Contrasting the effects of harmonious and obsessive passion for religion on stress and drinking: Give me that old time religion … and a beer

"Consumed by creed": Obsessive-compulsive symptoms underpin ideological obsession and support for political violence

Radicalization is a process by which individuals are introduced to an ideological belief system that encourages political, religious, or social change through the use of violence. Here we formulate an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) model of radicalization that links obsessive passion (OP; one of the best predictors of radical intentions) to a larger body of clinical research. The model's central tenet is that individual differences in OCD symptom severity could shape radical intentions via their influence on OP. Across four ideological samples in the United States (Environmental activists, Republicans, Democrats, and Muslims, Ntotal  = 1114), we found direct effects between OCD symptom severity and radical intentions, as well as indirect effects of OCD on radical intentions via OP. Even after controlling for potential individual difference and clinical confounds (e.g., adverse childhood experiences, loss of significance, and substance abuse), these relationships remained robust, implying that OCD plays a significant role in the formation of violent ideological intentions and opening new avenues for the treatment and prevention of violent extremism. We discuss the implications of conceptualizing radicalization as an OCD-like disorder with compulsive violent tendencies and ideology-related concerns.

Religious Piety and Sexual Passion: What Is the Connection?

The association between religiosity and the construct of sexual passion was examined to see whether religiosity is associated with harmonious, inhibited, and obsessive sexual passion styles. Using multiple regression and checking for interactions between religiosity, gender, broad categories of religion (Catholic, other Christian, other religious, nonreligious), and the three sexual passion styles, the following associations were found: Religiosity had a significant curvilinear relationship to all three sexual passion styles, suggesting an overlap in levels of religiosity and the construct of sexual passion. Optimal sexual passion outcomes were found at both higher and lower levels of religiosity, whereas mid-level religiosity was associated with the less beneficial sexual passion outcomes. Religious men were significantly more obsessively passionate than religious women, and religious men and women were similarly high on levels of harmonious and low on inhibited sexual passion. There were no significant interactions between religiosity, broad categories of religion, and sexual passion styles. Understanding how religion and sexual passion are associated could be useful for applied researchers as well as those who work with religious individuals who want to help these individuals develop beneficial patterns of sexual passion.

When does job stress limit organizational citizenship behavior, or not? Personal and contextual resources as buffers

Anchored in conservation of resources theory, this study considers how employees' experience of job stress might reduce their organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), as well as how this negative relationship might be buffered by employees' access to two personal resources (passion for work and adaptive humor) and two contextual resources (peer communication and forgiving climate). Data from a Mexican-based organization reveal that felt job stress diminishes OCB, but the effect is subdued at higher levels of the four studied resources. This study accordingly adds to extant research by elucidating when the actual experience of job stress is more or less likely to steer employees away from OCB – that is, when they have access to specific resources that hitherto have been considered direct enablers of such efforts instead of buffers of employees' negative behavioral responses to job stress.

The effect of religious belief on Chinese elderly health

BACKGROUND

With the accelerated ageing of the population in China, the health problems of elderly people have attracted much attention. Although religious belief has been shown to be a key way to improve the health of elderly people in various studies, little is known about the causal relationship between these variables in China. This paper explores the effect of religious belief on the health of elderly people in China, which will provide an important reference for China to achieve healthy ageing.

METHODS

Balanced panel data collected between 2012 and 2016 from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) were used. Health was assessed using self-rated health, and religious belief was measured by whether the respondents believed in a religion. The DID+PSM method was employed to solve the endogeneity problem caused by self-selection and omitted variables. In addition, the CESD score (replacing self-rated health) and different matching methods (the method of PSM after DID method) were used to perform the robustness test.

RESULTS

The results show that religious belief has no significant effect on the health of elderly people. With the application of different matching methods (one-to-one matching, K-nearest neighbour matching, radius matching and kernel matching) and replacing the health indicator (the CESD score) with the above matching methods, the results are still robust.

CONCLUSION

In China, religious belief plays a limited role in promoting "healthy ageing", and it is difficult to improve the health of elderly people only via religious belief. Therefore, except for focusing on the guidance of religion with regard to healthy lifestyles, multiple measures need to be taken to improve the health of elderly people.

Factor associated with alcohol use among Lahu and Akha hill tribe youths, northern Thailand

BACKGROUND

Alcohol use impacts several dimensions, including physical health, mental health, families, and social interactions. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence and to determine the factors associated with alcohol use among Akha and Lahu hill tribe youths in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

METHODS

An analytic cross-sectional design was applied to obtain key data on these associations. The study sample was Akha and Lahu hill tribe youths aged 15-24 years who lived in 30 selected hill tribe villages. A questionnaire was developed from an in-depth interview and group discussion and tested for validation and reliability before use. Descriptive statistics were used to demonstrate the general characteristics, and Chi-square test and logistic regression were used to detect associations between variables at α=0.05.

RESULTS

A total of 737 subjects were recruited into the study, of whom 50.0% were Lahu. The average age was 17.9 years, 80.7% were single, 71.1% were Christian, 65.9% graduated secondary school, and 65.7% had their major source of income from their parents. Overall, 17.3% smoked and 45.0% drank alcohol. Among the drinkers, 79.8% drank beer, 61.5% started drinking at an age of 15-19 years, 86.8% had drank for < 5 years, 42.5% were persuaded to drink by their peers, 20.2% suffered an accident after alcohol use, and 17.2% had experienced unsafe sex after drinking alcohol. In the multiple logistic regression, six variables were associated with alcohol use among the Akha and Lahu youths. Males had greater odds of alcohol use than females (OR_adj = 3.50, 95% CI = 2.24-5.47). Buddhists had greater odds of alcohol use than Christians (OR_adj = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.17-3.04). Participants who were unemployed, employed, and in other categories of occupation had greater odds of alcohol use than those who were students (OR_adj = 2.20, 95% CI = 1.23-3.92; OR_adj = 6.89, 95% CI = 3.38-13.89; and OR_adj = 2.96, 95% CI = 1.01-8.59, respectively). Participants whose fathers were daily wage workers had greater odds of alcohol use (OR_adj = 2.89; 95% CI = 1.23-6.79) than those whose parents worked in agriculture, and those whose fathers used alcohol had greater odds of alcohol use than those whose fathers did not use alcohol (OR_adj = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.40-3.35). Finally, those who had 6-10 and ≥ 11 close friends living in the same village who used alcohol had greater odds of alcohol use (OR_adj = 8.51, 95% CI = 3.10-23.3; and OR_adj = 3.84, 95% CI = 1.15-12.77, respectively).

CONCLUSION

To reduce the initiation of alcohol use among Akha and Lahu youths, public health intervention programs should focus on males who are not attending school and should be implemented for both their family members and peers.