Although the current literature calls for generally increased attention to culture-specific influences in therapeutic settings, much more needs to be known regarding specific groups. Accordingly, this exploratory phenomenological study addressed the lack of awareness of the pendejo construct and its perceived threat as a stigmatizing attribute among indigenous Puerto Ricans. Since this phenomenon is believed to jeopardize self-other relationships including therapeutic relationships, the purpose of the study was to describe the pendejo concept as a cultural dimension of Puerto Rican psychology. The research focus included participants' personal and collective experiences of the pendejo construct, with attention directed to how this phenomenon was represented as a cognitive distortion, a self-referent in discourse, and manifested behaviorally. The study employed data collected via in-depth interviews with 8 successful, college-educated native Puerto Ricans. Transcribed data was organized by categories, coded by significant statements and distilled into structural and textural descriptions that revealed a marked similarity of participants' descriptions of the pendejo experience in terms of definitions, assumptions, emotional and behavioral responses, propensity and consequences. Psychological manifestations included escapist behaviors, cognitive distortions (people are out to "take me for pendejo"), and negative self-referents ("I am a pendejo") that translate into nonclinical paranoid tendencies and introjected hurt feelings. Awareness of this phenomenon can help culturally oriented therapists assist Puerto Rican clients toward becoming more assertive and proactive persons. This can lead to positive social change by enhancing mental health and interpersonal behavior within this population at the individual and the collective levels, as well as adding new insight to the literature.

Military personnel and first responders operate in complex operational environments, and must be able to perform under physical, psychological, and emotional stress. Research suggests that resiliency assuages stress and improves the performance of military personnel and first responders. However, there are no studies examining the effects of resiliency on military first responders in training. The purpose of this research was to determine whether the dispositional hardiness traits of commitment, control and challenge displayed by Marine aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) specialist trainees correlated to success in classroom performance, success during practical exercises, higher graduation rates. The theoretical foundation for this ex post facto quantitative study was psychological and organizational resiliency, as represented by Kobasa's hardiness theory. The convenience sample consisted of 60 Marine ARFF specialists trainees using self-report surveys during 2013. Independent samples t tests and hierarchical regression analyses revealed no statistical significance between higher hardiness levels and academic and practical application performance, although physical injury and other factors not measured by the hardiness construct were found to impact graduation rates negatively. The implications for positive social change include expanding organizational conceptions of resilience to measure dispositional factors not assessed by hardiness. This study may also offer insights into improving Marine Corps and first responder selection, training, and educational programs, as well as their performance and quality of life.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religious motivations mediate the relationship between the religious philosophy and perceived well-being of believers. The intrinsic-extrinsic-quest paradigm has been the dominant measure of religious motivation for more than 3 decades. However, the different effects of intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest motivation on the well-being of believers has not been tested on a stratified, purposeful sample of the major world religions. A quantitative, quasi-experimental research design was used with an online, self-report questionnaire and mediation analysis to examine the effects of religious motivation on the relationship between religious philosophy and well-being. A stratified, purposeful sample of 763 members of the major world religions completed assessments of religion and well-being. Linear regressions revealed that intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religious motivations were three distinct constructs, that they do exist across the world religions, and that they mediated the relationship between different religions and well-being, depending on which predictor and outcome variables were being examined in the mediation triangle. Positive social change is possible for counselors, therapists, psychologists of religion, religious leaders, and laypersons at the individual and societal level through knowing which religious beliefs, motivations, and practices are associated with positive affect, satisfaction with life, the fulfilment of basic human needs, eudaimonic well-being, and better physical health. Individuals come to religion mainly during times of personal crises as a way of coping, expecting urgent results, and these findings illuminate the effectiveness of their chosen coping strategy.

The development of emotion regulation skills is an imperative task early in development. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a physiological proxy of regulation, is indicative of one’s regulatory capacity and can be predictive of behavior in later life (Graham, Ablow, & Measelle, 2010; Moore, 2010). Children begin regulating their emotions at a physiological level early in infancy. Infants who are able to properly suppress RSA have higher quality social interactions in childhood (Graziano, Keane, & Calkins, 2007). Previous work has suggested that parents play a role in predicting infant RSA (Conradt & Ablow, 2010). For example, parent marital satisfaction is known to impact infants’ physiological regulation, such that infants whose parents are less satisfied with their marriages have a decreased ability to regulate physiologically (Moore et al., 2009; Porter, Wouden-Miller, Silva, & Porter, 2003). Previous research has found that parent personality impacts parenting strategies (Cummings & Davies, 1994; Prinzie, Stams, Deković, Reijntjes, & Belsky, 2009), however work examining how parent personality interacts with marital satisfaction to predict infant RSA is lacking. Moreover, the majority of previous work assessing the parent predictors of infant RSA focused on mothers (e.g., Moore et al., 2009). There are known differences in the way mothers and fathers interact with their infants, as well as differences in the way fathers and mothers respond to marital dissatisfaction (Forbes, Cohn, Allen, & Lewinsohn, 2004; Karney & Bradbury, 1995). The present study focused on examining how marital satisfaction and parent personality predicts infant RSA with mothers and fathers. The current study involved 38 families (6-month old infants, mothers, and fathers). Parents completed questionnaires measuring marital satisfaction and personality. Mother-infant and fatherinfant dyads participated in a baseline and face-to-face play task (Still Face Paradigm; Tronick, Als, Adamson, Wise, & Brazelton, 1978), where infant physiological regulation was assessed. Results involving mothers did not yield significant findings predicting infant physiological regulation. For fathers, results indicated that parent personality and parent marital satisfaction predicted infant physiological regulation. The current study highlights the importance of examining the roles of both mothers and fathers predicting infant physiological regulation.

The last few decades have seen a growing body of research on narcissism, however few studies have examined the relationship between subclinical narcissism and future orientation. The proposed study will examine how grandiose and vulnerable types of narcissism influence future orientation, and whether anxiety, depression, impulsivity and sense of control play mediating roles in this relationship. It is also hypothesized that anxiety will play a mediating role between future orientation and vulnerable narcissism, but not between grandiose narcissism and future orientation. Finally, it is hypothesized that grandiose and vulnerable narcissism will be correlated within individuals. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) will be used to test the hypotheses, and the a priori model is expected to have a good fit to the data. This study will further our understanding about how narcissists view their futures, and whether this is influenced by mediating factors.

This article explores some of the social processes and functions within a community of learners who had to adjust to changing social and academic contexts. The group included 13 learners from Botswana, five of whom were males and eight of whom were females, with an age range of between 25 and 45 years. The learners were primarily Tswana-speaking, with the exception of one who spoke Afrikaans. The learners were registered for an informal one-year counselling certificate course at the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. The Botswana learners had no prior contact with mainly white, Afrikaans-speaking communities, such as those found in Potchefstroom. As a result, they had to make various adjustments on personal, academic and social levels. An inductive qualitative approach was followed, using the Mmogo™-method as a case study, to gain insight into the experiences of a group of learners. The Mmogo™-method facilitated the use of culturally appropriate items and the learners were able to use cultural symbols to reflect on their experiences. The learners were asked to make visual presentations of their experiences throughout the time spent in their new contexts. Thereafter focus group discussions were conducted, where the visual presentations were discussed. The central themes were derived from the focus group data and the analysis of the visual presentations. The findings indicate that the process of creating new social meanings occurred through various phases. The initial phases were marked by uncertainty and misconceptions. The early interactions among the community of learners led them to realise that they generally shared the same goals, and also had other things in common, such as political and religious beliefs. The development of a collective consciousness was characterised by the emergence of smaller groups within the large community. As time went by, the collective consciousness in the community deepened and the smaller groups became more diffused. This contributed to open sharing of information and knowledge creation; and it facilitated the attainment of goals. The findings also indicate that there were a number of processes involved in the construction of meanings that contributed to the negotiation of meaning, and an exchange of ideas and information within the community of learners. The communication patterns within the community of learners were found to be open, honest and inclusive. This contributed to the free flow of information and facilitated minimisation of misconceptions. In addition, these patterns facilitated decision-making and encouraged feelings of belonging within the community. Natural leadership emerged and the responsibilities associated with it were discharged in specific and African-conscious ways. The learners also used context-specific analogies to illustrate relational support within their community. For example, they compared relational support to oxen pulling a plough and to a traditional three-legged pot to express the extent to which they mutually depended on each other's talents and resources. The findings also point to certain underlying assumptions that contributed to the development of relational support. In this community, a collective consciousness and sense of trust emerged as the learners worked together towards their goals. The values of sharing and working together are also the defining features of the African worldview. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The current study determined if a professional development on PTSD would improve pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy for helping students with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to learn. Participants consisted of 59 college students from one large, comprehensive, Mid-Southern university who were enrolled in an education program and an educational psychology course. Using a quasi-experimental method, participants either received the PTSD professional development (treatment) or regular instruction (control group). All participants completed a measure of demographics, a pre-test measure of selfefficacy for helping students with PTSD to learn, which was further dissected into four constructs (i.e., self-efficacy for identifying students with PTSD, adapting instruction to maximize learning, creating a safe and secure environment, and finding help), and a posttest measure of the same self-efficacy items. A one-way MANOVA indicated statistically significant differences between the two groups in self-efficacy for identifying students with PTSD. Furthermore, a paired-samples t-test revealed that the treatment groups’ selfefficacy scores on all four constructs significantly improved from pre- to post-test. Information is offered to support this finding; additionally, possible reasons for nonsignificant findings are discussed.

No description available.

This study investigated how adult children of alcoholics differ from adult children of non-alcoholics when measured on the personality characteristics of autonomy, inferiority and intimacy. The subjects were randomly selected from the employees of a large school district in southeast Virginia. Each subject received a questionnaire package that included the Adjective Check List, Personal Orientation Inventory, Children of Alcoholics Screening Test and The Personal History Questionnaire. The return rate for questionnaire packages was 72%. All subjects were volunteers and their identities remained anonymous to the researcher. The sample size was 130.;The subjects were placed in the adult children of alcoholics group (n = 86) if they were parented by an alcoholic and scored six or above on the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST). Subjects were placed in the adult children of non-alcoholics group (n = 44) if they were not parented by an alcoholic and scored below six on the CAST. The subjects were compared on the autonomy and abasement scales of the Adjective Check List, and the capacity of intimate contact (C) scale of The Personal Orientation Inventory. There was no statistically significant difference found between the two groups when a t-test was employed with the alpha level set at the.05. A Bonferroni method was used to control for alpha since several questions were studied. For this population which was primarily white, well-educated, employed, females, there was no statistically significant difference between adult children of alcoholics and adult children of non-alcoholics for the variables of autonomy, inferiority and intimacy. However, self-reported adult children of alcoholics scored statistically significantly higher on the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) than did self-reported adult children of non- alcoholics using a t-test with the alpha level set at.05. All self reported adult children of alcoholics scored six or above on the CAST.;This research was based on the work of Erik Erikson and his developmental stage approach. These findings would indicate that some children of alcoholics may not be in need of treatment or a recovery program.

This study focused on female elders living in age-segregated communities. It investigated the direction and strength of the relationship of Openness to Experience and Neuroticism to the resolution of Erik Erikson's Trust and Integrity stages, and to a Total Resolution score. The 62 volunteer subjects, age 67 to 99, lived in eleven retirement and/or assisted care facilities in Richmond, Virginia.;Personality domains were measured by the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI). The Measures of Psychosocial Development (MPD), an instrument based on Erikson's theories, was used to assess resolution.;It was hypothesized that Openness to Experience would show a significant positive correlation with each of the resolution scores. Additional hypotheses stated that there would be a significant inverse relationship between Neuroticism and each resolution measurement.;Data from the study were submitted to product-moment correlations to test the hypotheses. In addition, step-wise multiple regression was used, to determine the extent to which personality and demographic variables explained the resolution variables.;Results indicated no significant relationship between Openness and Resolution of Trust or Resolution of Integrity. There appeared to be a statistically significant positive correlation between Openness and Total Resolution. However, subsequent regression equations revealed that Openness did not add significantly to Neuroticism in explaining the variance in Total Resolution.;Correlation data showed that Neuroticism demonstrated a significant, apparently meaningful inverse relationship to each of the three resolution scores. The Neuroticism hypotheses appeared to be confirmed in this study. Other than Neuroticism, no demographic (age, education, marital status) or personality variable helped explain the variance in the resolution scores.;The study's data and observations, combined with the results of previous research, suggested three areas of application: counseling implications, promulgation of information about elders, and the importance of intergenerational contacts. It was posited that the study results could be generalized to other female elders living in age-segregated communities. A number of suggestions for further study were included.