Well-being and Coping of Student Veterans Readjusting into Academia: A Pilot Survey

This study explored student veterans coping with transitions to postsecondary education. An instrument using a Tailored Survey Design and an Adult Transitioning Framework was developed to collect coping responses of 13 veterans with deployment experience transitioning to postsecondary education. Results indicated 38% reported difficulty managing finances, 93% utilized military training to manage stressors, and 38% sought environmental supports provided by the university. Findings suggest previous military experiences can be incorporated into occupations supporting individual coping skill development for the transition to postsecondary education. Further research is needed to understand barriers and facilitators of student veteran engagement in university resources.     

Vicissitudes of goal commitment: Satisfaction,investments, and alternatives

Constructs typically used to understand commitment between individuals were used to elucidate individual differences in goal commitment. In Study 1, 299 college students completed assessments of goal satisfaction, investments, alternatives and commitment regarding an academic goal. Structural equation modeling demonstrated confirmatory evidence for satisfaction’s, investments’, and alternatives’ collective impact on people’s goal commitment. In Study 2, the model components were manipulated by having 236 college students considered the goal to learn a new language and read information suggesting they were high or low in satisfaction, investments, and alternatives. Results demonstrated all three factors had a causal impact on people’s level of goal commitment. Both studies found an individual’s level of goal commitment was strongest when satisfaction and investments were high and the impact of alternatives was low.     

Preschoolers’ emotion knowledge: Self-regulatory foundations,and predictions of early school success

Preschoolers (N=322 in preschool, 100 in kindergarten) were assessed longitudinally to examine the self-regulatory roots of emotion knowledge (labelling and situation) and the contributions of emotion knowledge to early school adjustment (i.e., including social, motivational, and behavioural indices), as well as moderation by age, gender, and risk. Age, gender, and risk differences in emotion knowledge were also examined. Emotion knowledge skills were found to be more advanced in older children and those not at economic risk, and in those with higher levels of self-regulation. Overall, the results support the role of emotion knowledge in early school adjustment and academic success even with gender, age, and risk covaried, especially for boys, older preschoolers, and those at economic risk.     

It Only Looks the Same From a Distance: How U.S., Finnish,and Irish Schools Support Struggling Readers

This study examined how U.S., Finnish, and Irish educators identified and supported struggling readers. Using Johnston's (2011) framework for evaluating reading interventions and activity theory (Engeström, 1999), we interviewed educators in four U.S., three Irish, and three Finnish schools. In the United States, the adoption of three beliefs—reductionist reading philosophy, difficulties as cognitive and remediated through instruction, and reading problems as unexpected phenomena—reinforced a skills-driven approach. Irish and Finnish educators adopted a more holistic view of reading, and teachers used formative assessment to support struggling students over extended periods while working collaboratively with other staff. Discussion focuses on how these beliefs influenced divisions of labor, roles and responsibilities, and the urgency with which difficulties were addressed.     

“Drive On”: The Relationship Between Psychological Variables and Effective Squad Leadership

The U.S. Reserve Officer Training Program (ROTC) conducts systematic assessments of cadets’ leadership abilities during field training exercises (FTX) to assess their leadership abilities. While cadets in ROTC programs learn specific tactical operation procedures to augment FTX performances, much less is known about the relationship between psychological variables and squad leadership performance. To this end, 220 cadets completed self-efficacy, psychological flexibility, and grit questionnaires, which were then compared to FTX performance scores. Results underscored that only self-efficacy was significantly related to cadets’ squad leadership ability. Furthermore, prior service in the U.S. Army had no effect on the performance score one attained, highlighting an interesting paradox. Therefore, while self-efficacy can be cultivated through prior experiences, it seems more prudent to educate ROTC cadets on how to apply psychological skills to bolster self-efficacy in preparation for upcoming challenging leadership experiences.     

A Comparison of the Cross-Sectional and Sequential Designs when Assessing Longitudinal Mediation

Mediational studies are often of interest in psychology because they explore the underlying relationship between 2 constructs. Previous research has shown that cross-sectional designs are prone to biased estimates of longitudinal mediation parameters. The sequential design has become a popular alternative to the cross-sectional design for assessing mediation. This design is a compromise between the cross-sectional and longitudinal designs because it incorporates time in the model but has only 1 measurement each of X, M, and Y. As such, this design follows the recommendation of the MacArthur group approach, which stresses the importance of multiple waves of data for studying mediation. These 2 designs were compared to see whether the sequential design assesses longitudinal mediation more accurately than the cross-sectional design. Specifically, analytic expressions are derived for the bias of estimated direct and indirect effects as calculated from the sequential design when the actual mediational process follows a longitudinal autoregressive model. It was found that, in general, the sequential design does not assess longitudinal mediation more accurately than the cross-sectional design. As a result, neither design can be depended on to assess longitudinal mediation accurately.     

Race and Girls’ Self-Evaluations: How Mothering Matters

Research conducted in the United States shows that Black adolescent girls have higher self-esteem and, to a lesser extent, a higher sense of control than White girls. However, few studies conducted with representative samples of Black and White girls systematically examine why Black girls may have higher self-esteem and sense of control. Drawing on Black feminist thought, we posit that Black mothers’ socialization of their daughters may explain Black girls’ higher self-esteem and sense of control. Using survey data collected in 1994 from a nationally representative sample of U.S. Black (N?=?1,330) and White (N?=?3,797) girls and their mothers, we examine racial differences across two key components of the self-concept: self-esteem and sense of control. We ask: 1) Do Black girls have higher self-esteem and sense of control than White girls? 2) Do Black girls have more positive relationships with their mothers and receive more encouragement of academic achievement and independence from their mothers than White girls? and 3) Do more positive mother-daughter relationships and mothers’ encouragement help to explain Black girls’ higher self-esteem and sense of control in comparison to White girls? Findings indicate that Black girls have higher self-esteem and sense of control than White girls, and Black mothers’ relationship with their daughters and stronger encouragement of daughters’ independence in part explain race differences in self-evaluations.     

Exploring the Role of Spirituality in the Context of the Five Factor Model of Personality in a South African Sample

The study explored the relationship between the Five Factor Model of personality and spirituality by using the NEO PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the Spiritual Transcendence Scale (STS) (Piedmont, 1999) respectively. Participants were 94 psychology undergraduate students at a large South African university (mean age = 19.1 years; SD =1.43, males =19, females=75). Data were analyzed using both correlations as well as principal components analysis with varimax rotation. Evidence from both correlations and factor analysis suggest separate domains within the FFM as well as a separate factor for spirituality. These results provide support for claims that aspects of spirituality are not accounted for by the FFM as operationalised by the NEO-PI-R and by implication the FFM may not be a complete taxonomy of personality.     

The Assessment and Treatment of Post-Abortion Syndrome: A Systematic Case Study From Southern Africa

This article reports a clinical case study of “Grace”, a black Zimbabwean woman with post-abortion syndrome (PAS), a form of post-traumatic stress disorder precipitated by aborting an unwanted pregnancy. She was treated by a middle class white South African trainee Clinical Psychologist. The case narrative documents the assessment and the course of treatment which was guided by ongoing case formulation based on current evidence-based models. Factors that made her vulnerable to developing PTSD included active suppression of the memory of the event and lack of social support. An understanding of these factors was used to guide an effective intervention. In spite of the differences in culture and background between client and therapist, there was considerable commonality in their experience as young women and students who each had to balance personal and occupational priorities. The narrative also highlights the commonalities of Grace's experiences with those reported in the literature on post-abortion syndrome, which is mostly from the U. S. A. and Europe.     

Young Children's Memory for the Times of Personal Past Events

Remembering the temporal information associated with personal past events is critical for autobiographical memory, yet we know relatively little about the development of this capacity. In the present research, we investigated temporal memory for naturally occurring personal events in 4-, 6-, and 8-year-old children. Parents recorded unique events in which their children participated during a 4-month period. At test, children made relative recency judgments and estimated the time of each event using conventional time scales (time of day, day of week, month of year, and season). Children also were asked to provide justifications for their time-scale judgments. Six- and 8-year-olds, but not 4-year-olds, accurately judged the order of two distinct events. There were age-related improvements in children's estimation of the time of events using conventional time scales. Older children provided more justifications for their time-scale judgments compared with younger children. Relations between correct responding on the time-scale judgments and provision of meaningful justifications suggest that children may use that information to reconstruct the times associated with past events. The findings can be used to chart a developmental trajectory of performance in temporal memory for personal past events and have implications for our understanding of autobiographical memory development.