Mosque-Based Emotional Support Among Young Muslim Americans

Despite a growing literature on social support networks in religious settings (i.e., church-based social support), little is known about mosque-based support among Muslims. This study investigates the demographic and religious behavior correlates of mosque-based social support among a multi-racial and ethnic sample of 231 young Muslims from southeast Michigan. Several dimensions of mosque-based support are examined including receiving emotional support, giving emotional support, anticipated emotional support and negative interactions with members of one’s mosque. Results indicated that women both received and anticipated receiving greater support than did men. Higher educational attainment was associated with receiving and giving less support compared to those with the lowest level of educational attainment. Moreover, highly educated members reported fewer negative interactions than less educated members. Mosque attendance and level of congregational involvement positively predicted receiving, giving, and anticipated emotional support from congregants, but was unrelated to negative interactions. Overall, the study results converge with previously established correlates of church-based emotional support.     

Cognitive control deficits in adolescents born with very low birth weight (≤ 1500 g): Evidence from dichotic listening

The objective of the paper is to explore bottom‐up auditory and top‐down cognitive processing abilities as part of long‐term outcome assessment of preterm birth. Fifty‐five adolescents (age 13–15) born with very low birth weight (VLBW) were compared to 80 matched controls born to term, using three consonant‐vowel dichotic listening (DL) instruction conditions (non‐forced, forced‐right and forced‐left). DL scores were correlated with cortical gray matter thickness derived from T1‐weighted structural MRI volumes using FreeSurfer to examine group differences also in the neural correlates of higher cognitive processes. While showing normal bottom‐up processing, VLBW adolescents displayed impaired top‐down controlled conflict processing related to significant cortical thickness differences in left superior temporal gryus and anterior cingulate cortex. Preterm birth with VLBW induces fundamental changes in brain function and structure posing a risk for long‐term neurocognitive impairments. Deficits emerge in situations of increasing cognitive conflict and can be related to measures of executive functions as well as morphology.     

Communal School Organization Effects on School Disorder: Interactions with School Structure

Previous research has demonstrated multiple beneficial outcomes of communal school organization for teachers and students alike. The current research uses data from a nationally representative sample of 253 public, non-alternative, secondary schools to examine how a communal school organization interacts with school contextual factors, such as school size and racial diversity, to affect school disorder. It was found that more diverse schools are less likely to be communally organized and that communal school organization had a stronger negative effect on school disorder in these more diverse schools. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Substance Abuse,Familial Factors,and Mental Health: Exploring Racial and Ethnic Group Differences Among African American,Caucasian, and Hispanic Juvenile Offenders

The present study examined racial, ethnic, and gender differences in family composition substance abuse, and mental health issues, such as depression and self-esteem among adjudicated juvenile offenders. Results revealed a negative relationship between depression and self-esteem among all ethnicities and family compositions. Caucasians reported greater incidence of substance abuse than did African American and Hispanic youth. Moreover, in reconstituted families, Caucasians had lower self-esteem scores than did other ethnicities. The findings illustrate the complexities of risk to substance use among high-risk populations, particularly as they relate to familial factors and the importance of intensive family therapy among this population.     

Identicom: A new marriage counseling strategy

Abstract

As a way for practitioners to integrate various models of marital therapy into their treatment,a flow chart of the process of psychotherapy with couples is presented. Basic steps and questions to be addressed are sequentially discussed. Resolution of each stage is considered important for movement to following stages. The flow chart, as a device for conceptualizing clients independent of a theoretical approach, allows for intervention strategies to be developed at each process level     

A Dream of a Bonobo Solution: Discussion of “ ‘As Far As Possible’: Discovering Our Limits and Finding Ourselves” by Samoan Barish and Judith E. Vida

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

I Share,Therefore I Am: A U.S.−China Comparison of College Students' Motivations to Share Information About Climate Change

This study examines social cognitive factors that influence information sharing related to climate change. Survey data were collected in the United States and China. Social and epistemic motivations, negative emotion, and information seeking were significant predictors of information sharing in the U.S. sample. In the Chinese sample, however, social motivation and information seeking were the only significant predictors. These results suggest that psychological collectivism fosters information sharing. For theory development purposes, these findings suggest that besides information seeking and processing, the Risk Information Seeking and Processing model could account for information sharing as well, although evidence only surfaced in the U.S. sample. Practically, this study offers important pathways to improve information sharing related to climate change in the public sphere.