健康信息需求分析及相关网络资源的使用——对达拉斯福和地区华人的调查

本文阐述了一项由全美医学图书馆联盟中南区中心资助的研究项目。其目的是了解北美华人对健康信息的需求及网络健康信息资源的使用状况。本研究回收了101份调查表。研究结果发现调查对象有兴趣了解更多关于乳腺癌、糖尿病、乙型肝炎等疾病的信息,愿意学习如何使用互联网络查找高品质的健康信息资源。语言障碍以及对美国医疗体系知识的缺乏了解是调查对象在获取医疗健康信息中遇到困难的主要原因。面对这些需求和问题, 指出认识语言和文化的差异性,推荐权威性、可靠性、针对性强的高质量的健康信息资源,介绍网络健康信息质量评估方法, 将有助于对华人的医疗健康信息服务。     

The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Universal Preschool: Evidence From a Spanish Reform

This study provides a cost–benefit analysis of expanding access to universal preschool education, focusing on a Spanish reform that lowered the age of eligibility for publicly provided universal preschool from age 4 to age 3. Benefits in terms of child development and maternal employment are estimated using evidence on the causal effects of this reform. In the baseline estimation the benefit–cost ratio is over 4, indicating sizeable net societal benefits of the preschool investment. The results show that the child development effects are the major determinant of the cost–benefit ratio; the employment gains for parents appear to play a relatively minor role. Overall, the cost–benefit analysis provides support for investing in high-quality preschool education.     

Sometimes It's Good to be Short: The Serotonin Transporter Gene,Positive Parenting,and Adolescent Depression

In threatening environments, the short (S) allele of 5-HTTLPR is proposed to augment risk for depression. However, it is unknown whether 5-HTTLPR variation increases risk for depression in environments of deprivation, lacking positive or nurturant features. Two independent longitudinal studies (n = 681 and 176, respectively) examined whether 5-HTTLPR moderated associations between low levels of positive parenting at 11–13 years and subsequent depression at 17–19 years. In both studies only LL homozygous adolescents were at greater risk for depression with decreasing levels of positive parenting. Thus, while the S allele has previously been identified as a susceptible genotype, these findings suggest that the L allele may also confer sensitivity to depression in the face of specific environmental challenges.     

Expanding the Learning Network: How Teachers Use Pinterest

This exploratory qualitative study of 117 teachers explores how educators engage with Pinterest, an online social networking site, specifically asking: (1) What similarities and differences exist in how elementary-level preservice and elementary-level in-service teachers engage with Pinterest? (2) What similarities and differences exist in how secondary-level in-service teachers and elementary-level in-service teachers engage with Pinterest? Findings indicate teachers at all levels tend to use Pinterest to search for educational resources and adapt resources to suit their classroom needs. Preservice teachers identify a more complex interaction with Pinterest than in-service teachers when determining quality resources. Findings indicate a need for future research into teacher education practices and the complex interactions preservice teachers engage in with Pinterest resources.     

Podcasts and Productivity: A Qualitative Uses and Gratifications Study

Through analysis of five focus groups with people who “usually (more often than not) listened to at least one podcast episode a week” in the last two months, this uses and gratifications (U&G) study uncovers several prominent themes among podcast listener experiences. In an effort to integrate old and new media use typologies within U&G research, our results are presented in two parts: emerging typologies and expansions of existing typologies. The emerging section includes reasons for podcast displacement of other media, customizable experiences, and multitasking (which involves both temptation bundling and feeding the brain). The expansion builds on the existing typologies of companionship and interaction by analyzing avenues for parasocial relationship formation and identifying social opportunities as well as social frustrations surrounding podcasts. We ultimately conclude that podcasts offer an endless supply of engaging content that travels with listeners, allowing them to be “productive” in various physical and mind-expanding ways. The enjoyment is facilitated in part by forging connections with hosts and other listeners.     

Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: a longitudinal study and an intervention

Two studies explored the role of implicit theories of intelligence in adolescents' mathematics achievement. In Study 1 with 373 7th graders, the belief that intelligence is malleable (incremental theory) predicted an upward trajectory in grades over the two years of junior high school, while a belief that intelligence is fixed (entity theory) predicted a flat trajectory. A mediational model including learning goals, positive beliefs about effort, and causal attributions and strategies was tested. In Study 2, an intervention teaching an incremental theory to 7th graders ( N =48) promoted positive change in classroom motivation, compared with a control group ( N =43). Simultaneously, students in the control group displayed a continuing downward trajectory in grades, while this decline was reversed for students in the experimental group.