O'Neill, Brian; Hagen, Ingunn. Media literacy. In: Kids online: Opportunities and risks for children. Policy Press 2009 ISBN 9781847424389. pp. 229-239
Across Europe and beyond, the promotion of media literacy for both children and adults has acquired an important public urgency. Traditional literacy is no longer seen to be sufficient for participation in today's society. Citizens need to be media literate, it is claimed, to enable them to cope more effectively with the flood of information in today's highly mediated societies. As teachers, politicians and policy makers everywhere struggle with this rapid shift in media culture, greater responsibility is placed on citizens for their own welfare in the new media environment. Media literacy is therefore all the more essential in enabling citizens to make sense of the opportunities available to them and to be alerted to the risks involved.
How media literacy might be achieved is the subject of this chapter, and three main themes are addressed. First, we examine how media literacy has been defined with particular reference to the growing importance of digital literacy. Second, we examine how media literacy has been adopted within policy frameworks as a response to rapid technological change. Third, we critique the 'technological literacy' that dominates much of the current policy agenda (Hasebrink et al, 2007), and argue for a new approach based on better knowledge about children and young people's media and internet habits.
Steinsbekk, Silje; Jozefiak, Thomas; Ødegård, Rønnaug; Wichstrøm, Lars. Impaired parent-reported quality of life in treatment-seeking children with obesity is mediated by high levels of psychopathology. Quality of Life Research 2009;18(9):1159-1167
The purpose of the current study was to explore psychopathology as a mediator of quality of life (QOL) in children and adolescents with obesity. The notion that psychopathology and QOL are two distinct constructs was also tested.
A sample of treatment-seeking children and adolescents with obesity (n = 185, average age = 11.5, mean BMI SDS = 3.03) was matched to a community sample of children (n = 799, average age = 11.5). Both self- and parent-reported measures of QOL (KINDL-R) and psychopathology (CBCL/YSR) was completed.
Parent-reported QOL was impaired, and both self-reported and parent-reported psychopathology was elevated in children and adolescents with obesity. Psychopathology accounted for all the variance of the effect of obesity on parent-reported QOL. The distinction between QOL and psychopathology was supported through confirmatory factor analysis.
Impaired parent-reported QOL in children and adolescents with obesity was attributable to their elevated levels of psychopathology.
Friborg, Oddgeir; Hjemdal, Odin; Martinussen, Monica; Rosenvinge, Jan H. Empirical Support for Resilience as More than the Counterpart and Absence of Vulnerability and Symptoms of Mental Disorder. Journal of individual differences 2009;30(3):138-151
The construct of resilience has been viewed as the direct counterpart of factors jeopardizing mental health, i.e., vulnerability and psychopathology. Any operationalization of resilience, thus, risks lying on the same latent continuum as indicators of mental illness, although indicating their absence. A factor analysis combining items from these measurement domains, followed by analyses of second-order factor scores was performed to test this assumption. A random selection of 1,724 participants (34% response rate) from the general population of Norway responded. All items were discriminated well by their primary factors. A second-order factor analysis extracted two components, which was confirmed on a hold-out sample by confirmatory factor methods. The Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA), which measures protective factors, correlated with both second-order factors. Thus, the RSA shared common variance with vulnerability and psychopathology, as well as being unique from illness indices. A hierarchical regression analysis that tested interactions between vulnerability and resilience further supported the unique contributions of the RSA. Thus, the notion of resilience-protective indicators as solely counterparts of vulnerability and psychopathology is not empirically supported.
Alapack, Richard Joseph. The Epiphany of female flesh: A phenomenological hermeneutic of popular fashion. Journal of Popular Culture 2009;42(6):977-1003
Zones of sensual and sexual lure open and close in an intimate link with popular culture. Fashion, like visual media and music, is an ever-present pivot around which swings this two-way door. Consequently, although the preferences of fashion to reveal or conceal certain bodily regions are transitory, they are never trivial. Each passing fad, as it lingers and fades, pinpoints the crux of its historical moment and thus bears theoretical significance. Insofar as fashion interweaves wardrobe and skin, makeup and hairstyles, perfume, jewelry, and accessories, it mediates the shifting winds of social climate. From the viewpoint of semiotics, this pattern is an intricate system of cultural change and tribal belonging. This study adopts the theoretical rationale of phenomenology to unravel the strands that tie fashion to psychosocial – political – historical matters. Maurice Merleau-Ponty demonstrates that the human body is not only an object of observation, but also a meaning- creating subject and a medium of culture. Clothing does not just drape the flesh but extends it. Clothing reveals personal ambitions, social aspirations, and the prevailing zeitgeist. One stellar way to espy the waxing, waning, and displacement of political power is to pay attention to what women are wearing.
Nysæter, Tor Erik; Kennair, Leif Edward Ottesen. Hvor ble det av de multiple personlighetene?. Skepsis 2009
Teorier om multippel personlighetsforstyrrelse har gått på en kraftig smell internasjonalt. Norge er et av få land der teorien får økt innflytelse. Blant annet presenteres det som en “offervennlig” teori. Men det slår begge veier. I norsk rett ble det i 2008 for eksempel argumentert for at en morder handlet i en “annen personlighetstilstand” og dermed kunne ha krav på nedsatt straff. Det er ikke første gang. I denne artikkelen skisseres hva idéene bak MPF er, og hva som er galt med dem.
Department of Psychology; Publications 2007 , 2008
Norsk
