The influence of breed and environmental factors on social and solitary play in dogs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis lupus familiaris</Emphasis>)

The domestic dog is an ideal model species in which to study the genetic and environmental factors that influence play behavior. Dogs exist in a wide variety of breeds and frequently engage in multiple forms of play. In the present study, we investigated whether the levels of solitary and social play differed between dogs of three breed types with distinct predatory motor pattern sequences (herding dogs, retrievers, and livestock guarding dogs [LGDs]). Furthermore, we investigated how environmental factors (social and nonsocial contexts) influenced play in dogs of these breed types. Groups of breed-matched dyads with working experience and of equivalent age, sex, and neuter status ratios were exposed to four experimental test conditions and two control conditions in randomized orders. With respect to solitary play, environmental context did have a significant effect, with toys reliably producing the highest levels of solitary play across all breed types. Retrievers engaged in significantly higher levels of solitary play overall than LGDs, and there was a trend in comparison to herding dogs. In contrast, neither environmental context nor breed had a significant effect on social play levels; however, neuter status of the dyads did have a significant effect on social play, with mixed-status dyads engaging in significantly higher levels of social play than same-status dyads. Our findings provide experimental evidence for identifying proximate, environmental stimuli that reliably facilitate social and solitary play and discuss possible genetic (i.e., breed type) and lifetime influences on the form of play in domestic dogs.     

The Long-Term Effects of Parental Divorce on the Mental Health of Young Adults: A Developmental Perspective

The effects of parental divorce during childhood and adolescence on the mental health of young adults (age 23) were examined, using the National Child Development Study (NCDS), a longitudinal, multimethod, nationally representative survey of all children born in Great Britain during 1 week in 1958 ( N = 17,414). Children were assessed at birth and subsequently followed up at ages 7, 11, 16, and 23 by means of maternal and child interviews, and by psychological, school, and medical assessments. Parental divorce had a moderate, long-term negative impact on adult mental health, as measured by the Malaise Inventory total score, and controlling for economic status, children's emotional problems, and school performance preceding marital dissolution. The likelihood of scoring above the clinical cutoff of the Malaise Inventory rose from 8% to 11% due to parental divorce. This indicated that the relative risk of serious emotional disorders increased in the aftermath of divorce, but that the large majority of individuals did not exhibit such risks. Path analyses revealed that the negative effects of divorce on adult mental health operated indirectly through higher emotional problems and lower levels of school achievement and family economic status at age 16. Results related to timing of divorce, remarriage, and interactions between age 7 emotional problems and divorce, and between age 7 emotional problems and child gender, are also discussed.     

Educators’ Challenges of Including Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Mainstream Classrooms

Although children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are increasingly being placed within mainstream classes, little is known about the challenges that teachers encounter with including them as full participants in the class. This qualitative study draws on a purposive sample of 13 educators who have experience teaching children with ASD within two cities in Ontario, Canada. Through in-depth interviews we asked about teachers’ challenges regarding creating an inclusive environment within their classroom. Teachers reported several challenges, including: understanding and managing behaviour; socio-structural barriers (i.e., school policy, lack of training and resources); and creating an inclusive environment (i.e., lack of understanding from other teachers, students and parents). Teachers recommend that more resources, training and support are needed to enhance the education and inclusion of children with ASD.     

A Two-Generation Education Intervention and Children’s Attendance in Head Start

Two-generation human capital programs seek to promote the education of parents and children simultaneously. This study examines relations between family participation in CareerAdvance, which recruits parents of Head Start children into a workforce training program, and children’s Head Start attendance. The sample included 293 children (on average 4 years old) and their parents. After one semester, CareerAdvance children demonstrated higher rates of attendance and lower rates of absence and chronic absence (missing 10% or more of school days) than matched comparison children. These associations were similar across a range of high- and low-risk subgroups at baseline. These findings are discussed in terms of the implications of a family systems approach for improving children’s Head Start attendance.     

Effects of Success/Failure and Extrinsic Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation Using a Competitive Motor Task

Abstract

Female high school students participated in a motor task to assess the effects of success/failure and extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. A questionnaire was administered to check for the degree of satisfaction after participation under each experimental condition. A significant change in intrinsic motivation was found to be due to the effects of success and failure, but not to the effect of the tangible reward. Those groups receiving success feedback persisted longer at the voluntary play situation than did those receiving failure feedback. As well, the task was deemed more satisfying for the success feedback groups. Results tend to indicate the potency of success over failure feedback in inducing intrinsic motivation and are interpreted in terms of cognitive evaluation versus the overjustification hypothesis.     

Persons Living with HIV: Disclosure to Sexual Partners

A central concern of persons in HIV education and prevention is whether a person testing positive tells sexual partners of this result. An accumulation of 51 studies across twenty years reveals that 40% of persons testing positive for HIV antibodies did not reveal this result to sexual partners (5287/8854). The impact of various factors (age, gender, date of the study, time since diagnosis, nature of the diagnosis, and sexual orientation) received consideration.     

Trends in Higher Education Participation in Scotland

Scottish higher education has expanded and diversified in the last two decades. Most notably, compared to the early 1980s, participation in the mid-1990s has risen disproportionately among people aged over 21, people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, women, and (probably) minority ethnic groups. Students are more likely to move away from their home region on entering undergraduate courses, although they are not much more likely than before to leave Scotland altogether. Although participation from Scotland generally has risen more rapidly than participation from elsewhere in the UK generally, at some Scottish institutions the proportion of undergraduates coming from outside Scotland is growing. The system as a whole is not becoming markedly more part-time, although there has been a rise in the very small proportion of people who are studying for first degrees part-time (as opposed to HNDs etc). The share of higher education taking place in further education colleges has grown sharply, but nearly all of that has been for HNDs etc rather than degrees. The expansion has been driven partly by general social change (including the intergenerational effects of previous educational expansion), partly by special entrance schemes to encourage students from social backgrounds that have not in the past been strongly associated with entering higher education, and partly by government policy. These pressures will continue, and will probably be reinforced by the imminent reform of post-16 assessment and curriculum in Scotland, producing for the educational stage immediately preceding higher education for most students a unified framework embracing both academic and vocational courses.