Changes in group counseling engagement and conflict and growth in emotional cultivation for children and adolescents.

Group climate is an important factor in group counseling and psychotherapy process and outcome research. The current investigation examined group climate changes (from early to late sessions) at the within-group (i.e., group members) and between-group (i.e., group-as-a-whole) levels in predicting changes in group members' emotional cultivation in group counseling. A total of 236 Taiwanese children and adolescents across 41 groups participated in this study. Members' ratings of group climate (i.e., engagement and conflict) were partitioned into within-group and between-group components, and polynomial regression with response surface analysis was used to examine the association between changes in group engagement and conflict (at the member- and group-level) from early to late group sessions on changes in emotional cultivation. Results supported the theoretical hypothesis that when a group-as-a-whole reported increasing engagement from early to late group sessions, relative to other groups (i.e., between-group effect), members of that group experienced greater growth in emotional cultivation. Results also indicated that group members reported greater growth in emotional cultivation when there was consistent and high engagement or consistent and low conflict from early to late group sessions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Unpacking leader responsiveness effects of emotional cultivation groups: Using the variance partitioning method.

Theoretically, group leaders can play a significant role in contributing to the effectiveness of group counseling intervention. However, very few studies have examined the group leader's effects on the client-rated group counseling outcomes. We hypothesized that responsive group leaders who were caring, understanding, and respectful could serve as safe havens and secure bases to facilitate their group members' social and emotional cultivation. The current investigation examined the effects of leader responsiveness on group members' social-emotional cultivation (SEC). A total of 307 Taiwanese children and adolescent clients across 53 groups participated in an eight-session emotional cultivation group intervention. There were five time points of data collection (i.e., preintervention, third group session, sixth group session, postintervention, and a 4-week follow-up), and the variance partitioning method was used to partition longitudinal data into within-member, within-group, and between-group variance components. The results of hierarchical linear modeling revealed that the group leader's responsiveness significantly predicted group members' SEC at each of the three levels of analysis: Individual members had greater change in SEC when (a) they perceived higher leader responsiveness in a time period compared to the average rating of leader responsiveness across all time periods, (b) they perceived higher leader responsiveness compared to the average rating of leader responsiveness across all members in the same group, and (c) the group-as-a-whole perceived higher leader responsiveness than the average rating of leader responsiveness across all groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The development and validation of the Emotional Cultivation Scale: An East Asian cultural perspective.

Research on emotion regulation in East Asian children and adolescents is limited. One obstacle hindering the development of emotion regulation for East Asian children and adolescents is the lack of a culturally sensitive measure. To fill this gap, we have developed and validated the Emotional Cultivation Scale using samples of Taiwanese children and adolescents. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis (n = 341) identified two factors: Cultivating Emotion Strategies and Understanding Emotion Connotations. A confirmatory factor analysis (n = 358) confirmed this two-factor structure. Coefficient αs were .69 to .88 for Emotional Cultivation. Convergent validity was evidenced by positive associations with cognitive reappraisal and cognitive flexibility. Discriminant validity was supported by a nonsignificant association with suppression. Concurrent validity was revealed by positive associations with positive affect, basic psychological need satisfaction, gratitude, responsiveness from teachers, responsiveness from parents, and academic self-efficacy. Incremental validity was evidenced by the finding that emotional cultivation significantly accounted for an additional 2 to 20% of the variance in predicting cognitive flexibility, positive affect, basic psychological need satisfaction, gratitude, responsiveness from teachers, responsiveness from parents, and academic self-efficacy above and beyond cognitive reappraisal and suppression. Results from the multigroup analysis further indicated factor loading invariance and validity invariance between boys and girls and between elementary and middle schools. The factor structure was cross-validated by a clinical sample of Taiwanese children and adolescents (N = 161) and their parents in Study 2 (N = 159). The counseling implications were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).