The Listening Partners Program: An Initiative Toward Feminist Community Psychology in Action

The Listening Partners intervention is described and analyzed as a synthesis of feminism and community psychology, within a developmental framework. Working from an empowerment perspective, this social action, peer group intervention supported a community of poor, rural, isolated, young, White mothers to gain a greater voice, claim the powers of their minds, and collaborate in developmental leadership—creating settings that promote their own development and that of their families, peers, and communities. High quality dialogue, individual and group narrative, and collaborative problem-solving were emphasized, in a feminist context affirming diversity, inclusiveness, strengths, social-contextual analyses, and social constructivist perspectives. The power of enacting a synergy of feminism and community psychology is highlighted.     

The Relationship Between Family Factors and Adolescent Substance Use in Rural, Suburban, and Urban Settings

We tested the relationships and predictive power of family factors on rural, suburban, and urban adolescent substance use. A representative statewide survey of 11th grade students for gender, place of residence, and ethnicity was conducted. No significant differences were found between rural, suburban, and urban adolescents for substance use. For family sanction variables across all locations, adolescent substance involvement was significantly lower the more they perceived their families would stop them or care if they got drunk, smoked cigarettes, or used marijuana. Rural and suburban youth who reported that their parents talked to them about the dangers of smoking and getting drunk were less involved in substance use. While controlling for location, gender, and ethnicity, regression analyses showed that family sanctions against smoking cigarettes and marijuana explained a modest proportion of the variance in substance use. Finally, family talking about the dangers of cigarettes, family involvement in schools and belief that their families cared about them predicted lower substance use regardless of location, although minimal variance was explained. The findings have implications for social service providers regarding location settings, prevention, education, and intervention programming.     

Predicting Children's Recall of a Dental Procedure: Contributions of Stress,Preparation, and Dental History

We examined the extent to which three predictors of children's recall, selected on the basis of their theoretical significance, contributed to the prediction of children's recall for the details of dental operative procedures in a diverse sample of 28 children (54–140 months of age). Parents provided information regarding their children's dental histories and preparation for the dental visit. We obtained behavioral indices of stress from video recordings of the procedures and interviewed the children shortly after treatment to assess their memory. In a significant model predicting open‐ended recall, measures of prior dental experience and parent discussion emerged as unique predictors, although stress did not add to the prediction. The results attest to the importance of incorporating measures of individual differences in investigations of children's reports of their personal experiences. We discuss the importance of children's interpretations in understanding memory for stressful events.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Making sense of ourselves: self-narratives and personal identity

Some philosophers take personal identity to be a matter of self-narrative. I argue, to the contrary, that self-narrative views cannot stand alone as views of personal (or numerical) identity. First, I consider Dennett’s self-narrative view, according to which selves are fictional characters—abstractions, like centers of gravity—generated by brains. Neural activity is to be interpreted from the intentional stance as producing a story. I argue that this is implausible. The inadequacy is masked by Dennett’s ambiguous use of ‘us’: sometimes ‘us’ refers to real human beings, and sometimes ‘us’ refers to selves or fictional characters. Second, I consider Schechtmann’s view that self-narratives create persons (in the sense that she calls ‘characterization’ or personality. I argue that the sense in which a self-narrative creates a person cannot stand on its own: a person must already exist (in the sense of numerical identity) in order for there to be a self-narrative. Finally, I offer my own account of persons.     

Detecting Duplication in Students’ Research Data: A Method and Illustration

Research integrity is core to the mission of higher education. In undergraduate student samples, self-reported rates of data fabrication have been troublingly high. Despite this, no research has investigated undergraduate data fabrication in a more systematic manner. We applied duplication screening techniques to 18 data sets submitted by psychology honors students for assessment. Although we did not identify any completely duplicated cases, there were numerous partial duplicates. Rather than indicating fabrication, however, these partial duplicates are likely a consequence of poor measure selection, insufficient data screening, and/or participant characteristics. Implications for the teaching and supervision of honors students are discussed.     

On the Disambiguation of Meaning and the Effect of Cognitive Load

Most research supports a non-selective (or exhaustive) account of activation whereby multiple meanings of a word are initially activated (Degani and Tokowicz Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 1266-1303, 2010). But what happens to the non-selected meaning of an ambiguous word (e.g., bark) and how is the decision made to select one meaning over the other? A great deal of research by Gernsbacher and colleagues (e.g., Gernsbacher and Faust 1991a) suggests that the non-selected meaning is “discarded” via active suppression. The present paper examines meaning-selection in ambiguous words using a word to elicit meaning context (rather than a sentence). Additionally, a manipulation of cognitive load (Experiment 2) was employed to examine these processes. Results support a suppression account of meaning selection. An updated conceptualization of ambiguity resolution is proposed.     

Learning to Heal from Those Who Know! The “Lived” Experience of a Peer Support Program for Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma

This study explored the dual phenomenon of experiencing a peer support residential trauma program from the perspective of (a) a client, and (b) a facilitator. It sought both positive and negative subjective interpretations. Participants were former clients and current facilitators of the program. Data were collected through a focus group, and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. One superordinate theme, altruistic growth, overarched 2 subordinate themes. The first, modeling through respect, included subthemes of respect and hope and empowerment. The second subordinate theme, reciprocal model of care, encapsulated personal challenges such as facing the mirror, old demons, and burnout and breaking points. Conversely, participants mused on these challenges as opportunities for further healing through opportunities for self-nurturing and gratitude. Implications for treatment of adult survivors of childhood trauma are discussed. For facilitators, the program was seen as offering further personal reflection and a giving forward that was interpreted as altruistic growth.     

Circumstance of Birth: Life on the Color Line

The article describes how my privileged social-location in a White, middle-class suburb shaped my interest in unpacking White privilege and White blindness. I define and elaborate on the implications of one’s “social location.” In unpacking the influences from, and implications of, my social location, I describe the development of a clinical attitude that aims at inclusive dialogue, with special emphasis on humility, dignity, and emotional courage.     

A threat to Canadian national security: a lesbian soldier’s story

Before 1992, lesbians and gay soldiers were purged and discharged from the Canadian military for “reasons of homosexuality.” Those caught or suspected of homosexuality were subject to lengthy, humiliating, and degrading interrogations. This short story sheds light on this painful past. It is based on findings of a nationally funded pan-Canadian longitudinal study examining how Canadian military policies and practices influenced the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender soldiers and their partners. In total, 126 people were interviewed. While in the military, countless soldiers were investigated, numerous interrogated, many lost their careers, some committed suicide and others survived. Personal details have been changed to ensure the anonymity of the people, but it is their voices that tell this story. An official state apology was delivered November 28, 2017. Due to an impending class action court case, an agreement for compensation was also reached. Compensation and memorials will be forthcoming to those who were affected by the LGBTQI2+ purge campaign. To this day, no evidence exits that these soldiers were “ever” a threat to national security.