Doctoral Dissertations in the Nordic Countries 1999

First, in order to understand historically how the formative beliefs about Jesus emerged, one must begin with the interpretations of Jesus' death, as Dahl so clearly pointed out. Second, the “quest of the historical Jesus” in all its varieties suffers from the fallacies of a peculiarly modern conception of human identity, which has now been abandoned in many areas of social science and critical theory. In our age we will understand the identity of Jesus in the early church better if we adopt a social model of the self and conceive of identity not as essence but as transaction and process. Third, the process by which Jesus' identity was formed in the communities of his followers was at its heart an interpretive process.     

Irrelevant conjunction and the ratio measure or historical skepticism

It is widely believed that one should not become more confident that all swans are white and all lions are brave simply by observing white swans. Irrelevant conjunction or “tacking” of a theory onto another is often thought problematic for Bayesianism, especially given the ratio measure of confirmation considered here. It is recalled that the irrelevant conjunct is not confirmed at all. Using the ratio measure, the irrelevant conjunction is confirmed to the same degree as the relevant conjunct, which, it is argued, is ideal: the irrelevant conjunct is irrelevant. Because the past’s really having been as it now appears to have been is an irrelevant conjunct, present evidence confirms theories about past events only insofar as irrelevant conjunctions are confirmed. Hence the ideal of not confirming irrelevant conjunctions would imply that historical claims are not confirmed. Confirmation measures partially realizing that ideal make the confirmation of historical claims by present evidence depend strongly on the (presumably subjective) degree of belief in the irrelevant conjunct. The unusually good behavior of the ratio measure has a bearing on the problem of measure sensitivity. For non-statistical hypotheses, Bayes’ theorem yields a fractional linear transformation in the prior probability, not a linear rescaling, so even the ratio measure arguably does not aptly measure confirmation in such cases.     

Attribution and building blocks: Comment on Ann Taves's Religious Experience Reconsidered

Taves nicely elaborates an attribution approach to the study of religious experience, clarifying the issues it raises and providing some guides for further research. This comment addresses two of those issues, (1) the relation of top‐down and bottom‐up accounts of religious experiences and (2) what Taves describes as the building block approach to their study     

Randomized,placebo-controlled trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy alone or combined with sertraline in the treatment of pediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder

Background

To examine the efficacy of sequential sertraline and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) treatment relative to CBT with pill placebo over 18 weeks in children and adolescents with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD).

Methods

Forty-seven children and adolescents with OCD (Range = 7–17 years) were randomized to 18-weeks of treatment in one of three arms: 1) sertraline at standard dosing + CBT (RegSert + CBT); 2) sertraline titrated slowly but achieving at least 8 weeks on the maximally tolerated daily dose + CBT (SloSert + CBT); or 3) pill placebo + CBT (PBO + CBT). Assessments were conducted at screening, baseline, weeks 1–9, 13, and 17, and post-treatment. Raters and clinicians were blinded to sertraline (but not CBT) randomization status. Primary outcomes included the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale, and response and remission status. Secondary outcomes included the Child Obsessive Compulsive Impact Scale–Parent/Child, Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, and Clinical-Global Impressions-Severity.

Results

All groups exhibited large within-group effects across outcomes. There was no group by time interaction across all outcomes suggesting that group changes over time were comparable.

Conclusions

Among youth with OCD, there was no evidence that sequentially provided sertraline with CBT differed from those receiving placebo with CBT.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier

NCT00382291.     

The Greensboro Child Response Initiative: A Trauma-Informed,Mental Health–Law Enforcement Model for Children Exposed to Violence

This article evaluates a trauma-informed, mental health–law enforcement intervention model called the Greensboro Child Response Initiative (CRI). CRI is a community-coordinated response to mitigate the development of traumatic stress symptoms in children exposed to violence, with the goals of decreasing mental health symptoms and other negative outcomes. Results from a quasi-experimental study indicated that caregivers appreciate the quick follow-up and support by CRI advocates and police reported seeing CRI as a critical component of their responses to calls for service related to families and children. Police line-ups and training provided by CRI increased levels of empathy and awareness of child trauma. Monthly stakeholder meetings promoted an informed victim response and increased communication and networking opportunities among community providers and law enforcement. Results suggest that CRI is a promising community-based early intervention, and implications and suggestions are provided for replicability.     

Mediation analysis of decisional balance,sun avoidance and sunscreen use in the precontemplation and preparation stages for sun protection

Objective: Mediation analyses of sun protection were conducted testing structural equation models using longitudinal data with three waves. An effect was said to be mediated if the standardised path between processes of change, decisional balance and sun protection outcomes was significant.

Design: Longitudinal models of sun protection using data from individuals in the precontemplation (N = 964) and preparation (N = 463) stages who participated of an expert system intervention.

Main outcome measures: Nine processes of change for sun protection, decisional balance constructs of sun protection (pros and cons), sun avoidance behaviour and sunscreen use.

Results: With the exception of two processes in the preparation stage, processes of change predicted the pros (r = .126–.614), and the pros predicted the outcomes (r = .181–.272). Three models with the cons as mediator in the preparation stage, and none in the precontemplation stage, showed a mediated relationship between processes and outcomes.

Conclusion: In general, mediation analyses found both the process of change-to-pros and pros-to-behaviour paths significant for both precontemplation and preparation stages, and for both sun avoidance and sunscreen use outcomes. Findings provide support for the importance of assessing the role of underlying risk cognitions in improving sun protection adherence.     

NEO PI-R Normative Personality Data That Distinguish U.S. Air Force Female Pilots

Female U.S. Air Force (USAF) pilots represent a unique group of women in a challenging, high-risk, and male-dominated profession. Aside from ability and motivation, personality characteristics are considered to play a key role in succeeding as a military pilot (Paullin, Katz, Bruskiewicz, Houston, & Damos, 2006 Paullin, C., Katz, L., Bruskeiwicz, K. T., Houston, J. and Damos, D. 2006. Review of aviator selection (Tech. Rep. No. 1183) Arlington, VA: United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral Sciences.  [Google Scholar]). This study evaluated psychological baseline test scores from the NEO Personality Inventory–Revised (NEO PI-R) on the current inventory of rated USAF female (n = 512) and male (n = 9630) pilots in an effort to (a) provide modern normative data on the personality traits of current USAF female pilots, (b) identify personality traits that distinguish female pilots from male pilots and non-pilot females in the civilian normative sample, and (c) assess for meaningful personality differences within female pilots across specific airframes (e.g., fighter/bomber, reconnaissance/surveillance, tanker/transport, and helicopter). The results of the study aim to shed light on objective personality traits and differences and assist clinical psychologists with the interpretation of NEO PI-R psychological test scores when evaluating USAF female pilots. A case vignette is provided to illustrate practical application of study findings.