A Habit is as Dangerous as Anything: Incarcerated Student Perspectives on the Transformative Power of a Liberal Arts Education

Scholars and practitioners have argued that higher education in prison (HEP) can transform incarcerated people and prepare them to re-enter society in productive ways. While we agree that a liberal arts education can create transformative experiences, transformation is a tricky metric. Focusing on transformation could cause administrators and professors to place their own goals and biases on students and constrain the transformative potential of a liberal arts education. However, viewing education as a mechanistic device to help incarcerated students attain jobs without engaging larger questions of personal growth and fulfillment does a disservice to incarcerated students. Through a combination of surveys and focus groups in one college in prison program, our project explores transformation as a category of analysis with particular focus on how students themselves talked about transformation. Our data suggest that a liberal arts education within the prison can be transformation in measurable ways. However, administrators and professors must view students as partners and active participants in their education. In this article, we investigate transformation as a category of analysis; discuss ways administrators and professors can support student growth; and explore the transformative potential of HEP on the prison environment itself. &nbsp

Understanding the relationship between suicidality, current depressed mood, personality, and cognitive factors

Objectives: Links between suicidality and depressed mood are well established. There is, however, little information about the emotional regulation processes that underlie the relationship between suicidality and current low mood, and how these processes differ between groups of never-suicidal (NS), suicidal ideators, and suicide attempters. As suicidality and depression are heterogeneous constructs, this study aimed to conduct within- and between-group comparisons of known suicide risk factors that are associated with emotion regulation (neuroticism, trait aggression, brooding, impulsivity, and overgeneral autobiographical memories). Design: Correlational design using between- and within-group comparisons from self-report measures. Methods: Inter- and intragroup differences were identified using Pearson's correlation coefficients and tests of difference. An analysis of indirect effects was used to investigate whether the relationship between suicidality and current low mood was mediated by neuroticism, trait aggression, brooding, impulsivity, and overgeneral autobiographical memories, and if this relationship varied according to group type. Results:  Brooding appeared to be a consistent feature of all three groups and was closely related to current low mood. Compared to the NS group, the relationship between suicide attempts and current low mood showed greater associations with brooding, trait aggression, and overgeneral autobiographical memories. Compared to the NS group, the suicidal ideation group showed stronger associations with neuroticism and impulsivity, but these factors did not correlate with low mood. Conclusion: These results suggest a need for larger studies to focus on heterogeneity within suicidal populations and consider how different combinations of risk factors may heighten or reduce suicide risk. Practitioner points: * It is well known that the severity and intensity of suicide and depressed presentations vary because of underlying dispositional and contextual factors (Fried & Nesse, ) which, in turn, affect how events are interpreted and responded to. Despite this, there is little research about how these mechanisms operate in different types of suicide groups, and their influence on the relationship between suicidality and current low mood. * Understanding interrelationships that affect current low mood is of clinical significance because past suicidal history and deteriorations in already negative mood are linked to repeated suicide attempts and completion. * Our findings show that ruminative brooding, defined as a tendency to repeatedly think about emotional aspects of an event, consistently correlates with current low mood across different types of suicidal groups (NS, suicidal ideators, and suicide attempters), and across analyses. * Findings also show that suicidal ideation and attempt groups were associated with specific personality characteristics that increased the propensity of emotional responding and interpretation compared to the NS group. The relationship between suicide attempt and current low mood had a higher propensity to be influenced by trait aggression, brooding, and overgenerality compared to the NS group. In contrast, although the suicidal ideation group correlated more strongly with neuroticism and impulsivity, these factors did not influence current low mood. * In terms of clinical practice, these findings imply that specific styles of interpretation and thinking may maintain the relationship between suicidality and current low mood. Given the cross-sectional nature of the study, however, it is not possible to imply causality. Nevertheless, the findings obtained provide some support for transdiagnostic models of cognitive-behavioural processes that could be developed further.PostprintPeer reviewe

Trends in Suicidology: Personality as an Endophenotype for Molecular Genetic Investigations

In studying the genetics of suicide, should personality be used as an endophenotype (an intermediate trait lying somewhere on the developmental pathway from genes to phenotype)

Examining the role of genetic risk and longitudinal transmission processes underlying maternal parenting and psychopathology and children’s ADHD symptoms and aggression: utilizing the advantages of a prospective adoption design

Although genetic factors may contribute to initial liability for ADHD onset, there is growing evidence of the potential importance of the rearing environment on the developmental course of ADHD symptomatology. However, associations between family-level variables (maternal hostility, maternal depressive symptoms) and child behaviors (developmental course of ADHD and aggression) may be explained by genes that are shared by biologically related parents and children. Furthermore, ADHD symptoms and aggression commonly co-occur: it is important to consider both simultaneously to have a better understanding of processes underlying the developmental course of ADHD and aggression. To addresses these issues, we employed a longitudinal genetically sensitive parent–offspring adoption design. Analyses were conducted using Cohort I (n = 340) of the Early Growth and Development Study with cross-validation analyses conducted with Cohort II (n = 178). Adoptive mother hostility, but not depression, was associated with later child ADHD symptoms and aggression. Mothers and their adopted children were genetically unrelated, removing passive rGE as a possible explanation. Early child impulsivity/activation was associated with later ADHD symptoms and aggression. Child impulsivity/activation was also associated with maternal hostility, with some evidence for evocative gene-environment correlation processes on adoptive mother depressive symptoms. This study provides novel insights into family-based environmental influences on child ADHD and aggression symptoms, independent of shared parental genetic factors, implications of which are further explicated in the discussion

Team Decision-Making in Complex Environments using naturalistic simulation

While common intuition might suggest that conflict within teams leads to suboptimal performance, research indicates that this is not always the case. In fact, studies have demonstrated that conflict, particularly in creative settings, can yield beneficial outcomes. For instance, Bjørndahl et al. (2015) conducted a study where teams of participants engaged in a LEGO modelling task. They found that instances of explicit miscommunication within the teams actually fostered the generation of more creative solutions for the task. This research underscores the idea that conflict, when managed effectively and within certain contexts, can stimulate innovation and enhance problem-solving capabilities within teams. However, other areas of research indicate that conflict could also lead to decision making inertia. And as such could be detrimental to performance especially in the high stakes environment such as in industry for example in nuclear power plants. To better understand the impact of conflict on team decision-making, this project will investigate language markers associated with trust and conflict. By analyzing the language used by team members during collaborative decision-making processes, we aim to uncover subtle indicators that reveal levels of trust and the presence of conflict within the team dynamic. These language markers may include aspects such as tone, sentiment, word choice, and communication styles. Language style matching and the use of first-person plural pronouns are identified as potential predictors of trust and group cohesion. The project aims to address limitations in existing research by employing objective measures of team decision-making performance and experimental manipulations. By examining the interplay between conflict, trust, and decision-making speed, this research seeks to contribute to the development of interventions that enhance team performance in high-stakes environments, such as those in the industry. Ultimately, the findings of this project will provide valuable insights into the complex dynamics of team decision-making and offer practical strategies for optimizing performance in critical situations