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Rape myths play a role in rape denialism, in which individuals deny the prevalence and severity of sexual assault. This project aimed to address two common rape myths: that rape is uncommon and its effects are exaggerated. To test these claims, we explored two archival samples consisting of undergraduate women. Study 1, a 5-year chart review of university counseling center intake forms (n = 883), demonstrated that 30.2% of clients had experienced "sexual violence," "sexual contact without consent," or both. Study 2, a re-analysis of an emerging adulthood resilience survey dataset (n = 359), demonstrated that 20.6% of subjects had a history of sexual assault, and that those women reported lower life satisfaction and more severe psychological symptoms than those who did not. These findings are in line with previous literature debunking harmful rape myths that contribute to the perpetuation of rape culture. Our data help validate these rape notions as mythical; rape is indeed common and devastating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College and university counseling centers are facing increasing demand for services, increasing severity of psychopathology, and decreasing funding – thus college counseling is a strained system. Group psychotherapy is a flexible and impactful treatment format which addresses these challenges and suits the population well. We review literature on group counseling in higher education and present four studies examining its appropriateness. Study 1 is a mathematical proof showing group therapy is efficient. Studies 2 and 3 are archival survey data analyses of client feedback and student interest, showing group therapy is effective and enticing. Study 4 is an analysis of clinic staffing data showing group therapy is essential. Three recommendations are offered to counseling center staff and directors: design groups with a focus on ethics and appealing structure, promote groups both to prospective clients and within staff (i.e., "why not group?"), and apply affective process-dimension clinical skills in group delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this argumentative literature review, we advocate an existentially-informed clinical psychology. Many of today's challenging societal issues would benefit from the lens of existentialism, and our field has seen an emergence of interest lately in topics such as death anxiety as a transdiagnostic construct. We see this context as opportune for an existential-psychological confluence of ideas and praxes. We identify and review here four relevant ongoing streams of literature (core existentialism philosophy, existentially-oriented psychotherapy, death anxiety psychometrics, and terror management theory) and argue in favour of their increasingly intertwined integration with one another and with the broader field of clinical psychology. We propose methods for both academics and practitioners alike to more fully embrace an existentially-informed mindset, culminating in a set of ten recommendations for clinical psychology across applied clinical work, research/scholarship, and pedagogy/supervision. Examples include increased use of qualitative data via case study and mixed-method approaches in our science, enhanced incorporation of existential themes (including but not limited to death anxiety) into psychotherapy, and adoption of a student-focused freedom-enhancing existential mindset in teaching. Our field has made great strides in deepening the understanding of how life's ultimate concerns inform mental health and functioning in recent years, and we support an even more robust endorsement of existential frameworks in clinical psychology to continue such progress. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: Existentialism is a humanistic philosophy, emphasizing choice, responsibility, authenticity, and acceptance of limitations in life. Scholarship in psychotherapy, psychometrics, and other psychological topics benefits from influences of existential philosophy. Death anxiety is a transdiagnostic etiological variable and therapies involving existential themes are empirically supported. What this topic adds: (1) Existentialism has many clinically useful lessons to offer psychology, across its teaching, research, and psychotherapy. (2) Areas of clinical psychology involving death anxiety, mortality salience, meaning-making, and others should be better integrated. (3) We advocate the adoption of an existentially-informed clinical psychology and offer suggestions for moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College and university counseling centers are facing increasing demand for services, increasing severity of psychopathology, and decreasing funding – thus college counseling is a strained system. Group psychotherapy is a flexible and impactful treatment format which addresses these challenges and suits the population well. We review literature on group counseling in higher education and present four studies examining its appropriateness. Study 1 is a mathematical proof showing group therapy is efficient. Studies 2 and 3 are archival survey data analyses of client feedback and student interest, showing group therapy is effective and enticing. Study 4 is an analysis of clinic staffing data showing group therapy is essential. Three recommendations are offered to counseling center staff and directors: design groups with a focus on ethics and appealing structure, promote groups both to prospective clients and within staff (i.e., “why not group?”), and apply affective process-dimension clinical skills in group delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Suicide prevention campaigns commonly employ brief informational materials aimed at emerging adults. Are such programs helpful, and do design characteristics yield differences in user outcomes? Literature is reviewed from the interpersonal theory of suicide, escape theory, and terror management theory, to inform our experimental design. Method: Participants (n = 977 MTurk emerging adults) reported demographics and suicide histories and were randomized to one of nine experimental cells with varying video and journaling conditions to approximate suicide prevention materials. Participants were surveyed on perceptions of the materials' risk reduction effectiveness, indicated their suicidality risk factors (e.g., hopelessness, depressiveness, purposelessness, and non‐belongingness), and conducted an implicit association test of suicidality. Results: Suicide risk factors did not differ between experimental and control conditions, but certain conditions were rated as more effective (i.e., essay conditions prompting reflection, and the video condition featuring a personal/affective narrative). While there was no actual comparative reduction of risk, there was a perception that certain designs were more helpful. Conclusion: Real‐world suicide prevention campaigns often feel justified despite lacking impact. Effective suicide risk reduction requires greater time investment and deeper personal connection than brief campaigns can offer, as well as systemic changes from a public health policy perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terror management theory (TMT) places death anxiety in an explanatory role in cognition, affect, and behavior, spanning mental health to cultural trends. We aimed to connect TMT to trait death anxiety, and propose an additional component: life acknowledgement (life awareness, lived experience connection, liveliness engagement) which yields vitality salience when conscious. Participants (n = 156) were randomized to mortality, neutral, or vitality salience conditions, and completed assessments of self-esteem, generalized anxiety, and death anxiety (death and dying separately). Results indicated that death anxiety was independent of demographic factors; that death anxiety was correlated with generalized anxiety (r = . 18 and r = .32) and self-esteem (r = -.35 and r = -.38); and that salience groups did not differ on the outcome measures. We concluded that existential salience priming operates separately from trait self-report. Findings supported trends in current literature, and prompted further questions regarding TMT and vitality salience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief report assesses the validity of applying the adolescent-based developmental assets model to emerging adults. Developmental assets are specific constructs which predict future success, including positive individual characteristics and environmental resources. The researchers developed a self-report survey based on a subset of the assets and outcome behaviors most applicable to emerging adults. Correlational analyses revealed significant relationships of moderate strength between the perceived level of developmental assets and thriving behaviors (r = .40, p < .01), risky behaviors (r = -.36, p < .01), and academic success (r = .28, p < .01). Furthermore, a path analysis yielded significant coefficients wherein assets influenced thriving, risk, and collectively, academic success. Results suggest that file developmental assets framework applies to emerging adults and warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The psychometric structure of the Perfectionism Inventory was re-examined, and the relationships among perfectionism traits and broad personality traits were examined in a college sample (N =390). Results supported the psychometric structure reported by . Additionally, the Self-Evaluative Perfectionism component was moderately correlated with Neuroticism, and the Conscientious Perfectionism component was strongly correlated with Conscientiousness. However, the most accurate picture of perfectionism’s relationship with broad personality traits was found when examining the perfectionism subscales and personality facets. Findings suggest that the instrument’s composite score and component scores are not as meaningful as subscale scores. Implications for future iterations of the DSM and conceptualization of OCPD are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A self-report measure of service-mindedness was designed in order to fill in a gap in the literature and evaluate a potential link between spirituality and satisfaction with life. A sample of 133 undergraduate students at a Catholic university in the Mid-west completed the Service-Mindedness Scale (SMS), along with the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The sample consisted of 45 males (33.8%) and 88 females (66.2%), whose ages ranged from 18 to 24 (M = 19.03, SD = 1.24). Results indicated that the SMS has strong internal consistency as measured by Cronbach's Alpha (a = .934), and that service-mindedness acts as a significant mediator between spirituality and life satisfaction (R[sup 2] = .111). Implications involve increasing service-oriented motives in Jesuit education programs to further align with spiritual goals and increase student life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we draw on the theoretical and empirical literature to name what appear to be core dimensions of successful young adult development. We also describe some possible indicators and measures of those dimensions and sketch the kinds of developmental relationships and opportunities young people need in adolescence to effectively transition to a successful young adulthood, as well as the developmental relationships and opportunities young adults need for continued well-being. We name eight social, psychological, behavioral, educational, occupational, health, ethical, and civic dimensions of successful young adult development, and suggest that only a minority of adolescents are well-prepared to make a transition to successful young adulthood. The goal of the article is twofold: to contribute to the articulation of and consensus on the dimensions of successful young adult development, and to lay the groundwork for subsequent research to empirically validate both those core dimensions, as well as developmental indicators of progress toward attainment of these proposed dimensions of well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]