Psychosocial factors in outcomes of heart surgery: the impact of religious involvement and depressive symptoms.

This article reports a prospective study of religiousness and recovery from heart surgery. Religiousness and other psychosocial factors were assessed in 142 patients about a week prior to surgery. Those with stronger religious beliefs subsequently had fewer complications and shorter hospital stays, the former effect mediating the latter. Attendance at religious services was unrelated to complications but predicted longer hospitalizations. Prayer was not related to recovery. Depressive symptoms were associated with longer hospital stays. Dispositional optimism, trait hostility, and social support were unrelated to outcomes. Effects of religious beliefs and attendance were stronger among women than men and were independent of biomedical and other psychosocial predictors. These findings encourage further examination of differential health effects of the various elements of religiousness.     

Should I stay or should I go?: Penalties for briefly de-prioritizing work or childcare

We examined penalties against individuals who temporarily de-prioritize their employee or parenting role. Experiment 1 (N = 488) utilized vignettes depicting a mother/father who briefly left their child with a babysitter to engage in work/self-care/did not leave (control). Both mothers and fathers were viewed as less parentally competent, likeable, dedicated to their family (and putting their child at greater risk) when they very briefly de-prioritized their caregiving role by leaving their child for either reason, relative to controls. Experiment 2 (N = 494) utilized vignettes depicting a female/male employee who briefly left work to engage in childcare/self-care/did not leave (control). Both male and female employees were rated as less professionally competent, likeable, dedicated to their work and deserving of organizational rewards (and more deserving of organizational penalties, and putting their organization at greater risk) when they very briefly de-prioritized their employee role by leaving work for either reason, compared to controls. However, employees who left for self-care were viewed more negatively than those who left to engage in childcare. Unexpectedly, results did not reveal target gender differences; they were also largely unaffected by participant gender. This suggests that parents and employees face penalties when they must de-prioritize either of these important roles for even very short periods. Implications for well-being, work-life balance, and productivity are discussed.     

Reactive and proactive aggression as meaningful distinctions at the variable and person level in primary school‐aged children

Reactive and proactive aggression is a dichotomous classification of aggression in adults and children. This distinction has been supported by a number of variable‐based and factor analytic studies. Due to high inter‐correlations, however, the reactive—proactive aggression distinction may not be entirely useful for understanding how group or individual aggressive behavior varies in children and adolescents. Drawing on a sample of primary school‐aged children (N = 242) aged 7–12 years, this study sought to determine whether reactive and proactive aggression could be distinguished at the variable‐level and the person‐level in children. Exploratory Factor Analysis of data from an aggression instrument measuring both functions and forms of aggression, found a two‐factor construct of aggression constituted by a reactive and proactive aggression factor. A person‐based analysis was then conducted after classifying children according to the presence of reactive and/or proactive aggression. Discriminant function analysis was used to discern whether classifications on the basis of aggression function produced meaningful distinctions in terms of antisocial traits and emotional valence and intensity measures. Two functions were identified which distinguished children with different combinations of reactive and proactive aggression. Reactive‐only aggressive children were defined primarily by high levels of impulsivity, while proactive‐only children were defined primarily by higher levels of antisocial traits. Children high in both types of aggression exhibited both the presence of antisocial traits and impulsivity. Contrary to recent findings, this suggests that differences in aggression functions remain meaningful at the person level in children. Implications for interventions are discussed.

     

Reactions to threatening critical messages from minority group members with shared or distinct group identities

Reactions to members of other groups are important in multicultural societies. In four studies (N = 725), we investigate the reactions of majority group members to minority group members who stress either their distinct identity or their shared identity when they express threatening critical messages. In Study 1, we investigate reactions to a person who stresses the importance of either his Moroccan and Muslim identity or his Dutch and non‐Islamic identity. In Studies 2 and 3, we disentangle national and religious identity. Across all studies, we find that minority group members who stress their shared identity rather than their distinct identity are evaluated more positively, are perceived as more similar to the self, and tend to evoke less anger. In Study 4, we replicate this finding and show that perceived similarity mediates the impact of identity on these evaluations, but constructiveness only partially mediates these relations. Results are discussed in terms of recategorization models and the intergroup sensitivity effect. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reinforcement sensitivity theory and symptoms of personality disorder: Specificity of the BIS in Cluster C and BAS in Cluster B

Gray’s reinforcement sensitivity theory, consisting of the behavioral inhibition (BIS) and behavioral activation (BAS), is frequently used to represent basic dimensions of psychopathology. However, notably few investigations have examined the link between the BIS/BAS and symptoms of personality disorder (PD). Although the Fight-Flight-Freeze System has emerged in the revised model as an important aspect of motivation, the BIS (linked to anxiety) and BAS (linked to impulsivity) have been the primary foci. The current investigation uses a dimensional measure of PD, the schedule for nonadaptive and adaptive personality (SNAP; Clark, 1993) applied to two independent samples of English-speaking participants: undergraduates (n = 276) and clinical patients (n = 47). Results were consistent across both samples, demonstrating that symptoms of Cluster B PDs are indicative of high BAS levels whereas symptoms of Cluster C PDs are characterized by high BIS levels.     

Performance of the CJDATS Co-Occurring Disorders Screening Instruments (CODSIs) among minority offenders

Previous research has shown the performance of the CJDATS Co-Occurring Disorders Screening Instruments (CODSI-MD and SMD)--six- and three-item instruments to screen for any mental disorder (CODSI-MD) and for severe mental disorders (CODSI-SMD), respectively--to be comparable or superior to other, longer instruments. This study tested the stability of the performance of the CODSI-MD and SMD across three racial/ethnic groups of offenders entering prison substance abuse treatment programs (n = 353), consisting of 96 African American, 120 Latino, and 137 White admissions. The Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) was used to obtain DSM-IV Axis I and II diagnoses; a lifetime SCID diagnosis of a mental disorder or a severe mental disorder was the criterion against which the CODSI-MD and SMD were validated. Results showed no statistical differences in sensitivity or specificity for either the CODSI-MD or SMD across the African American, Latino, and White prisoner groups. The value of the CODSI-MD and SMD as brief screens for mental disorders among offenders with diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds is discussed.     

The religioning of anthropology: New directions for the ethnographer‐pilgrim

Based on fieldwork in the state of Kerala, south India, Dempsey explores the ethnographical endeavour through the lens of religion. Applying religious categories such as pilgrimage and sainthood to examine the mechanics of ethnography, this essay investigates a spectrum of fieldwork motives and outcomes. Using the tourist and her quest as a comparative link between ethnographer and pilgrim, Dempsey proposes possible ‘religious’ motives in portraying the other as irretrievably exotic, in spite of evidence to the contrary, functioning as a kind of healing authenticity for modernity's banal existence. Dempsey notes that current trends in ethnography offer opportunities for an alternative kind of pilgrimage, based on attention to human intimacies that stem from extended fieldwork. These intimacies work to dash, sometimes begrudgingly, touristic ‘faith’ in unbreachable otherness, challenging the ethnographer to a conversion of sorts, and bringing her study back down to earth.     

The sense of defect

The sense of defect, physical or psychological, is here regarded as a fantasy, a compromise formation, rather than an actual defect existing somewhere in the body, or in some psychological structure. It need not correlate with the reality to an external observer of physical or psychological disability. Psychoanalytic emphasis is directed to the motivations for the persistence of this sense of defect, rather than primarily to etiology (trauma) or genetic history. Accurate perception and evaluation, having been interdicted during childhood, is avoided with the magical hope that thereby one will be acceptable and what is wrong will disappear. The interaction between self and parents, real and fantasied, cannot be clearly known. The patient remains uncertain as to what is wrong, in whom it is located, and how it has come about. The sense of defect, physical or psychological, becomes the nidus around which much is crystallized. This is then offered up to a parent (and the superego) as an appeasement and seduction, aiming to help this parent feel better by agreeing that the child is indeed the cause of what is wrong. Dangerously destructive (and sexual) wishes are defended against and atoned for by emphasis on one's defectiveness.