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The Grief Facilitation Inventory (GFI) is a newly-developed measure of caregiver behaviors theorized to facilitate or hinder children's adaptive grief reactions. We examine its factor structure, reliability, and validity. An exploratory factor analysis identified four factors: Ongoing Connection, Existential Continuity/Support, Caregiver Grief Expression, and Grief Inhibition/Avoidance. Both child- and caregiver-report versions had adequate-to-good internal consistency. The child-report GFI showed evidence of criterion-referenced validity via significant correlations with measures of child maladaptive grief and other psychological symptoms. Results provide preliminary evidence of the reliability, validity, and clinical utility of the GFI as a measure of caregiver grief-facilitation behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion regulation strategies and related constructs have been implicated both as risk and protective factors in a range of mental health outcomes among young adults. To expand upon this previous research, we examined comfort expressing four discrete emotions (i.e., love, happiness, sadness, and anger) as factors that protect against suicide ideation in young adults, within the context of the interpersonal theory of suicide. The sample consisted of 449 college students (73.1% female, 70.6% Hispanic, Mage = 20.5 years) taking part in a larger study of mood and well-being. Students were recruited from a psychology participant pool and completed self-report measures at a single time point for course credit. Comfort expressing emotions and suicide ideation were assessed using the Measure of Verbally Expressed Emotion (MoVEE) and Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (ASIQ), respectively. Perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness were assessed using the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ). Preliminary analyses revealed negative associations between comfort expressing all four emotions and suicide ideation (rs = −.13 to −.26). Results from structural equation modeling supported indirect effects from comfort expressing happiness and sadness to suicide ideation, via perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. An indirect effect was also identified from comfort expressing love to suicide ideation, via thwarted belongingness. Results suggest that comfort expressing emotions (particularly sadness and happiness) is a protective factor against suicide ideation for young adults. These findings suggest that suicide-prevention efforts may wish to focus on increasing comfort expressing emotions to trusted support networks as potential intervention targets. Comfort expressing emotions is negatively associated with suicide ideation. Comfort expressing emotions is associated with belongingness and burdensomeness. Comfort expressing emotions may be a potential target for suicide prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do MMPI–2 or MMPI–2–RF profiles differ in how accurately they depict examinees? To explore this question, we examined differences in clinical descriptions of equivalent profiles from the two instruments. Fourteen valid MMPI–2 protocols from an archival private practice sample were scored as both the MMPI–2 and the MMPI–2–RF. The resulting 28 profiles were coded separately by four raters using the Midwestern Q-Sort. Examinee descriptions from the two instruments were compared in terms of their (a) similarity, operationalized by q-correlations between corresponding MMPI–2 and MMPI–2–RF ratings; (b) descriptive validity, operationalized by correlations with q-sorts provided by the examinees' therapists; and (c) incremental descriptive validity, operationalized by incremental prediction of the therapist q-sorts by the MMPI–2 and MMPI–2–RF, one over the other. Descriptions from corresponding MMPI–2 and MMPI–2–RF score reports were highly intercorrelated. Ratings from both were valid predictors of therapist descriptions, and neither clearly outperformed the other in terms of incremental validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadband assessment of personality and psychopathology may identify problems of clinical significance (e.g., suicidality, self-injury, untreated mental illness) not assessed in popular juvenile risk assessment tools. To investigate this possibility, we conducted multi-source, multi-method assessments of 11 community-dwelling juvenile off enders in a rural Midwestern county. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent- Restructured Form (MMPI-A-RF) and Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) scores were obtained for each youth and operationalized with a descriptive q-sort. Criterion q-sort descriptions of the youth were obtained from the youth, caregivers, probation officers, therapists, and school staff. Scores on both instruments produced similar, reliable, and valid youth descriptions. In regression analyses, YLS/CMI profiles accounted for more variance in the criterion descriptions than the MMPI-A-RF (M ΔR2 = .26). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Trauma-exposed youth often experience impairing externalizing problems (EXTs), yet the relationship between EXTs, trauma exposure, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are not well understood. To examine the extent of their co-occurrence, we report the rates and correlates of youth EXTs relative to clinically elevated PTSS in a sample of youth referred to a trauma and grief specialty clinic., Method: Self- and caregiver-report measures were obtained from 260 youth ages 7-19 years ( M = 11.92, SD = 3.21; 53.5% female) during a pretreatment assessment. The sample was divided into 4 groups according to the youths' PTSS and EXT score elevations, and these groups were then compared according to rates of youth depressive symptoms, youth suicidal ideation, and caregiver strain., Results: The 4 groups were comorbid PTSS and EXTs (18%); EXTs-only group (36%); PTSS-only group (13%), and subclinical symptom group (34%). The comorbid PTSS and EXTs group had the highest scores on all other child and caregiver symptom measures. Compared to the subclinical group, youth in the PTSS-only group had increased depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, whereas youth in the EXTs-only group had elevated levels of caregiver strain., Conclusion: Co-occurring PTSS and EXTs is a common presentation among trauma-exposed youth referred to treatment. These youth are also likely to suffer from other problems of clinical concern, including suicidal ideation, and their problems are associated with caregiver distress. More research is needed to examine unique risk and resiliency factors related to the development of youth EXTs in response to trauma exposure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).