Social Capital and Somali Families in Australia

This paper focuses on the hopes that Somalis who came to Melbourne as refugees have for their children’s education. It analyses their perceptions of the Somali and Australian education systems and the implications of these for their family’s ability to adapt and cope with Australian life. In doing so, it also shows how they use education to reconstruct their world as part of resettlement in Australia. This paper argues that specific programmes and activities that bring parents and teachers together around their child’s education can build bridging social capital, contributes to optimism about the future and sets the stage for positive agency at a time when Somali families are coping with trauma, loss and disconnection in an unfamiliar society.     

Anticipation and Source-Monitoring Errors: Children's Memory for Collaborative Activities

When asked to remember who contributed what to the completion of shared, goal-directed activities, children exhibit a bias to over-attribute contributions to themselves, recoding partners' actions as their own. The goals of the 3 experiments reported here were to explore task characteristics that might influence these recoding processes, and as a result, reveal more about them. The timing of the child's contributions in relation to the partner's actions was found to be crucial for recoding (Experiments 1 and 3). The availability of a model outcome affects recoding as well (Experiment 2), but appears not to be a prerequisite. In the absence of a physical outcome, recoding is still observed (Experiment 3). Anticipation of the partner's actions appears to account for all of these effects. Findings have implications for understanding children's source monitoring abilities as well as for understanding internalization processes thought to support collaborative learning.     

Negative valence can evoke a liberal response bias in syllogistic reasoning

Recently, studies have demonstrated that negative valence reduces the magnitude of the belief-bias effect in syllogistic reasoning. This effect has been localized in the reasoning stage, in the form of increased deliberation on trials where validity and conclusion believability are incongruent. Here, using signal detection theory, we show that the attenuation of belief bias observed when valence was negative can also be evoked by a liberal response bias at the decision stage. Indeed, when valence was negative participants adopted a more liberal criterion for judging syllogisms as “valid,” and were overconfident in their judgments. They also displayed less sensitivity in distinguishing between valid and invalid syllogisms. Our findings dovetail with recent evidence from memory research suggesting that negative valence can evoke a liberal response bias without improving performance. Our novel contribution is the demonstration that the attenuating effect of negative valence on belief bias can take multiples routes—by influencing the decision stage as was the case here, the reasoning stage as has been demonstrated elsewhere, and potentially both stages.     

Effect of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests on Health Behaviour and Anxiety: A Survey of Consumers and Potential Consumers

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests can be purchased over the internet. Some companies claim to provide relative genetic risks for various diseases and thus encourage healthy behaviour. There are concerns that exposure to such information may actually discourage healthy behaviour or increase health anxiety. An online survey was conducted (n?=?275). Respondents were composed of individuals who had purchased a DTC genetic test and received their results (consumers, n?=?189), as well as individuals who were either awaiting test results or considering purchasing a test (potential consumers, n?=?86). Consumers were asked if their health behaviour or health anxiety had changed after receiving their results. Respondents’ current health behaviour and health anxiety were queried and compared. In total, 27.3 % of consumers claimed a change in health behaviour, all either positive or neutral, with no reported cessation of any existing health behaviour. A change in health anxiety was claimed by 24.6 % of consumers, 85.3 % of which were a reduction. Consumers had significantly better health behaviour scores than potential consumers (p?=?0.02), with no significant difference in health anxiety. This study points towards an association between receipt of DTC genetic test results and increased adoption of healthy behaviours for a minority of consumers based on self-report, with more mixed results in relation to health anxiety.     

A Developing Model Of Exploratory Psychotherapeutic Research: The Process Within The Process

A method to facilitate exploratory or discovery-oriented psychotherapy process research is presented. The personal and professional contexts out of which the need for this new approach to psychotherapy process research arose are described. Several changes in scientific values and beliefs that have occurred as a consequence of the development and use of this methodology are noted.     

A Review of Reviews Examining Neurological Processes Relevant to Impact of Parental PTSD on Military Children: Implications for Supporting Resilience

In this study, 10 recent meta-analytic and systematic review studies were synthesized on the neurological underpinnings of stress and trauma with implications for the impact of parental post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and resilience among military children. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) group guidelines and utilizing a validated quality assessment tool, this systematic review of reviews incorporated results from more than 35,971 individuals with stress exposures, effects, or disorders and healthy controls. This synthesis found support for important gene, physiology, and environment correlations and interactions that predict increased risk for stressful life events and PTSD, but not direct transmission, among military children. Future research is needed to determine if these constitute indirect pathways of intergenerational transmission in military children.     

Self and modernity on trial: A reply to cergen's saturated self

Abstract

In The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life, Kenneth Gergen (1991) suggests that the rising uncertainty ushered in by the postmodern age has resulted in the collapse of traditional conceptions of self, truth, and social life. Although we agree that meaning is a product of social construction, we believe that Gergen has overextended his case. We argue that there is a need to maintain a notion of personal agency in constructionist models of human functioning and that an epigenetic-systems model of development (Gottlieb, 1991a, 1991b) provides a useful framework for doing so. We also suggest that even though social frameworks structure people's observations, data from their worlds nevertheless constrain theory making and foster scientific progress. Finally, we question whether postmodernism has provided a convincing strategy for dealing with the conflicts that arise from competing value systems.     

Coping with Intimate Partner Violence: Battered Women's Use and Perceived Helpfulness of Emotion-Focused Coping Strategies

This study investigated intimate partner violence (IPV) victims' emotion-focused coping efforts, as well as their retrospective ratings of the perceived helpfulness of these efforts, in the context of a longitudinal study of battered women's experiences over time. Four hundred and six primarily African American, low-income battered women who had experienced IPV within the previous 12 months were interviewed. Patterns of coping use and perceived helpfulness were explored. The correlation between prevalence of use of emotion-focused coping strategies and perceived helpfulness of these strategies was examined, and results showed that the strategies used by more battered women were less helpful in dealing with feelings about abuse. Implications for clinical interventions with battered women are discussed.     

“Getting to Know”: Exploring How Urban African American Women Conceptualize Safer and Risky Sexual Behaviors

The surge in the rate of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) cases continues to be most prevalent for African American women between the ages of 18 and 29, with heterosexual transmission remaining the primary cause of HIV spread for this population. The high rates of HIV/AIDS among African American women continue to emphasize the need for understanding how members of this population conceptualize sexual safety and risk. A qualitative research study using grounded theory methods was conducted to explore how African American women define safer and risky sexual behaviors. Interviews were conducted with 14 African American women between the ages of 18 and 29. The study findings suggest that African American women’s definitions of safer and risky sexual behaviors, while in a consensual sexual relationship, are consistently influenced by sex partner type. The information garnered from this study can help inform the development of HIV prevention strategies, health education, counseling and reproductive health services that support African American women’s wellness.     

Competence, Risk, and Resilience in Military Families: Conceptual Commentary

This commentary highlights conceptual themes in the opening section of this special issue on military families in relation to a new synthesis of developmental systems theory that emerged from developmental, ecological, and family systems theory, as well as developmental psychopathology and risk/resilience frameworks. Articles in this special issue draw on these concepts to characterize and guide the burgeoning research on military families. This perspective emphasizes that multiple dynamic systems interact across levels to shape individual development, as well as the function of families and military units. Developmental timing is important for understanding how challenges of military life may impact individuals and families. Cascade effects are noted, where stress experienced by one family or service member can influence the function of other individuals or larger systems. Capacity for resilience is distributed across systems, including families and cultures, as well as resources or supports provided by military organizations to foster adaptive responses or recovery. These systems include schools and educational programs that play key roles in fostering and supporting resilience for children. Overall, developmental system concepts have considerable utility for guiding research with military families, particularly in regard to promoting resilience. Moreover, lessons learned from military families and programs may have much broader implications for many other nonmilitary children, families, and organizations that share similar goals and challenges.