The majority of professionally active women diagnosed with eating disorders may be at risk of work addiction: an overlooked comorbidity

Autorzy: Paweł A. Atroszko, Weronika M. Mytlewska, Bartosz Atroszko

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Streszczenie: Work addiction (WA) has been previously linked to several diseases and disorders, but there is scarce literature on its association with eating disorders (EDs). Both WA and EDs share similar etiological factors (notably rigid perfectionism) and clinical features. The aim of this study was to provide an initial overview of the literature on this potential comorbidity, and investigate the co-occurrence of EDs and WA, and their relationship with socio-demographic and work-related variables, health, and personality.

In a pen-and-pencil cross-sectional study, the Bergen Work Addiction Scale (BWAS), a question about a current or previous diagnosis of EDs and other mental disorders, personality questionnaires, and questions concerning demographic, health and work-related variables were administered to 723 Polish employees from various pro-fessions.

Six females (0.8%) and none of the males declared having been diagnosed with EDs, which is, to a large ex-tent, congruent with the expected prevalence in the general population. Five out of these six females (83%) reached the cut-off score for WA. Of all women who reached this cut-off, 5.5% reported EDs. All these women were in their twenties, not married, having no children, working in non-managerial positions, with body mass index (BMI) in the normal range or below. Preliminary comparisons with matched comparison groups were conducted.

These initial results suggest that WA may be highly prevalent among professionally active women diagnosed with EDs. Functioning of individuals with EDs in the workplace is a vastly understudied issue which merits more attention owing to high suicide risk and mortality due to health complications, particularly cardiovascular dis-ease (CVD), related to EDs and overworking, a significant prevalence of subclinical EDs in female populations (especially among youth), and a typically worse prognosis for EDs comorbid with other disorders. Both prob-lematic behaviors are related to denial, which suggests that these may be much more prevalent problems than current estimates indicate.

Słowa kluczowe: eating disorders; obsessive-compulsive personality disorder; study addiction; work addiction; workaholism

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Factorial validity, measurement invariance and concurrent validity of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in a sample of Polish undergraduate students

Autorzy: Stanisław K. Czerwiński, Julia J. Mackiewicz, Weronika M. Mytlewska, Paweł A. Atroszko

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Streszczenie: With increasing levels of psychopathology observed in students in recent years, there is a clear need for short and valid tools for evaluating their psychological health. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) is one of the most commonly used instruments measuring these constructs. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Polish version of HADS in a sample of undergraduate students.

A total of 1,032 students took part in the study. The students’ were from various universities, years of study, and study courses. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the model fit of the original 2-factor structure. A series of hierarchically nested models were tested to assess measurement invariance between genders. Pearson correlation coefficients of HADS scores with criterion variables were calculated. The prevalence of depression was estimated on the basis of an empirical cut-off score.

Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good model fit of the Polish version of HADS, and strict measurement invariance between genders. Both anxiety and depression were related to higher levels of stress and lower sleep quality, social support and general quality of life. The prevalence of depression was estimated to be 7.6% or 21.2%, depending on the cut-off score used.

The study corroborates good psychometric properties of the original 2-factor structure of the Polish version of HADS in a student sample, including measurement invariance between genders. It is thus concluded that HADS is a valid tool for the short measurement of anxiety and depression among students.

Słowa kluczowe: anxiety, depression, measurement invariance, scale, validity

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Scores of short and free scale for Big Five explain perceived stress at different stages of life: validity, reliability and measurement invariance of the Polish adaptation of Mini-IPIP

Autorzy: Stanisław K. Czerwiński, Paweł A. Atroszko

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Streszczenie: Big-Five personality traits are related to a variety of quality of life outcomes; therefore, they should arguably be controlled for whenever health and well-being are investigated. Valid and reliable short measures of these constructs may enable large scale epidemiological studies. Stress is a well-recognized risk factor for a host of health-related outcomes and its relationship with Big-Five personality is well-evidenced. The aim of this re-search was to investigate psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Mini-IPIP scale measuring Big Five personality factors. This included measurement invariance between genders and between two samples representing different stages of life – an employee sample and an adolescent sample – and investigating the relationships of Big Five personality traits with perceived stress.

Sample 1 comprised 723 employees from a wide range of professions and sample 2 comprised 765 high school students. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) was used in each sample.

The Mini-IPIP had an acceptable fit and reliability in both samples and showed measurement invariance be-tween samples and between genders within the samples. Big Five personality traits explained the variance in perceived stress similarly in both samples, and analogously to previous studies.

The present study shows that the Polish version is a valid and reliable psychometric tool and provides evidence that the relationship between personality and stress is relatively stable at different life stages, and can be effec-tively investigated with short measures.

Słowa kluczowe: Big Five; measurement invariance; psychometrics; quality of life; stress

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The relationship between study addiction and examination stress among students of music academies

Autorzy: Paweł A. Atroszko, Wiktor K. Wróbel, Piotr Bereznowski, Rafał Lawendowski

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Streszczenie: Previous studies have shown that study addiction is related to worse academic performance among music academy students as well as in the general population of students, suggesting that excessive examination stress may impair their performance on exams. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the newly developed concept of “study addiction” and examination stress among students of music academies. Study addiction has been defined within the framework of theory and research on work addiction as a potential behavioral addiction. A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted, with a sample of 132 students of music academies in Poland. The Bergen Study Addiction Scale, assessing seven core addiction symptoms related to studying, was administered together with a commonly used measure of personality and single-item measures of examination stress and learning engagement. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis showed that study addiction was related to higher examination stress above and beyond personality traits. What is more, while study addiction showed a positive relationship with examination stress, learning engagement showed a negative association with examination stress. The results suggest that, among music academies students, study addiction is related to higher stress during exams and that study addiction and learning engagement are different constructs. Taking into account the relationship of study addiction with higher stress in situations of being evaluated, future studies are warranted that would link study addiction to music performance anxiety, which is one of the most widely studied phenomena in the psychology of music.

Słowa kluczowe: musicians, examination stress, learning engagement, personality, study addiction, workaholism, work addiction

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Validity and reliability of the Polish version of the Short Hopelessness Scale

Autorzy: Paulina A. Koryczan, Piotr P. Piotrowski, Wojciech M. Roj, Stanisław K. Czerwiński, Paweł A. Atroszko

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Background
The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Short Hopeless-ness Scale in an undergraduate student sample. The scale was originally developed as a brief measure of hopelessness for large scale epidemiological surveys and is based on two commonly used measures of hope-lessness.

Participants and procedure
A total of 4098 students from different Polish universities took part in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the model fit. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to investigate the relationship between hopelessness scale and criterion variables.

Results
Due to the lack of fit of the initial congeneric, unidimensional model, the lowest loading item was removed, and a tau-equivalent model with three items was tested. The tau-equivalent model showed a good fit to the data. The scale had adequate reliability. Hopelessness was positively related to anxiety, depression, and stress and negatively related to the quality of life, health, and self-esteem.

Conclusions
The study provides evidence of good psychometric properties in terms of factorial structure, reliability and crite-rion validity of the shortened 3-item Polish version of a hopelessness scale. Future studies should investigate its predictive value, especially in terms of suicidal ideation and behaviour, as well as other health outcomes.

Słowa kluczowe: hopelessness; quality of life; scale; tau-equvalence; well-being

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Shopping Addiction Is Driven by Personal Focus Rather than Social Focus Values but to the Exclusion of Achievement and Self-Direction

Autorzy: Aleksandra Uzarska, Stanisław K. Czerwiński, Paweł Atroszko

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Streszczenie: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between shopping addiction and a comprehensive model of motivational principles conceptualized within the Schwartz’s values theory. On the basis of previous research on the associations of shopping addiction with personality and particular values, it was hypothesized that shopping addiction would be positively related to all personal focus values that refer to self-enhancement and openness to change, and negatively related to social focus values that emphasize conservation and self-transcendence. The Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale, a tool based on common addiction components, and the Short Schwartz Values Survey were administered to 1156 undergraduate students. The results mostly supported the hypotheses; however, contrary to what was expected, shopping addiction had negative associations with achievement and self-direction. These results suggest that while compulsive buyers are strongly motivated to pursue prestige and pleasurable, hedonistic life, they diminish the importance of productivity or creativity that would allow achieving their goals. To some extent, shopping addiction could be understood as a striving for the ideal lifestyle with minimum effort by those who struggle with maintaining positive and healthy social relations. The findings contribute to the understanding of individual differences related to the development and persistence of shopping addiction.

Słowa kluczowe: compulsive buying; personal focus; shopping addiction; Schwartz’s Values Theory; social focus.

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