Stronger together: perspectives on gratitude social processes in group interventions for adolescents.

Most gratitude interventions for adolescents focus on private experiences of gratitude (e.g., gratitude journaling), dyadic expressions of gratitude (e.g., writing a gratitude letter to another person), or group-based psychoeducation about gratitude. By contrast, group interventions that emphasize gratitude social processes (GSPs)-interpersonal or group processes that involve or are directly triggered by the disclosure or expression of gratitude to other group members-provide an ideal forum for adolescents to reap the full benefits of gratitude experiences. In this perspective article, we propose a typology of five GSPs-disclosing, expressing, receiving, responding to, and witnessing gratitude in relation to other group members-that operate synergistically to produce positive effects for adolescents. In turn, we theorize that these GSPs likely produce superior outcomes, as compared to other gratitude interventions, through five psychosocial mechanisms of change: observational learning, group cohesion, vicarious gratitude, group-based gratitude, and collective gratitude. Overall, we encourage researchers and practitioners to incorporate GSPs in their gratitude interventions with adolescents.

Coping with Community Violence: Perspectives of African American Young Adult Men and Hispanic/Latino Young Adult Men.

Further study is needed regarding the intersection of community violence exposure, coping strategies, and health behaviors among young adult African American men and Hispanic/Latino men. This study did so in Lake County, Indiana, which contains multiple areas with disproportionate prevalence of violence relative to population size. Approximately 22 miles from Chicago, Lake County includes noteworthy mid-sized cities such as Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago. This study explored the perceptions of African American men and Hispanic/Latino men ages 18 to 25 regarding coping strategies and both healthy and health risk behaviors after directly witnessing or indirectly experiencing a violent act or event. We used aspects of social cognitive theory to design this community-based participatory research study. Thirteen males who self-identified as African American, Hispanic/Latino, or both, completed 34- to 80-minute, audio-recorded phone interviews. Audio recordings were transcribed, and NVivo 12 Windows was used by the research team (primary researchers and two coders) to complete transcript analysis. Findings from this study provided insight around African American men and Hispanic/Latino men regarding (a) witnessing violence directly or indirectly experiencing violence; (b) changes in everyday life experiences; (c) coping strategies that involved socio-emotional health, spiritual health, social health, and risky health behaviors; (d) rationales for not asking for help; (e) observations of significant others' coping; (f) what to do differently in the future; (g) beliefs about mentors; and (h) beliefs about mental health providers. Delving into participants' experiences revealed that African American men and Hispanic/Latino men in Lake County, Indiana chose to adopt a range of health risk and health positive strategies after directly witnessing or indirectly experiencing violence. Becoming knowledgeable about African American men's and Hispanic/Latino men's diverse coping strategies and health behaviors may help inform the community about how best to cocreate spaces that aim to alleviate the traumatic experience of having directly or indirectly experienced community violence.

The Catalyst Model of Change: Gratitude Interventions with Positive Long-Term Effects.

How can gratitude interventions be designed to produce meaningful and enduring effects on people's well-being? To address this question, the author proposes the Catalyst Model of Change-this novel, practical, and empirically testable model posits five socially oriented behavioral pathways that channel the long-term effects of gratitude interventions as well as how to augment gratitude experiences in interventions to boost treatment effects and catalyze these behavioral pathways. Specifically, interventions that enhance the frequency, skills, intensity, temporal span, and variety of gratitude experiences are likely to catalyze the following post-intervention socially oriented behaviors: (a) social support-seeking behaviors, (b) prosocial behaviors, (c) relationship initiation and enhancement behaviors, (d) participation in mastery-oriented social activities, and (e) reduced maladaptive interpersonal behaviors, which, in turn, produce long-term psychological well-being. A unique feature of the Catalyst Model of Change is that gratitude experiences are broadly conceptualized to include not just gratitude emotions, cognitions, and disclosures, but also expressing, receiving, witnessing, and responding to interpersonal gratitude. To this end, gratitude interventions that provide multiple opportunities for social experiences of gratitude (e.g., members expressing gratitude to each other in a group) might offer the greatest promise for fostering durable, positive effects on people's psychological well-being.

The Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of the Encouragement Character Strength Scale in Selected Undergraduate Students and Teachers.

The Encouragement Character Strength Scale (ECSS) is a self-report measure of encouragement, which refers to a tendency to enjoy and perceive oneself as being accomplished in communicating affirmations to motivate others. Although it is theoretically assumed as an overarching construct consisting of two domain-specific factors (i.e., perceived ability and enjoyment), there is inconclusive evidence regarding the most optimal factor structure of the encouragement construct. This study evaluated the factor structure, measurement invariance, and criterion-related validity of the Chinese version of the ECSS among teachers and undergraduate students in mainland China. Results showed that the bifactor model of encouragement demonstrated the best fit among undergraduate students and teachers. There was evidence supporting the measurement invariance of this factor structure across type of samples (i.e., teachers and undergraduate students) and gender. Ancillary bifactor indices indicate the superiority of using the ECSS's overall or general factor over subscale scores. The ECSS total score also showed internal consistency and temporal stability. A review of correlations between encouragement and criterion variables (i.e., kindness, hope, agreeableness, and extraversion) indicates that effect sizes ranged from moderate to large. Furthermore, the encouragement general factor was positively correlated with both psychological well-being and work engagement after controlling for the aforementioned criterion variables and demographic covariates.

Self-Persuasion: An Experimental Evaluation of a Sexual Aggression Preventive Intervention for U.S. College Men.

Grounded in the self-persuasion paradigm (an indirect persuasion approach, which places people in situations that motivate them to change their behavior), this study evaluated a brief, online intervention to reduce sexual aggression perpetration and increase prosocial bystander behaviors among heterosexual male college students (N = 241) in the United States. Students were randomly assigned to three conditions: (a) a self-persuasion intervention, (b) a social norms control condition, and (c) a control condition focusing on sense of belongingness. The self-persuasion intervention integrated three social psychological theoretical perspectives on attitudinal and behavioral change-cognitive dissonance (e.g., creating a personalized video message for incoming male college freshmen to explain the importance of consent in sexual contact), self-affirmation (e.g., reflecting on one's core values and how they are congruent with sexual consent), and personal relevance (e.g., writing about personally relevant reasons to always seek consent when having sexual contact). Participants in the self-persuasion condition reported greater prosocial bystander behaviors (e.g., intervening in situations to prevent sexual aggression) 6 months after the intervention as compared with those in the other two conditions; however, there were no significant difference in the rate of self-reported sexual aggression perpetration across conditions. The positive effect of the self-persuasion intervention on prosocial bystander behaviors was mediated by reduced self-perceived likelihood to commit sexual aggression and moderated by in-group solidarity with other college students. That is, the intervention had the most positive effect on prosocial bystander behaviors among participants with a lower sense of in-group solidarity. These findings are discussed in light of the promise of self-persuasion for future sexual aggression prevention work.

Perceived racial discrimination on the change of suicide risk among ethnic minorities in the United States.

Objective: Suicide ideation and attempts are serious public health concerns in the U.S. Previous studies focus mainly on individual factors that cause suicide and therefore, it is imperative to examine the impact of the environment on the onset of suicide risk. This study explored the effects of perceived race/ethnicity-based discrimination (PD; perceived institutional discrimination and perceived interpersonal discrimination) on the change in suicidal thoughts and attempts among racial/ethnic minority (REM) participants at risk for depression over time using a longitudinal nationally representative dataset.Design and methods: The sample consisted a total of 1,253 REM participants from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions Wave 1 and 2 datasets. Participants were categorized into three conditions: (1) no suicidal thoughts/attempts at Wave 1, who were at risk for onset of suicidal thoughts at Wave 2, (2) no suicidal thoughts/attempts at Wave 1, who were at risk for onset of both suicidal thoughts and attempts at Wave 2, and (3) had suicidal thoughts but no attempts at Wave 1, who were at risk for initiating suicidal attempt at Wave 2. Three logistic regressions were performed to examine the associations between PD and the three suicidal conditions, controlling for sociodemographic factors.Results: Regression results showed that perceived institutional discrimination predicted onset of suicidal thoughts for Condition 1 (OR = 1.67, 95% CI:1.05-2.66) and initiation of suicidal attempts for Condition 2 (OR = 2.67, 95% CI:1.30-5.48), whereas perceived interpersonal discrimination predicted onset of suicidal thoughts and attempts for Condition 1 (OR = 2.34, 95% CI:1.17-4.66).Conclusions: PD may have detrimental effects on suicidal behaviors among REM individuals with depressive symptoms. Development of suicide prevention programs needs to take into account PD and be specific for different at-risk groups. This also foregrounds the importance of promoting anti-discrimination policies/programs as a suicide preventive intervention for REM individuals with depressive symptoms.

"I'm Already Seen as a Sexual Predator From Saying Hello": Black Men's Perception of Sexual Violence.

Sexual violence is a severe and rampant issue plaguing college campuses. However, the lack of research pertaining to underrepresented students calls into question the generalizability of university education and prevention efforts. Consequently, there is a gap in the literature regarding African American men's understanding of sexual violence. This study seeks to address this gap by examining African American university men's conceptualization of sexual violence from their own racial and cultural perspectives. Ninety-minute semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight male African American students attending predominantly White institutions. Data were analyzed by three coders using an interpretative phenomenological approach and intersectional framework. Data were then presented to an auditor and the coders revised the themes based on the auditor's feedback. Four themes emerged from this analysis: aggressive and violent stereotypes of Black men, othering of male survivors, racial considerations when responding to survivors, and awareness of racial injustices. These results provide evidence supporting the need for culturally grounded sexual violence education and prevention efforts to effectively reach African American men on university campuses. For example, universities may consider having African American confidential advocates and a committee of racially diverse members to run reported instances of sexual violence to reduce bias. In addition, universities may benefit from partnering with Black fraternities to empower men to be allies for social change against rape culture within their communities. For clinical work, such efforts could include incorporating explicit discussions of the impact of gendered racism on Black male survivors into session. Also, clinicians could aim to combat the internalization of the gender racist stereotypes with clients.

Revisiting the paradox of hope: The role of discrimination among first-year Black college students.

The psychology of hope is used to conceptualize how college students successfully meet their personal and professional goals and ultimately persist to graduation. However, limited evidence has suggested that high levels of hope might have a paradoxical effect for Black college students when faced with experiences of discrimination. The present study examined the moderation effects of hope on the associations between experiences of discrimination and perceptions of stress and academic integration among a sample of 1st-year U.S. Black college students (N = 203) partly derived from secondary data. Structural equation modeling revealed inverse associations between hope and stress, as well as positive associations between hope and academic integration. However, latent variable moderation revealed that students with high levels of hope had the strongest positive associations between discrimination and stress, thus supporting a paradoxical effect. By contrast, the negative association between discrimination and academic integration emerged for only students with low levels of hope. Results suggest the psychological and academic benefits of hope are complex. Specifically, in the context of discrimination experiences, hope may have a paradoxical effect for Black students' mental health while still retaining a positive and buffering effect for their academic integration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Racial/ethnic and gender differences in the antecedents of youth suicide.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined racial/ethnic and gender differences in the antecedents of adolescent suicide deaths in the United States. METHOD: Using postmortem data (N = 3,996, mean age = 16.01, 77% male) from the National Violent Death Reporting System, the authors investigated whether White, Black, Native American, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Latinx youths aged 10 to 18 varied in their rates of circumstances that either preceded or appear to have contributed to their suicides. Gender differences and gender by race/ethnicity moderation effects were examined in addition to racial/ethnic differences. These antecedents included, but were not limited to, mental health problems and treatment, history of suicide attempt and suicidal ideation, presence of a suicide note, interpersonal problems, substance abuse problems, school problems, and exposure to the death or suicide of a loved one. RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses revealed racial/ethnic and gender differences in the prevalence of several antecedents of youth suicide. One race/ethnicity by gender moderation effect related to suicide notes was identified. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest considerable gender and racial/ethnic heterogeneity in suicide risk factors and highlight the need for more research on suicidal behavior in minority youths, as well as culturally tailored prevention efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Perceived discrimination and academic distress among Latinx college students: A cross-lagged longitudinal investigation.

Although the empirical link between experience of racism and academic concerns has been documented, researchers have not used a cross-lagged longitudinal design to disentangle the temporal relations between perceived discrimination and academic outcomes among Latinx college students. It is important to identify whether perceived discrimination predicts greater academic concerns or whether academic concerns predict higher levels of sensitivity to rejection and, therefore, increased self-reports of discrimination. To address this gap in the empirical literature, the present study tested a cross-lagged model to investigate the temporal relations between Latinx college students' perceived discrimination and academic distress while controlling for the effects of depression. Participants were 203 Latinx college students from a Southwestern U.S. public university who completed the same questionnaires at 2 time points, 1 year apart. The authors found that a cross-lagged model exhibited superior fit to a model with only autoregressive paths (e.g., Time 1 academic distress predicting Time 2 academic distress). Only one cross-lagged effect was significant: Time 1 perceived discrimination positively predicted academic distress at Time 2, although the reverse was not true. The practical implications of these findings for the prevention of discrimination and academic distress on college campuses are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

College students' barriers to seeking mental health counseling: Scale development and psychometric evaluation.

This article reports the development and psychometric properties of the 27-item Barriers to Seeking Mental Health Counseling (BMHC) scale, which assesses perceived help-seeking barriers among college-aged students. Across 2 studies involving ethnically diverse samples (e.g., Latinx majority students), the authors provided evidence for this new measure's validity and reliability. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (including a bifactor analysis) provided support for the BMHC scale's multidimensionality reflecting 6 barriers: Negative Perceived Value, Discomfort with Emotions, Ingroup Stigma, Lack of Knowledge, Lack of Access, and Cultural Barriers. Evidence for criterion-related validity was shown through significant but differential correlations with self-stigma, emotional control, and the 4 components of Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior model-attitude, subjective norm of social stigma, perceived behavioral control, and mental health help-seeking intention. Discriminant evidence of validity was established through nonsignificant or small correlations between BMHC subscales and 2 measures of socially desirable responding. The authors also found evidence for incremental validity and measurement invariance across race, and evidence for internal reliability and temporal stability of the BMHC subscales. Findings are discussed in light of the conceptual, methodological, and clinical contributions of the BMHC scale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Encouragement Character Strength Scale: Scale development and psychometric properties.

This article reports the development and psychometric properties of the 12-item Encouragement Character Strength Scale (ECSS), a measure of the character strength of encouragement using diverse samples (e.g., noncollege adults, Latinx-majority college students, and psychotherapists). The encouragement character strength is the enjoyment and perceived ability to express affirmations to motivate others. This character strength is relevant to counseling psychology because of the latter's historical embrace of human strengths and encouragement's importance in many counseling psychology applications, such as psychotherapy and supervision. Bifactor modeling provided evidence for a general factor and for measurement invariance across race and gender. Ancillary bifactor indices suggest that ECSS should be treated as a unidimensional measure. Criterion-related evidence of validity for ECSS was demonstrated through positive correlations with secure attachment, generativity, empathy, kindness, optimism, social connectedness, the personality traits of agreeableness and extraversion, psychological well-being, and a strength-based focus in psychotherapy (for therapists). Discriminant evidence of validity revealed small correlations with impression management and self-deception enhancement. Incremental evidence of validity showed unique, positive correlations with psychological well-being and generativity, after controlling for other variables. Moreover, self-reported ECSS scores were correlated with positive features of written encouragement messages and with other-reported ECSS scores, providing support for heteromethod convergent validity. The authors also found evidence for ECSS's internal consistency and temporal stability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Firm father figures: A moderated mediation model of perceived authoritarianism and the intergenerational transmission of gender messages from fathers to sons.

How do men develop sexist attitudes, gender role conflict, and subjective masculinity stress? These questions have been given little attention in the literature. Given the strong relationships between these variables and men's poorer mental health, it is essential to understand their antecedents. This study seeks to elucidate the manner in which perceptions of fathers may influence sons' gender attitudes and experiences. Using a sample of 170 undergraduate men, the authors proposed a model in which perceived paternal modeling of masculine norms and perceived paternal sexist communication mediate the relationship between perceived paternal authoritarianism and our three outcome variables: sons' sexism, gender role conflict, and subjective masculinity stress. They also hypothesized that the father-son relationship quality would moderate these mediating relations. Results were consistent with a model in which both perceived paternal modeling of masculine norms and perceived paternal sexist communication mediated the relationship between perceived paternal authoritarianism and sons' sexism. However, only the indirect effects from perceived paternal authoritarianism to gender role conflict and subjective masculinity stress through perceived paternal sexist communication were significant. Two significant moderated mediation findings underscore the complexities of the father-son relationship-the quality of this relationship was a risk factor for sons' sexism but a protective factor for sons' subjective masculinity stress. These results suggest an intricate portrait of the perceived influence of fathers on their sons' gender development and stress. Practical implications for counseling psychologists as they relate to both counseling and prevention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Contemporary applications of moderation analysis in counseling psychology.

Moderation analyses represent a statistical technique that can be particularly useful for counseling psychology researchers. This technique allows researchers to assess whether a given relationship depends on a third, moderating variable. The present article provides a brief overview of moderation, followed by 3 broad areas relevant for research: designing a study, analyzing the data, and interpreting results. Particular focus is applied to the topic of latent variable moderation, including an applied example with real data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Gendered Racism Scales for Asian American Men: Scale development and psychometric properties.

The Gendered Racism Scales for Asian American Men (GRSAM) was developed to assess the frequency and stress level of gendered racism perceived by Asian American men. The development of the new measure was grounded in the Intersectional Fusion Paradigm. This paradigm explains individuals' experiences of discrimination based on unique combinations of multiple interlocking identities that individuals experience simultaneously. In mixed samples of college students and community adults, GRSAM's factor structure as well as evidence of convergent validity, criterion-related validity, discriminant validity, incremental validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability was examined. Exploratory factor analyses revealed three dimensions of GRSAM: Psychological Emasculation, Perceived Undesirable Partner, and Perceived Lack of Leadership. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that a bifactor model was a better fit to the data than a correlated three-factor model and a higher-order model. Results of correlation and regression analyses further provided evidence for different aspects of construct validity and internal consistency. Both the Frequency and Stress versions of GRSAM positively predicted psychological distress and somatic symptoms above and beyond the effects of general racism experienced by Asian Americans and masculine gender role stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Does gratitude writing improve the mental health of psychotherapy clients? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial.

Although the past decade has witnessed growing research interest in positive psychological interventions (PPIs), their potential as adjunctive interventions for psychotherapy remains relatively unexplored. Therefore, this article expands the frontiers of PPI research by reporting the first randomized controlled trial to test a gratitude writing adjunctive intervention for psychotherapy clients. Participants were 293 adults seeking university-based psychotherapy services. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) control (psychotherapy only), (b) a psychotherapy plus expressive writing, and (c) a psychotherapy plus gratitude writing. Participants in the gratitude condition wrote letters expressing gratitude to others, whereas those in the expressive writing condition wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings about stressful experiences. About 4 weeks as well as 12 weeks after the conclusion of the writing intervention, participants in the gratitude condition reported significantly better mental health than those in the expressive and control conditions, whereas those in the expressive and control conditions did not differ significantly. Moreover, lower proportions of negative emotion words in participants' writing mediated the positive effect of condition (gratitude versus expressive writing) on mental health. These findings are discussed in light of the use of gratitude interventions as adjunctive interventions for psychotherapy clients.

Meta-analyses of the relationship between conformity to masculine norms and mental health-related outcomes.

Despite theoretical postulations that individuals' conformity to masculine norms is differentially related to mental health-related outcomes depending on a variety of contexts, there has not been any systematic synthesis of the empirical research on this topic. Therefore, the authors of this study conducted meta-analyses of the relationships between conformity to masculine norms (as measured by the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory-94 and other versions of this scale) and mental health-related outcomes using 78 samples and 19,453 participants. Conformity to masculine norms was modestly and unfavorably associated with mental health as well as moderately and unfavorably related to psychological help seeking. The authors also identified several moderation effects. Conformity to masculine norms was more strongly correlated with negative social functioning than with psychological indicators of negative mental health. Conformity to the specific masculine norms of self-reliance, power over women, and playboy were unfavorably, robustly, and consistently related to mental health-related outcomes, whereas conformity to the masculine norm of primacy of work was not significantly related to any mental health-related outcome. These findings highlight the need for researchers to disaggregate the generic construct of conformity to masculine norms and to focus instead on specific dimensions of masculine norms and their differential associations with other outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Circumstances preceding the suicide of Asian Pacific Islander Americans and White Americans.

This study examined the circumstances preceding suicide among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs) and White American decedents using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System in the United States. After controlling for gender and age, APIAs had lower rates of recent disclosure of suicide ideation, recent mental health treatment, recent mental health problems, and intimate partner problems, but higher rates of school problems than White Americans. There were also significant Race × Age moderation effects for recent mental health, financial, and school problems and a significant Race × Gender moderation effect for intimate partner problems.

Suicidal Asian American College Students' Perceptions of Protective Factors: A Qualitative Study.

This study addresses the paucity of knowledge on protective factors associated with Asian American college students' suicidal behavior. Participants were 58 Asian American college students who seriously considered suicide within the past 12 months and responded to open-ended online survey questions about what was helpful during their suicide crisis. A phenomenological analysis of participants' narratives revealed the following protective factors: (a) a desire not to hurt or burden others, (b) social support, (c) fear, (d) self-reliance, and (e) insight. These findings can guide culturally informed clinical interventions by mental health professionals.

Feelings about culture scales: development, factor structure, reliability, and validity.

Although measures of cultural identity, values, and behavior exist in the multicultural psychological literature, there is currently no measure that explicitly assesses ethnic minority individuals' positive and negative affect toward culture. Therefore, we developed 2 new measures called the Feelings About Culture Scale--Ethnic Culture and Feelings About Culture Scale--Mainstream American Culture and tested their psychometric properties. In 6 studies, we piloted the measures, conducted factor analyses to clarify their factor structure, and examined reliability and validity. The factor structure revealed 2 dimensions reflecting positive and negative affect for each measure. Results provided evidence for convergent, discriminant, criterion-related, and incremental validity as well as the reliability of the scales. The Feelings About Culture Scales are the first known measures to examine both positive and negative affect toward an individual's ethnic culture and mainstream American culture. The focus on affect captures dimensions of psychological experiences that differ from cognitive and behavioral constructs often used to measure cultural orientation. These measures can serve as a valuable contribution to both research and counseling by providing insight into the nuanced affective experiences ethnic minority individuals have toward culture.