Repairing links: building attachments in the preschool classroom

A psychoanalytic model of preschool consultation is presented, born of the conviction that psychoanalysis has powerful tools with which to tackle some of our most difficult and entrenched community problems. Since trauma is known to impact our ability to think reflectively and symbolically (Fonagy, Moran, and Target 1993), the clinical methods of psychoanalysis-drawing on the ideas of container/contained, the capacity to hold alternate points of view, and the capacity to reflect empathically (here with teachers in the face of their at times harsh and insensitive treatment of students)-are crucial to success in work with cumulatively traumatized staff (Khan 1963). The strongest resistances to consultation arise from an anti-attachment system developed as a result of cumulative trauma and operating at multiple levels in the preschool. Consultation services are organized around an understanding of this anti-attachment system. At various levels of the system, including staff, parents, and children, consultants work to facilitate secure relationships in the preschool setting. These relationships foster recognition of children's emotional complexities and build cooperative links between staff and parents, in an atmosphere that otherwise might often push adults into fearful, self-protective states that interfere with their contact with children's states of mind.     

Implicit motives and sexual conservatism as predictors of sexual behaviors

This study was designed to provide an assessment of the relationship between the two most important implicit motives and the most frequently studied sexual behaviors. A community sample of 102 men and 92 women completed measures of implicit power and affiliation-intimacy motives, sexual conservatism, social desirability, and sexual behavior. For men, high power motivation was positively associated with the number of sexual partners and the frequency of sex. There was an interaction between sexual conservatism and power motivation in women. For women low in sexual conservatism, high power motivation was positively associated with the number of sexual partners and with earlier initiation to intercourse and oral sex. There were few associations between affiliation-intimacy motivation and sexual behaviors; however, women high in this motive reported later initiation to oral sex.     

The push and pull of temptation: the bidirectional influence of temptation on self-control

This article examines how people respond to the emergence of temptation in their environment. Three studies demonstrated that how people respond to temptation depends critically on their visceral state--whether or not they are actively experiencing visceral drives such as hunger, drug craving, or sexual arousal. We found that when people were in a "cold," nonvisceral state, the presence of temptation prompted cognition to support self-control. However, when people were in a "hot," visceral state, temptation prompted the same cognitive processes to support impulsive behavior. Study 1 examined how heterosexual men's level of sexual arousal influences their attention to attractive women. Study 2 examined whether satiated and craving smokers would engage in motivated reasoning in order to dampen (or enhance) the appeal of smoking when confronted with the temptation to smoke. Study 3 tested the boundaries of the interaction between visceral state and temptation.     

Reactivity to Stress: When Does a History of Medical Adversity Foster Resilience Versus Vulnerability?

Young adults with (or without) a history of medical or physical disorders (MPDs) were exposed to repeated laboratory stress. The effects of MPD status on habituation (as measured by changing levels of cortisol) were found to be moderated by the extent to which respondents reported “attachment feelings” in their relationships (as measured by the Social Provisions Scale). Students in the MPD group who reported attachment feelings showed (a) cortisol increases during their first exposure to a laboratory stressor; and (b) cortisol decreases during a second exposure to the same stressor 1 week later. No equivalent benefit was found for students who lacked this medical history. Findings suggest the extent to which medical adversity—under the right interpersonal circumstances—promotes resilience.     

略说《阿含经》之心意识

本文依据汉译四部《阿含经》及南传佛教的基本原典,从原始佛教习用的五蕴、十二处、十八界及十二因缘角度对心意识的原始含义进行了较为细致的梳理,并对原始佛教的唯心说作了初步的描述,间接涉及了《阿含经》与大乘佛教间的关联性。     

Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? Reality Dating Television Programs, Attitudes Toward Sex, and Sexual Behaviors

Past research has revealed associations between television viewing and sexual attitudes and behaviors. We examined a burgeoning new television genre, reality dating programs (RDPs). Undergraduate students (ages 18–24) reported their overall television viewing, their RDP viewing, and their involvement with RDPs (watching in order to learn and watching in order to be entertained). They also completed measures of attitudes toward sex, dating, and relationships, and answered questions about sexual behavior. Most participants were occasional or frequent viewers of at least one RDP. Men reported using RDPs for learning more than did women; there was no gender difference in use of RDPs for entertainment. Total amount of RDP viewing was positively correlated, for both men and women, with adversarial sexual beliefs, endorsement of a sexual double standard, and the beliefs that men are sex-driven, that appearance is important in dating, and that dating is a game. In all cases, however, these relationships were partially or totally mediated through viewer involvement. Men and women who watched RDPs tended to be less sexually experienced; there were few other correlations with sexual behaviors.     

L’accès aux médicaments : quelles contributions des règles sur les brevets de l’Accord de partenariat transpacifique global et progressiste ?

Enhanced protection for patents in free trade agreements would undermine access to medicines and show difficulties for developing countries with respect to public health issue. In the context of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, however, after the withdrawal of the United States, the legal regime applicable to patents seems less rigid and, therefore, more favorable to access to medicines. This results, on the one hand, from certain flexibilities contained in this agreement itself; and on the other hand, the suspension of some material and procedural obligations. This article aims to analyze these two sides to justify the contribution of this agreement to ensure access to medicines.     

Parent Education for Migrant Mothers of Left‐Behind Children in China: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Although numerous studies have indicated the significance of parental support and parent–child communication in alleviating the adverse effects of parental departure on left‐behind children, researchers have rarely addressed the impact of parent education on migrant parents. On the basis of the results of a pilot randomized controlled trial, the study reported here involved examining the possible outcomes and feasibility of a parent education program for rural‐to‐urban migrant mothers of left‐behind children in China. Informed by an existential–narrative approach to parent education, the program was composed of six 2.5‐hour sessions. The sample included 56 migrant mothers recruited from a social service center in Shenzhen, China, who were randomly assigned to either the immediate group (n = 28, M = 34.82 years, SD = 4.12, aged 23–43) or the waitlist control group (n = 28, M = 34.68 years, SD = 4.53, aged 28–43). The hypotheses of the trial were twofold: that the program would positively affect participants’ parental identity and that it would improve mother–child relationships and parenting practices. The results revealed no significant difference in parental identity between the intervention group and the waitlist control group at the post‐test assessment after ruling out the effects of pretest survey scores. However, significant differences did emerge in parent–child relationships and parenting practices. Overall, the results corroborate the feasibility of examining the current program for migrant mothers in China in a full trial. The findings also offer insights into developing empirically supported parent education programs for migrant parents.     

Real Men Get the Best Bar Girls: Performing Masculinities in China’s Global Sex Industry

The shifting power relations in China after the global financial crisis are redefining masculinity for both Western and Asian men. Connell (1995) argues that in most societies a hegemonic masculinity usually exists that privileges heterosexual middle-class and economically successful men who exhibit characteristics associated with being masculine. The global financial crisis has led to a new global financial order that has created paths for people to reimagine hierarchies of class, gender, nation, race, and sexuality. “Entangled masculinities” recognizes that the intersections of class, gender, nation, race, and sexuality shape identities of male clients who buy commercial sex. The article looks specifically at clients from three niche commercial sex markets (low, mid, and high tier) in Dongguan, China. Specifically, five patterns of behavior exhibited by male clients to rationalize and assert their masculinity will be analyzed in depth: vigorous and macho; austere and essentialist; suppressive and anxious; extravagant and competitive; and refined and collaborative. This article argues clients with vigorous and macho, austere and essentialist, and suppressive and anxious behavior types are frequently found in low-end and mid-tier bars. Patrons of higher-tier bars tended to engage in extravagant and competitive and refined and collaborative behavior through expressions of wealth and power.     

Psychometric evaluation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue scale for use with pregnant and postpartum women

Although fatigue is a common experience for pregnant women and new mothers, few measures of fatigue have been validated for use with this population. To address this gap, the authors assessed psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) scale, which was used in 2 independent samples of pregnant women. Results indicated that the psychometric properties of the scale were very similar across samples and time points. The scale possesses a high level of internal consistency, has good convergent validity with measures of sleep quality and depression, and discriminates well from a measure of social support. Contrary to previous evaluations of the MAF, data strongly suggest that the scale represents a unidimensional construct best represented by a single factor. Results indicate that the MAF is a useful measure of fatigue among pregnant and postpartum women.