How to support toddlers’ autonomy : socialization practices reported by parents

Autonomy-supportive parenting is found to foster children’s adjustment but relatively few studies have been conducted with toddlers. In the present exploratory study, parents (N = 182) reported what practices they use when asking their toddlers (M age = 26.9 months) to engage in important yet uninteresting activities. Parents rated twenty-six potentially autonomy-supportive practices, along with a well-known scale measuring the extent to which they have a positive attitude towards autonomy support. Research Findings: Using correlational and factorial analyses, eight practices were identified: various ways to communicate empathy, providing developmentally appropriate rationales, describing the problem in an informational and neutral way, and modeling the requested behavior. This subset of autonomy-supportive practices for toddlers was positively related with toddlers’ rule internalization, providing them with further validity. Practice or Policy: These preliminary findings may be useful in guiding future conceptual, empirical, and applied work on the support of toddlers’ autonomy and its assessment in an emotionally-charged and challenging context

Passion, craving, and affect in online gaming: Predicting how gamers feel when playing and when prevented from playing

According to the Dualistic Model of Passion, two forms of passion can motivate a behavior: harmonious passion and obsessive passion. Across various life activities, studies have found that the two forms of passion show different relationships with affect, linking harmonious passion to positive affect and obsessive passion to negative affect. To investigate if this pattern also holds for online gaming, the present study investigated 160 gamers involved in playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMOs) and examined positive and negative affect (a) when playing and (b) when prevented from playing. In addition, the effects of general affect and craving for playing MMOs were controlled for. Results were as expected from the Dualistic Model of Passion: Harmonious passion for online gaming predicted positive affect when playing whereas obsessive passion predicted negative affect when playing and when prevented from playing. Moreover, these effects remained unchanged when general affect and craving were controlled for. With this, the present research shows that individual differences in passion for online gaming explain unique variance in gaming-related emotions. Moreover, the present findings suggests that craving is a variable that future research on positive and negative affect in online gaming should pay closer attention to

Ocean Policy: A Canadian Case Study

Over the years, Canada, like most other coastal nations, has developed an intricate set of policies and regulatory instruments focused on the management of traditional sectoral uses of the oceans. A decade ago, the necessary steps were taken to modernise the way in which Canadian authorities manage ocean-based activities. Canada did not set out to design “one” comprehensive, all inclusive oceans policy. The primary approach taken was to identify, through Canada’s Oceans Act, one federal lead authority responsible for the coordination and harmonisation of existing policy and statutory instruments and to formulate a national vision and guiding principles for oceans management within which existing and emerging policies and laws would be interpreted and implemented. This chapter outlines Canada’s statutory and policy instruments and implementation approach to oceans management. The political and environmental context within which a new management approach was developed will be described as well as the processes which led to the development of the Oceans Act, its policy framework, Canada’s Oceans Strategy and finally, the Government of Canada’s blueprint for action, Canada’s Oceans Action Plan. The relationship between key ocean-related agreements and Canadian domestic law and practice is summarised. In closing, lessons learned during the past decade will be examined, as will the challenges which lie ahead

Effects of Short-Term Exposure to Dispersed Oil in Arctic Invertebrates

A series of experimental studies was carried out as part of the Baffin Island Oil Spill (BIOS) Project to define the behavioural, physiological and biochemical reactions of three arctic marine benthic invertebrate species exposed to chemically dispersed crude oil. Behavioural responses and patterns of hydrocarbon accumulation and release observed in the bivalves and the urchin during the 1981 field spill were similar to those observed during the laboratory simulations. Ostial closure, loss of responsiveness to mechanical stimuli and narcosis were characteristic of the bivalves. Exposed urchins displayed a functional loss of tube foot and spine behaviour. Detailed hydrocarbon analysis indicated different uptake dynamics among the species. The effects of dispersed oil were immediate and short lived and resulted in temporary accumulation of hydrocarbons. Depuration of these stored hydrocarbons occurred during the experimental recovery period. In vivo biodegradation of hydrocarbons was indicated in the bivalves. Physiological parameters measured in bivalves exposed to oil included elements of scope for growth, activity of aspartate aminotransferase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Dose-response relationships between physiological rates and hydrocarbon body burden were apparent.Key words: petroleum effects, Arctic, invertebrates, metabolism, enzymes, behaviour, biodegradation, hydrocarbon uptake, Baffin Island oil spill, dispersantMots clés: effets dus au pétrole, Arctique, invertébréms, métabolisme, enzymes, comportement, biodécomposition, absorption d’hydrocarbures, projet de déversement de pétrole à l’île Baffin, agent de dispersio

On the hierarchical structure of self-determined motivation : a test of top-down, bottom-up, reciprocal, and horizontal effects

This article aimed to test some hypotheses about the hierarchical structure of self-determined motivation in two longitudinal studies. First, the authors verified the stability of global self-determined motivation and school self-determined motivation over time. Second, they tested top-down, bottom-up, reciprocal, and horizontal effects between global self-determined motivation and school self-determined motivation. In Study 1, 122 college students were evaluated on two occasions with a 5-year interval on their global and school self-determined motivation. In Study 2, 294 college students were evaluated on the same variables with a 1-year interval. Results from both studies revealed that (a) global self-determined motivation was not more stable than self-determined school motivation over time and (b) a cross-lag model including reciprocal effects between self-determined global and self-determined school motivation offered the best fit indices comparatively to a model involving only horizontal (or stability) effects. Discussion emphasizes the theoretical implications of the results

The benefits of autonomy support for adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral problems

The benefits of autonomy support in the domain of education have been well established within the general population, but have yet to be demonstrated within clinical populations. The present study investigated the benefits of an autonomy-supportive interpersonal style on teenage girls’ internalization of a tedious clinical workshop and their subjective experience during this task. Participants were female teenagers placed in a social rehabilitation center for their severe emotional and behavioral problems (n = 29). An experimental design allowed comparing the impact of learning a tedious, but important workshop with or without autonomy support on internalization and experiential outcomes. Results demonstrate that autonomy support leads to higher perceived task’s value, task liking as well as less negative affect compared to a condition without autonomy-support. Participants in the autonomy-supportive condition also perceived the instructor as more competent. By uncovering benefits of autonomy support to a clinical population of adolescents, the present study supports self-determination theory’s tenet that the benefits of autonomy support are universal

Développement d’indicateurs de durabilité pour le transport en commun

«RÉSUMÉ: Dans un contexte où la mobilité durable est largement discutée, autant dans le discours public que scientifique, la quantification de celle-ci, en plus de ses différentes composantes, est toujours difficilement opérationnelle. La création d’indicateurs permet non seulement la description de la durabilité d’un système, mais également la comparaison de scénarios sur une base équivalente. On se concentre ici spécifiquement sur le transport collectif, pour des fins de simplification des indicateurs ainsi que pour la qualité des données disponibles sur le sujet. La littérature regorge de proposition de modèles de systèmes d’indicateurs ou d’index de durabilité. Le travail de la recherche est donc d’évaluer leur pertinence, leur équilibre et, le cas échéant, leur applicabilité au transport en commun.» et «----------ABSTRACT: In the context of sustainable mobility, a well discussed topic in the literature as well as among decision makers, the need to measure this concept is still not answered by a sustainability index. This index could help assess the sustainability level of a transportation system and compare different systems or scenarios on the same base. It is also the case in the public transportation domain. This mode of transportation is discussed in this master thesis, because of its nature and the quality of available data y. The literature is rich in terms of sustainability indexes or indicators. The first part of this work is to analyze these indicators, by looking at their relevance, their balance and the possibility to apply them to public transportation scenarios. To achieve this goal, a vast literature review is accomplished first on sustainable mobility indicators, then on the specific context of each indicators and the metric to assess them. This step is the basis to build a methodological framework to measure each indicator in a transit scenario context, in different possible levels of analysis. Two of the indicators are studied further, by making a complete study of the context, the metrics and a possible application.

How to talk so kids will listen & listen so kids will talk : a randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of the how-to parenting program on children’s mental health compared to a wait-list control group

Background : Basic parenting research reveals that child mental health is associated with optimal parenting, which is composed of three key dimensions (structure, affiliation and autonomy support). The present study aims to test the efficacy of the parenting program “How to talk so kids will listen & listen so kids will talk” (French version), thought to address all of these dimensions, in promoting children’s mental health. We predict that the How-to Parenting Program will promote child mental health by fostering optimal parenting. Methods : In this randomized controlled trial (RCT), the seven-week parenting group was offered to parents of 5- to 12-year-old children, in their local grade school. Children’s mental health assessments were questionnaire-based (parent, child and teacher reports) and took place at pre- (T1) and post- (T2) intervention as well as at 6-month (T3) and 1-year (T4) follow-ups. We compared children whose parents took part in the program with children whose parents did not take part in it until the completion of the trial (i.e., 1 year wait-list control groups). The primary outcome is children’s psychological problems (externalizing and internalizing). Secondary outcomes include parenting, the putative mediator of the expected benefits of the program on child mental health, as well as positive indicators of child mental health (strengths and subjective well-being) and parents’ own mental health. Discussion : To our knowledge, this is the first RCT to test the efficacy of the “How to talk so kids will listen & listen so kids will talk” program in promoting child mental health. In addition to the close correspondence between basic parenting research and the selected program, strengths of this study include its feasibility, monitoring of potentially confounding variables, ecological validity and inclusion of positive indicators of mental health

Autonomous and controlled motivation for parenting : associations with parent and child outcomes

The present investigation examined motivation for parenting and some of its correlates in parents and children. The data came from samples of 151 first-time mothers of infants, 153 mothers of middle school children, and 260 mothers and fathers of high school children. Parents provided self-report data about their motivation in their parenting role as well as reports of role satisfaction, parental competence, child temperament, and parenting styles. Using three samples, factor analyses confirmed the distinction between autonomous and controlled forms of parenting motivation. Autonomous motivation refers to investing in the parenting role because it is interesting and meaningful whereas controlled motivation refers to investment based on external or internal pressures. Results showed that autonomous motivation was associated concurrently with parenting satisfaction and competence as well as with authoritative and autonomy-supportive parenting styles. Child temperament was unrelated to parenting motivation, but mothers reported greater autonomous motivation for girls than boys and for younger children rather than older children. Autonomous parenting motivation was associated with children reporting autonomy supportive parenting and high levels of well-being. A prospective analysis showed that controlled parenting motivation in first time mothers was associated with reductions in parenting satisfaction as infants became toddlers. A similar analysis showed that autonomous parenting motivation was associated with children developing fewer behavior problems whereas controlled motivation was associated with children developing more behavioral problems. The present findings highlight the heuristic value of assessing why parents invest themselves in the parenting role