RESPONSE TO ROTTSCHAEFER,BECKLEY, AND KONNER

Abstract. All three articles properly locate my work as interactive between the sciences on the one hand and theology and ethics on the other. They disagree on whether tradition, science, or experience “trumps” the others when they conflict; Beckley shows the importance of tradition, which is slighted by the other two. Comments on each article indicate where further discussion is needed and where I have learned from the authors or agree with them.     

TO BE FEMALE, MIDDLE CLASS, ANXIOUS, AND BLACK

Women of color theorists have suggested that the double minority status of gender and ethnicity places African American women at higher risk for anxiety. However, little information is available about anxiety disorders among African American women. The existing literature subsumes Black women under the general category of African Americans and focuses on low-income samples. In this study, we examine the manifestation of panic disorder in a sample of 15 predominantly middle-class African American women. We then compare these women to a group of 35 predominantly middle-class African American women without panic disorder on several factors, including presence of isolated sleep paralysis, presence of other anxiety disorders, help-seeking behavior, and victimization. Results indicate that African American women with panic disorder experienced isolated sleep paralysis, and that both groups had high levels of sexual victimization. Help-seeking among women with panic and other anxiety disorders was limited to relationship difficulties, sexual assault, and bereavement.     

PERSONALITY,DEMOGRAPHICS, AND ACCULTURATION OF VIETNAMESE AND NICARAGUAN REFUGEES TO THE UNITED STATES

The influx of refugees into the United States in recent years has led to a new interest in acculturation on the part of North American psychologists. Previous research in this area has usually focused on demographic, rather than psychological, variables as predictors of a willingness to acculturate. Using samples of Nicaraguan and Vietnamese refugees, the present study compared personality factors and age, level of education, and time in the U.S. as predictors of acculturation. Although results for the Nicaraguans were mixed, personality factors emerged as being better predictors in the Vietnamese group. This suggests that, in some cases, personality factors may be more basic to the process of acculturation than previously assumed.     

FROM CRITICAL REALISM TO A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH: RESPONSE TO ROBBINS, VAN HUYSSTEEN, AND HEFNER

Abstract. Critical realism is a problematic philosophical doctrine that unnecessarily complicates attempts to relate theology and science. A more satisfactory approach employs the scientific methodology of Imre Lakatos for the reconstruction of theology along scientific lines. Theological research programs would automatically include auxiliary hypotheses of both theological and scientific origin.