Determining the Cultural Care Needs of Infertile Couples in Turkey: A Qualitative Study Guided by the Cultural Competence Model

Journal of Religion and Health - The cultural competence model is an ethnographic model created to improve the cultural understanding of people’s status in the context of health, health...     

Dimensionality of individualism–collectivism and measurement equivalence of Triandis and Gelfand’s scale

Despite researchers’ strong interest in individualism and collectivism (I–C), the conceptualization and measurement of I–C constructs remain controversial. Through a cross-cultural study, the present research examines the dimensionality of I–C and tests equivalence of a measurement scale recently developed by Triandis and Gelfand. Through confirmatory factor analyses, the authors find that conceiving I–C as separate constructs with multiple dimensions is superior and better fits the data. The measurement scale developed based on such a conceptualization is found warrantable although refinements can be made. The results suggest a need for future research on further testing the dimensionality and measurement of the individualism and collectivism scale.     

The interplay between values,acculturation and adaptation: A study on Turkish‐Belgian adolescents

Although there is a bulk of evidence for the relations between values, acculturation, and adaptation, the interrelations between these key concepts of the acculturation literature have not yet been investigated simultaneously. The present study proposes a model connecting value orientations (separatedness and conformity) to adaptation outcomes (sociocultural and psychological). Furthermore, this link was hypothesized to be strengthened by an indirect relationship where acculturation strategies (culture maintenance and culture adoption) would relate certain values to certain aspects of adaptation. The model was tested on 287 Turkish‐Belgian adolescents with an average age of 16.27 years (SD = 1.86 years). SEM analysis confirmed the hypothesized indirect links underlining the crucial role of acculturation strategies as mediators in the adaptation process. Separatedness predicted sociocultural adaptation via culture adoption whereas conformity impacted psychological adaptation via culture maintenance. In addition, separatedness predicted poorer psychological adaptation. Results were discussed with reference to inverse benefits and costs of individualism and collectivism.     

Quantized intrinsically localized modes of a 3D lattice

Intrinsically Localized Modes are anharmonic oscillations found in one-dimensional systems, and occur relatively infrequently in classical higher dimensional lattices. However, when ILMs appear in simulations of classical lattices, their energies are too high for them to be seen in thermal equilibrium. We investigate quantized ILMs in a three-dimensional lattice using the Ladder Approximation, and find that ILMs occur preferentially for centre of mass momenta at which the van-Hove singularities in the two-phonon density of states coalesce. For interactions larger than a critical value, the ILMs form above the top of the two-phonon continuum, but fall into the continuum as q? is shifted away from the optimal value. This indicates that ILM excitations may be more ubiquitous in 3D lattices than previously expected. Furthermore, we find that the ILMs have intrinsic spins of either S = 0 or S = 2 and have internal structures associated with their spatial symmetry.     

Threat Perception and Perspective Taking as Mediators Between Competitive Victimhood and Evaluations of Collective Action: The Gezi Park Protests

The 2013 Gezi Park protests in Turkey, which are one of the major social movements in the last decade, have sharpened the sociopolitical polarization in the country. The present study employed a moderated mediation model in which symbolic threat, realistic threat, and perspective taking were examined as mediators between competitive victimhood and opposing groups’ differential evaluations of the protests. Further, the pro‐Gezi versus the anti‐Gezi group membership was hypothesized to moderate the mediation effects. Proponents (N = 337) and opponents (N = 138) of the protests were asked to respond to the measures corresponding to the variables in the model. Results revealed that for protest supporters, competitive victimhood predicted evaluations of the protests through realistic threat, but not through symbolic threat; in contrast, for opponents, it predicted evaluations of the protests through symbolic but not realistic threat. Further, perspective taking turned out to be a weak mediator. The results are discussed in terms of the differential power relationships between the groups in the cultural and political domains.     

Do Ramadan Fasting Restrictions Alter Eating Behaviours in Obese Women?

Ramadan fasting can be considered as a kind of dietary restriction. Eating restriction is a risk factor for later development of eating disorders. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether Ramadan fasting changes the eating behaviours of obese women. Our sample consisted of 34 obese women who fasted during the Ramadan month. The data were collected by using Questionnaire Form, Eating Attitude Test (EAT) and Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE). No statistically significant differences were found between the scores of EAT, BITE, BMI, which were administered within the weeks before and after Ramadan. According to our results, Ramadan fasting restrictions do not seem to change the eating behaviours of obese women.     

关于干细胞研究的伊斯兰教观点

干细胞的来源主要有3个,分别是胚囊阶段的人胚胎细胞内物质,胎儿和成人细胞。从伊斯兰教观点来分析干细胞研究,干细胞研究具有巨大潜力使人们受益。但是,胚胎的道德地位是讨论的实质。特别指出仅为胚胎干细胞研究的目的而创造胚胎是不能被接受。     

Gender, Development, Values, Adaptation, and Discrimination in Acculturating Adolescents: The Case of Turk Heritage Youth Born and Living in Belgium

This study addressed gender differences and similarities in acculturation, values, adaptation, and perceived discrimination among middle (14–17 years) and late (18–20 years) adolescents. Girls perceived less discrimination and showed better adaptation than did boys. All adolescents valued openness to change and self-transcendence similarly, but older adolescents attached greater importance to their heritage culture and conservatism. Overall, a larger gender gap in acculturation experiences emerged in late adolescence. The findings are discussed with reference to acculturative and developmental processes in a multicultural context.     

Beliefs about the social orientations of others: A parametric test of the triangle,false consensus,and cone hypotheses

This study tests a number of hypotheses proposed in the literature concerning the relationship between an actor's social orientation and her beliefs about the social orientations of others. In contrast to the existing literature, this study employs a parametric approach with an innovative methodology. First, the social orientation parameters of actors are estimated: the weights respondents add to (1) the outcomes of Alter and to (2) the absolute difference between the outcomes for Ego and Alter. Then, the mean and the variance of the distribution of beliefs about the social orientation parameters of others are estimated, conditional on the actor's social orientation parameters. The results show that (1) there is a positive association between an actor's social orientation and her belief about the mean of the social orientations of others and (2) those who have approximately zero social orientation parameter values (individualists) expect the variation of others' social orientations to be lower than those with smaller (competitors) or larger (cooperators/egalitarians) social orientation parameter values. These results support the cone model, which models the “false” consensus effect where the “false” consensus is highest for individualists.