Timing of early warning stages in a multi stage collision warning system: Drivers’ evaluation depending on situational influences

By means of car2x communication technologies (car2x) driver warnings can be presented to drivers quite early. However, due to their early timing they could be misunderstood by drivers, distract or even disturb them. These problems arise if, at the moment of the warning, the safety–critical situation is not yet perceivable or critical. In order to examine, when drivers want to receive early warnings as a function of the situation criticality, a driving simulator study was conducted using the two early warning stages of a multi stage collision warning system (first stage: informing the driver; second stage: prewarning the driver). The optimum timing to activate these two early warning stages was derived by examining the drivers’ evaluation of these timings concerning their appropriateness and usefulness. As situational variation, drivers traveling at about 100 km/h were confronted with slow moving traffic either driving at 25 km/h or 50 km/h at the end of a rural road.In total, 24 participants were tested in a within-subjects design (12 female, 12 male; M = 26.6 years, SD = 7.2 years). For both stages, drivers preferred an earlier timing when approaching slow moving traffic traveling at 25 km/h (first stage: 447 m, second stage: 249 m ahead of the lead vehicle) compared to 50 km/h (first stage: 338 m, second stage: 186 m ahead of the lead vehicle). The drivers’ usefulness rating also varied with the timing, spanning a range of 8 s for driver-accepted timing variations and showed correspondence to the drivers’ appropriateness ratings. Based on these results and those of a previous study, a timing function for each of the two early warning stages depending on the speed difference between the safety–critical object and the host vehicle is presented. Indirectly, similar adaptations are already implemented in current collision warning systems, which use the time-to-collision to give drivers acute warnings in a later stage, when an immediate reaction of the driver may still prevent a collision. However, this study showed that drivers also favor this kind of adaptation for earlier warning stages (information and prewarning). Thus, adapting the timing according to the drivers’ preferences will contribute to a better acceptance of these collision warning systems.     

Physical activity and psychosomatic-related health problems as correlates of quality of life among university students

This study aimed to investigate the role of psychosomatic problems in the relationship between physical activity and healthrelated quality of life. Participants were a convenience sample of 703 students from a South African university (males = 38.8%, females = 61.2%, mean age = 19.6 years, SD = 1.26 years). The students completed measures of physical activity, psychosomatic-related health problems and quality of life-related. The hypothesised model was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). The empirical findings revealed that psychosomatic problems mediated the relationship between physical activity and quality of life. In fact, the mediation analyses showed a partial effect of physical activity on quality of life in that those students with less self-reported activity experienced several psychosomatic-related health problems.     

The Catcher in the Rye and the ill member of the group: Holden Caulfield and adolescent development

This paper is an attempt to explore J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951/1958) in relation to Winnicott’s theories of adolescent development, also with regard to psychodynamic theories of symbolism, mourning, defence mechanisms and containment. I consider the significance of the novel’s protagonist and narrator Holden Caulfield. What is the reason for the enduring popularity of his voice and its influence on the tone of subsequent adolescent literature? To answer this question, I examine the role this iconic, troubled character may play in the development of the adolescent reader.     

Behavioural Problems in Children with Headache and Maternal Stress: Is Children's Attachment Security a Protective Factor?

Headache is a potentially disabling condition involving enduring pain that negatively influences the quality of family life. Behavioural problems are more common in children with headache and are potentially associated with higher levels of parental stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which children's behavioural problems were associated with maternal stress and how the child's perception of security in the maternal attachment relationship moderates this association. Seventy‐one school‐aged children with headache (headache group (HG), age M = 9.8 years old, SD = 1.3) and 71 children from a low‐risk normative population (control group (CG), age M = 9.2 years old, SD = 1) and their mothers were involved in the study. Mothers' reports of children's behavioural problems were associated with higher maternal stress in the caring task both in the HG and in the CG. Results also showed that the HG was more at risk for behavioural problems, whereas no difference between groups was detected for parenting stress and for attachment insecurity. In children with headache, perception of attachment security decreased the strength of the association between maternal stress and externalizing behavioural problems. Secure attachment may provide children with headache and their parents with support in managing the negative emotions that arise in the context of significant health issues. Implications for practice are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aggression,anger and hostility: Evaluation of moral disengagement as a mediational process

This study examines how the mechanisms underlying moral disengagement serve as a mediator between anger and hostility and physical and verbal aggression. The study was carried out on 424 participants (61.1% females), aged 15 to 25 years, assessing the direct and indirect effects of the distinct variables using a hierarchical multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that anger and hostility contribute independently and positively to physical and verbal aggression. Moreover, the relationships between anger, hostility, and aggression appear to be mediated by moral disengagement. Indeed, this process of mediation was invariant across sexes, and it tended to be stronger for physical – as opposed to verbal – aggression.     

Trainee therapists’ views on the alliance in psychotherapy and supervision: a longitudinal study

The shape of alliance in psychotherapy and supervision using growth curve modeling was examined for clinically inexperienced trainee therapists, who were engaged in long-term cognitive behavioral - or psychodynamic individual psychotherapy at a Psychology Clinic in Sweden. Trainee therapists rated their view of the alliance with their clients and their supervisors on the Working Alliance Inventory at five time points. The alliance to the client show a consistent, positive development throughout the therapy. The alliance to the supervisors show initially a decrease, followed by an increase, and then again, the rate of increase in the supervisory alliance ratings slowed down indicating a more complex view of the supervisory alliance compared to the view of the alliance in psychotherapy.     

Unveiling the War Child Syndrome: Finnish War Children's Experiences of the Evacuation to Sweden During WWII from a Lifetime Perspective

During World War II, a total of 48,628 Finnish children were evacuated to Sweden and placed into temporary foster care. We studied the long-term effects of early separation among aging evacuees using a mixed-methods approach. The purpose was to understand how the evacuees experienced the evacuation event from a lifetime perspective and to determine the features of a possible war child syndrome. The evacuees expressed problems related to loss of confidence, detachment or rootlessness, and unworthiness or rejection. Feelings of rejection and unworthiness provoked shame in many of the reports. Our results suggest that support interventions should focus on processing these painful experiences.     

青少年物质主义的成因、测量与干预

物质主义是一种看重个体所拥有的财物的价值观。本文回顾了青少年物质主义的成因、测量与干预方法。青少年物质主义价值观的形成主要受家庭、同伴和媒体等因素的影响。常用的测量方法包含青少年物质主义量表、物质主义价值观量表—儿童版以及消费者卷入度等自陈量表,操作性测量工具——拼贴画,以及想象、观看社会榜样视频等启动青少年物质主义的方法。干预活动主要通过家庭、学校、媒体和社会等渠道展开。未来研究值得关注下述两点,一是从新角度考察环境对青少年物质主义价值观的影响;二是开展本土化的青少年物质主义研究。