The longitudinal association between internalizing symptoms and academic achievement among immigrant and non‐immigrant children in Norway

The aim of this study was to explore the longitudinal relation between internalizing symptoms and academic achievement, as two processes of children and youth development, among children in Norway, and whether having an immigrant background moderated this association. Data collected from 4,458 students in Norway in four waves over three years were analyzed with multi‐group latent growth curve modeling (LGM ). Results showed that internalizing symptoms level remained unchanged over time both for immigrant and non‐immigrant children, while levels of academic achievement increased only for children of immigrants with both parents born outside of Norway. Further analyses supported a reciprocal relation between internalizing symptoms and academic achievement and revealed that the initial level of academic achievement predicted the rate of change in internalizing symptoms over time, but not vice versa. Moreover, immigrant background did not moderate the associations in the model, however, children of immigrants with both parents born abroad initially had lower levels of academic achievement, but showed an increase in academic achievement, compared to their non‐immigrant peers as well as to peers with one native‐born parent after controlling for gender and their grade at the first observation. The implications for policy and practice were discussed.     

Writing,Reading, and Listening Differentially Overload Working Memory Performance Across the Serial Position Curve

Previous research has assumed that writing is a cognitively complex task, but has not determined if writing overloads Working Memory more than reading and listening. To investigate this, participants completed three recall tasks. These were reading lists of words before recalling them, hearing lists of words before recalling them, and hearing lists of words and writing them as they heard them, then recalling them. The experiment involved serial recall of lists of 6 words. The hypothesis that fewer words would be recalled overall when writing was supported. Post-hoc analysis revealed the same pattern of results at individual serial positions (1 to 3). However, there was no difference between the three conditions at serial position 4, or between listening and writing at positions 5 and 6 which were both greater than recall in the reading condition. This suggests writing overloads working memory more than reading and listening, particularly in the early serial positions. The results show that writing interferes with working memory processes and so is not recommended when the goal is to immediately recall information.     

核心人际图式改变、人格改变与症状缓解的关系:个案研究

本研究旨在通过一例抑郁症病例的52次心理治疗和效果评估说明核心人际图式改变、人格改变与症状缓解的关系。核心人际图式采用自编我的感受问卷测量,人格改变采用SWAP-200测量,症状采用OQ45.2测量。结果:核心人际图式的变化伴随着临床上可观察的人格改变、症状缓解及当事人总体功能和心理健康水平的提高。症状缓解主要体现为主观困扰的降低,但在社会功能和人际关系质量上改变不明显。结论:核心人际图式、人格障碍轮廓和症状缓解具有共变关系。     

Too Much of a Good Thing? Emotional Intelligence and Interpersonal Conflict Behaviors

Research suggests that the outcomes of interpersonal conflict are determined not only by the conflict itself, but also by the way in which it is handled. Confrontational and domineering tactics have been found to magnify the adverse impact of conflict. Thus, investigations of determinants of aggressive conflict management behaviors are of considerable interest. This study extends the literature by examining the relationship between conflict management preferences and conflict management behaviors and by examining how emotional intelligence (EI) shapes this preference-behavior relationship. Individuals’ conflict management preferences predicted actual conflict management behaviors. EI was found to moderate this relationship. However, some of these moderating effects run contrary to the popular view of EI as a prosocial concept. Specifically, some EI facets were found to strengthen the link between aggressive conflict management preferences and subsequent conflict management behaviors.     

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? The interweaving of values and science

The role of values in the scientific process is widely debated. But evidence and values cannot be neatly separated. Instead, values infuse the entire scientific process, starting with the choice of research questions. Research avenues are selected based on prior beliefs about the workings of the world. In fact, informally assigned prior probabilities and normalizing constants play an essential role in distinguishing causes from correlations and ignoring irrelevant associations that would otherwise be suggested by raw data. But since these initial probabilities often have a heterogeneous pedigree – often not all that went into their formation is known or knowable – it becomes difficult to cleanly separate evidence from values. At the same time, this reality does not undermine science’s unique status in generating knowledge. This is because it is not the evidence per se generated by science, but rather the method by which science generates it, that justifies science’s privileged role.     

Patterns of psychotherapy development: A mixed-method analysis using assimilation indices

Understanding how assimilation develops is essential in promoting personal change. By attending to signs or indices of assimilation in the speech of clients, therapists can use this process to assess how the therapy is developing and to tailor intervention. The system of assimilation indices was developed to use assimilation to understand the process of change. This system signals five sub-processes of assimilation: external distress, pain, noticing, decentring, and action. This study consisted of a longitudinal mixed-method analysis, following a multiple cases embedded design. The system of assimilation indices was applied to the recordings of nine psychotherapies and contrasted with both the outcome of the therapy and the perspectives of the therapists and clients about their therapy process. The results show that the system of indices is useful in understanding multiple pathways for assimilation. The system of indices is seen as a useful tool for understanding assimilation and as having clinical value in anticipating challenges to the success of the therapy. This study also shows how the indices are sensitive to the nuances in the change process observed in clinical settings.     

The Community Story,Relationality and Process: Bridging Tools for Researching Local Knowledge in a Peri‐urban Township

In intervening in social challenges impacting local communities, Western forms of dispute/conflict resolution have been critiqued for imparting norms, values and practices that marginalise worldviews of indigenous people. From a decolonizing stance, indigenous scholars have emphasised the need for recovery of ‘lost’ values, beliefs and practices to advance indigenous knowledge. We highlight some of the conceptual challenges associated with applying ‘indigenous knowledge’ and culture‐specific ‘indigenous methodologies’ to a marginalised peri‐urban, ethnically plural township community situated on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. In embracing the mutuality of indigenous and Western knowledge forms, we explore three elements: the community story, relationality and process in relation to initial engagements with our study community. We attempt to transcend the dualism between ‘Western’ epistemologies and ‘indigenous knowledge’ through these ‘bridging concepts’. What is offered is not a formula or model but an orientation that aims to foster mutual learning through collaborative partnerships within and between communities and researchers with a view to inspiring possibilities for creative and meaningful solutions for violence prevention and dispute/conflict resolution. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.