Exploring the Validity of the Values-In-Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) in an African Context

This study explored the validity of the Values-In-Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) in an African context. A convenience sample of 256 African students completed the VIA-IS in English. The majority of strengths subscales had good reliability coefficients and mean scores comparable to those reported in a Western context. Satisfactory criterion-related validity was established through correlations with other well-being indices. First and second order confirmatory factor analyses only partly supported construct validity. All strengths subscales consisted of more than one factor. The hypothesised six-virtue cluster pattern was partially supported. Exploratory factor analysis suggested the possibility of an emic factor pattern of strengths consisting of 3 components: Within the first factor, Intrapersonal and Relationship Strengths, two clusters are distinguished, namely, Intrapersonal Strengths, and Horizontal and Vertical Relationship Strengths. The second factor was Integrity in Group Context. Thus, the VIA-IS has merit, but is not completely valid in its original form.     

'She Loves Books & Ideas, & Strides along in Low Shoes Like an Englishwoman': British models and graduates from the Anglican girls' secondary schools in Palestine, 1918-48

During the mandate period of British rule in Palestine, urban middle- and upper-class Arab women challenged the traditions that had secluded them from public life. The influence of missionary secondary education was the first and crucial step to the changing social roles of these women. Despite the general historical interpretation that Western missionary education merely modernized the domestic dimension of the indigenous women's identity, the Anglican mission schools in Palestine provided women with a liberal education in addition to offering a professional life and gainful employment as a legitimate option for young women. This paper calls for further research to be done on the topic.     

New Evolutionary Perspectives on Altruism: Multilevel-Selection and Costly-Signaling Theories

Social psychological theories tend to be primarily concerned with the immediate causes of altruism, whereas evolutionary explanations focus more on the origins and ultimate functions of altruistic behavior. Recent developments in the evolutionary psychology of altruism promise an even richer understanding of this important category of social behaviors. Specifically, new perspectives offered by multilevel-selection theory and costly-signaling theory may help to shed light on some of the more problematic issues in the study of altruism.     

Evaluation of settlement service programs for newcomers in ontario: A geographical perspective

This article presents an evaluation of the two largest settlement programs—LINC and ISAP—in the province of Ontario in terms of their geographical distribution and funding allocation and in relation to the settlement patterns of new immigrants. This study found that the current locations of both programs largely match the settlement patterns of newcomers in Ontario. However, in the Toronto CMA, where over 75% of Ontario's newcomers live, settlement services remain concentrated in the historical immigrant reception area of the City of Toronto, although many new immigrant groups settle directly in suburbia. Adoption of the proposed National Allocation Formula for Ontario would reduce the disparities, but a modified model is needed for more equitable allocation of services and resources. This study should have useful policy implications. Because the Canadian government is contemplating new policies that would require future newcomers to move to smaller urban centres or rural towns to reduce overconcentration in large metropolitan areas, equitable provision of settlement services in these centres and towns will become more important.     

The ‘mad scientists’: Psychoanalysis,dream and virtual reality2

The author explores the concept of reality‐testing as a means of assessing the relationship with reality that prevails in dream and in virtual reality. Based on a model developed by Jean Laplanche, she compares these activities in detail in order to determine their respective independence from the function of reality‐testing. By carefully examining the concept of hallucination in the writings of Freud and Daniel Dennett, the author seeks to pinpoint the specific modalities of interaction between perceptions, ideas, wishes and actions that converge in the ‘belief’ and in the ‘sense of reality’. The paper's main thesis consists of the distinction that it draws between immediacy‐testing and reality‐testing, with the further argument that this distinction not only dissipates the conceptual vagueness that generally surrounds the latter of the two concepts but also that it promotes a more precise analysis of the function of reality in dream and in virtual reality.     

Harmonious and Obsessive Passion for the Internet: Their Associations With the Couple's Relationship1

Based on a motivational perspective of passion, we investigated the associations between passion for the Internet and level of self‐determined motivation toward the couple's relationship. Our results show that an obsessive passion toward the Internet was associated with lower self‐determination in the couple, greater conflict in the relationship, and low levels of dyadic adjustment. In contrast, harmonious passion toward the Internet was associated with greater self‐determination in the couple, less conflict, and greater dyadic adjustment. Results suggest that use of the Internet is not necessarily associated with negative interpersonal outcomes. Rather, it appears that the way the activity has been internalized is associated with how individuals internalize their reasons for behaving in other domains.     

Temperamental Vulnerability and Suicide Risk After Attempted Suicide

The aim was to extend recent findings of suggested temperamental features in attempted suicide and to explore possible domains of vulnerability to suicide risk after attempted suicide. Fifty-four psychiatric inpatients hospitalized after a suicide attempt underwent lumbar puncture for analysis of CSF 5-HIAA concentration and also completed the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) before discharge from the hospital. Suicide attempters scored high on Somatic Anxiety, Psychic Anxiety, and Muscular Tension, and low on Socialization, findings that support recent findings in suicide attempters followed up after an emergency room visit. Five patients committed early suicide, i.e., within 3 years, and the overall long-term suicide mortality after attempted suicide was 13%. There were significant correlations between survival time among early suicides and CSF 5-HIAA (r = .87;p = .054), and the following KSP scale t scores: Somatic Anxiety (r = ?.96;p < .05), Impulsivity (r = ?.88; p < .05), and Socialization (r = .90; p < .05). KSP Socialization showed correlations with CSF 5-HIAA (r = .89; p = .046) among the early suicides. Features of temperamental vulnerability to suicide risk after attempted suicide might involve anxiety proneness, impulsivity, low socialization, and low CSF 5-HIAA.