The purpose of the present cross-sectional study was to examine the effects of ambiguity of loss and type of caregiver-to-patient relationship on anticipatory grief, negative physical and psychological outcomes associated with grief, and boundary ambiguity in family caregivers of chronically ill patients. Questionnaires were completed by 23 parents of ill children and 30 spouses of ill mates. Using an original and a revised concept for level of ambiguity, partial support was found for the prediction that parents and spouses in high ambiguity of loss circumstances would report more anticipatory grief than those in low ambiguity ones. Contrary to prediction, a slight but nonsignificant trend occurred for parents and spouses in low ambiguity situations to report more negative physical and psychological effects associated with grief as well. Level of ambiguity was not found to impact boundary ambiguity as had been hypothesized. Spouses reported more boundary ambiguity than parents, regardless of level of ambiguity of the loss. Contrary to prediction that parents would report less anticipatory grief and more negative physical and psychological outcomes than spouses, generally, no significant differences were found between the two groups. However, using the original concept of ambiguity, parents did tend to recall more past grief than …

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of perceived family competence on late adolescent problem-solving abilities, family relationships, and affective experience. Specific areas of interest were perceived confidence in problem-solving and approach rather than avoidance of problems; intergenerational intimacy, intergenerational individuation, and personal authority in the family system as the adolescent relates to parents; and level of depression. Subjects were 256 late adolescents whose parents were still married and living together. Results indicated that perceived family competence had an effect on the dependent variables in the expected directions. Specifically, individuals who scored high on perceived family competence were high on perceived problem-solving confidence, approached problem-solving, were high on intergenerational intimacy, intergenerational individuation, and personal authority in relation to parents, and had less depression than individuals low on perceived family competence. Several sex differences were noted. Females had significantly higher approach to problem-solving than did males. Women reported significantly higher intergenerational intimacy with parents than did men. There was a significant interaction on personal authority such that for the high perceived family competence group, women scored higher than men. However, there were no significant differences between males and females in the low perceived family competence group.

Although researchers have studied perceptions regarding sexually abused children, little was known about how other types of abusive events were perceived. This study examined 480 college students' abuse history and perceptions of child, spousal, and elder abuse by varying the respondent, victim, and perpetrator genders. Physical abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect were investigated. Perceptions of abusiveness, seriousness, harm, and responsibility were examined, along with the extent of identification with the victims/perpetrators. Participants viewed spousal abuse as less serious and harmful than other abuse types, especially when perpetrated against a male or by a female. Although able to recognize psychological abuse, students did not fully understand what other abuse types entailed. Individuals also showed a considerable amount of blame toward victims. Results further demonstrated important findings about how ethnic identity/orientation, religious affiliation, and history of abuse related to perceptions of abusive events.

Familial caregivers are providing increasing amounts of care to advanced cancer patients. Increased understanding of caregivers' needs is vital in providing necessary support to lessen caregiver burden and comorbidity. This study examines particular information needs across a variety of specific events in the advanced cancer disease trajectory. A cross-sectional sample of 107 familial caregivers (24 current and 83 bereaved) of people with advanced cancer completed a needs assessment survey along with a measure of health information-seeking behavior. Analyses extend current research by including more specific disease-related events along the advanced cancer trajectory through bereavement. In all information categories, endorsement of wanted information differed across broad stages of Cancer Progression, Treatment, End of Life, and Post-Patient Death. For all information categories, except Dying and Spirituality, greatest information was wanted at the Cancer Progression stage. Information need also differed across specific events within broad stages. The categories of Disease/Medical and Relating to the Patient were the most endorsed at events involving patient care. Spirituality was least endorsed. At patient death, Caregiver Well-being has the highest endorsement. For events thereafter, information on Caregiver Well-being, Spirituality, Future Outlook, and Family and Close Others was most endorsed. Information needs did not differ based on age …

The purpose of this study was to examine the idea that a late adolescent's career exploration activities may be influenced by levels of attachment to and psychological separation from family, family health, and family structure. It was proposed that higher levels of self and environmental exploration would be associated with positive family relationships and adequate levels of psychological separation and attachment. Cognitive and demographic variables were included as control measures. Measures of family health, attachment, separation, family structure, career exploration, career decision making self efficacy, and beliefs in the usefulness of engaging in self and environmental exploration were administered to 304 undergraduates from intact families. Multiple regression analyses were employed to examine the contribution of the independent variables measuring family processes to the variability in the dependent variables of self and environmental exploration, after controlling for the variability associated with the control measures. The demographic variables were age, gender, class standing, and decision status about a major. Results indicated that the best predictors of career exploration in late adolescence were the cognitive variables. Beliefs in the usefulness of self exploration were the best predictor of self exploration, whereas career decision making self efficacy was the best predictor of environmental exploration. …

The influence of theoretically prominent family processes on late adolescent college student identity development was the focus of this study. The primary purpose was to test a model of adolescent identity development. This model proposed that family health variables would predict identity development, and that attachment and separation-individuation would each make unique and additive contributions to identity development. The second purpose was to identify instruments which discretely measured the family processes. The third purpose was to better understand family influences by measuring the processes of exploration and commitment. Participants were 150 male and 150 female college students, between the ages of 18 and 23, and from intact families. Questionnaires completed measured family functioning and identity development. Family functioning measures covered three domains (family health, attachment to parents, and separation-individuation) which formed the set of independent variables. The identity measures (ego identity status and identity process) comprised the dependent variables. A hierarchical regression design was employed where family health variables were entered first, followed by attachment variables, then separation-individuation variables. The results indicated mixed support of the model. First, the proposed model was statistically supported for females as all domains predicted identity achievement and diffusion. For males, only family health predicted …

The primary interest of this investigation concerned the self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) of inpatient adolescents. Previous researchers have provided descriptive information regarding either automatic (or intrinsic) and social components using the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview (SITBI). However, the presence and trends of these components have not firmly been established, suggesting the need to explore this area further. Eighty-two adolescent inpatients were selected and interviewed using the SITBI to evaluate the predictive ability of self-reported self-injurious behavior with regard to social and automatic, negative and positive functions. Results showed that depending on the type of thought or behavior displayed one could discern the motivation behind their actions. Automatic-Negative was seen to have the strongest relationship across all SITB behaviors while Automatic-Negative was not found to be relatively low compared to other SITB behaviors. Both Social-Positive and Social-Negative were found to be present in moderate relationships compared to Automatic in general.

This study replicated and extended previous research I had performed that suggested that a student success course is an effective intervention to assist student-athletes in the adjustment to college. Participants in the current study included 4 groups of students, including (1) non-athletes and (2) student-athletes who were mandated and enrolled in the student success course, and (3) non-athletes and (4) student-athletes who were not mandated and did not enroll in the student success course. Overall, results from the current study suggested that the student success course was effective in helping non-athletes and student-athletes learn key cognitive strategies that are necessary for college success. In addition, results indicated that after taking the student success course, academically at-risk students earned equivalent grades, percentage of hours passed, and retention rates compared to their peers who were not classified as being academically underprepared. Finally, adjustment patterns of all groups were examined, with particular emphasis on the decrease in adjustment over the course of the semester that was demonstrated by the student-athletes. Intervention implications and future research directions are discussed, specifically in terms of how to address the unique needs of college freshmen student-athletes.

Parent-child interactions tend to be problematic among families of children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Although much attention has been paid in research and therapy to negative cycles of interaction between parent and child, it is equally important to consider how positive family interactions can be promoted, as these are likely to help prevent or reduce behavior problems and facilitate the best possible outcomes for children. Major contributors to the fields of psychology and child therapy have postulated that parental empathy is of primary importance in facilitating healthy child personality development. However, the effect of parental empathy has not been systematically studied with ADHD children. Thus, this study investigated the relationship between parental empathy and child adjustment factors in children with ADHD. It was hypothesized that among parent-child dyads with ADHD children, higher levels of parental empathy would predict higher levels of child self-esteem, social skills, and compliance, and lower levels of child aggression. Participants were 56 children who were previously diagnosed with ADHD and their parent/guardian. Thirty-seven parent-child dyads served as a control group. The study included parent-child participation in a videotaped analogue observation procedure and completion of parent-, child-, and teacher-report measures. Results indicated that higher levels of …

Effective leadership is a concept shown to be important for successful team performance in the fields of business, education, and sport. In sport, the role of the athlete leader has been under-examined and specifically, how coaching behaviors can affect athlete leader behaviors and how various leadership models (e.g., trait, behavioral, situational) relate to the athlete leader role has never been studied. The present study examined how autocratic, democratic, and collaborative coaching styles affect the athlete leader behavior preferences of athletes of different genders and sport types. Three coach scenarios reflecting the three aforementioned coaching styles were created so that athletes could imagine that they were coached by the individual presented in the scenario and then rate what type of athlete leader behaviors that they would prefer given the style of the coach that they read about. Results showed that the coach scenarios failed to have a significant impact; however, significant differences were discovered between men and women and between individual and team sport athletes on variables measuring preferred performance/task, relationship, motivation, and representation behaviors. Data were gathered on the style of athletes' current coach and this variable also produced significant differences for such behaviors as resolving conflict, providing positive reinforcement, …

An exploratory study was conducted examining Internet usage among African-American college students. The study examined both psychosocial correlates, including technological anxiety and racial identity as well as socioeconomic measures, as they impacted Internet usage. Additionally, three distinct measures of Internet usage, thin access, thick access and the Internet Connectedness Index (ICI), were used as criterion variables in three separate multiple regression analysis (MRA) models. The results of the study found differences in predictive validity based on the criterion variable used, with the ICI accounting for the greatest amount of variance (54%). Racial identity, in terms of internal beliefs and feelings about being African American and internalization of Afrocentric values in a political context were found to be predictive of Internet usage as measured by the ICI.

Custodial grandmothers and grandchild (aged 4 to 12) dyads (N = 170) completed self-report, other-report, and an observational task that captured child HI, expressive social support, and custodial grandmother-grandchild compliance variables. A multivariate analysis of covariance tested differences between high and low hyperactivity-inattention on observed parenting variables while controlling for child age. While overall results were not significant, there were significant differences between child age and observed parenting variables. A hierarchical regression model revealed that, when controlling for age, child hyperactivity-inattention does not moderate the relationship between commands given by a custodial grandmother and child compliance, but revealed that direct commands from the grandmother predicted compliance. A second hierarchical regression model suggested that encouragement and praise (versus criticism and discouragement) from a grandmother moderated the relationship between grandmother commands and child compliance, when controlling for child age. It appeared that when grandmothers gave indirect commands more frequently, encouragement and praise instead of criticism was associated with greater compliance. In dyads with frequent direct commands given, compliance was high, however dyads who scored high in direct commands with criticism and discouragement were most likely to comply. This study adds to the literature by providing insight into the challenges and strengths for …

This study explored the impact of three psychological interventions over seven weeks - goal setting (GS), GS and imagery (IM), and GS and mindful self-compassion (MSC) - on 20 athletes' (Mage = 16.75 years) pain, cognitive appraisal, depression reinjury anxiety, psychological readiness to return to sport, and range of motion (ROM). IM and GS interventions have demonstrated initial effectiveness; however, no study has examined MSC in relation to post-ACL recovery. All athletes experienced significant decrease in pain (F(2) = 97.30, p = .000) from Week 1 to Week 7 and a significant increase in ROM from Week 2 to Week 7 (F(1) = 77.93, p = .000). All athletes experienced significantly higher depression at Week 1 compared to both Week 2 and Week 7 (F(2) = 9.01, p = .001), and significantly higher difficulty coping with their injury at Weeks 1 and 2 compared to Week 7 (F(2) = 6.32, p = .005). There were no statistically significant effects found between the intervention groups at Weeks 1, 2, and 7. However there were moderate effect sizes between interventions which suggest MSC and IM could help athletes cope with their injury during the first few weeks after surgery, and GS may …

In recent years, organizations have invested increasing financial and labor-related resources on employee training. The assumption is that training will benefit the organization through improved performance which will result in greater efficiency, greater customer satisfaction and, ultimately, increased revenue and profits. Further, employees are assumed to benefit because their improved performance should lead to career advancement and increased compensation. However, measuring the effect of training on employee performance has been problematic due to the difficulty of isolating the effect of training from other human resource management practices and environmental and organizational influences. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to test a model for predicting merit pay increase, job promotion and performance ratings from measures of general and finance training, as well as employee tenure, gender, educational level and organizational level. It was found that while significant contributions (i.e., betas) were made by finance and general training for performance ratings, promotion and merit pay increase, they did not increase the variance accounted for by tenure, organizational level and gender.

Middle childhood is the least understood developmental period in the attachment literature, likely due to active reorganization of the attachment system during this stage. Coinciding with increased cognitive and socioemotional competencies, middle childhood attachment begins to transition from relationship-specific attachment to general attachment representations. While parents continue serving as the primary attachment figure used as a secure base and safe haven, noticeable shifts occur in terms of the need for availability over proximity to attachment figures and the child's involvement in maintaining the attachment relationship. Currently, there is no dominant conceptual or methodological approach for studying attachment in middle childhood. The present study sought to develop and validate an observational coding system examining middle childhood attachment using a dimensional approach. The Middle Childhood Behavioral Attachment Dimensions (MCBAD) system demonstrated mixed reliability and validity compared to other established attachment measures. Compared to traditional categorical attachment measures, this study provides evidence for the utility of an anxiety-avoidance dimensional attachment scale in childhood. Additionally, the MCBAD is the first observational system that examines both nonverbal and verbal attachment behaviors in an unstructured separation-reunion episode, and findings suggest a need for further examination of verbal attachment during this developmental stage.

The current study replicated and extended previous research by examining empirically the direct and indirect influence of social pressure (to lose weight and diet), social body comparisons, internalization of the thin ideal, body dissatisfaction, self-esteem, and cardiorespiratory fitness on self-reported dietary restraint in a diverse sample of middle school boys (n = 663); Mage was 12.49 years (SD = .99). With IRB approval, parental consent, and child assent, during annual FITNESSGRAM testing, participants completed questionnaires that measured the study’s constructs. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was determined by the boys’ performance on the PACER running test. The proposed model was examined using structural equation modeling (SEM). Because measures demonstrated univariate and multivariate normality, the maximum likelihood procedure within EQS to examine the measurement and structural models was used. Fit was determined using a two-index procedure. Participants were randomly split into exploratory (Sample A - 331) and confirmatory (Sample B - 332) samples. For Sample A, the measurement and structural models fit the data well. The structural model was confirmed in Sample B, with the same paths being significant and nonsignficant. For both Sample A and Sample B, 35% of the Dietary Restraint variance was explained. These findings support a multifactorial approach to …

Marijuana is the second most commonly used substance in the US. A growing literature suggests that socially anxious individuals use marijuana to manage their symptoms in social situations, which may explain why they are also more likely to experience problems. Unfortunately, the majority of the literature is based on research conducted with adult samples or the co-occurrence of diagnoses in adolescent samples. The proposed study sought to test the link between social anxiety (SA) and proxies for ‘real-time' marijuana use behaviors (i.e., use willingness) as well as use-related problems among adolescents. Participants were 69 adolescents (15-17; 55% female) recruited from the community reporting any lifetime marijuana use. Participants were randomly assigned to a novel social rejection or neutral laboratory task and completed measures of SA, marijuana use frequency, and related problems. Consistent with adult findings, main effects of SA and experimental condition on marijuana use willingness were expected to be qualified by an interaction in which the greatest marijuana use willingness would occur among high SA youth post-rejection (H1), SA would be positively related to marijuana use problems (H2), and among adolescents in the rejection condition, marijuana use willingness would be positively correlated with use problems (H3). Only H2 was …

Tears to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) represent a serious sport injury that can be physically and psychologically debilitating for athletes. Recovery from ACL surgery is a six to nine month process, though the first four months of rehabilitation represents the key time of recovery. Thus, psychological interventions should occur during these first four months, but then examine athletes' psychological and physical functioning over the longer term. Past research has supported the efficacy of goal setting and imagery in helping athletes during their ACL recovery, and MSC has been shown to help athletes regulate emotions and improve their sport performance. MSC-based interventions, however, have not been examined in relation to injured athletes' psychological functioning and physical recovery. Thus, I examined the relative effects of three psychological interventions (i.e., GS, IM, and MSC) on athletes' post-ACL responses. Overall, I found no significant differences in the effects of GS, IM, or MSC on athletes' athletic identity, confidence in returning to sport, reinjury anxiety, stress related to sport injury, perceptions of ability to cope with injury, and subjective knee functioning. Although non-significant, athletes in the GS group showed slightly larger rates of change in their reinjury anxiety and cognitive appraisal compared to athletes …

Individualist and collectivist cultural approaches describe the relationship between an individual and his or her social surroundings. the current study had a two-fold purpose. the first was to investigate whether Brazilians, like other collective peoples, displayed more group self-representations, categorized items more relationally and paid more attention to context than Americans. the second purpose of this study was to investigate if counter-cultural primes played a role in activating either collective or individual selves. Both American (n = 100) and Brazilian (n = 101) participants were assigned either to a no-prime condition or a counter-cultural prime condition and then were asked to rate emotion cartoons, categorize items, complete the Twenty Statement Test (TST), and choose a representative object. As expected, unprimed Brazilian participants displayed more collectivist patterns on emotional (F[1,196] = 10.1, p = .001, ?²= .049; F[1,196] = 7.9, p = .006, ?²= .038; F[1,196] = 9.0, p = .005, ?²= .044) and cognitive (F[1, 196] = 6.0, p < .01, ?² = .03) tasks than Americans. However, Brazilians offered more individualist self-representations (F[1, 195] = 24.0, p < .001, ?² = .11) than American participants. Priming only had a marginal effect on item categorization (F[1,194] = 3.9, p = …

Intimate partner violence (IPV) in sexual and gender minority relationships is an underexplored and misunderstood phenomenon. Much of what has been investigated has explored IPV from a heterosexual lens, without taking into account the complexities of these relationship dynamics. Further, outcomes of IPV traditionally focus on negative sequelae, such as depression or anxiety. In this study, we examined the propensity to forgive partner abuse as a means of adaptively coping with the trauma. Further, we looked at resilience as a possible factor in the process of forgiveness. We hypothesized that psychological resilience significantly moderates the forgiveness process in sexual and gender minorities who have experienced IPV. Our sample of 77 gender- and sexual-minority participants completed measures of psychological and physical IPV, resilience, and forgiveness. A regression analysis found our model accounted for 36% of the variance in forgiveness of self (adj. R2=.36, F (4, 72) = 10.34, p < .01) and 20% of forgiveness of others (adj. R2=.20, F (4, 72) = 5.01, p < .01). However, there was no significant moderating effect, nor was IPV a significant contributor to forgiveness. Results suggest trauma does not influence one’s likelihood to forgive, though some personal trait, such as resilience, is more …

This investigation utilized a novel, self-help, multi-element psychological program to manage chronic low back pain. A literature review indicated that this disorder was costly and prevalent, yet a large percentage of chronic low back pain patients did not respond to traditional treatment. Recent research has demonstrated that numerous psychological difficulties have been associated with this disorder, including depression and anxiety. It was hypothesized that these psychological concomitants of chronic low back pain maintain and promote further pain, as part of a vicious cycle. Self-help treatment attempted to break this tension-pain-anxiety cycle using various stress reduction, and cognitive and behavioral management strategies.

In the current study, I examined the general sociocultural model of eating disorders that suggests that sociocultural pressures leads to internalization, which in turn leads to body dissatisfaction and ultimately disordered eating. Because I am testing this model with a sample of African American women, I also am including acculturation as a variable of interest. Specifically, I hypothesized that (a) the experience of more societal pressure to be thin will be related to greater internalization, (b) higher levels of acculturation will be related to greater internalization, (c) internalization of the thin ideal will be directly and positively related to body image concern, and (d) body image concern will be associated with higher levels of disordered eating. It was determined that there is a direct, negative relationship between Level of Identification with Culture of Origin and Internalization. Perceived Pressure was directly and positively related to both Internalization and Body Image Concerns. Body Concerns and Internalization were both directly and positively related to Disordered Eating. These findings suggest that although many of the same constructs related to disordered eating in other ethnic groups are also related to disordered eating among African American women, the relationships between the factors differs across racial/ethnic groups. …

Gender microaggressions are normative messages that communicate harmful stereotypes or attitudes towards women. Research suggests that being the target of microaggresions may contribute to negative mental and physical health outcomes. The current study examined how gender microaggressions affect emotional and physiological reactivity as well as performance on a working memory task. Results indicated condition (i.e., control vs. sexual objectification microaggression vs. denial of sexism microaggression) did not have a significant affect on reactivity or performance. Issues of population bias and essentialism may have played an important role in study findings. Future directions are discussed.

The proposed study examined the relationship between parental anxiety, measured both subjectively (via self-report questionnaires) and objectively (via salivary cortisol) and the child's feeding progress. Children diagnosed with a feeding disorder were recruited with their parents at Our Children's House at Baylor (n=19; 11 females, 8 males). The patients and their parents were housed in the clinic for an eight-week intensive multidisciplinary pediatric feeding disorder treatment program. Calorie intake was recorded daily as outcome measures of treatment progression. Parental anxiety was measured by the Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP), state anxiety on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and by salivary cortisol at three different time points. The present study attempted to examine whether parental feeding (phase three of treatment program) would continue to cause a decrease in the child's caloric intake. In averaging ten meals prior to parental feeding in comparison to the average of ten meals following parental feeding, there was no significant difference as measured by a t-test. Paired t-tests examined parental anxiety from time one to time two and found that salivary cortisol increased significantly t(15) = -6.07, p = .000 from Time 1 (M = 2.30, SD = 1.64) to Time 2 (M = 5.24, …