The social-cognitive mechanisms regulating adolescents' use of doping substances

Abstract

In this study, we assessed the longitudinal effects of social-cognitive mechanisms on the self-reported use of doping substances and supplements among Italian high school students. In total, 1232 students completed questionnaires measuring various psychological factors hypothesized to influence students' intention to use substances. Three months later, 762 of the students completed the same questionnaires a second time and also reported their use of substances during the time between assessments. Overall, the percentages of students using doping substances (2.1%) or supplements (14.4%) were consistent with values reported in the literature. Analysis of the data showed that adolescents' intention to use doping substances increased with stronger attitudes about doping, stronger beliefs that significant others would approve of their use, a stronger conviction that doping use can be justified, and a lowered capacity to resist situational pressure or personal desires. In turn, stronger intentions and moral disengagement contributed to a greater use of doping substances during the previous 3 months. Doping use was also correlated significantly to supplementation. In conclusion, our results provide novel information about some of the psychological processes possibly regulating adolescents' use of doping substances and supplements. The results also highlight possible areas for future study and intervention, focusing on the prevention of adolescents' substance use.     

Argumentative abilities in metacognition and in metalinguistics: a study on university students

The article presents a study on metalinguistic, cognitive and metacognitive abilities in university students. A sample of 353 students was recruited; 178 of which from scientific and 175 from humanistic Faculties, with gender balance (M = 178; F = 175) whose age range was between 20 and 25 years old. They were administered a metalinguistic ability test that assesses metalinguistic awareness at implicit and explicit levels (L and ML scores) and the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices 38 (SPM38). In addition to the usual nonverbal administration of the matrices, candidates were asked to justify in written form the reasons for the solution indicated in each item. Three scores were considered for the SPM38: the ordinary score based on the number of correct nonverbal solutions (O.S.), a 7-point scale for assessing the argumentation of the correct solutions (C.ARG.S.) and a 6-point scale for assessing the argumentation of the incorrect solutions (I.ARG.S.). Significant gender and curriculum effects were found, with males and scientific students dominating at the nonverbal level while females and humanistic students dominated in the argumentative abilities related to the matrices and in all the scores of the metalinguistic test. A number of significant correlations were found between all the metalinguistic, cognitive and metacognitive abilities considered, with a prominent role of the metalinguistic abilities at the explicit level (ML score) that show a clear argumentative structure very similar to the C.ARG.S. argumentations in the matrices test.     

How the New Web Generations are Changing Library and Information Services

The new Web generations are influencing the minds and changing the habits of software developers and end users. Users, librarians, and information services professionals can interact more efficiently, creating additional information and content and generating knowledge. This new scenario is also changing the behavior of information providers and users in health sciences libraries. This article reviews the new Web environments and tools that give librarians opportunities to tailor their services better, and gives some examples of the advantages and disadvantages for them and their users. Librarians need to adapt to the new mindset of users, linking new technologies, information, and people.     

Who says aging is lonely? A phenomenology of Filipino older adults’ experiences of happiness when joining international group tours

Across the literature, travelling has been viewed as a recurring activity for older adults and is driven by a multitude of purposes and reasons. Previous studies have probed touristic activities of older adults however, little is known about their emotional experiences specifically their sense of happiness when joining international group tours, hence this phenomenological study. A qualitative approach was utilized to gather data from a group of 15 purposively selected participants aged 60 years and above. A two-part instrument consisting of a robotfoto and a semi-structured interview was used in this study. Through vertical and horizontal analyses of the field text, this study afforded the development of The Spiraling Model of Aging Filipino Tourists’ Happiness. This model describes aging tourists’ happiness while travelling as a product of Shared Moments, Shared Culture, Shared Memories, and Shared Transcendence. Summarily, findings of this study may provide significant insights to service providers such as hotels, airlines and travel agencies across the globe in developing innovative marketing strategies that cater to this promising age group. Empirically, this study may stimulate further exploration in the field of Cognitive Psychology aimed at adding large-scale data regarding the study of emotions specifically older adults’ happiness when joining international group tours.     

Surface cleaning? Yes,freshly grated Agar gel,please

Polysaccharide-based rigid hydrogels are by now well-established means for delivering water or, more generally an aqueous solution, to a surface in a controllable way so as to minimize diffusion and possible side-effects on water-sensitive materials during cleaning treatments. These gels can be applied as pre-formed solid bricks on planar surfaces or brushed onto objects in a semi-solid state. In this note, a different application procedure is presented, suitable for surface cleaning treatments of sensitive painted surfaces: pre-formed rigid gels grated to tiny particles that can be brushed onto the surface. A general discussion on the strategies that can be adopted when water is required to clean a water-sensitive soiled surface is presented, then the new procedure is discussed and a representative case study is shown, supporting the procedure described.     

The “Medico-Pedagogical Institutes” and the failure of the collaboration between psychiatry and pedagogy (1889–1978)

ABSTRACT

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a number of Italian psychiatrists were convinced that medicine and education should work together to treat children with mental disabilities, then commonly defined as “feeble-minded”. To this end they promoted the establishment of “Medico-Pedagogical Institutes”, institutes, that is, with medical and psychological staff, reserved for disabled minors considered “amendable” or “educable”. These institutions were to serve, on the one hand, to remove children from Mental Hospitals, and on the other, to enable them to be educated and to improve their psycho-physical attitudes. Nevertheless, over their long history, which lasted about a hundred years, the educational component decreased significantly and many Medico-Pedagogical Institutes ended up by resembling adult Mental Hospitals. At the end of the 1970s, several scandals erupted, revealing the inhuman conditions in which children were treated, and all the Institutes were closed. It is impossible to understand the overall sense of the value and the functions exercised by the Medico-Pedagogical Institutes over the century of their existence, unless we take a long-term perspective, which can help to create a detached and balanced history, revealing of our relationship with diversity and biopower.     

Sexism,homophobia and transphobia in a sample of Italian pre-service teachers: the role of socio-demographic features

Although recent research has highlighted that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youths represent a resilient population, they still suffer from social stigma and oppression, being potentially at additional risk of developing negative mental health outcomes. One of the main environments where violence and harassment against this population are present is the school. Within school contexts, the impact that teachers can have on the educational experiences of LGBT youths seems to be a crucial point. This paper explored sexist, homophobic and transphobic attitudes among 438 pre-service teachers in relation to specific socio-demographic features. Results indicated that being male, heterosexual, conservative and currently religious were positively associated with sexist, homophobic, and transphobic attitudes and feelings, and having a LGBT friend was negatively associated with homophobic and transphobic attitudes and feelings. These results suggest the need to introduce specific training on the deconstruction of gender and sexual stereotypes and prejudices, to provide teachers with efficient tools to address diversity in the classrooms and to implement inclusive school policies. Suggestions for the implementation of good practices are provided.     

纤维滤料新模型的阻力数值模拟研究

利用流体力学开源代码OpenFOAM验证了单圆柱体周围的流体特性（包括流型和阻力）,表明Open-FOAM能够用于模拟低Re数流,并发现Shaw的解析解是斯托克斯悖论的一种解.通过对纤维滤料进行试验以及对Tronville-Rivers二维纤维随机分布滤料新模型的阻力特性进行数值模拟,发现Kuwabara模型比Hap-pel模型更能精确预测纤维滤料的阻力,而且试验阻力值介于纤维表面为无滑移和全滑移边界条件下的数值模拟值之间.