Subjective Well-Being of China’s Off-Farm Migrants

Existing research applying the personal wellbeing index (PWI) in China is restricted to urban and rural samples. There are no studies for Chinese off-farm migrants. The specific aims of this study are: (a) ascertain whether Chinese off-farm are satisfied with their lives; (b) investigate the equivalence of the PWI in terms of its psychometric properties; and (c) examine whether the responses to the PWI from participants falls within the normative range predicted by the Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis. The PWI demonstrated good psychometric performance in terms of its reliability and validity and was consistent with previous studies for Western and non-Western samples. The data revealed a moderate level of subjective well-being (PWI score = 62.6). While Chinese off-farm migrants lead hard lives, the PWI was within the normative range predicted for Chinese societies by the Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis. A likely explanation for this finding rests with the circular nature of migration in China. When China’s off-farm migrants find it too difficult to cope in the cities, most have the fallback position that they can return to their homes in the countryside. This option provides an external buffer to minimize the inherent challenges of life which would otherwise impinge on the life satisfaction of China’s off-farm migrants.     

Psychologist qualifications in Europe: Common standard for quality and mobility

Abstract: Over the past 10 years a European standard for psychology education and training (EuroPsy) in Europe has been developed through two European Union (EU)‐funded projects. This development has been supported by political initiatives within Europe, in particular the so‐called Bologna process and the new EU Directive on qualifications, which is intended to facilitate professional mobility. The EuroPsy standard applies to professional psychologists at the initial qualification level, namely, independent practice. It requires 6 years of education and training, which include 1 year of supervised practice. The article describes these developments and some critical issues.     

Maternal concepts and expectations regarding a preterm infant

The objective of the present study was: (a) to identify the concerns, verbally expressed, of 50 mothers regarding their preterm infants (PT) and then compare their verbal expression with those of 25 mothers of full-term infants (FT); and (b) to correlate the mothers' verbal expressions with maternal and infant variables. The following instruments were used to compose and characterize the sample: Structure Clinical Interview for DSM III-R Non-Patient (SCID/NP), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and medical charts. Results showed that there was no difference between groups in term of mothers' expectations and conceptualizations; both groups exhibited predominantly positive expectations and concepts. In comparison with FT mothers, PT mothers verbally expressed more feelings and reactions predominantly negative or conflicting in relation to infant birth. Higher levels of maternal anxiety and depression in the PT Group were correlated with more verbal expressions about negative or conflicting emotions. In addition, lower birth weight, higher neonatal risk and longer length of stay in intensive care nursery of the infants were related with more negative or conflicting concepts by the mothers.     

Career transitions in times of social change. His and her story

Drawing on data collected from two longitudinal Cohort Studies following the lives of over 20,000 individuals born in the United Kingdom 12 years apart in 1958 and 1970, respectively, this paper examines antecedents and outcomes of educational and occupational aspirations of young men and women, covering the transition from dependent childhood into independent adulthood. Two analytical models, a Social Reproduction Model and a Developmental-Contextual Model are tested to assess the processes by which family background and the wider socio-historical context influence work and family related careers. The findings demonstrate the persistent role of gender, social origin and individual agency processes as well as the influence of a changing socio-historical context on career development. Results are interpreted with regard to biographical agency processes linking individual lives with social contexts across the life course.     

Adaptations to changing times: Agency in context

British society has changed greatly over the past half century. Increasing uncertainty about economic and social developments is becoming a distinctive feature of modern industrialized countries, affecting the life chances and opportunities of young people making the transition from dependent childhood into independent adulthood. Summarizing recent findings from data collected from about 30,000 individuals born 12 years apart, in 1958 and 1970 respectively, this paper examines the role of individual agency in shaping educational and occupational transitions as well as the assumption of family‐related roles in times of social change. The data suggest that societal change and the associated increasing uncertainty does not impact on all individuals in the same way, and that there has been an increasing polarization between those who are able to benefit from the economic and social transformations and the ones who are excluded, largely because of their relatively disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances and lack of access to opportunities in education and employment. It is concluded that human agency processes cannot be studied in isolation from the sociohistorical context in which they are embedded.     

Traumatic memories of war veterans: not so special after all

Several authors have argued that traumatic experiences are processed and remembered in a qualitatively different way from neutral events. To investigate this issue, we interviewed 121 Croatian war veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) about amnesia, intrusions (i.e., flashbacks and nightmares), and the sensory qualities of their most horrific war memories. Additionally, they completed a self-report scale measuring dissociative experiences. In contrast to what one would expect on the basis of theories emphasizing the special status of traumatic memories, amnesia, and high frequency intrusions were not particularly typical for our sample of traumatized individuals. Moreover, traumatic memories were not qualitatively different from neutral memories with respect to their stability and sensory qualities. The severity of PTSD symptoms was not significantly correlated with dissociative experiences. Our findings do not support the existence of special memory mechanisms that are unique to experiencing traumatic events.     

Some surprising findings on the involvement of the parietal lobe in human memory

The posterior parietal lobe is known to play some role in a far-flung list of mental processes: linking vision to action (saccadic eye movements, reaching, grasping), attending to visual space, numerical calculation, and mental rotation. Here, we review findings from humans and monkeys that illuminate an untraditional function of this region: memory. Our review draws on neuroimaging findings that have repeatedly identified parietal lobe activations associated with short-term or working memory and episodic memory. We also discuss recent neuropsychological findings showing that individuals with parietal lobe damage exhibit both working memory and long-term memory deficits. These deficits are not ubiquitous; they are only evident under certain retrieval demands. Our review elaborates on these findings and evaluates various theories about the mechanistic role of the posterior parietal lobe in memory. The available data point towards the conclusion that the posterior parietal lobe plays an important role in memory retrieval irrespective of elapsed time. However, the available data do not support simple dichotomies such as recall versus recognition, working versus long-term memory. We conclude by formalizing several open questions that are intended to encourage future research in this rapidly developing area of memory research.     

The Semiotic Regulation of Sexuality from a Microgenetic Perspective

On the level of collective culture, sexuality and sensuality are interpreted as zero signifiers, i.e., areas of human life, which gain their power through being purposefully kept invisible and unverbalized. Explicit transgressions (e.g., curse words) only refer to culturally "illegitimate" forms of sexuality, while the respective figure--in terms of the figure-ground principle--of "legitimate" meaning and feeling fields has to be constructively inferred by the person him- or herself. The present paper gives some examples of personal meaning making in the field of sexuality. For studying the semiotic regulation of sexuality and sensuality on the personal level, microgenetic investigations are proposed. Only they can offer an online access to the powerful process of culturally mediated sign construction and reconstruction.     

Sensorimotor prediction and memory in object manipulation.

When people lift objects of different size but equal weight, they initially employ too much force for the large object and too little force for the small object. However, over repeated lifts of the two objects, they learn to suppress the size-weight association used to estimate force requirements and appropriately scale their lifting forces to the true and equal weights of the objects. Thus, sensorimotor memory from previous lifts comes to dominate visual size information in terms of force prediction. Here we ask whether this sensorimotor memory is transient, preserved only long enough to perform the task, or more stable. After completing an initial lift series in which they lifted equally weighted large and small objects in alternation, participants then repeated the lift series after delays of 15 minutes or 24 hours. In both cases, participants retained information about the weights of the objects and used this information to predict the appropriate fingertip forces. This preserved sensorimotor memory suggests that participants acquired internal models of the size-weight stimuli that could be used for later prediction.     

Stories we tell each other: A comparison of families' and their therapists' explanations of presenting problems

This study reports the explanations of presenting problems given by 10 mothers of children referred to a department of child and family psychiatry and their therapists. Video-recordings of therapists' pre-session meetings and the initial therapy sessions were searched for explanatory statements. These statements were then coded. It was found that therapists referred to past events, present circumstances, relationships, and possible future events in their explanations of presenting problems significantly more frequently than mothers. It was rare for mothers to speak in terms of past or future events at all. The mothers explained difficulties in terms of character traits significantly more often than did the therapists. The implications of these findings are discussed.Thanks to all of the child and family consultation team at 1 Wolverton Gardens for their participation in this research and particularly to Ruth Kossoff for her great help with organising data collection.