Mediation in a sibling context: the relations of older siblings' mediating behaviour and younger siblings' task performance

We investigated the sibling relationship as a context for cognitive development. Forty preschoolers (ages 5–6) and their younger siblings (ages 2–3) were visited at home. Four games were presented to the older siblings and they were asked (a) to estimate how well their younger sibling will perform on each game and (b) to teach the younger sibling how to use the games. The older siblings' mediating behaviours during the teaching session and the younger siblings' performance on the four tasks were coded. The frequency of mediating behaviours—including attention focusing, amplifying affect and providing meaning, fostering a sense of competence, regulating of the learning process, de‐contextualization, and negative feedback in the form of mocking and laughing at errors, predicted the younger siblings' task performance. The older sibling's accurate perception of the younger child's competence was uniquely predictive of task performance. The highest amount of mediation was observed in older‐brother–younger‐brother pairs, in particular the behaviours of negative feedback and amplifying affect. Results contribute to the discussion on the role of siblings as moderators of cognitive development and are discussed in terms of Vygotsky's cultural–historical perspective on apprenticeship. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Narratives of Israeli Women in Retirement: Rewriting the Gender Contract

Sex Roles - In the present study, we analyze how older Israeli women narrate, make sense of, and negotiate their lives after retirement. By center-staging women in their life periods of after-care...     

Shlomit Levy: a Pioneer in the Structural Theory of Well-Being

Applied Research in Quality of Life -     

THE JEWISH LEGIONS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR AS A LOCUS OF IDENTITY FORMATION

Based on life‐writing material, this article sheds light on the process by which the Jewish Legions in the British Army in the First World War, composed in large part of Jewish volunteers from Canada and the United States, contributed to the development among its legionnaires of a sense of belonging to their respective North American countries. The notion that formerly displaced immigrants were fighting for the Promised Land, and the consistency of this notion with the overall aims of the allies in the First World War, promoted the development of a unique identity as Jewish “citizen‐soldiers”.     

Short- and long-term effects of juvenile stressor exposure on the expression of GABAA receptor subunits in rats

During the juvenile period rodents are particularly sensitive to stressors. Aversive events encountered during this period may have enduring effects that are not evident among animals initially stressed as adults. Interestingly, experiencing stressor during juvenile period was found to elicit a biphasic behavioral pattern over the course of development. During the juvenile period, the expression of several GABAA receptor subunits is subject to elevated plasticity, rendering the GABAergic system sensitive to stressors. In the present investigation, animals were exposed to a juvenile variable stressor regimen (JUV-S) at 27-29 postnatal days (PND): 27 PND-acute swim stress (10 min), 28 PND-elevated platform stress (3 sessions×30 min each), and 29 PND-restraint (2 h). One hour following the last exposure to stressor or in adulthood (60 PND), anxiety-related behaviors were assessed in a 5-min elevated plus maze test. The western blotting technique was used to evaluate whether the juvenile stress induced behavioral pattern will be accompanied by respective changes in GABAA α1, α2, and α3 protein expression in male rats. Our findings further established that juvenile stressor elicits hyper-reactivity when rats were tested as juveniles, whereas rats exhibited reduced activity and increased anxiety when tested as adults. Additionally, the effects of juvenile stressor on α1, α2, and α3 were more pronounced among juvenile stressed rats that were challenged as adults compared with rats that were only challenged as juveniles. Interestingly, the stress-induced modulation of the subunits was particularly evident in the amygdala, a brain region closely associated with anxiety. Thus, age- and region-specific alterations of the α subunits may contribute to the age-specific behavioral alterations observed following juvenile stress exposure.     

Mediational behaviours of preschoolers teaching their younger siblings

There is very little research on the process of teaching in sibling interaction. The current study was designed to explore teaching behaviours of preschoolers and their effects on their toddler siblings. Participants were 40 dyads of 5‐yr‐olds and their 3‐yr‐old siblings from a middle class urban community in Israel. The children were divided into four equal groups based on gender and age of the siblings in each dyad. The children were visited at home and invited to play with two puzzles and two Lego games. Their play interaction with their siblings was videotaped. The observations were analysed using the observing mediational interaction (OMI) scale, assessing the frequency and style of the following behaviours: Focussing, Affecting, Encouraging, Expanding, and Regulating Behaviour. The younger siblings' success in playing the games was evaluated using a 5‐point scale. The frequency of teaching behaviours in sibling interaction was found to be related to the younger siblings' success on the games. Affecting and Encouraging were significantly related to the younger siblings' level of success on the games. The teaching behaviours of older siblings were characterized by relatively high frequencies of Regulation of Behavior and Encouraging, moderate frequencies of Affecting and low frequencies of Expanding. Boys were found to receive more teaching behaviours than girls. Older brothers and sisters showed higher frequencies of teaching behaviour in interactions with their younger brothers than with their younger sisters. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Patriotic Conscientious Objection to Military Service

The purpose of this paper is to show that conscientious objection (henceforth CO) to military service is essentially not a dilemma of freedom of conscience versus the duty to obey the law, but above all a dilemma between two conflicting patriotic moral obligations. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates that CO is justifiable on the basis of what is known as moderate patriotism, that is, out of a patriotism which is committed simultaneously to universal and particular values. The paper begins with a critical discussion of theoretical weaknesses in liberal thought of CO. Then, the concept of moderate patriotism is presented, followed by a discussion of the notion of patriotic CO (PCO). The next stage presents a step Towards A Theory of PCO to Military Service and shows how it differs from other liberal theories of disobedience. The conclusion is that if CO on patriotic grounds is morally justifiable, it follows that this is an act committed within the framework of legitimate political discourse. Therefore, PCO is politically legitimate even if it is not always legal. In other words, the discussion of PCO offers a theoretical distinction between political legitimacy and legality.     

From career decision-making styles to career decision-making profiles: A multidimensional approach

Previous research on individual differences in career decision-making processes has often focused on classifying individuals into a few types of decision-making styles based on the most dominant trait or characteristic of their approach to the decision process (e.g., rational, intuitive, dependent; Harren, 1979). In this research, an alternative approach, which offers a multidimensional profile characterization of individuals’ career decision-making processes based on a simultaneous consideration of 11 dimensions, is presented. Thus, the proposed model refers to career decision-making profiles rather than career decision-making styles. The model, which emerged from a systematic analysis of previous research, was refined on the basis of preliminary empirical tests (five samples, N = 2764) using the Career Decision-Making Profile (CDMP) questionnaire. Study 1 reports the psychometric properties and the results of an exploratory factor analysis of the CDMP questionnaire, in a sample of young adults deliberating their career decisions (N = 285). Study 2 presents the results of a confirmatory factor analysis, based on Israeli (N = 431) and US (N = 208) samples of young adults. The results of both studies supported the hypothesized 11 dimensions. The implications for future research and for counseling are discussed.