Addressing identity-related barriers to collaboration for conservation through self-affirmation theory and moral foundations theory.

The natural resource management literature documents many reasons for pursuing collaborative processes, offering useful insights on how to manage conflict and facilitate productive deliberation in complex multistakeholder collaborative efforts. Moral foundations theory and self-affirmation theory can further help collaborative efforts mitigate conflicts caused by identity threats and the identity-protective reasoning these threats provoke. Moral foundations theory suggests an approach to increase collaboration by minimizing triggering language and helping people appreciate opposing viewpoints. Self-affirmation theory suggests a practical intervention that could be used to increase collaboration by desensitizing people to identity threats and reducing defensiveness. Taken together, these theories can contribute substantially to the understanding and practice of collaboration and conflict management for conservation.

Consideración de las Barreras Relacionadas con la Identidad que Enfrenta la Colaboración para la Conservación a través de la Teoría de Autoafirmación y la Teoría de Fundamentos Morales Resumen La literatura sobre el manejo de recursos naturales documenta muchas razones por las que es necesario buscar procesos colaborativos, los cuales ofrecen conocimiento útil sobre cómo manejar el conflicto. Estos procesos también facilitan la deliberación productiva dentro de los esfuerzos colaborativos complejos en los cuales participan múltiples actores. La teoría de fundamentos morales puede ayudar a que los esfuerzos colaborativos mitiguen los conflictos causados por las amenazas a la identidad y el razonamiento de protección de identidad que estas amenazas provocan. La teoría de fundamentos morales propone una estrategia para incrementar la colaboración al minimizar el lenguaje detonante y ayudar a que las personas aprecien los puntos de vista contrarios. La teoría de autoafirmación sugiere una intervención práctica que podría usarse para incrementar la colaboración al desensibilizar a las personas a tal grado que identifiquen amenazas y reduzcan la actitud defensiva. En conjunto, estas teorías pueden contribuir sustancialmente al entendimiento y la práctica de la colaboración y el manejo de conflictos para la conservación.

Prior Sexual Trauma and Adjustment Following the Virginia Tech Campus Shootings: Examination of the Mediating Role of Schemas.

A sizable body of research supports trauma's cumulative nature. However, few studies have evaluated potential mechanisms through which the experience of multiple traumas leads to elevated distress. The current study sought to evaluate differences between sexual trauma victims and women who had not experienced sexual trauma in their adjustment following a mass trauma (college women exposed to the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting). In addition, the study examined whether maladaptive schema change (lower self-worth and less belief in benevolence) and social support mediated the relationship between experiencing multiple traumas (sexual trauma and the campus shooting) and distress. The sample consisted of 215 college women who were assessed preshooting as well as two months and one year following the campus shooting. Women who had experienced sexual trauma (either contact sexual abuse or sexual assault) were compared to those who had not on their one-year postshooting PTSD and depressive symptoms. Results supported that sexual trauma victims reported significantly more depressive symptoms and shooting-related PTSD as well as less belief in benevolence and lower family support. Family support and benevolence beliefs at the two month postshooting assessment were significant medi-ators of the association between sexual trauma history and depression and PTSD. Implications of the findings for future research evaluating the cumulative impact of multiple traumatic experiences are discussed.

Social support, world assumptions, and exposure as predictors of anxiety and quality of life following a mass trauma.

This study examined the influence of a mass trauma (the Virginia Tech campus shootings) on anxiety symptoms and quality of life, as well as the potential vulnerability/protective roles of world assumptions and social support. Pre-trauma adjustment data, collected in the six months prior to the shooting, was examined along with two-month post-shooting data in a sample of 298 female students enrolled at the university at the time of the shootings. Linear regression analyses revealed consistent predictive roles for world assumptions pertaining to control and self-worth as well as family support. In addition, for those more severely exposed to the shooting, greater belief in a lack of control over outcomes appeared to increase vulnerability for post-trauma physiological and emotional anxiety symptoms. Implications of the results for research and intervention following mass trauma are discussed.

Longitudinal evaluation of the relationship between maladaptive trauma coping and distress: examination following the mass shooting at Virginia Tech.

Growing evidence supports that the coping strategies that individuals utilize are a key predictor of distress following trauma. However, there is limited longitudinal research examining the relationship between psychological distress and coping over time, and even less research examining the possibility of reciprocal relationships between distress and coping, despite the fact that prior theoretical work posits such a relationship. The current study modeled the relationship between distress (PTSD and general distress) and maladaptive coping over time in a sample of 368 college women exposed to the mass shooting at Virginia Tech (VT). Participants completed web surveys regarding their distress, shooting-related coping, and shooting-related PTSD 2 months, 6 months, and 1 year following the shooting. They also completed measures of their psychological distress prior to the shooting as part of an unrelated study. A structural cross-lagged model with latent variables supported a reciprocal relationship between maladaptive coping and general psychological distress over time. In contrast, the cross-lagged model evaluating the relationship between PTSD and maladaptive coping supported that PTSD symptoms predicted coping over time, but there was no reciprocal relationship between coping and PTSD. Implications of the findings for future work examining adjustment following traumatic events are discussed.

Resource loss as a predictor of posttrauma symptoms among college women following the mass shooting at Virginia Tech.

We examined risk factors for posttrauma symptomatology, 2 and 6 months following the April 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech. Using a conservation of resources framework and a Web-based survey methodology, we prospectively evaluated the relations among preshooting distress, social support, resource loss, and posttrauma symptomatology in a sample of 293 female students enrolled at the university at the time of the shootings. Structural equation modeling supported that preshooting social support and distress predicted resource loss postshooting. Resource loss predicted symptomatology 2 months and 6 months after the shooting. Implications of the results for research and intervention following mass trauma are discussed.

Impaired and incapacitated rape victims: assault characteristics and post-assault experiences.

Alcohol is the most common "rape drug," with up to two-thirds of victims consuming alcohol prior to the assault. Surprisingly, little research has examined the assault and postassault experiences of victims who were impaired or incapacitated as a result of substance use, including alcohol, during a rape. Thus, the current study evaluated the assault and postassault experiences of a sample of 340 nonimpaired, impaired, and incapacitated college rape victims. Results supported that these three groups differed in several assault characteristics, including threats by the assailant, resistance by the victim, and relationship with the assailant. In addition, impairment and incapacitation were associated with several postassault factors, including self-blame, stigma, and problematic alcohol use. Results also highlighted similarities in victims' experiences, including levels of postassault distress. Implications of the findings for future research investigating impaired and incapacitated sexual assault victims are discussed.

A critical review of theories to explain violent relationship termination: implications for research and intervention.

The following review represents an update and extension to an influential article (see [Strube, M.J. (1988). The decision to leave an abusive relationship: Empirical evidence and theoretical issues. Psychological Bulletin, 104, 236-250.]), which evaluated empirical research and suggested potential theories to explain victimized women's decisions to terminate violent relationships. In contrast to the original review, this paper provides information on the importance of and means by which theory should be evaluated and critically determines which theoretical approach(es) might be most productive based on theoretical and atheoretical evidence. In addition, this paper discusses strengths and weaknesses of each approach, in light of certain criteria deemed to be important for the evaluation of theory (e.g., comprehensiveness, parsimony, etc.). Furthermore, this paper discusses current controversies regarding these issues, ramifications of differing theoretical approaches, and their potential impact on the field. Based on this analysis, it is determined that general approaches (e.g., reasoned action/planned behavior, investment model) may be better for understanding this complex and multifaceted decision. Suggestions for future theoretical and intervention research are discussed.

Rape acknowledgment and postassault experiences: how acknowledgment status relates to disclosure, coping, worldview, and reactions received from others.

Many rape victims are unacknowledged. These victims do not label their experience as rape; instead they give the experience a more benign label, such as a miscommunication. The current study examined the relationship between victims' acknowledgment status and post-assault behaviors, moving beyond prior research. Analyses of covariance were conducted comparing the post-assault experiences of unacknowledged and acknowledged college rape victims (n = 256), controlling for differences in victims' assault characteristics, multiple victimization, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Results supported that unacknowledged and acknowledged victims differed in their coping, disclosure, belief in justice, and receipt of egocentric reactions following disclosure. Implications for future work examining the dynamic interplay among assault characteristics, sexual scripts, acknowledgment status, and post-assault factors are discussed.

Development of the body image concern inventory.

Development of the Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI), a measure designed to assess dysmorphic concern, is described. A panel of expert raters supported the construct validity of the measure, and four college student samples (Ns=184, 200, 56, 40) supported the internal consistency of the BICI. In addition, in studies 1 and 3, concurrent validity was established through comparison of the BICI to extant self-report and interview measures of dysmorphic symptomatology. Convergent validity patterns were assessed through comparison with measures of obsessive-compulsive and eating disorder symptomatology in studies 2 and 4. Finally, the results of study 4 supported that the BICI discriminated individuals with a diagnosis of Body Dysmorphic Disorder or bulimia (disorders that frequently involve high levels of dysmorphic concern) from those with subclinical symptoms. Results suggest that the BICI is a reliable, valid, and user-friendly tool for assessing dysmorphic concern, with utility in both research and clinical settings.