Religious and non-religious predictors of life satisfaction in a sample of American college students

To promote understanding of young people behavioural mechanisms related to health, we evaluated religious attribution, meaning in life, and emotion regulation strategies as predictors of life satisfaction in the sample of 791 religious and non-religious American college students. Participants completed Religious Attribution Scale, Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. A multiple linear regression revealed that the strongest predictor of life satisfaction for both groups was the presence of meaning in life, followed by the use of cognitive reappraisal. We found that participants with high levels of presence of meaning in life, regardless of their religious identity, were able to benefit from the use of cognitive reappraisal. Presence of meaning in life and emotion regulation strategy reside outside of the religious confines, supporting the notion that religiosity is not a singular meaning making system. By identifying constructs related to life satisfaction, we can acquire better understanding of what mechanisms contribute to positive coping strategies that religious and non-religious young adults use to achieve positive life outcomes.     

Collaborative scholarly communities and access in the study of material and visual cultures of religion

The Center for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion at Yale University (MAVCOR) does not simply, or even most fundamentally, shape a physical center at Yale University. Although MAVCOR organizes events at Yale and coordinates project cycles involving Yale affiliates as well as scholars from other universities in the United States and around the world, much of MAVCOR’s activity is conducted online. MAVCOR publishes a born-digital, open-access double-blind peer-reviewed journal, MAVCOR Journal. It also features a born-digital exhibition space, the Material Objects Archive. In at least two ways, MAVCOR is deliberately interstitial, invested in the connective spaces between both disciplines and technologies. First, the Center emerged from a desire to promote interdisciplinary conversation among scholars of religion, art history, anthropology, and others engaged with our subjects of inquiry. We have aimed to accomplish this goal by shaping a forum for conversation and an archive for mutual use. Second, MAVCOR engages the need to form a space for peer-reviewed content online in a manner that emphasizes the mutually beneficial relationship of print and digital modes of inquiry. In this work, MAVCOR’s overarching commitment is to promote innovative, substantively researched, thoughtfully constructed scholarship, with robust interdisciplinarity as a fundamental element of form and content.     

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: Clinical Correlates and Impact on Psychosocial Treatment Outcomes

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in childhood is not well documented, especially among youth with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD). The current study evaluated prevalence and correlates of NSSI, and its impact on intervention response, in a randomized trial of Child- and Family-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CFF-CBT) versus Treatment As Usual (TAU), adjunctive to pharmacotherapy. This study included 72 children ages 7–13 (58% male) with PBD. NSSI and correlates were assessed at baseline; mood and psychiatric severity were measured longitudinally. NSSI was common: 31% endorsed NSSI behaviors; 10% reported thoughts of NSSI, in the absence of behaviors. Children engaging in NSSI reported higher depression, psychosis, suicidality, and hopelessness; lower self-esteem; and reduced family help-seeking in univariate analyses. In a multivariate logistic regression, high child depression and psychosis, and low family help-seeking, remained significantly associated with baseline NSSI. In mixed-effects regression models, presence of NSSI at baseline did not influence the response of depressive symptoms to treatment. Children who endorsed NSSI experienced steeper response trajectories for psychiatric severity, regardless of treatment group. Youth who denied NSSI showed poorer response to TAU for manic symptoms; mania trajectories in CFF-CBT were similar across youth. Thus, NSSI in PBD is common and associated with impairment. As children might engage in NSSI for different reasons, the function of NSSI should be considered in treatment. Since children without NSSI fared worse in TAU, it may be important to ensure that youth with PBD receive structured, intensive interventions. CFF-CBT was efficacious regardless of NSSI, and thus shows promise for high-risk children with PBD.     

The Leader Ship Is Sinking: A Temporal Investigation of Narcissistic Leadership

Individuals higher in narcissism have leader emergent tendencies. The characteristics of their personality suggest, however, that their leadership qualities will decrease over time as a function of group acquaintance. We present data from two studies that provide the first empirical support for this theoretical position within a transformational leadership framework. In Study 1 (N = 112), we tested narcissistic leadership qualities in groups of unacquainted individuals over a 12‐week period. In Study 2 (N = 152), we adopted the same protocol with groups of acquainted individuals. In Study 1, narcissism was positively associated with peer‐rated leadership during initial group formation but not later. In Study 2, narcissism was not significantly associated with peer‐rated leadership during initial group formation and was negatively associated with peer‐rated leadership later. In Study 1, transformational leadership mediated the relationship between narcissism and leadership initially but not later on. In Study 2, transformational leadership failed to mediate the relationship between narcissism and leadership throughout the study. Despite enjoying a honeymoon period of leadership, the appeal and attractiveness of the narcissistic leader rapidly wane. This decline is explained in part by their changing transformational leadership qualities.     

A Narrative Approach to the Clinical Reasoning Process in Pediatric Intensive Care: The Story of Matthew

This paper offers a narrative approach to understanding the process of clinical reasoning in complex cases involving medical uncertainty, moral ambiguity, and futility. We describe a clinical encounter in which the pediatric health care team experienced a great deal of conflict and distrust as a result of an ineffective process of interpretation and communication. We propose a systematic method for analyzing the technical, ethical, behavioral, and existential dimensions of the clinical reasoning process, and introduce the Clinical Reasoning Discussion Tool—a dialogical and interpretive device aimed at improving communication, understanding, empathy, and moral deliberation in the clinical setting.     

The Five Factor Model (FFM) among four groups of male and female professionals

The present study examined the differences in personality traits among groups of seasoned professionals A Hebrew shortened version of Costa and McCrae’s [Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). NEO-PI-R: Professional manual odessa. Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources] NEO-FFI questionnaire was administered to 236 Israeli male and female doctors, lawyers, clinical psychologists, and artists (mean age = 31.19). Artists were found to be significantly more neurotic than members of the other three professional groups and significantly more open to experience than doctors. Women were significantly more neurotic and extravert than men, regardless of their occupational affiliation.     

Overgeneral autobiographical memory and traumatic events: an evaluative review

Does trauma exposure impair retrieval of autobiographical memories? Many theorists have suggested that the reduced ability to access specific memories of life events, termed overgenerality, is a protective mechanism helping attenuate painful emotions associated with trauma. The authors addressed this question by reviewing 24 studies that assessed trauma exposure and overgenerality, examining samples with posttraumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, depression, traumatic event exposure, and other clinical disorders. Limitations are discussed, including variations in assessment of events, depression, and overgenerality and the need for additional comparison groups. Across studies, there was no consistent association between trauma exposure and overgenerality, suggesting that trauma exposure is unlikely to be the primary mechanism leading to overgenerality. Instead, psychopathology factors such as depression and posttraumatic stress appear to be more consistently associated with overgenerality. Alternative overgenerality theories may help identify key overgenerality mechanisms, improving current understanding of autobiographical memory processes underlying psychopathology.     

Social-Evaluative Threat and Proinflammatory Cytokine Regulation: An Experimental Laboratory Investigation

ABSTRACT— This study experimentally tested whether a stressor characterized by social-evaluative threat (SET), a context in which the self can be judged negatively by others, would elicit increases in proinflammatory cytokine activity and alter the regulation of this response. This hypothesis was derived in part from research on immunological responses to social threat in nonhuman animals. Healthy female participants were assigned to perform a speech and a math task in the presence or absence of an evaluative audience (SET or non-SET, respectively). As hypothesized, stimulated production of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) increased from baseline to poststressor in the SET condition, but was unchanged in the non-SET condition. Further, the increases in TNF-α production correlated with participants' cognitive appraisals of being evaluated. Additionally, the ability of glucocorticoids to shut down the inflammatory response was decreased in the SET condition. These findings underscore the importance of social evaluation as a threat capable of eliciting proinflammatory cytokine activity and altering its regulation.     

Gaze behavior and affect at 6 months: predicting clinical outcomes and language development in typically developing infants and infants at risk for autism

This paper presents follow‐up longitudinal data to research that previously suggested the possibility of abnormal gaze behavior marked by decreased eye contact in a subgroup of 6‐month‐old infants at risk for autism ( Merin, Young, Ozonoff & Rogers, 2007 ). Using eye‐tracking data and behavioral data recorded during a live mother–infant interaction involving the still‐face procedure, the predictive utility of gaze behavior and affective behaviors at 6 months was examined using diagnostic outcome data obtained longitudinally over the following 18 months. Results revealed that none of the infants previously identified as showing lower rates of eye contact had any signs of autism at outcome. In contrast, three infants who were diagnosed with autism demonstrated consistent gaze to the eye region and typical affective responses at 6 months. Individual differences in face scanning and affective responsivity during the live interaction were not related to any continuous measures of symptom frequency or symptom severity. In contrast, results of growth curve models for language development revealed significant relationships between face scanning and expressive language. Greater amounts of fixation to the mother's mouth during live interaction predicted higher levels of expressive language at outcome and greater rates of growth. These findings suggest that although gaze behavior at 6 months may not provide early markers for autism as initially conceived, gaze to the mouth in particular may be useful in predicting individual differences in language development.     

Upward and downward physical appearance comparisons: Development of scales and examination of predictive qualities

Despite good theoretical and empirical rationale for assessing tendencies to make upward and downward physical appearance comparisons no measure for these specific constructs exists. The present work developed and tested the psychometric properties of upward and downward physical appearance comparison scales. The scales were administered to participants (N = 224) along with measures of general appearance comparison tendencies, body image, disordered eating, Antifat and Antigay attitudes. The scales displayed good psychometric properties. Importantly, the upward but not downward physical appearance comparison scale predicted lower Appearance Evaluation and higher EAT-26 scores. Conversely, the downward but not upward physical appearance comparison scale predicted higher Appearance Evaluation and greater Antifat Attitudes (Dislike). The scales were unrelated to a nonappearance related construct. These new measures fill a gap in the literature and may be of benefit to researchers interested in body image, appearance concerns, eating disorders, social comparison, and obesity prejudice.