The goal of the current study was to evaluate the ways in which religious behaviors and perceived social support are associated with the relationship between depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life for this group. We hypothesized (1) that religious behaviors moderate the relationship between depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life, (2) perceived social support mediates the relationship between depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life and (3) that religious behaviors moderate the mediational indirect effect of perceived social support in the depression and health-related quality of life relationship. Findings from a sample of 244 HIV-positive individuals provided evidence to support direct, conditional, and indirect effects on the depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life relationship. A discussion of the findings, implications for future research and clinical practice are provided.

The current study used secondary analysis of existing data to examine associations between bullying experiences, parental partner violence, and partner violence in young adulthood. We hypothesized that bullying in adolescence would be associated with witnessing parental IPV in adolescence and IPV in young adulthood. We believed that deficits in social information processing, particularly hostile attribution biases, would be associated with adolescent bullying. Lastly, we believed that decentering would act as a moderator, affecting the relationship between adolescent bullying and IPV in adulthood. We used correlational and moderation analyses to examine these hypotheses and found that relational bullying victimization was associated with witnessing parental IPV, and the frequency of bullying perpetration was associated with IPV perpetration in adulthood. We found that some aspects of bullying victimization were negatively associated with being unassertive, bullying perpetration was associated with hostile attribution biases, and the relationship between bullying and IPV was significant only at certain levels of decentering maturity.

Binge-watching, the act of watching large amounts of television at a time, has become a popular phenomenon internationally; however, it has yet to be sufficiently defined. In order to define binge-watching, data was collected on specific watching instances from 216 undergraduate students at a large research university. Hierarchical and k-means cluster analyses were conducted in Phase I to empirically determine how binge-watching should be defined. In Phase II, that definition was tested by correlating the number of instances of binge-watching in a one-week period, collected by seven days of daily diary logs, with several theoretically related measures including body mass index, dissociative tendencies, psychological distress, compulsion to watch, boredom proneness, and escapism through watching. The data-driven definition was found to be that eight hours or more of continuous watching was binge-watching, while anything less than that was not. In Phase II, the frequency of binge-watching through the seven-day period was calculated based on that new definition. The frequency of binge-watching was positively correlated with body mass index and dissociative tendencies with statistical significance at the alpha = .05 level. Compulsion to watch was not statistically significant; however, there was a positive correlation. These findings indicate that the proposed data-driven definition …

There are many identified factors that correlate with whether an individual experiences adverse symptoms following a traumatic event. Research indicates that betrayal, where the victim is betrayed by another individual, may be one of these factors. Betrayal Trauma Theory (BTT) posits that betrayal during trauma increases the likelihood of developing adverse psychological symptoms. BTT objectively dichotomizes traumas as high betrayal or low betrayal traumas based on details of the event. Though literature finds those who experience high betrayals experience more severe symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and dissociation than those who experience low betrayals, this objective classification is limited as it is based solely on the circumstances of the trauma and does not give the victim the option of indicating whether they felt betrayed. We believe perceptions of betrayal, whether the event meets the objective criteria of betrayal put forth by BTT or not, is an important predictor of trauma-related outcomes. This study (N = 244) found that perceived betrayal predicts symptoms of PTSD and depression independently, as well as when controlling for objective betrayal, dependence on the perpetrator, event centrality, anxiety, and dissociation. These findings indicate perceived betrayal is a unique construct that should be included in the operationalization …

Self-forgiveness is a growing sub-field of the broader study of forgiveness, and initial research has linked self-forgiveness to positive mental and physical health outcomes. However, the extant literature on self-forgiveness is in its infancy, and there is a need for further research to understand the predictors of self-forgiveness and the clinical implications that might follow. The current study aimed to build on the extant literature by exploring two sets of predictors of self-forgiveness: (1) the four Rs as proposed in Cornish and Wade's four-R therapeutic model of self-forgiveness (i.e., responsibility, remorse, restoration, and renewal) and (2) personality as measured by the Big Five. This study also explored how responsibility for the offense and humility might moderate the relationship between self-forgiveness and well-being. Participants were undergraduates recruited from a large, public university in the southwestern United States. They were instructed to describe a recent interpersonal offense they had committed and complete a questionnaire. The overall results suggest that there is a negative cross-sectional relationship between responsibility, remorse, and restoration with self-forgiveness and that, when taken together, the four-Rs account for a significant amount of variance in self-forgiveness. Neuroticism was negatively associated with self-forgiveness while conscientiousness and extraversion were positively associated with …