Rethinking culture and self-construal: China as a middle land

Amid criticisms of current paper-and-pencil type questionnaires measuring self-construal across cultural groups, the authors used a graphic representation scale to examine whether Anglo Canadians (N = 220) were more independent than Mainland Chinese (N = 196) and Indians (N = 212) in construing their relationships with closest family member, family members, closest friend, friends, (other) relatives, colleagues, and neighbors. Data generated 5 intriguing findings: (a) Chinese were more interdependent than Canadians but less so than Indians, indicating that Chinese culture has become more individualistic. (b) Canadians were more independent than Chinese in 6 relationship dimensions but were as interdependent as Chinese in self-closest-friend connectedness, somewhat contradicting 1 assumption of theories of independent-interdependent self-construal and individualism-collectivism (I-C). (c) Canadians were more independent than Indians in all relationship dimensions, supporting theories of independent-interdependent self-construal and I-C. (d) Chinese were as interdependent as Indians in self-closest-family-member, self-close-family-members, and self-relatives connectedness but more independent than Indians in the other categories of self-other relationships. (e) Participants' age did not have strong correlations with variables measuring self-construal in any sample, indicating that a person's attachment style may not change greatly over a lifespan. The authors discussed theoretical and methodological implications.     

An IRT Model with a Parameter-Driven Process for Change

An IRT model with a parameter-driven process for change is proposed. Quantitative differences between persons are taken into account by a continuous latent variable, as in common IRT models. In addition, qualitative interindividual differences and autodependencies are accounted for by assuming within-subject variability with respect to the parameters of the IRT model. In particular, the parameters of the IRT model are governed by an unobserved or “hidden'” homogeneous Markov process. The model includes the mixture linear logistic test model (Mislevy & Verhelst, 1990), the mixture Rasch model (Rost, 1990), and the Saltus model (Wilson, 1989) as specific instances. The model is applied to a longitudinal experiment on discontinuity in conservation acquisition (van der Maas, 1993). Frank Rijmen was supported by the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO), the GOA/2000/02 granted by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to Paul De Boeck and Iven Van Mechelen, and the PDM/02/067 granted by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to Paul De Boeck.     

Modernization and the Rise of Civil Society: The Role of the “Middling Grassroots” for Democratization in Korea

This paper attempts to explain why and how the middle class in Korea decisively joined the democratic movement in 1987 by drawing special attention to the role played by the middling grassroots (MG). MG was formed out of the common experience of student activism and contesting subcultures, which were widely dispersed over Korean university campuses during the 1980s. In addition, this paper examines the contrasting views on the Korean democratic transition by Bruce Cumings and Adam Przeworski. This substantive analysis attempts to show how such discord can be resolved by working out a mediating variable between action and social structure. It is suggested that the concept of MG is a good example of such a mediating variable.     

Overexpression of and RNA interference with the CCAAT enhancer-binding protein on long-term facilitation of Aplysia sensory to motor synapses

In the marine mollusk Aplysia, the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein, ApC/EBP, serves as an immediate early gene in the consolidation of long-term facilitation in the synaptic connection between the sensory and motor neurons of the gill-withdrawal reflex. To further examine the role of ApC/EBP as a molecular switch of a stable form of long-term memory, we cloned the full-length coding regions of two alternatively spliced forms, the short and long form of ApC/EBP. Overexpression of each isoform by DNA microinjection resulted in a l6-fold increase in the expression of the coinjected luciferase reporter gene driven by an ERE promoter. In addition, when we overexpressed ApC/EBP in Aplysia sensory neurons, we found that the application of a single pulse of 5-HT that normally induced only short-term facilitation now induced long-term facilitation. Conversely, when we attempted to block the synthesis of native ApC/EBP by microinjecting double-strand RNA or antisense RNA, we blocked long-term facilitation in a sequence-specific manner. These data support the idea that ApC/EBP is both necessary and sufficient to consolidate short-term memory into long-term memory. Furthermore, our results suggest that this double-strand RNA interference provides a powerful tool in the study of the genes functioning in learning and memory in Aplysia by specifically inhibiting both the constitutive and induced expression of the genes.     

Trust in God: The COVID-19 Pandemic's Impact on Religiosity in China

Emerging research shows the COVID-19 pandemic has made substantial changes to the religious climate of several nations. Surprisingly, China, the outbreak center of the pandemic, has been scarcely researched. Our study investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic has evoked new religious disaster responses and provided psychological coping mechanisms during the pandemic. We also explore how the pandemic explains surprising rates of religiosity in China. Scholars have long proposed that religious resurgence in China has been a result of individuals seeking stability in turbulent times. We bridge parallel Literatures in these areas and treat the pandemic as a natural experiment for evaluating religious behavior over time as conditioned by heightened risk perception. Utilizing a difference-in-differences estimation strategy with panel data, our study reveals that the pandemic has led to a significant increase in religiosity in China, particularly in religious areas most affected by the pandemic. We propose that even in a highly regulative religious environment, with most of its population being religiously unaffiliated, religion is a significant resource for coping in China. We take an innovative approach to demonstrate this by utilizing online search data. Our research speaks to the sociology of religion, the social psychology of risk perception, and makes application to emerging research on the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic.     

A generalized linear factor model approach to the hierarchical framework for responses and response times

We show how the hierarchical model for responses and response times as developed by van der Linden (2007), Fox, Klein Entink, and van der Linden (2007), Klein Entink, Fox, and van der Linden (2009), and Glas and van der Linden (2010) can be simplified to a generalized linear factor model with only the mild restriction that there is no hierarchical model at the item side. This result is valuable as it enables all well‐developed modelling tools and extensions that come with these methods. We show that the restriction we impose on the hierarchical model does not influence parameter recovery under realistic circumstances. In addition, we present two illustrative real data analyses to demonstrate the practical benefits of our approach.     

A Study of Health Perception,Disability Acceptance,and Life Satisfaction Based on Types of Leisure Activity Among Koreans with a Physical Disability

Leisure studies provide evidence that leisure engagement serves as a vehicle for improving life satisfaction among individuals with a physical disability. However, a dearth of research addresses which types of leisure activities are associated with specific psychological benefits. This study sought to capture three aspects of psychological benefits: acceptance of disability, life satisfaction, and health perception, and to explore how leisure activities are related to these psychological benefits. Using data released from the 2011 Panel Survey of Employment for the Disabled in Korea, this study found that individuals with a physical disability who participate in social activity, religious activity, and Internet use reported high health perception, life satisfaction, and disability acceptance. In particular, findings of this study provide evidence that social activity participation plays an important role in increasing health benefits among individuals with a physical disability.     

Contribution of Leisure-Time Physical Activity on Psychological Benefits Among Elderly Immigrants

Research provides evidence that leisure-time physical activity engagement promotes health and well-being among older adults. In this study, using data released from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) in 2008, we focused on the exploration of the relationship between leisure-time physical activity and psychological benefits such as positive affect, optimism, psychological well-being, and life satisfaction among elderly immigrants. The results of this study demonstrated that leisure-time physical activities play an important role in gaining psychological benefits. This finding provided further evidence that leisure-time physical activities provides rich opportunities for elderly immigrants to experience psychological benefits, which may contribute to quality of life and successful aging.