Risk and Protective Factors Related to Fathers’ Positive Involvement and Negative Reinforcement With 1-Year-Olds

Objective. Guided by a social interaction learning model, this study investigated potential risk and protective factors related to fathers’ early parenting behaviors. Design. Parenting behaviors in 726 Norwegian fathers with their 1-year olds (51.7% boys) were assessed by both micro social coding and global ratings from direct observation of structured interactions. Father and child factors were reported by fathers when the child was 6 months and 1 year old. Results. Fathers’ positive involvement was associated with children’s observed sustained attention, and lack of positive involvement was associated with children’s communicative risk and fathers’ lower education. Fathers’ negative reinforcement was associated with children’s developmental difficulties and communicative risk. Positive involvement and negative reinforcement were not correlated and were predicted by different factors, indicating they are separate dimensions of parenting. Conclusion. Multiple predictors relate to different parenting dimensions and point to factors that may enhance father–infant interaction and identify fathers and children who may benefit from early intervention.     

Standards for vision science libraries: 2014 revision

Objective:

This Association of Vision Science Librarians revision of the “Standards for Vision Science Libraries” aspires to provide benchmarks to address the needs for the services and resources of modern vision science libraries (academic, medical or hospital, pharmaceutical, and so on), which share a core mission, are varied by type, and are located throughout the world.

Methods:

Through multiple meeting discussions, member surveys, and a collaborative revision process, the standards have been updated for the first time in over a decade.

Results:

While the range of types of libraries supporting vision science services, education, and research is wide, all libraries, regardless of type, share core attributes, which the standards address.

Conclusions:

The current standards can and should be used to help develop new vision science libraries or to expand the growth of existing libraries, as well as to support vision science librarians in their work to better provide services and resources to their respective users.The Association of Vision Science Librarians (AVSL)—whose more than 150 members represent ophthalmology, optometry, and industry libraries throughout the world—has defined standards for its libraries since 1976 1–3. AVSL recommends that vision science libraries (VSLs) have at least one active member in AVSL. Standards for this very specialized area of library service have evolved owing to the work of librarians who, since 1937, have been developing and refining standards for their libraries 4. The standards reported here reflect the changes that have taken place during the decade and a half since the last edition of these standards were published. Changes include recommended staffing and technology, and the addition of a section addressing online access to information.AVSL convened a task force to first evaluate whether a standards revision was needed. Once it was agreed to do so, the task force guided the process of the revision, which included member surveys and discussions at meetings over the span of two years.The standards are intended to provide qualitative information such as appropriate staffing levels and collection scope, which can be used to evaluate existing vision science libraries or to develop new vision science libraries. In addition, these libraries should reflect the purpose and mission of the institution to which each belongs, and each library should have policies in place that outline the various areas to support the education, research, and patient care information needs of their institutions.     

The effects of quantitative skills training on college outcomes and peers

This paper estimates the causal effect of taking a course in quantitative reasoning on students’ academic performance and classroom peer-group composition at a liberal arts college. To identify effects, the paper compares the outcomes of otherwise similar students who barely passed a baseline quantitative skills assessment (not taking the course) with students who barely failed (taking the course). The regression-discontinuity estimates show little impact on academic outcomes for student close to the passing cutoff, including grades on subsequent courses with quantitative content, but we are unable to distinguish small from zero effects. Exogenous course assignment does affect the composition of students’ classroom peer groups in subsequent years. The effects can only be generalized to students in the vicinity of the passing threshold (but not students with much worse quantitative skills at the baseline). We discuss implications for research and policy on remediation.     

Primacy Effects of The Daily Show and National TV News Viewing: Young Viewers,Political Gratifications,and Internal Political Self-Efficacy

This study examines program ordering effects derived from viewing CNN television news relative to The Daily Show on the political gratifications associated with both types of information sources. Internal political self-efficacy is assessed as an individual-difference moderator. Main primacy effects are found on the gratifications associated with both national television news viewing and The Daily Show viewing. However, The Daily Show primacy effect on the political gratifications associated with national television news viewing was isolated among those participants who retain low internal political self-efficacy. Ramifications for these findings are outlined and future lines of research are summarized.     

Childhood Maltreatment and Early Developmental Vulnerabilities at Age 5 Years

This study examined associations between maltreatment and early developmental vulnerabilities in a population sample of 68,459 children (M_age = 5.62 years, SD = .37) drawn from the Australian state of New South Wales, using linked administrative data for the children and their parents (collected 2001–2009). Associations were estimated between (a) any maltreatment, (b) the number of maltreatment types, and (c) the timing of first reported maltreatment and vulnerability and risk status on multiple developmental domains (i.e., physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and communication). Pervasive associations were revealed between maltreatment and all developmental domains; children exposed to two or more maltreatment types, and with first maltreatment reported after 3 years of age, showed greater likelihood of vulnerability on multiple domains, relative to nonmaltreated children.     

Children Use Nonverbal Cues to Make Inferences About Social Power

Four studies (N = 192) tested whether young children use nonverbal information to make inferences about differences in social power. Five‐ and six‐year‐old children were able to determine which of two adults was “in charge” in dynamic videotaped conversations (Study 1) and in static photographs (Study 4) using only nonverbal cues. Younger children (3–4 years) were not successful in Study 1 or Study 4. Removing irrelevant linguistic information from conversations did not improve the performance of 3‐ to 4‐year‐old children (Study 3), but including relevant linguistic cues did (Study 2). Thus, at least by 5 years of age, children show sensitivity to some of the same nonverbal cues adults use to determine other people's social roles.     

Response Time Differences Between Computers and Tablets

Item response time data were used in investigating the differences in student test-taking behavior between two device conditions: computer and tablet. Analyses were conducted to address the questions of whether or not the device condition had a differential impact on rapid guessing and solution behaviors (with response time effort used as an indicator) as well as on the time that students spent on the test (reading, mathematics, and science) or a given item type (such as drag-and-drop and fill in blank). Further analyses were conducted to examine if the potential impact of device conditions varied by gender and ethnicity groups. Overall there were no significant differences in response time effort related to device, although some differences related to item type and test sequence were noted. Students tended to spend slightly more time when taking the tests and certain types of items on the tablet than on the computer. No interactions of device with gender or ethnicity were observed. Follow-up research on the item time thresholds is discussed.     

Enhancing attachment organization among maltreated children: results of a randomized clinical trial

Young children who have experienced early adversity are at risk for developing disorganized attachments. The efficacy of Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), an intervention targeting nurturing care among parents identified as being at risk for neglecting their young children, was evaluated through a randomized clinical trial. Attachment quality was assessed in the Strange Situation for 120 children between 11.7 and 31.9 months of age (M = 19.1, SD = 5.5). Children in the ABC intervention showed significantly lower rates of disorganized attachment (32%) and higher rates of secure attachment (52%) relative to the control intervention (57% and 33%, respectively). These results support the efficacy of the ABC intervention in enhancing attachment quality among parents at high risk for maltreatment.     

DRM as Sociotechnical Systems

This article is an assessment of virtual organization, a new paradigm of organization and management. Like most new ideas, virtual organization is not entirely new—some of its components are recognizable from earlier concepts of organization. However, the integration of all the components does signal something new and revolutionary. Its revolutionary character stems from the principle of switching (i.e., shifting between different means for satisfying a need), which calls upon management to maintain a logical separation between abstract requirements and the concrete means for their satisfaction. Advanced information technology makes it possible to realize virtual organization in practice, and the paradigm is clearly manifest in the operations of some innovative firms. The economic and social significance of virtual organization in the future is likely to be comparable to that of the factory in an earlier period. Properly implemented, virtual organization may deliver increases in efficiency and effectiveness on an unprecedented scale. At the same time, it may stimulate social changes at least as far‐reaching as those associated with the industrial revolution. This article provides a precise definition of virtual organization and undertakes to justify these claims about the new paradigm.