Strong Attachment to Heroes: How Does It Occur and Affect People’s Self-Efficacy and Ultimately Quality of Life?

In spite of increasing evidence on the influence of heroes on the lives of ordinary people, there has been no formal study on the subject in relation to people’s attachment to a hero (or hero attachment). The current study proposed a consumer model to examine how a hero makes a positive impact on people’s lives in terms of their hero attachment, self-efficacy, and life satisfaction. Using observations from a survey, we examined both the direct and indirect effects that the contribution of a hero in people’s fundamental A-R-C (autonomy, relatedness, and competence) need fulfillment has on self-efficacy and ultimately on life satisfaction. We found that the impact of a hero in fulfilling the A-R-C needs has a direct, differential effect on self-efficacy and life satisfaction. More importantly, we found that the fulfillment of A-R-C needs by a hero significantly influences hero attachment, which in turn positively affects life satisfaction through self-efficacy. As the first empirical study on hero attachment in relation to people’s self-efficacy and life satisfaction, the study yields significant theoretical contributions and practical implications for practitioners and policy makers in the areas of public health, education, and quality of life.     

Symptom Expression and Somatization Among Elderly Korean Immigrants

In a study of expression of symptoms of somatization, depression, and other biopsychological conditions, 70 elderly Korean immigrants in the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area (35 who met the criteria for major depression and 35 who did not meet those criteria) were administered a Korean version of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Subjects who met the criteria for depression had the highest mean score on the BSI somatization dimension compared with other normative samples including a sample of psychiatric inpatients. A factor analysis of data from the BSI showed that for elderly Korean immigrants, a factor of somatization was identified that included the items from the original BSI obsessive-compulsive, somatization, and anxiety dimensions. Items loading on the somatization factor suggest that elderly Korean subjects experience body and mind as a unitary system and tend to communicate the distress associated with old age, cultural adjustment, and family and social changes through somatic symptoms.     

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults: Clinical issues. A report from the first NHS clinic in the UK

Since 1994 Maudsley hospital has offered the only NHS-service for adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the United Kingdom. This paper reports on the development of this service, initial referral patterns and assessment issues. Data from a comparison of the first 96 referrals to the clinic are summarized. ADHD patients were more likely to be young men in their early twenties, to have personality disorder and abused psychoactive substances. Developmental milestones were delayed in the ADHD group. Comorbid anxiety and depression were common in both the ADHD group and non-ADHD group. It is clear that with maturity many ADHD adults have complex problems, yet the need for clinical services for this group is not commonly recognized.     

Conceptualizing Creativity: General and Cultural Biases in Gough's Creative Personality Scale

This study analyzes the validity of Gough's Creative Personality Scale (CPS) for the Adjective Check List (ACL) by using 1773 Swiss, South Korean, and Mainland Chinese students as a sample. Four sources of potential bias were identified in Gough's CPS, two of which are general and two cultural in nature. The two general biases were investigated by conducting correlation analyses and evaluating alternative scoring methods for the CPS. As a result of the first bias, checking a large number of adjectives was found to be more important for achieving a high score than checking the relevant ones. Due to the second bias, the CPS score mostly depends on the number of positive adjectives checked while negative items have little impact. The two cultural biases were analyzed using an implicit version of the CPS (iCPS) and factor analysis. The latter revealed three different clusters of creativity type: exploratory‐type, socially responsible‐type, and intellectual‐type creativity. Based on cultural background, they are all weighted differently, causing a potential experiential bias in the CPS. Findings indicate that in South Korea and Mainland China socially responsible‐type creativity dominates whereas in Switzerland exploratory‐type creativity prevails. Findings from the iCPS suggest the second cultural bias, the socially desirable responding bias arising from differences in responding styles among the three cultures.     

Relationship Between the Supervisory Working Alliance and Outcomes: A Meta‐Analysis

This study investigated the relationships between the supervisory working alliance and supervision outcome variables using meta‐analysis. The authors reviewed 27 articles, dissertations, and theses published between 1990 and 2018. The authors used the MIX program to calculate the meta‐analyses. The results indicate that the supervisory working alliance is positively related to supervision outcome variables. Supervisees’ perceived relationship with the supervisor was positively related to the relationship with the client. This shows that the phenomenon of isomorphism is a repeated pattern in the relationships in supervision and counseling. The authors discuss the limitations and implications.     

The Effectiveness of Psychosocial Interventions Delivered by Teachers in Schools: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The growing mental health needs of students within schools have resulted in teachers increasing their involvement in the delivery of school-based, psychosocial interventions. Current research reports mixed findings concerning the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions delivered by teachers for mental health outcomes. This article presents a systematic review and meta-analysis that examined the effectiveness of school-based psychosocial interventions delivered by teachers on internalizing and externalizing outcomes and the moderating factors that influence treatment effects on these outcomes. Nine electronic databases, major journals, and gray literature (e.g., websites, conference abstract) were searched and field experts were contacted to locate additional studies. Twenty-four studies that met the study inclusion criteria were coded into internalizing or externalizing outcomes and further analyzed using robust variance estimation in meta-regression. Both publication and risk of bias of studies were further assessed. The results showed statistically significant reductions in students’ internalizing outcomes (d = .133, 95% CI [.002, .263]) and no statistical significant effect for externalizing outcomes (d = .15, 95% CI [?.037, .066]). Moderator analysis with meta-regression revealed that gender (%male, b = ?.017, p < .05), race (% Caucasian, b = .002, p < .05), and the tier of intervention (b = .299, p = .06) affected intervention effectiveness. This study builds on existing literature that shows that teacher-delivered Tier 1 interventions are effective interventions but also adds to this literature by showing that interventions are more effective with internalizing outcomes than on the externalizing outcomes. Moderator analysis also revealed treatments were more effective with female students for internalizing outcomes and more effective with Caucasian students for externalizing outcomes.     

A comparison of health disparities among transgender adults in Colorado (USA) by race and income

Transgender individuals face heightened risks for discrimination, harassment, and violence that impact their psychosocial well-being and physical health. However, few studies have thoroughly examined the general physical and mental health of transgender adults or within-group health differences by race/ethnicity and income. To that end, after controlling for health insurance status, age, and engagement in exercise, this study asks: (a) Are transgender people of color more likely than White transgender individuals to experience poor health outcomes? and (b) Is lower annual household income among transgender adults associated with poorer health outcomes? The study analyzes secondary data from a survey of transgender adults (N = 417) in one state in the western United States using multiple linear regression and logistic regression models. Results showed that transgender people of color had significantly greater odds than their White counterparts of having arthritis/rheumatoid arthritis/gout/lupus/fibromyalgia, or asthma but lower odds of being told by a provider that they had depression. Having a lower income was significantly associated with worse general health as well as multiple indicators of poor physical and mental health, including depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. We discuss implications for health care delivery for transgender people and for future research.     

Non‐ignorable missingness item response theory models for choice effects in examinee‐selected items

Examinee‐selected item (ESI) design, in which examinees are required to respond to a fixed number of items in a given set, always yields incomplete data (i.e., when only the selected items are answered, data are missing for the others) that are likely non‐ignorable in likelihood inference. Standard item response theory (IRT) models become infeasible when ESI data are missing not at random (MNAR). To solve this problem, the authors propose a two‐dimensional IRT model that posits one unidimensional IRT model for observed data and another for nominal selection patterns. The two latent variables are assumed to follow a bivariate normal distribution. In this study, the mirt freeware package was adopted to estimate parameters. The authors conduct an experiment to demonstrate that ESI data are often non‐ignorable and to determine how to apply the new model to the data collected. Two follow‐up simulation studies are conducted to assess the parameter recovery of the new model and the consequences for parameter estimation of ignoring MNAR data. The results of the two simulation studies indicate good parameter recovery of the new model and poor parameter recovery when non‐ignorable missing data were mistakenly treated as ignorable.     

Religious studies as a modern academic discipline in Korea

This article offers a historical and institutional overview of the discipline of religious studies in Korea. It first reviews four early sources of comparative studies: work by Christian missionaries; by Japanese scholars during the period of colonization by that nation; by nationalist Korean scholars who reacted against colonization; and by Korean Christian theologians. The founding of the Korean Association for the History of Religions (KAHR) in 1969 was a key point in the professionalization of the discipline. The field became more firmly established in the late 1980s and early 1990s and has diversified in recent years with a new generation of often foreign-trained scholars. The article ends with a brief discussion of potential contributions that the discipline could make to current debates of national significance.