The Role of Perceived Stress and Self-Efficacy in Young People’s Life Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study

Life satisfaction is an important indicator of successful development. However, adolescents’ life satisfaction tends to be relatively unsteady, and environmental influences play a critical role in shaping life satisfaction among adolescents in the transition to young adulthood. Given the paramount importance that education plays in adolescents’ lives, adolescents’ life satisfaction may vary as a function of school-related stress experience. At the same time, coping resources may help reduce adverse effects of stress on life satisfaction. With this in mind, we examined whether, and to what extent, perceived stress in education and general self-efficacy (a resource that facilitates coping) affect the life satisfaction of adolescents in transition to young adulthood. We distinguished between baseline levels of stress and self-efficacy and within-person change in stress and self-efficacy to determine whether life satisfaction is sensitive to fluctuations in stress and self-efficacy when person-specific levels of stress and self-efficacy are taken into account. Estimating growth curve models on data from a panel study on the life trajectories of compulsory-school leavers (n?=?5126, 55.3?% female), we found that baseline levels of stress and self-efficacy, as well as within-person change in stress and self-efficacy, affected adolescents’ life satisfaction. Moreover, our results showed that baseline self-efficacy mitigated the negative effect of baseline stress on life satisfaction. These findings improve our understanding of two major psychological determinants of adolescents’ life satisfaction and extend our knowledge of life satisfaction trajectories during the transition to young adulthood.     

宪政：一种文明的政制形式

对于“政制”的理解和看法,不仅表现了东西方法律文明的不同发展特质,也代表着中国对法治文化内涵的理解,同时,还引发了中西方在国家即社会治理中的不同发展轨迹。笔者认为,只有对“政制”这一概念加以分析,才能更好地理解宪政观念在我国“依法治国”中的作用和意义。这里所讲的“政制”是与“政治”相对称,与“法制”相区别的制度性框架,是以特有的国家制度机制或治理方略为内容而形成的一整套与国家观念相匹配的宪政制度和理论。     

对我国《消费者权益保护法》第49条的若干思考

文章首先论述了我国《消费者权益保护法》第 4 9条适用的实体条件 ,然后分析了第 4 9条适用的范围 ,最后指出了第 4 9条的赔偿范围。     

人民监督员制度有关问题探析

人民监督员制度体现了司法民主,是修补现存制度性缺陷的有意义的努力。该制度在监督员的构成、监督范围、监督员组织形式、监督程序的设置等方面均有值得进一步研究的问题。建议通过立法确认和加强人民监督员制度的外部性,并实行监督意见附卷移送制度。     

加强公安队伍职业化建设的几点思考

公安队伍职业化建设是公安工作走向现代化、社会化的一个必然变迁过程和形态,具有相对严格的构成要素。推进公安队伍职业化建设,必须大力加强政治建警,理顺组织管理体制,健全教育培训机制,优化监督惩戒机制,推进公共关系建设。     

《毛泽东思想概论》中"两个建议"的史实质疑与论证

我国高等院校党史教材和国内诸多史书论著,普遍认定“毛泽东思想两个建议”的史实。通过对《毛泽东思想概论》、《彭德怀自述》等有关“两个建议”史实不同版本的比较论证分析,可得出“中央革命根据地第五次反‘围剿’战役后期的两个战略性建议,不是毛泽东提出来的”史实结论,否定国内史学界近半个世纪以来所认定的普遍观点。     

The judiciary and post-election conflict resolution and democratic consolidation in Ghana’s Fourth Republic

ABSTRACT

In recent times most elections in Africa have been fraught with post-elections conflicts that have had dire consequences on citizens. Kenya, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe are few of these cases. This makes post-election conflict resolution a very important aspect of the electoral process deserving enormous attention. However, extant literature has not accorded it the needed attention. It is as a result of this, that this study investigates the nature of post-election conflict resolution in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. The study, based on a qualitative case study approach, found among others that, the Courts have been instrumental in consolidating democracy in Ghana, and stakeholders are devotedly operating within the legal framework governing elections, despite logistical, law enforcement and justice delivery challenges. The study being conscious of the progress made over the years concludes that, where democratic institutions are consolidating, the use of unconventional means to resolve conflicts is usually not an option.     

A comparison of the self-image of talented teenagers with a normal adolescent population

The self-image of a group of 177 adolescents talented in one of five areas — mathematics, science, music, athletics, and art — was compared to that of a normal group of teenagers, using the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire for Adolescents (OSIQ). In addition, correlations between the talented OSIQ scores and instructor ratings of engagement and aptitude in the talent area was obtained. The findings indicate that talented adolescents educated in a normal high school setting evidence patterns of self-image and esteem very similar to their more average peers. The talented teenagers, however, also report considerable uncertainty involving issues of sexual and social competence. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for later patterns of talent development.This study is part of a longitudinal study of talented adolescents supported in full by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.Research interests include adolescent self-concept and the psychology of challenging experience.Research interests include the psychology of adolescence and the study of optimal experience, creativity, and intrinsic motivation.     

Selling Oneself into Slavery: Mill and Paternalism

'Voluntarily acceding to slavery', Joel Feinberg has written, 'is too much for Mill to stomach', and so Mill espouses strong paternalism and contradicts his famous principle of individual sovereignty. Mill's critics have found incoherence where none exists, largely because they have failed to take seriously his own claim that the non- enforcement of slavery contracts is required by the principle of liberty. The refusal to enforce such contracts arises not from Mill's espousal of paternalism, but from the paradox of sovereignty. Reconstruction of Mill's solution to this paradox not only dispels the charge that he abandoned the sovereignty of the individual, but also contributes to the reinterpretation of his defence of freedom, as a result of which his entire doctrine of antipaternalism emerges as a coherent and defensible position.