Psychiatric Morbidity and Family Environment Among Female Juvenile Detainees in a Malaysian Sample

Family environmental factors have been implicated in the development of delinquency and adolescent psychiatric disorders. We examined the association between psychiatric disorders and family environmental factors among female juvenile detainees. A hundred female juvenile detainees in a Malaysian rehabilitation center (12–17 years-old) were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Child and Adolescent and the Family Environment Scale. Majority of participants (56 %) had a psychiatric disorder, the commonest being Disruptive Behavior Disorders (40 %) and Depressive Disorders (30 %). Multivariate analysis found younger age (OR 0.52; 95 % CI 0.29, 0.94), older maternal age (OR 1.15; 95 % CI 1.03, 1.28), family history of crime (OR 7.19; 95 % CI 1.05, 49.43), family environment i.e. achievement orientation (OR 1.11; 95 % CI 1.02, 1.20) and control (OR 1.12; 95 % CI 1.03, 1.22) as significant factors for psychiatric disorder. This study demonstrated the role of age (younger adolescent and older mother), family history of crime and family environment beyond socio-economic status in psychiatric morbidity among female juvenile detainees. Future larger studies are needed to clarify familial-genetic factors that may impact strategies for family-centric mental health interventions.     

Examining the influence of anecdotal stories and the interplay of individual differences on reasoning

In two experiments, we explored whether anecdotal stories influenced how individuals reasoned when evaluating scientific news articles. We additionally considered the role of education level and thinking dispositions on reasoning. Participants evaluated eight scientific news articles that drew questionable interpretations from the evidence. Overall, anecdotal stories decreased the ability to reason scientifically even when controlling for education level and thinking dispositions. Additionally, we found that article length was related to participants' ratings of the news articles. Our study demonstrates that anecdotes can discourage scientific reasoning while also pointing to the potential influence of article length on judgements of quality.     

Yearning and Its Measurement in Complicated Grief

Persistent intense yearning for the deceased is a core clinical feature of complicated grief (CG) that distinguishes it from other mental disorders that develop following loss. The Yearning in Situations of Loss Scale (YSL) is a recently developed assessment of yearning. To assess the psychometric properties of the YSL in those with CG, we administered the YSL, Inventory of Complicated Grief, and Quick Inventory of Depression Symptomatology to 303 treatment-seeking bereaved adults with CG. Our results suggest the YSL is a reliable assessment with acceptable convergent and discriminant validity as a measure of yearning in those with CG.     

A Slippery Myth: How Learning Style Beliefs Shape Reasoning about Multimodal Instruction and Related Scientific Evidence

The learning style myth is a commonly held myth that matching instruction to a student's “learning style” will result in improved learning, while providing mismatched instruction will result in suboptimal learning. The present study used a short online reasoning exercise about the efficacy of multimodal instruction to investigate the nature of learning styles beliefs. We aimed to: understand how learning style beliefs interact with beliefs about multimodal learning; characterize the potential complexity of learning style beliefs and understand how this short exercise might influence endorsements of learning styles. Many participants who believed in the learning style myth supported the efficacy of multimodal learning, and many were willing to revise their belief in the myth after the exercise. Personal experiences and worldviews were commonly cited as reasons for maintaining beliefs in learning styles. Findings reveal the complexity of learning style beliefs, and how they interact with evidence in previously undocumented ways.     

The role of attention at retrieval on the false recognition of negative emotional DRM lists

This study examined the role of attention at retrieval on the false recognition of emotional items using the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Previous research has shown that divided attention at test increases false remember judgements for neutral critical lures. However, no research has yet directly assessed emotional false memories when attention is manipulated at retrieval. To examine this, participants studied negative (low in valence and high in arousal) and neutral DRM lists and completed recognition tests under conditions of full and divided attention. Results revealed that divided attention at retrieval increased false remember judgements for all critical lures compared to retrieval under full attention, but in both retrieval conditions, false memories were greater for negative compared to neutral stimuli. We believe that this is due to reliance on a more easily accessible (meaning of the word) but less diagnostic form of source monitoring, amplified under conditions of divided attention.     

Social Constructionist Approach to Suffering and Healing: Juxtaposing Cassell, Gergen and Kleinman

To understand the experiences of suffering (overwhelming somatic pain or illness and its anticipation and other forms of severe distress arising in the socio-moral context) and facilitate healing (developing an enabling meaning and value for one??s experiences when faced with suffering) have been the focus of medicine as a social institution throughout human history. However, the goals of Western biomedicine in the last few centuries shifted from taking care of these experiential concerns of the sufferers to predominantly the diagnosis and treatment of the symptoms of a disease. This article attempts to illustrate how the assumptions of the social constructionist paradigm (with its deconstructionist and reconstructionist facets highlighted in the writings of Kenneth J. Gergen) serve as a suitable metatheoretical framework to understand human experiences of suffering and healing. A critical review of the writings of Eric J. Cassell and Arthur Kleinman on endorsing and researching such experiences resulted in four themes that reaffirmed the utility of this new paradigm. These themes help comprehend that biomedicine??s ontological claims may enhance human suffering, suffering and healing experiences are socio-historically contextualized, such experiences are performances within human interaction and dialogic partnership between the researcher and the participant becomes a meaningful medium to study such experiences.     

Amplifying and Attenuating Inequity in Collaborative Learning: Toward an Analytical Framework

Abstract

Research on collaborative learning has focused on its potential to foster successful problem solving. Less attention, though, has been given to issues of equity. In this article, we investigate how inequity can become amplified and attenuated within collaborative learning through small interactional moves that accumulate to produce broader patterns of equity or inequity. Our theoretical perspective utilizes Boaler’s notion of relational equity and introduces what we term participatory equity. Research was conducted in a computer science course co-taught by the authors and taken by upper-elementary students. Data sources include audio recordings of students’ collaborative interactions, ethnographic field notes, student work, and student surveys. This article focuses on a single student, Jason, and his dyadic interactions, and builds upon our previous analyses of his interactions with four higher-performing partners. Findings reveal how the interplay between classroom structures and student enactments shaped two types of inequity during collaborative learning. We conclude by discussing implications for theorizing and analyzing equity and inequity, as well as pedagogical considerations for structuring collaborative learning to attenuate inequity.     

Science,state and violence: An indian critique reconsidered

Abstract

This paper explores the work of a specific group of Indian scholar activists who, during the 1980s, produced a body of writing critical of the Indian state's science, technology and environmental policy. They have been described variously as Luddites, anti-science cranks and polemicists (Guha, 1988 Guha, R. 1988. The alternative science movement: an interim assessment. Lokayan Bulletin, 6(3): 7–25.  [Google Scholar]; Nanda, 1991 Nanda, M. 1991. Is modern science a Western, patriarchal myth? A critique of populist orthodoxy. South Asia Bulletin, 11: 110–116.  [Google Scholar]; Baber, 1996 Baber, Z. 1996. The Science of Empire: Scientific Knowledge, Civilization and Colonial Rule in India, New York: SUNY Press.  [Google Scholar]). At the same time, they have been influential among activists critical of state development policies. This paper examines one particularly polemical set of their writings. It has three broad parts. It begins by providing some context and background and describing the methodological choices made in the acquisition and presentation of the material at hand. The second, substantial section is the exposition of the argument underlying the critique being discussed. Finally, the brief last segment explores the relevance of this work for studies of science and culture.     

Locating the neutral expression in the facial-emotion space

Woodworth and Schlosberg (1954) introduced a two-dimensional model of emotional expression perception. Since then, many refinements have been made based on a variety of different methodologies. These show robust findings as to the structure of facial-emotion space. One disputed finding, however, is the location of the neutral face within this space. Some evidence suggests it should be located at the centre of the space, whereas other evidence places it at the periphery as an emotion in its own right. The current experiment used objective similarity judgements on 25 emotions posed by the same individual. Multidimensional scaling was employed to find a perceptual facial-emotion space. This space confirmed the general arrangement of emotions in such a space and locates neutral faces at the periphery. It appears, therefore, that the neutral face is an emotion in itself and cannot be seen as an absence of emotion.     

Long-term concentrative meditation and cognitive performance among older adults

ABSTRACT

Background: The general consensus that cognitive abilities decline with advancing age is supported by several studies that have reported that older adults perform more poorly on multiple tests of cognitive performance as compared to younger adults. To date, preventive measures against this cognitive decline have been mainly focused on dietary, physical, and lifestyle behaviors which could allow older adults to maintain their cognitive abilities into late life. However, much less stress has been laid on evaluating meditation as a preventive measure in such cases in spite of the fact that the role of meditation on attention has been proved in several studies. In the current study, we extend this preliminary idea, examining the practice of concentrative meditation and the differences in the cognitive performance of older adults who have or have not employed this practice long term. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study comparing the cognitive performance of meditators and non-meditators in the geriatric age group. Twenty (age > 55 years) long-term practitioners of Vihangam Yoga meditation (>10 years of practice) were recruited in the present study and were applied six paper–pencil neuropsychological tests for assessment of short-term memory, perceptual speed, attention, and executive functioning. The tests used were: (1) the Digit Span test, (2) the Stroop Color Word test, (3) the Trailmaking test, (4) the Letter Cancellation Task, (5) the digit symbol substitution test, and (6) the Rule Shift Card Test. All the tests were also applied to 20 age- and education-matched geriatric adults who have not practiced the meditation technique. Results: Vihangam Yogis showed significantly better performances in all these tests of attention (p < .05) except for the digit backward test, where a trend (p = .08) was found in favor of meditators. Conclusion: Long-term Vihangam Yoga meditators have superior cognitive abilities than non-meditators in the old age group. This technique should be studied further for its ability to prevent age-related cognitive decline.