Family Policy Initiatives in Latin America: The Case of Colombia and Ecuador

Family policy initiatives in Colombia and Ecuador have targeted primarily families living in poverty. This paper discusses some of the major policy initiatives oriented to improve the living conditions of economically disadvantaged families in both countries. We argue that, even though governments recognize the importance of family policies, existing policies and programs for families living in poverty do not directly focus on family issues. They represent more implicit than explicit family policies. We analyze some of the issues that may hinder the development, implementation, and evaluation of family policies in Colombia and Ecuador. Such issues stem from political and economic instability, legislation, changing family demographics, as well as coordination among agencies that develop, implement, and evaluate policies. We discuss challenges related to family policies in both countries and recommendations to improve existing policy initiatives.     

Does Education Influence Ethical Decisions? An International Study

This study examined whether having attended a public, private or religious affiliated grade and/or high school influenced a college student’s ethical decision making process. We also examined whether having taken an ethics course in college influences a student’s ethical decision making process. Our sample included 508 accounting students (237 men and 271 women) from Albania, Ecuador, Ireland and the United States. Our analyses indicated no differences in ethical decision making that associated with either grade-or-high-school education. While our data showed no difference in the reported attitudes between students from Ecuador and the United States after controlling for social desirability response bias, we found significant differences between the attitudes students from the United States and students from both Albania and Ireland. While gender was also significant for six of our seven scenarios, social desirability response bias was significant in all of our scenarios.     

Transdiagnostic model of psychological factors and sex differences in depression in a large sample of Ecuador

Background/ObjectiveDepression represents a leading cause of disability and a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease with women systematically reporting a higher prevalence than men. This study aimed to examine the predictive value and relation of three transdiagnostic psychological factors (perceived stress, psychological inflexibility and loneliness) on depression and its sex differences for the general population in a large sample of Ecuador.MethodA non-probabilistic and non-clinical sample of 16.074 people from across Ecuador were online surveyed using a cross-sectional design. The structural equation model was based on scores from standardized questionnaires as measures of depression, psychological perceived stress, psychological inflexibility, and loneliness.ResultsWomen reported significantly higher levels of depression, mediated by differences in perceived stress, psychological inflexibility and loneliness. Perceived stress was the most important predictor of depression and mediated the effect of loneliness on depression. Complementarily, psychological inflexibility partially mediated the effect of perceived stress and loneliness on depression. The overall model accounted for the 78% of the total variance in depression.ConclusionsResults of this study provide a novel and robust transdiagnostic model of sex differences on depression and insights on how to design effective programs for preventing depression targeting modifiable transdiagnostic risk factors.     

Institutionalization of psychoanalysis by health policy. The "general practice study" and its "short form"

The author reviews the "study of practice" concerning the delivery of psychotherapeutic services in the Federal Republic. She then evaluates the short formulation of these findings and finally the long version as well. In doing so, she traces developmental tendencies of psychoanalysis in the Federal Republic.     

Conflict Minerals in Electronic Systems: An Overview and Critique of Legal Initiatives

The Democratic Republic of Congo has vast natural resources, many of which are regularly exploited by the electronics industry. Unfortunately, in addition to these resources, there are widespread human rights abuses committed by armed groups entrenched in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. These armed groups are using profits from these minerals as a source of funding. Their human rights abuses have led to a growing humanitarian interest in the region and prompted the international community to action. This paper explores the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, provides an understanding of the link between human rights abuses and conflict minerals, and interprets and critiques the legal actions of the international community.     

Cross-Cultural Reactions to Academic Sexual Harassment: Effects of Individualist vs. Collectivist Culture and Gender of Participants

Male and female university students from the United States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Ecuador, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Turkey read a standardized scenario in which a male professor was accused of sexually harassing a female graduate student. Respondents from individualist countries judged the professor to be guilty of sexual harassment more often than did those from collectivist countries. Women rendered significantly more guilty judgments and assigned more severe punishments to the accused professor than did men. Implications for the individualist–collectivist classification system and cross-cultural research are discussed.     

Shamanism from Ecuador to Chicago: A Case Study in New Age Ritual Appropriation

This article has three objectives: (1) to give ethnographic accounts of shamanism as practised by the Shuar of Ecuador and of one group of contemporary urban Americans who take the Shuar, as well as other indigenous groups, as their models: (2) to present a critical comparison of those practices; and (3) most importantly, to suggest methodological criteria by which such dislocated ‘neo-shamanisms’ might be usefully distinguished from indigenous shamanisms which are organically related to the surrounding culture and environment.     

Carbon Sink Conservation and Global Justice: Benefitting,Free Riding and Non-compliance

It is often assumed that in order to avoid the most severe consequences of global anthropogenic climate change we have to preserve our existing carbon sinks, such as for instance tropical forests. Global carbon sink conservation raises a host of normative issues, though, since it is debatable who should pay the costs of carbon sink conservation, who has the duty to protect which sinks, and how far the duty to conserve one’s carbon sinks actually extends, especially if it conflicts with other duties one might have. According to some, forested states like Ecuador have a duty to preserve their tropical forests while the rich states of the global North have a duty of fairness to compensate states like Ecuador for the costs they incur. My aim in this paper is to critically analyse this standard line of argument and to criticise its validity both internally (i.e. with regard to its normative conclusion based on its premises) and externally (i.e. with regard to the argument’s underlying assumptions and its lack of contextualisation). As I will argue, the duty to conserve one’s forests is only a particular instantiation of a wider, more general duty to contribute towards global climate justice for which the context in which one operates (e.g. whether other agents are complying with their duties of global climate justice or not) matters significantly.     

Mental Health Counseling in the Islamic Republic of Iran: A Marriage of Religion,Science, and Practice

This article explores the state of mental health counseling in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Topics that are addressed include training of clinicians, theoretical developments in Islamic‐based theories of psychology, and issues related to the practice of counseling. Counseling issues in the Islamic Republic of Iran are influenced by its unique culture and history. A discussion of issues related to the prevalence and treatment of addiction is included.     

圆佛教基本教理浅析

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“Visible colleges” and archives in Europe: First impressions

European scholarship tends to be organized around “visible colleges” comprising institutes, libraries, and archives. These units are described on the basis of a trip to Great Britain, Scotland, the German Deomcratic Republic, and the Federal Republic of Germany. Addresses and sources for planning research abroad are also given.     

History of modern psychology in Germany1 in 19th‐ and 20th‐century thought and society

This entry surveys the characteristics, stages, and lines of development of modern psychology as an empirical psychology in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries. These developments occurred in the context of very different political periods in German history, during a time span extending from the period of the Restoration after the Vienna Congress of 1814/15 to the present‐day “Berlin Republic”. At the centre lies the question of continuities and discontinuities in the evolution of psychology during the profound sociocultural changes that marked the politically heterogeneous developmental phases of German history. The stages are indicated by headings treating the development of psychology during the period of Restoration after 1814/15, in the German Empire (1871–1918), in the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), during the time of National Socialism (1933–45), in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, 1949–1990), in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, 1949–1990), and in united Germany after 1990. The result will be to demonstrate how psychology in 19th‐ and 20th‐century Germany developed from modest beginnings into a richly elaborated scientific field with diverse institutions and a differentiated professional structure. The fate of individual German psychologists during this time can be only tangentially considered.     

Family Therapy in the Heart of Europe

The article introduces the situation of family therapy and systemic practice in the Czech Republic. It gives an overview of family therapy history and development in the country. Both historical and political background including major transformation events in the last couple of decades are presented so as to explain the contextual frame for major challenges, which Czech family and systemic therapists have been facing in this part of Europe. The current situation of family therapy in the Czech Republic is described in detail with regard to leading figures, major schools, training issues, international exchange and clinical practice in various settings.     

Positive discipline,harsh physical discipline,physical discipline and psychological aggression in five Caribbean countries: Associations with preschoolers' early literacy skills

Physical punishment has received worldwide attention because of its negative impact on children's cognitive and social development and its implications for children's rights. Using UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys 4 and 5 data, we assessed the associations between positive discipline, harsh physical punishment, physical punishment and psychological aggression and preschoolers' literacy skills in 5628 preschool‐aged children and their caregivers in the developing nations of Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica and Suriname. Caregivers across countries used high levels of explanations and psychological aggression. There were significant country differences in the use of the four disciplinary practices. In the Dominican Republic and Guyana, physical punishment had negative associations with children's literacy skills, and in the Dominican Republic, positive discipline had a positive association with children's literacy skills. Findings are discussed with respect to the negative consequences of harsh disciplinary practices on preschoolers' early literacy skills in the developing world.     

Dimensions of loneliness among Canadian and Czech youth: A cross-national study

The present study examined the influence of cultural background on the causes of adolescents' loneliness. Eighty Canadian youth and 168 adolescents from the Czech Republic formed the participants pool. They answered a thirty-item yes/ no questionnaire. The questionnaire is composed of five subscales, namely: Personal Inadequacies, Developmental Deficits, Unfulfilling Intimate Relationships, Relocation/Significant Separations, and Social Marginality. Results revealed a mixed pattern of differences between the two cultures. Canadian youth had lower mean scores on Personal Inadequacies and Developmental Deficits, but scored higher on Social Marginality. Gender differences within and between the cultures were also examined. Both genders in the Czech Republic had higher mean scores than their Canadian counterparts.     

Dimensions of loneliness among Canadian and Czech youth: A cross-national study

The present study examined the influence of cultural background on the causes of adolescents' loneliness. Eighty Canadian youth and 168 adolescents from the Czech Republic formed the participants pool. They answered a thirty-item yes/ no questionnaire. The questionnaire is composed of five subscales, namely: Personal Inadequacies, Developmental Deficits, Unfulfilling Intimate Relationships, Relocation/Significant Separations, and Social Marginality. Results revealed a mixed pattern of differences between the two cultures. Canadian youth had lower mean scores on Personal Inadequacies and Developmental Deficits, but scored higher on Social Marginality. Gender differences within and between the cultures were also examined. Both genders in the Czech Republic had higher mean scores than their Canadian counterparts.     

Guidance and Counseling Services in the Federal Republic of Germany

This article presents an overview of the development, implementation, and struggle to maintain guidance and counseling services at various levels within the Federal Republic of Germany.     

Virtue Without Gender in Socrates

In this paper I argue that Socrates believed that there is no distinction between man's virtue and woman's virtue and that there is no difference in the achievement of virtue between men and women. My analysis shows Plato's position on the moral equality of guardian women and men in the Republic to be a continuation of the Socratic position of nongendered virtue. I thus disagree with Spelman's recent interpretation of the Republic on this issue.     

Publishing as an Indicator of Scientific Research Quality and Ethics: The Case of Law Journals from Moldova

Science and Engineering Ethics - This paper analyses the way articles are published in scientific journals in the field of law in the Republic of Moldova, including an experiment with a previously...     

Fluctuating emotions: relating emotional variability and job satisfaction

This study focuses on the relation between emotional variability and job satisfaction and examines emotional exhaustion as a potential explanation for why variability may result in lower satisfaction. In addition, this study examines organizational identification as a potential moderator of the relation between emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. A total of 244 nonacademic staff in two universities in Ecuador responded to the surveys. The results demonstrated that emotional exhaustion mediated the relation between emotional variability and job satisfaction and that organizational identification weakened the negative relation between emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. This research is among the first to investigate emotional variability in organizations and examine the role of organizational identification in buffering the negative effect of emotional variability.