Giving to Friends,Classmates, and Strangers in Adolescence

This study examined how perspective taking and sensitivity to social rewards predict giving to friends, classmates, and strangers in adolescence. Five hundred and twenty adolescents aged 12–17 years completed questionnaires on perspective taking and social rewards and played three Dictator Games in which they divided coins between themselves and a friend, classmate, and stranger. We found that, irrespective of age, adolescents donated most to a friend, less to their classmate, and least to a stranger, and females donated more than males. Individual differences in perspective taking and social reward sensitivity moderated how much adolescents donated, especially to strangers. These findings suggest that perspective taking and sensitivity to social rewards influence giving behavior in adolescence, especially to unknown others.     

Benefits to Children Who Participate in Family Therapy with their Substance‐Using Mother

It is rare that family members other than the identified patient are followed over time in studies of therapy effectiveness. Family therapy is believed to be effective because it targets processes within the system that maintain symptoms. If these processes are changed, then all family members can benefit. Using a sample of 183 mother–child dyads from a study comparing family therapy for adult substance use versus an attention control, change in child's substance use (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana) was estimated. Children who participated in family therapy with their mothers showed greater decreases in alcohol and tobacco use and were less likely to begin using compared to children whose mothers participated in the attention control condition.     

Counselor Actions to Facilitate Client Change During Life-Design Counseling

The authors examined whether and how counselor interventions foster client change during life-design counseling (Savickas, 2015). Two counseling sessions were conducted. Interviews with the 2 clients and the counselor after each counseling session were done in accordance with interpersonal process recall (Larsen, Flesaker, & Stege, 2008). The results indicated a scheme of counselor interventions that corresponded to client change. Specifically, the counselor fostered client reflection and reflexivity by (a) exploring original constructions, (b) identifying problematic themes in the constructions, (c) interpreting those themes, (d) identifying and recording client change and reflection, (e) connecting the themes to current issues, (f) facilitating a process of critical review, and (g) facilitating the reconstruction process. The results add a counselor's perspective to the research on client change and suggest a study of cases facilitated by counselors with diverse styles and skills that could further identify links between client change and counselor intervention.     

The influence of anthropogenic resources on multi-scale habitat selection by raccoons

With the continuing spread of urban areas, gaining a greater understanding of the effect of human presence on wildlife species is essential for wildlife managers. We determined the influence of anthropogenic resources on home range size and habitat selection of raccoons (Procyon lotor) during summer (June–August) 1996–2000 for 120 raccoons at three sites exposed to varying levels of urbanization and anthropogenic resources, specifically food. Home range estimates were larger (P < 0.05) at the rural site than the suburban and urban sites for both genders. We used compositional analysis to examine raccoon habitat selection at the second-order home range, second-order core area, and third-order home range scales. Woodland was consistently a highly-selected habitat type for both sexes at every spatial scale. Relative to other habitat types, habitat associated with human-related food (human use areas) was selected most often at the urban site, intermediately at the suburban site, and not selected at the rural site. Spatial scale also affected habitat selection. Human use areas were preferentially selected at the second- and third-order level at the urban site, third-order level only at the suburban site, and at neither level at the rural site. Additionally, intersexual differences in habitat selection were reduced at the urban site, with both sexes preferentially selecting for human use areas as well as woodland habitat. Smaller home ranges in urbanized environments are often attributed to the abundant and concentrated anthropogenic resources associated with human activity, but with little empirical support. Our habitat selection analyses followed our predictions that raccoon foraging is strongly influenced by the artificial distribution and abundance of human-related food. Male and female raccoons in urban areas reduce their foraging patterns and focus their foraging activity on anthropogenic foods.     

Explaining Family Change and Variation: Challenges for Family Demographers

Twenty years ago, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) issued a request for proposals that resulted in the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), a unique survey valuable to a wide range of family scholars. This paper describes the efforts of an interdisciplinary group of family demographers to build on the progress enabled by the NSFH and many other theoretical and methodological innovations. Our work, also supported by NICHD, will develop plans for research and data collection to address the central question of what causes family change and variation. We outline the group's initial assessments of orienting frameworks, key aspects of family life to study, and theoretical and methodological challenges for research on family change. Finally, we invite family scholars to follow our progress and to help develop this shared public good.     

Couple Differentiation: Mediator or Moderator of Depressive Symptoms and Relationship Satisfaction?

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether differentiation at the couple level would act as a moderator or a mediator in the association between marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms over time. In a sample of 412 couples, a latent profile analysis was performed to determine how couple differentiation scores were clustered. An Actor/Partner Interdependence Model was then estimated via a group comparison procedure in structural equation modeling. There was no evidence of a moderating effect of differentiation. A mediating model was then estimated and there was evidence that differentiation mediated the association between depressive symptoms and relationship satisfaction via actor and partner effects.     

Naturalization as a strategy for improving soil physical characteristics in a forested urban park

Ensuring good soil quality is essential to promoting plant growth in urban parks and building ecological resilience into a cityscape. Periodically used to restore a degraded urban ecosystem, parkland naturalization is a management approach designed to facilitate the return of an area to a natural state by largely discontinuing maintenance activities and restricting public access. This study investigates the potential for parkland naturalization to improve soil quality in a forested portion of Kew Gardens Park, Toronto, Canada by comparing soil physical properties in three six-year-old naturalization enclosures with those found in adjacent managed parkland. Soil texture, compaction, bulk density, and surface water infiltration rate were measured at 104 sample sites, while ordinary kriging was used to interpolate two-dimensional prediction surfaces representative of soil properties. Sand and loamy sand were the dominant soil texture classes found across the study site. Highly compacted soil (>2,000 kPa) and soil with a bulk density >1.8 Mg/m³ (values sufficiently elevated to restrict tree root growth and respiration and impair soil water infiltration) were spatially correlated with high pedestrian traffic areas and corridors used by festival and park maintenance vehicles. In contrast, compaction and bulk density measurements in the naturalized areas were at or below thresholds known to impair root function ([`(X)] {{\overline{X}}} at 10 and 30 cm depth: 849 and 1,311 kPa, 1.15 and 1.51 Mg/m<sup>3</sup>, respectively). Similarly, water infiltration rates were rapid ( [`(X)] = 470mm/hr ) \left( {{{\overline{X}}} = {47}0{\hbox{mm}}/{\hbox{hr}}} \right) within the naturalization enclosures but retarded to the point of surface pooling in parkland subjected to regular public use. In the absence of quantitative baseline data, our use of spatial analysis demonstrates that parkland naturalization is a good management practice for restoration of soil physical characteristics. While our results show improvements to soil properties in a relatively short period of time, variability in the soil response rate to parkland naturalization will be dependent upon disturbance history as well as on soil and climate type.