Postconflict Reconciliation: Intergroup Forgiveness and Implicit Biases in Northern Ireland

Even after a conflict has formally ended, there is still a need for postconflict reconciliation and the building of mutual forgiveness and trust between communities. This article addresses psychological processes crucial to moving beyond a history of violent sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. We investigated the predictors of intergroup forgiveness, in terms of intergroup emotions, infrahumanization, empathy, and intergroup contact. Intergroup trust and measures of implicit intergroup bias were also explored in this area of real intergroup conflict. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for postconflict reconciliation in Northern Ireland and other conflict areas.     

Dual commitment: Unique construct or epiphenomenon?

Research on dual commitment has been criticized for failing to establish that dual commitment is a unique construct with significant explanatory power beyond that of employer commitment and union commitment. Using data for a sample of shop stewards, this analysis shows that dual commitment does have unique predictive power for steward grievance processing behaviors and grievance procedure outcomes. Consequently, models relating employer commitment (in unionized settings) or union commitment to behaviors or outcomes will be misspecified if they do not include dual commitment as a unique construct, and statistical estimates of these models will be subject to specification bias. This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.     

Relational Paradox: Toward a Language of Interactional Sequences*

The author discusses and clarifies the “Theory of Logical Types” which forms the cornerstone of the “Double Bind Hypothesis.” A clear distinction is made between single sentence double binds and double binds that evolve in an interaction over time. The crucial term “metacommunication” is redefined in a manner consistent with logical type theory. The locus of message-level confusion is shifted from the messages of the sender to the arena of the communicant's interaction. Analysis of the interactional arena reveals a phenomenon which the author labels “Relational Paradox.” Several examples are given which illustrate how paradoxes can arise even if neither interactant is sending messages which are intrinsically bewildering.     

HISTORICAL AND CURRENT FACTORS DISCRIMINATING SEXUALLY FUNCTIONAL FROM SEXUALLY DYSFUNCTIONAL MARRIED COUPLES*

Clinical literature has noted numerous past and current psychosocial factors characteristicof sexually dysfunctional individuals. However, there is almost no empirical documentation of factorsdiscriminating sexually functional from dysfunctional couples. The present study compared the responses of 94 clinical couples accepted for sex therapy with 110 nonclinical couples, selected from the same community. The couples were in their mid-30s, married an average of 12 years, middle income, rather well educated, and over 75% had at least one child. Individuals completed a 517-question Personal History Questionnaire (PHQ), and sex and marital defensiveness scales. The PHQ wasclinically and empirically developed, resulting in 54 internally consistent scales. Major analyses tested the discriminating power of past and current PHQ scales. The best discriminators were sexual functioning scales, historical and affective scales for women, and current and fantasy scales for men. Several surprising results appeared, including the importance of first coitus and the lack of importance of marital satisfaction, communication and sexual history scales. Four conclusionswere discussed relevant to the separation of sex and relationship satisfaction, the separation of sexualfunctioning and sexual satisfaction, and the differential impact of sexual problems on men and women.     

Personal, health, academic, and environmental predictors of stress for residence hall students

The authors studied contributors to stress among undergraduate residence hall students at a midwestern, land grant university using a 76-item survey consisting of personal, health, academic, and environmental questions and 1 qualitative question asking what thing stressed them the most. Of 964 students selected at random, 462 (48%) responded to the survey. The authors weighted data to reflect the overall university-wide undergraduate population (55% men, 12% minority or international, and 25% freshmen). Women and US citizens experienced greater stress than did men and non-US citizens, respectively. Frequency of experiencing chronic illness, depression, anxiety disorder, seasonal affective disorder, mononucleosis, and sleep difficulties were significant stress predictors. Although alcohol use was a positive predictor, drug use was a negative predictor of stress. Both a conflict and a satisfactory relationship with a roommate, as well as a conflict with a faculty or staff member, were also significant predictors of stress.     

Differentiating self-neglect as a type of elder mistreatment: how do these cases compare to traditional types of elder mistreatment?

Official estimates suggest that self-neglect is the most common type of elder mistreatment. Interestingly, very few researchers have empirically assessed self-neglect as a type of elder mistreatment. In the current study, attention is given to how self-neglect cases handled by adult protective services agencies compare to other types of elder mistreatment. Comparisons are made between the needs of self-neglect clients and other protective services clients as well as the role of stress in the different types of abuse. Findings suggest that self-neglect clients are less likely to need help with certain functional activities. In addition, those who are married and those who have completed fewer years of education are less likely to be labeled as experiencing self-neglect. City differences in rates of self-neglect were also found. Not surprisingly, self-neglect clients were more likely than other protective services clients to refuse services. Implications are provided.     

Gambling and Problem Gambling Among Recently Sentenced Women in New Zealand Prisons

Ninety-four recently sentenced women prisoners were interviewed to assess aspects of their gambling involvement, problem gambling and relationships between gambling and criminal offending. A third of the women, on the basis of their SOGS-R scores, were assessed as lifetime probable pathological gamblers and just under a quarter were assessed as probable pathological gamblers during the 6 months prior to imprisonment. For women prisoners, a preference for non-casino gaming machines and housie were predictive of problem gambling. Relative to non-problem gamblers, problem gamblers experienced higher rates of childhood conduct disorder and current non-psychotic mental disorder. Just over a quarter of prisoners and a half of the problem gamblers had committed a crime to obtain money to gamble. Few women said their early offending or convictions related to gambling. It was concluded that most women were “criminals first and problem gamblers second” rather than people whose offending careers commenced as a consequence of problem gambling. However, the extent of problem gambling-related offending among the women prisoners highlights the potential for comprehensive assessment and treatment programs in prison to reduce recidivism and other adverse impacts of problem gambling and gambling-related offending.