Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G N Molloy.
The Regressive Coping Checklist has been used to measure the extent to which individuals cope with stress by denying, minimizing, or avoiding stressful situations. In this study, the checklist was modified to include the frequency of use of regressive coping strategies and was shown to be a moderately reliable instrument (alpha = .57) when used with a sample of 750 Australian postprimary teachers.
A total of 750 teachers from 16 government and non-government schools from areas of contrasted socio-economic status (SES) responded to a questionnaire designed to investigate associations between selected aspects of burnout among teachers working in secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. By comparing high and low burnout groups on biographic, psychological and work pattern variables, differences between teachers experiencing high and low levels of burnout were identified. Multiple regression analyses assessed the relative importance of these variables in accounting for the variance in each of the three burnout subscales. School type was related to perceptions of stress and burnout. Higher levels of burnout were associated with poorer physical health, higher rates of absenteeism, lower self-confidence and more frequent use of regressive coping strategies. Teachers classified as experiencing high levels of burnout attributed most of the stress in their lives to teaching and reported low levels of career commitment and satisfaction. Further, teachers who recorded high levels of burnout were characterised by lower levels of the personality disposition of hardiness, lower levels of social support, higher levels of role stress and more custodial pupil control ideologies than their low-burnout counterparts. Psychological variables were found to be more significant predictors of burnout than biographical variables.
The problem-solving strategies of 120 children from two age levels were compared by means of exploratory factor analyses. Essentially, these results replicated the factor structures of earlier studies based on the Das-Luria model. Disparities in factor loadings on some tasks were interpreted as suggestive of developmental differences in children's coding strategies which are compatible with Bruner's description of the course of cognitive growth.
The Maslach Burnout Inventory has been used to measure burnout among workers in the helping professions. The construct validity of the inventory was examined using a sample of 750 Australian postprimary (high school) teachers. Analyses of teachers' responses confirmed a three-factor structure and showed the inventory to be a reliable instrument.
In this study, 24 sedentary first-year male university students aged 17 to 24 yr. were assigned to one of four groups. Three of the groups underwent a 6-wk. training program consisting of a 30-min. bicycle ergometer ride, three times per week. A fourth group acted as a control. The experimental groups trained at workload intensities corresponding to predetermined heart rates of 125, 140, and 155 bpm, respectively. Analysis of scores indicated that changes in aerobic capacity occurred only if the intensity of training exceeded a minimal level. Essentially, these results replicated data from other studies.