We assessed the patterns of convergent validity for the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002), a performance-based measure of emotional intelligence (EI) that entails presenting problems thought to have correct responses, and a self-report measure of EI (Schutte et al., 1998). The relations between EI and demographic characteristics of a diverse community sample (N = 223) concurred with previous research. However, the performance-based and self-report scales were not related to one another. Only self-reported EI scores showed a consistent pattern of relations with self-reported coping styles and depressive affect, whereas the performance-based measure demonstrated stronger relations with age, education, and receiving psychotherapy. We discuss implications for the validity of these measures and their utility.

We examined whether judgments of controllability, responsibility, and blame are distinct and sequential psychological constructs. Undergraduates read a brief description of a male with AIDS or lung cancer and rated his controllability, responsibility, and blame in relation to the illness. Participants considered him to be more responsible than blameworthy for his illness, but more in control than responsible for becoming ill. Although measures of participants' behavioural intentions, emotions, and social attitudes were correlated with controllability ratings, such associations were stronger for responsibility ratings and even stronger for blame ratings. Structural equation models provided additional evidence for an attributional hierarchy in which blame is the final step. Nonetheless, emotional and behavioural responses were more completely explained when attributions were considered jointly with personal and social attitudes.

This study examined coping with stress associated with employment uncertainty for comparable samples of laid-off and employed high-technology workers. It was expected that different coping strategies would be associated with perceived stress for employed vs. unemployed people. Although unemployed participants reported higher levels of stress compared with employed participants, employment uncertainty mediated the association between employment status and perceived stress. Emotion-focused coping strategies were related to higher perceived stress, whereas problem-focused coping strategies were related to lower perceived stress. The use of emotional avoidance as a strategy moderated the effect of employment uncertainty on perceived stress, such that a greater propensity to endorse avoidance coping strategies was associated with higher levels of stress particularly under low uncertainty conditions.

To attenuate cynicism, hospital leaders need to act and communicate with integrity and be cautious not to arbitrarily change the jobs of nurses with low intention to leave.

In this longitudinal panel study we examined nurses' reactions to hospital amalgamation in both the hospitals being acquired and the acquiring hospitals. Data were collected in 1992, two years prior to the amalgamation announcement; in 1995, in the initial phase of the hospital amalgamation; and in 1997, during the amalgamation implementation. Compared with the pre‐amalgamation period, nurses in both the acquiring and the acquired hospitals reported a significant decrease in job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational trust, and a significant increase in turnover intentions. Except for organizational commitment, nurses in the acquiring hospitals reported a greater deterioration in job attitudes indicating that they were more adversely affected by the amalgamation than nurses in the hospitals being acquired. Perceived organizational support and, to a lesser extent, immediate supervisor support played an instrumental role in promoting successful adjustment to the amalgamation. There was only limited evidence that perceived job insecurity and control‐oriented coping mediated the relationship between the support variables and job attitudes. Résumé Dans cette étude de panel, nous examinons les réactions des infirmières aux fusions des hôpitaux, à la fois dans les établissements acquéreurs et acquis. Les données ont été recueillies en 1992, deux ans avant l'annonce des fusions; ensuite en 1995, lors de leur annonce; et enfin en 1997, pendant leur mise en oeuvre. Les infirmières, tant dans les hôpitaux acquéreurs que dans les hôpitaux acquis, ont éprouvé une baisse considérable de leur satisfaction professionnelle, de leur engagement envers leur employeurs, et de leur confiance en leurs gestionnaires, de même qu'un désir accru d'abandon du métier ou de l'insitutiton en question. En particulier, la détérioration des attitudes a été plus marquée dans les hôpitaux acquéreurs, ce qui indique que ces infirmières se sont senties davantage mises à l'épreuve que celles dans les hôpitaux acquis. Cependant, l'adaptation à la fusion a été minimisée lorsque le soutien de l'établissement était bien perçu et, à un moindre degré, lors d'une constatation de soutien réel provenant de leurs supérieurs immédiats. Nous n'avons pas trouvé de preuve concluante que la perception de l'insécurité dans le travail, et les stratégies pour garder celle‐ci sous contrôle, aient influencé le rapport entre les paramètres du soutien et les attitudes envers le travail.