<p> Bullying continues to be a global concern in schools and communities, especially in light of its adverse short- and long-term impacts on youth with respect to both psychiatric and physical health (Espelage &amp; Swearer, 2003; Rodkin, Espelage, &amp; Hanish, 2015; Witted &amp; Dupper, 2005). As a result, numerous programs and resources aimed at preventing bullying and intervening with both victims and perpetrators have been developed. An increased use of computer-mediated communications (CMCs) among adolescents (Patchin, 2013) has lead to the emergence of a new form of bullying called cyberbullying, which involves intentional acts of aggression through online or cellular phone communications. Therefore a need for resources specifically targeting cyberbullying that are accessible and easy-to-use is also needed. </p><p> The current project involved developing a resource in the form of wireframing for a mobile-app, aimed at decreasing cyberbullying among adolescents (ages 12-18 years) by providing them with a reflective learning tool to heighten their awareness of their involvement in cyberbullying, its potential adverse consequences, and to connect them with relevant resources. The project was informed by a review of the literature on physical bullying, cyberbullying (e.g., prevalence, forms, and roles involved), and the efficacy of current prevention/treatment programs and resources. The resulting mobile-app wireframe is presented in the form of a manual and simulation using the JustinMind program (Farrell-Vinary, 2011). The wireframe is comprised of four modules: (1) An Assessment Module to assess user&rsquo;s cyberbullying role (bully, victim, bully/victim) and tailor the mobile-app&rsquo;s content, (2) a Psychoeducation Module providing information on the adverse affects, signs, and symptoms of cyberbullying, (3) a Daily Log Module to monitor online behaviors and increase online awareness, and (4) a Resources Module to provide additional support to other programs, information, and personal contacts. Although the resource is intended primarily for use by teens as a self-help tool, it may be implemented as part of a hybrid approach in conjunction with therapy or school-based programs. </p><p> Following a discussion of strengths, limitations and potential improvements to the current resource, plans for evaluating its efficacy once developed into a functional mobile-app and disseminating it to relevant professionals are described.</p>

<p> Although numerous studies have identified the buffering effects of different coping strategies in stress and health research, few studies have considered the influence of cultural factors such as allocentrism (degree of collectivism). The present study examined whether the collectivistic coping strategies of support (support from racially similar others, support from experienced others, support from family) and avoidance (forbearance, fatalism) were associated with perceived and physiological stress levels, and whether allocentrism influenced this relationship, among a sample of low-income mothers. Results showed that higher use of support from family and lower use of avoidance coping were associated with lower levels of perceived stress and lower morning cortisol. Among women high in allocentrism, those who used support from experienced others had lower levels of perceived stress. These results contribute to our understanding of the role of culture in stress-coping research and how culture influences our physiological stress reactions.</p>

<p> This research project used a causal comparative design to examine differences between intact groups of graduate art therapy students using art as a response to emotions and sharing the art during group supervision. There is scant research on group art therapy supervision thus in this study the variables of curiosity and psychological mindedness were analyzed. Utilizing art making as a tool to understand emotions in response to working with clients therapeutically provides both an implicit, internal focus on the self in relation to others that is then evaluated in an explicit, external context of group supervision, where these emotions are shared. Forty participants completed response art as well as pre- and post-test inventories of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II, subscales of stretching and embracing, and the Balanced Inventory of Psychological Mindedness, subscales of interest and insight. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon rank sum test and Spearmen&rsquo;s rho correlations. While findings were limited due to the small sample size, nonparametric measures, and confounding variables, findings confirmed that stretching and interest showed significant increases. Students later in their practicum showed an increase in embracing while group size of four or less had greater increases in insight. Insight increased early in the research study and decreased significantly at the end of this present study, suggesting that as students learn they develop a more humble stance of not knowing. Future research would benefit from a qualitative inquiry to identify and understand aspects of creating art in response to clients and sharing it in supervision.</p>

<p> The phenomenon of workplace bullying and sexual harassment amongst first responders for the purpose of this study involves a thorough, comprehensive review of the literature. This examination demonstrates the effects workplace bullying, and sexual harassment has across Emergency Service Organizations [ESOs] and the impact on targets as being severe and pervasive, with negative consequences for the targets and the organizations in which they work. During the exploration of this work, 305 articles were reviewed and then screened through Hermeneutic research methods to net 209 studies in the results. Core themes that emerged support that the phenomenon has severe implications for the psychological health of targets, organizational culture implications and public safety outcomes that are serious, pervasive and have negative consequences for individuals, the organization and the public. Data in this study show that factors that influence workplace bullying and sexual harassment include organizational culture (acceptable) and a &ldquo;rite of passage&rdquo; which creates a groupthink mentality that normalizes and creates a toxic culture ripe for incivility within emergency service organizations. The impact on targets includes severe psychological harm and the depletion of psychological resource that has long-lasting negative mental health implications. Also, data shows that there are public safety implications for workplace bullying, and sexual harassment as targets experience an erosion of professional competence and burnout that can lead to catastrophic consequences regarding critical incidents with clients.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation aims to understand various developmental decision making phenomena associated with turning points in the lives of middle-aged adults. More specifically, the decision processes of persons who lived in pre-war Nazi Germany were studied in relation to their decisions around emigration, based on their memoirs. The source material is from an archive located at Houghton Library, Harvard University, entitled &ldquo;My Life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933,&rdquo; collected in 1939&ndash;40. The study reveals three main reasons given for deciding to emigrate, the loss of employment opportunities, a feeling of moral repugnance for the Nazi regime, and an experience of physical threat. Developmental findings related to the turning point, following Maslow, revealed coping abilities amid an atmosphere of tension, reflecting maintained attainment of adult functioning and a persistent sense of self. Turning point findings supported an extended rather than pinpoint definition of the turning point.</p>

<p> &ldquo;Since the 1970s, one of the hallmarks of reforms of junior high and middle schools has been the recognition of social &lsquo;needs&rsquo; of young teens and the ways in which schools have failed to serve them&rdquo; (Juvonen, p. 197, 2007). If school climate is left to fail, adolescents are at a risk for developing mental health problems, anxiety, antisocial behaviors, and depression (Shortt, Alison, &amp; Spence, 2006). Unless discipline issues are at a minimum, instruction will be interrupted and teaching time will be lost (McIntosh, Bohanon &amp; Goodman, 2011).</p><p> The following research questions are a few of the questions that guided this study: 1. What are the students&rsquo; perceptions of school climate at the end of the school 2014 year? 2. What are the differences in the number of Office Disciplinary Reports (ODRs) from pre-implementation of the SWPBS in 2009 to post-implementation of the SWPBS in 2014 by grade level and gender? </p><p> This study employed a causal-comparative research design utilizing ex post facto data collected from ODRs and a School Climate Survey to determine feasibility and worthiness of a School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS). The students in this study (<i>N</i>=487) were from a small suburban middle school located in the Northeast.</p><p> Analyses of students&rsquo; perceptions of school climate were negative in the following three dimensions: <i>Order and Discipline</i>=41%, <i> Student-Interpersonal Relations</i>=49% and <i>Student-Teacher Relations </i>=78%. An analysis of ANOVAs revealed significant differences between grade levels 5 to 8 (<i>p</i>=&lt;.001). Findings for Office Disciplinary Reports (ODRs) at the end of a five-year implementation of a SWPBS system reported significant percent decreases ranging from 54% at pre-implementation of the SWPBS to 90% at post-implementation in grade levels 5 to 8.</p><p> Educational leaders can utilize the findings from this study to guide their instructional practice on building <i>Student-Teacher Relations </i> and implement the use of a School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) system, to help address the social emotional needs of students and minimize student behavioral problems to effect time spent on learning and the success of student learning in the classroom.</p>

<p> This study explored the possibility that social connection is one element that can contribute to persistence in a simple meditation exercise using Beary, Benson, and Klemchuk&rsquo;s relaxation response exercise with the addition of a social element. Participants were 82 females, ages 30 to 65, with English as a first language, naive (less than 2 months experience) to meditation, who were drawn from the general population. They were screened to exclude hospitalized individuals and those who have been treated for a psychological condition within the last three years. Participants were randomized to two groups. Each group received written instructions, with the control group receiving generic instructions only and the experimental group receiving the same instructions with the addition of a social element. It was expected that the group receiving instructions with a social element would show greater persistence (i.e., participate more often in the exercise and continue to use the exercise over a longer time span) at a minimum p value of .05 and with at least a small effect size. It was expected that attachment type would moderate persistence, so attachment type was measured. The persistence data were not normally distributed, so a nonparametric equivalent to a <i> t</i> test, a Mann-Whitney <i>U,</i> was used to compare the persistence means for the experimental group and the control group. No significant effect was found. The sample obtained had too few individuals by attachment type per group to permit analysis of moderating effects of attachment type.</p>

<p> This study investigated the role of pre-deliberation leading to a group consensus-based decision in government planning. Six people from local municipalities in Skagit County participated in a 5-question in-person interview study process with qualitative measures. Existing literature on consensus decision making and informal pre-meeting discussions, identified in the study as pre-deliberation, is limited. The researcher was concerned with understanding elements from communication theory that support a communication process leading to group decisions in a recent government planning project. Therefore, five variables were measured in this study: needs and concerns, understanding the positions of others, facilitating group decisions, accountability, and successful partnerships. In analyzing the empirical data, the researcher found evidence to support the notion that pre-meeting discussions improve decision making. Future research may further address gender and age implications, and the role or impact of open meeting laws in government planning.</p>

<p> Despite the direct connection between anal sex and pleasure (Hite, 1981; Morin, 2010), the majority of academic literature on anal sex frames the topic in terms of homophobia (when referring to male-bodied people) and/or disease (Aguilar, 2017; Brody &amp; Weiss, 2011; McBride &amp; Fortenberry, 2010). While only two academic articles (Branfman &amp; Stiritz, 2012; Branfman, Stiritz, &amp; Anderson, 2017) have been published on the topic of anoreceptive heterosexual males (ARHMs), there is evidence of this type of sexuality dating back to Ancient Egypt and Greece (Bullough, 1976; Foucault, 1990b). This is indicative of the socially systemic heteronormativity and associated constructs of heterosexism, homophobia, and phallocentrism that can instill shame and stigma in those with non-conforming sexual preferences, such as ARHMs, BDSM practitioners, and BDSM-oriented ARHMs (Ayres &amp; Leudeman, 2013; Bosson, Prewitt-Freilino, &amp; Taylor, 2005; Crane &amp; Crane-Seeber, 2003; Heasley, 2005; Taormino, 2008; Yost, 2010). Therefore, this research examined levels of heteronormativity, sexual shame, and sexual pride to determine whether higher levels of heteronormativity predict higher levels of sexual shame and lower levels of sexual pride in ARHMs, and whether heteronormativity, sexual shame, and sexual pride in ARHMs differ according to BDSM status. In multivariate linear regressions and independent-samples t-tests on data from 906 ARHMs, heteronormativity did not significantly contribute to the prediction of sexual shame in ARHMs; there was not a significant difference in heteronormativity between BDSM-oriented and non-BDSM-oriented ARHMs; there was a significant difference in sexual shame between BDSM-oriented and non-BDSM-oriented ARHMs, but not in the hypothesized direction (there were higher levels of sexual shame among BDSM-oriented ARHMs); and there was not a significant difference in sexual pride between BDSM-oriented and non-BDSM-oriented ARHMs. These findings highlight the nuance in sexual orientation and expression. It remains unclear whether the constructs of masculinity and heteronormativity are expanding to accommodate what were previously considered non-conforming sexual and gender expressions, or whether these constructs continue to obfuscate and repress through a manipulation of language that reinforces privilege. These findings have implications for clinicians who work with those who have both privileged and marginalized identities and/or sexual orientations.</p><p>

<p> Youth-initiated mentoring that focuses on a mentee&rsquo;s academic goals has the potential to positively influence academic, social-emotional, and identity development in older adolescents while building enduring mentor-mentee relationships (DuBois et al., 2011, Schwartz &amp; Rhodes, 2016; Bayer, Grossman, &amp; DuBois, 2015; Karcher &amp; Nakkula, 2010). While the majority of youth mentoring research has focused on long-term (12 months or more) resiliency-based mentoring models, new emerging models like youth-initiated and academic instrumental mentoring need to be investigated (Rhodes, 2002; DuBois et al., 2002; Schwartz &amp; Rhodes, 2016). The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the influences of short-term youth-initiated mentoring on higher order cognitive skill development and mentor-mentee relationship quality. Participants included 145 high school students enrolled in an International private school&rsquo;s youth-initiated academic mentoring program who completed a digital survey twice over three months. The survey instrument included a descriptive section that collected participants&rsquo; demographic information while quantifying their youth mentoring experience, a Mentor-Youth Alliance Survey that assessed mentor-mentee relationship quality (Zand, Thomson, Cervantes, Espiritu, Klagholz, et al., 2009) and two measurement tools that assessed higher order cognitive skills including the Developmental Assets Profile internal assets (Scales, Benson, &amp; Mannes, 2006) and the future expectations the Survey of Academic Youth Outcomes Youth Survey future expectations (NOIST, 2013). Findings indicated that short-term youth-initiated academic mentoring positively influenced high order cognitive development in older adolescent students. In addition, youth-initiated mentoring may promote higher quality mentor-mentee relationships within 3 to 12 months.</p><p>