Approach and Positive Affect in Toddlerhood Predict Early Childhood Behavior Problems

The aim of the study was to examine the moderating role of positive affect on the relation between approach behaviors and adjustment outcomes. One hundred eleven toddlers participated in a laboratory assessment of approach and positive affect at 24 months. Behavior problems were reported by a parent in the fall of the child's kindergarten year. Results supported our hypotheses that children who displayed high approach and high positive affect in both non‐threat and low‐threat contexts were rated as higher in externalizing behavior problems. On the other hand, for children showing low positive affect, increases in approach in a moderate‐threat context lowered the risk of developing internalizing behavior problems. Implications for these findings are discussed, including methodological considerations of differences among eliciting contexts and advantages of separating positive affect and approach.     

Dyadic Analyses of Preschool‐aged Children's Friendships: Convergence and Differences between Friendship Classifications from Peer Sociometric Data and Teacher's Reports

Peer sociometrics and teachers' friendship reports were compared in 2179 preschool dyads. One hundred twenty of 306 reciprocated friend dyads from peer sociometric data were also identified as good friends by their classroom teachers, and 301 of 600 of non‐reciprocated dyads in peer data were named as friends by one or both classroom teachers (overall kappa = .16). Friendship classifications from both peer and teacher data had significant relations with variables relevant to peer interactions, social skills, peer acceptance, and teacher‐rated scales (six of seven tests significant for peer data; five of eight significant for teacher data). Multilevel analyses indicated that friendship status effects were not qualified by classroom‐level differences. Findings suggest that sociometric tasks can identify preschoolers' peer friendships and that the range of correlates may be broader in peer‐choice data than in teachers' friendship evaluations.     

Symptoms of Eating Disorders Among Females in Drug Addiction Treatment

The aim of this study is to measure and describe symptoms of eating disorders among females in treatment for drug addiction in Norway. Previous clinical and epidemiological studies have revealed coprevalence between eating disorders and substance use or abuse. However, few studies have measured eating disorders in drug-using samples and even fewer within the context of drug treatment. In this study, 29 females with drug use disorder in residential treatment were tested with the Eating Disorder Inventory–2. A subgroup of 9 females (31%) with significant symptoms of eating disorders was identified. The characteristics of this group and possible clinical consequences are discussed.     

Emotional Climate in Families Experiencing Homelessness: Associations with Child Affect and Socioemotional Adjustment in School

This study examined associations among family‐level risks, emotional climate, and child adjustment in families experiencing homelessness. Emotional climate, an indirect aspect of emotion socialization, was indexed by parents’ expressed emotion while describing their children. Sociodemographic risk and parent internalizing distress were hypothesized to predict more negativity and less warmth in the emotional climate. Emotional climate was expected to predict observer‐rated child affect and teacher‐reported socioemotional adjustment, mediating effects of risk. Participants were 138 homeless parents (64 percent African‐American) and their four‐ to six‐year‐old children (43.5 percent male). During semi‐structured interviews, parents reported demographic risks and internalizing distress and completed a Five Minute Speech Sample about their child, later rated for warmth and negativity. Children's positive and negative affect were coded from videotapes of structured parent‐child interaction tasks. Socioemotional adjustment (externalizing behavior, peer acceptance, and prosocial behavior) was reported by teachers a few months later. Hypotheses were partially supported. Parent internalizing distress was associated with higher parent negativity, which was linked to more negative affect in children, and parent warmth was associated with children's positive affect. Neither emotional climate nor child affect predicted teacher‐reported externalizing behavior or peer acceptance, but parental negativity and male sex predicted lower prosocial behavior in the classroom. Future research directions and clinical implications are discussed.     

In the flesh: a poetic inquiry into how fat female employees manage weight-related stigma

ABSTRACT

This paper engages with the question of how fat female employees manage weight-related stigma at work. We use poetic inquiry to show the reader how it feels for our participants to be stigmatized based on their size. We interviewed 22 women who self-identify as full-figured, fat, overweight, or obese. The results consist of six poems, five of which were written by us, the researchers. These ‘tri-voiced poems’ (Leavy 2010b) illustrate the spectrum of affective responses and stigma management strategies that our participants talked about, ranging from feeling anxious, super-smart, impeccable, and funny to rebellious and confident. The sixth poem was written by one of our participants and voices her first-person experiences and perspective. Our aim is to do justice in our writing to the emotions that circulated in the interviews and to make a political statement with regards to the stigmatizing practices in organizations related to size and health.     

A qualitative study on participants’ perceptions of child development accounts in Korea

ABSTRACT

In 2007, Korea implemented Child Development Accounts (CDAs) for institutionalised children in child welfare systems. Since then, the target group and a matching cap of CDAs in Korea have evolved. The target group expanded to include poor children receiving welfare, whereas the matching cap increased from KRW 30,000 (US$26.53) to KRW 40,000 (US$35.38), which is matched at a 1:1 rate. Despite the expansion, there is little empirical evidence examining the extent to which CDAs have influenced the life of participants. Using a content analysis method with a sample (N = 22), this study examines how CDAs have changed children’s mindsets, saving habits, education, future planning and sponsorship. The findings suggest that CDAs have multiple positive influences on children. This study concludes with policy implications for the inclusive and progressive development of CDAs in Korea.     

Double shrinkage estimators for large sparse covariance matrices

Covariance matrices play an important role in many multivariate techniques and hence a good covariance estimation is crucial in this kind of analysis. In many applications a sparse covariance matrix is expected due to the nature of the data or for simple interpretation. Hard thresholding, soft thresholding, and generalized thresholding were therefore developed to this end. However, these estimators do not always yield well-conditioned covariance estimates. To have sparse and well-conditioned estimates, we propose doubly shrinkage estimators: shrinking small covariances towards zero and then shrinking covariance matrix towards a diagonal matrix. Additionally, a richness index is defined to evaluate how rich a covariance matrix is. According to our simulations, the richness index serves as a good indicator to choose relevant covariance estimator.     

Feeling disability: theories of affect and critical disability studies

This paper explores connections between affect studies and critical disability studies. Our interest in affect is sparked by the beginnings of a new research project that seeks to illuminate the lives, hopes and desires of young people with ‘life-limiting’ or ‘life-threatening’ impairments. Cultural responses to these young people are shaped by dominant discourses associated with lives lived well and long. Before commencing our empirical work with young people we use this paper to think through how we might conceptualise affect and disability. We present three themes; ontological invalidation in neoliberal-able times; affect aliens and crip killjoys; disability and resistant assemblages.     

积极心理学视域下的环境美德伦理探究

环境伦理学自诞生以来,一直以构建客观的自然价值和自然权利为主要任务,忽略了作为道德行为主体的人。面对这种人未到场的环境伦理学现状,学者们开始从美德视角研究环境伦理学。积极心理学是一种研究人类的积极力量和美德的心理学思潮,对伦理学研究产生了重要影响。通过借鉴积极心理学的最新研究成果,环境美德伦理强调发挥环境保护中的积极因素,特别是积极的人格品质,从而鼓励和影响人对环境的友好行为。     

积极心理学在大学生思想政治教育应用中的思考

积极心理学致力于研究人的积极品质和积极力量,与大学生思想政治教育在培养“人”的积极品质;追求个人的自我价 值和社会价值的统一;预防大学生思想意识淡薄;激发个体积极力量等方面有着契合点。这为大学生思想政治教育借鉴和批 判性吸收积极心理学成果提供了可能,但应寻求科学合理有效的方式和方法,将其研究成果应用到大学生思想政治教育中。