Psychological evaluations of clergy applicants to the Catholic Church are an important gatekeeping mechanism during the admission process. However, limited research exists on the validity of assessments for this evaluative purpose and none have examined the predictive utility of the MMPI-2-RF to determine if an applicant will be accepted to formation, or if they ultimately ordained. This study fills that gap in the literature by investigating the predictive validity of MMPI-2-RF scales in 147 male applicants evaluated as part of their application for seminary or diaconate formation programs in a mid-sized Catholic diocese in the United States.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFather involvement has been associated with positive child social, emotional, psychological, developmental, and health outcomes. However, tools for measuring father involvement have not kept pace with the expanding understanding of the roles of fathers, and in the area of child health, are blunt. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a self-report measure of father involvement in preschooler's health, the Father Involvement in Health-Pre-School (FIH-PS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Mens Health
November 2016
Fathers' mental health help seeking is an understudied area. Using participants (N = 1,989) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study hypothesized that few fathers would seek mental health services; and increases in anxiety, depression, and parental stress would predict less mental health help seeking. Only 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRoman Catholic diocesan priests are a subgroup of men with unique religious and spiritual roles, beliefs, and practices. This qualitative study of 15 priests from the mid-Atlantic area of the United States focused on how priests' relationship with God and promises of celibacy and obedience influenced their psychological health. Using a consensual qualitative research (CQR) design, the analysis revealed that participants described their relationship with God as central to their health and contributing to positive outcomes (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Interpers Violence
March 2012
The purpose of this study is to qualitatively examine how Christian women from Zimbabwe perceived the effectiveness of the Domestic Violence Act in preventing and responding to domestic violence. The study also aims to understand the unique social, cultural, and religious context of the participants that affect their attitudes and beliefs about this legislation. The findings of the study are based on an analysis of qualitative interviews.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Societal and economic shifts have expanded the roles that fathers play in their families. Father involvement is associated with positive cognitive, developmental, and sociobehavioral child outcomes such as improved weight gain in preterm infants, improved breastfeeding rates, higher receptive language skills, and higher academic achievement. However, father involvement in health care has been studied little, especially among nonmarried, minority fathers.
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