Mental health issues among clergy and other religious professionals: a review of research

The authors reviewed the literature on mental health issues among clergy and other religious professionals, using electronic searches of databases of medical (Medline), nursing (CINAHL), psychology (PsycINFO), religious (ATLA), and sociological research (Sociofile). The existing research indicates the Protestant clergy report higher levels of occupational stress than Catholic priests, brothers, or sisters. Catholic sisters repeatedly reported the lowest work-related stress, whereas women rabbis reported the highest stress levels in various studies. Occupational stress appears to be a source of family stress among Protestant clergy--a factor which clergy and their spouses believe the denominational leadership should address. High levels of stress also have been found to be associated with sexual misconduct among clergy. The authors make several recommendations based on these and other findings they report in their review.     

Cross-modality attentional blinks without preparatory task-set switching

When two masked targets (T1 and T2), both requiring attention, are presented within half a second of each other, report of the second target is poor, demonstrating an attentional blink (AB). Potter, Chun, Banks, and Muckenhoupt (1998) argued that all previous demonstrations of an AB occurring when one or more targets were presented outside the visual modality did not represent true AB but were, instead, artifactual, resulting from switching of task set. In the present experiments, T1 and T2 modalities were independent and varied randomly from trial to trial, allowing no useful preparatory task-set switching from T1 to T2. However, reliable ABs were observed when both targets were visual, when both targets were auditory, and cross-modally when T2s were visual. Furthermore, the ABs observed for crossmodality visual T2s showed the characteristic U-shaped pattern often found in AB experiments in which two visual targets are used—a pattern that should not be observed under task-set switching conditions. These results provide evidence that cross-modality AB can be found under conditions that do not allow useful preparatory task-set switching.     

Teaching history and systems from a clinical perspective

There is a need to make the teaching of the history and systems of psychology course more relevant for students in professional training programs. Most typical courses and textbooks are oriented around the history of the science of psychology, giving scant and generally passing attention to the development of the profession of psychology. The author draws on his experience teaching a history and systems course in PsyD programs and provides a structure for enhancing the relevancy of such courses in professional training programs. Two frameworks are used. The author develops a conceptualization of 4 archetypes as defining of the range of roles, activities, contexts, and justification of professional psychologists: (a) the shaman/priest, (b) the physician, (c) the teacher, and (d) the scientist. Stephen Pepper's (1942) world hypothesis theory, which characterizes the epistemic approaches underlying modern science and philosophy, is used to organize the development of the science of psychology. The integration of these 2 frameworks is discussed, and the circular modifications that flow from it are outlined.     

An evaluation of the quantity and quality of empirical research in three pastoral care and counseling journals, 1990-1999: has anything changed?

This article summarizes a review of all articles published in Pastoral Psychology, The Journal of Rleigion and Health, and The Journal of Pastoral Care between 1900 and 1999, identifying a total of 737 scholarly articles, of which 165 (22.4%) were research studies. The proportion of research studies, especially quantitative studies, increased significantly between the first and second half of the study period (p < .05). There was a significant positive correlation between compliance with three out of four criteria of internal validity. Three of five criteria of external validity were also positively related to one another. Compared to previous research using identical criteria to assess quantitative studies in the same journals in 1980-1989, the 1990-1999 sample showed improved compliance with respect to specifying the sampling method (p < .001), reporting the response rate (p < .05), and discussing the limitations of research studies (p < .001). However, the overall findings suggest that many researchers in the field do not have a sophisticated knowledge of statistical sampling, statistical analysis, or research design. Several recommendations for increasing the quality of quantitative research are offered.     

How children and adolescents spend time across the world: work, play, and developmental opportunities

The authors review studies on time use of children and adolescents around the world and discuss developmental implications of population differences. Industrialization and schooling are linked to dramatic declines in time spent on household and wage labor. This labor is often unchallenging, sometimes hazardous; developmental benefits often do not increase above a limited number of hours; hence, reduction in these activities opens time for activities that may be more developmentally beneficial. Adolescents in East Asian postindustrial societies spend this freed-up time in schoolwork, a use associated with lower intrinsic motivation but high achievement and economic productivity. Adolescents in North America spend more time in leisure, associated with greater self-direction but of an uncertain relation to development. Age, gender, and socioeconomic differences in activities and with whom time is spent are also considered.     

Toward an Evolutionary History of Female Sociosexual Variation

ABSTRACT Considerable progress has been made in behavioral genetics toward providing theoretical accounts of individual differences One theoretical task, however, has been largely neglected—that of constructing evolutionary accounts of behaviorally relevant genetic variance We attempt to address this task with respect to the genetic variance underlying sociosexuality, that is, the differences in the implicit prerequisites (in terms of time, attachment, commitment, etc) to entering a sexual relationship Specifically, we argue that genetic variance on this trait for females could have been maintained through frequency-dependent selection In our evolutionary past, restricted females-those who require relatively more time, attachment, and commitment-could have benefited through paternal investment in their offspring Unrestricted females—those who require relatively less time, attachment, and commitment—could have benefited through the quality of their mate's genes passed on to their sons Moreover, the value of these alternate „strategies” could have been frequency-dependent One prediction that follows from this evolutionary history is tested and supported in three studies Those females genetically predisposed to be unrestricted are found to produce relatively more sons than females predisposed to be restricted Additional predictions are offered and alternative accounts are discussed     

Cross-sectional studies of personality in a national sample: 2. Stability in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) Epidemiologic Followup Study were used to examine age differences in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience. Cross-sectional analyses of data from 10,063 respondents showed that older subjects were slightly lower in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness; that age trends were not curvilinear; and that there were no differences in personality scores that might be attributable to a mild-life crisis or transition. Comparison with data from 654 participants in the Augmented Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (ABLSA) showed that the ABLSA sample was lower in extraversion and higher in openness than the national sample, although the differences were small in magnitude. Results were interpreted to mean that sampling and attrition in this longitudinal sample did not seriously bias results on these personality variables, and that cross-sectional findings from a large probability sample support the conclusion that personality is predominantly stable in adulthood.     

Ropressive Coping Style and the Experience and Recall of Emotion: A Naturalistic Study of Daily Affect

ABSTRACT Research shows that people characterized as repressors display inhibited recall for unpleasant memories. In this study, the relationship between repressive coping style and the recall of affect near the time of the experience was compared to delayed recall. An experience sampling technique was used to collect affect data twice daily for 4 weeks. Repressive coping style was found to be related to low levels of average daily unpleasant affect and lowered delayed recall of unpleasant affect. Unlike repressors, high anxious individuals overestimated unpleasant affect during delayed recall. Repressors did not exhibit isolation of the dominant unpleasant affect from nondominant unpleasant affect in daily reporting. The overall pattern of results suggests that the effect of repressive coping style is to diminish the encoding of all unpleasant affect, whereas trait anxiety appears to promote overestimation in the recall of unpleasant affect.