For Better and For Worse: Differential Susceptibility to Environmental Influences

ABSTRACT— Evidence that adverse rearing environments exert negative effects particularly on children presumed "vulnerable" for temperamental or genetic reasons may actually reflect something else: heightened susceptibility to the negative effects of risky environments and to the beneficial effects of supportive environments. Building on Belsky's (1997, 2005) evolutionary-inspired proposition that some children are more affected—both for better and for worse—by their rearing experiences than are others, we consider recent work on child vulnerability, including that involving measured genes, along with evidence showing that putatively vulnerable children are especially susceptible to both positive and negative rearing effects. We also consider methodological issues and unanswered questions in the differential-susceptibility equation.     

A Two-Dimensional Theory of Health

The starting point for the contemporary debate about theories of health should be the holistic theory of Lennart Nordenfelt, claims George Khushf, not the refuted theory of Christopher Boorse. The present paper is an attempt to challenge Nordenfelt and to present an alternative theory to his and other theories, including Boorse’s. The main problems with Nordenfelt’s theory are that it is relativistic, that it leads to counter-intuitive results as to what goals can count as healthy, that it focuses on the wrong kind of abilities, that it makes measuring health extra difficult, and that it does not give us a sufficient account of health, at most a necessary one. The alternative theory proposed is two-dimensional. First, health is to have developed the abilities and dispositions that members of one’s culture typically develop, and be able to use them, in acceptable circumstances; and second, health is to experience positive moods and sensations, the kinds that have internal causes. The theory solves the problems attached to Nordenfelt’s theory by not being individual relativistic, by eliminating the goals in the definition, by giving an alternative interpretation of “ability,” by making health easier to measure, and by adding the dimension of well-being that, together with health as ability, not only gives us a necessary, but also a sufficient, account of health.     

The self-protective and undermining effects of attributional ambiguity

Two experiments assessed the self-protective and undermining effects of attributional ambiguity. Both studies utilized immersive virtual environment technology to achieve otherwise difficult manipulations of stigma. In Experiment 1, White and Latino participants were either stigmatized (represented as Latino) or not (represented as White) and given negative leadership performance feedback. Afterwards, stigmatized participants reported higher well-being and attributed negative feedback more to discrimination than nonstigmatized participants. In Experiment 2, Latinos represented veridically showed self-protective effects after receiving negative leadership feedback. Additionally, this experiment revealed undermining effects of attributional ambiguity such that those participants represented as Latino discounted positive feedback and reported lower well-being. Thus, attributional ambiguity of stigmatized individuals (real or induced) buffered well-being in the face of negative feedback but undermined the well-being effects of positive feedback.     

Middle school student perceptions of school climate: Examining protective functions on subsequent adjustment problems

The present study examined the roles of student perceptions of four aspects of school climate (friction, cohesion, competition among students, and satisfaction with classes) as moderators of the relations between effortful control and subsequent conduct problems and depressive symptoms. Participants were 488 10-to-14-year old students involved in two waves, with one year between each wave, of a study. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that high levels of perceived friction predicted more subsequent conduct problems and depressive symptoms, even after baseline levels of these problems were partialled out. Low levels of effortful control also elevated risk for subsequent conduct problems. However, perceptions of the school as high in cohesion offset the risk associated with low levels of effortful control. Perceived satisfaction with classes also offset this risk, but only for females. Contrary to expectations, student perceptions of school climate did not interact with effortful control to predict subsequent depressive symptoms.     

Mental Health, Social Environment and Sexual Risk Behaviors of Adolescent Service Users: A Gender Comparison

We examined individual mental health problems (depression, conduct disorder, and substance abuse) and social environment (family, peer, and neighborhood) factors associated with the sexual risk behaviors of male and female adolescents. Interviews with 778 adolescents, aged 14 to 18, showed that both mental health problems and social environment were related to adolescents' involvement in sexual risk behaviors. Conduct disorder symptoms, substance abuse or dependence symptoms, and the interaction between peer misbehavior and neighborhood problems were significantly associated with risky sexual behaviors. Peer misbehavior was a particularly strong factor related to sexual risk behaviors for youths who lived in neighborhoods with multiple problems. The only gender differences were found in age, with older males more likely to report engaging in high risk sexual behaviors. This study suggests the utility of multidimensional intervention strategies to deal with various adolescent problem behaviors, including risky sexual behaviors, within the context of their social environment.     

There is no such thing as environmental ethics

Engineers and scientists, whose professional responsibilities often influence the natural environment, have sought to develop an environmental ethic that will be in tune with their attitudes toward the non-human environment, and that will assist them in decision making regarding questions of environmental quality. In this paper the classical traditions in normative ethics are explored in an attempt to formulate such an environmental ethic. I conclude, however, that because the discipline of ethics is directed at person-person interactions, ethics as a scholarly discipline does not help us understand how we ought to treat non-human nature. We therefore cannot look to ethics as a source for understanding our attitudes and for providing guidance to our actions with regard to the environment. To do so is to ask too much of ethics. If we are to find an acceptable environmental morality, it must come from a new paradigm. One approach might be to understand our attitudes on the basis of spirituality, modeled after animistic religions.     

浅谈《管子》中环境哲学思想

面对着日益严重的环境危机,今天的人们已经逐渐意识到问题的重要性和迫切性。然而,人们对环境问题的认识仍然存在着严重的局限考虑——自然环境。这种片面的认识是不利于环境问题的根本解决。面对今天复杂、多向的环境问题,《管子》可以提供我们一些有益的启示：以＂道＂为核心的有机整体主义自然观和具体的一些自然资源保护措施;包含着经济正义、法律正义等的社会环境思想;心灵和谐的人文环境思想;自然、社会、人文整体主义的＂一体之治＂思想等。     

Attention Deficit Disorder,Anxiety Disorder,and Learning Disabilities

Abstract

This article details an individualized psychoeducational model designed to treat a child with interrelated psychological and developmental issues whose psychic functioning was deteriorating within the traditional educational system. The team had leeway to function outside of the educational system to create an individualized, remedial, psychoeducational program. At the time we began the program, her diagnostic picture included: Anxiety Disorder, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and Learning Disabilities. The treatment team consisted of an education specialist, two additional part-time teachers, a clinical social worker, an occupational therapist, a consulting senior child psychoanalyst, and the child's mother. The results at the close of the first school year are examined. Perspectives informing the psychoanalytic aspects of this case include Winnicottian and Fairbairnian Object Relations Theory and therapeutic milieu model.     

家庭环境和教师支持对中学生学业拖延的影响：基本心理需求满足与心理资本的链式中介作用

为探讨家庭环境和教师支持对中学生学业拖延的影响机制,采用中学生家庭环境问卷、学生感知教师支持行为问卷、基本心理需求量表、积极心理资本问卷和中学生学业拖延问卷对740名中学生进行调查。结果显示：家庭环境、教师支持和心理资本均对学业拖延有显著影响;家庭环境和教师支持对学业拖延的影响力相当,而个体心理资本的影响力更大;家庭环境和教师支持还能通过基本心理需求满足与心理资本的部分链式中介作用来影响学业拖延。