The Prevalence of Clergy Sexual Advances Toward Adults in Their Congregations

We use the 2008 General Social Survey to estimate the prevalence of clergy sexual advances toward adults in their congregations. Overall, 3.1 percent of women who attend religious services at least monthly reported being the object of a sexual advance by a clergyperson or religious leader in their own congregation since turning 18; 2.2 percent of regularly attending women reported a sexual advance from a married leader that did not lead to an openly acknowledged relationship. We examine differences in the prevalence of this experience by education, region, religious tradition, marital status, age, and race.     

Factors Associated with Achieving Complete Mental Health among Individuals with Lifetime Suicidal Ideation

The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with complete mental health among Canadians who had ever seriously considered suicide. Data for this study were obtained from Statistics Canada's 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey–Mental Health (N = 2,844). The outcome variable examined in this study was complete mental health and was analyzed using binary logistic regression. Of the 2,844 respondents with lifetime suicidal ideation, 1,088 (38.2%) had complete mental health (i.e., had flourishing mental health, no mental illness, and no suicidal ideation in the past 12 months). Those who had a confidant were seven times more likely to have complete mental health. Other factors associated with achieving complete mental health among formerly suicidal respondents include being older, being a woman, having higher income, use of religious coping, and never previously having a mental illness. Considering the importance of these protective factors in formulating public health policies will allow for a more wide‐reaching approach to suicide prevention.     

Facilitators and Barriers to HIV Activities in Religious Congregations: Perspectives of Clergy and Lay Leaders from a Diverse Urban Sample

This paper examines facilitators and barriers to HIV activities within religious congregations, the relative internal or external sources of these influences, and suggestive differences across congregational types. Results are based on in-depth interviews with clergy and lay leaders (n = 57) from 14 congregations in Los Angeles County, California, purposively selected to reflect diversity in racial-ethnic composition, denomination, size, and HIV activity level. Many common facilitators and barriers were related to norms and attitudes, only a few of which appeared overtly associated with theological orientations. Clergy support was a facilitator particularly prevalent among congregations having higher HIV activity levels, indicating its importance in sustaining and expanding HIV programs. Resource issues were also prominent, with material resource barriers more frequently mentioned by smaller congregations and human resource barriers more among larger congregations. Organizational structure issues were mostly centered on external linkages with various social service, public health, and faith-based entities. Analysis of internal versus external sources highlights the roles of different stakeholders within and outside congregations in promoting HIV activities. Potential differences across congregational types represent fruitful areas for future research.     

Factors Associated with Engagement in Family Therapy

Thirty-eight families who continued in conjoint family therapy were compared on a variety of antecedent variables to 13 families who dropped out. Three potentially important predictors of continuance in family therapy were found: (a) which spouse initiated the search for treatment; (b) the level of authoritarianism in the spouses; and (c) family socioeconomic status. Families that dropped out of treatment tended to be of lower socioeconomic status and contained spouses who had more highly authoritarian attitudes as measured by the California F Scale ( 1 ). Families that contained a severly disturbed member had a poor rate of engagement in treatment, but if both spouses in such a family were low in authoritarianism, the engagement rate was 100 per cent. When both spouses initiated the search for treatment, engagement was also nearly perfect. The difficulty in engaging families from the lowest socio-economic class may be attributed partly to the authoritarian attitudes of the husband.     

Small Unit Leader Perceptions of Managing Soldier Behavioral Health and Associated Factors

This investigation explored squad leaders’ perceptions of their roles managing subordinate soldiers’ behavioral health (BH) needs. The data were obtained through an anonymous survey of 458 squad leaders (i.e., small unit leaders who oversee 4–10 soldiers). More than 80% of squad leaders perceived management of soldier BH needs before, during, and after treatment as their responsibility, and felt comfortable and capable of executing these roles. Latent class analysis was used to determine groups of “most active,” “moderately active,” and “least active” leaders. Multinomial logistic regression was used to compare the least and most active classes. The most active leaders were more likely to report high BH knowledge, dedication to a common purpose, and low levels of “associative” stigma. These results should inform leader management of soldier BH. Future research should examine active leader characteristics and whether evidence-based training can increase support for preventing and managing BH issues.     

Factors Associated with Perceived Paternal Involvement in Childrearing

Interest in paternal involvement in child care has increased as the demands on the time and resources of maternal caretakers have increased. The purpose of the present study was to examine variables associated with perceived paternal involvement in child care. Participants were 137 (90 European American and 47 African American) fathers of children between the ages of 2 and 6. Hierarchical multiple regression and analyses of variance indicated that ethnicity, gender role orientation, and perceived skill at child care were associated with higher levels of perceived paternal engagement in and responsibility for child care. Partners' work status was associated with perceived paternal responsibility for, but not engagement in child care. Data suggest that fathers' perceptions of their abilities, gender role, and family requirements may combine to influence child care involvement.     

Factors Associated with Functional Dependence in Alzheimer's Disease

The purpose of this study was to determine whether common geriatric conditions, family function, and nutritional problems have independent associations with functional dependence beyond the effect of cognitive impairment in patients with Alzheimer's disease. It was found that some common geriatric conditions affecting patients with Alzheimer's disease appear to have multiple and differential relationships with specific instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) dependency. These results have implications for medical care. Preventing one condition may not be sufficient to prevent further IADL dependences because the conditions are independently related to individual outcome variables. Thus, multiple conditions may need to be managed concurrently if further functional dependence is to be expected.     

Different Types of Religiosity and Lay Intuitions About Free Will/Determinism in Turkey

Religiosity has been found to be positively associated with belief in free will (FW) in the Western world. In the Muslim world, however, religiosity exhibits several characteristics that set it apart from the Western world, including an overemphasis on fate or divine predestination. We, therefore, investigated FW/determinism beliefs and different types of religiosity and conservatism in two samples in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country (N = 1,690). In Study 1, a confirmatory factor analysis showed that FAD-Plus provided good fit to the data. Study 2 revealed that FW belief is not related to any of the religiosity measures (intrinsic, extrinsic, quest), whereas fatalistic determinism is consistently related to religiosity. The unique predictor of free will turned out to be belief in a just world. Overall, these findings indicate that FW belief is not inherently related to religiosity in Turkey, whereas fatalistic determinism is central to Turkish people’s belief systems.     

Ethical Challenges of Personal Disclosure in Gaining Entry with Religious Congregations

This is a story about learning how to navigate my social identities as a non‐religious gay man attempting to conduct data‐based consultation with a religious congregation. Beyond my own growth in knowing myself better, this story speaks to the larger ethical challenge of how we build trust in community relationships, and in particular how much of our personal selves we need to disclose in the process of an individual or group deciding to work with us. Individuals and groups make decisions to work with us based on who they perceive us to be; thus, what is our ethical obligation to disclose aspects of who we are to promote full informed consent? To illustrate this ethical challenge of personal disclosure, I tell the story of discussions I had with three different religious leaders and a congregational committee about potentially working together. Throughout these stories, I reflect on my own messy process of growth as a window into the more general question of how we navigate our identities and values as community psychologists in the work we do with communities.     

Sex Differences in Psychological Factors Associated with Social Discounting

The social discounting paradigm is a powerful means of quantifying altruism in humans, who are typically willing to forgo some amount of personal earnings in exchange for increased earnings for another person. The amount of money that people are willing to forgo decreases with increasing social distance. In this study, we examined variables related to sex, intolerance of uncertainty, and empathy, all of which are theorized to affect the social discounting rate. Participants (27 men and 28 women) completed measures of intolerance of uncertainty, empathy, and social discounting. We found sex differences in psychological predictors of social discounting: in women, empathy (but not intolerance of uncertainty) predicts the social discounting rate, while in men, social discounting is associated with intolerance of uncertainty (but not empathy). Possible neurobiological, social, and cognitive explanations for this sex difference are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Factors Associated with Transposition Behavior of Preschool Children

To assess ideas, derived from a contextual paradigm, stressing the influence of adolescents' perceptions of the physical and social components of their school environment on their self-esteems and academic performances, 183 black early adolescents (mean age = 12.1 years, SD = .5 years; 54.6% female) were administered five semantic differential scales. The first provided a measure of self-esteem, while the remaining four provided measures of perceptions of the social environment of the school (i.e., of peers and of teachers) and of the physical environment of the school (i.e., of the classroom and of the school building). There were few systematic sex differences in responses to the scales. As predicted, school environment perceptions were significantly related to self-esteem in both males and females. However, although self-esteem and a report of grade point average, as a measure of academic performance, were significantly related, there was no relation between school environmental perceptions and reported grade point average.     

The Experience of Caregiving Among Mothers of Adults Suffering from Psychotic Disorders: Factors Associated with Their Psychological Distress

To identify correlates of psychological distress among multiple indicators, 99 women with adult children suffering from a psychotic disorder were interviewed. The women, who were recruited through hospitals and self-help groups, represented different socioeconomic levels. A face-to-face standardized interview was conducted, mainly in the participants' homes. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis showed that dimensions of burden and social support were strongly associated with distress reported by the participants. The negative interactions that participants had with their main confidant or spouse constituted a more powerful correlate than their perception of the quality of this relationship. Furthermore, a perception of their own health as poorer is a strong correlate of their distress. Since no control group was studied simultaneously, these results suggest, but do not prove, the presence of differences between mothers of adults with psychotic disorders and other mothers.     

Speech and Language Difficulties Along with Other Child and Family Factors Associated with Health Related Quality of Life of Australian Children

Speech and/or language difficulties (SaLD) can potentially compromise a child’s health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL). Very few studies have examined associations between SaLD, other child and family factors and HRQoL and none have been undertaken in Australia. We explore these associations using data from a nationally representative Australian sample of 4–5 year old children, extracted from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) (n?=?4386). The Disability-Stress-Coping Model informed variable selection. Three domains of HRQoL were examined, and assessed on physical, emotional and social functioning subscales of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). SaLD measures included parent concern about speech/language (Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status) and receptive vocabulary ability (adapted Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III). Multiple regression analyses revealed that various child and family factors representing all constructs from the Disability-Stress-Coping Model were significantly associated with HRQoL. Specifically, HRQoL was positively associated with parental warmth and child’s general health and negatively associated with parent speech/language concerns and maternal depression across all domains. Parents with concerns about their pre-school child’s speech and language rate the quality of their child’s health more poorly across physical, emotional and social domains. Associations between parent speech/language concerns and HRQoL were notable for being apparent in a (non-clinical) population sample and for persisting independent of factors such as maternal depression, parenting style and the child’s general health.     

A Systematic Review of the Factors Associated with Post-Traumatic Growth in Parents Following Admission of Their Child to the Intensive Care Unit

This systematic review aims to identify the demographic, clinical and psychological factors associated with post-traumatic growth (PTG) in parents following their child’s admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Papers published up to September 2021 were identified following a search of electronic databases (PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, PTSDpubs and EMBASE). Studies were included if they involved a sample of parents whose children were previously admitted to ICU and reported correlational data. 1777 papers were reviewed. Fourteen studies were eligible for inclusion; four were deemed to be of good methodological quality, two were poor, and the remaining eight studies were fair. Factors associated with PTG were identified. Mothers, and parents of older children, experienced greater PTG. Parents who perceived their child’s illness as more severe had greater PTG. Strong associations were uncovered between PTG and post-traumatic stress, psychological well-being and coping. PTG is commonly experienced by this population. Psychological factors are more commonly associated with PTG in comparison with demographic and clinical factors, suggesting that parents’ subjective ICU experience may be greater associated with PTG than the objective reality.

     

The Role of Lay Health Advisors in Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: A Review

Interventions are needed to reduce the negative impact of cardiovascular disease. The combination of health risks for disease, disability, and mortality, particularly among underserved populations, might be best addressed with programs designed to enhance awareness and development of resources within a context of community support. The objectives of this review were to: (1) provide a comprehensive review and evaluation of the roles, evaluation, and effectiveness of LHA in community-based programs with an emphasis on cardiovascular risk reduction; and (2) provide recommendations for future research involving LHA in such programs. Computer and manual searches were conducted of articles in the English-language literature from 1980 to 2007. Twenty articles were evaluated, which emphasized the role of the LHA in cardiovascular risk reduction. A review of research literature provides a starting point for determining salient approaches for intervention and evaluation, issues related to program implementation and sustainability, and strengths and limitations of existing approaches.     

Intrapersonal and Ecodevelopmental Factors Associated with Smoking in Hispanic Adolescents

We examined how relationships among intrapersonal (i.e., attitudes and beliefs about smoking) and ecodevelopmental (i.e., family, school, and peer) factors influence risk for lifetime smoking in immigrant Hispanic adolescents. Our sample was comprised of 223 immigrant Hispanic adolescents and their families and was drawn from 3 middle schools in a single school district. Data collected is a result of adolescent and parent completed questionnaires as well as county school data (i.e., GPA, teacher reported effort and conduct, absences). Results indicated only poor school functioning, peer smoking, and lack of perceived harm concerning smoking were directly related to adolescent lifetime smoking. Poor school functioning and peer smoking mediated the relationship between family functioning and adolescent smoking. Implications of these results for the design of smoking preventive interventions for immigrant Hispanic adolescents are discussed.