A converso confraternity in Majorca: La Novella Confraria de Sant Miquel

After their forced conversion during the anti-Jewish violence of August 1391, Majorcan conversos could no longer avail themselves of the social structures that provided for their welfare as members of the aljama. Rather than joining existing confraternities, which were the main purveyors of social welfare in Christian society, in 1404, conversos formally established a confraternity of their own. Its statutes, translated here in an Appendix, reveal both Jewish and Christian precedents in provision for the poor, the sick and for burial. These applied not only to members, but to all Majoran conversos. While the suspicions or hostility of Old Christians may have deterred conversos from seeking membership in their institutions, the converso confraternity was essentially a formalization of a community that was already bound together by pre-baptismal networks and relationships and which was addressed as a corporate entity by the Crown and creditors of the former aljama. The very establishment of Sant Miquel, as the converso confraternity was called, coupled with an absence of ritual injunctions among its statutes, supports the hypothesis that the first generations of conversos continued in the same relationships and customs as when they were Jewish. The confraternity offered a space in which these conversos could retain vestiges of their Jewish identity while situating themselves in the ambit of Christian culture, thus setting a new social referent for future generations.     

SAMHSA philosophy and statement on ethical principles

As the major federal agency responsible for improving the delivery and effectiveness of substance abuse and mental health services to the American public, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is aware that its programs deal with especially sensitive issues. As a national leader in advancing effective services to persons with addictive and mental disorders, SAMHSA has stewardship over important interventions affecting personal, community, institutional, and social values. Inherent in SAMHSA's mission and goals is a commitment to protect and promote the human, civil, and legal rights and moral freedoms of those individuals and groups who participate in SAMHSA-funded activities and to demonstrate that Agency policies and procedures are congruent with publicly acceptable ethical principles and standards of conduct. A foundation of mutual trust between SAMHSA officials and participants as well as sensitivity to issues of public accountability will hasten and strengthen progress toward this shared vision.     

Effects of Concept Mapping on Creativity in Photo Stories

This research tested the use of concept map planning to support the development of creativity in photo stories, hypothesizing that skills taught to support organization would improve creativity. Concept maps are a type of graphic organizer, used to represent an ordering of ideas with nodes and linking words that form propositional statements. They were applied to story development under the assumption that the creative development of narrative elements requires organization. Undergraduate education students were randomly assigned to either concept map or text-based planning groups for the production of digital photo stories. Creativity was operationalized using dimensions of novelty, interest, clarity, and ability to be understood. A multivariate effect of planning method was found for these dimensions favoring the concept map group, due largely to greater clarity in the photo stories. Clarity in photo stories adds to their utility as creative products. This study represents first steps toward empirically assessing concept maps for a creative purpose, and further investigation, with a larger sample in an authentic context, over a longer period of planning time is recommended.     

Parent Programs for Reducing Adolescent’s Antisocial Behavior and Substance Use: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Two theoretically based parent training programs, delivered in real-world settings by the social services, were examined in this randomized controlled trial for effectiveness in reducing adolescents’ antisocial behavior and substance use. Two hundred and thirty-seven (237) adolescents in ages between 12 and 18 and their parents were assigned to one of two programs or to a wait-list control condition. The programs were the nine weekly group sessions program Comet 12–18 (Swedish Parent Management Training Program) and the six weekly ParentSteps (Swedish shortened version by Strengthening Families Program 10–14). Outcome measures were antisocial behavior, substance use, and delinquency, and psychosocial dysfunction. Data based on adolescents’ and parents’ ratings of the adolescents’ problem behavior at baseline and 6 months later were analyzed with repeated measures ANVOA, Logistic regression, and Kruskal–Wallis H test. The results showed that parents’ ratings of adolescents’ antisocial behaviors decreased significantly over time, but no time by group effect emerged. No program effects were found in the adolescents’ self-reported antisocial behavior, delinquency, or psychosocial functioning. A threefold risk of illicit drug use was found in both intervention groups. The results suggest that neither Comet nor ParentSteps had beneficial effects on adolescent’s antisocial or delinquent behavior, or on alcohol use. The only significant group difference found was a threefold risk of drug use in the intervention adolescents at follow-up, but for several reasons this finding should be interpreted with caution. Trial registration number: ISRCTN76141538.     

Face likeability mediates the memory-enhancing effect of face attractiveness in young but not older adults

Evidence of effects of face attractiveness on memory is mixed and little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. Previous work suggests a possible mediating role of affective responding to faces (i.e., face likeability) on the relationship between face attractiveness and memory. Age-related change in social motivation may reduce the relevance of face attractiveness in older adults, with downstream effects on memory. In the present study, 50 young and 51 older participants were presented with face-trait pairs. Faces varied in attractiveness. Participants then completed a face-trait associative recognition memory task and provided likeability ratings for each face. There was a memory-enhancing effect of face attractiveness in young (but not older) participants, which was partially mediated by face likeability. In addition, more attractive and less attractive (compared to moderately attractive) faces were more likely remembered by both young and older participants. This quadratic effect of face attractiveness on memory was not mediated by face likeability. Findings are discussed in the context of motivational influences on memory that vary with age.     

Gender,Social Roles,and Mental Health: An Epidemiological Perspective

The social roles men and women occupy may account for gender differences in rates of psychiatric disorder. Women are thought to have poorer experiences within any given role (role strain theory), have more conflicts among their different roles (role-configuration theory), or have fewer role opportunities available to them (role accumulation hypothesis) compared to men. These theories are examined in a community sample (n = 4,745, 52% females and 48% males; Caucasian [84.2%], Hispanics [10.0%], African Americans [3.8%], Native American [1.4%], Asian [0.6%], and Pacific Islander [0.1%]). No gender differences in the overall rate of DSM, psychiatric disorders were found; however, differences were found for specific disorders. Although multiple roles were generally found to be associated with lower rates of disorders for both men and women, some role combinations were associated with a higher rate of disorders. The possibility that roles may be associated with both stressors and protective factors is discussed.     

Critical Issues in Using Homework Assignments Within Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Schizophrenia

Presents an overview of the research findings to date and practical guidelines for the use of homework in cognitive-behavioral therapy for schizophrenia. In particular, the article outlines strategies to combat the common difficulties experienced when using homework with clients with schizophrenia and the types of homework assignments that may be most helpful. The empirical evidence suggests that cognitive-behavioral therapy incorporating homework assignments help clients to improve at least 60% more than those in treatment without homework. Despite that most therapy formulations incorporate homework as an integral component of treatment for schizophrenia, prior research has identified that practitioners consider homework to be less helpful for clients with delusions and hallucinations. Interventions to enhance homework compliance in the treatment of clients with schizophrenia are outlined.     

Marital Processes Linking Gender Role Attitudes and Marital Satisfaction Among Mexican‐Origin Couples: Application of an Actor–Partner Interdependence Mediation Model

Informed by dyadic approaches and culturally informed, ecological perspectives of marriage, we applied an actor–partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) in a sample of 120 Mexican‐origin couples to examine (a) the associations linking Mexican immigrant husbands’ and wives’ gender role attitudes to marital satisfaction directly and indirectly through marital processes (i.e., warmth and negativity) and (b) whether the associations between spouses’ gender role attitudes and marital processes were moderated by wives’ employment. Although previous research has identified spouses’ gender role attitudes as potential predictors of spouses’ marital satisfaction, no study has examined these links in a dyadic model that elucidates how gender role attitudes may operate through processes to shape marital satisfaction and conditions under which associations may differ. We found that when spouses reported less sex‐typed attitudes, their partners reported feeling more connected to them and more satisfied with the marriage, regardless of whether wives were employed. Our results suggest that marital satisfaction was highest for those Mexican‐origin couples in which marital partners were less sex‐typed in their attitudes about marital roles to the extent that partners’ attitudinal role flexibility promoted spouses’ feelings of warmth and connection to their partner.