Childhood Parental Death and Lifetime Suicide Attempt of the Opposite‐Gender Offspring in a Nationwide Community Sample of Korea

Although previous studies have shown that childhood parental death influences suicide attempts of their offspring, few studies have examined influence of gender and age at exposure. Koreans show the third highest suicide rate in the world, and many children and adolescents lost their parents during and after the Korean War. A total of 12,532 adults, randomly selected through a one‐person‐per‐household method, completed the Korean version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and questionnaire for suicidal ideation, plan, and attempt (response rate 80.2%). A total of 2,332 subjects experienced biological parental death in childhood (18.6%). Male suicide attempts were associated with age of exposure to maternal death from 0 to 4 years (adjusted OR = 4.48, 95% CI 1.32–15.18) and from 5 to 9 years (adjusted OR = 5.52, 95% CI 1.97–16.46), but not with paternal death, after adjusting for age, education years, marital status, monthly income, and psychiatric comorbidities. Female suicide attempts were associated with paternal death from 5 to 9 years (adjusted OR = 2.20, 95% CI 1.13–4.27), but not with maternal death. Childhood parental death is significantly associated with lifetime suicide attempt in the opposite‐gender offspring, especially when exposure occurs before age 10.     

Treating the Capability for Suicide: A Vital and Understudied Frontier in Suicide Prevention

Current efforts at suicide prevention center largely on reducing suicidal desire among individuals hospitalized for suicidality or being treated for related psychopathology. Such efforts have yielded evidence‐based treatments, and yet the national suicide rate has continued to climb. We propose that this disconnect is heavily influenced by an unmet need to consider population‐level interventions aimed at reducing the capability for suicide. Drawing on lessons learned from other public health phenomena that have seen drastic declines in frequency in recent decades (HIV, lung cancer, motor vehicle accidents), we propose that current suicidality treatment efforts trail current suicidality theories in their lack of focus on the extent to which individuals thinking about suicide are capable of transitioning from ideation to attempt. We summarize extant evidence for specific capability‐centered approaches (e.g., means safety) and propose other options for improving our ability to address this largely overlooked variable. We also note that population‐level approaches in this regard would represent an important opportunity to decrease risk in individuals who either lack access to evidence‐based care or underreport suicidal ideation, as a reduced capability for suicide would theoretically diminish the potency of suicidal desire and, in this sense, lower the odds of a transition from ideation to attempt.     

Race/Ethnic Differences in Social Resources as Cognitive Risk and Protective Factors

Overall social network size, often the sum of common lifetime relationships, including children, family, and friends, has been linked to cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease. However, little research has examined the association between network size composition and cognitive function in middle-aged and older adults in the context of race/ethnicity. We investigated the associations between the number of close children, family, and friends independently with executive function (EF) and memory across a subsample of non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White participants who completed the Health and Retirement Study Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (N = 2,395). We found that network size composition was more closely linked to EF than memory and that these associations varied by race/ethnicity. Specifically, the strongest associations existed between EF and quadratic estimates of the number of close children of non-Hispanic Black participants, and number of close family members for Hispanic participants. Among Black participants, a curvilinear relationship indicated that two close children were associated with greater EF, while a smaller or larger number of close children were associated with lower EF. On the other hand, among Hispanic participants, higher EF was associated with fewer (0–1) and greater (4-5+) numbers of family member contacts. Overall, these results indicate that examining children, family, and friends independently may be more useful than the common practice of aggregation of overall network size, especially in the context of race/ethnicity.     

Psychosocial–Environmental Risk Factors for Suicide Attempts in Adolescents with Suicidal Ideation: Findings from a Sample of 73,238 Adolescents

We determined risk factors that discriminate between suicide attempt (SA) adolescents and suicidal ideation only (SI only) adolescents using data from the 2010 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web‐based Survey (12–19 years; N = 73,238). In males, heavy alcohol use, drug use, and high perceived sadness/hopelessness showed significant effects on the presence of SA versus the presence of SI only. In females, along with these variables, low academic achievement, poor perceived health status, high perceived stress, and unhealthy coping strategy were also significantly related to the presence of SA versus SI only. Therefore, clinical interventions targeting adolescents' psychological distress are warranted to prevent suicide.     

做新时代自觉遵守民法典的穆斯林

《中华人民共和国民法典》于2021年1月1日起实施,这对所有中国公民都是一大喜讯。作为新中国成立以来第一部以"法典"命名的法律,民法典的颁布和实施具有划时代的意义。民法典被誉为社会生活的百科全书,是一个国家经济社会发展的真实写照,也是一个民族精神文化的集中体现。习近平总书记强调:"民法典要实施好,就必须让民法典走到群众身边、走进群众心里。"所以,穆斯林要积极参与民法典的贯彻和实施。     

Drive and Direction: Empathy with Intended Targets Moderates the Proactive Personality–Job Performance Relationship via Work Engagement

Proactive employees are self-starting and driven. Thus, they typically exhibit high levels of work engagement. While work engagement reflects the degree to which employees are attentive and absorbed when performing their work tasks, it does not guarantee effective job performance unless their actions are strategic. We draw on Grant and Ashford’s (2008) proactivity framework to develop a drive and direction contingency model that expands our understanding of how and when proactive personality predicts job performance via work engagement. We argue that employee’s drive (represented by the positive relation of proactive personality with work engagement) predicts job performance only when the employee also has high (vs. low) empathy with their intended targets, such as customers. Empathy with intended targets allows employees to understand and feel their targets’ concerns and feelings, thus providing a direction that guides their work engagement to address their targets’ interests and predict job performance. Results from a multiple-source (employees, supervisors, and organizational records) lagged (T1–T2) field study and a lab experiment support our model. We discuss the implications, limitations, and future directions of our findings.     

积极推进宗教与法治的研究

自人类社会进入文明时代以来,宗教与政治就结下了不解之缘。从古到今,无论是我们不愿意看到的神权政治或世界上屡屡发生的恐怖事件,还是我们倍加赞赏的个人修身养性或社会慈善事业,宗教总是以这样或那样的方式与政治纠缠在一起,总是以这样或那样的方式形成某种互动。宗教与政治的互动,涉及到政治生活的各个层面,也涉及到宗教生活的不同层面。不同层面的互动在关系性质、作用力度、运作模式等方面各有不同,而且还要考虑到不同时代、不同国家、不同的文化传统等因素,这就使我们认识到宗教与政治的互动是在十分复杂的历史过程中进行的。“宗教…     

论经学与汉代"受命"论的诠释

汉武帝"独尊儒术"后,在政治理论上的一个最突出的变化,就是经学"受命"论的确立.根据董仲舒等人的诠释,汉代"受命"论的内容主要有两个方面:一是"受命"而王所应具有的种种标志和象征,如黄龙、麒麟、凤凰、甘露、朱草、灵芝等,这就是所谓"祥瑞"或"符瑞";二是当"受命"之君出现某些过失时,"上天"所采取的种种"警诫"和"谴告",如天变、灾害等,亦即所谓"灾异".汉代"受命"理论的确立,不仅圆满解决了汉王朝如何继统的法理性问题,而且标志着经学所推崇的"汤武革命"学说已为人们所认同,但同时它也是一把让汉王朝感到惴惴不安的双刃剑.