Religion and mental health among Hindu young people in England

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between mental health and attitude toward their religious tradition among a sample of 330 young people attending the Hindu Youth Festival in London. The participants completed the Santosh-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Hinduism together with the abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire which provides measures of neuroticism and psychoticism. The data indicated that a more positive attitude toward Hinduism was associated with lower psychoticism scores but unrelated to neuroticism scores. There is no evidence, therefore, to associate higher levels of religiosity with poorer mental health among young people within the Hindu community

The psychological-type profile of lay church leaders in Australia

A sample of 845 lay church leaders (444 women and 401 men) from a range of 24 different denominations and movements (including house churches and independent churches) completed the Francis Psychological-Type Scales within the context of the 2006 Australian National Church Life Survey. The psychological-type profiles of these lay church leaders were almost identical to the type profiles of 1527 Australian churchgoers (936 women and 591 men) published in an earlier study by Robbins and Francis. The predominant types among female lay church leaders were ISFJ (21%), ESFJ (21%), and ISTJ (18%). The predominant types among male lay church leaders were ISTJ (28%), ISFJ (17%), ESTJ (13%), and ESFJ (12%). The SJ temperament accounted for 67% of the female lay church leaders and for 70% of the male lay church leaders. The strengths and weaknesses of the SJ leadership style are discussed

Work-related psychological health among clergywomen in Australia

Drawing on the classic model of balanced affect, the Francis Burnout Inventory conceptualises good work-related psychological health among clergy in terms of negative affect being balanced by positive affect. This paper sets out to explore the relationship between work-related psychological health and psychological type (as assessed by the Francis Psychological-Type Scales) among a sample of 212 Australian clergywomen who completed the National Church Life Survey Form L in 2006. The data supported the internal consistency reliability of the Francis Burnout Inventory and Francis Psychological-Type Scales and found that work-related psychological health was positively related to extraversion and sensing

First estimates of entanglement rate of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae observed in coastal Icelandic waters

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Entanglement in fishing gear is a significant anthropogenic source of large whale injury and mortality. Although entanglements have been reported in the eastern North Atlantic, their frequency has not been previously estimated. This study used systematic scar analysis to estimate the frequency of non-lethal entanglements among individual humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae off coastal Iceland, from 2005 through 2017. Images of the caudal peduncle and fluke insertions of 379 individuals were analyzed for wrapping injuries and notches known to be indicative of entanglement. The results indicated that at least 24.8% (n = 94, 95% confidence intervals [95% CI]: 20.5-29.1%) of individuals had a history of prior entanglement when first encountered. Depending on the metric used, the whales subsequently acquired new entanglement-related injuries at an average rate of 1.9% (95% CI: 0.6-3.2%) or 16.3% (95% CI: 3.0-29.3%) per year, with no statistically significant change over time. Furthermore, evidence suggests that at least some entanglements occurred locally. Observations of whales with gear still entangling the body confirmed the patterns of injury studied here. These results are lower than scar-based estimates from other parts of the world, but the cause of this difference requires further study. Scar-based methods underestimate the frequency of prior entanglement because some injuries heal beyond recognition, do not involve the caudal peduncle, and may occur on whales that die before they are studied. Long-term monitoring of humpback whale entanglement in Icelandic coastal waters is important for evaluating the local effects of fisheries, as well as the viability of the endangered Cape Verde breeding population.This work was funded in part by a National Geographic Explorer Grant awarded by the National Geographic Society, a PhD sponsorship grant awarded by Gentle Giants Whale Watching, and a Doctoral Grant awarded by Rannís Icelandic Research Fund. We thank all the students at the University of Iceland’s Húsavík Research Center for contributing data, the Faxaflói Ceta - cean Research volunteers (in Húsavík and Reykjavík), and all the whale-watching companies in Iceland who showed interest in the project and contributed photographs and/or space onboard their vessels for data collection. Furthermore, we thank the anonymous reviewers, who provided valuable input into the manuscript. Photographs used in the figures are copyright of University of Iceland (Figs. 2,3,4a1,b,c, 5 & 6a,b,d) Elding Adventures at Sea (Fig. 6c), and Charlie Frank Lavin (Elding Whale Watching Akureyri) (Fig. 4a2).Peer Reviewe

New Kadampa Buddhists and Jungian psychological type

Building on previous studies on Canadian Anglicans and Catholics, this study examines and discusses the psychological type profile of 31 adherents to New Kadampa Buddhism. Like Anglicans and Catholics, Buddhists preferred introversion (I). Like Anglicans who preferred intuition (N) and unlike Catholics who preferred sensing (S), Buddhists displayed a preference for intuition (N). Unlike Anglicans and Catholics who both preferred feeling (F), Buddhists displayed a balance between feeling (F) and thinking (T). Like Anglicans and unlike Catholics, Buddhists preferred the Apollonian temperament (NF) over the Epimethean temperament (SJ). These data are discussed to interpret the psychological appeal of New Kadampa Buddhism

Congregational bonding social capital and psychological type : an empirical enquiry among Australian churchgoers

This study explores the variation in levels of bonding social capital experienced by individual churchgoers, drawing on data generated by the Australian National Church Life Survey, and employing a five-item measure of church-related bonding social capital. Data provided by 2065 Australian churchgoers are used to test the thesis that individual differences in bonding social capital are related to a psychological model of psychological types (employing the Jungian distinctions). The data demonstrated that higher levels of bonding social capital were found among extraverts (compared with introverts), among intuitive types (compared with sensing types) and among feeling types (compared with thinking types), but no significant differences were found between judging types and perceiving types

Not fitting in and getting out : psychological type and congregational satisfaction among Anglican churchgoers in England

Listening to the motivations reported by individuals for ceasing church attendance and becoming church leavers, Francis and Richter identified high on the list the sense of "not fitting in". Drawing on psychological type theory, several recent studies have documented the way in which some psychological types are over-represented in church congregations and other psychological types are under-represented. Bringing these two observations together, the present study tested the hypothesis that church congregations have created type-alike communities within which individuals displaying the opposite type preferences are more likely to feel marginalised and to display lower levels of satisfaction with the congregations they attend. Data were provided by 1867 churchgoers who completed a measure of psychological type, together with measures of frequency of attendance and congregational satisfaction. These data confirmed that congregations were weighted towards preferences for introversion, sensing, feeling and judging, and that individuals displaying the opposite preferences (especially intuition, thinking and perceiving) recorded lower levels of congregational satisfaction. The implications of these findings are discussed for promoting congregational retention by enhancing awareness of psychological type preferences among those who attend

Psychological type and prayer preferences: a study among Anglican clergy in the United Kingdom

This study applies the framework of Jungian psychological type theory to define eight aspects of prayer preference, namely: introverted prayer, extraverted prayer, sensing prayer, intuitive prayer, feeling prayer, thinking prayer, judging prayer, and perceiving prayer. On the basis of data provided by 1,476 newly ordained Anglican clergy from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, eight 7-item scales were developed to access these aspects of prayer preferences. Significant correlations were found between each prayer preference and the relevant aspect of psychological type accessed by the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. These data support the theory that psychological type influences the way in which people pray

Intersecting black branes in strong gravitational waves

We consider intersecting black branes with strong gravitational waves propagating along their worldvolume in the context of supergravity theories. Both near-horizon and space-filling gravitational wave modes are included in our ansatz. The equations of motion (originally, partial differential equations) are shown to reduce to ordinary differential equations, which include a Toda-like system. For special arrangements of intersecting black branes, the Toda-like system becomes integrable, permitting a more thorough analysis of the gravitational equations of motion.Comment: 17 pages; v2: cosmetic improvements, published versio

The psychological-type profile of clergywomen in ordained local ministry in the Church of England : pioneers or custodians?

This study employs psychological-type theory to compare the psychological profile of 144 clergywomen serving in ordained local ministry in the Church of England alongside the established profile of 237 professional mobile clergywomen serving in the Church of England published by Francis, Craig, Whinney, Tilley, and Slater. The data found no significant differences between these two groups of clergywomen in terms of orientations (introversion and extraversion) or in terms of the judging process (thinking and feeling). In terms of the perceiving process, there was a significantly higher proportion of sensing types among those serving in ordained local ministry (70% compared with 35%). In terms of the attitudes, there was a significantly higher proportion of judging types among those serving in ordained local ministry (83% compared with 65%). The combined sensing judging (SJ) temperament accounted for 65% of the clergywomen serving in ordained local ministry, compared with 29% of the clergywomen serving in professional mobile ministry in the earlier study. It is argued that the SJ temperament characterises a custodian style of ministry