Coping with obsessive relational intrusion and stalking: the role of social support and coping strategies

This study investigated the extent to which social support mediates negative effects of stalking and obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) victimization. A survey of 1,068 respondents indicated that (a) ORI/stalking victimization is positively related to negative symptoms and trauma; (b) five different types of coping responses are positively related to negative symptoms; (c) four domains of social support reveal small but significant negative relationships with negative symptoms; and (d) females are more threatened by unwanted pursuit than male victims, and male pursuers are more threatening than female pursuers. Structural equation modeling indicates that the influence of ORI/stalking on negative symptoms is mediated by the use of coping strategies and the adequacy of social support. Discussion speculates on the functional theoretical value of coping and support processes in managing unwanted pursuit and stalking.     

Family connectedness,school attachment,peer influence and health-compromising behaviours among young Vietnamese males

Vietnamese males have one of the highest rates of smoking and alcohol consumption in the world. Research on the role of social and family resources in promoting healthy behaviours among Vietnamese youth is very limited. We examine the proposition that family support, attachment to school and peer influence are strongly associated with cigarette use, alcohol consumption and violence among Vietnamese youth. We used data from a nationally representative survey of males aged 14–25 years in 2009 (N?=?4705). Three measures of social and family resources and three indicators of health-compromising behaviours were used. Multinomial and logistic regression models were employed to examine the relationships. The regression results showed that a positive and cohesive family environment and attachment to school reduced the odds of smoking, alcohol consumption and violence. However, peer pressure had the opposite effect of increasing the odds. Higher socio-economic status was associated with lower odds of smoking, but higher odds of alcohol consumption among those at school. Excessive alcohol consumption increased the odds of violence by over three times. We conclude that positive and supportive environments within family, at school and among peers can discourage smoking, alcohol consumption and violence among Vietnamese youth.     

Everyday inter-ethnic tensions and discomfort in a culturally diverse Australian workplace

Australian workplaces are increasingly becoming culturally diverse. As a space of involuntary encounter of racial difference, multicultural workplaces are significant sites for understanding how workers deal with cultural difference. Involuntary cross-cultural encounters are a facet of living with cultural difference which can produce discomfort, tension and conflict in the workplace. The study of workplace social relations has traditionally focused on practices of racial discrimination. In this paper, we shift the focus to examine different modes of negative inter-ethnic interactions at work through the lens of discomfort. It suggests that analysing tension and conflict arising in multicultural workplaces as racially motivated or simply racist fails to capture other factors that adversely affect inter-ethnic interaction. This paper presents findings from a research into workplace interaction in the Australian employment services providers to emphasise that changing work conditions and increasing cultural diversity have profound impact on the workers’ experiences of workplace relations.     

Limiting labels: Opportunities to learn and college readiness among English language learners

Over a fifth of California's public schools' students have limited access to college and career pathways due to being labeled an “English-language learner (ELLs).” As reported by the California Department of Education, in the 2017–2018 school year, of the over 6.2 million students in California, nearly 1.3 million students are categorized as ELLs. The ELL label states students “whose difficulties in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding English may (my emphasis) limit his or her ability to (1) achieve in classrooms where English is the language of instruction and (2) access opportunities to fully participate in society.” Aligned with deficit thinking models, the US school system interprets “may” as “will” and makes decisions that negatively impact a large body of students across the country. The growing body of research reveals that many with the ELL label have been and continue to be intentionally underserved, limited access to postsecondary education, tracked into low-rigor and stigmatizing course pathways, and are deliberately unsupported to become college-ready, furthering the inequities in education and limiting options for quality k-12 educational experiences. The system becomes blinded by the label and ignores students with ELL labels' abilities and capacities to learn. So how are students with ELL labels supposed to become college-ready, let alone career-ready? For the purposes of this critical literature review, I will focus on exploring the existing structures that define “college-readiness” and the disparities created by the intentional tracking of students with the ELL label in comparison to their non-ELL peers.     

Rule learning transfer across linguistic and visual modalities in 7-month-old infants

Rule learning (RL) refers to infants’ ability to extract high-order, repetition-based rules from a sequence of elements and to generalize them to new items. RL has been demonstrated in both the auditory and the visual modality, but no studies have investigated infants’ transfer of learning across these two modalities, a process that is fundamental for the development of many complex cognitive skills. Using a visual habituation procedure within a cross-modal RL task, we tested 7-month-old infants’ transfer of learning both from speech to vision (auditory-visual—AV—condition) and from vision to speech (visual-auditory—VA—condition). Results showed a transfer of learning in the AV condition, but only for those infants who were able to efficiently extract the rule during the learning (habituation) phase. In contrast, in the VA condition infants provided no evidence of RL. Overall, this study indicates that 7-month-old infants can transfers high-order rules across modalities with an advantage for transferring from speech to vision, and that this ability is constrained by infants’ individual differences in the way they process the to-be-learned rules.     

Mental health in vietnam and the move to incorporate social work: A mixed methods study of staff perceptions and expectations

In 2010, Vietnam established social work as a profession. As part of their strategic plan, the government aims to incorporate social work into existing hospitals and health care facilities in the country, including psychiatric hospitals and mental health care centers. This paper, based upon survey and focus group data from 194 people working in three major mental health facilities in Hanoi, explores direct care staffs’ perceptions of this historic incorporation of social work, with a particular eye to the benefits and challenges of the transition. Results show most staff members thought social workers would provide great support to the many unmet needs of their largely underserved and impoverished patients. They also viewed social workers as a potential resource to the treatment team by reducing work overload. Existing staff, however, were less attuned to the clinical functions of social workers in mental health settings, often equating social work with community development and social movements. Some were concerned about social workers taking on their tasks; others about new social workers being hindered by the professional hierarchy in which doctors were placed at the top. Successful integration of social workers will hinge on strong support from policy-makers and leaders of mental health systems.     

The impact of parental illness on children’s schooling and labour force participation: evidence from Vietnam

Review of Economics of the Household - This paper investigates the relationship between parental illness and children’s engagement in education and labour market, using a panel data from...     

Reviewing the latest national policies and services for people with severe mental health disorders in government-funded institutions in Vietnam,and policy recommendations for service improvements

The aim of this paper is to provide the international community with a broad and updated picture of key policies and services for people with severe mental health disorders in Vietnam. In particular, the paper (1) reviews the most important national policies governing care for people with mental health disorders, (2) reviews the status of free-of-charge care provided to people with severe mental health disorders in a network of government-funded facilities across the nation and (3) discusses the future policy directions of Vietnam regarding people with mental health disorders.