Relationships between Involvement in School Bullying and Quality of Life in Taiwanese Adolescents

This study aimed to examine the associations between involvement in bullying and perceived quality of life (QOL) among adolescents in Taiwan. A total of 5488 students whose grade ranged from 7 to 12 participated in this study. Their experiences of victimization by and perpetration of verbal, relational, and physical bullying (including the snatching of belongings) were assessed through using the Chinese version of the School Bullying Experience Questionnaire. The level of perceived QOL was assessed using the Taiwanese Quality of Life Questionnaire for Adolescents (TQOLA). The associations between involvement in bullying and QOL were examined using multiple regression analysis. After controlling for the effects of sex, age, and depression, victimization by verbal and relationship bullying was negatively associated with QOL on all subscales of the TQOLA except for the Family subscale. Victimization by physical bullying and the snatching of belongings was negatively associated with QOL on the Social Relationships and Pain subscales. Perpetration of verbal and relationship bullying was negatively associated with QOL on the Family, Psychological Wellbeing, and Pain subscales, but positively associated with QOL on the Social Relationships subscale. Perpetration of physical bullying and snatching of belongings was negatively associated with QOL on the Residential Environment and Personal Competence subscales, but positively associated with QOL on the Psychological Wellbeing and Pain subscales. The directions of associations between bullying involvement and QOL in adolescents vary according to the types of bullying involvement and the dimensions of QOL. The results may serve as the basis on which mental health and educational professionals can develop comprehensive need-assessment and resource-allocation strategies for adolescents who have been involved in bullying.     

The Lived Experience of Religiosity and Stress among Middle-Aged Vietnamese American Catholic Immigrants

Pastoral Psychology - Based on findings from an interpretative phenomenological study, this article reports the lived experiences of religiosity and stress among six middle-aged Vietnamese-born...     

Grouping with and without attention

The effects of perceptual grouping on a line discrimination task were investigated using Moore and Egeth's (1997) paradigm. Observers judged which of two lines, presented one above the other over a matrix of spots, was longer. On some trials, larger spots at both ends of the lines formed arrowheads, thereby making possible the Müller-Lyer illusion. When observers attended only to the lines, they were not aware of the arrowheads. Yet their line judgment performance showed that they had succumbed to the illusion. When the observers' attention was directed to the arrowheads but they nevertheless failed to discern the arrowheads' orientation, their line judgments were still influenced by the illusion.     

The Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS): overview and implications

The Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS; Gunderson et al., 2000) was developed to fill gaps in our understanding of the nature, course, and impact of personality disorders (PDs). Here, we review published findings to date, discuss their implications for current conceptualizations of PDs, and raise questions that warrant future consideration. We have found that PDs are more stable than major depressive disorder, but that meaningful improvements are possible and not uncommon. We have confirmed also that PDs constitute a significant public health problem, with respect to associated functional impairment, extensive treatment utilization, negative prognostic impact on major depressive disorder, and suicide risk. At the same time, we have demonstrated that dimensional models of PDs have clinical validity that categories do not, especially greater temporal stability. Furthermore, dimensional personality traits appear to be the foundation of behaviors described by many PD criteria. Taken together, our results lead us to hypothesize that PDs may be reconceptualized as hybrids of stable personality traits and intermittently expressed symptomatic behaviors.     

It is our destiny to die: The effects of mortality salience and culture‐priming on fatalism and karma belief

The current study explores whether Asians use culture‐specific belief systems to defend against their death anxiety. The effects of mortality salience (MS) and cultural priming on Taiwanese beliefs in fatalism and karma were investigated. Study 1 showed that people believe in fatalism and karma more following MS compared with the control condition. Study 2 found that the effect of MS on fatalism belief was stronger when Taiwanese were exposed to an Eastern cultural context than to a Western cultural context. However, a matched sample of Western participants did not show increased fatalism belief after either a West‐ or East‐prime task. The present research provides evidence that Asians may use some culture‐specific beliefs, particularly fatalism belief, to cope with their death awareness.     

Why are people with insecure attachments unhappy? The mediation of meaning in life

This study explores the mediating role of meaning in life with respect to the relationship between adult attachment and psychological well‐being. This study proposed that because people with insecure attachments have difficulty in connecting with the external world, this may decrease their ability to attain meaning in life, which may in turn diminish their well‐being. Two studies (N = 155 and 234, respectively, with age range from 18 to 31) were conducted. Participants completed self‐report measures of attachment, well‐being and meaning in life. The results consistently revealed a full mediation effect of meaning in life on the relationship between attachment and well‐being. The findings suggested that a deeper sense of meaning in life comes from one's connection with the external world, especially with other people.     

Comparing the temporal stability of self-report and interview assessed personality disorder

Findings from several large-scale, longitudinal studies over the last decade have challenged the long-held assumption that personality disorders (PDs) are stable and enduring. However, the findings, including those from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS; Gunderson et al., 2000), rely primarily on results from semistructured interviews. As a result, less is known about the stability of PD scores from self-report questionnaires, which differ from interviews in important ways (e.g., source of the ratings, item development, and instrument length) that might increase temporal stability. The current study directly compared the stability of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) PD constructs assessed via the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP-2; Clark, Simms, Wu, & Casillas, in press) with those from the Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (Zanarini, Frankenburg, Sickel, & Yong, 1996) over 2 years in a sample of 529 CLPS participants. Specifically, we compared dimensional and categorical representations from both measures in terms of rank-order and mean-level stability. Results indicated that the dimensional scores from the self-report questionnaire had significantly greater rank-order (mean r=.69 vs. .59) and mean-level (mean d=0.21 vs. 0.30) stability. In contrast, categorical diagnoses from the two measures evinced comparable rank-order (mean κ=.38 vs. .37) and mean-level stability (median prevalence rate decrease of 3.5% vs. 5.6%). These findings suggest the stability of PD constructs depends at least partially on the method of assessment and are discussed in the context of previous research and future conceptualizations of personality pathology.     

分析心理学对《西藏度亡经》的解读

<西藏度亡经>在现代东西方世界产生了巨大的心理震撼,本文借助心理分析创始人荣格已有的研究成果,进一步对之进行分析心理学的解读,指出法性中阴和受生中阴是性质截然相反的两种深层心理原型,前者是自性的呈现方式,临终中阴则是现代深层心理学还无法窥其堂奥的心灵最本质的状态.