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Objective The aim of this study was to explore the preferred acculturation strategies adopted by Indian subcontinental adolescents living in Australia. The study also examined the demographic, ethnocultural, and psychological factors that could influence subcontinental migrant groups' attitudes towards acculturation and their acculturation strategies. Method A cross-sectional design was used in which the dependent variables were the four acculturation strategies. Multivariate data analysis was conducted. Pearson's correlation, analysis of variance, and step-wise multiple regression analyses were performed to establish the relationships among the study variables. Results Integration was the most preferred strategy and marginalisation was the least preferred strategy for all ethnic groups. Acculturation preferences are predicted partly by the adolescents' ethnicity, their ethnic identity, friendship choices, acculturative stress, sense of mastery (self-concept) and gender. The findings provide significant information on the acculturation practices of Indian subcontinental adolescents, including their ethnic identity search and commitment, their psychological well-being and their integration strategies. Conclusions Educational institutions could benefit from increased awareness of the needs of these culturally diverse groups, especially if this information is incorporated into teacher training materials. The inclusion of intercultural relations courses in the academic curriculum would promote harmonious relations between culturally diverse ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Type- D personality is a construct that describes a tendency to simultaneously experience negative emotions and inhibit self-expression for fear of negative social judgement. The link between type- D and poor health outcomes may be partly mediated by two prominent psychosocial mechanisms, poor-quality health-related behaviour and poor perceived-social support. Method The present study replicated and extended a 2008 UK and Irish prevalence study, utilising a sample from the Australian general population. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between type- D personality and subjective levels of social support, health-related behaviours and neuroticism, as well as examining the estimated prevalence rate of type- D in the general Australian population. Nine hundred and fifty five Australian participants over the age of 18 (194 male and 761 female) completed four measures assessing levels of type- D personality, quality of health-related behaviours, perceived-social support and neuroticism. Results As hypothesised, the estimated prevalence rate was not found to be significantly different from the rate obtained by Williams et al. (2008). In addition, type- D individuals reported significantly lower perceived-social support and poorer-quality health behaviours than non-type- D individuals. Conclusions The results of this study provide further support for the association of type- D personality with poor health-related behaviours and poor perceived-social support, as well as demonstrating the applicability of the type- D construct to the Australian general population for the first time. General healthcare applications are discussed, as well as the potential for type- D personality research to influence public illness prevention in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weiner's attribution theory was used to examine the attributions made by recruiters during a selection interview and their subsequent hiring decisions. A quasi-experimental design was used in which level of ability (high, low) and effort (high, low) was manipulated. The impact of the manipulations on three outcomes was examined: (1) expectations of future job performance, (2) perceived level of responsibility for the failure, and (3) hiring recommendations. Seventy experienced recruiters from an Australian organisation read four transcripts of interview segments about a job applicant's response to missing a deadline. Findings were consistent with attribution theory; recruiters detected differences in the causes of past work outcomes offered by applicants, which in turn affected their expectations about future work performance, responsibility for failure, and recommendations to hire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to compare rates of depressive and anxious symptoms among older adults with and without diabetes. The study also examines differences in depression, anxiety, and diabetes-related emotional distress between middle-aged and older adults with diabetes. A total of 224 participants completed a range of questionnaires measuring depression, anxiety, and diabetes-related emotional distress (if applicable). One hundred and three adults with diabetes (55 middle-aged, mean age = 47 years, range 40-59 years and 48 older, mean age = 69 years, range 60-81 years) were recruited from a tertiary diabetes clinic. One hundred and twenty-one adults without diabetes (72 middle-aged, mean age = 52 years, range 40-59 years and 49 older, mean age = 65 years, range 60-76 years) were recruited from either a university student pool or a registry of adults aged 50 and above. Older adults with diabetes had significantly higher levels of depression and comparable levels of anxiety with older adults without diabetes. Older adults with diabetes had significantly lower levels of depression, anxiety, and diabetes-related distress than middle-aged adults with diabetes. Diabetes is associated with high rates of depression and anxiety, with middle-aged adults more adversely affected than older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine occurrence of romantic relationships and relationship break-ups among young adults in Hong Kong and Australia and to explore associations between relationship style, identity status, negative affect, cultural group, and relationship experiences. Data were collected from Chinese tertiary students in Hong Kong ( n = 279) and Anglo-Australian tertiary students in Melbourne, Australia ( n = 204). Participants completed a questionnaire including demographics, romantic relationship items, the Love Schemas Scale measuring romantic relationship style, the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Secure relationship style and more mature identity statuses were associated with having had a romantic relationship. Among those young people with romantic relationship experience, break-ups were less common for those with a foreclosed identity status, skittish (avoidant) relationship style, and Hong Kong Chinese background. Negative mood was higher among those for whom a break-up had been recent. Hurt experienced following a break-up was greater when the break-up was partner initiated and among those with less secure relationship styles and identity statuses. Overall, individual factors were stronger predictors of relationship status than cultural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]