Book review of Joining and leaving religion: research perspectives Leslie J. Francis and Yaacov J. Katz (Eds) Leominster,Herefordshire, Gracewing, 2000, 336 pp. £20.00 ( pb) ISBN 0 85244 517 2

Children and young people have the capacity to conjure feelings of faith and hope when experiencing emotional and psychological distress. World myths, legends and fairy stories as part of early child development offer a rich source of material to draw from and enlist in the therapeutic endeavour. Fairies often act in a healing capacity in mythology, or they appear as agents between the world of human affairs and the invisible forces of nature. Mythological beings also possess helping powers in advance of mortals achieving superhuman tasks, but they can also when used as metaphor, frighten children and potentially cause psychological harm. This paper suggests that mental health practitioners can utilise such powerful narratives therapeutically and in a culturally respectful and spiritually innovative way. Harnessing the child's imagination can be a powerful vehicle for a transforming experience at the psychic level with consequent positive benefits for emotional well-being.     

Religiosity of young adults: does childhood maltreatment make a difference?

Previous research on the association between maltreatment in childhood and later religious beliefs and behaviours suggests that maltreatment may have either negative or positive influences on religiosity. However, methodological limitations of previous studies may limit their generalisability. The present study attempted to address these limitations. We examined associations between childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and several dimensions of adult religiosity in a large sample of college students (N = 763). Associations between child maltreatment and religiosity were weak (rs ≤ 0.09). After controlling for possible demographic confounds, the only significant association was between childhood emotional abuse and religious questing.     

Positive emotions,hope, and life satisfaction in Chinese adults: a test of the broaden-and-build model in accounting for subjective well-being in Chinese college students

ABSTRACT

The present study sought to determine if the positive association between positive emotions and life satisfaction can be understood as a function of hope in Chinese. Consistent with the broaden-and-build model of positive emotions, we tested the hypothesis that positive affectivity, the disposition to experience positive emotions, would be associated with broadening hope agency, building hope pathways, or both, in a sample of 212 Chinese college students. Results examining for bootstrapped mediation testing with multiple mediators indicated that positive affectivity was indirectly associated with life satisfaction through hope agency, but not through hope pathways. In support for partial mediation, however, the association between positive affectivity and life satisfaction remained significant even after including hope components in the model. Some implications of the present findings are discussed.     

"旧人"的否弃和"新人"的形塑--论马克思对人的价值形象的设计

任何关于人的理论都有自己理想的人的价值形象。它既是观察和评价现实生活的标准,也是实践活动所追求的目标。本文旨在将马克思所设计的人的价值形象从他复杂的理论构造中剥离出来。马克思关于人的理论以批判性的建构为鲜明特色,他对理想的人的价值形象的设计跟他对人的实际生活状况的否定是相辅相成的,亦即对“旧人”的否弃和对“新人”的塑形是同时进行的。这个“新人”的主要内涵如下：人应该是民主制度下的人。应该是追求现实幸福的人,应该是自由地自觉地活动的人,应该是全面发展的人。     

How to blow the Whistle and still have a career afterwards

Filing charges of scientific misconduct can be a risky and dangerous endeavor. This article presents rules of conduct to follow when considering whether to report perceived misconduct, and a set of step-by-step procedures for responsible whistleblowing that describe how to do so once the decision to report misconduct has been made. This advice is framed within the university setting, and may not apply fully in industrial settings. Ms. Gunsalus, an attorney, has been responsible for a wide range of compliance issues and academic policy matters at her university including responding to allegations of scientific misconduct. She served on the United States Commission on Research Integrity and spent six years on the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, four of them as chair. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the symposium entitled “Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t: What the Scientific Community Can Do About Whistleblowing” held during the Annual Meeting of the AAAS, Seattle, Washington, 15 February, 1997.     

The association of tanning behavior with psycho-tropic medication use among young adult women

Despite its known association with skin cancer, tanning remains popular among young adult women. Indoor tanning behavior has been found to be associated with affective and addictive disorders. To better understand potential psychological and biological mechanisms of tanning behavior, we investigated associations between tanning and medication (psychotropic and other) use among young women. Two hundred and fifty-three women age 18–29 years old were recruited from two northeastern university campus communities. Women self-reported tanning frequency and chronic medication use. In both univariate and multivariate analyses, indoor tanning ≥12 times last year was significantly associated with use of psychotropic medication and anti-depressants in particular. Sunbathing was not associated with medication use. Potential reasons for associations between tanning and psychotropic medication use are discussed. Indoor tanners should be warned that some psychotropic medications are photosensitizing, thus increasing risk for burns and other skin damage from indoor tanning.     

Psychological career resources identity and life orientation among young emerging adults in a Nigerian setting

This study explored whether young emerging adults’ psychological career resources identity predicted their orientation to life. The participants were a random sample of 400 predominantly full-time undergraduate students from four tertiary institutions in Nigeria (47% = female; age range 18 to 30 years). They completed psychological career resources and life orientation measures. The data were analysed by performing multiple regression analysis to explore whether psychological career resources accounted for the variance in life orientation. Overall, the results showed that those participants with well-differentiated career preferences and strong career drivers (sense of career calling, career goals and career intentionality) were likely to have a stronger sense of coherence. Developing a strong psychological career resources identity may potentially assist the young adult in developing a positive orientation to their life-career in developing country employment settings.     

Embracing darkness: clinical work with adolescents and young adults addicted to sexual enactments

This paper described common themes and transitions in the treatment of adolescents and young adults presenting as addicted to sexual enactments. Central to their experience is a highly addictive reliance on a bad object, which both enables and relies upon sexually perverse enactments. The paper follows the therapeutic process with patients seen in either group or individual long-term psychotherapy. Their experience is understood in the context of theories central to the work at the Portman Clinic relating to perversion and addiction, combined with some ideas from the field of criminology. Patients usually start by noticing their relationship with their compulsive behaviour, moving from a passive stance to a perception of themselves as active agents. They discover moments that are described as ‘pressing a button’, at which they move from passivity to taking perverse action. Those insights lead to a slowing down of the addictive cycle and emergence of phantasies, core complex anxieties and even hopes, all desperately avoided by taking sexualised action. The paper follows a pathway of change and transformation, which when successful enables patients to reduce or cease addictive behaviours by coming in contact with a good object, enabling both emotional pain and the experience of potency and hope.