Hope as a Crucial Factor in Integration Among Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth in the USA: A Pilot Project

In 2014, 53,518 unaccompanied immigrant youth, predominantly from Central America, arrived in the USA. By mid-2015, over 12,000 had already arrived (Office of Refugee Resettlement 2015). Despite experiencing a myriad of risk factors and challenges, these children display remarkable resiliency. An important component of this resiliency which, in turn, enhances the well-being of these populations, is the maintenance of hope. This paper reports on a study conducted in spring 2013 on the presence of hope among 138 unaccompanied immigrant children, ages 9–18, receiving services from 20 affiliates of a family reunification program in 12 states in the USA. The study found that children reported a high level of hope on the Children’s Hope Scale (Snyder et al., New York Free Press 1994; Psychological Inquiry 13(4):249, 2002). This article reports on these findings and discusses their implications for policy, practice, and research.     

The challenges and experiences of psychotherapists working remotely during the coronavirus* pandemic

The experiences and challenges of psychotherapists working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic were explored using a mixed‐methods approach. An online survey completed by 335 psychotherapists produced both quantitative and qualitative data with the latter being subject to a reflexive thematic analysis. Large numbers of therapists were using video‐link platforms and the telephone to conduct client sessions. A majority of therapists felt challenged by remote working, with reduced interpersonal cues, feelings of isolation and fatigue, and technical issues frequently cited concerns. At the same time, most therapists considered that remote working had been effective and that clients were comfortable with the process. Two‐thirds of therapists indicated that remote working would now become core business for them. The great majority of therapists thought that remote working skills should be part of formal therapy trainings.     

A methodology for the capture and analysis of hybrid data: A case study of program debugging

This article describes a methodology for the capture and analysis of hybrid data. A case study in the field of reasoning with multiple representations—specifically, in computer programming—is presented to exemplify the use of the methodology. The hybrid data considered comprise computer interaction logs, audio recordings, and data about visual attention focus. The capture of the focus of visual attention data is performed with software. The software employed tracks the user’s visual attention by blurring parts of the stimuli presented on the screen and allowing the participant to see only a small region of it at any one time. These hybrid data are analyzed via a methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative approaches. The article describes the software tool employed and the analytic methodology, and also discusses data capture issues and limitations of the approach.     

The effects of social anxiety on emotional face discrimination and its modulation by mouth salience

People high in social anxiety experience fear of social situations due to the likelihood of social evaluation. Whereas happy faces are generally processed very quickly, this effect is impaired by high social anxiety. Mouth regions are implicated during emotional face processing, therefore differences in mouth salience might affect how social anxiety relates to emotional face discrimination. We designed an emotional facial expression recognition task to reveal how varying levels of sub-clinical social anxiety (measured by questionnaire) related to the discrimination of happy and fearful faces, and of happy and angry faces. We also categorised the facial expressions by the salience of the mouth region (i.e. high [open mouth] vs. low [closed mouth]). In a sample of 90 participants higher social anxiety (relative to lower social anxiety) was associated with a reduced happy face reaction time advantage. However, this effect was mainly driven by the faces with less salient closed mouths. Our results are consistent with theories of anxiety that incorporate an oversensitive valence evaluation system.     

Debating brain drain: Three objections that complicate the picture

In my contribution to this brain drain debate sparked by Brock and Blake’s book, Debating Brain Drain, I respond only to Brock’s position, and raise three objections which I suggest complicate the picture that she sketches. First, I take issue with the way in which she frames the moral question, namely by limiting her focus to what home countries may legitimately do to address the problems associated with the brain drain. I argue that the way in which she frames the question has important ideological consequences, because she does not adequately account for the larger context, in particular, by leaving out the moral obligations of the host countries who are the main beneficiaries of the brain drain. My second objection is rooted in the distinction between technical knowledge and practical knowledge found in the work of Habermas – an important distinction which gets obscured in Brock’s analysis in precisely the kind of ideological ways that Habermas was concerned about. She namely attempts to solve what are mainly practical (political) problems through purely instrumental, technical means. Several distortions accompany this fundamental confusion. My third point of critique has to do with the problem that an ethics of care (an ethics of responsibility and obligation) encounters within a liberal paradigm strongly shaped by an ethics of rights. Drawing on the work of Kroeger-Mappes, I argue that Brock arbitrarily singles out a group of people and holds them to an ethics of care which is strictly supererogatory within her own liberal paradigm.     

Sexual specificity,rape law reform and the feminist quest for justice

Abstract

Recent rape law reform is most saliently characterised by a turn to gender neutrality in its definition of the crime of rape. The few possible advantages of a gender neutral approach to rape are offset by a series of disadvantages regarding gender justice when viewed from a feminist perspective. Formal gender neutrality does not safeguard against the effective influence of pervasive and enduring symbolic constructions pertaining to male and female sexuality and of a normalised hierarchical binary constructed between the two sexes, in particular where sexual relations are concerned. Such efficacy may impede justice for both male and female victims of rape. The question about the place of sexual difference or rather sexual specificity within feminist theories of justice should be considered anew in light of this critical analysis of gender neutrality in rape law.     

Moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the role of negative affect in the motivation to drink in alcohol-dependent subjects undergoing protracted withdrawal

In order to understand how emotional aspects evolve and are related to craving for alcohol, different emotion-related variables were examined in relationship to craving during a protracted withdrawal. To this end state affectivity (PANAS), emotional intelligence (EI) (TEIQue), and craving (OCDS) were assessed at the onset (T1: day 1 or 2) and at the end (T2: day 14 to 18) of three-week protracted withdrawal among alcohol-dependent inpatients (DSM-IV, N = 41). A significant decrease in craving and negative affectivity (NA) was observed from T1 to T2 while EI scores remained low. At both baseline and follow-up, there was a significant moderation effect of EI on the link between NA and craving for alcohol. Negative mood at the onset of the cure was linked to craving at the end of the withdrawal period but only among patients with low trait EI scores. The merits of using psychotherapeutic approaches were discussed in the treatment of alcohol addiction.     

Is Having Pets Morally Permissible?

In this article, I consider the question of whether having pets is morally permissible. However, I do so indirectly by considering three objections to the practice of having pets — what I shall call the ‘restriction of freedom objection’, the ‘property objection’, and the ‘dependency objection’. The restriction of freedom objection is dismissed relatively easily. The property objection also fails to show that having pets is morally impermissible. However, my consideration of this second objection does lead to the conclusion that we ought to aim at changing existing legal systems and the majority of people's attitudes towards pets such that they (pets) are no longer considered to be the personal property of the humans in whose homes they are kept. But, while it is clear that we ought to aim at ending the practice of owning pets, it is not clear whether we ought to aim at ending the practice of keeping pets. Indeed, I do not to reach a definitive conclusion about the cogency of the dependency objection. However, I argue that this lack of clarity is of little concern at this time as our present moral obligations to pets are quite clear.