The link between intrinsic religious orientation and socially desirable responding suggests that religiously devout individuals are concerned with maintaining a positive self-image in their own eyes (self-deception) and in others' (impression management). Measures of socially desirable responding may, however, penalize intrinsically religious persons for accurate self-reports of conscientiousness. Seventy-four undergraduates completed measures of religious orientation and socially desirable responding, then made either a negative or a positive self-disclosure. Socially desirable responding was again measured. Intrinsic religious orientation was positively correlated with self-deception change in the Negative Disclosure condition. This ® nding, in combination with corroborative behavioral evidence among high Intrinsic scorers, appeared consistent with a self-protective interpretation, rather than a content bias interpretation, of the intrinsic religious orientation=socially desirable responding relationship.
This article outlines research on a previous unstudied form of suffering specific to the Portugese immigrant community: problemas de nervos. Thirty-two Portuguese immigrant women (in Waterloo, ON and Boston, MA) were interviewed and each completed a questionnaire. Cluster analysis demonstrated that problemas de nervos has many meanings. The study profiled symptoms, causes and therapies associated with four variations of this culture-specific form of distress: "mal da cabeca" meaning problems with/in the head (e.g., lack of control, visions); " aflição" meaning affliction (e.g., nervous attacks, heart problems); immigration stress (causing sleep disturbances); and, conflicts with others (resulting in pressure within the body). None of the symptom clusters reported matched criteria for a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis, suggesting that problemas de nervos represents an idiomatic rather than universal expression of distress.
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