Effects of Association Instruction on Fourth Graders' Poetic Creativity in Taiwan

In this study, we used a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest mixed design to assess the effect of association instruction on students' poetic creativity. Creativity was judged using the consensual assessment technique. A total of 64 fourth-grade students from two intact classes participated in the study. One class was assigned to the experimental group (n = 34) and the other to the control group (n = 30). Weekly for 5 weeks, the experimental group received 30 minutes of instruction in forming associations, and then each student composed a Chinese free verse based on a given association theme. The control group received traditional writing lectures prior to composing Chinese free verses. Three groups of judges assessed the completed poems (a total of 320 poems), evaluating their creativity on 14 dimensions. The judges included three expert teachers with at least 10 years of teaching experience in Chinese, three teachers who had won awards in nationwide Chinese writing contests, and three professors of children's literature; the overall inter-rater reliability was .85. The experimental group showed greater creativity compared to the control group in number association (d = 1.09), picture association (d = 0.62), and free association (d = 1.07). This article also discusses how to select judges, assessment criteria for children's poetic creativity, and techniques for association instruction to enhance children's poetic creativity.     

Perception of Creativity and Game Intelligence in Soccer

A questionnaire was used to investigate the perception of creativity and game intelligence of coaches (n = 34, mean age 28.6 with an average of 14.3 years of experience) and players (n = 118, belonging to the ranks U-15 and U-19). Analyses indicated that there were statistically significant differences in most creative concepts inherent in the perception of creativity on the part of coaches. The results for the perception of the players showed that there were statistically significant differences in the importance attached to creativity and game intelligence. Apparently coaches mostly associate the creativity in soccer to a kind of magical thinking, adding also the game intelligence to the ability of rationality, problem solving, and decision. There was a strong correlation between creativity and game intelligence for the players.     

Teachers’ Perceptions of Creativity in the Classroom

Teachers’ implicit understandings of creativity may not align with current research-based understanding of creativity and characteristics associated with creative students. Even teachers who say they value creativity may actually find creative characteristics undesirable. Participating teachers (n = 371) rated student characteristics on a scale of very undesirable to very desirable. Participants also completed a brief self-assessment of personal creativity and rank-ordered a set of educational objectives based on what they perceived as most important. Results indicated that teachers found student characteristics associated with creativity less desirable than those characteristics contraindicative to creativity (d = 2.70). No effects were found based on the grade level (d = 0.07) and small effects were found for subjects taught (η² = 0.023). Similarly, no effects were found for the teachers’ level of experience (η² = 0.004) or age (η² = 0.002). Teachers’ level of personal creativity was related (r = .248) to how desirable they rated student characteristics associated with creativity, but the importance with which teachers ranked creative thinking had small effects (η² = 0.04) on how desirable they found characteristics associated with creativity. These results generally confirm previous studies and suggest that teachers’ grade level, subject, experience, and age have no effect on their perception of creative characteristics. However, some evidence suggests that teachers who are more creative find student characteristics associated with creativity more desirable in class.     

Trajectories of Religious/Spiritual Struggles Between Years 1 and 2 of College: The Predictive Role of Religious Belief Salience

Religious and spiritual struggles involve tensions, conflicts, and strains pertaining to religious and spiritual life. This research examined whether broad measures of religiousness predicted differences in the development and resolution of struggles over 1 year in a sample of undergraduates (N = 451) from three U.S. universities: secular public (n = 146), secular private (n = 126), and faith-based Christian (n = 179). Latent class growth analyses indicated 4 distinct trajectories of change in struggles. One group reported consistently low levels of struggles (n = 298, 66% of total sample); another developed struggles over a 1-year period (n = 100, 22%); a third reported high levels of struggles during both years (n = 19, 4%); and the final group reported resolving their struggles over 1 year (n = 34, 8%). Penalized multinomial logistic regressions indicated that religious belief salience predicted the development of struggles longitudinally. We discuss the implications of these findings.     

A Self-Plagiarism Intervention for Doctoral Students: A Qualitative Pilot Study

This purpose of this qualitative study was to gather detailed information about student perceptions of self-plagiarism and the perceived effectiveness of a brief self-plagiarism video tutorial. Semi-structured interviews (n = 7) were conducted and health sciences doctoral students were queried regarding their knowledge and perceptions of self- plagiarism. The population for this study was new doctoral students, as well as students who had committed self-plagiarism during the semester. Overall, participants reported a specific self-plagiarism intervention was more helpful in preventing self- plagiarism than a traditional plagiarism intervention and that the intervention should be included in initial program orientation. Overwhelmingly, students did not believe self- plagiarism was a serious academic offense and think they own their intellectual property and unpublished works.     

To fail psychotherapy training: Students’ and supervisors’ perspectives on the supervisory relationship

Previous research showed that supervision during psychotherapy training sometimes includes negative alliance and harmful events. The aim of this study was to investigate how such events were related to failing psychotherapy training. Interviews were made with informants from two separate samples: psychotherapy students who had failed training (n = 6) and supervisors with experience from failing students (n = 6). The interviews were analyzed separately for the two samples with inductive thematic analysis and then compared. The core category for students (‘Paradoxical response’) indicated that they experienced their supervisors as either demanding too much or nothing at all. The core category for supervisors (‘Balancing contradictory demands’) indicated that they wanted to fail students who did not live up to expectations but were pressured by training institutes to let them pass. Both students and supervisors experienced distress but it seemed that they were not fully aware of each other’s vulnerability. The results suggest that a weak supervisory alliance and harmful events may contribute to student failures, independently of students’ actual suitability for psychotherapy.     

Impact of educational intervention on willingness-to-pay for suicide prevention: a quasi-experimental study among university students in Japan

Many individuals show negative attitudes toward the use of taxes for suicide prevention. Activities that enhance knowledge and awareness of suicide and suicide prevention may increase willingness to pay (WTP) for suicide prevention. WTP is the amount that a consumer will pay for a product or service. The present study examined the influence of educational activities on enhancing knowledge and awareness of suicide and its prevention on WTP. We conducted a quasi-experimental study to examine the influence of lectures on suicide by comparing the amount of change in WTP between two groups over the same period: an intervention group (n = 92) comprising students who participated in the lectures and a control group (n = 128) comprising general university students recruited through an Internet-based survey. A t-test showed that the amount of change was significantly larger in the intervention group (t (152.31) = 2.25, p = .026). Ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that increased WTP was significantly correlated with an annual household income of JPY 4–6 million or higher. It may be appropriate to conclude that participation in lectures about suicide is effective in increasing WTP for suicide prevention.     

Acute Aerobic Exercise Enhances Students’ Creativity

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an aerobics games class on creativity in children during the school day. Participants were 96 students (age = 9.84 ± 1.12 years), 48 girls and 48 boys. The students were randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG, n = 48) or the control group (CG, n = 48). The Prueba de Imaginación Creativa-Niños (PIC-N) test was employed to assess narrative and graphic creativity. The EG took part in an aerobic games session lasting 45 min; the CG did not take part in a physical education class on that school day. As for group × time interaction, the EG experienced significant improvements in all creativity variables except in graphic originality, graphic titles, and graphic details. The CG did not improve any creativity variables. The findings suggest that acute aerobic exercise can enhance students’ creativity, which could be important for academic achievement.     

Using Detect, Practice, and Repair (DPR) to Differentiate and Individualize Math Fact Instruction in a Class-Wide Setting

A multiple baseline design was used across probe sets to evaluate the effect of detect, practice, and repair (DPR) on the math fact fluency rates of a third-grade class. DPR was applied with a large group (n = 11) selected from an intact class (n = 17) in a manner that allowed each student to work on specific problems from a specific basic fact operation (i.e., subtraction, multiplication, or division) based on a daily assessment of their instructional needs. Prior to the implementation of DPR, students were computing an average of 18.4 digits correct per minute (DCPM). After using DPR for 11 sessions, students were computing an average of 31.2 DCPM. This 12.8 DCPM increase over 36 problems required approximately 132 min (12 min per session). Discussion focuses on the need for and challenges associated with developing intervention strategies and procedures that efficiently increase student skills at the class-wide level, with an emphasis on simultaneously meeting the needs of both high and low achievers by differentiating instruction.     

Naming speed as a predictive diagnostic measure in reading and attentional problems

This study aimed to describe and compare naming speed abilities in children diagnosed with either Reading Learning Difficulties (RLD) or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or comorbidity for both (ADHD+RLD). To examine the explanatory power of naming speed and ADHD symptomatology in predicting group associations (while controlling for gender and age), the “Rapid Automatized Naming and Rapid Alternating Stimulus Tests” (RAN/RAS) were utilized. A sample of 101 children (age range = 5–16 years) was divided into four groups: RLD (n = 14), ADHD (n = 28), comorbid (n = 19), and control (n = 40). There were statistically significant differences in RAN/RAS results among the diagnostic groups. Moreover, discriminant analysis revealed that naming speed tasks significantly predicted reading and attentional problems, especially at earlier ages. These results demonstrate the potential usefulness of RAN/RAS in the diagnosis of reading and attentional problems, particularly if the children are aged from 5 to 9.     

Brief report: Neurocognitive functioning in adolescents following childhood maltreatment and evidence for underlying planning & organizational deficits

Children and adolescents with a history of childhood maltreatment are at risk for a host of psychiatric conditions, although the underlying neurocognitive functioning of these individuals remains largely understudied. This study examined the neurocognitive functioning of childhood maltreatment victims in an adolescent psychiatric inpatient setting. The sample consisted of adolescent inpatients (ages 13–19) that completed intellectual testing as part of a neuropsychological/psychological assessment during hospitalization (n = 39). The sample was grouped based on childhood maltreatment history with one group categorized by maltreatment history (n = 15) and the other group characterized by no maltreatment history (n = 24). Analyses revealed statistically significant differences (p < .01) between maltreatment groups on the majority of assessed domains. When controlling for intelligence, only performance differences on the RCFT remained. RCFT differences remained after controlling for the influence of visual-motor and visual-perceptual/visual-spatial functioning, highlighting the influence of organizational and planning difficulties in those individuals with maltreatment history. Group differences in the frequency of impaired performance for neuropsychological tasks were largest (p < .001) for FSIQ and RCFT. Compromised neurocognitive functioning may negatively contribute to the clinical presentation of this population, highlighting the importance of the child neuropsychologist in the effective treatment of children and adolescents with a history of childhood maltreatment.     

VERB™ Summer Scorecard: Findings from a Multi-level Community-based Physical Activity Intervention for Tweens

The benefits of physical activity for adolescents are well established. Multi-level interventions may be especially effective in establishing and sustaining health-enhancing behaviors. This study explored the influences of a multi-level community intervention aimed at increasing physical activity among tweens (youth 9–13). Two Florida school districts far apart served as intervention and comparison sites in a quasi-experimental post-test design. Youth in grades 5 through 8 in the intervention community (n = 1,253) and comparison community (n = 866) completed an anonymous post-intervention survey. An intent-to-treat analysis did not show any statistically significant group differences for the physical activity outcomes examined. However, a subset analysis revealed that students who reported participating in the intervention were more likely to be physically active than youth in the comparison group, as well as youth in the intervention community who reported not participating. Participating in the intervention was significantly related to meeting recommendations for vigorous physical activity (OR = 2.08, P = 0.0259), being physically active on weekends (OR = 1.84, P = 0.0017), and reporting more days of trying a new game or sport (OR = 1.49, P = 0.046) after controlling for grade, gender, race/ethnicity, and SES. These findings support the efficacy of multi-level interventions to create effective health behavior change, especially when linkages among community, media, schools, and the home are present.     

Addressing the Challenges Faced by Early Adolescents: A Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Benefits of Peer Support

In this article, we describe a mixed-methods study used to examine the effectiveness of a widely-used peer support program designed to facilitate the transition to adolescence and high school by enhancing self-concept and other desirable outcomes. For the quantitative component, a longitudinal design was employed (930 Grade 7 students, 3 schools, 2 years), with control group and baseline (i.e., pre-program) data against which to compare the effects. Using a multilevel approach, the results provide evidence to suggest that the program was largely successful in achieving its aims of enhancing students’ school self-concept, school citizenship, sense of self and possibility, connectedness, and resourcefulness. A sub-sample of students from the experimental group participated in the qualitative component, which included open-ended survey results (n = 408 Grade 7 students, n = 75 peer support leaders) and focus groups (n = 119 Grade 7 students, n = 44 peer support leaders) to identify students’ personal perspectives of the program. The qualitative results confirmed the quantitative findings that the program has important benefits for Grade 7 students and provided rich and valuable insights into students’ views of the intervention. The findings of this research have important implications and suggest that the provision of peer support has the potential to a make significant contribution to schools’ efforts to orchestrate positive outcomes for adolescents.     

Smaller splenium in children with nonverbal learning disability compared to controls,high-functioning autism and ADHD

The current study investigated morphological differences in the corpus callosum in children ages 8 to 18 years old with nonverbal learning disability (NLD; n = 19), high-functioning autism (HFA; n = 23), predominantly inattentive ADHD (ADHD:PI; n = 23), and combined type ADHD (ADHD:C; n = 25), as well as those demonstrating typical development (n = 57). Midsagittal area of the corpus callosum and five midsagittal anterior-to-posterior corpus callosum segments were examined using magnetic resonance imaging. Controlling for midsagittal brain area and age, no group differences were found for total corpus callosum area. This finding indicates that higher functioning children on the autistic spectrum do not have smaller corpus callosi as has been found in previous research with heterogeneous samples. Following segmentation of the corpus callosum, the NLD group was observed to have significantly smaller splenia compared to all other groups. Smaller splenia in the NLD group was associated with lower WASI PIQ scores but not WASI VIQ scores. Children with HFA were observed to have larger midbody areas than children with NLD and neurotypically developing children. Children with HFA and NLD demonstrated behavioral symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity similar to the ADHD groups indicating that corpus callosum differences seen in the NLD and HFA groups are not related to these behaviors.     

Newly diagnosed lung cancer patients’ preferences for and beliefs about physical activity prior to chemotherapy

Physical activity has been found to have a number of benefits for lung cancer patients yet very little information is available concerning physical activity beliefs and preferences for this population. The purpose of the study was to explore physical activity programming and counseling preferences and beliefs about physical activity in newly diagnosed lung cancer patients scheduled to receive chemotherapy. A total of 43 new diagnosed lung cancer patients completed a researcher-administered survey prior to commencing chemotherapy. Results indicated that only 7 participants (17%) reported meeting public health recommendations for physical activity yet the majority of participants (n = 28) indicated interest or possible interest in physical activity counseling. Many participants also indicated interest or possible interest in an exercise program (n = 29) for lung cancer survivors, preferring it to start during chemotherapy (n = 20), for it to be home based (n = 21), and moderate in intensity (n = 22). The most common behavioral belief (advantage) of physical activity was to build/maintain strength (n = 26) and the most common control belief (barrier) was fatigue (n = 11). These data suggest that physical activity counseling and programming may be well received by newly diagnosed lung cancer patients. Information about physical activity and programming preferences and beliefs from this study may be useful for the design of optimal physical activity interventions for lung cancer patients.     

Study of Spiritual Intelligence and Adjustment Among Arts and Science College Students

A study to evaluate the relationship between the spiritual intelligence and adjustment among the college students was conducted on a sample of 250 students in six various colleges of Tuticorin district, Tamil Nadu, India. Gender, religion, community, major subject, educational qualification of father and mother, student locality, college type, father and mother’s occupation and monthly family income (n = 11 variables) were chosen for the study. Test of significance for spiritual intelligence and adjustment was studied and found them nonsignificant except student locality, found to be significant. Two valid and reliable instruments were used to assess student’s spiritual intelligence and adjustment. Correlation and Chi-square analysis using structural equation model were used to analyze these data. Correlation analysis showed significant relationship between the variables among the college students (n = 250). Chi-square analysis of association between adjustments of college students showed that most variables are nonsignificant unlike father’s educational qualification and mother’s occupation. The results disclosed the significant positive relationship with spiritual intelligence and adjustment among adolescents.     

Relationships between identity domains and life satisfaction in minority and majority youth in Albania,Bulgaria, Czech Republic,Kosovo, and Romania

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between identity domains (educational and relational identity) and life satisfaction in a cross-national perspective, by targeting minority (Roma) and majority youth in Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Kosovo, and Romania. Based on the three-factor identity formation model, we investigated the interplay between three identity processes (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment) and life satisfaction. Participants were 1860 adolescents aged 12–19 years from Albania (n = 350), Bulgaria (n = 398), the Czech Republic (n = 293), Kosovo (n = 542), and Romania (n = 277). They completed self-reports of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS) and the Life Satisfaction Scale (SWLS). We adopted a structural equation modelling approach to test (a) measurement invariance of identity and life satisfaction models across groups and (b) associations between identity domains (educational and relational) and life satisfaction. Findings indicated measurement invariance for identity and life satisfaction measures across cultural groups. In the total sample, life satisfaction was consistently associated with high commitment, high in-depth exploration, and low reconsideration of commitment in the educational identity domain. Sample-specific associations highlighted important cultural differences. Implications of these findings for identity and well-being in minority and mainstream youth across the countries under investigation are discussed.     

Resource diary: A positive writing intervention for promoting well-being and preventing depression in adolescence

Depression in adolescence is a widespread problem and leads to extensive psychosocial impairments. For these reason, a resource diary has been developed as a four-week positive writing intervention. The aims of this intervention were to enhance well-being, to promote emotion regulation and resource realization, as well as to prevent symptoms of depression in adolescence. Seventy-seven students of 8th form were randomized either to a positive writing group (n = 38) or to a neutral writing group (n = 39). At the post-test, the positive writing group showed a lower dysphoric mood, fewer worries and less rumination in comparison with the neutral writing group. No effects on resource realization were detected. This study provides the first evidence of the beneficial effects of positive writing on indicators of well-being and depressive symptoms. In conclusion, the resource diary represents an economical intervention for preventing depression in adolescence.     

The effect of contemplation and meditation on ‘great compassion’ on the psychological well-being of adolescents

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of contemplation and meditation (CM) training, with a focus on developing great compassion, on the psychological well-being (PWB) of adolescents. Participants (N = 51, mean age = 15.8) were randomly allocated to either CM training (n = 26) or a comparison group (n = 25). Both groups completed measures of PWB before and after the intervention. Adolescents who received CM training showed statistically significant increases in environmental mastery and personal growth, as well as decreased negative affect compared to the comparison group. Girls in the experimental group also showed a significant decrease in negative affect compared with boys in the experimental group. Both the experimental and comparison groups demonstrated increased life satisfaction, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, autonomy, and purpose in life. There were no changes in positive affect and positive relations with others for both groups.     

Work-anxiety-coping intervention improves work-coping perception while a recreational intervention leads to deterioration: Results from a randomized controlled trial

Work-anxieties are costly and need early intervention. The perception of being able to cope with work is a basic requirement for work ability. This randomized controlled trial investigates whether a cognitive behavioural, work-anxiety-coping group (WAG) intervention leads to better work-coping perception than an unspecific recreational group (RG). Heterogeneous people in medical rehabilitation, who were due to return to work, were interviewed concerning their work-anxieties, and either randomly assigned to a WAG (n = 85) or a RG (n = 95). The participants (with an average of 50 years old [range 23–64]; 51% women; 70% workers or employees, 25% academics, 5% unskilled) followed the group intervention for four or six sessions. The perceived work-coping was assessed by self-rating (Inventory for Job-Coping and Return Intention JoCoRi) after each group session. Although participants had a slight temporary decrease in work-coping after group session two (from M₁ = 2.47 to M₂ = 2.28, d_Cohen = ?.22), the WAG led to the improvement of perceived work-coping over the intervention course (from M₁ = 2.47 to M₆ = 2.65, d_Cohen = .18). In contrast, participants from the RG reported lower work-coping after six group sessions (from M₁ = 2.26 to M₆ = 2.02, d_Cohen = ?.18). It is considered that people with work-anxieties need training in work-coping. By focusing on recreation only, this may lead to deterioration of work-coping. Indeed, intervention designers should be aware of temporary deterioration (side effects) when confronting participants with work-coping.