Critical thinking (CT) is purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanations of the considerations on which that judgment is based. This article summarizes the available empirical evidence on the impact of instruction on the development and enhancement of critical thinking skills and dispositions and student achievement. The review includes 341 effects sizes drawn from quasi-or true-experimental studies that used standardized measures of CT as outcome variables. The weighted random effects mean effect size (g+) was 0.30 (p < .001). The collection was heterogeneous (p < .001). Results demonstrate that there are effective strategies for teaching CT skills, both generic and content specific, and CT dispositions, at all educational levels and across all disciplinary areas. Notably, the opportunity for dialogue, the exposure of students to authentic or situated problems and examples, and mentoring had positive effects on CT skills.

The finding that people of Chinese heritage tend to emphasize somatic rather than psychological symptoms of depression has frequently been discussed in the culture and mental health literature since the 1970s. Recent studies have confirmed that Chinese samples report more somatic and fewer psychological depression symptoms compared to “Western” samples. The question remains, however, as to whether or not these effects are attributable to variation in all the constituent symptoms or to a subset. If the latter, there is the additional possibility that some symptoms might show a divergent pattern. Such findings would have implications for how cultural variations in symptom presentation are interpreted, and would also inform the cultural study of affective experiences more broadly. The current study addressed these issues in Chinese (n = 175) and Euro-Canadian (n = 107) psychiatric outpatients originally described by Ryder et al. (2008). Differential item functioning (DIF) was used to examine whether specific somatic and psychological symptoms diverged from the overall patterns of cultural variation. Chi-square analyses were used to examine atypical somatic symptoms (e.g., hypersomnia), previously neglected in this literature. No DIF was observed for the typical somatic symptoms, but Euro-Canadians reported greater levels of atypical somatic symptoms, and showed higher rates of atypical depression. DIF was observed for psychological symptoms—the Chinese reported high levels of “suppressed emotions” and “depressed mood,” relative to their overall psychological symptom reporting. Chinese outpatients also spontaneously reported “depressed mood” at similar levels as the Euro-Canadians, contrary to prevailing ideas about Chinese unwillingness to discuss depression. Overall, the findings provide a more nuanced picture of how culture shapes symptom presentation and point toward future studies designed to unpack cultural variation in narrower subsets of depressive symptoms.

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Little is known about non-monosexual women's sexual arousal and desire. Typically, bisexual women have been excluded from research on sexual arousal and desire, whereas mostly heterosexual and mostly lesbian women have been placed into monosexual categories. This research (1) compared the subjective sexual arousal and desire of self-identified heterosexual, mostly heterosexual, bisexual, mostly lesbian, and lesbian women in partnered sexual activities with men and with women, and (2) compared within-group differences for subjective sexual arousal and desire with men versus women for the five groups. Participants included 388 women (M age = 24.40, SD = 6.40, 188 heterosexual, 53 mostly heterosexual, 64 bisexual, 32 mostly lesbian, 51 lesbian) who filled out the Sexual Arousal and Desire Inventory (SADI). Sexual orientation was associated with sexual arousal and desire in sexual activities with both men and with women. Bisexuals reported higher sexual arousal and desire for women than heterosexuals and lesbians, while lesbians reported lower sexual arousal and desire with men than the other groups. Heterosexuals and mostly heterosexuals scored higher on the male than on the female motivational dimension of the SADI, while the reverse was found for lesbians and mostly lesbians. Findings indicate that non-monosexuals have higher sexual arousal and desire in sexual activities with women than monosexuals. Further, bisexual women did not differentiate their sexual arousal with men versus women, while the other sexual orientation groups differentiated in terms of their motivation to engage in sexual activity. These findings may have implications for how female sexual orientation is conceptualized.

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Previous studies examining the associations between women's sexual orientation and mental health have obtained inconsistent results. Whereas some studies have suggested that status as a lesbian or bisexual woman may be associated with greater mental health risk, others have suggested that bisexual women may be specifically vulnerable to mental health problems. The current study examined two competing models in a non-clinical sample of Canadian women (N = 278). The first model predicted that women who reported bisexual attraction would endorse more indicators of depression and anxiety compared to women who reported monosexuality (either same- or opposite-sex attraction). The second model predicted that women who reported relatively greater same-sex attraction would exhibit elevated indicators of depression and anxiety compared to women who reported opposite-sex attraction. Consistent with Model 1, greater bisexual attraction predicted greater endorsement of indicators of depression and anxiety compared to greater same-sex or opposite-sex attraction. These findings suggest that, in women, bisexuality may be associated with higher risk of depression and anxiety than monosexuality. Future research may benefit from exploring risk factors potentially unique to the mental health of bisexual women.

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