Emotion Regulation Via Maternal Touch

The study of emotion elicitation in the caregiver‐infant dyad has focused almost exclusively on the facial and vocal channels, whereas little attention has been given to the contribution of the tactile channel. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of touch on infants' emotions. During the time that objects were presented to the dyad, mothers provided tactile stimulation to their 12‐month‐old infants by either (a) tensing their fingers around the infants' abdomen while abruptly inhaling, (b) relaxing their grip around the infants' abdomen, or (c) not providing additional tactile stimulation (control condition). The results revealed that infants in the first condition (a) touched the objects less and waited longer to touch the objects while displaying more negative emotional displays compared to infants in the control condition. However, no apparent differences were found between infants in the second condition (b) and the control condition. The results suggest that infants' emotions may be elicited by specific parameters of touch.     

Motivational factors and physician advice for physical activity in older urban adults

This study aimed to ascertain by means of a new scale older adults' motives for engaging in physical activity, in a probability and representative sample of an older urban population. The sample size was 630 older adults, ranging from 65 to 94 years in age, randomly selected using multistage sampling. The participants completed a 17-item questionnaire, as well as answering questions on demographic variables, type of demand for physical activity, and physician's recommendation. A principal-component analysis was performed. The relationships among the four factors (physical health, social relationships, competence, and physician's advice) show a clearly motivational structure. Significant relationships have also been found between physician's recommendation and type of demand. The findings suggest that programs promoting physical activity in older adults should have different characteristics from those aimed at general adult populations.     

Developing intercultural communication skills through intergroup interaction

The call to internationalise the curriculum has become firmly ensconced in Australian educational discourse and university mission statements. Yet, scholars in this area agree that there are few concrete examples of how educators actually set about internationalising the curriculum in a tangible and easily replicable way. This paper adopts a definition of internationalisation of the curriculum which takes into account the experiential aspects of the process of becoming an intercultural communicator. The goal of internationalising the curriculum responds to the recognition that students need to develop a degree of intercultural competence in order to function efficiently in an increasingly globalised environment. Both international and local students need to be partners in this process, and the cultural diversity of contemporary universities in the west is an ideal setting to foster the ability to mediate across cultures. In this paper, we explore some practical ways in which key issues in intercultural communication can be implemented into university curricula through programmes that promote interaction across groups.

La llamada a internacionalizar el currículo se encuentra firmemente afianzada en el discurso académico y en las declaraciones de las universidades australianas. Sin embargo, estudios en esta área convienen que hay pocos ejemplos concretos que indiquen cómo los educadores pueden internacionalizar el currículo de una manera tangible y fácilmente replicable. Este artículo adopta una definición de la internacionalización del currículo que considera los aspectos experienciales en el desarrollo del proceso de comunicación intercultural. La meta de internacionalizar el currículo responde al reconocimiento de que los estudiantes necesitan desarrollar un grado de capacidad intercultural para desempeñarse eficientemente en un ambiente cada vez más global. Tanto los estudiantes internacionales como los locales necesitan colaborar en este proceso. La diversidad cultural que caracteriza a las universidades contemporáneas en occidente hace de éstas un ámbito ideal para fomentar la capacidad de mediar entre culturas. En este artículo exploramos algunos programas prácticos que pueden ser implementados en currículos universitarios para promover la interacción entre grupos.     

Effective strategies for socio-educational intervention during the process of transition to adult life of unaccompanied minors from Africa

The arrival of unaccompanied minors from Africa in Spanish territory has been a constant since the last decade of the twentieth century. This migratory phenomenon has forced the child welfare system to attend to thousands of migrant children. The transition to adult life is a decisive stage in overcoming the situation of social exclusion. This research aims to analyse which socio-educational intervention strategies are effective during the process of transition to independent living with unaccompanied minors of African origin. We designed a qualitative research according to the grounded theory, which we divided into two phases. Twenty-nine young people (26 men and 3 women) participated. In phase 1, we performed two focus groups (N = 11), and in phase 2, we conducted longitudinal follow-ups (N = 18) for 24 months through 180 interviews. The results indicate the effectiveness of designing socio-educational accompaniment, prioritizing spaces of trust from which to attain the goals of emancipation. Young people consider effective those strategies that favour their knowledge of the social, labour and legal reality of the host society, designed considering each minor's individualized situation. We concluded that professional involvement acts as a buffer, reducing the bureaucratic obstacles implemented by the Spanish government.