Mindfulness meditation for future early childhood teachers in Japan

To prevent future burnout and turnover among early childhood education students, mindfulness training may hold promise as a measure. A lab-based pilot and classroom-based feasibility study was designed to investigate an effective way to introduce mindfulness meditation. Results suggested that two types of audio-guided mindfulness meditation, a sitting meditation and a compassion meditation reduced stress level, and that the compassion meditation was perceived as more comfortable than the sitting meditation. As a tentative conclusion, the compassion meditation may be introduced first before the sitting meditation. Additional studies should examine the effects of longer-term meditation practice on teaching career development.     

Differential Effects Between Group Counselling and Group Guidance in Conducting a ‘Coping with Stress Training Program’ for Turkish University Students

This study aimed at investigating differential effects between group counselling and group guidance in conducting a ‘Coping with Stress Training Program’ for 24 Turkish university students. The dependent variables were coping with stress, irrational beliefs and optimism. A 3 × 2 design (treatment sequence by repeated measures) was applied. As a result of the treatment no significant difference was observed between the two experimental groups in any of the variables tested in the study; however, both experimental groups differed significantly from a control group in respect to coping with stress. With regard to the within-group comparisons, irrational belief tendencies in both experimental groups decreased significantly, while the level of optimism of the counselling group and the problem-focused stress coping tendencies of the guidance group increased significantly. Based on the findings, it was considered that the program for developing coping skills for stress might best be implemented in a group guidance format especially in Turkey where there are limited physical resources, a low number of staff to run programs and a high number of students in need of help.     

Psychological maltreatment,coping strategies,and mental health problems: A brief and effective measure of psychological maltreatment in adolescents

Psychological maltreatment is an important social and public health problem and associated with a wide range of short and long-term outcomes in childhood to adulthood. Given the importance of investigating mitigating factors on its effect, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the mediating effect of active and avoidant coping strategies on the association between psychological maltreatment and mental health– internalizing and externalizing– problems in adolescents. Participants of the study consisted of 783 adolescents, ranging in age from 14 to 18 years (M = 15.57, SD = 0.88), with 52.9% female and 47.1% male. Several structural equation models were conducted to investigate the mediating role of coping strategies on the effect of psychological maltreatment on adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems. Findings from mediation analyses demonstrated the mediating effect of active and avoidant coping strategies on the association between psychological maltreatment and mental health problems. The outcomes support adolescents use more avoidant coping strategies and fewer active coping strategies in the face of psychological maltreatment experiences, and this affects their mental health. Taken together, these results should contribute to the design of prevention and intervention services in order to promote mental health.     

Achievement goals,efficacy beliefs and coping strategies in mathematics: The roles of perceived parent and teacher goal emphases

This study examines children’s perceptions of the achievement goals parents and teachers emphasize for them in mathematics, and the relation of these goals to children’s personal achievement goals, self-efficacy beliefs, and coping strategies. Results indicated that children’s perceptions of both parent and teacher mastery and performance goal emphases predicted children’s personal goals. Further, children’s personal goals mediated the relation between perceived parent and teacher goal emphases and children’s efficacy beliefs and coping strategies. Children’s perceptions of parent and teacher emphasis on performance goals varied slightly by gender but not ethnic background, whereas variance across groups in perceptions of mastery emphases did not reach practical significance. Relations between goal perceptions, personal goals, efficacy and coping strategies also did not vary by gender or ethnic background. Implications for future research regarding the goals children perceive to be emphasized in home and school contexts, and their importance for children’s adaptive beliefs and behaviors in mathematics, are discussed.     

Coping strategies used by international students who recovered from homesickness and depression in Malaysia

International students use various self-help coping strategies to manage depression and homesickness, but previous studies have not concluded on how international students have recovered from depression and homesickness after using their self-help coping strategies. The aim of this study is to use the semi structured interview to identify the self-help coping strategies used by international students who were unwilling to get treatment and had recovered from their symptoms of depression and homesickness in Malaysia. The second aim is to quantitatively identify the major psychosocial problems attributing to depression and homesickness among students who have not recovered from the symptoms. Thirty-one international students out of 520 diagnosed with depression and homesickness yet were unwilling to get treatment, were invited for the reassessment of their homesickness and depression after three-and-a-half months. Psychological assessment shows 9 students had recovered but 20 students had not. These nine students were interviewed to explore how they recovered from depression and homesickness. Meanwhile, the 20 students were asked to complete a questionnaire which measured their reason for not being able to recover from depression and homesickness. Results of the semi structured interview shows that some of the self-help coping strategies used by participants including sharing their problems with others who were not experiencing homesickness and depression, keeping themselves busy with some useful activities, indulging in physical exercise, facing the situation courageously, thinking positively, and reading and following some advice from religious texts. The 20 students who did not recover faced more problems involving language, social connection, academic, loneliness, stress and family problems. Overall, self-help coping strategies used by this study’s participants are useful in managing depression and homesickness.     

Moderators of Acculturative Stress in Pakistani Immigrants: The role of Personal and Social Resources

International migration research has focused on the immigrants’ mental and physical health issues with little attention paid to factors that facilitate adjustment. Recently cross-cultural researchers have tended to focus on certain psychological and social moderators of stress that differentiate between migrants perceiving higher stress and those remaining relatively unscathed. The present study examined the moderating impact of coping resources (sense of coherence and perceived social support) and coping strategies (problem-focused and emotion-focused) on the relationship between acculturative stress and psychological well-being (positive functioning and negative health outcomes) in stress-coping model. On a final sample of 308 Pakistani immigrants residing in Greater Toronto Area a series of moderated hierarchical regression analyses were performed separately for positive and negative health outcomes. Results indicated that sense of coherence and perceived social support moderated between acculturative stress and positive functioning (self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, personal growth), and acculturative stress and negative health outcomes (depression, psychosomatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction).The current findings have implications for clinicians, researchers, and policy makers for the identification of resource factors that help to understand the resistant power of growing immigrant population to maintain positive functioning.     

长春市老年人的应付方式与心理健康间的关系研究

对长春市374名老年人进行了问卷研究,结果表明:(1)老年人采取的应付方式从多到少依次为淡化、面对、探索、退避和幻想,文化程度低、经济状况较差的老人更多采取退避和幻想;(2)女性、文化程度较低及经济状况较差的老人心理健康水平较低;(3)淡化、退避和幻想普遍能调节老年人的心理健康,面对和探索不影响老年人的心理健康.     

对优秀散打运动员应付方式特征的研究

主要运用心理测量法、文献资料法对我国优秀散打运动员的应付方式进行了研究，结果表明，优秀武术散打运动员的应付方式的选择以解决-求助为主．     

Coping with high-achieving transnationalist immigrant students: The experience of Israeli teachers

Little attention has been paid to teacher attitudes toward high-achieving culturally diverse student groups. This in-depth study focuses on the experience of Israeli teachers who tell the story of a decade and a half of educational work with their highly motivated, academically successful immigrant students from the Former Soviet Union. The paper explores the differential effect of subject matter and seniority on teachers’ experience. It analyzes communication patterns between teachers and their high-achieving transnationalist immigrant students according to these parameters. Implications for the educational treatment of academic excellence among immigrant students in a globalized context are considered.     

国内外网络舆情演化、预警和应对理论研究综述

通过国内外关于网络舆情演化规律、预警机制和对应评估的文献综述开展深入研究。对网络舆情基本问题进行研究,舆情产生后可有多种演化方式,舆情5维特征决定了舆情的产生、发展和演化,把引发实现行动作为网络舆情的末端不利于应对处理;对网络舆情演化规律的理论及分类进行研究,主要归纳为基于专题舆情、舆情主体、信息传播和网络行为的网络舆情演化机制研究;对网络舆情预警的理论及技术进行研究,核心技术是自然语言处理,涵盖舆情主题、舆情内容、传播过程、传播媒介、舆情受众的指标体系各有侧重并不完整;对网络舆情应对的理论及评估进行研究,论述网络舆情的应对做法较多,研究系统性网络舆情应对方法的相对较少。最后针对网络舆情演化、预警和应对理论的研究综述,提出相应的具体研究方法。