Using The Self-Advocacy Strategy to Increase Middle Graders' IEP Participation

This study investigated the effects of teaching middle grade students with disabilities to participate in their IEP meetings using The Self-Advocacy Strategy. Four students with high-incident disabilities were taught to be active participants in their IEP meetings. Student contributions, along with scores on The Arc's Self-Determination Scale, were used to measure the effectiveness of the strategy. Findings from this study indicate that The Self-Advocacy Strategy is an effective instructional tool that can be used to teach middle grade students with disabilities to be active participants in their IEP meetings.     

Construction et validation de l’échelle de mesure des croyances relatives à la laïcité

Recently, social psychology has taken an interest in attitudes and beliefs about laïcité and their relations to other variables, such as expressions of prejudice. Laïcité can be defined as the separation of churches and State, the role of the State being to assure an equality and a freedom of religion. The aim of this study was to construct a measure of beliefs of laïcité, and then to compensate for the lack of reliable measures about the possible interpretations of laïcité. The exploratory (study 1) and confirmatory factor analyses (study 2) led to sixteen items being included in the scale and representing four laïcité dimensions: public expression of religious beliefs, religious neutrality of the State and its institutions, equality of different religious beliefs, and protection of religious groups. Correlations across different dimensions showed that the public expression of religious beliefs was positively correlated with equality of different religious beliefs and negatively to neutrality of the State and its institutions. Moreover, convergent and discriminant validity (studies 2 and 3) showed that dimensions of laïcité are differently correlated with prejudice, SDO, religiosity, or with the republican model's adhesion. t-tests showed that compared to Catholics, agnostics and atheistics want a stronger religious neutrality of the State, are more in favor of an equalitarian treatment of different religious beliefs, but are less in favor of a protection of religion by State. Concerning the attachment to laïcité, this variable is only very weakly correlated with the four dimensions. Statistical analysis conducted on attachment to laïcité and other psychosocial variables such as prejudice, social dominance orientation (SDO), religiosity, religious beliefs (atheistics and agnostics vs. catholics) and political orientation showed that only SDO is (negatively) related to attachment to laïcité. These results suggest different conceptions of laïcité depending on psychosocial variable such as religion, prejudice or SDO. Finally, a test-retest has been effected on the scale (study 4). The results shown that the adhesion to the laïcité’s dimensions is stable in the time.     

Explaining Differences in Subjective Well‐Being Across 33 Nations Using Multilevel Models: Universal Personality,Cultural Relativity,and National Income

This multinational study simultaneously tested three prominent hypotheses—universal disposition, cultural relativity, and livability—that explained differences in subjective well‐being across nations. We performed multilevel structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships at both individual and cultural levels in 33 nations. Participants were 6,753 university students (2,215 men; 4,403 women; 135 did not specify), and the average age of the entire sample was 20.97 years (SD = 2.39). Both individual‐ and cultural‐level analyses supported the universal disposition and cultural relativity hypotheses by revealing significant associations of subjective well‐being with Extraversion, Neuroticism, and independent self‐construal. In addition, interdependent self‐construal was positively related to life satisfaction at the individual level only, whereas aggregated negative affect was positively linked with aggregate levels of Extraversion and interdependent self‐construal at the cultural level only. Consistent with the livability hypothesis, gross national income (GNI) was related to aggregate levels of negative affect and life satisfaction. There was also a quadratic relationship between GNI and aggregated positive affect. Our findings reveal that universal disposition, cultural self‐construal, and national income can elucidate differences in subjective well‐being, but the multilevel analyses advance the literature by yielding new findings that cannot be identified in studies using individual‐level analyses alone.     

Opinions of personality disorder experts regarding the DSM-IV personality disorders classification system

OBJECTIVE: To survey the opinions of personality disorder (PD) experts on possible revisions in the classification system for PDs in the DSM-V. METHOD: Four hundred members of two international associations, the Association for Research on Personality Disorders, and the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders, were asked to take a 78-item web survey. RESULTS: Of the experts who completed the survey (N = 96), 74% felt that the DSM-IV's categorical system of PD diagnosis should be replaced. Eighty percent felt that PDs are better conceived of as personality dimensions or illness spectra, than as categories. The most frequently endorsed alternative system for PDs was a mixed system of categories and dimensions. Most experts preferred the PDs to remain on Axis II. Only 31.3% wanted the term, "Borderline Personality Disorder," retained in the DSM-V. CONCLUSIONS: A clear majority of the PD experts were dissatisfied with the current diagnostic system for PDs.     

中国烧香腐败调查:官太太每年进香烧掉数十万

“官场迷信”是近些年来党内出现的令人忧虑的怪现象。它不仅严重地腐蚀着党的肌体,玷污了共产党的先进性,降低了执政党的威信,而且成为推进先进文化的绊脚石。共产党人应该是无神论者,坚持马克思主义无神论世界观,是保持共产党人先进性的基本内含。此栏目发表的四篇文章,从不同的角度论述了“官场迷信”的现状、危害及治理,以引起全党关注。本刊还将陆续发表此类文章,热望广大读者投稿。