Procedural Justice in Resolving Family Disputes: Implications for Childhood Bullying

High levels of family conflict and poor family conflict resolution strategies are often associated with externalizing behaviors in children, including the behavior of bullying. Through family interactions, parents have the opportunity to convey a variety of messages to the child. Some of these messages are sent through the child’s appraisal of procedural justice, which refers to the judgments of fairness directed at the process by which a conflict is resolved. The current study investigated the relationship between appraisals of procedural justice in family conflict resolution and bullying among middle-school students. A sample of 1,910 sixth through eighth graders completed a self-report survey on school violence. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant relationship in which higher appraisals of procedural justice during family conflict resolution were associated with lower frequencies of bullying by the child. Furthermore, this relationship was partially mediated by the internalization of the parent’s conduct during the conflict resolution process. The current study extended the research literature addressing the relevance of procedural justice in child development. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed

Will They Tell? Weapons Reporting by Middle-School Youth

Adding to the body of research that describes students who will bring weapons to school, the current research examined middle-school students’ willingness to report when they know someone has a weapon at school. The sample included 1,957 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders from 27 schools in five states. Overall, a majority of students indicated that they would be willing to report; however, there were significant effects for the conditions of reporting (such as anonymity) and effects for some demographic characteristics. Furthermore, students who perceived adult or parental involvement in their lives were more willing to report. In contrast, students with delinquent involvement (self or peers) were significantly less likely to report the presence of weapons

Assessing School and Student Predictors of Weapons Reporting

School violence and weapons at school are a major concern for community members, school administrators, and policy makers. This research examines both student-level and school-level variables that predict middle school students’ willingness to report a weapon at school under several reporting conditions. Results substantiate previous analyses of these data that student-level variables explain students’ willingness to report a weapon but extend these findings to include school climate variables that affect willingness to report (i.e., collective identity and conflict). School climate variables were also shown to influence reporting under conditions in which there would be consequences for the weapons-carrying student or for the reporting student; however, school climate was not found to influence anonymous reporting conditions. Although policies aimed at improving school climate may increase a student’s willingness to report and are important in their own right, improving a school’s climate may be a daunting task. This research, therefore, suggests that the most efficient way to encourage weapons reporting is to provide students with an anonymous way to report

Body composition changes and cardiometabolic benefits of a balanced Italian Mediterranean Diet in obese patients with metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a cluster of metabolic alteration associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and overall mortality than the single alterations alone. The Italian Mediterranean Diet (IMD) can exert a positive effect on cardiovascular risk and related morbidity and mortality. The aim was to evaluate the benefits of dietary intervention based on a typical IMD on body composition, cardiometabolic changes and reduction in cardiovascular disease in patients with MS. Eighty White Italian subjects with MS were prescribed a balanced hypocaloric IMD. We investigated dietary habits and impact of the diet on health status, blood biochemical markers, anthropometric measurements and body composition during a 6-month follow-up period. Body composition, fat mass and distribution were assessed by Dual X-ray absorptiometry. Adherence to the IMD led to a decrease in body weight (102.59 ± 16.82 to 92.39 ± 15.94 kg, p < 0.001), body mass index (BMI) (38.57 ± 6.94 to 35.10 ± 6.76, <0.001) and waist circumference (112.23 ± 12.55 vs 92.42 ± 18.17 cm, p < 0.001). A significant loss of total body fat especially in waist region was observed. The MS was resolved in 52 % of the patients. Significant improvements in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and fasting glucose occurred. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was reduced from 128.74 ± 33.18 to 108.76 ± 38.61 mg/dl (p < 0.001), triglycerides from 169.81 ± 80.80 to 131.02 ± 63.88 mg/dl (p < 0.001). The present results suggest that a dietary intervention based on a typical IMD effectively promotes weight loss and reduces the growing burden of cardiovascular risk factors that typifies patients with MS

An integrated ultra-high vacuum apparatus for growth and in situ characterization of complex materials

Here we present an integrated ultra-high vacuum apparatus \u2013 named MBE-Cluster \u2013 dedicated to the growth and in situ structural, spectroscopic and magnetic characterization of complex materials. Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) growth of metal oxides, e.g. manganites, and deposition of patterned metallic layers can be fabricated and in situ characterized by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) - Auger Electron Spectroscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (PES) and azimuthal longitudinal magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE). The temperature can be controlled in the range from 5 to 580 K, with the possibility of application of magnetic fields H up to \ub17 kOe and electric fields E for voltages up to \ub1500 V. The MBE-Cluster operates for in-house research as well as user facility in combination with the APE beamlines at Sincrotrone-Trieste and the high harmonic generator (HHG) facility for timeresolved spectroscopy

Depth dependence of itinerant character in Mn-substituted Sr3Ru2O7

We present a core-level photoemission study of Sr3(Ru 1-xMnx)2O7, in which we monitor the evolution of the Ru-3d fine structure versus Mn substitution and probing depth. In both Ru 3d3/2 and 3d5/2 core levels we observe a clear suppression of the metallic features, i.e. the screened peaks, implying a sharp transition from itinerant to localized character already at low Mn concentrations. The comparison between soft and hard x-ray photoemission, which provides tunable depth sensitivity, reveals that the degree of localized/metallic character for Ru is different at the surface than in the bulk.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for young people with mood disorders: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION: Mood disorders are amongst the most common groups of mental disorders in young people (YP). Depression may affect 8-20% of all YP and may result in a cascade of negative developmental outcomes predicting long-term morbidity and poor functioning. In view of this, the COST action ‘European Network of Individualized Psychotherapy Treatment of Young People with Mental Disorders’ (TREATme) was set up to help improve mental health services in YP.OBJECTIVES: One of the overarching aims of TREATme is to carry out a systematic review to assess for the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic interventions in YP. In this study, we present results from the systematic review of treatment effectiveness of youth interventions for mood disorders.[excerpt]peer-reviewe

Valence band electronic structure of V2O3: identification of V and O bands

We present a comprehensive study of the photon energy dependence of the valence band photoemission yield in the prototype Mott-Hubbard oxide V2O3. The analysis of our experimental results, covering an extended photon energy range (20-6000 eV) and combined with GW calculations, allow us to identify the nature of the orbitals contributing to the total spectral weight at different binding energies, and in particular to locate the V 4s at about 8 eV binding energy. From this comparative analysis we can conclude that the intensity of the quasiparticle photoemission peak, observed close to the Fermi level in the paramagnetic metallic phase upon increasing photon energy, does not have a significant correlation with the intensity variation of the O 2p and V 3d yield, thus confirming that bulk sensitivity is an essential requirement for the detection of this coherent low energy excitation