Spiritual But Not Religious? Evidence for Two Independent Dispositions

Some psychologists treat religious/spiritual beliefs as a unitary aspect of individual differences. But a distinction between mysticism and orthodox religion has been recognized by scholars as well as laypersons, and empirical studies of "ism" variables and of "spirituality" measures have yielded factors reflecting this distinction. Using a large sample of American adults, analyses demonstrate that subjective spirituality and tradition-oriented religiousness are empirically highly independent and have distinctly different correlates in the personality domain, suggesting that individuals with different dispositions tend toward different styles of religious/spiritual beliefs. These dimensions have low correlations with the lexical Big Five but high correlations with scales (e.g., Absorption, Traditionalism) on some omnibus personality inventories, indicating their relevance for studies of personality.     

Handedness and depression in university students: a sex by handedness interaction

Previous research has indicated that there is an increased incidence of left-handedness in samples of depressed individuals. We administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to a sample of 541 undergraduate students. Left-handed males showed significant elevation of BDI scores. It is unlikely that this result is due to decreased right hemisphere activity or sex-role conflicts. However, one possibility is that known differences in male steroid hormones levels between right- and left-handers contributed to this effect. Press     

Parental marital status and adolescents' health-risk behavior

This article reports the results of a questionnaire survey of a representative random sample of all the in-school Francophone adolescents of Montreal. The sample size was 4,539 and included adolescents from legally intact homes, separated/divorced homes, and homes in which a parent was decreased. Health-risk behavioral indicators were smoking (how many cigarettes a day), fastening of car seat belts, and intemperate drinking. Adolescents who lived in intact families engaged less in health-risk behavior than the other adolescents, especially those from separated/divorced families. The results for adolescents from widowed families were mixed. Several mutually complementary explanations are presented.     

Patterns of Thinking in Militant Extremism

ABSTRACT— Recurrent features of the thinking pattern (or mind-set) of violent militant extremists are delineated, discussed, and related to previous research and theory. We examined extremist groups from a diverse range of continents, cultures, and political and religious orientations. We compared statements by (and, to some degree, statements about) these groups and formulated 16 themes common to the militant-extremist mind-set. Among these themes are perceptions of a crisis involving violations of posited sacred values, along with justifications for the use of violence to remediate such problems. There are indications that such themes are not infrequent in the general population. For example, research participants failed to strongly disassociate themselves from the sentiments and framings found in the fanatical items, which undercuts the notion that militant-extremist thinking represents bizarre ideation. Militant-extremist thinking appears to represent a major, aggressive form of fanaticism affected by both dispositional and situational factors. Key themes in this thinking pattern might fit together to construct a potentially compelling narrative, which may be a key part of the ideological appeal of salient militant-extremist groups.     

Midlife and Beyond: Issues for Aging Women

The author discusses issues confronted by aging women, particularly those related to ageism and body image, emphasizing society's role in influencing women's perceptions of their bodies. Although body image issues cause anxiety throughout most women's lives, women entering middle age become more conscious of this concern. Problems related to a woman's realization that she no longer conforms to society's standards of youth and beauty include low self‐esteem, depression, and anxiety.     

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Short Form Sex Role Behavior Scale

The Sex Role Behavior Scale (SRBS; Orlofsky & O'Heron, 1987; Orlofsky, Ramsden, & Cohen, 1982) is the only measure of the extent to which people engage in male- and female-valued behaviors, as well as sex-specific behaviors. Because of this, researchers must be assured of its reliability and validity. Although the SRBS has demonstrated good reliability, validity tests have been limited to examinations of scale intercorrelations, correlations with other gender role measures, and tests of gender differences. Tests of the SRBS's construct validity have not been performed. Thus, a scale-based confirmatory factor analysis of the short form SRBS was undertaken to determine the validity of its proposed 12-factor, lower-order and 3-factor, higher-order factor structures. In this sample of undergraduates, both lower-order and higher-order models failed to provide a good fit to the data, which suggests that a new version of the SRBS may be required. Discussion focussed on possible directions for a revision, potential limitations, as well as the need for more measures like the SRBS.     

Before the measurement of prejudice: Early psychological and sociological papers on prejudice

Given its renown, many psychologists and sociologists likely consider the publication of Gordon Allport's ( 1954 / 1979 ) seminal book The Nature of Prejudice as the inauguration of the psychological study of prejudice. However, we have uncovered rarely‐cited, published papers (starting in 1830) that provide a wealth of speculation on prejudice even before psychologists/sociologists attempted to measure it (circa 1925). Thus, this paper intends to discuss early published work on prejudice in psychology and sociology by focusing on three key questions: a) when did psychologists/sociologists recognize prejudice as a psychological phenomenon, b) when did psychologists/sociologists recognize prejudice as a phenomenon in need of study, and c) what were the historical and personal conditions that gave rise to the interest in prejudice? In short, the seeds of prejudice research were maturing for some time before Allport's seminal book and the first attitudinal studies on prejudice, although these earlier works are seldom cited. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Psychological skills and mindfulness training effects on the psychological wellbeing of undergraduate music students: An exploratory study

This study explored the efficacy of psychological skills and mindfulness training intervention on the psychological wellbeing of undergraduate music students. Participants were undergraduate music students (n = 36) from the Department of Music at a South African university, 21 of whom were elected to take the psychological skills and mindfulness training intervention. Data on their self-reported psychological wellbeing, psychological skills, mindfulness and performance anxiety levels were collected pre-and post-intervention. The analysis applied non-parametric procedures to determine changes in students’ psychological wellbeing after the seven-week intervention programme. Findings suggest improvements in psychological wellbeing, psychological skills, mindfulness and performance anxiety with training. Psychological skills and mindfulness training may have benefits to the psychological wellbeing of music students.