Stress,Self‐Esteem,Hope, Optimism,and Well‐Being in Urban,Ethnic Minority Adolescents

This study examined hope, optimism, self‐esteem, social support, stress, and indices of subjective well‐being (SWB) in 137 low‐income, urban, ethnic minority adolescents. Hope, optimism, and self‐esteem were significant predictors of SWB indices, but stress predicted only 1 SWB index: negative affect. No moderators of stress and negative affect were identified. Este estudio examinó la esperanza, optimismo, autoestima, apoyo social, estrés e índices de bienestar subjetivo (SWB, por sus siglas en inglés) de 137 adolescentes urbanos de minorías étnicas y bajo nivel de ingresos. La esperanza, el optimismo y la autoestima fueron indicadores de predicción de los índices de SWB, pero el estrés predijo solamente un índice de SWB: el afecto negativo. No se identificaron moderadores del estrés y el afecto negativo.     

Computer scoring of the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale

The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS; Lane, Quinlan, Schwartz, Walker, & Zeitlan, 1990) is the most commonly used measure of differentiation and complexity in the use of emotion words and is associated with important clinical outcomes. Hand scoring the LEAS is time consuming. Existing programs for scoring open-ended responses cannot mimic LEAS hand scoring. Therefore, Leaf and Barchard (2006) developed the Program for Open-Ended Scoring (POES) to score the LEAS. In this article, we report a study in which the reliability and validity of POES scoring were examined. In the study, we used three participant types (adult community members, university students, children), three LEAS versions (paper based, computer based, and the LEAS for children), and a diverse set of criterion variables. Across this variety of conditions, the four POES scoring methods had internal consistencies and validities that were comparable to hand scoring, indicating that POES scoring can be used in clinical practice and other applied settings in which hand scoring is impractical.     

Framing Persuasive Appeals: Episodic and Thematic Framing, Emotional Response, and Policy Opinion

Those seeking to frame political issues to their advantage recognize the power of emotional appeals. Yet the study of framing has focused mainly on the cognitive effects of framing rather than on its emotional effects. This study presents the results of two experiments designed to explore the effect of episodic and thematic framing on emotional response and policy opinion. Participants were randomly assigned to read a column arguing against mandatory minimum sentencing that employed either a thematic or one of two episodic frames featuring a woman who received a harsh sentence under the policy. Episodic framing was more emotionally engaging. Furthermore, the specific emotions elicited by the episodic frame—sympathy and pity for the woman featured in the column—were associated with increased opposition to mandatory minimum sentencing. Yet the thematic frame was actually more persuasive once this indirect effect of frame on emotional response was taken into account. The results are consistent with the conclusion that framing effects on policy opinion operate through both affective and cognitive channels. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.     

Perspectives of Women College Athletes on Sport and Gender

Although sport access for females has greatly improved, certain behaviors continue to be considered more or less appropriate for females depending upon how compatible they are with biologically or socially constructed female characteristics. However, young women who have grown up playing sports and continue participation at the college level have constructed meanings about being a young woman and an athlete. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed to investigate how seven gymnasts and seven softball players competing in NCAA Division I athletics view and contend with a “female/athlete paradox.” These women recognized preferred femininity and at times constructed images based on this notion. However, they also embraced their athleticism and felt at ease choosing not to perform femininity in some contexts.     

One-session treatment of specific phobias: a detailed description and review of treatment efficacy

One-Session Treatment (OST) is a form of massed exposure therapy for the treatment of specific phobias. OST combines exposure, participant modeling, cognitive challenges, and reinforcement in a single session, maximized to three hours. Clients are gradually exposed to steps of their fear hierarchy using therapist-directed behavioral experiments. Although there are several studies in the literature examining the efficacy of OST, little has been done to summarize this research. In the following review, research on and empirical support for OST are reviewed with an emphasis on the types of stimuli, samples, and methodologies utilized. Research generally supports OST's efficacy, although replication by independent examiners using adult and child samples is needed using more rigorous comparisons (e.g., psychological placebo or other treatments). Overall, OST continues to be a promising treatment for specific phobias; however, a great deal more investigation is needed to identify mechanisms of change, mediators, and moderators.     

Three-year follow-up of same-sex couples who had civil unions in Vermont, same-sex couples not in civil unions, and heterosexual married couples

This study was a 3-year follow-up of 65 male and 138 female same-sex couples who had civil unions in Vermont during the 1st year of that legislation. These couples were compared with 23 male and 61 female same-sex couples in their friendship circles who did not have civil unions and with 55 heterosexual married couples (1 member of each was a sibling to a member of a civil union couple). Despite the legalized nature of their relationships, civil union couples did not differ on any measure from same-sex couples who were not in civil unions. However, same-sex couples not in civil unions were more likely to have ended their relationships than same-sex civil union or heterosexual married couples. Compared with heterosexual married participants, both types of same-sex couples reported greater relationship quality, compatibility, and intimacy and lower levels of conflict. Longitudinal predictors of relationship quality at Time 2 included less conflict, greater level of outness, and a shorter relationship length for men in same-sex relationships and included less conflict and more frequent sex for women in same-sex relationships at Time 1.     

Using confirmatory factor analysis to understand executive control in preschool children: I. Latent structure

Although many tasks have been developed recently to study executive control in the preschool years, the constructs that underlie performance on these tasks are poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear whether executive control is composed of multiple, separable cognitive abilities (e.g., inhibition and working memory) or whether it is unitary in nature. A sample of 243 normally developing children between 2.3 and 6 years of age completed a battery of age-appropriate executive control tasks. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare multiple models of executive control empirically. A single-factor, general model was sufficient to account for the data. Furthermore, the fit of the unitary model was invariant across subgroups of children divided by socioeconomic status or sex. Girls displayed a higher level of latent executive control than boys, and children of higher and lower socioeconomic status did not differ in level. In typically developing preschool children, tasks conceptualized as indexes of working memory and inhibitory control in fact measured a single cognitive ability, despite surface differences between task characteristics.     

Family climate of routine asthma care: associating perceived burden and mother-child interaction patterns to child well-being

This preliminary report links the literatures on family asthma management practices and on the characteristics of family interaction patterns thought to influence children's adjustment to a chronic physical illness. Specifically, this study of 60 families with a child with asthma examined the extent to which perceived burden of routine asthma care affected child mental health via its influence on parent-child interaction patterns. Mothers completed a measure of asthma management routine burden, mother and child were observed in a 15-minute interaction task, and children completed measures of child anxiety and asthma quality of life (QOL). Perceived routine burden significantly predicted child anxiety and QOL through its effect on mother-child rejection/criticism. The same pattern did not hold for mother intrusiveness/control. The results are discussed in terms of how overall family climate and regulation of routines affects child well-being. Implications for clinical practice and limitations of the study are provided.