Correlates of an ego-grasping attitude in Kuwaiti and American students

In samples of American and Kuwaiti students, scores on an ego-grasping scale were associated with measures of psychopathology, the latter more strongly associated with ego-grasping scores for the American than the Kuwaiti sample.     

The Kuwait University Anxiety Scale: results for 9,031 Saudi students

The Kuwait University Anxiety Scale was administered to 9,031 male (n = 4,143) and female (n = 4,888) Saudis. They were students in secondary schools (n = 4.793) and university undergraduates (n = 4,238) recruited from scattered geographical regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ages ranged from 15 to 26 years, mean age 19.5 yr. (SD = 2.8). The scale displayed good alphas (from .85 to .88), retest reliability (from .94 to .95), as well as good criterion-related validity (from .63 to .73) against the Trait subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Three highly loaded factors were extracted: Cognitive/Affective, Subjective, and Somatic anxiety. Sex differences overshadow age differences as sex-related differences were significant between the age groups from 16 to 25 years, i.e., females attained higher mean scores than their male peers. Saudi students attained means similar to those of Kuwaiti students, but both groups have significantly higher mean scores than American and Spanish college students. By and large, the scale can be recommended for use in research among students in the Saudi context.     

On Neat Reducts of Algebras of Logic

SC , CA , QA and QEA stand for the classes of Pinter's substitution algebras, Tarski's cylindric algebras, Halmos' quasipolyadic algebras, and quasipolyadic equality algebras of dimension , respectively. Generalizing a result of Németi on cylindric algebras, we show that for K {SC, CA, QA, QEA} and ordinals < , the class Nr K of -dimensional neat reducts of -dimensional K algebras, though closed under taking homomorphic images and products, is not closed under forming subalgebras (i.e. is not a variety) if and only if > 1.From this it easily follows that for 1 < < , the operation of forming -neat reducts of algebras in K does not commute with forming subalgebras, a notion to be made precise.We give a contrasting result concerning Halmos' polyadic algebras (with and without equality). For such algebras, we show that the class of infinite dimensional neat reducts forms a variety.We comment on the status of the property of neat reducts commuting with forming subalgebras for various reducts of polyadic algebras that are also expansions of cylindric-like algebras. We try to draw a borderline between reducts that have this property and reducts that do not.Following research initiated by Pigozzi, we also emphasize the strong tie that links the (apparently non-related) property of neat reducts commuting with forming subalgebras with proving amalgamation results in cylindric-like algebras of relations. We show that, like amalgamation, neat reducts commuting with forming subalgebras is another algebraic expression of definability and, accordingly, is also strongly related to the well-known metalogical properties of Craig, Beth and Robinson in the corresponding logics.     

When do low‐power customers complain? The joint effects of chronic sense of personal power and complaint success on complaining intentions

In the customer complaint literature, researchers have found that the lack of an incidental sense of power is one of the reasons why customers do not complain. However, two issues are left unanswered: does a chronic sense of power influence consumer complaining behavior, and how individuals who feel chronically powerless can be encouraged to complain when dissatisfied. The present study is intended to address this topic. Drawing on the approach–inhibition theory of power, we argue that the probability of complaint success increases the complaint behavior of customers with a low chronic sense of power, thereby mitigating the differences in the complaint behavior of consumers with low and high power. The three studies indicated that a low chronic power was negatively associated with complaining intentions and that this association was mitigated by the perceived success of complaining.     

Ethical leadership and organizational citizenship behaviours: the moderating role of organizational identification

This study examines whether the relationship between ethical leadership and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) is contingent on organizational identification. Drawing on substitutes for leadership theory, the study proposes that the relationship between ethical leadership and OCBs will be attenuated when employees strongly identify with their organization. Using a sample of Egyptian banking sector employees, this proposition was tested with hierarchal linear modelling (HLM). The results revealed that the positive relationship between ethical leadership and OCBs was stronger for those lower in organizational identification than for those higher in identification. Overall, the findings of the study shed new light on the conditions through which ethical leadership enhances OCBs.     

Supporting the wellbeing of inner-city middle-school students through mindful and creative reflective activities

Inner-city middle-school students encounter many intersections of the social determinants of health, while expected to learn and to excel academically. However, they lack skills to deal with stress, anger, frustration and sadness, often associated with their social context. To support student wellbeing, we developed a 7-week, 1-hour-session program, which took place during regular class time. Through use of creative reflective activities, namely, Schwind’s Narrative Reflective Process and mindfulness, students learned skills that help support their social and academic wellbeing. Student feedback reveals that creative reflective activities and mindfulness helped foster their inter-intra personal skills in class, enhancing their learning experiences.     

Using temporal distancing to regulate emotion in adolescence: modulation by reactive aggression

Adopting a temporally distant perspective on stressors reduces distress in adults. Here we investigate whether the extent to which individuals project themselves into the future influences distancing efficacy. We also examined modulating effects of age across adolescence and reactive aggression: factors associated with reduced future-thinking and poor emotion regulation. Participants (N?=?83, aged 12–22) read scenarios and rated negative affect when adopting a distant-future perspective, near-future perspective, or when reacting naturally. Self-report data revealed significant downregulation of negative affect during the distant-future condition, with a similar though non-significant skin conductance pattern. Importantly, participants who projected further ahead showed the greatest distress reductions. While temporal distancing efficacy did not vary with age, participants reporting greater reactive aggression showed reduced distancing efficacy, and projected themselves less far into the future. Findings demonstrate the importance of temporal extent in effective temporal distancing; shedding light on a potential mechanism for poor emotional control associated with reactive aggression.     

The Effects of Modafinil on Convergent and Divergent Thinking of Creativity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Modafinil is a drug licensed for the treatment of narcolepsy and sleep apnea. Recently, modafinil has been reported to be used as a pharmacological cognitive enhancer by healthy individuals with no psychiatric disorders. This paper reports on a study that investigated the effects of modafinil on divergent and convergent thinking tasks of creativity. Sixty‐four healthy male (n = 31) and female (n = 33) volunteers participated in a randomized double‐blind placebo‐controlled parallel group design study. For the convergent thinking tasks, modafinil had no significant main effect on the Group Embedded Figures Task and the Remote Associates Task (RAT). However, a median split analysis showed that modafinil participants low in creativity personality trait had significantly higher RAT scores (Mean [M] = 6.85, SD = 3.39; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 5.53–8.2) than those high in creativity personality trait (M = 4.27, SD = 3.0; 95% CI: 2.4–6.0). For the divergent thinking tasks, relative to placebo (M = 1.195, SD = 0.28; 95% CI: 1.0–1.3), modafinil (M = 0.77, SD = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.63–0.92) significantly reduced the performance of flexibility scores and marginally reduced the elaboration scores as measured by the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA). Overall, participants on modafinil (M = 6.3, SD = 2.6; 95% CI: 5.3–7.4) had significantly lower ATTA scores relative to participants on placebo (M = 9.5, SD = 2.3; 95% CI: 8.6–10.4). These results indicate that modafinil might reduce divergent thinking of creativity in healthy individuals. They suggest that, rather than being a more general cognitive enhancer, modafinil might have negative and subtle effects on creativity. However, the results are from a small‐scale trial, which tested a small number of participants. Therefore, the results need to be interpreted with caution. A replication with a large sample of participants is recommended.     

Teachers’ and Parents’ Perspectives on a Curricular Subject of “Religion and Spirituality” for Indian Schools: A Pilot Study Toward School Mental Health Program

Religious–spiritual (R/S) education helps medical students cope with caregiving stress and gain skills in interpersonal empathy needed for clinical care. Such R/S education has been introduced into K-12 and college curricula in some developed nations and has been found to positively impact student’s mental health. Such a move has not yet been seen in the Indian education system. This paper aimed to examine perspectives of teachers and parents in India on appropriateness, benefits, and challenges of including R/S education into the school curriculum and also to gather their impressions on how a R/S curriculum might promote students’ health. A cross-sectional study of religiously stratified sample of teachers and parents was initiated in three preselected schools in India and the required sample size (N = 300) was reached through snowballing technique. A semi-structured questionnaire, with questions crafted from “Religion and Spirituality in Medicine, Physicians Perspective” (RSMPP) and “American Academy of Religion’s (AAR) Guidelines for Religious Literacy,” was used to determine participants’ perspectives. Findings revealed that teachers’ and parents’ “comfort in integrating R/S into school curriculum” was associated with their gender (OR 1.68), education status (OR 1.05), and intrinsic religiosity (OR 1.05). Intrinsic religiosity was significantly (p = 0.025) high among parents while “intrinsic spirituality” was high (p = 0.020) among teachers. How participants’ R/S characteristics influence their support of R/S education in school is discussed. In conclusion, participants believe R/S education will fosters students’ emotional health and interpersonal skills needed for social leadership. A curriculum that incorporates R/S education, which is based on AAR guidelines and clinically validated interpersonal spiritual care tools would be acceptable to both teachers and parents.     

American Muslim Physician Attitudes Toward Organ Donation

Religious beliefs and values impact Muslim patients' attitudes toward a variety of healthcare decisions, including organ donation. Muslim physician attitudes toward organ donation, however, are less well studied. Utilizing a national survey of physician members of the Islamic Medical Association of North America, relationships between religiosity, patterns of bioethics resource utilization, and sociodemographic characteristics with attitudes toward organ donation were assessed. Of 255 respondents, 251 answered the target question, “in your understanding, does Islamic bioethics and law permit organ donation?.” 177 respondents (70%) answered positively, 30 (12%) negatively, and 46 (18%) did not know. Despite the overwhelming majority of respondents believing organ donation to be permitted by Islamic bioethics and law, fewer than one-third (n = 72, 30%) are registered donors. Several sociodemographic features had a positive association with believing organ donation to be permitted: ethnic descent other than that of South Asian, having immigrated to the USA as an adult, and male sex. When using a logistic regression model controlling for these three variables as potential confounders, the best predictor of Muslim physicians believing organ donation to be permissible was utilization of an Imam as a bioethical resource (odds ratio 5.9, p = 0.02). Religiosity variables were not found to be associated with views on the Islamic permissibility of organ donation. While Muslim American physicians appear to believe there is religious support for organ donation, only a minority sign up to be donors. Greater study is needed to understand how physicians' attitudes regarding donation impact discussions between patients and physicians regarding the possibility of donating and of receiving a transplant.