‘I don't want to be the mother of a paedophile’: the perspectives of mothers whose adolescent sons with learning disabilities sexually offend

The subject of sexual abuse is a major focus of professional and public concern. Sexual abuse of (and by) people with learning disabilities evokes even greater disquieting emotions, and makes severe demands on the social services, and the criminal justice system. The aims of the project were: 1) to determine whether group psychotherapy produced effective outcomes for adolescent boys with learning disabilities who exhibit sexually abusive behaviour, 2) to explore the perspectives of parents and other care-givers, and 3) to document the nature and extent of service support to families. This paper focuses solely on the mothers' perspectives. This was a three-year project with six boys (under 16) receiving group psychotherapy, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Clinical measures were used to track changes throughout the course of psychotherapy. Semi-structured interviews (taped and transcribed) were held (separately) with the boys, their parents, paid care-givers and the therapists. The mothers tried hard to make sense of, and come to terms with, what was happening to their sons and to themselves, they struggled to reconcile their own confused and often conflicting emotions, and to maintain their own sense of identity. They felt almost totally unsupported by the services, both in the past and present, and could see little hope for the future. There is an urgent need for development of effective and sympathetic services for the parents of boys with learning disabilities who have been abused, and who are now showing abusive behaviour.     

Adolescents with learning disabilities: Psychic structures that are not conducive to learning

In this paper, I attempt to make links between theoretical concepts derived from the work of Bion (in particular, the 'ego-destructive super-ego', and the function he termed '-K' in thinking disorders) and the nature of the transference relationship that became evident in my clinical work with some adolescents with learning disabilities. I use three clinical examples to illustrate these ideas and suggest that learning can be facilitated for this patient group by addressing difficulties which arise in the therapist's countertransference related to the theoretical concepts cited above.     

Improving Classroom Quality with The RULER Approach to Social and Emotional Learning: Proximal and Distal Outcomes

The RULER Approach to Social and Emotional Learning (“RULER”) is designed to improve the quality of classroom interactions through professional development and classroom curricula that infuse emotional literacy instruction into teaching–learning interactions. Its theory of change specifies that RULER first shifts the emotional qualities of classrooms, which are then followed, over time, by improvements in classroom organization and instructional support. A 2-year, cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted to test hypotheses derived from this theory. Sixty-two urban schools either integrated RULER into fifth- and sixth-grade English language arts (ELA) classrooms or served as comparison schools, using their standard ELA curriculum only. Results from multilevel modeling with baseline adjustments and structural equation modeling support RULER’s theory of change. Compared to classrooms in comparison schools, classrooms in RULER schools exhibited greater emotional support, better classroom organization, and more instructional support at the end of the second year of program delivery. Improvements in classroom organization and instructional support at the end of Year 2 were partially explained by RULER’s impacts on classroom emotional support at the end of Year 1. These findings highlight the important contribution of emotional literacy training and development in creating engaging, empowering, and productive learning environments.     

Evidence for Implicit Learning in Syntactic Comprehension

This study provides evidence for implicit learning in syntactic comprehension. By reanalyzing data from a syntactic priming experiment (Thothathiri & Snedeker, 2008), we find that the error signal associated with a syntactic prime influences comprehenders' subsequent syntactic expectations. This follows directly from error‐based implicit learning accounts of syntactic priming, but it is unexpected under accounts that consider syntactic priming a consequence of temporary increases in base‐level activation. More generally, the results raise questions about the principles underlying the maintenance of implicit statistical knowledge relevant to language processing, and about possible functional motivations for syntactic priming.     

Integration and Reuse in Cognitive Skill Acquisition

Previous accounts of cognitive skill acquisition have demonstrated how procedural knowledge can be obtained and transformed over time into skilled task performance. This article focuses on a complementary aspect of skill acquisition, namely the integration and reuse of previously known component skills. The article posits that, in addition to mechanisms that proceduralize knowledge into more efficient forms, skill acquisition requires tight integration of newly acquired knowledge and previously learned knowledge. Skill acquisition also benefits from reuse of existing knowledge across disparate task domains, relying on indexicals to reference and share necessary information across knowledge components. To demonstrate these ideas, the article proposes a computational model of skill acquisition from instructions focused on integration and reuse, and applies this model to account for behavior across seven task domains.     

龙生龙,凤生凤？领导创新性工作表现对下属创造力的影响

根据社会认知理论,探讨组织情景中领导者创新性工作表现对下属创造力的影响,将领导成员交换关系和威权型领导作为情景因素,来探索它们的交互效应对下属创造力的影响。本研究采用问卷法,选取领导-下属配对数据,通过两个子研究来验证假设。研究结果显示：(1)领导创新性工作表现与下属创造力存在积极的正相关关系,创新的内在动机在其中起着中介作用;(2)威权型领导能够有效地调节这种关系;(3)领导创新性工作表现、领导成员交换关系和威权型领导对下属创造力存在三重的交互作用。最后,文章讨论了研究的局限与启示,并指出未来可能的研究方向。     

Does habit strength moderate the intention–behaviour relationship in the Theory of Planned Behaviour? The case of fruit consumption

The present study examined if habit strength moderated the influence of intention on fruit consumption in a Dutch adult sample (N?=?521, 46.3% males, mean age?=?34.50, SD?=?10.87), using the theoretical relations of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). TPB variables and habit strength were assessed at baseline. Fruit consumption was assessed with a validated questionnaire five weeks later. Three groups were created: low habit strength (n?=?180), medium habit strength (n?=?185) and high habit strength (n?=?156). Confirmatory factor analyses and multi-group path analyses were performed using AMOS 4.0. A good fit was obtained for the overall measurement model and the structural models. Multi-group path analyses showed that intention was a significant predictor of fruit consumption in the low habit (β?=?0.36, p?<?0.001) and medium habit group (β?=?0.30, p?<?0.001), but a non-significant predictor in the high habit group (β?=?0.05, p?=?0.596). Implications for information-based and motivation-based interventions are discussed.     

Bringing up condom use and using condoms with new sexual partners: Intentional or habitual?

Abstract

A prospective study of 94 Dutch adults who have casual sexual partners examined whether two important aspects of safe sex, namely bringing up condom use (BCU) and actual condom use (ACU) are intentional or habitual. For each of these aspects, a model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB: Ajzen, 1991) was pitted against a similar model that was extended with a path from past to later BCU and ACU, respectively. The results suggest that bringing up the issue of condom use was equally predicted by intentions and past BCU. However, among people with casual partners, using condoms - and more importantly not using condoms - was especially predicted by past ACU, suggesting a strong habitual component. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for safe sex education and the use of theories in safe sex promotion campaigns.     

Smoking-specific communication and children's smoking onset: An extension of the theory of planned behaviour

The aim of this study was to test whether maternal smoking-specific communication and parental smoking related to smoking cognitions (i.e. attitude, self-efficacy and social norm) derived from the Theory of Planned Behaviour in association with smoking onset during preadolescence. A total of 1478 pairs of mothers and children participated (mean age: 10.11; standard deviation?=?0.78). Structural equation models in Mplus were used to examine whether smoking-specific communication influences children's smoking cognitions, which in turn, affect smoking onset. A positive association was found between pro-smoking attitudes and smoking onset. Smoking-specific communication and parental smoking were related to smoking cognitions. Specifically, frequency of communication was negatively associated with pro-smoking attitudes, social norms of mother and best friend. Quality of communication related negatively to pro-smoking attitudes and positively to self-efficacy and norms of friends. Parental smoking was positively associated with pro-smoking attitudes and norms of mother and (best) friends. Additionally, more frequent communication and higher levels of parental smoking were associated with higher smoking onset. In conclusion, smoking-specific communication and parental smoking were associated with smoking cognitions and smoking onset. Already during preadolescence, parents contribute to shaping the smoking cognitions of their children, which may be predictive of smoking later in life.