Predictors and outcomes of cyberbullying among college students: A two wave study

Existing research on cyberbullying has primarily focused on adolescents in cross-sectional survey studies, with less research focusing on college students or employed adults over longer periods of time. To extend this literature, the current study examined new predictors and outcomes of cyberbullying perpetration (CP) and victimization (CV) among college students from two different universities that were followed across two time points. Risk factors were measured in line with previous theoretical models, including biological or personality-related variables (e.g., low self-control, dark-side personality traits, empathy) and environmental variables (e.g., perceived social support, lack of rule clarity, and internet use). Additionally, we examined several possible outcomes of CV and CP. Results from path analyses revealed that involvement with traditional bullying (either as a perpetrator or a victim) as well as Machiavellianism significantly predicted CV and CP. With regard to the cross-lagged associations between CV and CP, we found that Time 1 CV predicted time 2 CP, but Time 1 CP did not predict Time 2 CV. That is, being a victim of cyberbullying during the Fall semester predicted involvement as a perpetrator in the Spring semester. However, being a perpetrator during the Fall semester did not predict being a victim during the Spring semester. Regarding outcomes, we found that CV significantly predicted anxiety, depression, and helping behavior, and CP significantly predicted deviant behavior, but not GPA nor alcohol consumption. These findings have practical implications for college students as well as university student support services.     

Cruelty and kinds: Scalia and Dworkin on the constitutionality of capital punishment

I here revisit a debate between Antonin Scalia and Ronald Dworkin concerning the constitutionality of capital punishment. As is well known, Scalia maintained that the consistency of capital punishment with the Eighth Amendment can be established on purely textualist principles; Dworkin denied this. There are, Dworkin maintained, two readings of the Eighth Amendment available to the textualist. But only on one of these readings is the constitutionality of capital punishment secured; on the other, ‘principled’, reading (favoured by Dworkin) it is not. Moreover, breaking the stalemate in favour of the former reading cannot be decided on textualist principles alone. To resolve the issue, Scalia (Dworkin argues) is forced to appeal to interpretive principles he has explicitly disavowed – principles that permit us to go beyond the text and invoke the framers’ intentions. In this paper, I argue that Dworkin has misdescribed the situation: there is in fact a plausible textualist argument that favours Scalia’s reading – one that, as per its textualist credentials, makes no reference to the framers’ intentions or expectations.     

Iconicity in the speech of children and adults

Iconicity – the correspondence between form and meaning – may help young children learn to use new words. Early‐learned words are higher in iconicity than later learned words. However, it remains unclear what role iconicity may play in actual language use. Here, we ask whether iconicity relates not just to the age at which words are acquired, but also to how frequently children and adults use the words in their speech. If iconicity serves to bootstrap word learning, then we would expect that children should say highly iconic words more frequently than less iconic words, especially early in development. We would also expect adults to use iconic words more often when speaking to children than to other adults. We examined the relationship between frequency and iconicity for approximately 2000 English words. Replicating previous findings, we found that more iconic words are learned earlier. Moreover, we found that more iconic words tend to be used more by younger children, and adults use more iconic words when speaking to children than to other adults. Together, our results show that young children not only learn words rated high in iconicity earlier than words low in iconicity, but they also produce these words more frequently in conversation – a pattern that is reciprocated by adults when speaking with children. Thus, the earliest conversations of children are relatively higher in iconicity, suggesting that this iconicity scaffolds the production and comprehension of spoken language during early development.     

Mapping language to the world: the role of iconicity in the sign language input

Most research on the mechanisms underlying referential mapping has assumed that learning occurs in ostensive contexts, where label and referent co‐occur, and that form and meaning are linked by arbitrary convention alone. In the present study, we focus on iconicity in language, that is, resemblance relationships between form and meaning, and on non‐ostensive contexts, where label and referent do not co‐occur. We approach the question of language learning from the perspective of the language input. Specifically, we look at child‐directed language (CDL) in British Sign Language (BSL), a language rich in iconicity due to the affordances of the visual modality. We ask whether child‐directed signing exploits iconicity in the language by highlighting the similarity mapping between form and referent. We find that CDL modifications occur more often with iconic signs than with non‐iconic signs. Crucially, for iconic signs, modifications are more frequent in non‐ostensive contexts than in ostensive contexts. Furthermore, we find that pointing dominates in ostensive contexts, and suggest that caregivers adjust the semiotic resources recruited in CDL to context. These findings offer first evidence for a role of iconicity in the language input and suggest that iconicity may be involved in referential mapping and language learning, particularly in non‐ostensive contexts.     

Age differences in self-set goal effects for memory

Research has shown that goal setting leads to gains in memory performance and memory self-efficacy across adulthood when goals are set by experimenters and accompanied by positive feedback. However, self-set memory goals have had less consistent impact. This research extended past studies on aging and memory goals to examine the impact of self-set goals using anchors to guide goal selection. Two trials of name, text, and list recall were administered to younger and older adults, comparing goal and no-goal groups. After baseline, participants assigned to the goal group set personal goals for memory gain on a second, post-goal trial for each of the three tasks. Anchoring for goal-setting was used to encourage the selection of realistic, yet challenging goals. Younger and older participants set comparable goals. Only younger adults showed a motivational response (higher gains across trials for goals than no goals), even though older adults reported being just as committed to their personal goals. Older adults may have failed to show reliable goal-related gains because no positive feedback was offered or because they were unable to activate effective strategies for improved performance.     

Effectiveness of Coloring Mandala Designs to Reduce Anxiety in Graduate Counseling Students

An exploration of the role that creativity can play in anxiety reduction was conducted using a quantitative study design. Participants completed the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) before and after completing a coloring activity and results were compared. The experimental group colored a mandala design and the control group colored a blank piece of paper. This study hypothesized that partaking in the mandala coloring activity would produce a greater reduction in anxiety than coloring a blank piece of paper. Results revealed that coloring a blank piece of paper and coloring a mandala were equally effective techniques for reducing anxiety in master’s-level counseling students. Implications for the findings are discussed.     

Comparing Business School Faculty Classification for Perceptions of Student Cheating

Faculty continue to address academic dishonesty in their classes. In this follow-up to an earlier study on general perceived faculty student cheating, using a sample of business school faculty, we compared three levels of faculty classification: full-time non-tenure track (NTT, n?=?86), full-time tenured/tenure-track (TT, n?=?66), and part-time adjuncts (A, n?=?71). Results showed that NTTs perceived higher levels for three different types of student cheating, i.e., paper-based, forbidden teamwork, and hiring someone to take an exam. In addition, NTTs were more likely to report a student for cheating. NTTs reported a higher course load and average class size, and average class size was positively related to all five types of cheating measured. Given the predicted increase in NTTs across all disciplines, making sure that all faculty, (but especially NTTs), have the resources needed to deter student cheating is important. All faculty have an obligation to hold students accountable for their behavior. Individual integrity is paramount; and it is what employers expect. Regardless of the chosen field or discipline, an employer’s expectations, in terms of character, is to hire individuals who possess a level of honesty that is above reproach. Addressing cheating is an obligation that all faculty need to address purposefully. Providing resources to help faculty address cheating is critical. Resources might include conflict resolution training to provide instructors with the necessary guidance so that they can better handle these difficult situations. This is important not only for the student while in school, but also for a university/college’s reputation.     

Using unexpected questions to elicit information and cues to deceit in interpreter‐based interviews

We examined whether speech‐related differences between truth tellers and liars are more profound when answering unexpected questions than when answering expected questions. We also examined whether the presence of an interpreter affected these results. In the experiment, 204 participants from the United States (Hispanic participants only), Russia, and the Republic of Korea were interviewed in their native language by a native‐speaking interviewer or by a British interviewer through an interpreter. Truth tellers discussed a trip that they had made during the last 12 months; liars fabricated a story about such a trip. The key dependent variables were the amount of information provided and the proportion of all statements that were complications. The proportion of complications distinguished truth tellers from liars better when answering unexpected than expected questions, but only in interpreter‐absent interviews. The number of details provided did not differ between truth tellers and liars or between interpreter‐absent and interpreter‐present interviews.     

Resilience and Family Psychosocial Processes Among Children of Parents with Serious Mental Disorders

Resilience involves successful adaptation despite adverse circumstances, and is operationalized in this study as a multidimensional construct which consists of both positive and negative indicators of adaptation. Previous research has emphasized the importance of parental psychopathology in predicting child adaptation among children of parents with serious mental disorders. In contrast, we hypothesized five family psychosocial processes as common sequelae to serious parental mental disorder that are central to child adaptation beyond that predicted by parental psychiatric status. These are diminished family financial resources, social network constriction, impaired performance of parenting tasks, increased familial stress, and disruption of the parent-child bond. We examined the relationship of these processes to child adaptation independently through hierarchical regression analyses after taking into account parental psychiatric symptoms and functioning as well as the child's age and gender. One hundred seventy-seven children of mothers with serious mental disorder, ages 2–17 years old, were assessed on measures of adaptation. Results indicated that family psychosocial processes are a more consistent and powerful predictor of child adaptation than parental psychopathology. Results also indicated that, for these children, adaptation is predicted most consistently by parenting performance, and to lesser extents, by the parent-child bond and familial stress. We discuss our results in terms of their implications for theory and intervention with children of parents with serious mental disorders and for the study of resilience.