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AbstractFamily forms that have historically been considered "nontraditional" and even "transgressive" are becoming increasingly accepted in the United States, bringing the United States into greater conformity with other western nations. The United States is still unique, however, in that religion continues to play an exceptionally powerful role in shaping Americans' perceptions of and engagement in non‐traditional families. Focusing our attention on same‐sex and interracial families specifically, we consider the recent work on how religion serves to stimulate and justify opposition or (in a minority of instances) support for such families. We contend that studies typically limit their focus to the cognitive aspects (beliefs, ideologies, identities, schemas, salience, etc.) of religion, while often ignoring the influence of religion's more structural aspects in shaping Americans' relationship to non‐traditional families. Given that religion impacts Americans' approaches to family formation at the micro, meso, and macro levels, we propose a more Durkheimian perspective on the topic, one that synthesizes social psychological and structural frameworks in future studies, thus allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of religion's evolving role in American family formation. We also call for more attention to how religion shapes the functioning of non‐traditional families.

How do overlapping social identities shape Americans' views toward contemporary social and moral issues? Drawing upon national-level data and employing the theoretical construct of social identity complexity, we examine the link between Christian nationalism–representing a convergence of national and religious identities–and Americans' views toward same-sex marriage and civil unions. Multivariate analyses reveal that greater adherence to Christian nationalism is strongly and negatively related to support for both same-sex marriage and civil unions, even after controlling for political ideology, religious controls, attribution of homosexuality, and other relevant correlates. We argue that Christian nationalists, who by definition internalize a high degree of overlap between political and religious identities, are more likely to see gays and lesbians as out-groups and same-sex unions as a threat to their sense of self and community. We conclude by discussing the implications of this study for future research on political and religious identities and intolerance toward socially marginalized populations.

This article examines the relative impact of religious factors on Americans' attitudes toward adoption by same-sex couples. Drawing upon national survey data, we fit logistic regression models and compute standardized logistic regression coefficients to estimate the relative net effects of religious tradition, practices, and beliefs about the Bible on support for same-sex adoption. Findings reveal that religious factors are among the strongest predictors of opposition to same-sex adoption, but that religious tradition has no significant effect on support for same-sex adoption once frequency of religious practice and beliefs about the Bible are held constant. Americans who more frequently engage in practices such as religious service attendance and sacred text reading are less supportive of same-sex adoption, and compared to biblical literalists, those who believe the Bible requires interpretation, contains human error, or is a book of history/legends are all more likely to support same-sex adoption. Findings suggest that religious affiliations matter less for predicting same-sex adoption attitudes than how Americans practice and hold their faith.

AbstractMental health professionals must be familiar with medical aspects of AIDS in order to understand its emotional and physical consequences for patients and their social networks.

Hearing aid and cochlear implant (CI) users often struggle to locate and segregate sounds. The dominant sound-localisation cues are time and intensity differences across the ears. A recent study showed that CI users locate sounds substantially better when these cues are provided through haptic stimulation on each wrist. However, the sensitivity of the wrists to these cues and the robustness of this sensitivity to aging is unknown. The current study showed that time difference sensitivity is much poorer across the wrists than across the ears and declines with age. In contrast, high sensitivity to across-wrist intensity differences was found that was robust to aging. This high sensitivity was observed across a range of stimulation intensities for both amplitude-modulated and unmodulated sinusoids and matched across-ear intensity difference sensitivity for normal-hearing individuals. Furthermore, the usable dynamic range for haptic stimulation on the wrists was found to be around four times larger than for CIs. These findings suggest that high-precision haptic sound-localisation can be achieved, which could aid many hearing-impaired listeners. Furthermore, the finding that high-fidelity across-wrist intensity information can be transferred could be exploited in human-machine interfaces to enhance virtual reality and improve remote control of military, medical, or research robots.

AbstractFor decades now and particularly during the 2020 presidential campaign, American conservatives have stressed the need to protect "religious freedom." Building on research documenting a connection between Trump‐support, a desire to privilege conservative Christianity, and perceptions that conservative Christianity is persecuted due to its anti‐LGT (lesbian, gay, or transgender) views, we theorise such factors were the ideological driving force behind prioritising "religious freedom" in the 2020 presidential election. Drawing on national survey data from just after the November election, we find Christian nationalism and perceptions of anti‐Christian discrimination are strong predictors that (1) Americans feel "religious freedom" was an important factor influencing their vote and (2) that they ranked it the single greatest factor influencing their vote. In contrast, the perception that LGT persons are not discriminated against also predicts viewing religious freedom as important, as does a perception of anti‐Semitism, but never perceptions of anti‐atheist or anti‐Muslim discrimination. Findings suggest conservative Christian supremacism, fear of (Judeo‐)Christian persecution and belief that LGT persons are privileged are ideological antecedents of votes for "religious freedom."

Hearing aid and cochlear implant (CI) users often struggle to locate and segregate sounds. The dominant sound-localisation cues are time and intensity differences across the ears. A recent study showed that CI users locate sounds substantially better when these cues are provided through haptic stimulation on each wrist. However, the sensitivity of the wrists to these cues and the robustness of this sensitivity to aging is unknown. The current study showed that time difference sensitivity is much poorer across the wrists than across the ears and declines with age. In contrast, high sensitivity to across-wrist intensity differences was found that was robust to aging. This high sensitivity was observed across a range of stimulation intensities for both amplitude modulated and unmodulated sinusoids and matched across-ear intensity difference sensitivity for normal-hearing individuals. Furthermore, the usable dynamic range for haptic stimulation on the wrists was found to be around four times larger than for CIs. These findings suggest that high-precision haptic sound-localisation can be achieved, which could aid many hearing-impaired listeners. Furthermore, the finding that high-fidelity across-wrist intensity information can be transferred could be exploited in human–machine interfaces to enhance virtual reality and improve remote control of military, medical, or research robots.

Despite increasingly frequent mass shootings and a growing dissatisfaction with current gun laws, American opposition to federal gun legislation remains strong. The authors show that opposition to stricter gun control is closely linked to Christian nationalism, a religious cultural framework that mandates a symbiotic relationship between Christianity and civil society. Using data from a national population-based survey, the authors show that Christian nationalism is an exceptionally strong predictor of opposition to the federal government's enacting stricter gun laws. Of all the variables considered, only general political orientation has more predictive power than Christian nationalism. The authors propose that the gun control debate is complicated by deeply held moral and religious schemas that discussions focused solely on rational public safety calculations do not sufficiently address. For the substantial proportion of American society who are Christian nationalists, gun rights are God given and sacred. Consequently, attempts to reform existing gun laws must attend to the deeper cultural and religious identities that undergird Americans' beliefs about gun control.