Religion and Life Satisfaction: A Correlational Study of Undergraduate Students in Trinidad

Journal of Religion and Health - Religious behaviour tends to correlate positively with life satisfaction. The predictive power of this relationship is associated with various socio-demographic...     

Reading the Lives of Others: Biography as Political Thought in Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir

In this essay, I focus on two biographical works by Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir that I read as political texts: Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (Arendt 1957 ) and “Must We Burn Sade?” (Beauvoir 2012 ). Reading Arendt's Varnhagen and Beauvoir's “Sade” side by side illuminates their shared preoccupation with lived experience and their common political premises: the antagonism between freedom and sovereignty, and the centrality of action and constructive relations with others. My argument is that these texts constitute an original style of political thinking, which I call politico‐biographical hermeneutics, or reading the life of others as exercises in political theory. Politico‐biographical hermeneutics, as I take it, is not a systematic methodology, but an approach to interpreting sociopolitical forces as they come to bear and are embodied and inscribed in the lived experiences, struggles, and works of representative or exemplary individuals. This approach identifies the political lessons of lived experience and supports one of the central claims of feminist philosophy, namely, that the personal and the political are not antithetical, but relational.     

How does frustration make you feel? A motivational analysis in exercise context

Not all exercisers experience the same psychological benefits. The understanding of motivational processes and their relation with emotional consequences of exercise should be considered in the context of the exercisers motivation. This was a cross-sectional study of 153 gym users (M?=?36.21 years, SD?=?8.44; 44.9% men, 55.1% women; M years exercise?=?8). Weekly attendance averaged 4.3 (SD?=?2.6) sessions per week; reported exertion intensity was 5.6 (SD?=?2.1) (scale: 0–11). The basic psychological needs (BPNs) posited by self-determination theory, motivational regulation, and emotional response to physical activity, were measured. Possible mediators of BPN-emotion relationships were analyzed. BPN satisfaction was associated with a positive emotional response to exercise which was partially mediated by the effect of autonomous regulation on positive activation and psychological well-being. Mediation models indicated that the negative effects of BPN frustration were counteracted by autonomous regulation. Exercise professionals should be able to create psychologically supportive contexts and identify behaviors associated with need frustration so as to enhance emotional responses to exercise.     

Sources of evaluation of parental behaviors as predictors of achievement outcomes

Parents contribute to their children’s academic achievements by supporting their basic psychological needs. Parents’ need supporting behaviors (NSB) were expected to predict positive academic outcomes such as students’ academic performance and persistence intentions. The present study tested the contribution of parental NSB by distinguishing which of the source of evaluation (parent or adolescent) or specific NSB (autonomy support, involvement, structure) was a better predictor of youths’ academic performance and persistence intentions. This prospective study used a sample of 435 mother–adolescent dyads and 246 father–adolescent dyads, who completed two questionnaires a year apart. Results suggested that poor agreement between sources precluded the adoption of a multitrait-multimethod model. Using distinct factors for mothers, fathers, and adolescents to evaluate each NSB, different predictions were found for each outcome. Our results showed stronger contributions for paternal behaviors than for maternal ones, from the perspective of both students and their parents. These findings are examined in light of theories and research on parenting and education.     

Effects of Business Internships on Students,Employers, and Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic Review

The objective of this study is to provide a systematic review of the literature on the impact of internships completed by university students. This research also aims to analyze variables that can affect outcomes and satisfaction in the internship experience. Fifty‐seven studies were included and examined. The effects and variables identified were listed and classified. The findings of this review support the overall positive effects of business internships and confirm that they are a win‐win situation for the main 3 stakeholders: students, employers, and higher education institutions.     

Whiteness in Latina Immigrants: A Venezuelan Perspective

This article examines the construct of Whiteness in Venezuela, which requires a framework that differs from the fixed racial categories commonly used in the United States. In Venezuela, where most citizens are of mixed race and where the concept of race is fluid, race and racism take on more complex forms that include dimensions such as social class, eye color, family, education, and even manners. This means that Whiteness and privilege do not always go hand in hand. I discuss ways in which this culturally defined notion of race can be incorporated into psychotherapy with Latina immigrants to the United States.     

Individual Differences in Diving: Intelligence,Personality, and Underwater Adaptation

Diving is an activity that is carried out in an extreme environment with extraordinary psychophysical demands. It requires the divers to undergo an adaptive process in order to survive, to be able to take advantage of their capabilities, and to achieve an efficient performance. In this ex post facto study, data from a sample of military personnel participating in scuba diving courses (N = 649) were analyzed. Our aim was to verify the role of individual differences in the adaptation to an extreme and hostile environment. The results indicate the existence of psychological variables that differentiate between divers and the general population, those who pass or fail the diving course, and between groups of divers who obtain differential levels of performance in underwater tasks. These findings support that dispositional characteristics have utility for the identification of suitable personnel for professional diving.