Challenges of Urban Mental Health Disaster Planning

Summary

Establishing disaster preparedness is an urgent matter, particularly with regard to mental health. This article examines the challenges of mental health disaster planning in the context of an urban setting, which may differ from those pertaining to rural areas. The need to better integrate public health disaster planning and mental health disaster planning is critical. This document particularly focuses on the challenges involved in leading, coordinating, and convening an urban mental health disaster response. With time, dedication, resources, and creation of effective policy, successful mental health response capability will evolve and endure.     

Authors on the Outskirts: Writing Projects and (Sub)urban Space in Contemporary French Literature

This article analyzes the relationship between contemporary literature and the current development of the city in the French context. It first outlines the main aspects of the crisis of the city, or “la question urbaine,” and focuses then on specific responses by four writers, François Maspéro, Jean Rolin, Georges Perec, and Jacques Jouet, to the challenge the city poses for literary representation. Given that these responses pertain both to the techniques of literary representation and to cultural interpretations of space, the analysis is carried out at the level of both literary semiotics and cultural semiotics. In the end, the article relates the authors and texts discussed to works in other fields of arts, pointing out lines for future investigations.     

Developmental, Gender, and Health-Related Variations in Self-Competence and Depressed Mood Among School-Aged Urban Children with Asthma: A Pilot Study

This pilot study examined associations among asthma status, gender, self-competence, and depressed mood across 2 years of middle childhood in a sample of 57 urban children. Results revealed no differences across health status in self-competence and depressed mood. Girls showed a significant increase in levels of self-competence from Year -1 to 2. Higher levels of self-competence were associated with lower levels of depressed mood at Year 1, at Year 2, and from Year 1 to 2. Self-competence accounted for a larger amount of the variance in depressed mood for girls than for boys. Changes in levels of self-competence were significantly associated with changes in depressed mood for girls only. Results suggest meaningful gender-based differences in the socioemotional trajectories of school-aged children, which should be considered when designing preventative interventions in urban environments.     

The Mental Health Needs of Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities Placed in Special Education Programs in Urban Schools

We describe the psychosocial characteristics of youth with an average age of 11.8 years served in special education due to emotional disturbances in urban communities (N = 158). Data were also collected describing service utilization, academic functioning, and family characteristics. Ten schools in three mid-size urban cities participated. Results from the administration of standardized assessments revealed that the majority of students scored in the clinical range on the parent version of the Child Behavior Checklist and the Columbia Impairment Scale, indicating significant levels of emotional and behavioral impairment. Further, behavior problems began at an early age with 80% of the youth using outpatient services beginning at the average age of 7.5 years and 29% of the youth using inpatient services beginning at an average age of 8.4 years of age. Most of the youths' school careers (67%) have been in a special education setting. The most common services currently being supplied by school personnel was individual counseling and this was provided for 63% of the students while child-serving agency personnel were providing individual counseling for 17% of the youth. Implications for the development of multi-agency collaborative services are presented.     

No Ordinary Life: Complex Narratives of Trauma and Resilience in Under-Resourced Communities

This investigation examines the occurrence and impact of chronic adversity for young adults who grew up amidst poverty and community violence. Young adults in such contexts, particularly those who have been involved with the courts, are not commonly conceptualized through the developmental lens of complex trauma but rather described by maladaptive behaviors and risk to society. This grounded theory analysis explored how participants perceive and make meaning of their experiences. Interview data revealed consistent narratives of childhood neglect and psychological maltreatment, chronic loss, intergenerational trauma exposure, and the resulting survival-based adaptation. We identified 3 primary themes across the participant narratives: (a) lack of need fulfillment; paradoxical experience of self, others, and the world; and persistent sense of purpose and meaning. Findings illuminated the complexity of ongoing struggle, adaptation, and resilience in adult survivors. The need for an increased focus in trauma-informed treatment of adults in underresourced communities is discussed.     

中国城乡跨文化心理学刍议

城乡跨文化心理学的母体是跨文化心理学,它旨在探讨城乡两种亚文化背景中的社会结构、思想观念、生活准则、价值体系、行为方式、民俗习惯、神话传说、宗教信仰以及语言特点等方面的共同文化心理特质和文化心态差异,中国的城乡跨文化心理学着重揭示城乡两种文化背景下个体或群体社会心理的基本差别,并因此为心理学提供研究原则和方法方面的启示,进而为乡村城市化过程中各种问题的解决查明心理学上的依据。     

全国高考英语试题的城乡项目功能差异分析

本研究主要目的是针对高考英语成绩存在的城乡差异,检验这种差异是否来源于试题在城乡上的项目功能差异。如果两个能力本来相同的考生群体在某一试题得分上表现出不同程度的差异,该试题就存在项目功能差异。研究采用试题标准化分数差法,利用STDIF软件逐一分析了2016年三套全国高考英语卷的客观题是否存在城乡上的项目功能差异,在确定客观题没有项目功能差异后,以客观题成绩为匹配变量,采用条件得分图法对书面表达题是否存在城乡上的项目功能差异进行了分析。研究结果显示,高考英语全国I、II、III卷均未发现城乡上的项目功能差异试题,即可以认为高考英语全国卷对城乡不同户籍考生都非常公平、公正,城乡考生在英语成绩上的差异并非题目的公平性所致。     

Family socioeconomic status and emotional adaptation among rural‐to‐urban migrant adolescents in China: The moderating roles of adolescent's resilience and parental positive emotion

Low family socioeconomic status (SES) is closely related to increased risk of emotional maladaptation among adolescents. Although previous studies have found that low family SES is a significant and common experience for most rural‐to‐urban migrant adolescents in China, little research has examined the association between family SES and emotional adaptation or identified the protective factors that may minimise emotional maladaptation among these adolescents. The present study examined the associations between family SES and three indices of emotional adaptation (emotion regulation, life satisfaction and depression) and the moderating effects of adolescents' resilience and parental positive emotion (PE) among 486 Chinese rural‐to‐urban migrant adolescents. The results suggest that family SES was significantly associated with migrant adolescents' emotional outcomes, to varying degrees. Moreover, both adolescents' resilience and PE moderated the associations between family SES and emotional outcomes, although the protective effects of the two moderators differed on the three emotional outcomes. These findings shed light into designing intervention and prevention programs to reduce emotional maladaptation among migrant adolescents.     

Social experience and school bullying

The goal of the present study is to investigate the relationship between school bullying and various aspects of the urban and scholastic environment where participants live, such as sense of community, exposure to dangerous and violent situations within the neighbourhood, perceptions of the safety of the neighbourhood and perceptions of the school environment. The research, performed in Ercolano, a town near Naples, covered the whole of Ercolano's population (n = 734) of 7th, 10th and 13th grade students. Data were analysed using a multivariate analysis of variance. Results showed that bullying role (pure bullies, pure victims, bully victims, not‐involved) is significantly associated with the way subjects perceive their exposure to dangerous and violent situations within the neighbourhood, their relationship with classmates and their relationship with teachers. Pure bullies and bully victims are especially likely to experience dangerous and violent situations in the neighbourhood where they live and have a more negative perception of their relationship with teachers; for pure victims and bully victims, a significant association is obtained with negative perceptions of relationships with classmates. These findings suggest the need for intervention strategies that extend beyond the classroom to the broader community and neighbourhood. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Job Satisfaction of Child Welfare Workers in an Urban Setting: Status and Predictors

Large urban areas present many challenges to those children and adults who reside in those settings. The social service workers in urban areas have clients with complex, multiple needs. Reliable and consistent workers are essential to successfully working with these families. In the current study, the job satisfaction of 29 social service workers in an urban child welfare agency was assessed using the Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS). The JSS measures satisfaction in 7 areas of one's job (i.e., work, supervision, coworkers, pay and promotion, work environment, training, and position). Data indicated that the staff were relatively satisfied, that satisfaction did not vary by staff position (family worker vs. social worker/supervisor), and that neither demographic factors nor prior experiences were predictors of job satisfaction. Implications for agency management and the provision of social services to urban families are discussed.