Amid the doom and gloom surrounding the European Union‟s (EU) economic situation, one stream of activity gives cause for optimism: health research. Not only have recent changes made life much easier for health psychologists, but also the UK government wants to streamline all health research in the UK to make it more cost effective, if not profitable (Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2011). These improvements have been applauded by the research community. Indeed these improvements might even make the UK the country of choice for health-related research in the EU, something that would have been unthinkable six or seven years ago. Some of the changes I outline below are specific to the UK, and I would be interested to hear from psychologists in other parts of Europe regarding any recent changes to the ethical review process there.

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Victor Yalom, PhD is the founder and president of psychotherapy.net, an online psychotherapy magazine targeted to trainee therapists and practitioners of all psychotherapeutic approaches. Victor is also a practicing psychologist, talented couple therapist, and business consultant in San Francisco. In his spare time, he expresses his unique vision in cartoons and wonderful abstract landscape paintings. Son of one of the most influential existential psychotherapists, Irvin Yalom, Victor talks to Europe’s Journal of Psychology about his current work and the most inspirational figures in the psychotherapy world he has been fortunate enough to meet and interview during his career.

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Philip Hyland
University of Ulster, UK

Jacek Pedziszczak
Polish Prison Service, Poland

Krzysztof Kielkiewicz
All Hallows College, Ireland

Abstract
Previous studies suggested a significant interaction between criminal attitudes, associations with criminal friends, and criminal behaviour. The purpose of the current investigation was to provide the possible mediating role of associations with criminal friends between criminal attitudes, and criminal behaviour. Based on a sample of 133 violent offenders, the proposed mediation model tested was found to be a good fit of the observed data, with each of the respective fit indices exceeding the criteria for a good fitting model. Thus results suggest that the presence and influence of criminal friends has a significant mediating effect on the interaction between criminal attitudes and recidivistic behaviour. Further implications in relation to research and theory are discussed.

Keywords: Criminal behaviour, recidivism, anti-social friends, social learning theory, criminal attitudes

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Xana Martínez Guerra
University of Greenwich, London, UK

Abstract
One of the main criticisms of extrasensory perception (ESP) research is the lack of replication of positive results across laboratories. In this paper we report a study (N=100) where we tested a set of practices recommended by researchers in the area in order to develop a robust ‘recipe’ for ESP experimental research. In an experimental condition that included these practices we observed a 30% rate of correct guesses (z=0.82, p=0.21, one-tailed) compared to a 22% rate observed in a control condition (z=-0.49, p=0.31, one-tailed). It is discussed how results obtained so far, with free-response protocols, are not strong enough to fully satisfy mainstream science.

Keywords: Ganzfeld, sensory attenuation, ESP, parapsychology

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Abstract
This paper presents a study of media representations of youth violence. The way by which media presents the young generation is a reflection of and influence on the development of identity by youth and society’s attitude towards youth. No previous studies have been conducted on this topic in Bulgaria, but the ones carried out in some other countries (including the USA and Australia) revealed an ambiguous image of young people with an important emphasis on violence as a part of youth life. 159 news items concerning young people from September 2010 issues of the Bulgarian newspapers “Telegraph” and “Sega” were coded. 21.4% of the news items dedicated to young people dealt with violence. Young people as committing an act of violence or as victims of violence were described with some neutral labels indicating their social group membership (gender, ethnic, territorial, etc.) or with some negative labels describing them as criminals. Young people violence in these two Bulgarian newspapers was associated with sexual issues, medical issues and family issues in more than 30% of the cases, as well as with educational issue in more than 20% of the news items. The image of young people reflected by the Bulgarian media was not only a negative one. 4/5 of the news items in the newspapers described young people as successful students, sportsmen, politically engaged, doing cultural activities, prepared for business, etc. Adults were advised by the media on how to understand teenagers and how to help young people – having a positive outlook on youth, expressing their love and concern for young people, communicating with them, giving them support (including financial, medical, and educational) by means of the state and different institutions.

Keywords: youth, violence, victims, media representations, deviant behavior

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Indrani Mukherjee
University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India

Abstract
The present study assessed the impact of one of the dimension of parenting practices, parent-adolescent communication, on the development of delinquent behavior. The data was collected from 200 adolescents (100 delinquents and 100 non-delinquents) aged 11-18 years. Results suggested a significant difference between delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents – in terms of their perception of satisfactory parental communication. Further analyses revealed that both mother‟s and father‟s separate communication as well as their interaction effect was linked to the development of delinquent behavior. It was further noted that a satisfactory mother-adolescent communication was much more important compared to the father-adolescent communication in the present context. Furthermore, age of the adolescent was also related to delinquency and it was observed that early adolescence was a richer breeding ground of delinquency, although a satisfactory parental communication was crucial throughout the adolescent period to serve as a protective factor against delinquency. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords: Mother-Adolescent Communication; Father-Adolescent Communication; Age; Delinquency; Kolkata; India

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Mustafa Koyuncu
Nevsehir University, Nevsehir, Turkey

Jacob Wolpin
Independent Consultant, Toronto, Canada

Abstract
Although qualified women are still underrepresented at ranks of senior management in all countries, considerable progress has been made in identifying work experiences associated with career success and advancement. The present study examines the relationship of four work experiences and work satisfactions and indicators of psychological well-being in a sample of managerial and professional women working in Istanbul Turkey. Data were collected from 143 women using anonymously completed questionnaires. Work experiences included support and encouragement, feeling accepted in the organization, opportunities for training and development, and work and family integration .Access to these four work experiences were positively and significantly correlated though the sample generally indicated low exposure to them. Hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for personal demographics and work situation characteristics, indicated that these work experiences had significant relationships with both work and well-being outcomes. Work-family integration had the strongest and most consistent relationships with these outcomes.

Keywords: Women’s career advancement, Work experiences, Turkey

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Lynn Hulse
Fire Safety Engineering Group, University of Greenwich, UK

Silke Schmidt
Department of Health and Prevention, Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Germany

Abstract
This research article presents the qualitative development and cross-cultural pilot testing of a new instrument measuring emotional and cognitive processing during disasters. The instrument was developed according to a theoretical framework based on narratives from survivors of different types of disaster across Europe. Peritraumatic emotions and cognitions were assessed at three different stages of a disaster. The pilot study consisted of 311 participants responding to the questionnaire using scenario versions of disasters as well as 25 survivors working through the questionnaire using their experiences of real disasters. Both types of analysis were performed across seven countries. Differences in emotions and cognitions during the course of a disaster were displayed. Also, gender, the type of scenario participants were allocated to, and professional experience of emergencies led to differences in item response. As there was little difference between survivors‟ and scenario participants‟ responses, the use of a scenario in order to test pilot forms of questionnaires for purposive samples with certain characteristics such as limited sizes or access can be supported. For future research, the instrument should be field tested. It is envisaged it will be beneficial for a cross-cultural understanding of the influence of peritraumatic emotions and cognitions not only on posttraumatic psychological outcomes but also on related behavioural responses displayed during disasters.

Keywords: Cross-cultural development, disaster research, pilot study, peritraumatic emotion and cognition, risk perception

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Prachi Saxena
Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, India

Abstract
The dimensionality of the construct of affect intensity is still a debated issue and most of the studies dealing with this debate have used the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM; Larsen & Diener, 1987) although this measure has been criticized on various psychometric grounds. We speculate that the inconsistency regarding the dimensionality of affect intensity may be either because of lack of clarity in its conceptualization or inappropriateness of its psychometric measures. In view of this, the present study attempts to explore the dimensionality of affect intensity using the Hindi version of the Emotional Intensity Scale (EIS; Bachorowski & Braaten, 1994) that claims to overcome the psychometric limitations of the AIM. The EIS-H was administered to 284 Hindi speaking Indian adults (119 males and 165 females). Exploratory factor (principal component) analysis identified two factors that were labelled as positive and negative emotional intensity. However, observation of some overlap and/or cross loading undermines the factorial purity of the EIS-H. Thus, a maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test two models – one assuming the two factors to be uncorrelated and the other as correlated. Findings revealed that the correlated two factors model provided a better fit to the data as compared to that which assumed the two factors to be uncorrelated. Findings imply that affect intensity is a multidimensional construct that encompasses two independent yet related dimensions of positive and negative affect intensity and the EIS-H may be used to reliably measure it.

Keywords: Affect intensity, Emotional intensity, Exploratory Factor analysis, Confirmatory Factor analysis, Positive affect intensity, Negative affect intensity

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Abstract
The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between loneliness, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and gender among United Arab Emirates college students. The respondents were 495 college students from Al Ain University of Science and Technology. The sample was stratified by sex. Among the respondents, 59% were female students and 41% were male students. The mean age of the sample was 21.8 years ranging from 18 to 36. Loneliness was measured by Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3) (Russell, 1996), while self-esteem was measured by Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). General Self-efficacy Scale (Jerusalem and Schwarzer, 1979) measured self-efficacy. The findings of the study showed that females reported higher loneliness compared to their males counter mates. Lower self-esteem and lower self-efficacy were associated with high levels of loneliness. However, self-esteem emerged as the most significant predictor of loneliness accounting for 22.9% of the variance, self-efficacy and gender each accounted for an additional 6.5% of the variance in loneliness. All three predictors explained 29.4% (R = .543) of total variance. Loneliness has been associated with various negative emotions and behaviors. Therefore, it is of great value to explore the predictors of loneliness and find effective ways to reduce lonely feelings among college students.

Keywords: Loneliness, self-esteem, self-efficacy, college students, UAE.

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