Wilderness Schooling: A controlled trial of the impact of an outdoor education programme on attainment outcomes in primary school pupils

Gaps in education attainment between high and low achieving children in the primary school years are frequently evidenced in educational reports. Linked to social disadvantage, these gaps have detrimental long‐term effects on learning. There is a need to close the gap in attainment by addressing barriers to learning and offering alternative contexts for education. There is increasing evidence for beneficial impacts of education delivered outdoors, yet most programmes are un‐structured, and evidence is anecdotal and lacks experimental rigour. In addition, there is a wealth of social‐emotional outcomes reported yet little in the way of educational attainment outcomes. The current study explores the educational impact of a structured curriculum‐based outdoor learning programme for primary school children: ‘Wilderness Schooling’. A matched‐groups design: Wilderness Schooling (n=223) and conventional schooling (n=217), was used to compare attainment data in English reading, English writing and maths, collected at three time‐points: Pre‐ (T1) and post‐intervention (T2) and at a 6‐week follow up (T3). Data show that children in the Wilderness Schooling group significantly improved their attainment in all three subjects compared to controls. Trajectories of impact indicated attainment continued to increase from baseline in the following weeks after the intervention concluded. These results allow the case to be made for the core curriculum to be conducted outdoors to improve children's learning. However, it is important to consider that there are likely to be various components of the intervention that could form a theory of change essential to reported outcomes.     

辽宁省成年人工作与睡眠时间对体质影响的研究

采用问卷调查法、数理统计法,探讨了辽宁省成年人工作与睡眠时间对体质的影响,旨在为人们更好地生活提供依据。     

Generalized trust among rural-to-urban migrants in China: Role of relative deprivation and neighborhood context

China has experienced sizeable internal migration in the past several decades. This research examines the implications of internal migration on generalized trust in China. Using data from the 2014 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), a nationally representative survey, we compared the level of self-rated generalized trust in strangers among Chinese rural-to-urban migrants, rural nonmigrants, and urban nonmigrants. We further assessed the mediating effects of relative deprivation and neighborhood context in the relationship between migration status and generalized trust. The results show that migrants are less trusting than rural and urban nonmigrants after adjusting for relevant sociodemographic characteristics. The mediation analysis suggests that relative deprivation partially explains the difference in generalized trust between migrants and rural nonmigrants, and it greatly mediates the trust gap between migrants and urban nonmigrants. The neighborhood context largely explains the difference in generalized trust between migrants and rural nonmigrants. Moreover, urban nonmigrants are less trusting than migrants when taking neighborhood context into consideration, which indicates a suppression effect of neighborhood context on the relationship between migrant status and social trust in urban China. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how social trust changes in the process of internal migration. Policy implications are discussed.     

太极拳对老年人睡眠质量影响的研究

探讨太极拳对老年人睡眠质量的影响。采用匹兹堡睡眠质量指数问卷,对吕梁市200名老年人进行测试。结果：进行太极拳锻炼的老年人的匹兹堡睡眠质量指数明显小于对照组的老年人（P〈0．05）。结论：太极拳能有效改善老年人的睡眠质量。     

透析现阶段我国弱势群体心理弱势的表象及缘起

我国弱势群体的心理弱势主要表现在不平衡心理、相对剥夺感、不安全感、不满情绪和社会仇恨心理。失业下岗职工群体有强烈的“相对剥夺感”,有明显的怀旧心理,有一定程度的焦虑心理;城市农民工有求富所导致的急躁心理、相对劣势地位的自卑心理、因被剥夺而产生的报复心理以及社会关系网中自我封闭心理和不能融入城市主流文化的被边缘感。     

Disadvantaged neighbourhoods and young people not in education,employment or training at the ages of 18 to 19 in England

There is a growing interest among researchers in the impact of locality on young people who are inactive and not engaged in education, employment or training (NEETs). Previous research on this, however, is rather limited and does not account for a number of characteristics that mediate the effects of disadvantaged neighbourhoods on transition outcomes. This study investigates the effects of neighbourhood context on young people who experience NEET status at the ages 18 to 19 in one cohort born in 1989/90 in the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE). The analyses control for a wide range of factors which may affect NEET status. Drawing on previous sociological theories, we develop a theoretical framework that specifies four levels of influence on young people’s development: individual, family, school and peer group characteristics. Potential pathways between neighbourhood context and individual outcomes are explored using a logistic regression model. We demonstrate that there is a higher probability for young people who live in high-crime areas to become NEETs in comparison to those who live in less-deprived areas.     

Evening electronic device use: The effects on alertness,sleep and next-day physical performance in athletes

The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of different types of tasks performed with or without an electronic device (tablet) on pre-sleep alertness, subsequent sleep quality and next-day athletic performance. Eight highly trained netball players attended a sleep laboratory for pre-sleep testing, polysomnographic sleep monitoring and next-day physical performance testing on 5 separate occasions (1 familiarisation and 4 experimental sessions). For 2 h prior to bedtime, athletes completed cognitively stimulating tasks (puzzles) or passive tasks (reading) with or without a tablet. Sleepiness tended to be greater after reading compared to completing puzzles without a tablet (d = 0.80), but not with a tablet. Melatonin concentration increased more so after reading compared to completing puzzles on a tablet (P = 0.02). There were no significant differences in sleep quality or quantity or next-day athletic performance between any of the conditions. These data suggest that using a tablet for 2 h prior to sleep does not negatively affect subsequent sleep or next-day performance in athletes.     

风味嗜好学习对模拟运动性失眠大鼠β-内啡肽表达的影响

研究目的：探讨风味嗜好学习与睡眠剥夺之间的内在机制,了解风味嗜好学习作为一种促进恢复的手段对提高睡眠质量的作用。研究方法：模拟运动性失眠状态,建立睡眠剥夺模型;观察风味嗜好学习对睡眠剥夺大鼠下丘脑β-内啡肽表达的影响。研究结果：风味嗜好学习建立后,各组大鼠Pa、SO核团内β-内啡肽表达水平显著升高,P〈0．01;睡眠剥夺组大鼠相关核团内阻内啡肽表达水平显著降低,P〈0．01;而嗜好学习后睡眠剥夺组大鼠β-内啡肽表达水平则无显著性变化。研究结论：对运动员进行膳食、睡眠及生活环境等各方面的条件性风味刺激,建立风味嗜好,升高阻内啡肽表达水平是舒缓紧张、焦虑情绪,消除疲劳、促进恢复,避免或缓解运动性失眠发生的有效手段。     

Sleep Quality and Academic Performance in University Students: A Wake-Up Call for College Psychologists

Both sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality are prominent in American society, especially in college student populations. Sleep problems are often a primary disorder rather than secondary to depression. The purpose of the present study was to determine if sleep deprivation and/or poor sleep quality in a sample of nondepressed university students was associated with lower academic performance. A significant negative correlation between Global Sleep Quality score (GSQ) on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and grade point average supports the hypothesis that poor sleep quality is associated with lower academic performance for nondepressed students. Implications for both the remedial (assessment and treatment) and preventive (outreach) work of college and university counseling centers is discussed.     

Child Poverty in New Zealand: Why it matters and how it can be reduced

Abstract

A combination of policy changes and wider socio-economic trends led to a dramatic increase in child poverty in New Zealand during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Higher rates of child poverty have now become embedded in the system and show little sign of resolving themselves. For a country which once took pride in being comparatively egalitarian and, more particularly, a great place to bring up children, the tolerance of much greater child poverty is surprising. It is also concerning. Child poverty imposes many costs. This is especially the case, according to the available evidence, when poverty occurs during early childhood and when it is severe and/or persistent. These costs afflict not only the children directly exposed to poverty (e.g. in the form of lower educational achievement, reduced lifetime earnings and poorer health outcomes), but also the whole society. This article briefly explores the available evidence concerning the nature, magnitude, causes and consequences of child poverty in New Zealand and considers why substantial rates of child poverty have been tolerated for an extended period. Drawing on the lessons of anti-poverty approaches in other OECD countries, it then outlines a strategy for securing substantial and durable reductions in child poverty rates in New Zealand. Finally, it considers the prospects of such a strategy being implemented and suggests ways of enhancing the focus of the political system on child-related social issues.