Social Networks and Forgiveness: The Role of Trust and Efficacy

We examine the link between social network size and forgiveness, as well as mediating effects of self-efficacy and trust. Data are from the Detroit Community Study, which include three racial/ethnic groups: African Americans, Arab Americans, and White Americans (N=907). Results indicated that larger network size is associated with more forgiveness, but is mediated by trust. Patterns varied within racial/ethnic group: among Arab Americans self-efficacy mediated the effect of network size on forgiveness; among African Americans there were no direct or mediating effects; among White Americans an indirect effect of trust on forgiveness was identified. Findings suggest complex associations with forgiveness.     

Situating Culturally Embodied Play Ecologies of Preschool Children: Lost in Transition

This article contributes as a commentary to Min’s critical evaluation of the challenges and resistances that have presented themselves during the recent process of changing the pedagogical practices ofChinese preschools to more closely resemble those seen in Scandinavian. The focus is on how decisions of how to structure the particular environment in preschool settings have direct and indirect implications for children’s learning and learning possibilities, and the importance of understanding these as mediated signifiers of the particular culture values. The discussions stress the importance of weighing cross-cultural pedagogical practices in terms of the functions they each serve in themselves, and in regard to the sociocultural history from which they have emerged and serve within. This means enculturation of new didactic practices should be understood as a gradual, smooth processes that allows itself to merge useful aspects of new educational models and practices with existing practices and cultural values.     

Within-Family Effects of Smoking during Pregnancy on ADHD: the Importance of Phenotype

We sought to test within- and between- family associations of smoking during pregnancy (SDP) and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms using a structured interview based on the conventional Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) symptoms and the Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD-Symptoms and Normal-Behavior (SWAN) scale, which is a population based measure that grew out of the notion that an ADHD diagnosis exists on the extreme end of a continuum of normative behaviors and includes both above- and below- average performance on attention and activity. We used a sibling-comparison approach in a sample of 173 families including siblings aged 7–16 years (52% male) drawn from the state of Missouri, USA, wherein mothers smoked during one pregnancy but not the other. There was a within-family effect of smoking during pregnancy on SWAN hyperactivity/impulsivity and SWAN total ADHD behaviors. The associations between SDP and DSM-IV-based ADHD symptom dimensions as well as SWAN inattention were explained by familial confounds. These findings suggest that SDP exerts a potentially causal effect on increased ADHD hyperactive/impulsive behaviors and that this SDP effect is best captured when hyperactivity/impulsivity is assessed more normatively across the population, rather than specifically assessing problematic behaviors via DSM symptoms. Thus, any potentially causal effect of SDP on ADHD symptom dimensions may be restricted to hyperactive/impulsive behaviors rather than inattention, and normative, non-DSM-IV based behavioral measures may provide a more sensitive test of mechanisms of SDP-ADHD symptom associations, particularly in non-clinical samples.     

The why and when of background checks: Situational factors moderate effects of criminal and financial stigma

Past criminal and financial transgressions, even when of questionable job relevance, can harm job‐seekers' prospects. In three hiring simulation experiments, manipulations of situational factors hypothesized to alter decision focus moderate the effect of background report information on applicant evaluations. In Study 1, emphasizing in‐role performance as a hiring goal decreases the weight placed on transgressions relative to standard qualifications. Study 2 demonstrates this context effect with a different design and experienced hiring professionals, and finds that delaying background checks heightens a transgression's impact. In Study 3, presenting novel positive information in conjunction with a criminal offense mitigates the delay effect. By adopting a behavioral decision perspective, this research illuminates how situational factors shape the impact of a widespread form of stigma.     

Coping with Rejection: Derogating Those Who Choose Us Last

Interpersonal rejection poses a threat to people's identities as competent, desirable individuals. This study examined the possibility that people buffer themselves against the implications of rejection by derogating those who reject them and by concluding that the rejector did not know them well. Participants were led to believe that a team captain had selected them either first or last for a laboratory team, then rated the captain and indicated how well he or she knew them. Results showed that, compared to those who were selected first for the team, participants who were selected last rated the team captains less positively, were less interested in having them as friends, and indicated that the captains knew them less well. Mediational analyses suggested that ratings of the captains were mediated by perceived rejection and that derogation helped to maintain participants' positive affect following rejection.     

Book reviews

Religion in Prison: ‘Equal Rites’ in a Multi‐Faith Society James A. Beckford & Sophie Gilliat, 1998 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press xiv + 232 pp., £35.00, US$54.95 ISBN 0–521–62246–8

The Dynamics of Emerging Ethnicities: Immigrant and Indigenous Ethnogenesis in Confrontation Johan Leman, ed., 1998 Frankfurt a. M: Peter Lang 179 pp., DM 32.50 (pb) ISBN 3–631–33107‐X, US ISBN 0–8204–3572–4

Testing the Global Ethic: Voices from Religious Traditions on Moral Values? Peggy Morgan & Marcus Braybrooke, eds., 1998 Oxford: The World Congress of Faiths/Ada, MI: CoNexus Press 172 pp., £11.99, US$19.95 UK ISBN 0–95–24140–1–5, US ISBN 0–9637897–6–7

Embodying Charisma: Modernity, Locality and the Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults Pnina Werbner & Helene Basu, eds., 1998 London: Routledge 243 pp., £18.99 ISBN 0–415–15100–7

Appropriating Gender: Women's Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia Patricia Jeffery & Amrita Basu, eds., 1998 New York, London: Routledge 276 + xi pp., £42.50 (hb), £12.99 (pb) ISBN 0–415–91865–0 (hb), ISBN 0–415–91866–9 (pb)

Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds Mary Evelyn Tucker & Duncan Ryuken Williams, eds., 1997 Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions xlii + 467 pp., £19.95 (hb), £13.50 (pb) ISBN 0–945454–13–9 (hb), 0–945454–14–7 (pb)

The Book of Enlightened Masters: Western Teachers in Eastern Traditions Andrew Rawlinson, 1997 Chicago & La Salle, Illinois: Open Court Publishing xix + 650 pp, £23.95 (pb) ISBN 0–8126–9310–8

American Buddhism: Methods and Findings of Recent Scholarship Duncan Ryuken Williams & Christopher S. Queen, eds., 1999 Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press 329 pp., £40.00 ISBN 0–7007–1081–7

China's Catholics: Tragedy and Hope in an Emerging Civil Society Richard Madsen, 1998 Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press 183 pp., £19.95 ISBN 0–520–21326–2

Anti‐Catholicism in Ireland, 1600–1998: The Mote and the Beam John D. Brewer with Gareth I. Higgins, 1998 London: Macmillan 248 pp., £47.50 (hb), £16.99 (pb) ISBN 0–333–74634–1 (hb), ISBN 0–333–74635‐X (pb)

Mary and Human Liberation: The Story and the Text Fr. Tissa Balasuriya, 1997 London: Mowbray 262 pp., £14.99 ISBN 0–264–67459–6

Beyond the Darkness: A Biography of Bede Griffiths Shirley Du Boulay, 1998 London: Rider 308 pp., £20.00 ISBN 0–7126–7429–2

Honest to Goddess: Russia, Sophia and the Celtic Soul Geraint Ap Iorwerth, 1998 Foreword by Caitlin Matthews Southampton: Crescent Books 136 pp., £12.99 ISBN 1–844086–001–4

Freud and Jung on Religion Michael Palmer, 1997 London: Routledge 238 pp., £45.00 (hb), £13.99 (pb) ISBN 0–415–14746–8 (hb), ISBN 0–415–14747–6 (pb)

Science Meets Faith: Theology and Science in Conversation Fraser Watts, ed., 1998 London: SPCK 166 pp., £12.99 ISBN 0–281–05112–1     

When confessing sin feels good

This paper draws on a qualitative study of how young people engaged in two youth ministries in the Church of Norway reflect on sin and shame in relation to their existential dilemmas . The authors analyze this practice through the lens of Hartmut Rosa's concept of resonance, arguing that there is consonance between how young people in the study express shame and the Lutheran understanding of sin as being curved in on oneself. Both sin and shame prevent the subject from being open to the world, thus constituting resistance to resonance. Yet, the practice of confessing sin may be a remedy to this closing in on oneself, as confession affords a resonant space, countering feelings of existential inadequacy caused by both sin and shame. Bringing the concept of vulnerability into the discussion, the paper further argues that confessing sin may prove healing and liberating also for experiences of shame as long as it does not violate the subject's ability to speak with her own voice or involve harmful god-images or harmful power dynamics.     

Assessing the social validity of telehealth-based applied behavior analysis services for autism spectrum disorder

During the COVID-19 pandemic, applied behavior analysis services for many autistic individuals were transitioned to telehealth. The current study assessed caregiver-reported quality of life (QoL) and social validity for families of autistic children receiving only telehealth services (n = 96) or a combination of telehealth and in-person services (n = 173). Barriers to the telehealth experience were analyzed via an ANOVA, and the impact of funding source was analyzed using an independent samples t-test. Caregivers reported benefit across QoL and social validity items, with scores ranging from 3.31 to 4.44 (1 = least benefit, 5 = most benefit). While many caregivers reported no barriers regarding technology (44.61%), childcare (69.52%), and employment (64.68%), the presence of those barriers significantly impacted QoL and social validity scores. Funding source was not found to have a significant impact. Overall, caregivers found value in their child's telehealth services. Clinicians have an obligation to mitigate barriers to ensure the success of the intervention.