Stress affects individuals' physiology, mood, behavior, and cognitive abilities. Social support has been found effective in buffering stress. The social networking site Facebook allows individuals to connect to others to share stories, pictures, and general life events and, in so doing, offers a means of social support that bridges geographical distances for friends and family. There is limited research, however, on whether using Facebook buffers against stress. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the use of Facebook for social support using the conservation of resources theoretical model of stress management. Fifty-seven Facebook users over the age of 18, participated in the study. Multiple regressions were used to test hypotheses for two research questions. These questions examined the combined and relative effects of face-to-face social support, Facebook social support, stress, age, sex, number of Facebook friends, and percentage of Facebook friends who are also in the participant's face-to-face support group in accounting for variance in resource loss, resource threat, and resource gain, as well as the extent the set of predictors differentially predict resource loss, resource threat, and resource gain. This resulted in several key findings. Facebook social support and being female predicted Facebook resource gain. Face-to-face social support positively predicted face-to-face resource gain and negatively predicted Facebook resource loss whereas stress positively predicted resource threat. The results of this study may contribute to positive social change by providing research-based results on how individuals might gain additional social support to help replenish their resource pools and buffer against stress.

Homeless women demonstrate higher rates of mental illness than homeless men. The combination of complex life circumstances, stigmas related to mental illness, and homelessness may cause homeless women with mental illnesses to face unique barriers that prevent them from accessing necessary mental health services. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to expand the body of literature on homeless women's experiences with the mental health system and to understand the barriers to treatment services. Guided by Young's critical social theory of gender, this study was designed to develop a better understanding of the support that may be in place to help women overcome service access barriers related to social issues of race, class, sexuality, and gender. Study participants included 10 chronically homeless adult women in the Southeastern United States who were diagnosed with a mental illness. In-person semistructured, open-ended, phenomenological interview questions were used to explore the research questions. Thematic analysis revealed 5 main themes: (a) reasons for homelessness, (b) reasons women stay homeless, (c) mental health experiences and issues, (d) experiences with being homeless, and (e) services and supports. There were 3 subthemes associated with services and supports: (a) the shelter experience, (b) services that are needed, and (c) professionals should know. Understanding women's unique backgrounds and histories may help service providers and policy makers develop ways to make mental health services more accessible to the homeless women who need them.

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), a common chronic pain condition, is often incompletely treated by conventional medical therapies. It can cause disability, psychological distress, work-related absenteeism, increased use of healthcare resources, and result in the inability to carry out the tasks of daily living. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to investigate the potential influence of laughter on affect and pain in individuals with FMS. Laughter produces beneficial effects on acute pain and on chronic pain in general and has been found to improve temporary affective states, but there have been no studies testing the effects of laughter on the pain and affect of fibromyalgia patients. Informing this study were the gate control and neuromatrix theories of pain, as well as the dynamic model of affect theory. The research questions addressed whether laughter frequency is associated with affect and or with perceived chronic pain levels in these individuals. Forty-one adult fibromyalgia patients documented all laughter episodes daily and assessed their pain and affective states 3 times per day for 14 days. Hierarchical regressions revealed that increased overall laughter frequency was significantly associated with decreases in overall pain and increases in overall positive affect but was not associated with measures of negative affect. Also, morning laughter frequency was predictive of increased afternoon and evening positive affect ratings, as well as with decreased afternoon pain ratings, but was not significantly associated with evening pain ratings. The knowledge gained from these results may have positive social change implications at the individual level, within those individuals' larger social networks, and within the research and medical communities.

Violence among Canadian secondary students remains a concern for administrators, teachers, community members, and students. The purpose of this retrospective quantitative nonexperimental study was to examine the predictive relationship between anger and violence among secondary students in Canada using the Anger Regulation and Expression Scale (ARES). The general aggression model provided the framework for the study. Survey data were collected from 138 students using the ARES. Demographic data and archival data from students' school files were also collected. Results of receiver operator characteristic analysis and binary logistic regression indicated that the ARES total score provided fair to good predictive ability to differentiate between violent and nonviolent students. Only the externalizing cluster indicated a statistically significant relationship between anger and violence. Results also indicated that female and Asian students had lower odds of perpetrating violence. Results may help educators reduce the risk of violence through early detection of potentially violent youths and the provision of intervention and support.

Clergy exhibit higher stress and mortality rates in relation to their nonclergy counterparts. Despite current research on clergy stress and mortality rates, health perceptions and health outcomes of Western religious oriented clergy have been understudied. Even less is known about health perceptions and health outcomes of Eastern religious oriented clergy. The role of stress, coping, and health perceptions in predicting actual health outcomes is important to study in clerical populations because of the impact their health might have on serving their parishioners. The purpose of this nonexperimental correlational study was to determine the relative strength of life stress, coping styles, health perceptions, age, and years in ministry in predicting clerical actual health outcomes (chronic disease). Self-regulation theory was used as the theoretical framework to better understand the relationship among these variables. A convenience sample of 129 Eastern Orthodox clergy across the United States completed an online survey. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relative strength of those variables in predicting actual health outcomes. The results of this study indicated that negative coping style and age were significant predictors of actual health outcomes (chronic disease). As levels of negative coping style and age increased, reports of chronic disease (e.g., cancer, diabetes, obesity, anxiety, and depression) also increased. Health professionals can use the results of this study to improve health outcomes and impact positive social change in clerical populations, which could increase the quality and stability of long-term spiritual care over time.

Research has shown that 1 in 9 women in prenatal care have a history of childhood sexual abuse. Pregnant women with a history of childhood sexual abuse are at increased risk of depression, somatization, preterm contractions, posttraumatic stress symptomology, and re-traumatization. The purpose of this study was to bridge the gap in literature between research and practice. Data was collected from practitioners regarding the care and treatment of pregnant women with a childhood sexual abuse history. It was hypothesized that screening practices and modification to care and treatment based on practitioner knowledge of prior sex abuse history will vary by provider type and provider title. A quantitative, online-based survey design was used to gather data from prenatal and birthing practitioners regarding their treatment of female patients who have a history of childhood sexual abuse. Data was analyzed via multiple regression analysis. The data analysis did not lead to any significant results and therefore was unable to support any findings regarding the research questions and hypotheses. The results of this study can be used to encourage practitioners to seek education regarding childhood sexual abuse and its effects on the health and wellbeing of pregnant women. Further, this study brings awareness to the importance of screening for childhood sexual abuse and modifying care during pregnancy and childbirth.

Mental illness is a problem that affects many people; however, little to almost no research relates to mental illness and reunification rates for mothers who have had their children removed from them by the child welfare system. The purpose in this study was to assess and compare reunification rates between mothers with mental illness, those with substance abuse, and those with co-occurring substance abuse and mental illness. The conceptual framework for this study was the use of the structured decision making (SDM) assessment tool in child welfare. The research questions addressed the differences in reunification rates among mothers with mental illness, substance use, and co-occurring mental illness and substance use in cases where children are removed due to neglect or abuse. This study also addressed the difference in timelines for reunification for mothers with mental illness in comparison with mothers with substance use and mothers with co-occurring substance use and mental illness in cases where children are removed due to neglect or abuse. In addition, this study addressed the dynamic assessment factors from the family assessment of needs and strengths (FANS) that predict reunification. This study used archival data related to the reunification status, reunification timelines, and the strengths and needs of the mother. A ï?£2 analysis was used to determine whether a difference exists in reunification rates between the groups. In this study, no statistical significance was found; however, the study brought to light areas for further research. This includes using larger sample sizes that cover an entire state to compare reunification rates. This can assist in program development for reunification and decrease the number of children in care.

Micro-expressions are brief facial expressions that last for 500 milliseconds or less and show the true emotional state of an individual when he or she is displaying a false emotional state. There are currently 2 different methods to train individuals to recognize micro-expressions-picture-based and video-based. Numerous organizations use micro-expression training as part of a deception detection program, but little research has been conducted on training outcomes, and no research has investigated the difference between the methods. In this quantitative study based on Darwin's theory of the universality of emotional expression, a control group experimental design was used to determine if there is a difference in training outcomes, as measured by post-training accuracy rates of overall and emotion-specific micro-expression identification, between the 2 current micro-expression training methods and no training. A total of 196 participants recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk community were randomly assigned to a picture-based training, video-based training, or no training control group. The online training and post-training test were delivered via a computer-based training platform. MANOVA, ANOVA and t-tests were run to determine the differences between the groups. Results indicated that participants in both picture-based and video-based training groups showed a significant increase in their ability to recognize micro-expressions compared to those in the no training group, but did not differ from each other. The study provides an increased understanding of micro-expression training outcomes that may contribute to the training of numerous law enforcement, security, and human resources professionals.

Arrogance in the workplace is a growing area of interest within industrial-organizational psychology. Arrogant employees tend to lack positive interpersonal work relationships, act superior yet have a lower level of cognitive abilities, and have poorer job performance than their less arrogant counterparts, leading to challenging work relationships and overall impact on an organization's ability to meet its objectives. The present study examined professional arrogance measured by the Workplace Arrogance Scale (WARS), a 26 question survey, in relation to the objective outcome measure of a Financial Investment Advisor's (FIA) ranking on the firm's leader board based on total assets under management plus revenue. A total of 37 participants who have been in the profession for more than 2 years completed the survey. This study employed a quantitative, correlational research design. The research questions were assessed using linear regression and moderation analyses. Analysis of the data showed no significant predictive relationship between results of the WARS and performance. Gender and professional experience did not moderate the relationship between an FIA's arrogance and their performance. While these findings did not support the hypothesis of a connection between a FIA's assessed arrogance and measured performance, arrogance remains an important construct requiring further study. As workplace arrogance is better understood, it can be screened for by human resources within hiring processes and can be addressed directly by leadership through training and development. Decreased arrogance is likely to lead to more respectful client relationships, leading to customer loyalty and increased revenues for the client, FIA and the financial firm that he/she serves.

Psychology researchers have been gathering information regarding the positive effects of forgiveness, demonstrating that they contribute to better overall physical and emotional wellbeing. Individuals who have suffered a transgression can remain in a place of destructive anger and resentment for years. Long-term, these negative states can have deleterious effects emotionally, physically, and socially. Understanding how to help those who are suffering move past their victimization can have a positive impact. It is therefore important to conduct research to better understand forgiveness through the lived experience of individuals who have experienced some form of victimization. Using evolutionary psychology as the theoretical framework, the motivations for revenge and forgiveness become clearer. The goal of this multiple case study was to examine an individual's process of forgiveness and how it was achieved following the experience of a significant transgression. Nine participants agreed to participate in an in-depth semi-structured interview; this purposeful sample of individuals who had suffered either criminal victimization or interpersonal betrayal, and who had gone through the forgiveness process were selected for this study. The data analysis plan followed Braun and Clarke's six-step thematic analysis guide to classify, analyze, and report the themes that emerged from the data collected. The findings highlighted the processes whereby forgiveness is achieved, A total of six themes were identified: forgiveness perspectives, resentments and anger, safety, motivations, mediators, and resilience/personal growth. The most notable mediators in the process of forgiveness among participants were compassion/empathy and receiving an acknowledgement or explanation/sincere apology from the offender. In conclusion, this research attempts to bring about positive social change by supporting practitioners in helping the populations they serve, as well as further other important research on forgiveness.