Academic Fatalism: Applying Durkheim’s Fatalistic Suicide Typology to Student Drop-Out and the Climate of Higher Education

Student drop-out remains a critical issue facing educational professionals. For higher education, the vast research in the past 40 years has been influenced by the work of Tinto and his model of student persistence. In this model are several elements that have proven to sharpen the focus of student drop-out research such as the concept of integration. The philosophical foundation for these concepts stems from Durkheim’s work on suicide. Specifically, Tinto’s employs Durkheim’s “egotistical” suicide type as an analogy for student departure while attributing students’ departure as a decision to separate themselves from the academic community. However; assigning causation of student departure to students’ decisions stands in stark contrast to the theoretical underpinnings of Durkheim’s work. Durkheim believed that certain social tendencies cause suicides. If student drop-out is to be typified by a certain Durkheimian suicide “type,” then specific social facts must exist in those societies. In this article, student departure in higher education will be examined using Durkheim’s theory of suicide complemented with Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence. Egotistical suicide will then be re-examined as an analogy for student departure and the Durkheimian suicide “fatalistic” will be presented as suitable analogy for student departure

Investigating the susceptibility to change of coping and resiliency during COVID-19

On 11 March 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) a global pandemic. As a result, most of public life, including cultural, sporting, religious and political events, came to a standstill. The current study investigates potential changes in individual’s coping and resiliency during this phase of the pandemic. The present study investigated potential changes in individuals’ coping and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (N = 68), aged between 18 and 34 years old, completed an online survey including the Brief-COPE (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced) and the SPF-24 (Scale of Protective Factors) at two distinct time points: May 2019 (T0) and May 2020 (T1). To investigate changes between T0 and T1, one-way within-subjects analysis of variances (ANOVAs)’s were conducted. For 11 of 14 the subscales for the Brief-COPE, no significant within-subject sum scores changes were revealed. However, for three subscales, that is, Active Coping (p = 0.005), Venting (p = 0.024) and Acceptance (p = 0.028), significant sum scores changes were revealed. For all four subscales for the SPF-24, no significant within-subjects sum score changes were revealed. For the Brief-COPE, the susceptibility to change for only three of the 14 coping strategies to be significantly influenced by COVID-19, reveals a strong trait-like character of one’s coping strategies. For the SPF-24, all four protective factors were not susceptible to significant changes due to individuals’ experiences of COVID-19.</p

Collaborative learning intervention associated with small increases in home-based school involvement for lower SES families in deprived neighbourhoods

This study investigated the impact of the Dutch family-oriented collaborative learning intervention, characterised by a partnership approach and provision of personalised support. We assessed effects on parents' home-based school involvement, perceived quality of the parent-teacher relationship, and parenting skills. Fifty-six families with children in grades 1-4 (aged 4-9) were randomly assigned to an intervention or waiting list condition. Results of two path models, using cluster-robust standard errors to adjust for nesting within our data, and controlling for baseline values of our outcome variables, indicated small improvements in home-based school involvement among families in the intervention group, but no differences in the perceived quality of the parent-teacher relationship nor in parenting skills. Our findings provide preliminary evidence for the idea that, under conditions of a partnership approach and provision of personalised support, efforts to support and strengthen the capacities of lower SES parents to promote child development can be fruitful

The Grizzly, September 21, 1984

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COVID-19 pandemic-related posttraumatic growth in a small cohort of university students: A 1-year longitudinal study

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas of life, with severe potential consequences for people's mental health. Posttraumatic growth (PTG), a positive psychological change that may develop following a traumatic event, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic has only received little attention. The current study aimed to investigate (1) the prevalence of PTG within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) which psychological aspects predict COVID-19 pandemic-related PTG using a 1-year longitudinal design. A sample of 70 participants completed a survey on COVID-19, posttraumatic stress, emotional well-being, coping styles, determinates of resilience, and PTG at both T1, May 2020, and T2, May 2021. Results reveal moderate levels of PTG for about one in five participants at both T1 and T2 (21% and 23%, respectively). Moreover, PTG at T1 and T2 were moderate to strongly, positively correlated, r = 0.62. Posttraumatic stress and social support were found to positively predict PTG at T1, while positive affect and social skills were found to positively predict PTG at both T1 and T2, βs = 0.22–.52. Implications of the current findings and suggestions for future research are discussed

Exploring the role of coping strategies on the impact of client suicide: A structural equation modeling approach

Client suicide refers to cases where a mental health practitioner is exposed, affected, or bereaved by a client's suicide and is known to have a profound impact on MHPs. The current study investigated the role of coping styles in understanding short- and long-term impact of client suicide. An international sample of 213 mental health practitioners who experienced a client suicide completed a survey on coping strategies (i.e., Brief-COPE) and the impact of traumatic events (i.e., impact of event scale-revised, long-term emotional impact scale and professional practice impact scale). Results indicate coping strategies explain 51% of the short-term, 64% of the long-term emotional and 55% of the long-term professional differences in impact of client suicide. Moreover, while an Avoidant coping style predicted more impact of client suicide, Positive coping and Humor predicted less impact of client suicide. Social Support coping did not predict impact of client suicide. Implications for both research and clinical practice are discussed