Opening Up Openness: A Theoretical Sort Following Critical Incidents Methodology and a Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Trait Family Measures

Existing taxonomies of Openness's facet structure have produced widely divergent results, and there is limited comprehensive empirical evidence about how Openness-related scales on existing personality inventories align within the 5-factor framework. In Study 1, we used a critical incidents sorting methodology to identify 11 categories of Openness measures; in Study 2, we meta-analyzed the relationships of these categories with global markers of the Big Five traits (utilizing data from 106 samples with a total sample size of N = 35,886). Our results identified 4 true facets of Openness: aestheticism, openness to sensations, nontraditionalism, and introspection. Measures of these facets were unadulterated by variance from other Big Five traits. Many traits frequently conceptualized as facets of Openness (e.g., innovation/creativity, variety-seeking, and tolerance) emerged as trait compounds that, although related to Openness, are also dependent on other Big Five traits. We discuss how Openness should be conceptualized, measured, and studied in light of the empirically based, refined taxonomy emerging from this research.     

Voices of Islamic Authorities: Friday Khutba in Malaysian Mosques

Malaysia has been introducing Islamization policies since the 1980s and has used Friday khutbas (sermons) to convey government and religious authorities’ ideas and interpretations of Islam. We used content analysis of the texts of khutbas delivered in 2013 and 2014 in six states in Malaysia, all of which were obtained from those states’ Islamic authorities’ websites. This research found that weekly Friday khutbas have been used to announce the Islamic authorities’ commitment to safeguard the integrity of Sunni Islam, to monopolize the interpretation of Islam, to establish the collective mistreatment of minority Muslim groups and to promote the implementation of hudud law. Our analysis demonstrates that the control exercised by the government and religious authorities over mosques, covering aspects ranging from a mosque’s administration and appointment of the imam to the preparation of the khutba text has created an ideal opportunity for the government to influence the Muslim society’s understanding and stance on a variety of social, religious and political issues in a multi-ethnic community.     

Of Lust and Love: A Cross-Cultural Study of Sex and Relationship Advice Articles in Women’s Magazines

This study offers a cross-cultural comparison of sex and relationship advice columns in contemporary women’s magazines. This study aims to investigate the prevailing messages and values women’s magazines promote to their readers and the way they present such values in relation to the norms and values of each society. Sixty advice articles on sex and relationships (ten from each magazine) were obtained online from six home-grown English language women’s magazines from three different contexts, which are, Malaysia, the US, and two Middle Eastern countries (Egypt and the UAE). In addition to analyzing the data for themes which are foregrounded, messages that are either backgrounded or omitted were also analyzed as scholars such as Huckin state that information that is backgrounded or even omitted say as much about a text and its values as messages which are explicitly foregrounded. The findings from the study reveal that there is a clear connection between the production of texts and the society the texts are set in. The writers of these texts are aware of the social norms and values of their society as they try to reflect that in the texts. Finally, the study finds that in all three contexts, women appear as empowered but this empowerment is situated within a traditional framework of male–female roles and heterosexist relationships.     

Association between substance use disorders and self- and other-directed aggression: An integrated model approach

Our study's objective is to determine whether substance use disorders’ association with aggression differs according to the type of substance and/or the form of aggression, within the same population. We used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health across 2008–2014, with a pooled sample of 270,227 adult respondents. We used regression models to estimate the odds ratios for those having alcohol and/or drug use disorder(s) perpetrating (a) each form of aggression compared with no aggression and (b) other-directed compared with self-directed aggression. Alcohol use disorder alone and drug use disorder(s) alone were both associated with significantly increased odds of committing self-directed, other-directed, and combined aggression. Individuals with drug use disorder(s) alone were more likely to commit other-directed than self-directed aggression (adjusted odds ratio = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.04–2.05). Individuals with alcohol use disorder alone were not likely to commit one over the other (adjusted odds ratio = 1.20, 95% CI = 0.90–1.61). In conclusion, the integrated model of aggression based on the stress–diathesis model is a relevant framework to study risk factors for aggression. Further research is needed to identify longitudinal predictors of directionality of aggression.     

Negotiating Apostasy: Applying to “Leave Islam” in Malaysia

In Malaysia, freedom of religion has clear limitations, especially regarding Muslims wishing to leave Islam, who may currently find it difficult to secure legal acceptance. However, such applications are received under a Sharia legal provision in Negeri Sembilan – the only state in Malaysia that allows a Muslim to change his religion for reasonable cause. The application is made at the Sharia High Court, and is then forwarded to the Mufti's Department, which in turn arranges a consultation for the applicant to reconsider his decision. This article critically reviews this process of application to leave Islam and also provides a clear mapping of principal court decisions and an analysis of the legal rationale for accepting some applications and refusing others. The paper is critical of the disproportionate discretion afforded to Muslim bureaucrats in the Mufti's Department with regard to determining an individual's religious rights and argues that, in Malaysia, the power to legally determine or classify religion should be confined to the Sharia Court. Finally, the article evaluates how “applications to leave Islam” are reconciled with and distinguished from the Islamic prohibition of “apostasy” and so is relevant to Islamic countries beyond Malaysia.