Spreading the Green and Sharing the Wealth

Examines the effects and benefits of trees for the urban environment, and looks at recent studies that have attempted to define the benefits of urban trees. Discusses the implications of trees for city planning

Behind \u27Loving Reading\u27: Reading Behavior in Early Adolescents

White, Rachel. “Behind ‘Loving Reading’: Reading Behavior in Early Adolescents” (2020). The research question addressed in this study was: what is the lived experience of loving reading for middle school students? Topics explored in the review included loving reading in popular understanding, reading motivation, reading identity, reading volume and reading in the home. The review also included an overview of affective reading assessments and qualitative understandings of reading attitude. The qualitative research of this study employed the interpretivist paradigm and consisted of interviews with six middle school-aged participants. In the interviews, participants discussed their reading identity, reading habits, reading efficacy, reading motivation, reading future and finally, their love of reading. The results were determined using inductive coding and analysis. Findings suggested that there was little correlation between self-reporting loving reading and habitual leisure reading. Participants who reported loving reading often read in different ways and for different reasons. Some participants read out of a sense of competition, some read out of a sense of obligation and some read to escape into stories. Participants measured their own reading ability almost entirely with standardized testing, not reading habits or enjoyment of reading. Ultimately, the study suggests that students can reflect more deeply discussing reading future and reading motivation than discussing loving reading. The study calls on teachers to interrogate the ways that their students internalize standardized test achievements, especially considering the bias present in these tests. Limitations, implications, and recommendations for future research are discussed

Perceived Parental Characteristics And Neighborhood Support: How Do They Relate To Adolescents\u27 Externalizing Behavior Problem

Externalizing behavior problems are related to many problematic outcomes for children and adolescents in their home, school, and community settings. Given the ramifications of difficulties related to externalizing behavior problems, the present study examines the relationships among adolescents\u27 externalizing behavior problems, characteristics of adolescents\u27 families, and their perceived neighborhood support in a sample of adolescents who are in the Sixth through Eighth Grades. As part of this study, adolescents were assessed one time in their school setting with a set of brief questionnaires. In particular, adolescents completed measures assessing their levels of externalizing behavior problems, characteristics of their families, their perceptions of neighborhood support and of their teachers, and their ratings of their own acculturation. Results suggest that, although a moderation relationship does not exist between parental warmth, neighborhood support, and the development of externalizing behavior problems, variables such as maternal warmth, overall parental emotional support, and overall neighborhood support are important predictors of the development of externalizing behavior problems. Further regression analyses reveal that, in addition to neighborhood and parental characteristics, adolescents\u27 perceived social acceptance and global self-worth are significant predictors of adolescents\u27 externalizing behavior problems. In conclusion, when identifying adolescents who are at risk for the development of externalizing behavior problems, an ecological conceptualization encompassing culture, community, and home environments can be helpful

Ethnicity and the Mental Health Act 1983

Background Black and minority ethnic (BME) patients are disproportionately detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. There has been no systematic exploration of differences within and between ethnic groups, nor of the explanations put forward for this excess. Aims To systematically review detention and ethnicity, with meta-analyses of detention rates for BME groups, and to explore the explanations offered for ethnic differences in detention rates. Method Literature search and meta-analysis. Explanations offered were categorised, supporting literature was accessed and the strength of the evidence evaluated. Results In all, 49 studies met inclusion criteria; of these, 19 were included in the meta-analyses. Compared with White patients, Black patients were 3.83 times, BME patients 3.35 times and Asian patients 2.06 times more likely to be detained. The most common explanations related to misdiagnosis and discrimination against BME patients, higher incidence of psychosis and differences in illness expression. Many explanations, including that of racism within mental health services, were not supported by clear evidence. Conclusions Although BME status predicts psychiatric detention in the UK, most explanations offered for the excess detention of BME patients are largely unsupported

Advancing impact assessments of non-native species: strategies for strengthening the evidence-base

The numbers and impacts of non-native species (NNS) continue to grow. Multiple ranking protocols have been developed to identify and manage the most damaging species. However, existing protocols differ considerably in the type of impact they consider, the way evidence of impacts is included and scored, and in the way the precautionary principle is applied. These differences may lead to inconsistent impact assessments. Since these protocols are considered a main policy tool to promote mitigation efforts, such inconsistencies are undesirable, as they can affect our ability to reliably identify the most damaging NNS, and can erode public support for NNS management. Here we propose a broadly applicable framework for building a transparent NNS impact evidence base. First, we advise to separate the collection of evidence of impacts from the act of scoring the severity of these impacts. Second, we propose to map the collected evidence along a set of distinguishing criteria: where it is published, which methodological approach was used to obtain it, the relevance of the geographical area from which it originates, and the direction of the impact. This procedure produces a transparent and reproducible evidence base which can subsequently be used for different scoring protocols, and which should be made public. Finally, we argue that the precautionary principle should only be used at the risk management stage. Conditional upon the evidence presented in an impact assessment, decision-makers may use the precautionary principle for NNS management under scientific uncertainty regarding the likelihood and magnitude of NNS impacts. Our framework paves the way for an improved application of impact assessments protocols, reducing inconsistencies and ultimately enabling more effective NNS management

Demonstration of the Effects of an Increased Praise Ratio on Student On-Task Behavior

Many authors recommend various praise to reprimand ratios for teachers to use to manage their classrooms (e.g., Flora, 2000; Nafpaktitis, Mayer, & Butterworth, 1985; Wheldall, 2005); however, these recommendations are based on correlational data or secondary findings from studies not directly manipulating the praise to reprimand ratio. The purpose of this study was to use a simple teacher training method to improve the praise to reprimand ratio used in the classroom and measure the resulting effects on the on-task behavior of an entire class of students. All teachers improved praise to reprimand ratios above baseline levels. As teacher praise to reprimand ratios improved, student on-task levels increased for all classrooms