Ordinary Objects and Series‐Style Answers to the Special Composition Question

The special composition question asks, roughly, under what conditions composition occurs. The common sense view is that composition only occurs among some things and that all and only ‘ordinary objects’ exist. Peter van Inwagen has marshaled a devastating argument against this view. The common sense view appears to commit one to giving what van Inwagen calls a ‘series‐style answer’ to the special composition question, but van Inwagen argues that series‐style answers are impossible because they are inconsistent with the transitivity of parthood. In what follows I answer this objection in addition to other, less troubling objections raised by van Inwagen.     

Self-Reported Delinquency,neuropsychological deficit,and history of attention deficit disorder

This study was designed to evaluate the possibility that a pattern of cognitive deficit is associated with delinquent behavior, while avoiding some of the methodological problems of previous research. The Self- Report Early Delinquency instrument and a research battery of neuropsychological tests were administered blindly to an unselected cohort of 678 13- year- olds. Because the diagnosis of attention deficit disorder (ADD) was found at markedly elevated rates in the backgrounds of these delinquents, the possibility was examined that the neuropsychological deficits of delinquents might be limited to delinquents with histories of ADD. Although delinquents with past ADD were more cognitively impaired than non-ADD delinquents, both groups scored significantly below nondelinquents on verbal, visuospatial, and visualmotor integration skills. In addition, ADD delinquents scored poorly on memory abilities. Subjects with ADD who had not developed delinquent behavior were not as cognitively impaired as ADD delinquents, suggesting that it is the specific comorbidity of ADD and delinquency that bears neuropsychological study.This work was supported by USPHS Grant 1 R23 MH-42723-01 from the Antisocial and Violent Behavior Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit is supported by the Medical Research Council of New Zealand. Appreciation is expressed for the methodological advice of Prof. Sarnoff A. Mednick, and for the data collection efforts of Mrs. Pat Brasch, Mrs. Kathleen Campbell, Mr. Rich Poulton, and the psychometrists who administered the WISC-R.     

Assessment of antisocial behaviour in children and adolescents: new data with the ASB scale

Information is given about a series of studies with Allsopp and Feldman's ASB scale (1976) in its Spanish version, which compliments the information collected in Silva, Martorell and Clemente (1986a). It deals with test-retest reliability with an interval of 12 months; with comparisons between anonymous and non-anonymous data, and comparison between self-evaluation and evaluation by others. The results support the metric quality of the ASB scale, inviting revision of some of the common criticisms made of these types of instruments.     

Personality traits,money attitudes and consumer decision-making styles as predictors of investment products choice in South Africa

This study examines how personality traits and money attitudes influence consumers' decision-making styles when purchasing investment products in South Africa. A sample of 269 South Africans completed the research questionnaire, which assessed their extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, money power/prestige, money retention/time, money quality, info-mising, extending, and tax-free investment purchase decision. Also, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling approaches were used to analyze the survey data. The results suggest that personality traits and money attitudes significantly impact consumer decision-making regarding tax-free investment products. However, the relationships between extraversion and money power/prestige and between info-mising decision styles and tax-tree investment purchase decisions were found to be negative. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct segments based on the characteristics of respondents and their drive for investment: strong conscientiousness investors, status-driven investors, and introverted investors. Marketing professionals and investment firms can use the study findings on consumer traits and money attitudes to improve marketing effectiveness in an organisation. Practically, extensive information processing has a fundamental bearing on investment decision-making in emerging markets. Extraversion and conscientiousness personality traits and money attitudes must be taken into consideration by investment products marketers and practitioners in marketing practice.     

Loneliness and the sexual behavior of sexual minority men in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian provincial governments instituted a variety of public health measures that included social distancing and isolation, which may have had unintended consequeses. According to the Loneliness and Sexual Risk Model, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) often cope with loneliness through risky sexual behaviors. Previous studies have demonstrated that COVID-19 measures such as social distancing and isolation led to increases in loneliness; thus, these measures may also have led to elevated sexual risk-taking among some GBM. Participants were recruited from an ongoing cohort study on GBM health and well-being, and were included in the current analysis if they had completed relevant study questions (n = 1134). GBM who reported lower levels of social support pre-COVID-19, were younger, and lived alone each reported greater loneliness during the first year of COVID-19. Although feelings of loneliness did not predict sexual risk-taking within the first year of COVID-19, loneliness did predict greater sexual risk-taking 6 months later. Additionally, younger GBM and those living alone were more likely to engage in sexual risk-taking at both COVID-19 data collection points. These findings offer some support of the Loneliness and Sexual Risk Model; however, it is possible that the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a temporary suspension of this association, as many GBM took steps to protect themselves and partners in the context of COVID-19.     

The question is: what is medicine supposed to be all about?

The Hippocratic Oath has survived, with overriding power, the test of time. Written somewhere between 600 B.C. and 100 A.D., it addresses the intrinsic nature of medicine. Even those of us who know little of it or reject parts of it acknowledge it to be a symbol of the values of medicine. Such "canonization" is unlikely to be arbitrary; it is more likely that the oath strikes some key chord of truth. I suggest that it is its drive to the heart of medicine that makes the Hippocratic Oath inspiring today.     

Psychosocial Predictors of Intent to Emigrate Among Portuguese Adolescents

Information about the intent to emigrate was collected for a sample of 960 adolescents living in the northern region of Portugal. This question was part of a detailed questionnaire designed to assess specific issues concerning social representations of migration-namely, information, attitude, and fields of representation. Using information about the sociodemographic characteristics and the components of social representation mentioned above, our aim was to identify the independent predictors underlying the adolescent's intent to emigrate. Due to the great number of factors involved in the analysis, we conducted a preliminary selection of independent predictors within each of the aforementioned components and created a global index describing their importance. The findings indicate that, among all components of a social representation, attitude and representation of detachment and adaptation are the most important predictors of intent to emigrate. The relatively poor ability of sociodemographic variables to predict a future emigration does not mean that they are not important, but rather that they are more likely to condition attitude, the strongest predictor of a future emigration in the northern region of Portugal. The implication of these findings for handling intervening migration policies is discussed.