Sanctifying Work: Effects on Satisfaction,Commitment, and Intent to Leave

Sanctification involves perceiving objects or events: (a) theistically by viewing them as having spiritual significance, or (b) nontheistically by viewing them as extraordinary and worthy of veneration and respect without any reference to a higher being. Previous research has found positive outcomes associated with sanctification, including increased satisfaction with marriage (Mahoney et al., 1999 Mahoney, A., Pargament, K. I., Jewell, T., Swank, A. B., Scott, E.Emery, E. 1999. Marriage and the spiritual realm: The role of proximal and distal religious constructs in marital functioning. Journal of Family Psychology, 13: 321–338. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), body image (Mahoney, Carels, et al., 2005 Mahoney, A., Carels, R. A., Pargament, K. I., Wachholtz, A., Leeper, L. E.Kaplar, M. 2005. The sanctification of the body and behavioral health patterns of college students. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 15: 221–238. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) and sexual intercourse (Murray-Swank, Pargament, & Mahoney, 2002 Murray-Swank, N. A., Pargament, K. I. and Mahoney, A. 2002. At the crossroads of sexuality and spirituality: The sanctification of sex by college students. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 15: 199–219.  [Google Scholar]) to name a few. This study extends these findings into the world of work by demonstrating that those who sanctify their jobs are more satisfied, more committed to their organization, and at the same time less likely to intend to leave.     

Intra-individual stability of neuromotor tasks from 6 to 18 years: a longitudinal study

This study investigates the intra-individual stability of the speed of several motor tasks and the intensity of associated movements in 256 children (131 girls, 125 boys) from the Zurich generational study using the Zurich neuromotor assessment battery (ZNA) over a 12-year period from the age of 6 to 18 years. The stability was assessed by correlograms of standard deviation scores calculated from age- and gender-adjusted normative values and compared with standing height and full scale intelligence quotient (IQ). While motor tasks of hand, finger and foot (HFT) and contralateral associated movements (CAM) exhibited a moderate stability (summary measure as correlation coefficients between two measurements made 4 years apart: .61 and .60), other tasks (dynamic balance, static balance and pegboard) were only weakly stable (.46, .47 and .49). IQ and height were more stable than neuromotor components (.72 and .86). We conclude that the moderately stable HFT and CAM may reflect “motor traits”, while the stability of the pegboard and balance tasks is weaker because these skills are more experience related and state-dependent.     

Traditionalism and reformism polemic in Malay–Muslim religious literature

At the end of the twentieth century, the Muslim academic world has been faced with a polemic between traditionalism and reformism, to the extent that it has come to preoccupy most present-day scholars. Most modern studies on contemporary Islamic law have mainly concentrated on Muslim countries in the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent, but this study will look at Malaysia, which is a relatively new field of Islamic legal inquiry. The article will concentrate on historical events in Malaysia from 1900 until the 1940s and, on the basis of what these events revealed, will highlight the legal polemic initiated by Malayan Islamic reformism and traditionalism. The discussion will focus on three issues: first, the capacity of human reason to understanding Islamic teaching; second, the concepts of ijtihād and taqlīd; and third, attitudes towards classical Muslim fiqh.     

Testing the significance of the successive components in redundancy analysis

In this paper we study the interrelationships between two sets of data measured on the same subjects via redundancy analysis. We consider redundancy analysis from an inferential point of view. Under the hypothesis of multinormality, tests of significance are obtained for each successive redundancy component so that only the significant factors are retained for prediction purposes. An example illustrates the method. The authors would like to thank the Editor and the referees for their helpful comments. This research has been partly financed by NSERC (Canada).     

Impact of Religious Activities on Quality of Life and Cognitive Function Among Elderly

Journal of Religion and Health - Religiosity and spirituality have previously been found to have significant effects on mental and physical health. This study aimed to compare...     

Structural analysis of 30RO–30Al2O3–40B2O3 ( R = Mg,Ca or Sr) glasses

Bond-compression and ring-deformation models are used to quantitatively analyze the acoustical properties (elastic moduli, Poisson's ratio, Debye temperature and longitudinal attenuation) of 30RO–30Al₂O₃–40B₂O₃ glasses (in wt%), where R?=?Mg, Ca or Sr. The network structure of the glass is quantified in terms of the four-fold coordinated formers, atomic ring size, cross-link density, first-order stretching force constant and bulk modulus. It is found that network strength increases in the order Mg?>?Ca?> Sr. Structural changes of the glasses are deduced by relating the elastic moduli, the ratio of bond compression to experimental bulk modulus and ultrasonic attenuation to structural parameters and oxygen density.     

Workaholism and work–life imbalance: Does cultural origin influence the relationship?

In recent years, workaholism has become prevalent throughout organizations and has captured the attention of organizational leaders as well as the academic and scientific communities. Most research in this area has focused on the negative consequences of workaholism, specifically work–life imbalance. One area of research that has largely been ignored is the potential influence of demographic variables on the relationship between workaholism and work–life imbalance. Therefore, the current study focused on how cultural origin might influence the intensity of this relationship. Based on relative deprivation theory and previous empirical work, it was expected that cultural origin would moderate the relationship between workaholism and work–life imbalance. Specifically, it was predicted that Caucasian participants would score higher on levels of workaholism than Black participants, and that the relationship between workaholism and work–life imbalance would be stronger for Caucasians than for Blacks. The results revealed that high levels of workaholism were significantly correlated with high levels of work–life imbalance. However, results also indicated that cultural origin did not moderate the relationship between workaholism and work–life imbalance, and there was no significant mean difference between Caucasian and Black participants on our measure of workaholism. These findings are important in that it is essential for employers to be aware of workaholic tendencies so they can better handle the negative consequences that result for the organization, and to also help promote the well‐being of their employees.     

Profiling active and passive nonrespondents to an organizational survey

In this field study (N = 405) population profiling was introduced to examine general and specific classes of nonresponse (active vs. passive) to a satisfaction survey. The active nonrespondent group (i.e., purposeful nonresponders) was relatively small (approximately 15%). Active nonrespondents, in comparison with respondents, were less satisfied with the entity sponsoring the survey and were less conscientious. Passive nonrespondents (e.g., forgot), who represented the majority of nonrespondents, were attitudinally similar to respondents but differed with regard to personality. Nonresponse bias does not appear to be a substantive concern for satisfaction type variables--the typical core of an organizational survey. If the survey concerns topics strongly related to Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, the respondent sample may not be representative of the population.     

Social-Evaluative Threat and Proinflammatory Cytokine Regulation: An Experimental Laboratory Investigation

ABSTRACT— This study experimentally tested whether a stressor characterized by social-evaluative threat (SET), a context in which the self can be judged negatively by others, would elicit increases in proinflammatory cytokine activity and alter the regulation of this response. This hypothesis was derived in part from research on immunological responses to social threat in nonhuman animals. Healthy female participants were assigned to perform a speech and a math task in the presence or absence of an evaluative audience (SET or non-SET, respectively). As hypothesized, stimulated production of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) increased from baseline to poststressor in the SET condition, but was unchanged in the non-SET condition. Further, the increases in TNF-α production correlated with participants' cognitive appraisals of being evaluated. Additionally, the ability of glucocorticoids to shut down the inflammatory response was decreased in the SET condition. These findings underscore the importance of social evaluation as a threat capable of eliciting proinflammatory cytokine activity and altering its regulation.