Exploring the Dimensionality of "Religiosity" and "Spirituality" in the Fetzer Multidimensional Measure

Reliable and valid measures of religiosity and spiritual dimensions appropriate for ethnically diverse groups are needed. I examine the factor structure of the relatively new Fetzer multidimensional measure (Fetzer Institute 1999). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of national data collected in the 1998 General Social Survey are conducted to (1) test the fit of the proposed dimensionality of the Fetzer measure, specifically comparing the Fetzer structure with a simpler single-factor model suggested by preliminary exploratory factor analyses; and (2) evaluate ethnic differences in factor structure of the Fetzer items. Data from 1,201 adults, 1,019 whites and 182 African Americans, are examined to compare the fit of the multidimensional Fetzer model against an alternative single-factor ("unitary spirituality") model. CFA analyses indicated that only the Fetzer models had acceptable fit indices (NFI and/or NNFI approaching or reaching 0.90). Ethnic differences in loadings, while significant, were not substantively different. These findings suggest that a multidimensional measure like the Fetzer is useful for multiethnic research and that combining the daily spirituality and values/beliefs dimensions into a single factor provides a simpler model overall (compared to the Fetzer model separating these dimensions out) while providing acceptable fit.     

Guidance Services for Children and a Right to Education Law: Results of a Longitudinal Study

A sizeable proportion of elementary school children studied received guidance services for emotional and behavioral problems. Differences emerged between children with transitory and persistent problems.     

Schools and Newcomers: A National Survey of Innovative Programs

This article presents the findings of a national survey of coordinators of counseling services in public middle schools concerning American children who change residence.     

EXPLAINING ROLE CONFLICT AND ROLE AMBIGUITY VIA INDIVIDUAL AND INTERPERSONAL VARIABLES IN DIFFERENT JOB CATEGORIES

The relationships between experienced role conflict and ambiguity and four individual and interpersonal variables were examined within a multivariate framework. The regressions of role conflict and ambiguity on these variables were significant and were generally supported across three job categories in one organizational setting. Differences were noted across the job categories in terms of the regression equation predicting role perceptions. Hence, it appears that the underlying equations regarding the influence of individual and interpersonal variables on role perceptions do vary in different job categories. Task characteristics are offered as plausible reasons for these variations and suggested as variables for inclusion in a model of role conflict and ambiguity.     

Self-Administered Treatments of Public Speaking Anxiety

This article reports on two do-it-yourself treatment programs for dealing with stage fright. One program followed a systematic desensitization paradigm; the other was a handout listing 16 strategies for understanding stage fright.     

A Universe of Stories

The complete adoption of a narrative paradigm for therapy is proposed and its implications and possibilities spelled out, especially for life in a post-modern world that lacks any objective frame of reference. In the post-modern sensibility, the story is set free to perform as simply a story that allows for re-invention as the story-teller finds a voice rooted in the person's own experience and in the connection of her story to those of others, and to larger stories of culture and humanity. The realization that we are all characters in each other's stories as well as our own reminds us that our stories only go forward as we act in ways that also forward the stories of others. A hermeneutics for such therapy validates and questions all points of view so that they do not harden into stories that are assumed to be objectively true.