Testing use of the first multi-partner cognitive enrichment devices by a group of male bottlenose dolphins

Animal Cognition - Alliance formation plays a crucial part in male dolphins’ lives. These partnerships may last for decades or even for a lifetime; thus, partner choice and the maintenance of...     

Fathering Self-Efficacy, Marital Satisfaction and Father Involvement in Hong Kong

We examined the predictability of fathering self-efficacy and marital satisfaction on father involvement. The moderating effect of marital satisfaction on the relationship between father efficacy and father involvement was also explored. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using the convenience sampling method. A total of 2,029 valid questionnaires were collected from fathers with children aged 2–6 from 48 nurseries in Hong Kong. The fathers’ mean age is 39.1. 72.9 % of the fathers graduated from secondary school and 86 % had full-time jobs. Measures including self-efficacy subscale in the Parenting Sense of Competency Scale, the Index of Marital Satisfaction, the Inventory of Father Involvement were adopted in the present study. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that fathering self-efficacy and marital satisfaction were significant positive predictors of father involvement, whereas marital satisfaction moderated the effect of fathering self-efficacy on father involvement. It is thus important to improve martial satisfaction and enhance fathering self-efficacy for promoting father involvement. To gain a more comprehensive picture, future studies of father involvement may benefit by adopting a longitudinal research design, including the mothers and children as informants, and addressing other parenting correlates such as parenting stress and spousal support.     

中国学生ETPSP误用现象及其与英语学习水平的关系

基于概念整合理论和范畴化原型理论,以对真实语料的统计分析结果为4P-据,探讨了中国英语学习者在1：2语表达过程中的英语单数第三人称代词（ETPSP）误用现象及其原因,结果表明：（1）中国大学生存在普遍的ETPSP误用现象,主要表现为主语he／she、宾语him／her和定语his／her三类间的误用,特别是主语he／she间的误用人数比例高达75％;（2）英语学习水平对ETPSP误用具有重要影响,且主要表现为低水平组对“she”产出的高错误率,主要原因是其对“he（she）”产出错误的认知实时监控能力缺乏。     

Comparisons Across Depression Assessment Instruments in Adolescence and Young Adulthood: An Item Response Theory Study Using Two Linking Methods

Item response theory (IRT) methods allow for comparing the utility of instruments based on the range and precision of severity assessed by each instrument. As adolescents and young adults can display rapid increases in depressive symptoms, there is a crucial need to sensitively assess mild elevations of symptoms (as an index of initial risk) and moderate-severe symptoms (as an indicator of treatment disposition). We compare the information assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to the newly developed Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System – Depression measure (PROMIS-Depression), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies – Depression (CES-D) scale. The present work is based on data from two fully independent samples of community adolescents and young adults. One sample completed the BDI and CES-D (n?=?1,482) and the second sample (n?=?673) completed the PROMIS-Depression measure and the CES-D. Using two different IRT-based linking methods, (1) equating based on common items and (2) concurrent calibration methods, analyses revealed that the PROMIS-Depression measure assessed information over the widest range of depressive severity with greatest measurement precision relative to the other instruments. This was true for both the 28-item and 8-item versions of the PROMIS-Depression measure. Findings suggest that the PROMIS-Depression measure assessed depression severity with greatest precision and over the widest severity range of the assessed instruments. However, future work is necessary to demonstrate that the PROMIS-Depression measure has reliable associations with external criteria and is sensitive to treatment response.     

The Influence of Task Difficulty on Context Effect - Compromise and Attraction Effects

Research in psychology finds strong context effects in consumer behavior and help consumer make up their mind from choice set when none of each option better than the others in all aspects. Context effect signifies that when evaluating a focal option, individuals take into consideration characteristics of other comparative alternatives rather than only the features of that focal alternative, complicating the decision-making process. The compromise effect and attraction effect (known together as context effect) explain the underlying motivations that cause consumers to choose the middle option and introduce an inferior option to make the originally dominated option more preferable. But past research on this domain has predominantly used an easy-to-count choice scenario (refers to the ease of using individual’s math skill on comparative attributes in the choice task) which is not ideally existed in real world situation. In real world purchasing situations, most of the time consumers become confused by a variety of products presented with irregular pricing, packaging or attributes which are apparently difficult to compare by math skill. This paper aim to examine “When the level of difficulty changed while processing the comparative task on the context of a choice set, how does this influence the resultant occurrence of context effect?” Results from four experiments demonstrate that both compromise and attraction effects decreased when the choice task become more difficult.     

An Integrated Resilience and Ecological Model of Child Abuse (REC-Model)

Much of the theories of child abuse are developed and referenced from the West, while their applications to Chinese society are unclear. It is necessary to examine the cases in Hong Kong to acknowledge the uniqueness in perception and conceptualization of child abuse and the impact of resilience, across different cultural settings. The current study aims to advance an ecological model of child abuse for Hong Kong families by integrating resilience perspective with the ecological systems, namely An Integrated Resilience and Ecological Model of Child Abuse (REC-Model), and to examine the interactions between resilience and risk factors among chronosystemic, microsystemic, marcosystemic, and ontogenic systems on child abuse. Using a cross sectional survey research method and path analysis, 565 families with children studying at ages between 9 and 13 participated and returned self-administered questionnaires in the study. The results showed that Chinese cultural parenting values moderated the influences of risk factors on child abuse, while forgiveness buffered the negative impact of microsystemic factors on child abuse. To prevent child abuse, it is important to decrease the detrimental effects of childhood abuse experiences, reduce marital conflicts, and avoid developing insecure parent-child attachment. Promoting forgiveness, while reducing parents’ rigidity of certain Chinese cultural parenting values, may also help decrease child abuse.