Intergenerational Transfer of Parenting Styles: Correlations between Experience of Punitive Discipline in Childhood,Opinion Regarding Discipline Methods,and Context of Parenting

The purpose of this research is to study the intergenerational correlations of punitive disciplining of children. In an international sample, 112 individuals evaluated their experience of disciplinary methods from their childhood, as well as current perception of disciplinary methods and their own context of parenting. The results showed that the experience of corporal punishment or psychological aggression in childhood correlates with acceptability of inflicting corporal punishment or psychological aggression as a parent. There was an interaction between the experience of punitive discipline and experiencing confidence in carrying out parenting tasks and experiencing present-day stress. Context of parenting (e.g., confidence in carrying out parenting tasks) and perceptions of punitive disciplining might help us understand intergenerational transfer of parenting styles.     

The role of schizoid personality,peritraumatic dissociation and behavioral activation system in a case of parricide

The goal of this paper is to emphasize several important details through a case study of parricide: a) the schizoid personality structure as a potential basis for brutal offenses, b) the role of dissociation during the commitment of crime; and c) the contribution of non-standard psychological assessment instruments and Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory in illuminating the killer's personality and motivation for the offense. A parricide case was analyzed through psychiatric examination, standard clinical psychological assessment, and Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Scales based on Gray's theory. It was determined that the perpetrator suffered from schizoid personality disorder and that there were visible signs of peritraumatic dissociation at the moment he committed the offense. It was concluded that: a) a schizoid personality sometimes become a perpetrator of a brutal offense in situations where he feels he is in danger of punishment, and his personal space is being threatened, b) dissociation, activated by murder itself, can help the murderer to protect himself from a traumatic situation which overcomes his resources, and c) Gray's theory can serve as a framework for understanding individual cases as this one.     

Criminality of women in Slovenia

Both in theory and research, the criminality of women is a fairly overlooked area, crime being primarily a male sphere, with men committing on average around 96% of all criminal acts, and women only 4%. To understand the criminality of women, and in particular the criminality of women in Slovenia, the author focuses on the following theses: (1) For the understanding of the gendered aspect of criminality it is not so much important why the number of women involved in crime is so low, but rather why the number of men is so high; (2) The criminality and criminal acts committed by women in Slovenia are a reflection of the traditional image of the woman, which manifests in the social division of gender roles, and also influences the extent and types of criminal acts; and (3) For the understanding of criminality, it is necessary to research it from the point of view of gender, as only this kind of approach enables the examination of the overlooked point where criminality is reproduced.     

Working in the hidden economy: Associations with the latent benefits and psychological health

Hidden economy working can provide income and cushion the financial hardship during unemployment; can it also substitute for some latent functions of regular employment? According to Jahoda's theory, the latent functions include the time structure, regular shared experience, information about personal identity, a link with the collective purpose, and enforced regular activity. This article explores whether the undeclared working reduces the degree of deprivation of these functions during unemployment and, consequently, improves the psychological health of a person. The data were collected from a sample of unemployed persons (N = 1138) registered with the Croatian Employment Bureau. A series of questions about their day-to-day activities were used to estimate the amount of undeclared working, an ad hoc developed scale to assess the extent of their latent deprivation, and the SF-36 Health Survey to measure their psychological health. The ANCOVA revealed that the participants who were often engaged in the hidden economy working exhibited reduced latent deprivation and improved psychological health compared to those who were sometimes engaged. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that their better psychological health was partially mediated through reduced latent deprivation. However, the unemployed who were never engaged in undeclared working exhibited a relatively high psychological health as well.     

Flexible strategy use: A characteristic of gifted problem solving

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between flexible strategic thinking and problem solving performance. In the first experiment, gifted, average, and poor problem solvers performed a number of tasks which were designed to provoke rigidity. The results indicated that the average and poor performance groups did not differ in the number of answers indicating response and perceptual set. On the other hand, creative and intelligent students showed fewer rigid answers than the other two groups. In the second experiment, gifted and average students were asked to think aloud while solving different problems with open and closed solution situations. The thinking aloud protocols were analyzed by classifying the statements into different strategy types. Gifted students used a variety of strategies when solving problems, as well as different strategies for different problem types. No such differences were observed with the average problem solvers. The results of both experiments demonstrated consistent evidence for the role of flexible strategic thinking in gifted problem solving, as well as less direct evidence of the importance of metacognitive knowledge.     

Egg arrangement in avian clutches covaries with the rejection of foreign eggs

In birds, the colour, maculation, shape, and size of their eggs play critical roles in discrimination of foreign eggs in the clutch. So far, however, no study has examined the role of egg arrangement within a clutch on host rejection responses. We predicted that individual females which maintain consistent egg arrangements within their clutch would be better able to detect and reject foreign eggs than females without a consistent egg arrangement (i.e. whose eggs change positions more often across incubation). We tested this “egg arrangement hypothesis” in blackbirds (Turdus merula) and song thrush (T. philomelos). Both species are suitable candidates for research on egg rejection, because they show high inter-individual variation and individual repeatability in egg rejection responses. As predicted, using our custom-defined metrics of egg arrangement, rejecter females’ clutches showed significantly more consistent patterns in egg arrangement than acceptor females’ clutches. Only parameters related to blunt pole showed consistent differences between rejecters and acceptors. This finding makes biological sense because it is already known that song thrush use blunt pole cues to reject foreign eggs. We propose that a disturbance of the original egg arrangement pattern by the laying parasite may alert host females that maintain a consistent egg arrangement to the risk of having been parasitized. Once alerted, these hosts may shift their discrimination thresholds to be more restrictive so as to reject a foreign egg with higher probability. Future studies will benefit from experimentally testing whether these two and other parasitized rejecter host species may rely on the use of consistent egg arrangements as a component of their anti-parasitic defence mechanisms.     

Kinetic study of static recrystallization in an Fe–Al–O ultra-fine-grained nanocomposite

A nearly abrupt coarsening of grains is observed in a newly developed Fe–Al–O ultra-fine-grained nanocomposite with a significant volume fraction (4%) of alumina nano-precipitates. The microstructure of the alloy was analysed in different states (as-received and annealed) by means of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and hardness. The initial grain size 150–200 nm increases up to 50 μm during annealing 1000 °C/8 h and thereafter demonstrates saturation. A linear correlation between volume fraction of coarse grains and hardness was found. It was identified by TEM that alumina nano-precipitates stabilize the dislocation microstructure against recovery very effectively and the grain coarsening is due to fast growth of very few dislocation free grains. Thus, the observed grain coarsening has the attributes of static recrystallization.     

PATHS in Croatia: A school‐based randomised‐controlled trial of a social and emotional learning curriculum

This study represents the first rigorous evaluation of a social‐emotional learning curriculum, PATHS (P romoting A lternative Th inking S trategies; Kusché & Greenberg, 1994), in elementary schools in Croatia. This study randomly assigned 29 schools to receive the universal preventive intervention or continue with usual practices. Within those schools, this study included 57 classrooms and 568 children. Teachers rated nine child behaviours in the middle of first grade (pre‐intervention) and near the end of second grade (post‐intervention). Hierarchical linear models, nesting children within classrooms, revealed few changes in behaviour across the sample as a whole or among higher risk children. However, there were changes on eight of the nine behaviours for lower risk children. The findings are considered in the context of the classroom culture and teachers' preparation and readiness to implement a social‐emotional learning curriculum in Croatia. This study highlights the need to supplement universal preventive interventions with selective preventive interventions that can provide more intensive and targeted skill practice for higher risk children. This study also highlights the nuanced effects of a universal preventive intervention in helping different children in different ways.     

Emotional Detachment of Partners and the Sanctity of the Relationship with the Analyst as the Most Powerful Curative Factor

The relationship between partners and the analyst is considered the most basic means for healing in contemporary psychoanalytic theories and analyses. It also holds as one of the most fundamental phenomenon’s of psychoanalysis, so it comes as no surprise that it has always been deliberated over as an object of great interest as well as immense controversy. This same relationship, mutually co-created by the analyst and each individual and partner in analysis, represents also the core of sanctity and sacred space in contemporary psychoanalysis.