Beyond Skills and Structure: Justice Dispositions as Antecedents of Young Citizens' Volunteering and Political Participation

Community involvement is usually attributed to opportunity structures and individuals' ability to be involved. Building on psychological justice research, this paper proposes that justice dispositions add to explaining why young citizens become active in their communities or not. Furthermore, it is argued that justice dispositions help to understand why most studies find only moderate relationships between youth volunteering and forms of political involvement. In a sample of 321 young Swiss volunteers, this study shows justice centrality and belief in a just world to predict the extent of volunteering and political participation, even after controlling for civic skills and opportunity structures. However, scrutinising the motivations to volunteer, self‐oriented motivations (enhancement, social, career and understanding) more strongly affected the level of volunteering than motivations related to justice dispositions (political responsibility and social responsibility). These findings have implications for the attraction and retention of volunteers as well as for the politics of volunteering and community development in general. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multidimensional Suicide Inventory-28 (MSI-28) Within a Sample of Military Basic Trainees: An Examination of Psychometric Properties

Suicide and suicidal ideation are serious public health concerns. Accurate detection and assessment are critical first steps in addressing this challenging issue. The present study examined self-reported suicidal ideation in a sample of United States Air Force enlisted active duty basic trainees (N = 470) using the Multidimensional Suicide Inventory (MSI-28). Exploratory factor analyses revealed a 4-factor structure for the MSI-28 in this sample. Together, these 4 factors explained approximately 72% of the variance in the MSI-28. The MSI-28 evidenced moderate to strong associations with measures of resilience (Dispositional Resilience Scale-15; DRS-15) and psychological distress (Outcome Questionnaire; OQ-30.2). These findings demonstrate that the MSI-28 is a promising tool for clinical measurement of self-reported suicidality. Future directions for further validation of the MSI-28 are discussed.     

3～6岁幼儿目标取向、自我效能感与自我控制的关系

自我控制是自我意识的重要成分,是儿童自主发展的重要前提。通过问卷调查法对241名3~6岁幼儿被试进行调查,考察其目标取向、自我效能感和自我控制的发展及三者关系。结果发现:(1)3~6岁幼儿的任务目标取向居于主导,女孩的他人目标取向比男孩明显,幼儿四类目标取向的发展皆呈现先上升后下降复又上升的趋势;幼儿的自我效能感居于中等水平,自我控制居于中等偏上水平;女孩的自觉性和自制力水平明显高于男孩;幼儿的自我延迟满足在4岁发生明显转折;(2)自我提升目标取向显著正向预测自我控制;(3)自我效能感在自我提升目标取向与自我控制关系间存在部分中介效应。     

The making of an abuser

This paper investigates how it is that a child has become an abuser, and by what means that process may be deconstructed. We know that abusers generally have a childhood history of abuse, though not necessarily sexual. Since not all children who have been traumatised repeat those patterns, and inflict abuse on others, then something must have happened for these particular children in response to their abuse. The author elaborates the view that there is no such thing, to paraphrase Winnicott, as ‘an abused child’ – no such child, that is, separate from the world of the relationships that formed him. He draws on the conceptualisation by Bentovim of an interlocking set of roles described as a ‘trauma organised system’; this notion reflects the fact that the child is a product not just of his specifically traumatic experiences but of a milieu in which power and control is exerted by someone who has typically succeeded in neutralising any caring function in a family in order to bring about the exploitation of a child. Clinical material is presented from the intensive psychotherapy of a nine-year-old boy, who happened also to be a refugee, for whom abusive family dynamics dominated his internal world. He was found to have identified with the abuser, his own father, in order to escape the pain of his victim self and was threatening to act this out in the treatment, making the therapist into a victim. Management of the treatment setting by the inclusion of a benign parental figure enabled the acting out to be contained. Symbolisation of the child’s inner conflicts became possible through play. As the abuser self was contained so the child’s victim experiences could be processed. The conclusion is drawn that engaging therapeutically with the residues of trauma from the beginning of treatment is essential in working with young people who have abused.     

Belongings Beyond Borders: Reflections of Young Refugees on Their Relationships with Location

Young separated refugees are exiled from familiar places and on seeking asylum encounter new, potentially alienating, places. Yet, there is limited research regarding the effects of location on the psychological experiences of young separated refugees. This study explores the relationships that young adults who arrived in the UK as separated refugees have with the spaces that they inhabit and the consequences of these. It draws on qualitative interviews with young men from Iraq and Afghanistan who are living in London. Four key themes emerged from the analysis. Participants felt frustrated in bureaucratic settings where processes of labelling and physical manipulation prevented their sense of subjectivity from being expressed. Certain community spaces offered a rich range of support. Micro‐spaces of belonging and embodied processes of exploration in the wider community were also reported to be psychologically beneficial. The themes suggest that considerations of young separated refugees' relations to place may provide alternative psychological understandings of their experiences, particularly in relation to concepts such as trauma. Policy implications related to immigration control and the benefits of community projects are highlighted. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Feedback on health status and peer popularity influences social risk decision-making processes in adolescents and young adults

Cognitive and dual-processes models, involving cognitive and socio-emotional components, for adolescents’ risky behaviour have been proposed. This study tested their predictions by manipulating the presence or absence of feedback about gains and losses in health and peer popularity in a decision-making task with peers. Risky (e.g., taking or refusing a drug) and ambiguous decisions (e.g., eating hamburger or hotdog) were examined in 256 adolescents (aged 13–14; 15–16; 17–18) and young adults (aged 19–20). Participants made more risky choices and required less decision time when receiving feedback about the negative consequences on health and positive consequences on peer popularity. Decision times were comparatively larger for risky than for safe options in late adolescence and young adulthood. Results supported the dual-processes model showing that, though late cognitive changes were observed that could eventually lead to the selection of safe options, feedback gains in peer popularity outweighed unhealthy consequences leading to risky decisions.     

4~8岁儿童认知风格的发展及其对问题解决的影响

认知风格是个体获取和加工信息的一贯模式,影响诸多认知活动。本研究测量了98名4-8岁儿童的认知风格和积木拼图中的问题解决行为,主要发现:（1）4-8岁儿童总体上表现为整体型认知风格,但分析型认知风格随着年龄增长在逐渐发展;（2）认知风格影响问题解决策略：越偏整体型认知风格的儿童越多使用主体参照策略（即先拼主体图形再补充其他部分）,并且越少使用线索推断策略（按照行/列的线索顺序依次拼图）和局部定位策略（根据某一局部图案的具体位置摆放积木）。本实验首次探索了低龄儿童认知风格的年龄差异,发现认知风格在发展早期就已影响问题解决行为。研究结果有助于理解儿童认知风格的发展及其作用,为儿童问题解决能力的培养实践提供一定的理论依据。