University press publishing and the ecology of disciplinary fluidity: General observations

Academic book and journal publishing constitutes the majority focus of university presses. Besides commercial scholarly publishers, academic scholars and researchers view the opportunities provided by university presses as important venues for the dissemination of their research. This discussion focuses on the disciplinary imperative to publish scholarship that is ever more fluid and specialized as academic disciplines continue to become further nuanced in their response to the increasing knowledge produced by humanities and social science inquiry. The focus is on university presses and not commercial scholarly presses, although constitute a significant locus of scholarly publishing. What are the general characteristics of academic specialization and university press publishing? Further, how is disciplinary fluidity, especially evolving specialization, reflected in university press book publishing nomenclature and how scholarship is tied to the intellectual preoccupations of academic specialization? Multi- and inter-disciplinarities further articulate disciplinary publishing, accelerating disciplinary fluidity. Examples from disciplinary and emerging configurations of disciplinary nomenclature utilized by university presses offers insight into specialization and publishing. Academic history publishing is used to illustrate newly emerging fluid disciplinary configurations.     

Factors underlying students' decisions to use mobile devices in clinical settings

University policies prohibiting use of mobile devices by medical students during clinical placements are contradicted by regular use by physicians. Consequently, many students use their mobile devices, which can be beneficial for learning but may put patient privacy at risk. This study explores the reasons underlying students' decisions about using mobile devices in clinical settings. We used a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design involving a questionnaire and focus groups. Qualitative data from the questionnaire and focus groups was analysed through thematic analysis. We found students were aware of the risks mobile devices posed to professionalism and medical practice. Despite prohibitions, many made individual decisions to use mobile devices because the benefits outweighed the risks. These students were influenced by an organised, strategic approach to learning and a motivation to comply with the beliefs and behaviours of their medical teams and conform to physicians' directives in order to participate in their community of practice. Many students appear to be transferring everyday use of mobile devices to clinical settings. There is a need to understand and promote aspects of learning that are enhanced by mobile devices in clinical settings, while articulating clear guidelines and boundaries compatible with the professional behaviour expected of students.     

An examination of gender and situational interest in multimedia learning environments

Existing research highlights conflicting results attempting to capture gender preferences with respect to unimodal versus multimodal designs in online learning. As online learning continues to expand, more research examining the role of gender in multimedia design holds considerable potential. However, the presence of multimedia in online learning contexts presents a more complex problem when taking into consideration the concept of learner interest. The current study sought to investigate gender differences in situational interest (SI) with respect to three different but related designs of an online, multimedia learning environment for continuing, professional education in emergency medical services. The content in these designs was identical, but applied different combinations of the redundancy and modality multimedia principles. A two-way analysis of variance was used to examine the types of SI by gender and type of multimedia design. While no significant difference or interaction effect was identified between gender and triggered SI, an interaction effect was observed for females and the different multimedia designs. Specifically, females reported a higher maintained SI when animation, narration and text were effectively combined. The findings of this study provide insight into best practices for instructional and media designers developing multimedia learning environments as well as future research implications.     

Discrimination and Ethnic–Racial Identity: Understanding Direction of Effects Using Within- and Between-Person Analyses

Ethnic–racial identity (ERI) development and ethnic–racial discrimination are two salient experiences among adolescents in the United States. Despite growing awareness of the costs and benefits of these experiences individually, we know little about how they may influence one another. The current study examined competing hypotheses relating discrimination and components of ERI (i.e., exploration, resolution, affirmation) among a sample of Mexican-origin adolescent mothers (N = 181; M_age at Wave 1 = 16.83, SD = 1.01) across six waves of data. Findings revealed that within-person changes in discrimination predicted subsequent ERI resolution and affirmation; however, ERI did not predict subsequent discrimination. Between-person effects of discrimination on affirmation were significant. Our findings underscore the importance of discrimination experiences in shaping Mexican-origin adolescent mothers’ normative developmental competencies.     

An Experimental Investigation of Antisocial Lie-Telling Among Children With Disruptive Behavior Disorders and Typically Developing Children

Children's lie-telling is surprisingly understudied among children with significant behavioral problems. In the present study, experimental paradigms were used to examine antisocial lie-telling among ethnically diverse 5- to 10-year-old children with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD; n = 71) and a typically developing (TD) comparison sample (n = 50) recruited from a southeastern state from 2013 to 2014. Children completed two games that measured the prevalence and skill of their lies: (a) for personal gain and (b) to conceal wrongdoing. Children with DBD were more likely to lie for personal gain than TD children. With age, children were more likely to lie to conceal wrongdoing, but the reverse was true regarding lies for personal gain. Results advance knowledge concerning individual differences in children's lie-telling.     

Adolescents’ Friendships,Academic Achievement,and Risk Behaviors: Same-Behavior and Cross-Behavior Selection and Influence Processes

This study examined to what extent adolescents’ and their friends’ risk behaviors (i.e., delinquency and alcohol use) hinder or promote their academic achievement (grade point average [GPA]), and vice versa. Longitudinal data were used (N = 1,219 seventh- to ninth-grade adolescents; M_age = 13.69). Results showed that risk behaviors negatively affected adolescents’ GPA, whereas GPA protected against engaging in risk behaviors. Moreover, adolescents tended to select friends who have similar behaviors and friends’ behaviors became more similar over time (same-behavior selection and influence). Furthermore, although same-behavior effects seemed to dominate, evidence was found for some cross-behavior selection effects and a tendency in seventh grade for cross-behavior influence effects. Concluding, it is important to investigate the interplay between different behaviors with longitudinal social network analysis.     

Smart Conformists: Children and Adolescents Associate Conformity With Intelligence Across Cultures

The current study used a novel methodology based on multivocal ethnography to assess the relations between conformity and evaluations of intelligence and good behavior among Western (U.S.) and non-Western (Ni-Vanuatu) children (6- to 11-year-olds) and adolescents (13- to 17-year-olds; N = 256). Previous research has shown that U.S. adults were less likely to endorse high-conformity children as intelligent than Ni-Vanuatu adults. The current data demonstrate that in contrast to prior studies documenting cultural differences between adults' evaluations of conformity, children and adolescents in the United States and Vanuatu have a conformity bias when evaluating peers' intelligence and behavior. Conformity bias for good behavior increases with age. The results have implications for understanding the interplay of conformity bias and trait psychology across cultures and development.     

The Development of Empathic Concern in Siblings: A Reciprocal Influence Model

This study utilized actor–partner interdependence modeling to examine the bidirectional effects of younger (M_age = 18 months) and older siblings (M_age = 48 months) on later empathy development in a large (n = 452 families), diverse (42% immigrant) Canadian sample. Controlling for parenting, demographic characteristics, sibling relationship quality, and within-child stability in empathic concern, both younger and older siblings’ observed empathic concern uniquely predicted relative increases in the other's empathy over a period of 18 months. The strength of the partner effects did not differ by birth order. Sex composition moderated the younger sibling partner effect, whereas age gap moderated the older sibling partner effect. This study highlights the important role that siblings play in enhancing the development of care and concern for others.