Understanding religious attachment among christians seeking spiritually integrated psychotherapies: A mixed methods study.

OBJECTIVE: This mixed methods study aimed to understand ways of viewing and experiencing religious attachment among Christians in spiritually integrated psychotherapies. METHOD: In total, 190 Christian-affiliated clients completed narrative responses about religious and parental attachment along with validated measures of spiritual and psychological functioning toward the start of treatment. RESULTS: An inductive content analysis revealed ten ways in which clients were viewing and experiencing God. Although painful themes were expressed, clients more frequently discussed comforting themes related to religious attachment. Additional analyses demonstrated convergence with parental attachment and quantitative measures of spirituality and mental health. CONCLUSION: Religious attachment appears to primarily provide a sense of strength and comfort for Christians seeking care. Findings also indicate clients view and experience God in similar ways as their parents or caregivers. As such, assessing and affirming clients' faith may facilitate positive changes in how they view and experience themselves and others in treatment.

Religiousness and psychotic experiences among young adult college students in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Religiousness and psychotic experiences have been related, though findings have been mixed, with little attention paid to specific religious affiliations and religious importance. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Healthy Minds Study (2020-2021), which was an online survey administered at 140 college campuses across the United States. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine the associations between religiousness (affiliation and importance) and 12-month psychotic experiences, adjusting for age, gender, and race/ethnicity. RESULTS: Only Christian religious affiliation was associated with lower odds of psychotic experiences (aOR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.75, 0.84), while Non-Christian religious affiliation (aOR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.19, 1.50) and Multiple religious affiliation s were associated with greater odds (aOR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.42). Overall, increased religious importance was associated with lower odds of psychotic experiences (aOR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.94-0.99). After stratifying by affiliation, religious importance was only associated with lower odds of psychotic experiences among people who identified as Other Christian, Mormon, and Other World Religion. Religious importance was associated with greater odds of psychotic experiences among Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, Nothing in Particular, and Multiple Religions. CONCLUSION: Religious affiliation and importance had varying associations with psychotic experiences, depending on type of religious affiliation. More research is needed to explore the modifying effects of religiousness. Responsiveness to religious beliefs and practices may be critical when assessing risk for psychosis.

A solution to the challenges of interdisciplinary aggregation and use of specimen-level trait data.

Understanding variation of traits within and among species through time and across space is central to many questions in biology. Many resources assemble species-level trait data, but the data and metadata underlying those trait measurements are often not reported. Here, we introduce FuTRES (Functional Trait Resource for Environmental Studies; pronounced few-tress), an online datastore and community resource for individual-level trait reporting that utilizes a semantic framework. FuTRES already stores millions of trait measurements for paleobiological, zooarchaeological, and modern specimens, with a current focus on mammals. We compare dynamically derived extant mammal species' body size measurements in FuTRES with summary values from other compilations, highlighting potential issues with simply reporting a single mean estimate. We then show that individual-level data improve estimates of body mass-including uncertainty-for zooarchaeological specimens. FuTRES facilitates trait data integration and discoverability, accelerating new research agendas, especially scaling from intra- to interspecific trait variability.

Development and Initial Validation of the Persevering Hope Scale: Measuring Wait-Power in Four Independent Samples.

Hope has been conceptualized as agency and pathways to achieve goals. However, this goal-directed conceptualization does not encapsulate all situations in which hope may be beneficial. To address the dispositional motivation to endure when a desired goal seems unattainable, unlikely, or even impossible (i.e., goal-transcendent hope), we provide initial psychometric evidence for the new Persevering Hope Scale (PHS). We developed and refined the PHS with undergraduates at a public college (Study 1) and replicated our findings in a community adult sample (Study 2). We replicated and extended these findings using longitudinal data with undergraduates at a faith-based college (Study 3) and a community sample of chronically ill adults (Study 4), and examined measurement invariance (Study 5). Scores on the PHS demonstrated robust evidence of estimated internal consistency and of criterion-related, convergent/discriminant, and incremental validity. Estimated temporal stability was modest. Partial scalar invariance was evidenced across samples, and full scalar invariance was evidenced across gender, race/ethnicity, and time. These preliminary findings suggest that the PHS is a psychometrically sound measure of persevering hope. Its use can broaden the current body of literature on trait hope to include goal-transcendent hope and advance research on the nature and benefits of this important construct.

Resource loss and mental health during COVID-19: Psychosocial protective factors among U.S. older adults and those with chronic disease.

Across the globe, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the physical and mental health of several vulnerable groups. In a series of two cross-sectional studies conducted April to July 2020, we examined its acute mental health effects on two vulnerable U.S. community samples-home-bound older adults who were at or below the poverty line (Study 1, N = 293, Mage  = 76.94, SD = 8.64; 75.1% female, 67.9% Black) and adults with chronic disease (Study 2, N = 322, Mage  = 62.20, SD = 12.22; 46.3% female, 28.3% racial/ethnic minorities). Based on the conservation of resources theory, we hypothesised that pandemic-related resource loss would be associated with greater mental distress, but perceived social support and positive psychological characteristics (trait resilience and optimism) would buffer against this adverse effect. Across both samples of vulnerable adults, pandemic-related resource loss was related to mental distress. Perceived social support was related to lower mental distress but did not consistently buffer the effect of resource loss on mental health. However, in Study 2, both trait resilience and optimism buffered this relationship. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the conservation of resources theory.

Religious/spiritual struggles and psychological distress: A test of three models in a longitudinal study of adults with chronic health conditions.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested three conceptual explanatory models that have been theorized to account for the linkages between religious/spiritual (R/S) struggles and psychological distress: the primary model (i.e., R/S struggles lead to psychological distress), the secondary model (i.e., psychological distress leads to R/S struggles), and the complex model (i.e., R/S struggles and psychological distress reciprocally exacerbate each other). METHODS: Using prospective data from a sample of US adults living with chronic health conditions (n = 302), we performed a cross-lagged panel analysis with three timepoints to test for evidence of potential causal relations between R/S struggles and psychological distress. RESULTS: Consistent with the complex conceptual model of R/S struggles, we found evidence of positive reciprocal associations between R/S struggles and psychological distress. CONCLUSION: The findings highlight the importance of attending to the dynamic interplay between R/S struggles and psychological distress when working with adults who have chronic health conditions.

Suffering, Mental Health, and Psychological Well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study of U.S. Adults With Chronic Health Conditions.

Suffering has been a topic of considerable discussion in the fields of medicine and palliative care, yet few studies have reported causal evidence linking the experience of suffering to health and well-being. In this three-wave prospective cohort study, we explore the potential psychological implications of suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic by examining relations among suffering, mental health, and psychological well-being in a sample of U.S. adults living with chronic health conditions. We analyzed data from n = 184 participants who completed assessments one month before the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (February 2020) and then two months (April 2020) and four months later (May/June 2020). Analyses controlled for a range of factors, including sociodemographic characteristics, physical health, religious/spiritual factors, psychological characteristics, and prior values of the predictor and each of the outcomes assessed one month before the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of the primary analysis indicated that greater overall suffering assessed one month into the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with lower psychological well-being (ß = -.17, 95% CI: -.29, -.05) and higher levels of anxiety (ß = .27, 95% CI: .13, .41) and depression (ß = .16, 95% CI: .03, .29) two months later. In a secondary analysis that explored anxiety, depression, and psychological well-being as candidate antecedents of suffering, depression assessed one month into the COVID-19 pandemic was most strongly associated with worse overall suffering two months later. We highlight the implications of the findings for high-risk populations who are suffering amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Potential benefits of both integrating assessments of suffering into screening procedures and addressing experiences of suffering in mental health service settings are discussed.

Psychological and spiritual outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic: A prospective longitudinal study of adults with chronic disease.

OBJECTIVE: This prospective longitudinal study examined whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to changes in psychological and spiritual outcomes among adults with chronic disease. METHOD: Participants (N = 302) were a stratified, nonrandom sample of adults (Mage = 64.46, SD = 10.86, 45.7% female). The sample was representative of the chronically ill, U.S. adult population in gender, race/ethnicity, region, and religious affiliation but older in age and higher in socioeconomic status. Participants completed online-administered measures 1 month before the March 11 pandemic declaration (T1) and then 1 and 3 months after it (T2 and T3). At T1 through T3, they completed measures of depression, anxiety, personal suffering, psychological well-being, trait resilience, optimism, hope, grit, spiritual struggles, spiritual fortitude, and positive religious coping. At T2 and T3, they also completed measures of social support, physical health, resource loss, perceived stress, and COVID-19 fears and exposure. RESULTS: Overall, people did not change substantially in psychological or spiritual outcomes over time. However, trait resilience increased and personal suffering declined. People highest in prepandemic suffering increased in spiritual fortitude. Racial/ethnic minorities increased in religious importance. Roughly half (48.9%) of participants exhibited psychological resilience (no/minimal depression or anxiety symptoms) at both T2 and T3. Perceived stress and psychological resource loss were associated with adverse mental health outcomes, but social support and physical health were not. COVID-19 fears contributed more to mental health than COVID-19 exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Even among vulnerable populations such as adults with chronic disease, during pandemic conditions like COVID-19, many people may exhibit-or even increase slightly in-psychological and spiritual resilience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between religiousness and health among sexual minorities: A meta-analysis.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 147(7) of Psychological Bulletin (see record 2022-08521-004). In the article, there was an error in the calculation of the effect sizes from one study. The three effect sizes for Wolff et al. (2016) listed in Table B1 of the online supplemental materials should have been "r = .09, r = -.02, r = -.05," rather than "r = -.18, r = .53, r = -.35." We rechecked the calculations for other studies and effect sizes and found no additional errors. Further, analyses rerun with the revised data set resulted in no changes in significance for any analyses that included this study; hence, no conclusions were changed because of this error. In the article, the sentences in the final paragraph of the Statistical Analyses section that described this study as an outlier were deleted and replaced with "No such outliers were found." All versions of this article have been corrected.] Meta-analyses suggest that religiousness/spirituality (R/S) is consistently and positively associated with health (average r = .15); however, the strength and direction of this relationship is much less clear among sexual minorities, and many sexual minorities experience tension related to R/S. To address this, we present results from the first meta-analysis of the relationship between R/S and health among sexual minorities. Using 279 effect sizes nested within 73 studies, multilevel meta-analyses suggest a small but positive overall relationship between R/S and health among sexual minorities (r = .05), with a substantial amount of residual heterogeneity. Moderator analyses clarify that this relationship is particularly positive when R/S is conceptualized as spirituality (r = .14) or as religious cognition (e.g., belief; r = .10). The relationship between R/S and health disappears or becomes negative when participants are sampled from sexual minority venues (e.g., bars/clubs; r = .01). Minority stress, structural stigma, and causal pathways theories provide some structure to understand results; however, none of these theories is able to explain results fully. We synthesize these theories to provide an initial theoretical explanation: the degree to which R/S promotes or harms sexual minorities' health depends on (a) where the individual is in their sexual identity development/integration; (b) what their current R/S beliefs, practices, and motivations are; and (c) how well their environmental circumstances support their sexual and/or religious identities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Perceived and actual posttraumatic growth in religiousness and spirituality following disasters.

OBJECTIVE: Religious/spiritual (R/S) growth is a core domain of posttraumatic growth (PTG). However, research on R/S growth following disasters has over-relied on retrospective self-reports of growth. We therefore examined longitudinal change in religiousness/spirituality following two disasters. METHOD: Religious survivors of Hurricanes Harvey (Study 1) and Irma (Study 2) completed measures of perceived R/S PTG, general religiousness/spirituality ("current standing"-R/S PTG), and subfacets of religiousness/spirituality (spiritual fortitude, religious motivations, and benevolent theodicies). In Study 1, 451 participants responded at 1-month and 2-month postdisaster. In Study 2, participants responded within 5-days predisaster and at 1-month (N = 1,144) and 6-months postdisaster (N = 684). RESULTS: In both studies, perceived R/S PTG was weakly related to longitudinal increases in general religiousness/spirituality and in most of its subfacets, but reliable growth in any R/S outcome was rare. Additionally, Study 2 revealed evidence that actual change in psychological well-being is associated with actual (but not perceived) R/S PTG, but disaster survivors tend to exhibit declines in their religiousness/spirituality, spiritual fortitude, and religious motivations. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest disaster survivors are only modestly accurate in perceiving how much positive R/S change they experience following a disaster. We discuss implications for clinical practice, scientific research, and empirical and conceptual work on PTG more broadly.

A practice-based evidence investigation of God representations in spiritually integrated psychotherapies.

OBJECTIVE: This practice-based evidence study examined trajectories of God representations and psychological distress among Christians participating in spiritually integrated psychotherapies (SIPs). METHODS: In total, 17 clinicians practicing SIPs in a mid-sized city on the US Gulf Coast implemented session-to-session assessments of these outcomes with 158 clients over a 4-month period and also reported their use of specific spiritual interventions after each session (e.g., affirmed client's divine worth). RESULTS: Multivariate growth modeling revealed clients' psychological distress decreased over the study period whereas authoritarian God representations increased and benevolent God representations remained stable. In addition, clients who increased in benevolent representations of God had a greater likelihood of experiencing alleviation of psychological distress. CONCLUSION: These findings affirm the potential efficacy of SIPs and cultural importance of belief in a benevolent deity as a source of strength, identity, and potential healing among Christians clients who prefer a spiritually integrated approach in psychotherapy.

Why humility is vital to effective humanitarian aid leadership: a review of the literature.

Organisational scientists are paying increasing attention to humility, following a larger trend in scholarship highlighting the relational and interdependent nature of leadership and business. A growing body of evidence identifies humility as vital to effective organisational leadership, facilitating positive organisational outcomes, such as lower voluntary turnover and greater follower job satisfaction. To date, research on the subject has focused on certain specific organisational contexts, including businesses, hospitals, and schools. This paper reviews the existing literature and explores why humility may be an especially important leader trait in international humanitarian aid organisations and relief work-a context that is not only uniquely challenging, but also one that would seemingly stand to benefit keenly from the quality. It argues that humility is essential for effective leadership because it is normative of good character, it is predictive of positive outcomes, and it corresponds to a genuine representation of the nature of humanitarian aid.

The effectiveness of trauma-informed wilderness therapy with adolescents: A pilot study.

Objective: Wilderness therapy (WT) is a complementary/integrative approach for treating struggling adolescents by using outdoor adventure activities to foster personal and interpersonal growth/well-being. Empirical support for the effectiveness of traditional WT is growing, but evidence supporting trauma-informed WT (TIWT) is lacking. This pilot study addresses that gap. Method: Between 2009 and 2019, 816 adolescents (Ages 13-17, Mage = 15.36, SD = 1.25; 41.1% female) completed the Youth-Outcome Questionnaire-SR 2.0 at intake and discharge (M = 75.02 days, SD = 28.77). Three-hundred seventy-eight adolescents also completed the Family Assessment Device-General Functioning (FAD-GF), and 253 adolescents completed two, 2.5-min segments of heart-rate-variability biofeedback (one while resting and one while using a coping skill). One-hundred eighty-nine caregivers completed the Youth-Outcome Questionnaire 2.01, and 181 caregivers completed the FAD-GF. Between 25 and 99 adolescents and caregivers also completed psychological and family measures at 6 months and 1 year postdischarge. Results: Adolescents reported experiencing improvements in psychological and family functioning. They also exhibited improvement in psychophysiological functioning (heart-rhythm coherence). Caregivers reported improvements in family functioning and their child's psychological functioning. Caregivers observed more persisting benefits in their child's psychological functioning, whereas adolescents reported more persisting benefits in family functioning. Changes in psychological and family functioning were related. There were very few differential effects on the basis of demographic factors, trauma exposure, or past and current treatment factors. Conclusion: Results of this pilot study suggest TIWT is a promising complementary/integrative intervention for improving the psychological, family, and psychophysiological functioning of struggling adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Resource Loss and Stress Outcomes in a Setting of Chronic Conflict: The Conservation of Resources Theory in the Eastern Congo.

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine conservation of resources (COR) theory in the context of armed conflict in Africa. Specifically, within the setting of ongoing chronic conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), we tested the COR theory prediction that resource loss contributes to various stress outcomes. A randomly selected sample of 312 adults (125 men, 187 women) from villages in North Kivu, DRC completed orally administered measures of resource loss, daily stressors, and four stress outcomes: depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, posttraumatic distress, and general distress. Consistent with COR theory, resource loss predicted all four stress outcomes above and beyond the contribution of demographics, relocation experiences, and daily stressors; however, this effect was small, ΔR2 = .02-.06. The most consistent and strongest predictors of stress outcomes were daily stressors, ßs = .42-.62; number of relocation experiences, ßs = .33-.43; and psychosocial resource loss (e.g., loss of hope, meaning or purpose in life, intimacy with friends and family, physical health of family), ßs = .17-.26. Additionally, male sex predicted depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms, and lower educational status predicted anxiety symptoms and general distress. Our exploratory mediation analysis showed that daily stressors partially mediated all four pairs of associations between psychosocial resource loss and mental health outcomes. We discuss the findings with consideration of research on disasters generally and armed conflicts specifically. We also discuss implications for humanitarian interventions with conflict-affected populations in Africa and beyond.

Development and validation of a measure of spiritual fortitude.

OBJECTIVE: In this article, we develop and validate a measure of spiritual fortitude (SF). SF is defined as a character trait enabling people to endure and make redemptive meaning from adversity through their sacred connections with God, others, and themselves. METHOD: First, we summarize its conceptual distinctions from related constructs such as grit, hardiness, and resilience. Then, in three independent studies (N = 1,104), we provide evidence for a three-factor SF Scale (SFS-9), consisting of subscales labeled Spiritual Endurance, Spiritual Enterprise, and Redemptive Purpose. RESULTS: In Study 1 (N = 410), an exploratory factor analysis revealed three SFS-9 subscales, each of which demonstrated evidence of internal consistency. Study 2 (N = 393) confirmed this factor structure on a separate sample and provided additional evidence for internal consistency. In Study 3 (N = 301), we present evidence of its discriminant, convergent, and incremental validity. SFS-9 scores predicted variance in meaning in life, spiritual well-being, religious coping, and adversity-related anxiety, above and beyond the contribution of grit and resilience. CONCLUSIONS: Spiritual fortitude appears to be a useful construct in understanding the process of adjusting to, and thriving, in the midst of adversity, suffering, and trauma. Future hypotheses and research directions are provided to catalyze work in this new area of inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Religious support buffers the indirect negative psychological effects of mass shooting in church-affiliated individuals.

OBJECTIVE: Religion has been shown to protect against the negative effects of traumatic events. The current pilot study explored the extent to which religious support (i.e., sense of comfort and support from the Sacred, religious leaders, and fellow faith participants) buffered against the indirect negative psychological symptoms (i.e., religious/spiritual struggle, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) following the 2015 mass shooting on the campus of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. METHOD: The study examined 34 individuals (12 male, 22 female) that were indirectly affected by the mass shooting (i.e., did not directly witness the shooting and were not physically harmed by the shooting), recruited from the surrounding religious community. Participants completed measures of resource loss, religious support, religious and spiritual struggle, depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. RESULTS: Religious support buffered the relationship between resource loss and negative psychological symptoms for religious and spiritual struggle, depression, and PTSD symptoms but not anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Religious and spiritual support may be an important factor for helping church-affiliated individuals cope with the negative effects of resource loss that occur when a community is affected by a mass shooting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The psychological study of religion and spirituality in a disaster context: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the existing empirical psychology of religion/spirituality (R/S) and disaster research and offer a prospectus for future research. METHOD: Searches were conducted in PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Medline databases, and through personal communication with study authors covering a period from 1975 (from the earliest identified study meeting our criteria) to 2015. Studies that took an empirical approach to studying the impact of disasters on R/S phenomena, as well as the relationship between R/S phenomena, cognition, behavior, and well-being in disaster contexts were included. RESULTS: A total of 51 articles met the inclusion criteria. We organized the empirical findings under five main categories, which emerged from sorting studies by their primary R/S focus: (a) general religiousness, (b) God representations, (c) religious appraisals, (d) R/S meaning making, and (e) religious coping. On the whole, R/S appears to generally lead to positive outcomes among disaster survivors. Results suggest positive benefits of R/S comes more from how one engages faith and access to resources via R/S communities. CONCLUSIONS: This review revealed several emerging patterns regarding what is known as well as existing gaps in the literature, including the need for more rigorous methodological designs and ongoing systematic programs of study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Conserving resources during chronic disaster: Impacts of religious and meaning-focused coping on Botswana drought survivors.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored the trauma symptoms of those who have endured a multiyear drought in Botswana, an arid, pastoral, and primarily Christian Southern African nation. Particularly, this study used conservation of resources theory to consider the effects of disaster-related resource loss (DRL) and the psychology of religion literature to investigate the roles of religious or spiritual (R/S) and meaning-focused coping. METHOD: Three hundred undergraduates in Botswana completed culturally adapted measures of their DRL, positive and negative R/S coping, search for meaning in life (meaning-focused coping), lifetime trauma exposure, and current trauma symptoms. Data were collected in the 4th year of the record-setting drought. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analysis was used to add predictors sequentially and demonstrated that both DRL of energies (e.g., time, money) and coping behaviors (both negative R/S and meaning-focused) positively predicted current trauma symptoms beyond one's personal trauma exposure. Further, positive R/S coping was observed to moderate (buffer) the influence of DRL on trauma symptoms, whereas negative R/S and meaning-focused coping appeared to partially mediate the influence of DRL. CONCLUSION: This study extends research on DRL and coping to the context of chronic disasters. A nuanced treatment of resource loss (accounting for specific item wordings) suggests that although DRL in general may influence negative R/S coping, only some types of resource loss (energetic) from an ongoing-chronic disaster affect both one's current meaning-focused coping and trauma symptoms. In contrast to negative R/S coping behaviors (e.g., doubt), positive ones (e.g., seeking divine connection) were shown to mitigate those effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Faith in the wake of disaster: A longitudinal qualitative study of religious attachment following a catastrophic flood.

OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal qualitative study explores the impact of natural disasters on religious attachment (perceived relationship with God). We sought to validate and conceptually extend the religion-as-attachment model in a postdisaster context. METHOD: At 4 weeks (T1; n = 36) and 6 months postdisaster (T2; n = 29), survivors of the 2016 Louisiana flood completed a disaster-adapted version of the Religious Attachment Interview (Granqvist & Main, 2017). RESULTS: At T1 and T2, survivors emphasized God being a safe haven (source of protection, comfort, or nurturance). This emphasis was especially pronounced for survivors who were directly affected (their home or business flooded) or had previous disaster exposure to Hurricane Katrina. Overall, survivors consistently emphasized God serving as a stronger and wiser attachment figure, and it was rare for them to report experiencing perceived separation or loss of intimacy from God. At T1 and T2, around 85% of survivors described their current religious attachment as either having a positive affective quality (e.g., closer, stronger) or as no different from before the disaster; around 15% said it had a negative affective quality (e.g., disappointed, strained). In describing their postdisaster religion/spirituality, survivors highlighted (a) God being a source of love, comfort, strength, and hope; (b) actively putting trust/faith in God; and (c) experiencing God through family/community. CONCLUSION: Results support and conceptually extend the religion-as-attachment model in a postdisaster context. Findings suggest disasters activate the attachment system, and survivors commonly view and relate with God as an attachment figure, especially one who serves as a safe haven. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Biodiversity and Topographic Complexity: Modern and Geohistorical Perspectives.

Topographically complex regions on land and in the oceans feature hotspots of biodiversity that reflect geological influences on ecological and evolutionary processes. Over geologic time, topographic diversity gradients wax and wane over millions of years, tracking tectonic or climatic history. Topographic diversity gradients from the present day and the past can result from the generation of species by vicariance or from the accumulation of species from dispersal into a region with strong environmental gradients. Biological and geological approaches must be integrated to test alternative models of diversification along topographic gradients. Reciprocal illumination among phylogenetic, phylogeographic, ecological, paleontological, tectonic, and climatic perspectives is an emerging frontier of biogeographic research.