Choice and delay of reinforcement

Pigeons were trained to peck either of two response keys for food reinforcement on equated aperiodic schedules. The distribution of responding at the two keys was studied as reinforcement was delayed for various durations. The relative frequency of responding at each key was shown to match the relative immediacy of reinforcement, immediacy defined as the reciprocal of the delay of reinforcement.     

The Role of Ethnic Socialization,Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem: Implications for Bi-ethnic Adolescents’ School Adjustment

Bi-ethnic adolescents of marriage migrant mothers in Korea are often encouraged to be “pure” Koreans for their adjustments and not given the opportunities to explore their ethnic identity or to learn about their mother’s culture of origin. Existing studies conducted with mono-ethnic minorities in other countries, however, do not support this belief. We tested a conceptual model on the role of ethnic socialization, ethnic identity and self-esteem on school adjustment among bi-ethnic adolescents in Korea based on social identity theory and theoretical models of ethnic socialization and ethnic identity. We used data from 2015 National Survey of Multicultural Families. The study sample consisted of 296 adolescents aged 9–18 who were born between Korean fathers and Vietnamese marriage migrant mothers. We used structural equation modeling to specifically examine the association between ethnic socialization in terms of parents’ linguistic socialization and adolescents’ school adjustment mediated by ethnic identity in the form of ethnic regard and self-esteem among bi-ethnic adolescents. The results verified the hypothesized model, showing positive relationships between linguistic socialization and ethnic regard, ethnic regard and self-esteem, self-esteem and school adjustment, and ethnic regard and school adjustment. Additionally, the results of bootstrapping test showed that the indirect effect of linguistic socialization on self-esteem through ethnic regard was significant. The indirect effect of ethnic regard on school adjustment through self-esteem was significant and the indirect effect of linguistic socialization on school adjustment via ethnic regard and self-esteem was also significant. These results shed light on the important role of ethnic identity fostered at home among bi-ethnic adolescents of marriage migrant mothers in Korea.     

The Effectiveness of Psychosocial Interventions Delivered by Teachers in Schools: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The growing mental health needs of students within schools have resulted in teachers increasing their involvement in the delivery of school-based, psychosocial interventions. Current research reports mixed findings concerning the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions delivered by teachers for mental health outcomes. This article presents a systematic review and meta-analysis that examined the effectiveness of school-based psychosocial interventions delivered by teachers on internalizing and externalizing outcomes and the moderating factors that influence treatment effects on these outcomes. Nine electronic databases, major journals, and gray literature (e.g., websites, conference abstract) were searched and field experts were contacted to locate additional studies. Twenty-four studies that met the study inclusion criteria were coded into internalizing or externalizing outcomes and further analyzed using robust variance estimation in meta-regression. Both publication and risk of bias of studies were further assessed. The results showed statistically significant reductions in students’ internalizing outcomes (d = .133, 95% CI [.002, .263]) and no statistical significant effect for externalizing outcomes (d = .15, 95% CI [?.037, .066]). Moderator analysis with meta-regression revealed that gender (%male, b = ?.017, p < .05), race (% Caucasian, b = .002, p < .05), and the tier of intervention (b = .299, p = .06) affected intervention effectiveness. This study builds on existing literature that shows that teacher-delivered Tier 1 interventions are effective interventions but also adds to this literature by showing that interventions are more effective with internalizing outcomes than on the externalizing outcomes. Moderator analysis also revealed treatments were more effective with female students for internalizing outcomes and more effective with Caucasian students for externalizing outcomes.     

Women,Human Rights,and Counseling: Crossing International Boundaries

As the world becomes more globalized, psychological and counseling issues have become more pronounced. As social justice issues become illuminated on a global scale, there is increased attention to women as identified victims of social injustices and human rights violations. This article examines the role of professional counselors working with women from an international perspective with the intention to heighten awareness and understanding of the interrelationship of global women's issues and effective counseling interventions.     

Something for nothing: understanding purchasing behaviors in social virtual environments.

The present paper is composed of two studies. The first study explored the variables influencing the purchase of avatar-related products through the avatar users' survey research. This proposed a theoretical model of the purchase of avatar-related products using attitude toward an avatar, subjective norm, self-presentation, identification, and immersion. Although significant relationships were found for the individual links, the model was not supported. The second study focused on which variables predict the intention to use avatar-related products. A model was tested with avatar non-users. Results indicated that all relationships among variables in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), such as perceived ease of use of avatar, perceived usefulness of avatar, attitude toward using avatar, and intention to use avatar-related products, were strongly supported, as was the link between Internet self-efficacy and perceived ease of use of avatar. Also, the peer groups' subjective norm component which was a unique variable successfully predicted intention to use avatar-related products. Overall, all hypotheses were supported and the data were judged to be consistent with the model.     

Associations of Psychosocial Factors with Maternal Confidence Among Japanese and Vietnamese Mothers

We conducted this cross-sectional study among 392 Japanese and 294 Vietnamese mothers who attended routine child health visits in a Japanese city and at a tertiary hospital in Vietnam, in order to investigate the prevalence and associated sociodemographic, parenting, and psychological characteristics of low maternal confidence in child rearing among them. All data were collected from medical files in Japan, and from medical files and self-administered questionnaires in Vietnam. The proportion of mothers without secure feeling of confidence in the present study was 22% in Japan and 66% in Vietnam. Significant factors associated with a lack of confidence were first-time motherhood and unintended pregnancy in the Japanese dataset and younger age in the Vietnamese dataset. In both groups, a higher proportion of mothers who lacked confidence reported negative parenting outcomes than did confident mothers. Among the three psychological measurements (mood, self-efficacy and depression), higher self-efficacy was associated independently with a significantly reduced risk of not having confidence in child rearing. These results suggest the importance of developing parenting support programs to help Japanese and Vietnamese mothers, particularly those who are young, first-time mothers or who became pregnant unexpectedly, improve their self-efficacy.     

Terror management among Taiwanese: Worldview defence or resigning to fate?

Terror management theory (TMT) proposes that people who are reminded of their mortality should be motivated to defend their cultural worldview. Studies 1 and 2 examined whether the TMT worldview defence‐buffering effect found in Western cultures could be generalized to Asians in Taiwan. No such effect was found in the present studies. This non‐significant result was robust when either a stronger distraction task was used (study 1) or when a subliminal manipulation of mortality salience was utilized (study 2). A meta‐analysis, including 24 TMT experiments in East Asia, was also conducted (study 3). The average effect size (d = 0.11, r = 0.055) of worldview defence among these experiments was not significantly different from zero. Study 4 found that mortality salience manipulation also did not change Taiwanese participants' view of reincarnation; however, it did make them more inclined to resign to fate, suggesting that they might be using this symbolic means to defend their anxiety of death. The issue of the generality of TMT to Asians was discussed.     

How should we revise diagnostic criteria for substance use disorders in the DSM-V?

This article reviews literature on the validity and performance characteristics of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnostic criteria for substance use disorders (SUDs) and recommends changes in these criteria that should be considered for the next edition of the DSM (DSM-V). Substantial data indicate that DSM-IV substance abuse and substance dependence are not distinct categories and that SUD criteria are best modeled as reflecting a unidimensional continuum of substance-problem severity. The conceptually and empirically problematic substance abuse diagnosis should be abandoned in the DSM-V, with substance dependence defined by a single set of criteria. Data also indicate that various individual SUD criteria should be revised, dropped, or considered for inclusion in the DSM-V. The DSM-V should provide a framework that allows the integration of categorical and dimensional approaches to diagnosis. Important areas for further research are noted.     

Family Functioning and Self-Differentiation: A Cross-Cultural Examination

This study examined the degree to which self-differentiation as related to family functioning is valued differently by Korean and European-American university students. The main findings confirm that the level of family functioning reported by European Americans is greater than for their Korean counterpart; family functioning is associated with differentiation measures (total score, emotional reactivity, and emotional cutoff) to a different extent across the two groups; and controlling for the effect of family functioning, the added contribution of a country variable explained further variance in self-differentiation. The importance of addressing the issue of similarities and differences between cultures in the assessment and treatment of individuals with problems related to their families of origin is discussed.