Understanding the Paradox in Math-Related Fields: Why Do Some Gender Gaps Remain While Others Do Not?

Despite the ubiquity of harmful math attitudes that disadvantage girls, girls are now performing just as well as boys in math in the U.S. (Hyde et al. 1990; Hyde et al. 2008). At the same time, stark gender disparities remain in who chooses to pursue math-related careers (National Science Foundation 2009). Why have gender disparities persisted in some math-related domains but not others? I suggest that considering the extent to which math-related domains are stereotyped as masculine can help explain why women do not seek out math-related careers, even as they perform just as well in math. Changing current stereotypes of math-related careers to make them less incongruent with the female gender role may help to recruit more women into these careers.     

A New Rootedness? Education in the Technological Age

This paper explores the challenges facing educators in a time when modern technology, and especially modern social technology, has an increasingly powerful hold on our lives. The educational challenge does not primarily concern questions concerning the use of technology in the classroom, or as part of the learning environment, but a changeover in the whole social environment that marks our time. Taking guidance from Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Dewey and Nietzsche, the essay explores what we want the education of children to achieve, and how, if at all, this can be achieved in an age of modern social technology. The central argument is that the most basic educational goal of human flourishing cannot be achieved today as long as the main criteria of “best practice” in the classroom foreground pupil enjoyment rather than endurance of suffering. The paradox is that any call for the latter is now largely heard in a way cultivated by the culture of the former: namely, poorly and vulgarly, associated only with bullying authoritarianism, rather than the devoted care of teachers who want to awaken their pupils to self-responsibility.     

Sound Body,Sound Mind? The Interrelation Between Health Change and Personality Change in Old Age

Personality development is characterized by increasing maturation, that is, people become more conscientious, agreeable and emotionally stable as they age. In late life, however, these trends seem to be reversed. Because many changes and transitions in older age are related to health, we investigated correlated changes in health problems and personality traits, the sources of health changes in later life and the directionality of effects. Our sample consisted of older adult twins, aged 64–85 years at time 1 (n = 410; 135 male/275 female; 134 monozygotic/63 dizygotic twin pairs), assessed at two different time points about five years apart, and we ran bivariate latent change and latent change twin model analyses. Increasing health problems were associated with decreases in agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability and conscientiousness. Changes in health problems were only due to environmental influences, implying that the association between health and personality changes was exclusively environmental. Directional effects were largely absent, but health and personality were significantly related at the second measurement occasion (age 69–89 years). Our results support the link between health change and personality change in late life and spark the assumption of normative personality adaptations to deterioration of health status as a means of developmental regulation. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology     

What Do the Spiritual and Religious Traditions Offer the Practicing Psychologist?

There has been a remarkable amount of interest in the relationship among spirituality, religion, psychology, and health of late. Contemporary interest in spirituality and religion is hot among not only the general population but among professionals in the mental and physical health disciplines. While most people believe in God and consider themselves to be spiritual, religious, or both, most mental health professionals have little if any training in this area. Psychologists can use spiritual and religious principles and tools to better serve their clients even if they do not share the same religious interests. The purpose of this article is to offer thirteen spiritual and religious tools common among all of the major religious traditions that can be used by contemporary professional psychologists in clinical practice to enhance the already high quality professional services that they provide. Examples of spiritually and religiously integrated treatment along with several ethical precautions are noted as well. This article is based on book project by Plante currently in press.     

Do Girls Change More Than Boys? Gender Differences and Similarities in the Impact of New Relationships on Identities and Behaviors

Prompted by research suggesting females' self-concepts are more interpersonally rooted than males', I compare girls' identity changes in reaction to relationships in new social contexts with boys', testing whether identity change processes are the same for each sex. I use survey responses from 320 summer program students about five activity areas: (1) science & technology; (2) computers; (3) athletics & recreation; (4) beliefs & interests; and (5) arts & literature. While girls become more attached to and involved with others, their identity processes are equivalent to those of boys. Girls change more, but their change is rooted in greater sociability, not higher reactivity to new relationships. Findings vary by relationship and activity types, indicating sex differences may reflect gender role expectations.     

Commentary: Why Do Research on Spirituality and Health, and What Do the Results Mean?

I address two related questions in this article. First, why conduct research on religion/spirituality (R/S) and health? Second, what are the dangers of misinterpreting or misapplying the results from such research? If relationships are found, so what? What is the practical value or clinical relevance of such information? Why should investigators spend time and scarce financial resources to explore such connections? What might health care professionals do differently as a result? How would people live their lives differently in light of such information? Questions like these need solid answers for the field to continue to move forward. Related to the "So what?" question is the issue of how results from research in this area are translated into popular understanding and application. After discussing why conducting research on religion and health is important, I identify a recently published research report that focuses on the relationship between R/S and self-control, an article that received considerable media press coverage. I present the results reported by the authors of this study and then examine a column written about the study that appeared in the New York Times. Finally, I explore what the findings mean, how the media portrayed the findings, and problems that might result depending on how people applied those findings.     

Why are Women More Religious than Men? Do Risk Preferences and Genetic Risk Predispositions Explain the Gender Gap?

Risk preference theory argues that the gender gap in religiosity is caused by greater female risk aversion. Although widely debated, risk preference theory has been inadequately tested. Our study tests the theory directly with phenotypic and genetic risk preferences in three dimensions—general, impulsive, and sensation-seeking risk. Moreover, we examine whether the effects of different dimensions of risk preferences on the gender gap vary across different dimensions of religiosity. We find that general and impulsive risk preferences do not explain gender differences in religiosity, whereas sensation-seeking risk preference makes the gender gap in self-assessed religiousness and church attendance insignificant, but not belief in God, prayer, or importance of religion. Genetic risk preferences do not remove any of the gender gaps in religiosity, suggesting that the causal order is not from risk preference to religiosity. Evidence suggests that risk preferences are not a strong predictor for gender differences in religiosity.     

Why Do People Hurt Themselves?: New Insights Into the Nature and Functions of Self-Injury

ABSTRACT— Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a prevalent but perplexing behavior problem in which people deliberately harm themselves without lethal intent. Research reveals that NSSI typically has its onset during early adolescence; most often involves cutting or carving the skin; and appears equally prevalent across sexes, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses. Less is known about why people engage in NSSI. This article presents a theoretical model of the development and maintenance of NSSI. Rather than a symptom of mental disorder, NSSI is conceptualized as a harmful behavior that can serve several intrapersonal (e.g., affect regulation) and interpersonal (e.g., help-seeking) functions. Risk of NSSI is increased by general factors that contribute to problems with affect regulation or interpersonal communication (e.g., childhood abuse) and by specific factors that influence the decision to use NSSI rather than some other behavior to serve these functions (e.g., social modeling). This model synthesizes research from several different areas of the literature and points toward several lines of research needed to further advance the understanding of why people hurt themselves.     

Why Do Men Need the Goddess?Male Creation of Female Religious Symbols

Abstract :  It is not safe to assume that feminine religious symbols are intrinsically empowering to women. Indeed, it is often the case that the explicit use of divine female imagery in religious traditions such as Judaism and Christianity serves to reinforce the restrictive structures of patriarchy. In light of this we must seek ways to theologically and socially reconstruct such systems of religious symbolism so that neither gender is valued above the other.     

Reaching the Limits of Secularization? Turkish‐ and Moroccan‐Dutch Muslims in the Netherlands 1998–2006

This research note focuses on Muslim minorities living in a secular context, the Netherlands. The question is whether mosque attendance among Turkish‐ and Moroccan‐Dutch changed between 1998 and 2006, testing mechanisms of religious decline and religious vitality. Elaborating on previous research of the same Muslim groups, this study examines a longer time span and adds contextual‐level explanations. Whereas previous research reported a linear trend towards secularization over time and over generations, in recent years the trend has become more complex. The revival of religious attendance among the second generation is most striking. Forces of secularization such as educational attainment and generational replacement gradually lose their predictive power. Over time, processes of secularization are therefore not inevitable.     

Appropriating the Didjeridu and the Sweat Lodge: New Age Baddies and Indigenous Victims?

The article focuses upon the New Age and new age Pagan appropriation of the Aboriginal Australian didjeridu and the American Indian sweat lodge tradition. Against a background of colonialism, it addresses the issues that surround the dissemination of information concerning indigenous culture and knowledge among individuals involved in the New Age and new age Pagan movements via academia, Western fiction, and the Internet. Further, by looking at the representation of the 'Other' by the West, it explores the effects of such portrayal upon Western perceptions of indigeneity and upon indigenous people's perception of themselves. Issues, such as indigenous agency, inter- and intra-cultural appropriation, the lack of New Age and new age Pagan involvement in indigenous politics, and the arguments that surround the question who should teach indigenous knowledge and to whom, are also addressed.     

Why Did God Make Me This Way? Religious Coping and Framing in the Virtuous Pedophile Community

“Virtuous Pedophiles” (or VPs) have a sexual attraction to children but view child/adult sexual relations as wrong. Research on VPs is nascent but has theoretical importance for our understanding of sexuality, labeling, and extreme stigma. Their relevance is particularly acute in regard to religious coping and framing. As their primary stressor is a predisposition towards a highly stigmatized (or “sinful”) activity, religious VPs find themselves in a unique situation, and it is unknown to what extent they employ conventional religious coping mechanisms. I investigate how VPs use their religious frameworks to make sense of and react to their pedophilia with a survey of respondents recruited from an online VP forum, a content analysis of forum discussions, and several in‐depth, semistructured interviews. Religious VPs tend to employ the same basic religious coping mechanisms (both positive and negative) but customize their approaches to accommodate their unique situation. Positive and negative religious coping show the same relationships with mental health as found in other populations. Religiosity is associated with both lower mental distress as well as less cognitive distortions associated with sexual offending.     

Do Gender and Age Moderate the Relationship between Friendship Quality and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Community Children and Adolescents?

In the present study, we investigated the relationship between friendship quality (dimensions) and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) as well as the moderating role of gender and age in this relationship. The sample consisted of 463 children and adolescents (50.10% female, age range: 9–17 years). Friendship quality and NSSI were measured using the Friendship Qualities Scale (FQS; Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1994) and the Self Harm Inventory (SHI; Sansone, Wiederman, & Sansone, 1998), respectively. Overall, total friendship quality and NSSI were significantly and negatively related. Additionally, the relationship between total friendship quality and NSSI was moderated by gender and age. Specifically, girls with low friendship quality reported more NSSI; whereas for boys an opposite effect was found. As for age, friendship quality and NSSI were positively related in older participants. In younger participants, a relationship between friendship quality and NSSI seemed rather absent. This study highlights the important association between friendship quality and NSSI, as well as gender- and age-related differences in this association, which should be taken into account in the prevention and treatment of NSSI.     

Affirmative Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Counselor Education and Religious Beliefs: How Do We Bridge the Gap?

The position held by the American Counseling Association, reflecting acceptance, affirmation, and nondiscrimination of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, has created conflicts for some trainees who hold conservative religious beliefs about sexual orientation. This article explores the counseling profession's evolution regarding LGB‐affirmative counseling and examines the potential conflict this evolution can create for counselor educators who are training students with conservative religious viewpoints about sexual orientation. Recommendations for counselor educators to manage this dilemma are offered.     

Change Detection Without Awareness: Do Explicit Reports Underestimate the Representation of Change in the Visual System?

Evidence from many different paradigms (e.g. change blindness, inattentional blindness, transsaccadic integration) indicate that observers are often very poor at reporting changes to their visual environment. Such evidence has been used to suggest that the spatio-temporal coherence needed to represent change can only occur in the presence of focused attention. In four experiments we use modified change blindness tasks to demonstrate (a) that sensitivity to change does occur in the absence of awareness, and (b) this sensitivity does not rely on the redeployment of attention. We discuss these results in relation to theories of scene perception, and propose a reinterpretation of the role of attention in representing change.     

How Do Groups Work? Age Differences in Performance and the Social Outcomes of Peer Collaboration

Do children derive different benefits from group collaboration at different ages? In the present study, 183 children from two age groups (8.8  and 13.4 years) took part in a class quiz as members of a group, or individually. In some groups, cohesiveness was made salient by awarding prizes to the top performing groups. In other groups, prizes were awarded to the best performing individuals. Findings, both in terms of social outcomes and performance in the quiz, indicated that the 8‐year olds viewed the benefits of group membership in terms of the opportunities to receive information from other members. The 13‐year olds, in contrast, viewed group collaboration as a constructive process where success was connected with group cohesiveness.     

Declining Religious Authority? Confidence in the Leaders of Religious Organizations, 1973–2010

One view of secularization is that it can be conceived of as declining religious authority. Although studies conducted in the 1990s suggested that confidence in the leaders of religious organizations—a promising indicator of religious authority—decreased in the 1970s and 1980s, research has not examined recent trends. The goals of this study are to (1) examine trends in confidence using data from the early 1970s through 2010 and (2) use recent advances in age-period-cohort analysis to provide a more robust empirical examination of these trends. Using data from the cumulative General Social Surveys, 1973–2010, the results suggest that, even after considering age effects, period declines in confidence have continued, but declines by birth cohort were primarily among those born in the boomer and early post-boomer generations (roughly 1945–1970) relative to those born earlier (pre-1945) or later (post-1970). Moreover, these effects appear to be due mainly to differences in religious participation, especially among more recent cohorts. In particular, there has been a rebound in confidence among members of the younger generation who attend religious services.