Educated and underemployed: Refugee integration into the Canadian labour market

This study explores issues of access to high-status occupations in the Canadian labour market, with particular emphasis on refugees who were in professional or managerial positions prior to their arrival in Canada. The study is based on interviews with a sample of 525 adult refugees who were initially resettled in the province of Alberta between 1992 and 1997. About two thirds of the respondents came from former Yugoslavia, the remainder from countries in the Middle East, Central America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Despite the generally high educational attainment of these refugees, the results show that they experience, much higher rates of unemployment, part-time employment, and temporary employment than do Canadian-born individuals. A variety of structural factors operating in a segmented Canadian labour market help to explain the downward mobility of these highly qualified refugees. The policy implications of these results are examined in detail.     

Effects of Perceived Fairness on Willingness to Pay

An experiment tested the effects of fairness on willingness to pay (WTP) for public goods. Treatments varied the amount requested (high vs. low), the fairness of the requested contribution (high vs. low), and the beneficiary (self vs. other) or cause of the needed change (internal vs. external). Irrespective of fairness type (beneficiary or cause), under conditions of high fairness, the public good was judged to be more valuable and the requested contribution more justified. The judged value of the public good and the perceived fairness of the requested contribution each made a significant contribution to the prediction of WTP. The requested amount influenced WTP by acting as an initial anchor. The implications of these findings for contingent valuation are discussed.     

Two-year-old twins refuse to eat: A multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis and treatment

This round table addresses the diagnosis and treatment of feeding disorders and failure to thrive. It describes a family-centered approach by a multidisciplinary feeding disorders team, beginning with the screening evaluation by the team coordinator at intake, through the evaluations by various team members, the team meeting with the parents, the development of a treatment plan, to a 1-year follow-up after treatment. Both twins refused to eat textured food and were found to have a posttraumatic feeding disorder secondary to repeated gagging and choking on cereal and lumpy baby food. However, only one twin was engaged in a battle with the parents over eating and developed infantile anorexia associated with failure to thrive. The differential diagnosis and the specific treatment plans of these two feeding disorders characterized by food refusal are discussed.     

The Dynamics of a Genetic Counseling Peer Supervision Group

Supervision is a practice that is utilized by a variety of practitioners to hone their counseling skills. Genetic counselors have embraced the supervision process, and some seek out supervision in a group setting with peers. Researchers have described the structure and content of genetic counseling peer supervision groups, and provided evidence for the benefits of seeking peer supervision. This study aimed to describe the interpersonal aspects of one genetic counseling peer supervision group, including personality traits and group dynamics, and how those factors influenced our experiences within the group. We also describe how the process of evaluating these factors impacted us individually and collectively. There was consensus that the group was a safe and trusting one, which was united by similar goals and mutual respect. Members reported gaining insights about how their own personality functioned within the group milieu, and also how the group setting impacted them. Based on our experiences, we recommend that other peer supervision groups consider similar self-evaluations on a periodic basis, both to enhance group functioning and to allow for increased self-awareness and professional growth.     

Bayesian SEM for Specification Search Problems in Testing Factorial Invariance

Specification search problems refer to two important but under-addressed issues in testing for factorial invariance: how to select proper reference indicators and how to locate specific non-invariant parameters. In this study, we propose a two-step procedure to solve these issues. Step 1 is to identify a proper reference indicator using the Bayesian structural equation modeling approach. An item is selected if it is associated with the highest likelihood to be invariant across groups. Step 2 is to locate specific non-invariant parameters, given that a proper reference indicator has already been selected in Step 1. A series of simulation analyses show that the proposed method performs well under a variety of data conditions, and optimal performance is observed under conditions of large magnitude of non-invariance, low proportion of non-invariance, and large sample sizes. We also provide an empirical example to demonstrate the specific procedures to implement the proposed method in applied research. The importance and influences are discussed regarding the choices of informative priors with zero mean and small variances. Extensions and limitations are also pointed out.     

New age-linked asymmetries: aging and the processing of familiar versus novel language on the input versus output side

This research demonstrates 3 new age-linked asymmetries between identifying versus retrieving phonological information. Young and older adults read aloud familiar isolated words (e.g., mind) and novel pseudowords (e.g., mond) in a production task and identified lexical status for identical stimuli in a comprehension task. Young adults made fewer errors than older adults in production but not comprehension (an age-related input-output asymmetry), and they produced pseudowords but not words with fewer errors than older adults (a lexical-status asymmetry). The lexical-status asymmetry also occurred for response onset times but not for output durations (an onset-output asymmetry). All 3 asymmetries were predicted under the transmission deficit hypothesis (D. G. MacKay & D. M. Burke, 1990) but contradict theories such as general slowing that cannot explain why aging affects some types of information processing more than others.     

Meeting Mr Davis vs Mr Davin: effects of name frequency on learning proper names in young and older adults

Two theoretical frameworks relevant to proper name learning in ageing make competing predictions about the effects of name frequency. Under an inhibition model, common (high-frequency; HF) proper names will be harder to learn and remember than rare (low-frequency; LF) names, whereas under a transmission deficit model, HF names will have the advantage. Young adults (ages 18-31) and two groups of healthy older adults (ages 60-74 and 75-89) learned HF (e.g., Davis) and LF (e.g., Davin) surnames in association with new faces. Young adults recalled more names than older or oldest adults, and participants of all ages recalled more HF than LF names. There was no interaction between age and name frequency: The difference favouring HF names was similar in magnitude across age groups. All evidence runs contrary to the inhibitory model's prediction that interference makes learning HF names difficult.     

The alcohol-aggression link: children's aggression expectancies in marital arguments as a function of the sobriety or intoxication of the arguing couple

Children's expectancies of man-woman and woman-man aggression during arguments between individuals who were either intoxicated or sober were examined. The role of child and familial characteristics in influencing these expectancies was assessed. We examined children's expectations of interadult verbal/psychological and physical aggression during simulated arguments presented to children on videotapes. A community sample (N = 156) of children and young adolescents (6-14-year olds) participated. Children expected higher levels of aggression during conflict when they thought that one or both participants in conflict were intoxicated versus sober. Further, higher levels of verbal versus physical interadult conflict were expected during the disputes. These findings build on the literature by demonstrating that elementary school age children and young adolescents exhibit expectancies that link the consumption of alcohol with increased verbal and physical aggression in marital arguments. These alcohol-aggression expectancies were robust and were evident in relation to either the man's or woman's perpetration of aggression against the spouse. Elucidation of factors that can influence associations between aggression and alcohol consumption are of importance and have broad implications for family functioning.     

The flexible application of a manualized treatment for PTSD symptoms and functional impairment related to the 9/11 World Trade Center attack

The purpose of this treatment effectiveness study was to evaluate the flexible application of a manualized cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) for PTSD and related symptoms in survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Treatment delivery ranged from 12 to 25 sessions; therapist experience ranged from no prior training to extensive training in CBT; and training and supervision of clinicians in the treatment manual was considerably less than that required in a randomized clinical trial (RCT). Paired t-tests demonstrated significant pre-post reductions in symptoms of PTSD and depression for the flexible application of the treatment. A benchmarking analysis revealed that the moderate-to-large effect sizes found for these variables were similar to those obtained in an RCT of the same treatment. Furthermore, effect sizes on measures of outcomes particularly relevant to this population of mass violence survivors such as functional impairment, use of alcohol and drugs to cope, and use of social support to cope, were also medium to large.     

Sensory modality, temperament, and the development of sustained attention: a vigilance study in children and adults

Applying optimal stimulation theory, the present study explored the development of sustained attention as a dynamic process. It examined the interaction of modality and temperament over time in children and adults. Second-grade children and college-aged adults performed auditory and visual vigilance tasks. Using the Carey temperament questionnaires (S. C. McDevitt & W. B. Carey, 1995), the authors classified participants according to temperament composites of reactivity and task orientation. In a preliminary study, tasks were equated across age and modality using d' matching procedures. In the main experiment, 48 children and 48 adults performed these calibrated tasks. The auditory task proved more difficult for both children and adults. Intermodal relations changed with age: Performance across modality was significantly correlated for children but not for adults. Although temperament did not significantly predict performance in adults, it did for children. The temperament effects observed in children--specifically in those with the composite of reactivity--occurred in connection with the auditory task and in a manner consistent with theoretical predictions derived from optimal stimulation theory.