Non‐at‐risk adolescents' attitudes towards reading in a Singapore secondary school

In this paper, we examine the various nuanced dimensions of adolescents' dispositions towards reading in one secondary school in Singapore, where a high‐stakes examination culture often threatens to colonise the practices of leisure reading. Our focus is on the better and more avid readers as they were the ones that developed the more negative attitudes towards reading at the end of their first year in secondary school. Our analysis found that there were no significant differences between boys and girls in their declining attitudes, and that for both ‘intrinsic motivation’ saw the greatest decline. However, attitudes related to learning orientation remained stable, suggesting both the impact of constraints in an exam‐oriented educational structure as well as possibilities for developing reading pedagogy and adolescent reading programmes. We argue that the more educators are aware of the multidimensionality and complexity of the attitudes and values that students bring to their reading, the more effectively they will be able to design and implement programmes and pedagogy to foster positive attitudes and promote a lifelong love for reading.     

Multiculturalism’s narratives in Singapore and Canada: exploring a model for comparative multiculturalism and multicultural education

This paper examines the diverse nature of multiculturalism. Although there is no lack of literature on multiculturalism, it is dominated by a Western paradigm and perspectives. This paper offers a model that takes a pluralistic perspective on diversity by locating multiculturalism within the imaginings of the nation. This model uses the concept of narratives with its ideological bases to invite dialogue among various multiculturalisms and to examine the processes by which particular multicultural narratives emerge within their socio‐political and historical locations. The Canadian and Singaporean multicultural narratives are explored to tease out some of the nuances of this model.     

Adolescents' Increasing Stress Response to Social Evaluation: Pubertal Effects on Cortisol and Alpha‐Amylase During Public Speaking

Stress responses to social evaluation are thought to increase during adolescence, which may be due to pubertal maturation. However, empirical evidence is scarce. This study is the first to investigate the relation between pubertal development and biological responses to a social‐evaluative stressor longitudinally. Participants performed the Leiden Public Speaking Task twice, with a 2‐year interval (N = 217; age at Time 1: 8–17 years). The results support an increase in sensitivity to social evaluation during adolescence. The overall cortisol and alpha‐amylase responses increased—both between and within participants—and were more strongly related to self‐reported pubertal development than to age. The cortisol response shifted from speech delivery toward anticipation. The alpha‐amylase response increased in both phases.     

The importance of shared environment in mother-infant attachment security: a behavioral genetic study

In a sample of 157 monozygotic and dizygotic twins, genetic and environmental influences on infant attachment and temperament were quantified. Only unique environmental or error components could explain the variance in disorganized versus organized attachment as assessed in the Ainsworth Strange Situation Procedure. For secure versus nonsecure attachment, 52% of the variance in attachment security was explained by shared environment, and 48% of the variance was explained by unique environmental factors and measurement error. The role of genetic factors in attachment disorganization and attachment security was negligible. Genetic factors explained 77% of the variance in temperamental reactivity, and unique environmental factors and measurement error explained 23%. Differences in temperamental reactivity were not associated with attachment concordance.     

Effective force and economy of triathletes and cyclists

The effective force applied on the crank, the index of pedalling effectiveness, and the economy of movement at 60, 75, 90, and 105 rev/min cadences were examined in nine cyclists and eight triathletes. Tests were performed on two days. Maximal oxygen uptake was measured and the second ventilatory threshold was estimated on day 1 using a stationary bicycle. On day 2, the four different cadences were tested at about 5% below the second ventilatory threshold. A strain gauge instrumented clip-less pedal mounted on the bicycle enabled us to measure the normal and tangential forces exerted on the pedal, while the pedal and crank angles were monitored with the aid of a video system. Based on this information, the effective force and the index of pedalling effectiveness were calculated. Cyclists produced significantly more effective force and a higher index of pedalling effectiveness at 60 and 75 rev/min and were significantly more economic at all cadences than triathletes. The significant and positive correlation between effective force and economy at all cadences suggests that improvement of the effective force would reflect on economy.