Making sense of surveys and censuses: Issues in religious self-identification

Abstract

Censuses and surveys shape decisions, discourse and debates about people and their lived environments. The outcomes, in the case of a census, inform governments about resource distribution but also shape people's self-understanding about who they are and where they may be going. How people self-identify on censuses and surveys produces certain types of knowledge. This introduction emphasises the impact of those instruments on knowledge production and how numbers can be employed, often anecdotally, to further interests and claims. The way academics use and interpret such instruments has ethical and normative dimensions: numbers are not neutral but shape and are shaped by perceptions and identities. This introduction to a thematic issue of Religion introduces the contributing authors' diverse – historical, qualitative and quantitative – approaches that work together to produce their own kind of multi-disciplinary, academically located knowledge.     

Adapting Parent–Child Interaction Therapy for Deaf Families That Communicate via American Sign Language: A Formal Adaptation Approach

While our field has made positive strides in adapting psychotherapeutic interventions for diverse groups of people, considerable work is still needed in this area. We present our formal adaptation procedure for parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) with Deaf persons. This includes a review of the cultural adaptation process for psychological interventions, including PCIT, as well as an introduction to Deaf culture. Details regarding the specific adaptation of PCIT for Deaf persons are outlined. We found that the utilization of a clear framework to guide the cultural adaptation process facilitated careful consideration of the numerous linguistic and cultural variables involved, while maintaining integrity of the treatment model. While the current focus was on adapting PCIT for Deaf families who communicate via American Sign Language, this framework can also be applied to other populations and/or interventions.     

Protecting Women from the Negative Effects of Body Dissatisfaction: The Role of Differentiation of Self

ABSTRACT

Body dissatisfaction is a prevalent and concerning issue among college age women. Due to its strong association with eating pathology, identification of moderating variables is a crucial line of inquiry. The present study investigated the ability for an intrapersonal differentiation-of-self variable (“I” position) to attenuate the impact of body dissatisfaction on anorexia and bulimia symptoms among college women participants. Study findings indicated that an “I” position moderated the body dissatisfaction-bulimia relationship and the body dissatisfaction-anorexia relationship. These findings signified the protective influence of a high “I” position for women with high levels of body dissatisfaction. Research and therapeutic implications are discussed.     

The Concept of Mental Toughness: Tests of Dimensionality,Nomological Network,and Traitness

Mental toughness has received increased scholarly attention in recent years, yet conceptual issues related to its (a) dimensionality, (b) nomological network, and (c) traitness remain unresolved. The series of studies reported in this article were designed to examine these three substantive issues across several achievement contexts, including sport, education, military, and the workplace. Five studies were conducted to examine these research aims—Study 1: N = 30; Study 2: calibration sample (n = 418), tertiary students (n = 500), athletes (n = 427), and employees (n = 550); Study 3: N = 497 employees; Study 4: N = 203 tertiary students; Study 5: N = 115 army candidates. Collectively, the results of these studies revealed that mental toughness may be best conceptualized as a unidimensional rather than a multidimensional concept; plays an important role in performance, goal progress, and thriving despite stress; and can vary and have enduring properties across situations and time. This series of studies provides a foundation for further basic and applied research of mental toughness across various achievement contexts.     

Relationships among team ability composition, team mental models, and team performance

This study examined the relationship between the similarity and accuracy of team mental models and compared the extent to which each predicted team performance. The relationship between team ability composition and team mental models was also investigated. Eighty-three dyadic teams worked on a complex skill task in a 2-week training protocol. Results indicated that although similarity and accuracy of team mental models were significantly related, accuracy was a stronger predictor of team performance. In addition, team ability was more strongly related to the accuracy than to the similarity of team mental models and accuracy partially mediated the relationship between team ability and team performance, but similarity did not.     

Large-scale investigation of the role of trait activation theory for understanding assessment center convergent and discriminant validity

This study used trait activation theory as a theoretical framework to conduct a large-scale test of the interactionist explanation of the convergent and discriminant validity findings obtained in assessment centers. Trait activation theory specifies the conditions in which cross-situationally consistent and inconsistent candidate performances are likely to occur. Results obtained by aggregating correlations across 30 multitrait-multimethod matrices supported the propositions of trait activation theory, shedding a more positive light on the construct validity puzzle in assessment centers. Overall, convergence among assessment center ratings was better between exercises that provided an opportunity to observe behavior related to the same trait, and discrimination among ratings within exercises was generally better for dimensions that were not expressions of the same underlying traits. Implications for assessment center research and practice are discussed.     

A Recess Evaluation with the Players: Taking Steps Toward Participatory Action Research

This qualitative study, part of a Canadian national study of fathers’ involvement, opened up First Nations and Métis fathering as a new area of inquiry. Conversational interviews with 80 Indigenous fathers illuminated the socio-historical conditions that have shaped Indigenous men’s experiences of learning to be a father and becoming a man in the context of changing gender relationships and the regeneration of circles of care. Indigenous fathers’ experiences unfold in a socio-historical context fraught with difficulties. However, the study findings suggest cultural strengths and sources of resilience unseen in research and community programs driven by Euro-western perspectives. This research can inform efforts to reduce systemic barriers and reconstitute positive father involvement following disrupted intergenerational transmission of fathering in Canada and elsewhere.