Sense of Control Among Women Religious

ABSTRACT

Sense of control was examined in a congregation of Catholic sisters ranging in age from 33 to 90. The sample size was 377. Age, educational level, career orientation, retirement status, health, self-esteem, coping ability, and support systems best explained sense of control. The older Catholic sisters in the congregation who no longer worked and who had some health limitations had lower self-esteem and, as a result, lesser sense of control than sisters who still worked and had fewer health limitations. Suggestions are made regarding enhancement of feelings of control.     

Making Sense of Compound Nouns: A Study of Word Relatedness in Telugu

Lexical development is typically viewed as elaboration, differentiation, and integration of semantic codes—codes that signify the meanings embodied in the words. Our earlier work based on 50 noun + noun (NN) compounds in Telugu has shown that children in the age group 8–14 years exhibit clear-cut developmental trends in producing and segmenting the NN compound nouns and generating words that are related in meaning to the target compounds. The database for the present study is drawn from our earlier work, and it consists of 1800 words reported to be related in meaning to the 50 target compound nouns by 36 children (12 III grade children, 12 VI grade children, and 12 IX grade children) and 600 words produced by 12 adults. A thorough analysis of the individual word associations generated by the subjects revealed that children tended to generate: (1) compounds with the same head word as the target word but with a new modifier word, (2) novel compounds that have phonetic/phonological association with the target words, most of which are actually nonwords in the language; and (3) new single-stem nouns and new compounds that are considerably fewer in number than those produced by adult subjects. Some of the theoretical and pedagogical implications of the differences in performance of children vs. adult subjects in the encoding of word meanings in an experimental context are discussed in this paper.     

Making Better Sense of Animal Disenhancement: A Reply to Henschke

In "Making Sense of Animal Disenhancement" Adam Henschke provides a framework for fully understanding and evaluating animal disenhancement. His conclusion is that animal disenhancement is neither morally nor pragmatically justified. In this paper I argue that Henschke misapplies his own framework for understanding disenhancement, resulting in a stronger conclusion than is justified. In diagnosing his misstep, I argue that the resources he has provided us, combined with my refinements, result in two new avenues for inquiry: an application of concepts from political theory to disenhancement, and an inquiry in to the mode of valuation that underlies industrial animal agriculture and disenhancement proposals.     

Attitudes to Authority in Women Religious

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between three stances in attitudes to authority and levels of intrapsychic and interrelational of maturity in women religious in initial stages of membership. Subjects were drawn from congregations throughout the U.S. from those involved in programs of formation or temporary commitment. The total sample (N = 162) was divided into three equal-attitude groups (N = 54), using complementary but uncorrelated measures of attitudes to institutional authority and directiveness. Relationship between the behavioral rating of directiveness seemed associated with intrapsychic measures of individuation, with those scoring as most directive found most mature from this perspective. Maturation rated from an intergenerational system approach seemed to be associated with pro-authority attitudes, with those most supportive of authority scoring highest on this construct. Implications for further research as well as work with religious in formation are suggested.     

Making Sense of Walt: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Racism

This paper explores Klein's concepts of the depressive position, paranoid position, envy, projective identification and reparation, and their application to understanding overt racism. An extensive case example from the movie Gran Torino and its protagonist Walt Kowalski are the foci of this theoretical speculation. Implications for antiracist practice are discussed.     

Nutrition and Decision Making in the Elderly People: A Preliminary Study

This study aimed to identify what influences food acceptance and decision making in the elderly following the work of Sulmont Rossé (Gérontologie et Société 3: 134 2010). Sixty participants, divided between an elderly and an older elderly group, were presented with a number of specific scenarios depicting an item of food, and they were asked to indicate how willing they would be to consume this food. The scenarios were created by varying three factors likely to impact on people’s acceptance of a specific food item: (a) The visual appearance of the food, (b) the taste of the food and (c) the texture of the food. The results mean that all participants agreed that a visual aspect and texture were the most important factors in decision making. The elderly people consider the visual aspect and texture of the food are more important than people aged between 60 and 74 years old. In view of the clarity and the diversity of these findings, this technique involving specific scenarios appears suitable for use in a larger sample.     

Religiosity,Gender, and Preferences for Religious Interventions in Counseling: A Preliminary Study

The authors sought to determine whether relationships existed between religiosity, gender, and preferences for a counselor's use of religious interventions in counseling. First, it was hypothesized that students with high religiosity would express stronger preferences for a counselor's use of religious interventions than would students with low religiosity. Second, it was hypothesized that women would express stronger preferences for religious interventions in counseling than would men. Results supported both hypotheses, and the findings may have important implications for counselors working with clients who indicate adherence to religious views or faith.     

Making Sense of Work Life: A Structural Model of Burnout

Hospital-based nurses ( N  = 832) and doctors ( N  = 603) in northern and eastern Spain completed a survey of job burnout, areas of work life, and management issues. Analysis of the results provides support for a mediation model of burnout that depicts employees' energy, involvement, and efficacy as intermediary experiences between their experiences of work life and their evaluations of organizational change. The key element of this model is its focus on employees' capacity to influence their work environments toward greater conformity with their core values. The model considers 3 aspects of that capacity: decision-making participation, organizational justice, and supervisory relationships. The analysis supports this model and emphasizes a central role for first-line supervisors in employees' experiences of work life.     

Sense of Divine Involvement and Sense of Meaning in Life: Religious Tradition as a Contingency

This study examines the association between sense of divine involvement and sense of meaning in life. Then it proceeds to assess how this association varies by religious tradition. Using a random and national sample from the 2007 Baylor Religion Survey, this study finds that sense of divine involvement is associated with greater odds of having a sense of meaning in life. In addition, religious affiliation modifies this association. Specifically, the positive association between sense of divine involvement and the odds of having a sense of meaning in life is observed only among evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants, and Catholics, but not among other religionists and religious nones. I discuss how the results make contributions to knowledge about the link between religious beliefs, religious tradition, and mental health.     

Cognitive Schemas,Adversity, and Interpersonal Functioning: An Exploratory Study within Undergraduate Women

Healthy relationships are an important indicator of adjustment for survivors of psychological adversity. However, experiences of adversity and stress symptoms can impair the quality of relationships. This study explores the underlying cognitive mechanisms that contribute to intimacy and conflict styles in close relationships. Global maladaptive schemas (GMS) and relational health schemas were used in this investigation of 109 undergraduate women. Participants reported a range of adverse experiences and stress symptoms. The findings indicated that relational health schemas were positively associated with integrating and compromising conflict styles, which blend concern for self and close friends in conflict situations. Higher GMS were associated with withdrawal conflict style. Findings also indicated that perceptions of intimacy were predicted by low stress symptoms.     

Making Sense of Heterosexuality: An Exploratory Study of Young Heterosexual Identities in Turkey

On the basis of the understanding that the shaping, experience, and meaning of sexual identities is informed by the social context, an exploratory study of sexual identities was done with a college sample in urban Turkey. Participants included 225 students taking an introductory psychology course at a private urban university in İstanbul (66.5% women, 33.5% men, age range: 18–30 years, M=20.1, SD=1.7, 98% heterosexual identified). A questionnaire was used to investigate how young people explain the development of their sexual identity and how it affects their lives. An overwhelming majority identified their sexual identity, feelings, and experiences as always having been the same and were quite confident that their sexual identity would remain the same into the future. Participants saw their heterosexuality as mostly having to do with ‘outside forces’ including general references to the role of society, culture, and social expectations and norms, family structure and socialization, peer relations, and modeling. Most perceived their sexual identity to have a positive effect on their lives. Results suggest some evidence of interest in and openness to considering issues of sexual identity among these young people, and are discussed in the context of previous research on heterosexual identity development, sociocultural factors, and with reference to the historical meanings of sexual identities and practices in Turkey.     

Cultivating a Sense of Place in Religious Studies

This essay analyzes student learning through place‐based pedagogies in an American Religions course. In the course, students analyzed cultural meanings and practices of regional religious communities and participated in sensory awareness and ecological learning in a campus garden. Embodied learning increased student understanding and appreciation of land‐based religious practices and epistemologies, and promoted multiple student literacies. In Religious Studies, place‐based learning is vital to the examination of the rich dimensions and expressions of religious experience. Across disciplines, place‐based pedagogies can expand and deepen text‐based learning, cultivate recognition of various ways of knowing, foster affective connections to the local community, and develop critical skills for addressing patterns of displacement and ecological denigration.     

Making Sense of Abuse: Case Studies in Sibling Incest

This case study focused on the process of making sense of abuse in two Latino families experiencing sibling incest. Participants included five male children ranging in age from 8 to 15 that were members of two families dealing with the issue of sibling incest. The purpose of this study was to build understanding of how families experience sibling incest and its role in their families. Clinical data from therapy sessions was analyzed to reveal that families made sense of the incest in different ways including abuse as normal and abuse as a mistake. Central concepts that explained how the families responded to the sibling incest included (1) level of family cohesion, (2) role of secrecy, and (3) view of outside systems. The findings suggest that treatment needs to include an in-depth assessment regarding these issues.     

Women and Ideology: Representations of Women in Religious and Secular Turkish Media1

The present research examined representations of women in Turkish religious and secular daily newspapers. Based on social identity theory, it was predicted that religious and secular newspapers would differ with respect to evaluative references to mother/homemaker, career woman, and vamp subtypes. Secular and religious newspapers were examined every other day for a month. Analyses reveal that secular newspapers included higher proportions of positive references to the career woman and vamp subtypes than did religious newspapers. The 2 types of newspapers also differed with respect to the proportion of women mentioned as agents and targets, and with respect to actions performed by women agents and items related to victimization of women.     

The First Sense: A Philosophical Study of the Sense of Touch

In this essay, I review Matthew Fulkerson's The First Sense: A Philosophical Study of the Sense of Touch. In this first philosophical book on the sense of touch, Fulkerson provides an account of the nature and content of tactual experience. Central to Fulkerson's view is the claim that exploratory action plays a fundamental role in touch. In this review, I put pressure on two of his arguments: (1) the argument that tactual experience is unisensory and (2) the argument that tactual experience does not depend on explicit bodily awareness.     

Spirituality and Young Women in Transition: A Preliminary Investigation

This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge about spirituality and life transitions. Through qualitative investigation, 9 young women in professional education programs described their definition of spirituality, their spiritual activities, and how they used their spirituality to cope with life transitions as they prepared to enter the workforce. These women viewed spirituality as including connectedness and a special relationship with a Being outside of themselves. Their spiritual activities were private and non‐traditional (e.g., meditation, prayer, being in nature), and most of them reported that their spirituality helped them deal with their life transition.     

试论现代化进程中宗教伦理的积极作用——以佛教为例

宗教不仅是一种意识形态,在现代化进程中还是一支不容忽视的社会力量。宗教伦理作为宗教世俗化的产物,在动员社会力量,维护政治稳定,促进经济发展等方面有着积极的作用。但宗教伦理作为一种文化资源,只能问接地、潜在地影响社会发展,而体现现代性的社会制度才是影响社会发展的关键因素。宗教伦理影响力的大小取决于其现代转换水平的高低,与宗教世俗化进程密切相关。