Sexual Relationships in Psychology Training: A Brief Comment on Ethical Guidelines and Coping Strategies

Research has suggested that sexual relationships between psychology educators and their students often have adverse consequences. Therefore, ethical guidelines setting limits on such relationships are proposed. Coping strategies are offered for students who experience sexual harassment from educators. The task of the administrator in handling complaints of harassment is also discussed.     

Bayesian evaluation of informative hypotheses for multiple populations

The software package Bain can be used for the evaluation of informative hypotheses with respect to the parameters of a wide range of statistical models. For pairs of hypotheses the support in the data is quantified using the approximate adjusted fractional Bayes factor (BF). Currently, the data have to come from one population or have to consist of samples of equal size obtained from multiple populations. If samples of unequal size are obtained from multiple populations, the BF can be shown to be inconsistent. This paper examines how the approach implemented in Bain can be generalized such that multiple-population data can properly be processed. The resulting multiple-population approximate adjusted fractional Bayes factor is implemented in the R package Bain.     

Increased chronic stress predicts greater emotional negativity bias and poorer social skills but not cognitive functioning in healthy adults

Background and Objectives: Chronically stressed individuals report deficits spanning cognitive and emotional functioning. However, limitations to clinical populations and measures of stress have impeded the generalisability and scope of results. This study investigated whether chronic stress predicted cognitive and emotional functioning, and whether these relationships differed between males and females, in a large representative sample of healthy participants.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Method: 1883 healthy adults sampled from the Brain Resource International Database reported stress using the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Participants then completed a cognitive and emotional assessment battery (IntegNeuro), as well as questionnaires related to sleep, emotional functioning, and self-regulation.

Results: In contrast to previously reported results, chronic stress did not predict cognitive functioning. However, higher stress predicted a greater negativity bias and poorer social skills, confirming previous research identifying these links.

Conclusions: Cognitive deficits related to stress are absent in healthy participants when stress is measured using the 21-items Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Identifying how chronic stress is associated with aspects of emotional functioning can lead to personalized interventions for individuals to better manage the negative outcomes resulting from stress.     

The Impact of a Suicide Prevention Program for Adolescents on Suicidal Tendencies,Hopelessness, Ego Identity,and Coping

Three-hundred ninety-three adolescents from six schools participated in a study aimed at examining the effectiveness of an experiential suicide prevention program with regard to suicidal tendencies, hopelessness, ego identity, and coping ability. The subjects were randomly divided into experimental (n = 215) and control (n = 178) groups. The experimental groups took part in seven weekly 2-hour meetings. The program was based on the notion that a gradual, controlled confrontation and exploration of inner experiences and life difficulties related to suicidal behavior accompanied by an emphasis on coping strategies can immunize against self-destructive feelings. In this pretest-posttest design, the students completed questionnaires of suicidal tendencies, hopelessness, ego identity, and coping ability before and after the program. The statistical analyses showed that the experimental groups were superior to the controls, with at least some of the dependent measures pointing out the effectiveness of the program.