Prayer Type,Disclosure, and Mental Health Across Religious Groups

Researchers have found that disclosure to God partially explains associations between certain prayer types and mental health in a Christian sample. Although researchers have discovered several mediators explaining associations between prayer types and mental health, the use of predominantly Christian samples limits generalizability. In this study, the authors tested disclosure to God as a mediator in Jewish, Muslim, and Christian subsamples. Analyses indicated several differences among the groups; disclosure to God mediated associations between prayer type and mental health only among Christians.     

拖延行为的干预:计划行为理论和实施意向的影响

本研究以计划行为理论为理论框架,通过实验操纵实施意向,采用日记法进行为期5天的纵向追踪,考察计划行为理论的4个核心变量和实施意向如何影响拖延行为的程度及其动态过程。134名大学生在前一周末共列举了接下来5个工作日内拟完成的668项学习相关任务,随后每天报告当天的任务完成情况。多层线性模型分析结果表明:(1)行为意向中介态度和行为控制感对拖延程度的影响,主观规范影响拖延程度的直接效应显著,但经由行为意向的间接效应不显著;(2)形成实施意向能显著降低拖延程度;(3)行为控制感和实施意向加速任务完成进程,行为控制感越强,或形成实施意向,均显著加快任务完成速度。研究结果对于如何进行拖延行为的干预有一定启示和借鉴。     

Stomaching rejection: Self-compassion and self-esteem moderate the impact of daily social rejection on restrictive eating behaviours among college women

Objective: The present study examined whether having high self-esteem or a self-compassionate perspective help mitigate the impact of daily social rejection on negative affect and restrictive eating behaviours.

Design: Following a baseline survey assessing self-esteem and self-compassion, 121 college women completed online daily diaries for one week.

Main Outcome Measures: Negative affect and restrictive eating behaviours.

Results: On days when women reported more rejection, they also reported higher restrictive eating behaviours and greater negative affect. Effects were moderated by self-esteem and self-compassion, such that the lower participants were in self-esteem or self-compassion, the stronger the positive relation between rejection and negative affect and restrictive eating. However, only the common humanity/isolation dimension of self-compassion significantly moderated daily effects of rejection when controlling for self-esteem. Mediated moderation results reveal different mechanisms by which self-esteem and self-compassion buffer against rejections’ effects on affect and restrictive eating.

Conclusion: Self-compassion and self-esteem influence the complex impact that social rejection has on affect and restrictive eating. More than other dimensions of self-compassion or self-esteem, remembering one’s common humanity can result in a healthier response to social rejection.     

The Information Behavior of Catholic Women Discerning a Vocation to Religious Life

Approximately 10% of Roman Catholic women seriously discern a vocation to religious life during their lifetime. Spiritual discernment is often characterized by prayer and spiritual direction, but also the acquisition of knowledge and information about religious life. No study to date has sought to understand how women seek out and retrieve information about religious life. Therefore, the current study sought to answer the following research question: “what is the information-seeking behavior (ISB) of Catholic women discerning a vocation to religious life?” using Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology. A survey was administered online and yielded responses from 124 participants. Findings indicated that digital and print resources were heavily utilized. However, participants indicated that connecting with a person face-to-face and visiting religious sisters produced a kind of knowledge and information that could not be acquired online, suggesting that their ISB was an integration of digital and print resources and human connection. This study contributes to the literature by intersecting the disciplines of information science and religion to equip practitioners who seek to develop resources for them. The study introduces the concept of limited Internet effectiveness in order to understand the integration of digital versus in-person resources in spiritual religious processes.     

THE HEART OF MY CONCERN

Abstract. This brief piece summarizes the author's lifelong personal credo, particularly his attempt to translate traditional religious wisdom into modern scientific concepts. Contemporary science reveals to us the vast system of natural processes that has brought the universe, our planet, and our species into existence. This natural system is in fact a "more-than-human 'Lord of History,'" corresponding to traditional ideas of God. This Lord of History not only has created us but also sustains us—not just externally but also our interior psychic and spiritual nature. We are challenged to discern the requirements that this system of natural processes places upon us; if we conform to these requirements, we shall be blessed, and we will be enabled as co-creators of our future evolution.     

POLANYI ON TELEOLOGY: ARESPONSETO JOHN APCZYNSKI AND RICHARD GELWICK

Abstract. Michael Polanyi criticized the neo‐Darwinian synthesis on two grounds: that accidental hereditary changes bringing adaptive advantages cannot account for the rise of discontinuous new species, and that a Ideological ordering principle is needed to explain evolutionary advance. I commend the previous articles by John Apczynski and Richard Gelwick and also argue, more strongly than they, that Polanyi's critique of evolutionary theory is flawed. It relies on an inappropriate notion of progress and untenable analogies from the human process of scientific discovery and the fact that in physical systems minimal potential energy is most stable. Yet within a life of commitment to transcendent values humans can directly experience purpose and meaning, and in developing this notion Polanyi makes his greatest contribution to teleology.     

HOW SCIENCE CAN HELP RELIGION BENEFIT SOCIETY

Abstract. Modern science has given us a revolutionary new understanding of the close interrelationship and interdependence of humans not only with all other humans but with all other living species and with the nonliving elements of the geosphere and the rest of the universe. This new understanding can provide a basis for new understandings of (1) the basic nature of religion, (2) the basic principles of major world religious traditions, and (3) the basic principles of religious ethics. The new understanding of religious ethics will involve a better understanding of our rights and responsibilities, as individuals and groups, with respect to other individuals and groups of humans, other living species, and the nonliving universe. This improved understanding will benefit not only human individuals and human societies, local and global, but also local and global ecosystems.     

Professional beliefs related to the practice of pediatric medicine and school psychology

This article proposes that pediatric medicine and school psychology are complementary fields. Five professional beliefs are reviewed: (a) the importance of classification, (b) a preference for evidence-based interventions, (c) an endorsement of advocacy in public policy, (d) the importance of working with the whole child including his/her parents, and (e) an assertion of team leadership. Each belief is discussed as a core value of pediatric medicine and considered for points of connection with school psychology. Some of these beliefs are widely shared by school psychologists, others are rejected because of historical and situational factors, and all warrant consideration in light of school psychology's continuing evolution.