The Worldview of Memory Lane

This article is a response to Jacob Belzen’s Towards Cultural Psychology of Religion, Principles, Approaches and Applications (New York: Springer, 2010) from a cross-cultural pastoral perspective and identifies seven issues where the book and cross-cultural pastoral thinking impact each other: definition, research methodology, object of research, flexibility of research, the relationship between cultural and cross-cultural psychology, culture, and private religious experience. Below I will view Belzen’s book through the prism of my primary concerns as a Dutch academic trained in cross-cultural pastoral care and counseling who pastors in a diverse and fluid cultural context.     

Age and Gender Variations in Healthy Immigrant Effect: a Population Study of Immigrant Well-Being in Canada

The healthy immigrant effect (HIE) is the phenomenon in which immigrants show better health than their native-born counterparts but this healthier condition declines with length of residence. This study investigated whether (1) immigrants also show better adaptation than non-immigrants as well as better health, (2) length of residence affects their health and adaptation differently, and (3) differential outcomes are found for different age and gender groups. Utilizing the Canadian Community Health Survey (2011–2012) data, immigrants (N?=?17,555) and non-immigrants (N?=?103,579) were divided into adolescents (15–19 years old), adults (20–49), older adults (50–64), and seniors (65–74) to examine their subjective general and mental health, diagnosed chronic and psychological illnesses, and self-reported daily stress, life satisfaction and sense of belonging. After controlling for key demographics, HIE was found to be more robust in health than adaptation. In general, recent immigrants reported better health conditions than long-term immigrants; however, the two did not differ with daily stress or life satisfaction. The older adult immigrants were the only segment of the immigrant population who did not display HIE; within the immigrant population, working-aged long-term adult immigrants were those experiencing negative well-being in both health and adaptation compared to the same-aged recent immigrants. Regarding diagnosed psychological illnesses, immigrants yielded no difference by age, gender, or length of residence, indicating ‘reluctant’ views on seeking professional help for mental health were persistently held by both recent and long-immigrants. The findings suggest that health policy needs to take into consideration age-related life stages, and enhancement of mental health awareness for immigrant well-being.     

Group Agents and Their Responsibility

Group agents are able to act but are not literally agents. Some group agents, e.g., we-mode groups and corporations, can, however, be regarded as functional group agents that do not have “intrinsic” mental states and phenomenal features comparable to what their individual members on biological and psychological grounds have. But they can have “extrinsic” mental states, states collectively attributed to them—primarily by their members. In this paper, we discuss the responsibility of such group agents. We defend the view that if the group members have accepted the group agent’s (attributed) attitudes and are committed to them, we can favorably compare the situation with the case of individual human agents and a group agent can be regarded as morally responsible for its intentional activities.     

Psychiatry,Cultural Competency,and the Care of Ultra-Orthodox Jews: Achieving Secular and Theocentric Convergence Through Introspection

Several socio-cultural factors complicate mental health care in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population. These include societal stigma, fear of the influence of secular ideas, the need for rabbinic approval of the method and provider, and the notion that excessive concern with the self is counter-productive to religious growth. Little is known about how the religious beliefs of this population might be employed in therapeutic contexts. One potential point of convergence is the Jewish philosophical tradition of introspection as a means toward personal, interpersonal, and spiritual growth. We reviewed Jewish religious-philosophical writings on introspection from antiquity (the Babylonian Talmud) to the Middle Ages (Duties of the Heart), the eighteenth century (Path of the Just), the early Hasidic movement (the Tanya), and modernity (Alei Shur, Halakhic Man). Analysis of these texts indicates that: (1) introspection can be a religiously acceptable reaction to existential distress; (2) introspection might promote alignment of religious beliefs with emotions, intellect and behavior; (3) some religious philosophers were concerned about the demotivating effects of excessive introspection and self-critique on religious devotion and emotional well-being; (4) certain religious forms of introspection are remarkably analogous to modern methods of psychiatry and psychology, particularly psychodynamic psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. We conclude that homology between religious philosophy of emotion and secular methods of psychiatry and psychotherapy may inform the choice and method of mental health care, foster the therapist-patient relationship, and thereby enable therapeutic convergence.     

Chaotic-Enmeshment and Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Psychological Flexibility and Self-Compassion

With anxiety becoming the most prevalent mental health issue among the college student population, it is important to understand the factors that are associated with symptomology. This study aims to expand the research on the interrelationship between family functioning, intrapsychic factors, and anxiety. Guided by the circumplex model of family systems, the current study explores the link between college student (N?=?500) chaotically-enmeshed family functioning and anxiety, and whether psychological flexibility and self-compassion mediate this relationship. Multiple-sample latent structural equation modeling results revealed that higher levels of chaotically-enmeshed family functioning was significantly associated with lower levels of psychological flexibility and self-compassion levels, and that psychological flexibility and self-compassion mediated the relationship between chaotic-enmeshment and anxiety. Implications for family therapists who provide services to this population are discussed.     

The Varieties of Religious Responses to Homosexuality: A Content and Tonal Analysis of Articles in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pastoral Psychology</Emphasis> from 1950 to 2015 Regarding Sexual Minorities

Psychology has a complex history with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Substantial shifts in stance, rhetoric, and research over the decades have influenced the greater societal view of LGBT people. While a noticeable cultural shift is occurring in America toward acceptance of LGBT people, some continue to argue that same-sex relationships are not healthy. Evangelical Christians, those who hold a high respect for the authority of the Bible and support nearly literal readings of its teachings, generally support such a position (Sullivan-Blum 2009). There is strain among evangelicals regarding what it means to live faithfully and to engage LGBT people, which becomes increasingly complex as evangelicals who identify as sexual minorities speak up and share their stories. Historically, a delayed time trend can be seen in responses to homosexuality among evangelical Christians. A content and tonal analysis was conducted of 53 peer-reviewed articles found in Pastoral Psychology, which were categorized as non-affirming, neutral/exploratory, or affirming. This analysis revealed a notable trend over the last 65 years toward more open and inclusive dialogue surrounding LGBT people, even when more traditional stances were being held. Tracing the views toward homosexuality in psychology and society allows for a more complex understanding of the current tensions among American evangelical Christians.     

Rethinking social cognition in means-ends terms: A tale of two surprises

The resurgence of motivation science in recent decades ushers in a new functionalism whereby behavior, cognition and emotion are viewed as means to specific goals. Two classic social psychological issues are analyzed from the means-ends perspective: (1) humans’ alleged need (or drive) for cognitive consistency, and (2) the notion that attitudes drive behavior. A careful conceptual analysis yields, contrary to received views, that cognitive consistency, rather than constituting a general need or goal, represents instead a means of knowledge validation. Consequently, the degree to which inconsistency is experienced as aversive depends on the desirability of the knowledge that is being invalidated. Furthermore, the notion that attitudes directly drive behavior is contested on the grounds that attitudes (i.e., liking) must transmute into wanting and wanting must transmute into a (dominant) goal for behavior to be initiated. Major theories of attitude-behavior relations are discussed from this perspective and their supportive evidence is reinterpreted in the present means-ends terms.     

Systemic Family Therapy Competences in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care

This article is based on a doctoral research project aiming to identify a comprehensive and detailed outline of the systemic therapist competences in child and adolescent mental health care in Norway. Because of the growing demands to offer specialized services within child and adolescent mental health care, I intended the identified competences to target the psychosocial difficulties that are categorized as associated abnormal psychosocial situations (axis 5) in the multiaxial diagnostic system (WHO, Multiaxial classification of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders. The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders in children and adolescents. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996). The project is based on twelve qualitative in-depth interviews with six experienced systemic family therapists, and fieldwork observations of the therapists (participants) in practice. The qualitative methodology is based on Grounded Theory and five overarching categories were identified through the analysis: (1): the importance of ethical and contextual awareness in systemic therapy; (2) the systemic therapist’s stance; (3) therapeutic processes; (4) therapeutic practices; and (5) session-specific features. Challenges, such as limiting the systemic approach to five overarching competences, are discussed alongside this strengths and limitations of the study. The detailed outline of systemic therapist competences is intended to offer a framework for delivering flexible, yet specialized systemic therapy in the context of child and adolescent mental health care. This research may therefore facilitate a “bridge-building process” between mental health’s biomedical focus and postmodern systemic ideas.     

Relationship between Disabilities and Adoption Outcomes in African American Children

Although many children adopted from the public child welfare system have special needs, little is known about the experiences of African American adopted children with disabilities and their families. The purpose of this study is to explore different categories of disabilities, including chronic health issues; emotional, mental, or behavioral (EMB) disorders; and intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs) on adoption outcomes in a sample of African American children. Data were from the Post-Permanency Round II Survey collected in 2008. A random sample of 412 adoptive parents or legal guardians self-reported their children’s disability diagnoses and family caregiving experiences. Hierarchical regression modelling was used to investigate the relationship between child disability and child and parental outcomes. Results indicated that chronic health issues (β?=?.10, p?<?.05), EMB disorders (β?=?.16, p?<?.01), and IDDs (β?=?.12, p?<?.05) were positively associated with parental burden. In addition, asthma (β?=?.10, p?<?.05), from the larger physical health issue category, was also associated with parental burden. However, none of the disability categories was significantly related with caregiver commitment or adoption dissolution. Future research should disentangle the definitions of special needs or disabilities.     

General Attitudes Towards Marriage Scale: Psychometric Properties in Malaysian Adolescents of Divorced Families

Attitudes towards marriage in adolescence may influence the relationship quality in later years. There exist many measures of attitudes towards marriage which were validated among adolescents from two-parent family in the Western context. There is a need to validate measure of attitudes towards marriage in different countries. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Malay version of general attitudes towards marriage scale in a sample of 480 adolescents from divorced families in Malaysia. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor structure of general attitudes towards marriage scale, which explained for 60% of the variance. Additionally, the two-factor structure of general attitudes towards marriage scale demonstrated good fit to data in the confirmatory factor analysis (non-normed fit index?=?.941, comparative fit index?=?.958, root mean square error of estimation?=?.087, and χ ²/df?=?4.615). Overall, the general attitudes towards marriage scale exhibited good internal consistency (α?=?.901), which supports the reliability of the instrument. The significant relationships between general attitudes towards marriage scale and other constructs also provided evidences to the convergent validity (r?=?.761, p?<?.001 with intent to marry, r?=??.170, p?<?.001 with overt inter-parental conflict, and r?=?.523, p?<?.001 with mother–adolescent relationship). Significant gender difference was found in the report of general attitudes towards marriage scale (t?=??2.265, p?<?.05). Thus, the translated general attitudes towards marriage scale is a reliable, valid, and practical instrument to measure attitudes towards marriage among Malaysian adolescents in divorced family setting.     

The Lazarus Project and Grace Ministries: The Role of Religious Nonprofits in Addressing Personal and Social Problems

This review essay of Williamson and Hood’s (2016) Psychology and Spiritual Transformation in a Substance Abuse Program: The Lazarus Project examines spiritual transformation in the context of substance abuse and homelessness. The essay first tackles the question of whether change results mostly from individual spiritual transformation experiences or from the social surroundings the converts are part of, based on the author’s research on spiritual transformation and homelessness as well as Williamson and Hood’s work, and then it examines the debate surrounding the application of Foucault’s “technologies of the self” to programs that are similar to the Lazarus Project. The last part of the essay offers a few methodological suggestions for studies of similar projects.     

Fostering Change-Oriented Behaviors: A Broaden-and-Build Model

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a broaden-and-build model relating LMX to employees’ change-oriented behaviors (creative performance and taking charge) through the mediators of positive affect and psychological capital.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Time-lagged, two-source data were collected from 248 participants and 40 direct leaders, which composed a heterogeneous sample of professional jobs from a three-wave data collection strategy. Mplus was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

We found that LMX predicts employees’ change-oriented behaviors through two sequential paths: (a) the positive affect mediates the relationship between LMX and employee psychological capital, and (b) psychological capital mediates the relationship between positive affect and employees’ creative performance and taking charge. Our results provide a logical explanation of the ‘broadening’ and ‘building’ mechanisms through which LMX enhances employees’ change-oriented behaviors.

Implications

This study specifically suggests affective and psychological mechanisms by promoting the broadening and building phases that facilitate the transformation of individual perceptions of LMX, positive affect, and psychological capital in explaining employees’ creative performance and taking charge.

Originality/Value

This study develops a broaden-and-build model of change-oriented behaviors and contributes to research on proactive behaviors in the context of leader-member relationships.

     

The Effectiveness of Psychosocial Interventions Delivered by Teachers in Schools: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The growing mental health needs of students within schools have resulted in teachers increasing their involvement in the delivery of school-based, psychosocial interventions. Current research reports mixed findings concerning the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions delivered by teachers for mental health outcomes. This article presents a systematic review and meta-analysis that examined the effectiveness of school-based psychosocial interventions delivered by teachers on internalizing and externalizing outcomes and the moderating factors that influence treatment effects on these outcomes. Nine electronic databases, major journals, and gray literature (e.g., websites, conference abstract) were searched and field experts were contacted to locate additional studies. Twenty-four studies that met the study inclusion criteria were coded into internalizing or externalizing outcomes and further analyzed using robust variance estimation in meta-regression. Both publication and risk of bias of studies were further assessed. The results showed statistically significant reductions in students’ internalizing outcomes (d = .133, 95% CI [.002, .263]) and no statistical significant effect for externalizing outcomes (d = .15, 95% CI [?.037, .066]). Moderator analysis with meta-regression revealed that gender (%male, b = ?.017, p < .05), race (% Caucasian, b = .002, p < .05), and the tier of intervention (b = .299, p = .06) affected intervention effectiveness. This study builds on existing literature that shows that teacher-delivered Tier 1 interventions are effective interventions but also adds to this literature by showing that interventions are more effective with internalizing outcomes than on the externalizing outcomes. Moderator analysis also revealed treatments were more effective with female students for internalizing outcomes and more effective with Caucasian students for externalizing outcomes.     

Mental Health Symptoms and Parenting Stress of Parents of Court-Involved Youth

Youth involved in the juvenile justice system are at risk for emotional and behavioral problems. However, research with court-involved adolescents has neglected to examine the mental health of their parents, who may also have significant personal and parenting stress. This sample consisted of 144 parent–adolescent dyads. Adolescents (aged 11–17 years) identified by court officials were referred to the study to receive mental health treatment. Parents and adolescents completed surveys about their mental health diagnoses, treatment, and family relationships. Using the clinical cut-off for the global severity index of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to examine group differences between parents with and without significant mental health symptoms. Results indicated that 35% of parents endorsed clinically significant mental health symptoms. Parents with clinically significant symptoms, compared to those without, reported significantly greater parenting stress (p?<?.05), and were more likely to have received prior mental health treatment (54 vs. 25%; p?<?.05) and a psychiatric diagnosis (52 vs. 19%; p?<?.05). Our findings revealed that more than one in three parents of court-involved adolescents are currently experiencing significant mental health symptoms. Improved mental health screening and intervention that incorporates the unique needs of families is recommended, including the possible use of family-based approaches as well as individualized treatment for the parents of court-involved youth.     

Individual Differences in Mood Changes

The study explores the influence of individual tendencies toward mood improvement/deterioration and the Big Five personality traits on mood changes. Participants (218 students) completed NEO-FFI and The Mood Regulation Scales. Based on the within-person structure of individual tendencies toward mood improvement/deterioration four mood regulative types were distinguished (increasing, decreasing, hot and cool type). In the experimental stage participants were randomly assigned to one of four group conditions created by experimental factors: (1) induced mood (positive/negative), and (2) the level of cognitive loading (easy/hard condition). Direct (Mood Adjective Check List) and indirect (emotional version of Lexical Decision Task) measurements were used to assess mood changes. The results showed different patterns of mood changes for increasing and decreasing regulative types. Those differences were visible especially in the positive mood regulation. While the decreasing type decreased the induced positive mood, the increasing type was characterized by mood changes manifested in energetic arousal increase and tense reduction. Moreover, high Neuroticism and low Extraversion in the decreasing type contributed to a negative mood increment manifested in reduction of energetic arousal. The same effect was revealed for high Conscientiousness for the increasing type. The results are discussed in the context of psychological status of mood regulation strategies (automatic/controlled) and with reference to previous research in this area.     

Melancholy,Acculturation, and Relief: A Brief Essay on the Religion of Ordinarity

Han is not an idiosyncratic, psychological experience that is peculiar to Koreans, but a multifaceted mode of melancholy experienced by many and various people. What makes this psychological experience particularly familiar to Koreans, however, is that this phenomenon is colored by various, macroscopic factors common in the Korean context, such as sociocultural rigidness, historical instability, political feudality, and economic vulnerability. In this sense, han is an acculturated, multifaceted melancholy. Not only that, it has developed its own religiousness, the goal of which is the restoration of ordinarity, because the state of han premises extraordinary, abnormal, or tension-provoking situations. The explicit and implicit religious idioms developing in the religion of han, such as tongsung-kido and wishing-for-blessing, evolve around this religious telos, helping individuals in Korea restore and live ordinarity.     

A Response to <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion</Emphasis> from two Perspectives

This review considers the The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion (Rambo and Farhadian 2014) from the perspective of Western counseling practice and its applicability to Eastern religious traditions. The Handbook presents a nuanced approach to conversion that emphasizes its complex and dynamic qualities, providing counselors/pastors with practical perspectives to enhance their understanding of people in various stages of a conversion career. By addressing non-Abrahamic traditions, The Handbook also looks at “conversion” from a wider perspective, raising issues about whether it can legitimately be applied to traditions that do not share Western religious assumptions (such as exclusivity) and religious identity. From both perspectives, The Handbook challenges readers to expand their perspectives and rethink their preconceived notions of religious conversion, especially those assumptions based on Western Protestant interpretation of the story of Paul’s conversion.     

Antisocial Process Screening Device Subscales Predict Recidivism in an Australian Juvenile Offender Sample

The present study is the first to examine the psychometric properties of the self-report Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD-SR), and the predictive utility of its subscales for reoffending, among Australian juvenile offenders (N?= 308, M age = 17.00, SD?=?1.49). Exploratory factor analysis supported a modified three-factor structure in which four items loaded differently to prior studies. Total APSD-SR and modified subscale scores were positively associated with criminal history and mental health problems (e.g., internalizing and externalizing problems, alcohol and substance abuse/dependence). Survival analyses indicated that youth scoring high on the APSD-SR total score were faster to reoffend nonviolently (Hazard Ratio [HR]?= 1.31, p?=?.0003) and violently (HR?=?1.42, p?=?.0003) than those scoring low. Whereas the modified grandiose-manipulative subscale predicted faster time to nonviolent recidivism (HR?=?1.18, p?=?.026) as a single predictor, when all subscales were simultaneously entered into the model only callous-unemotional (CU) traits and impulsivity predicted nonviolent recidivism (HR?=?1.19, p?=?.026 and 1.22, p?=?.015, respectively), and only impulsivity predicted violent recidivism (HR?=?1.26, p?=?.014). Findings inform current understanding of the relative contribution of adolescent psychopathy dimensions to designating a particularly high-risk group of Australian youth in custody.