Religious Congregations and Social Justice Participation: A Multilevel Examination of Social Processes and Leadership

Religious congregations have potential to be mediating structures for social justice participation. However, research has yet to examine the specific social processes or leadership characteristics within congregations that may promote social justice participation. In this study, we use data from 176,901 participants nested within 1,938 congregations to test how social processes (i.e., religious attendance at worship services, extra-worship participation, bonding social capital, a congregational norm for justice) and leadership characteristics (i.e., leader modeling of justice, horizontal leadership style) predict personal social justice involvement through the congregation (i.e., participation in social justice activities sponsored by the congregation) as well as personal social justice involvement outside the congregation (i.e., participation in social justice activities not sponsored by the congregation). We use multilevel logistic regression to examine these social processes and leadership characteristics at both individual and congregational levels of analysis. Results showed distinct patterns of associations at individual and congregational levels of analysis and that different social processes and leadership characteristics predicted personal social justice participation through or outside the congregation. These findings reveal the importance of social processes and leadership characteristics in understanding how congregations may mediate social justice participation. Implications for community psychology research and practiced also are discussed.     

Examining Patterns of Political, Social Service, and Collaborative Involvement of Religious Congregations: A Latent Class and Transition Analysis

This investigation examines typologies of congregations based on patterns of congregational political and social service activities and collaborative partners. Based on a latent class analysis of a national random sample of 2,153 congregations, results indicated four distinct types of congregations with unique patterns of political, social service, and collaborative partnerships labeled: (a) Active, (b) Not Active, (c) Social Service Not Political, and (d) Political Not Social Service. Moreover, congregational characteristics such as religious tradition and clergy characteristics predicted membership in certain types. A latent transition analysis using an additional 262 congregations revealed distinct patterns of how congregations changed types across a nine year period. Results showed both congregational continuity (e.g., Not Active congregations remained Not Active) and change (e.g., Active congregations were likely to change type membership). This study advances congregational research by examining congregational types, what predicts certain types, and how congregations change types across time. Implications for future research and partnership with religious congregations also are discussed.     

Mother–infant interaction improves with a developmental intervention for mother–preterm infant dyads

While premature infants have a high need for positive interactions, both infants and their mothers are challenged by the infant‘s biological immaturity. This randomized clinical trial of 198 premature infants born at 29–34 weeks gestation and their mothers examined the impact of the H-HOPE (Hospital to Home: Optimizing the Infant's Environment) intervention on mother–premature infant interaction patterns at 6-weeks corrected age (CA). Mothers had at least 2 social environmental risk factors such as minority status or less than high school education. Mother–infant dyads were randomly assigned to the H-HOPE intervention group or an attention control group. H-HOPE is an integrated intervention that included (1) twice-daily infant stimulation using the ATVV (auditory, tactile, visual, and vestibular-rocking stimulation) and (2) four maternal participatory guidance sessions plus two telephone calls by a nurse-community advocate team. Mother–infant interaction was assessed at 6-weeks CA using the Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training–Feeding Scale (NCAST, 76 items) and the Dyadic Mutuality Code (DMC, 6-item contingency scale during a 5-min play session). NCAST and DMC scores for the Control and H-HOPE groups were compared using t-tests, chi-square tests and multivariable analysis. Compared with the Control group (n = 76), the H-HOPE group (n = 66) had higher overall NCAST scores and higher maternal Social-Emotional Growth Fostering Subscale scores. The H-HOPE group also had significantly higher scores for the overall infant subscale and the Infant Clarity of Cues Subscale (p < 0.05). H-HOPE dyads were also more likely to have high responsiveness during play as measured by the DMC (67.6% versus 58.1% of controls). After adjustment for significant maternal and infant characteristics, H-HOPE dyads had marginally higher scores during feeding on overall mother–infant interaction (β = 2.03, p = 0.06) and significantly higher scores on the infant subscale (β = 0.75, p = 0.05) when compared to controls. In the adjusted analysis, H-HOPE dyads had increased odds of high versus low mutual responsiveness during play (OR = 2.37, 95% CI = 0.97, 5.80). Intervening with both mother and infant is a promising approach to help premature infants achieve the social interaction patterns essential for optimal development.     

Facing still faces: What visual cues affect infants’ observations of others?

We used eye-tracking technique to examine gaze shifts of 9-, 16-, and 24-month-old infants who were presented with still images of a conversation between two individuals facing each other or turning away from each other. The results showed that body orientation, as measured by the face-to-face effect, is sufficient to provide infants with crucial information about others’ social engagement.     

Genetic and adoptive motherhood: Stress,marital relationship,and child care support

In this paper we characterize adoptive and genetic motherhood with or without stress indicators. Participants were 86 mothers (36 adoptive, 50 genetic) with children from 0 to 12 years old. They answered questions about focal child and mother profile, marital relationship, child care support and the Lipp's Stress Symptoms Inventory for Adults. Results showed that mothers in both groups reported child care support, but there was more participation of nonrelatives in the care of adoptive children and relatives in the care of genetic children. There was greater marital stability and less conflict with the arrival of the child in the adoptive families and predominance of stress indicators in genetic mothers. We concluded that, although there are differences between adoptive and genetic motherhood, these do not imply advantages for one versus the other. Moreover, marital stability related to the adoption process and sociodemographic characteristics of adoptive mothers may have contributed to lower prevalence of stress.     

Children’s social cognition about proactive aggression

In this study, 6- and 9-year-old children (N = 258) observed two instances of proactive aggression (one relational and the other direct aggression) that were committed by members of a group toward out-group members. Participants were either members of the group or independent observers. Analyses of participants’ social cognition about the aggressor and the aggression (cause of aggression, moral judgment of aggression, attitudes toward the aggressor, and exclusion of the aggressor) indicated that, overall, group members were more positive toward aggressors than were independent observers. Although intergroup competition was perceived to be the cause of the aggression, participants disapproved of both types of aggression (especially direct aggression), disapproval increased with age, and girls disapproved of relational aggression more than did boys. Group members’ social cognition about the aggressor and the aggression comprised a coherent cognitive process for both types of aggression, but the observers’ process was simpler and differed by aggression type.     

Individual differences in children’s private speech: The role of imaginary companions

Relations between children’s imaginary companion status and their engagement in private speech during free play were investigated in a socially diverse sample of 5-year-olds (N = 148). Controlling for socioeconomic status, receptive verbal ability, total number of utterances, and duration of observation, there was a main effect of imaginary companion status on type of private speech. Children who had imaginary companions were more likely to engage in covert private speech compared with their peers who did not have imaginary companions. These results suggest that the private speech of children with imaginary companions is more internalized than that of their peers who do not have imaginary companions and that social engagement with imaginary beings may fulfill a similar role to social engagement with real-life partners in the developmental progression of private speech.     

Risk and resilience: The moderating role of social coping for maternal mental health in a setting of political conflict

Violence can threaten individual wellbeing and tear at the social fabric of communities. At the same time, suffering can mobilize social coping and mutual support. Thus, the backdrop of political violence increases risk factors and stimulates resilience. The current study examined the moderating role of social coping as reflective of risk and resiliency in Northern Ireland, a setting of protracted conflict. Specifically, structural equation modeling was used to investigate whether social coping protects from or exacerbates the negative impact of sectarian crime and nonsectarian crime on maternal mental health (N = 631). Nonsectarian crime predicted greater psychological distress for mothers in Belfast. Mixed support was found for the buffering and depletion moderation hypotheses; social coping functioned differently for nonsectarian crime and sectarian crime. Greater social coping buffered mothers’ psychological distress from the negative effects of nonsectarian crime, but exacerbated maternal mental health problems when facing sectarian crime. Results suggest that social coping is a complex phenomenon, particularly in settings of protracted political violence. Implications for interventions aimed at alleviating psychological distress by enhancing mothers’ social coping in contexts of intergroup conflict are discussed.     

Social Anxiety and the Post-Event Processing of Socially Distressing Events

The correlation between social anxiety, as measured by the Social Phobia Scale, and negative post-event processing of socially distressing events, as measured by a diary record, was studied in a sample of 62 undergraduate students during a 1-week period. Of the participants, 55 individuals reported the experience of at least 1 socially distressing event during this time; only 24 of the participants, however, reported distressing events of a negative-evaluational character during the recording week. Although the Social Phobia Scale did not correlate with post-event processing of socially distressing events in general, it showed moderate to strong correlations with post-event processing of negative-evaluational events both on the same day and on the following day. Furthermore, the degree of negative post-event processing that was reported the same day was strongly predictive of the degree of such processing that was reported the following day. The results confirm that negative post-event processing is a real phenomenon with regard to socially distressing situations, and that high social anxiety is associated with higher degrees of such post-event processing of negative-evaluational events. The results also suggest that social anxiety is only one of several forms of interpersonal distress that are characterized by such negative post-event processing; other forms of such distress involve other fears (fears of separation or loneliness, fears of hurting others, etc.) or other kinds of feelings (e.g. guilt and anger).     

Cognitive Bias Via the Internet: A Comparison of Web‐Based and Standard Emotional Stroop Tasks in Social Phobia

There is accumulating evidence to suggest that social phobia is associated with attentional bias for words related to social threat. Information processing in individuals with social phobia (n = 87) was investigated in the present study using 2 versions of the emotional Stroop task. Results from a standard emotional Stroop task indicated delayed colour naming of socially threatening words relative to neutral words, in line with previous research, whereas results from a Web‐based emotional Stroop task indicated a facilitation effect, with faster manual indication of colour choice for socially threatening words than for neutral words. Possible explanations for these contrasting findings and issues for further research are discussed.