Search

Physician faculty learn teaching skills informally while fighting competing professional obligations. One underutilized proven technique to improve teaching skills is peer observation with feedback. We aimed to understand benefits and challenges of a physician faculty development program based on peer observation of teaching and to develop best practice recommendations for future program development. The authors developed a peer observation-based physician faculty development program from 2015 to 2017. Two interviewers conducted and analyzed qualitative interviews with 13 faculty participants and four non-participants using content analysis to identify themes and subthemes in NVivo©. Participant-identified program benefits included conveyed institutional support for teaching, the opportunity for peer observation with direct and timely feedback, the opportunity for community building, and overall program feasibility. Program challenges included competing scheduling demands, variability in feedback quality, and difficulty maintaining engagement for the program duration. Potential areas for improvement included participation incentives, external faculty involvement, assistance with program logistics and administration, and improvement in the consistency of the feedback experience. While peer observation is a valued approach to physician faculty development of teaching skills, competing demands on physicians may still limit program effectiveness. Program sustainability depends on optimizing feedback quality, boosting motivation for participation, and providing administrative support.

Time-limited trials (TLTs) are used in the management of critical care patients undergoing potentially nonbeneficial interventions to improve prognostication and build trust and consensus between family and intensivists. When these trials are not well defined and executed, discordant views of the patient's prognosis, conflict, and continuation of nonbeneficial care can arise. The mnemonic TIME (truth about uncertainty in prognosis, interval of time, measurement of improvement, and end or extend) can help facilitate clear communication surrounding TLTs. This framework allows physicians and families to deal more effectively with the inherent uncertainty and required flexibility needed in caring for complex critical care patients. This can lead to patient-centered decision-making that improves patient-physician relationships and goal-concordant care and also potentially reduces nonbeneficial treatments at the end of life.

Objectives: Off-topic verbosity (OTV) refers to prolonged speech that derails from the initial conversational topic by including more loosely associated speech and becoming increasingly more unfocused and distant from the initial topic. Previous research has suggested that, among older adults, loneliness may be associated with greater OTV. The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship between loneliness and OTV among young adults ( n = 62) and older adults ( n = 80). Methods: Participants completed a measure of loneliness and provided speech samples, which were transcribed and rated for OTV. Results: Results indicated some relationship between loneliness and tangentiality of speech, particularly among older adults. Discussion: Overall, loneliness may be associated with greater OTV in older adults, which could further explain the connection between increased loneliness and worse health outcomes in older adulthood.

Purpose of review Most aging Americans lack access to specialist palliative care aimed at those experiencing serious illness and/or high symptom burden at end of life. The curricula used by training programs for all healthcare professions should focus on helping learners develop the primary palliative care skills and competencies necessary to provide compassionate bias-free care for adults with serious illness. We believe there is much opportunity to improve this landscape via the incorporation of palliative care competencies throughout generalist healthcare professional programs. Recent findings Several recent publications highlight multiple issues with recruitment and retention of diverse students and faculty into healthcare professional training programs. There are also concerns that the curricula are reinforcing age, race, and gender biases. Due to these biases, healthcare professionals graduate from their training programs with socialized stereotypes unquestioned when caring for older adult minority patients and caregivers. Summary Important lessons must be incorporated to assure that bias against age, race, and gender are discovered and openly addressed in healthcare professional’s education programs. This review highlights these three types of bias and their interrelationships with the aim of revealing hidden truths in the education of healthcare professionals. Ultimately, we offer targeted recommendations of focus for programs to address implicit bias within their curricula.

Atheists are one of the least accepted minority groups in the Unites States, yet they remain an understudied population. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate differences between...

Previous research has linked political ideology - right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation - with more positive attitudes toward life extension. The purpose of this study was to investigate death attitudes and religious commitment as mediators of the relationship between political ideology and attitudes toward life extension. College students (N = 406) completed an online survey. One death attitude - neutral acceptance - and not religious commitment mediated the relationship between political ideology and attitudes toward life extension. Individuals with more intolerant political ideology may see death as aberrant and thus be more likely to embrace life extension technology.

Virginity is an invisible status and thus something that individuals typically must decide whether to disclose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the disclosure of virginity status (DVS), which refers to the extent an individual has revealed or concealed whether they subjectively identify as being a virgin or not to selected individuals or groups. Young adults (N = 760) completed an online survey about sexuality. DVS appears to conform to a structure of disclosure to family, to peers, and to religious figures; lying about virginity status to family/peers and to religious figures emerged as distinct factors. Differences in DVS by gender and virginity status suggest that DVS may be dependent upon gendered sexual scripts of the group the target of disclosure belongs to.

Purpose: In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global human caring crisis, this article describes an innovative, theory-guided, holistic practice project at a major academic medical center in Northern California. The purpose of this theory-guided COVID-19 project was to address the self-care needs of caregivers so they could better care for patients/families who are confronting daily pandemic demands. Study design: The organization's professional practices are guided by Watson's theory of human caring and Caritas Processes. This setting has 16 Caritas Coaches® who have acquired expertise in human caring from an accredited program of the Watson Caring Science Institute ( www.watsoncaringscience.org ). Methods: Caritas Coaches® were mobilized to implement holistic caring–healing modalities such as aromatherapy and mindfulness meditation throughout the organization. Findings: By addressing the self-care needs of caregivers, the organizational culture shifted from fear, fatigue, stress, and burnout, to more intentional conscious, mindful, caring presence, gratitude, and purpose. Conclusion: This study has implications for other institutions regarding theory-guided practice and system responses to self-care needs of staff. This study provides an overview of the project from its origin to implementation and outcomes.

Outness, or self-disclosure of sexual orientation, plays a key role in the sexual identity development of LGB individuals and is linked with mental health. Lower outness has been consistently linked with higher internalized sexual prejudice; however, no extant research has explored the relationship between generalized self-disclosure and outness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incremental validity of general self-disclosure to explain variance in outness beyond what is accounted for by internalized sexual prejudice among young adults (N = 387; 46 lesbians; 78 gay men; 49 bisexual men; 214 bisexual women). Self-disclosure explained additional variance in outness beyond internalized sexual prejudice. While outness is related to internalized sexual prejudice, general personality characteristics such as self-disclosure may also play a role in LGB individuals’ disclosure of their sexual orientation. These findings suggest that while internalized sexual prejudice is still the primary driver of lower outness, lower general self-disclosure may also play an important role. Closeted individuals may be weighing the risks and benefits of disclosing their sexual orientation, as they would with any other personal information. For those struggling with self-disclosure of sexual orientation, clinicians should attend to internalized sexual prejudice while also noting an individual’s comfort with general self-disclosure.

Palliative care was once believed to be too high-touch to be delivered via telehealth. However, numerous studies have demonstrated the positive effects of palliative care delivered through telehealth. Because the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly shifted how health care is delivered to patients with cancer, particularly because of their immunocompromised status and the risks associated with unnecessary exposures in the clinic, previous lessons from palliative care research studies can be used to inform practice. This article presents a case study that illustrates evidence and best practices for continuing to deliver palliative care via telehealth after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

Rapport in the context of neuropsychological testing refers to the level of interpersonal ease between examiner and examinee. However, scant research has examined the impact of rapport on neuropsychological test performance. The purpose of this between-subjects experiment was to investigate the impact of rapport on Stroop test performance. College students (

Continuing the transition to competency-based education, Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) fellowship programs began using context-free reporting milestones (RMs) for internal medicine subspecialties in 2014 but quickly recognized that they did not reflect the nuanced practice of the field. This article describes the development of 20 subspecialty-specific RMs through consensus group process and vetting by HPM educators. A workgroup of content experts used an iterative consensus building process between December 2017 and February 2019 to draft new RMs and create a supplemental guide that outlines the intent of each RM, examples of each developmental trajectory, assessment methods, and resources to guide educators. Program directors, program coordinators, and designated institutional officers were contacted directly to solicit feedback. Most respondents agreed or strongly agreed that each RM represented a realistic progression of knowledge, skills, and behaviors, and that the set of milestones adequately discriminated between meaningful levels of competency. Similarly, respondents felt that the supplemental guide was a useful resource. The result is a set of carefully developed and broadly vetted RMs that represent a progression of development for HPM physicians during one year of clinical fellowship training.

While public acceptance of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals and same-sex relations has grown over the past few decades, there is still opposition to LGB civil rights in the U.S. Previous literature has found links between political ideology and sexual prejudice, while empathy has been linked to both political ideology and sexual prejudice. However, no study has examined the interrelationships between these three variables. For this study, an online survey was administered to a diverse sample of college students in exchange for course credit, and those who self-identified as heterosexual were retained for analyses (N = 1143; 66.1% female; 45.5% White). Mediation analyses were performed to examine whether two subfacets of empathy (empathic concern and perspective taking) mediated the relationship between political ideology and sexual prejudice. Due to gender differences in sexual prejudice and empathy, gender was included in the model as a moderator. The results of moderated mediation analyses indicated both empathic concern and perspective taking were mediators for women, while perspective taking was the only mediator for men. These results suggest that interventions for sexual prejudice may be more effective when using approaches that promote taking the perspective of LGB individuals. Specifically, interventions that utilize empathy training or direct contact with LGB individuals may result in a decrease in sexual prejudice.

Previous research has linked death attitudes, palliative care self-efficacy, and attitudes toward care of the dying among nursing students and other nursing samples, but not among hospice nurses. The purpose of this study was to investigate these relationships among hospice nurses (N = 90). More positive attitudes toward care of the dying were associated with lower fear of death and death avoidance as well as higher neutral acceptance and escape acceptance, but not with approach acceptance. More positive attitudes toward care of the dying was associated with perceived capability to answer end-of-life concerns, but not with perceived capability to respond to end-of-life symptoms. Clinical interventions seeking to improve attitudes toward care of the dying among hospice nurses may be most effective by targeting death attitudes and improving self-efficacy in the area of discussing end-of-life concerns with patients.

Social anxiety has been linked with lower perceived social support, and there is some evidence that communication styles may explain this relationship. In addition, a body of literature has found gender differences in social anxiety, communication, and perceived social support. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate six communication styles as mediators of the relationship between social anxiety and perceived social support and whether such relationships vary by gender. College men and women ( N = 813) completed an online survey. Among men and women, social anxiety was associated with lower social support through lower expressiveness. Among men, social anxiety was associated with lower perceived social support through lower preciseness; among women, this link was through lower verbal aggressiveness and higher emotionality. Psychotherapy may function as an environment in which socially anxious individuals can learn communication skills and acquire the confidence to use them in order to increase perceived social support.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between political ideology and attitudes toward life extension among college students (N = 484). Older age and male gender were associa...

Women fake orgasm for partner-focused reasons and self-focused reasons, the latter of which include elevating their own sexual arousal. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between motivations for faking orgasm and orgasm consistency within the sexual activities of receiving oral sex and sexual intercourse among young adult women (N = 998). For both receiving oral sex and sexual intercourse, women who faked orgasm in order to elevate their own sexual arousal had greater orgasm consistency, whereas women who faked orgasm out of fear or insecurity had lower orgasm consistency. Overall, the results suggest that self-focused motivations for faking orgasm – particularly elevating arousal – are more closely associated with orgasm consistency than partner-focused motivations for faking orgasm.

Rapport is an important component of neuropsychological test administration; however, there is a lack of psychometrically sound measures of rapport in the context of neuropsychological assessment. The purpose of this study was to explore adapting measures of the psychotherapeutic alliance specifically to neuropsychological test administration and investigate their feasibility and construct validity. College students (N = 126) were administered a brief battery of neuropsychological tests in either a high-rapport or low-rapport condition. Participants in the high-rapport condition rated rapport as being higher, suggesting that the items captured the nature of the interpersonal interaction between examiner and examinee. The results suggest the feasibility of adapting items from measures of the psychotherapeutic alliance for measuring rapport in neuropsychological testing. This article introduces the Barnett Rapport Questionnaire, a measure of rapport in the context of neuropsychological assessment.

Background: Legacy-making (i.e., a way for patients with terminal illness to create or do something for others as a means of remembrance) is rising in popularity in palliative medicine, although only one study has examined its impact in a pediatric population. Objective: In response to the gaps in literature, this study (1) examines the impact of legacy artwork on bereaved caregivers' psychological functioning and grief and (2) compares caregivers' perceptions of support provided by the hospital throughout their child's cancer journey between the intervention and control groups. Methods: Forty-four caregivers whose children died of cancer completed a demographic questionnaire specifically created for this study, the Brief Symptom Inventory-18, and the Prolonged Grief Disorder-13. They also answered questions regarding supportive services provided to them toward the end of the child's life, at the time of death, and after the child's death. Those caregivers who endorsed participating in legacy artwork were identified as the intervention group, whereas those who did not were classified as the control group. Results: There were no significant differences in psychological functioning among caregivers who participated in legacy artwork versus those who did not participate. However, caregivers who created legacy artwork with their child reported significantly less symptoms of prolonged grief and a greater perception of support from health care providers compared with caregivers who did not engage in this activity. Conclusion: Although preliminary, these findings suggest that legacy artwork may have the potential to improve grief and overall satisfaction of support from the hospital in bereaved caregivers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate choice of and comfort with health care proxy among older adults (N = 240). Results indicated that choice of proxy follows a hierarchical compensation mo...

Counterfactual thinking is thinking of alternatives to events that have already occurred. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationships between counterfactual thinking and both posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth among undergraduate women who identified as having been sexually assaulted ( N = 199). Participants who identified as sexual assault victims completed measures of posttraumatic stress, posttraumatic growth, and counterfactual thinking online. Upward counterfactual thinking—that is, thinking of preferable alternative outcomes—specific to sexual assault was associated with greater posttraumatic stress and greater posttraumatic growth, while downward counterfactual thinking—that is, thinking how things could have been worse—was associated with lower posttraumatic stress. Women endorsed approximately equal levels of upward and downward counterfactual thinking. The results suggest that the way individuals cognitively process sexual assault may play a role in long-term trauma and recovery.

Objectives:Optimism and pessimism are distinct constructs that have demonstrated independent relationships with aspects of health and well-being. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether optimism or pessimism is more closely linked with physical and mental health among older adults.Design:Cross-sectional survey.Participants:Community-dwelling older adults (N = 272) ages 59–95 in the southern United States.Measurements:The Life Orientation Test—Revised and the Short Form 8.Results:At the bivariate level, optimism was associated with higher physical health and mental health, while pessimism was associated with lower physical health and mental health. Multiple-regression analyses as well as comparison of correlation coefficients found that pessimism was more closely associated with physical health and mental health than optimism.Conclusions:These results add to the literature suggesting that, in terms of older adults’ health and well-being, avoiding pessimism may be more important than being optimistic.

Objective: Psychologists have long used nonsensical information in the study of learning and memory (Ebbinghaus, 1885). Nonsensical information makes it difficult to rely on previous learning and thus increases task novelty (Quent et al., 2021). Little extant research has investigated the impact of task novelty in everyday activities, which are often overlearned. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of task novelty on a procedural learning and memory task in virtual reality. Method: Healthy young adults (N = 41; ages 18–25, M = 18.73, SD = 1.38) completed the Virtual Kitchen Protocol (VKP; Barnett, Parsons, & Childers, 2021), a virtual reality-based measure of learning and memory for meal preparation of both regular (e.g., cooking an egg) and nonsensical (e.g., placing a menu in a toaster) dishes. Results: Results of a Wilcoxon signed-rank test found that in immediate recall, participants demonstrated better recall for preparing regular dishes (M = 31.51, SD = 3.33) than nonsensical dishes (M = 26.68, SD = 4.75); z = 4.699. p < 0.001.; after a 20-minute delay, participants still had better recall for preparing regular dishes (M = 32.81, SD = 2.44) than the nonsensical ones (M = 27.32, SD = 4.38); z = 5.288, p < 0.001. Conclusions: Task novelty had a negative impact on recall for everyday procedural tasks in virtual reality. Overlearned behaviors may affect performance on measures of everyday activities, but the use of nonsensical analog tasks may provide a means of controlling for task familiarity.

Objective: The Virtual Environment Grocery Store (VEGS; Parsons & McMahan, 2017) has demonstrated relationships with older adults’ adaptive functioning as measured both by self-report and with a performance-based test (Hardesty et al., 2021). However, age is an important predictor of adaptive functioning among older adults (Weber et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to investigate the incremental validity of the VEGS. We hypothesized that the VEGS long delay free recall would explain variance in adaptive functioning beyond that which is accounted for by age. Method: Older adults (n = 98; age 65–90, M = 75.82, SD = 6.27) were administered the Virtual Environment Grocery Store (VEGS) and the Texas Functional Living Scale (TFLS) and completed the Instruments of Daily Activities Scale (IADLS) Questionnaire. Results: Age explained 30.8% of the variance in TFLS. Inclusion of the VEGS long delay free recall meant that the model was able to explain 48.0% of the variance (R2 change F = 1.28, p Conclusion: Among older adults, age is an important predictor of adaptive functioning as measured by self-report and performance-based test. The VEGS was able to explain substantial variance in older adults’ adaptive functioning beyond age, particularly when measured with a performance-based test. These results are consistent with the notion that the VEGS measures abilities relevant to older adult’s daily functioning.

Objective: Virtual reality-based neuropsychological tests allow for immersive stimuli, which may increase ecological validity, and allows for the inclusion of standardized distractors. The Virtual Apartment Stroop test has demonstrated evidence of construct validity among healthy older adults, but no extant research has investigated its use among clinical populations. The purpose of this preliminary study was to investigate the Virtual Apartment Stroop test as a predictor of neurocognitive disorder among older adults. Method: The Virtual Apartment Stroop test was administered to older adults (n = 34; aged 61-90, M = 72.15, SD = 7.15; 44.1% men, 55.9% women) with (n = 7) or without (n = 27) a neurocognitive disorder as determined by a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. In the Virtual Apartment, the participant is situated in a home environment and Stroop test stimuli occur in single-item presentation on the television screen. Participants were administered the Virtual Apartment Stroop test both with and without distractors, with the order counterbalanced. In the distractor condition, distracting stimuli appear in various locations in the participant’s field of view. Results: A total score was created by summing the total correct in the distractors and no distractors conditions. Binary logistic regression found that this score explained 17.5-27.5% of the variance in neurocognitive diagnosis, (Χ2 = 6.56, df = 1, p = .01, odds ratio: 0.97) and the model was able to correctly classify 85.3% of cases. Conclusion(s): These results provide preliminary evidence that the Virtual Apartment Stroop task is sensitive to neurocognitive diagnosis among older adults.

Disclosure of virginity status (DVS) refers to the extent to which an individual reveals that they identify as a virgin or not to different individuals in their lives. The purpose of this study was to investigate how generalized self-disclosure, virginity beliefs, and religiosity, as well as interactions with gender and virginity status, relate to DVS to family, peers, and religious communities. Southern U.S. college students (N = 690) took an online sexuality questionnaire. Generalized self-disclosure did not relate to DVS, suggesting that DVS represents a unique form of self-disclosure. Gender by virginity status interactions suggested that societal double standards of gender and virginity status (i.e., non-virgin women and virgin men being stigmatized for their virginity identifications) may be most relevant to one's decision to disclose to family, and somewhat relevant to one's decision to disclose to religious communities. Individuals high in religiosity overall tended to disclose their virginity status when they identified as a virgin, but not as a non-virgin. Virgins concealed their virginity status from religious communities when they stigmatized their own virginity but disclosed to family and peers when they viewed virginity as a gift. Overall, the results suggest that, although religiosity and virginity beliefs indeed play a role in DVS toward certain targets, one's gender and virginity status appear to be most important. Increased education on the double standard regarding gender and virginity status may help reduce stigma and improve sexual well-being.

Off-topic verbosity (OTV) refers to extended speech lacking in relevance and focus. Previous research has found that older adults have higher levels of OTV, and some contend that OTV is indicative of cognitive decline. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between verbal cognitive abilities and OTV speech characteristics among young adults (

In this study, different factor analysis models were employed to test the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) in 11 distinct populations (n = 15,266) in different countries. The results strongly suggest that the most appropriate use of the SCS is to measure levels of Self-Compassionate responding (positive items) and Self-Uncompassionate responding (negative items) separately.

The purpose of this study was to investigate correlates of end-of-life treatment preferences. Young adults (n = 117) and older adults (n = 305) completed an interview survey. Compared to older adul...

Aim The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between the presence of and search for meaning in life and self-esteem, psychological distress, burnout and affect among hospice nurses. Background The nature of hospice nursing may prompt existential concerns. Method Hospice nurses (N = 90) completed an online survey. Results The presence of meaning in life was associated with lower psychological distress, burnout and negative affect, and higher levels of positive affect, whereas the search for meaning in life was only associated with higher negative affect. Self-esteem mediated the relationship between the presence of meaning in life and psychological distress, burnout and negative affect. Conclusion The presence of meaning in life promotes self-esteem, which then buffers against negative outcomes. Implication for nursing management Although managers cannot directly instil meaning in life in hospice nurses, they may be able to help nurses to find or maintain meaning by promoting policies that allow them to participate in meaningful personal, cultural or religious activities. Additionally, managers of hospice nurses could connect them with resources (e.g. mentors, counsellors or chaplains) to cope with the existential demands of providing end-of-life care.

Abstract. Sandbagging – a self-presentation strategy defined by feigned performance or false claims of inability – has been associated with lower self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether narcissism explains the relationship between sandbagging and self-esteem. College students ( N = 813) completed a survey. Grandiose and vulnerable narcissism explained variance in sandbagging beyond what was explained by self-esteem. When grandiose or vulnerable narcissism was included, the relationship between self-esteem and sandbagging was no longer significant. Overall, the results were consistent with the notion that the relationship between lower self-esteem and sandbagging may be subsumed by narcissism.

Previous research has linked death attitudes, palliative care self-efficacy, and attitudes toward care of the dying among nursing students and other nursing samples, but not among hospice nurses. The purpose of this study was to investigate these relationships among hospice nurses (N = 90). More positive attitudes toward care of the dying were associated with lower fear of death and death avoidance as well as higher neutral acceptance and escape acceptance, but not with approach acceptance. More positive attitudes toward care of the dying was associated with perceived capability to answer end-of-life concerns, but not with perceived capability to respond to end-of-life symptoms. Clinical interventions seeking to improve attitudes toward care of the dying among hospice nurses may be most effective by targeting death attitudes and improving self-efficacy in the area of discussing end-of-life concerns with patients.

Objectives The Illness Invalidation Inventory (3*I) was designed to assess individuals' perceived invalidation regarding chronic pain experiences. However, no study has yet investigated the psychometric properties of the 3*I among individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Given the personal and societal impact of CLBP and the potential for invalidation associated with this condition, the current study sought to examine the psychometric properties of the 3*I among individuals with CLBP. Materials and methods Community-dwelling adults with CLBP living in the Southwestern United States (N=134) completed the 3*I. In line with previous literature, current analyses focused on the 3*I "family members" subscale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed on participant responses. Hierarchical linear regression analyses examined the relationship between the identified factors and participant self-reported pain severity, disability, and depression. Results Exploratory factor analysis conducted on the 3*I "family members" subscale found 2 factors with high internal consistency (α>0.70) that cumulatively accounted for 49.04% of the variance in scores. Consistent with previous findings, factor loadings suggested that these factors correspond to "discounting" and "lack of understanding." Subsequent confirmatory factor analysis found that this 2-factor model demonstrated a good fit with the data. Greater perceived discounting by family members was associated with greater pain severity, disability, and depression. Discussion The 2-factor model of the 3*I "family members" subscale identified in the current study reflects previous findings and extends the psychometric validity of the 3*I to a US multiethnic sample of individuals with CLBP.

Attitudes toward euthanasia have been linked with political ideology among hospice nurses; however, a larger body of research has linked attitudes toward euthanasia with religiosity. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between political ideology, religious commitment, and attitudes toward active and passive euthanasia among hospice nurses. Hospice nurses (

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether contact with future possible selves impacts individuals’ outcome expectancies, intended behaviors, and long-term outcomes with regard to academic performance. Specifically, we investigated whether having college students attempt to connect with an academically successful or unsuccessful future possible self through a message composition activity would impact their perceived likelihood of getting a good grade point average, intended academic engagement (i.e., intentions to attend class, study, etc.), and academic performance as measured by grade point average over two subsequent semesters. The study was novel in that we considered the role of temporal position—that is, the current self contacting a future possible self or a future possible self contacting the current self. Results found that students who composed a message from an academically unsuccessful future possible self to their current self had lower outcome expectancies—that is, they believed that they had less chance of obtaining a good grade point average—and lower intended academic engagement than a control group that composed a message to a friend; however, the groups did not vary in academic performance. It is possible that contact with a future possible self that was academically unsuccessful introduced a form of learned helplessness in those participants.

Feminists have debated whether enjoyment of sexualization (ES)—when women find sexualized attention from men rewarding—represents empowerment or patriarchal oppression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychosexual correlates of ES—sexual self-schema (SSS) and psychosexual health—among heterosexual college women (n = 754) and men (n = 389). Among women, ES was associated with a SSS in which women saw themselves as more heterosexual, more attractive, more open to unconventional sex acts, and having greater sentimentality about romantic relationships. Regarding psychosexual health, ES was not linked with general self-esteem but was associated with higher sexual esteem and lower sexual depression. Among men, ES was not related to SSS or psychosexual health. Overall, among women, ES was linked with positive outcomes, and it may represent women conforming to societal norms and using sexualized attention in order to obtain romantic intimacy. Rather than internalized misogyny, ES may represent an open approach to sexuality in which women take advantage of their sexualized position in society for their own empowerment.

A large body of research has investigated relationship and sexual satisfaction; however, little extant research has investigated interest in partner orgasm. The purpose of this study was to investigate sex differences in interest in partner orgasm, as well as the relationship between adult attachment and interest in partner orgasm among college men (n = 262) and women (n = 745) who are in committed romantic relationships. Women indicated having greater motivation to ensure their partner has an orgasm, but men and women did not vary in their reaction to a partner having or not having an orgasm. Attachment anxiety was associated with greater interest in partner orgasm, and attachment avoidance was associated with lower interest in partner orgasm. Overall, the results are consistent with evolutionary and attachment theory.

Background/Problem Neuropsychologists are often asked to evaluate patients’ functional capacities, yet traditional neuropsychological tests have limited correspondence with real-world outcomes. The Virtual Environment Grocery store (VEGS) is a virtual environment that stimulates shopping tasks. Previous research has found support for the construct validity of the VEGS among older adults (Parsons & Barnett, 2017); however, no extant research has examined relationships between the VEGS and adaptive functioning among older adults. Method Older adults (n = 30; age 43–90 M = 77.09, SD = 12.94) were administered the Virtual Reality Grocery Store (VEGS) and the Texas Functional Living Scale (TFLS) and completed the Instruments of Daily Activities (IADLS) Questionnaire. Results VEGS variables explained 39.6% of the variance in self-reported adaptive functioning (I, e., the IADLS) and 60.0% of the variance in performance-based adaptive functioning (i.e., the TFLS). Conclusion These results suggest that the VEGS is a predictor of adaptive functioning – particularly when measured with a performance-based measure – among older adults.

Objective Virtual reality-based neuropsychological tests offer the ability to capture a variety of data while enabling standardized administration. The purpose of this study was to create an artificial neural network to examine the predictability of the Virtual Environment Grocery Store (VEGS) for neurocognitive impairment among older adults. Method Older adults (N = 71; age 55–90, M = 74.38, SD = 8.32; 13 with a neurocognitive diagnosis and 58 without) completed the VEGS as part of a neuropsychological evaluation. Results The multilayer perceptron found a model which had a 3.4% error rate. The VEGS sum of the learning trials was the most important predictor of this model (i = 0.45). Conclusion Results suggest that the VEGS is sensitive to detecting neurocognitive impairment among older adults, with the sum of the learning trials making a substantial contribution to the model’s accuracy.

Sigmund Freud coined the term urszene—or “primal scene”—to describe the experience of children witnessing their parents engaging in sexual activity. We examined the historical context in which the primal scene emerged, considered contemporary views of the primal scene, and conducted two empirical studies (N = 961, 1390) to investigate Freud’s proposition that children who witness the primal scene would later be prone to “attacks of falling physically in love,” which we operationalized as sociosexual orientation. In both studies, individuals who witnessed the primal scene as children had a more unrestricted sociosexual orientation than those who did not. Additionally, men had a more unrestricted sociosexual orientation than women. Altogether, these results suggest a possible link between primal scene exposure and sociosexual orientation. In contrast to psychoanalytic theories, we offer psychodynamic and normative social explanations of the primal scene phenomenon.