The relation between emotion regulation choice and posttraumatic growth

ABSTRACT

Previous research has examined emotion regulation (ER) and trauma in the context of psychopathology, yet little research has examined ER in posttraumatic growth (PTG), the experience of positive psychological change following a traumatic event. ER typically involves decreasing negative affect by engaging (e.g. reappraisal) or disengaging (e.g. distraction) with emotional content. To investigate how ER may support PTG, participants who experienced a traumatic event in the past 6 months completed a PTG questionnaire and an ER choice task in which they down regulated their negative emotion in response to negative pictures of varying intensity by choosing to distract or reappraise. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that an increase in reappraisal choice from low to high subjective stimulus intensity predicted higher PTG, suggesting that individuals who chose reappraisal more as intensity increased reported higher PTG. Findings suggest that reappraisal of negative stimuli following a traumatic event may be a key component of PTG.     

Perspectives of a Pastoral Counselor

No abstract available for this article.     

Feminist Therapy as a Path to Friendship with Women

While many feminist therapists have found that their personal experiences of friendship have given them an experiential base from which to develop their work, some feminist therapists have had alternative journeys through connections with women. This article explores how the author transformed her childhood and adolescent experiences of relational aggression into a deepened understanding of the value and importance of relationships between women. The contributions of misogyny and sexism to relational aggression among girls and women, and their enduring effects on all women's relationships to other women is explored. Finally, the author describes her intimate e-epistolary friendship with two other women, and considers how the medium of email and other forms of electronic communication may facilitate emotional intimacy for women who have experienced relational aggression with other women.     

Women and Physical Distinction:

With few exceptions, the special concerns and status of women with physical distinctions (physical disability and facial disfigurement) have been largely ignored in the disability literature. Women with physical distinctions are perceived negatively and are devalued and marginalized in our culture. They face a double discrimination due to their gender and their disability. The situation is even more acute for ethnic minority women with physical distinctions. This paper will review the literature on women with physical distinctions and explore some of the issues for ethnic minority women with physical distinctins. Recommendations are offered for feminist therapists who work with this population.     

Sexist Treatment in the Mental Health System

No abstract available for this article.     

The nature of adolescents' relationships with their "very important" nonparental adults

As part of a larger program of research on the nature of adolescents' relationships with very important nonparental adults (hereafter referred to as VIPs), a community sample of 243 eleventh graders (mean age = 16.6 years) was surveyed, and a subgroup of 55 adolescents and their VIPs were interviewed about the nature and quality of their relationships. Results showed that (a) adolescent–VIP relationships were a normative component of adolescent development, not a result of problems in adolescents' lives; (b) adolescent–VIP relationships were generally of high quality (e.g., high support, low conflict, and high mutuality); (c) there were significant differences between kin and nonkin VIPs in terms of the duration of relationships and frequency of contact, but not in the quality of relationships; and (d) VIPs whom adolescents designated as extremely important were distinguished from other VIPs in terms of providing a higher level of social support and a higher frequency of contact. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Agentic and Communal Personality Traits: Relations to Attitudes Toward Sex and Sexual Experiences

This study was designed to examine relations among agentic and communal personality traits, attitudes toward sex, and sexual experiences in a sample of 202 undergraduates. As predicted, acceptance of interpersonal violence, with particular reference to intimate and sexual relationships, was positively associated with unmitigated agency. Among male participants, willingness to engage in uncommitted sexual relations was positively associated with unmitigated agency and negatively associated with communion and unmitigated communion. Among female participants, agency was positively related to satisfaction with current sexual and romantic relationships. These results partially support Helgesons (1994) theoretical model that links unmitigated agency to relational conflict and instability and links communion to emotional bonding and commitment.     

The Hard Issues of Life

In pastoral counseling, the practitioner and client face the most difficult human problems. An authentic encounter and subsequent connection with one's fundamental Being often occurs, creating a direct existential knowing of what is. Because there are no directions or steps in a protocol to follow in this process, it is helpful for the client to reframe his/her existential search for Being as a Rite of Passage, comprising three distinct, but not separate stages—the separation phase, the initiation phase, and the return or integration phase. Such a process permits the individual a realization of what is through his/her own life circumstances, as a meaningful progression of spiritual growth.decorated Vietnam combat veteran and a marriage, family, and child counselor specializing in treatment of PTSD     

Are discrepancies among child,mother, and father reports on children's behavior related to parents' psychological symptoms and aspects of parent-child relationships?

Examined whether parents' symptoms and qualitative and quantitative aspects of parent–child relationships make unique contributions to mothers' and fathers' reports of, and mother–child, father–child, and father–mother discrepancies on, children's behavior. Participants were 100 children, aged 10–12, and their mothers and fathers. Parents' symptoms and parent–child relationships made unique contributions to both parents' ratings of externalizing behavior. Although parent–child relationship variables were related to both parents' ratings of internalizing behavior, only parents' symptoms made unique contributions. On mother–child and father–child discrepancies, differences emerged between mother and father, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Both fathers' and mothers' symptoms contributed to father–mother discrepancies on both behavior types, with parent–child relationships contributing unique variance to discrepancies on internalizing behavior. Results highlight the importance of each informant's symptoms and relationship variables in understanding informant discrepancies.     

A sexual selection theory longitudinal analysis of sexual segregation and integration in early adolescence

The three objectives in this longitudinal study were motivated by sexual selection theory. The theory specifies the role of sexually segregated groups and the effects of dominance in male groups and relational/indirect aggression in female groups for heterosexual relationships. Using a multi-method, multi-informant, longitudinal design we studied youngsters (N=138) across their first two years of middle school. First, we examined the nature of change in segregation and dating popularity across two years during early adolescence. Second, a model derived from sexual selection theory is tested to explain the ways in which boys and girls are nominated for hypothetical dates (dating popularity). Third, we examined the role of "poke and push courtship" behavior in boys' and girls' dating popularity. Results indicate that although groups did not become more integrated with time, changes in peer group sexual integration co-varied dynamically with dating popularity. Secondly, dominance-related strategies were more important for boys than girls in dating popularity whereas indirect, or relational, aggression strategies were more important for girls than boys. Third, "poke and push courtship" behaviors did not influence peer group integration or dating.