Maladaptive Perfectionism,Adult Attachment,and Self‐Esteem in College Students

Extending an earlier study that found high self‐esteem to modify the impact of otherwise maladaptive perfectionism on depression, the current study used adult attachment theory to explore the link between perfectionism, self‐esteem, and depression in college students. Results indicated that self‐esteem buffered the effects of maladaptive perfectionism on depression and that adult attachment security moderated the association between perfectionistic self‐doubt and self‐esteem. Counseling implications of these findings are discussed.     

Strategic responses to school accountability measures: It's all in the timing

The adoption of state accountability testing in the 1990s coincided with the movement of some school start dates from September into August. Using data from Wisconsin, this paper connects these phenomena, showing that some low-scoring districts advanced their school start dates to allow their students more time to prepare for exams. I use a 2001 Wisconsin state law that restricted districts to start dates after September 1st to identify the effects of this extra time on student achievement. Extra classroom days are associated with small increases in Math scores for 4th graders, but not average reading or language scores. Extra classroom time may also have increased third grade reading scores for students in the upper portion of the ability distribution.     

Can agricultural research and extension be used to challenge the processes of exclusion and marginalisation?

Purpose: This paper examines if and how agricultural researchers and extension officers can see, understand and change processes that exclude some people and influence marginalisation.

Design and methodology: We used participatory action research (PAR) in a programme building sustainable farming practices for nutrition and income in Solomon Islands as our case study. Two qualitative PAR data streams were analysed: (i) documentation of community activities over three years including action planning, learning activities, training workshops, focus group discussions, key informant and informal interviews and (ii) documentation of the research teams’ own learning and reflection sessions.

Findings: Agricultural research and learning activities facilitated through PAR can help researchers and extension officers see, understand and challenge processes that cause social exclusion and marginalisation and lead to inequitable access to agricultural opportunities. A combination of (i) starting with a collective vision; (ii) facilitating systematic reflection exercises; and (iii) having locally tuned facilitators creating safe spaces; makes processes of social exclusion tangible, discussable and ultimately actionable, illustrating the potential of the research and extension processes to facilitate social change in real time.

Theoretical Implications: The paper makes a contribution to the growing body of theory and literature on innovation systems and people-centred approaches to agricultural development, by highlighting the facilitation challenges and opportunities that can create more learning focused and power-aware agricultural programming.

Practical Implications: Our approach, examined in this paper, can improve implementation of policies such as the Solomon Islands Agriculture and Livestock Sector Policy (2015–2019), which aims for active participation of women and youth in agricultural development.

Originality: Using a PAR approach to discover how agricultural research and extension activities can help transform the processes that cause social exclusion and create disadvantage and marginalisation.     

Health and sickness causation and the influence of Thai culture among Thai schoolchildren

Conclusion The findings show that Thai schoolchildren interpret the causes of health and sickness using their cultural knowledge and commonsense knowledge as well as school knowledge learned in the classroom. The cultural and commonsense knowledge are remarkedly different from what they are taught. More importantly, when the children employ school knowledge, the explanations are still very much commonsense interpretations. What do these findings imply then? They suggest that despite lengthy training in the classroom, the influence of the culture in which the children are growing up and their everyday experiences play an important role in their learning process. The basis of their understanding of the causes of health and sickness still seems to be in cultural and commonsense knowledge.     

Perfectionism and depressive symptoms in early adolescence

The Adaptive/Maladaptive Perfectionism Scale (AMPS; K.G. Rice & K.J. Preusser, 2002) was developed on samples of 9‐ to 11‐year‐old children. A primary purpose of the current research was to examine whether the AMPS could be useful in studies of adolescents, and in particular, studies of adolescent depression. This study of 145 early adolescents revealed (1) a somewhat different AMPS factor structure than has been evident in studies of younger children; (2) no significant mean differences between boys and girls on perfectionism, although girls were significantly more depressed than boys; (3) a pattern of perfectionism‐depression correlations that differed somewhat between boys and girls; and (4) several interactions of different dimensions of perfectionism in accounting for depression. Results are discussed by addressing differences between children and adolescents in school cultures, physical and psychological changes from childhood to adolescence, and the importance of considering the positive as well as the negative aspects of perfectionism among school‐age children. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 139–156, 2007.     

Locating Economic Risks for Adolescent Mental and Behavioral Health: Poverty and Affluence in Families,Neighborhoods, and Schools

Research has identified risks of both poverty and affluence for adolescents. This study sought to clarify associations between income and youth mental and behavioral health by delineating economic risks derived from family, neighborhood, and school contexts within a nationally representative sample of high school students (N = 13,179, average age 16). Attending schools with more affluent schoolmates was associated with heightened likelihoods of intoxication, drug use, and property crime, but youth at poorer schools reported greater depressive and anxiety symptoms, engagement in violence, and for male adolescents, more frequent violence and intoxication. Neighborhood and family income were far less predictive. Results suggest that adolescent health risks derive from both ends of the economic spectrum, and may be largely driven by school contexts.     

The Life and Fiction of Antonia Forest

summary In this article, the life and writings of Antonia Forest, who died in 2003, are considered. An attempt is made to put her books into their literary, cultural and religious contexts, and to examine possible reasons for the critical reception of her books during the last 30 years of the twentieth century; from neglect and even disapproval to unstinting praise.