Towards a Marine Mindset: Visiting an Aquarium Can Improve Attitudes and Intentions Regarding Marine Sustainability

ABSTRACT

The oceans are crucial for human survival, yet they are under serious threat from humans, for example through overfishing and poor waste management. We investigated two questions. First, does a leisure visit to an aquarium improve visitor attitudes and intentions towards marine sustainability, specifically regarding overfishing and pollution? Second, does an information booklet handed out in addition to the visit have additional measurable impact? Aquarium visitors (n = 104) completed a questionnaire on marine sustainability attitudes and behavioral intentions before and after their visit. Half of the visitors also were given informational materials that offered behavioral solutions to the problem of overfishing. The aquarium visit significantly improved visitors’ overall attitudes and intentions. The information booklet additionally improved intentions significantly, but not attitudes. These findings show that a visit to an aquarium can help individuals develop what we term a marine mindset, a state of readiness to address marine sustainability issues. Implications, limitations, and ideas for further research are discussed.     

Emergent Leadership in Children's Cooperative Problem Solving Groups

Social skills involved in leadership were examined in a problem-solving activity in which 252 Chinese 5th-graders worked in small groups on a spatial-reasoning puzzle. Results showed that students who engaged in peer-managed small-group discussions of stories prior to problem solving produced significantly better solutions and initiated significantly more effective leadership than control students. A mediation analysis suggested that it was because of effective leadership that groups who had experienced discussions achieved better problem solutions.     

Emergent Simple Discriminations and Conditional Relations in Children, Intellectually Impaired Adults,

Previous research has shown that when, under non-reinforced conditions, stimuli are added to S+ and S- stimuli in simultaneous discrimination tasks, transfer between paired stimuli is likely to occur. The present study examined whether this procedure also leads to the formation of conditional relations between paired stimuli. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, normal pre-school children were trained on a simultaneous discrimination task with A1 reinforced and A2 not reinforced (A1+/A2- ). Then they received two tests (no programmed consequences): one with B stimuli superimposed on the A stimuli (A1B1/ A2B2), and one with B stimuli only (B1/B2). Subjects who selected A1B1 and B1 also received conditional discrimination tests: one with B1 or B2 as samples and A1 and A2 as comparisons (B-A), and one in which the functions of these stimuli were reversed (A-B). Intellectually impaired adults and normal adults served in Experiments 4 and 5, respectively. These experiments were basically the same except that the subjects were also given the opportunity to demonstrate transfer from B to C via BC (B1C1/B2C2 and C1/C2 tests). Most children (75%) and intellectually impaired adults (75%) treated the conditional discrimination probe tasks as simple discriminations and typically selected the trained and derived S+ stimuli. The remaining children, intellectually impaired adults, and all normal adults related all directly and indirectly linked stimuli of the same functions conditionally to one another (A-B, B-C, A-C, and vice versa). The present findings suggest that, as humans develop, conditional stimulus relations may emerge from tasks and stimulus configurations that are increasingly remote from traditional conditional discrimination tasks.     

Facilitative Style,Individual Innovation,and Emergent Leadership in Problem Solving Groups

ABSTRACT This study responded to an issue raised in a recent review of leadership research regarding the lack of available data concerning leader characteristics and management of creative work groups. Specifically, the effects of facilitative leadership style and individual creative contributions on emergent leadership were assessed in an initially leaderless creative problem solving situation. Participants were 34 university security officers who were divided into four groups to play Island Commission. At the end of the session, participants rated each other on facilitative style, innovative contribution, and leadership behavior. Both independent variables made a significant contribution to perceptions of leadership (R = .82, p < .0001). Results are discussed in terms of leadership theory, and implications for personnel selection, training, and development of creative problem solving teams.     

Stressful Events and Coping Responses Among Older Adults in Two Sociocultural Groups

In this study of the way 32 men and women between the ages of 60 to 90 coped with stressful situations, two instruments were used: the Life Experiences Survey and the Ways of Coping Checklist. Overall, health-related concerns were more frequently reported by older adults than any other stressful event. When coping responses were categorized according to four modes—intrapsychic, inaction, direct action, and information seeking—the Appalachian group was found to use the information-seeking mode; the Cherokee group, the intrapsychic mode. Significant differences were found between males and females in coping modes and life-stress categories. When groups were combined, significant correlations were noted between life stress, particularly health-related stress, and the coping modes of intrapsychic and information seeking.     

Work and Family Commitment and Decision-Making Status Among Emerging Adults

This study was designed to investigate work–family attitudes among emerging adults. Participants were 46 male and 49 female college juniors and seniors. Men and women had similar levels of work and family commitment. For women there was a negative correlation between work and family commitment. Exploratory analyses indicated different relationships between work decision-making status and commitment and family decision-making status and commitment. In addition, whereas men were more likely than women not yet to have thought about family roles, women were more likely than men to have decided about family roles. Implications of these findings for our understanding of the processes and meanings of emerging adult men's and women's decisions about entry into and commitment toward work and family roles are discussed. Although earlier literature employs the term “young adults” to refer to individuals in the emerging adult stage of development, for the sake of consistency we use the term “emerging adults” throughout this article.     

Family Functioning and Attachment Among Young Adults in Western and Non-Western Societies

Abstract

Family functioning (FF) is associated with patterns of adults’ close relationship attachment, which works differently in western and non-western societies. In this study, the relationship between FF and attachment (A), as well as the difference in relationship between FF and A across western and non-western societies were examined. A total of 600 young adults (294 males, 306 females) were recruited from western and non-western societies through the SurveyCircle and social media and communication applications. The data was analyzed using PLS-SEM and multigroup analysis, and the results showed that in western and non-western societies, family adaptability and cohesion were significantly associated with anxiety, close, and depend attachments. Unexpectedly, higher family adaptability was associated with higher anxiety attachment. The associations among family adaptability and cohesion with anxiety, close, and depend attachments showed that the strengths of the relationships are significantly different in western and non-western societies, except for the association between family cohesion and anxiety. Based on these results, the cultural differences in terms of FF and young adults’ close relationship attachment were presented for future research, family therapy, and the society.     

Family Influences on Hooking Up and Dating Among Emerging Adults

Existing research posits that young adults navigate the developmental tasks of emerging adulthood, including sexual and romantic relationship formation, in context of geographic and social separation from families of origin. This assumption of independence reflects the ongoing focus on privileged samples to the exclusion of working class, racial/ethnic minority, and immigrant young adults, many of whom live with family through the emerging adult years. This exploratory analysis employs interview data from a racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of 85 college attending emerging adults who live with or proximate to family to explore how families of origin shape interpersonal relationships. Findings show that family members impart both direct and indirect socialization messages that encourage career development over relationship formation. Families also engage in surveillance of emerging adults, applied disproportionately to women. Results are discussed in terms of differences and commonalities of experience across race/ethnicity, nativity, class, and gender, and the salience of family to these processes.     

Religion and Attitudes Toward Family Planning Issues Among US Adults

Although religion is an important influence on a variety of social attitudes, the relationship between religion and views on family planning remains underexplored, especially in terms of attitudes relating to public policy. Using data from a nationally-representative survey (N = 1,500) fielded in 1998, we examine the influence of religious affiliation, subcultural identification, and attendance on three aspects of attitudes toward contraception in the public sphere. Specifically, we explore opinions regarding the public consequences of contraception and the responsibility for making contraception available as part of health care services in the United States. More frequent religious attendance is linked to less-approving opinions about contraception and less support for its provision by the US government and health insurers. Catholic affiliation is not consistently associated with the examined opinions, and we find mixed results for conservative Protestants. Including religious subcultural identities yields additional information, with born-again Christians reporting less positive opinions about the consequences of contraceptive availability, while evangelical identity is linked to negative views on policy aimed at increasing access to family planning services. These findings contribute to knowledge about the relationship between religion and attitudes toward policy-relevant aspects of contraception, as well as the broader social influences of religious subcultural identification.     

Psychoeducational Multiple Family Groups: Four-Year Relapse Outcome in Schizophrenia

Earlier studies of family psychoeducation and clinical reports on multiple family groups (MFGs) have reported substantial reductions in relapse rates for patients with schizophrenia. These groups offer an expanded social network and thereby may confer a margin of protection against relapse. However, to date, there has not been an empirical trial of this modality. The advent of family psychoeducational and behavioral management strategies provided the basis for an experimental, three-way comparison of psychoeducational MFGs to psychoeducation in a single-family format and to MFGs without psychoeducation, using symptomatic relapse as the outcome criterion. After 4 years, the psychoeducational MFGs were significantly more effective in extending remission than the single-family format, while the MFGs without psychoeducation approximated outcome in the psychoeducational MFGs. The respective relapse rates at 4 years were 50%, 78%, and 57%; MFGs averaged 12.5% and 14% per year. These results point toward an enhanced and independent, long-term therapeutic effect for multiple family groups, when combined with antipsychotic medication and psychoeducation, with especially promising cost-effectiveness.     

Attitudes Toward the Continuation of Family Rituals Among Emerging Adults

In this study we examined college students' assessment of the personal meaningfulness of their families' rituals and their desire to initiate family rituals in the future. Participants were 46 male and 49 female never-married, primarily European American undergraduates at a private east coast university. It was found that women were more likely than men to see themselves initiating future family rituals. The amount of ritual initiation undertaken by participants' same-sex parents and participants' communality were significant predictors of reported likelihood of future ritual initiation. A “caring” parenting style was the only significant predictor of the meaningfulness of rituals. The relationships of respondents' religious and ethnic background and their parents' marital status to their attitudes toward rituals were also examined.     

How Therapists Discuss Causality with Families in an Integrated Family Management and Therapy Service, a Qualitative Study with Focus Groups

Family therapy (FT) and family management (FM) approaches to psychosis have been distinguished by their understanding of causality. FM holds a biological understanding which could have negative consequences for the person with psychosis. FT, with its focus on interactions, has been criticised for its potential for implying that families are to blame for their relative’s psychosis. Although these two approaches have been integrated, the manner in which causality is discussed in family sessions within an integrated approach has not been researched. Qualitative research was conducted with clinicians working in an established integrated family intervention service to explore how they discuss causality. Four focus groups were conducted and a framework approach to thematic analysis used. Four themes developed from the analysis: how a shared understanding of causality is constructed; the use of an ‘explorative conversational’ therapeutic style to discuss causality; factors that limited the exploration of causality; and the challenges of working with issues of blame. The stress-vulnerability model, genograms, interactional-cycles and formulation were identified as useful tools to develop a shared understanding of causality. The therapeutic style of ‘explorative conversation’–based in FT, integrated with the stress-vulnerability model–based in FM, was identified as key to the integrated model and clinicians felt these two aspects addressed the criticisms that have been levelled at each approach. Complex family problems, abuse and illicit drug use were factors that challenged causality discussions. Families feeling blamed/blaming themselves and attempts to transform blame made up a dominant theme of the research.     

Intergenerational Visiting Patterns: Variation in Boundary Maintenance as an Explanation

SOCIOLOGISTS can now quite fairly be said to have recognized the importance of kinship in a modern industrial society. Beginning with Sussman's study of intergenerational helping patterns in the middle class ( 22 ), an increasing number of investigators have documented the importance of kindred to the city dweller's existence. These findings are contrary to the Simmel-Wirth picture of the urbanite as an isolated individual cut off from extended family contacts ( 19, 24 ). The trend in the literature is now so firmly against this thesis that a scholarly textbook in the area of family sociology has recently appeared in which the theoretical focus is on intergenerational ties ( 8 ). The present article is in the same vein. The first section is devoted to developing a theoretical rationale concerning factors influencing frequency of kinship contacts based on the phenomenon of boundary setting and maintenance that characterizes primary groups. The second section concerns an examination of hypotheses derived from the rationale using data from a sample of three generation lineages.     

Perceptions of Parenthood Among Young Adults: Implications for Career and Family Planning

Motivations and expectations of parenthood were assessed in 505 female and male undergraduate students. Parents and those intending to have children agreed more strongly with intrinsic motivations and also endorsed more benefits for having children than did the unsure group. Those intending to have children estimated costs of parenthood to be significantly less than either parents or those unsure of having children. Women across all three parenting groups estimated the costs of parenthood to be higher than did male respondents. Results are discussed in the framework of violated expectations and the need for prepregnancy intervention programs.     

Differential Effects of Child Difficulties on Family Burdens across Diagnostic Groups

Children with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and intellectual disability (ID), have a variety of difficulties that can place considerable strain on their families. This study investigated the nature of family burdens (i.e., financial burden, need for respite, need for counseling, work changes, and care hours) by examining the effects of child characteristics (i.e., age, gender, and severity of condition), family characteristics (i.e., parent role, education, income, and number of children), and child difficulties (i.e., behavioral, adaptive, emotional, social, learning, and communicative). With representative survey data from parents of children with ADHD (n?=?8252), ASD (n?=?1448), or ID (n?=?949), ranging in age from 2 to 17 years old, we used Χ ², binary logistic regression, linear regression, and univariate analyses to answer our research questions. We found that parents of children with ADHD, ASD, and ID experienced different types and amounts of burdens, families of younger children experienced more burden than those of older children, and families with more income or more children experienced fewer burdens. Adaptive and behavioral difficulties had the greatest relative impact on families. Diagnosis moderated almost all of the relationships between child difficulties and family burden. Overall, these results suggest that providing services and supports that are tailored to the specific needs of each child and family will be necessary for enhancing quality of life.     

Conducting Exposure-Based Groups via Telehealth for Adolescents and Young Adults With Social Anxiety Disorder

The rapid spread of COVID-19 and subsequent social distancing measures posed unprecedented challenges in providing mental health care and a swift transition of services to telehealth platforms. Social distancing measures create unique concerns for young people with social anxiety disorder who already struggle with social connection and isolation; therefore, the continuation of care via telehealth platforms is especially important for this population. To date, there is little literature regarding use of telehealth groups for this population and the current commentary aims to fill in this gap in the literature while also providing general guidelines for telehealth groups. The commentary discusses the delivery of an exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy group for adolescents and young adults via telehealth and provides considerations, challenges, and benefits of conducting a group through a telehealth platform. In conjunction with clinically relevant examples and in-depth exposure discussions, we aim to provide guidance for youth-focused practitioners who are considering conducting groups in a telehealth format for a range of presentations.