An Attachment-Theory Approach Psychology of Religion

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that attachment theory, as origi- nally proposed by John Bowlby and subsequently refined by a host of other researchers, provides a powerful framework for integrating research and theory concerning the psychology of religion. The essay begins with a brief over- view of contemporary models of attachment, with particular emphasis on adult attachment relationships. Selected literature is reviewed concerning a variety of topics in the psychology of religion, including research on images of God, conversion, and prayer, and attachment theory is shown to provide a useful conceptual framework for integrating these findings. It is argued that extending attachment theory in this direction may benefit religion researchers as well as social and developmental psychologists interested in such topics as interpersonal relationships, stress and coping, and loneliness.     

Stressbew?ltigung

Training for coping with stress as the core instrument of prevention of stress-related disorders at the individual level is characterized within the framework of prominent theoretical concepts of stress and derived from these. Response-focused, situation-focused and relational definitions of stress as well as the main results of stress research are described. The cognitive-transactional stress theory and the concept of coping are then outlined in their main features and control of stressor exposition, problem-focused coping, cognitive reappraisal, emotion-focused coping and mobilization of social support are characterized as main targets and modes of intervention in coping skills group programs. General aspects of such programs, selected findings on effectiveness and methodological considerations regarding the evaluation are then depicted. It is concluded that training of individual coping skills should be supplemented by preventive intervention at the institutional or organizational level.     

Prejudice,social stress,and mental health in lesbian,gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence

In this article the author reviews research evidence on the prevalence of mental disorders in lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) and shows, using meta-analyses, that LGBs have a higher prevalence of mental disorders than heterosexuals. The author offers a conceptual framework for understanding this excess in prevalence of disorder in terms of minority stress--explaining that stigma, prejudice, and discrimination create a hostile and stressful social environment that causes mental health problems. The model describes stress processes, including the experience of prejudice events, expectations of rejection, hiding and concealing, internalized homophobia, and ameliorative coping processes. This conceptual framework is the basis for the review of research evidence, suggestions for future research directions, and exploration of public policy implications.     

2001 INVITED ADDRESS: The Mystery of Human Context and Coping: An Unraveling of Clues

Community and clinical psychology share a fundamental focus: to understand the interplay between human contexts, coping, and adaptation. To highlight recent progress in this area, I offer a guiding conceptual framework and discuss 8 propositions about environment and coping. The propositions consider such issues as patterns of social climate and coping and their links to personal development and dysfunction, the connections between ongoing life circumstances and intervention programs, the role of personal characteristics in matching individuals and environments, and the value of placing specific settings in an ecological context. I then focus on 8 enigmas, such as how to identify conceptually unifying dimensions of diverse social contexts, how to model the processes involved in person–environment transactions, how to understand the link between adversity and personal growth, how to examine the generality of models across ethnic and cultural groups, and how to enhance positive carryover from intervention programs to ongoing life contexts. I close by addressing some implications of these issues for a vision of a dynamic community psychology.     

Application of the Minority Stress Theory: Understanding the Mental Health of Undocumented Latinx Immigrants

This paper applies the Minority Stress framework to data collected from an ongoing community-based participatory research project with health and social service agencies in Southeast Michigan. We examine the stressors and coping strategies employed by undocumented Latinx immigrants and their families to manage immigration-related stress. We conducted in-depth interviews with 23 immigrant clients at Federally Qualified Health Care Centers (FQHC) in Southeast Michigan and 28 in-depth interviews with staff at two FQHC's and a non-profit agency serving immigrants. Findings suggest that immigrants face heightened anxiety and adverse mental health outcomes because of unique minority identity-related stressors created by a growing anti-immigrant social environment. Chronic stress experienced stems from restrictive immigration policies, anti-immigrant rhetoric in the media and by political leaders, fear of deportation, discriminatory events, concealment, and internalized anti-immigrant sentiment. Though identity can be an important effect modifier in the stress process, social isolation in the immigrant community has heightened the impact of stress and impeded coping strategies. These stressors have resulted in distrust in community resources, uncertainty about future health benefits, delayed medical care, and adverse mental health outcomes. Findings provide a framework for understanding the unique stressors experienced by immigrants and strategies for interventions by social service agencies.     

Can we Build on Social Movement Theories to Develop and Improve Community‐Based Participatory Research? A Framework Synthesis Review

A long‐standing challenge in community‐based participatory research (CBPR) has been to anchor practice and evaluation in a relevant and comprehensive theoretical framework of community change. This study describes the development of a multidimensional conceptual framework that builds on social movement theories to identify key components of CBPR processes. Framework synthesis was used as a general literature search and analysis strategy. An initial conceptual framework was developed from the theoretical literature on social movement. A literature search performed to identify illustrative CBPR projects yielded 635 potentially relevant documents, from which eight projects (corresponding to 58 publications) were retained after record and full‐text screening. Framework synthesis was used to code and organize data from these projects, ultimately providing a refined framework. The final conceptual framework maps key concepts of CBPR mobilization processes, such as the pivotal role of the partnership; resources and opportunities as necessary components feeding the partnership's development; the importance of framing processes; and a tight alignment between the cause (partnership's goal), the collective action strategy, and the system changes targeted. The revised framework provides a context‐specific model to generate a new, innovative understanding of CBPR mobilization processes, drawing on existing theoretical foundations.     

Bidirectional Relationships Between Parenting Stress and Child Coping Competence: Findings From the Pace Study

The present study was designed to evaluate the bidirectional relationships between parenting stress and child coping competence. Data from a diverse sample of 610 parents enrolled in the parenting our children to excellence program was used to evaluate whether parenting stress negatively contributes to affective, achievement, and social coping competence in preschoolers, as well as whether child coping competence predicts parenting stress; after accounting for child disruptive behavior. Results from cross-lagged panel analyses demonstrated a bidirectional relationship, such that parenting stress predicted later child coping competence and child coping competence predicted later parenting stress. Assessment of ethnicity differences indicated that child coping continues to have a long-term impact on parenting stress, regardless of parent ethnicity. The same relationship did not hold for earlier parenting stress on later child coping competence, however, indicating a bidirectional relationship for African American families, but not for their European American counterparts. The relationship between parenting stress and child coping competence is discussed with respect to their conceptual and clinical implications. Suggestions for parent training intervention and prevention programs are given.     

Person-environment congruence in work,school, and health care settings

After providing a conceptual framework that focuses on the interplay of persons and environments, I describe three broad domains of social climate dimensions that characterize work, school, and health care settings. Next, I draw some general conclusions about the influence of these social climate factors on morale and performance and about how their impact may vary depending on personal factors. Some research on cross-situational linkages also is covered, especially the interplay between educators' work climates and students' learning environments and that between students' school and family contexts. Finally, some important conceptual issues are reviewed, such as the need to examine the influence of personal resources and coping strategies, the varying impact of powerful environments, and the harmful as well as growth-producing outcomes of person-environment congruence.     

Individual differences in responses to workplace stress: the contribution of attachment theory

Work stress is a major cause of physical and psychological distress, and both theory and research highlight the importance of individual differences in coping efforts. The present research clarifies the mechanisms linking attachment insecurities (anxiety and avoidance) to maladaptive coping; specifically, we tested an integrative model assessing stress appraisals as a mediator between attachment insecurities and coping strategies, together with mediating and moderating effects of coping resources (perceived self‐efficacy and social support). A community sample of 113 men and 115 women completed an online survey which incorporated a standardized vignette depicting workplace stress. The results supported stress appraisal as a mediator between attachment anxiety and less adaptive coping, and established both mediating and moderating effects of perceived coping resources. The effects support the relevance of attachment theory to the study of workplace stress.     

Stress,coping, HIV status,psychosocial resources,and depressive mood in African American gay,bisexual, and heterosexual men

The associations between stress, physical health, psychosocial resources, coping, and depressive mood were examined in a community sample of African American gay, bisexual, and heterosexual men (N=139). Data were collected from physical exams and in-person interviews. In our theoretical framework, depressive mood scores were regressed first on stressors, next on psychosocial resources, and finally on coping strategy variables. Results revealed that psychosocial resources mediate the effects of stressors, including health symptoms, hassles, and life events, on depressive mood. There were no significant differences in depressive mood associated with HIV status or sexual orientation. Results are discussed in terms of community interventions needed to provide social support as a buffer between stress and psychological distress in African American men. The research was completed at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California at San Francisco and was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH44045 and MH42459. The authors express their appreciation to the participants in this study.     

虚拟健康社区医生贡献行为的形成机制

虚拟健康社区医生贡献行为(Doctor Contribution Behavior in Virtual Health Communities, V-DCB)在社会福祉创造中发挥着重要作用。从价值共创理论视角, 结合群体卷入模型和积极心理学研究, 提出在线服务交往中医生贡献行为前因后果的理论模型。首先从资源投入视角对V-DCB的概念和内涵进行分析, 并探讨测量工具的维度。接着分析社会交换和社会认同双重动机下的V-DCB行为卷入过程, 以及服务生态系统资源补充的激励作用。最后探讨V-DCB对医患双方幸福感共创的影响, 以及资源匹配因素对行为者幸福感产生的调节效应。     

Community psychology,digital technology,and loss: Remembrance activities of young adults who have experienced the death of a close friend

We argue for community psychology to include digital communications technology in research on ways that the social environment shapes fundamental human experiences. We present a qualitative study that examined the narrative accounts of 20 young adults who experienced the death of a close friend to describe both traditional and digital forms of remembrance in coping with loss. Findings suggest that young adults' activities both online and offline were intended to acknowledge the loss, exchange social support, create and sustain memories of their deceased friend, and facilitate continued communication with the deceased. Participants described both costs and benefits to their real and virtual remembrance activities. Findings illustrate ways that the study of digital technology adds to our understanding of grief and bereavement and contributes to dominant cultural narratives about coping with death. Implications of findings for research in community psychology are discussed.     

正、负性压力情境下教师应对方式的比较研究

采用修订的COPE量表对530名中小学教师进行调查,探讨中小学教师压力现状及其在正、负性压力情境下应对方式的异同。结果表明:(1)中小学教师总体压力水平为中等,但承受着较大的工作压力且负性多于正性;(2)中小学教师应对两类性质压力采用的方式趋于一致,具有一定的跨情境性。但在应对负性压力时,倾向于联合使用各种应对方式,且更倾向于采用精神寄托、行为解脱等非适应性应对方式。     

Development of the HIV/AIDS Stress Scale

Development of a self-report measure of stress specific to HIV/AIDS is needed to advance our understanding of the role of stress in adaptation to HIV/AIDS; hence, the aim of this study was the development of the HIV/AIDS Stress Scale. A total of 132 homosexual/bisexual men with HIV/AIDS were interviewed and completed the HIV/AIDS Stress Scale and measures of coping strategies, appraisal, social support and adjustment (global distress, depression, social adjustment, number of HIV symptoms, and subjective health status) at three time points. Thirty-nine primary caregivers were interviewed and completed measures of stress and adjustment. Exploratory factor analyses of the HIV/AIDS Stress Scale items revealed three factors: Social, Instrumental and Emotional/Existential Stress. Factors had adequate internal reliabilities and were stable over 12 months. Construct validation data are consistent with recent stress/coping research that links higher levels of stress with more HIV symptoms, reliance on emotion-focused coping, lower social support, poorer levels of adjustment and higher levels of caregiver stress. Results extend this research by revealing new differential relations between various stress dimensions and stress/coping variables. Convergent validation data suggest that the HIV/AIDS Stress Scale shares conceptual similarity with threat appraisal, and differs from controllability and challenge appraisals. The HIV/AIDS Stress Scale shows potential for the elucidation of the role of stress in coping and adaptation to HIV/AIDS and disease progression in both research and clinical applications.     

Coping with non‐purchase: Managing the stress of inaction regret

This research presents a framework based on coping theory to explain the different ways of managing the stress of regret for inaction. We theorize that primary appraisals of goal-relevance and secondary appraisals of reversibility affect how consumers cope with the stress of inaction regret resulting in different behavioral outcomes. Prior research has focused on two outcomes of regret for inaction—inaction inertia and dissonance reduction—that result in the decreased intent to avail of a similar future opportunity. This research proposes that these are not inevitable outcomes, but rather coping responses. Further, if the forgone opportunity is appraised to be goal-relevant and reversible, consumers engage in active coping that results in increased behavioral intent.     

Correlates of social support receipt

Psychological correlates of social support receipt were examined in an investigation of stress and coping among 150 middle-aged community residents. Subjects were interviewed monthly for 6 months, each time concerning a specific stressful situation in the previous month. Social support received and methods of coping were assessed each time, as well as other variables. Factors hypothesized to be associated with support receipt were person predispositions, appraisal patterns with regard to specific stressful encounters, and coping strategies used. Each was most strongly associated with a particular type of social support. Person predispositions related most strongly to emotional support received, appraisal factors related most strongly to aid, and coping strategies related most to informational support received. Furthermore, of the three sets of variables, the individual's ways of coping appeared to be most strongly associated with all types of social support received. Two implications are explored. First, we suggest that the three types of social support studied represent different constructs with different antecedents and consequences. Second, we argue that coping behavior provides interpersonal cues regarding what is wanted or needed in a stressful situation and that the members of the social environment respond accordingly.     

Family stress theory: A perspective on pastoral care

This article reviews crisis theory from family stress literature and research from medical sociology to advance a rationale for clinical pastoral care of seriously ill patients and families. It describes Reuben Hill's A,B,C,X crisis model and offers it as a conceptual framework for understanding the psychosocial experiences of families facing illness and the role of pastoral care in the coping process.     

A Community Psychology of Men and Masculinity: Historical and Conceptual Review

This paper introduces the special section by presenting a historical and conceptual review of theory and research on the psychology of men and masculinity and then introducing the section’s papers. Men have power because of their gender, but differ in access to power based on other individual characteristics such as social class, income, education, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or physical strength. Men typically have been studied as generic rather than gendered beings in psychology. In contrast, a gendered analysis of men highlights the ways in which men’s experience, masculinity, and behavior contribute to health and social problems and to resources commonly addressed by community psychologists. Our gendered analysis suggests ways of working with men in group, organizational, and community settings to create positive individual and social change. Crucial to this analysis is the paradox that enacting masculinity both privileges and damages men. A second paradox stems from men having power as a group over women while individual men feel powerless or victimized by women as a group. The papers in this volume illustrate key themes of our historical and conceptual review through studies of adolescent and adult men as fathers, patients, partner abusers, support group participants and community members, and through examination of the impact of their gendered identities and behavior on health, well being, and justice.     

Sociocultural factors, resilience, and coping: Support for a culturally sensitive measure of resilience

This investigation presents 1) a literature review concerning how adversity and resilience influence the development of youth from diverse cultural backgrounds; 2) an examination of measures of resilience with regard to cultural factors that relate to the nature of coping and resilience among young adults from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds; and 3) the exploration of aspects of cultural resilience: childhood stressors, global coping, adaptive coping, maladaptive coping, and sociocultural support. Results for 305 college age women indicated that cultural factors were related to measures of these five aspects of resilience. Childhood stressors were experienced differentially by individuals from different racial/ethnic and social class status backgrounds, supporting proposals that ecological aspects, notably cultural background and experiences, influence the development of resilience. A conceptual framework illustrating how culture contributes to resilience and coping is presented. Implications for the development of a measure of cultural resilience and its usefulness for developmental community interventions are discussed.     

A psycho-social system approach to well-being: Empirically deriving the Five Domains of Positive Functioning

A new psycho-social system approach to well-being is presented, in which psychological and social functioning is understood through an empirically derived framework of five domains. A quantitative co-term analysis was performed on 3466 terms within 18,401 PsycINFO^® journal documents on topics related to positive psychology (PP) across disciplines such as psychology, education, management, business and psychiatry. The analysis revealed that research on PP topics can be classified into five broad domains: attention and awareness, comprehension and coping, emotions, goals and habits, and virtues and relationships. These domains provide a new systematic framework, the Five Domains of Positive Functioning, for understanding positive psycho-social functioning and exploring the underlying ways in which people function to achieve well-being outcomes. When used within the psycho-social system approach, the framework can be used in future research to clarify mechanisms of change, facilitate comparisons between different PP interventions and suggest ways to improve intervention effectiveness.