Sikh millennials of the ‘kirtan generation’ in the making of an ‘American Sikhism’

ABSTRACT

This essay focuses on the millennial generation of Sikhs in the United States. Based on extended ethnographic research in Sikh communities, the author explores the role of Sikh millennials in the making of an ‘American Sikhism’, the contours of which are taking shape having followed after the explosive growth of gurdwara communities – and the educational, social, and other resources they provide – which were largely made possible by the affluence of Sikh communities beginning with the previous ‘Brain Drain’ generation. In particular, the author discusses this ‘kirtan generation’ of Sikhs, educated in gurdwara schools, and their growing leadership of Sikh communities.     

Connecting the dots from a distance: Does mentally traveling through space and time increase searching for life’s meaning?

As humans, we have the ability to travel beyond the present moment by considering past and future times as well as locations that are distant from oneself. An interesting possibility is that such mental travel to far-away times and places (vs. focusing on times and places closer to the present) may increase people’s desire to search for their lives’ meaning. Since searching for meaning involves the integration of separate life events into a coherent life story, mentally traveling farther away from the present may make people aware that their life stories include more than what is happening at this very minute. Such awareness, then, may increase their desire to ‘connect the dots’ between their life events by searching for some underlying meaning. Three experiments (N = 838) tested this prediction and found that greater (vs. lower) mental travel through space or time increased the search for life’s meaning.     

Trust in alternative and professional media: The case of the youth news audiences in three European countries

Abstract

This exploratory paper applying cross-cultural and developmental perspective analyses and discusses trust in alternative media and its relation to trust in professional media, seeking to identify the national specifics of media trust and its developmental patterns. Employing 2016 survey data of Czech, Estonian and Greek youth (aged 14–25, N = 3654) collected as part of the international CATCH-EyoU project (Horizon 2020), the study outlines the typology of media trust, comprising trust in alternative and professional media, and compares social and political predictors influencing media trust in the three countries. The study illustrates the diversity of relations between the two types of media trust, concluding that differences in selected predictors of media trust and the distribution of media trust types across national sub-samples illuminate the strong role national context plays, illustrating the varying pathways development of media trust follows in these varied contexts along socioeconomic and cultural lines.     

Are orthographic rules used by children with and without writing disabilities? / ¿Utilizan las reglas ortográficas los niños con y sin dificultades de aprendizaje en la escritura de palabras?

The aim of this study was to explore whether children with and without learning difficulties use orthographic rules to write words. To study this, two types of tasks from the Early Grade Writing Assessment (EGWA) test were used: (1) a dictation task which included pseudowords with an implicit orthographic rule; and (2) a dictation task which included words with arbitrary, unregulated orthography. An initial sample of 1,447 students from grades 1 to 3 of elementary school was selected. The results showed that the variables task type and grade were significant when explaining the differences found between the groups. These findings are discussed from the perspective of the orthographic representations self-teaching hypothesis as related to the orthographic depth hypothesis, associated with the orthographic transparency of Spanish.     

农村留守儿童焦虑情绪的异质性:基于潜在剖面分析

采用中学生心理健康诊断量表（MHT）对湖南省1292名留守儿童的焦虑情绪进行施测,并用潜在剖面分析方法探究留守儿童的焦虑情绪问题是否存在异质性,以及留守儿童相关的人口学因素对焦虑情绪异质性的作用机制。结果发现,留守儿童的焦虑情绪存在明显的异质性,可以分为三种潜在类别：“严重焦虑情绪型”、“中等程度焦虑情绪型”和“低焦虑情绪型”;留守男生、小学五年级、高中二年级、留守时间越长、留守初始年龄越小的留守儿童更容易焦虑情绪严重;无论是父亲外出、母亲外出还是双亲外出对留守儿童的焦虑情绪严重性的影响是一致的。由此,应根据留守儿童的性别、年级、留守时长和留守的初始年龄等情况特点,开展针对性的预防和干预措施,缓解留守儿童焦虑。     

青少年创伤后应激障碍和创伤后成长对亲社会行为的影响:生命意义的中介作用

采用创伤暴露程度问卷、创伤后应激障碍症状核查表、创伤后成长问卷、生命意义感量表和亲社会行为问卷,在汶川地震8.5年后对地震极重灾区的1182名中学生进行调查,考察创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和创伤后成长（PTG）对亲社会行为的影响,并检验存在意义感和寻求意义感在其中的中介作用。结果发现：PTSD可以直接负向预测亲社会行为,也可以通过降低存在意义感进而负向预测亲社会行为,还可以通过提高寻求意义感进而正向预测亲社会行为;PTG可以直接正向预测亲社会行为,也可以分别通过提高存在意义感和寻求意义感进而正向预测亲社会行为。     

“我的”最重要:儿童自我源判断能力的发展早于他人

自我参照范式是探索自我认知发展的重要范式,找到一个可靠方法获得一份稳定结果一直是儿童研究的重点和难点。研究以3岁至5岁儿童作为研究对象,通过所有权参照进行编码、图片再认和源判断进行检测。为了结果的稳定可靠,每位儿童需要参加4次测验。结果显示,图片再认上4岁、5岁儿童出现自我参照效应,源判断上3岁、4岁儿童出现自我参照效应。对源判断结果分析发现,自我参照成绩在各年龄组间保持不变、他人参照成绩随年龄增长逐渐提高,二者发展趋势的差异是5岁儿童源判断上没有自我参照效应的主要原因。以上结果说明,3~5岁儿童普遍存在自我参照效应,但测验方法会影响该效应的表现年龄;其次,自我源判断能力的发展早于他人,3~5岁之间他人源判断能力是在持续提高的;另外,4次测验间的比较证明,源判断测验较之再认具有更好的稳定性。     

Associations among Life Events,Empathic Concern,and Adolescents' Prosocial and Aggressive Behaviors Toward Specific Targets

The goal of the present study was to examine the links between life events and adolescents' social behaviors (prosocial and aggressive behaviors) toward specific targets and to examine how empathic concern may play a role in these associations. The study examined two hypotheses: both the mediating role of empathic concern and the moderating role of empathic concern. The sample included 311 high school students from the Midwest (M age = 16.10 years; age range = 14–19 years; 58.7% girls; 82.7% White, 13.6% Latino). The results demonstrated support for the moderation model as well as complex links between life events and prosocial and aggressive behaviors toward specific targets. The discussion focuses on the role of empathic concern in understanding how life events are ultimately associated with adolescents' social development.