The good,the bad (and the ugly): The role of curiosity in subjective well‐being and risky behaviors among adolescents

Previous studies have shown that enhanced trait curiosity has positive influence on well‐being. It remains an open question, however, whether curiosity has any detrimental effects on behavioral outcomes in adolescence. The main aim of this research was to investigate the role of trait curiosity in the prediction of risky behavior engagement and subjective well‐being (SWB) among adolescents. A total of 371 Serbian adolescents (mean age 15.5, SD = 0.57) participated in the 5‐month follow up study. The results showed that the embracing component of curiosity (but not stretching) predicted risky behavior engagement, while the stretching component of curiosity (but not embracing) predicted positive affect. In addition, neither embracing nor stretching was a significant predictor of negative affect and life satisfaction. The results of this study call into question the conceptualization of curiosity as a completely positive emotional‐motivational system, and suggest that curiosity can contribute to negative outcomes in adolescence.     

Trauma and Religiousness

Victims of traumatic events who experience re-traumatization often develop a highly ambivalent relationship to God and all religiosity as extremely conflictual. On the one hand, they may choose to blame God for not having protected them, for having left them to feel so alone, for having been indifferent to them or they may even turn their wrath upon God, as the source of cruelty. Often though, the traumas experienced by individuals prompt them to turn to God and religion in search of help. This gives reason for the need of new and up-to-date research that can help elucidate why some people choose to seek help in religion and others turn away from it.     

When Less is More: A Short Version of the Personal Optimism Scale and the Self-Efficacy Optimism Scale

The past few years have seen increased theoretical and applied research on the relations between constructs related to positive expectations. However, instruments capable of distinguishing positive expectancy constructs are still lacking. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the 18-item Personal Optimism Scale and Self-Efficacy Optimism Scale. Two student samples from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia were recruited for the present research, with a total of 728 participants. The results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses did not support the theoretically expected structure. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis and content validity support shortening the scale to 9 items. The short versions of the scales demonstrated adequate reliability in internal consistency and adequate concurrent and convergent validity by significant correlations with dispositional optimism, general self-efficacy, hope, resilience and subjective well-being. The analyses lead us to conclude that a shorter 4-item Personal Optimism Scale and a 5-item Self-Efficacy Optimism Scale provide a clear, precise measures of two types of positive expectations. The authors argue that the limitations of the original scales emanate from their vague theoretical-substantive validity, and call for future research to replicate these findings.     

Proactive Coping as a Mediator Between Resources and Outcomes: A Structural Equations Modeling Analysis

Proactive coping is a recent construct in the field of positive psychology. It refers to the efforts aimed at building general forces to facilitate the path toward challenging goals and personal growth. The current study adopted a theoretical model of proactive coping as a mediator of resources with positive and negative outcomes. Our aim was to examine two separate models with satisfaction with life and depression as the proposed outcomes of proactive coping. The proposed models presumed direct relationships between self-efficacy, optimism and social support with life satisfaction or depression, as well as indirect paths through proactive coping. We administered a set of questionnaires that consisted of demographic data, the Proactive Coping Scale, the General Self-efficacy Scale, the Life Orientation Test-Revised, the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Data were obtained from a sample of high school graduates (N?=?485, age 17 to 19, 174 males and 311 females). Our analyses confirmed presumed direct and indirect relationships between resources and outcomes. The results showed that the data fit well in the model with life satisfaction as an outcome, while the data did not fit well in the model with depression as an outcome. A subsequent model was formed in which satisfaction with life was used as a full mediator between proactive coping and depression; this model provided a good fit to the data. Theoretical implications, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.     

Between ideology and pragmatism: polemic on the civil rights of Christians in the socialist Slovenia of the 1970s

In this article I discuss the controversy concerning the rights of believers which developed among younger theologians, some laymen and some representatives of the faithful on the one hand, and communist politicians and Marxist theorists on the other, in Slovenia in the 1970s. In comparison with other socialist countries, the level of religious freedoms in multireligious Yugoslavia was relatively high; the same can be said about the country’s relations with the Holy See, with which diplomatic relations at the highest level were restored in 1970. The controversy opened key questions about the relationship between Marxism and atheism under Yugoslav self-management socialism and touched some of the basic ideological postulates on which the League of Communists (LC) built its social engagement. Demands for greater equality for believers were rejected as unfounded in the vast majority of cases and did not trigger a change in the established understanding of religion by the ruling communist party. However, the awareness of everyday discrimination against believers in their public life spread amongst the younger generation of more liberal-oriented communist leaders. At a time when the Yugoslav party was preparing for the difficult period following the imminent death of President Tito and in this period was counting on the loyalty of believers, communist leaders were willing to condemn the most outstanding examples of ‘sectarianism’, of which there was no scarcity in the ranks of the LC, while at the same time a change in programming principles in regard to religion remained out of the question. The prevailing conviction remained that religion would die out of its own accord, but that in the meantime it was necessary to ensure full equality for nonbelievers and believers alike.     

Readiness to accept Western standard of beauty and body satisfaction among Muslim girls with and without hijab

The purpose of this paper was to determine whether there is a difference in the readiness to accept Western standards of beauty in which thinness is an ideal of beauty and attractiveness, as well in body and appearance satisfaction between Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and dressing in accordance with tradition, that is to say wearing hijab, and Muslim adolescent girls who do not wear hijab and who follow contemporary Western‐influenced fashion trends. Both of these groups were also compared to a non‐Muslim group of adolescent girls. The sample consisted of 75 Muslim adolescent girls with hijab, 75 Muslim adolescent girls without hijab and 75 Orthodox adolescent girls. The following instruments were used: the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT‐26), the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ‐3) and the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS). The highest level of body satisfaction (despite this group having the highest body weight in the sample) was evident among Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and wearing hijab. They also showed significantly less pressure to attain the Western thin‐ideal standards of beauty than adolescent girls who accept Western way of dressing. Research results indicate a significant role of socio‐cultural factors in one's attitude towards the body image, but also opens the question of the role of religion as a protective factor when it comes to the body and appearance attitude among Muslim women who wear hijab.     

Is Objective Consequentialism Compatible with the Principle that “Ought” Implies “Can”?

Some philosophers hold that objective consequentialism is false because it is incompatible with the principle that “ought” implies “can”. Roughly speaking, objective consequentialism is the doctrine that you always ought to do what will in fact have the best consequences. According to the principle that “ought” implies “can”, you have a moral obligation to do something only if you can do that thing. Frances Howard-Snyder has used an innovative thought experiment to argue that sometimes you cannot do what will in fact have the best consequences because you do not know what will in fact have the best consequences. Erik Carlson has raised two objections against Howard-Snyder’s argument. This paper examines Howard-Snyder’s argument as well as Carlson’s objections, arguing that Carlson’s objections do not go through but Howard-Snyder’s argument fails nonetheless. Moreover, this paper attempts to show that objective consequentialism and other objectivist moral theories are compatible with the principle that “ought” implies “can”. Finally, this paper analyses a special kind of inability: ignorance-induced inability.