Self-efficacy,parent–child relationships,and academic performance: a comparison of European American and Asian American college students

Parent–child relationships play an important role in successful academic outcomes. Previous research suggests that the association between parent–child relationships and offspring’s academic achievement may be mediated by offspring’s self-efficacy levels, although these relationships are not fully understood. Furthermore, the association between family support and academic outcomes is well-documented among European Americans, but not across cultures. Therefore, the present study examined how parent–child relationship quality relates to young adults’ academic achievement and self-efficacy among European Americans and Asian Americans. Participants were 258 undergraduate students (85 male, 173 female) who completed a survey. Overall, both parent–child relationships and self-efficacy were significantly associated with the offspring’s academic performance, and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between parent–child relationships and school outcomes. Ethnicity moderated these relationships: among European American students, quality of parent–child relationships was not associated with self-efficacy level whereas for Asian Americans, parent–child relationships were associated with self-efficacy. These findings suggest that European American college students’ self-efficacy levels are less dependent on parent–child relationship quality, but for Asian Americans college students it may be important for educators to facilitate communication and family support so students may continue to use family as a resource for self-efficacy levels.     

Sources of Meaning in Life Among Chinese University Students

The current studies were designed to explore the structure of sources of meaning in life among Chinese university students. In Study 1, we content-analyzed 171 students’ answers to the question of what made their lives meaningful and derived 74 frequently mentioned ideas. Then, we composed a questionnaire based on these ideas and administered it to another sample of 523 university students in Study 2. Seven underlying dimensions were identified through exploratory factor analysis: Self-development (i.e., to accomplish one’s aspirations and actualize one’s potential), social commitment (i.e., to contribute to society and to adhere to moral principles), interpersonal relationships (i.e., relationships with family members, friends and others), secular pursuits (i.e., stable jobs, material possessions and social status), experiences in life (i.e., to experience all the joys and sorrows in life), civilization (i.e., reading, thinking, music and arts), and autonomy (i.e., to make decisions freely and take charge of one’s own life). Results are discussed in light of the philosophical influences in Chinese culture, especially those from Confucianism and Taoism.     

A Scanpath Analysis of the Risky Decision‐Making Process

In the field of eye tracking, scanpath analysis can reflect the sequential and temporal properties of the cognitive process. However, the advantages of scanpath analysis have not yet been utilized in the study of risky decision making. We explored the methodological applicability of scanpath analysis to test models of risky decision making by analyzing published data from the eye‐tracking studies of Su et al. (2013); Wang and Li (2012), and Sun, Rao, Zhou, and Li (2014). These studies used a proportion task, an outcome‐matched presentation condition, and a multiple‐play condition as the baseline for comparison with information search and processing in the risky decision‐making condition. We found that (i) the similarity scores of the intra‐conditions were significantly higher than those of the inter‐condition; (ii) the scanpaths of the two conditions were separable; and (iii) based on an inspection of typical trials, the patterns of the scanpaths differed between the two conditions. These findings suggest that scanpath analysis is reliable and valid for examining the process of risky decision making. In line with the findings of the three original studies, our results indicate that risky decision making is unlikely to be based on a weighting and summing process, as hypothesized by the family of expectation models. The findings highlight a new methodological direction for research on decision making. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Validation of the Empathy Quotient in Mainland China

This research aimed to validate a simplified Chinese version of the Empathy Quotient (EQ; 60 items) for use with Mainland Chinese people. The original English version of the EQ was translated into simplified Chinese. Through an online survey, 588 Mainland Chinese participants completed the EQ and 3 other questionnaires: the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS–20). Thirty-five participants completed retesting of the EQ 3 to 4 weeks later. Sex differences on the EQ scores and psychometric properties of the EQ items were examined. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that an EQ 15-item structural model fitted the data quite well. Self-report empathy, as assessed by the current simplified Chinese version of the EQ, appeared to relate to participants' autistic and alexithymic traits but not sex.     

The Dream of the Red Chamber and Christian theology: Seeking a new philosophy of love from the Christian perspective

The Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou meng or The Story of the Stone), composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the eighteenth century during the Qing dynasty, is celebrated as the greatest of all classical Chinese novels. However, little effort has been made to explore its theological dimension, as well as the theological interaction with Chinese classical philosophy in the field of Redology (the name for research around this text). This article aims to fill this gap to explore the theological influences upon the thematic ideas of this novel. Attending to the newly discovered theological materials in recent studies, I argue that the author of Honglou meng is not ignorant of Christianity, and in fact, used a triadic image to refer to the trinitarian persons.     

"大水冲了龙王庙,自家不识自家人"

2004年12月26日发生在印尼苏门答腊北部的印度洋8.9级大地震引发的海啸,给印度尼西亚、斯里兰卡、泰国、印度等东南亚、南亚和东非共十几个国家的沿海地区,造成了人员重大伤亡和财产巨大损失。在这次地震海啸灾害中,这些国家的沿海受灾地带,房屋化为废墟,公路、铁路、桥梁、机场被毁,成群成群的灾民无家可归,多达17.5万人丧生,十几万人失踪。灾害发生后,我国举国上下踊跃捐献赈灾,为受灾人民渡过难关尽力。我国宗教各界,除踊跃捐献,还按各自的宗教仪轨,举行超度、消灾、解厄、祈福和弥撒等活动,为受灾的生者、亡者献爱心。在宗教那里,为了显…     

Gender Differences in the Relationship of Puberty with Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms: Do Body Perceptions Matter?

This study explored how pubertal status is related to depressive symptoms among adolescent boys and girls and whether body perceptions explained this relationship. This study is based on a national random US sample of adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (9,011 girls and 8,781 boys). Results showed that boys and girls responded differently to puberty. During the transition to puberty boys had higher depressive symptoms than post-pubertal boys, due to perceptions that they were not as physically large and developed as their peers. Pre-pubertal and post-pubertal boys did not significantly differ on depressive symptoms. Post-pubertal girls had higher depressive symptoms than pre-pubertal girls, due to perceptions that they were overweight and more physically developed than their peers.     

产前超声检查的相关伦理学思考

从中医学及其与热力学的关联分析角度来认识亚健康的现象和实质。“整体观念,以平为期”是中医学与热力学共同的理论基础。亚健康是人体处于“无序”的熵增状态,亚健康的干预就是人体从外界吸收“负熵流”,降低系统紊乱度,从而达到新的有序状态,恢复健康。亚健康状态可以用热力学基本状态函数刻画,运用中医学的思维模式和热力学的研究方法,可构建基于热力学的亚健康诊断方法,进而为亚健康研究提供一个新的视角。     

无意识研究新进展:无意识思维理论述评

无意识思维理论(UTT)是近期对无意识思维研究的最新成果。该文主要从无意识思维原理、容量原理、自下而上对自上而下加工原理、权重原理、规则原理、聚合对发散原理等6个方面对UTT进行了详细阐述。在此基础上,简评了UTT的理论特点及存在问题,并进一步从信息编码、目标和无意识思维加工机制等三个方面提出了今后的研究方向。     

《妙法莲花经》与民间信仰中的文殊菩萨

文殊菩萨是大乘经典中地位最高的几位菩萨之一。基于文殊菩萨信仰流行的普遍性和重要性,本文试图以《妙法莲花经》和一些流行的民间信仰为例,分析、比较它们各自所代表的"大传统"与"小传统"的思想和相互关系。这些既矛盾又统一的关系,正反映了印度佛教与中国本土文化互相融合的现象与实质。