The Influence of Thinking Styles on Responses to Supportive Messages

Cognitive-experiential self-theory suggests that individuals with different thinking styles may respond differently to various forms of support during times of stress or difficulty. This possibility was examined in an experiment in which 365 participants read a hypothetical scenario in which they were experiencing a problematic situation, and a friend offered one of three forms of support (advice, emotional support, or emotional support plus advice). The results of the study indicated that highly rational participants tended to respond to advice more positively than less rational participants. In addition, highly experiential participants tended to rate emotional support as higher in quality than less experiential participants.     

努力控制、母亲教养方式对3岁儿童外显问题行为的影响研究

该研究选取30名3岁儿童作为研究对象,采用情境观察的方法检测儿童努力控制和母亲教养方式的水平,采用问卷法检测儿童外显问题行为水平,并使用方差分析和回归分析的方法对儿童努力控制、母亲教养方式与儿童外显问题行为之间的关系进行探讨。结果表明:(1)儿童的努力控制和外显问题行为呈显著负相关;(2)教养方式中的消极控制和儿童的外显问题行为呈显著正相关;教养方式中的积极控制和儿童的活跃过度问题行为呈显著负相关;(3)努力控制和家庭教养方式中的积极控制交互作用影响儿童外显问题行为———对于高努力控制水平的儿童,家长干涉过多反而会增加儿童发展出外显问题行为的可能性。     

The knowledgeable parenting style: stance takings and subject positions in media encounters

In today’s media-saturated societies it can be assumed that encounters with therapists and other experts may have implications for adult learning. Taking the point of departure in the idea of public pedagogy, and by using a close-up analysis of interview talk, the pedagogical agency the media may have on parenting is investigated. Drawing upon the discursive notions of styles, stance takings and subject positions, a pattern of regularities emerges called ‘the knowledgeable parenting style’. The knowledgeable parent is fashioned through various, yet typical ways of assuming stances and negotiating positions in media encounters, by displaying recognition, discrimination and insight. The study illustrates how the media’s claim on a pedagogical role is acknowledged, however, what is provided to be valuable competence is not just accepted. While the interviewed adults mainly exclude themselves from that site of public intervention, the knowledge provided and instructions given are depicted as having the potential of facilitating learning for ‘other parents’. Apparently, the ways in which people rhetorically approach and systematically establish stances also reveal subject positions associated with learning. A dynamic space is created where the displayed norms for adequate behaviour, and invitations to act upon that knowledge, are subject to constant tension.     

Talents and type IIIs: The effects of the talents unlimited model on creative productivity in gifted youngsters

This study examined a set of lessons that integrate the Talents Unlimited Model (TU; C. L. Schlichter, 1986) with the 10 steps of completing a Type III activity (J. S. Renzulli & S. M. Reis, 1985) to determine the effects of these lessons on the quality of students’ creative products and on the number of students who completed their products. Treatment group students showed a statistically significant difference in finishing their independent or small‐group projects, as opposed to students in the control group. In addition, treatment group students’ products were of significantly higher quality as measured by the Student Product Assessment Form (SPAF; S. M. Reis, 1981) than products completed by students in the control group.     

Diversity,specialisation and equity in education

School diversity in the UK is not a new phenomenon. However, recent reforms to ‘modernise’ the secondary school system towards greater diversity of provision, primarily in England, needs to be explored in more detail. The article begins by proposing three phases in the development of state‐funded school diversity and provision between 1944 and 1997. It then goes on to consider such reforms with the introduction of a Labour government in 1997. We argue that school diversity under New Labour represents a distinct fourth phase within this broad policy agenda. While there is some continuity in the expansion of school diversity this most recent phase is characterised by greater governmental intervention and a stronger commitment to provide greater resources for schools in disadvantaged communities. However, the paper then critically analyses the relationship between recent programmes of education diversity and equity. In particular, we go on to discuss the extent to which critics’ fears about the emergence of a two‐tier system are justified. We conclude that while the fourth phase in the UK school diversity agenda may aim to be more equitable, complementary and collaborative it perhaps fails to recognise that the education system today is more competitive and consumer‐led.     

Leader Communication: Faculty Perceptions of the Department Chair

This project asked 202 randomly selected faculty members to evaluate the supportive and defensive communication and leadership behaviors of their department chair. The supportive behavior of problem orientation alone explained 43% of the variance in faculty ratings of chair job effectiveness. On the other hand, empathy explained 68% of the variance in faculty ratings of relational satisfaction with their department chair. In addition, a t test revealed that more effective chairs utilized all 6 of Gibb's supportive communication behaviors more, and 5 of 6 defensive behaviors less, than their more negatively evaluated peers. Second, a series of stepwise regression procedures explained 16% of the variance in bureaucracy scores, 69% of the variance in Machiavellianism, and 62% of the variance in transformational leadership. Finally, the communication behaviors of strategy, neutrality, and problem orientation explained 56% of the variance in faculty job satisfaction and strategy, neutrality, evaluation, gender, and age explained 41% of the variance in organizational commitment scores.     

‘People are suspicious of us’: a critical examination of father primary carers and English early childhood services

Positive father involvement and investment in the early years is of importance for children's later emotional, cognitive and social well‐being. This article critically examines the multiple motivations and barriers experienced by the growing number of father primary carers. The small‐scale research study presented suggests that for a ‘positive culture shift’ towards fathers in the UK to occur, early childhood services need to question the extent to which they are ‘father friendly’. Research suggests that policy initiatives such as a ‘Daddy month’ (found in Canada and most Nordic countries) may encourage much needed attitudinal shifts towards fathers by legitimising their caring activities. Other initiatives that encourage father primary carers in their role may include the recruitment of professional male early childhood workers.     

How (not) to feel: culture and the politics of emotion in the American parenting advice literature

This interpretive critique of the US parenting advice literature explores the underlying cultural values and assumptions concerning emotion and power that are revealed in discourses on child behavior management. The analysis reveals a clear emphasis on the pedagogical and therapeutic role of an emotionally knowledgeable parent in relation to a deficient child. Parents are supposed to teach the child how to handle negative emotions through explicit strategies such as labeling, verbalization, and therapeutic listening, many of which are imbued with cultural and class bias. While emotions appear to be valued, the underlying subtext is one of emotional control and disengagement. The discourse can be read as a window on a contemporary politics of emotion in which freedom of expression and regulation of the self exist in uneasy tension, and in which emotions represent a dangerous terrain of social dis/order.     

Acceptance of Disability and Hwa-Byung among Korean Mothers of Children with Developmental Disabilities

This study examined how child problem behaviour could be related to maternal Hwa-Byung (HB; Korean culture syndrome, meaning ‘anger illness’) among Korean mothers of children with developmental disabilities. Acceptance of disabilities and parenting stress were tested as mediators for the relationship between child problem behaviour and maternal HB. The results indicated that child problem behaviour alone (e.g. self-injurious and aggressive behaviours, yelling/screaming, and crying) were not related to maternal HB. Instead, child problem behaviour was not directly associated with maternal HB, but indirectly related to maternal HB through decreased acceptance of disability and increased parenting stress. The findings of the study support the importance of Acceptance and Commitment therapy and parenting stress intervention to prevent and treat HB among Korean mothers of children with developmental disabilities.     

Lie-telling as a mode of antisocial action: Children’s lies and behavior problems

Despite the fact that lie-telling is a common concern among parents, clinicians, and professionals, there has been little systematic investigation of the lies that children tell in relation to their problematic behaviors, nor of other social factors that may influence this relation. This study explored the relation between children’s problem behaviors and their lie-telling in two studies. The first examined whether children would tell an antisocial lie to an unfamiliar adult to conceal cheating behavior. The second analyzed the relation between children’s problem behaviors, parenting styles, and the frequency of lies reported by parents over two weeks at home. Results suggest that children with higher levels of behavior problems are more likely to tell an antisocial lie to an unfamiliar adult and have a higher frequency of parent-reported lies. Results also indicate that parenting approaches moderate the relation between behavior problems and the frequency of lies that parents report.