The structure of informed consent in psychiatric research

The manner in which the informed consent process is structured was explored by means of intensive interviews with 17 experienced psychiatric researchers. Despite differing views on informed consent, investigators displayed a commonality of practice. Most investigators were themselves not usually involved in obtaining consents, relegating the process to lower-level assistants. They did not closely monitor the process and generally were unaware of problems that may have arisen. Most protocols called for repeat contact with patients so that a relationship would develop and information could be provided before obtaining a formal consent. The actual signing of a consent form often reflected a decision that had been made much earlier in the process. These findings have significance for both sides in the dispute over informed consent in research. Those who favor tighter controls over psychiatric research will have to consider the implications of monitoring, without destroying, a prolonged and complicated process. Those who argue for a reliance on investigators' integrity must deal with the apparent lack of involvement most investigators have in the consent process.     

Magician accuses faith healers of hoax

Discussions of faith healing have traditionally focused on the persuasiveness of the healer and the receptivity of the audience. Recently magician James Randi investigated popular American faith healers and accused them of deliberate fraud. The deceptions he identified are those used for many years by fraudulent mediums and psychics. This paper reviews the history of conflict between charlatans and magicians, providing a context for understanding the findings of Randi.     

Gender processes in school functioning and the mediating role of cognitive self-regulation

The catalysts for gender discrepancies across developmental outcomes are widely debated. This study examines cognitive self-regulation (CSR) as a mechanism for understanding gender differences in scholastic performance—both subjective school functioning and objective standardized achievement. Utilizing a national sample from the NICHD SECCYD (n = 1364), not only does CSR (i.e., attention and executive function) in 3rd grade mediate the relation between early mother–child interactions (at 54 months) and scholastic outcomes (in 5th grade), but it also predicts gender discrepancies favoring girls in grades, work persistence and socio-emotional development. Additional exploratory evidence suggests quality mother–child interactions may be more meaningful for girls' CSR; however, for boys, CSR is more predictive of school functioning. Both school functioning and standardized achievement were utilized in this study and highlight that gender differences in development and learning are nuanced and not readily discernible across all measures of scholastic performance. Implications for future research, intervention, and practice are discussed.     

Theory as a Tool in the Social Scientific Study of Religion and Martin Riesebrodt's The Promise of Salvation

No single paradigm or debate currently orients the social scientific study of religion. Because of this, those engaged in the multidisciplinary study of religion find that a public conversation is often difficult. In this article and the Forum it introduces, we explore Martin Riesebrodt's recently published book, The Promise of Salvation: A Theory of Religion. Responding to the inadequacies of secularization paradigms, rational choice models, and postmodern criticism, Riesebrodt proposes an approach that ideal‐typically reconstructs the subjective meanings of institutionalized religious practices (liturgies). These subjective meanings center on the prevention and management of crises—social, natural, and bodily—through appeal and access to superhuman powers. This pragmatic emphasis on the superhuman defines religion as a distinct sphere of social action transhistorically and transculturally. Riesebrodt's theory creates new analytical possibilities, especially for understanding the modern resurgence of religion under conditions of secularization.     

Longitudinal Test of Forgiveness and Perceived Forgiveness as Mediators between Religiosity and Marital Satisfaction in Long-Term Marital Relationships

Abstract

Substantial research has found relations between religiosity and martial satisfaction. More longitudinal studies are needed to understand the inner-workings of this relationship. Over a four-year period, dyadic data from 331 married couples was used to test the longitudinal mediating effects of spousal forgiveness and partners’ perceptions of spousal forgiveness between religiosity and marital satisfaction. Husbands’ religiosity was associated with increases in wives’ marital satisfaction but the measures of forgiveness were not significant mediators in this relationship. Wives’ religiosity was predictive of lower levels of wives’ perceptions of spousal forgiveness, which led to decreases in both wives’ and husbands’ marital satisfaction.     

Human Learning on a Four-Section,Elevated, Finger Maze

Forty Ss learned 10 sentences composed of adjective, noun, verb, and adverb and were subsequently tested for their recall of the sentences and their ability to generate new sentences based on an association rule for words within the sentences. The rule could be discovered from the sentences learned and was comparable to grammatical rules for sentence structure. Subjects also rated the meaning of the words from the sentences before and after learning. Eight Ss were in each of five experimental conditions, which differed in terms of the degree to which the words in the 10 sentences were in a natural language order. The five orders were natural, reversed, 20% random, 50% random, and 100% random orders.

The results showed that the closer the sentence order was to natural language order, the more Ss recalled the sentences they learned and the more accurately they generated unlearned sentences, apparently as a result of discovering and using the association rule. Another finding was that the rated evaluative meaning of words changed in a predictable direction, toward the mean rating of the words associated with each word. Such meaning conditioning appears to be an automatic process comparable to classical conditioning in that it is unaffected by the order of words within sentences and occurs for different word forms.     

Religion and Bio-Psycho- Social Health: A Review and Conceptual Model

This paper presents a research-based conceptual model respectively linking three dimensions of religious experience (religious practices, spiritual beliefs, and faith community) with three dimensions of health (biological, psychological, and social). The model is used as a framework to highlight findings in the religion-health knowledge base and to provide a broad survey of this domain of inquiry. Considerations for future research on religion and health are addressed.     

A developmental perspective on bullying

In this paper, we examined the forms and relationship contexts of bullying in adolescence. Using cross‐sectional data, we assessed grade and sex differences in self‐reports of bullying and sexually harassing peers, as well as reports of dating aggression from1896 students from early to late adolescence. Reports of bullying others were highest around the school transition, with lowest levels at the end of high school. Boys reported more bullying and sexual harassment than girls. Sexual harassment of same‐ and opposite‐sex peers increased over the early adolescent years and leveled off in later high‐school years. There were no sex differences in the prevalence of indirect or physical aggression with a dating partner. Adolescents who bullied were at increased risk for the other forms of relationship aggression. These data highlight bullying as a relationship problem and point to the need for prevention programs to curtail the use of power and aggression in adolescent relationships. Aggr. Behav. 32:376–384, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Implicit prejudice toward injecting drug users predicts intentions to change jobs among drug and alcohol nurses

The meaning and importance of implicit prejudice is a source of considerable debate. One way to advance this debate is to assess whether implicit prejudice can predict independent variance, beyond that predicted by explicit prejudice, in meaningful and unambiguous behaviors or behavioral intentions. In the current research, drug and alcohol nurses reported their level of stress working with injecting drug users, their job satisfaction, their explicit prejudice toward injecting drug users, and their intentions to leave drug and alcohol nursing. The nurses also completed the Single Category Implicit Association Test, which measured their implicit prejudice toward injecting drug users. Analyses revealed that implicit prejudice was a significant mediator, beyond explicit prejudice and job satisfaction, of the relation between job stress and intention to change jobs.