Informal Support from a Pastor and Change in Hope During Late Life

The purpose of this study is to see if informal emotional support from a pastor is associated with a greater sense of hope over time. Data from a nationwide longitudinal survey of older adults are used to test a conceptual model that contains the following relationships: (1) older people who encounter more stressful life events will seek out more informal emotional support from a member of the clergy, (2) older people who receive more support from a pastor will experience a stronger sense of God-mediated control (i.e., the belief that it is possible to work together with God to solve problems), and (3) increases in God-mediated control over time will be associated with increases in hope over time. The data provide support for each of these relationships.     

Social Factors in the Church and Positive Religious Coping Responses: Assessing Differences Among Older Whites, Older Blacks, and Older Mexican Americans

Findings from a growing number of studies point to the social basis of a wide range of religious beliefs and behaviors. This study has two main goals. The first is to see whether four social aspects of congregational life (church attendance, attendance at Bible study groups, attendance at prayer groups, and informal spiritual support) are associated with greater use of positive religious coping responses. The second goal is to determine if the relationships between these social aspects of the church and religious coping vary across older whites, older blacks, and older Mexican Americans. The data suggest that more frequent church attendance is associated with greater use of religious coping responses in all three groups. However, the findings further reveal that the relationship between informal spiritual support and religious coping is especially stronger among older whites. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Volunteer work in the church among older Mexican Americans

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that influence the amount of volunteer work that older Mexican Americans perform in the place where they worship. The relationship between religion and volunteering is viewed from a social identity perspective. Data from a nationally representative sample of older Mexican Americans suggest that Evangelical/Pentecostal church members spend more time performing volunteer work at church than older Mexican Americans who affiliate with other denominations. Moreover, the findings indicate that the difference in the amount of volunteering between the two groups can largely be explained by differences in the nature of the spiritual support that Evangelical/Pentecostal receive from their fellow church members as well as depth of their commitment to their faith.     

The eyes know: eye movements as a veridical index of memory

In two experiments, we examined whether observers' eye movements distinguish studied faces from highly similar novel faces. Participants' eye movements were monitored while they viewed three-face displays. Target-present displays contained a studied face and two morphed faces that were visually similar to it; target-absent displays contained three morphed faces that were visually similar to a studied, but not tested, face. On each trial in a test session, participants were instructed to choose the studied face if it was present or a random face if it was not and then to indicate whether the chosen face was studied. Whereas manipulating visual similarity in target-absent displays influenced the rate of false endorsements of nonstudied items as studied, eye movements proved impervious to this manipulation. Studied faces were viewed disproportionately from 1,000 to 2,000 ms after display onset and from 1,000 to 500 ms before explicit identification. Early viewing also distinguished studied faces from faces incorrectly endorsed as studied. Our findings show that eye movements provide a relatively pure index of past experience that is uninfluenced by explicit response strategies, and suggest that eye movement measures may be of practical use in applied settings.     

Church-Based Social Support, Functional Disability, and Change in Personal Control over Time

The purpose of this study is to see whether measures of church-based and secular social support offset the effects of functional disability on change in feelings of personal control over time. Survey data were obtained from Wave 2 and Wave 3 of a nationwide sample of older adults (N = 583). The findings suggest that spiritual support from fellow church members offsets the effects of functional disability on change in feelings of personal control over time. In contrast, neither emotional support from fellow church members nor emotional support from secular social network members exerted a similar effect.     

The (In)compatibility of Diversity and Sense of Community

Community psychologists are interested in creating contexts that promote both respect for diversity and sense of community. However, recent theoretical and empirical work has uncovered a community-diversity dialectic wherein the contextual conditions that foster respect for diversity often run in opposition to those that foster sense of community. More specifically, within neighborhoods, residential integration provides opportunities for intergroup contact that are necessary to promote respect for diversity but may prevent the formation of dense interpersonal networks that are necessary to promote sense of community. Using agent-based modeling to simulate neighborhoods and neighborhood social network formation, we explore whether the community-diversity dialectic emerges from two principles of relationship formation: homophily and proximity. The model suggests that when people form relationships with similar and nearby others, the contexts that offer opportunities to develop a respect for diversity are different from the contexts that foster a sense of community. Based on these results, we conclude with a discussion of whether it is possible to create neighborhoods that simultaneously foster respect for diversity and sense of community.     

Transforming Individual Civic Engagement into Community Collective Efficacy: The Role of Bonding Social Capital

Collective efficacy is defined as residents’ perceived collective capacity to take coordinated and interdependent action on issues that affect their lives. This study explored factors associated with neighborhood collective efficacy among residents. Utilizing a national sample of 4,120 urban households provided by Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connection Initiative, we investigated the mediating role of residents’ perceptions of bonding social capital (i.e. reciprocity, trust, and shared norms) in the association between civic engagement and collective efficacy. Multiple regression analyses revealed that civic engagement and bonding social capital were both directly related to collective efficacy. Additionally, bonding social capital partially mediated the relationship between civic engagement and collective efficacy. Specifically, residents who reported greater levels of civic engagement also reported higher levels of bonding social capital. In turn, residents who reported higher levels of bonding social capital also reported higher levels of neighborhood collective efficacy. We discuss implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners interested in associations of neighborhood collective efficacy.