Physical,Psychological and Social Adaptation of African American Nuns to Their Religious Communities as They Age: Implications for Aging in Place

ABSTRACT

This study examined the association between health status, stress, depression, satisfaction with the relationship with the religious community, alienation from significant persons, racial/cultural identity and “aging in place,” as measured by length of time in the same religious community, for a purposive sample of 72 African American nuns. Aging in place was significantly associated with perceptions of better health status, less stress and depression and greater satisfaction with relationships with the religious community. However, the study also found that the longer the nuns lived in their respective communities, the less racially/culturally identified they became. These findings underscore the need for finding ways to keep nuns in their religious communities as they age and to provide avenues of racial/cultural expression for African American nuns.     

Introducing Assertiveness Training in Hungary

Abstract

The preliminary results of an evaluation of a systematic assertiveness training programme (based on a cognitive-behavioural approach) in psychiatric care in Hungary are presented. The method adopted was specific to the Hungarian/Middle-European circumstances since people had difficulty in exercising their personal rights in the past. In groups of “neurotic” patients and comparison subjects three questionnaires (the Rathus-scale (R), the Assertiveness Inventory (AI) and the Uncertainty Questionnaire (UQ)) were administered at the beginning and at the end of the treatment. The training programme consisted of eight sessions with an emphasis on education about assertiveness and on the practice of skills such as saying “no” or standing up for oneself. A statistical analysis indicated significant improvement in the social skills of the participants, while an item analysis showed high internal consistency in all three questionnaires, and a concurrent validity analysis revealed a strong correlation between the Rathus-scale and the Assertiveness Inventory. The results indicate that assertiveness training can be used effectively in mental health care in Hungary.     

文化产品研究——文化心理学的独特视角

作为行为研究的重要补充,文化产品研究在文化心理学领域发挥了重要的作用.文化产品研究主要采用内容分析的方法,可以揭示不同时空下文化本身、人们的心理与行为的特征.中国未来的心理学研究可以利用文化产品来研究揭示不同民族、不同国家的文化和心理差异,以及近几十年社会巨变对中国人的和行为的影响,最终促进国家进步、人民幸福、社会和谐.     

The Universality of Childhood Emotional Abuse: A Meta-Analysis of Worldwide Prevalence

This comprehensive meta-analysis combined prevalence figures of child emotional abuse reported in 29 studies, including 46 independent samples with a total of 7,082,279 participants. The overall estimated prevalence was 3/1,000 for studies using informants and 363/1,000 for studies using self-report measures of child emotional abuse. Procedural factors seem to exert a greater influence on the prevalence of childhood emotional abuse than sample characteristics and definitional issues, without fully explaining the vast variation of prevalence rates reported in individual studies. We conclude that child emotional abuse is a universal problem affecting the lives of millions of children all over the world, which is in sharp contrast with the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child.     

Assessing “Western” Mindfulness Among Thai Theravāda Buddhist Monks

Mindfulness has its roots in Eastern contemplative traditions and is rapidly gaining popularity in Western psychology. However, questions remain regarding the validity of Western operationalizations of mindfulness. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the applicability of several Western mindfulness measures among a sample of Thai Theravāda Buddhist monks. Twenty-four monks recruited from Buddhist temples in Thailand participated in the study. The monks evinced similar associations between mindfulness and related variables as American validation study samples did, and on two facets of mindfulness the monks’ mean scores were greater than an American college student sample. However, the American sample endorsed significantly higher scores on three other facets of mindfulness. These results raise concerns about whether these scales are measuring mindfulness as it is conceptualized in a Buddhist context. Future research with larger samples is needed to further assess the cultural validity and measurement equivalence of Western mindfulness measures across cultural groups.     

Culture and attitudes toward psychological help-seeking influence clients’ self-disclosure

Cultural factors are known to influence aspects of psychotherapy. The influence of cultural values on self-disclosure was explored through surveys of Greek migrants to Australia (n?=?106), native Greek Cypriots (n?=?189), and Australians (n?=?35) on individualism–collectivism, attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, and measures of self-disclosure. It was hypothesized that more collectivist participants would have less positive attitudes regarding self-disclosure. Against our predictions, all three groups showed highly similar attitudes toward seeking help and self-disclosure that were not related to the predicted links with individualism–collectivism.     

How can a stereotype inconsistency bias be encouraged in communication?

This study aimed to investigate what conditions can lead to a bias for communicating stereotype inconsistent (SI) information, relative to stereotype consistent (SC) information. Sixty‐three undergraduate university students (22 males, 41 females; M_age = 21.25) read a story about an Arab man who exhibited characteristics consistent and inconsistent with the stereotype of Arab men. The story was transmitted through 21 three‐person communication chains; each participant rewrote the story from memory for the next person in the chain to read, with only the first participant in each chain reading the original story. As hypothesized, when a surprising category conjunction was formed by pairing the primary stereotype (Arab men) with a secondary stereotype of a contradictory nature (kindergarten teachers), SC information was circulated less than SI information. This was also the case when a causal explanation was provided that accounted for the unexpected SI information. Findings indicate the potential of techniques that elicit cognitive elaboration of SI information to encourage an SI bias in communication, and show promise for exploring ways to reduce the impact of negative stereotypical information in the long term.     

Psychological Well-Being and the Metabolic Syndrome in African and Caucasian Women in South Africa

This study explored the association between comprehensive psychological well-being and the metabolic syndrome (MS), as well as whether women without MS markers differ significantly from women with MS (three or more markers) on specific facets of psychological well-being. African (N=102) and Caucasian (N=115) women completed self-report questionnaires on psychological well-being, and biological markers for MS were determined. Results indicated a significant association between comprehensive psychological well-being and the MS in Caucasian women, but not in the case of African women. Caucasian women without MS had higher levels of perceived support from friends and family, environmental mastery, purpose in life, sense of coherence, affect balance and positive relationships than those with MS. African women without MS had higher levels of positive relationships and an optimistic explanatory style, but lower levels of perceived support from family. Further research is indicated.     

Drive for leanness and health-related behavior within a social/cultural perspective

We examined relationships between drive for leanness and perceived media pressure to change appearance, internalization of an ideal physique, exercise frequency, and dieting. Men and women (N = 353) completed the Drive for Leanness Scale, the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire-3, the Eating Attitudes Test-26, and a demographic inventory. Drive for leanness was significantly correlated with athletic internalization (.52), pressure to attain an ideal physique (.25), exercise frequency (.36), and dieting (.25). Structural equation modeling revealed a good fitting model (χ² = 2.85, p < .241; CFI = .99; NNFI = .98; RMSEA = .04; SRMR = .02) with internalization predicting drive for leanness, which in turn predicted dieting and exercise. Results reveal social/cultural theory helps enhance the understanding of the drive for leanness and its relationship with health-related behavior.     

Mediation in a sibling context: the relations of older siblings' mediating behaviour and younger siblings' task performance

We investigated the sibling relationship as a context for cognitive development. Forty preschoolers (ages 5–6) and their younger siblings (ages 2–3) were visited at home. Four games were presented to the older siblings and they were asked (a) to estimate how well their younger sibling will perform on each game and (b) to teach the younger sibling how to use the games. The older siblings' mediating behaviours during the teaching session and the younger siblings' performance on the four tasks were coded. The frequency of mediating behaviours—including attention focusing, amplifying affect and providing meaning, fostering a sense of competence, regulating of the learning process, de‐contextualization, and negative feedback in the form of mocking and laughing at errors, predicted the younger siblings' task performance. The older sibling's accurate perception of the younger child's competence was uniquely predictive of task performance. The highest amount of mediation was observed in older‐brother–younger‐brother pairs, in particular the behaviours of negative feedback and amplifying affect. Results contribute to the discussion on the role of siblings as moderators of cognitive development and are discussed in terms of Vygotsky's cultural–historical perspective on apprenticeship. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.