This study investigated environmental influences on scholastic achievement of first-grade elementary school students. A total of 149 (average age 81 months) first-grade children were classified in three groups. The first group comprised of 52 Roma children. Two other groups consisted of 48 non-Roma children classified as children belonging to an average socioeconomic status (SES) group and 49 non-Roma children classified as children belonging to a below-average SES group. All 52 Roma children belonged to a below-average SES group. Children's intellectual abilities were assessed by Test of School Maturity; their scholastic achievement was assessed by teachers, while data on SES and family's educational climate were obtained through a semi structured interview with their parents. Intellectual abilities - strongly influenced by family's SES and family's educational climate - were most predictive of scholastic achievement. Our structural model suggests that family's educational climate, defined by unfavorable educational stimulation and low parents' ambition concerning education of their children, moderates effects of low SES on inferior scholastic achievement. This model may be especially relevant for Roma children, since Roma children are most affected by the lack of adequate educational climate within their families.

The reported study had the following goals: to determine psychometric characteristics of a new instrument purpoting to measure trait anxiety - AT29, to explore the effectiveness of a mood induction procedure in eliciting state anxiety, and to determine the role of trait anxiety, as measured by AT29, in responding to mood induction. AT29 was administered as a part of a larger test battery to 232 psychology students during a mass testing session. After three weeks, 90 students were randomly selected to participate in the second, experimental phase of the study. These selected participants were randomly assigned to two groups: experimental (mood-induction group) in which participants watched a video clip with a fear-inducing content and control group in which participants watched a neutral video clip of the same duration as the fear-inducing clip. State anxiety was measured in both groups using the STAI-S questionnaire right before and after mood induction. It was demonstrated that there is a significant association between trait anxiety as measured by AT29 and state anxiety obtained at both measurement occasionsbefore and after mood induction. Following fear induction, the experimental group demonstrated higher state anxiety scores. However, the interaction between group membership and trait anxiety was not significant. Potential explanations regarding the lack of effect of trait anxiety on state anxiety in this mood induction experiment were discussed as well as some recommendations for future research. Additionally, the results suggested that AT29 has very good psychometric characteristics: high internal consistency and test-retest reliability (.96 and .86 respectively), as well as good divergent and convergent validity

Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is one of the most popular instruments for measuring intensity and symptoms of depression in clinical and general population. The instrument has been translated into many languages and validated in many different cultures, but there is still no published paper on psychometric characteristics and the norms for the BDI in Serbian language. In this paper, we checked psychometric characteristics of the BDI-II on 400 students of the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Descriptive statistics (M=8.02; SD=7.10), internal consistency (α=.87), and test-retest reliability (.63) are satisfactory and similar to the results of other validation studies. Convergent and divergent validity of the instrument are also supported by moderate to high correlations with the measures of similar phenomena (r=.70 with Depression Symptoms Scale) and by low correlations with unrelated constructs (i.e., r=.19 with Impulsive Sensation Seeking Scale). However, the divergent validity is not supported by a high correlation with a measure of anxiety (r=.70), similar finding is commonly obtained in other validation studies. Our results suggest cut-off scores which are similar to those suggested by Canadian authors (Kappa coefficient=.85). Two-factor structure of the inventory is also in concordance with other authors. Cognitive-Affective factor explains 29.27% of the variance and its structure resembles those reported in other analyses. The second extracted factor explains 7.76% of the variance and is saturated mostly with somatic items; however, a significant contribution of some cognitive items has led us to identify the factor as Exhaustion, specific to our student sample. The two-factor solution is confirmed by Confirmatory Factor Analyses once the item related to sexual difficulties was eliminated. General conclusion is that BDI-II has satisfactory psychometric characteristics and can reliably be used with Serbian student population

According to Tellegen et al.'s Two-factor model, commonalities between depression and anxiety are due to their shared variance with Negative affect (NA), a broad dimension of general distress. Low Positive affect (PA), a dimension of pleasurable emotions, is believed to be uniquely related to depression. In this study, we tested these basic assumptions. A sample of 141 students at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad filled out a state measure of PA, NA, and basic emotions (SIAB-PANAS), a depression scale (BDI-II), and a state anxiety scale (STAI-S). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to estimate the unique contributions of PA, NA, and basic emotions in the prediction of dysphoria and anxiety. The hypothesis that NA is a general dimension related to both dysphoria and anxiety was supported. Sadness and fear added incrementally to the prediction of both criteria. However, contrary to our hypothesis, PA was related to both dysphoria and anxiety. Joviality, attentiveness, and self-assurance were better predictors of anxiety than dysphoria. Methodological and clinical implications of the results were discussed

Background/Aim. Secondary lymphedema of the arm is one of possible side-effects and complications of breast cancer and its treatment which can contribute and precipitate to a number of new psychosocial problems. The aim of this study was to examine the differences in quality of life of patients suffering from breast cancer, with arm lymphedema and those without lymphedema, and to determine the significance of the perception of the disease, depressive symptoms and self-efficacy contribution to overall quality of life. Methods. The research was designed as a cross-sectional study, which included 64 patients-34 with arm lymphedema and 30 without lymphedema. Questionnaire FACT-B + 4 was applied to assess the quality of life, BIPQ for the perception of the disease, depression was measured by DASS-21 scale, while self-efficacy was tested by SGSE scale. T-test, Mann Whitney U Test, χ 2 test and hierarchical regression analysis were applied to data processing. Results. There was not any significant difference between the groups in the total score of quality of life (t = 0.469, p > 0.05), or in the individual subscales: physical well-being (t = 0.535, p > 0.05), social/family well-being (t = 1.43, p > 0.05), emotional well-being (t = 1.35, p > 0.05), functional well-being (z =-0.243, p > 0.05), breast cancer scale (t =-0.839, p > 0.05) and arm scale (t =-0.514, p >0.05), while the perception of the disease (β =-0.603, t =-5.958, p < 0.001) and depression (β =-0.411, t =-4.101, p < 0.001) proved to be significant predictors of quality of life and explain 50.2% variance of overall quality of life. Conclusion. The results of our study indicate the importance of a comprehensive rehabilitation program, directed both at functional and psychosocial aspects.