Stories as indicators of practical knowledge: Analysing project workers' talk from a study of participation in a youth inclusion programme

The paper deals with the issue of practical knowledge for enabling participation. Participation as a strategy for change is widespread in community, health and human service contexts. Research to date has focused on the mechanisms of beneficiaries' participation (e.g. identity, empowerment, activity, gender, space). However, participation as an engagement strategy is action oriented and requires high levels of interaction between those creating the conditions for participation and those participating. These conditions need to be continuously adjusted and outcomes are often unpredictable. This process of ‘working with’ is often dealt with as a technical issue and captured in metaphorical language. Less emphasis has been given to the type of knowledge modalities that might be necessary in order to enable participation. Drawing on an ethnographic case study of participation in a youth inclusion programme the paper explores the role of stories as potential indicators of practical knowledge. The paper argues that enabling young people's participation requires intuition and imagination, patience and perseverance, and judgement for acting under uncertainty. It concludes that stories only partially fulfil their potential as indicators of such knowledge modalities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mediating effects of negative emotions in parent–child conflict on adolescent problem behavior

Hierarchical regression analyses were used to study four types of negative emotions (rage, resentment, perceived threat, and self‐blame) as possible mediators of the effect of parent–child conflict on internalizing (psychosomatic symptoms and social withdrawal) and externalizing (violent aggression and deviance) behavior in 724 adolescents. After controlling for demographic variables, the results showed that for both parents conflict had a positive main effect on internalizing and externalizing behavior. Of the four types of negative emotions, rage was the strongest mediator to mediate the effect of conflict on violent aggression, and resentment was the strongest mediator to mediate the effect of conflict on psychosomatic symptoms, social withdrawal, and deviant behavior. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Gain face,but lose happiness? It depends on how much money you have

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of face consciousness on happiness and the moderating role of financial situation on this relationship. We first examined our hypotheses in study 1 in a particular setting of consumption, and replicated our findings in study 2 in a more generalized setting of interpersonal situations. The two studies produced essentially consistent results. We found individuals high on face consciousness tend to be less happy, and the negative association between face consciousness and happiness is ameliorated by their financial situation. These results revealed the importance of face consciousness as an individual difference in predicting happiness. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

Contemplative Pedagogy: Frequently Asked Questions

Contemplative Pedagogy is a new and sometimes controversial pedagogical practice. Faculty often have basic questions about how to implement the pedagogy in their classrooms, in addition to questions that challenge the educational value and appropriateness of the practice. Assembled here are the most frequently asked questions about Contemplative Pedagogy, with responses from six contemplative professors, each from a different institutional and philosophical location. The respondents are founding members of the Contemplative Studies Consultation of the American Academy of Religion. The diversity of views expressed by the respondents invites the reader to see that there is no single theory or praxis of contemplative pedagogy.     

Moderating effects in consumers' perceptions of price unfairness

This study explores the moderating effects of various consumer features – such as price insensitivity and recency of last purchase – on the relationships among perceived value, inferred vendor profit, and perceived price fairness. A proposed model is developed and an empirical study is then conducted among consumers in four contexts: (i) two tangible goods; and (ii) two intangible services. The proposed model and hypotheses are tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) software SmartPLS 2.0.M3, which provides a component‐based approach for estimation purposes. The influence of these moderating variables (price insensitivity and recency of the last purchase) depends on the context and the nature of the offering. This is a pioneering study of perceived price fairness in a framework of distributive justice utilizing a variety of contexts, products, and services. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sibling relationship quality in early adolescence: child and maternal perceptions and daily interactions

Correspondence between child and maternal perceptions of sibling relationship quality (standards, actual ratings, problems) and children's reports of daily interactions were assessed in 40 early adolescent children (M age=11.5 yrs) and their mothers (n=32). Children completed the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985. Child Development, 56, 448–461) and Daily Checklist ratings of sibling interactions for 14 days. Mothers completed the Parental Expectations and Perceptions of Children's Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (Kramer & Baron, 1995. Family Relations, 44, 95–103). Overall, findings revealed correspondence between child perceptions of sibling warmth and maternal ratings of standards, actual ratings, and problems in sibling warmth but not conflict and rivalry. Maternal and child perceptions of sibling relationship qualities were positively associated with children's reports of ongoing interactions. Finally, regression analyses identified unique maternal and child correlates for both happy and prosocial daily interactions. Findings are discussed in light of recent research and theory on family dynamics. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of Remembering Childhood Sexual Abuse on Addiction Recovery for Young Adult Lesbians

This article examines the impact of childhood sexual abuse on young adult lesbians' sexual identity and their recovery from chemical dependency. The authors recommend that counselors assess for sexual orientation (past and present), sexual abuse, and possible dual diagnosis. Implications for counselors are discussed.     

Automatic emotion regulation after social exclusion: tuning to positivity

Nine experiments tested competing hypotheses regarding nonconscious affective responses to acute social exclusion and how such responses may relate to positive mental health. The results strongly and consistently indicated that acute social exclusion increased nonconscious positive affect. Compared to nonexcluded participants, excluded participants recalled more positive memories from childhood than did accepted participants (Experiment 1), gave greater weight to positive emotion in their judgments of word similarity (Experiments 2 and 3), and completed more ambiguous word stems with happy words (Experiments 4a and 4b). This process was apparently automatic, as participants asked to imagine exclusion overestimated explicit distress and underestimated implicit positivity (Experiment 3). Four final experiments showed that this automatic emotion regulation process was found among participants low (but not high) in depressive symptoms (Experiments 5 and 6) and among participants high (but not low) in self-esteem (Experiments 7 and 8). These findings suggest that acute exclusion sets in motion an automatic emotion regulation process in which positive emotions become highly accessible, which relates to positive mental health.     

Sample size planning with the cost constraint for testing superiority and equivalence of two independent groups

The allocation of sufficient participants into different experimental groups for various research purposes under given constraints is an important practical problem faced by researchers. We address the problem of sample size determination between two independent groups for unequal and/or unknown variances when both the power and the differential cost are taken into consideration. We apply the well‐known Welch approximate test to derive various sample size allocation ratios by minimizing the total cost or, equivalently, maximizing the statistical power. Two types of hypotheses including superiority/non‐inferiority and equivalence of two means are each considered in the process of sample size planning. A simulation study is carried out and the proposed method is validated in terms of Type I error rate and statistical power. As a result, the simulation study reveals that the proposed sample size formulas are very satisfactory under various variances and sample size allocation ratios. Finally, a flowchart, tables, and figures of several sample size allocations are presented for practical reference.     

New heterogeneous test statistics for the unbalanced fixed‐effect nested design

When the underlying variances are unknown or/and unequal, using the conventional F test is problematic in the two‐factor hierarchical data structure. Prompted by the approximate test statistics (Welch and Alexander–Govern methods), the authors develop four new heterogeneous test statistics to test factor A and factor B nested within A for the unbalanced fixed‐effect two‐stage nested design under variance heterogeneity. The actual significance levels and statistical power of the test statistics were compared in a simulation study. The results show that the proposed procedures maintain better Type I error rate control and have greater statistical power than those obtained by the conventional F test in various conditions. Therefore, the proposed test statistics are recommended in terms of robustness and easy implementation.