Power as a Structural Phenomenon

In an effort to inform empowerment theory and research, this paper provides a structural conception of power. First, we examine the essential features present in three dominant conceptions of power in community psychology: social power, psychopolitical power, and relational power. Next, commonalities in the key features of power identified by these conceptions are explored and pared down to yield a more parsimonious conception of power that is grounded only in the structural pattern of relationships through which resources are exchanged. Drawing on social exchange theory, we offer a method for measuring this streamlined, structural conception of power that allows for its more precise examination. Finally, we discuss the implications of a structural conception and measurement of power for targeting and facilitating empowering processes and evaluating empowered outcomes.     

Clinical Decision-Making Following Disasters: Efficient Identification of PTSD Risk in Adolescents

The present study aimed to utilize a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) approach in order to improve clinical decision-making for adolescents at risk for the development of psychopathology in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Specifically we assessed theoretically-driven individual, interpersonal, and event-related vulnerability factors to determine which indices were most accurate in forecasting PTSD. Furthermore, we aimed to translate these etiological findings by identifying clinical cut-off recommendations for relevant vulnerability factors. Our study consisted of structured phone-based clinical interviews with 2000 adolescent-parent dyads living within a 5-mile radius of tornados that devastated Joplin, MO, and northern Alabama in Spring 2011. Demographics, tornado incident characteristics, prior trauma, mental health, and family support and conflict were assessed. A subset of youth completed two behavioral assessment tasks online to assess distress tolerance and risk-taking behavior. ROC analyses indicated four variables that significantly improved PTSD diagnostic efficiency: Lifetime depression (AUC = .90), trauma history (AUC = .76), social support (AUC = .70), and family conflict (AUC = .72). Youth were 2–3 times more likely to have PTSD if they had elevated scores on any of these variables. Of note, event-related characteristics (e.g., property damage) were not related to PTSD diagnostic status. The present study adds to the literature by making specific recommendations for empirically-based, efficient disaster-related PTSD assessment for adolescents following a natural disaster. Implications for practice and future trauma-related developmental psychopathology research are discussed.     

Differences in attributions of mental illness and social distance for portrayals of four mental disorders

For individuals with mental illness, others' perceptions of mental illness often limit integration into communities. Perceptions of mental illness manifest as social stigma in the form of social distance and may depend on individuals' attributions of the origins of mental illness. 180 university students completed a survey on attribution of mental illness and social distance across several disorders (psychiatric and physical). Participants indicated greater social distance for severe mental illness (i.e., schizophrenia) than less severe mental illness and physical illness. More desire for social distance may be related to unfamiliarity with severe mental illness rather than less severe mental and physical illnesses. Greater understanding of how individuals perceive mental illness can inform efforts to educate the public.     

Maintenance Cardiac Rehabilitation Exercise Adherence: Effects of Task and Self-Regulatory Self-Efficacy

The purpose of this study was to examine whether self-efficacy functions as a determinant and outcome of maintenance cardiac rehabilitation exercise adherence. Specifically, the purpose of this prospective observational study was to examine which types of self-efficacy–task or self-regulatory–predicted maintenance exercise attendance. In addition, the relative contribution of self-efficacy to the prediction of perceived exercise intensity was examined. Self-regulatory self-efficacy was operationalized as confidence to schedule and manage exercise sessions, while task self-efficacy concerned confidence to perform aspects of the exercise session and to walk for increasing durations. Sixty-four maintenance cardiac rehabilitation participants completed social cognitive measures and provided attendance data for 4 weeks prior to and 4 weeks following assessment. Results indicated that scheduling and walking self-efficacy significantly predicted cardiac rehabilitation exercise attendance. Task self-efficacy was the best predictor of perceived exercise intensity. Past exercise attendance significantly predicted all 3 dimensions of self-efficacy. Findings are discussed with respect to self-efficacy theory and applications to the maintenance of cardiac rehabilitation exercise adherence.     

Good Guys Can Finish First: How Brand Reputation Affects Extension Evaluations

This research investigates how consumer evaluations of brand extensions are affected by two distinct types of brand reputation: a reputation for social responsibility built through commitments to societal obligations, versus a reputation for ability developed by delivering quality offerings. Through six studies, we establish that while the two reputation types equivalently influence high fit brand extensions, a reputation for social responsibility (vs. ability) leads to more favorable responses toward low fit brand extensions by inducing a desire to support and help the company that has acted to benefit consumers. Furthermore, the facilitative effect of social responsibility on low fit brand extension evaluations is more prominent among consumers who value close relationships and caring for one another's well‐being (i.e., those with high communal orientation), and tends to dissipate when social responsibility initiatives are tainted with self‐serving motives (i.e., when these initiatives are aligned with the brand's core offering).     

A phenomenology of political apathy: Scheler on the origins of mass violence

In his criticisms of the German youth movement and the emergence of fascism across Europe during the early 1920s, Max Scheler draws a distinction between the different senses of political apathy that give rise to mass political movements. Recent studies of mass apathy have tended to treat all forms of apathy as the same and as a consequence reduced the diverse expressions of mass violence to the same, stripping mass movements of any critical function. I show in this paper that Scheler’s distinction provides the means by which to locate the various origins of mass violence and the practical means by which to address this violence that preserves the liberating potential of collective political movements.

Does peace have a prayer? The effect of mortality salience, compassionate values, and religious fundamentalism on hostility toward out-groups

Religious fundamentalism has been shown to be associated with higher levels of prejudice, ethnocentrism, and militarism, in spite of the compassionate values promoted by the religious faiths that most fundamentalists believe in. Based on terror management theory, we hypothesized that priming these compassionate values would encourage a shift toward less support for violent solutions to the current Middle Eastern conflict, especially when they are combined with reminders of one’s mortality. Study 1 demonstrated that among Americans, religious fundamentalism was associated with greater support for extreme military interventions, except when participants were reminded of their mortality and primed with compassionate religious values. The combination of mortality salience and compassionate religious values led to significant decreases in support for such interventions among high but not low fundamentalists. Study 2 replicated this finding and showed that it depends on the association of the compassionate values with an authoritative religious source; presentation of these values in a secular context had no effect on fundamentalists. Study 3 replicated these effects in a sample of Iranian Shiite Muslims: although a reminder of death increased anti-Western attitudes among participants primed with secular compassionate values, it decreased anti-Western attitudes among those primed with compassionate values from the Koran.     

VERB™ Summer Scorecard: Findings from a Multi-level Community-based Physical Activity Intervention for Tweens

The benefits of physical activity for adolescents are well established. Multi-level interventions may be especially effective in establishing and sustaining health-enhancing behaviors. This study explored the influences of a multi-level community intervention aimed at increasing physical activity among tweens (youth 9–13). Two Florida school districts far apart served as intervention and comparison sites in a quasi-experimental post-test design. Youth in grades 5 through 8 in the intervention community (n = 1,253) and comparison community (n = 866) completed an anonymous post-intervention survey. An intent-to-treat analysis did not show any statistically significant group differences for the physical activity outcomes examined. However, a subset analysis revealed that students who reported participating in the intervention were more likely to be physically active than youth in the comparison group, as well as youth in the intervention community who reported not participating. Participating in the intervention was significantly related to meeting recommendations for vigorous physical activity (OR = 2.08, P = 0.0259), being physically active on weekends (OR = 1.84, P = 0.0017), and reporting more days of trying a new game or sport (OR = 1.49, P = 0.046) after controlling for grade, gender, race/ethnicity, and SES. These findings support the efficacy of multi-level interventions to create effective health behavior change, especially when linkages among community, media, schools, and the home are present.     

Manipulated stress and dispositional reinvestment in a wall-volley task: an investigation into controlled processing

This field-based study examined the action of reinvesting in controlled processing on 14 university soccer players to assess skill breakdown under pressure. Based on scores on the Reinvestment Scale of Masters, Polman, and Hammond, two experimental groups of participants were inferred to be dispositionally High or Low in Reinvestment. They performed a wall-volley soccer task, which involved kicking a ball repeatedly against a wall target zone for 90 sec. as defined by McMorris, Gibbs, Palmer, Payne, and Torpey in a High and Low Stress environment. Prior to each condition performers were required to complete the Anxiety Rating Scale. A series of two-way (reinvestment x stress) analyses of variance with repeated measures on stress were conducted on the Anxiety and soccer scores. Players scoring High on the Reinvestment Scale reported significantly greater Intensity for Somatic Anxiety and lower Self-confidence than players who scored Low in the High Stress condition. Anxiety Direction scores indicated players scoring High on the Reinvestment Scale reported their increase in Somatic Anxiety and reduction in Self-confidence in the High Stress condition to be significantly more debilitating of performance than players who scored Low on the Reinvestment Scale. Soccer scores indicated players scoring High on the Reinvestment Scale were more prone to reinvesting in controlled processing and essentially experiencing greater decreases in performance under pressure than those Low in Reinvestment. Therefore, these findings support the predictive power of the Reinvestment Scale.