Counseling and Guided Self‐Help Outcomes for Clients With Bulimia Nervosa: A Meta‐Analysis of Clinical Trials From 1980 to 2010

This meta‐analysis included 111 clinical trials exploring the effectiveness of counseling/psychotherapy and guided self‐help approaches in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. In general, single‐group studies supported higher efficacy of counseling/psychotherapy, whereas wait‐list, treatment‐as‐usual, and placebo studies indicated both approaches were equally effective at termination (posttest) and follow‐up in altering binging, purging, laxative use, and self‐reported bulimia or body dissatisfaction perceptions in nearly all comparisons.     

The Academic Experience of Male High School Students with ADHD

This study compared the high school academic experience of adolescents with and without childhood ADHD using data from the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (PALS). Participants were 326 males with childhood ADHD and 213 demographically similar males without ADHD who were recruited at the start of the follow-up study. Data were collected yearly from parents, teachers and schools. The current study used assessment points at which the participants were currently in or had recently completed grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. Results indicated that adolescents with ADHD experienced significant academic impairment in high school relative to comparison adolescents, including lower overall and main academic subject grade point averages (GPA), lower levels of class placement (e.g. remedial vs. honors), and higher rates of course failure. In addition, teacher reports indicated that adolescents with ADHD completed and turned in a significantly lower percentage of assignments and were significantly less likely to be working up to their potential. Adolescents with ADHD were also significantly more likely to be absent or tardy during the academic year, and they were over eight times more likely than adolescents without ADHD to drop out of high school. These findings demonstrate that children with ADHD continue to experience severe academic impairment into high school.     

Cultural influences on preference consistency: Consistency at the individual and collective levels

Previous research has shown that there are cultural differences in self-concept consistency across situations. However, little is known about cultural differences in preference consistency over time. The present research examined whether Americans are more consistent in their preferences over time than are Japanese. As hypothesized, there were cultural differences in self-reported ( and ) and actual ( and ) preference consistency over time. Further, cultural differences in preference consistency at the individual level (Study 1) were found to aggregate into collective level differences ( and ) in the consistency of preference trends, such as the popularity of baby names. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

The Structure and Nature of the Broader Autism Phenotype in a Non-clinical Sample

The broader autism phenotype (BAP) is a subclinical behavioral phenotype that is qualitatively similar to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Research on the BAP has used different conceptualizations of this construct. To more closely approximate the nature of the BAP, the current study utilized traditional construct validation methods to identify the BAP structure and characterize its nomological net in undergraduates. A conjoint exploratory factor analysis of the scales from three self-report measures of the construct was used to derive three robust BAP dimensions reflecting pragmatic language difficulties, aloofness, and rigidity. These dimensions were then correlated with theoretically-relevant personality, psychopathology, and interest variables in order to evaluate the criterion validity of the BAP. Correlations were generally consistent with our predictions and showed strongest relations between BAP dimensions and poor communication skills, impaired social functioning, and behavioral and cognitive rigidity. This research represents a first step in the identification and utilization of a common conceptualization of the BAP.     

Inconsistent Self-Report of Delinquency by Adolescents and Young Adults with ADHD

The purpose of the current study was to test the ability of adolescents and young adults with childhood ADHD to reliably self-report delinquency history. Data were examined from the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (PALS), a follow-up study of children diagnosed with ADHD between 1987 and 1996. Self-report of lifetime delinquency history was compared to concurrent parent-report and to self-report 1 year later. Participants included 313 male probands and 209 demographically similar comparison individuals without ADHD. Results indicated that adolescents and young adults with childhood ADHD were more likely than comparison participants to fail to report delinquent acts reported by a parent and to recant acts they endorsed 1 year earlier. This trend was most apparent for acts of mild to moderate severity. After controlling for several covariates, current ADHD symptom severity and parent-report of the participant’s tendency to lie predicted reporting fewer delinquent acts than one’s parent. Current ADHD symptom severity also predicted more recanting of previously endorsed acts. Based on these findings, several recommendations are made for the assessment of delinquency history in adolescents and young adults with childhood ADHD.     

“IF I WERE GOD”: EINSTEIN AND RELIGION

Designed as an introductory lecture for the conference “Einstein, God and Time,” this essay provides a brief survey of three sets of relations—between Einstein and time, God and time, and Einstein and God. The question is raised whether Einstein's rejection of absolute time held any implications for theology. It is argued that, despite Einstein's denial and his exemplary caution, the fact that Isaac Newton had associated absolute space and absolute time with a deity who constituted them meant that a revisitation of theological questions was inevitable. Consideration is then given to the time‐lessness and changelessness of God, with a brief reference to eschatological issues. The question whether there might be parallels between the renunciation of Newtonian time by physicists and by Christian theologians is discussed with reference to recent commentary on the eschatological thinking of Jürgen Moltmann. Whether Einstein himself would have sympathized with these theologies is to be doubted, given his antipathy to anthropomorphic and anthropopathic concepts of deity. Finally, in exploring Einstein's sometimes whimsical use of theological language, it becomes necessary to acknowledge that his well‐known affirmation of the complementarity of science and religion rested on a distinctive construction of religion that allowed him to say he was a “deeply religious unbeliever.” Attempts to categorize his convictions, or to appropriate them for conventional theistic purposes, miss their subtlety and their apophatic resonances.     

Digital Irreligion: Christian Deconversion in an Online Community

What is the role of the Internet in a possible trend toward secularization in the United States? This case study seeks to elucidate the process of online deconversion by examining religious exit narratives (called “extimonies” by participants) as posted in a forum for ex‐Christians from 2005 to 2017. Echoing Mauss and Ebaugh, deconverts on the site went through a role exit involving a three‐part, but intertwined, intellectual, emotional, and social process. The online community provided an interactional space for them to construct and practice new secular identities, to explore doubts and process emotions arising from the deconversion process, and to prepare themselves for offline interactions with believers. This case study also suggests that the Internet and online communities may provide spaces for the highly religiously committed to explore deconversion and role alternatives.     

Forum on seminary teaching and formation online

This Forum explores what the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) has been learning about formation in online contexts through the Educational Models and Practices project. Deborah Gin's opening essay briefly enumerates operating assumptions, several widespread misconceptions, and emerging recommended practices. G. Brooke Lester proposes a definition of formation as transformation towards community, which is grounded in constructivist learning theory. He then reflects on the possibilities for this kind of community through online learning environments. Barbara Blodgett's contribution draws on “transactional distance theory” to analyze how a variety of pedagogical techniques (both online and face to face) can work to either exacerbate or minimize the distance between learners, which is an important contributor to formation and community. The Forum originated as panel presentations at the November 2017 Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion conferences.     

How I see me depends on how I see we: the role of attachment style in social comparison

The self-concept is a social, flexible construct that shifts in response to the salience of a relationship partner. Three related experiments found that the tendency to pursue closeness in relationships (as measured by attachment style) served as a moderator of the shift. Specifically, individuals who avoid closeness in relationships became less similar to salient friends via contrast effects, whereas those who pursued closeness in relationships became more similar to salient friends via assimilation effects. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the nature of the self-concept and the importance of friendships.