Predictors of individual,community and national resiliencies of Israeli Jews and Arabs

The contribution of individual characteristics to predicting individual, community and national resilience of Israeli Jews and Arabs was investigated. Psychological resilience refers to people's assessment of their ability to withstand negative psychological consequences of major afflictions, and to keep functioning despite these adversities. The following hypotheses were examined: 1. The Jewish sample would score higher than the Arab sample on indices of individual, community and national resilience. 2. Men of both groups would score higher compared with women on these resilience indices. 3. Exposure to terror and fear of upcoming war would negatively predict the resilience of both groups. 4. Higher level of religiosity, right wing political attitudes, higher income, higher education, older age and higher sense of coherence will positively predict the investigated resiliencies. The random sample included 1100 Jews and 350 Arabs who participated in an internet survey. Resilience was defined in this study as the balance of individual, community and national strength (protective factors) to vulnerability (risk factors). The results supported the first three hypotheses whereas the fourth hypothesis was supported only for the Jewish sample. The present study indicated that some predictors had universal effect on resilience, whereas others seemed to be culture specific predictors.     

Individual,Community, and National Resilience in Peace Time and in the Face of Terror: A Longitudinal Study

The present paper is based on thrice-repeated measures. The sample constituted 561 Jewish Israeli adults who experienced these terror attacks. The study examined individual, community and national resilience and their associations with resilience-promoting factors (sense of coherence, social support, and self-efficacy); as well as resilience-suppressing factors (distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure). Results indicated that resilience scores were quite stable across the three repeated measures, whereas sense of coherence, distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure significantly changed across the three repeated measures. Sense of coherence was the best predictor for individual, community, and national resilience.     

Getting a Life: Gender Differences in Postwar Recovery

This study examined gender differences in stress symptoms and recovery one year after the end of war, among two Israeli samples (adults n?=?870 and adolescents n?=?810). MANOVA analysis indicated that females reported higher levels of stress symptoms and lower levels of postwar recovery compared to males. Adolescents reported lower levels of stress and higher levels of recovery compared to adults. Path analysis supported the following: Gender associated negatively with family support and sense of danger. Sense of danger associated positively with symptoms and negatively with recovery, while family support associated with these variables in the opposite direction. Mediation test indicated that family support and sense of danger served as mediators between gender and recovery and between gender and stress symptoms.     

Acts of Contrition,Forgiveness by God,and Death Anxiety Among Older Mexican Americans

The purpose of this study is to see if performing acts of contrition in order to be forgiven by God is associated with lower levels of death anxiety among older Mexican Americans. A conceptual model containing the following relationships was developed to evaluate this and other hypotheses: (a) It is hypothesized that older Mexican Americans who attend church more often will have a stronger sense of God-mediated control (i.e., the belief that God works together with people to attain desired goals and eliminate unwanted stressors), (b) individuals with a stronger sense of God-mediated control will be more likely to perform acts of contrition in order to earn God's forgiveness, (c) performing acts of contrition will enhance feelings of self-worth, and (d) a stronger sense of self-esteem will be associated with lower levels of death anxiety. Data from a nationwide sample of older Mexican Americans provide support for each of these relationships.     

Natural Compatibilism,Indeterminism, and Intrusive Metaphysics

The claim that common sense regards free will and moral responsibility as compatible with determinism has played a central role in both analytic and experimental philosophy. In this paper, we show that evidence in favor of this “natural compatibilism” is undermined by the role that indeterministic metaphysical views play in how people construe deterministic scenarios. To demonstrate this, we re-examine two classic studies that have been used to support natural compatibilism. We find that although people give apparently compatibilist responses, this is largely explained by the fact that people import an indeterministic metaphysics into deterministic scenarios when making judgments about freedom and responsibility. We conclude that judgments based on these scenarios are not reliable evidence for natural compatibilism.     

从概念界定角度看控制感研究中的问题

在目前关于“控制感”的研究中,概念界定一直是困扰许多研究者的问题。研究从控制源、自我效能感两个概念出发,阐述控制感概念与两者之间存在区别,包含更多的内容,提出控制感概念界定可以从方向和强度上予以考虑,并将控制感定义为：个体相信自己能够影响事件地进行而获得所期望结果的程度,而且这种影响是由个体自己而非外界的因素来决定的。概念的清晰界定对于今后控制感的测量和理论发展有着较大的益处。     

Resilience and suicide ideation: Coping mediator-moderator effects among adolescent learners

The current study aimed to investigate the influence of coping on the relationship between resilience and adolescent suicide ideation among secondary learners in the Free State Province, South Africa (n = 495; female = 61.6%; black = 55%, white = 27%, other = 18%; mean age = 13.99 years; SD = 0.83 years). The learners completed the Suicide Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ), the Revised Coping Schema Inventory (RCSI), and the Resiliency Scale for Children and Adolescents (RSCA). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to predict resilience-mediated suicide ideation from coping. Results suggested higher resilience scores on sense of mastery (SoM) and sense of relatedness (SoR) to predict lower suicide ideation risk among the teenagers. By contrast, higher scores on emotional reactivity (ER) predicted higher risk for suicide ideation. Religious coping (RC) moderated the relationship between resilience (sense of relatedness) and suicide ideation so that RC scores with SoM were associated with lower suicide ideation scores. Personal dispositions seem to explain risk for suicide ideation among adolescents.     

大学生社会支持对乐观倾向的影响:心理弹性与心理一致感的中介作用

研究旨在了解大学生社会支持、乐观倾向、心理弹性和心理一致感的基本情况及其相互关系,探讨心理弹性和心理一致感在社会支持与乐观倾向之间的中介作用,并对大学生乐观倾向的影响机制进行深入分析。研究使用大学生社会支持量表、心理一致感量表、心理弹性量表和乐观倾向量表对上海市某高校2979名大学生进行调查。研究结果表明:(1)大学生社会支持、心理弹性与心理一致感和乐观倾向的总体状况良好,处于正向积极水平。社会支持、心理弹性与心理一致感和乐观倾向均存在显著的性别差异,女生情况好于男生。(2)大学生乐观倾向与社会支持、心理弹性、心理一致感之间均存在显著正相关(r=.31-.50)。(3)社会支持对乐观倾向有直接预测作用,心理弹性和心理一致感的中介效应显著,模型拟合程度良好(χ2/df=36.80,p.001,NFI=.98,CFI=.98,IFI=.98)。研究为揭示社会支持与乐观倾向背后可能的原因与作用机制提供了理论支持。     

Strengthening Resilience in a Risky World: It's All About Relationships

SUMMARY

Building on Judith Jordan's earlier work on relational resilience, this paper challenges the commonly held view that resilience is a unique form of individual “toughness” endowed to a lucky few and suggests that resilience can be strengthened in all people through participation in growth-fostering relationships. The author reviews the research describing individual, internal characteristics associated with resilience and explores the relational aspects of these characteristics. A case example illustrates that efforts promoting relational development help people grow through and beyond experiences of hardship and adversity. In addition, the author proposes specific ways resilience can be strengthened through engagement in relationships that enhance one's intellectual development, sense of worth, sense of competence, sense of empowerment, and, most importantly, sense of connection.     

Assessing the Relationships among Religion,Humility, Forgiveness,and Self-Rated Health

The purpose of this study is estimate a model that contains five hypotheses: (1) people who attend worship services more often will receive more spiritual support; (2) individuals who receive more spiritual support will be more humble; (3) people who are more humble will be more likely to forgive; (4) people who are more forgiving will find a greater sense of meaning in life; and (5) a greater sense of meaning in life will be associated with better self-rated health. Data from a nationwide survey of adults age 18 and older (N = 1,744) provide support for each hypothesis.     

A Salutogenic Analysis of the Well-Being Paradox in Older Age

Following Antonovsky’s salutogenic perspective, we investigate to what extent the sense of coherence and psychological resources mediate the physical health-mental health relationship, assuming that these resilience factors mutually influence each other. In our questionnaire study, 387 older persons at the mean age of 73.8 years volunteered. We assessed physical health appraisals, sense of coherence components (comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness), psychological resources (self-efficacy and self-esteem) and mental health (subjective well-being, depressive mood, and psychological health). We used structural equation modeling with latent variables and a bootstrapping method to test hypothesized mediation chains. We found (a) a significant direct effect of physical health on mental health, (b) two significant specific indirect effects of physical health on mental health, substantiating that the sense of coherence was a stronger mediator than psychological resources, and (c) two significant 3-path mediated effects. Physical health is profoundly associated with mental health. However, resilience factors such as the sense of coherence and psychological resources enable older people to maintain mental health when confronted with chronic physical health problems.     

Church-based social relationships, belonging, and health among older Mexican Americans

The purpose of this study is to explain how church-based emotional support influences the health of older Mexican Americans. This issue is evaluated with a theoretical model that contains the following core linkages: (1) older Mexican Americans who go to church more often will be more likely to receive emotional support from fellow church members; (2) older Mexican Americans who receive more support from their fellow church members will be more likely to feel they belong in their congregation; (3) older Mexican Americans who feel they belong in their congregation are likely to have a stronger sense of personal control; and (4) older Mexican Americans who have a stronger sense of personal control are likely to enjoy better health. Data from a recent nationwide survey of older Mexican Americans provide support for each of these relationships.     

Informal Support from a Pastor and Change in Hope During Late Life

The purpose of this study is to see if informal emotional support from a pastor is associated with a greater sense of hope over time. Data from a nationwide longitudinal survey of older adults are used to test a conceptual model that contains the following relationships: (1) older people who encounter more stressful life events will seek out more informal emotional support from a member of the clergy, (2) older people who receive more support from a pastor will experience a stronger sense of God-mediated control (i.e., the belief that it is possible to work together with God to solve problems), and (3) increases in God-mediated control over time will be associated with increases in hope over time. The data provide support for each of these relationships.     

God-Mediated Control and Change in Self-Rated Health

The purpose of this study was to see if feelings of God-mediated control are associated with change in self-rated health over time. In the process, an effort was made to see if a sense of meaning in life and optimism mediated the relationship between God-mediated control and change in health. The following hypothesized relationships were contained in the conceptual model that was developed to evaluate these issues: (1) people who go to church more often tend to have stronger God-mediated control beliefs than individuals who do not attend worship services as often; (2) people with a strong sense of God-mediated control are more likely to find a sense of meaning in life and be more optimistic than individuals who do not have a strong sense of God-mediated control; (3) people who are optimistic and who have a strong sense of meaning in life will rate their health more favorably over time than individuals who are not optimistic, as well as individuals who have not found a sense of meaning in life. Data from a longitudinal nationwide survey of older adults provided support for each of these hypotheses.     

影响控制感剥夺的因素及其后果

控制感是指人们相信自己的选择和行为与相应的结果存在一致性的一种认知状态,对人的身心健康都有重要影响。控制感剥夺之后,人会产生不适症状（如习得性无助和抑郁）。例如,长期剥夺控制感会引起习得性无助,甚至导致抑郁。影响控制感的因素包括社会环境、个性气质、生理基础,甚至可能受到基因的调控作用。深入理解控制感剥夺背后的心理机制能增进对人们自身心理特点的了解,有助于预防或干预一些心理疾病的产生。     

Religious involvement and self-forgiveness

The purpose of this study is to examine the interface between involvement in religion and self-forgiveness. The data come from a recent nationwide survey of adults age 18 and older (N?=?1774). A conceptual model was developed that contains the following hypotheses: (1) Evangelicals will attend worship services more frequently than members of other faith traditions; (2) people who go to church services more often will be more likely to get spiritual support from fellow church members; (3) individuals who receive more spiritual support from religious others will be more likely to believe that they have been forgiven by God; (4) people who believe that they have been forgiven by God will have a greater sense of self-worth; and (5) individuals who have a stronger sense of self-worth will be more likely to forgive themselves for the things they have done wrong. The data provide support for each hypothesis.     

Trajectories of resilience and mental distress to global major disruptions

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a major societal disruption, raising the question of how people can maintain or quickly regain their mental health (i.e., be resilient) during such times. Researchers have used the pandemic as a use case for studying resilience in response to a global, synchronously starting, and chronic set of stressors on the individual and societal level. Our review of this recent literature reveals that mental distress trajectories during the pandemic largely resemble mental distress responses to individual-level macro-stressors, except for a lower prevalence of recovery trajectories. Results suggest more resilient responses in older adults, but trajectories are less consistent for younger and older ages compared with middle-aged adults. We call for more research integrating state-of-the-art operationalizations of resilience and using these to study resilience over the lifespan.     

Reconstructing Poverty-Related Shame Among Urban Seniors in China: an Exploration of Their Narrated Experiences and a Reflection on Anti-Poverty Interventions

Poverty is an objective state, as well as a set of subjective experiences. This study explored how low-income seniors in urban China make meaning under the pressures of poverty-related shame. Based on two rounds of in-depth interviews with participants in Beijing, spanning 9 years, the researchers concluded that low-income seniors feel deprivation, experiences of being belittled and inferior and a sense of self-deprecation due to material scarcity. Under such pressures, the seniors actively reconstruct poverty-related experiences, demonstrating that older people living in poverty have a powerful meaning-making system, which serves as evidence of their resilience. However, reconstructing experiences of poverty should not be taken for granted, but be regarded as an appeal for dignity-oriented social policies. This rich meaning-making system could be a foundation upon which anti-poverty advocates adopt and advance various strengths-based interventions. These findings also point to implications for quality of life research with older people living in poverty and anti-poverty measures for this population in other developing contexts.

     

Optimism as a mediator between resilience and affective states in older adults / El optimismo como mediador entre la resiliencia y estados afectivos en adultos mayores

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore whether resilience is associated with and a predictor of depression, anxiety, negative and positive affect, life satisfaction and subjective happiness in older adults, and whether these relationships are mediated by optimism. To analyse this, different scales were administered to a sample of 240 elderly people and correlational and mediational analysis was carried out. The results showed relationships between all the variables. Similarly, we found that optimism is a partial mediator of the relationship between resilience and the aforementioned variables. Our results evidenced that increasing resilience and optimism in elderly people could be favourable to successful ageing.     

7～11岁儿童图形辨认的发展研究

本研究选取 7岁、9岁、1 1岁的 81名儿童作为被试 ,采用图形辨认任务 ,探查图形熟悉度、感觉道对小学儿童图形认知的影响 ,结果表明 :感觉通道主效应不显著。年龄主效应显著 ,1 1岁组得分显著高于 9岁组和 7岁组 ,9岁组成绩好于 7岁组 ,差异达到边沿显著。熟悉度主效应显著 ,熟悉材料的辨认成绩显著好于不熟悉成绩。年龄×图形熟悉度交互作用显著 ,年龄×感觉道交互作用不显著 ,感觉道×熟悉度主效应不显著 ,年龄×图形熟悉度×感觉道交互作用显著 ,在触觉辨认条件下 ,年龄×图形熟悉度交互作用显著 ,在视觉辨认条件下 ,年龄×图形熟悉度交互作用不显著