Mafia Perception in Relation to Sicilian Teenagers' Moral Disengagement and Value Orientation the Role of Educational and Family Contexts

This article aims at providing a critical review of the main studies about Mafia in a theoretical psychological and socio-anthropological framework, and investigating the perception of the phenomenon in relation to moral disengagement and values orientation in two groups of Sicilian teenagers, living in contexts with different Mafia density. Today Mafia is represented as a socio-psychological phenomenon, which has managed to make culture, community, family, and individuals coincide; it is founded on an individualistic social conception according to which violence is the strongest form of self-achievement.     

Measuring Probabilistic Reasoning: The Construction of a New Scale Applying Item Response Theory

Probabilistic reasoning skills are important in various contexts. The aim of the present study was to develop a new instrument (the Probabilistic Reasoning Scale – PRS) to accurately measure low levels of probabilistic reasoning ability in order to identify people with difficulties in this domain. Item response theory was applied to construct the scale, and to investigate differential item functioning (i.e., whether the items were invariant) across genders, educational levels, and languages. Additionally, we tested the validity of the scale by investigating the relationships between the PRS and several other measures. The results revealed that the items had a low level of difficulty. Nonetheless, the discriminative measures showed that the items can discriminate between individuals with different trait levels, and the test information function showed that the scale accurately assesses low levels of probabilistic reasoning ability. Additionally, through investigating differential item functioning, the measurement equivalence of the scale at the item level was confirmed for gender, educational status, and language (i.e., Italian and English). Concerning validity, the results showed the expected correlations with numerical skills, math‐related attitudes, statistics achievement, IQ, reasoning skills, and risky choices both in the Italian and British samples. In conclusion, the PRS is an ideal instrument for identifying individuals who struggle with basic probabilistic reasoning, and who could be targeted by specific interventions. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Executive functioning and health-related quality of life in pediatric sickle cell disease

Research consistently indicates that children with sickle cell disease (SCD) face multiple risk factors for neurocognitive impairment. Despite this, no empirical research to date has examined the impact of neurocognitive functioning on quality of life for this pediatric group. Thus, the current study aims to examine the relationship between executive functioning and quality of life in a sample of children with SCD and further explore psychosocial and family/caregiver resources as moderators of this relationship. A total of 45 children with SCD aged 8 to 16 years and their caregivers completed measures of quality of life, behavioral ratings of executive functioning, and psychosocial functioning. Hierarchical linear regression models were utilized to determine the impact of executive functioning on quality of life and further test the interaction effects of proposed moderating variables. Controlling for age, pain, and socioeconomic status (SES), executive functioning was found to significantly predict child- and parent-reported quality of life among youth with SCD. Psychosocial resources of the primary caregiver or family was not found to moderate the relationship between executive functioning and quality of life. These results provide the first empirical evidence that lower executive skills negatively predict quality of life for children with SCD, supporting clinical and research efforts which aim to establish efficacious interventions that target cognitive decrements within this pediatric population.     

生命意义问卷(修订版)在初中生群体中的信效度:留守与非留守学生的比较分析

检验生命意义问卷(修订版)在初中生群体中的信效度,并比较了留守与非留守学生在测量学指标上的差异。采用生命意义问卷(修订版)、超越意义量表、情感调节量表、Rosenberg自尊量表和幸福感指数量表对1300名初中生进行调查,其中有636名留守初中生。探索性因素分析、平行分析和最小平均偏相关分析均表明该量表为双因子结构,验证性因素分析与各类群体拟合良好;与上述效标变量均有显著的正相关;在性别和是否留守学生变量上,个别条目表现出一致性或非一致性条目功能差异;总量表、追寻和拥有意义分量表的δ系数都大于0.9。生命意义问卷(修订版)具有在初中生和留守初中生中均有良好的信效度;可以忽略在性别和是否留守学生变量的条目功能差异;问卷辨识度较高。     

Marital Status,Home Environments,and Family Strain: Complex Effects on Preschool Children's School Readiness Skills

The current study examined the complex associations among marital status, home environments, and family strain (i.e. income, maternal depressive symptoms, social support, and parenting stress), as they predict preschool children's pre‐academic and social skills at 36 and 54 months. Findings from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 897) showed that the home learning environment, which was significantly lower among single‐parent families, worked as a mediator to explain the relationship between single‐parent families and children's pre‐academic skills at 36 and 54 months. Additionally, parenting stress, which was significantly higher among single‐parent families, worked as a mediator to explain the relationship between single status and the home learning environment. Finally, moderation analyses showed that family income is important for improving the home social environment, and the home social environment is strongly associated with children's social skills in single‐parent families, but not in cohabiting families. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of Differential Item Functioning on Examinees' Test Performance and Reliability of Test

Simulations were conducted to examine the effect of differential item functioning (DIF) on measurement consequences such as total scores, item response theory (IRT) ability estimates, and test reliability in terms of the ratio of true-score variance to observed-score variance and the standard error of estimation for the IRT ability parameter. The objective was to provide bounds of the likely DIF effects on these measurement consequences. Five factors were manipulated: test length, percentage of DIF items per form, item type, sample size, and level of group ability difference. Results indicate that the greatest DIF effect was less than 2 points on the 0 to 60 total score scale and about 0.15 on the IRT ability scale. DIF had a limited effect on the ratio of true-score variance to observed-score variance, but its influence on the standard error of estimation for the IRT ability parameter was evident for certain ability values.     

Conceptual and Application Issues: Emotionally Focused Therapy With Gay Male Couples

Therapists working with couples are likely to see gay male couples in their practice yet there is a lack of training to prepare therapists to work with gay couples. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is an empirically supported approach to couples therapy and offers a clear structure and map for working with gay male couples. This article reviews some of the issues that are specific to EFT work with gay men. Given the range of minority stressors that gay men contend with EFT is particularly appropriate for work with gay male couples because of the focus on the attachment bond. Building a secure relationship is an important source of resilience that can buffer against prejudice and discrimination and provide a secure base for individual and couple exploration.     

Relationships in Families after a Family Member’s Death: A Qualitative Metasynthesis

The aim of this article is to understand the bereavement of a family as a unit from multiple perspectives. Using qualitative metasynthesis, we described family members’ bereavement experiences from multiple perspectives. The most common perspectives reported were those of parents who had lost their children. No studies reported the perspectives of husbands. Every article explicitly or implicitly referred to a continued connection with the deceased and the effect of this connection on family relationships. This article addresses the importance of focusing on more than one relationship within a family, which should be investigated further in future research.     

Challenges for aging Holocaust survivors and their children: The impact of early trauma on aging

ABSTRACT

Is the impact of early trauma continually present or does the negative psychological impact disappear when survivors are younger and then reappear as they age? In Transcending Trauma Project interviews survivors noted the impact of the Holocaust was always present but some stated that it increased as they aged. A small number of children of survivors interviewed observed a dependence upon defense mechanisms to cope with aging which differed from the survivors’ identification of using active and family coping strategies during the war and postwar years. Though children who experienced positive parent-child relationships mentioned the negative coping strategies, they also spoke positively of the impact of their parents in their own lives and expressed empathy for their parents. In the families where tensions existed between the survivors and their children, the children did not express empathy for their aging parents. Several studies supported the importance of family relationships in the aging process. This secondary analysis study further explored the impact of the Holocaust in aging survivors and the views of some children of survivors on aging.     

Convergence between measures of work-to-family and family-to-work conflict: A meta-analytic examination

The overlap between measures of work-to-family (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC) was meta-analytically investigated. Researchers have assumed WFC and FWC to be distinct, however, this assumption requires empirical verification. Across 25 independent samples (total N = 9079) the sample size weighted mean observed correlation was .38 and the reliability corrected correlation was .48. The pattern of external correlates for the two types of conflict was also examined. Both forms of conflict had similar (.41) reliability corrected correlations with measures of organizational withdrawal. WFC conflict correlated .41 (k =  15, N = 4714) with job stressors and .17 (k = 13, N = 3312) with non-work stressors whereas FWC conflict correlated .27 with job stressors and .23 with non-work stressors. Correlations between the two forms of work/family conflict and other variables such as organizational commitment, job and life satisfaction, and health were examined. Implications for the discriminant validity of the two types of conflict measures are discussed.