Wilderness family therapy: An innovative treatment approach for problem youth

We present a treatment program (The Family Wheel) designed to integrate wilderness therapy interventions with family therapy for the treatment of troubled adolescents. The Family Wheel program was conducted in the high desert of southern Idaho. Participation in this four-day program required parents and their adolescent children to engage in an intensive experiential family therapy while camping and trekking in the wilderness. An evaluation of the program revealed positive outcomes for the programs' participants. The theory, research, and pragmatics of conducting such an innovative program are discussed.     

Psychiatric Disorders Associated with Substance Use Among Children and Adolescents: Findings from the Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA) Study

The relationships between specific quantities and frequencies of alcohol, cigarette, and illicit substance use and substance use (SUD) and other psychiatric disorders were investigated among 1,285 randomly selected children and adolescents, aged 9 to 18, and their parents, from the Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA) Study. Logistic regressions indicated that daily cigarette smoking, weekly alcohol consumption, and any illicit substance use in the past year were each independently associated with an elevated likelihood of diagnosis with SUD and other psychiatric disorders (anxiety, mood, or disruptive behavior disorders), controlling for sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, family income). The associations between the use of specific substances and specific psychiatric disorders varied as a function of gender.     

AN ANALYSIS AND REDUCTION OF DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR ON SCHOOL BUSES

Thousands of children are injured or killed each year in school bus accidents. A significant number of these tragic incidents is precipitated by disruptive child behavior that distracts the drivers from their difficult task. Two experiments were conducted which addressed this problem. For both experiments an automated sound recording device (referred to as a Noise Guard) selectively responsive to frequencies above 500 Hz (i.e., unresponsive to bus drone) recorded both the duration and frequency of noise outbursts above a tolerable threshold. Additionally, an observer made in situ measurements of other disruptions including roughhousing and getting-out-of-seat. In the first experiment, following baseline measurements of these behaviors, middle-school students received feedback for noise outbursts. That is, when “Noise Guard'” was activated, it in turn operated one of several lights on a panel visible to all passengers. Each day students were allowed to listen to high-appeal taped music while riding the bus and to participate in a raffle for prizes, provided the number of outbursts on the preceding day remained below a specified criterion indicated on the light panel. This intervention resulted in drastic reductions of noise outbursts with a concomitant reduction in other disruptive behaviors. Comparable results were obtained in the second experiment which eliminated the raffle from the intervention.     

结构对称性汉语成语的认知研究

运用命名作业,从识别和再认两个方面探讨了结构对称性汉语成语的认知特点,结果发现：（１）成语识别有显著的结构对称效应和熟悉度效应;结构对称性成语的识别明显快于非对称性成语,高熟悉度成语的识别明显快于低熟悉度的成语。（２）成语再认的反应时有显著的结构对称效应,熟悉度效应不显著;而反应错误率则有显著的熟悉度效应,结构对称效应不显著。上述结果都不存在结构对称性和熟悉度之间的显著的交互作用。现有的西方拼音文字认知模型不能恰当地解释汉语成语的认知特点。     

Heuristics in learning classifiers: The acquisition of the classifier system and its implications for the nature of lexical acquisition

Classifiers are like nouns in that they classify entities in the world into lexical categories. However, the lexical nature of the classifier system is very different from that of nouns. We discuss how Japanese and Chinese children learn the meanings of classifiers. We focus on two specific questions: How classifier acquisition is different from noun acquisition; and what the prerequisites are for spontaneously extracting the meanings of classifiers. It is shown that children are very conservative in assigning meaning to classifiers. The pace of learning largely depends on semantic complexity, across languages and within each language. Furthermore, we suspect that learning the meanings of classifiers requires a certain cognitive ability – an ability to synthesize pieces of partial knowledge and form them into a cohesive whole. It may be only when children have developed such an ability that they are able to extract the complex semantic rules of classifiers on their own. We conclude that children take very different routes in learning nouns and classifiers: Unlike noun acquisition, classifier acquisition is guided by a slow, bottom-up process.     

REMEDIATION OF MUTUALLY AVERSIVE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN A PROBLEM STUDENT AND FOUR TEACHERS BY TRAINING THE STUDENT IN REINFORCEMENT TECHNIQUES

This study tested the effect of a social reinforcement training procedure for a problem student on the verbal and nonverbal approval and disapproval of four of the student's teachers. A design incorporating aspects of a multiple baseline within an extended reversal design (ABABA) was employed. Data were taken on the four teachers' approval and disapproval of a student regarded as a major discipline problem and the target student's approval and disapproval of the four teachers during baseline 1, experimental condition 1, baseline 2, experimental condition 2, and a postcheck or baseline 3 condition six weeks after experimental condition 2. Results showed that increased student approval and decreased disapproval were attributable to training procedures. The increased student approval increased three of the four teachers' approval and decreased the disapproval of all four teachers. Six weeks after experimental condition 2, both approval and disapproval by three of the four teachers and the student and disapproval by all four teachers and the student remained changed over baseline conditions. Student and teacher approval and disapproval were highly correlated at statistically significant levels.     

再论《周易》与中国画

本文对《周易》的直观意象思维和中正和谐思想与中国画的创作特点进行了深入的比较分析,表明了《周易》思维方式对中国画的深刻影响,同时,对《周易》的玩占与艺术家们的玩墨也作了比较研究,揭示了玩占与玩墨所体现的深刻文化意蕴。     

一些传统药物为何退出“历史舞台”

一个与当前的社会热点问题——药品价格虚高问题同样重要的问题——许多安全有效的传统药物正在退出“历史舞台”的问题,应该引起社会各界的足够重视,传统药物不应被抛弃。因为人们对于传统药物的了解,无论是在药理作用上,还是在不良反应方面,都大大优于新药。     

Freud was Right… About the Origins of Abnormal Behavior

Freud's psychodynamic theory is predominantly based on case histories of patients who displayed abnormal behavior. From a scientific point of view, Freud's analyses of these cases are unacceptable because the key concepts of his theory cannot be tested empirically. However, in one respect, Freud was totally right: most forms of abnormal behavior originate in childhood. In this paper various factors are discussed that play a role in the etiology of abnormal behavior in children and adolescents. Furthermore, problems are signaled that hinder effective interventions for disordered youths.     

The relationship between daily stress and health: Replicating and extending previous findings

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to investigate the impact of daily stress, or hassles, on the physical and psychological health status of 112 adolescents over 10 consecutive days. Measures of hassles, daily somatic symptoms and mood, overall health status, and perceived social support were taken. A principal components analysis of the newly designed Secondary School Students' Hassles Scale generated four factors of which “management of time and work” accounted for 41 percent of the variance. Results supported previous findings that hassles levels were related inversely to daily health, daily mood, and overall health status. Perceived social support was found to be associated with general health but not with daily health and mood, and results from partial correlation analyses challenged the buffering role of social support between hassles and adaptational outcomes. The cross-cultural applicability of the hassles concept was discussed.