Synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions revealed through timed event sequences

This report extends a previous cross-cultural study of synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions (Bornstein et al., 2015) to immigrant samples. Immigrant dyads from three cultures of origin (Japan, South Korea, South America) living in the same culture of destination (the United States) were compared to nonmigrant dyads in those same cultures of origin and to nonmigrant European American dyads living in the same culture of destination (the United States). This article highlights an underutilized analysis to assess synchrony in mother-infant interaction and extends cross-cultural research on mother-infant vocal interaction. Timing of onsets and offsets of maternal speech to infants and infant nondistress vocalizations were coded separately from 50-min recorded naturalistic observations of mothers and infants. Odds ratios were computed to analyze synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions. Synchrony was analyzed in three ways -- contingency of timed event sequences, mean differences in contingency by acculturation level and within dyads, and coordination of responsiveness within dyads. Immigrant mothers were contingently responsive to their infants’ vocalizations, but only Korean immigrant infants were contingently responsive to their mothers’ vocalizations. For the Japanese and South American comparisons, immigrant mothers were more contingently responsive than their infants (but not robustly so for South American immigrants). For the Korean comparison, mean differences in contingent responsiveness were found among acculturation groups (culture of origin, immigrant, culture of destination), but not between mothers and infants. Immigrant dyads’ mean levels of responsiveness did not differ. Immigrant mothers’ and infants’ levels of responsiveness were coordinated. Strengths and flexibility of the timed event sequential analytic approach to assessing synchrony in mother-infant interactions are discussed, particularly for culturally diverse samples.     

老年人心理韧性与幸福感的关系:一项元分析

采用元分析方法探讨老年人心理韧性和幸福感之间的关系, 通过文献检索和筛选, 共有42篇中英文文献, 75个独立样本纳入元分析(N = 12856)。结果显示, 老年人心理韧性和幸福感、生活满意度、积极情感呈显著正相关关系, 与消极情感之间呈显著负相关关系; 两者之间的关系受心理韧性的测量工具、文化背景、文献质量、文献年份、样本量和样本人群年龄的影响。研究结果为心理韧性如何影响老年人幸福感提供了较为精确的估计, 对于提高老年人幸福感进而实现成功老化具有重要意义。     

A Validation of a Multicultural Competency Measure Among South Korean Counselors

The authors translated the California Brief Multicultural Competence Scale (CBMCS; Gamst et al., 2004), a measure of multicultural competence, into Korean for cross-cultural validation. An exploratory factor analysis followed by a confirmatory factor analysis on a sample of Korean counselors (N = 365) supported a 3-factor model: Multicultural Ability, Multicultural Knowledge, and Multicultural Awareness. The Korean version was deemed to possess sound psychometric properties, such as high test-retest reliability and criterion-related validity. Los autores tradujeron al idioma coreano la Escala Breve de Competencia Multicultural de California (CBMCS, por sus siglas en inglés; Gamst et al., 2004), un instrumento de medida de competencia multicultural, para su validación intercultural. Un análisis factorial exploratorio seguido de un análisis factorial confirmatorio sobre una muestra de consejeros coreanos (N = 365) respaldó un modelo de 3 factores: Habilidad Multicultural, Conocimiento Multicultural y Conciencia Multicultural. Se concluyó que la versión en coreano tenía propiedades psicométricas sólidas, como una alta fiabilidad de la repetición de las pruebas y una alta validez de criterio.     

Cultural Effects Rather Than a Bilingual Advantage in Cognition: A Review and an Empirical Study

The bilingual advantage hypothesis contends that the management of two languages in the brain is carried out through domain‐general mechanisms, and that bilinguals possess a performance advantage over monolinguals on (nonlinguistic) tasks that tap these processes. Presently, there is evidence both for and against such an advantage. Interestingly, the evidence in favor has been thought strongest in children and older adults, leading some researchers to argue that young adults might be at peak performance levels, and therefore bilingualism is unable to confer an improvement. We conducted a large‐scale review of the extant literature and found that the weight of research pointed to an absence of positive evidence for a bilingual advantage at any age. We next gave a large number of young adult participants a task designed to test the bilingual advantage hypothesis. Reasoning from the literature that young adults from an East Asian (Korean) culture would likely outperform those from a Western (British) culture, we also compared participants on this factor. We found no evidence for a bilingual advantage but did find evidence for enhanced performance in the Korean group. We interpret these results as further evidence against the bilingual advantage hypotheses.     

Toward Relationship‐Directed Parenting: An Example of North American Born Second‐Generation Korean‐American Mothers and their Partners

Historically, parenting has been constructed hierarchically; however, contemporary parenting models frequently emphasize parenting as relationship (Siegel & Hartzell [2004] Parenting from the inside out: How a deeper self‐understanding can help you raise children who thrive; Tuttle, Knudson‐Martin, & Kim [2012] Family Process, 51, 73–89). Drawing on interviews with 20 North American born second‐generation Korean–American mothers and their partners, and sensitized by TP‐CRO, a social constructionist framework for conceptualizing parent–child relational orientations, this grounded theory analysis identified three main processes that facilitate relational connection as a parenting orientation rather than the rule‐directed approach historically associated with first‐generation immigrant Asian families. These include: (a) emphasizing dominant culture values; (b) inviting open communication; and (c) promoting mutuality. Results also show how parents integrate collectivist cultural values of their first generation immigrant parents' traditional culture into North American parenting ideals with which they primarily identify. The study demonstrates the usefulness of the TP‐CRO for understanding parent–child relationships within multicultural parenting contexts and offers suggestions for working with second‐generation Korean families.     

Role of motivation in the relation between perfectionism and academic burnout in Korean students

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relations among perfectionistic traits, motivation types, and academic burnout in Korean adolescents. A total of 283 students responded to the survey. The results indicated that there are significant mediation effects of motivation variables on the relation between perfectionistic traits and academic burnout symptoms. Specifically, intrinsic motivation partially mediated the relation between self-oriented perfectionism and burnout. That is, self-oriented perfectionism was positively related to greater levels of intrinsic motivation, and in turn, greater intrinsic motivation was negatively related to academic burnout. Meanwhile, extrinsic motivation fully mediated the relation between socially prescribed perfectionism and burnout. In other words, socially prescribed perfectionism was positively related to greater levels of extrinsic motivation, and in turn, greater extrinsic motivation was positively related to academic burnout. Practical implications for educators are discussed.     

Relations between virtues and positive mental health in a Korean population: A Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model approach

A Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) approach was applied to investigate the relationship between virtues and positive mental health as determined using the Character Strength Test and the Mental Health Continuum‐Short Form. The study participants were 876 college students (54% women; overall mean age [SD] 21.50 years [2.35]) recruited from introductory psychology courses at two universities in Seoul. Findings revealed that the intellectual virtues of college students predicted subjective well‐being according to all emotional, social and psychological measures. Results are discussed in the context of previous work using the Values in Action classification of virtues and character strengths. In addition, implications regarding understanding the nature and possible origins of positive mental health are outlined.     

Korean Immigrant Women's Journey from Abused Wives to Self-Reliant Women

Today's adolescent girls experience sociocultural pressures and life stressors which result in negative mental health outcomes, including binge eating. The purpose of this article is to present a model of psychotherapy for adolescent girls who engage in binge eating. The components in this model include: (a) Feminist Therapy to emphasize client empowerment and the importance of sociocultural context in understanding girls’ concerns; (b) Cognitive Behavior Therapy to help clients to eliminate dieting and to cope with pressures for attaining the beauty ideal; (c) Dialectical Behavior Therapy to assist clients in coping with emotions; and (d) Interpersonal Therapy to help clients improve relational transitions and disputes.     

Psychological experiences of Korean missionary “kids” (MKs): a qualitative inquiry

The present study is a qualitative investigation of the psychological experiences of children of Korean missionaries, through the eyes of Korean missionary kids (MKs) and missionary workers. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 MKs and MK workers, and data were analysed using the Consensual Qualitative Research method. Several domains emerged: challenges associated with the MK experience, resiliency of MKs, intrapersonal and interpersonal coping skills, mental health concerns, religion and spirituality, a complex cultural identity, preparation for college transition, and hopes for MKs and their missionary parents. Categories corresponding to the domains are highlighted. The present study addresses a need for more attention paid to the non-American MK experience, and it presents some implications for the church and higher educational institutions.     

Aboriginal Health Care and Bioethics: A Reflection on the Teaching of the Seven Grandfathers

Contemporary bioethics recognizes the importance of the culture in shaping ethical issues, yet in practice, a process for ethical analysis and decision making is rarely adjusted to the culture and ethnicity of involved parties. This is of a particular concern in a health care system that is caring for a growing Aboriginal population. We raise the possibility of constructing a bioethics grounded in traditional Aboriginal knowledge. As an example of an element of traditional knowledge that contains strong ethical guidance, we present the story of the Gifts of the Seven Grandfathers. We note a resemblance of this Ojibway teaching to virtue ethics in European traditions, but we suggest that there are also important differences in how these two traditions are currently presented. We hope that further engagement with a variety of indigenous moral teachings and traditions could improve health care involving Aboriginal patients and communities, and enrich the discipline of bioethics.