Weight stigma is associated with negative health outcomes across the BMI continuum. However, few studies have examined weight discrimination targeting people with low body weights. This investigation explored the presence of anti-thin bias, defined as the belief that people with low BMIs have undesirable personality characteristics. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of six vignettes about women that differed by race (White and Black) and weight status (slightly underweight, normal weight, and slightly overweight). Negative personality characteristics were more likely to be ascribed to both underweight and overweight women, compared with normal weight women. Furthermore, participants were significantly more likely to attribute underweight women’s body weight to biological factors. Results indicate that underweight women might be more stigmatized for their body weight than normal weight women. Weight bias literature should continue to research the impact of weight discrimination for individuals across the BMI spectrum.

Breakfast intake is associated with numerous positive physical and mental health outcomes, yet breakfast skipping remains common in adults. Chronotype and sleep show potential as predictors of breakfast intake; however the existing literature has methodological limitations and fails to examine how psychological mechanisms might explain the relation between sleep and breakfast. The current investigation explored the association of means and variability of sleep behaviors (bedtime, midsleep, sleep duration) as predictors of breakfast intake frequency and high-protein breakfast intake frequency. Additionally, the role of positive and negative affect as mediators in the sleep—breakfast association was examined. Hierarchical regressions and PROCESS parallel mediation models were conducted to assess direct and indirect associations. Variability in bedtime was a significant predictor of breakfast intake frequency, with greater variability associated with less frequent intake. Future work is necessary to examine further the association of sleep and breakfast behaviors, and psychological mechanisms in this relation.

Scholarly literature supports that individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer face inequities as a result of living in a heteronormative society. However, scholarly literature lacks body of research available that provides insight as to the experiences that counselors have while providing mediation to same-sex couple regarding coparenting. Thus, a literature gap exists pertaining to the lived experiences of counselors who provide mediation for same-sex couple coparenting. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to develop an understanding of counselors who provide same-sex couple coparenting. The theoretical framework used in this study was the equity theory, which speaks to how inequities in inputs and gains from a relationship affect behaviors. Participant selections criteria included being 21 years of age, a licensed counselor, and having worked with same-sex couples for coparenting mediation for 1 year. Data were collected from 5 counselors through interviews and analyzed, which produced 5 main themes and 18 subthemes. Data analysis was conducted by considering the whole transcription, statements and phrases and a line by line approach. The 5 main themes were practices, skills, knowledge, beliefs, and challenges noted by the participants. The results of this study provide insight as to similarities and differences in education that are necessary for both counseling and mediation. A better-defined understanding of counselor mediation experiences may promote changes in counseling programs to include mediation skills, increased multicultural competence, and knowledge of basic family law in regard to child custody.

Teenage pregnancy in the United States is a national concern because of negative outcomes for teen mothers and their children of teen mothers. There is ample research on the negative outcomes associated with teen pregnancy: however, there is little research on the success of teenage mothers. This transcendental, phenomenological study examined how former teenage mothers overcame challenges of teen pregnancy to become financially independent adults. The research question for this study was: What factors enabled former teen mothers to overcome challenges of teen pregnancy to become financially independent adults? Principles from social learning theory and resilience theory provided the conceptual framework. Fifteen women who were teenage mothers participated in the study. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and a demographic questionnaire. Coliazzi's 7- step process was used analyze the data. Key findings showed the following: family support and government assistance enabled the women to continue their education and achieve financial independence; most fathers were supportive during the child's first year, but the support subsided as the relationship between the parents dissolved; the women received little support from their communities or from the educational system. Findings from this study make in important contribution to the literature by taking a strengths-based approach to document the success of teenage mothers. One recommendation is that human services professionals should advocate for stronger support systems for teen mothers because results from this study revealed that good support systems for teenage mothers will enable them to become stronger pillars of society, thus making a positive social change.

In the United States, over ninety percent of women take their husbands' last names when they marry; the remaining women keep, hyphenate, or alter their last name in some other way. Although many disciplines have examined this subject, counseling psychology has had little to say on the matter. This study investigates American women's naming decisions through the lens of the Social Cognitive Theory of Gender Development and Differentiation and seeks to shed light on its significance to counseling psychology. The qualitative methodology grounded theory is employed to examine the factors that contribute to naming choices as well as to better understand the psychological implications of such decisions. Findings suggest that naming decisions may impact identity, gender roles, partner relational concerns, family dynamics, empowerment, career issues, multicultural considerations, and power differentials, all of which are topics that are relevant for counseling psychologists. The discussion explores the relevance of this issue for women who are actively making, or have already made, a naming choice. Larger implications for the field of psychology are also considered.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Thomas A. Schwandt. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-135) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Arnold Spokane.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: B, page: 3822. Adviser: James Rounds. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-98) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> Supervision research has demonstrated the importance of a strong supervisory working alliance in the context of clinical training. However, little is known about what specifically occurs in clinical supervision that contributes to a strong supervisory working alliance. The present study of counselor trainees was designed to investigate relations among their avoidant attachment style, perceptions of relational behaviors used by their supervisors in the most recent supervision session, and the supervisory working alliance. Competing hypotheses stated that greater use of relational behavior on the part of supervisors would either mediate or moderate the inverse relationship between trainees' avoidant attachment style and their perceptions of the supervisory working alliance. </p><p> Master's and doctoral trainees in the mental health professions were contacted through listservs, training directors, and social media with a link to the web-based study. The measures were the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised ( ECR-R; Fraley, Waller &amp; Brennan, 2000), the Relational Behavior Scale (RBS), which was developed based on Ladany, Friedlander, and Nelson's (2005) Critical Events model of supervision and assesses perceptions of supervisors' use of 5 specific interpersonal behaviors in supervision (exploration of feelings, focus on therapeutic process, attend to parallel process, focus on countertransference, and focus on supervisory alliance), and the Working Alliance Inventory&mdash;Trainee version (WAI-T; Bahrick, 1989). </p><p> Based on the present sample (<i>N</i> = 141) and a similar earlier sample (total <i>N</i> = 262), a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on the Relational Behavior Scale, which confirmed that a 5-item, one factor solution best fit the data and accounted for 53.38% of the total variance. Results indicated that neither the mediation nor moderation hypotheses was supported. Specifically, trainees' avoidant attachment style was not significantly related to the supervisory working alliance or to the perceived relational behavior of supervisors. However, a significant positive association (<i>r</i> = .62, p = .0001) emerged between scores on the RBS and the WAI-T, providing evidence that supervisors' use of specific in-session relational strategies are strongly associated with trainees' more favorable perceptions of the working alliance. Continued study of relational behavior may enhance theories of interpersonal supervision, provide training guidelines for new supervisors, and suggest strategies for purposeful intervention to build strong alliances with trainees, who in turn may use these modeled behaviors to build strong alliances with their clients.</p>

<p> The purpose of this dissertation is to examine licensed mental health professionals' attitudes towards rape survivors. Research indicates that the attitudes of police officers, mental health professionals, and the general public may influence the psychological adjustment of rape survivors and, consequently, whether or not that person seeks mental health treatment after the assault (Vincent, 2009). The negative impacts of rape on a person may not be specific only to the act of violence, but may also include secondary victimization from the survivors' negative experiences with authorities such as legal and mental health professionals (Campbell &amp; Raja, 1999) who may hold negative beliefs about sexual assault and rape survivors (Nagel, Matsuo, McIntyre, &amp; Morrison, 2005). Exposure to these negative beliefs held by others may be associated with negative secondary emotions in the survivor, such as guilt; guilt associated with actions taken or not taken in the context of rape has been observed to be positively correlated with posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, low self-esteem, social anxiety, and suicidal ideation (Kubany, Abueg, Owens, Brennan, Kaplan, &amp; Watson, 1995). It is therefore important to examine the attitudes licensed mental health workers hold towards rape survivors, as these rape survivors may seek services from mental health professionals, and the clinicians' attitudes towards these clients' experiences may significantly impact survivors' recovery from a sexual assault. In addition to measuring the acceptance of rape myths in licensed mental health providers, this study aims to explore how demographic variables in mental health professionals, such as gender, type of graduate degree, or participant rape survivor status, are related to the attitudes participants report about sexual assault. It was hypothesized that male study participants would attribute greater responsibility to survivors than female study participants would, based on the results of the updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, and congruent with published research highlighting this gender difference (Grubb &amp; Harrower, 2009). It was hypothesized that mental health providers who have had more years of training in their graduate degree program would report lower levels of rape myth acceptance compared with those who had a shorter degree program. It was also hypothesized that participants who themselves identified as a rape survivor or who had a close friend or family member who is a survivor would attribute less responsibility to rape survivors, as research supports the observation that those who identify as survivors or friends of survivors may reject negative biases towards sexual assault survivors.</p><p> After completing both independent t-tests and Mann-Whitney U statistical analyses, gender identity was the only demographic for which statistically significant mean differences were seen in total rape myth acceptance scores (<i>p</i> = .012). This finding is not surprising, as much of the current literature supports that men, in general, attribute more blame to rape survivors than women. Prior to the current study there was no published research using licensed mental health providers as participants in a study using the updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. Data gathered from the current study will therefore offer a valuable contribution to the literature on this topic. Further, it is hoped that this data can be used in the development of graduate programs, continuing education courses, and didactic seminars that debunk rape myths and promote competency around rape survivor issues. </p>