The study examined the impostor phenomenon among undergraduate and graduate students at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). Participants were recruited from various undergraduate and graduate programs at a PWI located in Northeastern U.S. There were 414 participants, all of whom completed an online Qualtrics survey, which included measures on demographics, sense of belonging, impostor phenomenon, mindset, perceived social support, and depression. Results indicated a significantly positive relationship between impostor phenomenon and depression. Perceived social support and sense of belonging significantly moderated this relationship. Female and Other (Transgender, Non-Binary, and Non-Gender-Specified) participants experienced a significantly higher level of impostor feelings than Male participants. Asian and Other (African American, Hispanic, Latinx, Middle Eastern, Biracial, and Multiracial) participants experienced significantly lower levels of perceived social support than White participants, but did not experience significantly different levels of impostor phenomenon or sense of belonging compared to White participants. Lastly, there was no significant relationship between fixed mindset and impostor phenomenon. In light of these results, there are several recommendations for universities, including increasing the amount of support groups.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The study sought to explore the sequel of bereavement on parentally bereaved students at the University of Limpopo. The study was qualitative in nature. Ten bereaved students (4 Males & 6 Females) were purposefully sampled and interviewed. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using a reflexive thematic data analysis method. The major themes that emerged from the data were isolated and outlined. The results showed that post-parental bereavement, students experienced and expressed their loss distinctly. Notably, their grief was expressed both emotionally, cognitively, behaviourally, physically and spiritually. In spite of the grief having been experienced and expressed diversely, the findings revealed that factors such as - a) circumstances surrounding the death of a parent, b) religious beliefs and cultural practices, c) meanings attached to the death, and, d) lack of support post-bereavement, all influenced participating students’ grief trajectory. On the one hand, the results highlighted that students relied on diverse strategies (e.g., bereavement rituals, counselling services) which helped in their processing and coping with the death of a parent. In particular, psychological counselling was found to be beneficial, although it was associated with mental health stigma. The study findings therefore suggest that parental bereavement can result in the experience of grief, which is an emotionally painful experience that can be complicated secondary to a myriad of factors. A complicated grief experience could lead to academic underachievement in the student population. This therefore suggests that complicated bereavement needs to be treated as earliest as possible in order to avert its interference with the academic work of affected students. It is recommended further that higher institutions of learning need to invest more efforts to educate students on bereavement and its potential impact on their studies. Additionally, efforts should be directed at addressing the stigma of mental illness on-campus so as to help improve the user friendliness of on campus student psychological counselling services. The study is concluded by, amongst others, recommending that future research needs to look closely into university students’ meaning making process in bereavement.

The current study explored the relations among rape myths, attitudes toward rape victims, perceived social support, sex role, and social reactions in a male undergraduate sample (N = 205). Males who have provided support to a sexual assault victim were compared to those who have not provided support to a sexual assault victim on several measures. Social reactions of those who have provided support to a sexual assault victim were compared to hypothetical reactions provided by individuals who have not previously provided support. Results indicated that rape related attitudes and beliefs did not differ between those who have and have not provided support to a sexual assault victim. In addition, individuals who were responding to a hypothetical situation reported that they would provide more positive social support than individuals who were responding to an actual situation. Implications for clinical work and future research in this area are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between exercise duration and level of disordered eating, physical self-esteem, and endorsement of societal mores about attractiveness. Two hundred twenty-nine female college students completed the Bulimia-Test Revised, the Physical Self Perception Profile, the Beliefs About Attractiveness Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. Subjects were classified into one of four levels of exercise duration based on the number of hours they reported engaging in planned exercise per week. Significant differences were identified among the four exercise groups in relation to physical self-esteem. The amount of exercise activity individuals engaged in per week, however, was not indicative of their eating disorder symptomatology or beliefs about attractiveness.

Vocational disruption for survivors of interpersonal trauma has been noted by both practitioners and researchers. While limited empirical support exists, a firm theoretical framework and a full range of outcomes have not been explored. Guided by the framework of social cognitive career theory (SCCT), a promising framework recommended in the previous literature, the aim of the current study was to explore the function of contextual barriers and supports as predictors of career decision self-efficacy (CDSE). Due to the lack of consistency in previous research and absent theoretical specification of the particular mode of intervening variables, both mediation and moderation were explored using multiple regression. The results indicate the relationship between background factors (i.e., childhood maltreatment) and CDSE was fully mediated by an indirect pathway via personal factors (i.e., trauma-related symptoms) and learning experiences (i.e., anxious and avoidant attachment with a career-related mentor) in the prediction of CDSE. The results also indicate that personal factors (i.e., trauma-related symptoms) function as a moderator between background factors (i.e., childhood maltreatment) and learning experiences as anxious attachment with a career-related mentor. Finally, learning experiences as anxious attachment with a career-related mentor moderated the relationship between personal factors (i.e., trauma-related symptoms) and CDSE. Overall, within the SCCT model, the proposed predictors help explain differences in CDSE as related to childhood maltreatment through mediation and moderation. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which several psychological and personality variables relate to anorexic and bulimic symptomatology in female undergraduates. Past research investigating the relationship between such variables and eating disorders has been contradictory for several reasons, including lack of theoretical bases, discrepant criteria, or combination of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Recent investigators have concluded that it is important to examine subdiagnostic levels of eating pathology, especially within a college population. Thus, the present investigation used a female undergraduate sample in determining the extent to which several psychological factors--obsessiveness, dependency, over-controlled hostility, assertiveness, perceived control, and self-esteem--account for anorexic and bulimic symptomatology. Regression analyses revealed that anorexic symptoms were best explained by obsessiveness and then two measures of dependency, emotional reliance on another and autonomy. Bulimic symptoms were related most strongly to lack of social self-confidence (a dependency measure) and obsessiveness. Clinical implications and directions for future research are addressed.

The effects of divorce on trust in intimate heterosexual relationships were investigated using a sample of 478 college students (156 males, 322 females). Subjects were asked to respond to scenarios and questionnaires assessing parental marital status, just world beliefs, parental conflict, and trust. Attitudes toward divorce and common problems were also assessed.

The influence of parental marital status and parental conflict on the separation-individuation process of college students was investigated in the present study. Past studies have suggested that parental divorce and parental conflict accelerate separation. However, no studies have measured more than one dimension of separation-individuation. In this study the process of separation-individuation was operationalized as involving three dimensions: psychological separation from parents (Psychological Separation Inventory); emotional attachments to parents and peers (Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment); and the development of an identity (Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status). The sample consisted of 120 male and 120 female undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 22, one-half with parents who were married and one-half with parents who had divorced in the last five years. Subjects completed self-report measures of parental conflict, psychological separation, attachment to parents and to peers, and identity status. Predictions that parental conflict would affect students in intact families differently than their peers with divorced parents were not supported. Instead, parental divorce and conflict were found to have different effects on the components of the separation-individuation process. Subjects reporting higher parental conflict levels described more independent functioning, more negative feelings toward parents, less attachment to parents and to peers, and greater exploration of identity-related issues in comparison to those reporting low levels of conflict. Subjects with parents who had recently divorced reported lower attachment to parents, and greater identity exploration and reluctance to commit to an identity than subjects from intact families. Males reported greater independence from and less attachment to parents, and had committed to an identity without exploration less often than females. Results suggest that parental divorce and conflict may influence adolescent development in different ways. Exploratory analyses suggested that measures of conflict style are more highly related to indices of separation-individuation than measures of the amount of parental conflict. Theoretical and methodological issues are discussed.

The study of cognitive factors in sexual aggression has, for the most part, been limited to beliefs and attitudes. The present study sought to detect a rape-supportive schema of sexual relationships that organizes and guides information processing in several cognitive domains: cognitions arising in the context of a simulated sexual situation, memory, person perception, and social reasoning.

The present study is a comparison of music and non-music students with respect to their response patterns on the Brief Symptom Inventory as well as several demographic questions. The sample consisted of 148 non-music students and 141 music students at three levels: (1) freshmen/sophomore; (2) juniors/seniors; and (3) graduate students. Music students consisted of volunteers from several different music classes and non-music students were volunteers from non-music classes. There were no significant differences found among or between groups for the BSI subscales. However, music students were significantly less likely to have gone to counseling in the past and to seek professional counseling for future problems. Recommendations for psycho-educational interventions with musicians are discussed as well as suggestions for future research.