Information Integration in Juror Decision Making

Research applying information integration theory to jury decision making has long assumed that people average informational scale values when making legal judgments. Although often consistent with research results, this hypothesis has never been tested in a legal context against a more general additive rule. The present paper describes two studies conducted as a critical test between these two models. Incriminating evidence and eyewitness confidence were varied in a full-factorial, within-subjects design involving a total of 131 subjects acting as mock jurors. Subject responses included eyewitness accuracy and defendant-guilt probability estimates, as well as final verdict decisions. Results strongly support an averaging model of legal decision making. Additional results concerning the influence of initial attitudes and the interrelationships between the variables considered are reported and their implications are discussed.     

Transdisciplinary Child and Youth Studies: Critical Praxis,Global Perspectives

Drawing on empirical and theoretical literature from across six continents, this Introduction to a special issue of World Futures serves as a prelude to seven articles focused on transdisciplinary child and youth studies. The resulting gestalt builds on the assumption that those engaged in transdisciplinary research and pedagogy are also deeply engaged in the global reform movement currently underway in higher education. As a contribution to this process, we make two key arguments. First, Indigenous epistemologies (defined as traditional integrated knowledge systems drawing on connectedness to the Earth and ontologies of respect for past and future generations) must be fully included within the transdisciplinary canon. Second, we introduce child and youth studies as an inherently transdisciplinary field, one that embraces complex systems analysis along with young people’s participation in research that concerns their well-being.     

Radical Listening: Transdisciplinarity,Restorative Justice and Change

This article explores transdisciplinarity within childhood studies at the intersection of restorative justice and counseling psychology. It is argued that at this juncture the nexus of radical listening may be uncovered. Radical listening, a term first coined by the critical pedagogue J.L. Kincheloe, is used here to aid in the project of both decolonizing restorative justice practices and deconstructing the hegemonic positioning of psychology in childhood studies through an intersectional understanding of childhood. This is a move toward complexity thinking and a valuing of Indigenous ways of knowing in response to the epistemicide of minoritized voices and the domination of White Western scholarship in childhood studies over the past century. Linkages established among transdisciplinarity, restorative justice, and counseling reorients the scholar/practitioner toward a nuanced understanding of a rights-based perspective and an appreciation of the intersections of social, political, and cultural worlds.     

Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Interventions for Students with Mental Illness Transitioning to Higher Education: A Systematic Review

This systematic review examined the available evidence for occupational therapy interventions for students with any mental illness transitioning to post-secondary education. Seven articles were included. The evidence of occupational therapy interventions for this population supported the use of supported education programs consisting of goal setting, skill development, and cognitive training, as well as student-directed planning. Quantity of high levels of research was limited. Articles included were not exclusively related to transition into post-secondary education, but also focused on vocation and supported education. Additional research is needed to determine the best practice in transition services for individuals with any mental illness.     

Associations between Stress,Psychosomatic Complaints,and Parental Criticism among Affluent Adolescent Girls

A growing body of research has shown that adolescent girls in the context of affluence face a series of unique pressures that may increase social-emotional problems. Little research, however, has examined associations between perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints among privileged youth. In the present study, we investigated the relationships between stress, psychosomatic complaints, and parental criticism in a sample of preadolescent and adolescent girls (n?=?218) from selective, private schools. Using OLS regression analyses, cross-sectional and longitudinal associations were evident between perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints, with increases in stress associated with increases in psychosomatic problems. Parental criticism was also examined as a predictor of girls’ psychosomatic complaints and stress levels. Results indicated that parental criticism was significantly and positively associated with psychosomatic problems in cross-sectional models and that perceived stress levels mediated this association. Additional analyses demonstrated that the relationship between psychosomatic complaints and stress may be bidirectional. Taken together, results from this exploratory study suggest that girls in the context of affluence may also experience psychosomatic complaints, in addition to social-emotional problems.     

A Longitudinal Examination of the Directional Effects between Relationship Quality and Well-Being for a National Sample of U.S. Men and Women

The interaction between relationship quality and individual well-being has commonly been examined using a negative conceptualization of these constructs (e.g., relationship aggression and depression, respectively). The present study examines the direction of association between individual well-being and relationship quality. Specifically, we examined if this direction differed based on positive and negative conceptualizations of individual (i.e., life satisfaction and depression) and relationship (i.e., relationship satisfaction and conflict) well-being and how this differed for men and women. Using a series of cross-lagged path analyses across three time points, we found that relationship satisfaction and life satisfaction were mutually influential over time, but life satisfaction was only predictive of later conflict. Further, depression predicted both later relationship conflict and relationship satisfaction. Regarding gender differences, life satisfaction and relationship satisfaction exhibited a cyclical relationship for men but not for women. For women, but not men, depression was related to later relationship satisfaction. Taken together, these results suggest that nuances exist in the association between relationship quality and individual well-being depending on the conceptualization of the construct (negative vs. positive) and gender. More specifically, it appears that life satisfaction, or positive conceptualizations of well-being, may be more relevant to men’s relationship quality whereas depression, or negative conceptualizations of well-being, may be more relevant to women’s relationship quality. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Effects of feedback and test practice on recollection and retrieval monitoring: comparing first graders,third graders,and adults*

We tested the effects of repeated testing and feedback on recollection accuracy in first graders, third graders, and adults. All participants studied a list of words and pictures, and then took three recollection tests, with each test probing different words and pictures from the earlier study phase. On the first and third tests no feedback was given, whereas on the second test, some subjects received item-level feedback throughout the recollection test. Recollection confusion scores declined across successive tests in all age groups. However, explicit feedback did not improve recollection accuracy or reduce recollection confusions in any age group. We also found that all age groups were able to use picture recollections in a disqualifying monitoring strategy without task experience or feedback. As a whole, these findings suggest that children and adults can use some aspects of retrieval monitoring without feedback or practice, whereas other aspects of retrieval monitoring can benefit from test practice in children and adults. We discuss the potential roles of metacognitive learning and unintended social feedback on these test practice effects.