Native Americans and alcohol: past, present, and future

Native Americans have higher rates of alcohol use, frequency of use, and increased rates of fetal alcohol syndrome, compared with other ethnic groups (J. Hisnanick, 1992; P. A. May, 1996; J. M. Wallace et al., 2003). High prevalence rates of alcohol misuse among Native Americans must be understood in light of their unique history, which has resulted in trauma and exposure to many risk factors for problem alcohol use. Many risk factors have been identified in the general population; however, only some of these risk factors have been examined among Native American populations. The unique history and world view of Native Americans mean that, often, risk factors operate differently from the way they do in other populations. The authors discuss interventions and promising treatments.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Perceived Barriers to Obtaining Mentoring: A Longitudinal Investigation

Mentoring is prototypically intended to advance the personal and professional growth of new employees at work. Although meta‐analyses have found that receiving mentoring can result in beneficial outcomes for employees' career success, employees may perceive barriers to obtaining a mentor. The present research examined antecedents and consequences to perceived barriers to mentoring in business and administrative jobs in a field study over 2 years. Socioeconomic origin, positive affectivity, organizational development culture, and previous mentoring experience predicted perceived barriers to mentoring after 2 years. New employees' perceived barriers to mentoring at Time 1 predicted changes in mentoring received and income after 2 years. Implications of this study, including a proposed mentoring training program, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Mourning Religion: A Response

Mourning Religion is a brilliant collection of essays responding both to Freud’s essay “Mourning and Melancholia” and Peter Homans’ assertion that the academic study of religion represents a creative expression of mourning the loss of religion in secular (western) society. This essay poses questions concerning the role of theology as a mode of analysis; Ricoeur’s concept of “second naiveté” in relation to disillusionment and religion; Celia Brickman’s reflections on globalization, marginalization, and a shift in psychological language from “primitivity” to “vulnerability”; the role of the body in the work of religious studies; melancholia as “re-membering” amid multiplicity and fragmentation; and mourning as protest and resistance. The essay concludes with a reflection on ambiguity and transcendence in dialogue with Freud’s essay “On Transience.”     

Identifying distinct sets of predictors of specific functions of autobiographical memory

ABSTRACT

Grounded in the ecological approach, research has charted several adaptive functions of autobiographical remembering. Each represents a rather different psychosocial domain (i.e., self, social, directive). The goal of this research was to determine the contributions of each of a set of variables, controlling for all others, in predicting use of autobiographical memory to serve each specific function. In two studies, participants (N?=?100; N?=?195) rated frequency of functional use of specific event memories and completed a brief battery of memory-related measures. Most Study One results were replicated in Study Two. Self-relevance of memories was related to their functional use regardless of domain. Each function was also, however, predicted by a unique set of variables consistent with its use in a given psychosocial domain. Findings emphasise how a combination of factors come into play to allow humans to use autobiographical memory to serve various different functions in navigating daily life.     

An Exploratory Study of the Relationship Between Mood States and Creativity Self-Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between noninduced mood state and self-perceptions of creativity. Undergraduate teacher education students (N = 287) completed 2 mood state inventories (Teasdale 100-Point Thermometer and Perception of Mood States) and a creative self-perception inventory (What Kind of Person Are You? [Khatena &; Torrance, 1976]). The group expressed overall indications of happiness and normally distributed creativity perceptions. Findings were mixed when the 5 scales of the creativity measure (i.e., Acceptance of Authority, Self-confidence, Inquisitiveness, Awareness of Others, and Disciplined Imagination) were correlated to the 6 dimensions of mood (i.e., Tension/Anxiety, Depression/Dejection, Anger/Hostility, Vigor/Activity, Fatigue/Inertia, and Confusion/Bewilderment). There was, however, some indication that positive mood was related to creative self-perception. Results are discussed and future research is suggested.     

Effects of Event Probability and Animateness on Children's Comprehension of Active and Passive Sentences

Thirty-six three-, four-, and five-year-old boys and girls were asked to act out, with appropriate toys, 48 sentences presented with instructions to make the toys do what E said. Sentences were designed to test the effects on comprehension of (a) event probability, (b) sentence voice, and (c) subject/object animateness. Sentences with either an animate subject and object, or an inanimate subject and object, were considered to be reversible; however, not all reversible sentences were symmetrical with respect to event probability. All main effects were significant, and performance improved with age. The significant interactions indicated that there is a difference between animateness and inanimateness in reversible sentences. The data also suggested that (a) animateness may be an important variable in children's early comprehension of speech, and (b) the traditional definition of reversibility should be modified to unconfound the effects of event probability and animateness.     

Relationships Between Need for Cognition,Knowledge, and Verbal Ability

The authors investigated the relationships between need for cognition. knowledge, and verbal ability. Participants completed scales that measured their need for cognition, verbal ability, and knowledge about people and events that occurred during the Vietnam War era. Correlational analyses showed that the participants' need for cognition scores were modestly but positively correlated with verbal ability and knowledge and that verbal ability and knowledge were also positively correlated. The correlation between need for cognition and knowledge was small but significant when verbal ability was controlled. The conclusion drawn from these results is that need for cognition contributes to the acquisition of knowledge beyond the contribution of verbal ability.     

Still Dazed and Confused: Midlife Marijuana Use by the Baby Boom Generation

National drug use surveys show the baby boom generation using marijuana in record numbers. We test hypotheses based on social learning, rational choice, and strain theories to explain marijuana use among adults aged 50–64 with an intersectional lens to consider racial and gender group differences. Social learning perspectives, pointing to pro-marijuana attitudes and norms acquired through culture, and rational choice approaches, in which marijuana use is perceived as a low-risk activity, are both strongly supported. Strain generated by mental and physical health problems emerges as a relevant factor for marijuana use among specific racial and gender minority groups of older adults.     

Perceived Powerlessness as a Mediator between Life Stressors and Deviant Behaviors

ABSTRACT

The Threat Appraisal and Coping Theory suggest that when facing life stressors, individuals may perceive that they are powerless to change them, which may prompt “maladaptive coping” deviant behaviors. The present study examined the relationship between 5 types of deviant behavior and perceived powerlessness, and whether powerlessness served as a mediator between life stressors and deviance. Money stress and powerlessness increased risk for watching porn, cross-dressing, hoarding, and medication misuse. Work stress and powerlessness significantly increased risk for watching porn, cross-dressing, and medication misuse. Family stress and powerlessness increased risk for watching porn, cross-dressing, disordered eating, hoarding, and medication misuse.