The Changing Lives Program (CLP) is a Positive Youth Development (PYD) program that seeks to empower adolescents attending voluntary alternative high schools to take control and responsibility over their lives so they may change their negative life pathways into positive ones. The current study seeks to evaluate the CLP’s Personal Control and Responsibility Measure, an eight item scale devised to assess individuals control and responsibility over life change goals (CRLCG) and life in general (CRG). Using a weighted least squares mean and variance adjusted (WLSMV) estimator available in Mplus for categorical variable modeling, the current study ran confirmatory factory analysis on two theoretically possible models, a single factor and a two factor structure. After items regarding control over consequences dropped, results confirmed the hypothesized two factor model (CRLCG and CRG). Furthermore, analysis of measurement invariance found the factor structure form, factor loadings, and intercepts to be invariant across condition, gender, ethnicity, and time (time 1 and 2). Limitations of the current study and implications for future evaluations of the Changing Lives Program (CLP) are discussed.

The purpose of this investigation was to (a) use the positive routines procedure to decrease child noncompliance and the time it takes the child to comply (latency) at bedtime, (b) to assess treatment fidelity, and (c) to record objectively parent behavior. Research was conducted with four children and five parents in their homes. The treatment was explained to each parent and introduced to each child after the baseline phase. Positive routines requires the parent to implement a low-stimulation “routine” at the time the child naturally gets sleepy. The routine gradually begins earlier so that by the end of treatment, it is completed at the time the parent originally attempted to establish bedtime. The data reveal that with high treatment fidelity, the treatment was effective in reducing bedtime noncompliance, latency, and parental reinforcing behaviors. The data also supported the notion that parent behavior can be controlled by child behavior.

We investigated spouses’ ability to engage in a positive interaction following relationship conflict, a process that involves skills in recovering from distress and reconnecting with one’s partner. The quality of positive interactions was hypothesized to vary as a function of attachment and have implications for marital satisfaction. Newlywed couples discussed a conflict in their relationship followed by a discussion of positive aspects of their relationship. We hypothesized and found that greater attachment avoidance in husbands predicted less positive behavior in both partners during the positive interaction. Additionally, wives’ positive behavior predicted both partners’ relationship satisfaction, even above and beyond caregiving and careseeking behavior during the conflict. The findings point to the importance of examining not only how couples discuss conflicts, but also how they behave in the aftermath of those discussions.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第22979号 / 理博第4656号 / 新制||理||1669(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科数学・数理解析専攻 / (主査)教授 玉川 安騎男, 教授 小野 薫, 教授 望月 新一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

<p>Forming positive teacher-student relationships with students has been identified as a protective factor for students. However, many teachers struggle to form and maintain a positive relationship with students diagnosed with an emotional disturbance. It is essential that teachers have tools to help build and maintain positive teacher-student relationships.</p><p>This study focused on investigating licensed special education teachers that have taught seventh through twelve grade students with emotional disturbances. Out of the nine individuals who were sent the survey, all nine participants completed it. The survey was conducted to identify common negative behaviors and to identify what strategies teachers would like more information about to help them form positive teacher-student relationships. The survey consisting of short answer questions, multiple choice questions, yes or no questions, and questions that ask them to explain their answers.</p><p>The findings from the literature review and the survey data supported a need for a handbook to be created in order to inform special education teachers of ways to develop and maintain positive teacher-student relationships with students diagnosed with an emotional disturbance. Strategies are included in the handbook for teachers to reduce negative behaviors with students diagnosed with an emotional disturbance.</p>

According to the Minority Stress Model, racist or discriminatory experiences can have negative downstream effects on mental and physical health. For example, perceived ethnic discrimination is associated with increased negative emotion and distress, including feelings of guilt and shame; such characteristics may contribute to the development of psychache, or unbearable psychological pain. In turn, subjective vitality, which is considered a dynamic indicator of physical (e.g., feeling energetic, alert) and psychological (e.g., thriving, purposefulness) well-being, may be eroded. Yet, adaptive individual-level cognitive-emotional mechanisms may buffer the negative effects of discrimination on well-being. One such protective factor is mindfulness, or the nonjudgmental awareness of moment-to-moment experience, which can ameliorate stressful reactions to challenging situations and emotional pain. At the bivariate level, we hypothesized that discrimination and psychache would be positively related, and that both variables would be negatively related to mindfulness and vitality. At the multivariate level, we predicted that psychache would mediate the relation between discrimination and vitality, such that experienced discrimination would be associated with greater psychache and, in turn, to less vitality. We also hypothesized that mindfulness would moderate all linkages, reducing risk. Our sample of U.S. college students (n=2,106) was collected from a Northeastern urban university and was primarily female (n=1,571, 74.7%) and Hispanic (n=1,289, 61.2%; Black: n=454, 21.6%; Asian: n=363, 17.2%). Participants completed self-report measures, including the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, Subjective Vitality Scale, Psychache Scale, and General Ethnic Discrimination Scale. Bivariate correlations and moderated-mediation analyses were conducted, in each ethnic/racial group, covarying age and sex. In bivariate analyses, all variables were significantly related in hypothesized directions (p<.05). ANOVAs revealed that ethnic groups varied significantly on discrimination (F(2, 1772=8.35, p<.001), vitality (F(2, 1806)=5.28, p<.01), and mindfulness (F(2, 1779)=9.70, p<.001). Blacks (M=35.95) and Asians (M=36.10) reported greater discrimination than Hispanics (M=32.29), t(1775)=3.66, p<.05; t(1775)=3.81, p<.05. Hispanics (M=4.81) reported higher vitality than Asians (M=4.55), t(1809)=.26, p<.05. Blacks (M=125.79) reported greater mindfulness than both Hispanics (M=122.95) and Asians (M=120.19) (t(1782)=2.83, p<.05; t(1782)=5.60, p<.05). In mediation analyses, the total effect of discrimination on vitality was significant (Asian: t=-2.36, p<.05; Black: t=-2.87, p<.01; Hispanic: t=-5.14, p<.001), and the direct effect was nonsignificant when psychache was added (Asian: t=.42, p=.68; Black: t=-.23, p=.82; Hispanic: t=-.02, p=.98), indicating mediation. In moderated-mediation analyses, the linkage between discrimination and psychache was weakened by mindfulness (Black: a2=-.005[-.009, -.002], t=-2.77, p<.01; Hispanic: a2=-.003[-.005, -.001], t=-2.38, p=<.01; Asian: a2=-.008[-.012, -.003], t=-3.48, p<.001). Among Asians, mindfulness also buffered the association between psychache and vitality (b2=-.001[-.002, -.001], t=-3.60, p<.001). Across racial/ethnic groups, we found that, for college students who experienced discrimination, psychological pain may be exacerbated, with consequent deleterious impact on vitality. Yet, for all groups, mindfulness weakened the discrimination-psychache linkage and, for Asians, who reported the lowest mindfulness levels, weakened the psychache-vitality linkage. Our findings suggest the benefits of mindfulness for psychosocial functioning in the context of ethnic/racial discrimination. Interventions to reduce psychache (e.g., cognitive restructuring) and enhance mindful awareness (e.g., meditation, acceptance and commitment therapy) may promote physical and mental vitality indicating wellbeing, in college students experiencing discrimination.

As part of the Serithi project a longitudinal study of HIV positive women diagnosed during pregnancy, support groups for HIV-positive women were established in Mamelodi and Atteridgeville (Tshwane). Eighty-eight women participated in these groups during 2005, with the groups being facilitated by Masters Psychology students. This study explores therapeutic processes in these support groups. Yalom’s therapeutic factors were used as the underlying theory. These are factors that Yalom advances as therapeutic processes in understanding group psychotherapy. The process notes of the Masters Student facilitators, together with the interviews that were conducted with the women after the support group experience, were analysed to identify therapeutic processes that manifested themselves in the support group experience. Qualitative methods were used to collect data and thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data. The research results revealed that support groups are therapeutic, in the sense that ten of the twelve therapeutic factors advanced by Yalom proved to have been made manifest, or demonstrated, within these groups. These are: altruism, group cohesion, interpersonal learning input, interpersonal learning output, guidance, identification, family re-enactment, instillation of hope and existential factors. The women reported having felt a sense of relief from being part of a group of people who experienced similar issues. They also reported that they learnt from each other. This gave them hope and an understanding that, even though there may be people going through the same problems as they are, they still need to face life alone. The women reported feeling a sense of self-worth from helping others, which contributed to rebuilding their self-esteem. These results indicate that support groups can be therapeutic for the people involved. They can be used to guide support group facilitators with regards to what to look for when facilitating groups. They can also assist policy makers in developing guidelines for the facilitation of support groups in order for the participants to obtain maximum benefit from their support group experience. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Psychology / unrestricted

Central Appalachia experiences disproportionate rates of poverty. Historical exploitation has resulted in a lack of trust in others. Appalachia Service Project (ASP) utilizes interpersonal interactions as a way to market their free home repair services to a hesitant region. This study is an extension of a qualitative project about the link between housing repairs and health. The purpose is to highlight the impact that positive interaction with ASP has on willingness to receive assistance through service organizations in rural East Tennessee. Twenty-eight phone interviews were recorded through Zoom and thematic analysis was done using NVivo software. Twenty-four (86%) of those interviewed increased in their willingness to receive assistance based on their positive experience. Themes included being treated with dignity and respect, quality time, the intergenerational interface, reciprocity, and being spiritually uplifted. Further research is suggested regarding the affect religious communities, honor culture, rurality, and industrial ties have on willingness to receive assistance.

Thesis advisor: Paul Poteat / Research examining the health of sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth has expanded recently from a focus on how social contexts are linked to health risk to ways they promote wellbeing. The positive youth development (PYD) framework has been increasingly used to conceptualize how various social contexts may promote SGM youth wellbeing, as well as help them engage in community-level change through contribution efforts. There is limited research examining how the family context may promote PYD outcomes and contribution for SGM youth, despite the setting’s association with positive development for heterosexual/cisgender youth. Furthermore, there is a paucity of literature contextualizing family support for SGM identities alongside other measures of family relationships.Parent-child attachment and family cohesion are two measures of family-child relationships that have historically been linked to positive development in youth. They have been linked to various markers of positive development in youth, including confidence, care for others, hope, and gratitude, which in turn may promote greater advocacy and community engagement. This study examined a structural model testing the role of several measures of family relationships in predicting PYD qualities and contribution behaviors for SGM youth. Among 270 SGM youth, structural equation modeling analyses tested the relationship between family relationships with SGM youth (parent-child attachment, family cohesion, and SGM-specific support) and PYD qualities (confidence, care for others, hope, and gratitude) as well as contribution behaviors (advocacy beliefs and community engagement), as mediated by PYD qualities over a six month period. Results indicated that each measure of family relationships was uniquely associated with various PYD qualities and contribution in participants. Furthermore, care for others acted as an indirect pathway through which parent-child attachment was associated with greater advocacy and community engagement for participants. These findings position families as having a role in promoting SGM youth wellbeing within the larger community and contextualize how various markers of family relationships promote select PYD qualities and behaviors. Future research should continue to investigate the longitudinal role of positive family relationships in SGM youth development and how a more nuanced understanding of these relationships may have clinical applications for practitioners and youth wellbeing. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Prior research of rough-and-tumble play (RTP) has shown mixed results—different operational definitions, varying functions, and positive and negative outcomes. Few researchers have studied interventions to address RTP in school settings. With unclear evidence of RTP outcomes and the extent school interventions are addressing RTP in school settings, this study explored the extent and effectiveness of intervention programs being implemented to prevent/reduce negative outcomes of RTP in elementary schools. A survey was created and conducted with 30 school problem-solving teams in a western state to obtain information concerning RTP in elementary school settings. Teams provided estimated percentages of RTP leading to beneficial and problematic behaviors, types of benefits or problems resulting from RTP, specific prevention/intervention programs that teams report implementing to address RTP concerns, percentage estimations of students responding to implemented interventions, and training needs to address interventions for RTP concerns. Survey responses showed different medians for estimated percentages for problematic outcomes (80%) versus beneficial outcomes (10%). Further, the number of problem items (M = 9.57, SD = 1.87) was more highly endorsed by teams than the number of items listing benefits (M = 4.43, SD = 3. 39), suggesting RTP was more often problematic than beneficial. Interventions estimated to be effective in treating negative RTP outcomes with 80% or greater response rates are reward systems, social skills trainings, active supervision, and bully prevention. These study findings are different from previous research, which concluded that RTP was harmless and/or beneficial to students, and might be due to environmental differences (school vs. community). It might be estimated that schools should monitor or prevent RTP to avoid problems, such as aggression, bullying, and poor peer relationships. Programs frequently used by teams targeted skill acquisition through social skills training, anger management, and bully prevention. This study provides understanding to the extent RTP should be addressed in schools. School problem-solving teams report that RTP can be problematic in school settings; however, it can be prevented with school-wide intervention and intervened with individual and small-group interventions.