Latent classes of posttraumatic stress and growth

Background and Objectives: Potentially traumatic events may lead to different patterns of posttraumatic stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth. The objective of the present study was to identify subgroups with different patterns of posttraumatic reactions, and to determine whether these subgroups differed in terms of personal and social resources and indicators of adjustment. Design: This study used survey data collected 10 months after the 2011 Oslo bombing attack to investigate patterns of reactions among ministerial employees (N = 1970). Methods: We applied latent class analyses with covariates to extract subgroups of individuals. Results: Three classes of individual reactions were extracted, and these were similar among those who were and those who were not physically proximate to the bombing attack: “High stress/high growth” (27% and 11%, respectively), “Low stress/high growth” (74% and 42%, respectively), and “Low stress/low growth” (only among the not physically proximate: 47%). The classes differed in terms of gender, neuroticism, and social support as well as life satisfaction and daily functioning. Conclusions: Heterogeneous patterns of posttraumatic reactions were found. Physical proximity is not necessary to experience posttraumatic stress or growth after political violence. Among individuals with low stress, posttraumatic growth may not encompass higher life satisfaction or functioning.     

From body to body: A post‐gender politics for the cosmic homo1

This article engages in establishing some common ground, some human and humane politics for the global Luther, in contradistinction to the focus in much recent scholarship on difference/s as an almost hegemonic way of understanding human life. The aim is to move beyond feminist, poststructuralist, and postcolonial theories to a post‐gender politics by employing Judith Butler's concepts of performativity and “abject” bodies. Homo, the human being, will be the hermeneutical key for examining Luther's understanding of God's creation and incarnation as well as of baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the church. The aim is that of searching out Luther's differing performances of body, from the carnal body of the incarnate Christ and the human body to the spiritual body of church and community, and how these matter, materialize and intersect in the body of Christ as one body/homo.     

High Speed: Amphetamine Use in the Context of Conventional Culture

While the use of cannabis is often anchored in subversive values, and the use of heroin is situated at the social margins, the use of amphetamines appears to be associated with more conventional values. Interviews with 55 Norwegian amphetamine and/or methamphetamine users reveal that the substance is used for three main reasons. First, amphetamines are used by binge drinkers to “keep the party going.” Second, amphetamines are used by segments of the marginalized working class to enable them to work longer hours. Third, amphetamines are used medically by some to treat self-diagnosed symptoms of illnesses such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).     

Schleiermacher and Reformed Scholastics on the Divine Attributes

Schleiermacher's doctrine of the divine attributes has been controversial from its day until the present, with various nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century figures seeing it as a theological novum. Recent work has clarified Schleiermacher's understanding of the status of the attributes, challenging the simplistic readings of his critics. However, the charge of novelty still has not been addressed. I argue in response to this charge that Schleiermacher's doctrine is best explained as an inheritance of the Reformed tradition. Not only is Schleiermacher's doctrine of the divine attributes nearly identical to that of his Reformed Scholastic predecessors, but Schleiermacher holds the same conceptions for the same reasons.     

Narrative identity in female patients with remitted bipolar disorder: a negative past and a foreshortened future

The present study examined narrative identity and subjective well-being in outpatients with remitted bipolar disorder (BD) and a healthy control group. Fifteen female outpatients with remitted BD and 15 healthy control participants identified past and future chapters in their life stories, gave their age for the beginning and end of each chapter, rated emotional tone as well as positive and negative self-event connections associated with the chapters, and for future chapters rated the probability of the chapter. The BD patients reported less positive emotional tone and self-event connections for past chapters, but not for future chapters. However, the patients did describe fewer future chapters with shorter temporal projection into the future, and reported lower probability of future chapters. These characteristics of chapters were related to lower subjective well-being. The study suggests that a more negative narrative identity with a foreshortened future perspective may contribute to lower subjective well-being in patients with BD.     

This is Not About Sex? A Discussion of the Understanding of Love and Grace in Bernard of Clairvaux's and Martin Luther's Theologies

Abstract : This article engages the understanding of love and grace in Bernard's and Luther's theologies. Taking as a point of departure Anders Nygren's dichotomy of love in agape and eros, Wiberg Pedersen outlines some of the issues raised by Nygren's thesis. Arguing against Nygren's caricature of Bernard's theology, Wiberg Pedersen shows the similarities between Bernard's and Luther's understandings of love and grace, which lead her to hypothesize that Luther was inspired by Bernard in a theologia caritatis that is simultaneously a theologia cordis (creation and inspiration) and a theologia crucis (incarnation and justification), all led by grace.     

TEAM SPORTS ACHIEVEMENT AND SELF-ESTEEM DEVELOPMENT AMONG URBAN ADOLESCENT GIRLS

In this study we investigate the contribution of achievement in team sports to adolescent girls' self-esteem development. Adolescent girls ( N = 247) from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds were surveyed as part of a larger study investigating the development of poor urban youth. Participants responded to items tapping global self-esteem, team sports achievement, and athletic self-evaluations. The results of hierarchical regression analyses indicate that girls' team sports achievement experiences in early adolescence are positively associated with self-esteem in middle adolescence. This relationship is partially mediated by team sports self-evaluations. Applications of these findings to the development of interventions designed to enhance the self-esteem of young women and girls are discussed.     

Menstrual cycle, beta-endorphins, and pain sensitivity in premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

This study examined pain sensitivity and pain modularity mechanisms (e.g., beta-endorphin levels, blood pressure) in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD; n = 27) and healthy controls (n = 27) during the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Physiological measures were taken during rest and ischemic pain testing. In both cycle phases, PMDD women (a) displayed lower resting cortisol and beta-endorphin levels and (b) exhibited shorter pain threshold and tolerance times and greater pain unpleasantness ratings during pain. PMDD women also reported greater pain unpleasantness and intensity and had lower beta-endorphin levels in their luteal phase and tended to display higher blood pressure levels at rest and during pain testing. Results suggest that endogenous opioids may be pathophysiologically relevant to PMDD and that the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis may modulate pain sensitivity in PMDD.     

Language,duration estimation,and causation

Burt (2002) raises several interesting points in his commentary on our paper. However, the most important difference between his and our studies, the design, was not addressed. We argue that our experimental approach makes more realistic assumptions for causal interpretation. The other points that he raises—the relationship between practical and statistical significance, the verbs used by our participants, and definitions of memory—are all discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.