Self-Disclosure and Spiritual Well-Being in Pastors Seeking Professional Psychological Help

Pastoral mental health is a topic that has only rarely been researched empirically in the psychological literature, yet a pastor’s mental health can have a significant impact on churches, communities, and even nations (Royal and Thompson, Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 31(3), 195–204, 2012). One of the thoughts prompting this research is that evangelical pastors might be expected to resist the findings of psychological research and lack understanding of specific mental illnesses they are potentially facing. Combined with historical and cultural dynamics that could influence resistance to professional psychological help, evangelical pastors have personal, internal factors that could also strengthen resistance, including the researched issues of self-disclosure flexibility and spiritual well-being. A correlational research design with multivariate regression was used to determine potentially significant or predictive relationships between the relevant factors. Among evangelical seminary students (N = 251) preparing for parish-based pastoral ministry, this research determined that no significant relationship, predictive or otherwise, existed between self-disclosure flexibility, spiritual well-being, and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Implications include a shift in focus toward external factors influencing pastors’ help-seeking attitudes, such as the need for the mental health community to develop connections with evangelical pastors and the development of more support for Christian mental health professionals in the larger evangelical community.     

No evidence for binding of items to task-irrelevant backgrounds in visual working memory

When representing visual features such as color and shape in visual working memory (VWM), participants also represent the locations of those features as a spatial configuration of the locations of those features in the display. In everyday life, we encounter objects against some background, yet it is unclear whether the configural representation in memory obligatorily constitutes the entire display, including that (often task-irrelevant) background information. In three experiments, participants completed a change detection task on color and shape; the memoranda were presented in front of uniform gray backgrounds, a textured background (Exp. 1), or a background containing location placeholders (Exps. 2 and 3). When whole-display probes were presented, changes to the objects’ locations or feature bindings impacted memory performance—implying that the spatial configuration of the probes influenced participants’ change decisions. Furthermore, when only a single item was probed, the effect of changing its location or feature bindings was either diminished or completely extinguished, implying that single probes do not necessarily elicit the entire spatial configuration. Critically, when task-irrelevant backgrounds were also presented that may have provided a spatial configuration for the single probes, the effect of location or bindings was not moderated. These findings suggest that although the spatial configuration of a display guides VWM-based recognition, this information does not necessarily always influence the decision process during change detection.     

Does Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Reduce Maternal Stress,Anxiety, and Depression Among Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Maternal stress, anxiety, and depression are associated with ineffective parenting strategies for families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). We present the use of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) with three mother-child dyads to reduce maternal stress, anxiety, and depression and child disruptive behavior in children with ASD. Results included increases in positive parenting skills, and decreases in maternal anxiety, depression, and stress, as well as child behavior problems. PCIT is a promising alternative to more intensive and costly interventions, both at reducing disruptive behaviors and improving maternal health. Implications of PCIT for dyads affected by ASD are discussed.     

“Unbearable Knowledge”: Managing Cultural Trauma at the Royal Commission

Beginning in 2013, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (referred to as the Royal Commission) bought to public consciousness a history of child sexual exploitation that contradicts dearly held values of the preciousness and innocence of childhood and the trust of public organizations. The Royal Commission has publically validated the trauma that victims have experienced across institutions. It has also identified and raised the issue of a symptomatology of cultural trauma at work in community and public life. Using the work of contemporary trauma theorists and applying it to one hearing held in Victoria in May 2015, this paper suggests that collective trauma can shape cultural identity and influence the quality of communal life.     

Determining the Effectiveness of an Alcohol Intervention Program With Greek College Students

The authors examined the perception of college students from Greek organizations on the effectiveness of an alcohol intervention program that included gender‐specific programming. Significant reductions in risky alcohol use were found in men who attended and evaluated the program as helpful.     

Self-Presentation in Exercise Contexts: Differences Between High and Low Frequency Exercisers

The present study investigated the relationship between cognitive manifestations of self-presentation (social physique anxiety, self-presentational efficacy, impression motivation, and exercise imagery) and exercise behavior in 235 female exercisers. Each participant completed the Social Physique Anxiety Scale, a measure of self-presentational efficacy, the impression motivation subscale of the Self-Presentation in Exercise Questionnaire, and the Exercise Imagery Questionnaire. The results of a MANCOVA indicated high-frequency exercisers reported higher levels of efficacy expectancy, outcome value, and exercise imagery than did low-frequency exercisers. Semi-partial correlations showed efficacy expectancy, outcome expectancy, and appearance imagery each accounted for significant variance in social physique anxiety, independent of other predictors. Self-presentational efficacy expectancy appears to be a potent variable in both exercise behavior and social physique anxiety.     

The effects of rapport‐building style on children's reports of a staged event

Three‐ to nine‐year‐old children (n=144) interacted with a photographer and were interviewed about the event either a week or a month later. The informativeness and accuracy of information provided following either open‐ended or direct rapport building were compared. Children in the open‐ended rapport‐building condition provided more accurate reports than children in the direct rapport‐building condition after both short and long delays. Open‐ended rapport‐building led the three‐ to four‐year‐olds to report more errors in response to the first recall question about the event, but they went on to provide more accurate reports in the rest of the interview than counterparts in the direct rapport‐building condition. These results suggest that forensic interviewers should attempt to establish rapport with children using an open‐ended style. Published in 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Body image change in obese and overweight women enrolled in a weight-loss intervention: the importance of perceived versus actual physical changes

Using the exercise and self-esteem model as a guiding framework, this study examined variables related to body image change among 88 overweight and obese women (M(age)=28.4±7.8; M(BMI)=31.6±3.5) participating in a 16-week diet and exercise weight-loss intervention. Measures of body image and potential mechanisms of body image change (actual and perceived physical changes, self-efficacy) were administered at baseline, Weeks 8 and 16. Body image improved significantly over the study time-points (ps<.001). Perceived physical changes accounted for most explained variance (12-37%) in body image change (total R(2)(adj)=.21-.50). Improved perceptions of body fat were a particularly important predictor in each model (ps≤.04). Results support the notion that to improve body image, perceived changes to the body are more important than actual changes. Such information is integral to developing theories to explain body image change and interventions to maximize it.     

Steering a new course for deception detection research

Vrij and Granhag (2012) argue for a new direction in deception research based on structuring interviews in ways that more consistently elicit cues to deception. Although we find ourselves in general agreement, we believe there are several additional issues for researchers to consider. We emphasize the need to examine whether the proposed interview techniques lead to potential tradeoffs between information elicitation and deception detection, the importance of individual differences that may moderate previously obtained results, and the value of pursuing a goal of theoretical refinement alongside application development.