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The goal of this study was to develop and validate a measure of self-rated positive and negative beliefs about one's non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), the Experiences of Self-Injury Questionnaire (ESIQ). Psychometric properties and validation against NSSI severity and shame were tested in two U.S. and two U.K. samples of individuals who endorsed a history of NSSI. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated five factors. Subscales were labeled Positive Beliefs, Personal Dislike, Interpersonal Concern, Emotional Suppression, and Emotional Expression. The Positive Beliefs Subscale covers beliefs that NSSI is valuable. Scores on this subscale were associated with endorsement of NSSI frequency, NSSI urges, and perceived likelihood of future NSSI. Other subscales showed validity in that they all showed unique effects on outcome indices of NSSI severity or shame. The ESIQ shows promise as a brief reliable measure of beliefs about and experiences of NSSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the association between lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) status and self-harm in UK higher education students. There is currently limited data on this association, and the role psychological variables have in potentially explaining this link, in UK students. We examine whether LGB status is associated with self-harm (both non-suicidal self-injury [NSSI] and suicide attempts [SA]), and whether 4 psychological variables (depression, anxiety, belongingness, self-esteem) mediate this association. A cross-sectional survey was used. UK university students (n = 707) completed an online survey including measures of self-harm, affective symptoms, belongingness, and self-esteem. Latent Variable Modelling (LVM) was used to test our hypotheses. LGB status remained associated with an elevated risk of NSSI and SA even after accounting for mediating factors. Self-esteem and (in the case of SA but not NSSI) thwarted belongingness, did, however, explain some of this association and were correlated with self-harm risk. The findings suggest that psychological factors may account for the association between LGB status and self-harm and, as such, prevention and intervention efforts directed at these psychological mediators may help to reduce self-harm risk in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goal pursuit is central to the developmental stage of adolescence. Here, we aimed to study how 14 adolescents in a Youth Offending Service in the United Kingdom think about their personal goal aspirations and future, using semi-structured interviews. Based on a grounded theory approach, an explanatory theoretical framework was developed. Analysis revealed that young people's perceived personal future and goal aspirations are influenced by their appraisal of past and present life events. Participants also used a range of self-protecting strategies to avoid uncertainty and to reduce the threat of future disappointment. The findings have potentially important clinical and policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background 16-18-year-old young people experience a relatively high incidence of mental health problems but there is a paucity of research on their experience of mental health services ( MHS). Method To gain understanding of young people's experiences of 16-18 MHS, we used qualitative Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Ten young people in two 16-18 MHS were interviewed about experiences of using MHS. Results Five superordinate themes emerged from the data analysis, 'Power Differentials', 'Parental Involvement', 'Developmentally Attuned Services', 'Developing Self-Expression', 'Continuity and Loss of Relationships'. Conclusions Respondents valued developmentally appropriate MHS and emphasised the value of continuity in therapeutic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: In this study we aimed to investigate whether Chinese international and British home students at a university in the United Kingdom differed in their attitudes towards seeking psychological help. Method: The total sample comprised 323 participants. Participants completed measures to assess their attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help (recognition of need for psychological help, stigma tolerance, interpersonal openness, confidence in mental health practitioners). Results: Chinese students reported significantly less interpersonal openness than that reported by British students. Contrary to prediction, however, no significant group differences were found on any of the other mental health attitudes (i.e. recognition of need for psychological help, confidence in mental health practitioners or stigma tolerance). Within‐group contrasts also showed that Chinese students reported lower scores on interpersonal openness than on stigma tolerance and confidence in mental health practitioners. In contrast, British participants reported less confidence in mental health practitioners and recognition of the need for psychological help than reported for stigma tolerance and interpersonal openness. Conclusion: The findings highlight the need for a greater understanding of students' cultural inclinations toward mental health issues and cultural attitudes that may hinder and/or facilitate students' access and engagement with psychological services in higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Motivational conflict is central to alcohol dependence, with patients reporting motivation to limit their drinking at the same time as urges to drink alcohol. In addition, dual process models of addiction emphasise the power of automatic cognitive processes, particularly automatic approach responses elicited by alcohol-related cues, as determinants of drinking behavior. We aimed to examine the strength of automatic and self-reported alcohol approach and avoidance tendencies among alcohol-dependent inpatients relative to matched controls. Methods:enbsp; A total of 63 alcohol-dependent patients undergoing detoxification and 64 light-drinking controls completed a stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) task, which assesses the speed of categorization of alcohol-related pictures by making symbolic approach and avoidance movements. We also included modified versions of the SRC task to assess automatic motivational conflict, that is, strong approach and avoidance tendencies elicited simultaneously by alcohol-related cues. Results: There were no differences between alcohol-dependent patients and controls on the SRC task, although individual differences in the quantity of alcohol consumed before entering treatment were significantly positively correlated with the strength of approach (but not avoidance) tendencies elicited by alcohol-related cues. Automatic approach tendencies were also positively correlated with self-reported 'approach' inclinations and negatively correlated with self-reported 'avoidance' inclinations. Conclusions: Although alcohol-dependent patients and matched controls did not differ on automatic approach and avoidance tendencies elicited by alcohol-related cues, individual differences in the quantity of alcohol consumed before entering treatment were associated with the strength of automatic approach tendencies elicited by alcohol cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the supervisory relationship is thought to be critical in training clinical psychologists, little is known about factors affecting the supervisory alliance. We conducted an Internet survey of British clinical doctoral trainees ( N = 259) in which participants rated their supervisory working alliance, parental style during childhood, pathological adult attachment behaviours and attachment style for themselves and their supervisors. Trainees' ratings of the working alliance were associated with perceptions of supervisors' attachment style, but not with perceptions of trainees' own attachment styles. Path analysis supported a causal chain linking parental indifference, compulsive self-reliance, insecure supervisor attachment style and lower ratings of the working alliance. Our results broadly replicate data from a US sample and suggest that attachment theory is helpful in understanding clinical supervisory processes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message: • The attachment theory is helpful in understanding clinical supervisory processes. • Perceptions of supervisors' attachment style are associated with quality of the supervisory working alliance. • Compulsive self-reliance in trainees may present particular difficulties for the supervisory working alliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has implicated motivation and goal regulation in susceptibility to mood disorders. We studied for the first time key facets of motivation and goal regulation concurrently in relation to affective symptoms. The cross-national sample comprised 510 university students from the United States (n = 279) and United Kingdom (n = 231). Participants completed self-report measures of motivation, conditional goal setting, urgency, depression, anxiety, and mania risk. Structural Equation Modeling results found that behavioral activation system scores correlated negatively with depression and positively with mania risk, but were unrelated to anxiety. High conditional goal setting correlated uniquely with higher depression but not to anxiety or mania risk. Urgency correlated with higher anxiety, depression, and mania risk. Behavioral inhibition system scores correlated negatively with mania risk but unexpectedly did not correlate with anxiety in the multivariate model. The behavioral activation, behavioral inhibition, conditional goal setting, and urgency results showed shared and distinct patterns of relationships with depression, anxiety and mania risk. Our findings indicate unique and common risk vulnerabilities in depressive, anxious, and manic syndromes and extend an integrative knowledge of these syndromes in relation to goal regulation., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)