Fiction Reading and Empathy Capacity of Selected Filipino Adolescents and Young Adults

This study aimed to discover if adolescents’ and young adults’ empathy capacity is higher when they engage more in fiction reading. A total of 301 students, aged 16-22, completed a self-administered questionnaire. More than half (56%) of the respondents consider reading as a hobby with books as the preferred reading material. Around 38% have moderate fiction reading scores and around 77% have high empathy capacity scores. Findings showed that the older the respondent is, the less likely they would read fiction and the lower their empathy level. Females are more likely to read fiction and are more empathic than males. Also, results revealed that the more the individual reads fiction, the more empathic they can become. Home and school interventions can be created to increase opportunities and desire for reading fiction and enhancing empathy capacity.

Online Learning in the Era of COVID-19: Computer Anxiety and Mental Health Among College Students

The recent outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought significant changes to higher education. In response to the pandemic, many colleges, and universities around the world, especially in developed countries, are embracing online or distance education. Transitioning to online learning that involves the use of information technology such as the internet and digital platform for course delivery has increased dramatically (World Economic Forum, 2020). However, these sudden changes have left some to speculate that the shift to online learning will change students’ level of anxiety, stress, which could result in poor academic performance and low achievement of learning objectives. The purpose of this descriptive cross-sectional study is to investigate undergraduate and graduate students’ perceptions of their mental health and computer anxiety in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistics such as simple percentages and averages were calculated. Also, a one-way ANOVA was used for analyzing the collected data. Results indicate that general mental health was significantly correlated with computer anxiety. The results also indicate that computer anxiety and perceived stress predicted poor general health. Demographic factors, such as sex, and academic discipline were significant predictors of computer anxiety, but age was not a significant predictor of computer anxiety. Also, the results show that chronic physical disabilities are a significant predictor of computer anxiety, and overall mental health, however, the presence of learning disabilities was not a significant predictor of computer anxiety. Implications and considerations for future research are discussed.

Conjugal Visits in Prisons Discourse: The Prisoners’ Voice in Malawi

The issue of possible provision of prisoners’ conjugal rights in jurisdictions not yet allowing them, such as Malawi, is still an intricate debate amongst the stakeholders. However, the most important stakeholder in the issue, the prisoner, is usually left out of the discourse. This study analyzed the perceptions of randomly sampled 305 prisoners on conjugal visits at one of the central prisons in Malawi. Both qualitative and quantitative data from prisoners’ perceptions were collected and used concurrently. The key finding was that prisoners (male and female) in Malawi generally had positive perceptions regarding conjugal visits since more than 80% of the respondents (n=305) reported that conjugal visits were good and recommended their possible introduction in Malawi. These incarcerated persons opined that conjugal visits reduced problems of homosexuality, sexual assaults, physical violence in prisons, supporting prisoners’ rehabilitation and reintegration efforts as well as helping prisoners in preserving and establishing family ties. Prisoners also viewed conjugal visits as another way of dealing with the HIV and AIDS problem in Malawi prisons. Though the potential challenge was reported to be its costs, it was opined that the programme was still worthy of introducing. It was therefore concluded that the prisoners’ voice is also valuable in not only conjugal visits discourse but also in all issues related to law and policy that concern them.

Comparative Perspectives on Motivations and Values Among Novice Teachers

The current study aims at analyzing and comparing novice teachers’ motivations, values, and beliefs (N=810) from two different countries, namely the United States and Switzerland. Both groups, the US participants (n=327) and the Swiss participants (n=483) were enrolled in a teacher training program in their respective countries. Study results identified the main teaching motivations across all subsamples as related to participants’ personal values, social values, their teaching views, and instructional beliefs. Study results show that while motivational factors were similar at many levels between the two subsamples, their teaching views and their instructional beliefs were different and varied across participants from the two countries. Findings can help educators understanding the interplay between teaching motivations and beliefs as well as cultural nuances related to these concepts.

You Pray for Him a Bit More”: Young Adults’ Positive Aspects of Caregiving (PAC) Towards Parental Cancer

Young adult caregivers are growing in number, yet there is a paucity of literature on their role in informal family caregiving. The Positive Aspects of Caregiving (PAC) framework has been developed within Dementia carers to indicate positive outcomes of the caring experience. The current study specifically explored the narratives of four young adult carers’ lived experience of caring towards their parents with cancer, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) through the lens of PAC. Main themes developed from this study were unfolding the child-parent dyad, character building and affirmation of value systems, time reframed, and sustaining caregiving continuity with subthemes surrounding responsibility, appreciation beyond the role reversal, acceptance and sources of comfort. This small-scaled study contributes towards a new understanding of the young adult population, their perception of caregiving and briefly informs the PAC beyond a dementia population.

Self-Determination, Deviance, and Risk Factors

Deviant behaviours are a significant cost to Canadian society and can incur an immeasurable amount of emotional and physical damage every year (Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, 2018; The John Howard Society of Canada, 2018). There have been numerous studies on the role of risk factors in affecting deviant behaviours, however, few of these have examined the influence of self-determination on deviance (Mann et al., 2010; Murray & Farrington, 2010; Zara & Farrington, 2010). This study intends to fill this gap by investigating the interactions between self-determination, gender, risk factors, and deviance. Participants were invited through the University of Saskatchewan’s PAWS and SONA systems to complete an online survey that asked questions relating to gender, self-determination, risk factors, and deviance. A Chi-square Test for Independence was utilized to explore the explicit relationships between the type of self-determination and gender differences. In addition, a two-way MANOVA was used to compare self-determination and gender together in relation to deviance and risk factors. A Chi-square test found that there was not a significant relationship between gender and self-determination while the two-way MANOVA found a significant interaction effect between self-determination, deviance, and risk factors. However, when the interaction was examined further through univariate ANOVAs, no significant differences were found. Future research that examines and expands on the relationship between self-determination, gender, risk factors and antisocial behavior is suggested.

Do Newer Antidepressant Drugs Really Have Reduced Side Effects? Examining a Random “Real World” Sample of 300+ Receivers of Medications

Newer antidepressant drugs are frequently cited as having reduced side effect profiles to that of their older counterparts. However, recent studies have begun to dispute this claim, citing selective sampling, short clinical trials, and clinical trial environments as influencing reported outcomes. At present, little research on antidepressant side effects draws on RWD (Real-World Data). Despite this, interest in examining RWD samples for antidepressant drug side effects is increasing as of 2020. The reported study asked a random sample of 300+ individuals taking a variety of different antidepressant medications to complete online drug side effect self-report scales with previously high validity. Newer antidepressants belonging to the atypical antidepressant drug class were reported as having only slightly reduced side effects of weight gain compared with older SSRI-class medications. No reduced side effects of increased depression, anxiety, sexual dysfunction (SD), sleepiness, or suicidal ideation (SI) were found for the newer atypical-class medications vs older SSRI-class agents. Medication adherence did not differ significantly between SSRI and atypical classes. No evidence for reduced side effects was found for newer SSRI and atypical antidepressants vs older same-class drugs when comparing six new and old medications drawn from atypical and SSRI classes. However, atypical antidepressants were associated with increased use of adjunct medications to bolster primary treatment.

Cross-Cultural Social Skills of Turkish Students in Japan: Implications for Overcoming Academic and Social Difficulties During Cross-Cultural Transition

he present study examines the social skills of Turkish students during their cross-cultural transition to the academic and social cultures of Japan. One of the purposes of this study is to partially fill the gap in the literature by exploring and identifying Turkish students’ social skills during their stay in Japan. Another purpose of the study is to differentiate social skills, particularly used in educational settings – such as the classroom environment – from those exhibited in other contexts. This study also aims to provide universities with potential solutions to design better support and provide aid to Turkish students through their transition stages. A semi-structured interview was selected as the primary data collection tool for the present research. A total of 21 students from Turkey who were in higher education or had already obtained a degree from a university in Japan volunteered to participate in this study. Each interview transcript was individually examined via qualitative analysis, aiming to identify and categorize cross-cultural social skills. The analysis produced separate hierarchical levels of categories related to both the academic and social cultures of Japan. The findings revealed that Turkish students tend to use different types of social skills in different settings which are labelled “social skills specific to academic culture in Japan” and “culture-specific social skills.” Additionally, the cross-cultural social skills of Turkish students are classified in respect of their use (i.e., acquired skills, avoided skills, and maintained skills), based on a previous study.

Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement: The Relationship and Gender Differences of Malaysian University Undergraduates

A positive correlation between self-esteem and academic achievement is often noted in the literature on educational psychology. As such, self-esteem and academic achievement are often inter-related. Additionally, gender is believed to have an impact on an individual’s self-esteem and varied disparities are found in self-esteem level between genders. The relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement among undergraduates in Malaysia, is still understudied and the lack of literature necessitates an empirical study. Hence, this study explored the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement among undergraduates of a private university in Malaysia. Also, it investigated if there is any significant difference in self-esteem and academic achievement between genders. A convenience sampling method was employed on 60 male and 60 female undergraduates of TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) program. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire was utilized to obtain the data on the participants’ self-esteem and their Grade Point Average (GPA). Data analysis using Spearman’s rho correlation revealed a significant relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement. Based on the Chi-square test result, a significant difference in academic achievement between male and female students was established. However, the independent t-test result revealed an absence of significant difference in self-esteem between male and female students. The findings demonstrate essential implications for students, counselors, and educators, and suggest relevant recommendations for future research. A larger sample size should be employed, and other important demographic variables should be explored to examine more in-depth into this interesting field of study.

Happiness Among Urban Poor Filipino Families

Filipinos are generally observed to display happiness despite the experience of poverty. However, limited researches have been done to support or explain such observation. The purpose of the study was to examine the level of happiness among selected Filipino families who were living below the poverty line. The study also identified the families’ sources of happiness and the actions they take to experience happiness. A qualitative research design was used. Twenty urban poor two-parent families were the subjects of the study. The Family Subjective Happiness Scale was administered to the families to determine their level of happiness. In depth-interviews were used to examine the families' sources of happiness and the actions they take to be happy. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The results showed that most of the poor families were either happy or very happy. The primary sources of happiness of the families include good family relationship, family togetherness, having children, faith in God, and good health. On the other hand, learning to be content, finding ways to solve their problems, engaging in leisure activities, and developing optimism were the things that the families do to achieve or experience happiness. Despite being poor, the families were happy mainly because they have close family relationships and are contented with their lives. The study provided valuable contribution to understanding why Filipino families show happiness despite poverty.