An Analysis of Father Involvement Practices in Early Childhood: Implications for Early Intervention Service Delivery

While research has shown the important role fathers play in young children’s lives, fathers are often not involved in Early Intervention services. This literature review will examine father involvement in early childhood programs in the United States, father involvement in early childhood programs in other countries, and staff perceptions of father involvement in early childhood programs. Findings include fathers preferred attending activities for all family members, and designed to support children’s growth and development. Fathers were not as likely to participate in men-only activities. Barriers to father involvement such as scheduling, lack of energy and resources, and child’s mother prefers to be more involved in activities were identified. Staff attitudes and perceptions of father involvement were found to help or hinder father involvement. Recommendations and implications for Early Intervention services are presented

Does anxiety sensitivity mediate age-related differences in anxiety in middle-aged and older adults?

Anxiety is a mental illness that can have significant deleterious impacts on an individual’s functioning. Although anxiety has been studied in older adults, there is conflicting evidence on differences in anxiety as a function of age. Anxiety sensitivity is a construct that is positively related to anxiety but has limited research in older adults. Extant literature suggests that older adults experience less anxiety sensitivity than do younger adults. According to Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, this may be due to older adults letting go of the things that make them anxious. The current study proposed that age impacts self-rated anxiety such that it is lower in older adults than it is in middle-aged adults and posits that anxiety sensitivity may mediate the relationship between anxiety and age. The results suggested a significant indirect effect but no direct effect, precluding the presence of mediation. There was a significant relationship between age and anxiety sensitivity. Further examination revealed that the relationship between age and anxiety sensitivity was not significant for people under 60 years old, but it remained significant for participants 60 years and older

Bosom Buddies: Factors Associated with Experiences of Passionate Friendship Among Men and Women

Scholars historically have separated friendships and romantic relationships into two qualitatively distinct relationship categories. Contemporary research examining passionate friendships, however, has identified qualities within platonic relationships that appear to mimic characteristics typically associated with romantic relationships. Primary critiques of the existing passionate friendship literature include exclusively examining females, including samples that predominately identified as lesbian, bisexual or questioning, and research utilizing solely qualitative designs. The current study used a quantitative design to investigate 375 emerging adults\u27 (18-26 years of age; 149 males, 226 females) friendship experiences. Specifically, four quasi-independent variables (i.e., biological sex, sexual orientation, gender-role orientation, and cross vs. same-sex dyads) were examined as factors associated with passionate friendship. Findings from this study indicated that both males and females experience passionate friendship, and that these experiences are not specific to individuals who identify as non-heterosexual. Additionally, results from this study shed light on the occurrence of passionate friendship experiences observed in both cross- and same-sex dyads. Characteristics of passionate friendships (e.g., levels of attachment, thought preoccupation, intensity of the relationship) were also examined using a newly created measure. Female participants and individuals whose closest friend was described a cross-sex friend scored higher on nearly every continuous scale of the designed measure. Additionally, sexual orientation and gender-role orientation yielded significant results on several of the identified subscales, with sexual-minority individuals and those who claimed androgynous or masculine gender-role orientation obtaining higher scores. Finally, predictability of passionate friendship occurrence was evaluated and indicated that passionate friendships may be predicted based on existing demographics or personality characteristics of an individual

Identity development among adolescent males enrolled in a middle school general music program

The purpose of this study was to better understand the musical engagement of adolescent males enrolled in a general music class in order to learn what factors of the environment adolescent males perceive as impactful in the development of their musical identities (cf. MacDonald, Marshall, & Miell, 2002). Secondly, because researchers have posited that informal music contexts are pivotal in the development of adolescent identity and that connections can be drawn between formal and informal settings (cf. Green, 2008; Hargreaves & Marshall, 2003), I wanted to learn what role, if any, in-class connections to students’ informal musical contexts might play in the engagement of their musical identities. The following research questions were explored: In what ways, if any, are adolescent males’ musical identities engaged in the general music classroom? What role, if any, do in-class connections to informal contexts play in this engagement? Musical identities were understood through a social psychological perspective encompassing identities in music and music in identities: the socio-cultural musical roles individuals fill and the ways in which music serves other, non-musical aspects of an individual’s identity. An all-male school in the Midwest United States served as the research site. Participants were adolescent males, ages 11 through 14, enrolled in a compulsory general music program. I collected data via questionnaire, focus group interview, individual interviews, video reflections, researcher memos, and artifacts. Four factors emerged as key in the engagement of participants’ musical identities in the music classroom: 1) freedom in decision-making, 2) belonging to the classroom community, 3) distinction among peers, and 4) exposure to the other. Participants reported they could more fully engage their musical identities when each of these factors were present in the classroom, with the exception of distinction, which at times helped and at times hindered the expression of particular self-concepts. In-class connections to informal contexts were revealed in the roles of both freedom and exposure to the other in students’ engagement of musical identities. I concluded by discussing the implications of these findings as they relate to teaching, program advocacy, and recommendations for future research

Indoor Cats, Scratching, and the Debate over Declawing: When Normal Pet Behavior Becomes a Problem

When pet animals share our living spaces, their needs and natural behaviors sometimes are at odds with the varying standards for household appearance, sanitation, and polite social life that Americans have established over time. How pet owners have resolved these issues provides insight into their changing ideas about the role of animals in their households and suggests how much, or how little, people may actually know about the biological behaviors and psychological needs of the creatures they care for. This essay examines one particular issue associated with the problem of sharing spaces: declawing pet cats as a common solution to avoid destructive scratching. This is a volatile issue and has generated much emotional debate. It pits loving cat owners who see such surgery as an act that breaches the trust of responsible pet care for their feline companions against loving cat owners who see the surgery as an act that strengthens their bond with their feline companions. It divides those in the animal welfare and veterinary community as well, where many opinions are believed to be the right opinion. The authors wish to stress that they enjoy the companionship of pet animals in their homes; pointing out the complexities and contradictions in living with pet cats is intended to acknowledge the historical, socially constructed, and changeable character of pet keeping and to encourage people involved in companion animal welfare work to consider why some practices can be promoted or simply tolerated, while others are problematic

Indoor Cats, Scratching, and the Debate over Declawing: When Normal Pet Behavior Becomes a Problem

When pet animals share our living spaces, their needs and natural behaviors sometimes are at odds with the varying standards for household appearance, sanitation, and polite social life that Americans have established over time. How pet owners have resolved these issues provides insight into their changing ideas about the role of animals in their households and suggests how much, or how little, people may actually know about the biological behaviors and psychological needs of the creatures they care for. This essay examines one particular issue associated with the problem of sharing spaces: declawing pet cats as a common solution to avoid destructive scratching. This is a volatile issue and has generated much emotional debate. It pits loving cat owners who see such surgery as an act that breaches the trust of responsible pet care for their feline companions against loving cat owners who see the surgery as an act that strengthens their bond with their feline companions. It divides those in the animal welfare and veterinary community as well, where many opinions are believed to be the right opinion. The authors wish to stress that they enjoy the companionship of pet animals in their homes; pointing out the complexities and contradictions in living with pet cats is intended to acknowledge the historical, socially constructed, and changeable character of pet keeping and to encourage people involved in companion animal welfare work to consider why some practices can be promoted or simply tolerated, while others are problematic

Earliest Memories and Recent Memories of Highly Salient Events – Are They Similar?

Four- to 11-year-old children were interviewed about two different sorts of memories in the same home visit: recent memories of highly salient and stressful events, namely injuries serious enough to require hospital emergency room treatment, and their earliest memories. Injury memories were scored for amount of unique information, completeness vis à vis a standardized injury prototype, and accuracy while earliest memories were scored for amount of unique information, how old children had been at the time of their earliest memory, and time between their earliest memory and current age. Correlational and regression analyses showed that the two types of memory reports demonstrated considerable similarity in terms of unique information and completeness. Specifically, children with the most informative earliest memories had more informative as well as more complete free recalls of injury events. Such relationships between both sorts of memories suggest similar underlying processes at work when children produce memory reports, even when the length, structure, coherence, and content of those memories is about as divergent as one can imagine

Promise of the tech-enabled design competition

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2013.Pages 112-113 blank. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-108).At their best, urban design competitions offer access to innovative design thinking for competition sponsors; high quality spaces for the benefit of the public; and career advancement for designers. However, many feel that competitions are falling short of these aims, frustrating organizers and exploiting designers while leaving the public largely out of the dialogue. This thesis explores the potential of web-based social technologies to improve the urban design competition model so that it better serves all parties. It establishes a current model for urban design competitions before examining some precedents for related processes that have been disrupted by emerging social technologies. The study concludes with a proposal for a new, tech-enabled urban design competition on the eastern side of MIT's campus.by Katherine P. Lorah.M.C.P