Economic Disadvantage in Complex Family Systems: Expansion of Family Stress Models

Economic disadvantage is associated with multiple risks to early socioemotional development. This article reviews research regarding family stress frameworks to model the pathways from economic disadvantage to negative child outcomes via family processes. Future research in this area should expand definitions of family and household to incorporate diversity and instability. This expansion would be particularly relevant for research among low-income ethnic minority families and families with young children. This line of research would highlight specific pathways to target to prevent the onset of early parental and child dysfunction.     

Belief dependence: How do the numbers count?

Philosophical Studies - This paper is about how to aggregate outside opinion. If two experts are on one side of an issue, while three experts are on the other side, what should a non-expert...     

Pilot Effectiveness of a Stress Management Program for Sheltered Homeless Adults With Mental Illness: A Two-Group Controlled Study

This study examined the effectiveness of a stress management intervention for sheltered homeless adults with mental illness. Twelve intervention participants received a 6-week, 1-hour psychoeducation group combined with a 20-minute meditation. Eleven matched pairs did not receive intervention and served as controls. At 1 week post study, intervention participants reported a statistically significant reduction in perceived stress (Z=??2.285, p < .02, d=??1.176) compared to controls. No differences were found at 1 week post study between intervention and control participants on reported quality of life. This study provides pilot data on the effectiveness of an occupation-based stress management program for sheltered homeless adults and warrants further study.     

TAOISM AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Abstract. The seemingly disparate systems of philosophical Taoism and modern biological science are compared. A surprising degree of similarity is found in their views on death, reversion (cyclicity of phenomena), complementary interactions of dichotomous systems, and the place of humans in the universe. The thesis is advanced that these similarities arise quite naturally, since both systems base their knowledge upon objective observation of natural phenomena. Substantial differences between the two systems are recognized and examined regarding verbal argument, machinery, and experimentation. The Taoists' relationship to Chinese alchemy and the biologists' to technology are claimed to mitigate their attitudes toward experimentation.     

An Exploration of Moral Rebelliousness with Adolescents and Young Adults

The present pair of studies investigated the assessment, correlates, and evaluation of “moral rebels” who follow their own moral convictions despite social pressure to comply. In Study 1, self, peer, and teacher ratings of adolescents' tendencies to be a moral rebel were positively intercorrelated. In Study 2, young adults' tendencies to be a moral rebel were associated with relatively high self-esteem scores and relatively low willingness to engage in minor moral violations and need to belong scores. Both adolescents and young adults reported relatively favorable attitudes toward a morally rebellious peer, especially when they themselves had heightened ratings on this characteristic.     

Causal decision theory

On the dominant view of vagueness, if it is vague whether Harry is bald, then it is unsettled, not merely epistemically, but metaphysically, whether Harry is bald. In other words, vagueness is a type of indeterminacy. On the standard alternative, vagueness is a type of ignorance: if it is vague whether Harry is bald, then, even though it is metaphysically settled whether Harry is bald, we cannot know whether Harry is bald. On my view, vagueness is neither a type of indeterminacy nor a type of ignorance. Rather, it is sui generis.     

Assessing the Key to Effective Coaching in Parent–Child Interaction Therapy: The Therapist-Parent Interaction Coding System

This paper describes the initial evaluation of the Therapist-Parent Interaction Coding System (TPICS), a measure of in vivo therapist coaching for the evidence-based behavioral parent training intervention, parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT). Sixty-one video-recorded treatment sessions were coded with the TPICS to investigate (1) the variety of coaching techniques PCIT therapists use in the early stage of treatment, (2) whether parent skill-level guides a therapist’s coaching style and frequency, and (3) whether coaching mediates changes in parents’ skill levels from one session to the next. Results found that the TPICS captured a range of coaching techniques, and that parent skill-level prior to coaching did relate to therapists’ use of in vivo feedback. Therapists’ responsive coaching (e.g., praise to parents) was a partial mediator of change in parenting behavior from one session to the next for specific child-centered parenting skills; whereas directive coaching (e.g., modeling) did not relate to change. The TPICS demonstrates promise as a measure of coaching during PCIT with good reliability scores and initial evidence of construct validity.