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Biomedical subjects

Annette Mahoney

Publications and source records attributed to Annette Mahoney.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Sacred changes: Spiritual conversion and transformation.

We use Pargament's (1997) definition of religion-"the search for significance in ways related to the sacred"-as a framework to understand spiritual conversion. Like other life-changing transformations, spiritual conversion alters the destinations that clients perceive to be of greatest importance in life (significance) and the pathways by which clients discover what is most significant in life (search). Unlike other transformative experiences, however, spiritual conversion incorporates the third element of religion, "the sacred," into the content of change. To illustrate these points, we discuss two theological models of spiritual conversion rooted in Christianity: a traditional model based on classic western theology and an alternative model based on feminist theology. We then compare processes of spiritual conversion to nonreligious models of transformation. We also highlight the importance for clinical work of the fit between the context of a client's life and the type of spiritual conversion experienced.

Christianity↗

Measures of Hindu pathways: development and preliminary evidence of reliability and validity.

The authors examined religious practices of Hindus in the United States and developed measures of their religious pathways. Based on reviews of the psychology of religion, Hindu literature, and interviews with Hindus (N=15), 4 religious pathways were identified: devotion, ethical action, knowledge, and physical restraint/yoga. Items reflecting these pathways were generated and administered to a pilot sample (N=42) and then mailed to a sample across the United States (N=182). Consistent with Hindu theology, participants endorsed 4 religious pathways. Results indicated that the measures of the religious pathways possessed adequate psychometric properties and were predictive of mental and physical well-being. Additional findings emphasized the need to attend to age, marital status, and acculturation when studying religious practices among Hindus.

Acculturation↗

Marital and severe parent-to-adolescent physical aggression in clinic-referred families: mother and adolescent reports on co-occurrence and links to child behavior problems.

This study examined the interplay of marital and severe parental physical aggression, and their links to child behavior problems, in 232 families of clinic-referred adolescents. Combined reports from mothers and adolescents indicated that two thirds of adolescents exposed to marital aggression in the past year had also experienced parental aggression. Mothers and fathers who used and/or were victims of marital aggression were both more likely to direct aggression toward their adolescent. Mother and youth reports of marital aggression were tied to each party's report of greater externalizing problems and to youth reports of greater internalizing problems. Severe parental aggression uniquely predicted maternal reports of both behavior problems, after controlling for marital aggression; the reverse was not true. Also, adolescents exposed to both types of family aggression did not display greater maladjustment than those subjected to only one type of family aggression.

Adolescent↗