Non‐ignorable missingness item response theory models for choice effects in examinee‐selected items

Examinee‐selected item (ESI) design, in which examinees are required to respond to a fixed number of items in a given set, always yields incomplete data (i.e., when only the selected items are answered, data are missing for the others) that are likely non‐ignorable in likelihood inference. Standard item response theory (IRT) models become infeasible when ESI data are missing not at random (MNAR). To solve this problem, the authors propose a two‐dimensional IRT model that posits one unidimensional IRT model for observed data and another for nominal selection patterns. The two latent variables are assumed to follow a bivariate normal distribution. In this study, the mirt freeware package was adopted to estimate parameters. The authors conduct an experiment to demonstrate that ESI data are often non‐ignorable and to determine how to apply the new model to the data collected. Two follow‐up simulation studies are conducted to assess the parameter recovery of the new model and the consequences for parameter estimation of ignoring MNAR data. The results of the two simulation studies indicate good parameter recovery of the new model and poor parameter recovery when non‐ignorable missing data were mistakenly treated as ignorable.     

Ritual and Recovery: Traditions in Disaster Ritualizing

The aim of this article is partly to analyze and discuss the ritual traditions in the Norwegian context, called disaster services, which consists in ritualizing as a response to accidents and disasters. Furthermore, we find it relevant to understand these traditions in relation to two aspects of recovery: personal and social recovery. From a practical theological perspective, the new traditions are interesting for the understanding of how the churches work in situations where people have stressful experiences, and for developing an understanding of contemporary religion.     

Reformation Unfinished: Economy,Inclusivity, Authority

In 2017, churches around the world are organizing different activities to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses. The Reformation was a momentous event in the church and the history of Europe. This article examines three important legacies of the Reformation to look ahead to the future: the church and economic life; the priesthood of all believers; and the authority of the Bible. In many ways, the issues that Luther has raised – such as authority, church structure, priesthood and ministry, biblical interpretation, and the church's relation to economics and social issues – remain to this day and demand the church's critical attention.     

The Historic Peace Churches and the Reformations

This contribution considers the broad historical and theological category of Reformation and Reformations in relation to the Historic Peace Churches before turning to a more detailed consideration of recent and contemporary meaning of Reformation(s) in selected settings and needs: Mennonites in Taiwan; Friends in East Africa, especially Tanzania; and the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria. Reformation insights of the 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries continue to inform, inspire, and sustain Mennonite, Quaker, and Brethren communities in contexts quite different from those in which our communities arose and from one another.     

Paternal Caregivers’ Parenting Practices and Psychological Functioning among African American Youth Living in Urban Public Housing

Structural factors associated with public housing contribute to living environments that expose families to adverse life events that may in turn directly impact parenting and youth outcomes. However, despite the growth in research on fathers, research on families in public housing has practically excluded fathers and the role fathers play in the well‐being of their adolescents. Using a sample of 660 African American adolescents recruited from public housing, we examined the relationship between paternal caregivers’ (i.e., fathers’ and father figures’) parenting practices and adolescents’ depressive symptoms, attitudes toward deviance, and self‐efficacy. Using a latent profile analysis (LPA), we confirmed a four‐class model of paternal parenting practices ranging from high to low levels of monitoring and encouragement. Results from a one‐way ANOVA indicated that paternal caregivers with high (compared to moderate) levels of encouragement and monitoring were associated with youth who reported less depressive symptoms, higher levels of self‐efficacy, and less favorable attitudes toward deviance. Discriminant analysis results indicated that approximately half of the sample were correctly classified into two paternal caregiver classes. The findings provide evidence that some of these caregivers engage in parenting practices that support youths’ psychological functioning. More research is needed to determine what accounts for the variability in levels of paternal encouragement and supervision, including environmental influences, particularly for paternal caregivers exhibiting moderate‐to‐low levels of paternal encouragement and monitoring.     

Child Characteristics,Parent Education and Depressive Symptoms,and Marital Conflict Predicting Trajectories of Parenting Behavior from Childhood Through Early Adolescence in Taiwan

The study examined how child and parent characteristics, and contextual sources of stress, such as marital conflict predict initial status and trajectories of parent involvement, support, and harsh control, over a 4‐year period in families in Taiwan (n = 4,754). Based on Belsky's (1984) ecological model of parenting, three domains predicting parenting were tested, child characteristics (age cohort and gender), father and mother characteristics (education and depressive symptoms), and contextual sources of stress (marital conflict). The study followed two cohorts of children; the younger cohort was followed from first to fourth grade and the older cohort from fourth to seventh grade. Initially, fourth graders reported more parental involvement, support, and harsh control than first graders. However, involvement, support, and harsh control decreased across the 4 years for the older cohort as they transitioned to early adolescence. In the first year, girls reported more parental involvement and support and less harsh control than boys. Across the 4 years, involvement and support increased, and harsh control decreased for boys; whereas involvement stayed the same, support slightly decreased, and harsh control slightly increased for girls. Children whose parents were more educated reported more parent involvement, support, and harsh control in the first year. Children whose fathers were chronically depressed and whose parents were experiencing marital conflict reported decreasing parent involvement and support over the years.     

Adapting the Unique Minds Program: Exploring the Feasibility of a Multiple Family Intervention for Children with Learning Disabilities in the Context of Spain

The Unique Minds Program (Stern, Unique Minds Program, 1999) addresses the socio‐emotional needs of children with learning disabilities (LD) and their families. Children and their parents work together in a multiple family group to learn more about LD and themselves as people with the capacity to solve problems in a collaborative way, including problems in family school relationships. This article reports the cultural adaptation of the program for use in Spain and findings from a feasibility study involving three multiple family groups and a total of 15 children and 15 mothers, using a pre‐post design. This Spanish adaptation of the program is called “Mentes Únicas”. Standardized outcome measures indicated an overall statistically significant decrease in children's self‐rated maladjustment and relationship difficulties by the end of the program. Improvements were endorsed by most mothers, although they were not always recognized by the children's teachers. The program had a high level of acceptability: Mothers and children felt safe, understood, and helped throughout the sessions. The efficacy of the adapted intervention for the context of Spain remains to be tested in a more rigorous study.     

Impulsivity as a precedent factor for problematic Internet use: How can we be sure?

Previous research has suggested that problematic Internet use (PIU) is associated with impulse control disorder. Although researchers have suggested that impulsivity is a risk factor for PIU, the literature lacks longitudinal evidence on the relationship between impulsivity and PIU. We aimed to use a cross‐lagged analytic framework to identify temporal order effects and hypothesised that impulsivity was the precedent factor for PIU. In a panel sample of college students (N = 367), trait impulsivity and PIU were measured in the spring of freshman year and in their junior year. The measures included a self‐developed PIU Scale and the revised Impulsiveness Scale based on Barratt's concept. We found that “non‐planning impulsivity” was not associated with PIU. The “motor impulsivity” subfactor was thus adopted in the cross‐lagged model. The results suggest that motor impulsivity and PIU were stable across time. Motor impulsivity at Time 1 positively predicted PIU at Time 2, but PIU at Time 1 did not predict motor impulsivity at Time 2. A further investigation using gender as a moderator found a gender difference in the temporal relationship. Because motor impulsivity is a risk factor for PIU, potential prevention strategies based on this result are suggested.     

“Go Near and Join Thyself to This Chariot…”: African Pneumatic Movements and Transformational Discipleship

Christian religious innovation has been ongoing in Africa since the early 20th century. It started with indigenous charismatic prophets calling on people to turn over their old deities and submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The ministries of these itinerant prophets led to mass conversions culminating in the formation of what became known as the African independent/instituted/initiated churches (AICs). For the best part of the 20th century the AICs defined what counted as Christian in an African indigenous sense. The argument of this article is that the acronym AICs has, since the closing decades of the 20th century, acquired a much broader meaning to include the new Pentecostal/charismatic movements and churches that have burgeoned across the continent. Their trademarks include youthful urban‐centred congregations, media‐driven ministries, and the preaching of a gospel of prosperity. The contributions of both the classical AICs and the contemporary Pentecostals to African Christianity have been phenomenal. As Christian churches, however, we ought to evaluate them not just in terms of numerical or sociological impact, but most especially in terms of transformational discipleship. There is much to celebrate in transformational discipleship as far as the ministries of these African Reformation movements are concerned, but there as yet remain areas of concern that need to be dealt with for the optimization of Christian impact in Africa.