Evaluation of a Parent‐Based Intervention for At‐Risk Adolescents

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a parent‐based intervention, the Parent Project, among 84 parents of at‐risk youth. Results indicated improvements in child management, family involvement, parent–child affective quality, substance use rules communication, and parental self‐efficacy at a 10‐week follow‐up.     

Posttraumatic Growth in Trauma Recollections of 9/11 Survivors: A Narrative Approach

The relationship between posttraumatic growth (PTG) and adaptation is unclear. This study is the first to examine PTG in trauma narratives of survivors of the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks. Participants recalled their experiences 7 and 18 months post 9/11, and content analysis was conducted to detect PTG. Posttraumatic stress was also measured. PTG was commonly reported. Relating to others and positivity were frequent in the PTSD and non-PTSD group, although less frequent over time in the PTSD. Greater appreciation for life was reported by the non-PTSD group but relatively absent in the PTSD group. Women but not men reported relating to others across time. It appears that there are distinct profiles of growth implicated in distress and adaptation.     

Individual Differences in Accurately Judging Personality From Text

This research examines correlates of accuracy in judging Big Five traits from first‐person text excerpts. Participants in six studies were recruited from psychology courses or online. In each study, participants performed a task of judging personality from text and performed other ability tasks and/or filled out questionnaires. Participants who were more accurate in judging personality from text were more likely to be female; had personalities that were more agreeable, conscientious, and feminine, and less neurotic and dominant (all controlling for participant gender); scored higher on empathic concern; self‐reported more interest in, and attentiveness to, people's personalities in their daily lives; and reported reading more for pleasure, especially fiction. Accuracy was not associated with SAT scores but had a significant relation to vocabulary knowledge. Accuracy did not correlate with tests of judging personality and emotion based on audiovisual cues. This research is the first to address individual differences in accurate judgment of personality from text, thus adding to the literature on correlates of the good judge of personality.     

Attachment Orientations: Predicting Psychological Distress in German and Turkish Samples

This study examined the relationship between attachment orientations and psychological distress, as well as cultural moderation in this relationship, among 241 university students from Germany and Turkey. Attachment orientations predicted the elevation of psychological distress in both samples. Attachment anxiety in the German sample and attachment avoidance in the Turkish sample showed stronger association with the elevation in psychological distress. The results and potential implications for counseling research and practice are discussed.     

Religio‐Spiritual Participation in Two American Indian Populations

Following a previous investigation of religio‐spiritual beliefs in American Indians, this article examined prevalence and correlates of religio‐spiritual participation in two tribes in the Southwest and Northern Plains (N = 3,084). Analysis suggested a “religious profile” characterized by strong participation across three traditions: aboriginal, Christian, and Native American Church. However, sociodemographic variables that have reliably predicted participation in the general American population, notably gender and age, frequently failed to achieve significance in multivariate analyses for each tradition. Religio‐spiritual participation was strongly and significantly related to belief salience for all traditions. Findings suggest that correlates of religious participation may be unique among American Indians, consistent with their distinctive religious profile. Results promise to inform researchers’ efforts to understand and theorize about religio‐spiritual behavior. They also provide tribal communities with practical information that might assist them in harnessing social networks to confront collective challenges through community‐based participatory research collaborations.     

Needs‐Based Assessment: A Model for Profiling,Assisting, and Empowering Job Seekers

Needs‐based assessment (NBA) was developed in New Zealand to assess job seekers’ capacity, willingness, and opportunity to find work. This article outlines the development of NBA from its theoretical underpinnings, evidence from a longitudinal study and the development of an employment adviser–administered computerized profiling tool, and the provision of self‐assessment and support tools. The authors argue that, with a rise in the number of unemployed job seekers and the long‐term unemployed, demands for government resources with less resources available to satisfy those demands, and the widespread adoption of social and interactive media, it is timely to revisit an NBA approach to job seeker profiling and targeted intervention.     

Belief,Credence, and Pragmatic Encroachment1

This paper compares two alternative explanations of pragmatic encroachment on knowledge (i.e., the claim that whether an agent knows that p can depend on pragmatic factors). After reviewing the evidence for such pragmatic encroachment, we ask how it is best explained, assuming it obtains. Several authors have recently argued that the best explanation is provided by a particular account of belief, which we call pragmatic credal reductivism. On this view, what it is for an agent to believe a proposition is for her credence in this proposition to be above a certain threshold, a threshold that varies depending on pragmatic factors. We show that while this account of belief can provide an elegant explanation of pragmatic encroachment on knowledge, it is not alone in doing so, for an alternative account of belief, which we call the reasoning disposition account, can do so as well. And the latter account, we argue, is far more plausible than pragmatic credal reductivism, since it accords far better with a number of claims about belief that are very hard to deny.