Counseling Psychology Commons^™

Doma's Demise: A Victory For Non-Heterosexual Binational Families, Daniela Domínguez

Psychology

An unprecedented number of American citizens faced the challenge o f being in a nonheterosexual binational relationship when the Defense o f Marriage Act (DOMA) was the law of the land. Although immigration laws are based on the principle o f family unification, under previous federal law lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans were not able to sponsor their samesex foreign national partners for residency in the United States. Consequently, an estimated 36,000 couples faced the threat of family separation because Am erica’s immigration policies narrowed the definition of “family” to exclude same-sex couples and their children. Despite the fact that …

Financial Anxiety, Physiological Arousal, And Planning Intention, John Grable, Wookjae Heo, Abed Rabbani

Consumer Sciences Faculty Publications

Results from this exploratory clinical study indicate that financial anxiety—holding an unhealthy attitude about one’s financial situation—and physiological arousal—the physical precursor to behavior—play important roles in shaping consumer intention to engage in future financial planning activity. Findings suggest that those who are most likely to engage the services of a financial adviser exhibit low levels of financial anxiety and moderate to high levels of physiological arousal. The least likely to seek the help of a financial adviser are those who exhibit high financial anxiety and low physiological arousal. Results support findings documented in the literature that high anxiety levels often …

Etiology Beliefs Moderate The Influence Of Emotional Self-Control On Willingness To See A Counselor Through Help-Seeking Attitudes Among Asian American Students, Paul Youngbin Kim, Dana L. Kendall

SPU Works

To identify correlates of Asian American professional help-seeking, we tested a mediation model describing Asian American help-seeking (Asian value of emotional self-control → help-seeking attitudes → willingness to see a counselor; Hypothesis 1) in a sample of Asian American college students from the Pacific Northwest region of the United States (N = 232). We also examined biological and spiritual etiology beliefs as moderators of the mediation model (Hypotheses 2a & 2b). Our findings indicated that help-seeking attitudes significantly mediated the relation between emotional self-control and willingness to see a counselor, consistent with our mediation hypothesis. Furthermore, biological and spiritual …

Religious Coping Moderates The Relation Between Racism And Psychological Well-Being Among Christian Asian American College Students., Paul Youngbin Kim, Dana L. Kendall, Marcia Webb

SPU Works

We examined the moderating role of positive and negative religious coping in the relation between racism and psychological well-being in a sample of Catholic and Protestant Asian American college students (N = 107). Based on prior theorizing on the two types of religious coping, combined with some limited empirical evidence, we predicted that positive religious coping would have a buffering effect (Hypothesis 1) on the racism-mental health relation and that negative religious coping would have an exacerbating one (Hypothesis 2). Participants completed an online survey containing measures corresponding to the study variables. Results indicated that the interaction between positive …

Mahler, Margaret, Anna A. Berardi

Faculty Publications - Graduate School of Counseling

Born into a Jewish family in Sopron, Hungary, Margaret Mahler (1897–1985) is one of the founding pioneers in psychoanalytical theory and practice. She is most noted for her separation-individuation theory of child development, which emphasizes identity formation as occurring within the context of relationships. After immigrating to the United States in 1938, Mahler’s work as a child psychiatrist informed her theory regarding the interplay between our internal (psychological) development and our external social environment. This approach was considered scandalous within her professional community, which tended to minimize sociocultural and relational contributors to our sense of self. Her conceptual framework regarding …

Hope-Focused Solutions: A Relational Hope Focus Of The Solution-Building Stages In Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Jenna A. Wilson

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The positive psychotherapy focused on for this study is Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). Insoo Kim Berg and Yvonne Dolan (2001) once described the essence of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) as the “pragmatics of hope and respect” (p. 1) and despite Berg and Dolan’s declaration of hope’s importance in SFBT, little process research has been published looking at the “pragmatics” of hope in SFBT practice. Hope is seen as a common factor in psychotherapy since the human relationship, also known as the therapeutic alliance, is a foundation of psychotherapy. Hope plays a significant role in every human interaction and it is …

Attachment, Anxiety, And Depression: A Study Of Women In Residential Treatment With Their Children At The Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center (Sbarc) (1995-2010), Gary Miles Forrest

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center (SBARC) in Pembroke Pines, Florida is a residential center where women live with their children while receiving treatment for a variety of co-occurring substance abuse and mental health issues and while participating in mandatory parenting classes. Unlike most women's residential treatment centers, which address only the woman and her problems, SBARC treats the mother-infant/child dyad. I designed and created a database to examine the data previously available only in the paper client records of over 800 women who received treatment at SBARC from 1995 through 2010 in a previous project. This nonexperimental, retrospective explanatory …

Comparing Short-Term Outcomes Of Three Problem Gambling Treatments: A Multi-Group Propensity Score Analysis, Adam David Soberay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study applied a multi-group form of propensity score analysis to the study of outcomes related to problem gambling treatment. Across various treatment settings, it is often unfeasible or unethical to randomly assign participants to different treatment conditions, particularly when one of the conditions involves not receiving treatment. Additionally, evaluative practices often involve assessing outcomes from a primarily treatment focused setting, in which case clients are likely not randomly assigned to treatment. Consequently, where randomization does not exist, methods such as propensity score matching need to be implemented to separate what part of the observed outcomes is attributable to treatment …

Shift Work And The United States Female Workforce: The Relationship Between Shift Work And Ill-Health Effects, Allison Marie Bondanza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to determine the magnitude of the relationship between amount, frequency, and length of shift work completed by female transportation employees and the number, degree, and extent of problems related to physical, menstrual and psychological health including depression. It was hypothesized that workers that are employed in areas such as transportation who are working shift work on a regular basis place themselves at higher risk for developing health or psychosocial related effects. These health related outcomes can have a profound impact on an employee’s job performance, daily functioning, and personal life. The present study sought to …

Counseling Emerging Adults In Transition: Practical Applications Of Attachment And Social Support Research, Joel A. Lane

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Today’s emerging adults (i.e., individuals between the ages of 18 and 29 in industrialized nations) navigate multiple significant life transitions (e.g., entering career life), and do so in a rapidly changing society. While these transitions pose psychological difficulties, a growing body of research has identified attachment and social support as two notably salient protective factors in emerging adulthood. The purpose of the present paper is to inform counseling work with emerging adult clients, particularly those in the midst of one or more transitions. This purpose is important given that the concept of emerging adulthood represents a relatively recent phenomenon that …

Mexican-Origin Parents’ Work Conditions And Adolescents’ Adjustment, Lorey A. Wheeler, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Ann Crouter

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Mexican-origin parents’ work experiences are a distal extra-familial context for adolescents’ adjustment. This two-wave multi-informant study examined the prospective mechanisms linking parents’ work conditions (i.e., self-direction, work pressure, workplace discrimination) to adolescents’ adjustment (i.e., educational expectations, depressive symptoms, risky behavior) across the transition to high school drawing on work socialization and spillover models. We examined the indirect effects of parental work conditions on adolescent adjustment through parents’ psychological functioning (i.e., depressive symptoms, role overload) and aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship (i.e., parental solicitation, parent-adolescent conflict), as well as moderation by adolescent gender. Participants were 246 predominantly immigrant, Mexican-origin, two-parent families …

Strategies To Support Parent Engagement During Home Visits In Early Head Start And Head Start, Lisa Knoche, Christine Marvin, Susan M. Sheridan

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

This study explores strategies used by early childhood professionals (ECPs) involved in a school readiness intervention to support parent engagement in young children’s learning. Thirty-two ECPs were recorded during home visits with young children and their families who were enrolled in Early Head Start and Head Start programming. Frequency of strategy use is reported, and strategy use is significantly correlated with rates of parent-ECP interactions during visits but not to parent-child interaction rates nor with overall quality ratings of parent-child engagement. ECPs’ overall success in promoting parent engagement was positively and significantly correlated with ECPs’ efforts to elicit parent observations …

The Perceived Effects Of Dance For Individuals With Parkinson’S Disease And Healthy Amateurs, Taylor Marie Mastin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the present study was to compare the effects of dance participation on physical and psychological functioning as perceived by two distinct groups of dancers: dancers with Parkinson's disease (PD) and healthy amateur (HA) dancers. Dancers in the Parkinson's sample group were gathered from participants in the Dance for PD® program, while healthy amateur dancers were recruited from university dance departments and through social media. Both groups were administered measures related to affect, self-efficacy, quality of life, and which aspects of dance classes were most helpful and/or challenging. Several open-ended questions for both groups were included, along with …

Studying Treatment Intensity: Lessons From Two Preliminary Studies, Nicole Neil, Emily A. Jones

Education Publications

Determining how best to meet the needs of learners with Down syndrome requires an approach to intervention delivered at some level of intensity. How treatment intensity affects learner acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of skills can help optimize the efficiency and cost effectiveness of interventions. There is a growing body of research on the effects of treatment intensity but almost no systematic study of it with children with Down syndrome, providing little guidance about how to approach the study of intensity. In two preliminary studies we manipulated different aspects of the dose of treatment intensity and measured effects on skill acquisition …

Examining The Validity Of The Homework Performance Questionnaire: Multi-Informant Assessment In Elementary And Middle School, Thomas J. Power, Marley W. Watkins, Jennifer A. Mautone, Christy M. Walcott, Michael J. Coutts, Susan M. Sheridan

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Methods for measuring homework performance have been limited primarily to parent reports of homework deficits. The Homework Performance Questionnaire (HPQ) was developed to assess the homework functioning of students in Grades 1 to 8 from the perspective of both teachers and parents. The purpose of this study was to examine the factorial validity of teacher and parent versions of this scale, and to evaluate gender and grade-level differences in factor scores. The HPQ was administered in 4 states from varying regions of the United States. The validation sample consisted of students (n=511) for whom both parent and teacher ratings were …

Parent Engagement During Home Visits In Early Head Start And Head Start: Useful Strategies For Practitioners, Lisa Knoche, Christine Marvin, Susan M. Sheridan

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

This study explores strategies used by early childhood professionals (ECPs) involved in a school readiness intervention to support parent engagement in young children’s learning. In this study, we used video recordings to understand the ECP-parent interactions during Early Head Start and Head Start home visits. We coded the videos for the number of parent engagement strategies that were used by ECPs as well as the quality of parent engagement during visits, including the amount of parent-child interaction that took place during the visits. Findings have implications for the implementation of the Head Start Parent, Family and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework, …

Saving Our Sisters: Effects Of A Computer-Based Version Of Sista On The Hiv-Related Behaviors Of African American Women, Krystal Frieson

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are infectious diseases wreaking irreparable havoc on the lives of millions all around the world. Of those infected and affected by HIV in the United States, African Americans disproportionately bear the burden of this disease, which has resulted in a major crisis within the African American community. In 2010, African Americans accounted for approximately 44% of all new HIV infections among adolescents, 13 years of age and older, and adults [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012). These statistics become even more dismal when both race and gender enter the …

Exploring Bisexual-Identified Persons Experiences Of Belonging, David Pascale-Hague

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Belonging is a basic and fundamental human need (Baumeister, & Leary, 1995) that is associated with psychosocial health (Cohen, 2004). Unfortunately, community belonging is a challenge for those with a bisexual identity. Binegativity, minority stress, and the invisibility of bisexual-identities may interfere with attempts to develop a sense of community belonging (Bradford, 2004). Little systematic research has examined bisexual-identified people’s perceptions and experiences of belonging to a community. This project addressed the question, “What are bisexual individuals’ experiences of community belonging/social exclusion?” Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 12 bisexual-identified persons. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a constructivist …

The Implementation Of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (Sfbt) With At-Risk Youth In An Alternative School Environment, Martha C. Hinchey

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Research indicates the potential utility of schools as sites for service delivery of mental health interventions. The application of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) within the school domain is reflected in the child psychotherapy literature. Findings on the use of SFBT in school settings suggest that it may be well suited to school contexts given its time-efficient, goal-directed, and strengths-based behavioral approach.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of SFBT with at-risk youth in an alternative school setting. The researcher utilized a multiple case study design to examine the impact of a 6-session SFBT intervention on …

The Inclusive Human Trafficking Checklist: A Dialectical Methodology Of Measurement, Maria C. Almario

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The identification of victims of human trafficking and consequential service provision is characterized by a significant disconnection between the estimated prevalence of this issue and the number of cases identified. The current dissertation introduces the Inclusive Human Trafficking Checklist (IHTC) as a screening measure, evaluates the appropriateness of the instrument, evaluates whether there are differences in assessment based on the participant’s profession, level of knowledge, and training, and assesses if users of the instrument perceive it as useful. A total of 201 participants were asked to rate three vignettes predetermined by experts to qualify as a either human trafficking case …