Religious Beliefs Affect Grieving After Pregnancy Loss

Religious beliefs and practices may aid in coping with bereavement and grief after pregnancy loss. Data from 103 women enrolled in the original Lehigh Valley Perinatal Loss Project, and who were followed-up for at least 1 year, were evaluated for the impact of initial religious practices and beliefs on the course and severity of grief. Religious practices corresponding to standard scales of religiosity and agreement with specific beliefs were rated by the women on a Likert scale of 1–5. Neither agreement with statements corresponding to extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity or to positive religious coping, nor frequency of religious service attendance was predictive of follow-up scores on the Perinatal Grief Scale. Religious struggle, agreement with statements classified as negative religious coping, and continued attachment to the baby were all associated with more severe grief.     

Religiosity is an Important Part of Coping with Grief in Pregnancy After a Traumatic Second Trimester Loss

Women (n = 15) who were pregnant after a traumatic late pregnancy loss (termination because of fetal death or serious anomalies) completed psychometric screening tests and scales, including the Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS), the Impact of Event Scale (IES), the Duke Depression Inventory (DDI), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD), and the Hoge Scale for Intrinsic Religiosity (IR). Despite a mean elapsed time since the prior loss of 27 (range, 7–47) months, half (7/15, 47%) of the combined groups had high levels of grief on the PGS. Multiple positive scores on psychometric tests were frequent: Sixty percent (9/15) had high scores on the PGS Active Grief subscale or on the IES. Forty percent (6/15) had a high score on the DDI, and 17% (3/15) on the GAD. IR scores significantly and negatively correlated with scores on the Despair subscale of the PGS. The results from this pilot study suggest that high levels of grief and PTS symptoms are significant problems for pregnant women who have suffered late loss of a wanted pregnancy. Religiosity may play an important part in maternal coping during these stressful pregnancies.     

Psychotherapy for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) present unique challenges for psychotherapists. Those with autism, Asperger’s Disorder and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) show impairments in social communication and social relationships as well as unusual behavioral features that set them apart from peers. Further, individuals affected with autism spectrum disorders may experience anxiety, depression, obsessive–compulsive disorder and other psychiatric symptoms that can be distressing and, at times, disabling. At present, there is limited information regarding evidence-based approaches for addressing either core impairments of ASDs or associated conditions in a psychotherapy setting. Nevertheless, information about how persons with ASD experience their world and learn can provide clues about what interventions might be useful to assist them such that they can reach their fullest potential. From this standpoint, new or modified approaches to therapy can be tested and further refined to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the psychotherapeutic challenges and the most efficacious therapeutic approach to maximize functioning in this population.     

Are leader stereotypes masculine? A meta-analysis of three research paradigms

This meta-analysis examined the extent to which stereotypes of leaders are culturally masculine. The primary studies fit into 1 of 3 paradigms: (a) In Schein's (1973) think manager-think male paradigm, 40 studies with 51 effect sizes compared the similarity of male and leader stereotypes and the similarity of female and leader stereotypes; (b) in Powell and Butterfield's (1979) agency-communion paradigm, 22 studies with 47 effect sizes compared stereotypes of leaders' agency and communion; and (c) in Shinar's (1975) masculinity-femininity paradigm, 7 studies with 101 effect sizes represented stereotypes of leadership-related occupations on a single masculinity-femininity dimension. Analyses implemented appropriate random and mixed effects models. All 3 paradigms demonstrated overall masculinity of leader stereotypes: (a) In the think manager-think male paradigm, intraclass correlation = .25 for the women-leaders similarity and intraclass correlation = .62 for the men-leaders similarity; (b) in the agency-communion paradigm, g = 1.55, indicating greater agency than communion; and (c) in the masculinity-femininity paradigm, g = 0.92, indicating greater masculinity than the androgynous scale midpoint. Subgroup and meta-regression analyses indicated that this masculine construal of leadership has decreased over time and was greater for male than female research participants. In addition, stereotypes portrayed leaders as less masculine in educational organizations than in other domains and in moderate- than in high-status leader roles. This article considers the relation of these findings to Eagly and Karau's (2002) role congruity theory, which proposed contextual influences on the incongruity between stereotypes of women and leaders. The implications for prejudice against women leaders are also considered.     

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.     

Class specificity and the lexical encoding of participant information

It is commonly assumed across the language sciences that some semantic participant information is lexically encoded and some is not. In this article, we propose that semantic obligatoriness and verb class specificity are criteria which influence whether semantic information is lexically encoded. We present a comprehensive survey of the English verbal lexicon and two continuation studies which confirm that both factors play a role in the lexical encoding of participant information.     

De-confusing the THOG problem: the Pythagorean solution.

Sources of facilitation for Needham and Amado's (1995) Pythagoras version of Wason's THOG problem were systematically examined in three experiments with 174 participants. Although both the narrative structure and figural notation used in the Pythagoras problem independently led to significant facilitation (40-50% correct), pairing hypothesis generation with either factor or pairing the two factors together was found to be necessary to obtain substantial facilitation (> 50% correct). Needham and Amado's original finding for the complete Pythagoras problem was also replicated. These results are discussed in terms of the "confusion theory" explanation for performance on the standard THOG problem. The possible role of labelling as a de-confusing factor in other versions of the THOG problem and the implications of the present findings for human reasoning are also considered.