Stigmatised Identity and Service Usage in Disadvantaged Communities: Residents', Community Workers' and Service Providers' Perspectives

The impact of community stigmatisation upon service usage has been largely overlooked from a social identity perspective. Specifically, the social identity‐mediated mechanisms by which stigmatisation hinders service use remain unspecified. The present study examines how service providers, community workers and residents recount their experience of the stigmatisation of local community identity and how this shapes residents' uptake of welfare, education and community support services. Twenty individual and group interviews with 10 residents, 16 community workers and six statutory service providers in economically disadvantaged communities in Limerick, Ireland, were thematically analysed. Analysis indicates that statutory service providers endorsed negative stereotypes of disadvantaged areas as separate and anti‐social. The awareness of this perceived division and the experience of ‘stigma consciousness’ was reported by residents and community workers to undermine trust, leading to under‐utilisation of community and government services. We argue that stigmatisation acts as a ‘social curse’ by undermining shared identity between service users and providers and so turning a potentially cooperative intragroup relationship into a fraught intergroup one. We suggest that tackling stigma in order to foster a sense of shared identity is important in creating positive and cooperative service interactions for both service users and providers. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An internet survey of emotional health,treatment seeking and barriers to accessing mental health treatment among Chinese-speaking international students in Australia

The present internet survey examined the demographic characteristics of Chinese-speaking international students in Australia, psychological distress levels as measured by the Kessler-10 (K-10) Item scale, help-seeking history and preferences, as well as treatment barriers. Of the 144 respondents, 54% reported high psychological distress (mean K-10 score?=?23.96; SD?=?9.03). However, only 9% of those who were highly distressed reported they had sought mental health services in the past year. While the majority preferred help from informal social networks, they tended to favour mental health services over traditional culture-specific forms of help. Common barriers to accessing mental health services reported by respondents with high psychological distress included costs or transportation concerns, limited knowledge of available services, time constraints, the perception that symptoms were not severe enough to warrant treatment, language difficulties and lack of knowledge of symptoms of psychological distress. Although the majority preferred face-to-face treatments over internet treatments, a considerable percentage of respondents were willing to try either treatment modality. Chinese-speaking international students are a high risk group for developing psychological distress, yet they tend to underuse mental health services. Education about the effectiveness of face-to-face and online treatments may increase treatment seeking by this population.     

反映还是形成？平行还是层级？PSM的模型建构与检验

在心理学领域,传统的多指标潜变量的测量模型大都采用反映性建构,各指标反映了潜在构念,构念是各指标的原因.但实际上有些构念应该采用形成性建构,各指标是原因,形成了潜在构念.建构方式的选择不仅要从理论来考虑,还要通过数据特征来决定.研究以公共服务动机（PSM）构念为例,通过公益投资游戏取得投资绩效和满意度效标,验证了先前研究提出的“一阶反映二阶形成”建构模式,并进一步检验了层级性建构方式的优势,有助于PSM理论框架与实证测量的统一.     

Challenges Marriage-Hunting People Face: Competition and Excessive Analysis1

In this paper, the reality of marriage hunting is examined through the narratives of marriage-hunting people. The results show that marriage hunting is based on the premise of a “competitive situation” and that people seeking a marriage partner require “analyzing” in order to win in this situation. However, the results indicate that marriage hunting becomes unsuccessful because, ironically, analyzing prevents people from behaving freely. Furthermore, the causes of their failure are attributed to them, thus giving rise to more analyzing. These findings suggest that the key to the future of marriage hunting is to free oneself from being governed by rules. The paper closes with a discussion of the importance of viewing marriage hunting as a relational effect.     

Do wild New Caledonian crows (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Corvus moneduloides</Emphasis>) attend to the functional properties of their tools?

New Caledonian crows are the most proficient non-hominin tool manufacturers but the cognition behind their remarkable skills remains largely unknown. Here we investigate if they attend to the functional properties of the tools that they routinely use in the wild. Pandanus tools have natural barbs along one edge that enable them to function as hooking implements when the barbs face backwards from the working tip. In experiment 1 we presented eight crows with either a non-functional (‘upside-down’) or a functional pandanus tool in a baited hole. Four of the crows never flipped the tools. The behaviour of the four flipping birds suggested that they had a strategy of flipping a tool when it was not working. Observations of two of the eight crows picking up pandanus tools at feeding tables in the wild supported the lack of attention to barb direction. In experiment 2 we gave six of the eight crows a choice of either a barbed or a barbless pandanus tool. Five of the crows chose tools at random, which further supported the findings in experiment 1 that the crows paid little or no attention to the barbs. In contrast, a third experiment found that seven out of eight crows flipped non-functional stick tools significantly more than functional ones. Our findings indicate that the crows do not consistently attend to the presence or orientation of barbs on pandanus tools. Successful pandanus tool use in the wild seems to rely on behavioural strategies formed through associative learning, including procedural knowledge about the sequence of operations required to make a successful pandanus tool. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Associations between violence,criminality, and cognitive control deficits among young men living in low resource communities in South Africa

Despite empirical support for “Self-control theory” in criminology, there is controversy about how self-control should be operationalized. Working within the framework of “self-control theory,” we investigated if violence and criminal behaviors are associated with nine distinct dimensions of cognitive control in a community sample of young men (n = 654) living in peri-urban townships in South Africa. Cognitive control was assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Multivariate statistical analysis was used, to identify associations between violence and criminality, and deaggregated measures of nine distinct components of cognitive control. Fifteen percent of the sample reported recent violence, 27% had been in physical fights with family/friends in the preceding 6 months, 10% reported being arrested, 4% reported forced sexual contact, and 26% reported intimate partner violence (IPV). Controlling for substance use and sociodemographic variables, contact with the criminal justice system and violence were associated with deficits in all domains of cognitive control. Forced sexual contact was associated with behavioral dysregulation. IPV was associated with behavior dysregulation and executive control dysfunction. Future studies might utilize deaggregated measures of self-control to provide further insight into links between particular components of cognitive control and various forms of offending and violence.     

Traction-energy balancing adaptive control with slip optimization for wheeled robots on rough terrain

On rough terrain, excessive wheel slippage is easily generated by changes of surface conditions such as soil types and geometries. It induces considerable loss of wheel traction and battery energy. To prevent this, wheeled robots should consistently recognize the current situation generated between wheel and surface. And also wheeled robots are required to optimally control wheel motion in limited wheel traction and battery capacity. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel wheel control algorithm based on slip optimization of traction and energy, which is adaptive to change of surface condition. Proposed wheel control algorithm is called Traction-Energy Balancing Adaptive Control (TEB) in this paper and TEB assigns optimized rotation speed to each wheel by observing wheel slip ratio which is a key parameter of TEB. As functions of TEB, TEB is largely divided into three main parts; (1) slip optimizer (2) slip controller (3) SC-compensator. In the slip optimizer, two optimal slip models were derived as a function of slip ratios regarding maximum traction and tractive efficiency using experimental data about wheel-terrain interaction in three types of soil (grass, gravel and sand). And the optimal slip models were employed in order to determine a desired slip value of wheel with observation of a change in actual robot velocity as control input in the slip controller. For optimal slip control, the proposed slip controller is based on conventional PID controller with compensating disturbance in the controller (SC-compensator) which occurs by change of surface shapes. In the SC-compensator, radial function networks (RBFN) was applied in the slip controller and RBFN was of help to readjust previously set PID gains depending on occurred slip error. Finally, TEB was experimentally verified by controlling a real robot having four wheels on various terrain types.     

Concurrent tobacco use and risky drinking in South Africa: Results from the South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

The aim of this study was to examine socio-demographic and psychosocial correlates of concurrent tobacco use and risky drinking. We analysed data from the cross-sectional South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (SANHANES-1) 2011–2012. The sample included 14 764 adolescents and adults aged 15 years and older. They responded to questions on tobacco and alcohol use, psychosocial, and socio-demographic indicators. Results indicate that 9.6% (16.8% among men and 3.5% among women) of South Africans were involved in concurrent tobacco use and risky drinking, 18.2% in current tobacco use only, and 20.3% in risky drinking only. In covariate adjusted analysis, being 25 to 64 years, being male, belonging to the coloured population group, residing in urban areas, having experienced three or more traumatic events, and poor self-rated health were associated with concurrent tobacco use and risky drinking. Findings suggest socio-demographic and health factors are important for public health interventions in addressing concurrent tobacco and alcohol use in South Africa.