The theory of adult romantic attachment, originating from Bowlby’s attachment theory, suggests that romantic partners create attachment bonds similar to that of the child-parent. Attachment styles...Show moreThe theory of adult romantic attachment, originating from Bowlby’s attachment theory, suggests that romantic partners create attachment bonds similar to that of the child-parent. Attachment styles can be primarily distinguished depending on the levels of anxiety and avoidance a partner exhibits in a bond. This study investigated the roles of gender and age in differences in adult romantic attachment. Male and female participants with an age range of 18 to 70 years from 171 countries completed the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale Questionnaire, a two-dimensional self-report instrument. Firstly, the results showed that females scored higher than males on anxiety and avoidance scales. Further findings demonstrated that gender and age contribute significantly to the prediction of anxiety and avoidance scores. Lastly, gender differences in avoidance scores, but not anxiety scores, were significantly moderated by age, whereby the differences between males and females in avoidance decreased as participants’ age increased (from age 18 to 70). Taken together, this study’s results provide evidence for statistically significant gender differences within adult romantic attachment and suggest attachment variability across different ages.Show less
Dit verkennende, inductieve onderzoek heeft als doel om leeftijd als onafhankelijke variabele en als sociaal demografische antecedent van PSM te onderzoeken. In bestaande literatuur wordt over de...Show moreDit verkennende, inductieve onderzoek heeft als doel om leeftijd als onafhankelijke variabele en als sociaal demografische antecedent van PSM te onderzoeken. In bestaande literatuur wordt over de relatie tussen leeftijd en PSM er enerzijds gezegd dat leeftijd wel invloed heeft op PSM terwijl onderzoek van Moynihan en Pandey een contrasterend resultaat laat zien (Moynihan & Pandey, 2007; Perry, 1990). Om te achterhalen wat het mechanisme achter deze relatie voorstelt, is ervoor gekozen om bestaande literatuur verdieping te geven in een kleinschalig onderzoek, waarbij de doelgroep is afgebakend naar backoffice ambtenaren van drie ministeries. De onderzoeksvraag luidt: hoe beïnvloedt leeftijd de mate van PSM van ambtenaren die in de backoffice werkzaam zijn van het Rijk? Om antwoord te geven op deze vraag zijn in totaal tien Rijksambtenaren geïnterviewd. De waargenomen resultaten tonen geen opmerkelijke patronen waaruit kan worden afgeleid dat leeftijd als onafhankelijke variabele een positief of negatief effect heeft op de mate van PSM.Show less
Levels of anxious and avoidant attachment are influenced by age, sex and ecological stress. However, incongruencies on how these factors exactly affect anxious and avoidant attachment styles remain...Show moreLevels of anxious and avoidant attachment are influenced by age, sex and ecological stress. However, incongruencies on how these factors exactly affect anxious and avoidant attachment styles remain. The current study aims to strengthen current theories with a large and diverse sample, as well as to close the gaps in research. It therefore researches the effect of age, sex and ecological stress on anxious and avoidant attachment using a web-based version of the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) questionnaire (N = 44,885; 30,766 females, 14,119 males, age range: 13-59). Ecological stress was evaluated using the United Nations’ Human Development Index (HDI). Results showed highest levels of anxious attachment in early adolescence, and lower levels in older age groups. Levels of avoidant attachment did not differ between all age groups, but were highest among 16-19 year olds and lowest among 50-59 year olds. Females showed higher levels of both anxious and avoidant attachment. Sex differences in anxious attachment were largest in adulthood, while sex differences in avoidant attachment were largest around early adolescence, smallest in middle adulthood, and increased again in older adulthood. Levels of anxious and avoidant attachment were highest in countries with a medium HDI, and lowest in countries with a low HDI. There was no significant effect for the two-way interaction between sex and HDI for both anxious and avoidant attachment. Suggestions for future research are discussed.Show less
Abstract Background At this moment, there are more refugees than ever before. Refugees have more chance of developing psychopathology, which can be explained from the (biosocial) ecological models....Show moreAbstract Background At this moment, there are more refugees than ever before. Refugees have more chance of developing psychopathology, which can be explained from the (biosocial) ecological models. Individual and environmental traits influence the development, course and treatment of psychopathology. An unstable environment might cause more stress and mental health issues. The aim of this meta-analysis is to research how effective psychotherapy is for treating PTSD in refugees, and if age as individual factor and language/ cultural adaptation as environmental factor influence the treatment efficacy. Methodology A systematic review with different meta-analyses. Results Systematic researches provided 132 effect sizes within 80 suitable studies. The overall effect size of treating PTSD was significant (Cohen’s d = -0.941, p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between the mean effect sizes of treating PTSD between children, adolescents and adults. There was no difference in treatment efficacy as a function of the level of language or cultural adaptation found. Discussion and conclusion These results show that psychotherapy significantly lowers PTSD symptoms in refugees. However, our results do not find evidence for the proposed (biosocial) ecological models since age and adaptation are not associated with treatment efficacy. Moreover, there is a large difference in treatment efficacy between refugees and non-refugees, this might be caused by the different structural designs between the studies included in this meta-analysis. Future research should consider these different structural designs and should research more environmental factors that can increase treatment efficacy.Show less
The concept of the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) was proposed in 1905 and its key features are hard work, asceticism, and success. The main unanswered question in the context of PWE is its relation...Show moreThe concept of the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) was proposed in 1905 and its key features are hard work, asceticism, and success. The main unanswered question in the context of PWE is its relation to demographic variables. Relationships between PWE and demographic variables are still not clear. The current study aims to answer the research question: “How do demographic variables influence the Protestant Work Ethic?” To address this question, the thesis proposes a single-factor model of PWE, which is assessed on five demographic variables: formal education, age, family size, marital status, and religion. Groups were created for each of the five variables in order to assess their relationship with PWE. For the statistical analysis, multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) was used and measurement invariance was evaluated in order to account for the differences between the groups. Based on the academic literature five hypotheses were created on the basis of model fit, factor loadings, and predicted factor scores. Only two of the hypotheses were partially supported (religion and family size) due to consistently higher factor loadings. Patterns were observed across most of the groups. Lower-educated participants exhibit distaste for leisure time, while more educated participants tend to be more hard-working. Religious people tend to endorse PWE less. Participants with more siblings endorse PWE more. Young participants tend to be more success-oriented, compared to single participants and middle-aged participants who are more hardworking. Future research should be focused on the area of demographics, the differences between religions in the context of a multidimensional factor model of PWE, and testing measurement invariance.Show less
Human beings learn about themselves through social information, meaning that their self-esteem is dependent on self-referencing feedback provided by their social environment. While self-esteem has...Show moreHuman beings learn about themselves through social information, meaning that their self-esteem is dependent on self-referencing feedback provided by their social environment. While self-esteem has been comprehensively studied, the concept of self-esteem contingency (i.e., how strongly individuals update their self-esteem in response to social ego-referencing feedback) has yet to be investigated systematically. More specifically, while we have a limited understanding of this construct in adults, its expression in adolescents remains a mystery. However, developmental studies indicate that self-esteem dynamics in adults and adolescents vary, emphasising the importance of investigating this construct in all age groups. Therefore, this study examined whether adults and adolescents show differences in self-esteem contingency by investigating whether self-esteem, age, and sex influence this construct. One hundred and six adults and 64 adolescents were tasked with performing a speech in front of three alleged judges. Participants subsequently evaluated themselves and received pre-generated positive or negative feedback about their performance. Computational modelling was used to assess trial-to-trial changes in self-esteem contingency. Results revealed that adults processed positive and negative feedback very distinctly, while only a small inclination towards such two-dimensional strategies was observed in adolescents. Moreover, the data illustrated a positivity bias in adults with high self-esteem, whereas a negativity bias was found in adolescents with lower self-esteem. Furthermore, adolescents and adults did not differ in self-esteem contingency and proved more contingent on positive than negative feedback. Lastly, we found no impact of the participants’ sex on their self-esteem contingency in either age group. Overall, these findings indicate that adults have developed a self-protective strategy that allows them to incorporate positive information more strongly into their self-view, whereas this skill seems less sophisticated in adolescents.Show less
Conflict resolution is an inherent aspect of human interactions, representing an essential skill for achieving desirable outcomes. Moreover, recognizing individual differences during conflict may...Show moreConflict resolution is an inherent aspect of human interactions, representing an essential skill for achieving desirable outcomes. Moreover, recognizing individual differences during conflict may help understand the origins of different opinions and develop targeted strategies to solve disagreements. This study investigates whether gender and age differences influence attack investment during a conflict task in which both sides compete for different reasons. Based on research showing that women display less preference for competition, I predicted that women invest less in attack than men. Similarly, considering studies on the risk-averse behavior of older generations, I expected older individuals to invest fewer resources in attack than younger people. Three hundred one participants performed an online computer-based decision-making game following the outline of the attacker-defender contest. Participants were randomly assigned to the attacker or defender role. Depending on the role, the tasks involved deciding how to use monetary units (MU) to attack the opponent or protect one’s endowment. Attack investment was defined as the amount of MU assigned to overpower the opponent by obtaining their resources. The results contradicted the predictions, as age and gender were not significant predictors of attack investment. Therefore, this study challenges potential stereotypes claiming aggressive behavior to be more prevalent for a particular age group or gender. I discuss factors such as revising the research design and considering other individual differences that may impact the results’ significance. Altogether, recognizing and leveraging people’s unique characteristics may benefit interactions by encouraging the work toward achieving beneficial results for all parties involved.Show less
Patients with a personality disorder may experience stigmatization, sometimes even on a daily basis. However, research suggests that not everyone with a personality disorder experiences it in the...Show morePatients with a personality disorder may experience stigmatization, sometimes even on a daily basis. However, research suggests that not everyone with a personality disorder experiences it in the same way, and that the extent to which it is internalized is also different for different persons, depending on a number of possible variables. The aim of the current study is to investigate the role of some of these variables, i.e. that of the type of personality disorder and age. It also examines whether the age at which patients have first been diagnosed might influence the extent to which they internalize stigmatization. In total, 36 participants from two specialized outpatient clinics filled out four questionnaires on stigma, in a cross-sectional comparative study design. The results show that neither the type of personality disorder nor age play a role, and that the age at which someone receives a diagnosis of personality disorder does not predict whether stigma will be internalized. Although the present study has its limitations, such as a modest representation of the target group and low statistical power, it is of value because it focuses on the patients’ perspective and paves the way for further research on this topic.Show less
Sleep disturbances and disorders have been linked with increased suicidality. Research is just beginning to explore using sleep interventions to reduce suicidality, but until now has not considered...Show moreSleep disturbances and disorders have been linked with increased suicidality. Research is just beginning to explore using sleep interventions to reduce suicidality, but until now has not considered how sleep and suicidality change across the lifespan, and how that may impact the effectiveness of interventions. This study is the first meta-analysis examining whether sleep interventions are effective for reducing suicidality, and whether age has an impact on outcomes. A search was conducted on February 8th, 2022, using PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science. Article selection and data extraction was performed using the Covidence Systematic Review software. Twenty-one articles were included in this study. Sleep interventions were categorized as cognitive behavioural therapies (CBTs), circadian rhythm therapies (CRTs) and pharmacological therapies (PTs). Age groups were defined as adolescents (15-18), young adult college students (18-24), and adults (18-64). Sleep interventions overall had a small, significant effect size in reducing suicidality. CBTs and CRTs significantly reduced suicidality with small and medium effect sizes, but PTs did not. When stratified by age group, results found that sleep interventions overall significantly reduced suicidality in adolescents and adults with medium effect sizes, but there was no significant reduction in young adults. The results of this study suggest that sleep interventions may reduce suicidality and serve as a versatile and transdiagnostic treatment approach that deserves more focus. It also provides preliminary evidence that age may be a possible moderator for treatment effectiveness, and that future studies should include age as a moderator.Show less
This cross-sectional study aimed to understand the role of age in the relationship of time spent on leisure activities (LA) and subjective well-being (SWB) with the data collected by the surveys of...Show moreThis cross-sectional study aimed to understand the role of age in the relationship of time spent on leisure activities (LA) and subjective well-being (SWB) with the data collected by the surveys of the LISS Panel in the late months of 2018 (N=5013). The mean age of the participants was 53 (SD = 18) with an even spread of male participants (46%) and female participants (54%). In this study a distinction was made between four types of leisure: digital, creative, sport and cultural. With the use of regression analyses and ANOVAs, this research analysed the relationship between time spent on LA and SWB (1), the relationship between age and time spent on LA (2) and the possible moderation effect of age on the relationship of time spent on LA and SWB (3). The analyses of the first research question showed a mostly positive relationship between time spent on different LA and SWB. Only digital leisure has a significant negative relationship, though the effect size was very small for all significant relationships found. Secondly (2), age related negatively to time spent on digital and cultural leisure, positively to creative leisure and did not relate significantly to sports-related leisure. Lastly (3), only the moderation analysis of age on the relationship between time spent on creative leisure and SWB came out significant (Beta = .05, t = 3.36, p = .001), even though the effect sizes were negligible. Overall, this results do not fully support the hypotheses. Either other factors and relationships play a larger role in predicting SWB or the limitations of this study make it not possible to produce clear results. The study gives the suggestion for future research to examine the relationship between age and the underlying mechanisms that make up the effect of leisure activity on SWB. If this study would be replicated, advice is given to use a longitudinal design and take into account the effects of the COVID19 pandemic on leisure.Show less
This research aims to investigate whether consumers’ general environmental knowledge, as well as their food waste awareness, has an impact on their food waste intentions. In addition, we...Show moreThis research aims to investigate whether consumers’ general environmental knowledge, as well as their food waste awareness, has an impact on their food waste intentions. In addition, we investigate if age moderated this relationship. The research design involves a questionnaire of 210 respondents sampled through Qualtrics. Our findings show that there is a significant positive relation between consumers’ environmental knowledge and their food waste intentions. This implies that the higher consumers’ environmental knowledge, the lower their food waste intentions. Age does not moderate the relationship between environmental knowledge and food waste intentions. This study offers a new pathway in investigating general environmental knowledge in combination with food waste awareness and it should be researched further. The implications of these findings will be discussed.Show less
Although participation in school is critical for supporting children's psychosocial development, this relationship is understudied in the autistic population. The present study investigated the...Show moreAlthough participation in school is critical for supporting children's psychosocial development, this relationship is understudied in the autistic population. The present study investigated the relationship between school participation and psychosocial functioning of Dutch autistic children aged 4-16 years. The potential moderating effect of the child's age, family socioeconomic status, and school physical environment on the relationship were also examined. Parents of a total of 200 autistic children participated in the study, who filled in information of their child on an online survey. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the link between school participation and psychosocial functioning and the moderating role of child’s age, family socioeconomic status, and school physical environment. The results showed that autistic children’s school participation was negatively associated with psychosocial problems. However, no moderating effect of child’s age, parental education, or school physical environment was found. This study was among the first to provide empirical evidence on the contributing role of school participation in psychosocial development of autistic pupils. Despite its limitations, it serves as a preliminary investigation into the relationship, and it provides methodological recommendations for future research to yield more accurate findings.Show less
Our visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM), a cognitive component responsible for wayfinding and arithmetical challenges, is negatively related to aging according to prior studies. At the same time,...Show moreOur visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM), a cognitive component responsible for wayfinding and arithmetical challenges, is negatively related to aging according to prior studies. At the same time, aging is related to a decrease in sleep quality. However, the triangular relation of these three variables is unknown. This current research aims to identify the direct relation between VSWM and age and sleep. Additionally, we tested if the relation between VSWM and age can indirectly be explained by sleep duration and sleep variability. Finally, the explorative part of the study looked at the effect that sleep duration the night before testing has on VSWM performance. Unique about this study is the use of tappigraphy as a measure for sleep. Tappigraphy is a naturalistic way of deriving data from people’s smartphone touches, allowing for the calculation of sleep duration and variability. The study included 151 participants, 99 for the explorative analysis, who installed an app on their smartphone (tappigraphy measure) and additionally had to complete a VSWM performance task (Corsiblock task). The analysis confirmed the negative relation between age and VSWM, but did not find a relation between sleep duration, variability and sleep the night before testing and VSWM. Additionally, no mediating effect of sleep on the relation between age and VSWM was found. In conclusion, while age and VSWM seemed related the sleep variables of current study did not show any relation to VSWM. This could be partially be explained by the limitations of this study. Future research should focus on constructs of sleep that do not deviate much from current literature. Plus, future research should aim to validate tappigraphy for an older population.Show less
The present study is a longitudinal study that examined whether depression in adolescence within a two-year gap could be predicted by adolescents’ stress responses to social stressors, while also...Show moreThe present study is a longitudinal study that examined whether depression in adolescence within a two-year gap could be predicted by adolescents’ stress responses to social stressors, while also investigating whether gender and age play a role in this prediction. At T1, participants were 205 adolescents between 12 and 17 years old (mean age=14.81 year, SD=1.31, 49.3% female). This study also replicated past studies that investigated gender differences in depression and stress responses including coping. The Response to Stress Questionnaire was used as an instrument to assess adolescents’ reaction and coping methods to social stressors, whereby the participants indicated the ways in which they react to social stressors on a four-point scale. Furthermore, the depressive symptoms of the participants were measured with the Children Depression Inventory at two time points two years apart, whereby the participants answer a 27-item self-report questionnaire. Based on the results of the statistical analyses, there were no significant gender differences in depression, nor were there significant age-related differences in depression between adolescent girls and boys. There were, however, significant gender differences in stress responses, namely Primary Control Engagement coping and Involuntary Engagement stress response. And finally, Primary Control Engagement coping, gender, and depression at T1 significantly predicted depression at T2, however the interaction effects of gender, age, and gender by age with the stress response did not significantly predict depression at T2. In conclusion, later depression can be predicted by stress responses, however gender and age do not moderate this prediction.Show less
Background. Children with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) are at a high risk for an intellectual impairment and experiencing psychiatric symptoms. Internalizing problems, such as anxiety and a...Show moreBackground. Children with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) are at a high risk for an intellectual impairment and experiencing psychiatric symptoms. Internalizing problems, such as anxiety and a depressed mood, are among the most prevalent reported psychiatric symptoms in patients with TSC. These problems often precede more severe psychopathology, especially when they remain unrecognized. Despite this, research on this subject is still remarkably scarce, especially in children. A factor that seems to be positively associated with internalizing problems is intellectual ability. A major research question that arises is whether more internalizing problems are related to higher intelligence levels in children with TSC, which was examined in the current study. As TSC1 is related to less (severe) intellectual impairments compared to TSC2, a differentiation was made between these mutation types. Additionally, we explored whether internalizing problems increased with age, as would be consistent with findings in the general population. Methods. To test these hypotheses, internalizing problem scores (a parental report on the child behavior checklist) and intellectual ability (using different age- and range-appropriate intelligence and developmental tests) in a non-selected sample of children with TSC (N = 95, Age (Mean (SD) = 10.46 (4.25), 46.3% female, 28.5% TSC1) were assessed. To examine the association between internalizing problems and intellectual ability, several hierarchical regression analyses were performed. Externalizing problems, age, sex and the number of prescribed anti-epileptic drugs were included as control variables. For the exploratory hypothesis, this study tracked symptom severity over two follow-up visits in a subset of our patient population, using several paired sample t-tests. To additionally check whether internalizing problems became more severe in (early) adolescence we selected 15 children (66.7% female) for the childhood/adolescence subgroup. Within these groups, sex- and mutation related differences were also considered. Results. A significant model was found (F = 10.53, p <.001) in which externalizing problems (B = .55, p <.001) and age (B = .28, p <.005) were positively associated with internalizing problems. However, intelligence levels were found to have no influence. Furthermore, internalizing problems tend to increase with age (p <.001). Between childhood and adolescence, this increase was predominantly observed in girls (p = .03). Boys did not seem to experience more internalizing problems during this transition period. Lastly, a trend was found in which only a mutation on the TSC2 gene was associated with more internalizing problems over time (p <.005). Conclusion. This study could not confirm an association between internalizing problems and intelligence. However, our results indicated that internalizing problems increased with age, especially in girls. Since these behaviors contribute to the burden of the disease, it is of great importance that all involved professionals are sensitive to internalizing problems. A regular and thorough evaluation of internalizing problems should therefore always be part of the psychiatric assessment.Show less
How humans attend to emotional stimuli has been extensively researched. Previous studies have found that there are individual differences in attentional preference towards emotional stimuli. For...Show moreHow humans attend to emotional stimuli has been extensively researched. Previous studies have found that there are individual differences in attentional preference towards emotional stimuli. For example, some individuals attend more towards positive information, whereas some towards negative stimuli. Individual’s anxiety level has often been linked to cause attentional preference towards threatening stimuli. Less is known about the other possible factors modulating attentional processing of emotional stimuli. Socioemotional Selectivity theory presents that with age adult start to prefer activities and information that is meaningful and positive and avoid things that are negative. The theory also implies that younger people are often more drawn to negative aspects in their life. Thus, this study aimed to investigate, whether this age-related preference towards emotional stimuli is also seen in attentional functions. Moreover, some preliminary studies have found there to be gender differences in how humans attend to emotional stimuli. Thus, the study aimed to bring more clarity to the possible gender-related attentional preference towards emotions. To test this the participants (N = 102, males = 29, women = 73) completed a dot-probe task. The dot-probe task allows to calculate how much attention individual showed on certain type of facial expressions. The study found that age was non-significant predictor of attentional processes toward angry and happy faces. Moreover, no gender differences were found on attentional bias towards happy faces, but small directional evidence for women allocating more attention to angry faces than men. These findings imply that age and gender are not strong predictors for attentional preferences towards emotions.Show less
Sensorimotor adaptation is needed to adjust motor behaviour to the needs of different situations. A distinction can be made between early and late adaptation. Early adaptation means a fast...Show moreSensorimotor adaptation is needed to adjust motor behaviour to the needs of different situations. A distinction can be made between early and late adaptation. Early adaptation means a fast improvement, where mainly cognitive processes are of importance. Fast adaptation is slower and more automatic. This master thesis study examined when the ability to adapt movements is developed in children and from which age declines start to occur in adults. While former studies looked into one side of the age range, this study took both the developmental and aging perspective into account. A sample of 463 participants between 8 and 73 years old took part in the experiment, conducted in the NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam. The participants completed a motor task in which they had to use a joystick to move a cursor towards a target that was presented on a computer screen. In the baseline phase they received normal visual feedback. In the adaptation phase a 45 degree rotation was introduced, causing a different response when moving the joystick. The participants had to adapt their movements to this rotation in order to still be able to hit the targets. After the adaptation phases, the feedback returned back to normal. Participants needed to de-adapt in order to hit the targets again. The typical adaptation pattern was replicated, meaning that participants performed well in the baseline phase, had difficulty hitting the targets in the adaptation phase but improved after practicing. In the de-adaptation phase the participants again had some difficulty and also improved after some practice. In all phases an effect of age was found, meaning that young children and older adults both had more difficulty to successfully adapt. Children are able to adapt from their early teenage years. Declines in adults occur around their fourth decade of life. De-adaptation develops a bit later in children compared to adaptation. In adults declines in de-adaptation occur from the third decade of life. This knowledge can be used during treatment of motor problems, where treatments can be longer or more frequent for certain groups because they have more difficulty with adaptation.Show less
Working in teams has become common in many organisations. In studies about the performance of teams, psychological safety has become an popular topic. Psychological safety describes an atmosphere...Show moreWorking in teams has become common in many organisations. In studies about the performance of teams, psychological safety has become an popular topic. Psychological safety describes an atmosphere were employees feel comfortable speaking up about their concerns and new ideas. As the performance of an organisation is often dependent on innovation and innovative behaviour, we propose that psychological safety can positively predict innovative behaviour. Additionally, diversity was studied, specifically the characteristics age, gender, and work experience, and their individual influences on innovative behaviour and psychological safety. Previous research has shown mixed results about the performance of diverse teams, therefore it is necessary to extent research in this field. Data was collected using an online survey with questions regarding innovative behaviour and perceived psychological safety by employees from a Dutch organisation (N = 375). First, we used a simple linear regression to map the relationship between innovative behaviour and psychological safety. Second, we performed a simple linear regression to find the individual influences of age, gender, and work experience on respectively innovative behaviour and psychological safety. Additional analyses were performed to extend insight into the relations and internal structures of these constructs. Results showed that psychological safety is a positive predictor of innovative behaviour and that work experience can predict innovative behaviour in certain circumstances. We conclude that psychological safety can predict innovative behaviour and that diverse characteristics are unlikely to influence both constructs separately. However, further research is necessary to explain the role of diversity in this relationship, as this study has not been able to measure diversity as a team characteristic. Further suggestions and limitations are discussed.Show less
The purpose of this research was to expand the debate on gender by incorporating the age debate and by focusing on how different bodies were represented in ancient theories on dietetics. I studied...Show moreThe purpose of this research was to expand the debate on gender by incorporating the age debate and by focusing on how different bodies were represented in ancient theories on dietetics. I studied the representation of healthy and sick menstruating women, pregnant women, elderly, infants and children in ancient medical texts. This research found that dietetics was applied differently based on the condition of the body. The advices given had similar qualities to the body when the body was healthy and seen as well balanced. In contrast, when a healthy body was assumed to be less well balanced the diets employed the theory of ‘opposites cure opposites’. When someone became ill the dietetic advices always focused on curing the patient using the theory of ‘opposites cure opposites’. Most importantly in all treatments countering the diseased state took precedence over rebalancing inherent bodily imbalances. In conclusion, the ideas on different body types found in ancient medical theories were reflected in the application of dietetics. This reflection was more pronounced in advices given to healthy people than in those given to the sick.Show less
This thesis explores the ways in which gendered language related to love and marriage can illuminate aspects concerning the themes of love and marriage in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Emma...Show moreThis thesis explores the ways in which gendered language related to love and marriage can illuminate aspects concerning the themes of love and marriage in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Emma. A literature review has been provided in order to support the investigations conducted in this thesis, and it summarises the areas of gendered language which have been selected for analysis. In the subsequent sections, a study of the data collected with the use of the application WordSmith focuses on the ways in which patterns of gendered language uttered by various characters highlight fundamental features of different ages and classes. Key elements of age and class differences were uncovered, with extremely varying perspectives on love and marriage by the older generations and those of the higher upper classes, as opposed to the younger generations and members of lower positions in society. A reading of the two novels together has allowed for a wide analysis of Austen’s themes across her works, and it has led to the discovery of interesting parallels between Pride and Prejudice and Emma.Show less
