The Quarter-life Time Period: An Age of Indulgence,Crisis or Both?

A new developmental stage called the quarter-life is proposed, extending from approximately 18–29 years of age and sometimes later. The emergence of this period is believed to be the result of several social, historic and economic factors that occurred post WWII. This article explores these changes in terms of the experiences of affluent young people in today’s Western society. A typology of adaptational responses are presented and explored as the quarter-lifers attempt to navigate their way to adulthood within the context of this ‘new’ affluent society. Implications for family therapists are considered.     

Assessment of behavioural markers of autonoetic consciousness during episodic autobiographical memory retrieval: a preliminary analysis

There is ongoing theoretical debate regarding episodic memory and how it can be accurately measured, in particular if the focus should be content-based recall of episodic details or something more experiential involving the subjective capacity to mentally travel back in time and "re-live" aspects of the original event. The autonoetic subscale of the Episodic Autobiographical Memory Interview (EAMI) is presented here as a new test instrument that attempts to redress theoretical and methodological shortcomings in autobiographical memory assessment. The EAMI merges a phenomenological detail-based approach with an assessment of autonoetic consciousness, departing considerably from traditional Remember/Know paradigms used within this field. We present findings from an initial pilot study investigating the potential markers of autonoetic consciousness that may accompany episodic retrieval. Key behavioural indices of autonoetic consciousness, notably those of viewer perspective, visual imagery, and emotional re-experiencing, emerged as being inextricably bound with the level of phenomenological detail recalled and the overall re-living judgment. The autonoetic subscale of the EAMI permits conceptually refined assessment of episodic personal memories and the accompanying subjective experience of mental re-living, characteristic of episodic memory.     

Exasperations as Blessings: Meaning-Making and the Caregiving Experience

This study examines the process of how caregivers can shape the frustrations and exasperations of caring for a family member with Alzheimer's disease into blessings. Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenological perspective is used to interpret a caregiver's narrative, in which she describes caring for her husband with Alzheimer's disease. The interpretive analysis focuses specifically on how the caregiver finds meaning in the caregiving process. The analysis reveals that the caregiver constructs meaning by emphasizing particular aspects of her experiences, including cherished memories, creating a happy life by living life intensely, and counting her blessings. While some caregivers naturally find such meaning, this study suggests that reading the narratives of others as well as writing about one's own thoughts and feelings can facilitate this meaning-making process. Structured written emotional expression, in particular, fosters meaning-making, diminishes psychological distress, improves immune function, and promotes health and well-being.     

Does making a conversation asynchronous reduce the negative impact of phone call on driving?

Mobile phone use at the wheel has a proven negative impact on driving. This paper aims to assess whether using an answerphone instead of a normal phone reduces this negative impact. The answerphone makes communication asynchronous and splits it into three disconnected and successive phases: interaction with the voice interface, listening to the message and answering, which have been evaluated separately.The experiment was conducted on a fixed base simulator, with 30 participants (half male and female, aged from 18 to 50 years, driving at least 5000 km per year).The results show better scores for correct responses to stimuli for answerphone communications than for phone communications, although response times were higher in both communication conditions than in the driving alone condition. When the three phases of answerphone use were compared, interacting with the answerphone and listening to the message were found to be significantly less disturbing than answering, in terms of correct responses and response times.By making the conversation asynchronous, the answerphone avoids direct interaction between driver and caller. The fact that communication is under the driver’s control allows him/her to pace the interaction better. Lastly, splitting up the conversation into different phases decreases the overall task difficulty.     

Why not find out whether religious beliefs predict surgical outcomes? If they do, why not find out why? Reply to Freedland (2004).

In this reply to K. E. Freedland's (see record 2004-13299-002) comments on R. J. Contrada et al. (see record 2004-13299-001), it is shown that the statistical issues he raised, and his preferred interpretation of the findings, were adequately addressed in the original article. It is argued that methodological limitations also were fully characterized and do not differ in kind from those of biomedical studies. Other issues discussed include the merits of focusing on distal versus proximal causation, plausibility of explanatory mechanisms for health effects of religious involvement, and potential practical applications that do not require manipulation of religious involvement. The article is concluded by commenting on subtle aspects of discourse that may unnecessarily polarize discussions of possible physical health effects of religious involvement.     

Superego aspects of entitlement (in rigid characters)

Dynamic conflict among feelings of entitlement, defectiveness, and deprivation is discussed from the perspective of superego defense against dangerously aggressive (and sexual) wishes. These negative feelings and negative self-images are exploited so as to appease the superego in the face of one's hostile aggression: that one is justified, that there are extenuating circumstances for one's hatred and destructiveness. The "oral" clamor of deprivation and entitlement, together with dependency, submissiveness, and defensive uncertainty, serve a screening function for hostile aggressive wishes, from any developmental level. Typically, attitudes of entitlement are contradictory, unclear, and wavering, because of conflict between differing ego ideal images, and conflict between superego, and ego and id, about the sadistic extractiveness in these attitudes. Attitudes of entitlement are contributed to by past trauma, deprivation, abuse, teasing overstimulation coupled with neglect, or alternating indulgence and deprivation, as well as identification with certain parental attitudes--exploitation and extractiveness--and denial of the need for the superego to assess reality accurately.     

Ethnic culture,religion, and the mental health of Slavic-American women

Findings of a comparative research study of women of different ethnic back-grounds suggest that the Slavic religioethnic culture acts to promote successful aging and stable mental health among women of Slavic heritage. Home and family structure, deep religiosity, and participation in church and community affiars provide function and meaningful purpose to life that tends to mitigate the losses inherent in the aging process.