Bitinaitė, Rugilė

Teacher victimization is a growing concern with well-documented implications for educators’ psychological well-being. However, less is known about how such experiences relate not only to emotional outcomes but also to critical thinking. This study aimed to examine the associations between different forms of teacher victimization (e.g., physical, social, verbal, and cyber), psychological well-being (flourishing, positive and negative emotions), and critical thinking.

Introduction: Although teacher victimization has been associated with reduced well-being, little is known about how teachers’ perceptions of their relationships within the school environment is linked to this association. This study examined whether perceived relationship quality moderates the link between different forms of victimization and teachers’ life satisfaction. Methods: A structural equation model was tested using data from a Lithuanian teacher sample (n = 1,146), incorporating three latent constructs: victimization (indicated by physical, social, verbal, cyber, and sexual victimization, as well as victimization involving property damage and violence perpetrated by school staff and parents), relationship perception (measured by perceived relationships with students, colleagues, school administration, and local educational authorities), and life satisfaction (assessed via the satisfaction with life scale). Results: The model demonstrated good fit [χ2(39) = 310.00, CFI = 0.941, TLI = 0.916, SRMR = 0.047, RMSEA = 0.078 (0.070, 0.086)]. Victimization was negatively related to both relationship perception (β = −0.35) and life satisfaction (β = −0.25), while relationship perception positively related to life satisfaction (β = 0.44, all p < 0.001). Moderation analyses revealed significant interaction effects: cyber, property, and physical victimization were more strongly associated with reduced life satisfaction among teachers who reported high perceived relationship quality with students or educational authorities. Contrary to buffering expectations, perceived relationships appeared to intensify the negative effects of victimization on life satisfaction. Discussion: These findings suggest that victimization may be especially damaging for teachers who typically view their school relationships as supportive, pointing to a potential breach in relational expectations. This highlights the importance of contextual factors in teacher well-being.

While personality traits and early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) can affect an individual’s behavior and well-being, the links between these constructs are under-researched, especially in non-clinical samples. Aims: Two studies were conducted to address these links, intending to explore their specifics, as previous research evidenced various associations’ models. Methods: In Study 1, the sample consisted of 120 respondents (65.0% females) living in the UK and the USA. In Study 2, the sample consisted of 244 respondents (68.0% females) living in Lithuania. In both studies, most of the respondents were aged 18-25. The survey was administered online. Studies 1 and 2 applied the Big Five Inventory and Young Schema Questionnaire. Results: In Study 1, neuroticism was significantly positively associated with 17 EMSs. Extraversion stood significantly negatively related to 12 EMSs, conscientiousness was significantly negatively related to 15 EMSs, openmindedness stood significantly negatively related to 2 EMSs, but significantly positively related to admiration, and agreeableness appeared significantly negatively related to 9 EMSs. In Study 2, neuroticism was significantly positively associated with 16 EMSs. Extraversion stood significantly negatively related to 9 EMSs, conscientiousness was significantly negatively related to 12 EMSs, open-mindedness and agreeableness were significantly negatively related to 10 EMSs. Conclusions: Study 2 partly failed to replicate the results of Study 1, which implies that the model of links between EMSs and personality traits could be impacted by cultural factors, and needs further investigation.

Seksualinė prievarta – tai intensyvi, traumuojanti patirtis, galinti turėti ilgalaikį neigiamą poveikį asmens sveikatai. Gydant šios traumos padarinius, reikalingas kompleksinis specialistų požiūris bei skirtingų gydymo metodų taikymas. Viena naujausių psichoterapijos krypčių – kognityvinė elgesio terapija (KET), neseniai pradėta taikyti seksualinės prievartos padarinių gydyme. Šiame straipsnyje aptariamos KET taikymo galimybės bei veiksmingumas, gydant seksualinės prievartos traumas. Tikslas. Analizuojant mokslinę literatūrą, išnagrinėti ir aprašyti kognityvinės elgesio terapijos veikimą, taikymą bei veiksmingumą, gydant asmenis, patyrusius seksualinę prievartą. Išvados. KET yra veiksmingas seksualinę prievartą patyrusių asmenų gydymo būdas. Skirtingi KET taikomi metodai gali būti veiksminga seksualinės prievartos traumos padarinių mažinimo priemonė. Visgi, sudarant gydymo planą, svarbu išlaikyti individualų požiūrį ir atsižvelgti į asmens savitumus bei patirtį.

In recent years, many governments around the world have placed a stronger emphasis on people’s wellbeing with the aim of making societies more inclusive and cohesive. As part of this approach, the public sector has introduced a number of initiatives to measure and support students’ psychological flourishing. Previous research reported that students’ flourishing could be linked to certain positive/negative cognitions, but the specifics of these links were under-researched. This study aimed to reveal links between students’ automatic thoughts and flourishing in a sample of public sector university students (n = 226), where 75.7% of participants (n = 171) were 18 to 24 years old and 24.3% (n = 55) were aged 25+. The participants represented four fields of study: Life Sciences (n = 35), Humanities (n = 71), Social Sciences (n = 85), and Technology Sciences (n = 31). The Flourishing Scale (FS) was used to assess students’ flourishing, and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Revised (ATQ-R) was applied to measure participants’ positive and negative automatic thoughts. The findings revealed that students’ negative self-concepts and negative expectations negatively predicted flourishing, while positive automatic thoughts and positive self-statements positively predicted flourishing. The findings also revealed that positive automatic thoughts and self-statements mediate the link between negative self-concept, negative expectations, and flourishing. Moreover, the results show that strengthening students’ positive cognitions can contribute to students’ increased flourishing, despite coexisting negative cognitions. Based on these findings, fostering a positive and supportive educational environment that promotes mental wellbeing is recommended. This can be achieved by implementing policies prioritizing students’ mental health and providing resources such as counseling services and support systems. Creating an environment where students feel valued, supported, and encouraged can help counteract their negative cognitions, leading to improved flourishing.

Background: With a high sensitivity and specificity, non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is anincomparable screening test for fetal aneuploidy. However, the method is rather newly introduced,and experiences with false positive results are few. Even rare cases of discordant results maycause psychological stress.Aim of the Study: The aim of this study was to examine false positive cases of NIPT tests inhigh-risk pregnancies. The literature review was also performed to review psychologicalconsequences of discordant results.Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted between 2015 and 2022. TheNatera Panorama test was used to analyse the risk of trisomies 21 (Down syndrome), 18 (Edwars syndrome), 13 (Patau syndrome), X monosomy (Terner syndrome) and other sex chromosomeabnormalities. High risk result of NIPT for aneuploidy was confirmed by the invasive testing.Results: 2000 women with a singleton pregnancy participated in the study. Out of 2000 NIPT tests22 cases with high risk results for chromosomal anomalies were detected. Only one false positivecase with high risk result for trisomy 21 was detected. The overall positive predictive value (PPV)of NIPT for trisomies 21, 13, 18, X monosomy and XYY syndrome was 95%.Conclusion: Our study has showed only one case with false positive result for trisomy 21.However these cases with discordant results are very sensitive from bioethical point of view. Sosuch couples need further follow up and sometimes even psychological counselling. NIPT due toits high PPV significantly reduces the need for an invasive testing, thereby reducing the risk ofmiscarriage.