The Role of Hardiness and Grit in Predicting Performance and Retention of USMA Cadets

We examined the relative effectiveness of hardiness and grit as predictors of performance and retention among first year cadets at the USMA. Based on past research and theory, we expected that both hardiness and grit would predict unique variance in performance and retention even after controlling for past performance as measured by the Whole Candidate Score. Results of regression analyses revealed that hardiness and grit predicted unique variance in first year retention, but only hardiness predicted first year performance at USMA. These findings suggest that hardiness assessment and training may prove valuable in enhancing performance and retention within military training environments.     

A Comparison of Expert Ratings and Self-Assessments of Situation Awareness During a Combat Fatigue Course

The current study compared expert-observer ratings of situation awareness (SA) with subjective self-ratings of SA in Norwegian military academy cadets during a summer combat survival course. The cadets (N?=?30) completed an 8-day combat survival course characterized by sleep and food deprivation, continuous operations, and altered circadian entrainment cues. Results indicated that self-ratings of SA did not correlate consistently with expert-observer SA ratings, and self-ratings were consistently higher than expert-observer ratings. The results are congruent with expected effects of these extreme conditions on cognition and self-awareness, demonstrate a pronounced self-enhancement bias and suggest that subjective measures of SA are not likely to provide valid estimates of SA under extreme conditions.     

Indecent Medicine: In Defense of the Absolute Prohibition against Physician Participation in Torture

In a recent article, Gross (2004) Gross, M. 2004. Doctors in the decent society: Torture, ill-treatment, and civic duty. Bioethics, 18(2): 181–203. [INFOTRIEVE][CSA][CROSSREF] [Google Scholar] argues that physicians in decent societies have a civic duty to aid in the torturing of suspected terrorists during emergency conditions. The argument presupposes a communitarian society in which considerations of common good override questions of individual rights, but it is also utilitarian. In the event that there is a ticking bomb and no other alternative available for defusing it, torture must be used, and physicians must play their part. In an earlier article, Jones (1980) Jones, G. 1980. On the permissibility of torture. Journal of Medical Ethics, 6: 11–13. [INFOTRIEVE][CSA] [Google Scholar] also argues in favour of physician participation in torture, going so far as to enthusiastically endorse the allocation of research resources as well to ensure that the ability to meet emergency situations is as efficient as scientifically possible. I argue against both these views and defend the absolute prohibition against torture generally, and against any participation by physicians in particular. I show that these arguments are incompatible with liberal or decent societies, and that the institutional requirements for making torture effective would constitute an unacceptable degradation both of medical ethics and practice, as well as of political institutions in general.     

Relative Effectiveness of Values Clarification and Symbolic Modeling in Enhancing the Moral Values of Adolescents in Selected Nigerian Schools

Using quasi-experiment, this study explored the effects of values clarification and symbolic modeling on moral intent to act in a sample of 120 high school students from Ogun State, Nigeria. Despite widespread disapproval and outright condemnation by the public, moral offences by the adolescent population have become increasingly frequent and grave in both the urban and rural areas of Nigeria. Believing that programs set by the government could impact the level of moral behavior among the youths of Nigeria, various leaders in Nigeria have attempted to make a difference in the moral life of the nation, such as “Ethical Revolution” by President Shehu Shagari in 1982; “War Against Indiscipline” by General Mohammed Buhari in 1985. In this study, both values clarification and symbolic modeling options demonstrated significant impacts on moral behavior as measured by the Moral Behavioral Inventory (MBI) and the Adolescent Personal Development Inventory (APDI).     

A qualitative examination of the work–family interface: Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

Within the work–family literature little is known about the work–family challenges and opportunities faced by families that have one or more children with autism spectrum disorder. However, it has been consistently demonstrated that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder are at a higher risk of experiencing a host of negative outcomes. Using a qualitative design, within grounded theory, the present study sheds light on the needs, experiences, and challenges that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder face and also offers insight into ways to expand the scope of work–family research in this area. The present research provides evidence of how the family domain can greatly impact experiences and decisions made in the work domain for families with special needs. The present research adds to the small but growing literature examining the interplay between home and work life for families with special needs and demonstrates that this is an important research domain in need of additional conceptual and empirical consideration.     

Long-term memory for calls of relatives in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus)

Recognition of relatives is important for dispersing animals to avoid inbreeding and possibly for developing cooperative, reciprocal relationships between individuals after dispersal. We demonstrate under controlled captive conditions that cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) have a long-term memory for long calls of relatives from which they had been separated for periods ranging from 4 to 55 months. Tamarins responded with lower levels of arousal behavior to playbacks of long calls from current mates and from separated relatives compared to calls of unfamiliar, unrelated tamarins. Four tamarins had been out of contact with relatives for more than 4 years and still showed recognition as evidenced by low levels of arousal. Results could not be explained in terms of proximity to former relatives. Long-term memory for vocal signatures of relatives is adaptive and may be much more common than has been demonstrated.     

The Relation Between Maternal ADHD Symptoms &; Improvement in Child Behavior Following Brief Behavioral Parent Training is Mediated by Change in Negative Parenting

This study examined the extent to which maternal attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms predict improvement in child behavior following brief behavioral parent training. Change in parenting was examined as a potential mediator of the negative relationship between maternal ADHD symptoms and improvement in child behavior. Seventy mothers of 6–10 year old children with ADHD underwent a comprehensive assessment of adult ADHD prior to participating in an abbreviated parent training program. Before and after treatment, parenting was assessed via maternal reports and observations and child disruptive behavior was measured via maternal report. Controlling for pre-treatment levels, maternal ADHD symptomatology predicted post-treatment child disruptive behavior problems. The relation between maternal ADHD symptomatology and improvement in child behavior was mediated by change in observed maternal negative parenting. This study replicated findings linking maternal ADHD symptoms with attenuated child improvement following parent training, and is the first to demonstrate that negative parenting at least partially explains this relationship. Innovative approaches combining evidence-based treatment for adult ADHD with parent training may therefore be necessary for families in which both the mother and child have ADHD. Larger-scale studies using a full evidence-based parent training program are needed to replicate these findings.