Resilience and Protective Factors in Adolescence: An Autobiographical Perspective From Disadvantaged Youth

This article focuses on the development of adolescent resilience and protective factors within a sample of 86 inner-city high school students in Chicago. Resilience was considered present when (a) children living in conditions of risk (b) show better-than-predicted outcomes (c) presumably due to some intervening process. Conditions (a) and (b) were met using quantitative comparisons. Condition (c), the intervening process, was examined using autobiographical essays to begin to understand protective factors youth consider salient in overcoming adversity. Internal attributes such as perseverance, determination, and having the awareness to learn from the risk-attrition process surfaced in the content analyses. Motivational support from family members and teachers was also highly valued for promoting successful adjustment.     

Educational Expectations and School Achievement of Urban African American Children

The mechanisms used to convey parents' and teachers' educational expectations for the academic achievement of low-income African American children were explored using data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study. A total of 712 children were studied. A model of mediated effects was used to test the processes of influence from parents' and teachers' expectations to sixth-grade outcomes. Children's perceptions of expectations were hypothesized to mediate the effect of expectations to school outcomes. Study findings revealed that these perceptions only partially mediated the effects of expectations to sixth-grade reading and math outcomes, yet added unique independent variance to these outcomes. Prior achievement emerged as a powerful mediator of the effects of early educational intervention and sociodemographic variables to sixth-grade outcomes. These findings suggest a need to further investigate the processes of communicating parent and teacher expectations.     

The Place of Rationality in Stoicism and REBT

In this paper we explore parallels between Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and the applications of Stoic philosophy. We look especially at the foundations of the philosophy in Chrysippus, rather than just at the writings of the better known Roman Stoics. Similarities are found against very different historical backgrounds, although there are also important differences. Our investigation highlights some peculiarly modern aspects of Ellis's philosophy, which may be inessential to the practice of REBT. At the same time REBT provides a model for interpreting Stoic practices to modern audiences.     

The Effects of "Mandatory Volunteerism" on Intentions to Volunteer

Abstract—With the widespread emergence of required community-service programs comes a new opportunity to examine the effects of requirements on future behavioral intentions. To investigate the consequences of such "mandatory volunteerism" programs, we followed students who were required to volunteer in order to graduate from college. Results demonstrated that stronger perceptions of external control eliminated an otherwise positive relation between prior volunteer experience and future intentions to volunteer. A second study experimentally compared mandates and choices to serve and included a premeasured assessment of whether students felt external control was necessary to get them to volunteer. After being required or choosing to serve, students reported their future intentions. Students who initially felt it unlikely that they would freely volunteer had significantly lower intentions after being required to serve than after being given a choice. Those who initially felt more likely to freely volunteer were relatively unaffected by a mandate to serve as compared with a choice. Theoretical and practical implications for understanding the effects of requirements and constraints on intentions and behavior are discussed.     

The Mystery Spot Illusion and its Relation to Other Visual Illusions

Observations at The Mystery Spot, a roadside attraction near Santa Cruz, California, suggest intriguing visual illusions based on tilt-induced effects. Specifically, a tilted spatial background at The Mystery Spot induced misperceptions of the orientation of the cardinal axes (i.e., true horizontal and vertical), which then led to illusions in the perceived height of twoindividuals. This illusion was assessed at The Mystery Spot and replicated in the laboratory using pictorial and lined displays rotated in the picture plane. These findings are described in terms of the orientation framing theory, which suggests that these and other tilt-induced illusions (e.g., Ponzo illusion, Zöllner illusion) can be attributed to distorted frames of reference.     

Potential Bone-Marrow Donors and Their Spouses: The Effects of Volunteerism on Distress Levels1

The current study sought to provide a better understanding of the reactions of bone-marrow volunteers to the possibility of donating by examining these volunteers in the context of their closest relationships. Using Tesser's (1988) self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model as a guide, we examined the influence of spouses who are also volunteers on each member of the couple's distress levels and on the marrow volunteer's ambivalence about donating. We also examined the independent effects of known risk factors for donation-related distress and the combined effects of spouse volunteer status and these risk factors on distress levels. Questionnaire data were collected from 278 couples selected from 39 bone-marrow donor centers. Results demonstrated that when spouses of potential donors were engaged in any type of volunteer activity, members of the couple felt greater anxiety than when spouses were not volunteers. Additionally, other variables were found to have a conjoint effect with spouse volunteer status on volunteer and spouse anxiety levels.     

Form and Matter in Kantian Political Philosophy: A Reply

This paper responds briefly to four reviews of Force and Freedom. Valentini and Sangiovanni criticize what they see as the excessive formalism of the Kantian enterprise, contending that the Kantian project is circular, because it defines rights and freedom together, and that this circularity renders it unable to say anything determinate about appropriate restrictions and permissions. I show that the appearance of circularity arises from a misconstrual of the Kantian idea of a right. Properly understood, Kantian rights are partially indeterminate, but not in a way that causes problems for the account. Ronzoni and Williams seek to broaden the reach of public right, arguing that Kant's abstract approach overlooks pressing questions of social and political life, (Ronzoni) and that public right should allow for democratic deliberation about purposes that go beyond the requirement that a state provide a rightful condition for its members (Williams). I argue that the Kantian view makes room for these factors, but that each must be understood in relation to the formal constraints of right.     

Body image, shape, and volumetric assessments using 3D whole body laser scanning and 2D digital photography in females with a diagnosed eating disorder: preliminary novel findings

We piloted three-dimensional (3D) body scanning in eating disorder (ED) patients. Assessments of 22 ED patients (including nine anorexia nervosa (AN) patients, 12 bulimia nervosa (BN) patients, and one patient with eating disorder not otherwise specified) and 22 matched controls are presented. Volunteers underwent visual screening, two-dimensional (2D) digital photography to assess perception and dissatisfaction (via computerized image distortion), and adjunctive 3D full-body scanning. Patients and controls perceived themselves as bigger than their true shape (except in the chest region for controls and anorexia patients). All participants wished to be smaller across all body regions. Patients had poorer veridical perception and greater dissatisfaction than controls. Perception was generally poorer and dissatisfaction greater in bulimia compared with anorexia patients. 3D-volume:2D-area relationships showed that anorexia cases had least tissue on the torso and most on the arms and legs relative to frontal area. The engagement of patients with the scanning process suggests a validation study is viable. This would enable mental constructs of body image to be aligned with segmental volume of body areas, overcoming limitations, and errors associated with 2D instruments restricted to frontal (coronal) shapes. These novel data could inform the design of clinical trials in adjunctive treatments for eating disorders.