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Poorer financial circumstances among undergraduate students predict worse academic outcomes, yet there is a lack of research examining mediators. Accordingly, the present research aimed to identify such mediating variables. In Study 1, cross-sectional data were collected from UK undergraduates (N = 516). Controlling for background variables, path analysis indicated that stress, sense of belonging at university, working memory, and self-control mediated the negative relationship between financial concern and academic performance. In Study 2 an independent sample (N = 2794) was used to successfully validate the respecified model developed in Study 1. Additionally, longitudinal data were collected from UK undergraduates (N = 453) at three time points in an academic year. Controlling for background variables, financial concern predicted subsequent changes in intrinsic academic motivation, as mediated by changes in stress and sense of belonging at university. Together, this provides consistent evidence for stress and belonging as mediators of the impact of finances on academic outcomes. Our findings afford a more complete understanding of how financial concern may affect students' experience at university, highlight potential negative consequences of funding systems that place a financial burden on students, and could serve to inform interventions aimed at mitigating the negative effects of financial concern.

Both the sexual minority individual (SMI) and partner of the sexual minority individual (PSMI) in a mixed orientation relationship (MORE) experience stress, and stress related growth during the coming out process. However, the implications and experiences of this relationship through a dyadic perspective has yet to be explored. Using a phenomenological approach, this study examined the lived experience of the dyadic coming out process in MOREs through the theoretical lens of Meyer's (2003) minority stress model and Vaughan and Weahler's (2010) coming out growth (COG) model. Data analysis with nine MORE dyads provided a first-hand account of how minority stress and COG flow through the dyad before, during, and after SMIs and PSMIs engaged in the coming out process. The findings confirm the applicability of minority stress and COG theories to both members of the MORE. Themes that emerged in the data include awareness, disclosure, discovery, grief, support, and reconstruction. Mixed orientation relationships (MOREs) are intimate relationships of partners with differing sexual orientations. Individuals in these relationships experience stress and relational difficulties tied to the coming out process as a sexual minority. Research on MOREs have focused primarily on the stress related to a partner coming out as detrimental to the intimate relationship and little literature has examined this relationship under a stress related growth framework. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experience of the coming out process of MOREs through the theoretical lens of Meyer's (2003) minority stress model and Vaughan and Weahler's (2010) coming out growth (COGs) model. The authors interviewed nine couples who identified as being in a MORE. Data analysis found minority stress and COG theories to be applicable to both members of the MORE. Themes that emerged in the data include awareness, disclosure, discovery, grief, support, and reconstruction. These findings are significant to mental health professionals by providing a systemic perspective through which to conceptualize common stressors and growth factors during the coming out process of a MORE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Patients with chronic pain disorders, including Temporomandibular Disorders (TMDs) endorse high levels of sleep disturbances, frequently reporting reduced sleep quality. Despite this, little is known about the effect that daytime pain has on the microstructure and macro-architecture of sleep. Therefore, we aimed to examine the extent to which daytime pain sensitivity, measured using quantitative sensory testing (QST), is associated with objective sleep parameters the following night, including sleep architecture and power spectral density, in women with TMD. Methods 144 females with myalgia and arthralgia by examination using the Diagnostic criteria for TMD completed a comprehensive QST battery consisting of General Pain Sensitivity, Central Sensitization Index, and Masseter Pressure Pain Threshold assessments. Polysomnography was collected the same night to measure sleep architecture and calculate relative power in delta, theta, alpha, sigma, and beta power bands. Results Central Sensitization (B  = −3.069, P  = .009), General Pain Sensitivity Indices (B  = −3.069, P  = .007), and Masseter Pain Pressure Threshold (B  = 0.030, P  = .008) were significantly associated with lower REM% both before and after controlling for covariates. Pain sensitivity measures were not significantly associated with relative power in any of the spectral bands nor with any other sleep architectural stages. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that higher generalized pain sensitivity, masseter pain pressure threshold, as well as central sensitization were associated with a lower percentage of REM in participants with myofascial pain and arthralgia of the masticatory system. These findings provide an important step toward understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of how chronic pain interacts with sleep physiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First, I review the context for the need of new deliberative models, specifically agonistic deliberative models, for public discourse and for use in training students for public discourse. I then highlight five specific points that I trouble and enrich, principally through the work of Giroux, Arendt, Biesta, and Duarte. While I agree that there is great value in Lo's description of the agonistic deliberative model, I advocate for what Biesta would call a weaker model of deliberation, one that sets the conditions for transformative education but one that does not act as an instrument for it. [This article is in response to "Empowering Young People through Conflict and Conciliation: Attending to the Political and Agonism in Democratic Education." To view this article, see EJ1140087.]