Teacher,parent and student perceptions of the motives of cyberbullies

Understanding the motivation of students who cyberbully is important for both prevention and intervention efforts for this insidious form of bullying. This qualitative exploratory study used focus groups to examine the views of teachers, parents and students as to the motivation of students who cyberbully and who bully in other traditional forms. In addition, these groups were asked to explain their understanding of what defines bullying and cyberbullying. The results suggested that not only were there differences in definitions of cyberbullying and bullying between the three groups, but also that there were differences in perceptions of what motivates some youth to cyberbully. The implications of these results are discussed for both prevention and intervention strategies.     

Adolescent Girls and Their Mothers Talk About Experiences of Binge and Loss of Control Eating

Evidence suggests that adolescents’ experience of binge eating (BE) might differ in important ways from that of adults. Moreover, although BE appears more common in African American women than other disordered eating behaviors, little is known about the influence of cultural factors on this behavior in adolescents. The current investigation used qualitative methodology to examine the perceptions of White and African American adolescent girls and their mothers regarding experiences of binge and loss of control eating. Five focus groups were completed with 19 adolescent girls (aged 13–17, 58 % African American, 41 % White) who endorsed loss of control eating behaviors. Their mothers (N = 19) also completed separate, concurrent focus groups addressing food and eating behaviors. Responses to focus group questions were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. Adolescents’ awareness of their eating behaviors varied greatly. Girls reported some awareness of how emotions influence their eating behaviors, and described using food to achieve autonomy. Mothers evidenced awareness of their daughters’ problematic eating behaviors, the effects of emotions on eating for both their daughters and themselves, and sociocultural factors influencing diet. Data from these focus groups can inform the development of innovative interventions for adolescent girls engaging in loss of control eating.     

What’s it all about? A qualitative study of meaning in life for counseling psychology doctoral students

The interviews of 10 female counseling psychology doctoral students regarding their views about meaning in life (MIL) were analyzed using consensual qualitative research. The participants defined MIL as goals or purposes, were actively involved in searching for meaning, and believed that MIL had been stimulated by life-changing experiences and culture. On a personal level, they gained meaning from relationships, personal growth, and religion/spirituality. On a professional level, they gained meaning from providing therapy, conducting research, and teaching. As therapists, participants approached MIL indirectly by asking about client goals/motivations or by focusing on other clinical problems that if resolved would enhance MIL. Implications for doctoral training and for psychotherapy are offered.     

Comparing two career adaptability measures for career construction theory: Relations with boundaryless mindset and protean career attitudes

We examined the constructs underlying the Career Maturity Inventory-Adaptability Form (CMI-C) and the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS). Data from 852 university students indicated that the second-order factors for both scales correlate .43, suggesting that they measure different yet related constructs. All three subscales of the CMI-C correlate most with the “concern” subscale of the CAAS rather than with the corresponding subscale. It appears that the CMI-C is a measure of particular career adaptability for choosing a career whereas the CAAS is a global measure of career adaptability for dealing with all of the tasks of vocational development across the life span. Regression analyses show that the CMI-C does not add to the prediction of boundaryless mindset and protean career attitudes over the CAAS. Relationships between the CMI-C and CAAS with entrepreneurial, professional, and leadership career motivation profiles showed that the CAAS is more strongly related to boundaryless mindset and protean career attitudes, while the CMI-C appears to relate to more traditional (professional and leadership) career motivations.     

Sexual Hookups and Alcohol Consumption Among African American and Caucasian College Students: A Pilot Study

This study investigated college students’ sexual hooking up and its associations with alcohol consumption for men and women; furthermore, potential differences related to ethnicity were investigated. Students at a midsized southeastern university who identified as Caucasian or African American (N = 227) completed a survey assessing sexual behavior, demographics, and alcohol consumption. Heavy drinking was associated with ever hooking up, number of hookup partners, hookup frequency, and level of sexual contact during hooking up for Caucasian students, but not for their African American peers. Among Caucasians, moderate drinking men reported more intense sexual contact during hookups than their female peers who were moderate drinkers; sexual contact levels were more similar for men and women who were either nondrinkers or heavy drinkers. Limitations and strengths are discussed, as are ideas for future studies on hooking up and for educational efforts to protect against potentially negative outcomes of hooking up.     

Integrating Narrative Family Therapy in an Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Program: A Case Study

Adolescent mental health is a significant societal concern in the United States. Diagnosable mental health disorders have been reported at rates of 10–20 % among children and adolescents and this does not include adolescents experiencing personal and interpersonal distress not meeting diagnostic criteria. Adolescents who do not respond to traditional mental health services are often placed in residential treatment centers or other out-of-home treatment programs. Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare (OBH) is growing as a viable treatment option for adolescents who struggle with emotional, behavioral or substance related problems; however, questions have been raised about how to integrate the family into an OBH treatment setting. This article describes a case study illustrating how techniques from Narrative Family Therapy can be used to accomplish this integration, and offers a view of using Narrative Family Therapy to further involve families in the treatment and post-treatment process in an OBH program.     

Aqua vitae,aqua permanens: dreaming,drowning, swimming and surfing in analysis

In response to the question ‘Who is My Jung?’, this paper describes the profound personal impact of Jung's creative / artistic approach to the unconscious, beginning with my discovery of The Red Book at the age of twelve. Echoing the flow of my own dream‐life, I trace the course of two analyses through the alchemical process of solutio, which began with numinous dreams of tidal waves and plunged us into inter‐ and intra‐psychic analytic relationships that evoked vestigial memories of our first aquatic world in utero.     

Explaining the effects of a decision intervention on mammography intentions: The roles of worry,fear and perceived susceptibility to breast cancer

Objective: This study examines the effects of a mammography decision intervention on perceived susceptibility to breast cancer (PSBC) and emotion and investigates how these outcomes predict mammography intentions.

Design: Randomised between-subjects online experiment. Participants were stratified into two levels of risk. Within each stratum, conditions included a basic information condition and six decision intervention conditions that included personalised risk estimates and varied according to a 2 (amount of information: brief vs. extended) × 3 (format: expository vs. untailored exemplar vs. tailored exemplar) design. Participants included 2465 US women ages 35–49.

Main Outcome Measures: PSBC as a percentage, PSBC as a frequency, worry, fear and mammography intentions.

Results: The intervention resulted in significant reductions in PSBC as a percentage for women in both strata and significant increases in worry and fear for women in the upper risk stratum. Of the possible mediators examined, only PSBC as a percentage was a consistent mediator of the effect of the intervention on mammography intentions.

Conclusion: The results provide insight into the mechanism of action of the intervention by showing that PSBC mediated the effects of the intervention on mammography intentions.     

Coercion in Groups: Finding One's Voice; Knowing One's Mind

Groups develop standards to facilitate their function and yet the standards that evolve are not always in line with the explicit task of the group. Group pressures and anxieties can move towards relief of strain in ways that may actually oppose the group's intended goals. The larger the group, the more difficult it may be to catch hold of relatively invisible coercive forces that guide behaviour. As Bion (1977 Bion, W. R. 1977. Seven Servants, New York: Jason Aronson.  [Google Scholar]) notes, group pressures tend to move towards cohesion and tradition, and away from the new idea that ultimately might be productive but would also be disregulating. Although clinicians learn about tensions between the individual and the group from a theoretical perspective, engaging with these tensions actively and reflectively can enhance both our understanding and our practice, as we discover ways in which we are buffeted by and at times succumb to these same processes. As a way of considering some of the more subtle ways in which we may find ourselves behaving out of line with our own integrity in relation to encounters with implicit group demands, I will use some of my own experiences in a group setting to highlight and illustrate some of these coercive forces that may work against the integration of new ideas in group settings.