The purpose of this study was to examine how parental separation is related to eating disturbances and assertiveness in females who struggle with bulimic symptoms. Two-hundred ninety-two undergraduate females from the University of North Texas comprised the subject group. Using pen and paper measures of assertiveness, bulimia, and parental separation, support was found for the prediction that there would be a relationship between assertiveness and parental separation. Likewise, partial support was found for the prediction that there would be a relationship between bulimia and parental separation. Parental separation was found to affect levels of bulimia and assertiveness. Finally, it was found that subjects endorsed greater emotional independence from fathers than from mothers.

The purpose of the present investigation was to explore the relationship of the adolescent experience of parental death to the variables of identity formation, adjustment, and coping. The inclusion of adolescents who had experienced parental divorce and those who had not experienced either loss condition allowed for group comparisons.

The question addressed in this study is whether either parent's conflict style affected the supportive quality of the parents' relationship with the son or daughter. It was important to explore variables that affect support because supportive relationships with parents have been related to adolescent adjustment. Past studies have suggested parental conflict has a negative impact on the parent-adolescent relationship. Research in the area of mediators of perceived support in the parent-adolescent relationships is limited. This study focused on perceived support in the specific relationship of the parent and adolescent. Qualitative measures of conflict were used since they have been more strongly related to changes in parent-adolescent relationships than quantitative measures. In this study the supportive quality of the parent-adolescent relationship was operationalized as a measure of parental support, depth of the parent-adolescent relationship, and conflict in the parent-adolescent relationship (Quality of Relationship Inventory).

Academically talented college students have unique development needs that often go unmet. One area that is currently attracting more attention in the academically talented literature is career counseling. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of individual and group career counseling interventions. Subjects included 54 students from a special Texas program that provides the opportunity for gifted students to attend college during their final two years of high school. One instrument used assessed identity, confidence, career goals, and professional identity. The second instrument evaluated whether the subjects had recently discussed career concerns, were seeing a vocational counselor, or seeking career information. A pre-test was followed by group or individual intervention, and a post-test was conducted two months later. Results indicated an overall decrease on the instrument assessing professional identity and career goals. This study revealed no difference in effectiveness between group or individual interventions. Further research in this area is necessary to develop and refine the most effective career counseling interventions for the academically talented student.

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 purpose of this study was to explore how supportive functions of parent-child relationships influence young adult dating motivations and involvement. Theoretical literature suggests that emotionally supportive homes provide a secure base for children to depend on as they explore themselves and other relationships. However, problematic family ties could be expected to inhibit relationship involvement due to negative past experiences or to encourage involvement as a search for intimacy. A sample of 206 single, female undergraduates completed questionnaires assessing relationships with parents and aspects of romantic involvement and development. The set of Parent-Child Relationship variables included Support, Conflict, Depth, and Affective Quality in relationships with mother and father. The Attachment Related Dating Motivation variables included measures of Anxiety, Dependency, and Closeness in relationships, Attachment Motivation, Sexual Expression, Dating Exploration, Behavioral Indicators of Romantic Involvement, Sexual Involvement, and Level, Satisfaction, and Importance of Romantic Involvement.

This study examined the neurocognitive skills, incidence of mild head injury, incidence of learning disabilities, and study habits among college students with grade point average of 2.00 or below (N = 25) as contrasted with college students with grade point average above 2.00 (N = 70). The intent of this research was to extend the work of Segalowitz and Brown (1991) and Segalowitz and Lawson (1993) who found significant associations between reported history of mild head injury and developmental disabilities among high school and college samples. MANOVAs conducted on measures of academic achievement, global cognitive skills, verbal and nonverbal memory, motor and tactile functioning, and study habits did not discriminate between probationary and non-probationary students. Probationary and non-probationary students also did not differ with regard to incidence of reported head injury, frequency of diagnosed learning disabilities, and study habits. Measures of neurocognitive functioning and study habits did not contribute to the prediction of grade point average over and above that predicted by Scholastic Aptitude Test composite score. Several exploratory analyses were performed examining the relationship between study habits and neurocognitive skills. Gender differences, implications for future research and development of study skills courses, and limitations of this study were discussed.

Utilizing a sample of community-residing older adults, this pretest-posttest design evaluated the short term (approximately 1 week) impact on everyday functioning of Stress Inoculation (SI) training, a cognitive-behavioral intervention that is essentially a coping skills enhancement program. The targets of training were anxiety and concern about being able to successfully perform everyday living tasks. The training program was contrasted with a no contact (waiting list) control. In an effort to maximize the practical aspects of this study, the assessment battery included the use of two ecologically valid measures of everyday problem solving skills (one self-rated and one interviewer-rated). Also included were a measure of everyday intelligence widely used in gerontological research, two measures of self-efficacy, a geriatric depression scale, a state-trait anxiety scale, and a self-report measure of failures in perception, memory, and motor function. The results suggest that Stress Inoculation training is an effective intervention for improving everyday competence but that personal perceptions of self-efficacy and the emotional states of anxiety and depression mediate treatment effects. In general, only persons with lower levels of self-efficacy and higher levels of anxiety and/or depression saw improvement in their cognitive performance following SI training.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of parental divorce and family conflict during adolescence on young adult females' social support and psychological adjustment. The three areas explored were perceptions of relationship satisfaction and closeness, sources and amount of social support and adjustment. One hundred and forty-one female undergraduates, 53% from families in which their parents are still married and 47% from families in which a parental divorce occurred during adolescence, completed the following measures: the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), the Social Provisions Scale-Source Specific (Cutrona, 1989), the Inventory of Common Problems (Hoffman & Weiss, 1986), the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981), and the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985).

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of the Type A behavior pattern to Holland's occupational types and the career choice process. The Type A behavior pattern is characterized by high levels of achievement striving, time urgency, chronic activation and hostility, and is an independent risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease. It was hypothesized that Type A college students would be more attracted than Type B individuals to aspects of a future work environment which would reinforce their Type A behaviors. Previous research had suggested a relationship between the Type A behavior pattern and Holland's Enterprising and Investigative types (Martin, 1986). This study sought to replicate those findings, and further examine the nature of the Type A/B-Holland types relationship. Data were collected from undergraduate students in a variety of academic fields of study. Subjects completed a questionnaire packet consisting of the student version of the Jenkins Activity Survey (Jenkins, Rosenman, and Zyzanski, 1965; Glass, 1977), the Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1985b), and a modified version of the Minnesota Job Description Questionnaire (Rosen, et al., 1972) . The findings demonstrated that the Type A/B pattern is a significant factor in the career choice process. …

A review of the literature on homophobia indicates that negative attitudes toward homosexuals and homosexuality have been empirically related to numerous socio-demographic and attitudinal variables. Research to this date has focused on the relationship between individual variables and homophobia rather than examining multiple variables simultaneously. The purpose of the present investigation was to identify the factors which are predictive of homophobia. One hundred and ninety-four female and 115 male participants completed a biographical information questionnaire requesting socio-demographic information, self-proclaimed religiosity, frequency of church attendance, self-proclaimed political orientation, and political party identification. Participants also completed measures of attitudes toward male homosexuality, attitudes toward lesbianism, attitudes toward women, authoritarianism, sex anxiety, sexual attitudes, and socio-economic status. Statistical treatment of the data through principal components analysis indicated that homophobic attitudes are best predicted by a factor identified as "conservatism". Other factors were identified which predicted homophobia to a lesser extent. Male participant gender was determined to predict homophobia toward male homosexuals, but gender was not found to predict homophobic attitudes toward lesbians.

Subjects comprised four groups including: 73 judges; 90 family law practitioners; 38 psychologists; and 43 psychology graduate students. The subjects completed surveys designating the five most relevant and the five least relevant factors of effective parenting from a list of 85 such factors. As hypothesized, the family law attorneys and family law judges generated similar clusters of factors while the results of the psychologists and psychology graduate students likewise clustered similarly. These results suggest the possibility of the existence of common cognitive structures used in the custody decision-making process. Results could be used in the modification and refinement of the Custody Quotient (CQ) Technique. Future study could focus more specifically on the cognitive structures particular subjects use in making custody decisions.

The objectives of this investigation were to develop, implement, and determine the effects of rational behavior therapy for residents in a retirement community. The question addressed was, "Will rational behavior therapy, relative to a discussion group and control group, exhibit significant changes in level of rational thinking and depression?" Drawing upon a cognitive theory of depression relevant to the aged population and upon rational behavior therapy literature, it was hypothesized that short-term rational behavior therapy intervention would be significantly related to a modification of belief systems and a decrease in depression. The participants were residents of two retirement communities. There were 25 subjects who completed the study through posttest assessment. These subjects were randomly assigned to three groups and assessed at pretest, posttest, and follow-up. The experimental group did not experience the hypothesized significant increase in level of rational thinking and decrease in level of depression. Possible explanations are given for lack of expected effects. Overall, the discussion group had more significant increases in rational thinking than the experimental and control groups.

Gender and sexual minorities (GSM) experience considerably worse health outcomes than heterosexual and cisgender people, yet no comprehensive understanding of GSM health exists due to a dearth of research. GSM leaders in Dallas expressed need for a community needs assessment of GSM health. In response to this call, the Center for Psychosocial Health Research conducted a needs assessment of gender and sexual minority health in Dallas (35 interviews, 6 focus groups). Competency was one area highlighted and shared across existing research. Thus, the current study explored how competency impacts gender and sexual minorities' experience of health care in Dallas. We utilized a consensual qualitative research approach to analyze competency-related contents. The meaning and implications of emerging core ideas were explored. These findings were also used to develop a survey instrument.

Guided by attachment theory and principles of positive psychology, a conceptual model was developed depicting the direct and indirect effects of attachment insecurity, state hope, belongingness, and meaning in life on wellness indicators (i.e., life satisfaction, physical health, and depression) of first generation Latino immigrants in the U.S. Specifically, the present study proposed that the effects of attachment insecurity on Latino immigrants' wellness would be mediated by two tiers of factors. The first tier consisted of state hope (i.e., general state hope, spiritual state hope, mastery state hope) and sense of belonging (i.e., general belongingness; connectedness with mainstream/ethnic community), which represented individual-level and relational factors, respectively, salient in Latino culture. Greater attachment insecurity was hypothesized to contribute to a compromised MIL and poorer wellness by decreasing state hope and sense of belongingness. A total of 352 first-generation Latino immigrants from Texas participated in this study. The exploratory factor analysis on the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale revealed a two-factor factor structure that is different from the two factors of adult attachment typically found with American samples (i.e., anxiety and avoidance). The emerged two factors represent anxious-distancing attachment and comfort-seeking attachment. Results from structural equation modeling analysis showed adequate model fit …