A structural equation model relating unemployment stress,spiritual intelligence,and mental health components: Mediators of coping mechanism

This study aimed to evaluate a hypothesized structural model that reflects the relationship between unemployment stress, spiritual intelligence and mental health components. The sample of the study consisted of (761) unemployed adults (412 males and 349 females), their ages ranged between 30 to 48 year. They were divided into two samples: the first consisted of (352) unemployed adults to test the validity and reliability of the scales used in this study. And the second sample consisted of (409) unemployed adults to evaluate the hypothesized structural model. Researcher prepared the unemployment stress scale, and used the spiritual intelligence scale‐27, as well as prepared the short version of the mental health components scale based on the mental health scale‐50. In order to find how unemployment stress and spiritual intelligence predict the mental health components, the hypothesized model was examined using structural equation modeling. The results of test the proposed structural model concluded that the independent variable: unemployment stress contributed statistically significant directly to predict of the five dimensions of mental health components: mental mindfulness, flexibility, self‐efficiency, social support and happiness as dependent variables. At the same time, the independent variable: unemployment stress contributed statistically significant indirectly and proportionally to the prediction of the five dimensions of mental health as dependent variables through the dimensions of spiritual intelligence: spiritual mindfulness, spiritual abilities, spiritual presence as median variables. The proposed model of unemployment stress, spiritual intelligence and mental health components has a good fitness with the data were collected, and able to predict mental health among unemployed adults.     

Preventing radicalism in educational institutions: Pakistan a case in point

With the recent drastic shifts in societies, thinking styles, and most importantly, the degree of online‐and‐offline exposure, it is easy for the young and developing mind to fall prey to radical or extremist ideas. Radical organizations direct their recruiting efforts toward those who have yet to reach adolescence and are incapable of forming well‐informed and educated decisions. Since it is in human nature to target the weak and the vulnerable, these organizations look for dissatisfied, isolated and friendless young people. They are especially allured when these organizations promise to get them all they lack. As there have been incidents recently reported on young students' involvement in terror activities, the study proposes alternatives to prevent them from falling prey to radical thoughts. The proposed alternatives are judged through TOPSIS (Technique of Order Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution) and the ideal alternative is singled out after mathematical calculation. Out of the five proposed alternatives, the study, through TOPSIS analysis, proposes that parents may be trained to handle their children in order to keep them from radical thoughts. In addition to the ideal alternative, the study also suggests that the government take preventive measures to curb the evil of radicalism.     

The Prospective Impact of Family Functioning and Parenting Practices on Court-Involved Youth’s Substance Use and Delinquent Behavior

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Court-involved youth exhibit high rates of psychiatric symptoms, substance use, and delinquency, yet little is known about the contributing roles of caregiver and...     

Trajectories of Perceived Parental Psychological Control across Adolescence and Implications for the Development of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Theory and research indicate considerable changes in parental control across adolescence (e.g., declining behavioral control), but the developmental course and...     

Correction to: The Public Power of Judgement: Reasonableness Versus Rationality—Setting the Ball Rolling

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - In the original publication of the article, the paragraph beginning “We begin with two...     

Corpus Linguistics as a Method of Legal Interpretation: Some Progress,Some Questions

Corpus linguistics is becoming a respected method of statutory and constitutional interpretation in the United States over the past decade, yet it has also generated a backlash from a group of scholars that engage in empirical work. This essay attempts to demonstrate both the contributions and the risks of using linguistic corpora as a primary tool in legal interpretation. Its legitimacy stems from the fact that courts routinely state that statutory terms, when not defined as a matter of law, are to be given their ordinary meaning. Judges have responded to this challenge, with the assistance of the linguistics community, by using corpora to determine which meanings are ordinary. However, legal analysts have not determined exactly what makes one meaning ordinary and another not ordinary. This gap has led to a level of disagreement in the field. Moreover, while linguists who engage in corpus linguistic analysis typically emphasize the importance of context, the legal application is peculiarly context-free, in keeping with legal philosophies that eschew reliance on reference to a law’s purpose and the intent of the legislature that enacted it. This move adds a political dimension to corpus analysis as a means of legal interpretation. Yet, the article concludes that by relying on a blend of general and specialized corpora, the legal system can substantially reduce the problem of contextualization, as some linguists and practitioners have already recognized.

     

Proper Names in the Legal Terminology of the English Language

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - The article deals with the problem of coining terms and nomenclature signs with proper names...     

Bicameralism and Minority-Party Influence on Legislative Development: Evidence from House Standing Committee Votes

The ability of the minority party to influence legislation in Congress is debated. Most bills are passed with large bipartisan majorities, yet the House, where most legislation is developed, is seen as a majority-party-dominated institution. I develop a theory of House minority-party influence at the committee markup stage as a result of the Senate’s institutional rules. An original data set of congressional committee votes shows that minority-party support in House committees predicts House and Senate passage. During unified party control of the chambers, an increase in Senate majority-party seats results in lower minority-party support for the legislation in the House committee, while during divided party control of Congress, the House majority passes more extreme bills as the chambers polarize. Even in the majority-party-dominated House, the minority’s preferences are incorporated into legislation, and the Senate’s institutional rules moderate bills to a significant degree.     

Students’ Personal Belief in a Just World,Well-Being,and Academic Cheating: A Cross-National Study

Social Justice Research - A cross-national study with university students from Germany (n?=?1135) and Turkey (n?=?634) tested whether personal belief in a just world (PBJW)...     

Risks and Realities of Working with Alienated Children

Involvement in custody cases that include accusations of parental alienation—whether as an evaluator, expert witness, lawyer, judge, therapist, provider of a specialized intervention, or researcher—incurs both professional and personal risks. Some risks relate to false negative or false positive identifications of parental alienation that can lead to regulatory agency complaints and public condemnation by the parent who feels wronged by the case outcome. Other risks stem from providing services in an emerging area of practice and working with children who overtly oppose repairing the relationship with their rejected parent. These risks include: unfounded accusations of mistreating children; negatively biased commentary and sensationalist attacks in the media and in social media, professional conferences and journals, and in courtroom testimony; harassment, vilification, and invasion of privacy; threats of violence and public humiliation; shunning and rumor spreading by colleagues; and complaints to regulatory agencies. This article examines circumstances, beliefs, and dynamics that give rise to these risks, suggests precautions to reduce the risk of false accusations against professionals, and offers recommendations for dealing with regulatory agencies. Criticisms that a court or service provider has mistreated a child merit careful scrutiny in the context of the case evidence and empirical data. While some interventions for alienated children raise legitimate concerns, others have been maligned by anecdotal complaints that studies show do not represent the experience of most participants.