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 …

This study examined the influence of multicultural training, multicultural discussions in supervision, and the supervisory working alliance on multicultural counseling competence. The sample consisted of 57 doctoral counseling interns, doctoral graduate students and post-doctoral students in counseling and clinical psychology. Participants completed several instruments including a demographic questionnaire, the Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory - Trainee, and the Multicultural Counseling Inventory. They filled out two questionnaires created for this study, one assessing multicultural discussions in supervision and another quantifying their multicultural training experience. Data analyses included multiple hierarchical regression, utilizing the Hayes PROCESS macro. Multicultural discussions in supervision moderated the relationship between the supervisory working alliance and multicultural counseling competence, but did not significantly moderate the relationship between multicultural training and multicultural counseling competence. Findings suggest that when multicultural discussions in supervision are positive, they significantly increases the strength of the relationship between good supervisory working alliance and multicultural counseling competence in psychology trainees. The findings may inform supervision practices and improve multicultural counseling competence in psychology graduate student trainees.

Multipotentiality makes career counseling with gifted students difficult. High-flat vocational profiles give the impression that gifted students can develop a wide range of abilities to an equally high level. High-flat vocational profiles may be due to assessments that consider abilities and disregard interests and values, and ceiling effects from the use of age-appropriate, rather than cognitively-appropriate measures. Subjects included 170 gifted students from a residential, early college entrance program (M=15.9 yrs., SD=.361). Subjects completed the Scholastic Aptitude Test, Self-Directed Search, and Study of Values. McNemar's Test of Correlated Proportions shows the proportion of multipotential profiles decreases significantly when cognitively-appropriate measures of interests and values are considered, in addition to abilities. Pearson Chi-square shows no ethnic differences.

Traditionally, body image research has focused on young women. However, there are indications of cultural shifts which extend physical appearance pressures to both men and women, as well as to middle-aged and older adults. Two hundred and ten subjects were administered objective body image measures including the Figure Rating Scale, the Body Shape Questionnaire, and the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire, as well as projective measures including the Holtzman Inkblot Technique and the Draw-A-Person. The NEO-Five Factor Inventory and the Social Anxiety Subscale were also used to explore variables which might covary with body image. A 3 X 2 X 2 Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was utilized with social desirability as the covariate.

This purpose of this research study was to identify key differences that distinguish stepfamilies from intact families with regard to individual members' perceptions of family environment and family functioning. Additionally, an initial look at how membership in a stepfamily impacts the young children's perceptions of interpersonal family functioning is offered.

The purpose of this study was to follow the development of children with reading disabilities only, reading disabilites and ADHD, ADHD only, and a comparison group from the ages of 3 to 18. Differences were examined on the following variables: (a) Antecedent variables- Reynell Developmental Language Scales, Temperament, and Family Adversity; (b) School-age variables- behavioral and academic self-concept ratings; and (c) Psychological adjustment variables at age 18- self-reports of delinquency. Children from the reading disabled groups exhibited receptive language deficits, were from families who during the early childhood years had less resources to cope with problem situations, exhibited difficult temperamental characteristics, and had negative academic self-concepts. Distinctions were also noted between a "pervasive" and "situational" presentation of behavioral problems. During late adolescence the reading disabled groups exhibited similar levels of delinquency as their non-disabled peers. The implications of this study and directions for future research are discussed.

Stress plays a key role in our daily lives, influencing our emotional state, productivity, and health. One particular role in life, being a parent, has attracted significant attention in the research world in terms of the amount of stress parents experience in relation to different aspects of being parents. A life change that many parents, particularly mothers, are experiencing in increasing numbers is their return to college. This study compared reports of parenting stress and perceptions of the family environment between two groups of mothers. The first is a group of 32 mothers who were working 30 or more hours a week outside the home and were not enrolled in college while the second group consists of 31 mothers who were in college full-time and working less than 10 hours a week outside the home. All of the mothers were between the ages of 25 and 45 and had at least one child between the ages 5 and 12 years old. In both groups the mothers verified that their child(ren) was (were) without any diagnosis of an emotional, behavioral, or learning problem. A series of one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVAs) were performed. Results indicated there were no significant group …

The purpose of this study was to describe the relative importance of aspects of the occupational environment in predicting personal strain and changes in the meaning of work (perceived changes in work role salience and work values) during the transition to parenthood. The aspects of the work environment under investigation were: work interference with family, family interference with work, supervisor support for combining work and family, and organization support (respect, separation, and integration types). Control variables were husband support, an important factor in adjustment during the transition to parenthood, and socioeconomic status. A sample of 118 women in dual career couples with one child under two years of age were recruited through childcare centers and newspaper announcements. The sample was predominantly Caucasian and middle or upper-middle class. Subjects completed self-report questionnaires. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression. Results of this study provided partial support for the hypothesis that workplace support and work/family interference would contribute to personal strain. Only family interference with work emerged as a significant predictor. The results of this study provided partial support for the hypothesis that husband support, workplace support, and work/family interference would contribute to change in work values. Only husband support was a …

The relationship between adult attachment style and romantic relationship quality in marriage relationships was explored. Romantic relationship quality was measured at the working model (or perceptual) and the behavioral levels. No previous research had investigated romantic relationship quality as reflecting specific attachment related perceptions of self and spouse or as attachment related behaviors. Two hundred and six married subjects were recruited from university campuses, churches, and on an individual basis. Most of the subjects were white, middle class, and had children. Subjects completed self-report questionnaires measuring adult attachment style, working model of self and romantic partner, and reports of relationship behaviors of self and romantic partner. The first hypothesis proposed that attachment style differences would be seen in specific attachment related working models of self and romantic partner. The second hypothesis proposed that attachment style differences would be seen in reports of attachment related behaviors for self and romantic partner. Hypotheses were tested using multivariate analysis of variance.

Age/cohort differences in several aspects of the self-system were investigated utilizing a sentence completion paradigm. Eighty-eight adults over age sixty and one hundred eight adults under age forty served as subjects. Subjects were asked to complete 30 self-referent sentence stems which were pre-structured to elicit information from the self-system. Responses were subjected to a content analysis utilizing a coding system which contained concepts used by subjects in their self-representations. Contents were coded for dimensions conceptually related to Physical Health, Autonomy, Self-Evaluation, Depression, Spirituality, and Altruism. Frequencies of codings were counted and subjected to statistical analysis for performing age group comparisons.

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between organizational support and Effectiveness, Empowerment, and team characteristics. Support was operationalized by nine systems: Executive Management, Direct Supervision, Group Design, Performance Definition, Performance Review, Training, Rewards, Information, and Integration. Support was rated in two ways: how important is support for performing work (Importance scales), and how does support describe work environments (Presence scales).

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of (a) respondent age, (b) age and gender of perpetrator and victim, and (c) history of experienced violence on perceptions of elder abuse. Two-hundred and one (N = 201) middle-aged adults and 422 college students were assessed. Measures included adaptations of the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale and Elder Abuse Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions Scale-Revised. Middle-aged respondents viewed psychological behaviors more harshly than young. Middle-aged females and young males were less tolerant of middle-aged perpetrators. While past performance of elder abuse was predictive of future elder abuse, history of childhood abuse was not. Exploratory analyses examined middle-aged respondents' judgments of abusive behaviors and perceptions based on age of perpetrator. Middle-aged and young adults' willingness to respond to dimensions of quality, severity, and reportability were also examined.

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 purpose of the present study was to further explore evidence for the construct-related validity of the Sulliman Scale of Social Interest (SSSI) through the implementation of both convergent and discriminant procedures. This was done through (a) replicating St. John's 1992 study, (b) extending the findings of that study by incorporating additional psychological measures, and (c) examining SSI itself by means of principal axis factor analytic procedures. First, all nine of the relationships demonstrated between the SSSI and other variables in the St. John (1992) study were replicated in the present study. Second, in extending the findings of that study, 22 of 26 hypothesized relationships between the SSSI and other psychological measures were in the predicted direction. Third, the results of the factor analysis produced three factors labeled "contextual harmony," "positive treatment/response," and "confidence and trust." Taken together, the outcomes of both studies appear to offer some support for the SSI's construct validity and to provide possible directions for future research.

Applied sport psychology consultation is a relatively new phenomenon with limited empirical underpinnings. The purpose of the study was to evaluate three applied sport psychology consultant personal and professional characteristics within Strong's social influence model that have been suggested to impact consultants' effectiveness in working directly with athletes and their performance problems. The three consultant characteristics were academic training, past athletic experience, and interpersonal skill. Division I female athletes (N = 187) read written preconsultation information and watched a 10- minute vignette between a consultant and an athlete. Participants completed the Counselor Rating Form-Short (CRFS), the Sport Psychology Consultant Evaluation Form (CEF), and questions concerning willingness to work with the consultant. The data from the dependent measures were analyzed by a 2 (level of consultant academic training) X 2 (level of consultant past athletic experience) X 2 (level of consultant interpersonal skill) MANOVA. Results indicated that applied sport psychology consultants' academic training and past athletic experience had only limited influence on the participants' perceptions about the consultants. The Division I female athletes unambiguously rated consultants with positive interpersonal skills more favorably on all dependent measures regardless of the consultants' level of academic training or past athletic experience. Directions for future …

This study attempted to determine the relationship between fantasy aggression and behavioral aggression, and whether fantasy aggression measured by the Thematic Apperception Test is related to behavioral aggression. Participant TAT protocols from psychology clinic files were scored for fantasy aggression, and these scores were correlated with self-reported presence or absence of behavioral aggression. The scoring system used was a blend of popular aggression scales used in the 1960s and newer theory. Other variables that were examined were story length and gender in relation to the measured amount of fantasy and behavioral aggression.

The Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML) is a relatively new instrument used in the assessment of memory in children. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the WRAML by comparing the performance of children on both the WRAML and the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability- Revised (WJTCA-R). Subjects for the study were children in treatment for a brain tumor at a regional children's medical center. Fifty children participated in the study ranging from ages 6 to 17. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine which of four selected clusters from the WJTCA-R would have the highest correlation with the Verbal Memory Index (VERI) from the WRAML. The Short-Term Memory (GSM) cluster had the highest correlation ( r = .82) as predicted. A Pearson's product-moment correlational analysis was conducted between the Visual Processing (GV) cluster from the WJTCA-R and the Visual Memory Index (VISI) from the WRAML. GV was found to have a high positive correlation ( r = .63) with VISI. A similar analysis was conducted between the Long-Term Retrieval (GLR) cluster from the WJTCA-R and the Learning Index (LRNI) from the WRAML. GLR was found to have a high positive correlation …

The research of Stice et al. (1994) and Stice and Shaw (1994) proposed several mechanisms that may mediate the adverse effects of media exposure to the thin ideal including internalization of the thin-ideal, negative affect, and body dissatisfaction. The purpose of this study was to extend initial research of Stice and Shaw (1994) by incorporating two forms of media (e.g., TV and Magazines) to assess the effects of exposure to the media portrayal of ideal body shape on women's mood, body satisfaction, and internalization of societal values concerning attractiveness. The relation of these variables to bulimic symptomatology was examined. The current study improved upon Stice and Shaw's study (1994) by matching participants' scores on BMI, level of negative affect, and level of body satisfaction before random assignment to the experimental conditions. Female undergraduates aged 18 to 25 years participated in premeasure (N = 198) and post measure (N = 164) conditions. Results from repeated mulitvariate analysis indicated media exposure to ideal-body images demonstrated no significant changes in women's affect, body satisfaction or endorsement of the thin ideal. Indirect support for the sociocultural theory of eating disorders was provided by multiple regression analyses that demonstrated lower levels of satisfaction with size …

The current study investigated the association of interparental conflict, parent-child attachment, and children's behavior problems in middle childhood. Although the effects of interparental conflict have been studied extensively, there has been little research done in the developmental period of middle childhood. This study examined the potential mediating role of the attachment relationship between parents and children in a community sample consisting of 86 two-parent families with at least one child between the ages of 8-11. Path modeling procedures indicated that attachment security serves as a mediator between interparental conflict and child behavior problems based on child reports. In particular, child-reported attachment security to the mother significantly mediated the association between children's perceptions of threat from interparental conflict and child-reported internalizing and inattentive/hyperactive symptoms. Child-reported attachment security to the father was not a significant mediator and mediation was not supported in parent-report models. The current findings have implications for families experiencing conflict and speak to the importance of attachment in the parent-child relationship when explaining the association between instances of interparental conflict and child behavioral outcomes. In particular, parents who engage in conflict can prevent the damaging effects of that conflict by making the conflict less overt, explaining to children the …

The emerging consensus among investigators seems to be that bulimia is a multidetermined disorder with a number of contributing factors, including biological components, sociocultural factor, personality, and family characteristics (Garfinkel & Garner, 1982). An etiological model was examined in this study integrating two important theoretical perspectives in the bulimia literature: the stress-coping perspective (Cattanach & Rodin, 1988) and the family systems perspective (Minuchin et al., 1978). Five latent variables: Family Characteristics, Coping Resources, Psychological Disturbance, Environmental Stressors, and Bulimia were represented by twelve measured variables. Structural Equation Modeling analysis allowed for the simultaneous examination of the hypothesized interrelationships between model variables. Findings confirmed a direct impact of psychological disturbances on bulimic symptoms. Hypothesized indirect relationships of family characteristics, coping resources and environmental stressors to bulimia were confirmed. Treatment implications as well as directions for future research were discussed.

Organizations have had difficulty managing the performance of their knowledge work teams. Many of these troubles have been linked to antiquated or inadequate performance management systems along with a scarcity of empirical research on this important human resource initiative. These problems are magnified when managing the performance of research and development teams because greater ambiguity and uncertainty exists in these environments, while projects are unique and continually evolving. In addition, performance management in R&D has only recently been accepted as important while individuals in these settings are often resistant to teams. This study represented the first step in the process of understanding relationships between performance management practices and perceptions of performance in R&D work teams. Participants were 132 R&D team leaders representing 20 organizations that agreed to complete a survey via the Internet. The survey instrument was designed to examine the relationships between performance measurement, feedback, and reward processes utilized by teams in relation to measures of customer satisfaction, psychological and team effectiveness, and resource utilization and development. The most important level of performance measurement occurred at the business unit level followed next by the individual level while team level measurement was unrelated to team performance. A simple measurement system …

Grandparent-Grandchild Attachment as a Predictor of Psychological Adjustment among Youth from Divorced Families

The present study examined age cohort differences in older and younger adults as they relate to perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics. The present study also assessed whether previous help-seeking behavior influences perceptions of what counselor characteristics would be helpful. The social influence model is used as basis for predictions. The first research hypothesis for the present study was that there would be an age by cohort interaction in perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics at both Time 1 (1991) and Time 2 (2001). The second research hypothesis was that there would be a main effect for cohort, with more recently born cohorts preferring more interpersonal counselor characteristics. The third research hypothesis was that there would be a main effect for age in endorsement of the social influence model. The fourth research hypothesis was that there would be a significant difference between the perceptions of those individuals who had previously sought help from a mental health professional and those individuals who had not sought help, regardless of age and cohort. A revised Adjective Check List (Gough, 1965; Gough & Heilbrum, 1983) was used to assess perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics. Chi-square analyses, MANOVA/supplementary ANOVAs, and exploratory factor analyses were used to test …

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of women's anger and religiosity on their expression of violence toward their partner. The sample consisted of the 664 women who completed three interviews for Project HOW: Health Outcomes of Women, a study of low-income, ethnically diverse women in Dallas county. Across the waves, women completed measures of relationship violence, anger, and religiosity. Religiosity was not found to moderate the relationship between women's anger and their use of violence. When partners' threats and violence were included in the regression equations, these variables were consistently related to women's behavior. Due to several methodological limitations, clinical implications of the results should be considered with caution.