“One Nation Under God”: The System‐Justifying Function of Symbolically Aligning God and Government

Do references to God in political discourse increase confidence in the U.S. sociopolitical system? Using a system justification framework (Jost & Banaji, 1994 ), five studies provide evidence that, (1) increasingly governments symbolically associate the nation with God when public confidence in the social system may be threatened and (2) associating the nation with God serves a system‐justifying function by increasing public confidence in the system. In an analysis of U.S. presidential speeches, presidents were more likely to symbolically associate the nation with God during threatening times (Study 1). Among religious individuals, referencing God in political rhetoric increased the perceived trustworthiness of politicians, compared to patriotic secular rhetoric (Study 2) or simply priming the concept of God (Study 3). These effects were also unique to politicians from one's own sociopolitical system (Study 4). Finally, believing God has a plan for the United States attenuates the deleterious effect that perceptions of national decline have on system confidence (Study 5). Implications for the system‐justifying function of religion are discussed.     

Complex Trauma in Children and Youth: A Scoping Review of Sensory-Based Interventions

Emerging evidence in neuroscience indicates exposure to complex trauma in children and youth affects brain development—particularly with the ability to process sensory information. This sensory processing challenge has been shown to negatively impact emotional and self-regulation. A developing area of trauma treatment utilizes sensory-based interventions to target these concerns. A scoping review of the literature indicates there is limited, although promising, evidence for the use of these interventions when used as part of an integrated treatment approach. Occupational therapy is in a unique position to contribute to this area of practice due to a background in sensory-based approaches.     

Development of a Brief Version of the Social Anxiety – Acceptance and Action Questionnaire

The Social Anxiety – Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (SA-AAQ; MacKenzie and Kocovski 2010) is a 19-item self-report measure designed to assess acceptance and action specific to social anxiety symptoms. The present research was designed to evaluate an abbreviated version of the SA-AAQ. This abbreviated scale was confirmed using an undergraduate sample (N = 148) in Study 1 and a clinical sample of individuals with social anxiety disorder in Study 2 (N = 137). Results indicated that an eight-item, two-factor model (acceptance and action) provided a good fit for the Brief SA-AAQ in both samples. Finally, we also found preliminary evidence in support of the convergent, discriminant/divergent, and incremental validity of the shortened scale. The Brief SA-AAQ shows promise as a useful and brief tool for the measurement of acceptance of social anxiety symptoms in socially anxious populations.     

Youth-Adult Partnerships in Decision Making: Disseminating and Implementing an Innovative Idea into Established Organizations and Communities

The principles and processes for engaging youth-adult partnerships (Y-AP) in organizational and community decision making have often been articulated from developmental and social justice perspectives. A broad empirical foundation for Y-AP has been established. Y-AP remains an innovative idea in the United States, however. The belief that youth and adults can, and should, collaborate on issues of importance runs counter to prevailing policies, institutional structures, and community norms. 4-H Youth Development is one public system that is actively seeking to disseminate and implement Y-AP. 4-H Youth Development seeks to integrate Y-AP into its own governance structures as well as those of local government and community coalitions. Through qualitative analysis of the efforts in one Midwestern state, this study examines the contextual challenges faced by county staff-the providers of program support within 4-H Youth Development-and the ways in which county staff respond to these obstacles. This project identifies the goals, leverage points, and strategies through which county staff seek to integrate Y-AP into established forums of decision making. Implications for the dissemination and implementation of principle and process-based innovation are offered, with special attention to the role of the program support system.     

Standardized measures of alcohol-related problems: a review of their use among college students

College students' alcohol consumption has received considerable attention in the scientific literature and the media for its impact on students and the college community. Misuse of alcohol can lead to a wide range of consequences, the most severe being alcohol abuse, dependence, and death. Researchers have struggled to develop effective methods to assess problems related to alcohol, and the literature on college drinking lacks a strong theoretical framework for such assessment. The authors contend that measures of alcohol-related problems for college students should assess specific dimensions pertaining to 3 main domains: alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, and what the authors define as risky drinking. The authors examined how existing measures fit into this model. In a comprehensive review of the college literature, the authors identified 9 measures (and their revised versions) assessing alcohol-related problems. Their analysis revealed that most measures do not assess comprehensively the domains outlined, and instead provide only partial assessments of the potential consequences of drinking for college students. The authors include directions for future research so that measurement of drinking consequences for college students can be refined.     

Maternal verbal interaction in different situations with infants born prematurely or at term

The present study investigates whether maternal verbal behaviour, in terms of the use of declaratives, interrogatives and imperatives, can be accounted for by gestational age of the infant, or the situation in which mother–infant pairs were observed. Thirteen mothers and their premature and term babies were observed twice in three situations, namely playing with, feeding and changing their infants. The first observation took place at a mean gestational age of 40 weeks and the second observation took place approximately 7 weeks later. All mothers used more imperatives during play than during changing or feeding situations. Mothers used more interrogatives during play than during changing or feeding, and they used more declaratives during both changing and playing than during feeding. In contrast, gestational age influenced only the complexity of maternal interrogatives. It is concluded that situational factors are significant and hence that the mother's role has to be judged relative to the context in which mothers and infants are observed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationships among Facial,Prosodic, and Lexical Channels of Emotional Perceptual Processing

This study was designed to address the issue of whether there is a general processor for the perception of emotion or whether there are separate processors. We examined the relationships among three channels of emotional communication in 100 healthy right-handed adult males and females. The channels were facial, prosodic/intonational, and lexical/verbal; both identification and discrimination tasks of emotional perception were utilised. Statistical analyses controlled for nonemotional perceptual factors and subject characteristics (i.e. demographic and general cognitive). For identification, multiple significant correlations were found among the channels. For discrimination, fewer correlations were significant. Overall, these results provide support for the notion of a general processor for emotional perceptual identification in normal adult subjects.