1.75 .08 ‐1.74 .08Pre‐testEVALUATING ‐.84 .40 ‐.89 .37 ‐1.47 .14Pre‐testSOLVING ‐1.22 .22 ‐1.69 .09 ‐2.62 .01

Note:**,p<.01,*,p<.05 However, significantdifferences emerged in pre‐test formathematicalknowledgetestbetweenthesmallgroupinterventionandcontrolgroup,whichcompelsustoconsiderthemasheterogeneousgroups.

AWilcoxontest forpairedsampleswasused forcomparisonspreandpost‐intervention.

Table4.ComparingPRE‐TESTstudentquestionnaireprospectiveform(a)–pre‐test–post‐testldstudents(Wilcoxon)

LDstudents Group1‐ indiv.intervention

Group2‐ groupintervention

Grupul3‐control

Z p Z p Z pPre‐teststudentquestionnaireformaPost‐teststudentquestionnaireformaa

‐2.04* .04 ‐1.53 .12 ‐1.07 .28

Note:*,p<.05

Significantdifferencesemergedfortheindividualinterventiongrouponthe student questionnaire, the global score, and also for the prediction andplanningmetacognitiveskillsforbothexperimentalgroups.

For the metacognitive mixed measurements (predictive test and theevaluationone)pre‐test‐post‐testcomparisonsignificantdifferencesappearedonly in the individual intervention group. For small group intervention andcontrolgroupthedifferenceswerenotsignificant.


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Table5.Metacognitivemixedmeasurements(predictivetestandtheevaluationone)pre‐test‐post‐testcomparisonLDstudents(Wilcoxon)

LDstudents Group1‐ indiv.intervention

Group2‐ groupintervention

Grupul3‐control

Z p Z p Z pPre‐testPREDICTIONPost‐testPREDICTION

‐2.24* .02 ‐1.82 .06 ‐.92 .35

Pre‐testEVALUATIONPost‐testEVALUATION

‐2.21* .02 ‐1.83 .06 ‐1.74 .08

Note:**,p<.01,*,p<.05

An ANCOVA procedure was used to compare the groups in post‐test,ANCOVAbeingtheonlyoptiontoconsiderforheterogeneousgroupsalthoughANCOVA is a parametric test, and normally not used for small groups ofparticipants.

Table6.ANCOVA,post‐test,studentquestionnaireprospectiveform

F pPost‐teststudentquestionnaire prospectiveform 22.49** .00PPCEa,prediction .15 .70PPCEa,planning 1.44 .24PPCEa,monitoring 16.75** .00PPCEa,evaluation 21.35** .00

Note:**,p<.01,*,p<.05Results showed significant differences between the three groups of

students on the overall score for the student's questionnaire, themonitoringandevaluationskills.Sincedifferencesoccurredbetweenthetwoexperimentalgroups in post‐test, we wanted to continue our investigation, calculating theeffect size for student questionnaire, and the four subscales, to determineintervention’seffectoneachexperimentalgroup.

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Table7.Effectsizeforstudentquestionnaire,prospectiveform

Effectsizeforstudentquestionnaire –LDstudents

Group 1(indiv.interv.)

Group2(smallgroupsinterv.)

dCohen dCohenPost‐teststudentquestionnaire,prospectiveform 1.81 1.50

PPCE_prediction 1.18 2.04PPCE_planning 1.83 0.89PPCE_monitoring 1.02 0.51PPCE_evaluation 1.47 0.63

For individual intervention group, there has been a very strong effectsize(Cohend>.80)bothtothestudentquestionnaireoverallscoreandthefoursubscales.Forthesmallgroupsintervention,weobtainedastrongeffectsizetothequestionnaireoverallscore,andforthepredictionandplanningmetacognitiveskills.Formonitoringandevaluationskills,weobtainedonlyamediumeffectsize(.50<Cohend<.80).Thedataobtainedallowsustosaythatindividualmetacognitivetrainingprovedmoreeffectiveinimprovingmetacognitiveperformancemeasuredbyoverallscoreonstudentquestionnaireandmonitoringandevaluationmetacognitiveskills.Fortheothertwometacognitiveskills,namelythepredictionandplanning,althoughthereweredifferencesbetweengroups,theywerenotstatisticallysignificant,thusnotallowingustoestablishwhichoneismoreeffective.

As for the metacognitive mixed assessments, namely prediction andevaluation tests, post‐test comparisons made with ANCOVA show significantdifferencesbetweengroupsonlyfortheevaluationtest.

Table8.ANCOVA‐metacognitivemixedassessmentsinpost‐test

POST‐test F p

PREDICTIONtest .32 .57

EVALUATIONtest 9.29 .00

Thus,verysignificantdifferences(p<.01)werefoundontheevaluation

test between individual intervention group and small groups intervention, andsignificantdifferences,(p<.05)onevaluationtest,betweenindividualinterventiongroupandcontrolgroup.

Thethirdhypothesisofthisstudywasaimedatinvestigatingtheeffectsofmetacognitivetrainingonmathematicalperformance.AMann‐Whitneytestwasusedthecomparethegroupsinpre‐test.


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Table9.ComparingPRE‐TESTmathperformance–Mann‐Whitney

Group1‐Group2 Group1‐ Group3 Group2–Group3 Z p Z p Z p

Pre‐test–Mathknowledgetest

‐1.22 .22 ‐1.69 .09 ‐2.62* .01

Note:**,p<.01,*,p<.05

Resultsindicatesignificantdifferencesbetweensmallgroupintervention

and control group on math performance in pre‐test. Therefore, we used anANCOVAtest for thepost‐testcomparisonsbetweengroups.Apre‐test ‐post‐testcomparison,usingWilcoxontest,showsussignificantdifferencesbetweenthepre‐testandpost‐testateachofthethreegroupsofstudents.

An ANCOVA test was used to investigate the effects of metacognitivetrainingonmathperformanceforeachexperimentalgroup.Sinceweobtainedsignificantdifferencesbetweenthegroupsinpost‐test,weusedagainANCOVA,considering pairs of groups. The results show that there are very significantdifferences(p<.01),onmathperformancebetweencontrolgroupandindividualintervention group, and significant differences (p<.05) between the controlgroupandinterventioninsmallgroups.Betweenthetwoexperimentalgroupsnosignificantdifferencesemergedonmathperformance for learningdisabilitiesstudents.

Sincewefoundasignificantdifferencebetweenthesmallgroupinterventionandthecontrolgroupinpre‐testonmathperformance,weconsiderednecessaryto verify the effectiveness of intervention in the two experimental groups,calculatingtheeffectsize.Datashowsthat learningdisabilitiesstudentswhoreceivedindividualmetacognitivetrainingimprovedtheirmathperformanceatafargreaterextentthanthosewhoreceivedmetacognitivetraininginsmallgroups.IndividualtrainingachievedaneffectsizeCohend=2.25,ascompared tosmall group interventionwhere an effect sizeCohend = .90was calculated.However,bothvaluesarehigherthan.80,andso,consideredstrongeffects.

To verify the fourth hypothesis of this study, I found it necessary tocalculatetheeffectsize.

Table10.Effectsize,PREDICTIONandEVALUATION,LDstudents

Effectsize–LDstudents

Group1(indiv.interv.) Group2(smallgroupsinterv.)dCohen dCohen

PREDICTION 2.32 1.94EVALUATING 2.00 1.23

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Data shows that accuracy of predictionmetacognitive skills improvedfor both experimental groups, with better results forindividual interventiongroup,whereCohendis2.32,comparedwith1.94fortheinterventioninsmallgroups.Theaccuracyofevaluationmetacognitiveskills,alsoimprovedinbothexperimental groups, but mostly for individual intervention group, whereCohen'sdvalueis2.00,comparedwith1.23fortheinterventioninsmallgroups.Allvaluesindicatethatmetacognitivetrainingwasveryeffective in improvingmetacognitiveskillsmeasuredbythepredictionandevaluationtests,asshownbytheirpowerfuleffectssize,allvaluesforCohend.beinghigher.80.Butifwecomparetheimprovementofthetwometacognitiveskills,wecanmentionthatthetrainingseemsmoreeffectiveforpredictionmetacognitiveskill,wherethevalueofCohend=2.32.

Thelasthypothesisofthisstudy,thatmathlearningdisabilitiesstudentshaveadifferentmetacognitiveprofileascomparedtothosewithoutlearningdisabilities,wasinvalidated.Comparisonbetweenthetwocategoriesofstudentsintermsofstandarddeviationofthestudentsquestionnaire,prospectiveform,post‐test,showednosignificantdifferencesbetweentheprofilesoflearningdisabilitiesstudentsandthosewithoutmathematicallearningdisabilitiesinanygroupsofparticipants.

CONCLUSION

Results obtained allow us to conclude that for seventh grade mathlearningdisabilitiesstudentsfrominclusiveclassrooms,metacognitiveevaluationthroughamultidimensionalmodelisstillnecessaryinordertoobtainsufficientinformationtooutlineanfullarrayofmetacognitiveevaluation.Andalso thatmetacognition can be trained to secondary school students, which is in linewithotherresultsfromtheliterature(MevarechandKramarski,2003);aspecificmetacognitive training, having positive effects on improving metacognitive andmathematicalperformance.Thenoveltyof thisstudyconsistsinemphasizingthatmetacognitivetrainingdeliveredindividuallyismoreeffectivethantheonedeliveredinsmallgroups.

However,theresultsshouldbeviewedwithcaution.Thesmallnumberofparticipants,andtheabsenceofafollow‐uptestingforevidenceofmaintainingthechangesresultingfrominterventionarejustsomeofthelimitationsofthisstudy.Starting from thesepreliminary results, however, further studieswill attempt toovercometheselimitationsbyincludingalargernumberofparticipantstogiveusgreaterstatisticalpower,andbyinclusionoffollow‐uptesting.


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REFERENCES

David,C.,Maier,A.(2011).Theeffectsofworkingmemorytrainingvs.metacognitivetrainingonmathperformanceoflowachievingstudents,StudiaUBBPsychologiaPaedagogia,1,89‐100.

Desoete,A.,Roeyers,H.,Buysse,A.(2001).MetacognitionandMathematicalProblemSolvinginGrade3,JournalofLearningDisabilities34(5),435‐449.

Desoete, A., Roeyers, H., De Clercq, A. (2004). Children with Mathematics LearningDisabilitiesinBelgium,JournalofLearningDisabilities,37(1),50‐61.

Desoete, A. (2007). Evaluating and Improving the Mathematics Teaching‐LearningProcessthroughMetacognition,Electronic JournalofResearch inEducationalPsychology,5(3),705‐730.

Desoete, A. (2009). Mathematics andmetacognition in adolescents and adults withlearningdisabilities,InternationalElectronicJournalofElementaryEducation,2(1),82‐100.

Garrett,A.,Mazzocco,M.,Baker,L.(2006).DevelopmentoftheMetacognitiveSkillsofPredictionandEvaluation inChildrenWithorWithoutMathDisability,LearningDisabilitiesResearch&Practice,21(2),77‐88.

Kramarski,B.&Mevarech,Z.(2003).EnhancingMathematicalReasoningintheClassroom:EffectsofCooperativeLearningandMetacognitiveTraining,AmericanEducationalResearchJournal,40(1),281‐310.

Maier,A.(2009).MetacognitivetrainingandschoolperformanceinAncaM.(coordinator,editor),Tendințepsihopedagogicemoderneînstimulareaabilitățilordecomunicare,vol1,PresaUniversitarăClujeana:Cluj‐Napoca.

Maier,A. (2011).TheEffectsofMetacognitiveTrainingonMathPerformance: IndividualversusSmallGroup,StudiaUBBPsychologiaPaedagogia, Cluj‐Napoca,2,85‐94.

Maier, A. (2016).Metacognition andmath learning disability, inMogonea F., Ilie V.(coord),Educatiesispiritualitate,Ed.MitropoliaOlteniei,Craiova.

Mevarech, Z. R. & Kramarski, B. (1997). IMPROVE: Amultidimensional method forteaching mathematics in heterogeneous classrooms, American educationalResearchJournal,34,365‐394.

Mevarech,Z.(1999).EffectsofMetacognitiveTrainingEmbeddedinCooperativeSettingsonMathematicalProblemSolving,TheJournalofEducationalResearch,92(4),195‐205.

Mevarech, Z., Kramarski, B. (2003). The Effects of Metacognitive Training versusWorked‐outExamplesonStudents’MathematicalReasoning,BritishJournalofeducationalPsychology,73,449‐471.

Mevarech,Z.,Fridkin,S.(2006).TheEffectsofIMPROVEonmathematicalknowledge,mathematicalreasoningandmetacognition,MetacognitionLearning1,

www.springerlink.com.

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Montague,M.&Bos,C.S.(1990).Cognitiveandmetacognitivecharacteristicsofeighth‐gradestudents’mathematicalproblemsolving,LearningandIndividualDifferences,2,371‐388.

Montague,M.(1992).TheEffectsofCognitiveandMetacognitiveStrategyInstructionon theMathematical Problem Solving ofMiddle School Studentswith LearningDisabilities,JournalofLearningDisabilities,25(4).


THEROLEPLAYEDBYRESILIENCEANDTHEMEANINGMAKINGPROCESSESINTHEPERCEPTIONOFSTRESSAND

QUALITYOFPROFESSIONALLIFEINASAMPLEOFTRANSYLVANIANHUNGARIANS

ÉVAKÁLLAY1

ABSTRACT.Chronic daily hassles specific to personal and occupational lifehavea significantnegative impacton the individual’s emotional andmentalhealth, simultaneously affecting his/her subjective and psychological well‐being,aswellasqualityoflife.Theworldwidemassivechangesoccurringintheeconomic,social,personalrealmsbecomesourcesofchronicstress,whichnecessitatecontinuousadaptation.Insuchconditions,theperson’sresilience,andhis/hercapacitytoconfermeaningtolifeandwork,playacriticalroleasprotective shields in thedevelopmentof functional reactionsand thriving. OurpresentstudyisacontinuationofourpreviousinvestigationsonaTransylvanianHungarian population, concentrating on the following major aims: (i) theinvestigationoftheroleplayedbyresilienceandmeaningmakinginexperiencingchronic stress and thework related quality of life;(ii) the investigation of therelationshipbetweenresilienceandone’sabilitytoconfermeaningtolifeandwork,necessaryforthedevelopmentofeffectivestressmanagementprograms.Ourresultsmaybesalientinthedevelopmentofpreventionandinterventionprograms targeting the improvement of emotional health, subjective andpsychologicalwell‐beingofTransylvanianHungarians.Keywords:stress,resilience,meaninginlife,meaningfulwork,subjective/psychologicalwell‐being.ZUSAMMENFASSUNG.DieRollederResilienzundderBedeutungProzesseinderWahrnehmungvonStressmachenunddieQualitätdesBerufslebensineinerProbevonSiebenbürgischenUngarn.ChronischetäglicheProbleme,die für das persönliche und berufliche Leben spezifisch sind, haben einenerheblichennegativenEinflussaufdieemotionaleundgeistigeGesundheitdesIndividuumsundbeeinflussengleichzeitigseinsubjektivesundpsychologischesWohlbefindensowiedieLebensqualität.DieweltweitenmassivenVeränderungenin

1DepartmentofPsychology,Babes‐BolyaiUniversity,Cluj‐Napoca,Romania,E‐mail:[email protected]

ÉVAKÁLLAY

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den ökonomischen, sozialen, persönlichen Bereichen werden zu chronischenStressquellen, die eine kontinuierliche Anpassung erfordern. Unter solchenBedingungen spielendieResilienzderPersonund ihre Fähigkeit, demLebenundderArbeitSinnzuverleihen,einewichtigeRollealsSchutzschildebeiderEntwicklungvonfunktionalenReaktionenundGedeihen.UnserevorliegendeStudieist eine Fortsetzung unserer bisherigen Untersuchungen an einer SiebenbürgerungarischenBevölkerungundkonzentriertsichaufdiefolgendenHauptziele:(I)dieUntersuchungderRollederResilienzundSinnmachenimErlebendaschronischenStressundderarbeitsbezogenenLebensqualität;(II)dieUntersuchungderBeziehungzwischenResilienzundderFähigkeit,demLebenundderArbeitSinnzu verleihen, die für die Entwicklungwirksamer Stressbewältigungsprogrammenotwendigsind.UnsereErgebnissekönnenausgeprägtwerden,inderEntwicklungvonPräventions‐undInterventionsprogrammen,dieaufdieVerbesserungderemotionalenGesundheit,dessubjektivenundpsychologischenWohlbefindensderSiebenbürgerUngarnabzielen.Schlüsselwörter:Stress,Resilienz,Sinn imLeben,sinnvolleArbeit,subjektives/psychischesWohlbefinden.

INTRODUCTIONDespitethefactthatstressanddemandarenotnewconcepts(Quick,

Quick,Nelson,&Hurrell,1997),thenumber,frequency,andintensityofstressorsand demands recent life conditions expose us to is on an ascending trend(Amundson, 2006). Even if our lives seem to be much disburdened by thefacilitiesofferedbythesignificanttechnologicalprogress(mostpastactivitiesareautomated, life‐conditionsare toa considerabledegree freedofphysicallabor),thestressorsandchallengeswehavetoconfrontwithseemtobemorenumerousanddifferent, compared towhathumans in generalwereused to(Schwartz,2004).Thechangesthathaveoccurred inthepastdecades inthedemographic, social, technological, political, economic life, family structures,force individuals to face an increasingnumberof challengesanddeal efficientlywith the corresponding demands (Amundson 2006; Feinstein, Vorhaus, &Sabates,2010;Sparks,Faragher,&Cooper,2001).Littlewonder,thatdespitetheenhancementofovert life‐conditions, thenumberof individualswhoarenegativelyimpactedbythesechangesisalsoincreasing:prevalenceindepression,anxietydisorders,burn‐out,andothermanifestationsofemotionaldysfunctionsare constantly increasing (Cunningham, Rapee, & Lyneham 2006; EuropeanCommission2005;daSilvaLima,&deAlmeidaFleck2007).

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Aconsiderablenumberofstudieshasevincedthatnotonlytheextremelystressful, traumatic eventsmay lead tophysical andpsychological disturbances,but the concomitant confrontationwith less intense stressful situationsmayhaveacumulativeeffect,significantlyaffectingtheindividual’sphysicalandmentalhealth,aswellashis/hersubjectiveandpsychologicalwell‐being(Amundson,2006;Kopp&Réthelyi,2004;Stauder&KonkolyThege,2006).Theefficientpsychological functioning comes to get amore profoundmeaningwhenweconsider that the recent work conditions require bettermental health thantheydidinthepast(Weehuizen,2008).Mentalhealthproblemsaffectnotonlythe individuals and their immediate proximity (family, friends, co‐workers),but may later on have significant influences on national economies as well(Weehuizen,2008).

Before this period of accelerated changes, people could easier referthemselves, theattributedsignificanceof theevents theyhad to face to a stablesystemofethical,moral,andreligiousnormsandvalues,whichweresharedandrespectedbythemajority(Crossley,2000).Intheabsenceofastableframeworkitis extremely difficult to find a well‐delineated frame of interpretation ofevents,whichwouldleadtothemuchdesiredemotionalcomfortfollowingastressfulencounter,translatedintheconceptofwell‐being.

Psychology has treatedwell‐being as two distinct constructs (Lent,2004):

(i) subjective (hedonic)well‐being, encompassing three distinct,nevertheless associated components: life satisfaction, positiveaffect,andtheabsenceofnegativeaffect(Diener,Lucas,&Oishi,2002).

(ii)psychological(eudaimonic)well‐being: considers thatwell‐being transcendsmerehappiness, and that awell‐lived life isrepresentedbyone’sattempttofulfillownpotentials(Waterman,1993). Psychologicalwell‐being (PWB) is usually treated as amultidimensional construct, formed of sixmajor components(Ryff&Singer,2008):

(a)self‐acceptance:theindividual’scapacityforunconditionalself‐acceptance,devoidofanykindofjudgmentofvalue.

(b)positive relationswithothers: one’s capacity to establish andmaintainwarmandfunctionalhumanrelationships.

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(c) autonomy: one’s ability to function independently of others’approval, andone’s capacity to regulate emotions, cognitions,andbehaviorsfromwithin.

(d) environmentalmastery: the person’s ability to ‘construct’ anexternal environment that sustains and enhances his/herfunctioningandadaptiveprocesses.

(e)purposeinlife:one’sabilitytofindmeaninginandforhis/herlife,toattributemeaningtodifferentlifeevents,establishproximalanddistalgoals,bouncebackmorequicklyandmoreappropriatelyfrom negative encounters and present higher levels of positivementalfunctioning.

(f)personalgrowth:one’sabilitytoperceivelifeasaseriesofconstantchangesandchallenges,asopportunitiestoenhanceandstrivetowardsone’struepotentialsincreasesthechancesofattainingawell‐livedlife.In order to prevent the appearance of psychological malfunctioning

andtopromoteflourishing, thisnewlydevelopedpsychologicalenvironmentrequires the development of appropriate copingmechanisms, emotion‐ andbehavior‐regulationstrategies,etc.AccordingtoBaumeister(1991),oneofthemostimportantstrategiesthatcouldpromotementalhealthandflourishingisthe individual’scapacity to findandattributemeaning tohis/her lifeandwork.According to Steger (2012), “Meaning is thewebof connections, understandings,and interpretations that help us comprehend our experience and formulate plansdirectingourenergiestotheachievementofourdesiredfuture”(pp.166).Abulkofresearch (e.g.,King,Hicks,Krull,&Del‐Gaiso,2006;Mascaro&Rosen,2005;Reker,2005;Steger&Frazier,2005;Steger,Frazier,Oishi,&Kaler,2006)hasrepeatedlyprovedthestrongrelationshipbetweenaperson’sabilitytoattributemeaningtohis/herlifeanddifferentlifeevents,andtheexperiencedlevelofemotional health and well‐being. The person’s ability to find and attributemeaning toone’s life (the feeling thatour livesandexperiencesmakesense andmatter,Steger,2012)facilitatestheattainmentandmaintenanceofemotionalbalance,andkeepsthepersonmotivatedinordertoattainhis/hergoals.

Researchtreatsmeaninginlifeundertwomajoraspects:thepresence,andtheindividual’ssearchforthemeaninginlife(Steger,Kashdan,Sullivan,&Lorentz,2008).Presenceofmeaninginlifeisexperiencedwhenpeoplecomprehendthemselvesandtheworldaroundthem(Stegeretal.,2008).Whenthepresenceofmeaninginlifeisweakenedbysomeevent,peoplestartsearchingforit(Stegeretal.,2008,p.200).Thesearchformeaninginlifeisassociatedeitherwithpositivemental/emotional functioning(e.g.,Frankl,1963;Maddi,1970),orasymptomof


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dysfunction(Baumesiter,1991;Klinger,1998).Withinhisapproach,Reker(2000)distinguishes between positive, healthy search (life‐affirming), and negative,unhealthysearch(deficitbased)(c.f.,Stegeretal.,2008). On the other hand, one’s capacity to attribute and/or searchmeaningforhis/herworkresidesinthedesireofpeopletoconferhighervaluesfortheirprofessionalactivities(Šverko&Vizek‐Vidović,1995),andtranscendtheneedformerefinancialreward.Again,researchhasrepeatedlydemonstratedthatthosepersonswhoconsiderthattheirworkismeaningfulexperiencehigherlevelsofwell‐being,reportgreaterjob‐relatedsatisfaction,work‐groupcohesion,andintra‐groupcollaboration(Arnold,Turner,Barling,Kelloway,&McKee,2007;Kamdron,2005).Moreover,theabilitytobuildameaningfulcareerandtoconfermeaningtoone’sworkwasfoundtoberelatedto(i)thedesiretoserveagreatergood,(ii)thewishtomakesenseofone’sself,(iii)theneedtobetterunderstandone’sworkenvironment,(iv)theneedtofindpurposeinone’swork(Ashforth,2001;Sparks&Schenk,2001;Weick,Sutcliffe,&Obstfeld,2005;Wrzesniewski,2003).

InSteger,Dik,andDuffy’s(2012)approach,meaningfulworkisconsideredtohavethreemajorfacets:

1.Psychologicalmeaningfulness inwork: the degree to whichpeopleconsiderthattheirworkismeaningfulandmatters.

2.Makingmeaningthroughwork:thedegreetowhichpeople’smeaninginlifebenefitsfromthewaytheyattributemeaningtotheirwork(Steger&Dik,2010).

3.Greatergoodmotivations:themeasuretowhichpeopledesiretohaveapositiveimpactintheworld,onotherpeoplethroughtheirwork.

Aswehaveseenthisfar,researchindicatedthatthereisstrongrelationshipbetweenattributingmeaningtoone’slife/work,anddifferentformsofwell‐beingandmental‐emotionalhealth(Lent,2004;Steger,Frazier,2005).

Another,equallyimportantabilitythatispartiallyrelatedtoourcapacitytoattribute meaning to our life and to the events we confront with is resilience,whichWagnild (2009) considers to be a system of strategies that facilitateefficientadaptationandprosperityintheaftermathofhighlystressfulencounters.Theconceptofpsychologicalresilienceencompassestheindividual’spsychologicalstrength, optimism, self‐esteem, sense of coherence, flexibility, mental andpsychologicalcapital(Wagnild,2009).Researchhasdemonstratedthatresiliencehasastrongrelationshipwiththeindividual’sphysicalandmentalhealth,andmostimportantly,thatthisabilitycanbesignificantlydevelopedandenhancedintime(Black&Ford‐Gilboe,2004;Wagnild,2007).

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In the recentlydeveloped life‐conditions,we considerofhigh importancetheidentificationofstressfullife‐events(bothinthepersonalandprofessionallife), aswell as thedelineationof anoptimal competencepackage (resilience,meaningmaking)(Gősi,2007),thatcouldfunctionasaprotectiveshieldinfrontofnewandfrequentlyoccurringstressfulsituations.

Thus,themajorobjectivesofourstudyare:

(i)theinvestigationoftheroleplayedbyresilienceandmeaningmakinginexperiencingchronicstressandtheworkrelatedqualityoflife

(ii) the investigation of the relationship between resilience and one’sability to confermeaning to life andwork, necessary for the development ofeffectivestressmanagementprograms.

RESEARCH

Method

Participants

Thepresentstudy focusesonthe investigationofa lessstudiedethnicgroup,namely,TransylvanianHungarians, including129maleand297 femaleparticipants,withmeanageof32.64years(SD=13.09,minimumage=18years,maximum age = 68 years). Our participants reside in the central and easternpart of Transylvania (Cluj,Mures,Harghita, andCovasna counties). Educationlevelsrangedfromhigh‐school(70.8%),university(23.3%),andpost‐universitydegrees(5.9%). Initially, we distributed 600 sets of self‐report questionnaires, out ofwhichwereceived441completedsets.Afterintroducingthedataandadjustingthedatabaseformissinginformation,weremainedwith427participantswithcompletedatasets.

Instruments

After obtaining the written consent to participate in the study, allsubjects completed a demographic questionnaire comprising variables as:gender, age, level of education, marital status, satisfaction with personal andfamilyincome.Next,allparticipantswereassessedonthefollowingdimensionsoftheirfunctioning:


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Stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS, Cohen,Kamarck,&Mermelstein,1983).ThePSSmeasuresthedegreetowhichsituationsin one’s life are appraised as stressful. Items were designed to tap howunpredictable,uncontrollable,andoverloadedrespondentsfindtheirlives.ThePSSisa14‐itemselfreportquestionnaire,withanswersbeingratedona5‐pointLikert scale (0‐ never, 4‐ very often). This scale was adapted for Hungarianpopulation(Stauder&KonkolyThege,2006).

Thequalityofprofessional lifewasmeasuredwith theWorkRelated

QualityofLifescale(WRQoL‐Easton&VanLaar,2012).TheWRQoLisa24‐itemself‐reportquestionnaire.Answersarerecordedona5‐pointLikertscale,rangingfrom1=stronglydisagreeto5=stronglyagree.TheWRQoLmeasures6sub‐componentsoftheconstruct;generalwellbeing(GWB),home‐workinterface(HWI),jobcareersatisfaction(JCS),controlatwork(CAW),workingconditions(WCS),stressatwork(SAW),anditalsohasanitemformeasuringtheoverallquality of working life. The psychometric properties of the original scale aregood,withCronbach’salpharangingfrom.87to .94.ThisscalewastranslatedintoHungarianbytheauthorofthisstudy.

Resiliencewasmeasuredwiththe25‐itemResilienceScale(RS‐Wagnild&

Young,1993).TheRSisa25‐itemself‐reportquestionnaire,withanswersbeingrecordedona7‐pointLikertscale(1‐disagree,7‐agree).TheRSmeasurestwosub‐componentsofresilience: (1)personalcompetence,and(2)acceptanceofselfandlife.ThepsychometricpropertiesoftheRSaregood,Cronbach’salpharangingfrom.89or.91.ThisscalewastranslatedintoHungarianbytheauthorofthisstudy.

Meaning in lifewas assessedwith theMeaning in Life Questionnaire

(MLQ,Steger,Frazier,Oishi,&Kaler,2006)a10‐iteminstrumentmeasuring(i)thepresenceofmeaninginlife(howmuchrespondentsfeeltheirliveshavemeaning),and (ii) the search formeaning in life (howmuch respondents strive to findmeaningandunderstandingintheirlives).Answersarerecordedona7‐pointLikert‐typescalerangingfrom1(AbsolutelyTrue)to7(AbsolutelyUntrue).Forthe original instrument, Cronbach’s alpha was .86 for presence and .92 forsearchformeaninginlife.Test‐retestreliabilitywasalsogood,.70forpresenceand.73forsearchformeaninginlife.ThisscalewastranslatedintoHungarianbytheauthorofthisstudy.

MeaninginworkwasmeasuredwiththeWorkandMeaningInventory

(WAMI,Steger,Dik,&Shim,inpress).TheWAMIisa10‐itemself‐reportinstrument,measuring threebasic componentsofmeaningfulwork: (i) the degree towhich

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people find theirwork to have significance andpurpose, (ii) the contributionworkmakestofindingbroadermeaninginlife,and(iii)thedesireandmeansforone’sworktomakeapositivecontributiontothegreatergood.Itemsareratedfrom1(absolutelyuntrue) to5(absolutely true);The totalMWscale internalconsistencywas high, Cronbach’s alpha .93 (.89, .82, and .83). This scalewastranslatedintoHungarianbytheauthorofthisstudy.

Psychologicalwell‐beingwasassessedwiththe84‐itemPsychological

Well‐Being scale developed by Ryff (1989). The 6 subscales (14‐items each)measure the basic components of psychological well‐being: self‐acceptance,positiverelationswithothers,autonomy,environmentalmastery,purposein life,andpersonal growth.Thepsychometricproperties of theHungarian translationaresatisfactory(Cronbach’salpharangeswithin:.79‐.88).ThisscalewastranslatedintoHungarianbytheauthorofthisstudy.

Subjectivewell‐being was assessed with the 5‐itemWHO well‐being

questionnaire(WHOCollaboratingCentreinMentalHealth,1999),focusingontheassessmentofpositiveaffectivestates.Eachofthefiveitemsisratedona6‐point Likert scale from 0 (not present) to 5 (constantly present). Scores aresummed,withrawscoresrangingfrom0to25.Thenthescoresaretransformedto0‐100bymultiplyingby4,withhigherscoresmeaningbetterwell‐being.ThisscalewasadaptedforHungarianpopulationbyWHO(WHOCollaboratingCentreinMentalHealth,1999).

Depressionwasassessedwith the21 itemBeckDepression Inventory

(BDI,Beck,Rush,Shaw,&Emery,1979).TheBDIisa21‐item,multiple‐choiceformatinventory,designedtomeasurethepresenceofdepressioninadultsandadolescents. After assessment, single scores are produced,which indicate theintensityof thedepressiveepisode (normal levels,mild,moderateandseveresymptoms of depression). Internal consistency indices of the BDI are usuallyabove.90.ThisscalewasadaptedforHungarianpopulation(Rózsa,Szadóczky,&Füredi,2001).

ResultsFirstly, we present the descriptive characteristics of our data (see

Table1).


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Table1.Descriptivestatistics

Scale Min. Max. M SD Shapiro‐Wilk p

PSS 5 54 26.58 7.36 .98 .01

WRQoL‐GWB 10 26 20.41 3.56 .96 .01

WRQoL‐HWI 3 15 9.25 2.57 .97 .01

WRQoL‐JCS 10 30 21.20 4.38 .97 .01

WRQoL‐CAW 3 15 9.66 2.80 .96 .01

WRQoL‐WCS 3 15 10.44 2.61 .95 .01

WRQoL‐SAW 2 10 5.94 1.98 .96 .01

WRQoL‐total 43 114 80.86 14.16 .97 .01

REZ‐Personalcompetence 58 115 89.02 12.56 .98 .01

REZ‐Acceptanceofselfandlife 19 49 34.88 5.94 .99 .03

PWBpositiverelations 34 82 62.41 10.10 .98 .01

PWBautonomy 35 80 56.98 9.46 .98 .01

PWBenvironmentalmastery 30 80 56.98 9.46 .99 .02

PWBpersonalgrowth 33 81 63.23 8.56 .98 .01

PWBpurposeinlife 34 83 61.76 9.54 .98 .01

PWBself‐acceptance 31 84 58.81 10.65 .99 .05

BDI 0 32 8.01 6.70 .91 .01

WHO 0 100 54.99 19.49 .98 .01

WAMIpositivemeaning 6 20 14.76 3.22 .96 .01

WAMImeaningthroughwork 4 15 10.98 2.47 .94 .01

WAMIgreatergoodmotivation 2 14 7.99 3.70 .96 .01

WAMIglobal 14 49 33.75 8.32 .96 .01

MLQpresence 10 35 26.83 5.79 .95 .01

MLQsearch 5 35 23.27 6.65 .96 .01

Next,we investigated differences in the assessed variables dependingongender(resultsarepresentedinTable2),andagecategories(Table3).Duetothedistributionofourdata(seeTable1),weconductedthenon‐parametricMann‐WhitneyU‐test.

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Table2.Differencesinperceivedstress,workrelatedqualityoflife,resilience,

psychologicalwell‐being,depression,andsubjectivewell‐being,dependingongender.

Scales Mean SD Z p abs(r)

PSS m=23.37f=28.04

6.816.89

‐5.56 .001 0.27

WRQoL‐CAW m=10.21f=9.49

3.112.53

‐2.44 .01 0.11

REZ‐Personalcompetence m=91.73f=87.43

12.1012.16

‐3.00 .001 0.15

REZ‐Acceptanceofselfandlife m=35.78f=34.22

5.266.07

‐2.50 .01 0.12

PWBautonomy m=59.53f=55.94

9.248.72

‐3.84 .001 0.18

PWBenvironmentalmastery m=59.34f=55.40

8.859.50

‐3.80 .001 0.18

PWBself‐acceptance m=61.21f=58.08

9.9010.45

‐2.59 .001 0.12

BDI m=5.79f=8.99

5.556.86

‐4.82 .001 0.23

WHO m=60.18f=52.59

20.8818.20

‐3.68 .001 0.18

As presented in Tables 2, our results following the application of theMann‐Whitney test indicate that female participants experience significantlyhigherlevelsofperceivedstress(Z=‐5.56,p<.001),andsymptomsofdepression(Z=‐4.82,p<.001),whilemaleparticipantsexperiencesignificantlyhigherlevelsof control at work (WRQoL (Z=‐2.44, p<.01), personal competence (Z=‐3.00,p<.001), and acceptance of self and life (Z=‐2.50, p<.01) components ofresilience, autonomy (Z=‐3.84, p<.001), environmental mastery (Z=‐3.80,p<.001)andself‐acceptance(Z=‐2.59,p<.001)componentsofpsychologicalwellbeing,andsubjectivewell‐being(Z=‐3.68,p<.001). OurresultsafterapplyingtheKruskall‐Wallistestregardingagedifferences(presentedinTable3)indicatethatparticipantsyoungerthan33yearsofageexperience significantly higher levels of perceived stress (Z=‐3.27, p<.001),generalwellbeing(Z=‐2.21,p<.05)andjobcareersatisfaction(Z=‐3.07,p<.01)


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onthedimensionofworkrelatedqualityoflife,onthepersonalrelationships(Z=‐2.42, p<.01) and personal growth (Z=‐3.49, p<.001) components of thepsychologicalwell‐being,andonthemeaningthroughwork(Z=‐2.37,p<.05),andgreatergoodmotivation(Z=‐4.35,p<.001)componentsofmeaninginwork.

Table3.Differencesinperceivedstress,workrelatedqualityoflife,resilience,psychologicalwell‐being,depression,andsubjectivewell‐being,depending

onage(under33andabove33yearsofage,categoriesestablishedonmeanage,age<33N=224,age>33N=186).

Scales Mean SD Z p abs(r)

PSS age<33age>33

27.5725.42

7.027.35

‐3.27 .001 0.16

WRQoL‐GWB age<33age>33

20.9119.95

3.143.91

‐2.21 .05 0.10

WRQoL‐JCS age<33age>33

22.0320.63

3.944.58

‐3.07 .01 0.15

PWB‐personal relationships age<33age>33

63.9661.29

8.9910.55

‐2.42 .01 0.12

PWB‐personal growth age<33age>33

65.0561.54

7.258.53

‐3.49 .001 0.17

WAMImeaning throughworkage<33age>33

11.4110.67

1.992.75

‐2.37 .05 0.11

WAMIgreater goodmotivation

age<33age>33

8.947.25

3.143.96

‐4.35 .001 0.21

Next, we investigated whether there are differences in the assessedvariablesdependingonthesatisfactionwithfamilyincome.AfterapplyingtheKruskal‐WallisH test, our results indicate significant differences in almost allstudied dimensions. Participantswho report lower levels of satisfactionwithfamilyincomehavesignificantlyhigherlevelsofperceivedstress[H(2)=24.41,p<.001],significantlylowerlevelsofgeneralworkrelatedwell‐being[H(2)=53.33,p<.001], home‐work interface [H(2)=22.49, p<.001], job‐career satisfaction[H(2)=41.42, p<.001], control at work [H(2)=37.96, p<.001], and workingconditions[H(2)=20.43,p<.001].Furthermore,thosewhoreportlowersatisfactionwith family income,alsopresentsignificantly lower levelsof resilience, personalcompetence[H(2)=15.31,p<.001],acceptanceofselfandlife[H(2)=31.84,p<.001],significantly lower levels of psychologicalwell‐being: personal relationships

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[H(2)=24.49,p<.001],environmentalmastery [H(2)=26.13,p<.001],purposeinlife[H(2)=11.50,p<.001],selfacceptance[H(2)=23.37,p<.001],significantlyhigher levelsofdepression[H(2)=17.23,p<.001],significantly lowerlevelsofsubjectivewell‐being[H(2)=26.56,p<.001],positivemeaningderivedfromwork[H(2)=32.52,p<.001],meaning throughwork [H(2)=26.44,p<.001], and greatergood motivation [H(2)=12.04, p<.001], and significantly lower levels of thepresenceofmeaninginlife[H(2)=13.76,p<.001]. Wefinishedtheinvestigationofdifferencesproducedbythedemographicvariableswiththosegivenbythelevelofeducation.WerantheKruskal‐Wallisnon‐parametrictest,andtheresultsarepresentedinTable4.

Table4.Significantdifferencesinassessedvariablesdependingonlevelofeducation(G=high‐school,G2=college,G3=master/PhD)

Scale M Kruskal‐Wallis p

PSS G1=27.57G2=24.36G3=23.75

23.42

.001

WRQoL‐HWI G1= 9.15G2=9.90G3=9.65

6.89

.05

WRQoL‐JCS G1=20.81G2=22.73G3=22.91

14.32

.001

WRQoL‐CAW G1=9.23G2=10.65G3=11.91

37.61

.001

WRQoL‐WCS G1=10.35G2=11.02G3=11.73

8.26

.05

REZ‐personalcompetence G1= 86.51G2=93.21G3=95.08

29.12 .001

REZ‐acceptanceofselfandlife G1= 33.84G2=36.09G3=38.37

20.82 .001

PWBpositiverelations G1= 62.05G2=64.34G3=65.70

7.59 .05

PWBautonomy G1= 56.15G2=59.26G3=57.91

8.01 .05


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Scale M Kruskal‐Wallis p

PWBenvironmentalmastery G1= 55.19G2=59.40G3=60.83

20.19 .001

PWBpersonal growth G1= 62.91G2=64.90G3=66.79

7.18 .05

PWBpurposein life G1= 61.04G2=64.61G3=64.62

10.53 .01

PWBself‐acceptance G1= 57.54G2=62.18G3=62.33

14.98 .001

BDI G1= 8.81G2=6.46G3=5.43

19.45 .001

WAMIpositive meaning G1= 14.37G2=15.90G3=16.95

32.08 .001

WAMImeaning throughwork G1= 10.83G2=11.72G3=11.65

10.05 .01

MLQpresence G1= 26.50G2=28.41G3=28.08

10.40 .01

AsitcanbeseeninTable4,thoseparticipantswhohavehigherlevelsofeducationreportsignificantly lower levelsofperceivedstressanddepression,andsignificantlyhigherlevelsofworkrelatedqualityoflife(HWI‐home‐workinterface, JCS ‐ job career satisfaction, CAW ‐ control atwork,WCS ‐workingconditions), resilience (personal competence and acceptance of self and life),psychologicalwell‐being(positiverelations,autonomy,environmentalmastery,personalgrowth,purposeinlife,self‐acceptance),meaningderivedfromwork(positivemeaning,meaningthroughwork),andthepresenceofmeaningoflife. Wecontinuedour investigationsbyconductingcorrelationanalyses inordertoinvestigatetheassociationpatternsbetweenperceivedstressandworkrelated quality of life, and the other assessed variables (Table 5). Finally, weconducted two hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) analyses in order toinvestigate the degree to which perceived stress (as measured with the PSSscale)(Table6)andworkrelatedqualityof life(Table7)arepredictedbythevariablesthatcorrelatedwiththem.

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Table5.Pearsoncorrelationmatrixbetweenperceivedstressandworkrelatedqualityoflife,andtheotherassessedpsychologicalvariables

Scale PSS WRQoLTotal

PSS 1 ‐.44**WRQoL‐total ‐.44** 1REZ‐personalcompetence ‐.45** .45**REZ‐acceptanceofselfandlife ‐.60** .44**PWBpositiverelations ‐.38** .35**PWBautonomy ‐.36** .24**PWBenvironmentalmastery ‐.73** .54**PWBpersonal growth ‐.27** .40PWBpurposein life ‐.46** .48**PWBself‐acceptance ‐.59** .47**WAMIpositive meaning ‐.30** .69**WAMImeaning throughwork ‐.23** .55**WAMIgreater goodmotivation ‐.10* .33**MLQpresence ‐.54** .48**MLQsearch .15** NS

Note:*p<.05;**p<.01 BasedonthecorrelationmatrixforperceivedstressinthefirststepoftheHMRweenteredage,gender,levelofeducation,andsatisfactionforfamilyincome sincewe intended to control for thesedemographic variables. In steptwo we introduced resilience. In the third step, we introduced the twocomponentsofmeaningoflife,instepfour,thetreecomponentsofmeaningofwork, and in step five, the components of psychological well‐being. Afterrunningtheregressionanalyses,weselectedthosevariableswhichsignificantlypredictedperceivedstress,andreruntheHMRwiththem.ResultsarepresentedinTable6. Model one with the demographic variables proved to be statisticallysignificant(F4,365=23.24,p<.001),predicting20.5%ofthevariancewithperceivedstress.Nextweintroducedthetwocomponentsofresiliencewhichalsoprovedstatisticallysignificant(F6,365=48.28,p<.001),explaininganadditional23.6%ofthevariance.Theintroductionofmeaningof lifealsoresulted inastatisticallysignificant model (F8,365=54.39, p<.001), explaining an additional 10.8% ofvariance. Finally, the introduction of psychologicalwell‐beingwas also foundstatistically significant (F14,365= 47.70, p<.001), adding another 10.6% to thevarianceinperceivedstress.


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Table6.Hierarchicalregressionmodelforperceivedstress

Perceivedstress R R2 R2

Changet

Step1 .45 .20** .20** 10.00**AgeGender

LevelsofeducationSatisfactionwithfamilyincome

Step2 .66 .44** .23** Resilience‐personalcompetence‐acceptanceofselfandlife

‐8.07**

Step3 .74 .54** .10** Meaninginlife‐presence‐search

‐8.67**

Step4PWBpositiverelations

.81 .65**.10**

PWBautonomy PWBenvironmentalmastery ‐8.39**PWBpersonal growth PWBpurposein life PWBself‐acceptance

Note:*p<.05;**p<.01 Regardingworkrelatedqualityoflife,inthefirstmodelweintroducedthedemographicvariables,whichprovedtobestatisticallysignificant(F4,354=20.05,p< .001),explaining20.1%ofvarianceinworkrelatedqualityoflife.Thenweintroducedthetwocomponentsofresiliencewhichalsoresultedastatisticallysignificantmodel(F6,354=30.47,p< .001),addinganother14.3%ofvarianceinWRQoL.Inthethirdstep,weintroducedmeaningderivedfromwork(F9,354=51.79,p< .001),adding23.1%ofvarianceinWRQoL.Inthefinalstepweintroduced

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thecomponentsofpsychologicalwell‐being,with(F15,354=36.80,p<.001),adding4.5%in thevarianceofWRQoL.Further resultsof theregressionanalysisarepresentedinTable7.

Table7.HierarchicalregressionmodelforWorkRelatedQualityofLife

Depression R R2 R2

Changet

Step1 .44 .20 .20** 23.83**AgeGender

LevelsofeducationSatisfactionwithfamilyincome

Step2 .58 .34 .14*** Resilience‐personalcompetence‐acceptanceofselfandlife

7.43**

Step3 .75 .57 .23** WAMIpositivemeaningmeaningthroughworkgreatergoodmotivation

4.69**

Step4PWBpositiverelationsPWBautonomyPWBenvironmentalmasteryPWBpersonalgrowth

.04** .78 .62 3.70**

PWBpurposein life PWBself‐acceptance

Note:*p<.05;**p<.01 As a final step to our research,we conducted a correlational analysisbetweenthetwocomponentsofresilience(personalcompetence,andacceptanceofselfandlife)andthecomponentsofmeaningoflifeandmeaningofwork.OurresultsarepresentedinTable8.


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Table8.Correlationmatrixbetweenresilience,meaningattributedtolifeandmeaningattributedtowork

Scale REZPrscomp

REZAccept

MLQpre‐sence

MLQsearch

WAMIPosmean

WAMIMeanthrough

work

WAMIGreatergood

REZ‐personalcompetence

1

REZ‐acceptanceofselfandlife

.71** 1

MLQpresence .48** .47** 1 MLQsearch NS NS ‐.13** 1 WAMIpositivemeaning

.40** .36** .54** NS 1

WAMImeaningthroughwork

.34** .26** .48** .12* .77** 1

WAMIgreatergoodmotivation

.21** .11* .33** .19** .59** .65** 1

AsseeninTable8,bothcomponentsofresiliencepresentastrongandsignificantassociationwithall thecomponentsofmeaningattributedtowork,andthepresenceofmeaninginlife.However,wehavenotfoundanyassociationbetweenresilienceandthesearchformeaninginlife. CONCLUSIONSANDDISCUSSIONS The changes occurring in our environment (social, cultural, financial)significantly influence theprocesses involved inouradaptation, thequalityofourlife,andourgeneralwell‐being.Despiteourapparentphysicalcomfort,thenumber and diversity of stressorswe have to confrontwith is in permanentincrease,andaconsiderablenumberofindividualsarenotadequatelyendowedwith themost suitable coping strategies. The results of thesemalfunctioningprocessesisreflectedintheconstantlygrowingnumberofadultsandchildren/adolescentsaffectedbysignificantmentaloremotionalproblems. The major aim of our present study is to evince the importance ofresilienceintheperceptionofstressanditsrelationshiptomeaningattributedtolifeandworkwithinasampleofTransylvanianHungarians.

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Ourresultshaveindicated,theassessedfemaleparticipantsexperiencesignificantly higher levels of stress and depression than the male population(Nolen‐Hoeksema,2001;2012;Parker&Brotchie,2010;Verma,Balhara,&Gupta,2011). In the same time, the assessed female participants report significantlylower levels of: control atwork, resilience, psychological and subjectivewell‐being.Theseresultsarequitesimilartothosefoundintheliterature,namelythosewomenusuallyexperiencesignificantlyhigherlevelsofstressanddepression,oneexplanationforthisbeingthatwomengenerallyassumemorerolesthanmen,which may negatively impact their capacity to efficiently confront stressfulevents. Regarding age categories, the older generations reported significantlylowerlevelsofstress.However,anaspectthatisquitesurprisingforusisthatparalleltothesefindings,theoldergenerationalsoreportedsignificantlylowerlevels ofwork relatedquality of life, resilience (both components), subjectivewell‐being, and work related quality of life. A possible explanation for thesecounterintuitiveresultscouldbethefactthattheoldergenerationsarenotanylongerverysensitivetothenuancedperceptionofstressfulencounters,andarenotveryreactivetostressfulevents.Anotherexplanationmayconceivedifweinterpret our results from the point of view of the Socioemotional selectivitytheory,developedbyLauraL.Carstensen,accordingtowhichaspeopleage,andtheirtemporalhorizonsnarrow,peoplebecomemoreandmoreselective,andstartinvestinggreaterresourcesinemotionallymeaningfulgoalsandactivities(Carsten,2006).However, therestofourresultsmayindicatethatevenif theoldergenerationsarenoteasily ‘affected’by thehardshipsof life, theattitudetowards, and copingmechanisms implied in adapting to new challengesmaynotbetheidealones. Ourresultsregardinglevelofeducationsustaintheconceptionaccordingtowhichhigherlevelsofeducationenrichestheindividual’sresourcesofcopingmechanisms, and his/her possibilities for a better adaptation to the proteanconditions of life. Our participants with higher levels of education reportedsignificantlylowerlevelsofstressanddepression,andtheirability(andpossibility)to attributemeaning to life andwork is significantlyhigher.The samepatterncanalsobefoundintheirresilience. Wecontinuedourstudywithinvestigatingthedifferencesintheassessedvariables depending on the participants satisfaction with family income. Ourresultsindicatethatlowerlevelsofsatisfactionwithfamilyincomeisassociatedwithhigherlevelsofstressanddepression,aswellaswithlowerlevelsofworkrelatedqualityof life, lower levelsofresilience,andmeaningattributedto lifeandwork.


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The regression analysis we conducted in order to estimate the roleplayedbydifferentvariablesinpredictingthelevelofperceivedstressandworkrelatedqualityoflife,wefoundthatbothresilienceandattributionofmeaningto life, respectively towork,playasignificantrole. In thesametime,differentcomponents of psychological (eudaimonic) well‐being play a key‐role in theperditions of stress andwork related quality of life, especially ifwe considerthecomponentsofpsychologicalwell‐beingas subjacent strategiesandnotasresultsofaprocess.Inbothpredictivemodels,asignificantroleisplayedbythedemographic variables, which brings a supplementary benefit to the socialaspectandimplicationsofourstudy. Finally, thecorrelationmatrix involvingthecomponentsofresilienceandmeaningattributed to lifeandworkrevealsastrongassociationpatternbetweentheassessedvariables.Asanintriguingresultswewouldpresentthefact that the presence of meaning in life is strongly associated with bothcomponentsofresilience,butthesearchforthemeaninginlifeisnotsignificantlyassociatedwitheithercomponentof resilience.Thisresultmay indicate thattheassociativerelationshipbetweenresilienceandmeaningattributedtolifemightbemorestabile,andthatthedynamicimpliedinthesearchofmeaninginlifemaybeassociatedwithothervariables.Sincetheseaspectshavesignificantimplications for the development of efficient interventions,we propose thatthisaspectofourpresentresearchbefurtherinvestigatedinmoredetail. The results yieldedbyour researchmayattain special significance ifthey are considered in the light of components involved in the constantprocessofadaptation,withinasegmentofalargerpopulation(TransylvanianHungarians). In the last years a plethora of research has been conducted ininvestigating the concept, components, effect and importance of resilience.Research indicatedthatresilienceasanabilitymaysignificantlybedevelopedandenhancedbothinchildhood/adolescenceandinadulthood.Fromthispointofview,ourresultsareimportant,sincewehavedelineatedthemajordirectionsresilience may be enhanced within this specific cultural group, namely withmaintaininganddevelopingastrongmeaning forwork.Theseresultsmaybeimportantnotonlyfortherapistsandcounselors,butalsoforemployers,inordertoenhancetherelationshipbetweenemployerandemployee.Theimplementationof interventions targeting the development of resilience both at work and inone’sprivatelife[e.g.,cognitive‐behavioraltherapy(e.g.,Abbott,Klein,Hamilton,& Rosenthal, 2009), acceptance and commitment therapy (e.g., Ryan, 2014),mindfulness‐basedtherapy(e.g.,Geschwind,Peeters,Drukker,VanOs,&Wichers,2011),problem‐solvingtherapy(e.g.,Sahler,Dolgin,Phipps,Fairclough,Askins,Katz, et al., 2013), aswell as stress inoculation (e.g., Farchi&Gidron, 2010)],

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wouldsignificantlyimprovetherepertoireofstrategiesthatenablestheindividualto navigate as efficiently as possible through the increasing and diversifyingdifficultiesoflife. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research was supported by a 2016 Domus Hungarica researchscholarship/grant(4814/13/2015/HTMT)awardedbytheHungarianScientificAcademytoÉvaKállay.

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INVESTIGATINGTHEIMPACTOFORGANIZATIONALBEHAVIOURONSCHOOLCLIMATE

CRISTINAPIELMUŞ1

ABSTRACT.Organizational behaviour consists in the choice members of anorganization make in adopting certain attitudes or modes of action in theirinteractionwiththeorganizationalenvironment,asindividualsorasmembersof a group. It is essential to understand organizational behaviour as a keyvariableoftheorganization,whichisdirectlydependentonthehumanresourcethat formsthecoreoforganizations,withoutwhomtheirexistencecannotbeconceived.Thestudyoforganizationalbehaviourisrelevantinordertogainadeeperunderstandingofthemechanismsthatengagetheentireorganizationallife.Yet,theorganizationalcontextunderliesthecertaintypeofbehaviourthatiscreatedwithintheorganization,whichiswhythisstudyaimstoidentifythoseorganizationaldimensionsactingasdeterminantsoforganizationalbehaviour,sothatthepotentialimpactthesemayhaveonschoolclimatecouldbeestimated.Keywords:organizationalbehaviour,schoolculture,schoolclimateZUSAMMENFASSUNG.UntersuchungDerAuswirkungenDesOrganisativenVerhaltensAufSchulklima.DasorganisatorischeVerhaltenwiderfindetsichinderEntscheidungderMitglieder einerOrganisation, in ihrer Interaktion innerhalbdesorganisatorischenUmfelds,alsEinzelpersonenoderGruppen‐mitglieder,bestimmteEinstellungenoderHandlungsweisenanzunehmen.Esistentscheidend,dasorganisatorischeVerhaltenalseinekritischeVariablederOrganisationzuerfassen,aufdasmenschlicheKapital,denKernderOrganisationen,unmittelbarangewiesen,außerhalbdessenihreExistenznichterfassbarist.DieUntersuchungdesorganisatorischenVerhaltens ist inderGewinnungeiner tieferenEinsicht inMechanismen,diedasgesamteOrganisationslebenantreiben.JedochunterliegtderorganisatorischeKontexteinemorganisationsinternentstandenenVerhaltensmuster;ausdiesemGrundzieltdieStudiedaraufab,diealsDeterminantenagierendeOrganisationsdimensionen des Organisationsverhaltens zu erkennen und eineEinschätzungderpotentiellenAuswirkungenaufdasSchulklimazuermöglichen.Schlüsselwörter:Organisationsverhalten,Schulkultur,Schulklima

1ForeignLanguagesDepartment,PoliceAcademy,Bucharest,RomaniaE‐mail:[email protected]

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LITERATUREREVIEW Organizationalbehaviour.Conceptualframework

Theconceptoforganizationalbehaviourismultidisciplinary,situatedattheconfluenceofpsychology,sociology,anthropology,andeconomics.Perhapsthat is why it is difficult to define. Organizational behaviour is a somewhatimproper concept as it is unlikely thatmembers of an organizationhave anidenticalandunifiedreactionorattitude to theorganizational context.However,wecanspeakaboutgroupbehaviour;participantstotheorganizational lifecandeveloppatternsof collectivebehaviourwithin thegroup theybelong to. In thisrespect,PatriceMannnotesthatonecanspeakofagenericconceptdesignatingthetypesofbehaviourbelongingtosomeindividualswho,undertheinfluenceofsharedbeliefs,sometimesactallinthesamekey(Stanciu,Ş.,Ionescu,M.A,2005,p.120). Intheliteratureofthefieldtherearefewattemptstodefinetheconcept,mostoftenstudiesgostraightintotreatingtheareadelimitedbythenotionoforganizationalbehaviour.AccordingtoDennisW.OrganandThomasBateman(Zlate,M.,2008,vol.I,p.37)organizationalbehaviouristhebehaviourfacilitatedand inducedby theorganizationor thebehaviourgeneratedor emergedas aresultoforganizationalprocesses.Incontrastwiththeseauthors’psychosocialperspective,MieluZlate(2008,vol.I,p.38)considersthatorganizationalbehaviourhaspsychologicalvalencesasitconsistsinalladaptiveresponsesoftheindividualorgroup,theoverallexpressionoftheindividuals’ortheorganizationalgroups’mental activity, which is directly observable or indirectly deduced, but alsoinfluencedordirected.Otherauthorsvieworganizationalbehaviourasthejunctionof fourdimensions:theindividual, thegroup,theorganizationandtheenvironment,whichall influence thebehavioursof themembersof the organization (Wilson,1999). Inthispapertheconcepttakesonaparticularmeaning:organizationalbehaviourliesintheindividualorgroupattitudesandmodesofaction,generatedasaresponsetodifferentsituationsororganizationalprocesses. We consider organizational behaviour is an objectification, a concreteexpressionoftheelementsthatmakeupthecultureoftheorganization,whichcannotacquirematerialconsistenceintheabsenceofhumanresourcethattranslatesthem intoorganizationalattitudesandpractices. Inotherwords,organizationalbehaviour is dictated by the organizational context the individuals belong to. TosupportthisstatementwerecallMieluZlate’sremark(2008,vol.I,p.39),whichsaysthatwhenorganizationalconditionschange(e.g.rules,goals,structure,constraints,values, etc.), they trigger the process of remodelling behaviours, which can havepositiveornegativeeffectsonmembersandtheorganization.


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Schoolclimateandculture‐variablesoforganizationalbehaviour

In the studies about organizations, culture and climate are among themostdiscussedaspectsoforganizationallife.Theresearchoftendwellsontheroleandinfluenceofeachof thetwovariables intheorganization,sometimesignoring the analysis of the culture‐climate rapport, organizational variablesthatcannotbeconceivedonewithouttheother. However,intheliteraturetherearesomeattemptstoclarifytherelationbetween thecultureandclimateofanorganization.A relatively recentmodelofanalysis for the rapport between the two variables has been generated bytheemergenceoforganizationalmanagementasanovelanddistinctscience.Accordingtothismodel,cultureisacomprehensiveconcept,whichsubsumestheconceptofclimate.Inthisview,organizationalcultureisdescribedasconsistingofseveraldistinctlevels(Hofstede,2003;Schein,2004;Rousseau,1990).Essentially,theselevelsdistinguishbetweenvaluesandpractices.Ontheonehand,thevaluesarefundamentalandoftensubconsciousmodesofunderstandingandassessingtheworld.Ontheotherhand,practicesaretangible,observablebehavioursmanifestedintheorganization. Inthelattermodel,theclimatecanbeequatedwithhowtheorganization’smembersdescribeandevaluateorganizationalpractices.Thus,climateisasubsetofcultureinthesamewaythatvaluesoftheorganizationareconsideredtobesubsumedtoculture.Therefore,theclimateisequivalentwiththeorganizationalpracticesorbehavioursthataresubsumedtoculture. Weconsiderclimateasbeingratheraconsequence,aneffectoforganizationalpractices thatparticipants in theorganizational life screen through their ownsubjectivitytranslatingthemintobehaviours.Inaddition,organizationalvaluesguideintheirturntheconductoftheindividualsbelongingtotheorganization.Therefore,theclimatewillbetheboththeoutcomeoforganizationalbehaviourandthevaluesunderlyingthesebehaviours(Figure1). Inouropinion,cultureandclimateareconceptsthatdonotoverlapnorshould theybe confused.Althoughdistinctorganizational variables, there is adeterminationrelationbetweencultureandclimate,arelationthatshouldnotexclude organizational behaviour. According to Emil Păun (1997, pp. 9‐10)culture and climate are subordinated to organizational behaviour,which alsoincludesaspectssuchasgoals,ethosandorganizationeffectiveness.Therefore,culture and climate constitute variables of organizational behaviour. Thus,culture exerts an influence in the process ofmaintaining and developing theorganizationalclimateastheperceptionsofthemembersoftheorganizationonthe type of behaviour they have to adopt within the group reflect culturalfeaturessubjectively.

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Fig.1.TherelationshipbetweencultureandclimateinHofstede(2003)andSchein(2004)

Undoubtedly, culture isdistinct fromclimate, the twoconceptsdonotoverlap. However, as variables of organizational behaviour they enter into arelationofdependence.AccordingtoAshforth(1985)cultureconsistsofsharedassumptionsandideologies,whereasclimateisdefinedbythesharedperceptionsonthebehaviourofthemembersofanorganization(Hoy,Tarter,1997). Another view, which belongs to Hoy, Tarter and Kottkamp (1991),supportstheanalysisoforganizationalclimatefromapsychologicalperspective,whileculturecanbeconsidered fromananthropologicalpointofview,whichallows the identification of the differences between the two organizationalvariablesandthesubordinationrapportbetweenthem. In his turn, referring to the educational context, Emil Păun (1999)highlightsthisdifference,postulatingtheprevalentobjectivenatureofculture,though the author does not ignore its subjective aspects,while climate is thesubjectivedimensionof theorganization. It isworthmentioningthatboth cultureandclimate,asobjectiveandsubjectivedimensionsofschool,areembeddedintheindividuals’behaviours. Figure2summarizesourviewontheculture‐climaterapportasvariablesoforganizationalbehaviour,indicatingtheinterdependenciesbetweenthem. Throughitspositiveornegativevalencesduetomultiple influence factorssuchassocio‐culturalfactors,interpersonalrelationships,communicationquality,managerialstyle features,thespecificactivityof theorganizationandworkingconditions, thestructureandsizeof theorganization,butalso influencesof theouterenvironment,climateaffectstheattitudesandbehavioursofindividualstaking

Organizationalculture

Practices(Behaviours)

Values

Organizationalclimate

Visible,tangibleculture

Fundamental,subconscious

culture


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Fig.2.Theinterdependenciesbetweenculture‐behaviour‐climatepartintheorganizationallife.Ontheotherhand,culture‐consistingofvalues,beliefs, norms, organizational practices ‐ is translated through the humanresource in behavioural patterns; in other words, it finds expression in or isobjectifiedinthesocialinteractionstakingplaceintheorganization. Therefore,theclimateandcultureoftheorganizationcanbeconsideredastwofacetsofthesamecoin–theorganizationalbehaviour‐becauseneitherof these two organisational variables exists in a vacuum, but is directlydependentonthehumanfactorintheorganization,asameansthroughwhichbothcanbeexpressed.

RESEARCHPURPOSEANDSAMPLING

The research we have undertaken aims to identify the behaviouralcharacteristics ofmembers belonging to the organization and it attempts toestablishtheextenttowhichtheconductsofallparticipantstotheorganizationallifeconvergesothatwecouldestimatethepotential impacttheymayhaveontheclimate. Thesamplepopulationincludedinourresearchconsistedofteachersandstudentsbelongingtoallfacultiesinchargewiththeinitialtrainingofprospectivepoliceofficerswithin"A.I.Cuza"PoliceAcademyinBucharest.Numericallythepopulationincludedintheresearchstudytotalsanumberof356respondents,ofwhich274studentsenrolled inallyearsofstudy fromthe1st to the4thyear,

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both females andmales, covering all specialties such as police, border police,gendarmerie,penitentiaries,firefighters,and82teachersofbothgenderswithadifferentdegreeofseniorityintheorganizationfrombeginnerstoteachershavinganexperienceofover10years. For the sampling of the research population we have resorted to arepresentative sample, which has been determined though the probabilisticsampling technique. The sample has been made up starting from a list ofhomogeneousgroupsofindividuals(studentsandteachers)andtheselectionofpersonsincludedintheinvestigationhasbeenconductedsoastocoverseveralsurveyvariables:age,gender,socialandprofessionalcategory,specialization,seniority in the educational organization, etc., needed for data analysis andinterpretation. METHODSANDINSTRUMENTS We have used quantitative research methods such as questionnaire‐basedsurveywithclosedtrichotomicquestionsandmultiplepre‐codedquestions,withmultiplechoiceandLikert‐scaleresponses,aswellasopenquestions.Wehavedevelopedtwoquestionnaires,onefortheteachersandotherforthestudents,asrepresentativesofthetwosocio‐professionalgroupsincludedthesample. The teachers and students were asked questions which aimed atidentifyingtheprevalentbehaviouraltraitsofthetwosocio‐professionalgroupsinrelation toallcategoriesofmembersof theorganizationeachgroupcomesintocontact,thus:forteacherswehaveanalyzedtheirbehavioursinrelationtothemanager, but also to their colleagues and for studentswe analyzed theirbehaviourinrelationtoteachersandclassmates. Thebehavioursofeachcategoryofrespondentshavebeendefinedinrelationtotheculturaldimensionsoftheorganization,whicharesixinnumber:taskorientation/formalism,people orientation/supportiveness, interpersonal relations,decisionmaking,performanceorientation,innovationorientation.Foreachofthesecultural dimensions we had identified indicators, which were subsequentlyconvertedintoitems(statements)designatingthetypesofbehaviourthatareassociatedwitheachculturaldimensionoftheorganization.Bydeterminingtheextent to which the conduct of each socio‐professional group is situated tonegativeorthepositivepoleoftheculturaldimension(i.e.towhatextenttheanswersnotatall‐alittleorconsiderably‐alotprevail),wecandrawconclusionsonthedegreeofcongruencebetweenthemanagers’,theteachers’andstudents’behaviours.


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Theculturaldimensionsareexpressedbyindicatorsthatreflectpatternsofbehaviourthatdefineeachdimensionasfollows:

Taskorientation/Formalism:focusontasks,formalrules,conformity,control,sanctions;

Peopleorientation/Supportiveness:assistance,fairness,equality,appreciation,rewards;

Interpersonalrelationships:communication,collaboration,respect,friendlyrelations,solidarity,cohesion;

Decisionmaking: involvement ofmembers of the organization in decision‐making;

Performance orientation: high expectations, focus on results, focus onquality;

Innovation orientation: positive attitude towards change, openness tonovelties,exploitationofopportunities.

RESULTSANDDISCUSSION For a systematic presentation we first resorted to the analysis andinterpretationofthemanager’sandteachers’behavioursasperceivedbyteachersand subsequently we analysed and interpreted the teachers’ and students’behavioursasreflectedinthelatter’sperception. Startingfromthestatisticaldatacollectedwecalculatedthepercentageinwhichteachershavecharacterizedthemanager’sbehaviouroneachofthesixculturaldimensionssoastofacilitatetheinterpretationofdata.Theresultsaredisplayedinthegraphbelow.

Manager’sbehaviourinrelationwiththeculturaldimensionsoftheorganizations(teachersasrespondents)

0% 50% 100%

Formalism

Support

Relations

Decision

Performance

Innovation

much-a lot

moderately

not at all-a little

56 13 31

53 27 20

59 24 17

41 25 34

75 17 8

51 29 20

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These results lead us to the following conclusions on the manager’sbehaviour:thereisaslighttendencytowardsformalism(56%),forwhichreasonsupportivenesstotalsapositivepercentageofonly53%;interpersonalrelationstendtobepositive(59%);decision‐makingtendstobereservedmostlytothemanager(59%),teachersarelessinvolvedindecision‐making(41%);themanagerisverymuchfocusedonachievingperformance(75%);thereisarelativeorientationtowardsinnovationasindicatedby51percent. Therefore,theteachers’perceptiononthemanager’sbehaviourrevealsthatthelatterisorientedinroughlyequalproportionsonformalrules,butalsoon providing support, that he acknowledges the importance of interpersonalrelationsandthefocusoftheorganizationonperformance,butislessorientedtowardtheteachers’inclusionindecision‐makingandtendstohavearelativelyinnovativevisionwithoutabdicatingfromconservatismentirely. Weshallfurtheranalyzetheteachers’behavioursonthesameculturaldimensions so as to determine to what extent these are congruent with themanager’s.Similarlywith themanager’sbehaviouranalysis,wereliedon statisticaldatatocalculatethepercentageofeachculturaldimensiononteachers’behaviourssothattheinterpretationofdatacouldbecomemoreaccessible.Theresultsareshowninthefollowinggraph:

Teachers’behavioursinrelationwiththeculturaldimensionsoftheorganizations(teachersasrespondents)

Fromtheseresultswecandrawthefollowingconclusions:teacherstendtoberelativelyuninterestedintheformaldimensionoftheorganization(only27%chosethisfeatureinaalargeandverylargeproportion);supportivenessoccupiesanimportantplaceintheteachers’behavioursasshownbythe61percentwho

0% 50% 100%

Formalism

Support

Relations

Decision

Performance

Innovation

much-a lot

moderately

not at all-a little

27 32 41

61 14

59 29 12

35 29 36

67

65 25 10

25

23 10


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opted“much”and“alot”forthisfeature;teachersareinclinedtoattachimportancetointerpersonalrelations(59%voted“much”and“alot”);theproportioninwhichteachersare involvedindecision‐making isrelatively low(35%optedfor “much”and“alot”);teacherstendtobeperformance‐oriented(asprovenbythe67oftheoptions for “much” and “a lot”); the focus on innovation occupies an importantplaceintheteachers’attention(65percentchose“much”and“alot”). Therefore,theteachers’perceptionsontheirownbehavioursrevealsthattheyarelessreceptivetoadoptformalrulesofbehaviour,theyfavoursupportivebehaviour and friendly interpersonal relations, they are oriented towardsperformanceandinnovation,butnotinvolvedenoughindecisionmaking. It is interestingtonotethatteachers’perceptionsoninnovationtendto be positive in respect to managers and themselves. The option for theorganizational feature of innovation must be understood in terms of thesubjective perception of that category of respondents represented by theteachers’group.Ifforteachersinnovationgenerallyoverlapswiththeadoptionof innovative teachingmethods and techniques, then the 65 percent of theiranswers in favourof innovationcouldbe justified.But ifwetake intoaccounttheteachers’perceptiononthemanagers’preferenceforinnovationrepresentedbyapercentageof51,then,giventherelativelylowpercentagethatinnovationscoredamongthevaluescultivatedbytheorganization,wetendtoconsiderthisoptionasbelongingtodesirabilityratherthanreality. We have found out that managers and teachers have convergentbehavioursexceptfortwoaspects:formalismanddecision‐making.Ifthemanagerhasexpectationsof formalbehaviour, teachersare less inclinedtomeet them.Themanagerhasthetendencytoallowrelativelylowinvolvementofteachers indecision‐making,whichopposesthe teachers’needtoparticipatemore.Thesetwoaspectsmayinfluencetheteachers’perceptiononthequalityoforganizationalclimate. We shall further look into the teachers’ and students’ behaviours asperceivedbythelatter.It’sworthmentioningthatteacher‐studentrelationshipshouldbeviewedsimilarlytothemanager‐teachersrelationshipasarapportofauthority, forwhich reason the students’perceptionson teachers’ behavioursmaydiffer fromthoseof the teachers.However, thestudents’opinionson theteachers’behaviourscanbemoreobjectivethanthoseoftheteachers,whomaybetemptedtobemoresubjectivewhentheyhavetocharacterizethemselves.Thestudentsmayhaveasimilarbehaviourbeingtemptedtofallintosubjectivismwhenaskedtoanswerquestionsthatrequirethemtodescribetheirbehaviours. Thus,thestatisticaldataservedasthebasisforcalculatingthepercentageof each cultural dimension so that we could discover the main features of theteachers’behavioursasreflectedintheirstudents’opinions.Theresultsareshowninthegraphbelow.

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Teachers’behavioursinrelationwiththeculturaldimensionsoftheorganization(studentsasrespondents)

Theseresultsallowustodrawthefollowingconclusionsontheteachers’behaviours as perceived by the students: there is a slight tendency towardsformalism(57%),forwhichreasonsupportivenessisrepresentedbyonly49%;interpersonalrelations tendtobepositive(59%);decision‐making tendsto fallheavily into the remit of the decision makers (76%), students are modestlyinvolvedindecision‐making(24%);teachersareverymuchorientedonachievingperformance(77%);thereisarelativeorientationtowardsinnovationasindicatedbythe48percent. Therefore,itiseasilynoticeablethatintheirinteractionwiththestudentsteachersadoptthesamebehaviourthemanagerdisplaysinrelationtoteachers.Thisconclusionappearstobepertinentasthepercentagesoneachofthesixculturaldimensionsareverysimilar, almost identical to those indicating themanager’s prevalent behavioural traits in relation to the teachers. Thus,teachers tend tobecharacterizedby the following features: they impose theobservance of formal organizational rules, they are relatively focused onsupportiveness,theytendtofosterfriendlyinterpersonalrelationsandtheyareperformance‐oriented,theygivelittleopportunitytotheirstudentstotakepartin decision‐making and are relatively oriented toward innovation while stillbeingslightlyconservative. Weshallfurtheranalyzethestudents’behavioursonthesameculturaldimensions so as to determine towhat extent these are congruentwith theteachers’.

0% 50% 100%

Formalism

Support

Relations

Decision

Performance

Innovation

much-a lot

moderately

not at all-a little

57 27 16

49 31 20

59 27 14

24 38 38

77 18

31 21

5

48


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Students’behavioursinrelationwiththeculturaldimensionsoftheorganization(studentsasrespondents)

Wecalculatedthepercentageofeachculturaldimensionrelyingonthestatisticaldatacollected,soastodeterminethestudents’mainbehaviouraltraitsastheyemergefromtheirownperceptionsandto facilitatethe interpretationofdata.Theresultsareshowninthegraphabove. Ourresultsleadtothefollowingconclusionsaboutstudents’behaviouras reflected in their own perceptions: they are inclined to comply with theformal requirements imposed by the formal dimension of the organization(57%); supportiveness occupies a positive 55 percent; interpersonal relationstend toberelativelypositive (47%);decision‐making tends to fallheavily intotheremitofthedecision‐makers(85%),studentsaremodestlyinvolvedindecision‐making(15%)andmoderatelyperformance‐oriented(31%),butstronglyorientedtowardsinnovationasindicatedbythe79percent. Therefore, students’ perception of their own behaviours reveals thattheyareveryreceptivetoadoptingformalrulesandstandardsofbehaviour,whilethey consider that it is rather important to foster supportive behaviours andbalancedinterpersonalrelations;theyarenotasorientedtowardsperformanceas expected, but considerably in favour of innovation, despite the very lowinvolvementindecision‐making. It’sworthnotingthatbothteachersandstudentstendtohaveconvergentbehaviours, except for two areas: decision‐making and performance.When itcomestoinnovationthetwogroupshaveanaverageconvergence.However,weshould not overlook the prevalent subjective perceptions of each category of

0% 50% 100%

Formalism

Support

Relations

Decision

Performance

Innovation

much-a lot

moderately

not at all-a little

57 26 17

55 29 16

47 32 21

15 27

31 29 40

79 15 6

58

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respondents,whichiswhytheproportioninwhichteachersandstudentshaveoptedforinnovationasafeatureofthesocio‐professionalgrouptheybelongtoisratherrelatedtotheperceptionofwhatinnovationmeansforeachgroup:forteachersinnovationconsistsinadoptingmodernteachingmethodsandtechniques,whileforstudentsinnovationisequivalenttotheiropennesstonovelties,informationandnewtechnologies.Thestudents’limitedinvolvementindecision‐makingcanbeattributedtotheparticularnatureofteachingasthemainactivitycarriedoutbyteachersintheinstitution,whichdoesnotrequireahighdegreeofinvolvementoflearnersindecision‐making,aprocessmostoftenrelatedtohowtheeducationalprocessandassessmentsareconducted,whereteachersdonotusuallyacceptintrusions.Althougheducationismeanttobelearner‐centred,whenthestudentshould have a say, the Romanian education in general and education for themilitary,inparticular,arestillfarfromthisphase.Undoubtedly,studentswouldliketohavefreedomofchoice,whichiscurrentlyrelativelylimited,ifnotdownrightnonexistent. Asfortheperformancedimension,studentsseemtobenotsointerestedinachievinghighresults,but‐asitisclearfromtheiranswers‐inobtainingmaximumoutcomeswith aminimum effort. Thus,we can infer that students aremoreorientedtowardsafakeperformance,namelygettingtopgrades,withoutinvestingtoomucheffort.Fromthispointofview,studentsmayconflictwiththeorganization’sexpectationsastotheirperformance,which‐aswehaveseen‐arehigh.Innovationisaculturaldimensionhighlyopted forby thestudents,whoseexpectationsare not entirelymet by their teachers,who – though relatively in favour ofinnovation–displaya tendency topreserveareminiscenceofconservatism,mostlikelyduetothepeculiarcharacteristicsofthissocio‐professionalgroup,whichiswell‐knownforitsratherslowaccommodationtonovelty. The final conclusions resulting from the analysis of the behaviouraltraits characteristic for the members of the organization in charge with theinitialtrainingofprospectiveofficerscanbesummedupasfollows:eachsocio‐professionalgroupundersurveyadopttheorganizationalvaluesintheirbehavioursin different ways, for which reason the degree of congruence between theirbehavioursalsovaries.Thepreviousanalysisrevealedthedifferencesbetweenteachersandmanagersandstudentsandteachersinrespecttotheiroptionforeachculturaldimensionoftheorganizationtheybelongto. Therefore,wecanconcludethatthefollowingresearchhypothesishasbeendemonstrated:Iftheorganizationalvaluesareadoptedindifferentwaysinthe behaviours of the organization’smembers, then the degree of congruencebetweentheirbehaviourswillvary.


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Wecananticipatethatthesedifferencesinbehaviourswillbringalongdifferences in theperceptionsof the twosocio‐professionalgroups– teachersandstudents‐onthequalityoftheorganizationalclimate. Anotherstepofthedataanalysisandinterpretationconsistedincorrelatingand analyzing comparatively the previous conclusions so as to determine theimpact that thebehaviours adoptedby themembers of the organizationmayhaveontheorganizationalclimate. That is why the objective was to determine the extent to which theconvergencebetweenthebehavioursofthemembersoftheorganizationhasaninfluenceontheorganizationalclimate. Thus,foreachsocio‐professionalgroupwehaveanalysedcomparativelythepercentagesobtained, on theonehand, as a result of the analysisof thedegreeofcongruencebetweenthebehavioursofthemembersoftheorganizationand,ontheotherhand,fromtheanalysisofthepredominanttypeofclimate. The teachers’ perception on the manager’s and their own group’sbehavioursisshowncomparativelyinthetablebelow.

Table1.Teachers’perceptiononbehaviour

Manager’sbehaviour Teachers’behaviour

Formalism/taskorientation(56%)

Supportiveness/Peopleorientation(53%)

Interpersonalrelations(59%)

Decisionmaking(41%)

Performanceorientation(75%)

Innovationorientation(51%)




Decisionmaking(35%)



Inorder to simplify theanalysiswehave taken intoaccount themostrelevant percentages, that is those in which teachers and students opted foreach cultural dimension of the organization choosing as answers “much” and“verymuch”.Theproportionoftheseanswersshowthetendencyoftheculturaldimension, which is high if the answers “much” and “verymuch” have beenoptedforinlargerpercentagesor,contrariwise,itislowiftheseanswershaveaminimumpercentage.

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Thegraphbelowshowscomparativelythemanager’sandtheteachers’behaviours as reflected on the six cultural dimensions of the organizations.Theresultsincludedinthisgraphallowustodrawthefollowingconclusions:thedegreeofcongruencebetweenthemanager’sandtheteachers’behavioursishighasboth themanagerand the teachershaveopted for the culturaldimensionsofsupportiveness, interpersonalrelations,performanceand innovation inpercentagesthatexceedthemeanvalues.Moreover,thesepercentageshaveatendencytooverlap,whichmeansthatbothprofessionalgroupsareequallypeople‐oriented,inclined towards balanced interpersonal relations, focused on achievement,butalsoopentonovelty. Thetwoculturaldimensionsonwhichmanagersandteachershaveanaverage to lowcongruence aredecision‐making and formalism.As seen in thegraph,thedecisionhasscoredpercentagesbelowthemeanvalues,whichsuggeststhat themanager allows a relatively low involvementof teachers indecision‐making.Astoformalism,thetwoprofessionalgroupshavedistinctapproaches:themanagershaveatendencytofosterandimposetheformalrulesandstandardsofbehaviour(57%),whereasteachersarenotsowillingtoembracethem(27%).

Graphicalrepresentationofthemanager’sandteachers’behaviours

Ontheotherhand,wecanrecallthat69%oftheteachersperceivetheorganizationtheybelongtoashavinganopenclimate,whileonly31%ofthemconsiderthattheclimateisclosed.

0

20

40

60

80

Formalism Relations Performance

5653

59

41

75

51

27

61 59

35

67 65

ManagerTeachers


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Teachers’perceptiononclimate

Corroborating the previous conclusions, we can ascertain that thedegree of congruence between themanager’s and the teachers’ behaviours ishigh and the climate is perceived by the teachers as being predominantlypositive(69%). We shall continue the analysis taking into consideration the students’perceptionsontheteachers’andtheirowngroup’sbehaviours.

Table2.Students’perceptiononbehaviour

Teachers’behaviour Students’behaviour




Decisionmaking(24%)






Decisionmaking(15%)



69%

31%Open climate

Closed climate

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Graphicalrepresentationoftheteachers’andstudents’behaviours

Thegraphabovereveals the followingconclusionsabout thedegreeofcongruencebetweentheteachers’andthestudents’behaviours:a) thegeneraltendencyistowardsanaveragetohighconvergence,ifwetakeintoconsiderationthatbothprofessionalgroups–teachersandstudents–haveoptedforthefourculturaldimensionsoftheorganizationinpercentagescloseandabovethemeanvalue.Wehavediscoveredthatonthreeofthefourculturaldimensions,namelyformalism,supportiveness,andinterpersonalrelations,bothteachersandstudentshave rather close percentages, whichmeans that they are equally centred oncomplyingwithformalrulesandstandards,focusedonthehumanresourceandonmaintainingpositiverelationswithintheirorganization;b)asconcerns innovation,thetwoprofessionalgroupsshowanaveragecongruence:teachershavescoredamedium48percent,whilethestudentsamaximum79percent.Thesevariationsinpercentagesacrossthetwogroupsofrespondentsrevealtheyounggeneration’skeeninterestforinnovationandtheteachers’slightinclinationforconservatism,whoare,nevertheless,opentochangeandnovelty;c)yet,intworespectsteachersandstudentsareleastcongruent:whenitcomestodecision‐makingandperformance.Thelimitedinvolvementofstudentsindecision‐makingbothbytheteachersandinrespecttoorganizationmaybeviewedasacharacteristicoftheorganizationwhich emphasizes formalism (we have seen that teachers are also allowedlimited participation in decision‐making within organization). Speaking ofperformance,theteachers’highexpectationsarejustifiable,butthestudentsarepronetobemuchmoreself‐indulgent,whichexplainswhytheyfeeltheteacherspressurethemforachievements.

0

20

40

60

80

Formalism Relations Performance

5749

59

24

77

4857 55

47

15

31

79

TeachersStudents


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Moreover,thestudents’perceptionsontheorganizationalclimaterevealthat57percentconsidertheirorganizationischaracterizedbyanopenclimate,andonly43percentofthemthinkitisaclosedclimate.

Students’perceptiononclimate

Therefore, the conclusions on the degree of congruence between theteachers’andstudents’behavioursandtheirperceptionsonclimateallowedustoascertainthatthecongruencebetweentheteachers’andstudents’behavioursismedium‐highandtheclimate isperceivedaspositivebybothgroups(57%ofthestudentsand69%oftheteachers). The percentages in which teachers and students opted for the closedclimate (31% of the teachers, and 43% of the students) can be correlated tothose cultural dimensionswhere the teachers are incongruentwith the manager(formalism anddecision‐making),and thestudentsarenotcongruentwith theteachers(performanceanddecision‐making).

Inthelightoftheseconclusions,weconsiderthatthefollowingresearchhypothesis has been demonstrated: If the behaviours of themembers of theorganizationareconvergent,thentheclimateismoreopen. CONCLUSIONS The study aimed at determining the impact the behaviour of theorganization’smembershadonschoolclimate.Atthecoreoftheresearchstudywas the organization in chargewith the initial training of prospective policeofficersand,testingtheresearchhypotheses,wefoundthat:

57%

43% Open climate

Closed climate

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a)Iftheorganization’svaluesarefound invaryingdegrees in itsmembers’conduct,thanthedegreeofcongruencebetweentheirbehaviourswilldiffer;

b) If the behaviours of the organization’smembers converge, than theclimatetendstobemoreopen.

The behaviours of the organization’s members (managers, teachers,students)tendtobethecongruentonmostculturaldimensions.Wehavefoundthat the manager’s and teachers’ behaviours are congruent on the culturaldimensionsofsupportiveness,interpersonalrelations,performanceandinnovationandlesscongruentinrespecttoformalismanddecision‐making.Teachers’andstudents’behavioursareconvergentintermsofformalismsupportiveness,andinterpersonal relations, butmoderately and slightly congruent in respect toinnovation,decision‐makingandperformance.Anotherfindingoftheresearchrevealed the teachers’ predisposition to adopt in their interactions with thestudentsthesamekindofbehaviourthemanageradoptsinrelationtothem.Inotherwords,whenbeinginpositionofauthority,bothmanagersandteachersplacea greatemphasison the formaldimensionof theorganization,oncompliancewith the formal rules and standards of conduct imposed in the organization.Therefore, in relation to the students, teachers have expectations which aresimilarwiththosethemanagerhasinrelationtothem.Ontheotherhand,wefoundthat,inthepositionofsubordinationinrelationtothemanager,teachershavethepropensitytoadoptformalismintheirconductinaratheraveragetolow proportion. Thus, the few differences identified in the behaviours of theorganization’s members are consistent with the particularities of the socio‐professionalgrouptheybelongto. In conclusion, the research study revealed that both the sharedorganizationalvaluesandtheconductsadoptedbythemembersofeachsocio‐professionalgroup in their interactionswithin theorganization impacton thequalityoftheorganizationalclimate.

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