College Students' Perceptions of the Relationship Between Fee and Counseling

Fee as a variable that could have an impact on college students' perceptions of counseling was explored because of the authentic concerns about college counseling centers needing to charge direct fees for their services. Participants (N = 350) represented a cross-section of potential consumers of psychological services, not just individuals currently receiving services. On an overt level, fees seemed to be less influential in counseling considerations, but were taken into account on a more covert level. This study supports the psychological literature, which suggests that fee is not the most important factor in clients' decisions to seek counseling. Implications for counselors, administrators, researchers, and program planners are discussed.     

A Rorschach investigation of mothers of behaviorally disturbed infants

This investigation focuses on one facet of the interactional family, parent-child, mother-infant matrix of behaviorally disturbed infants: the personality of mother as primary caregiver. Rorschach test behavior of mothers (N = 30) of behaviorally disturbed infants were compared with two normative samples. The Rorschach test was found to indicate certain atypical psychological patterns among these mothers. Differences emerged in intellectual sphere variables: number of responses (R), common detail responses (D), rare detail responses (Dd), number of accurate form percepts (F+), percentage of form percepts that are accurate (F+%), percentage of responses with animal content (A%), and popular percepts (P). Other response trends emerged in the affective sphere: percentage of pure form responses (F%) and in the interpersonal sphere: whole human content (H) and the ratio of the whole human content to human detail content (H:Hd), as well as to the test as a whole. Based on these results, hypotheses are generated for further investigation, particularly of traits in the areas of cognitive processing and the capacity for interpersonal relations.     

Addressing multiple relationships between clients and therapists in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender communities

Therapists working in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities are likely to experience the potential to engage in multiple relationships with their clients. Currently, the American Psychological Association's (2002) ethics code and the related literature base offer minimal direct guidance to therapists practicing in LGBT communities. In this article, the authors review current literature regarding multiple relationships in psychotherapy, considering how this literature addresses issues specific to practitioners working within LGBT communities, present a case study highlighting the negotiation of a multiple relationship between a client and therapist who both identify as lesbian, and offer recommendations for practitioners working within LGBT communities.     

Four studies extending the utility of the Schwartz Outcome Scale (SOS-10)

The Schwartz Outcome Scale (SOS-10; Blais et al., 1999) is a brief, cost free, and easy to administer assessment device designed to measure a broad domain of psychological health. The 4 studies using the SOS-10 reported here extend the initial reliability and validity studies beyond psychiatric patients in a hospital setting to examine (a) test-retest reliability in a college student population, (b) concurrent validity with college students using an indirect technique assessing maladjustment, (c) concurrent validity with college counseling center clients using a self-report measure of client distress, and (d) sensitivity to treatment changes with outpatient clients. These studies lend further support for using the SOS-10 as a measure of psychological well-being and as an outcome measure in varied settings.     

Assessing concrete and abstract thinking with the Draw-a-Person technique

In this study, we examined the Draw-a-Person (DAP) technique as an indicator of concrete/literal and abstract thinking, Subjects (N = 50) included schizophrenic inpatients (n = 25) and college students (n = 25). Fourteen possible indicators of concrete/literal or abstract thinking on the DAP were generated based on theoretical considerations and prior research. Five indicators were eliminated because of their low interrater reliability. The Proverbs Test (Gotham, 1956) was used to establish evidence of concrete/literal and abstract thinking. Scores from the DAP and the Proverbs Test were correlated. Composite scores on the DAP were highly correlated (r = .52, p < .01) with the corresponding Proverbs Test score. In addition, abstract scores on the DAP were correlated (r = .54, p < .01) with a similar Proverbs Test score.. Concrete/literal DAP scores did not correlate significantly (r = .20, p > .05) with concrete/literal Proverb Test scores. Results indicate the potential for using the DAP technique to assess concrete/literal and abstract thinking when a nonverbal test is needed.     

A Broader Perspective: Counseling Psychology’s Emphasis on Evidence

The process of identifying empirically supported treatments developed by the Division 12 of the American Psychological Association has been criticized from various perspectives. However, there are a number of alternative evidence-based models for using research findings to increase the efficacy of mental health services. In this article, the principles of empirically supported interventions developed and adopted by Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology) are presented. These principles (a) utilize a broad perspective of evidence, (b) consider a range of psychological interventions, (c) emphasize the quantitative aggregate of research evidence, (d) consider various levels of specificity, and (e) recognize philosophy of science issues that impinge on the types of conclusions that can be made.     

成人日常问题解决的老化研究

日常问题解决能力是近十几年来老年心理学中研究比较活跃的一个领域。本文介绍了有关日常问题解决研究的四种理论,即心理测量的智力内隐理论、形式后思维的辨证思维理论、信息加工理论和社会认知与智慧理论,及其初步的研究成果,并进一步指出在理论上整合和在实践中开展干预的研究方向。     

College students' intentions to seek help for suicidal ideation: accounting for the help-negation effect

Prior research has identified a negative association between suicidal ideation and help-seeking, a phenomenon called "help-negation." Help-negation has been documented to occur for both professional and nonprofessional sources of help. In this study help-seeking attitudes, stigma concerns, and perceptions of social support were examined as possible mediators of help-negation. Data were collected from a nonclinical sample of college undergraduates at a midwestern university (N = 321). Findings provided partial support for the mediation hypotheses. Help-seeking attitudes and stigma were significant predictors of help-seeking intentions (β = .34 and β = -.17, p < .05, respectively), but did not mediate help-negation for professional sources. Perceptions of social support, on the other hand, fully mediated help-negation for nonprofessional sources (β = .27, p < .05).     

The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank: examining potential race differences

The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB; Rotter, Lah, & Rafferty, 1992; Rotter & Rafferty, 1950) was administered to African American (n = 94) and White (n = 100) members of fraternal organizations at a large Midwestern university to explore possible influences of racial group and socially desirable response tendencies. The RISB protocols were reliably scored (interrater agreement = 92%) by 3 independent scorers blind to participant racial membership. The mean scores of the 2 racial groups were not significantly different (p > .05). However, using the traditional categorical placement scores resulted in a disproportionate assignment rate for African American scores to the maladjusted group than would be anticipated by mere chance.     

Coming Out Growth: Conceptualizing and Measuring Stress-Related Growth Associated with Coming Out to Others as a Sexual Minority

Coming out has long been depicted as a process that is conducive to personal growth. However, LGBTQ psychology has yet to conduct systematic, theoretically informed research to study how individuals experience coming out growth (COG) and the impact of such experiences on the lives of sexual minorities. The present investigation seeks to address these gaps in the literature through an examination of stress-related growth within the context of coming out as a sexual minority. Findings from a preliminary investigation of COG in a sample of 418 gay and lesbian adults are presented, including the development and initial validation of the coming out growth scale (COGS), and data addressing the relationship between COG and relevant constructs found in the literature on identity development and stress-related growth.