论西方社会保障的伦理嬗变及启示

父爱主义是19世纪后期德国建立社会保障制度的观念基础.公民权利取代父爱主义,成为现代社会保障制度安排的理论支撑.20世纪70年代以来,西方福利国家发展出一系列新的趋势、特点和问题,罗尔斯等人对社会分配正义理论的提出,将社会保障的价值诉求导向社会的公平正义.中国,正处于社会转型期,“社会主义和谐社会”的建设目标对社会保障的理论和实践提出了新的要求.     

心理健康素质测评系统·中国成年人心理弹性量表的编制

编制适用于我国成年人使用的心理弹性量表。通过对心理弹性研究的文献分析,将心理弹性定义为能够帮助个体从逆境、灾难、丧失或威胁等重大应激事件所造成的心理创伤中恢复过来的心理特质。在确立内控性,注重问题解决的应对风格,乐观性,接受和运用社会支持的人格倾向性,接纳性5个维度后,编写与之对应的50个项目。通过对420名大学生被试的测试进行项目筛选后,形成由30个项目组成的正式量表。通过对285名成年被试和457名大学生被试的实测,考察量表的心理测量学指标。结果表明,心理弹性量表具有较高的内部一致性信度和重测信度,也     

Mathematics Performance of Immigrant Students Across Different Racial Groups: An Indirect Examination of the Influence of Culture and Schooling

Immigrant students are commonly assumed lower performers in US schools. Their inadequate English language skills and adaptation to the mainstream US school norms are often seen as obstacles to their successful school learning. However, whether and to what extent this assumption is sustainable for immigrant students' performances in mathematics is the question that has not been empirically explored. Proper answer to the question would help verify the popular assumption about the immigrant students and their learning in the mainstream US schools. Guided by the straight-line, segmented assimilation and cultural capital theories, this study examined this issue using US grades 4 and 8 datasets of Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007 and 15-year-old dataset of Program for International Student Assessment 2009. It was found that there were substantial differences in the mathematics performances of students across different racial groups. Being immigrant students does not always mean they are lower performers than their mainstream peers. The immigrant students coming to the USA earlier did not always show worse mathematics performance over their immigrant peers who came to the USA later. These findings challenge the popular assumption that immigrant students' inadequate English language skills and adaptation to the mainstream US school norms are obstacles to their successful school learning and call for a deeper understanding about the academic performance of immigrant students in different content areas and at various stages of immigration across different racial groups.     

Spatial Training Improves Children's Mathematics Ability

We tested whether mental rotation training improved math performance in 6- to 8-year-olds. Children were pretested on a range of number and math skills. Then one group received a single session of mental rotation training using an object completion task that had previously improved spatial ability in children this age (Ehrlich, Levine, &; Goldin-Meadow, 2006 Ehrlich , S. , Levine , S. , &; Goldin-Meadow , S. ( 2006 ). The importance of gestures in children's spatial reasoning . Developmental Psychology , 42 , 1259 – 1268 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The remaining children completed crossword puzzles instead. Children's posttest scores revealed that those in the spatial training group improved significantly on calculation problems. In contrast, children in the control group did not improve on any math tasks. Further analyses revealed that the spatial training group's improvement was largely due to better performance on missing term problems (e.g., 4 + ____ = 11).     

Information Matrices and Standard Errors for MLEs of Item Parameters in IRT

The paper clarifies the relationship among several information matrices for the maximum likelihood estimates (MLEs) of item parameters. It shows that the process of calculating the observed information matrix also generates a related matrix that is the middle piece of a sandwich-type covariance matrix. Monte Carlo results indicate that standard errors (SEs) based on the observed information matrix are robust to many, but not all, conditions of model/distribution misspecifications. SEs based on the sandwich-type covariance matrix perform most consistently across conditions. Results also suggest that SEs based on other matrices are either not consistent or perform not as robust as those based on the sandwich-type covariance matrix or the observed information matrix.     

The impact of self‐confidence on the compromise effect

This research reports an investigation into whether the personality aspect of self‐confidence affects the compromise effect. We hypothesize that highly self‐confident people have greater certainty in making decisions and are more attracted to risk‐taking, which makes them less likely to choose the safe or middle option in a large choice set. The three studies involved are conducted using between‐ and within‐subjects experimental designs. Various product categories are used to generalize the findings. Study 1 looks at purchasing decisions and utilizes three scales of self‐confidence, risk preference, and uncertainty; it demonstrates that consumers with high self‐confidence are less likely to choose a compromise option due to high certainty in their decision‐making. Study 2 discovers that people with low self‐confidence are more likely to choose the middle option in a risky condition than in a nonrisky condition. Study 3 decomposes self‐confidence into general and specific self‐confidence, and reveals that people with low general self‐confidence and low specific self‐confidence are more likely to choose the middle option.     

Effects of Association Instruction on Fourth Graders' Poetic Creativity in Taiwan

In this study, we used a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest mixed design to assess the effect of association instruction on students' poetic creativity. Creativity was judged using the consensual assessment technique. A total of 64 fourth-grade students from two intact classes participated in the study. One class was assigned to the experimental group (n = 34) and the other to the control group (n = 30). Weekly for 5 weeks, the experimental group received 30 minutes of instruction in forming associations, and then each student composed a Chinese free verse based on a given association theme. The control group received traditional writing lectures prior to composing Chinese free verses. Three groups of judges assessed the completed poems (a total of 320 poems), evaluating their creativity on 14 dimensions. The judges included three expert teachers with at least 10 years of teaching experience in Chinese, three teachers who had won awards in nationwide Chinese writing contests, and three professors of children's literature; the overall inter-rater reliability was .85. The experimental group showed greater creativity compared to the control group in number association (d = 1.09), picture association (d = 0.62), and free association (d = 1.07). This article also discusses how to select judges, assessment criteria for children's poetic creativity, and techniques for association instruction to enhance children's poetic creativity.     

Classification accuracy and consistency of computerized adaptive testing

In this article, four item selection methods in computerized adaptive testing are examined in terms of classification accuracy and consistency, including two popular heuristics for constraint management, the maximum priority index (MPI) method and the weighted deviation modeling method, as well as the widely known maximum Fisher information method and randomized item selection as baselines. Results suggest that the MPI method is able to meet constraints and keep test overlap rate low. Among the four methods, it is the only one that manages to produce parallel forms in terms of content coverage and, consequently, the only method to which the idea of classification consistency applies. With tests as short as 12 items, the MPI method does fairly well in classifying examinees accurately and consistently. Its performance improves with longer tests. The effects of number of decision categories and cut score locations are also examined. Recommendations are made in the Discussion section.     

Differences in intelligence across thirty-one regions of China and their economic and demographic correlates

This study reports the differences in intelligence across thirty-one regions of the People's Republic of China. It was found that regional IQs were significantly associated with the percentage of Han in the population (r = .59), GDP per capita (r = .42), the percentage of those with higher education (r = .38, p < .05), and non-significantly with years of education (r = .32).     

The Mark of an Ex-Prisoner: Perceived Discrimination and Self-Stigma of Young Men after Prison in Hong Kong

The stigma of being an ex-prisoner can lead to self-stigmatizing beliefs and hinder reintegration. For young ex-prisoners, this is particularly challenging as they need not only to transition from prison to society but from adolescence to adulthood. This study explores the experiences of discrimination and self-stigma of 16 young men recently released from Hong Kong prisons. Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews, it reveals that participants perceived themselves as facing discrimination, mainly from prospective employers. Self-stigma was more salient with regard to lower self-worth and shame and embarrassment. Most adopted a “don't ask, don't tell” strategy in disclosing their identity as ex-prisoners. As very little research has been conducted on the experiences of returning offenders in Hong Kong, this study highlights the challenges of reentry.