皮质醇日常节律与儿童问题行为及心理社会因素的关系

HPA轴(下丘脑?垂体?肾上腺皮质轴, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortex axis)是人体应对压力的重要神经内分泌系统, 其终产物皮质醇常作为测量压力的生物学指标。目前的研究多通过皮质醇日常节律表示静息状态下HPA轴的活动, 而日常节律因其较高的稳定性和可靠性成为儿童生理健康评估的最佳指标。儿童期迅速发育的神经内分泌系统与儿童的行为相互作用, 并受到多种心理社会因素的影响。以往研究主要关注皮质醇日常节律与儿童问题行为及心理社会因素的关系, 未来研究应讨论逆境条件下影响儿童成长的危险性因素和保护性因素, 并探索环境对儿童行为影响可能存在的内分泌机制。     

国外社会心理学领域中主观幸福感的研究进展

社会心理学领域扩展与深化了现代主观幸福感的研究。本文介绍了国外社会心理学领域中有关主观幸福感研究的5个方面的新进展：适应与主观幸福感、记忆与主观幸福感、消极因素与主观幸福感、友好关系与主观幸福感、文化与主观幸福感,勾画出了幸福感的完整风貌,增进了心理学对主观幸福感的理解。     

影响学生学业求助的因素及其有效策略探析

越来越多的学者认为,学业求助是一种重要的自我调控学习策略,对学生的学习具有重要的意义。本文总结了与学业求助有关的影响因素,包括成就目标、自我效能、班级环境和任务难度,并在此基础上探讨了激发学生有效求助的学习策略。     

亚健康的心理危险因素:模型与进展

自上世纪80年代以来,亚健康的研究热潮已经持续了二十多年,亚健康的概念在我国已经被广泛认知和使用,然而人们对亚健康的概念、诊断、病理的认识仍然模糊,在国际学术界也始终没有出现被普遍使用的对应的专业名词,在这种情况下,迫切需要识别和应用危险因素以服务于临床的预防、筛查、干预。本文从"危险因素"的概念入手,借鉴"素质-应激"模型,区分了"危险信号"与其他因素,将亚健康的心理危险因素纳入"易感素质-危险诱因-心理危险信号"模型中,在此理论架构下,详细回顾了亚健康在心理易感素质、应激、心理危险信号方面的研究进展,阐述了亚健康的心理病理机制,支持了在亚健康的预防、干预中重视心理因素的价值。最后,文章对未来的研究方向提出建议。     

Identifying play characteristics of pre-school children with developmental coordination disorder via parental questionnaires

Motor coordination deficits that characterize children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affect their quality of participation. The aim of the current study was to identify play characteristics of young children with DCD, compared to those of children with typical development in three dimensions: activity and participation, environmental factors and children’s impairments.MethodSixty-four children, aged four to six years, participated. Thirty were diagnosed as having DCD; the remaining 34 children were age, gender and socioeconomic level matched controls with typical development. The children were evaluated by the M-ABC. In addition, their parents completed a demographic questionnaire, the Children’s Activity Scale for Parents (CHAS-P), the Children’s Leisure Assessment Scale for preschoolers (CLASS-Pre), and My Child’s Play Questionnaire (MCP).ResultsChildren with DCD performed significantly poorer in each of the four play activity and participation domains: variety, frequency, sociability, and preference (CLASS-Pre). Furthermore, their environmental characteristics were significantly different (MCP). They displayed significantly inferior performance (impairments) in interpersonal interaction and executive functioning during play, in comparison to controls (MCP). Moreover, the children’s motor and executive control as reflected in their daily function as well as their activities of daily living (ADL) performance level, contributed to the prediction of their global play participation.DiscussionThe results indicate that the use of both the CLASS-Pre and the MCP questionnaires enables the identification of unique play characteristics of pre-school children with DCD via parents’ reports. A better insight into these characteristics may contribute to theoretical knowledge and clinical practice to improve the children’s daily participation.     

Motivational Interviewing as an Adjunct to Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Anxiety Disorders: A Critical Review of the Literature

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is efficaciously and effectively used in the treatment of anxiety disorders; however, as CBT for anxiety routinely utilizes exposure components, clients often experience ambivalence about treatment and their clinicians often must deal with resistance. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a therapeutic strategy that addresses ambivalence about change in clinical interventions. MI has been applied as an adjunct for treatments such as CBT in order to increase motivation for and commitment to the intervention, especially when components of the treatment may be challenging (e.g., exposure, cognitive restructuring). Though researchers have commented specifically on the use of MI as a supplement to CBT for anxiety disorders, no comprehensive review has systematically assessed the strengths and limitations of extant literature on the topic, nor across anxiety disorders. Findings are summarized from 6 case studies and uncontrolled trials and 11 randomized controlled trials published through March 2016. An integrated critique of this literature also is offered. Limitations and the preliminary nature of the work in this area notwithstanding, it appears that it is feasible to supplement or integrate CBT with MI and that doing so has the potential to improve treatment initiation and engagement, as well as clinical outcomes. A number of directions for future research are addressed, such as determining which MI approaches to implement, with whom, when, and in what contexts.     

Happiness and health behaviours among university students from 24 low,middle and high income countries

The aim of this study was to examine health behaviours and happiness and associated factors in low, middle and high income countries. In a cross-sectional survey, 17 508 undergraduate university students (mean age 20.9, SD = 2. 8) from 25 universities in 24 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas self-completed anonymous questionnaires. Results indicate that the overall happiness mean score among university students across 24 countries was 13.7 (range 4–20). Generally, the study found that university students from countries of the Caribbean, South America and sub-Saharan Africa had greater happiness scores than students from countries in North Africa and Asia. In multivariate linear regression analysis, better subjective socio-economic status, coming from an higher income country, higher social support, higher intrinsic religiosity, higher personal mastery, positive health behaviours (regular breakfast, adequate physical activity, habitual seatbelt use, regular dental check-ups, not having had an injury, not drinking and driving) and negative health behaviours (not having three or more servings of vegetables and eating red meat daily) were correlated with happiness. Improvement to the happiness of university students should consider regional differences in socio-economic environment.     

Is Neighborhood Context Differently Related to Externalizing Problems and Delinquency for Girls Compared with Boys?

Although a number of reviews of gender differences in conduct problems and delinquency exist, this paper fills a gap in reviewing neighborhood influences on gender differences in conduct problems and delinquency. These influences are known to be important for boys in childhood and adolescence, but cannot be assumed to be influential in the same manner for girls. The paper starts with several conceptualizations of the association between gender, neighborhoods and juvenile delinquency. It then addresses 4 key questions. Is residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood associated with problem behavior in girls? Are neighborhood effects independent of girls' age? Are girls in disadvantaged neighborhoods exposed to more risk factors than girls in advantaged neighborhoods? Can mediating risk factors explain gender differences in neighborhood effects on children's and adolescents' conduct problems and delinquent behavior? Answers to these questions are important to steer research and elucidate aspects of interventions that can be optimized for girls.