Interfamily economic exchange: A function of culture or economics?

This study explores differences in inter-household exchange of goods and services in Anglo- and Mexican-American families controlling for income level and for ethnicity. The extent of such exchange, its perceived importance to the family's quality of life, satisfaction with the exchange, and the relation of persons in the exchange process are examined. Significant differences are found more often between higher income Anglo- and Mexican-Americans than between low-income families, both in the family providing goods and services for others and in the receipt of them. Higher income Mexican-American families are more likely than their Anglo- counterparts to exchange with relatives. Ethnic effects are more prevalent in higher income households than in low-income households. Economic effects are more predominant than ethnic effects.This study contributes to interregional Agricultural Experiment Station Research Project NC-128, Quality of Life as Influenced by Area of Residence. Cooperating states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas.Flora L. Williams' current research interests include income adequacy, financial problems, and indicators of change in economic well-being. She is an Associate Professor, Consumer Sciences and Retailing, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907.     

高校生命教育现状与学生个性发展问题研究

生命是教育的起始点,教育的最终目标是引导鲜活的、独具个性的生命体得到其个性的充分发展。随着我国经济建设飞速发展,人们将主要精力放在有助于生存的知识和技能的获取上。在这样的背景下,高校把具有个性的生命塑造成知识的载体和社会发展的工具,学生个性特征得不到应有的发展。因此,要认清当前高校在教育理念、教育体制、教育实践等方面不尽如人意的现状,认真分析传统文化及周围环境对高校生命教育和学生个性发展产生的影响,并坚持将生命教育贯穿学生学习全过程、加强专职教师队伍建设、不断丰富生命教育的内容和形式,进一步促进学生个性发展。     

Virtual Worlds and Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

The introduction of computerised virtual worlds in the early twenty-first century was considered to be an innovation that would be widely used in higher education. There are a number of examples of virtual worlds used for higher education in medicine, nursing, and allied health, including examples in social work. The aim of this article is to explore the potential value of virtual-world technology to enhance the student learning experience for social work education in interpersonal communication skills in a virtual health centre. Findings of a study of Australian undergraduate social work students who engaged in a role play in a virtual health centre for skill development in interpersonal communication are presented. The study findings highlight issues for social work educators to consider when deciding whether or not to use virtual-world technology in social work education, and when designing further research on similar innovations.     

底层生态与生活重建:新市民社会管理中的社区介入

本文从底层生态的视角,考察新市民的社会生活。研究发现,由于工作性质、经济收入、个人禀赋、社会网络等因素所致,新市民群体的社会生活呈现出明显的多元化和碎片化特征。重建新市民的社会生活,需要以政府为主导,以社区管理为切入点,缩小新市民与原城市居民两大群体的社会距离,帮助新市民融入城市社会。     

大学生心理危机的识别与预警

心理危机的识别与预警既是预防心理危机发生的重要策略，也是对危机当事人和相关人进行生命教育和促进生命成长的重要机会。心理危机产生的原因具有复杂性，发生过程具有阶段性，危机现象具有特殊性，危机爆发具有极端性，危机发生也具有一定规律性。因此，在进行生命教育过程中，需要关注不同类别的生命个体、不同阶段的生命现象、处在规律中的独特生命个体，同时要注意识别生命危机信号和生命求救信号。     

Societal Inequality and individual subjective well-being: Results from 68 societies and over 200,000 individuals, 1981–2008

Income inequality has been contentious for millennia, a source of political conflict for centuries, and is now widely feared as a pernicious “side effect” of economic progress. But equality is only a means to an end and so must be evaluated by its consequences. The fundamental question is: What effect does a country's level of income inequality have on its citizens' quality of life, their subjective well-being? We show that in developing nations inequality is certainly not harmful but probably beneficial, increasing well-being by about 8 points out of 100. This may well be Kuznets's inverted “U”: In the earliest stages of development some are able to move out of the (poorly paying) subsistence economy into the (better paying) modern economy; their higher pay increases their well-being while simultaneously increasing inequality. In advanced nations, income inequality on average neither helps nor harms. Estimates are from random-intercept fixed-effects multi-level models, confirmed by over four dozen sensitivity tests. Data are from the pooled World Values/European Values Surveys, Waves 1 to 5 with 169 representative national samples in 68 nations, 1981 to 2009, and over 200,000 respondents, replicated and extended in the European Quality of Life Surveys.     

On the Identification and Early Warning of College Students＇ Psychological Crisis from the Perspectiveof Life Education

心理危机的识别与预警既是预防心理危机发生的重要策略，也是对危机当事人和相关人进行生命教育和促进生命成长的重要机会。心理危机产生的原因具有复杂性，发生过程具有阶段性，危机现象具有特殊性，危机爆发具有极端性，危机发生也具有一定规律性。因此，在进行生命教育过程中，需要关注不同类别的生命个体、不同阶段的生命现象、处在规律中的独特生命个体，同时要注意识别生命危机信号和生命求救信号。     

Three Days to Walk: a personal story of life writing and disability consciousness in China

Through a close reading of Three Days to Walk, a memoir of disability by Chinese writer Zhang Yuncheng, this paper develops a new understanding of self-narrated life writing and its intersection with disability consciousness in the contemporary Chinese context. It examines the changing nature of disability life writing since the end of the early 1980s, a time when the images and voices of disabled began to emerge from effective cultural invisibility and silence. In a move away from state-sponsored ‘triumph over tragedy’ biographical narratives typical of the immediate post-Cultural Revolution period, Three Days to Walk is characteristic of a new popular trend to publish self-narrated life stories that reveal unique and intimate histories of disability experience both imbued with and propelled by a burgeoning sense of disability consciousness in the Chinese context.     

Living in the shadow of occupation: Life satisfaction and positive emotion as protective factors in a group of Palestinian school children

Starting from perspectives on functioning and wellbeing, the aim of the present study was to investigate positive and negative affect, self-perceived life satisfaction and happiness in a group of 74 Palestinian children exposed to political violence. We hypothesized that the children in our sample would display generally satisfactory wellbeing and good functioning in terms of positive affect, life satisfaction and happiness, despite their negative life conditions. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the dimensions of participants' wellbeing was carried out. In particular, we explored the ecological dimensions affecting the wellbeing of Palestinian children through content analysis of narratives produced by the group of participants. Positive emotions were found to contribute to wellbeing and life satisfaction in children, acting as protective factors in dealing with daily violence. The children displayed a range of personal resources facilitated above all by the functioning community structure supporting them. Implications for clinical intervention are discussed.     

Purpose and life satisfaction during adolescence: the role of meaning in life,social support,and problematic digital use

This study examined the characteristics of youth with different types of purpose in life, as well as the associations between adolescents’ life satisfaction, purpose in life, meaning in life, social support, and problematic digital use. The sample included 193 participants aged 14–18 who completed self-report questionnaires on life satisfaction, purpose in life, meaning in life, social support, and problematic digital use. The following purpose in life clusters were found: (1) other-oriented goals (n?=?33); (2) self-oriented goals (n?=?42); and (3) both other- and self-oriented goals (n?=?107). Adolescents with both self- and other-oriented goals had significantly higher life satisfaction, meaning in life, and social support compared to the other groups. Meaning in life and greater support from parents and teachers were significantly associated with greater life satisfaction. In addition, having other-oriented goals was associated with lower life satisfaction. Finally, support from parents (p?=?0.05) mediated the association between problematic digital use and life satisfaction. Findings are discussed in light of previous research and the theoretical and practical implications are examined.