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.     

Validating the Emotion-Focused Interactions Scale for teacher–student interactions

Learning Environments Research - Teacher–student interactions contribute to the quality of the classroom environment. Although numerous measures of these interactions exist, few target the...     

Further investigation of comparability of the WISC-R and PPVT-R for children and youth referred for psychological services

Comparisons of the WISC-R and PPVT-R were made with 37 students (25 boys, 12 girls). Pearson product moments (r) and two-tail f-tests were employed in the data analysis. The sample ranged in age from 6-2 to 14-6, with a mean age of 10-1, and SD=2.6. There were no significant differences between the WISC-R IQs and PPVT-R standard scores. The PPVT-R did not correlate significantly with the WISC-R IQ scales.     

Is Transracial the Same as Transgender? The Utility and Limitations of Identity Analogies in Multicultural Education

In June 2015, Melissa Harris-Perry infamously analogized the possibility of trans-Black identity to the reality of transgender identity. Such analogies happen often and are used mostly for the benefit of learning about a less familiar form of identity. Building from a recent article by Suthakaranm, Filsinger, and White (2013 Suthakaran, V., Filsinger, K., &; White, B. (2013). Using analogies as an experiential learning technique in multicultural education. Multicultural Perspectives, 15(2), 92–97.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) that presented a compelling argument for the use of analogies as an experiential learning tool in multicultural education, we advance the conversation by distinguishing a particular form of analogies: identity analogies. We explore the benefits and challenges of utilizing identity analogies as a tool for multicultural educators within U.S. higher education.     

Projectification of Doctoral Training? How Research Fields Respond to a New Funding Regime

Funding is an important mechanism for exercising influence over ever more parts of academic systems. In order to do so, funding agencies attempt to export their functional and normative prerequisites for financing to new fields. One essential requirement for fundees is then to construct research processes in the form of a project beforehand, one that is limited in time, scope and content. This article demonstrates how the public funding of doctoral programs expands this model of project research from experienced academics to the socialization process for the new academic generation. This process of “projectification” underlies funding-driven institutional changes in doctoral training. A multi-level comparative study of German policies, funding mechanisms and organizational frameworks for doctoral training demonstrates the emergence of a specific model of predefined PhD projects. The investigation of doctoral training practices reveals that socio-epistemic preconditions regulate whether research fields adopted or rejected this demanding model. This result contradicts widespread claims about a radical change in doctoral training and suggests focusing on the actual practices of field-specific doctoral research.     

Academic Habitus and Institutional Change: Comparing Two Generations of German Scholars

Minerva - Since the 1980s scholars have been increasingly confronted with expectations to orient themselves toward societal and economic priorities. This normative demand for societal...     

Sand training: Exercise-induced muscle damage and inflammatory responses to matched-intensity exercise

This study compared markers of muscle damage and inflammation elevated by a matched-intensity interval running session on soft sand and grass surfaces. In a counterbalanced, repeated-measures and crossover design, 10 well-trained female athletes completed 2 interval-based running sessions 1 week apart on either a grass or a sand surface. Exercise heart rate (HR) was fixed at 83–88% of HR maximum. Venous blood samples were collected pre-, post- and 24?h post-exercise, and analysed for myoglobin (Mb) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Perceptual ratings of exertion (RPE) and muscle soreness (DOMS) were recorded immediately post- and 24?h post-exercise. A significant time effect showed that Mb increased from pre- to post-exercise on grass (p?=?.008) but not on sand (p?=?.611). Furthermore, there was a greater relative increase in Mb on grass compared with that on sand (p?=?.026). No differences in CRP were reported between surfaces (p?>?.05). The HR, RPE and DOMS scores were not significantly different between conditions (p > .05). These results suggest that in response to a matched-intensity exercise bout, markers of post-exercise muscle damage may be reduced by running on softer ground surfaces. Such training strategy may be used to minimize musculoskeletal strain while still incurring an equivalent cardiovascular training stimulus.