Pilgrimage today: the meaning-making potential of ritual

Pilgrimage on the Road to Santiago is flourishing, even in late modern times characterised by detraditionalisation, individualism and pluralism. A large number of these pilgrims is either not explicitly religious at all, or only moderately religious. Why, then, do they submit to this ancient Christian ritual, and what are the psychological consequences? After a short introduction to the study of implicit religiosity and different perspectives on rituals from the past to today, current research on pilgrimage is reviewed and pilgrimage to Santiago is analysed as a personal ritual from a perspective of implicit religiosity. In the psychological theory of implicit religiosity, rituals are identified as one of three universal religious structures (along with myths and experiences of transcending) with strong meaning-making potential. Personal rituals are defined as formalised patterns of action, pointing beyond the actual event to a particular meaning imbued by the actor. Data from 85 pilgrims on the Road to Santiago are presented. Motives for peregrination, base-line sources of meaning, experienced meaningfulness and crises of meaning are reported, as well as changes in sources of meaning, meaningfulness and crises of meaning immediately after the pilgrimage and four months later. The majority of pilgrims (about two third) is motivated by a “need for clarification.” Multidimensional scaling shows that pilgrims either travel for explicitly religious reasons (conviction) or in search of clarification (quest); they either draw motivation from vertical transcendence (religiosity or spirituality) or from apparently purely secular reasons, such as athletic challenge. Religious and spiritual motives are mostly reported by highly religious individuals. A need for clarification is primarily stated by individuals who suffer from a crisis of meaning. Crises of meaning are significantly more frequent among pilgrims before the journey than in the general population. For the entire sample of pilgrims, the meaning-making potential of pilgrimage is supported by the data. Directly after the journey, as well as four months later, pilgrims experience life as significantly more meaningful, and crises of meaning are overcome. Pilgrims also report a strengthened commitment to vertical selftranscendence, horizontal selftranscendence and selfactualisation. These changes occur independently of the motivation for pilgrimage.     

Psychological Well-Being and Resilience as Predictors of First-Year Students' Academic Performance

This study investigated aspects of psychological well-being (burnout and engagement) and resilience as predictors of the academic performance of a group of first-year students at a higher education institution. Participants included 789 first-year students at a South African university (females = 43%, majority ethnicity Black African = 58%). They completed measures of burnout, engagement and resilience. Data were analysed using stepwise multiple regression to determine whether burnout, engagement and resilience were statistically significant predictors of first year students' academic performance. The results indicated that burnout (specifically Emotional Exhaustion and Cynicism) and resilience (specifically Religion) were statistically significant predictors of academic performance. Students with lower levels of cynicism, who are emotionally and cognitively more involved in their studies, seem to perform better. Surprisingly, students who reported being emotionally more exhausted performed well in their studies. Those students who seem to have strong spiritual/religious beliefs also fared better with regard to academic performance than those of lower religious faith. Strong spiritual/religious anchors and continuous cognitive and emotional involvement in academic work are valuable resources to students in their academic performance.     

The Role and Function of Criminologists within the Criminal Justice and Private Sector

Criminology gained prominence as an academic area of study because of the constant threat of crime and the social problems it highlights. Nonetheless, much doubt and criticism exists among professionals within social and human sciences regarding the role, application, value and contributions of criminologists. Criminology is informed by a combination of theory and empirical research enfolded into a body of knowledge on crime as a social phenomenon. In South Africa, criminologists have acquired a more practically oriented role in enhancing service delivery within the criminal justice and private sectors. This article aims to highlight the current (and potential) shift in practice for criminologists in South Africa.     

Indigenizing counselling valuing the afterlife with the Igbo of south eastern Nigeria: a case for ino-uwa based intervention

This study examines prospects for the utilization of the concept of ino-uwa practised by the Igbo cultural-linguistic community of South Eastern Nigeria to understand and address counselling needs of a child and his family. Ino-uwa is the cultural familial scaffold that bridges the lifeworlds of ancestors and the living. In this case, a child with debilitating and unspecific general illness was cured with evocation of ino-uwa. The implications of this anecdote are important for authentic counselling practice in an African cultural heritage context.     

Developing a Basic Mathematics Questionnaire for Grades 4 to 7

In this article, the authors report on the development of a basic mathematics questionnaire for Grades 4 to 7 (the BM(P)). The provisional instrument was completed by 1,103 Afrikaans-, English-and Tswana-speaking learners in Grades 4 to 7 in the North-West Province of South Africa. First-order factor analysis was carried out, item analysis was done, reliability coefficients and discrimination values were calculated, and norm tables were established. Weighted means were used to ensure that the results were proportional to the ratios of the language groups in the province. We (the authors) concluded that standardisation of the BM(P) yielded satisfactory results with regard to the determination of issues such as construct validity, reliability, validity and intercorrelations for Grade 4 to 7 learners in the North-West Province of South Africa.     

Sacred space: function and mission from a sociological and theological perspective

Drawing on interviews with 21 individuals who attend religious services mainly for religious holidays and rites of passage and case studies with a Christian and Missionary Alliance congregation and a Roman Catholic congregation, we offer a sociological and theological discussion of ‘sacred space’. Sociologically, we argue that sacred space is an important reason for why annual attenders attend religious services when they do, mainly because sacred space helps to centre them with some semblance of meaning and direction, transition and transformation in life. Theologically, we show that church leaders, when thinking about and creating sacred space relative to the mission of their church, give importance to individuals' religious journeys and transformation. However, they appear to give greater ascendancy to the missional belief that sacred space should facilitate horizontal relationships between humans more so than vertical relationships between humans and God.     

Introducing counselling in secondary schools: A case study with reference to frame issues

Abstract

I am a deputy headteacher in a comprehensive school. I believe that the widespread re-introduction of counselling into secondary schools offers possibilities for great benefit, both in terms of the personal well-being and emotional health of students, and also in terms of academic results and other educational indicators. It is my view that, currently, this may particularly be true for boys.

This paper is a double case study: first, of the failure of a student to cope with ordinary schooling because of his emotional difficulties; and, second, of the establishment of a counselling service which resulted from his permanent exclusion from the school.

I allude to some of the theoretical issues which meshed with the practical details of establishing the counselling service, and offer some tentative conclusions about the rationale for counselling in secondary schools and the kind of model which seems most likely to be beneficial.     

Student essay competition prize winner basket weaving: Sharing stories in a group setting

Abstract

Participating in a self-awareness group (in this case for counsellors in training) is an exercise in give and take - an interweaving of stories - through which we share ourselves with our peers. This paper explores some personal discoveries about the processes at work in (a) listening to others, (b) relating my own story - and assessing thereby the extent of my belonging, role and investment in the group. A dream alerted me to our shifting to another dimension of story-sharing by the end of forty sessions. The imagery I use is of basket weaving and creating a mandala.     

Sport Psychology Foundations,Organizations, and Related Resources

SUMMARY

The purpose of this article is to introduce psychologists and counselors who work in schools to the field of applied sport psychology. We begin with a brief history of how applied sport psychology developed in North America and other parts of the world. Landmark events such as the development of conferences, professional organizations and scholarly publications are described. This is followed by a discussion of the breadth of services that are typically provided by sport psychologists. The third section examines some of the current issues related to the training of sport psychologists. The final section introduces the reader to organizations, journals, texts, and on-line resources so they may learn more about the theory, research, and practice of Sport psychology.     

Measuring child temperament: Validation of a 3‐item Temperament Measure and 13‐item Impulsivity Scale

A 3-item Temperament Measure and a 13-item Impulsivity Scale were tested against the 36-item Children's Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ). Overall, 229 caregivers completed the CBQ and the 3-item Temperament Measure based on the traits of Surgency, Negative Affectivity and Effortful Control as measured by the CBQ. Their children completed the Impulsivity Scale. Psychometrics of the CBQ and the Impulsivity Scale were examined, which were considered good in terms of internal consistency and factorial structure. The three temperament items correlated with the average scores on the corresponding CBQ factors. Furthermore, Surgency was highly related to Impulsivity. Findings provide evidence for the applicability of the Impulsivity and Temperament Measures for research.