Moderator influences of informal experimenter support

This study examined the effect of experimenter support during an intensive 1-year research project on teenage mothers and their infants at 1 and 3 years of age. A variety of information concerning the infants' developmental levels, the mothers' psychological and sociological status, and the mother-infant interaction was collected at both ages. Results indicated that the positive effects of informal support at 1 year of age were no longer evident in mother or child 2 years later. The findings are discussed in light of the effects of observational research and possible implications for intervention programs for teenage mothers.     

The Allure of Aphrodite: How Gender‐Congruent Media Portrayals Impact Adult Women's Possible Future Selves

This study investigated how media exposure affects how noncollege women envision their futures. Over 5 days, a prolonged exposure experiment presented childless women (aged 21–35) with magazine portrayals of females in gender‐congruent (mother/homemaker or beauty ideals) or gender‐incongruent (professional) social roles. Responses to an open‐ended question revealed that 3 days after media exposure, only gender‐congruent roles remained salient. Exposure to homemaker portrayals induced more thoughts about possible future selves (PFSs) and fostered concerns about motherhood and career roles; it also produced more positive affective valence compared with exposure to portrayals of professional women, particularly among women with gender‐congruent life circumstances. Exposure impacts were mediated by the extent to which women linked the magazine portrayals to their own PFSs.     

Applying the social cognitive model of career self-management to career exploration and decision-making

We present two studies applying the social cognitive model of career self-management (Lent & Brown, 2013) to career exploration and decision-making outcomes in college students. In the first study (N = 180 college students), we developed a new, brief measure of career exploration and decision-making self-efficacy for use in subsequent model testing. The measure yielded two factors, decisional self-efficacy and coping efficacy, with adequate internal consistency reliability estimates. The decisional self-efficacy factor related strongly to an established measure of career decision self-efficacy and produced theory consistent relations with measures of outcome expectations, social support, conscientiousness, exploration goals, prior engagement in career exploration, decisional anxiety, and level of career decidedness. In the second study (N = 215 college students), we re-examined the factor structure of the new self-efficacy measure and used it to assess the tenability of the self-management model in a path analysis predicting exploration goals, decisional anxiety, and career decidedness. The model fit the data well overall, though certain predictors were linked to the criterion variables only indirectly via mediated pathways. Implications of the findings for the social cognitive model as well as for future research and practice are considered.     

Feasibility of and teacher preference for student‐led implementation of the good behavior game in early elementary classrooms

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a classwide group contingency shown to reduce disruptive student behavior. We examined the feasibility of training young students to lead the GBG in one first‐grade and three kindergarten classes. We also examined teacher preference for teacher‐led GBG, student‐led GBG, or no GBG using a concurrent chains procedure. We successfully trained students in all classes to lead the GBG, and the GBG reduced disruptive behavior regardless of who implemented it. Preference for who implemented the game varied across teachers. Results of this study suggest that students as young as kindergarten age can be trained to implement the GBG and that teacher preference should be taken into account when determining how classwide interventions are to be implemented.     

Family Unpredictability and Psychological Distress in Early Adulthood: The Role of Family Closeness and Coping Mechanisms

Unpredictability within the family environment has been consistently linked to anxiety and depressive symptomology in early adulthood. The current investigation sought to examine how individual and family factors may serve to protect college students from the potentially detrimental effects of growing up with family chaos. A multi-dimensional survey, including measures assessing family unpredictability, coping behavior, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, was administered to 260 (68% female) undergraduate college students. A series of regression models found mediating and moderating effects: the relationship between family unpredictability and psychological distress was explained in part by less family closeness, and this was especially true among students who engaged in more emotion-focused coping. Individuals who used less emotion-focused coping did not appear to suffer from psychological distress associated with family unpredictability. Conversely, task-focused coping did not moderate the association between family unpredictability and psychological distress; yet, individuals who used more task-focused coping, in general, experienced less distress. These findings could be used to inform intervention efforts targeted at improving parenting and caregiving practices as well as the development of campus programs aimed at improving students’ coping strategies.     

Evaluation of the Good Behavior Game with a child with fetal alcohol syndrome in a small‐group context

We evaluated the Good Behavior Game (GBG) on levels of disruptive behavior of a 4‐year‐old boy with fetal alcohol syndrome during small‐group reading time. We also compared the effectiveness of and preference for choice of a reward to a surprise reward for winning the GBG. Results showed that the GBG was effective to decrease disruptive behavior to similar levels as peers in the group. We did not observe a difference in the effectiveness of the GBG with a choice of reward compared to a surprise reward, but the participant preferred having a choice of reward. We discuss the potential benefit of utilizing the GBG to reduce disruptive behavior during small‐group learning instruction for individual students with disabilities and to aid in the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms.