Unified Inference for Sparse and Dense Longitudinal Data in Time‐varying Coefficient Models

Time‐varying coefficient models are widely used in longitudinal data analysis. These models allow the effects of predictors on response to vary over time. In this article, we consider a mixed‐effects time‐varying coefficient model to account for the within subject correlation for longitudinal data. We show that when kernel smoothing is used to estimate the smooth functions in time‐varying coefficient models for sparse or dense longitudinal data, the asymptotic results of these two situations are essentially different. Therefore, a subjective choice between the sparse and dense cases might lead to erroneous conclusions for statistical inference. In order to solve this problem, we establish a unified self‐normalized central limit theorem, based on which a unified inference is proposed without deciding whether the data are sparse or dense. The effectiveness of the proposed unified inference is demonstrated through a simulation study and an analysis of Baltimore MACS data.     

“Yes,I Can”: Testing an Intervention to Increase Middle School Students’ College and Career Self‐Efficacy

Middle school is the appropriate time for students to begin exploring careers and improving self‐efficacy; however, empirically supported career and college readiness interventions for U.S. middle school students are limited. Examining the effect of an intervention that combined a virtual experience and a local college visit on middle school students (99 girls, 74 boys), the authors found that participating students had higher levels of college and career self‐efficacy than did nonparticipating students. The study shows that a workshop of the online Florida CHOICES program coupled with a campus visit increased middle school student career and college self‐efficacy. Future research should include longitudinal studies and use of diverse populations to improve generalizability of study results.     

Fighting with Oneself to Maintain the Interaction Order: A Sociological Approach to Self‐Injury Daily Process

This article proposes an interactionist approach to self‐injury behavior in youth. Mostly based on in‐depth interviews with seventy people who self‐harm or who have self‐harmed at some point in their lives, it describes the process of daily self‐injuring. It shows that this practice consists less in the self‐harm in itself than in a liminal emotional state, composed of several successive steps, and that self‐injury makes sense because concerned individuals subjectively see it as the most practical of known activities for releasing emotional troubles, then maintaining the interaction order surrounding them.     

Emotions in the Practice of Systemic Therapy

Emotions are connected to meaning making in human interactions. This can be seen not just in terms of the immediate participants and their developmental history but also through broader cultural, social, and gender lenses. In times of relational tension, which require system flexibility, some emotional interaction can constrain alternative actions or meanings being constructed. Therapists can hypothesize about these emotional dances (including those that are taking place in the therapist/client system) and such hypotheses can inform interventions aimed at generating different emotional sequences. If participants in therapy experience alternative emotional responses as a result of therapeutic intervention, then change can occur (e.g., a greater sense of agency or hope, or a different perception of the situation).     

A Study of a Network Meeting: Exploring the Interplay between Inner and Outer Dialogues in Significant and Meaningful Moments

The present study is part of a series of qualitative studies focusing on dialogic practice in southern Norway. In this article, we present a qualitative study of a network meeting focusing on the interplay between the participants' inner and outer dialogues. The network meeting is between an adolescent boy, his mother and two network therapists, the same adolescent case discussed previously in this journal by Bøe et al. ( 2013 ). The aim of this study is to explore how the interplay between inner and outer dialogues contributes to significant and meaningful moments for the interlocutors. A multiperspective methodology is used that combines video recordings of a network meeting and participant interviews with text analysis. Our research found the interplay has an important role in understanding the emergence of significant and meaningful moments in therapy. A one‐sided focus on participants' utterances or inner dialogues was insufficient to explain their significance and meaning to the interlocutors. A dialogical approach provides a theoretical frame and concepts that are useful in investigations of therapeutic conversations.     

Self‐Esteem,the Fear of Crime,and the Decision to Protect Oneself From Victimization

This research extends prior work that examines self‐esteem as an outcome of protective behaviors against crime victimization by focusing instead on the moderating influence of self‐esteem on the relationship between the fear of crime and the decision to protect oneself from victimization. The fear of crime is conceptualized as two separate components (fear of victimization and perceived risk) in accordance with prior work. Self‐esteem is conceptualized as three separate components (worth, efficacy, and authenticity), and measured with a recently designed instrument for capturing each aspect of self‐esteem separately. Data are collected through surveys of a population at high risk for victimization (undergraduate college students). Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that self‐esteem does play a role for deciding whether to engage in protective behaviors, and that the specific components of self‐esteem moderate defensive behavioral outcomes differently. Specifically, the self‐worth, self‐efficacy, and authenticity components of self‐esteem influence the decision to carry protection, but not the decision to take a self‐defense class. Implications for both the fear of crime and self‐esteem literatures are addressed.     

Career Engagement: Investigating Intraindividual Predictors of Weekly Fluctuations in Proactive Career Behaviors

This study applied a microlevel perspective on how within‐individual differences in motivational and social‐cognitive factors affected the weekly fluctuations of engagement in proactive career behaviors among a group of 67 German university students. Career self‐efficacy beliefs, perceived career barriers, experienced social career support, positive and negative emotions, and career engagement were assessed weekly for 13 consecutive weeks. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that above average levels of career engagement within individuals were predicted by higher than average perceived social support and positive emotions during a given week. Conversely, within‐individual differences in self‐efficacy, barriers, and negative emotions had no effect. The results suggest that career interventions should provide boosts in social support and positive emotions.     

《逻辑哲学论》中的自我观

维特根斯坦在《逻辑哲学论》中的自我理论涉及唯我论、形而上学主体和实体自我或经验自我诸论题。维氏之目的是为可说者和不可说者划界。语言和世界逻辑同构,语言是我的语言,我的语言的界限就是世界的界限,所以自我就是世界界限。维氏之唯我论并不彻底,因为世界之外尚有不可言说者。作为世界界限之自我乃是形而上学主体,它并非世界内之事实,并非世界内之实体,不能为语言所捕捉。单纯的实体自我或经验自我本指世界内之事实,而维特根斯坦在书中实际上否定了它的存在。     

先验哲学视野中的世界及其客观性

先验哲学肇端于笛卡儿"我思故我在"的哲学原则,以"先验自我"为阿基米德点而使世界在主观性中客观化。它所可能面对的世界有三重,即个体物的世界、一般本质或共相世界、绝对或大全世界。先验哲学的首要任务便是确立这三重世界的客观性。个体物的世界的客观性通过感性确定性而表现为原初被给予性,但一般本质的世界却不是原初被给予的,而是首先通过自由想象力的变更表现为普遍必然性,它成为被给予性是通过本质自我和想象力的张力活动实现的,因而是次级被给予性。如果仅坚持内在论原则,绝对或大全世界就是先验哲学在知识论上的界限。要使其成为客观的,必须拓展先验哲学。     

钱钟书和马一浮学术态度比较

“不开宗派不为师”,是钱钟书和马一浮两位学术大师共同的学术态度,虽然具体缘由不尽相同,但都植根于中国古代“为己之学”的传统。