Is Kinship Always Already Reproductive?

Abstract

This article offers a critique of contemporary Christianity’s emphasis on family and gestures towards possible alternative visions. Juxtaposing early Christian narratives of kinship with Judith Butler’s analysis of the story of Antigone, this article argues that the sacrament of baptism enables and supports re-envisioning kinship in a ecclesiological, as opposed to reproductive, framework. This essay suggests that an ecclesiological and a poststructuralist account of kinship are mutually generative, with attendant ethical and political implications.     

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,differential diagnosis with blood oxygenation,beta/theta ratio,and attention measures

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the disorders causing the greatest impact, conditioning academic learning, quality of concentration, and capacity for self-regulation and control. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV-TR) establishes the most commonly accepted criteria for diagnosis (Inattentive: ADHD-I, Hyperactive/impulsive: ADHD-HI, and Combined: ADHD-C), but currently, diverse studies disagree about whether to address it as a continuum with different degrees of intensity (subtype structure) or as specific disorders (counterposed profiles). Prior research has tested the hypothesis of differential categories with performance measures and cortical activation. The goal proposed herein is to confirm these results, incorporating a new measure, near-infrared hemoencefalography (nir-HEG), in order to control cortical activation through levels of blood oxygenation. For this purpose, we used a sample of 205 children between 8 and 13 years (105 control group, 28 with ADHD-I, 35 with ADHD-HI, and 37 with ADHD-C), administering a continuous performance test (TOVA), quantified electroencephalogram (Q-EEG), and nir-HEG. Results reflect the counterposed profiles hypothesis instead of the degrees of intensity, although the latter is more habitual and generalized.     

Five Books on Sacrifice: New Approaches in Sacrifice Studies

These books, each of which is grounded in familiarity with historical sources and at the same time alert to philosophical and theological questions, reveal that sacrificial studies are thriving. Grand theories have been enfeebled, but a rich repertory of hermeneutical strategies is being applied all the more freely to the vast material from many cultures. Bloodshed is no longer indisputably central, even in discussion of the classical and well‐documented traditions of India, Israel, and Greece. Past attempts to rationalize sacrifice, through spiritualization for example, are confuted by the sturdy texture of ritual. Despite the opacity of archaic rituals and texts, the social function of sacrificial customs and their potential pathologies are better understood, and interconnect with sacrificial dynamics in our own culture. The sacrificial interpretation of Calvary and the Eucharist is better appreciated as a rich and powerful New Testament construct, despite attempts to whittle it away. Yet those such as René Girard who urge a change of theological paradigm now have impressive critical resources at their disposal.     

努力做好婚恋受挫官兵的心理调适

青年官兵在婚恋上遇到挫折是正常的事情,但处理不好往往会产生不利的影响。因而,有必要做好这些人的心理调适工作。青年官兵婚恋受挫后,一般有积极、消极和妥协等三种心理防卫形式。各级管理者要采取有效措施,努力做好青年官兵婚恋受挫的心理调适,帮助受挫官兵重新振作起来,积极热情地投入工作。     

‘Who would take whose name?’ Accounts of naming practices in same‐sex relationships

The practice of a woman assuming her husband's last name upon marriage is a deeply embedded norm in some countries. Whether or not individual heterosexual couples reproduce or resist this practice, it provides a context for making decisions about marital names. No conventions, other than heteronormative ones, govern naming practices in same‐sex relationships and families, but very little is known about name changing in these contexts. This paper reports an exploratory qualitative study of the ways in which 30 lesbians and gay men in committed relationships made meaning of name changing and keeping. Only one participant reported changing her last name, some considered name changing a future possibility, but most had no plans to change their name. The lack of conventions regarding naming in same‐sex families created a dilemma for some participants—who would take whose name? Many participants did not want to entirely give up their name, thus a hyphenated last name was the most popular option for those contemplating a name change. Accounts of name changing centred on doing/being family. This was also a theme in accounts of name keeping, along with maintaining a continuity of personal and professional identity, avoiding hassle, complications and confusion and resisting heteronormativity. The findings are discussed in relation to other research on naming in same‐sex families and research on heterosexual marital naming practices. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distributive justice in marriage: Equality or equity?

Experimental studies of distributive justice suggest that men prefer an equity rule for allocating rewards, whereas women prefer equality. These differences are likely to carry implications for distributive justice in the context of marriage. There is a popular view in Western societies that marriage should be regarded as a partnership of equals, and this is also an implicit assumption in microeconomic accounts of the family. However, inequality between spouses is still commonplace, with the husband more likely to have overall financial control and greater access to money for personal spending (PSM). This paper investigates the issue of sharing in marriage, with particular reference to PSM, using data from an in-depth interview study supplemented by some follow-up questionnaires. The participants were 13 women and nine of their partners, mainly ‘middle class’ and aged between 30 and 50. After classifying each couple's system of financial management, the paper focuses upon eight couples with a philosophy of sharing. The findings show that, despite attempts to equalize outcomes for both partners, a sense of ‘ownership’ associated with having earned the money seemed to render it more salient than other, non-financial contributions to the marriage. As a result, patterns of control and personal spending appeared to be based upon equity rather than equality.     

What has fMRI told us about the Development of Cognitive Control through Adolescence?

Cognitive control, the ability to voluntarily guide our behavior, continues to improve throughout adolescence. Below we review the literature on age-related changes in brain function related to response inhibition and working memory, which support cognitive control. Findings from studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) indicate that processing errors, sustaining a cognitive control state, and reaching adult levels of precision, persist through adolescence. Developmental changes in patterns of brain function suggest that core regions of the circuitry underlying cognitive control are on-line early in development. However, age-related changes in localized processes across the brain, and in establishing long range connections that support top-down modulation of behavior, more effective neural processing for optimal mature executive function. While great progress has been made in understanding the age-related changes in brain processes underlying cognitive development, there are still important challenges in developmental neuroimaging methods and the interpretation of data that need to be addressed.     

Gender-Role Identity,Attitudes Toward Marriage,and Gender-Segregated School Backgrounds

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate the relationship between gender-role identity and attitudes toward marriage by comparing Bem's gender schema theory and Spence's multifactorial model of gender identity; (2) to examine the effects of gender-segregated school backgrounds on gender-role identity and attitudes toward marriage. A total of 524 male and 696 female Japanese college students completed the Japanese version of the Bem Sex Role Inventory and a series of questions regarding attitudes toward marriage. Overall results were more supportive of Spence's multifactorial model. The effect of school background was found only in women; women without any coeducational school background had relatively strong masculinity and desired to marry at an older age, but tended to have a conservative opinion about men taking nontraditional roles.