Adolescent Attitudes About Death in Relation to Suicidality

This study examined psychiatrically disturbed adolescents' history of exposure to suicide attempts, completions, and other deaths in relation to attitudes about life and death. A primary goal of the study was to study the mediating processes involved in the impact of loss on suicidality. Adolescents who experienced the suicide of a friend or immediate family member reported a weaker attraction to life and stronger attraction to death than adolescents lacking this experience. Exposure to attempted suicide resulted in attitudes indicating a stronger attraction to death and repulsion by life. We conclude that a comprehensive history of loss and assessment of current attitudes toward death are important aspects of evaluation and subsequent treatment of at-risk adolescents.     

Who is the Church?

Abstract : Although the question of survival is on the mind of most mainline congregations in the United States, the real crisis facing the churches is one of identity. After briefly reviewing three theological paradigms for the church (Word‐event, communion, and missio dei), I propose that the question of the church's identity is best answered by returning to the “story of the church,” which properly “starts with the Spirit,” and by reclaiming a concept of the church as a Spirit‐breathed people who are called and sent.     

Assessment of Religious and Spiritual Capital in African American Communities

African American faith communities are an important source of social capital. The present study adapted a theory-based social capital instrument to result in religious (e.g., from organized worship) and spiritual (e.g., from relationship with higher power) capital measures. Data from a national sample of 803 African Americans suggest the instruments have high internal reliability and are distinct from general religiosity. Measurement models confirmed factor structures. Religious capital was positively associated with self-rated health status. Religious and spiritual capital were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, but these associations largely became nonsignificant in multivariate models that controlled for demographic characteristics. An exception is for spiritual capital in the form of community participation, which retained a negative association with depressive symptoms. These instruments may have applied value for health promotion research and practice in African American communities.     

The where and when of likely and unlikely events

Do people think likelihood is distributed evenly or do they have an intuition about the types of contexts in which likely and unlikely events tend to occur? Drawing on a probability-as-distance framework, the current research suggests that people relate probability to other distance dimensions, expecting unlikely events to more often happen in distant contexts and likely events in near contexts. Evidence for this association emerges using within-subject designs where participants directly assign low and high likelihood events to near and distant contexts (Studies 1 and 2), as well as between-subjects designs that focus on a variety of related judgments, including willingness to bet on favorites and long-shots (Study 3), decisions about insurance purchases (Study 4), and expectations regarding games of chance (Study 5). Results appear consistent across outcomes of differing valence (Study 5). Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Physiological and psychological impacts on male medical interns during on-call duty

This study aimed to explore the physiological and psychological impacts on male medical interns during on-call duty (OCD). A prospective study of 13 medical interns was carried out using repeated testing during an on-call internal medicine and a duty-free course. There are 10 OCDs per month and each duty is composed of 33.5 consecutive work hours followed by 2 duty-free days for a time period of 3 months. Spectral analysis of R-R intervals was performed to evaluate the participants' heart rate variability. Among the three main spectral components distinguished, a high-frequency (HF) component of 0.15-0.4 Hz and a low-frequency component (LF) of 0.04-0.15 Hz were analyzed. The ratio of LF and HF (LF/HF) was also calculated. Reduced LF/HF, which suggests reduced cardiac sympathetic modulation, was found during duty night work. Increased HF was identified during the first sleep after OCD, which corresponded to the sleepiness scales. The OCD causes temporary emotional influence by the findings of higher anxiety and depression scores. In addition, inattention and impulsiveness, as represented by the continuous performance test score and lower nocturnal sympathetic modulation, were found, which indicated the differences between the internal medicine course and duty-free course. Our study suggests that 10 stressful on-call duties monthly result in reduced sympathetic modulation during duty night work, high anxiety and depression state, and a persistent inattention.     

The Validity and Specificity of the Short-Form of the Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire (OBQ)

Moulding et al. (Assessment 18:357–374, 2011) created a 20-item short-form of the Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire (OBQ; Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group in Behaviour Research and Therapy 43:1527–1542, 2005) labeled the OBQ-20. To date, the psychometric properties of the OBQ-20 have yet to be examined among clinical respondents. It is also unknown whether the OBQ-20 addresses the limited specificity of prior OBQ versions to obsessive-compulsive symptoms. In Study 1, using a small clinical sample (N?=?48), each OBQ-20 scale evidenced good internal consistency and shared a nearly identical correlation in magnitude with obsessive-compulsive symptoms relative to a corresponding full-length OBQ scale. In Study 2, using a large community sample (N?=?507), the OBQ-20 scales generally correlated equivalently with obsessive-compulsive symptoms relative to both depression and generalized anxiety symptoms. The OBQ-20 demonstrated strong psychometric properties, but, like prior OBQ versions, did not emerge as specific to obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Given its brevity and potential transdiagnostic importance, the OBQ-20 will likely be a useful assessment tool in both research and clinical settings.     

Category-Based versus Attribute-Based Processing in Different-Aged Adults

Adaptive social functioning requires flexibility in processing operations in response to the characteristics of specific situations. Three experiments were conducted in which the ability of different-aged adults to appropriately use category-based versus attribute-based information in making affective judgments was examined. Contrary to expectations, we found that performance was minimally related to age or to working memory efficiency. Adults of all ages made affective judgments based on category information when such information resulted in appropriate inferences, whereas attribute-based information was used when category-based inferences were inaccurate. We interpret these results to be consistent with the hypothesis that the processing of evaluative information occurs at a preconscious level with little drain on processing resources.     

Reconceptualising hope within the context of vulnerability in South Africa

This study was aimed at clarifying conceptualisations of hope amongst vulnerable young people in a high HIV/AIDS prevalence South African setting. Participants were four young people ranging from 15 to 19, and interview data were collected on their household conditions, lived experiences in the communities and schools, and family support systems. Analysis applied grounded theory process to characterise main themes. Four mechanisms characterised the nurturing of hope processes in the context of vulnerability, namely: predatory, protective, promotion and possibility processes. Six protective intrapersonal themes were also identified: finding purpose, building a sense of the future; building faith in a higher power; embracing educational opportunities; thinking positively; building on strengths; and adopting supportive networks. Findings suggest that conceptualisations of hope need to be grounded in social context and the imperatives of social justice to support vulnerable young people in realising their future aspirations.