Exploring Higher Education Pathways for Coping With the Threat of COVID-19: Does Parental Academic Background Matter?

First-generation students (FGS) are more likely to feel misplaced and struggle at university than students with university-educated parents (continuous-generation students; CGS). We assumed that the shutdowns during the Coronavirus-pandemic would particularly threaten FGS due to obstructed coping mechanisms. Specifically, FGS may show lower identification with the academic setting and lower perceived fairness of the university system (system justification). We investigated whether FGS and CGS used different defenses to cope with the shutdown threat in a large sample of German-speaking students (N = 848). Using Structural Equation Modeling, we found that for all students, independent of academic parental background, high levels of system justification were associated with perceiving the learning situation as less threatening, better coping with failure, and less helplessness. However, in comparison to CGS, FGS showed small but significant reductions in system justification and relied more on concrete personal relationships with other students as well as their academic identity to cope with the threatening situation. We discuss implications for helping FGS succeed at university.

Relation of corona-specific health literacy to use of and trust in information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background COVID-19 has developed into a worldwide pandemic which was accompanied by an «infodemic» consisting of much false and misleading information. To cope with these new challenges, health literacy plays an essential role. The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a trend study in Switzerland on corona-specific health literacy, the use of and trust in information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their relationships. Methods Three online surveys each with approximately 1′020 individuals living in the German-speaking part of Switzerland (age ≥ 18 years) were conducted at different timepoints during the COVID-19 pandemic, namely spring, fall and winter 2020. For the assessment of corona-specific health literacy, a specifically developed instrument (HLS-COVID-Q22) was used. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate data analyses have been conducted. Results In general, a majority of the Swiss-German population reported sufficient corona-specific health literacy levels which increased during the pandemic: 54.6% participants in spring, 62.4% in fall and 63.3% in winter 2020 had sufficient corona-specific health literacy. Greatest difficulties concerned the appraisal of health information on the coronavirus. The most used information sources were television (used by 73.3% in spring, 70% in fall and 72.3% in winter) and the internet (used by 64.1, 64.8 and 66.5%). Although health professionals, health authorities and the info-hotline were rarely mentioned as sources for information on the coronavirus, respondents had greatest trust in them. On the other hand, social media were considered as the least trustworthy information sources. Respondents generally reporting more trust in the various information sources, tended to have higher corona-specific health literacy levels. Conclusions Sufficient health literacy is an essential prerequisite for finding, understanding, appraising, and applying health recommendations, particularly in a situation where there is a rapid spread of a huge amount of information. The population should be supported in their capability in appraising the received information and in assessing the trustworthiness of different information sources.

Religiosity and Spirituality of German-Speaking Pilgrims on the Way of St. James

The article examines the intensity and structure of religiosity and spirituality of German-speaking foot and bicycle pilgrims on the Way of St. James within the framework of a multidimensional model of religiosity. The following nine aspects are distinguished: religious questions, faith, religious and spiritual identity, worship, prayer, meditation, monistic and dualistic religious experiences. Data of N=425 German-speaking pilgrims of the Way of St. James from the years 2017 and 2018 are analyzed. The data of the Religion Monitor 2017 from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (N=2837) serves as a population-representative comparison sample. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, and multiple regression analyses are used to analyze and to compare the two groups. The results show that German-speaking pilgrims in the analyzed sample have substantially higher values on all dimensions of religiosity than the general population in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This difference is most pronounced in the spiritual self-concept. However, for most pilgrims, the categories religious and spiritual are not mutually exclusive. Rather, spirituality forms a basis shared by almost all pilgrims in the sample, to which religiousness is added for many. Further, results are discussed in the light of the existing foot and bicycle pilgrimage research. Conclusively, it can be said that tourism and church actors should consider the religious character of pilgrims, which remains despite all changes in the religious landscape.

Neurodevelopmental Differences, Pedohebephilia, and Sexual Offending: Findings from Two Online Surveys

The neurodevelopmental theory of pedohebephilia states that sexual interests in children arise from early neurodevelopmental perturbations, as, for example, evidenced by increased non-right-handedness, more childhood head injuries, and reduced intelligence and height. As corroborating evidence largely rests on samples of convicted men, we conducted online surveys among German-speaking (Study 1, N = 199) and English-speaking men (Study 2, N = 632), specifically targeting community members with pedohebephilic or teleiophilic interests. Although we detected theoretically meaningful sexual interest patterns in an embedded viewing time task, we could not detect expected neurodevelopmental differences between teleiophilic and pedohebephilic men in either of the two studies. Strikingly, pedohebephilic men who reported convictions for sexual offenses emerged as shorter and less intelligent than pedohebephilic men without convictions in Study 2. While elucidating possible third variable confounds, results have to be interpreted cautiously because of the methodological problems inherent to non-matched case control designs.

Catechesis and education as a function of building the Church according to Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki (On the centenary of the birth of the great educator)

For Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki, the catechesis was in close relationship with the Church. The most appropriate place for the catechesis as the fundamental formation of Christians (adults, youth and children) is in the Church which is both the subject, goal and object of catechesis. Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki drew the concepts of the Church from studies by German-speaking authors, and above all from documents of the Second Vatican Council. For him, the Church was an intermediary of salvation, a universal sacrament of salvation, a mother, a temple of God, and most of all, a union of God's people, a community in Christ, a community of faith, hope and love. The task of catechesis is, in the first place, the introduction and experience of the Church. The nature of catechesis stems from the concept of the Church. Therefore, if the Church is a community, the aim of catechesis is to introduce it to the faithful so that they may not only participate in it, but above all create it. It is also important that catechesis serves the process of Christian initiation, discovering the Church as a place of fulfilling the mystery of life, salvation and healing. Therefore, Fr. Blachnicki put a strong emphasis on the relationship between the liturgy and catechesis, because the most complete process of initiation takes place in the liturgy. Another task of catechesis is its function of awakening and developing faith. For faith is the foundation for the Church and the primary goal for catechesis. It is to be both personalistic and social in nature. Father Blachnicki claimed that cathechesis educated faith was not an individual faith but the faith of the Church. Many Christians, even including those most zealous, live their Christian lives alongside the life of the Church, but not in the Church. In the meantime, every Christian is the Church, because the Church is the whole Christ, the head and members, and we are its members. For that reason, the life of the Church grows in so far as the life of faith of each member grows.

COVID-19 vaccination status is associated with physical activity in German-speaking countries: the COR-PHYS-Q cohort study

BackgroundTo examine the association between COVID-19 vaccination status and physical activity (PA), sporting behavior, as well as barriers to PA in adults in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.MethodsA total of 1516 adults provided complete responses to our online questionnaire sent out in August 2021. Information about self-reported PA categories, sporting behavior, barriers to PA, and COVID-19 vaccination status were gathered. Main analyses were done using multiple linear regression adjusted for relevant parameters.ResultsWe found a significant association of vaccination status with total PA (p = .011), vigorous PA (p = .015), and moderate PA (p = .001) but not transport-related PA or sedentary time. Unvaccinated adults tended to have more total and vigorous PA than those vaccinated once (ratios of geometric means: 1.34 and 1.60, respectively) or twice (1.22 and 1.09, respectively). Yet, not sufficient evidence was available to confirm this. There was no between-group difference in the contribution of leisure time, work-related, or transport-related PA to total PA. Vaccination status was not associated with sporting behavior except for jogging as the primary intensive type of sports. Finally, there were no significant differences in any of the COVID-19 specific barriers to PA between groups.ConclusionOur data showed that vaccination status is associated with PA even in summer, where the number of COVID-19 cases was low and the severity of safety measures was mild. These findings may enhance future research and improve/extend COVID-19-specific PA guidelines.

Musical Sophistication and Speech Auditory-Motor Coupling: Easy Tests for Quick Answers

Musical training enhances auditory-motor cortex coupling, which in turn facilitates music and speech perception. How tightly the temporal processing of music and speech are intertwined is a topic of current research. We investigated the relationship between musical sophistication (Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication index, Gold-MSI) and spontaneous speech-to-speech synchronization behavior as an indirect measure of speech auditory-motor cortex coupling strength. In a group of participants (n = 196), we tested whether the outcome of the spontaneous speech-to-speech synchronization test (SSS-test) can be inferred from self-reported musical sophistication. Participants were classified as high (HIGHs) or low (LOWs) synchronizers according to the SSS-test. HIGHs scored higher than LOWs on all Gold-MSI subscales (General Score, Active Engagement, Musical Perception, Musical Training, Singing Skills), but the Emotional Attachment scale. More specifically, compared to a previously reported German-speaking sample, HIGHs overall scored higher and LOWs lower. Compared to an estimated distribution of the English-speaking general population, our sample overall scored lower, with the scores of LOWs significantly differing from the normal distribution, with scores in the ∼30th percentile. While HIGHs more often reported musical training compared to LOWs, the distribution of training instruments did not vary across groups. Importantly, even after the highly correlated subscores of the Gold-MSI were decorrelated, particularly the subscales Musical Perception and Musical Training allowed to infer the speech-to-speech synchronization behavior. The differential effects of musical perception and training were observed, with training predicting audio-motor synchronization in both groups, but perception only in the HIGHs. Our findings suggest that speech auditory-motor cortex coupling strength can be inferred from training and perceptual aspects of musical sophistication, suggesting shared mechanisms involved in speech and music perception.

Learning in one minute: survey of the One Minute Wonder Network

Background Continuous education of clinicians improves quality of care. One Minute Wonder (OMW) summarize best practice knowledge on one page that can be hung on a wall and can be read during waiting times of just one minute. OMW are a fast, efficient and easy-to-adapt educational method and can easily be shared. Since 2018, an interprofessional network has been set up for OMW in German-speaking countries, but the benefits have not been evaluated yet. Aim The primary objective of this evaluation study was to examine whether and to what extent the members of the OMW network used OMW for training in different settings. Secondary objectives were subjective educational gain, OMW as a training method, and OMW-related structures and processes. Methods An online survey within the OMW network with 301 members over a period of 3 weeks in 2020 was conducted. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Results Response rate was 62.8% (n = 191). Most participants have used OMW for < 6 months (32.5%, n = 62), developed 1–10 OMW (42.4%, n = 81) by themselves and changed them infrequently (43.5%, n = 74). Topics were most often nursing interventions (79.6%, n = 152), diseases (71.2%, n = 136), drugs (64.4%, n = 123) and others. Participants reported that OMW extended professional knowledge, stimulated them to reflect on their work and are useful for sharing best practice knowledge. Authors of OMW were most often nurses (53.9%, n = 103), who were inspired by the OMW network or by questions of the team. Conclusion Participants use OMW in practice to share best practice knowledge.

Language Learning Under Varied Conditions: Neural Indices of Speech Perception in Bilingual Turkish-German Children and in Monolingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)

Lateral temporal measures of the auditory evoked potential (AEP) including the T-complex (positive Ta and negative Tb), as well as an earlier negative peak (Na) index maturation of auditory/speech processing. Previous studies have shown that these measures distinguish neural processing in children with typical language development (TD) from those with disorders and monolingual from bilingual children. In this study, bilingual children with Turkish as L1 and German as L2 were compared with monolingual German-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and monolingual German-speaking children with TD in order to disentangle effects of limited language input vs. reduced perceptual abilities in the processing of speech and non-speech stimuli. Sensory processing reflected by the T-complex (or from lateral temporal electrode sites) was compared in response to a German vowel and a sine-wave tone in the three groups of children, ages 5 through 6 years. Stimuli were presented while children watched a muted video. Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were time-locked to the vowels and tones. AEPs to the frequent (standard) stimuli within an oddball paradigm were analyzed at the left (T7) and right (T8) temporal electrode sites.The results revealed language status (monolingual, bilingual, and DLD), stimulus (vowel and tone), and language test measures (receptive and expressive) all influenced the T-complex amplitudes. Particularly, the peak amplitude of Ta was modulated by language status and stimulus type. Bilingual children had significantly more negative Ta responses than the monolingual children with TD for both vowels and tones while DLD children differed from TD children only for the vowel stimulus. The amplitude of the T-complex was overall more negative at the left than at the right site. The Na peak latency was longer for the bilingual group than that observed for the two monolingual groups. The Tb latency was shorter for DLD and bilingual groups than that for TD children in the vowel condition, but no such latency difference between DLD and bilingual children was found. We suggest that the attenuated T-complex for bilingual children indicates continued plasticity of the auditory cortex to allow for learning of novel, second-language speech sounds.