Environmental Correlates of Gambling Behavior in Urban Adolescents

The present study considered the relation between adolescent gambling behavior and the perceived environment, the component of Jessor and Jessor’s (1977) Problem Behavior Theory that assesses the ways that adolescents perceive the attitudes and behaviors of parents and peers. The predominantly African-American sample included 188 sophomores from two urban public high schools. Using the South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised for Adolescents to assess gambling risk, rates of both at-risk (20.7%) and problem (12.8%) gambling were found to be high. Boys displayed more gambling problems than did girls. The perceived environment accounted for significant variance in gambling problems and frequency, with proximal components displaying stronger relationships than distal components. Perceiving parent gambling and friend models for problem behavior were positively correlated with gambling problems, and friend models were positively related to gambling frequency. Among girls, family support was positively related to gambling problems. Among boys, this relation was negative. The authors Emerson M. Wickwire, Jr. James P. Whelan, and Andrew W. Meyers are members of The Institute for Gambling Education and Research, Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN. The primary research interest of this group is the prevention and treatment of gambling related problems. David M. Murray, Ph.D., is the Chair of the Division of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.     

Environmental Contributions to Adolescent Delinquency: A Fresh Look at the Shared Environment

Few genetically-informative studies have attempted to explicitly identify the shared environmental (i.e., those environmental influences that contribute to sibling similarity) factors now known to contribute to adolescent delinquency. The current study therefore examined whether the parent-child relationship served as one source of these shared environmental influences. Participants were 610 adoptive and biological families from the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study (SIBS). Parents and adolescents reported on their parent-child conflict and parental involvement with child, and adolescents reported on their own delinquent behaviors. We employed structural equation modeling and supplementary multilevel modeling, finding consistent evidence that the association between delinquency and the parent-child relationship is at least partially shared environmental in origin. Such findings provide an important extension of previous twin studies, as they suggest that passive genotype-environment correlations do not explain earlier findings of shared environmental influences on this association.     

Spatial navigation: Cognitive variables involved in route retracing among an elderly population

The cognitive processes involved in route retracing are not well known. This study aims to highlight them in an elderly population in which contradictory results have been obtained, certain studies showing specific difficulties for route retracing, others not. Thirty-nine elderly subjects performed a route-learning task (forward-backward) in a garden, then completed spatial knowledge tasks and standardised cognitive tests. Results show four factors that were predictive of route retracing performance: route repetition, the pointing task, and two standardised cognitive tests, one assessing spatial working memory, and another global cognitive efficiency. According to these results, route retracing involves route and survey knowledge (i.e., egocentric and allocentric strategy), and the integration of forward-backward perspectives is underpinned by the spatial working memory. Moreover, the subjects did not make more errors in route retracing than in the route repetition task, suggesting that a real environment could compensate for a failing allocentric strategy.     

Helping older pedestrians navigate unknown environments through vibrotactile guidance instructions

Many studies have consistently found evidence of aging-related navigation difficulties that lead to disorientation behaviors and/or reduced travel. Despite technological advances, older pedestrians mainly use paper maps to find their way in unknown environments while they have a lot of difficulties in using and interacting with them efficiently. In this context, the present study was aimed at assessing the effectiveness and acceptability and study older pedestrian’s behavior when wearing a vibrotactile instructions to help them finding their way in an unknown city as compared with visual instructions provided by a paper map. Fifty-eight participants (20 young adults ages 21–45, 20 younger-old adults ages 61–70, and 18 older-old adults ages 71–80) took part in a simulated navigation task where participants had to go from point A to point B in a virtual city. The task was performed either with a vibrotactile wristband delivering directional messages or with a standard paper map showing the visual instructions to follow. The data showed that vibrotactile guidance instructions improved the correct numbers of turns taken (left/right) at simple intersections. They also reduced travel time as compared with visual guidance instructions provided by a paper map. These benefits were greater among the older-old participants, who had trouble using the paper map and thus benefited greatly from the assistance provided by the vibrotactile guidance instructions. These findings suggest that such an assistance device using simple haptic guidance messages is able to improve older pedestrians’ mobility.     

Analysis of higher education and management model based on cognitive anthropology

In this paper, the application of computer technology in higher education and management mode based on cognitive anthropology was studied and a teaching recommendation method was constructed. Firstly, on the basis of the existing teaching recommendation research results, teaching recommendation was carried out by adopting the methods of linear weighting and cascade combination and combining with human social factors, geographical factors and time factors, and the validity of the results was improved. Then, the expansion was carried out in the Apache cluster environment, and the efficiency and scalability of teaching recommendation were improved, so that an innovative mode of higher education research and management was created. Experiments show that the implementation efficiency of comprehensive teaching recommendation method achieved in an Apache cluster environment is high. As the amount of data increases, the efficiency advantages become more pronounced.     

政策环境对实现残疾人康复服务的影响

根据《上海市残疾人"人人享有康复服务"评价指标体系》,采用综合评价法,对上海市6个区残疾人康复工作进行评价。研究发现,残疾人康复政策环境实现率为96.3%,5个二级指标实现率均超过80%,三级指标达标率63.3%。应明确残疾人康复工作的重要性,将残疾人康复纳入政策工作计划,各区残疾人康复政策环境建设应协调平衡发展。     

Physiological,affective, and behavioral responses to interpersonal conflict among males from families with different levels of cohesion and adaptability

To examine the relation between characteristics of a person's family of origin and cardiovascular, behavioral, cognitive, and affective response to interpersonal conflict, responses of 15 young males from families rated as extreme (EXT) on scales of cohesion (enmeshed or disengaged) or adaptability (chaotic or rigid) were compared to those of 25 young males from families rated as balanced (BAL) on measures of cohesion and adaptability. Subjects participated in two interpersonal role-play conflict situations, one with a male confederate and the other with a female confederate. Measures of heart rate (HR), blood pressure, and indices of both positive and negative verbal and nonverbal behaviors were obtained during each scenario and self-reported measures of positive and negative cognitive self-statements and affective response were obtained following each conflict scene. Results showed that, in contrast to BAL males, EXT males exhibited more negative verbal and nonverbal behavior, less positive nonverbal behavior, higher ratings of state anxiousness during conflict, and higher HR responses during the interaction with the male confederate than the female confederate. These findings suggest that exposure to a family environment with extreme levels of cohesion and adaptability impacts how an individual responds to interpersonal conflict in young adulthood.     

Temenos Lost: Reflections on Moving

This article examines some clinical dilemmas engendered by moving. At such times, certain patients (or the analysts themselves) may lose their sense of containment that the therapeutic space has provided. When such a disruption threatens the course of treatment, this changed condition may be archetypaily termed 'temenos lost'. Consideration of this condition has led the author to reconceptualize healing as composed of two distinct components: the healing relationship and the healing space. Together, these components define the healing archetype. Using two historical examples, the King's Evil in Tudor England and healing pilgrimages in Israel, he shows how each component may indeed operate independently. More often, however, they function together. Using an extended published case (Volkan 1984), the author examines various aspects of how patients and analysts cope with 'temenos lost'. He emphasizes the importance of the emotional atmosphere in the physical setting, anticipatory anxiety of losing the temenos, and the basic anxiety that the move will damage the analysis. The importance of the rite of re-entry for the patient is emphasized as a symbolic way of resolving 'temenos loss' that permits a healing move into a 'temenos regained'.     

The impact of daycare environments on children's mood and behavior

This study examined the influence of different environmental features at nine daycare centers on 74 children's (42 boys and 32 girls) emotions in relation to their individual traits. The environments were predominantly assessed by semantic scales, and the children's emotions using a structured observational technique. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the activation level as well as the control of the behavior were related to the individual traits of the children, whereas the directedness and the hedonic tone of the behavior were related to the environment and the situation (meal or free play). Of special interest is the result that extrovert children displayed higher levels of control than the more introvert children. The most important quality of the physical daycare environment was unity, whereas intensity and familiarity were to most salient qualities of the social environment