Recovering the Lost: Remeasuring U.S. Religious Affiliation

Over the past several decades, survey research has found a growing percentage of Americans claiming no religious affiliation. In this article, we introduce a modified religious traditions (RELTRAD) typology to measure religious affiliation. The approach benefits from a more detailed data collection and coding scheme of religious tradition based upon religious family, denomination, and congregation. Using new national survey data from the Baylor Religion Survey, we find: (1) improvement to survey design and measurement makes it possible to accurately locate more Americans within established religious traditions; (2) Americans remain connected to congregations, but less so to denominations or more generic religious identity labels; and (3) religious adherents are considerably more evangelical than prior studies have found. Finally, we consider how affiliation as a form of religious belonging relates to religious beliefs and behaviors.     

The NNPI: in sickness or in health

The much-maligned personality inventory is further maligned in this article by two authors who claim to have some expertise in the area of test development. This claim may or may not be substantiated by the fact that one author received his degree in water-skiing and the other received his degree in ceramics. The authors request that any correspondence regarding comments or criticisms of this article be sent to them in a plain brown wrapper.     

Shame proneness and intimate relations in Mainland China

Using dyadic data from 200 young adult couples (aged 18–31 years) in Mainland China, this study evaluated associations between shame proneness, intimate partner attachment, adaptive interactions, and relationship satisfaction. Results demonstrated that shame proneness was directly associated with more insecure attachment to the partner (anxious and avoidant dimensions) and less adaptive interactions (operationalized by variables assessing constructive problem solving and negative interactions) and indirectly with lower relationship satisfaction for male and female partners. While shame is a highly valued emotion in Confucian cultures, shame proneness may be a liability for modern‐day intimate relations.