Intrinsic religiousness as a mediator between fatalism and cancer-specific fear: clarifying the role of fear in prostate cancer screening.

Understanding factors that influence screening receptivity may enhance African-American men's receptivity to prostate cancer screening. Men of African descent (N = 481) between the ages of 40 and 70 were recruited. The hypotheses that Fatalism would be related to Intrinsic Religiousness and Fear, Intrinsic Religiousness would act as a mediator between Fatalism and Fear, and Fatalism as well as Prostate Cancer-Specific Fear would be negatively related to past Prostate-Specific Antigen Testing and Screening Intent were supported. This meditational finding suggests that when religious beliefs are a motivating force, the fear-inducing effects of fatalism are reduced.

Emotional competence (intelligence) and vocational choice among candidates for the ordained ministry.

This research examined the ways in which vocational interests of United Methodist candidates for ordained ministry are related to Emotional Competence (EC) as measured by Inventory of Religious Activities and Interests (IRAI) ministry interests and 16PF personality scales. Results show two primary clusters of ministry interests that are related to EC. Recommendations include ways that supervisors, mentors, and pastor-staff-parish relations committees can use this information to enable pastors to grow in their EC skills.

Language performance in postmenopausal women with and without hormone therapy and men.

AIMS: In the current study, we explored the potential effects of hormone therapy (HT) on language functioning in healthy, postmenopausal women and compared them with men of similar ages. MATERIALS & METHODS: Language functioning on tasks of verbal fluency and object naming was examined in 100 participants (mean age: 61.9 years; 33 HT users, 15 HT non-users and 52 men) at baseline and follow-up (mean follow-up time period: 2.6 years). RESULTS: At baseline, men had higher composite language scores than HT users. However, HT users demonstrated more improvement over time compared with men, whereas HT non-users performed similarly to men, with no improvement over time. Longer duration of HT use was not associated with improved performance on language tests. CONCLUSION: These results suggest an association between HT use and better language ability in postmenopausal women.

Religiousness and prostate cancer screening in African American men.

This study was designed to examine the relationship between religiousness (organized, nonorganized, and intrinsic) and religious problem solving (collaborative, deferring, and self-directing) in prostate cancer screening (PCS) attitudes and behavior. Men (N = 481) of African descent between the ages of 40 and 70 participated. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that religiousness and self-directed problem solving were associated with PCS attitudes. Intrinsic religiousness was associated with PCS attitudes after controlling for health and organized religiousness. Religiousness was not associated with PCS behavior. Intrinsic religiousness may be an important dimension of religiousness to be considered in tailoring cancer interventions for individuals from faith-based communities.

Noncredible psychiatric and cognitive symptoms in a workers' compensation "stress" claim sample.

Information is lacking regarding the prevalence of fraudulent psychiatric and cognitive symptoms in the "stress" claim workers' compensation population. Using various validity indices (Negative Impression Scale, the Malingering Index, and the Rogers Discriminant Function) of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), between 9 and 29% of 233 workers' compensation "stress" claim litigants were identified as exhibiting noncredible psychiatric symptoms. In addition, 15% of the subjects were determined to have noncredible cognitive symptoms on the Dot Counting Test, although only 8% displayed suspect effort on the 15-Item Memorization Test, with 5% of subjects failing both cognitive effort tests. The percentage of positive identifications on both a PAI and cognitive credibility index ranged from only 2 to 4%. Further, correlations between PAI validity indices and cognitive effort scales were nonexistent to modest, indicating that the psychiatric and cognitive credibility indices are measuring different aspects of noncredible symptom production. It was predicted that the PAI profiles of the participants displaying suspect cognitive symptoms would be elevated on the Somatic Concerns, Antisocial, and/or Borderline scales; however, elevations (relative to subjects with credible cognitive performance) were instead noted on the Somatic Concerns, Depression, Anxiety, Anxiety-Related Disorders, and Schizophrenia scales.

Recruiting African American men for cancer screening studies: applying a culturally based model.

In a study of psychosocial factors related to prostate cancer screening (PCS) of African American men, researchers achieved significant success in recruitment. Key strategies included addressing specific barriers to PCS for African American men and placing recruitment efforts in a conceptual framework that addressed cultural issues (PEN-3 model). To conduct cancer prevention research in the African American community, to engage in health promotion in collaboration with churches, and to recruit African American men, a culturally competent approach that incorporates the values of the community is essential. Implications for addressing specific barriers to recruitment and building partnerships in health promotion research are discussed.

The Religious Support Scale: construction, validation, and cross-validation.

Cutrona and Russell's social support model was used to develop a religious support measure (C. E. Cutrona & D. W. Russell, 1987), including 3 distinct but related subscales respectively measuring support from God, the congregation, and church leadership. Factor analyses with the main sample's data (249 Protestants) and cross-validation (93 additional Protestants) supported the scales' reliability and validity. All 3 types of religious support were related to lower depression and greater life satisfaction. Moreover, several relationships between the 3 subscales and psychological functioning variables remained significant after controlling for variance because of church attendance and social support. Results suggest that religious attendance does not automatically imply religious support, and that religious support can provide unique resources for religious persons, above and beyond those furnished by social support. Findings are discussed regarding relevance to community psychology.