Correlates of Psychological Abuse Perpetration in College Dating Relationships

This study examined the contributions of gender, adult romantic attachment orientations (i.e., avoidance, anxiety), defense mechanisms (i.e., narcissism, other‐splitting), and stressors to college student psychological abuse perpetration (dominance). Men with higher levels of attachment avoidance, narcissistic entitlement, and stressful problems reported more dominance of female partners. Women with higher levels of other‐splitting reported more dominance of male partners. Attachment avoidance contributed to women's dominance of male partners only in the context of elevated narcissistic entitlement or few stressors.     

Maladaptive Perfectionism,Adult Attachment,and Self‐Esteem in College Students

Extending an earlier study that found high self‐esteem to modify the impact of otherwise maladaptive perfectionism on depression, the current study used adult attachment theory to explore the link between perfectionism, self‐esteem, and depression in college students. Results indicated that self‐esteem buffered the effects of maladaptive perfectionism on depression and that adult attachment security moderated the association between perfectionistic self‐doubt and self‐esteem. Counseling implications of these findings are discussed.     

Evaluating Corrective Feedback Self‐Efficacy Changes Among Counselor Educators and Site Supervisors

Analysis of pretest–posttest scores on the Corrective Feedback Self‐Efficacy Instrument (Page & Hulse‐Killacky, 1999 ) following a supervision workshop indicated a significant positive relationship between workshop training and supervisors' feedback self‐efficacy in giving corrective feedback. Furthermore, the association between prior supervision training, supervision experience, and feedback self‐efficacy was measured. Practical and research implications are discussed.     

The Internal Working Model of the Self, Attachment, and Competence in Five-Year-Olds

The present studies examine some of the correlates of the self in the lives of young children. In Study 1, the connection is tested between young children's internal working model of self and their competence, social acceptance, behavioral adjustment, and behavioral manifestations of self-esteem. Ninety-five kindergartners aged between 51 and 76 months ( M _age= 5 years, 3 months) participated in the study. An adapted version of the Puppet Interview was used to assess the representation of self. Affective quality (positiveness) of self and openness to admit imperfections were rated independently. Results show significant and positive relations of the positiveness of self with competence and social acceptance, with behavioral adjustment to school, and with behavioral manifestations of self-esteem, all rated by the teacher. In Study 2, Bowlby's assumption was tested that the working model of self is closely intertwined with the working model of attachment to mother. Subjects were 50 children aged between 55 months and 75 months ( M _age= 5 years, 5 months). The working model of child-mother attachment was assessed through an Attachment Story Completion Task. The working model of self was measured via the Puppet Interview. Results show a positive and strong connection between the security of the child-mother attachment representation and the positiveness of self. The results of the two studies contribute to the validation of the adapted Puppet Interview. The Puppet Interview seems to be a promising instrument for assessing the representation of self in young children.     

Retrospective analysis of previous relationship disengagement and current and current attachment style

This study examined attachment styles and disengagement strategies used to end romantic relationships for 213 college students. The research predicted differences between attributions about the cause of the breakup and who initiated the breakup. The study also predicted differences in reports about the use of disengagement strategies, depending upon a person's attachment style and whom they attributed as the initiator of the breakup. People more frequently attributed the cause of breakups to situational factors than to the other person; and least frequently, to self. Persons who perceived they caused the breakup more frequently perceived they also initiated the breakup. Some of the hypothesized differences in reports about the use of disengagement strategies for persons with different attachment styles and different attributions of who initiated the breakup were observed for positive‐tone, behavioral de‐escalation, and negative identity management strategies. Leniency in self‐attributions was detected in higher reports of self‐use of justification strategies and lower reports of self‐use of behavioral de‐escalation.     

Attachment Styles,Social Skills,and Depression in College Women

Attachment styles, social skills, and depression were studied in 93 college women using the Relationship Questionnaire (K. Bartholomew & L. M. Horowitz, 1991), the Beck Depression Inventory‐II (A.T. Beck, R.A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996), and the Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire (D. Buhrmester, W. Furman, M.T. Wittenberg, & H.T. Reis, 1988). The self and other attachment models and the social skills of negative assertion, self‐disclosure, and conflict management all correlated with depression. Conflict management partially mediated the relationship between attachment self‐model and depression. Implications for counseling are discussed.     

The Impact of Performance Feedback on Counseling Self‐Efficacy and Counselor Anxiety

Based on the Social Cognitive Model of Counselor Training (L. M. Larson, 1998), this study explored the effects of bogus performance feedback on counseling self‐efficacy and counselor anxiety. After a 10‐minute mock counseling session, 45 master's‐level trainees received either positive or negative bogus feedback regarding their performance. Results showed that (a) participants altered their counseling self‐efficacy depending on the performance feedback they received, and (b) participants reported changes in anxiety following performance feedback.     

Anxious Solitude and Self‐Compassion and Self‐Criticism Trajectories in Early Adolescence: Attachment Security as a Moderator

Youths’ attachment representations with their parents were tested as moderators of the relation between peer‐reported anxious solitude and self‐compassion and self‐criticism trajectories from fifth to seventh grades. Participants were 213 youth, 57% girls, M = 10.65 years of age. Growth curves revealed that attachment representations with both parents moderated the relation between AS and self‐processes such that AS youth with (a) dual secure attachments demonstrated the most adaptive self‐processes, (b) one secure attachment demonstrated intermediately adaptive self‐processes, and (c) dual insecure attachments demonstrated the least adaptive self‐processes over time. AS youth with dual insecure attachments are of most concern because they demonstrated elevated and increasing self‐criticism over time, given evidence for relations between self‐criticism and internalizing psychopathology.     

Affect Regulation as a Mediator of Attachment and Deliberate Self‐Harm

The authors used structural equation modeling to test the mediational role of affect regulation on attachment and deliberate self‐harm in 216 undergraduates. Results suggest that affect regulation mediates the relationship between attachment and deliberate self‐harm, providing support for the theoretical importance of attachment and affect regulation in the etiology of self‐harm behaviors. Accordingly, attachment styles should be considered when providing clinical assistance to college students in an effort to improve affect regulation and to treat deliberate self‐harm.     

College Counseling for Self‐Injurious Behavior: A Case Study

This case study describes the counseling experience of a college woman undergoing treatment to address self‐injurious behavior. The article presents and illustrates a counseling approach that is conceptually based on attachment and object relations theory. The approach emphasizes the client‐counselor relationship and the need to establish a supportive interpersonal environment as the main factors contributing to positive change in the client's self‐injuring behavior.     

Self‐stigma and domains of well‐being in high school youth: Associations with self‐efficacy,self‐esteem,and self‐criticism

Self‐stigma is a phenomenon in which negative public stereotypes about mental illness are internalized and can undermine help‐seeking. Unfortunately, little is known about how self‐stigmatization relates to positive well‐being indicators among youth. A sample of 134 high school students completed established measures of self‐stigma, well‐being, self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, and self‐criticism. Analyses confirmed that self‐stigma was associated with overall well‐being and five well‐being subscales (autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations, and self‐acceptance); the strongest associations were with autonomy and positive relations with others. The majority of these associations still held when simultaneously controlling for self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, and self‐criticism. Taken together, findings point to the need for greater awareness of self‐stigma along with an explicit focus on the promotion of protective well‐being in prevention work and interventions designed to alleviate the tendency for young people to internalize stigma. Additionally, findings have theoretical implications for the “why try” model of self‐stigma.     

Attitudes and self‐efficacy of pre‐service teachers towards inclusion in Pakistan

This study sought to determine the attitudes and teaching self‐efficacy of pre‐service teachers towards the inclusion of students with disabilities into regular classrooms. A questionnaire was administered to 194 pre‐service Pakistani teachers (male 73, female 121) enrolled in a 1‐year teacher education programme at a government university in Pakistan. Overall, male pre‐service teachers expressed more positive attitudes than their female counterparts regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classrooms. Surprisingly, those pre‐service teachers majoring in special education did not express more positive attitudes towards inclusion than their counterparts who were preparing to teach in mainstream schools. However, participants with training in special education, knowledge of disability legislation, teaching experience and personal experience with a disability reported higher levels of self‐efficacy towards teaching within inclusive settings. The findings of the study are discussed with possible implications for policy‐makers and teacher educators in Pakistan and other countries in the South Asian region.     

Differences in one's own and one's partner's perceptions of social skills as a function of attachment style

Two studies focused on attachment‐style differences in people's social skills. Study 1 had a sample of 237 students who completed questionnaires assessing their own attachment styles and social skills (based on Riggio's six dimensions of social skill). Study 2, which focused on partner‐reports, used data from 258 couples to determine whether people's perceptions of a partner's social skill would vary based on the partner's self‐reported attachment style. The results revealed attachment‐style differences in various social skills across self‐and partner‐reports; however, these differences were generally less robust for partner‐reports. Differences in self‐reported social skill were consistent with Bartholomew's two‐factor conceptualization of attachment. Dismissive and fearful individuals rated themselves as relatively antisocial and unexpressive, in line with their negative models of others; preoccupied and fearful individuals rated themselves as overly sensitive, in line with their negative models of self. Preoccupied individuals were also perceived as the most socially sensitive by their partners, and across all the analyses, secures were ostensibly the most socially skilled.     

Effects of Self‐Concept on Restoring a Positive Motivational State After an Exam‐Like Situation

Exams often trigger avoidance motivation and a tendency to withdraw; instead, an approach‐oriented motivational state would be more desirable, since this encourages an invigorated and persistent approach to tasks. This study investigated the role of academic self‐concept on the activation of relative approach versus avoidance motivation during the course of an exam‐like situation. In 62 university students (50 women), academic self‐concept was assessed using self‐ratings, and activation of approach versus avoidance motivation was assessed by using the electroencephalogram alpha asymmetry response. Academic self‐concept proved to be an important moderator of motivational responses during the challenging situation. A more negative self‐concept was related to sustained decrease in approach motivation, to rumination, and to worsened mood. In contrast, a positive self‐concept was related to more positive mood and activation of approach motivation even beyond task completion. The findings have educational implications, for instance, for the design of exams and performance feedback.     

Is the Poor Performance of Self‐Worth Protective Students Linked with Social Comparison Goals?

Students motivated to protect self‐worth perform poorly in situations that threaten to reveal low ability while performing well in situations that involve little threat to self‐worth. One factor contributing to their poor performance is thought to be their orientation towards social comparison goals (goals that have to do with vindicating their ability relative to others rather than pursuing mastery). In the present study, 96 undergraduate students who were either high or low in self‐worth protection were exposed to either success or failure feedback and subsequently primed to pursue either social comparison or mastery goals. For students high in self‐worth protection, the negative effects of either failure or social comparison goal priming is sufficient to give rise to poor performance. However, only when success is combined with mastery goal priming is a positive achievement outcome evident. The requirements of best practice approaches to encouraging students to adopt mastery‐orientated behaviours are discussed.     

Effective Counseling With Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Clients

Professional organizations mandate that effective counseling be provided to lesbian, gay male, and bisexual male and female (LGB) clients. This article presents the characteristics, challenges, and needs of sexual minorities, along with therapeutic strategies that practitioners may use in facilitating a positive self‐image among the lesbians, gay men, and bisexual men and women whom they counsel.     

Student justice perceptions following assignment feedback

In higher education, students are exposed to regular feedback about their performance, and a prominent aspect of students’ attention to feedback concerns the extent to which grades are consistent with what a student has expected to receive. Any discrepancies that arise can result in negative justice perceptions, which research has shown are associated with negative cognitive, emotional and behavioral consequences. However the extent of, and consequences of, these negative justice perceptions within the learning process have gone largely unexplored. This study investigates the relationship between expectation/performance discrepancies, justice perceptions, student satisfaction and self‐efficacy. In particular, we found an interaction between the grade received and negative justice perceptions; poor performers with negative justice perceptions were more likely to have lower subsequent self‐efficacy and satisfaction than those who did not have injustice perceptions. However, self‐efficacy rose for those who had negative justice perceptions if they also received moderate to high performance feedback. The results reflect the complexity of cognitive and behavioral responses to performance feedback. Implications for grading and recommendations for reducing injustice perceptions are discussed.     

Maternal Depression, Children's Attachment Security, and Representational Development: An Organizational Perspective

Relations among maternal depression, child attachment, and children's representations of parents and self were examined. Participants included toddlers and their mothers with a history of major depressive disorder ( n = 63) or no history of mental disorder ( n = 68). Attachment was assessed at 20 and 36 months and representations of parents and self were assessed at 36 and 48 months. Depressive symptoms were assessed at all 3 time points. While early-occurring maternal depression had a negative impact on children's negative and positive representations of parents, attachment security mediated the relation between depressive symptoms and negative representations. Attachment security served as an intervening variable between maternal depression and changes in children's negative representations of self. Implications for prevention are highlighted.     

The Effect of a Mastery Learning Technique on the Performance of a Transfer of Training Task

This study evaluated the effect of using the mastery learning technique of self‐directed feedback, reinforcement, and remediation of knowledge on the performance of a work‐related task. The mastery learning intervention was conducted via a workbook which provided feedback to participants on their knowledge attainment after instruction, yet before the evaluation of the transfer task. The study utilized a randomized subjects, post‐test‐only control group design with 130 participants. The hypothesis that mastery learning would have a positive effect on transfer of knowledge from the classroom to a work‐related task was supported. Implications for instructional design and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Self‐Compassion,Affect, and Body Image in College Women

The aim of this study was to understand the relationships between self‐compassion, positive affect, negative affect, and variables representative of positive body image for college women. Regression analyses indicated that self‐compassion and affect accounted for 39% and 30% of the variance, respectively, in body appreciation and body image quality of life. Mediational analyses demonstrated that positive affect mediated the relationships between self‐compassion and both indicators of body image. Implications for college counseling are discussed.