Character Development within Youth Development Programs: Exploring Multiple Dimensions of Activity Involvement

We examined links among three dimensions of youth involvement (intensity, duration, and engagement) in Boy Scouts of America (BSA), an international out‐of‐school time (OST) youth development program designed to promote moral and performance character in boys. Using data from 737 youth and their parents who participated in one of 40 BSA program sites (commonly referred to as “packs”), we first considered how individual‐ and pack‐level measures of program involvement were differentially linked with character development. Next, we examined whether pack‐level involvement characteristics moderate individual‐level involvement characteristics, hypothesizing that highly involved packs would serve to further enhance the positive effects of high levels of individual involvement. Results indicated engagement was the strongest, most frequent predictor of increases in both moral and performance character. Although there were no direct effects of pack‐level intensity, duration, or engagement, the effects of individual‐level engagement were moderated by pack‐level engagement, suggesting that the largest increases in moral and performance character occurred among highly engaged youth who were enrolled in highly engaged packs. These results highlight the need to examine multiple dimensions of OST program involvement simultaneously, and suggest that strengthening youth engagement in programming may provide a means for enhancing the positive effects of high‐quality youth programming.     

Measuring rail passenger crowding: Scale development and psychometric properties

Research on rail passenger crowding often tacitly subscribes to a measurement of crowding based on density (i.e. physical conditions involving space limitations) and rarely considers the possible role psychological factors may play in measuring this construct. This paper describes the development of an instrument that captures the dimensionality of rail passenger crowding and its relationship to the experience of stress and feelings of exhaustion. The proposed instrument is a 20-item self-rating questionnaire consisting of three sub-scales designed to assess subjective crowding experiences among rail users (n = 525). Findings from the factor analyses generally support the hypothesised three-factor structure of the measurement model (evaluation of the psychosocial aspects of the crowded situation, evaluation of the ambient environment of the crowded situation, and affective reactions to the crowded situation). All sub-scales demonstrate excellent internal consistency and construct validity as well as good convergent and discriminant validity values. The instrument was further tested using structural equation modelling to examine the impact of crowding on commuters’ stress and feelings of exhaustion. With the addition of the “passenger density” variable as an indicator of objective measurement of crowding operating in tandem with the crowding sub-scales, the results reveal that: (1) commuters’ evaluations of the psychosocial aspects of the crowded situation and of its ambient environment, alongside their rating of passenger density, significantly predict affective reactions to the crowded situation; (2) these affective reactions, in turn, significantly predict stress and feelings of exhaustion; and (3) evaluations of the psychosocial aspects of the crowded situation and of its ambient environment as well as passenger density do not directly predict stress and feelings of exhaustion. The link between rail passenger crowding and the negative outcomes therefore does not appear as a simple, direct relationship, but is mediated by affective feelings of crowdedness. Overall, these results provide satisfactory psychometric properties for the proposed instrument and support its use as an assessment tool for measuring crowding experience in the rail setting.     

Flank to the left,flank to the right: Testing the modified receptive field hypothesis of letter-specific crowding

The present study tested for effects of number of flankers positioned to the left and to the right of target characters as a function of visual field and stimulus type (letters or shapes). On the basis of the modified receptive field hypothesis (Chanceaux & Grainger, 2012), we predicted that the greatest effects of flanker interference would occur for leftward flankers with letter targets in the left visual field. Target letters and simple shape stimuli were briefly presented and accompanied by either 1, 2, or 3 flankers of the same category either to the left or to the right of the target, and in all conditions with a single flanker on the opposite side. Targets were presented in the left or right visual field at a fixed eccentricity, such that targets and flankers always fell into the same visual field. Results showed greatest interference for leftward flankers associated with letter targets in the left visual field, as predicted by the modified receptive field hypothesis.     

Enhancing parental reflective functioning: A special tribute to the life and work of Nancy E. Suchman,PhD

Nancy E. Suchman's contributions to the fields of infant mental health, maternal reflective functioning, and attachment-based intervention will have long-lasting impacts. In particular, through the development and dissemination of her intervention program, Mothering from the Inside Out (MIO), she innovated a way of working with mothers with substance use disorders that represented a paradigm shift within the field of addiction. In this introduction to the special issue, written to honor her life and work, we review Nancy's background and briefly describe her academic accomplishments. The special issue contains nine qualitative and quantitative research reports written by Nancy's colleagues and their collaborators. All nine papers pertain to the theme of understanding, measuring, and promoting parents’ capacity for reflective functioning. Four provide findings that advance our understanding of parental reflective functioning. The other five highlight insights from continuing evaluations of MIO, including new adaptations of the model. To introduce the special issue, we provide an overview of the scope of the work done within these projects. Finally, the special issue concludes with two commentaries contributed by Linda Mayes and Arietta Slade, leading scholars within the field who were also Nancy's close colleagues. Both provide insight into Nancy's impact on the field.     

空格减少汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童的视觉拥挤效应：来自眼动的证据

使用眼动仪记录汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童、正常年龄匹配和能力匹配儿童阅读插入空格文本时的眼动,考察在字、词以及非词间插入空格呈现文本对汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童阅读加工过程的影响。结果发现,阅读障碍儿童在字间空格条件下平均注视时间减少的程度大于正常儿童,注视次数在字间和词间空格条件下未见显著增加,能力匹配儿童的注视次数在这两种空格条件下却显著增加。结果说明,在字间和词间插入空格能够减少儿童的平均阅读时间,且字间空格文本呈现显著地提高了其阅读效率,说明空格对汉语阅读障碍儿童具有促进作用,这种促进主要是由于空格减少了其视觉拥挤效应所致。     

拥挤的动机：公益投资中的公共服务动机与外部激励

现代公共管理日益重视公共服务动机,但如何激励公共服务动机,却悬而未决。针对已有研究的局限,采用公益投资博弈的实验范式,考察了激励类型、性别和PSM水平对动机-绩效关系的影响。发现：1）PSM能显著预测公益投资绩效;2）金钱激励撤销后对所有被试均造成了不良后果（动机挤出）;4）荣誉激励能显著提升男性被试的公益投资绩效,且不造成消极后果;但会给女性带来PSM的挤出。未来研究还应考察PSM是否存在内隐层面,并应当考虑文化适合性。     

Individual and collective problem-solving in a foraging context in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica

In this paper we investigate the flexibility of foraging behavior in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica, both at the individual and collective levels, following a change in the physical properties of their environment. We studied in laboratory conditions the changes occurring in foraging behavior when a height constraint was placed 1 cm above part of the trail linking the nest to the foraging area. We found that the size and shape of the fragments of foraging material brought back to the nest were significantly modified when the constraint was placed on the trail: independent of their size, forager ants cut smaller and rounder fragments in the presence of a height constraint than in its absence. This size adjustment does not require any direct sensory feedback because it occurred when the ants cut fragments in the foraging area; no further cutting was done when they encountered the constraint. This points to the existence of a template that ants store and use as a reference to adjust their reach while cutting. Remarkably, despite the decrease in the foraging material brought to the nest per capita the colony was still able to improve its foraging performance by doubling the number of transporters. This study illustrates the flexibility of foraging behavior exhibited by an ant colony. It provides a rare example of insects finding an intelligent solution to a problem occurring in a foraging context, at both the individual and collective levels.     

Three Phases of Treatment with Borderline and Psychotic Patients

Three distinct, yet overlapping, phases of treatment emerge when working with some borderline and psychotic patients. This are patients who test the ordinary limits of psychoanalysis, but can profit from its deep exploration. The first phase is colored by acting out, interpersonally and intrapsychically. An analytic envelope of containment is necessary to sustain the treatment. Interpretive holding and containing help the patient find a psychic receptacle capable of detoxifying violent projections. Many of these patients terminate prematurely. The second phase is centered around the patient's defensive use of the death instinct to extinguish or destroy certain parts of their mental functioning. This difficult standoff between parts of the patient's mind becomes replicated in the transference. The third phase reveals the more fundamental problem of paranoid～schizoid anxieties of loss and primitive experiences of guilt. These include fears of persecution and annihilation. Some patients abort treatment in the first or second phase and never work through the phantasies and feelings of loss. Nevertheless, much intrapsychic and interpersonal progress is possible. Given the instability and chaotic nature of these patient's object relations, the analyst must be cautiously optimistic in their work and realize the potential to help the patient even when presented with less than optimal working conditions.