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Theistic Relational Spirituality: Development, Dynamics, Health, and Transformation
Get PDFMost of the world’s population identify as religious or spiritual, and most religiously affiliated believers identify with one of the world’s major monotheistic traditions: Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. Within each of these traditions, especially Christianity, one important aspect of many believers’ religion/spirituality is how they view and relate with God. The purpose of this paper is to describe a model of theistic relational spirituality (i.e., the ways monotheistic believers view and relate with God) that integrates theory and research from the fields of psychology, attachment, social cognition, and interpersonal neurobiology. We argue that theistic relational spirituality is comprised of two main types of God representations: doctrinal (primarily explicit and affect-light) and experiential (primarily implicit and affect-laden) representations. From an attachment perspective, we discuss the development and dynamics (e.g., context-dependence) of these God representations. We propose that doctrinal–experiential congruence forms the basis of a healthy theistic relational spirituality, when it is contextually adaptive, consistent across time and situations, and aligned with the theistic believer’s behaviors. We also delineate potentially adaptive transformation of less healthy forms of theistic relational spirituality. Lastly, we discuss ways in which this model of theistic relational spirituality might direct future research
Young People and Alternative Provision: Perspectives from participatory-collaborative evaluations in three UK Local Authorities
Get PDFThis paper reports the findings of four separately commissioned evaluations of Alternative Provision (AP) undertaken in three Local Authorities in the UK. The evaluations were specifically predicated on the principles of children’s rights and used a combination of qualitative research methods and documentary analysis to elicit the experiences of young people in conjunction with the viewpoints of key stake-holders. Data from each evaluation was gathered over a total period of 6 years. The sites and time scales for each evaluation varied from 6-month authority-wide strategic reviews, a 3-year evaluation of an AP Free School and an evaluation of pupil referrals in a large school partnership. The evaluations involved 200 participant children and young people, 30 managers and stakeholders, 8 parents of non-attending pupils and Local Authority Officers and School Governors. The evaluations report the complexity of needs amongst children and young people; the continuing problem of unsuccessful transitions between key phases/stages of education and the profound consequences of this for young people; assumptions around mainstream reintegration and managed moves; and the curriculum challenges of vocationalism and academic emphasis. While the research data confirms the positive value of multi-agency approaches in AP it also shows a more recent troubling increase in the number of young people now being referred to AP as a consequence of their exposure to performative school cultures
“That’s how Muslims are required to view the world”: Race, culture and belief in non-Muslims’ descriptions of Islam and science
Get PDFIslam’s positioning in relation to Western ideals of individuality, freedom, women’s rights and democracy has been an abiding theme of sociological analysis and cultural criticism, especially since September 11th 2001. Less attention has been paid, however, to another concept that has been central to the image of Western modernity: science. This article analyzes comments about Islam gathered over the course of 117 interviews and 13 focus groups with non-Muslim members of the public and scientists in the UK and Canada on the theme of the relationship between science and religion. The article shows how participants’ accounts of Islam and science contrasted starkly with their accounts of other religious traditions, with a notable minority of predominantly non-religious interviewees describing Islam as uniquely, and uniformly, hostile to science and rational thought. It highlights how such descriptions of Islam were used to justify the cultural othering of Muslims in the West and anxieties about educational segregation, demographic ‘colonization’ and Islamist extremism. Using these data, the article argues for: 1) wider recognition of how popular understandings of science remain bound up with conceptions of Western cultural superiority; and 2) greater attentiveness to how prejudices concerning Islamic beliefs help make the idea that Muslims pose a threat to the West respectable
Low Doses of Caffeine: Enhancement of Physical Performance in Elite Adolescent Male Soccer Players
Get PDFPurpose: Large doses of ~6 mgkg-1 body mass (BM) have improved performance during intermittent running, jumping and agility protocols. However, there is sparse data on low doses of caffeine especially in elite adolescent soccer players. Method: 15 elite youth soccer players (177.3±4.8 cm, 66.9±7.9 kg and 16±1 yr) participated in the study. Participants consumed 1, 2 or 3 mgkg-1 caffeine in a gelatin capsule or a 2 mgkg-1 placebo in a single blind, randomised, crossover study design. Testing consisted of a 20 m sprint, arrowhead agility (CoD R or L), counter-movement jump (CMJ) and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level-1 (Yo-Yo IR1). Post-exercise CMJ performance was assessed as participants exited Yo-Yo IR1. Data were analysed using a Bayesian multi-level regression model to provide explained variance and probabilities of improvement (p=%). Results: 3 mgkg-1 caffeine presented the highest probabilities of change compared to placebo across a range of tests (mean ± SD, p= %). 20m sprint times were 3.15±0.10s vs 3.18±0.09s (p=73%), CoD-R times were 8.43±0.24s vs 8.55±0.25s (p=99%), CoD-L times were 8.44±0.22s vs 8.52±0.18s (p=85%), Yo-Yo IR1 distance were 2440±531m vs 2308±540m (p=15%), pre-exercise CMJ height was 41.6±7.2cm vs 38±8.5cm (p=96%). Post-exercise CMJ was higher in the 3 mgkg-1 compared to placebo (42.3±8cm vs 36.6±8cm [p=100%]). 1-2 mgkg-1 caffeine also demonstrated the ability to enhance performance but are task dependent. Conclusion: Low doses of caffeine improve performance but are dose and task dependent. 3 mgkg-1 caffeine improved performance across the majority of tests with potential to further improve post-exercise CMJ height
Breathy shame and the place of Hebrew in the work of Jerome of Stridon
Get PDFThis article analyses the place of Hebrew in Jerome‟s work by situating it in wider patterns of
late antique masculinity and shame. Drawing on Kosofsky Sedgwick and Fanon, it shows
how shame is a spatial affect. Discussions of Hebrew in Jerome‟s work emphasise the
particular spaces in which Hebrew is written, read, or transported. One space is particularly
important for Jerome‟s Hebrew translation: the space of the mouth as it inhales and exhales
language. Focussing on space, language, and breath reveals why Hebrew is particularly
shameful for Jerome and explains some of the apparent ambiguities in his discussions of
translation
A dish served cold: targeting revenge in revenge pornography
Get PDFThe introduction of Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, criminalising the disclosure of private sexual images, has been seen as a welcome step forward for curbing this abuse of privacy and the harmful effects it has on victims. However, while Section 33 sidesteps any reference to ‘revenge pornography’, as the phenomenon has been termed in popular vernacular, little attention has been paid to the way in which narratives of revenge implicitly underpin and imbue the new offence, particularly its specific intent requirement. We argue this has serious implications for the treatment of Section 33 offences in the courts and for sentencing. Drawing on cross-disciplinary conceptualisations of revenge, its recent criminal-legal history, and examples of media and parliamentary rhetoric, we claim that despite innumerable attempts to turn debate on disclosure of private sexual images towards consent, harm and privacy, there lurks within these discourses an assumption that the victim must have done something to deserve the treatment she received. Until the multiple harms of disclosure of private sexual images are recognised and explicit recommendations are made that scrutiny of victims’ behaviour should normally be inadmissible, we argue that the offence offers little in the way of redress
Evaluation of a Walking-Track Intervention to Increase Children's Physical Activity during Primary School Break Times
Get PDFBackground: Despite the known benefits of engaging in daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), only 22% of children in England are meeting the recommended guidelines. School break times have been advocated as a key part of children’s daily routines in which their MVPA can be increased. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of installing a walking-track on children’s MVPA during school break times. Method: A mixed method design was employed which allowed for the quantitative measurement of children’s PA at three time points (baseline, mid-intervention [1-5 weeks] and follow-up [6-9 weeks]), using pedometers (n=81, 5-9 years) and systematic observation (n=23, 7-9 years). A semi-structured interview [n=1] was also conducted at 10 weeks follow up. The installation of the walking-track was grounded in a unique set of theoretical constructs to aid the behaviour change of the teachers. Results: Short term positive increases in girls’ and boys’ MVPA and longer term increases in boys’ vigorous PA (VPA) were found. Qualitative data highlighted that boys dominated the walking-track and the inconsistent behaviour of school staff negatively impacted upon children’s MVPA. Conclusion: A set of principles to guide the installment of walking-tracks in school playgrounds are recommended.
Keywords: Children; break times; physical activit
SBNR identity: the role of impersonal God representations, individualistic spirituality, and dissimilarity with religious groups
Get PDFWe conducted two studies investigating the extent to which self-identification as SBNR was associated with: (H1) the development of idiosyncratic religious beliefs and exposure to religious diversity; and/or (H2) negative attitudes toward organized religion and being hurt by members of a religious group. In Study 1, SBNRs scored higher than Religious and Non-religious participants on belief in God as an impersonal cosmic force (but not as a personal being) and individualistic spirituality. Although SBNRs had positive attitudes toward religion, they were less positive than those identifying as Religious. Exposure to religious diversity and hurt by religious groups were not significant predictors of SBNR. We replicated these results in Study 2 using a multi-item measure of God representations and also found that SBNRs’ attitudes toward religion were predicted by a perceived dissimilarity with religious groups over and above individualism, secular group participation, perceptions of Christianity as too structured, and liberalism
Effects of maternal depression in the Still-Face Paradigm: A meta-analysis
Get PDFThe Still-Face Paradigm (SFP) enables researchers to examine the quality of mother-infant interactions. In typical infants, a classic still-face effect (SFE) has been confirmed whereby infants demonstrate reduced positive affect (PA), reduced gaze (GA), and increased negative affect (NA). Recently, the SFP has been used to examine the effect of maternal depression upon infant behaviour. However, the nature and consistency of the behavioural responses of infants of depressed mothers during the SFP remains unclear. In the current meta-analysis, we examined whether or not infants of depressed mothers demonstrate the classic SFE, as well as whether or not these infants display the same levels of PA, NA, and GA as their counterparts with non-depressed mothers. Results revealed that infants of depressed mothers display the classic SFE like infants of their non-depressed counterparts. However, infants of depressed mothers also demonstrated significantly higher levels of PA during the still-face episode. One potential interpretation of this finding is that infants prior experience of similar, depressed interactions with their mothers, encourages them to amplify their positive attachment signals in order to engage maternal attention and response. Alternatively, or additionally, infants of depressed mothers could be using PA in order to regulate their own NA
The Validity of External:Internal Training Load Ratios in Rested and Fatigued Soccer Players
Get PDFPurpose: To examine the relationship of external:internal training load ratios with fitness and assess the impact of fatigue. Method: Ten soccer players performed a lactate threshold test followed by two soccer simulations (BEAST90mod) 48 h apart. Recovery (TQR) and muscle soreness (DOMS) was measured before each trial. Internal Training load (TL) (iTRIMP) and external load total distance (TD), high intensity distance (HID), PlayerLoad™ (PL) mean metabolic power (MMP) high metabolic power distance (HP) were collected for each trial and external:internal ratios produced. The relationships between ratios and velocity at lactate threshold (vLT) and velocity at Onset of Blood Lactate Accumulation (vOBLA) were examined in both trials along with changes in ratios. Results: Total Quality of Recovery and DOMS showed large changes. There were trivial to large decreases in TL from trial 1 to 2. Moderate increases in ratios for TD:iTRIMP, PL:iTRIMP and MMP:iTRIMP were seen but only small/trivial for HP:iTRIMP and HID:iTRIMP. In rested conditions all ratios show large relationships with vLT and vOBLA. However vLT vs. HID:iTRIMP; PL:iTRIMP; HP:iTRIMP and vOBLA vs. TD:iTRIMP; PL:iTRIMP; MMP:iTRIMP became weaker under fatigue. Conclusions: Acute changes in the ratios have implications forthe use of ratios as fitness measures but also as indicators of fatigue