The Relationship of Differentiation,Family Coping Skills,and Family Functioning with Optimism in College-Age Students

The marriage and family therapy (MFT) field would benefit from new research about positive subjective experiences, such as optimism, in order to construct and nurture strengths for developing more positive emotions. Through a better understanding of optimism, marriage and family therapists (MFTs) can explore which strategies might help families and individuals better cope with distressing emotions by building buffering strengths. In this study we address the relationship of differentiation, family coping, and family functioning to optimism. We found that differentiation, family coping, and family functioning each have a significant effect on attributional style. The results of this study also indicated that encouraging clients to take an I-position and to reframe problems, in particular, may lead to greater optimism. This study contributes to the lack of research regarding strength-based theories in the MFT field.     

Alternative settings for liberal‐conservative exchange: Examining an undergraduate dialogue course

Given the polarization of the early 21st century political atmosphere in the U.S., intergroup dialogue has emerged as a unique alternative setting, with intentions of facilitating a more productive and thoughtful citizen engagement. Although cross‐partisan dialogue efforts are underway in community contexts, they have been slower to reach academic settings. This paper is an exploratory study of our own liberal‐conservative dialogue course at the University of Illinois–the first of its kind, to our knowledge. After describing basic features of the course, we identify themes from student journals and final evaluations suggesting both dialogue benefits and challenges. Finally, we discuss the growing literature around dialogue, questions of its long‐term impact, and larger potential barriers to participation in liberal‐conservative dialogue, specifically. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semantic interference in a delayed naming task: evidence for the response exclusion hypothesis

In 2 experiments participants named pictures of common objects with superimposed distractor words. In one naming condition, the pictures and words were presented simultaneously on every trial, and participants produced the target response immediately. In the other naming condition, the presentation of the picture preceded the presentation of the distractor by 1,000 ms, and participants delayed production of their naming response until distractor word presentation. Within each naming condition, the distractor words were either semantic category coordinates of the target pictures or unrelated. Orthogonal to this manipulation of semantic relatedness, the frequency of the pictures' names was manipulated. The authors observed semantic interference effects in both the immediate and delayed naming conditions but a frequency effect only in the immediate naming condition. These data indicate that semantic interference can be observed when target picture naming latencies do not reflect the bottleneck at the level of lexical selection. In the context of other findings from the picture-word interference paradigm, the authors interpret these data as supporting the view that the semantic interference effect arises at a postlexical level of processing.     

Need for Cognition and Affective Orientation as Predictors of Sales Performance: An Investigation of Main and Interaction Effects

Two constructs—need for cognition (NFC) and affective orientation (AO)—might be helpful in explaining and ultimately predicting two measures of sales performance: a self-rated behavioral measure and an objective sales measure. Specifically, we hypothesize (1) a positive relationship between NFC and sales performance; (2) a positive relationship between AO and sales performance; and (3) a positive interaction effect between NFC and AO on sales performance. The results of this study revealed both NFC and AO correlated with self-rated behavioral performance but only NFC correlated with both performance measures; suggesting that need for cognition may be the more influential of the two for sales organizations concerned with selling behaviors as well as sales outcomes. The hypothesized interaction effect was not supported.     

A Systematic Review of the Effects of Disclosing Carrier Results Generated Through Newborn Screening

Evidence on the effects of disclosing carrier results identified through newborn screening (NBS) is needed to develop effective strategies for managing these results, and to inform debate about contradictory policies governing genetic testing in minors in the context of NBS relative to clinical care. This is likely to be even more important as technological opportunities for carrier identification through NBS increase. We report the results of a systematic review of evidence related to the generation of carrier results through NBS to summarize what is known about: (1) the outcomes associated with these results; (2) the best strategies for providing information and follow-up care to parents; and (3) the impact they have on reproductive decision-making. Our study expands the existing body of knowledge and identifies gaps in the evidence base. As key players in the management of carrier results clinically, genetic counselors are well positioned to engage in formative research and policy development in this area.     

Unrestricted composition and restricted quantification

Many of those who accept the universalist thesis that mereological composition is unrestricted also maintain that the folk typically restrict their quantifiers in such a way as to exclude strange fusions when they say things that appear to conflict with universalism. Despite its prima facie implausibility, there are powerful arguments for universalism. By contrast, there is remarkably little evidence for the thesis that strange fusions are excluded from the ordinary domain of quantification. Furthermore, this reconciliatory strategy seems hopeless when applied to the more fundamental conflict between universalism and the intuitions that tell against it.

Defining relationships: Comparing Canadians, Chinese and Indians

To examine whether cultural differences exist in defining family, friend, relative, colleague and neighbour, non-student samples were drawn from Canada, China and India. The data generated several unexpected findings. (i) The means of the relationship definitions between the Chinese and Canadians were not significantly different. The means between the Chinese and Indians were significantly different. The means between the Canadians and Indians were significantly different. (ii) Females defined their relationships more interdependently than males in the Indian and Canadian samples but not in the Chinese sample. (iii) Definitions were target specific and the order of closeness differed from group to group. (iv) In the Indian and Chinese samples, participants' age was negatively correlated with closeness in defining friends, indicating that a person's perceived closeness with friends changes over the life span. Results of past research using student samples need to be interpreted with caution.     

A diathesis-stress model of engagement in risky behaviors in Chinese adolescents

The current study examined whether the association between the occurrence of negative events and increased engagement in risky behavior is moderated by maladaptive and/or adaptive coping strategies. At time 1, 411 adolescents (ages 14–19) from Yue Yang, Hunan, completed self-report measures assessing coping strategies, engagement in risky behaviors, and the occurrence of negative events. Once a month for the subsequent 6 months, adolescents completed measures assessing engagement in risky behaviors and the occurrence of negative events. In line with our hypotheses, results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses indicated that adolescents possessing high levels of maladaptive coping strategies reported greater engagement in risky behaviors following the occurrence of negative events than adolescents possessing low levels. In contrast to our hypotheses, the association between the occurrence of negative events and increased engagement in risky behavior was not moderated by adaptive coping strategies.