Surviving the early loss of a mother: daughters speak,by Anne Tracey

The purpose of this study is to empirically evaluate a coping response that is thought to be unique among older Catholics–suffering in silence. Two hypotheses are examined. The first predicts that older Catholics will be more likely than older Protestants to suffer in silence when ongoing economic difficulty is encountered. The second hypothesis specifies that the potentially deleterious effects of financial problems on depressive symptoms will be offset for older adults who prefer to suffer in silence. Data from an ongoing nationwide survey of older people in the United States provide support for both hypotheses.     

Religious Involvement,Gratitude, and Change in Depressive Symptoms Over Time

Three hypotheses are evaluated in this study. The first predicts that feelings of gratitude will offset (i.e., moderate) the deleterious effects of chronic financial strain on depressive symptoms over time. The second hypothesis specifies that people who go to church more often will be more likely to feel grateful. The third hypothesis predicts that individuals with a strong sense of God-mediated control will also feel more grateful. Data from a nationwide longitudinal study of older adults in the United States (N = 818) provide support for all three hypotheses. The data suggest that the effects of ongoing economic difficulty on depressive symptoms are especially pronounced for older people who are less grateful. But in contrast, persistent financial difficulties fail to exert a statistically significant effect on depressive symptoms over time for older individuals who are especially grateful. The results further reveal that more frequent church attendance and stronger God-mediated control beliefs are associated with positive changes in gratitude over time.     

Monitoring,blunting, and the ability to achieve cognitive structure

It has often been suggested that vigilant information-seeking helps reduce uncertainty and coping with stress. The present paper argues that additional information can resolve uncertainty only to the extent that it is adequately structured or categorized. However, people may differ in their ability to achieve cognitive structure (AACS) and therefore in their ability to achieve certainty. This postulate may shed new light on Miller's (1987) findings that high monitors suffer from greater distress than low monitors. It is suggested that when high monitors have high AACS they will suffer from less psychological distress than low monitors. This interaction will not be found when blunting is involved. To examine these hypotheses, both AACS and information-seeking behavior of 77 rheumatoid arthritis patients were assessed. The two hypotheses were confirmed even after discounting the effect of subjective health perception and number of years subjects suffered from the disease.     

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.     

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.     

The Church as an Agent of Help in the Battle Against Late Life Depression

Late life depression has become recognized as a serious mental health problem. Almost 1 in 6 elderly suffer (often in silence) with late life depression. New care delivery agents need to be uncovered and mobilized. Because older Americans' religious habits positively impact their sense of well-being and physical health, the church becomes an ideal medium to offer educational programming focused onprevention and early intervention. This article presents a proposal for how the church could become an agent of help to depressed elderly and their families.     

Postwar Recovery to Stress Symptoms Ratio as a Measure of Resilience,Individual Characteristics,Sense of Danger,and Age

This study maintains that postwar resilience should be defined by the proportion of recovery from war adversity and level of postwar symptoms. We hypothesize first that four resilience-promoting factors will predict this measure of resilience. Second, these associations will be mediated by sense of postwar danger. Third, war-afflicted older people will be comparable to younger people on these variables. The sample included 829 Israeli adults who experienced the 2006 second Lebanon war. Results that have generally supported these hypotheses have been discussed in terms of the definition of resilience, the role of sense of danger in postwar adjustment, and the resilience of older people to war.     

Catholic Identity in Contemporary Ireland: Belief and Belonging to Tradition1

Holy Catholic Ireland is changing rapidly. Irish Catholics no longer have the same devotion to the Church that their parents had. While institutional affiliation and levels of belief remain high, there has been a decline in practice, particularly in the number going to Mass. This article analyses recent changes in Catholic belief and practice, compares them with trends among other European Catholics, and links them to findings from a qualitative study of Contemporary Irish Identities. The changes in Irish Catholic religiosity can be associated with an ongoing detachment from the institutional church. An orthodox adherence to institutional rules and regulations appears to be giving way to a collective identification with a religious heritage. What was once defined as?á?la carte Catholicism seems to be giving way to a smorgasbord approach in which Catholics not only pick and choose which institutional rules, beliefs, and practices they prefer, but increasingly mix these with ingredients from other religious traditions. These findings suggest a new typology of Irish Catholics.     

Satisfaction with social support and depressive symptoms: a panel analysis

The literature suggests that persons who are dissatisfied with the amount of social support that has been provided to them may subsequently suffer from psychological disorder. At the same time, there is evidence that individuals who initially suffer from emotional disorder may consequently be less satisfied with their social support systems than may persons who enjoy better mental health. The purpose of this study was to test these competing hypotheses with panel data from a community survey of older adults. The findings indicate that changes in satisfaction with support tend to precede changes in depressive symptoms. A number of issues in the analysis of longitudinal data are discussed.     

Parental Religious Socialization Practices, Connectedness With Others, and Depressive Symptoms in Late Life

This purpose of this study is to examine two constructs that have been largely overlooked in the study of religious involvement among older people: parental religious socialization practices and feelings of connectedness with others. The data are from an ongoing nationwide survey of older people. Findings from a latent variable model that was designed to examine the two focal constructs provides support for the following relationships:(1) older people whose parents encouraged them to become more involved in religion are more likely to attend worship services; (2) older people whose parents promoted religious involvement and older individuals who attend church more often are more likely to report that they see a fundamental connection among all human beings; (3) older adults who feel more closely connected to others will be more likely to forgive people for the things they have done; and (4) older people who are more forgiving are likely to experience fewer symptoms of depression over time.     

Parental Religious Socialization Practices,Connectedness With Others,and Depressive Symptoms in Late Life

This purpose of this study is to examine two constructs that have been largely overlooked in the study of religious involvement among older people: parental religious socialization practices and feelings of connectedness with others. The data are from an ongoing nationwide survey of older people. Findings from a latent variable model that was designed to examine the two focal constructs provide support for the following relationships: (a) older people whose parents encouraged them to become more involved in religion are more likely to attend worship services, (b) older people whose parents promoted religious involvement and older individuals who attend church more often are more likely to report that they see a fundamental connection among all human beings, (c) older adults who feel more closely connected to others will be more likely to forgive people for the things they have done, and (d) older people who are more forgiving are likely to experience fewer symptoms of depression over time.     

Humility, Lifetime Trauma, and Change in Religious Doubt Among Older Adults

Compared to research on the positive or beneficial effects of religion on health, far fewer studies have been designed to examine the potentially negative aspects of religion. The purpose of this study is to examine a potentially negative part of leading a religious life??religious doubt. More specifically, the current study was designed to assess the relationships among humility, exposure to lifetime trauma, and change in religious doubt over time. Two hypotheses were developed to explore the relationships among these constructs. The first hypothesis predicts that greater exposure to traumatic events at any point in the life course will be associated with greater doubts about religion over time. The second hypothesis proposes that the potentially deleterious effects of exposure to lifetime trauma will be buffered or offset for individuals who are more humble. Findings from a nationwide, longitudinal survey of older adults provide support for both hypotheses. This appears to be the first time that the relationship among humility, lifetime trauma, and change in religious doubt has been evaluated empirically.     

Religion, Plausibility Structures, and Education's Effect on Attitudes Toward Elective Abortion

This study tests three hypotheses derived from Berger's (1967) plausibility theory. The first hypothesis states that among people who attend church frequently, education's liberalizing effect on attitudes toward elective abortion is weakest among conservative Protestants and Catholics, intermediate among moderate Protestants, and strongest among liberal Protestants and Jews. Hypotheses 2 states that education's effect is weaker among frequent than infrequent attenders in all religious groups except liberal Protestants and Jews, and Hypothesis 3 states that education's effect does not vary by religious group among infrequent attenders. Using General Social Survey data, I found strong support for Hypotheses 1 and 2 and partial support for Hypothesis 3. I discuss the implications of the findings for plausibility theory.     

Changing Patterns of Attendance at Religious Services in Canada, 1986–2008

According to the General Social Survey, the combined rate of weekly and monthly attendance at religious services in Canada has declined by about 20 points from 1986 to 2008. Approximately half of this decline stems from the increase in the proportion of people reporting no religion, who, for the most part, do not attend religious services. The other portion of this decline is attributable to eroding attendance rates among Catholics, particularly older Catholics, and Protestants in Québec. Attendance rates for Protestants outside of Québec show signs of increase. The reported increase in weekly attendance in Canada by the Project Canada surveys and cited by Bibby as a possible indicator of a religious renaissance is revealed as an artifact in the data due to an oversample of Protestants. I find another weighting problem in the Canadian Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating that leads to underestimates of aggregate religious attendance rates.     

Reported Contact with the Dead, Religious Involvement, and Death Anxiety in Late Life

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between contact with the dead and death anxiety. The data come from an ongoing nationwide survey of older adults. A conceptual model is developed that contains the following theoretical linkages: (1) making contact with the dead instills a deeper appreciation of the connection that exists among all people; (2) this fundamental sense of connectedness with others fosters a deeper sense of religious meaning in life; and (3) individuals with a deeper sense of religious meaning in life are less likely to experience feelings of death anxiety than people who have not been able to find meaning in life through religion. The findings from this study provide support for each of these relationships. The theoretical implications of these hypotheses are discussed.     

The Role of Personal Centrality of Ingroup Victimhood in Intergroup Relations and Political Agenda in Northern Ireland

Even though the violent conflicts during the Troubles officially ended decades ago, the memories of violence and division between Catholics and Protestants linger in Northern Ireland. We argue that the personal centrality of collective victimhood, which is formed by the memory and perception of past and ongoing victimization, may play an important role in people's attitudes in postconflict societies. The current study investigated both the antecedents and outcomes of the personal centrality of ingroup victimhood in Northern Ireland and examined the vital role it plays in the aftermath of a violent intergroup conflict among Catholics and Protestants. The results demonstrated that ongoing experiences of victimization such as personal and group-level discrimination and memories of personal and close others' suffering are strongly related to people's personal centrality of ingroup victimhood. The centrality of ingroup victimhood, in turn, predicted various strategies for intergroup interaction and policy preferences such as collective action, support for nonviolence, and attitudes toward reunification of Ireland, which were moderated by group membership. The findings provide empirical evidence for the role of the centrality of ingroup victimhood as a link between experiences of victimization and intergroup interactions as well as policy preferences.     

真诚型领导能否打破员工沉默?一个有调节的中介模型

本文以进化心理学理论和个体-情景交互理论为基础,并以河南省一家国营企业的222名员工为样本,检验了真诚型领导行为抑制员工沉默行为的影响模型。研究结果表明:真诚型领导行为对员工沉默行为具有显著的负向影响;员工的心理安全感在真诚型领导行为和员工沉默行为之间起着中介作用;员工的外向性和责任感越高,心理安全感与员工沉默行为之间的负向联系的就越强,同时心理安全感的中介效应也越强。本文最后探讨了研究的理论和实践意义以及未来的研究方向。。     

Transgenerational transmission of indigestible facts: from trauma,deadly ghosts and mental voids to meaning‐making interpretations

Abstract: In this paper¹ I will discuss clinical material and make some hypotheses on how to work with patients for whom trans‐generational transmission of trauma is an issue. Basing my hypothesis on two clinical cases, I will propose a way of dealing with undigested facts, the fabric of trauma, which generate deadly ghosts and mental voids that are transmitted from one generation to the next. I will propose a way of formulating interpretations for the unthinkable to become thinkable and find a representation in the mind of patients who suffer from transgenerationally transmitted trauma. Some thoughts will be given to the maternal and the paternal transmitters of trauma in relation to child development issues.     

Existential Beliefs,Social Satisfaction,and Well-Being Among Catholic,Jewish, and Protestant Older Adults

Religiousness, spirituality, and existential beliefs are important sources of well-being yet neither their specific effects nor group variation in them is well understood. In a sample of more than 1,000 older adults, we found that certain existential beliefs or concerns (fear of God, death anxiety, belief in life after death, concerns about being mourned) are correlates of well-being in older adults and differed across religious groups. Protestants reported better well-being than Catholics and Jews. Differences in social satisfaction and existential concerns partially explained these differences, which were not explained by demographics. These results suggest the importance of studying well-being and religion in a way that appreciates the differences among religious groups and further of looking at the specific beliefs of different groups.     

Religion and Civic Culture: A Cross-National Study of Voluntary Association Membership

This article explores how religion shapes civic cultures through a cross-national study of voluntary association membership. I adopt a multi-level approach to examine the influence of religion at both individual and country level. First, I hypothesize that Protestants are more likely than Catholics to hold voluntary association membership. Second, I hypothesize that Protestant nations have a higher overall membership rate compared to Catholic nations. Third, I investigate if secularization has reduced individual-level Catholic-Protestant differences in voluntary association membership within a nation. I test the hypotheses using hierarchical nonlinear models with individual-level and country-level data from 29 nations. The findings show that Protestants are more likely than Catholics to be members of voluntary associations, while there is no difference between Protestants and those who belong to "Other" or no religions. At the same time, Catholic nations have lower overall membership rates compared to Protestant nations. The results can be interpreted as a "double negative" Catholic effect. Finally, the effect of secularization on Catholic-Protestant differences is statistically nonsignificant.