Maternal Representations of Patients with Schizophrenia as Measured by the Parental Bonding Instrument

Maternal perceptions were assessed, using the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) in 19 subjects with schizophrenia, 14 subjects with borderline personality disorder and 15 non-clinical subjects. Subjects with schizophrenia and subjects with borderline personality disorder reported significantly less care and more overprotection than did non-clinical subjects. No significant differences were found in representations by subjects with schizophrenia and subjects with borderline personality disorders. To the extent that the reported negative maternal behaviour gives a true picture of childhood and adolescent experiences, it does not seem to be specific for schizophrenia, but may be one factor in the development of severe mental disorders.     

Geophysical variables and behavior: LIV. Zeitoun (Egypt) apparitions of the Virgin Mary as tectonic strain-induced luminosities

Temporal analyses were completed between the occurrence of intense displays of exotic luminous phenomena over a church in Zeitoun (Egypt) during the years 1968 through 1969 and regional seismicity. These phenomena, viewed by thousands of onlookers, began one year before an unprecedented increase (factor of 10) in seismic activity about 400 km to the southeast. Monthly analyses also demonstrated a moderate (0.56) correlation between increases in seismicity and the occurrence of luminous phenomena during the same or previous month. These results were interpreted as further support for the hypothesis that most anomalous (terrain-related) luminous phenomena are generated by factors associated with tectonic strain.     

The Mother-child Relationship as an Archetype for the Relationship between the Virgin Mary and Humanity in the Gospels and the Book of Revelation

Following the work of Stevens Rogers (2002), this article starts with the premise that humanity can be seen as a child growing in changing relationship with his or her mother. With Jesus representing humanity, the relationship between a mother and a child can be an archetype for understanding the changing relationship between the Virgin Mary and humanity as narrated in the Gospels and the Book of Revelation. With the Annunciation by the Angel, the Boy Jesus in the Temple, the wedding at Cana, and Mary at the foot of the cross as developmental stages, this article shows the changing relationship between humanity and the Virgin Mary. Pierre M. Balthazar is a student in the PsyD program in Clinical Psychology at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology.     

Marital Conflict as a Mediator of the Longitudinal Connections between Maternal Emotional Distress and Early Adolescent Maladjustment

In this study, we examined the longitudinal relations among maternal emotional distress, marital conflict, and early adolescent externalizing behaviors and internalizing symptoms during the transition to adolescence. 3 years of self-report data were collected from 136 married mothers and their children, beginning when the children were in 5th grade. Structural equations modeling with latent variables were conducted to examine the nature and directionality of paths between constructs. For mothers, results indicated that marital conflict mediated the relation between prior maternal emotional distress and subsequent early adolescent externalizing behaviors and internalizing symptoms. For early adolescents, a mediating pattern was seen only for externalizing behaviors. In testing the reverse pattern of effects for mothers, marital conflict mediated the relation between prior early adolescent externalizing behaviors and subsequent maternal emotional distress whereas only an indirect pattern of effects existed for internalizing symptoms. Thus, we identified dynamic patterns of familial relations that accounted for the diminished well-being of both early adolescents and their mothers, suggesting that prevention and intervention work during the transition to adolescence should focus on multiple components of family functioning.     

'The Christian as Christ to the Neighbour': On Luther's Theology of Love

Abstract: This article explores the theology of love advanced by Martin Luther, relating it to his account of the presence of Christ by faith in other people, and to his biblical expositions. In outlining Luther's contrast between the love of God and the human loves, it is argued that Luther nonetheless is still able to value human love. Finally, the relationship between love and faith in Luther is described: love is chief among the many gifts of God that we receive by faith.     

Exploring a Paradox: Commitment as a Moderator of the Stressor-Burnout Relationship

Identity theory suggests that we experience distress when our role-relevant goals are blocked and that this distress is stronger when we are highly committed to the role. Past research, however, clearly demonstrates that commitment is inversely related to the experience of stress. The current study examined whether commitment also moderates the relationship between work stressors and burnout. Over 500 hospital nurses provided information about the frequency of nursing stressors, their career commitment, and burnout. Although nurses who reported greater commitment tended to experience less burnout overall, moderated regression analyses showed that the link between work stressors and burnout was significantly stronger for the more committed nurses. Explanations for these apparently incongruent findings are offered, along with their implications for hospital nursing.     

Pope Francis: a pastor according to the heart of Christ

Catholic Canon Law stipulates that the Pope is ‘the pastor of the universal Church on earth’. Pope Francis took up the challenge which this statement poses to those exercising the Petrine ministry by asking for prayers that he might be ‘a pastor according to the heart of Christ’. How is a Pope ‘a pastor according to the heart of Christ’? What particular opportunities does the Petrine ministry offer for this? What are the pastoral aspects of the papacy? What does it seem we can expect from Pope Francis in this regard? As this article shows, the task of ‘a pastor according to the heart of Christ’ has an impact on several aspects of the implementation of the Petrine ministry, such as using the Pope’s power in the service of unity, encouraging collegiality in communion as the visible centre of the entire Christian Church in dialogue with other religions, that the world may believe.     

Differential Relations of Parental Behavior to Children’s Early Executive Function as a Function of Child Genotype: A Systematic Review

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - Child genotype is an important biologically based indicator of sensitivity to the effects of parental behavior on children’s executive function...     

Expressive Individualism,the Cult of the Artist as Genius,and Milton's Lucifer

I propose an ‘intellectual genealogy’ of the widespread contemporary lifestyle called ‘expressive individualism’, tracing it back first to the cult of the artist as genius, which flourished during the 19^th century, but which has been democratized and universalized in our time. I then trace it back one step further, somewhat surprisingly, to the altered depiction of Lucifer John Milton gives in his poem Paradise Lost. Milton's Lucifer rejects not only Jesus as the highest creature, he rejects the Father as father; he announces ‘I know none before me; I am self‐begot.’ To the extent that we embrace the ethic of ‘expressive individualism’, therefore, we are implicitly committed to Milton's Lucifer as an archetype for human fulfilment, which I suggest, however, is a toxic model.     

Perceived Organisational Support as a Mediator of the Relationship of Perceived Situational Factors to Affective Organisational Commitment

This paper examines the role of perceived organisational support as a mediator of the relationship between perceived situational factors and affective organisational commitment. Perceived situational factors examined were: procedural justice, distributive justice, communication satisfaction with supervisor, and labor–management relationship climate. Analysis of data from a sample of 185 pharmaceutical sales representatives from India indicated that perceived organisational support fully mediates the relationship between each of these perceived situational variables and affective commitment to the organisation.     

Back to the Future: Marriage as Friendship in the Thought of Mary Wollstonecraft

If liberal theory is to move forward, it must take the political nature of family relations seriously. The beginnings of such a liberalism appear in Mary Wollstonecraft's work. Wollstonecraft's depiction of the family as a fundamentally political institution extends liberal values into the private sphere by promoting the ideal of marriage as friendship. However, while her model of marriage diminishes arbitrary power in family relations, she seems unable to incorporate enduring sexual relations between married partners.     

Maternal Behavior Prior to Parenting as a Transgenerational Predictor of Offspring Behavior

Behavior problems influence development at multiple stages over the lifespan. The present study explores the relations between maternal behavior prior to parenting and offspring behavior problems in childhood and adolescence using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data (N = 2,820 dyads with 50.0 % male offspring and 52.2 % of ethnic/racial minority status). Index scores for behavior problems were created for mothers prior to parenting and for offspring at two time points. Path analyses indicated that maternal behavior problems prior to parenthood predicted offspring being at increased risk for behavior problems in childhood and adolescence. Mothers’ behavior had a significant influence on adolescent behavior, even after childhood behavior problems and demographic covariates were taken into account. Post-hoc analyses demonstrated the stability of behavior problems is especially strong for males. Results support a long tradition of research and the external validity of the stability of behavior problems as well as the importance of maternal behavior prior to parenthood for their future offspring across development. Clinical and policy implications are discussed.     

How to Forego Forbidden Fruit: The Regulation of Attractive Alternatives as a Commitment Mechanism

All major theories of relationship commitment specify that the availability of attractive alternatives should be a negative factor undermining relationship commitment and relationship survival. However, most empirical evidence is correlational. In recent years, experimental research has examined how commitment influences attention, perception, and judgment of attractive alternatives in ways that help maintain relationship stability. Moreover, research on self-control of other goal-directed behavior is spawning theory about how impulses and self-control interact to predict the regulation of goal pursuit in the face of temptations. Finally, very recent work has experimentally manipulated the availability of alternatives to test its influence on commitment-related behaviors such as the willingness to tolerate a partner’s transgressions. Recent findings reveal that commitment is necessary but not sufficient when faced with especially strong and sometimes implicit relationship threats.     

Aquinas and the unity of Christ: a defence of compositionalism

Thomas Aquinas is often thought to present a compositionalist model of the incarnation, according to which Christ is a composite of a divine nature and a human nature, understood as concrete particulars. But he sometimes seems to hedge away from this model when insisting on the unity of Christ. I argue that if we interpret some of his texts on the assumption of straightforward compositionalism, we can construct a defence of Christ’s unity within that context. This defence involves the claim that the divine unity is so great, and the relation between Christ’s two natures so unusual, that the divine unity can be transferred to the composite Christ as a “borrowed property”.     

Commitment to a developing preference and predecisional distortion of information

People tend to distort their evaluation of decision-relevant information in favor of the currently preferred alternative. We test whether this predecisional distortion of information is amplified by increased commitment to that current preference. We manipulated commitment, without changing the preferred option’s content, by requiring participants to indicate their preference either by circling or by darkening a sizable box (cf. feature-positive effect). Experiment 1 revealed that the effort to darken substantially increased predecisional distortion. Experiment 2 ruled out elaboration as an explanation for the effect of darkening. Experiment 3 showed that, among participants who attributed the darkening effort to an external source, predecisional distortion decreased when the source was believed to summon effort. These findings suggest that the developing commitment to a tentatively preferred alternative is one driver of predecisional distortion.