The Bender-Gestalt test in differential diagnosis of adolescents with learning difficulties

This study assessed the efficiency of the Haine and Koppitz scoring systems used with the Bender-Gestalt Test (B-G) in terms of their ability to differentiate between adolescents with and without central nervous system (CNS) impairment who were achieving below age-expectations. Utilizing a population of 84 adolescents enrolled in a residential treatment center, both the Haine and Koppitz systems with the Bender-Gestalt differentiated 25 Ss with CNS impairment from 59 Ss wihout such impairment. The results indicated, however, that neither scoring system was useful in individual classification when the B-G was used alone or in combination with intelligence test results.     

Masculinity-femininity as a national characteristic and its relationship with national agoraphobic fear levels: Fodor's sex role hypothesis revitalized

Hofstede's dimension of national culture termed Masculinity-Femininity [. Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill] is proposed to be of relevance for understanding national-level differences in self-assessed agoraphobic fears. This prediction is based on the classical work of Fodor [. In: V. Franks & V. Burtle (Eds.), Women in therapy: new psychotherapies for a changing society. New York: Brunner/Mazel]. A unique data set comprising 11 countries (total N=5491 students) provided the opportunity of scrutinizing this issue. It was hypothesized and found that national Masculinity (the degree to which cultures delineate sex roles, with masculine or tough societies making clearer differentiations between the sexes than feminine or modest societies do) would correlate positively with national agoraphobic fear levels (as assessed with the Fear Survey Schedule-III). Following the correction for sex and age differences across national samples, a significant and large effect-sized national-level (ecological) r=+0.67 (P=0.01) was found. A highly feminine society such as Sweden had the lowest, whereas the champion among the masculine societies, Japan, had the highest national Agoraphobic fear score.     

Attitude Toward Christianity and Psychological Type: A Survey Among Religious Studies Students

A sample of 367 students studying religion at A-level completed the Keirsey Temperament Sorter together with the Francis Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity. The data demonstrated that sensing types hold a more positive attitude toward Christianity than intuitive types and that judging types hold a more positive attitude toward Christianity than perceiving types. No significant differences in attitude toward Christianity were found either between extroverts and introverts, or between thinking types and feeling types.     

Job definition discrepancy between supervisors and subordinates: The antecedent role of LMX and outcomes

This study proposed that leader–member exchange (LMX) might encourage an employee to define job breadth close to or beyond the level of his/her supervisor's expectation (enlargement effect), while simultaneously fostering a reduction in supervisor–subordinate definition discrepancy on job content (congruence effect). Using data from 184 subordinate–supervisor dyads in Taiwan, we examined the relationships among LMX, job definition discrepancy, in‐role/extra‐role behaviour, and performance rating. Results showed that LMX was positively related to employee relative job breadth and the supervisor–subordinate congruence on job content, supporting the existence of enlargement effect and congruence effect. Additionally, employee relative job breadth was positively related to extra‐role behaviour and the congruence on job content was positively related to in‐role behaviour. However, neither in‐role nor extra‐role behaviour was related to performance rating. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Antecedents for achievement of alignment in organizations

This study investigated potential antecedents of the alignment of organizational subunits' processes and goals with the organization's primary goals and therefore with each other. Alignment data of 329 aggregated subunits (7,359 employees), organization‐wide, of a large US manufacturing company were examined. Managerial effectiveness, communication about goals and objectives, and employee enhancement positively related with alignment at a group or subunit level. Alignment, in‐turn, positively related with company satisfaction at an individual level. Moreover, 95% of the variation in satisfaction across subunits could be explained by alignment and its antecedents.     

Pastoral leadership lessons from Bonhoeffer: The alt-right,the twitter mob,and ressentiment

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's radio address “The Younger Generation's Altered Conception of the Führer,” has much to teach us about what kind of pastoral leadership is needed in our present social and political contexts. Personal antipathies have blossomed into generational antinomies, and the resentments of one side versus another threaten to take over our perceptions of reality and perhaps even reality itself. In looking at Bonhoeffer's diagnosis of why the “younger generation” was seeking a strong-man leader to help them demolish the adversaries who had aggrieved them, we can see ourselves. In listening to Bonhoeffer's cure, we may find our own medicine.     

Theoretical and methodological foundations of the authoritarian personality

This article provides a history of the theoretical and methodological contributions, particularly Erich Fromm's, of the sub-syndromes of the concept of authoritarianism and the relationship of his work to the classical study by Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson and Sanford.     

An Integrative Suicide Prevention Program for Visitor Charcoal Burning Suicide and Suicide Pact

An integrative suicide prevention program was implemented to tackle an outbreak of visitor charcoal burning suicides in Cheung Chau, an island in Hong Kong, in 2002. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the program. The numbers of visitor suicides reduced from 37 deaths in the 51 months prior to program implementation to 6 deaths in the 42 months post‐implementation period. The number of visitor suicide pacts decreased from 7 pacts (15 individuals) to 1 pact (2 individuals). No statistically significant differences in the numbers of visitor suicide attempts and resident suicides were observed in the two time periods. No statistically significant changes in visitor suicides during the study period were observed on the comparison islands. The consistency and timing of reduction in visitor suicides correlated with the development and delivery of the integrative program on the intervention island, suggesting a causal association between program delivery and reduction of visitor suicides. The possibility of displacement seems small because there was no increase in visitor suicides on the comparison islands during the study period. This integrative approach in preventing target‐specific suicides may serve as an example for other communities to develop suicide prevention programs that make use of the existing local resources.