Articles in both the lay and professional literature have extolled the virtues of humor, many giving the impression that the health benefits of humor are well documented by the scientific and medical community. The concept that humor or laughter can be therapeutic goes back to biblical times and this belief has received varying levels of support from the scientific community at different points...

Any teenager or anyone involved with teenagers must find something of value in this excellent little book. Without patronising or preaching from any particular viewpoint, it describes the change from child into teenager, the problems this age brings with it and how to cope with the years that follow. The reader is constantly urged to think for himself, to discuss his problems and act accordingl...

This paper investigates the interaction of perceived accountability on the politics perceptions-job stress relationship. From a sample of working adults, findings indicate that (1) individuals perceiving organizational politics and high levels of accountability reported more quality concern stress and job vs. non-job conflict, and (2) individuals perceiving organizational politics and low level...

Two studies evaluated the dimensionality of the COPE inventory (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) and examined its relationships with approachand avoidance-motives and positive and negative traits. In Study 1, four coping factors emerged, three of which reflected either self-sufficient or socially-supported coping strategies, along with an avoidant-coping factor. Correlations of scales from t...

Addressing climate change vulnerability requires an understanding of both the level of climate impacts and the capacity of the exposed population to cope. This study developed a methodology for allowing users to explore vulnerability to changes in ecosystem services as a result of climatic and socio-economic changes. It focuses on the vulnerability of Europe across multiple sectors by combining...

The evolutionary origin of innovativeness remains puzzling because innovating means responding to novel or unusual problems and hence is unlikely to be selected by itself. A plausible alternative is considering innovativeness as a co-opted product of traits that have evolved for other functions yet together predispose individuals to solve problems by adopting novel behaviours. However, this rai...

Progress and issues in the study of coping with stress during childhood and adolescence are reviewed. Definitions of coping are considered, and the relationship between coping and other aspects of responses to stress (e.g., temperament and stress reactivity) is described. Questionnaire, interview, and observation measures of child and adolescent coping are evaluated with regard to reliability a...

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is characterized by its unknown outcomes and consequences for the families involved. The purpose of this study was to identify family processes under conditions of prolonged uncertainty. Data were collected from both Israeli and Palestinian families in the West Bank by means of semi-structured interviews. Qualitative and quantitative analyses showed cross-c...

INTRODUCTION Medical students with a non-German background face several challenges during their studies. Besides support given by foreign student offices further specific projects for international students have been developed and are offered by medical faculties. However, so far, neither a systematic survey of the faculties' perceived problems nor of the offered support exists. METHOD All st...