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M Academic Reading – Handout Here are the following articles from The New York Times. Read the articles and then complete the worksheets below. The Only Child: Not a Loner? (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/fashion/12Studied. html?ref=sociology) By PAMELA PAUL Published: September 10, 2010 The Gist: Growing up without siblings doesn’t harm social skills. The Source: “Good for Nothing? Number of Siblings and Friendship Nominations Among Adolescents,” by Donna Bobbitt-Zeher and Douglas B. Downey, Ohio State University. siblings in the kindergarten study were quite modest. Second, the study relied on teacher evaluations, and teachers may not be reliable judges of friendships among their charges. Why We’re Still Happy 5. And now it seems that any benefits documented in kindergarten disappear altogether by middle school. Using a metric called “peer nomination,” in which youths are asked to identify their friends by name, Dr. Downey and Dr. Bobbitt-Zeher drew on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, with a sample size of 13,466 students in 7th through 12th grades. They then counted how many people named each individual as a friend. This was used to proximate social skills since the socially inept would be unlikely to have lots of friends. The result: children without siblings had just as many friends as children with siblings. By SONJA LYUBOMIRSKY Published: December 26, 2008, Riverside, Calif. 6. Dr. Downey speculates that continuing school, youth clubs and other group activities — especially in an era of overscheduled children — provide ample opportunity for onlys to sharpen their skills. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/opinion/27lyubomi rsky.html?ref=sociology) 1. These days, bad news about the economy is everywhere. So why aren’t we panicking? Why aren’t we spending our days dejected about the markets? How is it that we manage to remain mostly preoccupied with the quotidian tasks and concerns of life? Traffic, dinner, homework, deadlines, sharp words, flirtatious glances. Because the news these days affects everyone. 2. Research in psychology and economics suggests that when only your salary is cut, or when only you make a foolish investment, or when only you lose your job, you become considerably less satisfied with your life. But when everyone from autoworkers to Wall Street financiers becomes worse off, your life satisfaction remains pretty much the same. 3. Indeed, humans are remarkably attuned to relative position and status. As the economists David Hemenway and Sara Solnick demonstrated in a study at Harvard, many people would prefer to receive an annual salary of $50,000 when others are making $25,000 than to earn $100,000 a year when others are making $200,000. 1. Serial parents may think that each new sibling offers their offspring the gift of companionship. But while we tend to think that siblings teach one another conflict resolution and other interpersonal skills, new research says they are no better off socially than children without siblings. 4. Similarly, Daniel Zizzo and Andrew Oswald, economists in Britain, conducted a study that showed that people would give up money if doing so would cause someone else to give up a slightly larger sum. That is, we will make ourselves poorer in order to make someone else poorer, too. 2. Donna Bobbitt-Zeher, the lead author of the study decided to “look at social skills to see if there was any other possible benefit to having brothers or sisters.” She and her co-author, Douglas Downey are sociologists at Ohio State’s Marion campus, and neither is an only child. They presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in August. 5. We care more about social comparison, status and rank than about the absolute value of our bank accounts or reputations. For example, Andrew Clark, an economist in France, has recently shown that being laid off hurts less if you live in a community with a high unemployment rate. What’s more, if you are unemployed, you will, on average, be happier if your spouse is unemployed, too. 3. Dr. Downey found that kindergarten teachers rated children without siblings worse in interpersonal skills, selfcontrol and problem behaviors. 4. But an only child isn’t necessarily a loner, misfit and brat. First, the social advantages found in children with 1 The Bad News First (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/opinion/24christak is.html?ref=sociology) By NICHOLAS A. CHRISTAKIS Published: August 24, 2007 Boston 1. No surprises” is a basic rule in hospitals. Junior doctors are supposed to notify their superiors promptly about worrisome developments in a patient, and information is supposed to move smoothly up the chain of command. 2. Research has revealed doctors’ tendency to contribute to the problem by avoiding making prognoses. In one study of nearly 5,000 hospitalized adults who had roughly six months to live, only 15 percent were given clear prognoses. course of their final illness: the family loses its life savings, a caregiver has to quit work or a spouse falls seriously ill. 7. For reliable prognoses to become a routine part of medical care they must become a priority of medical research and education. Less than 5 percent of research focuses on prognosis. Textbook descriptions of diseases cover prognosis less than 25 percent of the time. And medical schools and residency programs almost completely neglect training in prognostication. 8. Doctors often say they worry that predictions about survival may cause patients to lose hope. But a realistic assessment of how long a patient has to live need not cause either the patient or doctor to become pessimistic. It should only refocus attention on the quality of the patient’s life. Sometimes living life to its fullest requires knowledge of its finitude. 3. In a smaller study of 326 cancer patients in Chicago hospices, all of whom had about a month to live, only 37 percent of the doctors interviewed said they would share an accurate prognosis with their patients, and only if patients or their families pushed them to do so. 4. Even when doctors do prognosticate, the research shows, they typically overestimate the time a patient has left to live, often at least tripling it, perhaps because they feel overconfident. Doctors who wrongly think that patients are going to live much longer wind up recommending needlessly painful and expensive treatments. 5. By not making or communicating prognoses, doctors can make the end of life more unpleasant. Patients are given no chance to draft wills, see distant loved ones, make peace with estranged relatives or even discuss with their families their wishes about how to live the end of their lives. And they are denied the chance to make decisions about what kind of medical care they want to receive. 6. Roughly half of Americans die with inadequately treated pain. Large minorities suffer symptoms like shortness of breath, nausea or depression. Four in five die in hospitals and nursing homes, rather than at home as most prefer. And more than half significantly burden family caregivers in the 2 Worksheet 1 – Scanning Scan the reports and answer the following questions: 1. Which research involved doctors? Bad news first 2. Which study was published in California? Why we’re still happy 3. Who conducted a study that showed that people would give up money if doing so would cause someone else to give up a slightly larger sum? Why we’re still happy 4. Which study has the most participants? How many? The only child: Not a loner?13.466 5. Which studies were led by economists? Why we’re still happy 6. Which researcher(s) study findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in August? Bad news first 7. Where were the hospices of the 326 cancer patients located? Chicago Worksheet 2 – Skimming Skim the articles and complete the table, using one of the following terms: procedure, general assumptions (including previous work on the subject), conclusions, summary (including researcher(s) and publication), result. Also indicate the paragraphs which contain the certain information. The Only Child – Not a Loner? Why We’re Still Happy The Bad News First (par. 1- general assumption) (par. 1- general assumption ) (par. 1- general assumption ) (par. 5 - procedure) (par. 4 procedure ) (par. 3- procedure ) (par. 2 summary ) (par. 5, 6 - summary ) (par. 4 - results ) (par. 5 results) (par. 2,4- results ) (par. 6 - conclusions ) (par. 3 conclusions) (par. 7,8 – conclusions ) (par. 2,3 - summary ) 3 Worksheet 3 – Intensive Reading (Checking Understanding) Read carefully “The Only Child – Not a Loner?” and answer the following questions: 1. What does new research say about children with/without siblings, from the point of view of their social skills? The new research says that children with siblings are no better off than children without siblings. 2. How did teachers describe children without siblings? They described those children as being worse in interpersonal skills 3. Which was the result of the study conducted at the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health? Children without siblings had just as many friends as children with siblings 4. Did the sex of the participants matter (or influence in any kind the results)? No. 5. How can an only child improve his skills? The onlys can improve their skills by continuing school, youth clubs and other group activities. Read “Why We’re Still Happy” and answer the following questions: 1. Which are the quotidian tasks and concerns of life? Traffic, dinner, homework, deadlines, sharp words, flirtatious glances. 2. In what situation would people give up money? People would give up money if doing so would cause someone else to give up a slightly larger sum. 3. What are husbands’ reactions towards unemployment? Husbands are happier if their wife is unemployed like many others in the community. 4. What do we care less about? We care less about economic problems even those are more important. 5. What salary would most people prefer? Many people would prefer to receive an annual salary of $50,000 when others are making $25,000 than to earn $100,000 a year when others are making $200,000. Worksheet 4 – Intensive Reading (Information Extraction) Read “The Only Child – Not a Loner?” and complete the following table: Title of research(es) Researcher(s) and affiliation(s) Published in When conducted Procedure Results “Good for Nothing? Number of Siblings and Friendship Nominations Among Adolescents” Donna Bobbitt-Zeher and Douglas B. Downey American Sociological Association in August Dr. Downey and Dr. Bobbitt-Zeher drew on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, with a sample size of 13,466 students in 7th through 12th grades. They then counted how many people named each individual as a friend The result: children without siblings had just as many friends as children with siblings. 4 Worksheet 5 – Checking Understanding Re-read “The Bad News First” and decide if the statements below are True or False: 1. 15 or 5000 hospitalized patients were given the right prognoses. False 2. Less than 5 percent of research focuses on prognosis. False 3. Four in five die not in hospitals and nursing homes, but at home as most prefer. True 4. Patients who are going to live much longer wind up with needlessly painful and expensive treatments. True 5. Doctors tend to avoid making prognoses. True 6. Medical schools and residency programs focus on training future doctors in prognostication. False Worksheet 6 – Vocabulary Work Find the words in the texts, decide the word class, and write it and the translation of the word in the space provided. Then try to find synonyms and antonyms for the words. Word and Location Dejected (2, par. 1) Class adjective Translation dezamăgit Earn (2, par. 3) Verb A câştiga Finitude (3, par. 8) Foolish (2, par. 2) noun adjective finalitate Prostesc, absurd Misfit (1, par. 4) Noun Needlessly (3, par. 4) Adverb Nonconformist, neadaptat Inutil Proximate (1, par. 5) Adjective Apropiat, recent Reliable (3, par. 7) Adjective De încredere Resolution (1, par. 1) Noun Roughly (3, par. 2) Adverb Țel, decizie, hotărâre Aproximativ Sharpen (1, par. 6) Verb A îmbunătăți 5 Synonym(s) Unhappy, dissapointed acquire, attain, obtain End, death Absurd, crazy, brainless Dropout, outsider Useless, unnecessary Direct, forthcoming, approaching Trustworthy, faithful Aim, declaration Around, more or less Work out, accustom Antonym(s) Happy, satisfied cost, lose, spend eternity Careful, prudent Popular Useful Away, beyond, far Unreliable Indecision, weakness Exactly, precisely Cease