Healing Men and Community: Predictors of Outcome in a Men’s Initiatory and Support Organization

Men have poorer health and declining social outcomes when compared to women, and research suggests that behaviors related to restrictive and traditional male gender roles contribute to this disparity. This study is an examination of The ManKind Project International (MKPI), a community-based organization that provides alternative male gender norms and a community support system to help reinforce them. The MKPI runs an intensive, experiential “Training Adventure Weekend” (TAW), followed by voluntary, on-going peer-led support and integration groups (I-Groups). One hundred men completed a pre-TAW questionnaire, an interview, and a long-term follow-up (>18 mo.) questionnaire. The study examined if there was change on the primary study variables at follow-up, and the relationship of background characteristics (age, self-help group experience) and factors related to participation (MKPI beliefs, social support, I-Group participation) to the criterion variables (depression symptoms, gender role conflict, and life satisfaction) at follow-up. Results indicated significant change in the expected directions on the primary study variables, suggesting that for these men, participation has a positive impact. Most importantly, changes in MKPI-related beliefs and social support significantly predicted positive outcomes. Also, more positive outcomes were found among men 30–44 years of age, but not among those with more prior self-help experience or I-Group participation. Possible explanations for these findings and directions for further research are discussed.     

Intervening in the Lives of Youth with Complex Behavioral Health Challenges and Their Families: The Role of the Wraparound Process

Wraparound is an individualized, team-based service planning and care coordination process intended to improve outcomes for youth with complex behavioral health challenges and their families. In recent years, several factors have led wraparound to become an increasingly visible component of service systems for youth, including its alignment with the youth and family movements, clear role within the systems of care and public health frameworks, and expansion of the research base. In this paper, we provide a review of the place of the wraparound process in behavioral health, including a discussion of the opportunities it presents to the field, needs for further development and research, and recommendations for federal actions that have the potential to improve the model’s positive contribution to child and family well-being.     

Designing an Opinion for its (Local) Context

Four opinions about what Japanese people are like are analyzed. The four opinions are formulated, in English, by two students during a group discussion in an English class at a Japanese university. The analysis shows how the opinions are designed to fit different levels of the context, in particular the unfolding local sequential context. It is also shown how they may be understood as drawing on, though not determined by, the genre of Nihonjinron (theory of Japaneseness) as a resource.     

Secularism,Fundamentalism, or Catholicism? The Religious Composition of the United States to 2043

We provide a cohort‐component projection of the religious composition of the United States, considering differences in fertility, migration, intergenerational religious transmission, and switching among 11 ethnoreligious groups. If fertility and migration trends continue, Hispanic Catholics will experience rapid growth and expand from 10 to 18 percent of the American population between 2003 and 2043. Protestants are projected to decrease from 47 to 39 percent over the same period, while Catholicism emerges as the largest religion among the youngest age cohorts. Liberal Protestants decline relative to other groups due to low fertility and losses from religious switching. Immigration drives growth among Hindus and Muslims, while low fertility and a mature age structure causes Jewish decline. The low fertility of secular Americans and the religiosity of immigrants provide a countervailing force to secularization, causing the nonreligious population share to peak before 2043.     

Congruence Between the Target in Need and the Recipient of Aid: The One‐Among‐Others Effect

We tested the hypothesis that people are more likely to offer aid when the beneficiary of help is congruent with the entity that initiates prosocial action. In 2 experiments conducted in 2 different countries, participants were approached in naturalistic settings with an appeal for help. The target in need (individual vs. individual among others with the same need) and the beneficiary of potential help (individual vs. group) were manipulated. Results revealed that participants were more likely to offer aid when the target in need and beneficiary of help were congruent. The present research offers insight into perceptual factors that affect prosocial behavior in situations involving more than one victim.     

The Deal on Testosterone Responses to Poker Competition

The following study investigated the effect of poker competition on testosterone (T) responses. Thirty-two participants played one-on-one poker in a lab on campus. Saliva samples were obtained before and after the poker games. On average, participants produced a significant increase in T during the competition, with no difference between winners and losers. This study is the first of its kind to examine T responses in a gambling competition. Possible implications for destructive gambling behaviors are discussed.     

Maternal Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Maternal Language: Implications for Infant Language Development

The relationship between maternal ADHD symptoms and maternal language was examined in a community sample of 50 mothers of infants age 3–12 months. It was hypothesized that higher maternal symptoms of ADHD would be related to lower quality of maternal language use. Recordings of mothers’ speech were coded for complexity and elaboration of speech and vocabulary diversity during an interview with an adult and during mother–infant play interactions in the home. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that maternal ADHD symptoms were significantly related to mothers’ lower mean length of utterances during the interview and during mother–infant play interactions. Maternal ADHD symptoms were not related to maternal vocabulary use in either of these situations. Our findings suggest that mothers with higher ADHD symptoms may display exiguous language behaviors when interacting with their infants and with adults. In addition, findings suggest one reason why current parent-management programs for children with ADHD, which are verbally based and rely heavily on the parent’s communication skills, are relatively ineffective when ADHD may be present in the parent.     

Confucius and Aristotle on the Goods of Friendship

This essay discusses the goods of friendship as they are articulated by Confucius, Mencius, and Aristotle. It is argued that since Confucius and Mencius tend to conceive personal relationships in hierarchical terms, they do not directly address the goods of symmetrical friendships. Using Aristotle’s account of friendship, I argue that friendship is necessary for the cultivation of virtue outside the family. This is supported by discussing the virtues of generosity, trust, and wisdom as they develop within family life and then are refined in friendships. Lastly, as Confucius, Mencius, and Aristotle agree that the good friendship is necessarily a virtuous one, I consider what value aesthetic friendships have.     

Prejudice and Enforcement of Workforce Homogeneity as Explanations for Employment Discrimination1

We examined the effects of subtle and blatant prejudice and the enforcement of workforce homogeneity on employment discrimination in an experimental simulation. German participants who were advised to maintain a homogeneous (i.e., German) workforce, as hypothesized, selected fewer foreign applicants for a job interview than did participants who did not receive this advice. An interaction qualified this main effect, such that subtly prejudiced participants reacted to the advice to maintain a homogeneous workforce, but blatantly prejudiced and nonprejudiced individuals did not. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.