Sanctification of work: assessing the role of spirituality in employment attitudes

Recent research has sought to develop measures that empirically substantiate spirituality as a unique construct independent of established personality constructs. One such measure is Sanctification, a psychological process through which people perceive aspects of life to possess spiritual character and significance. This study empirically examines the relationship between Sanctification of Work and work-related outcomes in a national sample (N?=?827) of individuals employed in religiously affiliated institutions. The results indicated that the Sanctification of Work was a significant predictor of Job Satisfaction, Turnover Intention, and Organisational Commitment after controlling for Personality, Spirituality, Religiosity, Psychological Safety, and Demographic variables.     

Understanding the Ageing Process: A Developmental Perspective of the Psychosocial and Spiritual Dimensions

SUMMARY

This chapter describes a perspective of psychosocial and spiritual development in the later years of life. It outlines a study of nurses conducted in six nursing homes using pre and post workshop tests to identify changes in nurses' assignment of a list of behaviours as psychosocial or spiritual. Use of SPSS found significant changes between the pre and post tests. Pre workshop tests only identified items as spiritual if they included the word God, or Bible. Results from this study highlight the potential role for nurses in aged care to provide spiritual care as part of holistic care. It also highlights the fact that many nurses feel ill prepared for this role.     

A cross-sectional comparison of routinized and compulsive-like behaviours in typical children aged from 2 to 11 years

Routinized and compulsive like behaviours (RCBs) have been described as important aspects of development seen universally in children, yet investigation is relatively scarce. One exception was the development of the Childhood Routines Inventory (CRI), which has prompted recent studies. The present study was a replication of the standardization for the CRI on a British sample and with an extended age range. It also explored possible associations with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The parents of 1,369 children (aged 2–11 years) completed the CRI, and an 8-item OCD scale for those 7 years and over. Socioeconomic status (SES) was measured by proxy post codes; 111 parents completed the questionnaire twice. The CRI had good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. There was a significant linear decline in RCBs with age; a minority of children continued to have high levels up to 11 years of age. Children designated at risk for OCD had higher CRI scores. Anxious behaviours reported by parents of children aged 7 years or over were associated with higher levels of RCBs. Factor analysis of the CRI identified three factors: “Repetitive”, “Just Right” and “Sensitivity”.     

Adverse developmental experiences and risky health behaviours among black South African university students

This study examined the relationship between adverse developmental experiences (ADEs) and risky health behaviours among a cross-sectional sample of black South African students (n = 393; females = 58%, M_age = 20.5 years, SD = 2.9). Binary logistic regression was used to model the association between categories of ADEs and risky health behaviours. Findings suggest individual ADEs to significantly predict risky health behaviours. The highest singular ADEs reported were being treated like a child (62%), parents being overprotective (59%), and being driven to be perfectionistic (58%). There was no indication of a general trend of ordered associations between the number of ADEs and risky health behaviours.     

‘I feel better when…’: An analysis of the memory-experience gap for peoples’ estimates of the relationship between health behaviours and experiences

Objective: People often overestimate how strongly behaviours and experiences are related. This memory-experience gap might have important implications for health care settings, which often require people to estimate associations, such as “my mood is better when I exercise”. This study examines how subjective correlation estimates between health behaviours and experiences relate to calculated correlations from online reports and whether subjective estimates are associated with engagement in actual health behaviour.

Design: Seven-month online study on physical activity, sleep, affect and stress, with 61 online assessments.

Main Outcome Measures: University students (N = 168) retrospectively estimated correlations between physical activity, sleep, positive affect and stress over the seven-month study period.

Results: Correlations between experiences and behaviours (online data) were small (r = ?.12–.14), estimated correlations moderate (r = ?.35–.24). Correspondence between calculated and estimated correlations was low. Importantly, estimated correlations of physical activity with stress, positive affect and sleep were associated with actual engagement in physical activity.

Conclusion: Estimation accuracy of relations between health behaviours and experiences is low. However, association estimates could be an important predictor of actual health behaviours. This study identifies and quantifies estimation inaccuracies in health behaviours and points towards potential systematic biases in health settings, which might seriously impair intervention efficacy.     

Nonsuicidal self‐injury across cultures and ethnic and racial minorities: A review

The field of nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) is dominated by research conducted with Caucasian‐majority samples in Western countries such as United States, Canada, Australia and European countries. This article critically reviewed the empirical research on NSSI in non‐Western countries and among ethnic/racial minority individuals who live in the West to give voice to and understand the patterns of NSSI among individuals who do not fall within the dominant Caucasian majority. The study found both similarities and differences between Western and non‐Western data in terms of characteristics and functions of NSSI. Differences in gender patterns in regards to prevalence of NSSI and methods used as well as presence of a more relational functionality of NSSI rather than emotion regulation functionality were two points of divergence in the findings of these studies. In addition, the findings seem to indicate that the role of ethnicity/race is mediated by important factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) and gender. Existing gaps in the literature and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

The consistency of inconsistency in serial homicide: patterns of behavioural change across series

Linkage analysis is a crucial part of the investigative process when faced with a possible series of related offences. Establishing behavioural consistency (i.e., offender's behaviours consistently present across the series) is at the core of linkage. Recent empirical studies have found little evidence of consistency looking at either individual or groups of behaviours in serial homicide. It is argued that behavioural changes are rooted in the changing cognitive strategies that offenders use to reach their ultimate goal (i.e. the commission of multiple homicides). Factors that could account for these changes include learning, situational factors, loss of control, and changes in the offender's fantasy. Patterns of behavioural change have been identified in serial crimes, such as rape. However, no empirical studies have looked at patterns of behavioural change in serial homicide. The present study examined patterns of consistency and change using a combination of thematic and behavioural subgroup approaches that use Multidimensional Scaling. Thematic differentiation indicative of behavioural manifestations of cognitive strategies was found in all three examined subgroups: planning, wounding, and offender–victim interaction, and patterns of change within these subgroups provided support for the above theories. Looking at behavioural patterns rather than individual behaviours, may be a more fruitful way of examining consistency in serial homicide, and could have significant implications for linkage analysis. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Task‐related interactions between kindergarten children and their teachers: the role of emotional security

This study examined the emotional security of kindergarten children in dyadic task‐related interactions with their teachers. In particular, it examined the interrelations between security, task behaviours (persistence and independence), social inhibition, and teachers' support. Participants were 79 kindergartners (mean age=69.7 months) and their 40 regular teachers. Children were selected to approach a normal distribution of social inhibition. Children and teachers were filmed during a dyadic interaction task outside the classroom. Three groups of independent observers rated children's emotional security and their task behaviours, as well as teachers' supportive behaviours. Multilevel modelling revealed a positive link between teachers' support and emotional security. This link suppressed a negative relation between social inhibition and emotional security. In addition, emotional security was positively associated with children's task behaviours and mediated part of the positive link between these behaviours and teachers' support. Finally, security moderated the relation between support and persistence, such that the effect of teachers' support on persistent behaviours was amplified for relatively insecure children. These results highlight the importance of considering emotional security when examining the interactions between kindergarten children and their teachers. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intelligence and persisting with medication for two years: Analysis in a randomised controlled trial

The study examined whether verbal intelligence is associated with persisting to take medication for up to two years. The design is a prospective follow-up of compliance with taking medication in high-risk individuals participating in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial set in Central Scotland. Participants were 1993 people aged between 50 and 77 years with an ankle brachial index ≤ 0.95. The medication was 100 mg aspirin or placebo daily.The principal outcome measure was continuing with taking medication or stopping it due to having ‘changed one's mind’. Higher verbal intelligence was associated with a greater likelihood of continuing to take medication up to two years after randomisation. For a standard deviation increase in Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale score, risk of stopping medication in the first two years of the study was 0.75 (95% CI 0.64 to 0.87, p < 0.001). Comparing the highest and lowest quartiles of IQ, the lowest IQ group's relative rate of stopping medication was 2.51 (95% CI 1.52 to 4.22). The effect was not attenuated after adjustment for sex, smoking, or level of deprivation. Verbal intelligence is associated with continuing, medium-to-long term engagement with health self-care, even in the face of uncertainty about whether active treatment is being received, whether the treatment is known to be effective in general, and whether it will be helpful to the individual taking it. Such persisting with potentially helpful health behaviours in the face of uncertainty might partly explain why people with higher intelligence live longer and suffer less morbidity from chronic diseases.