The Personal,Academic, and Career Problems of College Student Athletes: Some Possible Answers

This paper reports the development of a unique counseling program for student athletes at the University of Florida in which the athletic counselor's role has been expanded beyond traditional roles to that of identifying and assisting with the athletes' personal, vocational, and academic concerns. The authors also report on a recently developed course in counselor education targeted toward athletes and discuss a preventive approach using individual and group counseling of athletes.     

The adult attachment interview and the relationship questionnaire: Relations to reports of mothers and partners

The study asked the following questions: How do interview and self-report assessments of attachment status correspond? What is the relation between attachment status assessed by these methods to self-reports of relationships with mothers and partners? Participants were 53 married white women assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), and a variety of questionnaires assessing love, trust, and closeness in relationships with mothers and partners. Results indicated a trend toward a relation between AAI and RQ classifications: 81% of women classified as Secure with the AAI identified themselves as Secure with the RQ, but only 42% of AAI-Insecure women identified themselves as Insecure with the RQ. Secure and Insecure AAI groups did not differ in their reports of mothers or partners, whereas Secure and Insecure RQ groups did. Results indicated classifications derived from the measures are not equivalent.     

Negative internal causal attributions of a specific offense and forgiveness

Causal attributions are important social‐cognitive predictors of forgiveness. This article presents the Transgression Attribution Questionnaire (TAQ), a measure of one's negative internal causal attributions of a specific offense. In 4 studies, scores on the TAQ showed initial evidence of estimated internal consistency, temporal stability, and construct validity. Negative internal attributions for the cause of a transgression predicted lower levels of empathy and forgiveness. Furthermore, scores on the TAQ predicted forgiveness over and above the hurtfulness of the offense, relationship commitment, and a general measure of internal causal attributions in relationships. The current research bridges research on internal causal attributions and forgiveness. Implications for the social‐cognitive study of forgiveness and the measurement of causal attributions are discussed.     

Covenantal and contractual values in marriage: Marital Values Orientation toward Wedlock or Self‐actualization (Marital VOWS) Scale

Cultural constructions of marriage have developed to form 2 marital values orientations. These marital values can be understood along a continuum from covenantal at 1 pole to contractual at the other pole. Covenantal marital values prioritize individual sacrifice for the marriage to promote marital health, commitment, and vow taking to resolve conflict, the collective dyad as the primary unit of the marriage, and often spiritual intervention as a primary means of restoring order. Contractual marital values prioritize individual self‐actualization to promote marital health, negotiation, and mutual agreement to resolve conflict, the individual as the primary unit of the marriage, and clinical and psychological interventions as a primary means of restoring order. The authors developed a 26‐item scale to measure contractual and covenantal marital values. In 3 studies examining a total of 786 student and community participants, the factor structure of the scale was evaluated, and convergent and discriminant construct validity, item internal consistency, and 4‐week test–retest reliability were examined.     

Promoting Forgiveness: A Comparison of Two Brief Psychoeducational Group Interventions With a Waiting-List Control

The authors studied the effects of 2 brief psychoeducational group interventions on participants' forgiveness for an offender and compared them with a waiting-list control. The Self-Enhancement group justified forgiveness because of its physical and psychological benefits to the forgiver. The Interpersonal group justified forgiveness because of its utility in restoring interpersonal relationships. Both groups led to decreased feelings of revenge, increased positive feelings toward the offender, and greater reports of conciliatory behavior. The Self-Enhancement group also increased affirming attributions toward the offender, decreased feelings of revenge, and increased conciliatory behavior more effectively than did the Interpersonal group.     

Marriage Counseling: A Christian Approach to Counseling Couples

An approach to marriage counseling aimed at Christian couples is described. The theoretical bases of the approach are cognitive behavioral therapy and structural and strategic marital therapies. Techniques are drawn from various schools of marriage therapy. Shared Christian values between counselor and clients are used to promote increased marital commitment, marital satisfaction, and personal spiritual growth. Marital satisfaction might be increased through helping the couple increase their intimacy, enhance their communication, improve their conflict management, and forgive each other for past and present hurts.