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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore why Jordanian women stay with an abusive husband. Design: The study used a qualitative approach to collect data from 28 abused women who were recruited through their community during the summer and fall of 2007. Methods: Data were collected using an open-ended question through one-on-one in-depth interviews. Findings: Results from analysis of the qualitative data revealed that abused Jordanian women identified five main reasons for staying with an abusive husband: the inherited social background, financial dependency, lack of family support, sacrificing self for the sake of the children, and the adverse social consequences of divorce. Conclusions: The results indicate that Jordanian women are strongly bound by traditions and cultural rules and lack all means of empowerment. Results of the study have implications for healthcare providers, social workers, policy makers, and educators to enhance the health and social well-being of Arab Muslim women in Jordan. The findings may also apply to Arab families immigrating to the United States, Canada, and Europe who tend to bring their cultural beliefs, values, and norms, and may help healthcare professionals dealing with violence against women in these countries. Clinical Relevance: Healthcare professionals worldwide need to play an instrumental role in providing culture-specific and evidence-based care to empower women staying in abusive relationships, taking into consideration the influence of Arab Muslim culture. Key words Stay in abusive relationship, Jordanian women, health, social implications

This study deals with differences in levels of burnout and in the variables that explain it (perceived stress, personal resources, and social resources) among 109 Jews and 122 Moslem Arabs belonging to dual-earner families in Israel. Levels of burnout and variables that explain it are similar for the Jews and Moslem Arabs. The variables that most significantly explain levels of burnout in the two sociocultural contexts are hardiness, perceived stress, and gender. Keywords: sociocultural context; culture; burnout; flextime arrangements; hardiness.

This study examined relationships of self-reported Mysticism with dispositional Depression and Anxiety in Iranian Muslims. The sample contained 80 women and 51 men undergraduates who volunteered to participate (M age-20.5 yr., SD=2.0). Participants responded to the Hood Mysticism Scale and to the Costello and Comrey Depression and Anxiety Scales. Scores on the Religious Interpretation dimension of mystical experience correlated negatively with those on Depression, explained a similar relationship observed for Extrovertive Mysticism, and moderated the otherwise positive relationship between Introvertive Mysticism and Anxiety. Moderation occurred when Introvertive Mysticism correlated negatively rather than positively with Anxiety in those who scored high on Religious Interpretation and very high on the Introvertive factor. These data suggested possibilities for reconciling conflicts that have appeared between philosophical interpretations of Introvertive Mysticism and previous self-report data.

How familiar are you with the religion and cultural aspects of Islam and with Muslim clients? As a psychologist, you likely will work with a Muslim client, given the growing number of Muslims in America. Yet very little psychological research or literature discusses Muslim clients or their experiences. This article provides some foundational information psychologists will need to work effectively with Muslim clients. An overview of the Muslim American community, including cultural values, gender role expectations, behavioral prescriptions, and immigration issues relevant in counseling and therapy, is provided. A case example illustrates how clinicians can effectively incorporate cultural aspects of Islam in their work in order to be culturally competent when working with Muslim clients.

In a mostly Christian American sample (N = 1,379), confirmatory factor analysis of Hood's (1975) Mysticism Scale verified the existence of Stace's (1960) introvertive and extrovertive dimensions of mystical phenomenology along with a separate interpretation factor. A second study confirmed the presence of these three factors in not only another group of Americans (N = 188), but also in a sample of Iranian Muslims (N = 185). Relationships of the introvertive and extrovertive factors with the interpretation factor were essentially identical across these two cultures, but the Americans displayed a stronger association between the two phenomenology factors. In both samples, the interpretation factor correlated positively with an intrinsic and negatively with an extrinsic religious orientation, and the introvertive factor predicted psychological dysfunction. Associations of the interpretation factor with relative mental health appeared only in the Iranians. These data offered general support for Stace's phenomenology of mysticism, although the ineffability he linked with interpretation proved to be as much or even more a feature of the introvertive experience, as hypothesized by Hood.

This article examines the psychological impact of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in which ethnic cleansing was a major factor. The authors maintain the citizens of the area suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome, are distrustful of one another, and lack optimism.

Gender roles in the Ismaili Muslim community were examined. Eighty-one Shia Imami Nizari Ismaili Muslims living in Ontario, Canada, provided demographic data and completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1981) and the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1973). The results indicated that, although the Muslim women had more liberal views about gender roles than the Muslim men did, both the men and the women reported views that were liberal and comparable to those that have been reported by other Canadian samples., Gender roles are perceived differently by men and women, with men scoring higher on scales that assess masculinity and women scoring higher on scales that assess femininity (Bem, 1981). Moreover, [...]

Three studies explored intergroup attributional bias. In Experiment 1, Muslims (majority) and Hindus (minority) in Bangladesh rated their explanations of in-group and out-group members' positive and negative acts on 4 causal dimensions: locus, stability, controllability by others, and globality. Both groups showed in-group-favoring attributions, but only Muslims were out-group derogating. Causal dimensions predicted affects primarily in in-group-outcome conditions. Experiment 2 showed that this bias for Muslims varied across crossed-categorization conditions. Causal dimensions predicted affect and self-esteem in certain conditions. Experiment 3 showed that this bias for Hindus was accentuated when social categorizations were made salient. These studies increase understanding of the determinants and consequences of the bias.

The Islamization of knowledge debate is central to Muslim futures, focusing on the nature of Muslim identity, modernity and ways of thinking about present and future Muslim reality. The debate, however, has become interwoven with factors that have marginalized Muslim identity - both for participants and observers. This article views Islamization as a civilizational project of rethinking, taking the Qur'an as the frame of reference. Institutional and conceptual approaches are analysed. The development of new disciplines of knowledge within Islamization is seen as having three parameters - an emphasis on holism, the centrality of risk and uncertainty, and acknowledgment of ignorance. Although Islamization involves critique of western civilization, it may seem rejectionist, but synthesis is the aim. The Islamization discourse is at present mainly theoretical; practice requires time and effort. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

A comparison of overall rates of completed suicide is made between Israel and selected European and North American countries. Rates for Israel are generally lower. A second comparison is made among different national-religious groups in Israel. Rates are higher for Jews than for the Muslim minority. An explanation is attempted for both sets of findings.