Paradox of Parental Involvement in Sexual Health and Induced Abortions Among In-school Female Adolescents in Southwest Nigeria

Prevalent early sexual initiation and unprotected sex involvement with various partners create dilemmas for adolescents and their parents. This article explores parents' involvement in their adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health, particularly with respect to terminating unintended pregnancies. This was done to gain an understanding of the dynamics of parental involvement in resolving anxieties concerning unintended pregnancy and the reasons for seeking induced abortions. The study used a mixed method approach, and 460 female students aged 13–20 years completed the self-administered questionnaire. Thirty-three parents who had an adolescent daughter in school and 31 female adolescents participated in eight different focus group discussion sessions, respectively. A quarter of the respondents had been pregnant at least once. All the females who had ever become pregnant had tried to terminate the pregnancy. Few (9 %) had used contraception at their last sexual intercourse. Twenty nine percent of the respondents had discussed sexual matters with their parents and 82 % preferred discussing such matters with their mothers. In the qualitative findings, some of the parents reported not having been involved in or supportive of terminating their daughter's pregnancy, but confirmed that some mothers had reasons to support induced abortions. Major reasons for mothers' involvement in their daughters' induced abortions were to avoid the social stigma, disruption of schooling and financial stress associated with unintended pregnancy. Resolving conflicting parental interests and values concerning adolescent sexuality and induced abortions is essential for promoting adolescent sexual health in Nigeria.     

The trajectory of the target probability effect

The effect of target probability on detection times is well-established: Even when detection accuracy is high, lower probability targets are detected more slowly than higher probability ones. Although this target probability effect on detection times has been well-studied, one aspect of it has remained largely unexamined: How the effect develops over the span of an experiment. Here, we investigated this issue with two detection experiments that assessed different target probability ratios. Conventional block segment analysis and linear mixed-effects modeling converged on two key findings. First, we found that the magnitude of the target probability effect increases as one progresses through a block of trials. Second, we found, by examining the trajectories of the low- and high-probability targets, that this increase in effect magnitude was driven by the low-probability targets. Specifically, we found that low-probability targets were detected more slowly as a block of trials progressed. Performance to high-probability targets, on the other hand, was largely invariant across the block. The latter finding is of particular interest because it cannot be reconciled with accounts that propose that the target probability effect is driven by the high-probability targets.     

An Approach to the Study of the Small Group in a Psychiatric Day Hospital

Adults in midlife can be significantly helped through group treatment that is sensitive to the developmental issues of the age period. The author suggests that the developmental crisis of midlife—Generativity versus Stagnation—can, through unconscious processes, become a group crisis as well. A group state of stagnation, enveloping the members as well as the leader, if understood and worked through, can significantly facilitate the developmental progress of its midlife members. A clinical example demonstrates how a therapist helped his midlife group move out of stagnation and toward generativity.     

The eureka process: A structure for the creative experience in science and engineering

Abstract:

There is little in the literature that focuses on both the thoughts and feelings of scientists and engineers when they are in the throes of scientific creation or invention. This investigation was performed to address the question: What is the experience of modeling natural phenomena? Special emphasis was placed on mathematical modeling. A formal heuristic procedure was used to gather data from 12 scientists and engineers. The interviews were tape recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for general themes and points of view. The data, represented primarily in the form of a structural flow diagram, emphasize both the cognitive and emotional features of the process. The major features that emerged include the existence of creative feedback loops, unipolar‐positive phases of both illumination and acceptance, and unipolar negative phases of blockages to the attainment of the positive poles. Implications and applications emerged in the areas of creativity, validation, education, and motivation. It was concluded that far too little emphasis has been placed on the role that feelings play in the creative process, and it was suggested that it is important to understand, teach, and recognize emotions in order to learn to trust our own natural abilities and intuition.