Drawing to reconstruct: Pilot study on acknowledging prisoners' internal and external resources in a penitentiary institution

Since the first offender rehabilitation treatments, all theoretical approaches have been focusing on reducing risk factors that may influence recidivism, without satisfactory results. Recent resilience research has instead shown the important mediating or moderating role of protective factors and provided the theoretical principles for the Good Lives Model Comprehensive. This holistic model suggests the importance of integrating the reduction of risk factors with the reinforcement of protective factors in offenders' treatment programs. This combined action is considered the main condition through which offenders are motivated to change their life and develop a sense of agency on their current life conditions. This article presents a pilot study, aimed at analyzing the feasibility of a psychosocial intervention, based on graphic workshops. The purpose of the intervention is helping prisoners strive toward adaptation in jail, and facilitating the redesign of their life beyond bars. Drawing activities allowed prisoners to enhance their own internal and external resources, and recognize risk and protective factors that could influence their successful reintegration into society. The main limit of this study is directly linked to the setting of the penitentiary institution where the study was conducted, which is characterized by a high prisoners' turn over.     

重点中学与普通中学学生非智力因素的比较研究

本研究分别对重点中学与普通中学初一、初三年级学生的非智力因素状况进行调查,结果表明初一年级学生的非智力因素水平在两类学校之间不存在差异,而初三年级学生的非智力因素水平在两类学校之间存在着显著性差异（Ｐ＜０．０５）。随着年龄的增长,重点中学与普通中学学生的非智力因素水平都有所发展,但重点中学的学生发展得更好。本研究表明学校的教育环境影响着学生非智力因素的发展。     

Human factors of transitions in automated driving: A general framework and literature survey

The topic of transitions in automated driving is becoming important now that cars are automated to ever greater extents. This paper proposes a theoretical framework to support and align human factors research on transitions in automated driving. Driving states are defined based on the allocation of primary driving tasks (i.e., lateral control, longitudinal control, and monitoring) between the driver and the automation. A transition in automated driving is defined as the process during which the human-automation system changes from one driving state to another, with transitions of monitoring activity and transitions of control being among the possibilities. Based on ‘Is the transition required?’, ‘Who initiates the transition?’, and ‘Who is in control after the transition?’, we define six types of control transitions between the driver and automation: (1) Optional Driver-Initiated Driver-in-Control, (2) Mandatory Driver-Initiated Driver-in-Control, (3) Optional Driver-Initiated Automation-in-Control, (4) Mandatory Driver-Initiated Automation-in-Control, (5) Automation-Initiated Driver-in-Control, and (6) Automation-Initiated Automation-in-Control. Use cases per transition type are introduced. Finally, we interpret previous experimental studies on transitions using our framework and identify areas for future research. We conclude that our framework of driving states and transitions is an important complement to the levels of automation proposed by transportation agencies, because it describes what the driver and automation are doing, rather than should be doing, at a moment of time.     

Psychometric properties of a measure of psychological factors among francophone adolescent learners in a South African setting

This study reported on the psychometric properties of a prospective measure of psychological wellbeing among immigrant francophone adolescent learners in high schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. The sample size comprised 170 participants (females = 51%; age range 14 to 20 years). Scores from the measure were analysed for internal consistency and factorial structure. The evidence suggests scores from the measure to be reliable for measuring emotional regulation, aggressiveness, empathy, and sympathy among the immigrant francophone adolescent learners.     

Profiles of Resilience and Psychosocial Outcomes among Young Black Gay and Bisexual Men

Young Black gay/bisexual men (YBGBM) are affected by contextual stressors—namely syndemic conditions and minority stress—that threaten their health and well‐being. Resilience is a process through which YBGBM achieve positive psychosocial outcomes in the face of adverse conditions. Self‐efficacy, hardiness and adaptive coping, and social support may be important resilience factors for YBGBM. This study explores different profiles of these resilience factors in 228 YBGBM in New York City and compares profiles on psychological distress, mental health, and other psychosocial factors. Four profiles of resilience were identified: (a) Low self‐efficacy and hardiness/adaptive coping (23.5%); (b) Low peer and parental support (21.2%); (c) High peer support, low father support (34.5%); and (d) High father and mother support, self‐efficacy, and hardiness/adaptive coping (20.8%). YBGBM in profile 1 scored markedly higher on distress (d = .74) and lower on mental health functioning (d = .93) compared to men in the other profiles. Results suggest that self‐efficacy and hardiness/adaptive coping may play a more important role in protecting YBGBM from risks compared to social support and should be targeted in interventions. The findings show that resilience is a multidimensional construct and support the notion that there are different patterns of resilience among YBGBM.     

Parental practices of Italian mothers and fathers during early infancy: The role of knowledge about parenting and child development

Our contribution aims to verify whether parental knowledge about child development and parenting constitutes a protective factor in the application of dysfunctional educational practices. Numerous studies have found that parental knowledge has a great influence on parenting, however it remains unclear whether both are casually linked in a direct and linear way. Data currently available on parental knowledge almost exclusively refers to mothers and subjects at risk. Furthermore, there are almost no studies which take into consideration subjects who are Italian citizens.In contrast our work takes into consideration a normative sample of 157 Italian couples who are the parents of children aged between 16 and 36 months and who completed the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (KIDI; MacPhee, 1981) and the Parenting Scale (Arnold, O’Leary, Wolff, & Acker, 1993). The results highlight differences between mothers and fathers, both in terms of knowledge levels (higher for mothers) and educational practices (maternal practices are more frequently dysfunctional); knowledge influences educational practices above all in the case of fathers, although said effect is slight, which supports the idea that interaction between knowledge and parental practices is not linear but rather mediated by other factors.     

青少年抑郁情绪的发展轨迹:界定亚群组及其影响因素

本研究意在分性别考察中国青少年抑郁情绪的发展轨迹及其影响因素。785名男生和859名女生参加了3轮追踪研究,初始测量阶段的年龄跨度为10~16岁,平均年龄分别为12.99±1.84和12.96±1.87岁。采用流调中心抑郁量表(CES-D)简版测量青少年的抑郁情绪。模型拟合的结果显示男女生的抑郁情绪在10~19岁时段皆呈线性增长趋势,其中男生分为两个亚群组,人际关系解释了部分变异;女生分为4个亚群组,学业压力和人际关系均解释了部分变异。     

Mind the Gaps: Are Conclusions About Mindfulness Entirely Conclusive?

Mindfulness has emerged as an important construct in the mental health field. Although evidence suggests benefits, it also appears that excitement over the clinical applications of mindfulness has largely suspended concentrated efforts to clarify fundamental elements of the construct. This article explores conceptual confusion and contrasts primary mindfulness‐based techniques before investigating attrition factors, adverse effects of mindfulness practices, and populations contraindicated for mindfulness‐based techniques. Implications for practice are provided.     

Still Doing Fine? The Interplay of Negative Life Events and Self‐Esteem During Young Adulthood

This longitudinal study investigated the bidirectional relationship between negative life events and self‐esteem during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood (N = 2272). Drawing on theories of human development over the lifespan and just‐world theory, we analyzed age‐graded changes in self‐esteem and their interplay with negative life events at three measurement points over a 12‐year period. We addressed both the short‐term and the longer term effects of single as well as multiple negative life events on changes in self‐esteem (socialization effects). We further investigated whether the pre‐event level of self‐esteem affected the likelihood of negative life events occurring (selection effects) and, finally, whether it had protective effects in terms of helping people adjust to negative events. Latent change models yielded four main findings: (i) self‐esteem increased during young adulthood; (ii) socialization effects were observed over shorter and longer timespans, but (iii) selection effects were only found for multiple negative life events, with low self‐esteem predicting a high number of negative life events; (iv) high pre‐event self‐esteem acted as a protective factor, attenuating declines in self‐esteem after experience of multiple negative life events. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology