Psychological Empowerment Among Urban Youth: Measurement Model and Associations with Youth Outcomes

Empowerment‐based strategies have become widely used method to address health inequities and promote social change. Few researchers, however, have tested theoretical models of empowerment, including multidimensional, higher‐order models. We test empirically a multidimensional, higher‐order model of psychological empowerment (PE), guided by Zimmerman's conceptual framework including three components of PE: intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral. We also investigate if PE is associated with positive and negative outcomes among youth. The sample included 367 middle school youth aged 11–16 (M = 12.71; SD = 0.91); 60% female, 32% (n = 117) white youth, 46% (n = 170) African‐American youth, and 22% (n = 80) identifying as mixed race, Asian‐American, Latino, Native American, or other ethnic/racial group; schools reported 61–75% free/reduced lunch students. Our results indicated that each of the latent factors for the three PE components demonstrate a good fit with the data. Our results also indicated that these components loaded on to a higher‐order PE factor (X² = 32.68; df: 22; p = .07; RMSEA: 0.04; 95% CI: .00, .06; CFI: 0.99). We found that the second‐order PE factor was negatively associated with aggressive behavior and positively associated with prosocial engagement. Our results suggest that empowerment‐focused programs would benefit from incorporating components addressing how youth think about themselves in relation to their social contexts (intrapersonal), understanding social and material resources needed to achieve specific goals (interactional), and actions taken to influence outcomes (behavioral). Our results also suggest that integrating the three components and promoting PE may help increase likelihood of positive behaviors (e.g., prosocial involvement); we did not find an association between PE and aggressive behavior. Implications and future directions for empowerment research are discussed.     

Counselors Within the Chronic Care Model: Supporting Weight Management

The Chronic Care Model developed for the multidisciplinary management of chronic diseases provides a blueprint for the integrated role of mental health counselors supporting clients with obesity seeking weight management treatment. Counselors can support clients and the team of health care professionals treating obesity within each of the 6 components of the model: (a) health care organization, (b) delivery‐system design, (c) clinical information systems, (d) decision support, (e) client self‐management support, and (f) community resources.     

Professional Decision-Making in Research (PDR): The Validity of a New Measure

In this paper, we report on the development and validity of the Professional Decision-Making in Research (PDR) measure, a vignette-based test that examines decision-making strategies used by investigators when confronted with challenging situations in the context of empirical research. The PDR was administered online with a battery of validity measures to a group of NIH-funded researchers and research trainees who were diverse in terms of age, years of experience, types of research, and race. The PDR demonstrated adequate reliability (alpha = .84) and parallel form correlation (r = .70). As hypothesized, the PDR was significantly negatively correlated with narcissism, cynicism, moral disengagement, and compliance disengagement; it was not correlated with socially desirable responding. In regression analysis, the strongest predictors of higher PDR scores were low compliance disengagement, speaking English as a native language, conducting clinical research with human subjects, and low levels of narcissism. Given that the PDR was written at an eighth grade reading level to be suitable for use with English as a second language participants and that only one-fourth of items focused on clinical research, further research into the possible roles of culture and research ethics training across specialties is warranted. This initial validity study demonstrates the potential usefulness of the PDR as an educational outcome assessment measure and a research instrument for studies on professionalism and integrity in research.     

Evaluating the role of anxiety sensitivity in barriers to cessation and reasons for quitting among smokers with asthma

The aim of the present study was to examine the unique predictive ability of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in terms of perceived barriers to cessation and smoking cessation motives among daily smokers with asthma (n = 125, 54% male, M_age = 37.7 years, SD = 12.1). As hypothesized, after controlling for the effects of race, asthma control, negative affect, and smoking rate, AS significantly predicted greater barriers to cessation, and reasons for quitting related to health concerns and self-control. Contrary to hypotheses, AS did not significantly predict external reasons for quitting. These findings suggest that smokers with asthma who are fearful of physiological arousal may be a particularly ‘at-risk’ population for smoking cessation difficulties due, in part, to greater perceived barriers to cessation. Interventions focused on enhancing intrinsic motivation for quitting and reducing AS may be most effective for this population.     

Alienation from Nature and Early German Romanticism

In this article I ask how fruitful the concept of alienation can be for thinking critically about the nature and causes of the contemporary environmental crisis. The concept of alienation enables us to claim that modern human beings have become alienated or estranged from nature and need to become reconciled with it. Yet reconciliation has often been understood—notably by Hegel and Marx—as the state of being ‘at-home-with-oneself-in-the-world’, in the name of which we are entitled, perhaps even obliged, to overcome anything in nature that is alien to the human mind. This approach to alienation derives ultimately from the German Idealist philosopher J. G. Fichte. I explore an alternative conception of alienation and reconciliation to be found in the work of the Early German Romantics, especially Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis. The Romantics think of reconciliation as including a dimension of alienation, in the form of an awareness that nature is greater than and exceeds the understanding of human beings, insofar as we are merely limited parts of the all-encompassing whole that is nature. I argue that this is a more fruitful approach to alienation and reconciliation than that pursued by Fichte, Hegel, and Marx.     

Infant Developmental Outcomes: A Family Systems Perspective

The aim of the current study was to examine whether parental mental health, parent–infant relationship, infant characteristics and couple's relationship factors were associated with the infant's development. Forty‐two families took part at three time points. The first, at 3 months postpartum, involved a video recorded observation (CARE‐index) of parent–infant interactions. At 5 months postpartum, in‐depth clinical interviews (the Birmingham Interview of Maternal Mental Health) assessed parental mental health and parental perceptions of their relationship with their infant, their partner and their infant's characteristics. Finally, the Bayley Scales III was carried out 17 months postpartum to assess the infants' cognitive, language and motor development. A higher mother–infant relationship quality was significantly associated with more optimal language development, whilst a higher father–infant relationship quality was associated with more advanced motor development. Additionally, maternal postnatal post‐traumatic stress disorder had a negative impact on the infant's cognitive development, whilst maternal prenatal depression was associated with a less optimal infant's language development. The largest prediction was afforded by parental perceptions of their infant's characteristics. The findings indicate that such perceptions may be crucial for the infant's development and imply that negative internal parental perceptions should be considered when assessing risk factors or designing interventions to prevent negative child outcomes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of a Clinical Genetics Service – A Quality Initiative

Paper-based surveys are an effective means of evaluating the quality of a clinical service. As part of ongoing quality improvement initiatives within our Genetics Program, new patients were invited to participate in a paper-based survey. Issues related to the quality of counseling based on educational/informational aspects (e.g. whether testing was explained fully, testing options, the meaning of normal/abnormal testing), competency, respect and nondirectiveness of counseling in addition to clinical environment/setting were evaluated. Data related to demographics, discipline seen within the program and whether the patient was seen by a physician or genetic counselor were also captured. Five hundred questionnaires were distributed. One hundred and forty-seven questionnaires were returned, with a response rate of 29.4 %. The majority of patients seen were prenatal (pregnant) patients and comprised a heterogeneous group including those seen for advanced maternal age and abnormal maternal serum screening. Overall, 98.6 % of respondents felt their appointment in genetics was a positive experience. Issues related to confidentiality, pros and cons of testing, meaning of an abnormal test result and time allotted for decision making were significantly different in some disciplines between genetic counselor and geneticist. However, when controlling for referral indication, these differences lost significance with the exception of issues relating to confidentiality and perceived time allotted to organize thoughts and questions. This survey provided valuable information to allow for improvement in the quality of the provision of service.     

When the Going Gets Tough: The “Why” of Goal Striving Matters

No prior research has examined how motivation for goal striving influences persistence in the face of increasing goal difficulty. This research examined the role of self‐reported (Study 1) and primed (Study 2) autonomous and controlled motives in predicting objectively assessed persistence during the pursuit of an increasingly difficult goal. In Study 1, 100 British athletes (64 males; M_age = 19.89 years, SD_age = 2.43) pursued a goal of increasing difficulty on a cycle ergometer. In Study 2, 90 British athletes (43 males; M_age = 19.63 years, SD_age = 1.14) engaged in the same task, but their motivation was primed by asking them to observe a video of an actor describing her or his involvement in an unrelated study. In Study 1, self‐reported autonomous goal motives predicted goal persistence via challenge appraisals and task‐based coping. In contrast, controlled goal motives predicted threat appraisals and disengagement coping, which, in turn, was a negative predictor of persistence. In Study 2, primed autonomous (compared to controlled) goal motives predicted greater persistence, positive affect, and future interest for task engagement. The findings underscore the importance of autonomous motivation for behavioral investment in the face of increased goal difficulty.     

Using the MMPI–2–RF to Discriminate Psychometrically Identified Schizotypic College Students From a Matched Comparison Sample

This study investigates the extent to which the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 Restructured Form (MMPI–2–RF) profiles of 52 individuals making up a psychometrically identified schizotypes (SZT) sample could be successfully discriminated from the protocols of 52 individuals in a matched comparison (MC) sample. Replication analyses were performed with an additional 53 pairs of SZT and MC participants. Results showed significant differences in mean T-score values between these 2 groups across a variety of MMPI–2–RF scales. Results from discriminant function analyses indicate that schizotypy can be predicted effectively using 4 MMPI–2–RF scales and that this method of classification held up on replication. Additional results demonstrated that these MMPI–2–RF scales nominally outperformed MMPI–2 scales suggested by previous research as being indicative of schizophrenia liability. Directions for future research with the MMPI–2–RF are suggested.