Sexual Intimacy,Mental Illness,and Homelessness

The current article reviews the literature on sexuality among individuals with a severe mental illness (SMI) who have experienced homelessness, a topic that has received little attention in the research literature, particularly from a community psychology perspective. The review begins with a synthesis of the literature on SMI and sexuality, followed by a review of the available literature on SMI, homelessness, and sexuality. It concludes with an interpretation of the findings using community psychology values and principles. The findings highlight the importance of intimate relationships to recovery for many individuals with an SMI who have experienced homelessness. Policy implications for homeless shelters and housing interventions are discussed.     

Families of Youth Who Have Sexually Offended: Understanding Shared Experiences and Moving Towards a Typology

Theoretical frameworks like Family Systems and Ecological Theories that postulate youth development is shaped by interconnected and interdependent systems begets further inquiry into classifications of such systems. Developing family typologies of youth who commit sexual crimes may inform etiology, service approaches, and judicial responses. In collaboration with a state Sex Offender Management Board, this study analyzed the perspectives of treatment providers (N = 19) on families of youth who have committed sexual crimes. Using deductive coding strategies including hypothesis and elaborative coding; observer triangulation and inter-subjective agreement; constant comparison analyses; and other rigorous qualitative techniques, findings confirmed and expanded upon extant literature. Results revealed a spectrum of open and closed family systems and common experiences including distorted perceptions of sexuality, protection of the family system, and other contextual influences. Findings are integrated with the theoretical frameworks and recommendations are offered to improve practices and typological research.     

Behavioral Outcomes of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Triple P—Positive Parenting Program: A Review and Meta-Analysis

We conducted a review and meta-analyses of 24 studies to evaluate and compare the outcomes of two widely disseminated parenting interventions—Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Triple P-Positive Parenting Program. Participants in all studies were caregivers and 3- to 12-year-old children. In general, our analyses revealed positive effects of both interventions, but effects varied depending on intervention length, components, and source of outcome data. Both interventions reduced parent-reported child behavior and parenting problems. The effect sizes for PCIT were large when outcomes of child and parent behaviors were assessed with parent-report, with the exclusion of Abbreviated PCIT, which had moderate effect sizes. All forms of Triple P had moderate to large effects when outcomes were parent-reported child behaviors and parenting, with the exception of Media Triple P, which had small effects. PCIT and an enhanced version of Triple P were associated with improvements in observed child behaviors. These findings provide information about the relative efficacy of two programs that have received substantial funding in the USA and Australia, and findings should assist in making decisions about allocations of funding and dissemination of these parenting interventions in the future.

A note on using stratified alpha to estimate the composite reliability of a test composed of interrelated nonhomogeneous items

The relationship between stratified alpha (alpha(s)) and the reliability of a test composed of interrelated nonhomogeneous items is examined. It is mathematically demonstrated that when there is congeneric equivalence within the strata or subtests, the difference between the coefficients is a function of the variances of the loadings within the strata. When the items within each stratum are essentially tau equivalent, these variances are 0, and alpha(s) and true reliability are equal, provided errors of measurement are uncorrelated. If errors of measurement are positively correlated and there is essential tau equivalence within strata, stratified alpha will overestimate reliability. These findings indicate that recent studies involving stratified alpha (A. Kamata, A. Turhan, & E. Darandari, 2003; H. G. Osburn, 2000) need to be interpreted with some degree of caution. Nevertheless, the hypothetical population data presented in this article suggest that under certain circumstances, stratified alpha can be considerably greater than alpha and closer to the true reliability. Because the former is easily computed, it is recommended that with stratified tests, practicing researchers should routinely calculate both alpha and stratified alpha coefficients.     

“Outsiders”: How some counselling psychologists construct themselves

The identity of counselling psychology in Britain is still developing. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of what counselling psychology is through an analysis of discourses that practitioners draw on when talking about their work. Drawing on data from interviews with eight practicing counselling psychologists, we identity a “maverick” repertoire and examine how it is used by the participants. This repertoire is used to characterize counselling psychology as occupying a position outside established schools of psychological therapy. We also identify how the maverick/outsider repertoire provides solutions to problems of internal consistency within counselling psychology. We discuss implications for the future and the importance of self-awareness for the profession.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: Defining Gender,Relationships, and Power

Limitations in our knowledge of women's lives are most strikingly revealed by social scientists' attempts to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis. Most psychological research studies Anglo middle- and upper-middle-class college students, to the detriment of our current need for knowledge of the populations of women most at risk for HIV/AIDS, who are non-Anglo, poor, and less educated. This special issue was initiated by the Task Force on Women and HIV of the Society for the Psychology of Women, Division 35 of the American Psychological Association. Our immediate objective was to present in a single issue a full range of current research practices and needs along with any exemplary innovations, and to identify the dilemmas facing investigators that might be blocking theory development. We hope to inspire, inform, and energize those whose contributions are most needed to advance theory and research that will be helpful to researchers and practitioners of HIV prevention and services. The long-range goal of this special issue is to stimulate innovative and useful theory development by gathering empirical work that challenges current theory and shows the role of culture.     

Who Benefits from Pennebaker’s Expressive Writing Paradigm? Research Recommendations from Three Gender Theories

Pennebaker’s experimental writing paradigm quantifies who, when, and how people benefit from writing about trauma, but researchers and meta-analyses thus far have rarely considered gender. Gender theories specify useful research strategies. Gender schema theory suggests examining gendered measurement biases, gender-relevant writing content, and whether traditional masculinity predicts benefits. Social role theory suggests assessing physician visits, disclosure history, and privacy as possible moderators of benefits. Socialization theory suggests assessing emotional approach coping, imagined readers, alexithymia, and whether mastery instructions influence benefits. All specify measuring functionally related gender constructs (gender schemas, gender roles, and socialization), asking whether gender proxies co-varying moderators and mediators of benefits, and examining possible linkages between benefits, trauma type, and disclosure. Help-seeking and somatization require integrated theoretical approaches.     

More Research Questions: Rebuttal to Bornstein, Langer, and Stickney

Stickney (2010), Bornstein (2010), and Langer (2010) expand the research recommendations for experimental writing research that Range and Jenkins (2010) generated from gender schema, gender role, and socialization theory. Stickney derives research questions from communication and emotion theory. Bornstein and Langer focus on assessment in this paradigm. Bornstein’s multimodal assessment strategy might improve understanding of apparently inconsistent findings, indicate unstudied processes of interest, and show how changing instructions might maximize writing benefits. Langer’s recommendations to examine gender differences in pre/post/and follow-up emotional outcomes, and in subjective, expressive, and physiological indicators of emotion, identify potential new outcome measures in this research. All three commentaries show promise of advancing our understanding of how writing about trauma might help women and men.