Family Management of Pediatric Cancer: Links with Parenting Satisfaction and Psychological Distress

Research has long acknowledged the disruptions posed by pediatric cancer diagnosis and treatment to family life. Nonetheless, the mechanisms through which the family response influences parents’ mental health in this adverse context are not fully understood. The main goal of the present study was to examine the direct and indirect links, via parenting satisfaction, between family condition management and psychological distress of parents of children with cancer. Participants were 201 parents (86.6% mothers) of children/adolescents diagnosed with cancer who completed self‐report questionnaires assessing family condition management (family life difficulty and parental mutuality), parenting satisfaction, and psychological distress (anxiety and depression). Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed mediation model. The results showed that parenting satisfaction mediated the association between both the family condition management dimensions (family life difficulty and parental mutuality) and depression. Specifically, greater family life difficulties and lower parental mutuality were associated with lower parenting satisfaction, which, in turn, was associated with higher levels of depression. Additionally, greater family life difficulties and lower parental mutuality were directly linked to higher levels of anxiety. Multigroup analyses suggested that the model was valid across patient age groups (children vs. adolescents) and treatment status (on vs. off‐treatment). These findings reinforce the need for family‐ and parent‐based interventions in the pediatric oncology field. Interventions that target families’ difficulties and promote their resources are likely to foster parenting satisfaction and psychological adjustment.     

Ontological and epistemological reflexivity: A core skill for therapists

This paper argues that a core skill needed to be an effective therapist is to have developed an awareness of one's own ontological and epistemological positions in relation to one's work as a therapist. In the same way that researchers need to develop reflexive awareness of their assumptions about what there is to know (ontology) and how they can come to know about it (epistemology), therapists need to be aware of their fundamental assumptions about human beings and the world they live in (ontology), as well as their beliefs about how best to develop an understanding of their clients and the meaning(s) of their experiences (epistemology). Regardless of which therapeutic model is adopted, the language used to talk about (and in) therapy, the kinds of questions asked of clients and the comments/interpretations offered, all presuppose and reinforce particular versions of human being and experiencing, which are themselves not usually questioned or challenged during the course of therapy. It is essential that therapists are aware of their own fundamental assumptions about what it means to be human and that they recognise their ontological and epistemological positions as positions that they are taking (rather than perceiving them to be self‐evident truths). This is important for two reasons: (a) if clients do not share the therapist's assumptions, the therapeutic work cannot proceed and be effective; and (b) without such an awareness, therapists are at risk of unwittingly imposing their own model of the person upon the client which raises ethical issues.     

Examining the Latent Structure of Gambling Motivation and Its Relationship with Gambling Behavior in Gambling-Exposed Chinese Casino Employees

Examining why individuals engage in gambling is important in understanding the development of gambling behaviors. Numerous studies have investigated the underlying factor of gambling motivation. However, there is a dearth of evidence showing the latent dimensions of gambling motivation among individuals who are exposed to gambling in daily basis (i.e., casino employees). To address this gap, 817 casino employees were administered the Chinese version of the Gambling Motivation Scale (GMS) and other related measures. Results revealed that of the four models tested, a first-order model with seven factors achieved better fit in contrast to all other models. The seven factors include intrinsic motivation (IM) for knowledge, IM for accomplishment, IM for stimulation, extrinsic motivation (EM) due to identified regulation, EM due to introjected regulation, EM due to external regulation, and amotivation. However, the seven-factor model did not reach the conventional fit indices for good fit. After some post hoc modifications, the revised model achieved adequate fit. Moreover, the revised seven factors were related to frequency of gambling and amount spent for gambling. Generally, results showed that modified GMS with seven factors can be used with Chinese population, more specifically with Chinese casino employees.     

The curse of knowledge: first language knowledge impairs adult learners' use of novel statistics for word segmentation

We investigated whether adult learners' knowledge of phonotactic restrictions on word forms from their first language impacts their ability to use statistical information to segment words in a novel language. Adults were exposed to a speech stream where English phonotactics and phoneme co-occurrence information conflicted. A control where these did not conflict was also run. Participants chose between words defined by novel statistics and words that are phonotactically possible in English, but had much lower phoneme contingencies. Control participants selected words defined by statistics while experimental participants did not. This result held up with increases in exposure and when segmentation was aided by telling participants a word prior to exposure. It was not the case that participants simply preferred English-sounding words, however, when the stimuli contained very short pauses, participants were able to learn the novel words despite the fact that they violated English phonotactics. Results suggest that prior linguistic knowledge can interfere with learners' abilities to segment words from running speech using purely statistical cues at initial exposure.     

Local communities responding to ecological challenges—A psycho‐social approach to the Natura 2000 Network

The institutionalization of biodiversity conservation through legal instruments has led to mixed reactions at both the individual and community levels, with conflict and resistance co‐existing with support. The overall purpose of this paper is to describe how rural communities living in areas included in the Natura 2000 Network of protected sites, where local practices of land use are regulated by new legal directives, receive biodiversity conservation goals. Previous studies suggest that this reception is strongly shaped by place identification, but their contradictory results demand further clarification. This study examines the role of psycho‐social variables identified by previous studies as potentially relevant moderators of identification: (a) Vested interest in natural resources, (b) evaluation of the designation process of protected areas and (c) institutional trust. It further extends previous research by analysing the support given to contextually relevant ecological practices. Results reveal a positive link between place identification and attitudes in the high vested interest condition and show that support for conservation practices is better predicted in the high vested interest and low trust conditions. The discussion focuses on the relevance of analysing contextually relevant psycho‐social moderators when attempting to understand how local communities' relation with biodiversity conservation is affected by legislative innovation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.