IMPACTS OF TRADITIONAL BULLYING AND CYBERBULLYING ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

A critical debate within the field of school psychology has centered on the relationship between bullying and cyberbullying in terms of prevalence, overlap, and impact. The current study sought to address the following questions: (1) Does cyberbullying create new victims or merely a new means of victimization? (2) Does cyberbullying uniquely contribute to negative outcomes above and beyond those of traditional bullying? Utilizing an anonymous survey to examine students’ experiences with cyberbullying, traditional bullying, and negative psychological symptoms, it was found that the vast majority of students who were bullied online were also victims of in‐person bullying. Both forms of victimization were independently associated with negative outcomes. However, when controlling for traditional bullying, cyberbullying did not remain a predictor of negative mental health outcomes. In contrast, when controlling for cyberbullying, traditional bullying remained a significant predictor of negative mental health outcomes. These results suggest that although traditional and cyber forms of bullying tend to target the same victims, traditional bullying is more uniquely associated with negative psychological outcomes.     

Promoting Positive Family Interactions: Evaluating a Free Early Childhood Book Distribution Program

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) program encourages reading among families of preschool children by mailing age-appropriate books, once per month, until the child reaches the age of five. An evaluation of a DPIL program in a southern state in the U.S. was conducted to assess the impact on enrolled children. Focus groups were conducted and a survey was administered to over 100 parents of children in the program to determine parents’ satisfaction with–and assessment of–the program relative to its activities and stated outcomes. To what extent the program promoted reading in the family, and children’s enjoyment of reading and school readiness was explored. In addition, family communication styles and relationships were assessed relative to these outcomes. The parents reported that the program introduced more diverse reading choices, fostered their children’s love of reading, promoted cognitive development and readiness for school, increased use of public libraries, and encouraged family interaction. Some differences in reading activities based on family communication styles were found. As well, parents provided recommendations for outreaching to underserved children. Implications of these findings for groups that sponsor this program and for further research are presented.     

Symmetries and conservation laws in classical and quantum mechanics 2. Quantum mechanics

In Part 1 of this two-part article we have spelt out, in some detail, the link between symmetries and conservation principles in the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of classical mechanics (CM). In this second part, we turn our attention to the corresponding question in quantum mechanics (QM). The generalization we embark upon will proceed in two directions: from the classical formulation to the quantum mechanical one, and from a single (infinitesimal) symmetry to a multi-dimensional Lie group of symmetries. Of course, we always have some definite physical system in mind. We also assume that the reader is familiar with the elements of quantum mechanics at the level of a standard first course on the subject. Operators will be denoted with an overhead caret, e.g., $ \hat A,\hat G,\hat U $ \hat A,\hat G,\hat U , etc., while $ [\hat A,\hat B] = \hat A\hat B - \hat B\hat A $ [\hat A,\hat B] = \hat A\hat B - \hat B\hat A is the commutator of $ \hat A $ \hat A and $ \hat B $ \hat B .