Predicting bullying and victimization among early adolescents: Associations with disruptive behavior disorders

Bullying is a common problem faced by children and adolescents in schools. One hypothesis that needs to be examined regarding the causation of this problem is whether being a bully or a victim may stem from disparate underlying patterns of psychopathology. Results are particularly scarce regarding the association between bully‐victim problems and disruptive behavior disorders. The present study sought to investigate the association between DSM‐IV symptoms of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Conduct Disorder (CD), and bully‐victim problems in a sample of 202 adolescents, aged 12–15, attending two junior high schools in Cyprus, to determine whether these symptoms differentiate between bullies and victims and provide a new approach to the understanding of bully‐victim problems. Students completed measures of bullying, victimization, disruptive behavior disorder symptoms, and self‐esteem, along with demographic questions. On the basis of their responses, teenagers were classified as bullies, victims, or both bullies and victims. Those who were bully/victims reported greater CD symptomatology. CD and low self‐esteem were predictive of bullying, whereas ODD and low self‐esteem were predictive of victimization. Aggr. Behav. 30:520–533, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The reliability and validity of the Greek version of the task-specific occupational self-efficacy scale

The present study examined the reliability and validity of the Greek version of the Task-Specific Occupational Self-Efficacy Scale in a sample of 170 high school students. Drawing on current social cognitive career theory, the validity of the TSOSS is supported by the expected gender differences on the TSOSS factors, and their high correlations with Self-Directed Search summary scores, and vocational choice goals. Additionally, there seems to be some evidence that self-efficacy beliefs, as measured by the TSOSS, may affect choice goals both directly and indirectly. The empirical structure of the instrument examined by a cluster analysis algorithm was perfectly confirmed, and its stability is supported by adequate test-retest correlations and high internal consistency coefficients. On the basis of these findings a preliminary evaluation of the TSOSS is made when used with a Greek sample. Implications for research and career guidance are discussed.     

Self‐Reported Career Interests Among Adjudicated Male Adolescents: A Pilot Study

Using J. L. Holland's (1985) Self‐Directed Search, this study compared the career interests of 28 adjudicated male adolescents with a normative high school male sample. The mean Artistic score of the adjudicated adolescents was significantly higher, and the authors found that this group endorsed fewer Investigative items and more Artistic items than the normative sample. The adjudicated sample showed poor differentiation and significantly higher intercorrelations among the Holland codes.     

Gauthier and the Capacity for Morality

In Morals by Agreement, David Gauthier tries to provide a justification of morality from morally neutral premises within the constraints of an instrumental conception of reason. But his reliance on this narrow conception of reason creates problems, for it suggests that moral motivation is self-interested. However, Gauthier holds that to act morally is to act for the sake of morality and others, not oneself. An individual who so acts has what he calls an affective capacity for morality. He attempts to reconcile the tension between the self-interested account of moral behaviour and the affective capacity for morality by showing that the latter could develop from the former without violating the constraints of instrumental rationality. I argue, first, that his account is incomplete and assumes what it has to demonstrate; and, second, that this cannot be remedied with any plausibility. Finally, I argue that Gauthier covertly relies on a substantive claim about human good that is inconsistent with the instrumental conception of reason. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Children's understanding of the earth in a multicultural community: mental models or fragments of knowledge?

Children's understanding of properties of the earth was investigated by interviewing Asian and white British classmates aged 4?8 years (N = 167). Two issues were explored: whether they held mental models of the earth ( Vosniadou & Brewer, 1992 ) or instead had fragmented knowledge ( di Sessa, 1988 ); and the influence of the children's different cultural backgrounds. Children selected from a set of plastic models and answered forced‐choice questions. Using this methodology, there were no significant differences in the overall performance of Asian and white children after language skills were partialled out. Even young children showed an emerging knowledge of some properties of the earth, but the distributions of their combinations of responses provided no evidence that they had mental models. Instead, these distributions closely resembled those that would be expected if children's knowledge in this domain were fragmented. Possible reasons for the differences between these findings and those of previous research are discussed.     

Stages of Sexual Grooming: Recognizing Potentially Predatory Behaviors of Child Molesters

It has been proposed that sexual grooming behaviors of child molesters are not easily identified prior to the abuse. The present study investigated whether participants could recognize grooming behaviors, and if so, identify which stages of the process were most easily identified. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of six vignettes describing the stages of the grooming process. Results revealed no differences in likelihood ratings that the person in the vignette was a child molester and would commit sexual abuse between any of the conditions, suggesting that people may be unable to identify potentially predatory behaviors of child molesters prospectively.     

Linking executive function skills and physiological challenge response: Piecewise growth curve modeling

This study employed piecewise growth curve modeling to examine how children's executive function (EF) skills relate to different components of children's physiological response trajectory – initial arousal, reactivity, and recovery. The sample included 102 ethnically diverse kindergarteners, whose EF skills were measured using standard tasks and observer ratings. Physiological response was measured via changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in response to a laboratory socio‐cognitive challenge. Children's cool and hot EF skills were differentially related to both linear and quadratic components of RSA response during the challenge. Greater hot EF skills and assessor report of EF skills during laboratory visit were related to quicker RSA recovery after the challenge. These findings demonstrate that children's physiological response is a dynamic process that encompasses physiological recovery and relates to children's self‐regulation abilities.     

HelexKids: A word frequency database for Greek and Cypriot primary school children

In this article, we introduce HelexKids, an online written-word database for Greek-speaking children in primary education (Grades 1 to 6). The database is organized on a grade-by-grade basis, and on a cumulative basis by combining Grade 1 with Grades 2 to 6. It provides values for Zipf, frequency per million, dispersion, estimated word frequency per million, standard word frequency, contextual diversity, orthographic Levenshtein distance, and lemma frequency. These values are derived from 116 textbooks used in primary education in Greece and Cyprus, producing a total of 68,692 different word types. HelexKids was developed to assist researchers in studying language development, educators in selecting age-appropriate items for teaching, as well as writers and authors of educational books for Greek/Cypriot children. The database is open access and can be searched online at www.helexkids.org.     

Working with families of adults with anorexia nervosa

The aim of this paper is to describe working with the carers (families) of adults with anorexia nervosa (AN), which is different from working with families of younger adolescents. The main difference is in the area of rights and responsibilities of both parties. Moreover, as AN in adults is often a chronic condition, the treatment goal may not focus on recovery, but instead on improvement in quality of life. Thus the spectrum of nature and degree of parental involvement in the treatment of adults with AN is much broader than in children and adolescents. Our framework for intervention is based on a clear model of carer distress, from which targets for intervention follow. The paper outlines some of the core components of this work.     

Nurses' behaviors and visual scanning patterns may reduce patient identification errors

Patient identification (ID) errors occurring during the medication administration process can be fatal. The aim of this study is to determine whether differences in nurses' behaviors and visual scanning patterns during the medication administration process influence their capacities to identify patient ID errors. Nurse participants (n = 20) administered medications to 3 patients in a simulated clinical setting, with 1 patient having an embedded ID error. Error-identifying nurses tended to complete more process steps in a similar amount of time than non-error-identifying nurses and tended to scan information across artifacts (e.g., ID band, patient chart, medication label) rather than fixating on several pieces of information on a single artifact before fixating on another artifact. Non-error-indentifying nurses tended to increase their durations of off-topic conversations-a type of process interruption-over the course of the trials; the difference between groups was significant in the trial with the embedded ID error. Error-identifying nurses tended to have their most fixations in a row on the patient's chart, whereas non-error-identifying nurses did not tend to have a single artifact on which they consistently fixated. Finally, error-identifying nurses tended to have predictable eye fixation sequences across artifacts, whereas non-error-identifying nurses tended to have seemingly random eye fixation sequences. This finding has implications for nurse training and the design of tools and technologies that support nurses as they complete the medication administration process.