Relationships between early behavioural characteristics and temperament at 6 years

The aim of this study was to analyze the extent to which the relations and the stability of the neonatal behaviour and the infant behaviour at both 4 and 12 months could be used to predict the infant temperament at 6 years. Seventy-two full-term, normal-weight, healthy children were followed from 3 days postpartum to 6 years. Neonatal behaviour at 3 and 30 days was assessed using the Neonatal Behaviour Assessment Scale (NBAS), behaviour at 4 and 12 months was assessed using the Infant Behaviour Record (IBR) from the Bayley Scales for Infant Development (BSID) and temperament at 6 years was assessed using the Dimensions of Temperament Survey-Revised (DOTS-R). Negative and positive affectivity and attention were the factors extracted from the behaviours of the IBR. Our results showed a low/moderate correlation between neonatal behaviour on the one hand and behaviour at 4 and 12 months and temperament at 6 years on the other hand. The motor performance, orientation and ANS stability of the neonate at 3 and 30 days were predictors of positive and negative affectivity at 4 months. State regulation and ANS stability at 3 days were predictors of negative affectivity and attention respectively at 12 months. Negative affectivity at 12 months and endurance at 30 days were predictors of general activity and persistence/attention at 6 years. Also, an inverse relation was found between state regulation at 30 days and general activity at 6 years, and a positive relation was found between attention at 4 months and persistence/attention at 6 years. We conclude that neonatal behaviour and behaviour in the first year of life are good predictors of temperament at 6 years and that early negative affectivity has an important role on infant temperament development.     

Association between vigor and exhaustion during the workweek: a person-centered approach to daily assessments

The purpose of this quantitative diary study was to investigate daily vigor and exhaustion using a person-centered approach. The study also investigated whether and how experiences of vigor and exhaustion relate to a state of being recovered. A total of 256 Finnish employees filled in a diary questionnaire during five consecutive workdays. Vigor and exhaustion showed strong negative interdependence within and between days. However, by applying a person-centered analysis, we were able to differentiate three groups with meaningful variation in vigor and exhaustion. The groups were labeled as Constantly vigorous (n = 179), Concurrently vigorous and exhausted (n = 30) and Constantly exhausted (n = 43). The vigor-exhaustion groups were also characterized by their recovery experiences: The Constantly vigorous employees recovered well from work strain during the workweek whereas the Constantly exhausted group recovered poorly. Overall, while the results indicate that, typically, vigor and exhaustion are exclusive experiences, it is also possible for them to be experienced simultaneously from day to day at the moderate levels. Thus, positive and negative experiences may co-occur.     

Executive process training in young and old adults

There is a growing body of research on the modifiability of executive functions in different stages of life. Previous studies demonstrate robust training effects but limited transfer in younger and particularly in older adults. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a theoretically derived intervention for executive functioning, addressing several basic processes (updating, shifting, and inhibition), can induce transfer effects in early and late adulthood. Fifty-nine healthy adults, 29 young and 30 older adults, were randomly assigned to either training or no-contact control groups. The training groups received 15 sessions of executive process training for about 45 min/session during 5 weeks. A test battery including a criterion task and near, intermediate, and far transfer tasks was administered before and after training. Results showed pronounced age-equivalent gains on the criterion task. Near transfer was seen to non-trained updating and inhibition tasks for the young and older trained participants. However, only the young adults showed intermediate transfer to two complex working memory tasks. No far transfer effects were seen for either age group. These findings provide additional evidence for age-related constraints in the ability to generalize acquired executive skills, and specifically show that training of multiple executive processes is not sufficient to foster transfer beyond the very near in older adults.     

Meaning-making and resilience: case studies of a multifaceted process

Explanations of meaning-making generally prioritise intrapersonal processes. Although making meaning is an intrapersonal process, it is also strongly influenced by person-context interactions and cultural positioning. Nevertheless, the meaning-making literature has paid scant attention to how such interactivity and positioning shape meaning-making. In this article, we highlight the compound character of resilience-promoting meaning-making. To this end, we recount the instrumental cases of Ntando's and Sipho's resilience. The accounts of these black South African students’ positive adjustment to adversity richly illustrate how their lived experiences of a social ecology stimulated multifaceted meaning-making processes. In particular, Ntando's and Sipho's interpersonal experiences and Africentric worldviews gave rise to and/or moderated positive re-appraisal, revisioned goals, purposeful direction, application of spiritual beliefs, identification of benefits, sense-making and reflective problem-solving. Although both their stories drive an understanding of meaning-making as a helix-like process with inter-, intrapersonal and cultural strands, the differences in their accounts of meaning-making stimulate the need for deeper exploration into the complexity of resilience-promoting meaning-making processes.     

Comparing elite male and female distance runner's experiences of disordered eating through narrative analysis

ObjectivesResearchers have called for additional forms of theorizing and qualitative methodologies to explore disordered eating in athletes. The current study used social constructionism and narrative analysis to compare and contrast the disordered eating experiences of one male and female athlete.DesignNarrative inquiry was combined with an in-depth case study approach to explore the narrative and gendered construction of disordered eating in one elite male (age 19) and female (age 34) distance runner. The personal and cultural narratives drawn upon to construct meanings around the body, food and running and how these framed experiences were of interest.MethodsA structural and performative narrative analysis was conducted on four in-depth interviews (i.e., both runners participated in two separate interviews).ResultsBoth runners drew upon a performance narrative to construct running experiences and self-identities as elite athletes. When elite athletic identity became threatened by moments of perceived failure (e.g., poor performance, injury), disordered eating thoughts and behaviors emerged for both runners. Gendered narratives around the body, food and running further differentiated specific meanings and the emotional impact of these experiences for each male and female athlete.ConclusionsThis study extends quantitative and qualitative explorations of disordered eating in distance runners by highlighting additional understandings of the complex social, cultural and gendered construction of these experiences.     

The democratic therapeutic and training communities of the Open Psychotherapy Centre: A multifactorial communal approach

This paper describes the structure, function and effectiveness of a multifactorial communal approach which is applied in the therapy department and the four training institutes of the Open Psychotherapy Centre in Athens. The therapeutic philosophy of this approach is based on the principles of group analysis, therapeutic community and emprosopon psychotherapy which are applied in combination with each other.     

应对校园欺凌:社会情绪能力的干预研究

校园欺凌现象在全球范围普遍存在,为有效解决校园欺凌问题,研究一采用《特拉华校园受欺凌量表》、《简易应对方式量表》以及《社会情绪健康量表》对416名5～6年级小学生进行了调查,结果发现,小学生消极应对方式可以显著预测校园受欺凌,社会情绪能力在消极应对方式与校园受欺凌中起调节作用。此基础上,研究二开展基于社会情绪能力的校园受欺凌团体辅导干预研究。结果表明,社会情绪能力的提升可以显著降低校园受欺凌水平。     

有时间压力下学习率对学习时间分配议程的影响:来自眼动的证据

利用眼动分析技术,通过设置不同难度和分值的计算项目,探讨了在有时间压力下学习者的学习时间分配。结果发现:(1)在首次项目选择上,学习者优先选择学习率最高的项目;(2)在学习过程中,学习者的项目选择次序也是根据学习率由高到低。总之,在学习时间分配上,如果需要权衡难度与分值,学习者会考虑单位时间的获益,也就是以学习率为议程的主要依据。研究不仅利用眼动分析技术证实了基于议程的学习时间分配模型,而且进一步揭示了学习率是设置学习时间分配议程的重要依据。     

小学低年级汉语儿童语素意识、汉字识别和词汇知识的发展关系——交叉滞后研究

以146名小学一年级儿童为研究对象, 进行了历时2年的3次追踪测试, 考察小学生从一到三年级的语素意识、汉字识别和词汇知识之间发展关系的变化。在控制了语音意识、快速命名、正字法意识、一般认知能力和自回归效应后, 结果发现：(1)一年级时的汉字识别显著预测二年级的同音语素意识和同形语素意识; (2)一年级时的词汇知识显著预测二年级的复合语素意识和汉字识别; (3)二年级时的汉字识别和词汇知识对三年级的同音语素意识、同形语素意识和复合语素意识均有显著预测作用; (4)二年级时的同形语素意识对三年级的词汇知识具有显著预测作用。结果表明, 小学一至三年级的汉字识别和词汇知识对语素意识具有预测作用; 三种语素意识对汉字识别和词汇知识的预测作用中, 只有同形语素意识能够显著预测词汇知识; 三种语素意识、汉字识别和词汇知识的发展关系存在变化且具有阶段性特点。