Religiousness as a Predictor of Academic Performance among High-school Students

Although efforts to improve academic performance previously have focused on school reform, conditions outside school hold the key to increasing our children's academic achievement. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the relationship between religiousness and academic achievement and (2) to develop a general model that can be generalizable across various ethnic groups. The data from the first follow-up (1990) and second follow-up (1992) of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) were utilized in this study. Hierarchical regression and path analysis were employed. The result of the analysis shows that religiousness has a significant impact on academic achievement even though socioeconomic status is accounted for in advance in the analysis model. In the general model for various ethnic groups, student academic performance is determined by religiousness, socioeconomic status, locus of control, and strict parenting. Suggestions for future research are offered.     

Hope as a Predictor of Interpersonal Suicide Risk

The current study hypothesized that (1) hope would negatively predict burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and acquired capability to enact lethal injury; (2) hope would negatively predict suicidal ideation; and (3) the interpersonal suicide risk factors would predict suicidal ideation. Results indicated that hope negatively predicted burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, but positively predicted acquired capability to enact suicide. Contrary to our second hypothesis, hope did not predict suicidal ideation, but interpersonal risk factors for suicide predicted suicidal ideation. Results are discussed in terms of implications for hope theory and Joiner's (2005) interpersonal risk factors for suicide, and for clinical practice.     

Inadequate Response to Therapy as a Predictor of Suicide

The role of response to cognitive therapy as a predictor of suicide was investigated by comparing 17 outpatients with mood disorders who committed suicide with 17 matched patients who did not commit suicide. The suiciders attended significantly fewer sessions of cognitive therapy and dropped out of therapy more frequently: 88% of the suiciders, compared to 53% of the controls, were rated by their therapists as requiring more treatment at termination. They also had higher levels of hopelessness at the termination of therapy. The results suggest that premature termination of therapy and inadequate response to treatment have unfavorable prognostic significance for eventual suicide.     

Psychological Impairment as a Predictor of Suicide Ideation in Individuals with Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder characterized by severe food restriction resulting in low body weight and an intense fear of gaining weight. This disorder has one of the highest suicide rates of any psychiatric illness; however, few studies have investigated prospective predictors of suicide ideation (SI) in this population. Quality‐of‐life impairment may be particularly relevant for understanding suicide risk in AN, given associations with SI in other psychiatric disorders and associations with chronicity and severity in AN. This study explored associations between eating disorder‐related impairment and SI in individuals with AN (n = 113) who completed assessments at treatment discharge and 3, 6, and 12 months after discharge. Greater psychological impairment predicted future occurrence of SI controlling for age, depression, history of SI, and eating disorder variables. Associations were specific to psychological impairment as other domains of impairment did not predict SI over time. Findings highlight the potential importance of targeting interpersonal–psychological consequences of AN to decrease future suicide risk.     

Is There a Biochemical Predictor of Suicide?

ABSTRACT: There is a need for additional instruments to alert the clinician more effectively to the high self-destructive potential of some of his suicide-risk patients. In this study it was found that suicides-to-be tended to have higher plasma cortisols than suicidal patients who did not subsequently commit suicide within two years of the test. The article discusses the possible mechanisms involved and reviews some of the literature indicating that there may be a biochemical substratum that may play a significant role in some suicides.     

Hopelessness as a Predictor of Suicide Ideation in Depressed Male and Female Adolescent Youth

We examined hopelessness as a predictor of suicide ideation in depressed youth after acute medication treatment. A total of 158 depressed adolescents were administered the Children's Depression Rating Scale‐Revised (CDRS‐R) and Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C‐SSRS) as part of a larger battery at baseline and at weekly visits across 6 weeks of acute fluoxetine treatment. The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) was administered at baseline and week 6. A negative binomial regression model via a generalized estimating equation analysis of repeated measures was used to estimate suicide ideation over the 6 weeks of acute treatment from baseline measure of hopelessness. Depression severity and gender were included as covariates in the model. The negative binomial analysis was also conducted separately for the sample of males and females (in a gender‐stratified analysis). Mean CDRS‐R total scores were 60.30 ± 8.93 at baseline and 34.65 ± 10.41 at week 6. Mean baseline and week 6 BHS scores were 9.57 ± 5.51 and 5.59 ± 5.38, respectively. Per the C‐SSRS, 43.04% and 83.54% reported having no suicide ideation at baseline and at week 6, respectively. The analyses revealed that baseline hopelessness was positively related to suicide ideation over treatment (p = .0027), independent of changes in depression severity. This significant finding persisted only for females (p = .0024). These results indicate the importance of early identification of hopelessness.     

Body Mass Index Is an Important Predictor for Suicide: Results from a Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Public health concerns for the independent management of obesity and suicidal behavior are rising. Emerging evidence suggests body weight plays an important role in quantifying the risk of suicide. In light of these findings, we aimed to clarify the association between body mass index (BMI) and suicidal behavior by systematically reviewing and evaluating the literature. Studies were identified by searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL from inception to January 2015, supplemented by hand and grey literature searches. Study screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were conducted in duplicate. We included 38 observational studies. Meta‐analyses supported an inverse association between BMI and completed suicide. Pooled summary estimates demonstrated that underweight was significantly associated with an increased risk of completed suicide (HR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.36, p = .002), and obesity (HR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.89, p = .003) and overweight (HR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.75 to 0.82, p < .0001) were significantly associated with a decreased risk of completed suicide relative to normal weight. A qualitative summary of the literature demonstrated conflicting evidence regarding the association between BMI and attempted suicide and revealed no association between BMI and suicidal ideation. BMI may be used to aid the assessment of suicide risk, especially that of completed suicide. However, unmeasured confounders and systematic biases of individual studies limit the quality of evidence.     

Torque as a Predictor of Reading Achievement

The present study assessed the utility of the Torque Test (Blau, 1977b) as a predictor of reading performance. Children (N = 149) were administered the Torque Test, the Harris Test of Lateral Dominance (Harris, 1958), the Wide Range Achievement Test, (Jastak & Jastak, 1965), and the Bender Gestalt Test (Koppitz, 1975). Torque scores of disabled and nondisabled readers did not differ significantly, and the correlation between torque and WRAT grade level scores was substantively low. It was concluded that torque is not a useful measure of reading ability.     

Determining Predictor Weights in Military Selection: An Application of Dominance Analysis

This article illustrates the use of dominance analysis (DA) to identify the most appropriate set of weights for combining predictor data. We used meta-analytic information on cognitive ability, structured interviews, conscientiousness, and emotional stability to determine relative weights in predicting entry-level job performance and turnover. For job performance, the optimal predictor weights were 51% (cognitive ability), 38% (structured interview), 9% conscientiousness, and 2% (emotional stability). The weights differed considerably for turnover: 48% (structured interview), 27% (emotional stability), 13% (conscientiousness), and 11% (cognitive ability). Using a simulated data set, we showed how the rank-order of applicants can change based on DA and traditional regression analysis. The results suggest that DA has wide applicability for military selection.     

Religiousness as a Factor of Hesitation Against Doping Behavior in College-Age Athletes

Religiousness is rarely studied as protective factor against substance use and misuse in sport. Further, we have found no investigation where college-age athletes were sampled and studied accordingly. The aim of the present study was to identify gender-specific protective effects of the religiousness (measured by Santa Clara Questionnaire) and other social, educational, and sport variables as a potential factors of hesitation against doping behaviors in sport-science-students from Mostar, Bosnia, and Herzegovina (51 women and 111 men; age range, 18–26). The gender differences for the non-parametric variables were established by Kruskall–Wallis test, while for the parametric variables the t-test for independent samples was used. Multiple regression calculations revealed religiousness as the most significant predictor of the social, health, sport and legal factors of hesitation against doping behaviors in both genders. However, the differential influence of the social, educational, sport and religious factors in relation to negative consequences of the doping behaviors is found for men and women. Such differential influence must be emphasized in tailoring the anti-doping policy and interventions.     

Religious Fundamentalism as a Predictor of Prejudice: A Two-Component Model

The present study aims to determine whether the empirical relationship between religious fundamentalism and prejudice can be accounted for in terms of the mutually opposing effects of Christian orthodoxy and right-wing authoritarianism using multiple regression. Three separate samples (total n = 320) completed measures of religious fundamentalism, right-wing authoritarianism, Christian orthodoxy, ethnic prejudice, and homosexual prejudice. Consistent with previous research, fundamentalism (1) was essentially unrelated to ethnic prejudice when considered alone; (2) was positively related to ethnic prejudice when orthodoxy was statistically controlled; and (3) was negatively related to ethnic prejudice when authoritarianism was statistically controlled. Finally, when both authoritarianism and orthodoxy were controlled simultaneously, fundamentalism was again unrelated to prejudice, whereas orthodoxy was negatively related and authoritarianism positively related. In contrast, fundamentalism was a significant positive predictor of prejudice against gays and lesbians irrespective of whether authoritarianism and/or orthodoxy were statistically controlled.     

Religiousness as a Protective Factor for Substance Use in Dance Sport

Although religiousness is found to be a significant protective factor in substance use, there is an evidential lack of studies of such in athletes. The aim of the study was to identify the predictive value of the religiousness and some social, educational, and sport factors on substance use in 43 sport dancers. An originally developed questionnaire for studying substance use and precipitation factors was applied. The Chi-square showed male dancers as more religious than females. Using the Spearman’s correlation, religiousness was found to be a significant protective factor in cigarette smoking, sport nutritional supplementation, and the likelihood of doping. Data were interpreted emphasizing the previous findings from the literature.     

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Self-Efficacy as a Predictor of Trainees' Counselling Skills Performance

The value of self-efficacy as a predictor of counselling skills performance in a graduate counselling class was evaluated with 31 trainee counsellors. Three measurements of self-efficacy were taken: before, midway through, and at the end of a microcounselling skills training programme which was taught over six weekly three-hour sessions. Although there was a wide distribution of self-efficacy reports, none of the estimates of grade were significantly positively associated with counselling skills. Implications for counsellor educators are discussed.     

Implicit Coping Styles as a Predictor of Aggression

Research exploring potential antecedents of aggression provides contradictory results, with some data relating adaptive coping styles with high aggression and other studies finding the inverse. Clarification of these relationships could improve intervention and prevention strategies. This study investigated relationships between aggression and 3 coping styles (adaptive, neurotic, and maladaptive) via cross-sectional correlational methodology (N = 355). Data supported both hypotheses: First, the use of less adaptive coping styles predicted higher levels of aggression; second, this relationship held true for both cognitive (anger and hostility) and overt (physical and verbal) expressions of aggression. Results indicate that maladaptive coping significantly predicts aggression. Implications include potential prediction and prevention strategies to reduce the probability of higher risk individuals exhibiting aggression.     

Career Commitment as a Predictor of Behavioral Outcomes

Abstract

Few researchers have examined career commitment in a systematic fashion. The present longitudinal study used Rusbult and Farrell's (1983) commitment scale in two ways: (a) as an independent variable for predicting (after an interval of one week) several behavioral outcomes and (b) as a dependent variable predicted by various demographic measures. Data collected from 73 university students in Israel showed that none of the demographics correlated with career commitment, but the latter predicted several future behaviors including the number of times respondents met with their instructors and hours spent in written work. The limitations of a short time interval as well as some of the unique aspects of the Israeli educational system are discussed.     

Social Status as a Predictor of At-Risk Children

The purpose of this paper is to review the importance of children's social status as a predictor of social and academic success in school. Behavioral and cognitive correlates of social status are described, and the research on intervention strategies is discussed. Procedures for assessing children's social status are reviewed with a discussion of advantages and disadvantages of each procedure. Suggestions are made for the use of assessment and intervention procedures by classroom teachers. The author calls for a priority in the schools for promoting conditions that facilitate social acceptance of children.     

Autocastration as a Counterphobic Focal Suicide

ABSTRACT: A case of autocastration is presented and a psychodynamic formulation is proposed. Implications for treatment are discussed.     

Subjective Uncertainty as a Predictor of Specific Exploration

This study compared two measures of subjective uncertainty to a measure of experimenter-defined uncertainty in their prediction of specific exploration in children (N = 93 boy and girls aged 6–7 to 10–11 years old). As suggested by Berlyne, subjective uncertainty was hypothesized to be a more effective measure in predicting specific exploratory behavior than experimenter-defined uncertainty, since it accounts for the contributions of the individual engaged in the exploration. Results supported the hypothesis, indicating that both measures of subjective uncertainty were significantly better predictors of specific exploration than an experimenter-defined measure.     

Recollections of Childhood Religious Identity and Behavior as a Function of Adult Religiousness

People have a strong motivation to maintain a self-concept that is coherent and consistent over time. Religion is an central source of social identity for many people, but its importance is prone to dramatic change across the life course. To maintain a consistent perception of self, recollections of one's own past religiousness may shift to better fit with the present. This study examined changes between early and middle adulthood in retrospective perceptions of religious behavior and identity in childhood. Data from a population-based birth cohort sample were matched with data from individuals who participated in at least two of three adult follow-up studies, at intervals of approximately 10 years. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association of final recollections of childhood behavior and identity with previous recollections and current religious characteristics. Consistent with the predictions of temporal self-appraisal theory, participants' perception of their religious identity as children tended to change over time to match their adult religious identity. Recollections of childhood religious behavior were more stable than recollections of religious identity, and change was unrelated to adult behavior. These results have implications for studying religious characteristics using retrospective measures, regarding their accuracy and their independence from contemporary measures.