Suicide Clusters: A Review of Risk Factors and Mechanisms

Suicide clusters, although uncommon, cause great concern in the communities in which they occur. We searched the world literature on suicide clusters and describe the risk factors and proposed psychological mechanisms underlying the spatio‐temporal clustering of suicides (point clusters). Potential risk factors include male gender, being an adolescent or young adult, drug or alcohol abuse, and past history of self‐harm. However, the majority of studies lack methodological rigor. Many different psychological mechanisms are described, including contagion, imitation, suggestion, learning, and assortative relating, but supporting empirical evidence is generally lacking. More scientifically rigorous studies are needed to improve understanding of suicide clusters.     

Reactions to male-favouring versus female-favouring sex differences: A pre-registered experiment and Southeast Asian replication

Two studies investigated (1) how people react to research describing a sex difference, depending on whether that difference favours males or females, and (2) how accurately people can predict how the average man and woman will react. In Study 1, Western participants (N = 492) viewed a fictional popular-science article describing either a male-favouring or a female-favouring sex difference (i.e., men/women draw better; women/men lie more). Both sexes reacted less positively to the male-favouring differences, judging the findings to be less important, less credible, and more offensive, harmful, and upsetting. Participants predicted that the average man and woman would react more positively to sex differences favouring their own sex. This was true of the average woman, although the level of own-sex favouritism was lower than participants predicted. It was not true, however, of the average man, who – like the average woman – reacted more positively to the female-favouring differences. Study 2 replicated these findings in a Southeast Asian sample (N = 336). Our results are consistent with the idea that both sexes are more protective of women than men, but that both exaggerate the level of same-sex favouritism within each sex – a misconception that could potentially harm relations between the sexes.     

WORD RECOGNITION SKILLS OF LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN AND AVERAGE STUDENTS’

Abstract

The ability of learning disabled and average students’ to recognize and identify words was investigated. Two informal reading measures, the Sundbye Minimal Contrast Phonics Test and an oral reading sample, were administered to three groups. The groups were composed of learning disabled students evidencing reading problems (LD), average students matched with the learning disabled group on reading level and IQ (YN), and average students matched with the learning disabled group on chronological age and IQ (ON). The LD group and average readers did not differ on identification of symbol‐sound associations, word recognition proficiency, the ability to detect and correct word recognition errors, and the ability to use information within the text to recognize words. However, the LD and ON group differed on mean number of word recognition errors. Educational implications of the findings were discussed and a profile of the word recognition skills of learning disabled children was presented.     

There’s a Place: How Parents Help Their Children Create a Capacity for Playfulness and can it be Sustained across the Lifespan

ABSTRACT

This article traces the ways that playfulness shifts and grows with the child and with the parent-child dyad. It also speaks to the paradoxical manner in which feeling essential as a parent is both necessary at the beginning of the child’s life yet must evolve into relevance as the child’s autonomy warrants. Interestingly, grace and playfulness are both a content and a process in parenting. The playful parent’s wisdom produces a sense of grace over time just as it produces a way of being that the child can internalize so that they too can eventually parent with grace and fun should they so desire.