Predictive Factors of Spiritual Quality of Life during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multivariate Analysis

Journal of Religion and Health - COVID-19 has led to the implementation of various social and sanitary measures, impacting populations’ quality of life. Aims: Documenting the spiritual...     

Maternal Power Assertive Discipline and Children’s Adjustment in High-Risk Families: A Social Domain Theory Approach

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The goal of the present study was to examine associations between maternal use of power assertive parenting across different discipline contexts and...     

Numerical and nonnumerical estimation in children with and without mathematical learning disabilities

There are currently multiple explanations for mathematical learning disabilities (MLD). The present study focused on those assuming that MLD are due to a basic numerical deficit affecting the ability to represent and to manipulate number magnitude ( Butterworth, 1999 , 2005 ; A. J. Wilson & Dehaene, 2007 ) and/or to access that number magnitude representation from numerical symbols ( Rousselle & No?l, 2007 ). The present study provides an original contribution to this issue by testing MLD children (carefully selected on the basis of preserved abilities in other domains) on numerical estimation tasks with contrasting symbolic (Arabic numerals) and nonsymbolic (collection of dots) numbers used as input or output. MLD children performed consistently less accurately than control children on all the estimation tasks. However, MLD children were even weaker when the task involved the mapping between symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers than when the task required a mapping between two nonsymbolic numerical formats. Moreover, in the estimation of nonsymbolic numerosities, MLD children relied more than control children on perceptual cues such as the cumulative area of the dots. Finally, the task requiring a mapping from a nonsymbolic format to a symbolic format was the best predictor of MLD. In order to explain these present results, as well as those reported in the literature, we propose that the impoverished number magnitude representation of MLD children may arise from an initial mapping deficit between number symbols and that magnitude representation.     

Understanding team coordination in doubles table tennis: Joint analysis of first- and third-person data

ObjectivesThis study sought to determine whether combining first- and third-person methodologies would provide insight into team coordination.Design and methodsWe studied the activity of a table tennis doubles team during an official match. We collected and processed the verbal data according to a procedure defined for course-of-experience analysis, but we also included a video-based field study of the partners' interactions during the breaks between points. We then conducted a joint analysis of the two players' lived experience and behaviors during these short breaks.ResultsThe results showed both the difficulties and the empirical richness of this approach. For example, the joint analysis of first- and third-person data on doubles table tennis revealed how the players' behaviors during the short breaks between points had a key role in shaping the understanding shared by the two partners.ConclusionsThe combination of first- and third-person data seems to be a promising approach for improving our understanding of the coordination processes in sports teams. In our study, the joint analysis of these data enabled us to describe in great detail how the respective behaviors of the partners contributed to the dynamics of constructing/deconstructing shared understanding between them.     

Changes in Sensation Seeking and Need for Structure Before and After a Combat Deployment

In this study, soldiers' adaptation with the situational demands on combat deployment is explored. Certain changes on the level of two needs-based personality characteristics, Sensation Seeking (SS) and Need for Structure (NS) take place across deployment: soldiers who are lower in SS were more inclined to seek for sensations after deployment, and soldiers at the extremes of the NS dimension, modified their behavioral tendencies after deployment towards a moderate level. According to our findings, these changes suggest at least temporal characteristic adaptations with certain environmental demands. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and practice.     

Passion at work and burnout: A two-study test of the mediating role of flow experiences

Vallerand et al. (2003) developed a Dualistic Model of Passion where two types of passion are proposed: harmonious and obsessive passion. They generally predict adaptive and less adaptive outcomes, respectively. We hypothesized that the type of passion one holds towards his/her work should influence one's experience of burnout symptoms. We hypothesized that a harmonious passion for work would lead to low levels of burnout through its facilitation of frequent flow experiences, whereas an obsessive passion would directly lead to high levels of burnout. Two studies (one cross-sectional and one prospective) were conducted and results of structural equation modelling analyses supported the hypotheses.     

Autobiographical Memory, Self, and Stress-Related Psychiatric Disorders: Which Implications in Cancer Patients?

Autobiographical memory refers to information and memories of personal life events, accumulated since childhood, which enable the construction of a feeling of identity and continuity. Autobiographical memory retrieval is a dynamic and reconstructive process, as mental representations change with the passage of time. This flexible aspect of memory is linked to one’s changing self and aspirations over time, that evolve according to our personal status and environment. Hence, any breakdown in the continuity of life involves a distortion of memory. Such distortions can be observed in stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, where autobiographical memory retrieval is characterized by overgenerality (i.e., the tendency to recall generic memories rather than specific events in response to cue words). Such memory disorders can be observed at different degrees in cancer patients. We will report studies focusing on the above-mentioned psychiatric disorders and cancer, and will attempt to establish a relation with autobiographical memory disturbances. The better understanding of such memory deficits could permit new pathophysiological hypotheses to emerge. Recommendations for future research that will enhance understanding of the factors that contribute to autobiographical memory in cancer are suggested.