What does it mean to ‘live’ and ‘die’? A cross‐linguistic analysis of parent–child conversations in English and Indonesian

Previous work on children's intuitive knowledge about the natural world has documented their difficulty in acquiring an overarching concept of biological life that includes plants as well as humans and non‐human animals. It has also suggested that the acquisition of fundamental biological concepts like alive and die may be influenced by the language used to describe them, as evidenced by differences between English‐ and Indonesian‐speaking children's performance in tasks involving these concepts. Here, we examine one particularly important source of linguistic information available to children during this acquisition process: everyday conversations with their parents. We take a cross‐linguistic approach in analysing the evidence available to English‐ and Indonesian‐speaking children as they acquire meanings for words corresponding to the concepts alive and die . Our analysis illustrates that young children acquiring English and Indonesian are faced with distinct problems, but that parental input in both languages does little to support the acquisition of broad, inclusive biological concepts.     

Workplace Friendship in the Electronically Connected Organization

This study examined information communication technologies and workplace friendship dynamics. Employees reported factors that influenced their initiation of friendship with a coworker and reported patterns and perceptions of communication with their workplace friend via different communication methods. Results indicated that personality, shared tasks, and perceived similarity are the most important factors to coworker friendship initiation, and the importance of physical proximity to workplace friendship is diminishing in the electronically connected workplace. Results confirm the primacy of face‐to‐face interaction for workplace friendship initiation and maintenance. E‐mail, phone, and texting were also central to communication among workplace friends. The amount of time spent telecommuting affected workplace friendship initiation and communication. Finally, generational differences were identified with respect to Internet‐based communication methods.     

The Heart of the Matter: An Essay about the Effects of Managed Care on Family Therapy with Children*

This essay is based on a pilot study that examined the effects of managed care on the treatment of children and families, with special attention to community mental health. We embarked on the pilot study to test the accuracy and generalizability of our impression that family therapy and other systemic practices have been marginalized in ordinary clinics and agencies, and to understand the reasons why. We interviewed managed care providers, researchers, family therapy trainers, and clinicians in the Northeast. Our findings led to seven themes that support our impression that, even though there is a consensus about the need for coordinated family-based services, there is a disconnection between state policies, contractual requirements and what is actually occurring at the implementation level. This study suggests that our knowledge of human systems may be in danger of being disqualified and lost, with damaging consequences for the care of children. Yet, as systemic thinkers and practitioners, it is our belief that ethical and effective treatment need not be at odds with care that is cost-efficient. The direction of our future research will be to study whether the involvement of all stakeholders at all levels of planning and training leads to systemic family-based practices that consistently save costs and provide high-quality care.     

Expanding the Horizontal Call: A Typology of Social Influence on the Call to Ministry

This research examines the social actors and interactions that facilitate seminary students' sense of calling. Drawing from 36 in-depth interviews with first year Masters of Divinity students, we introduce six ideal typical social others who play a formative role in the early stages of a call to ministry: instigators, exemplars, interpreters, affirmers, challengers, and codiscerners. Together, these findings demonstrate that the call to ministry, while deeply personal, emerges through social interactions that facilitate and make plausible a person's sense of calling and that sustain it over time. Extending Richard Pitt's conceptualization of the “horizontal call,” this paper argues that social others help evoke and solidify—not merely legitimate—a personal sense of call. This research also highlights differences in the social structuring of call by gender. Despite considerable gains in the ordination of women, we find that many still face obstacles to experiencing and embracing a call to ministry.     

Comparing Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians’ Religious and Political Beliefs Across Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

This article compares the political correlates of Renewalist Christianity in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa (N = 44,832). Renewalists include Pentecostals and Charismatic members of Mainline Protestant and Catholic churches. Though rarely studied comparatively, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa boast the largest Renewalist populations worldwide. Scholars have noted that the religious and political beliefs of Renewalists differ from other Christians, but existing studies either treat Renewalists as a single category or focus on Pentecostals while pooling Charismatic and non-Charismatic Catholics and Protestants as denominational blocks. Using multilevel mixed-effects models, this article first confirms that Renewalists’ religious and political beliefs differ from those of non-Renewalist Christians. Importantly, this cautions against the ubiquitous aggregation of Charismatic and non-Charismatic Catholics (and Protestants) in statistical analyses. Additionally, we theorize and evaluate differences between Renewalists and the role of regional context. Religious differences between Pentecostals and Charismatics, we show, are much larger in Latin America than in Sub-Saharan Africa.     

#sustainablefashion on Instagram: A content and network analysis of user-generated posts

The social and environmental impacts of the global fashion industry face increasing scrutiny. As such, consumers and brands look towards ‘sustainable fashion’ for low-impact alternatives. Simultaneously, visual social media platforms such as Instagram have become prevalent places for fashion advertising and discourse. To investigate this under-researched area, the current study utilises visual content and social network analysis to explore how sustainable fashion is presented on Instagram, specifically: (a) what visual characteristics are present within sustainable fashion content, and (b) in what broader contexts and communities is discussion of sustainable fashion taking place? Posts included under the hashtag #sustainablefashion (N = 650) were inspected for visual characteristics, including type of clothing, presence of person, post setting, presence of nature, and post format. Most posts were photographs located indoors with no person and no nature-based elements. The hashtags used alongside #sustainablefashion were analysed with Gephi software to establish a social network and community groups of related topics. Network analysis revealed four key community groups: online-promotional, artisan-traditional, eco-ethical, and Malay-online-selling. Secondhand fashion also appeared to be the most prominent sustainable fashion alternative on Instagram. This study is one of the first to investigate the characteristics of user-generated #sustainablefashion content on Instagram. Whilst social media is a burgeoning avenue for research, existing studies primarily investigate how these platforms can be harnessed for advertising, rather than what users themselves are already posting. Implications for brands who use this platform and opportunities for future research are discussed.     

Using self-evaluation to improve difficult-to-read handwriting of secondary students

We used delayed multiple-baseline and multiple-probe techniques to assess the effects of self-evaluation training on the legibility of cursive handwriting. Five secondary special education students with difficult-to-read handwriting served as participants. All participants improved the legibility of their handwriting during self-evaluation training. A systematic withdrawal of the training package demonstrated maintenance of treatment effects. For the most part, the students' handwriting remained at least 90% legible to judges following the systematic withdrawal of the self-evaluation training.     

In Vivo Hippocampal Acetylcholine Release During Exposure to Acute Stress

Hippocampal extracellular acetylcholine (ACh) and choline levels were evaluated using in vivo microdialysis in male Fischer 344 rats before, during, and following an 80-min exposure to two different stress conditions. Measurements were taken in rats restrained and immersed in a water bath containing either 37 degreesC (normothermic-restraint) or 20 degreesC (cold-restraint) water. Results were compared to normothermic-freely-moving rats. Cold-restrained rats displayed decreased ACh levels during cold exposure relative to both normothermic-restrained and normothermic-freely-moving rats. By the end of the cold exposure period and following removal from cold, ACh levels had returned to near-baseline values. Normothermic-restrained rats had levels similar to those of normothermic-freely-moving rats, except for a marked increase in ACh following removal from restraint. Cold-restrained rats displayed a gradual elevation in choline levels during cold stress, followed by a gradual decline after stress termination, whereas both normothermic-restrained and normothermic-freely-moving rats displayed gradual decreases during the microdialysis session. These findings demonstrate that central cholinergic neurotransmission can be altered by the application of, and removal from, acute stressors. In addition, the results suggest a possible relationship between the magnitudes of both the stressor and its cholinergic consequences.     

Alliance-Outcome Associations in a Community-Based Social Skills Intervention for Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Although the alliance is a consistent predictor of treatment outcomes in psychosocial interventions, few studies have examined this association among youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In particular, youth-therapist alliance has never been examined in social skills interventions (SSIs), a common modality for this population. In this study, thirty-four youth with ASD (M_age = 12.41; 79% male) participated in a community-delivered, group-based SSI in a summer camp format led by eight Head Therapists (M_age = 32.12; 50% male). Early alliance and change in alliance over the course of the treatment were assessed via self- and observer-reported measures. Both self- and observer-rated alliance were associated with positive treatment outcomes as reported by parents (decreased problem behaviors) and other peers in the group (reciprocated friendship and social preference). These results provide the first evidence of the role of the alliance in an SSI for youth with ASD and add to the growing body of literature that demonstrates the importance of assessing and addressing the alliance in treatment for this population.