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In this article, we evaluate the appropriateness of the developmental assets model for college emerging adults and introduce the Young Adult Developmental Assets Survey (YADAS). Constructed as communication tools for adolescent resiliency, Search Institute's developmental assets are reformulated here as 40 characteristics of university lifestyles promoting success and buffering risk for emerging adults. We investigated the YADAS' reliability (via temporal consistency and internal consistency) and validity (via construct convergence and clinical criterions), and generally found evidence of strong psychometrics. The YADAS' global assets score had a test-retest coefficient of r = .89 and a coefficient alpha of [alpha] = .90, and was also statistically significantly correlated to the majority of the thriving indicators (e.g., positive emotionality and spiritual wellbeing) and risk indicators (e.g., substance abuse and anti-social behavior) studied here. The global assets score also displayed meaningful links to mental health, with a coefficient of r = .50 with life satisfaction and r = -.35 with symptomatology. We conclude by discussing support for the use of the developmental assets model with this age range and life context, describing the YADAS' strengths and limitations, and proposing strategies for utilizing the assets model in university contexts., Author(s): Travis J. Pashak [sup.1] , Paul J. Handal [sup.2] , Peter C. Scales [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0001 2178 1836, grid.262914.a, Department of Psychology, Saginaw Valley State University, [...]

The sample consisted of 1,306 college students from four universities in the Midwestern United States. Participants' reported counseling status (never been in treatment or currently in treatment) was used to designate individuals as 'well' or 'ill' in calculating sensitivity and specificity. Results revealed that a Langner Symptom Survey (LSS) cutoff score of 5 was optimal regarding both sensitivity (0.76) and specificity (0.70) in identifying distressed individuals, rather than a score of 4, as established in adolescents and adults. The LSS' reliability was supported, with an internal consistency of 0.76 as measured by Kuder-Richardson 20. Additionally, those with no child abuse history scored significantly below those with a child abuse history. Further, those without an abuse history scored below the cutoff score of 5, while those with an abuse history scored above the cutoff, lending additional support for the use of 5 as the new cutoff score with the college population., Author(s): Paul J. Handal[sup.1] , Andre Peri[sup.2] , Travis J. Pashak[sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Clinical Psychology, Saint Louis University, 3700 Lindell Blvd., Morrissey Hall, 63103, St. Louis, MO, USA (2) [...]

We begin with a review of death anxiety in emerging adults and then report on a descriptive survey study using the Revised Livingston-Zimet Death Anxiety Scale (RLZDAS). Research questions dealt with the RLZDAS' factor structure, demographic patterns, and hypothesized correlations with distress and religiosity/spirituality. We surveyed university-enrolled emerging adults (n = 706). Findings included a 3-factor solution on the RLZDAS (cognitive, repressive, and affective) and no appreciable relationships with demographic factors. Clinical symptomatology was correlated with death anxiety (r = .40), particularly cognitive death anxiety (r = .45), especially in non-believers (r = .58). Religiosity/spirituality did not buffer death anxiety, and some components were actually positively correlated. We argue that death anxiety in emerging adults is multidimensional, clinically relevant, and relatively universal and that broad notions of worldview/belief are not necessarily protective factors.

This study sought to determine whether measures of religion and spirituality could discriminate between emerging adult males who self-identified as both religious and spiritual (B), religious only (R), spiritual only (S), or neither (N). Two religion measures and three spirituality measures were employed to assess the constructs. It was predicted that those who self-identify as religious only would score significantly higher on the religion measures than those who identified as spiritual only, and those that identified as spiritual only would score significantly higher on the spirituality measures than those who identified as religious only. Results supported the first hypothesis, but not the second. The relationship between spirituality and religion measures indicated substantial overlap and the possibility of differential relationships between emerging male and female adults.