Career Barriers and Coping Efficacy with International Students in Counseling Psychology Programs.

This study uses Lent et al.'s (1994) social cognitive career theory (SCCT) as a framework for understanding the career barriers and coping efficacy experienced by international master's of counseling psychology students. Grounded in SCCT, we described coping efficacy as international students' perceived capability to navigate career barriers. Using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis, we explored the career barriers and coping efficacy of 12 international master's of counseling psychology students. The first focus area, International Journey with Multiple Barriers, included five themes: Interpersonal Stress, Language Barriers, Financial Pressures, Advising Concerns, and Visa and Immigration-Related Stress. The second focus area, Agents of Change in the Midst of Barriers, included five themes: Self-Regulating, Stepping into Discomfort, Cognitive Reappraising, Becoming a Change Agent, and Social Support Seeking. Findings demonstrated participants' coping efficacy and perceptions of themselves as agents of change. This study deepens the field's understanding of career development among international master's of counseling psychology students.

COVID-19 anti-Asian racism: A tripartite model of collective psychosocial resilience.

Anti-Asian racism has spiked since the outbreak of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, creating compounded threats to Asian Americans' psychological wellbeing on top of other pandemic stressors (e.g., fears of infection, financial insecurity, or quarantine isolation). COVID-19 anti-Asian racism signifies the relevance of race and racism during public health crises and highlights the importance of examining the psychological impacts of racialized stress and avenues for resilience during a pandemic. This article describes a conceptual model that emphasizes the importance of rechanneling the experience of COVID-19 anti-Asian racism toward resilience. Specifically, the proposed model identifies a tripartite process of collective psychosocial resilience, comprised of (a) critical consciousness of discrimination as a common fate, (b) critical consciousness-informed racial/ethnic identity, and (c) advocacy, for empowering Asian Americans and protecting them against the harmful effects of COVID-19 anti-Asian racism during and beyond the pandemic. Theoretical and empirical underpinnings of the proposed tripartite process for cultivating resilience against COVID-19 anti-Asian racism are delineated. Practice implications and future research directions, as informed and revealed by the conceptual model, are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Applying Data Mining Techniques for Predicting Prognosis in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systematic chronic inflammatory disease. The disease mechanism remains unclear and may have resulted from autoimmune problems caused by genetic predisposing and pathogen infection. In clinical practice, selection of the initial treatment is based on the degree of disease activity, and treatment plans will be added gradually according to increased severity of the disease. However, treatment results can be unclear and treatment process uncertain and ambiguous, which can cause healthcare quality to become worse. This study attempts to combine expert opinions to construct various classifiers using a number of data mining techniques to analyze the different prognosis of two patient groups, by predicting whether the inflammatory indicator erythrocyte sedimentation rates of these two groups will be within the normal range with different medication strategies. Clinical data were collected for construction of different classifiers and we evaluate the prediction accuracy rate of each classifier afterwards. The optimum prediction model is selected from these classifiers to predict the prognosis of RA within these treatment strategies and analyze various results. The results show the accuracy rate of the prediction model by Logistic, SVM and DT module were 0.7927, 07829 and 0.9094, respectively. In the RA complications dataset, the accuracy rate of were 0.9393, 0.9290 and 0.9812, respectively. Futhermore, gain ratio was used to further analyze the rules and to discover which branch nodes are the most importance factor. The results of this study are helpful for formulation and development of guidelines for clinical RA treatments, and implementation of a decision support system by using the prediction model can assist medical staff to make correct decisions in the disease's early stage.

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).

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).

Masculine gender role stress and self-stigma of seeking help: The moderating roles of self-compassion and self-coldness.

Many college men express stigma of seeking psychological help, possibly due to masculine gender role socialization proscribing help seeking. However, not every man who buys into restrictive masculine roles expresses self-stigma of seeking help, suggesting the presence of potential moderating variables. The present study examined self-compassion and self-coldness as potential moderating variables on the associations between men's masculine gender role stress and self-stigma of seeking help. College men (N = 777) were recruited via e-mail to participate in a brief online survey. Structural equation modeling revealed that masculine gender role stress was positively associated with self-stigma and self-coldness but was negatively associated with self-compassion. Both self-compassion and self-coldness were significant moderators. Men with low levels of self-compassion evidenced the strongest positive associations between masculine gender role stress and self-stigma, whereas men with low (but not high) self-coldness evidenced positive associations with self-stigma. These findings highlight differences between self-compassion and self-coldness and suggest that high levels of self-compassion may be a protective factor in reducing the associations between rigid masculinities and men's stigma of seeking help. By contrast, men with extremely negative and critical self-views may be likely to report stigma of seeking help regardless of their endorsement of rigid masculinities. Intervention and prevention implications include helping men enhance their self-compassion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Disordered eating among Asian American college women: A racially expanded model of objectification theory.

Objectification theory has been applied to understand disordered eating among college women. A recent extension of objectification theory (Moradi, 2010) conceptualizes racism as a socialization experience that shapes women of color's objectification experiences, yet limited research has examined this theoretical assertion. The present study proposed and examined a racially expanded model of objectification theory that postulated perceived racial discrimination, perpetual foreigner racism, and racial/ethnic teasing as correlates of Asian American college women's (N = 516) self-objectification processes and eating disorder symptomatology. Perceived racial discrimination, perpetual foreigner racism, and racial/ethnic teasing were indirectly associated with eating disordered symptomatology through self-objectification processes of internalization of media ideals of beauty (media internalization), body surveillance, and body shame. Results support the inclusion of racial stressors as contexts of objectification for Asian American women. The present findings also underscore perceived racial discrimination, racial/ethnic teasing, and perpetual foreigner racism as group-specific risk factors with major theoretical, empirical, and clinical relevance to eating disorder research and treatment with Asian American college women. (PsycINFO Database Record

Far from fairness: Prejudice, skin color, and psychological functioning in Asian Americans.

OBJECTIVES: We explored the moderating role of observed skin color in the association between prejudice and concurrent and lagged psychological functioning (i.e., depression, ingroup/outgroup psychological connectedness). We further aimed to understand gender differences in these processes. METHOD: Data from 821 Asian American undergraduate students (57.5% female and 42.5% male) were drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshman. Cross-sectional and longitudinal regression-based moderation models were conducted with PROCESS 2.13 for SPSS. RESULTS: Lighter skin color nullified the association between prejudice and recent depression for Asian American females. This moderating effect did not hold over time with regards to depression symptoms 1 year later. Additionally, prejudice predicted psychological distance to other Asian students 1 year later among females rated as lighter in skin color, whereas prejudice was tied to psychological closeness for females with darker skin ratings. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight skin color as a pertinent factor relevant to the short-term and long-term mental health and social experiences of Asian American women in particular. (PsycINFO Database Record

Racial/ethnic discrimination, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and alcohol problems in a longitudinal study of Hispanic/Latino college students.

Racial/ethnic discrimination has been identified as a risk factor in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in persons of color (Carter, 2007). Many persons, regardless of race/ethnicity, with PTSD symptoms resulting from combat, violent crimes, sexual assault, or natural disasters use alcohol in an attempt to cope. This longitudinal study surveyed 203 Hispanic/Latino students twice at approximately a 1-year interval, and used a cross-lagged design to compare Time 1 links from alcohol use and experiences of discrimination with the same variables at Time 2, plus symptoms of PTSD. Each survey included the General Ethnic Discrimination scale and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Only Time 2 packets contained the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian. Cross-lagged analyses conducted by comparing nested structural equation models found that fixing the causal paths to zero from Time 1 experiences of discrimination to Time 2 alcohol problems and PTSD resulted in a significantly worse fit of the data. However, fixing the paths to zero from Time 1 maladaptive alcohol use to Time 2 PTSD and experiences of discrimination resulted in no significant difference in model fit. Thus, this pattern of findings is consistent with an inference that Hispanic/Latino college students who experience racial/ethnic discrimination are at risk for developing symptoms of posttraumatic stress and increased maladaptive alcohol use; conversely, maladaptive alcohol use does not appear to be a risk factor for later experiences of discrimination or PTSD symptoms.

Racial and ethnic minority college students' stigma associated with seeking psychological help: Examining psychocultural correlates.

Many college students underuse professional psychological help for mental health difficulties. The stigma associated with seeking such help appears to be one of the reasons for this underuse. Levels of psychological distress and past use of counseling/psychotherapy have been found to be important correlates of stigma associated with seeking psychological help (Obasi & Leong, 2009; Vogel, Wade, & Haake, 2006). For racial and ethnic minorities, the hindering effects of self-stigma and perceived stigmatization by others on treatment seeking may further be compounded by their relationships with their own ethnic groups, with other ethnic groups, and with the dominant society. This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test a model that explored the effects of psychological distress and psychocultural variables (i.e., ethnic identity, other-group orientation, perceived discrimination) on perceived stigmatization by others and self-stigma for seeking psychological help, controlling for past use of counseling/psychotherapy. The sample consisted of 260 African American, 166 Asian American, and 183 Latino American students. SEM multigroup analyses indicated measurement invariance, but partial structural invariance, across racial/ethnic groups. Across all 3 groups, higher levels of psychological distress and perceived racial/ethnic discrimination, respectively, predicted higher levels of perceived stigmatization by others for seeking psychological help, which, in turn, predicted greater self-stigma for seeking psychological help. Higher levels of other-group orientation predicted lower levels of self-stigma of seeking psychological help across groups. Higher levels of ethnic identity predicted lower levels of self-stigma of seeking psychological help only for African Americans. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Developing a screening instrument and at-risk profile for nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior in college women and men.

Archival data (N = 1,048 women, 1,136 men) from a mental health survey of college students were used to investigate incidence of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), including cutting. Significant levels (defined as 4-5 lifetime incidents) were found in 9.3% of women and 5.3% of men. The Counseling Center Assessment for Psychological Symptoms (a global symptom inventory) and an assessment of trauma had been field tested with this sample. We randomly partitioned half of these data into a holdout sample and used the remainder to develop an NSSI screening inventory that included (a) 5 women's screening items, including 1 item to assess trauma experienced; (b) 11 men's screening items; and (c) 12 items common to men and women, including depression, dissociation, anger, unwanted thoughts, nightmares or flashbacks, and having witnessed trauma. Logistic regression and receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis suggested the inventory significantly discriminated NSSI men and women in the holdout sample, p < .001. Cutoff scores were identified to correctly classify about 48% of the true positive male and female NSSI cases, with false positive rates of 13.2% and 8.4% for women and men, respectively.