Understanding Young Adults’ Reports of Contact with their Parents in a Digital World: Psychological and Familial Relationship Factors

Continued involvement of parents in the lives of young adults is a topic of great interest to both scholars and the lay public. Although young adults’ astounding use of cell phones, texting, video chat, and social media in negotiating their social relationships is well documented, few studies have examined the role of different types of communications technology in facilitating young adults’ involvement with their parents. Researchers have begun to examine familial and psychological correlates of parental involvement for college students, but existing studies offer mixed results. The present study examined college students’ reports of frequency of contact with parents using different types of communications technology and examined familial relationship and individual well-being factors associated with young adults’ reports of frequent parental contact. College students (N = 326) completed measures of frequency of contact with mothers and fathers using seven types of communications technology, the quality of family relationships (felt obligation towards parents and family satisfaction) and individual well-being (self-esteem, depressed mood, and general psychological well-being). Phone calls and texting were the two most popular methods of parental contact reported by college students. Level of self-reported contact with parents was not significantly related to participants’ reports of self-esteem, depressed mood, or general well-being. Results of multinomial logistic regression analyses indicated that higher levels of felt obligation and family satisfaction meaningfully distinguished between young adults who reported frequent and infrequent parental contact. Our results indicate the importance of understanding young adults’ reports of parental contact within the context of ongoing family relationships.     

Beauty is as Beauty Does?: Makeup and Posture Effects on Physical Attractiveness Judgments1

Recent studies have examined human beauty as a biological, structural trait. This view of beauty is incomplete because it does not consider the amount of variability in beauty judgments attributable to self-presentation strategies. This study was designed to estimate the importance of self-presentation practices on beauty judgments. For women within plus or minus one standard deviation of average facial attractiveness, makeup effect size estimates were comparable to previously published estimates of the importance of structural factors in attractiveness judgments. Similarly, for average weight stimuli, posture was comparable to body build in influencing attractiveness judgments. Implications for personal appearance businesses, health psychology, and counseling practice are discussed.     

A Cluster Analytic Study of Clinical Orientations Among Chemical Dependency Counselors

Three distinct clinical orientations were identified in a sample of chemical dependency counselors (N = 406). Based on cluster analysis, the largest group, identified and labeled as “uniform counselors,” endorsed a simple, moral‐disease model with little interest in psychosocial interventions. A 2nd group, identified as “multiform counselors,” embraced an incongruent moral‐disease‐psychosocial model, and valued a myriad of treatment approaches. The smallest group, labeled “client‐directed counselors,” did not fully endorse Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) principles, valued non‐coercive treatment, and recognized coexisting psychopathology in clients. Results from a discriminant function analysis provided evidence to support the 3‐group cluster solution.     

Impact of Worry on Career Thoughts,Career Decision State,and Cognitive Information Processing Skills

Sixty-nine Amazon Mechanical Turk workers completed the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Berle et al., 2011), the Career Thoughts Inventory (Sampson et al., 1996a), and the Career State Inventory (Leierer et al., 2017). Worry was significantly correlated with negative career thinking and its dimensions of decision-making confusion and commitment anxiety, with readiness and its dimensions of clarity and certainty, and with the self-assessed cognitive information processing skills of self-knowledge, options knowledge, decision-making, and executive processing. Worry was also found to predict the degree of readiness for career decision-making, negative career thinking, and cognitive information processing requisite skills.     

Barriers to Computerized Career Interventions in Community Outreach Centers

This study used a survey design to investigate if computer experience and computer attitudes influence whether economically marginalized individuals desire access to computerized career services in community outreach centers. The majority (84%) of the sample reported a desire for access to computerized career services at community outreach centers. A multiple regression analysis indicated computer attitudes as most predictive of intention to use computerized career services (β = .29, p < .01). Results support extending access to computerized career services in community outreach centers to meet the needs of economically marginalized individuals.     

Understanding and supporting the career implications of international assignments

International assignments represent an important form of migration in the global economy. In contrast to most other migrants, international assignees enjoy a relatively privileged position in the labor market. Authored by a diverse team of academics and practitioners, this paper draws on insights from empirical research and unpublished examples from practice to explore how international assignees can be supported before, during and after the international assignment. We move beyond the traditional expatriate cycle as a frame of reference, arguing that many of the challenges from the individual perspective are continuous, often pertinent well before and well after the assignment. We call for a reframing of career support for international assignees to reflect the reality of the experience. We propose that future studies of the impact of international assignments on career use more sophisticated methods including longitudinal studies of career trajectories and experiences of support practices. (138)     

Introversion-Extraversion, Self-Monitoring, and Applicant Performance in a Situational Panel Interview: A Field Study

This study investigated relationships between applicant introversion-extraversion, self-monitoring, and performance in a situational panel interview. Police officers applying for promotion to the rank of sergeant in a metropolitan police department participated in a selection interview and completed a personality questionnaire. Results showed self-monitoring moderated the relation between introversion-extraversion and interview performance. As predicted, the relationship was stronger for low self-monitors than for high self-monitors. Extraverted, high self-monitoring and introverted, low self-monitoring promotion candidates were rated highest by selection interview panelists.