Economic Integration of Pre-WWI Immigrants from the British Isles in the Canadian Labour Market

This article provides new evidence on the economic assimilation of immigrants from the British Isles in Canada during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using data from the 1901 and 1911 censuses and a pseudo-cohort methodology, we estimate both entry and assimilation effects. We find a non-negligible decline in entry earnings among successive cohorts of British and Irish immigrants, previously overlooked in the literature. Our estimates also reveal that the economic performance for Irish and older British arrival cohorts was better than previously reported. Overall, slow economic assimilation and sparse occupational mobility of immigrants have been a long-standing issue in the Canadian labour market.     

Essentialist beliefs affect children's outgroup empathy,attitudes and prosocial behaviours in a setting of intergroup conflict

Empathy for salient outgroups can promote positive intergroup attitudes and prosocial behaviours. Less is known about which factors may promote empathy, particularly among children, in contexts of intergroup conflict. Empathy may depend on underlying cognitions, such as social essentialist beliefs, that is, believing that certain social categories have an underlying essence that causes members to share observable and non-observable properties. This study explored the influence of essentialist beliefs about ethno-religious categories on outgroup-directed empathy, attitudes and prosocial behaviours of children living in Northern Ireland (N = 88; M = 7.09, SD = 1.47 years old). Bootstrapped chain mediation found that lower essentialist beliefs predicted greater outgroup-directed empathy, which was positively related to outgroup attitudes, which in turn, predicted more outgroup prosocial behaviours. The findings highlight the importance of essentialist beliefs as an underlying factor promoting empathy, with links to prosocial behaviours in settings of intergroup conflict. The intervention implications are discussed.     

A Systematic Review of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL)

In this systematic review, the authors analyzed 336 published articles and dissertations that used the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL) to determine the reliability and validity of scores on 3 different versions: PCL–Specific, PCL–Military, and PCL–Civilian. Results confirmed Weathers, Litz, Herman, Huska, and Keane's ( 1993 ) claim that the PCL has adequate psychometric properties and appears to support the construction of a new version, the PCL‐5, as a population‐nonspecific instrument.     

Knowing what we do not know about sexual orientation change efforts

Comments on the original article, "Guidelines for psychological practice with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients," by the American Psychological Association (see record 2011-19419-001). The present authors notes that the APA has provided a very helpful document for those who do clinical work with individuals experiencing same-sex attractions. Psychologists no doubt need to be familiar with the literature described in these guidelines as a part of ethical practice. However, the present authors register concern regarding how the guidelines address sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). They focus their critique on how the guidelines portray two issues pertaining to SOCE-effectiveness and harm-and conclude with a proposal to move the discussion forward via science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

An Experimental Investigation of Cognitive Defusion

The current study compared cognitive defusion with other strategies in reducing the impact of experimentally induced negative emotional states. Sixty-seven undergraduates were assigned to one of three conditions (cognitive defusion, thought suppression, or control) and instructed in standardized approaches relevant to each condition before viewing film clips intended to elicit fear, sadness, and disgust. Participants then rated their experience of each emotion and completed a Stroop task intended to indirectly measure emotional arousal. While participants did not show any differences in their experience of emotions through self-report, significant differences on the Stroop task provided evidence of varying degrees of arousal between participants using defusion, suppression, and control strategies, with thought suppression and defusion showing the greatest reduction in arousal. These findings were retained after controlling for individual differences in negative affect and suggest that defusion is an effective strategy for reducing emotional distress but raise questions about the specific mechanisms involved in the process.

     

Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Patients’ Recommendations for Genetic Counselors: A Qualitative Investigation

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) individuals comprise a growing patient population in genetic counseling. However, only one article from a genetic counseling journal provides empirical data on GLB patients' genetic counseling experiences and genetic counselor attitudes and practices regarding GLB patients. The present study, an extension of the aforementioned article, gathered further information about patients' genetic counseling experiences through semi-structured telephone interviews. Twelve of the previous study's 29 patient respondents (n?=?10 lesbian women, n?=?1 gay man, n?=?1 bisexual woman) participated. Interview questions concerned the use of medically inclusive forms, factors influencing patient disclosure, counselors' ability to relate to them, and their expectations of genetic counselors. Inductive analysis of the interviews yielded seven themes: 1) Medically inclusive forms with gender neutral terms are important; 2) Genetic counselor ability to relate to a GLB person depends more on the relationship established during the session and less on external symbols; 3) The presence of GLB-friendly symbols increases comfort when disclosing one's orientation; 4) Inclusion of the patient's partner is important and best done by encouraging their active participation in sessions; 5) When GLB patients disclose their orientation, they expect to be treated like any other patient; 6) Providers should ask about orientation if medically pertinent and the remaining discussion should take orientation into consideration; and 7) When a provider inquires about orientation it should be done in a safe and appropriate way. Illustrative quotations, genetic counseling practice implications, and research recommendations are presented.     

What is the Good Life? Positive Psychology and the Renaissance of Humanistic Psychology

Positive and humanistic psychology overlap in thematic content and theoretical presuppositions, yet positive psychology explicitly distances itself as a new movement, despite the fact that its literature implicitly references its extensive historical grounding within humanistic psychology. Consequently, humanistic psychologists both celebrate diffusion of humanistic ideas furthered by positive psychology, and resent its disavowal of the humanistic tradition. The undeniably close alignment of these two schools of thought is demonstrated in the embracing of eudaimonic, in contrast to hedonic, conceptions of happiness by positive psychology. Eudaimonic happiness cannot be purely value-free, nor can it be completely studied without using both nomethetic and idiographic (i.e., quantitative and qualitative) methods in addressing problems of value, which identifies positive psychology clearly as a humanistic approach, despite its protestations.     

Family of Origin Coaching for Clinicians in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

The role of the therapist as a person rather than only as a technician has become increasingly important in family therapy since the post-modern turn. Despite this there is a paucity of research exploring supervision models that focus on self-reflection, as opposed to clinical competence. This study documents the experience of a Family of Origin Coaching group, conducted with six clinicians and one supervisor working in a child and adolescent mental health service. A participatory action framework was used, with data analysed using grounded theory. A variety of benefits were reported, including personal development, an enhanced empathy towards clients and an ability to better cope with stressful team dynamics. Family of Origin coaching has the potential to yield benefits for clinicians as a compliment to traditional supervision. Issues of confidentiality and safety need to be addressed carefully, especially during times of organisational change or stress.     

The Relationship Between Deployment and Turnover in Australian Navy Personnel

Increases in the frequency of operations tempo have focused attention on the relationship between deployment and separation from military service. This retrospective study explored the association between deployment and turnover over a 10-year period in Royal Australian Navy (RAN) personnel. Participants were 2355 males who served in the RAN during the period of the 1991 Gulf War (August 1990–September 1991); approximately half had been deployed to that conflict. Data were collected 10 years later as part of the Australian Gulf War Veterans' Health Study. During that 10-year period, 61% of participants left the RAN. The likelihood of separation decreased as number of deployments increased even when controlling for age, rank, and length of service. Personnel deployed to the 1991 Gulf conflict did not have a significantly higher risk of separation. The results provide evidence that deployment is not necessarily a risk factor for separation.     

Secondary psychopathy,but not primary psychopathy,is associated with risky decision-making in noninstitutionalized young adults

Although risky decision-making has been posited to contribute to the maladaptive behavior of individuals with psychopathic tendencies, the performance of psychopathic groups on a common task of risky decision-making, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994), has been equivocal. Different aspects of psychopathy (personality traits, antisocial deviance) and/or moderating variables may help to explain these inconsistent findings. In a sample of college students (N = 129, age 18–27), we examined the relationship between primary and secondary psychopathic features and IGT performance. A measure of impulsivity was included to investigate its potential as a moderator. In a joint model including main effects and interactions between primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy and impulsivity, only secondary psychopathy was significantly related to risky IGT performance, and this effect was not moderated by the other variables. This finding supports the growing literature suggesting that secondary psychopathy is a better predictor of decision-making problems than the primary psychopathic personality traits of lack of empathy and remorselessness.