ABSTRACT
Sixty-seven college students rated a counselor on expertness, trustworthiness, and attractiveness based on reading 1 of 2 randomly assigned session transcripts. The desire to choose the depicted counselor was also measured. In both transcripts, the counselor self-disclosed his or her use of prayer. A single-client statement varied across the 2 transcripts such that one contained a congruent counselor self-disclosure (counselor disclosure after client disclosure) and the other included an incongruent self-disclosure (counselor disclosure without client disclosure). A potential covariate, religiosity, was examined but did not draw significant variance. Participants in the congruent group reported a more favorable total perception, a higher attractiveness perception, and a greater desire to choose the counselor than did participants in the incongruent group. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.
Subject(s)
Counseling , Perception , Professional Competence , Adolescent , Adult , Humans , Random Allocation , Religion , Self DisclosureABSTRACT
In an examination of the prevalence and effects of childhood trauma among college freshmen, as expected, the majority of 515 youth reported at least one traumatic experience in childhood. When fear of death or serious injury accompanies a traumatic event, posttraumatic symptoms may be more likely. As hypothesized, scores on the Reaction Index by Frederick were elevated for subjects who reported trauma with concurrent fear. The combination of trauma and fear was also associated with elevated scores on trait anxiety. While most adolescents do not develop mental illness following single traumatic events, many may be made more vulnerable to the psychogenic effects of future trauma.
Subject(s)
Anxiety/diagnosis , Personality Development , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis , Students/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Anxiety/psychology , Child , Fear , Humans , Male , Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data , Psychometrics , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychologyABSTRACT
Self-efficacy in counseling varied with randomly manipulated feedback on ability, such that the 29 college students who received negative feedback on their ability reported lower self-efficacy than those 16 who received positive feedback. Persistence on task, however, was not related to the type of feedback received.
Subject(s)
Aptitude , Counseling , Feedback , Motivation , Self Efficacy , Adult , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Male , Students/psychologyABSTRACT
The experimentally manipulated sexual orientation of a female counselor was not related to the perceptions of her Expertness, Attractiveness, or Trustworthiness rated by 8 male and 22 female, heterosexual college students.
Subject(s)
Attitude , Counseling , Professional Competence , Sexual Behavior , Adult , Female , Homosexuality, Female/psychology , Humans , Male , Students/psychologyABSTRACT
College students in a social science core curriculum course were given an option of completing a packet of psychological inventories and demographic questions. The last inventory in the packet, the Lazarus Stress Questionnaire, evaluated the emotional impact of answering the questionnaires. Positive feelings were endorsed significantly more than negative feelings. Further analyses, using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Life Experiences Survey, revealed characteristics that may predispose participants to positive or negative emotional reactions to participation in research. Results are discussed in terms of self-focus mechanisms and ethical standards in the treatment of students who participate in research.
Subject(s)
Students/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Humans , Male , Personality Inventory , Psychological Tests , Time FactorsABSTRACT
One purpose of this study was to examine the differences in behavior of children exposed to trauma versus no trauma. Another goal was to compare different types of traumatic events in terms of their effects on behaviors. Our analysis indicated significant differences between trauma and no trauma groups. Additional analyses indicated that those children who were allegedly sexually abused were rated as exhibiting higher levels of symptomatology on all three factors of the Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale (PEDS) as well as the Total PEDS score than the other three groups.
Subject(s)
Child Abuse, Sexual/psychology , Child Behavior , Disasters , Life Change Events , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Affective Symptoms , Analysis of Variance , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychology , United StatesABSTRACT
We screened students (N = 710) in grades four through six at two public elementary schools for behavior problems, using the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist. Five groups of children were identified: conduct disorder (n = 8), attention deficit disorder (n = 9), conduct disorder plus attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (n = 11), anxiety-withdrawal (n = 12), and normal control (n = 15). A response perseveration task, inhibitory control task, and a noninvasive measure of dopaminergic activity were administered to selected students, and group differences were predicted based on Quay's hypotheses as derived from Gray's theory of brain function. Hypothesized group differences were not found, although analyses revealed dimensional relationships that were consistent with the hypotheses. Results are discussed in terms of Quay's hypotheses and potential modifications to tasks for future research.
Subject(s)
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/physiopathology , Brain/physiopathology , Child Behavior Disorders/physiopathology , Dopamine/physiology , Neural Inhibition/physiology , Stereotyped Behavior/physiology , Adolescent , Arousal/physiology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/diagnosis , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/psychology , Blinking/physiology , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Motivation , Reaction Time/physiology , SocializationABSTRACT
The present study examined the relationship between children's coping styles (Spirito, Stark, & Williams, 1988) and self-reported levels of depressive symptoms (Kovacs, 1983) following a major stressor. 257 third- to fifth-grade children consented to participate in the study, 5 months following a hurricane. The number of coping strategies employed was positively related to depression scores, whereas coping efficacy was negatively related to depression scores. Social withdrawal, self-blaming, and emotional regulation were associated with more severe depressive symptoms. Lower levels of symptomatology were found among children who sought social support and engaged in cognitive restructuring. The overall symptom level in the sample did not exceed that of normative samples. Results are discussed in terms of competing theories of childhood depression.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Depression/psychology , Disasters , Child , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Male , Personality Development , Personality Inventory , Self Concept , South CarolinaABSTRACT
Students (N = 814) in grades 3 through 6 at a public school were screened for behavior problems using the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist. Fifty-three selected students, representing Conduct Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Conduct Disorder plus Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Anxiety-Withdrawal Disorder, and normal controls were administered a response perseveration task and delayed responding task (DRL). It was predicted that performance on the two tasks would vary as a function of group membership. While DRL performance did not vary between groups, findings on the response perseveration task provided support for the hypothesis of the perseverative responding for reward in Conduct Disorder.
