Children’s Life Satisfaction: Developmental Trajectories and Environmental and Personality Predictors

Life satisfaction is a key indicator of children’s healthy development. Although the developmental changes of life satisfaction during adolescence have been investigated, the developmental trajectories of life satisfaction and related predictors during childhood remain unclear. Thus, the current study aimed to identify the developmental trajectories of life satisfaction covering the period from middle to late childhood as well as to examine the predictive roles of environmental factors (i.e., family dysfunction and basic psychological needs satisfaction at school), personality factors (i.e., neuroticism and extraversion), and their interactions in these developmental trajectories. An accelerated longitudinal design was used with Chinese elementary school students (N?=?1069, 45.8% girls, M _age?=?9.43, SD?=?0.95) of 3 cohorts (grade 3, grade 4, and grade 5) on 4 occasions at 6-month intervals. Growth mixture modeling analyses revealed three distinct trajectories of life satisfaction: “High-Stable” (88.8%), “High-Decreasing” (6.8%), and “Low-Increasing” (4.4%). Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that family dysfunction and neuroticism served as risk factors for adverse developmental trajectories of life satisfaction; whereas basic psychological needs satisfaction at school served as a protective factor. Furthermore, the interaction between family dysfunction and extraversion suggested that higher levels of extraversion buffered children against the negative effect of family dysfunction on the development of life satisfaction. The identification of three heterogeneous trajectory groups of children’s life satisfaction and key personality and environmental predictors associated with the trajectories suggests that specific interventions need to be tailored to the unique characteristics of the relevant trajectory groups.

     

Early Childhood Care Trends and Associations with Child Health Well-being in China: Evidence from the CHNS 1991 to 2011 Data

It has become increasingly common for young children to be taken care of by multiple caregivers in China after the socio-economic reforms. Complex migration patterns and high female labour force participation have led to children receiving care from various individuals in different contexts. However, little is known about how childcare arrangements are associated with child health well-being. This study examines various early childhood caregivers and their influences on children’s physical health in China. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS 1991–2011) with 3,470 children aged 2 to 6, we first identified different types of childcare arrangements in and outside of the household based on who provides the care, where they provide the care, and the intensity of the care. Then we examined the relationship between various childcare arrangements and health outcomes for children. Overall, household members undertook early childhood care tasks in China, with an increase in grandparents as primary caregivers between 1991 and 2011. The proportion of children receiving formal childcare fluctuated around 20% during this period. The findings suggest that: 1) primary caregiver in the household other than parents is not associated with undesirable physical health outcomes; 2) formal childcare outside the household is associated with higher height and lower BMI scores; 3) primary caregivers in the household, particular grandparents, moderate the association between childcare arrangements outside the household and children’s health outcomes. It yields an implication that early childhood care policies incorporating multiple caregivers would benefit children’s well-being in China.

     

Examining Family Living Arrangements,Economic Development,Education Expenditure and Children’s Weight from the Welfare Mix in China

Applied Research in Quality of Life - There is increased social concern regarding children’s weight in China, but there is a relative lack of research concerning its social determinants....     

Culture and institutional agency: difference in judgments of economic behavior and organizational responsibilities

The current research tested the concept of institutional agency (IA) and its implications for laypeople's attribution patterns related to economic behaviors and organizational responsibilities. The term “institutional agency” refers to a set of lay theories about whether or not an organization can have personhood and related mental properties, such as wishes, desires, intents, and responsibility. Through three cross‐cultural studies, we found that people do form certain beliefs about IA which are similar to the legal discourse of institutional responsibility. However, there are significant cultural differences in views of IA, and the concept is more mentally salient for Americans than for Chinese. In Study 1, we distinguished institutional from group agency by showing the cultural differences on attributions in the scenario with “individual vs. group agency” and the scenario with “individual vs. institutional agency.” In Study 2, we again demonstrated the stronger salience of IA for Americans than for Chinese by including the individual, group, and institutional agencies together in one scenario. In Study 3, we further demonstrated that the concept of IA is more salient for Americans by presenting three different agents in separate scenarios. The practical implications of these cultural differences for cross‐cultural understanding and the psychological effects of economic globalization are discussed.     

Monitoring Emotion Through Body Sensation: A Review of Awareness in Goenka’s Vipassana

Awareness is one of the two most important abilities cultivated in Goenka’s Vipassana meditation, which refers to sensitivity to subtle bodily sensations and the associated psychological processes. This sensitivity and its derived function of monitoring emotion are not of notable concern in modern mindfulness-based psychotherapies. Evidence supports that Vipassana meditation truly enhances sensitivity to bodily sensations, but further study is required to assess the awareness of psychological processes. The value of monitoring mental processing has been widely accepted in psychology, as has enhanced sensitivity along with the potential dangers to mental health. Implications for practice and future studies are discussed.     

Children’s Knowledge of Ellipsis Constructions in Mandarin Chinese

This study investigated 4-year-old children’s knowledge of the structural constraints on ellipsis constructions in Mandarin Chinese, focusing on the structural difference between verb phrase (VP) ellipsis and null object constructions. In Mandarin Chinese, if the antecedent clause of a VP-ellipsis structure contains an adverbial modifier, this adverbial modifier must be recovered at the elided site in the second clause. However, if the antecedent clause of a null object construction contains an adverbial modifier, the reconstruction of this adverbial modifier at the elided site is not necessary. Two experiments were conducted to examine whether young Mandarin-speaking children are sensitive to this structural difference between the two ellipsis constructions. The results show that children exhibited adult-like performance in both experiments. This is evidence that young Mandarin-speaking children have knowledge of the structural difference between VP-ellipsis and null object constructions with regard to adverbial recovery. We interpreted the findings in conjunction with previous research as evidence that children’s knowledge of the structural constraints on ellipsis constructions is innately specified.     

中文版一般自我效能量表的信度和效度检验

该研究以山东省610名高中生为被试,检验了中文版一般自我效能量表（GSES）的信度和效度.结果表明：（1）中文版GSES的有些项目,区分度不高;（2）中文版GSES具有较高的内部一致性信度与分半信度,但重测信度不高;（3）中文版GSES的单维度性没有得到证实;（4）中文版GSES不具有很好的预测效度.     

CAT选题策略分类概述

选题是计算机化自适应测验（CAT）测试过程的关键环节,选题策略的目标是要达到较高的测量精度,同时也实现试题曝光率控制及其他测验目标的实现.本文根据选题策略的基本原理和衍生发展,将众多CAT选题策略分为五大选题策略系列：Fisher函数系列、K-LI函数系列、α分层系列、贝叶斯系列、b匹配系列;并根据测验目标（测验精度、试题曝光率控制、内容平衡、多条件约束）对这些选题策略进行了细分,并对CAT选题策略的选择思路进行归纳.     

音乐对希望感的影响

过去的研究发现,在经历挫折后,相比于不听音乐,听积极音乐能提升人们的希望感。然而,研究者并不清楚积极音乐和消极音乐在提升希望感上是否存在差异,也不清楚这种差异是否由于两种音乐在诱发的积极情绪或消极情绪的差异造成的。文章通过三个实验来考察这些问题。实验一发现,在无挫折的情况下,积极音乐相比消极音乐诱发了更强的希望感。实验二发现,这种效应同样存在于人们回忆挫折之后,并且是积极情绪在其中起中介作用。实验三则通过设置控制组进一步发现,这种效应是由积极音乐对希望感的提升作用和消极音乐对希望感的降低作用共同引起的。文末讨论了该发现的意义。