No description available.

The current study investigates the correlates of partner-directed relational aggression in married couples. In particular, this study looks at the connection between romantic relational aggression and the personal outcome of depression. Both the experience of victimization and perpetration of romantic relational aggression are considered. Victimization may be linked to depression through the concept of the “looking glass self” and reflected appraisals. Aggression, in contrast, may be linked to depression through dissatisfaction with one’s own aggressive tendencies in the relationship and a lack of “relational self-esteem”. Couples who completed the RELATE assessment were asked to report on their partner’s engagement in relationally aggressive strategies (both the love withdrawal and social sabotage subtypes) toward them. These scores were then used to predict self-reports of depression of both spouses. Bivariate correlations showed, with only one exception, that all aggression strategies were modestly yet significantly correlated with depression for aggressors and victims. In the SEM structural model, controlling for covariates, female love withdrawal was found to significantly predict male depression and male love withdrawal marginally predicted male depression. In this respect, victimization showed a stronger link to depression than aggression. There was no difference between social sabotage and love withdrawal in their predictive value. Women were found to report more aggression (of both subtypes) and depression. Clinical implications are discussed.

The overall goal of the current study was to determine whether experiences of relational and physical victimization were related to anxiety and depressive symptoms in a sample of emerging adults. This study also investigated whether these associations were moderated by gender, as well as by sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) reactivity to peer stress. Although work in this area has focused on children (e.g., Cullerton-Sen & Crick, 2005; Rudolph et al., 2009), it appears the presence and function of victimization changes with age, and the negative effects of victimization can last through early adulthood (e.g., Gros et al., 2010; Kumpulainen et al., 1999; Roth et al., 2002). Despite the potential for victimization to influence outcomes in emerging adults, research on these associations is lacking in this age group (Heilbron & Prinstein, 2008). A goal of the current study was to examine these processes in an older sample. Additionally, as individuals may react to peer victimization differently, factors that may help explain these differences were investigated. Specifically, evidence suggests that the interaction of the SNS and the PNS may serve as a moderator in the relationship between stressors and adjustment outcomes (Cummings et al., 2007; El-Sheikh et al., 2009; ObradoviÄ? et al., 2010). Further, research suggests that different patterns of interaction of the SNS and the PNS provide important information in the prediction of adjustment outcomes (El-Sheikh et al., 2009) and that both systems must be examined in order to more fully understand the relationship between physiological reactivity and adjustment outcomes (Beauchaine, 2001). Thus, in the current study, the interaction between two physiological measures, SNS reactivity to stress (as measured by skin conductance reactivity [SCL-R]) and PNS reactivity to stress (as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA-R]), was examined as a moderator of the association between peer victimization and adjustment outcomes. The moderating role of gender was also examined. Two hundred and forty-six emerging adults participated in the current study (74% female; Mage = 18.77) and were recruited from introductory psychology courses at a northeastern public university. Participants' SCL-R and RSA-R were assessed using a stress protocol during which they discussed an experience of relational victimization (e.g., being left out). Levels of relational and physical victimization, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and gender were gathered using self-report. Findings suggested that both physical and relational victimization were related to both anxiety and depressive symptoms. Additionally, females were more likely to experience relational victimization than males, while males were more likely to experience physical victimization than females. Relational victimization was related to depressive symptoms only in individuals demonstrating coactivation (i.e., blunted RSA withdrawal and increased SCL-R) and coinhibition (i.e., RSA withdrawal and blunted SCL-R) patterns of stress reactivity, although the interaction for this effect only approached conventional levels of statistical significance. These patterns may have emerged as a result of the breakdown of regulation in the physiological response to stress, with either the SNS or the PNS failing to perform adequately (El- Sheikh & Erath, 2011; El-Sheikh et al., 2009). These findings suggest that experiences of victimization are related to negative adjustment outcomes in emerging adults, as well as highlight potential areas that may serve as mechanisms for future interventions.

For offenders returning to society at record levels, securing work looms as one of the most crucial factors in successful reentry. Work hope is a construct that seeks to measure the relative presence of goals of securing desired work, thoughts about how to achieve those goals, and agency to achieve those goals, even in the presence of obstacles. This study sought to examine relationships among work hope, the socioemotional variables of attachment, emotion regulation, physical, relational, and workplace victimization, and coping, and the career-related variables of perceptions of career-related barriers and complexity level of career goals. The sample comprised cohorts from eight different correctional centers (N = 111, 72.1% male, M = 37.97, SD = 10.02), who participated in three waves of a longitudinal study. Four path models were run to model the relationship among work hope and the socioemotional variables, but none of the models satisfied all designated fit indices. The model with the combination of the most adequate fit and theoretical support found significant direct effects from Time 1 anxious attachment, but not avoidant attachment, to Time 1 difficulties with emotion regulation. Significant direct effects were found from Time 1 avoidant attachment and difficulties with emotion regulation, but not anxious attachment, to Time 3 avoidant coping. Significant direct effects were also found from Time 3 avoidant coping to Time 3 work hope. Relational, physical, and workplace victimization were not significantly related to work hope or other socioemotional variables. This study also found that work hope was significantly related to perceptions of career-related barriers (r = -.30). Overall, study findings add to the construct validity of work hope and highlight the importance of addressing socioemotional variables such as attachment, emotion regulation, and coping in preparing offenders for successful reentry and obtaining work.

The past decade has seen a rise in research on social, relational and indirect aggression, with a burgeoning focus only recently on the psychosocial consequences of being a target of such behaviours. It is widely understood that experiencing social aggression can trigger internal distress for children and adolescents, but far less is known about the nature and extent of longer-term psychosocial consequences. In this qualitative study, I aim to begin filling this gap by exploring how young women make meaning from experiences of social aggression in adolescence, with a particular focus on how they understand the impact of these experiences on their sense of self and relation to others in adulthood. Seven women between the ages of 25 and 32 were interviewed using a modified collaborative narrative method (Arvay, 2003). Interviews were transcribed and interpreted in narrative form to preserve the unique voice and experience of each participant. Five themes emerged through a process of categorical-content analysis as described by Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach & Zilber (1998). Themes address participants' meaning-making following experiences of social aggression in terms of the (1) struggle to understand, (2) loss of trust in relationship, (3) changes in sense of self, (4) psychosocial responses, and (5) process of reframing of the experience in adulthood. The themes are discussed within the context of relevant qualitative and quantitative literature on the psychosocial consequence of social, relational and indirect aggression in adolescence and adulthood. Implications for school and community counselling practice and suggestions for future research are examined.

Adolescence heralds a unique period of vulnerability to depressive symptoms. The current study examined relational victimization, targeting adolescents’ interpersonal relationships, as a unique predictor of depressive symptoms in a broad age range of adolescents. Past research shows that interpersonal resources—particularly emotional support—are negatively related to depression. In this study, the moderating effects of emotional support from mothers, fathers, and peers on the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms were investigated. As expected, high levels of maternal and peer emotional support buffered the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms. Emotional support from fathers did not moderate this relationship. Findings also suggest that while support from peers is protective against concurrent depressive symptoms, it can be detrimental to adolescent’s mental health over time. In contrast, maternal emotional support buffers future depressive symptoms associated with past experiences of relational victimization.

The past decade has seen a rise in research on social, relational and indirect aggression, with a burgeoning focus only recently on the psychosocial consequences of being a target of such behaviours. It is widely understood that experiencing social aggression can trigger internal distress for children and adolescents, but far less is known about the nature and extent of longer-term psychosocial consequences. In this qualitative study, I aim to begin filling this gap by exploring how young women make meaning from experiences of social aggression in adolescence, with a particular focus on how they understand the impact of these experiences on their sense of self and relation to others in adulthood. Seven women between the ages of 25 and 32 were interviewed using a modified collaborative narrative method (Arvay, 2003). Interviews were transcribed and interpreted in narrative form to preserve the unique voice and experience of each participant. Five themes emerged through a process of categorical-content analysis as described by Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach & Zilber (1998). Themes address participants' meaning-making following experiences of social aggression in terms of the (1) struggle to understand, (2) loss of trust in relationship, (3) changes in sense of self, (4) psychosocial responses, and (5) process of reframing of the experience in adulthood. The themes are discussed within the context of relevant qualitative and quantitative literature on the psychosocial consequence of social, relational and indirect aggression in adolescence and adulthood. Implications for school and community counselling practice and suggestions for future research are examined.

Adolescence heralds a unique period of vulnerability to depressive symptoms. The current study examined relational victimization, targeting adolescents’ interpersonal relationships, as a unique predictor of depressive symptoms in a broad age range of adolescents. Past research shows that interpersonal resources—particularly emotional support—are negatively related to depression. In this study, the moderating effects of emotional support from mothers, fathers, and peers on the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms were investigated. As expected, high levels of maternal and peer emotional support buffered the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms. Emotional support from fathers did not moderate this relationship. Findings also suggest that while support from peers is protective against concurrent depressive symptoms, it can be detrimental to adolescent’s mental health over time. In contrast, maternal emotional support buffers future depressive symptoms associated with past experiences of relational victimization.

The past decade has seen a rise in research on social, relational and indirect aggression, with a burgeoning focus only recently on the psychosocial consequences of being a target of such behaviours. It is widely understood that experiencing social aggression can trigger internal distress for children and adolescents, but far less is known about the nature and extent of longer-term psychosocial consequences. In this qualitative study, I aim to begin filling this gap by exploring how young women make meaning from experiences of social aggression in adolescence, with a particular focus on how they understand the impact of these experiences on their sense of self and relation to others in adulthood. Seven women between the ages of 25 and 32 were interviewed using a modified collaborative narrative method (Arvay, 2003). Interviews were transcribed and interpreted in narrative form to preserve the unique voice and experience of each participant. Five themes emerged through a process of categorical-content analysis as described by Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach & Zilber (1998). Themes address participants' meaning-making following experiences of social aggression in terms of the (1) struggle to understand, (2) loss of trust in relationship, (3) changes in sense of self, (4) psychosocial responses, and (5) process of reframing of the experience in adulthood. The themes are discussed within the context of relevant qualitative and quantitative literature on the psychosocial consequence of social, relational and indirect aggression in adolescence and adulthood. Implications for school and community counselling practice and suggestions for future research are examined. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This study examined social interactions between Italian preschoolers based upon sociometric status groupings. The sample consisted of 267 Italian preschoolers (mean age 64 months) taken from early childhood classrooms in southern Italy. Drawing on previous research, preschoolers' physical and relational aggression and physical and relational victimization as measured by peer nominations were analyzed. Structural equation modeling using Mplus was used to test the model, and SPSS 15 was used to run analyses of variance (ANOVAs) to examine the interaction between sociometric status and preschoolers' behaviors toward peers. Findings generally support previous research with American children as well as cross-cultural research regarding physical and relational aggression, victimization, sociability, and sociometric status groupings. Results indicate that popular children displayed high levels of social behavior, low levels of aggression, and experienced little victimization, while rejected children demonstrated high levels of aggression and victimization and low levels of social behavior. The most striking finding was that controversial children, similar to rejected children, showed high levels of aggression and victimization. Gender differences indicated that boys were more relationally and physically aggressive and victimized than girls, with the exception of controversial status girls.