Spiritual Struggles and Mental Health: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Religious Identity

Although many studies have explored the salutary associations between multiple dimensions of religiousness and psychological well-being, a smaller body of work has focused on the links between spiritual struggles and negative mental health outcomes. Two types of spiritual struggles have received considerable attention in this literature: divine struggles, or troubled relationships with God, and struggles with belief, or religious doubts. Using data from a nationwide online survey of U.S. adults conducted in 2006, our study investigated links between these types of spiritual struggles and four aspects of psychopathology: depressed affect, anxiety, phobic anxiety, and somatization. In particular, we tested the hypothesis that these links vary according to religious identity, such that individuals who identify themselves as highly religious—and therefore are likely to be most invested in their roles as religious persons—experience the strongest negative effects of spiritual struggles, in comparison with persons who identify themselves as moderately religious, or not religious at all. Findings supported this overall hypothesis. The article concludes by noting several study limitations and identifying promising directions for further research.     

Psychometric Examination of the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality Among College Students

Resurgent interest in the relations between religiousness/spirituality (R/S) and health is evident in the scientific literature but much of the research fails to capture the proposed multidimensional nature of R/S. This problematic situation is compounded by the existence of a plethora of measures mostly lacking substantial empirical or even theoretical support. The Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS) was developed to address measurement confusion by providing a standard instrument for researchers investigating the dimensions of R/S relevant to health. Psychometric properties and factor structure of the BMMRS were investigated in a sample of 374 college students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested a seven-factor structure for the BMMRS. Preliminary construct validity for the instrument was demonstrated. These findings generally support those of previous studies and suggest that the modified BMMRS is a viable multifactor measure of R/S for use with young adults.     

Multimodally specified energy expenditure and action-based distance judgments

Previous research has demonstrated that perceived self-motion can be manipulated by the relation between optic flow rate and walking rate. Other studies have revealed that verbal reports of perceived distance are influenced by the energy that would be expended to traverse the distance in question. In an effort to integrate these findings, we investigated how action-based distance judgments are influenced by multimodally specified energy expenditure (MSEE)—the metabolic cost associated with traversing an optically specified distance—using a virtual-reality treadmill environment. The energy expenditure associated with walking, measured as the volume of oxygen consumed, was manipulated by changing treadmill speed or grade. Optically specified distance was manipulated by changing the virtual optic flow rate. All three manipulations of MSEE (walking rate, grade, and optic flow rate) influenced distance reports in the predicted directions and to equivalent degrees.     

A Mind-Body Approach to Domestic Violence Perpetrator Treatment: Program Overview and Preliminary Outcomes

Conventional interventions with perpetrators of domestic violence are marginally effective. Given these results, researchers and practitioners are beginning to focus on identifying ways to improve domestic violence treatment outcomes. This article describes how a rural state-sponsored domestic violence offender program utilizes a treatment approach known as Mind-Body Bridging to help its clients overcome their abusive behaviors. Preliminary findings from an ongoing outcome study are also reported. According to these findings, the program has a high completion rate coupled with a low recidivism rate. Ninety-three percent (82 of 88) of the clients who have participated in this program completed the program, and just 7%?(6 of 82) of those who completed the program reoffended during the follow-up period, which ranged from 9 to 27 months.     

On the Failure to Detect Changes in Scenes Across Brief Interruptions

When brief blank fields are placed between alternating displays of an original and a modified scene, a striking failure of perception is induced: The changes become extremely difficult to notice, even when they are large, presented repeatedly, and the observer expects them to occur (Rensink, O'Regan, & Clark, 1997). To determine the mechanisms behind this induced “change blindness”, four experiments examine its dependence on initial preview and on the nature of the interruptions used. Results support the proposal that representations at the early stages of visual processing are inherently volatile, and that focused attention is needed to stabilize them sufficiently to support the perception of change.     

Capacity limitations and representational shifts in spatial short-term memory

Performance was examined in a task requiring the reconstruction of spatial locations. Previous research suggests that it may be necessary to differentiate between memory for smaller and larger numbers of locations (Postma & DeHaan, 1996), at least when locations are presented simultaneously (Igel & Harvey, 1991). Detailed analyses of the characteristics of performance showed that such a differentiation might also be required for sequential presentation. Furthermore the slope of the function relating each successive response to accuracy was greater with 3 than with 6, 8, or 10 locations that did not differ. Participants also reconstructed the arrays as being more proximal than in fact they were; sequential presentation eliminated this distortion when there were three but not when there were more than three locations. These results support the idea that very small numbers of locations are remembered using a specific form of representation, which is unavailable to larger numbers of locations.     

Modulation of reflexive orienting to gaze direction by facial expressions

Facial expression and gaze perception are thought to share brain mechanisms but behavioural interactions, especially from gaze-cueing paradigms, are inconsistent. We conducted a series of gaze-cueing studies using dynamic facial cues to examine orienting across different emotional expression and task conditions, including face inversion. Across experiments, at a short stimulus–onset asynchrony (SOA) we observed both an expression effect (i.e., faster responses when the face was emotional versus neutral) and a cue validity effect (i.e., faster responses when the target was gazed-at), but no interaction between validity and emotion. Results from face inversion suggest that the emotion effect may have been due to both facial expression and stimulus motion. At longer SOAs, validity and emotion interacted such that cueing by emotional faces, fearful faces in particular, was enhanced relative to neutral faces. These results converge with a growing body of evidence that suggests that gaze and expression are initially processed independently and interact at later stages to direct attentional orienting.     

Some Reasons for Distinguishing Between “Non-normative Response” and “Irrational Decision”

Three concerns that limit the implications of normative decision research were described in this study. First, because there is no unequivocal way to determine whether any particular base rate is appropriate in a particular instance, the significance of the apparent base rate underutilization reported by a number of investigators is unclear. Second, because there are discrepancies between natural language and formal logic, word problems are an uncertain domain within which to gauge human inferential skills. Third, because different people will have different strategies and preferences, no single solution may be correct or optimal for all persons. In light of these limitations, a more functional approach to decision interpretation is discussed.