Psychological difficulties among custodial grandchildren

Recycled drinking water represents one of the most obvious and technologically reliable sources of urban water. Yet it is one of the least implemented solutions. Blame has often been laid on the emotional and psychological difficulties of persuading people that recycled drinking water is safe to drink. This ‘yuck’ factor has been empirically identified as a statistically significant variable. But how are such factors perceived? And more importantly – can these perceptions be changed? This study attempts a quantitative study of public perceptions and norm formation in recycled drinking water. Using the Q methodology, which reveals the subjective perceptions of key stakeholders, we uncover the following discourses: (1) technology can change current paradigms; (2) ensuring a safe water supply is a problem that has an economic cost; (3) environmental and global realities make it imperative to recycle water. These findings confound two prevailing views – that the debate in recycled drinking water is one of science over emotions, and more information can ‘overcome’ the apparently irrational norm formation. Instead, we find no new information in this case. Rather what was present was a new interpretative frame that allowed a new narrative enabling the bridging of two previously contradictory positions – in this instance, the pro- and anti-water reuse discourses.

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Psychological Difficulties Mediate and Self-Efficacy Moderates the Relationship Between Family Cumulative Risk and Hope Among Chinese Children From Low-Income Families

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.709320 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Xiayun Yin ◽

Dongfang Wang ◽

Zhihua Li ◽

Yuesheng Huang

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Risk Index ◽

Cumulative Risk ◽

Chinese Children ◽

Mediating Role ◽

Ocean Effect ◽

Psychological Difficulties ◽

Low Income Families ◽

The Relationship

This longitudinal study investigated the role of psychological difficulties and self-efficacy in the relationship between family cumulative risk and hope among children from low-income families. The participants were 392 Chinese children from low-income families; the study extended for 2 years, and participants completed data that were collected with the following questionnaires: the Family Cumulative Risk Index, Children's Hope Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Difficulties subscale, and General Self-efficacy Scale. The results demonstrated that psychological difficulties played a mediating role in the relationship between family cumulative risk and hope; specifically, family cumulative risk predicted hope of children via psychological difficulties. Self-efficacy moderated the relationship between psychological difficulties and hope. This moderation supported “a drop in the ocean effect”; the protective effect of high self-efficacy worked only when psychological difficulties were at low levels. When psychological difficulties were at high levels, the buffering effect of self-efficacy on family cumulative risk was gradually weakened and eventually lost.

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Developmental themes in women's emotional experiences of motherhood

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579401001110 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 165-182 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

SUNIYA S. LUTHAR ◽

KIMBERLY DOYLE ◽

NANCY E. SUCHMAN ◽

LINDA MAYES

Keyword(s):

Positive Emotions ◽

Ego Development ◽

Child Rearing ◽

Sentence Completion ◽

Maternal Role ◽

Adjustment Problems ◽

Completion Test ◽

Psychological Difficulties ◽

Self Examination ◽

Washington University

In this study, women's levels of ego development and their psychological difficulties were examined in relation to feelings in the maternal role. The sample consisted of 91 mothers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Ego development was assessed by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test, and psychological difficulties were operationalized by self-reported global symptomatology, maternal substance abuse, and expressed anger. Outcome variables included feelings of satisfaction, distress, and support in the maternal role, as well as the degree to which negative and positive emotions were integrated in response to hypothetical vignettes of challenging everyday child-rearing experiences. Hypotheses were that women at high levels of ego development would show greater deterioration in the presence versus absence of self-reported adjustment problems than would those at lower levels. A series of interaction effects each indicated trends consistent with the hypotheses. These results add to accumulating evidence that tendencies toward self-examination, characteristic of high developmental levels, do not inevitably serve protective functions but may be linked with heightened reactivity to negative intrapsychic forces.

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