Knowing Who You Are for Not Feeling Lonely? A Longitudinal Study on Identity and Loneliness

In adolescence, both identity concerns and feelings of loneliness are of utmost importance to the experiences of young people. Yet, a theoretically grounded hypothesis that identity and loneliness are developmentally related has never been tested. Thus, the aim of this study was to disentangle the longitudinal associations between identity processes in educational and interpersonal domains and loneliness in adolescence. The sample consisted of 632 Lithuanian adolescents (53.2% girls; M_age = 14.32; SD_age = 1.09) participating in a four-wave study with 6-month intervals between assessments. Cross-lagged analyses revealed reciprocal associations between identity processes and loneliness in the educational domain and unidirectional effects of adolescents' reconsideration of commitment on loneliness in the interpersonal domain.     

The model of pre-acculturative stress—A pre-migration study of potential migrants from Russia to Finland

This study tested a model of factors predicting pre-acculturative stress among potential migrants from Russia to Finland prior to their migration (N = 244). By applying the theory of stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), the model of acculturative stress (e.g., Berry, 2006) and the expectations model (e.g., [Black, 1992] and [Black et al., 1992]) to the pre-acculturation stage, it was hypothesized that the potential migrants’ pre-acculturative stress is a result of expectations about future (post-migration) adaptation. These expectations are developed through direct and indirect pre-migration contacts with, as well as knowledge about, the society of immigration. Three types of expectations during the pre-acculturation stage were studied: expected difficulties in socio-cultural adaptation, expected duration of adaptation, and expected discrimination. In line with the hypotheses, experiences of pre-acculturative stress clearly originated from the expectations that potential migrants had regarding their upcoming post-migration adaptation. Also, socioeconomic status, gender, general well-being, self-efficacy, perceived social support, and length of the pre-acculturation stage played important roles in predicting expectations and/or stress among the potential migrants. The study highlights that pre-acculturation is a complex process that begins at the pre-migration stage. It contributes to our understanding of pre-acculturation in general, as well as the factors affecting the formation of pre-acculturative stress among voluntary ethnic migrants.     

Investigating the workload,readiness and physical performance changes during intensified 3-week preparation periods in female national Under18 and Under20 basketball teams

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate between- and within-team changes in workload [PlayerLoad (PL), training impulse (TRIMP) and session rate of perceived exertion training load (sRPE-TL)], readiness [heart rate variability (HRV)], and physical performance [20-m sprint test (including 10-m split time), countermovement jump (CMJ) and yo-yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (YYIR1)] during 3-week intensified preparation periods in female, national Under18 (n = 12, age = 18.0 ± 0.5y, stature = 180.4 ± 7.5 cm, body mass = 72.7 ± 9.3 kg) and Under20 (n = 12, age = 19.6 ± 0.8y, stature = 178.6 ± 6.4 cm, body mass = 68.0 ± 5.9 kg) basketball teams. Under18 team revealed small-to-moderate statistically significantly higher values in workload [PL: p = 0.010; ES = Small; TRIMP: p = 0.004; ES = Moderate; sRPE-TL: p < 0.001; ES = Moderate] and moderately lower readiness values (p = 0.023; ES = Moderate) compared to Under20. Within-team analysis showed no differences in workload in Under20 and statistically significant reduction (p < 0.05) in Week3 (taper period) in Under18. Pre- and post-preparation changes showed Under18 increasing only YYIR1 performance (p < 0.001; ES = Very large). Differently, Under20 statistically improved in 10-m split time (p = 0.003; ES = Moderate), CMJ (p = 0.025; ES = Moderate) and YYIR1 (p < 0.001; ES = Large). A constant adequate workload positively benefits players’ readiness and physical performances during short intensified preparation periods. Conversely, using high workload with periodization strategies encompassing short overload and taper phases induced positive changes on players’ aerobic performance, lower readiness values and no changes in anaerobic performances.     

Associations between sexual abuse and family conflict/violence, self-injurious behavior, and substance use: the mediating role of depressed mood and anger

Objective

To examine whether depressed mood and anger mediate the effects of sexual abuse and family conflict/violence on self-injurious behavior and substance use.

Methods

A cross-sectional national survey was conducted including 9,085 16-19 year old students attending all high schools in Iceland in 2004. Participants reported frequency of sexual abuse, family conflict/violence, self-injurious behavior, substance use, depressed mood, and anger.

Results

Sexual abuse and family conflict/violence had direct effects on self-injurious behavior and substance use among both genders, when controlling for age, family structure, parental education, anger, and depressed mood. More importantly, the indirect effects of sexual abuse and family conflict/violence on self-injurious behavior among both males and females were twice as strong through depressed mood as through anger, while the indirect effects of sexual abuse and family conflict/violence on substance use were only significant through anger.

Conclusions

These results indicate that in cases of sexual abuse and family conflict/violence, substance use is similar to externalizing behavior, where anger seems to be a key mediating variable, opposed to internalizing behavior such as self-injurious behavior, where depressed mood is a more critical mediator.

Practice implications

Practical implications highlight the importance of focusing on a range of emotions, including depressed mood and anger, when working with stressed adolescents in prevention and treatment programs for self-injurious behavior and substance use.     

Effects of Expressive Writing Effects on Disgust and Anxiety in a Subsequent Dissection

Emotions influence motivation and achievement, but negative emotions have rarely been assessed in science education. In this study, we assessed the influence of two different expressive writing assignments on disgust and anxiety in university students prior to the dissection of a trout. We randomly assigned students to one of two expressive writing tasks and measured specific state disgust and state anxiety after writing and after the dissection. Specific state disgust was measured a third time after 3 weeks. One writing task was concerned with the dissection, and the other was related to behavioral experiments with mice. We used two general linear models with repeated measures. In the first model, specific state disgust (pre, post, and follow-up) was used as the dependent repeated measure and experimental group as the independent variable. In the second model, state anxiety was used as the dependent repeated measure (pre, post) with experimental group as the independent variable. The repeated testing showed a highly significant effect of experimental group on the repeated measures of disgust. Writing about worries and emotions concerning the dissection leads to higher disgust scores compared to writing about mice. These higher scores persisted even 3 weeks later in the follow-up test. Concerning anxiety, there was a clear influence of the repeated measure of state anxiety, but anxiety was not influenced by the experimental group. We suggest that positive writing should be used in educational contexts to reduce disgust.     

Research on Gender and Education in the Nordic Countries

Sex has for many years been an important independent variable in educational research, but the serious theoretical discussion of the variable as a dependent variable belongs mostly to the last three decades. A need for a conceptual reorientation has emerged which, for one thing, resulted in the replacement of the concept sex by the concept gender. The article in this section presents and discusses the necessity and the development of this theoretical reorientation in the Nordic countries, which has attracted many researchers and instigated inventive projects. In addition the article gives an overview of Nordic empirical gender research in or related to education: first the studies that opened up the field, then the development that followed. This presentation focuses on different subareas, such as studies of gender and ability, learning and achievement, studies of gender aspects of classroom interaction, studies of single‐sex learning arrangements, action research studies in order to expand the interpersonal and emotional skills repertoire of boys and girls, studies of gender identity. Although differences between the Nordic countries are clear, similarity is the dominant trait. At the end the article comments on recent viewpoints on the likely development of gender policy and outlines basic educational questions within the Nordic educational systems.     

Ingroup norms, intergroup contact and intergroup anxiety as predictors of the outgroup attitudes of majority and minority youth

This study focused on the interplay of perceived parental and peer norms and the quality of intergroup contact in predicting outgroup attitudes among majority and minority youth. In addition, the role of intergroup anxiety on the contact-attitude association was studied simultaneously with the effects of social norms. 225 adolescents (93 Finnish majority and 132 Russian-speaking minority youth) were surveyed. As was hypothesized, the effects of intergroup contact and social norms on the outgroup attitudes were different depending on the group status: perceived norms and the quality of intergroup contact had a joint effect on outgroup attitudes only among minority youth. While perceived norms and contact experiences affected the outgroup attitudes of majority group members independently of each other, minority group members’ negative contact experiences were associated with negative attitudes towards the majority only when the perceived ingroup norms supported the expression of negative attitudes. Surprisingly, intergroup anxiety mediated the contact-attitude association only in minority youth, and the effect of contact quality on outgroup attitudes was stronger among the minority than among the majority. The results are discussed in relation to the specific intergroup context in question. It is suggested that both positive ingroup norms and pleasant personal contact experiences play a crucial role in the formation of positive attitudes among minority as well as majority youth, and in some contexts positive norms may be even more important than positive intergroup contact.     

Educational reforms — Women's life patterns: A Swedish case study

This article focuses on reforms in Swedish higher education since the 1970s. It asks whether and, if so, how, these reforms affected women. Though the reform movement succeeded in bringing more of them into the university, women are still segregated into predominantly female fields. This segregation in higher education translates into occupational segregation in the workforce. The second half of the study asks why the reforms have failed to equalize men's and women's education and life-chances. Through the life history approach, the author finds that Swedish reforms proceeded on the basis of rational efficiency models which have little to do with how women make educational and work decisions. The author argues that in order for equalization to occur, the task will be to reform higher education in a way that matches rational efficiency with human sensibility.     

Diverse histories,common ground and a shared future: the education of career guidance and counselling professionals in the Nordic countries

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - The development of education programmes in career guidance and counseling (CGC) has followed different paths among the various Nordic...