How do men with paraplegia choose activities in the light of striving for optimal participation? A qualitative study,based on a phenomenological–hermeneutical method

The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of men with paraplegia with regard to how they choose activities. The study involved a qualitative research design, based on a phenomenological–hermeneutical method. The findings revealed that the activities participants were choosing could be on a continuum between the individual’s self and the influence from their environment. On this continuum, the choice to perform activities was influenced by two mediating factors: the individual’s activities performed during their life-history, and their activity challenges for the future. We conclude that choosing activities is an individually constructed internal process of negotiation. Feelings of resignation and revolt appear in combination with feelings of justice and injustice when balance is not found. This knowledge provides a better understanding of the impact of spinal cord injury, sheds light on the development of distress after spinal cord injury and sheds new light on individuals’ feelings of participation.     

Parenting Discrepancy and Child Development in Chinese Context

Although parent–child discrepant perception of the family has been increasingly noted in the west, pertinent research is limited in Chinese societies. In addition, prior pertinent studies predominantly treated parent–child discrepant effects as independent of the general and aggregate family context, which are in fact inseparable. Furthermore, these studies tended to either look at the positive side of child outcomes or those negative ones. The present study, based on a community sample of 223 Chinese parent–child dyads, attempted to examine effects of parent–child discrepancy in effective parenting practices on both children’s positive, i.e. self-control and other perspective taking behavior, and negative outcomes, i.e. internalizing and externalizing problems, directly or indirectly through the mediator of children’s self-concept at the aggregate effective parenting context. Results largely support harmful effects of parent–child discrepancy in effective parenting on the child outcomes directly or indirectly through children’s self-concept. Besides, aggregate effective parenting practices are found to robustly contribute to the child outcomes directly and indirectly through children’s self-concept, even taking parent–child discrepant effects into account. What’s more important, the former is significantly moderated by the latter for its effects on the child outcomes, explicating the conditional nature of parent–child discrepant effects on child development. Contributions and implications of the current study applied in Chinese culture as well as future study directions are also discussed.     

自我概念对英语阅读效率的影响与启示

非英语专业学生的低效率阅读是一个较普遍的问题。非结构性问卷研究的结果显示:影响学生阅读效率的主体性因素明显高于客体性因素,尤其是学生的阅读自我概念对他们的阅读效率有直接影响;为提高学生的阅读效率,建议教师激发学生的欣赏型阅读动机,提升阅读自我概念,增强自我效能感,培养理性阅读态度和使用元认知监控策略的技能。     

‘At-risk’ or school-based risk? Testing a model of school-based stressors,coping responses,and academic self-concept for same-sex attracted youth

This study examined same-sex attracted (SSA) students' perceptions of their school climate toward same-sex attraction and their school-based environmental stresses and supports using Margaret Spencer's Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory model. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between stressors, coping mechanisms, and academic identity formation. Students' connection to teachers and their school environment had the strongest total impact on their academic self-concept and motivation to learn. Of key import was the indirect impact of students' perceptions of their school climate on both of these important academic outcomes, through their connection to both their school community and general school environment. Findings highlight the deleterious impact of school-based risk factors, including victimization and curricular silences, on educational outcomes for SSAyouth.     

论女性自我概念与服装消费行为

对具有消费能力的城市中青年女性而言,服装所拥有的象征意义、表现能力和带来的消费体验是影响其消费选择的重要依据,从消费者心理学的角度来解释,就是达到了与女性自我概念的一致性。服装的品质、款式、色彩以及品牌和购买场所等等都是女性消费者强化自我概念的工具。因此,针对不同自我概念的女性消费者对女性目标市场进行细分,并以此来进行整合营销传播,会是一条比较理想的途径,它比利用目标消费者的人口特征进行市场细分更加有效。     

Self-perceived Social Acceptance and Peer Social Standing in Children with Aggressive–Disruptive Behaviors

Examining children's perceptions of their social acceptance in conjunction with others’ ratings of their peer social standing can enhance our understanding of the heterogeneity in children exhibiting disruptive behavior problems. Using a sample of 213 youth rated in the top 31 percent of their class on aggressive–disruptive behaviors, the current study examined the interaction between children's perceptions of their social acceptance and their peer‐rated social standing in predicting emotional and behavioral problems. Overall, lower peer‐rated social standing was associated with higher levels of antisocial behavior, academic problems, and hyperactivity/inattention. On the other hand, higher self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased levels of peer‐rated fighting at school. For children who were rated as having high social standing among their peers, poorer self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased oppositional behaviors and conduct problems at home. In addition, children who reported lower self‐perceived social acceptance exhibited increased levels of depressive symptoms, even when they were relatively well liked by their peers. The potential implications for working with subgroups of children with aggressive–disruptive behaviors are discussed.     

Theory of Mind, Self-worth and the Mother–Child Relationship

We tested the hypothesis that mother–child warmth and responsiveness would moderate the link between young children's theory of mind skills and self‐worth. Participants included 125 same‐sex pairs of 3.5 year‐old twins and their mothers. A battery of tests was individually administered to measure the children's theory of mind skills and verbal intelligence, and their self‐reported self‐worth was assessed using a puppet interview. Following visits to the families' homes, the observers completed ratings of warm responsive mother–child behavior based on videotaped unstructured and structured observations. As expected, warm responsive behavior moderated the relation between their theory of mind and the child's self‐worth. Their theory of mind was positively associated with self‐worth in warm responsive mother–child dyads, and there was weaker evidence that their theory of mind may be negatively associated with self‐worth in less warm, unresponsive mother–child dyads.     

Judgments about personal identity in childhood and adolescence

Judgments concerning personal identity were studied in children and adolescents. Each subject was asked to imagine entering a hypothetical machine which simultaneously produced two persons, with each person receiving one of four sets of the subject's characteristics: physical, active, social, or psychological. Subjects were asked to judge which of the resulting persons was most nearly identical with the self. Results from the first study with middle-class Americans demonstrated that the social characteristics are most frequently chosen by young adolescents. With age, the physical characteristics were less frequently selected and the psychological characteristics were more often selected. In Study 2, middle-class American children between the ages of 6 to 7 judged the psychological characteristics of self most important in preserving identity, even though their self-concepts as elicited by other methods appeared physicalistic. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for accounts of self-concept development.     

互动性课堂情境设计与大学生口语自我概念的提升

论述英语自我概念是英语学习者对自己英语水平和学习能力的认知、体验和评价,口语自我概念是英语自我概念的一个分支。文献研究发现,大学生英语口语自我概念对其英语口语学习的影响不容忽视。积极的口语自我概念有助于增强口语交际的动力,而消极的口语自我概念则会导致交际焦虑,降低其学习兴趣。文中从互动性课堂情境设计的角度探析了提高大学生口语自我概念的途径,即互动性课堂情境设计应增强学生口语表达的信心,提高学生口语学习的兴趣同时充分利用小组活动。     

What is moral sanctity? Sanctity in the moral worldviews of U.S. political liberals

The moral worldviews of liberals and conservatives in the United States have been extensively studied in the political sphere, revealing the peripheral role of sanctity in the worldviews of liberals. This paper provides a commentary on this previous research and then presents a qualitative study that seeks to explore liberals’ personal meanings of sanctity from a more grounded approach. Liberals’ personal experiences of sanctity involved bodily contamination, interpersonal breaches, and lack of self-control. To further interpret these findings, we situate them in the context of two constructs measured quantitatively, namely, moral perceptions of sanctity violations and transcendental self-concepts. Results suggest that overall, certain forms of sanctity are meaningful within liberals’ moral understandings, but these sanctity concerns may obtain their significance alongside other moral concerns. Findings help to illuminate what moral sanctity means to political liberals in the United States and the multiple ways that sanctity can be moralized by different groups.