The Work Environment Scale and the Ward Atmosphere Scale (short forms): psychometric data

Alpha coefficients of internal consistency for the Short Forms of the Work Environment Scale and Ward Atmosphere Scale, their major dimensions and their subscales are presented. Although some exceptions were noted, the indices reported here attest to the adequate reliability of the short forms of the two scales, which was previously documented for the unabridged forms. The few exceptions are hypothesized to be attributable to either sampling error or the fact that each factor is comprised of only 4 items. The need for further reliability testing of these short forms is emphasized.     

Religiosity and adolescents' premarital sexual attitudes and behaviour: an empirical study of conceptual issues

A review of the literature concerning the relationship between religiosity and premarital sexual attitudes and behavior revealed inconsistencies in research findings and problems with methodology and operationalization of variables. A postal questionnaire to 527 16-18 year olds examined the associations between 6 models of religiosity (religious upbringing, denominational affiliation, ritual/behavioral, self-attitude/self-schema, and salience of religious identity) and personal sexual standards, attitudes towards sexually active others, virginal status, anticipation of sexual intercourse, and frequency of both coitus and noncoital sexual experiences over the previous year. A negative relationship between religiosity and a number of sexual attitudes and behaviors was observed, though nonsignificant relationships in the case of sexual experiences without intercourse suggested the maintenance of a technical virginity to accord with religious precepts. There was also some evidence that Catholic adolescents were more likely to be sexually active than non-Catholics when current religiosity was controlled for. The results lent strongest support to models which implicated self-conception either in terms of self-attitudes/self-schemas or the salience of religious identity. Implications of the study and suggestions for future research are outlined.     

Temperament and behaviour problems in children: A multilevel analysis of cross-cultural differences

Early temperament attributes have been linked to emerging behaviour problems and significant long-term consequences; however, these relations are rarely examined cross-culturally. The present study addresses this gap, employing multilevel modelling to explain within- and between-culture variances with respect to temperament predicting a spectrum of behaviour problems across 14 nations from the Joint Effort Toddler Temperament Consortium (JETTC). A total of 865 children between 17 and 40 months, with approximately equal age distribution across this developmental period and about equivalent representation of genders, were recruited from 14 nations. Greater negative emotionality was associated with more internalizing problems, whereas higher surgency and effortful control predicted fewer internalizing difficulties. Controlling for age and gender, temperament explained significant within- and between-culture variances in internalizing and externalizing problems (at the broad-band and fine-grained levels), as well as sleep problems. For internalizing difficulties, temperament accounted for more between-culture variance. In contrast, for externalizing difficulties, temperament accounted more for how individuals within the same culture differed from their same-culture counterparts. The within-culture findings suggest universal patterns of temperament-problem relations, informing cultural adaptation of interventions; between-culture findings enhance understanding of the implications of the cultural niche for normative behaviour and adjustment.     

Philosophy and Laughter: Introductory Notes

Until recently, few philosophers worked on laughter, and it was typically viewed negatively. However, the last four decades have witnessed a significant increase in philosophical writings about and positive views of laughter. This introductory paper attempts to show that, in line with this development, contributions to this special issue explore various fresh theoretical, thematic, historical, and critical aspects of laughter and its relation to philosophy. These contributions can be divided roughly into two intersecting groups, with one group focused on the theoretical, thematic, and historical exploration of laughter, and the other on critical social and moral issues of laughter. They demonstrate how laughter matters to philosophers as a serious philosophical subject, and they take care to distinguish objectionable types of laughter from its constructive uses as social and moral critique and facilitator.     

Psychological maladjustment mediates the link between remembrances of parental rejection in childhood and loneliness in adulthood: A cross-cultural comparative study

Drawing stimulus from interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory, this multicultural study examined relations between men's versus women's remembrances of maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection in childhood and their current level of loneliness, as mediated by adults' self-reported psychological maladjustment. Adults (N = 899) from five nations (Iraq, Italy, the Netherlands, Pakistan, and the United States) responded to the Adult version of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire-short form for mothers and fathers, the Adult version of the Personality Assessment Questionnaire-short form, and the Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection Loneliness Scale. Adults' remembrances of maternal and paternal rejection in childhood significantly and independently predicted feelings of loneliness but remembered paternal rejection was more strongly related to these feelings than were remembrances of maternal rejection. Psychological maladjustment fully mediated the effect of remembered maternal rejection but only partially mediated the effect of remembered paternal rejection on loneliness. There were no significant differences in these results across the five countries or genders. Overall, the results suggest that adults' remembrances of parental rejection in childhood—along with the theoretically expected development of psychological maladjustment—are likely to be associated panculturally with the experience of loneliness in adulthood.     

Two New Successive Addition Arguments

One of William Lane Craig's key arguments for the finitude of the past is the Successive Addition Argument (SAA). Malpass (2021) has recently developed a novel challenge to the SAA, utilising a thought experiment from the work of Fred Dretske, which is meant to show that it is possible to count to infinity, to argue that there is a counterexample to the SAA's second premise. In this paper, I contend that the Malpass-Dretske counterexample should not worry advocates of the SAA. First, I argue that one objection Malpass considers—the Potential Infinite Objection—reveals an interesting fact: the SAA's second premise is unnecessarily strong and can be weakened whilst still yielding the same conclusion. Second, I show how another one of the objections considered by Malpass—the Accumulation Objection—is successful, provided some clarification to the SAA's premises. The upshot of both analyses is that we generate two ‘new’ Successive Addition arguments that not only move the dialectic forward, but shed light on deeper assumptions and motivating intuitions concerning the Kalām.     

Balancing the family and the collective in raising children: why communal sleeping in kibbutzim was predestined to end

This article integrates research data about attachment in kibbutz-raised children with a review of the socio-historical processes that shaped the interrelations between the kibbutz family and the collective and influenced childrearing practices. It uses systems theory to evaluate the changing practices of kibbutz childrearing with particular focus on communal sleeping for infants and children away from their parents, and its impact on the formation of attachment relations to parents and caregivers, transmission of attachment across generations, and later school competence. It argues that artificial childrearing practices such as communal sleeping for infants and children created a unique and unprecedented "social experiment in nature," which, from the perspective of attachment theory, was predestined to be discontinued because it betrayed the essential attachment needs of most parents and children.