The Path from Identity Commitments to Adjustment: Motivational Underpinnings and Mediating Mechanisms

The present study focused on motivational underpinnings of identity commitments and mediating mechanisms underlying their effects on well‐being and distress in a sample of college freshmen (N = 399). Using a path model in a structural equation modeling approach, the authors found that causality orientations appeared to serve as motivational antecedents of identity commitments. Identity integration mediated the pathway from identity commitments to adjustment (i.e., well‐being and absence of distress). Suggestions for future research and implications for counseling are provided.     

Arrested Development: On Hegel,Heidegger and Derrida

ABSTRACT

Although both Heidegger and Derrida criticize Hegel as the archetype and historical culmination of the metaphysics of presence, Hegel’s dialectics also serves as a model for their critical destruction or deconstruction of metaphysics. Through an analysis of the notions of ‘arrest’ and ‘halt’ in Derrida and Hegel, this paper will show how both Heidegger and Derrida take up elements of Hegel’s theory of the development of consciousness, which is characterized both by an ‘unhalting forward motion’ but also by delay, interruption and inertia. This paper will develop the strange parallel between Derrida’s notion of l’arrêt and the halting movement of spirit in Hegel. It will show that Hegel’s ‘rhythm of the concept’ is not so distant from the ‘arrhythmia’ Derrida finds in the notion of l’arrêt. It will thus show how time, history and spirit are linked in a self-deconstructive manner in this unstable point of the arrest/halt.     

“End of the jargon-scandal” – The decline and fall of Yiddish in the Netherlands (1796–1886)

In the nineteenth century the language of the Ashkenazi community in the Netherlands rapidly changed as the Dutch vernacular replaced Yiddish. In the first half of the century a coalition composed of government officials and members of the Jewish elite collaborated in matters of language–politics. The goal was the acculturation of the Jewish community by advocating Dutch and combating Yiddish. Controlling Jewish education and encouraging preaching in the vernacular were the most important means employed, and by the second half of the century, Yiddish disappeared as the language of Dutch Jews. The arguments of the proponents of Dutch were centered on social integration and the belief that Yiddish was not a proper language. The advocates of Yiddish defended their language by stressing it as an international means of Jewish communication.     

Testing the Triple‐Match Principle in the Technology Sector: A Two‐Wave Longitudinal Panel Study

The present study investigates the issue of match between job demands and job resources in the prediction of changes in job‐related well‐being outcomes as outlined by the Demand‐Induced Strain Compensation (DISC) model. Job demands, resources, and well‐being outcomes are considered to be multidimensional constructs comprising physical, cognitive, and/or emotional components. The Triple‐Match Principle (TMP) proposes that the strongest, interactive relationships between job demands and resources are observed when demands, resources, and outcomes are based on identical dimensions. This principle was tested using a two‐wave longitudinal panel study among 720 Belgian employees in the technology sector. Analyses were conducted with cross‐lagged structural equation modeling, and results tend to confirm the matching hypothesis. Specifically, the likelihood of finding valid interaction effects was nearly linearly related to the degree of match between demands, resources, and outcomes. Generalisability of the TMP in the technology sector was shown. Practically, findings indicate that enhancing specific, matching, job resources enables employees to deal with corresponding high job demands to improve employee well‐being.     

Dimensions of Religion Associated with Suicide Attempt and Suicide Ideation in Depressed,Religiously Affiliated Patients

There is substantial evidence to support the claim that religion can protect against suicide ideation, suicide attempts, and completed suicide. There is also evidence that religion does not always protect against suicidality. More insight is needed into the relationship between suicidal parameters and dimensions of religion. A total of 155 in‐ and outpatients with major depression from a Christian Mental Health Care institution were included. The following religious factors were assessed: religious service attendance, frequency of prayer, religious salience, type of God representation, and moral objections to suicide (MOS). Multiple regression analyses were computed. MOS have a unique and prominent (negative) association with suicide ideation and the lifetime history of suicide attempts, even after controlling for demographic features and severity of depression. The type of God representation is an independent statistical predictor of the severity of suicide ideation. A positive‐supportive God representation is negatively correlated with suicide ideation. A passive‐distressing God representation has a positive correlation with suicide ideation. High MOS and a positive‐supportive God representation in Christian patients with depression are negatively correlated with suicide ideation. Both are likely to be important markers for assessment and further development of therapeutic strategies.