Paternal Positivity and Child Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Children whose mothers display more positivity during interactions tend to have better mental health. Some studies investigating associations between...     

Association of Religious Commitment and Tobacco Use Among Muslim Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between religious observance and tobacco use among a sample of Jordanian youth. Using multistage, random sampling, a cross-sectional survey of middle and high school students was conducted. Of the 950 Muslim students in the study, 32 % were daily tobacco users and 72 % prayed regularly. Frequency of praying was negatively associated with tobacco smoking. Religious observance was found to be strongly associated with tobacco smoking among Jordanian youth. Our results indicate that religion can be a culturally important tool in health professionals’ efforts for tobacco control.     

The influence of culture on teacher commitment

Culture is believed to be an important factor that influences various aspects of human life, such as behaviour, thinking, perceptions and attitudes. This article examines the similarities and differences in the influence of culture on teacher commitment in three types of Malaysian primary schools. Since commitment to teaching has rarely been investigated in the field of education, it is necessary to identify initially the dimensions of teacher commitment and their interrelationships that are likely to operate in schools. Each of the three types of schools in which this study is conducted is related to one of the three major cultural groups in Malaysia, namely, the Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures. An investigation is undertaken of the similarities and differences between these three groups with respect to cultural orientation with school leadership, in-school working conditions and teacher commitment as the criteria. The statistical analysis, conducted at the teacher level, is path analysis with latent variables using partial least squares regression to estimate the direct and indirect effects for the different ethnic groups of the main variables on teacher commitment. The differences reported between groups are of sufficient strength to argue that analysis with pooled data are largely inappropriate and consideration needs to be given to separate analysis for the various cultural subgroups both within a country and between countries where the effects of culture are largely different.     

A comparison between three and five factor models of Pakistani personality data

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R), the Eysenck Personality Profiler Short Version (EPP-S), and the Big Five Inventory (BFI-V4a) were administered to 135 postgraduate students of business in Pakistan. Whilst Extraversion and Neuroticism scales from the three questionnaires were highly correlated, it was found that Agreeableness was most highly correlated with Psychoticism in the EPQ-R and Conscientiousness was most highly correlated with Psychoticism in the EPP-S. Principal component analyses with varimax rotation were carried out. The analyses generally suggested that the five factor model rather than the three-factor model was more robust and better for interpretation of all the higher order scales of the EPQ-R, EPP-S, and BFI-V4a in the Pakistani data. Results show that the superiority of the five factor solution results from the inclusion of a broader variety of personality scales in the input data, whereas Eysenck's three factor solution seems to be best when a less complete but possibly more important set of variables are input.     

Race, family interactions, and patient stabilization in schizophrenia

This study examined family interactions associated with a failure to stabilize in schizophrenia. Fifty-eight patient and parent dyads completed a problem-solving task soon after an acute episode. Stabilization was assessed over the following 6 months. African American patients' self-initiated discussions of substance use and increased anxiety during the interaction were associated with a failure to stabilize. Nonstabilization in White patients was associated with high levels of both the patients' odd thinking and the parents' criticism. White patients who were depressed during the interaction were also less likely to stabilize. Findings suggest that family relationships may play in important role in determining whether patients stabilize after an acute episode. Results also point to the importance of cultural factors in predicting patient stabilization.     

Fiber tracking using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging and its applications to human brain development

Diffusion tensor imaging is unique in its ability to noninvasively visualize white matter fiber tracts in the human brain in vivo. Diffusion is the incoherent motion of water molecules on a microscopic scale. This motion is itself dependent on the micro-structural environment that restricts the movement of the water molecules. In white matter fibers there is a pronounced directional dependence on diffusion. With white matter fiber tracking or tractography, projections among brain regions can be detected in the three-dimensional diffusion tensor dataset according to the directionality of the fibers. Examples of developmental changes in diffusion, tracking of major fiber tracts, and examples of how diffusion tensor tractography and functional magnetic resonance imaging can be combined are provided. These techniques are complimentary and allow both the identification of the eloquent areas of the brain involved in specific functional tasks, and the connections between them. The noninvasive nature of magnetic resonance imaging will allow these techniques to be used in both longitudinal developmental and diagnostic studies. An overview of the technique and preliminary applications are presented, along with its current limitations.     

A sociocultural stress, appraisal, and coping model of subjective burden and family attitudes toward patients with schizophrenia

A sociocultural stress, appraisal, and coping model was developed to understand relatives' burden of care and negative affective attitudes toward patients with schizophrenia. Ninety-two African American and 79 White patients and a significant other (80% mothers) completed 2 10-min family problem-solving discussions. In addition, the Kreisman Rejection Scale and a global self-report rating of family burden were administered to relatives, and a self-report rating of substance use was administered to patients. Results indicated that subjective burden of care and patients' odd and unusual thinking during the family discussion each independently predicted relatives' attitudes toward patients, suggesting that negative attitudes are based in part on both patients' symptoms and perceived burden of care. African American relatives' perceived burden was also predicted by patients' substance abuse. Finally, White family members were significantly more likely than African Americans to feel burdened by and have rejecting attitudes toward their schizophrenic relative suggesting that cultural factors play an important role in determining both perceived burden and relatives' attitudes toward patients.     

Relations of Machiavellian behavior with sales performance of stockbrokers

The hypothesis of a relationship between Machiavellian behavior and sales performance of Christie and Geis was tested with a sample of 110 stockbrokers. Scores on a measure called the Machiavellian Behavior scale were positively and significantly correlated with two self-reported measures of sales performance of the stock-brokers. Present results together with those of two earlier studies supported the hypothesis that salespeople with a Machiavellian orientation are likely to be more sucessful. Analysis of the data also indicated predictive validity and acceptable internal consistency of the Machiavellian Behavior scale. Limitations of the present study and a need for further research are discussed.     

The fundamentality of existence and the subjectivity of quiddity

It would not be an overstatement to say that Mulla Sadra’s metaphysical system—commonly known as transcendent philosophy or transcendent wisdom (hikmat muta‘aliyyah)—is founded on the fundamentality of existence and the subjectivity of quiddity or whatness. I will begin this essay by drawing a rather simple picture of this principle under the title “A Common Error.” Then I will proceed by explaining its background and the reasoning supporting it, while offering a more detailed elucidation of the problem. The essay will end by examining two recent interpretations that have gone to extremes in describing quiddity’s subjective nature. This article was written in Farsi specifically for this edition of Topoi and was translated by D. D. Sodagar and Muhammad Legenhausen.

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