Religiosity and Mental Health: A Meta–Analysis of Recent Studies

A meta–analysis was performed in an attempt to clarify the proposed relationship between religiosity and psychological adjustment. Specific focus was given to the issue of definition, namely, whether differences in researchers' conceptualizations of religiosity and mental health could account for the various contradictory findings by psychologists of religion. Analysis of 34 studies conducted during the past 12 years revealed that the definitions of religiosity and mental health utilized by psychologists in this field were indeed associated with different types and strengths of the correlations between religiosity and mental health. Discussion of results assesses the fit between relevant theory and the pattern of change in effect size across categories of religion and adjustment, and concludes with implications for therapeutic uses of religious involvement.     

Parents of the Battered Child: A Multidisciplinary Group Therapy Approach to Life-Threatening Behavior

ABSTRACT: This paper reports the demographic findings and the experience of a three-year, multidisciplinary group psychotherapy program, with 31 child-abusing families. No predictive demographic characteristics were identified. The abuse of children ranged from mild bruising to severe brain damage and multiple fractures. Group therapy as an intervention procedure had its successes and failures. The dynamics of male-female co-therapists, the peer group sharing, and the capacity to ultimately verbalize inadequacies in the parenting role were crucial factors in therapy. As an experiential encounter the study gives a poignant insight into the personal and family pathology of parents who abuse their children.     

The effects of exposure duration and practice on the immediate memory spans of children and adults

Immediate memory spans for alphabetic items were determined for second-grade, fifth-grade, and adult subjects. Subjects were tested on three days, ten trials per day at each of three exposure durations: 15, 50, and 200 msec. One half of the subjects were presented with exposure durations in an ascending order, the other half in a descending order. The results indicated that immediate memory span increases with age and practice. The exposure duration effect depended on the order and day in which durations were presented. There was a suggestion that the exposure duration effect was also dependent upon the age and sex of the subject. The ordering of array positions from most accurately reported to least accurately reported was identical for all three age levels, indicating that scanning strategies are well established at an early age.     

Observing behavior in the albino rat: a within-subjects' comparison of increasing levels of visual complexity.

54 male CD strain Charles River albino rats were tested for complexity preference using a non-locomotor response. Each subject was presented an array of photographic slides containing an incremental series of complexity elements, i.e., 1, 2, 5 and 25 elements. All photographic slides were randomized both within and across subjects. Each photographic slide of each level of complexity was repeated three times. Results of an analysis of covariance, with luminance as the covariate, showed that cummulative viewing time increased with an increase in stimulus complexity. The relationship between looking and level of complexity was shown to be different when covariance procedures were used than without them.     

Pain cues and uncertainity as determinants of aggression in a situation involving repeated instigation.

In contrast to the Buss aggression paradigm, a situation was employed in which subjects were given an expanded range of response options and were exposed to instigation throughout their response period. It was found that (a) despite these changes pain cues depressed aggressiveness in the present situation as they generally do in the Buss paradigm, but that this effect only occurred where the subjects' aggression was initially ineffective in changing their target's behavior; (b) situational uncertainity, which is minimal in a Buss-type situation, was related to aggressiveness; (c) subjects tended to match rather than attempt to control the responses of the target; and (d) the present paradigm is capable of isolating a personality variable related to overall aggressiveness. These data are discussed in terms of other recent paid cue studies that deviate from the standard Buss situation. Generally, the findings suggest the potential of increasing the range of situations in which aggression is studied.     

The effect of adults' eating on young children's acceptance of unfamiliar foods

Adults presented unfamiliar foods to 14- to 20- and 42- to 48-month-old children individually in their homes. More children put the food in their mouths when the adults also were eating than when the adults simply were offering the food. More children put food in their mouths when their mothers were the source than when the source was a friendly adult “visitor”. However, even when alone with a child, the visitor's eating elicited reliably more tasting. Analysis of requesting behavior indicated that the adults' eating aroused a desire to eat in the children. There were no consistent sex differences or interactions between sex of visitor and sex of child in children's food acceptance. There was a suggestion that younger children were more affected by repeated offerings than were older children. It is concluded that a relatively “low level” form of observational learning—“social facilitation”—can account for the data.     

Isolation of massed- and distributed-practice items

In four experiments, massed-practice (MP) or distributed-practice (DP) items were isolated from other items in a list presented either visually or auditorially for free recall. For three independent groups, the first, second, or both presentations of an item were isolated. Locus of isolation had a marginal influence on recall. When MP items were isolated, they were recalled better than DP items. Isolating the DP items enhanced the MP-DP effect. The results are congruent with the idea that the MP-DP effect in free recall results, in part, from differential rehearsal.     

Sensitivity to sucrose in smokers and nonsmokers: A comparison of TSD and percent correct measures

Ten smokers and 10 nonsmokers were compared for taste sensitivity to sucrose on two discrimination tasks, one at near-threshold (NT) concentration level and one at suprathreshold (ST) concentration level. The data were analyzed using the d_s and area under ROC curve measures based on the theory of signal detection (TSD). and by using the percentage correct responses. Analysis of both TSD measures showed smokers to be significantly more sensitive than nonsmokers on the NT .task and more sensitive on the ST task, but not significantly so. Comparison of mean percent correct responses showed no significant differences. A reflexive enhancement phenomenon was suggested as a possible interpretation. A decreased sensitivity to the bitter taste in smokers apparently results in an increased sensitivity to the sweet taste.