Life Satisfaction Among University Students in a Canadian Prairie City: a Multivariate Analysis

This article reports the findings from a questionnaire survey of university students’ life satisfaction in Regina. The results demonstrated that a significant proportion of the 315 respondents were satisfied with their lives (N = 240, 76.2%). With regard to degree of satisfaction with different aspects of life, respondents expressed that they were most satisfied with relationship with mother, living environment, relationships with close friends, relationships with siblings, and living arrangement. Multiple ordinary least-squares regression analyses revealed that respondents who indicated a higher socio-economic status, achieveda higher grade point average, and were more satisfied with their academic experience, self-esteem, relationship with significant other, and living conditions, expressed a markedly higher level of satisfaction with life.     

A grassroots prototype for trauma-informed child welfare system change

The development of trauma-informed child welfare systems (TICWSs) that advance individual agency practice to target transformation of the system as a whole has been conceptualized but not documented. A grassroots effort to build a TICWS with key participants (e.g., Department of Human Services, Community Mental Health, Family Court, schools) in nine Michigan communities provides a field tested model for implementation. This article described what emerged as the core elements for a TICWS, which includes (1) development and support of a project champion, (2) trauma identification, (3) comprehensive assessment of traumatic impact, (4) evidence based trauma treatment, (5) establishing a common trauma language, and (6) trauma-informed decision-making. Several new instruments for assessing aTICWS are identified. Lessons learned are highlighted for consideration of communities seeking to develop TICWSs.     

Teacher and center stability and school readiness among low-income, ethnically diverse children in subsidized, center-based child care

Given large numbers of children attending center-based child care and considerable teacher and child mobility, it is important to study correlates and outcomes of children experiencing a change in their primary teacher/caregiver and/or a change to a different child care center. The present study investigated teacher and center stability in a group of 3238 urban, ethnically diverse, low-income, four-year-olds receiving subsidies to attend center-based child care. Children were individually assessed for cognitive and language development at the beginning and end of the pre-kindergarten year. Parents and teachers rated children on their socio-emotional skills and behavior at both time points. Children who experienced a change in their primary caregiver from the beginning to the end of the school year (41% of the sample) showed less growth in initiative for learning and attachment/closeness with adults over time, and scored lower on most indices of school readiness compared to those that had a stable caregiver. Children who moved to a different center during the year scored lower on teacher-reported initiative and attachment. African American children who switched centers were particularly at-risk for poorer outcomes, and boys who experienced a change in primary teacher, in particular, showed slower growth in cognitive development.     

Empirical geodesic graphs and CAT(k) metrics for data analysis

Statistics and Computing - A methodology is developed for data analysis based on empirically constructed geodesic metric spaces. For a probability distribution, the length along a path between two...     

Clinically depressed and typically developing mother–infant dyads: Domain base rates and correspondences,relationship contingencies and attunement

Maternal depression is associated with adverse outcomes in infants. Unfavorable parenting practices likely constitute one pathway of risk transmission from mother to infant, but definitional and methodological variation in the extant literature precludes a comprehensive or conclusive understanding of potential underlying mechanisms. This study aimed to illuminate the role of maternal clinical depression in mother–infant interaction by turning a microanalytic lens on four substantive relationship issues: base rates, correspondences, contingencies, and attunement. Several maternal parenting practices (aggregated into social, didactic, and language domains) and several infant behaviors (aggregated into social, exploration, and non-distress vocalization domains) were microcoded to 0.10 s from naturalistic hour long interactions of clinically depressed mothers (n = 60) and matched non-depressed controls (n = 60) with their 5-month-olds. Clinically depressed mothers spontaneously engaged their infants less didactically, were less contingent to their infants in social, didactic, and language domains, and were less attuned with their infants than were non-depressed mothers. Infants of clinically depressed mothers vocalized non-distress less than infants of non-depressed mothers. These differences unveil key disadvantages in the everyday lived experiences of infants of clinically depressed mothers. The findings advance understanding of maternal depression and its effects and have implications for identifying infants at risk on account of their mothers’ clinical depression.     

Relationship between attendance at a parents anonymous adult program and children's behavior at the parents anonymous child care program

The purpose of this research was to determine the statistical relationship between the proportion of parent group meetings attended by parents who were involved in a Parents Anonymous Adult Program and the number of positive behavioral ratings received by children who attended the Parents Anonymous Child Care Program. The research hypothesis was that parents who attend a higher proportion of the parent group meetings are more likely to have children who receive positive behavioral ratings during the Child Care Program. A two-way analysis of covariance indicated the main effect of attendance was significant, p < .0009.     

A reply to behavior analysts writing about rules and rule-governed behavior

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - Verbal stimuli called “rules” or “instructions” continue to be interpreted as discriminative stimuli despite recent arguments against this...