Links between Family Social Status and Preschoolers' Persistence: The Role of Maternal Values and Quality of Parenting

Children who develop persistence in the preschool years are likely to function more effectively during the transition into school. In this study of 231 3‐year‐old children and their mothers, we examined the relations among family social status, maternal values of self‐direction, quality of parenting, and children's persistence in challenging tasks. Results of structural equation modelling path analysis indicated that family social status was related to maternal values of self‐direction, which in turn were associated with the quality of maternal cognitive stimulation and emotional support and child persistence at preschool age. Family social status and maternal values were indirectly related to child persistence through emotional support. Focusing on parental values of self‐direction and provision of support during challenging tasks may help to reduce the gap in school success between children from lower and higher social status families. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

儿童忽视与同伴接受：消极社会行为的中介作用

运用问卷调查法和同伴提名法,考察小学4、5年级共503名儿童的消极社会行为（攻击行为、退缩行为、受欺负行为）、同伴接受和儿童忽视间的关系。结果发现,儿童忽视与退缩行为、受欺负行为之间存在显著正相关,与攻击行为之间相关不显著;儿童忽视与同伴接受有显著负相关。忽视通过消极社会行为的两组中介变量作用于儿童的同伴接受。     

From “disciplined subjectivity” to “taming wild thoughts”: Bion's elaboration of the analysing instrument

Abstract

Freud encouraged the analyst to use his unconscious “as an instrument of the analysis,” but did not elaborate on how this should be done. This recommendation opened the door to a consideration of unconscious communication between the analyst and patient as an intersubjective exchange. Both Wilfred Bion and Erik Erikson emphasised the importance of the analyst's intuition, and the author compares and contrasts these two approaches. Erikson advocated a more cautious attitude regarding the analyst's subjectivity, while Bion promoted a broader application of the analyst's various private reactions to the analysand. A brief vignette from the analysis of a five-year-old boy is offered to illustrate the importance of the analyst's reveries, the mutual process of containment and transformation between analyst and patient, and the co-creation of an analytic narrative.     

Parenthood and parental functions as a result of the experience of parallel psychotherapy with children and parents

The concept of parenthood as defined in classical theory and later theorizations is discussed. Parenthood is defined as a transformative process, activated by the idea of having a child and by interaction with the child, through which a constellation of affective and psychic capacities is developed, promoting growth and psychic change and evolving over time. Parental functions, rather than being learnable skills, are considered as mind functions linked to character traits that cannot be split from the personality as a whole and are, as such, susceptible to improvement through psychotherapeutic work. The author illustrates this with a model of psychotherapies and parallel analyses of parents and children tested and elaborated in public and private practice, showing its therapeutic and cognitive advantages. The central thesis of the paper is that whatever the approach and working method with the parents, the therapeutic space offered encourages certain processes that are vital for the structuring of the self and the psychic growth of the child: creation of a space for the representation and emotional investment of the child; improvement in the parental functions; and identification with the therapist as a new or reactivated developmental object. Two clinical cases illustrate the parallel evolution of therapeutic relationships and of the parent‐child relationship.     

The Need for Speed: Agility Selling

In turbulent business times, organizations have sought to become more agile. Organizational agility has been asserted to require workforce agility, but thus far, little focus has been given to workers. Traditionally, salespeople have sought ways to differentiate themselves and create advantage for customers. This paper asserts that, in order to continue this tradition of differentiation and advantage, salespeople must engage in agility thinking. Agility has been studied as it applies to manufacturing processes and other firm activities. Agile salespeople have a mental dexterity at the point of customer contact. They are quick to observe opportunities and are able to anticipate customers’ ever-changing needs, wants, and preferences. This paper presents a framework for agility selling, applying concepts from the agility manufacturing literature and proffering distinct characteristics of sales force agility.     

Parental employment status and adolescents’ health: The role of financial situation,parent-adolescent relationship and adolescents’ resilience

The paper deals with parental employment status and its relationship to adolescents’ self-reported health. It studies the role of the financial situation, parent–adolescent relationship and adolescent resilience in the relationship between parental employment status and adolescents’ self-rated health, vitality and mental health. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyse questionnaire data obtained from 2799 adolescents (mean age 14.3) in 2006. The results show a negative association of the father’s, but not mother’s unemployment or non-employment with adolescents’ health. Regression analyses showed that neither financial strain nor a poor parent–adolescent relationship or a low score in resilience accounted for the relationship between the father’s unemployment or non-employment and poorer adolescent health. Furthermore, resilience did not work as a buffer against the negative impact of fathers’ unemployment on adolescents’ health.     

Question–behaviour effect: A randomised controlled trial of asking intention in the interrogative or declarative form

Objective: This study investigated the question–behaviour effect of measuring intention in the interrogative or declarative form combined or not with a measure of moral norm.

Design: A sample of 762 participants was randomised according to a 2?×?2 factorial design.

Main outcome measures: Cognitions were assessed at the baseline, and physical activity behaviour was self-reported three weeks later. Results: At baseline, there were no significant differences on the studied variables. An ANOVA showed a significant interaction effect between the two experimental conditions (p?=?0.04). Post-hoc contrast analyses showed that the interrogative intention-only condition significantly differed from the declarative intention-only (d?=?0.21, p?=?0.03) and interrogative intention?+?moral norm (d?=?0.22, p?=?0.03) conditions.

Conclusion: Results suggest that self-posed questions about a future action increases the likelihood of doing it when these questions are not accompanied by measures of moral norm. This provides support for using introspective self-talk to favour the adoption of behaviour.     

A Preliminary Study of DSM–5 PTSD Symptom Patterns in Veterans by Trauma Type

The all-volunteer status of the military, combined with an increasing desire to employ individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform highly sophisticated tasks, has intensified competition between military and private sector organizations attempting to attract and retain qualified personnel. In an effort to remain competitive with employers in the private sector labor market, U.S. military organizations have directed their attention to various personnel support programs aimed at meeting the needs of servicemembers and contributing to their overall quality of life. More specifically, these military services have focused on the development and validation of conceptual models that link quality of life to desired military outcomes, including personnel retention, readiness, and performance. This study extended recent quality of life research efforts by determining the applicability of a model developed and validated for Navy personnel to another branch of the military, the U.S. Marine Corps. Structural equation modeling results suggested that the Navy model provided an adequate fit to the Marine Corps data for each of the subgroups considered. Results and implications are discussed.     

A Systematic Review of the Biopsychosocial–Spiritual Health of Active Duty Women

Women make up approximately 15% of today’s active duty (AD) military. Not only are more women volunteering for military service now than ever before in America’s history, but due to recent policy changes, they are also allowed to apply for more jobs. Therefore, since the number of women in the military is continuing to rise and there are more job opportunities for women in the military, it is important to understand the unique health effects they experience that differ from civilian women and AD males. Although there is current literature on the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual health of veteran women, few researchers have explored the biopsychosocial–spiritual effects of military service on AD women. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review was to explore the existing research on the biopsychosocial–spiritual health factors associated with military service in AD women. The results of this study indicated that there is more data on the biological health compared to the psychological and social health of AD women. There is even less research demonstrating the interconnectedness among biological, psychological, social, and spiritual health with AD women. Future research recommendations and policy implications are provided.