Relations of Temperament to Maladjustment and Ego Resiliency in At‐risk Children

The relations of control/regulation‐related temperamentally based dispositions (effortful control (EC), impulsivity, and approach/avoidance) to externalizing problems and personality ego resiliency were examined in a sample of 467 children (M age = 7.46 years), some of whom were children of alcoholics (COAs). In addition, we examined if the relations of temperamental regulation/control to maladjustment/ego resiliency were moderated by COA status or sex of the child. In general, regulated, controlled temperament was negatively related to externalizing problems and EC was positively related to ego resiliency. Relations between a problematic temperament and externalizing problems were stronger and sometimes only found for COAs, especially male COAs. Ego resiliency was positively related to high father‐reported approach for boys who were not sons of alcoholics. In addition, COA status was related to high impulsivity, approach behavior, and externalizing problems and low EC.     

Coaching in globalen Unternehmen: Beispiele aus Europa, den USA und China

This article first identifies what a select group of globally operating companies has been implementing in the way of coaching over the last years. In particular, different coaching approaches in Europe, USA, and China are reviewed in the context of these organizational examples. The particular practices are evaluated in light of possible theoretical underpinnings due to the continuing scarcity of sound empirical research on coaching. Addressing the need for first-hand examples of deployed coaching programs, the following offers practitioners the opportunity to extract information on the types of coaching interventions which have been successfully implemented and what criteria are important to consider when rolling out a coaching intervention in a global business environment. Recommendations and lessons learned on selecting coaches are also provided.     

E. Victor Wolfenstein, 1940–2010

This is a short meditation on a recent British symposium devoted to R. D. Laing and Aaron Esterson’s classic 1964 book Sanity, Madness and the Family and 2 British filmic responses to it.     

The Influence of Biostatistics at the National Heart,Lung, and Blood Institute

Since the early 1950s, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHBLI) has conducted a long series of influential randomized clinical trials in heart, lung, and blood diseases. The biostatisticians at the Institute have been central to the design, conduct, monitoring, and final analyses of these trials. The uniquely favorable deck of cards the group of biostatisticians at the Institute has been dealt over the six and half decades of the group's life has led to contributions that have had a major impact on the fields of biostatistics and clinical trials. The leaders of the NHLBI and its several Divisions have valued the independence, creativity, and collaborative interactions of statisticians within the Institute. The medical problems the Institute faced impelled the statisticians to develop methodology that would address questions of great public importance. Perhaps most importantly, the individual members of the group had a collective vision passed from member to member over time that new methodology must fit the questions being asked. The group has always had the technical ability to develop new methods and the conviction that they were responsible for ensuring that they could explain their methods to the clinicians with whom they worked.     

Environmental issues affecting elder abuse victims in their reception of community based services

This study examined the dominant factors that predict the utilization of services by 129 identified elder abuse victims who reside in the community. Utilizing the Andersen Model, services accepted or rejected were analyzed from individual, family and environmental perspectives. Results indicated that service utilization is related to three "need" factors: (1) Victim has cognitive and ADL impairments, (2) Victim has poor health status (self rated), and (3) The abuser is financially dependent on the victim and is also the primary caregiver of the victim. "Enabling" factor (1) Victim lives alone. "Predisposing" factors (1) Abuser is substance abuser and (2) Abuser is female. A great proportion of the elder abuse victims in this study accepted services from an agency that provided a single entry point into the service system and had highly trained personnel utilizing a case management approach.     

Families' values and attitudes regarding responsibility for the frail elderly: implications for aging policy

This study examines the norms and values associated with care to disabled and frail aging parents, in particular those with regard to the sharing of responsibilities for care between families and formal services, and this within three age cohorts in Quebec, Canada. It is based on a telephone interview of 1,315 people. Factor analysis yielded four factors: (1) family responsibility; (2) uncompromising family obligations; (3) acceptance of services; (4) distrust of services. Analyses of the data indicate that all three age cohorts consider that families have responsibilities for their aging family members, at the same time that they score very high on the acceptance of service scale. This article discusses these seemingly paradoxical results and their implications for aging policy.     

Risk factors for femicide-suicide in abusive relationships: results from a multisite case control study

The killing of women by men who then take their own lives (femicide-suicide) is the most common form of homicide-suicide. This study identified femicide-suicide risk factors in an 11-city case-control study of femicide in the United States. Perpetrator, victim, relationship, and incident characteristics were analyzed for femicide-suicide cases (n = 67) and controls (n = 356, women living in the community with nonfatal physical abuse) using logistic regression modeling. Two risk factors emerged that were unique to femicide-suicides cases compared to overall femicide risk analyses: prior perpetrator suicide threats and victims having ever been married to the perpetrator.     

Images of heaven and the spiritual afterlife: Qualitative analysis of children's storybooks about death, dying, grief, and bereavement

Many parents turn to picture books and storybooks to help explain issues surrounding death and dying to their young children. In addition to dealing with topics such as death, funerals, memories, and grief, a number of the books also mention the concept of heaven and what our loved ones might experience after they die. This article uses qualitative research methods to analyze 49 children's storybooks that touch on the existence of heaven or a spiritual afterlife. Results show that heaven is portrayed in a simplistic fashion, as a place high in the sky with bright lights, angels, and clouds. Even as heaven is presented in a relatively simple way, there are also patterned differences in depictions of the spiritual afterlife depending upon whether the decedent in the book was a family pet, a child, a parent, or a grandparent. The article concludes with a discussion of how these depictions of heaven and the afterlife might help young children cope with death-related grief.