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This study compared the differences between students entering university directly from high school vs. those transferring from other higher education institutions for the variables of the academic self-control model (general resourcefulness, academic resourcefulness, academic self-efficacy, preparedness, failure attributions, and university adaptation). The goals of the research were to test the following: (1) the full academic self-control model using a large sample of undergraduate students to predict university adaptation and final grades; (2) if the pathways of association implied by the model are equally predictive regardless of whether students are direct entry, university transfer, or college transfer; and (3) if the means of the variables differed among these three groups. Results replicated previous studies showing that, for the entire sample, general resourcefulness, preparedness, explanatory style for failure, and academic self-efficacy were strongly predictive of academic resourcefulness, which, in turn, was strongly associated with university adaptation and grade. Moreover, the indirect and direct pathways of the model were found to be equivalent for the three student groups. Comparisons of the groups' means for the psychological variables revealed the university transfer group to have the most favourable scores followed by the college transfer group. The findings suggest that both college and university transfer students bring valuable skills to undergraduate programs and the keys to their university adaptation and academic achievement are the same as for direct entry students.

This study examined the mechanisms of resourcefulness and perceived control of stress in the relationships between academic stress and students' resilience, university adaptation, and physical health, respectively. A sample of 586 undergraduate students completed questionnaires assessing the aforementioned variables. Analyses involved serial and parallel indirect effect models which demonstrated that individuals higher in academic stress were more likely to be less resilient if they were less resourceful and had lower perceived control of stress. Similar indirect effects were observed for the relationships between academic stress and the outcome variables university adaptation and physical health. Guided by existing theory, further serial indirect effects testing suggested that resourcefulness and perceived control of stress were best conceptualized as correlated processes. The importance and utility of teaching resourcefulness skills to students is discussed.

Recent research has supported the positive effects of self-compassion for couples’ relationships; however, these efforts have only recently been applied to couples’ sexuality. Although there is some evidence supporting the associations between self-compassion and sexual satisfaction when satisfaction is conceptualized unidimensionally, it is unclear if and to what degree those associations are different for satisfaction and dissatisfaction when these constructs are assessed separately. The aim of this study was to understand the associations between self-compassion separately for sexual satisfaction and sexual dissatisfaction for romantic partner dyads. A sample of 230 married midlife Canadian couples participated in an online survey. Findings from distinguishable Actor Partner Interdependence Models indicated that women and men with higher levels of self-compassion reported more sexual satisfaction and less sexual dissatisfaction but the effects were stronger for satisfaction than dissatisfaction. Only men’s self-compassion affected women’s sexual dissatisfaction, but not vice versa. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to societal attitudes and application to sex and couples therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested the factor structure of the explanatory style for failure (ESF) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), tested measurement invariant across direct entry and transfer students, tested latent mean differences between these groups on the ESF factors, and tested a theoretical path model, whereby ESF explains variance in grades indirectly through one's academic resourcefulness. A sample of 743 direct entry and 371 transfer students, with an overall mean age of 21.85 years, completed the ESF and a scale assessing academic resourcefulness, and year-end grades were attained. There was mixed support for the ESF 4-factor structure, though it was invariant across groups. Latent mean analysis showed that transfer students were less likely to attribute academic disappointments to lack of effort, bad luck, and lack of personal ability than direct entry students. Analysis of indirect effects showed that ESF indirectly predicted grades through academic resourcefulness.

The Concerns of Grieving Caregivers Scale (COGCS) is the first of its kind to explore caregivers' concerns about their own parenting, as well as their relationships with, and specific behaviours of their bereaved child(ren). Using exploratory factor analysis, we evaluate grieving parents' and caregivers' concerns using data collected across clinical populations from two community organizations supporting grieving families (i.e., a children's grief centre and a community hospice). Two identified factors were established: Concerns about Caregiving and Concerns about the Child. The COGCS demonstrates good internal consistency and criterion validity in its application with two distinct clinical samples. The use of this scale could be of value to clinicians supporting bereaved caregivers and their families as they can integrate concern-specific resources into their practice to better support their clients' presenting concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed a newly developed Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy Scale designed to measure the sexual communication self-efficacy of adolescent men and women. Three-hundred and seventy-four U.K. adolescents completed this new scale, along with several other validity measures. Factor analysis revealed that the Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy Scale consisted of five underlying factors: contraception communication, positive sexual messages, negative sexual messages, sexual history, and condom negotiation. These factors demonstrated high internal consistency and presents evidence to support construct validity. This scale may have utility in assessing the effectiveness of interventions designed to enhance sexual communication and sexual health behaviors among young people.

Relationship and sexual satisfaction are two central outcomes in the study of relationships and are commonly used in both academia and applied practice. However, relationship and sexual satisfaction measures infrequently undergo specific psychometric investigation. Ensuring that measures display strong psychometric performance is an important but under-tested element of replication that has come under more scrutiny lately, and adequate measurement of constructs is an important auxiliary assumption underpinning theory-testing empirical work. A measurement check-up was conducted, including Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to test factorial validity, measurement invariance to test for group comparability, and Item Response Theory (IRT) to assess the relationship between latent traits and their items/indicators. This format was used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Couple's Satisfaction Index (CSI) and the Global Measure of Sexual Satisfaction (GMSEX), two commonly used scales of relationship and sexual satisfaction with a sample of 640 midlife (40–59 years old) married Canadians who were recruited by Qualtrics Panels. Results of CFA suggested that both models were satisfactory. Invariance testing provided robust support for intercept invariance across all the groupings tested. IRT analysis supported the CSI and GMSEX, however, there was evidence that the GMSEX provided somewhat less information for those high on sexual satisfaction. This measurement check-up found that the CSI and GMSEX were reasonably healthy with some caveats. Implications are discussed in terms of replicability and meaning for scholars and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A paradigmatic shift toward postmodern, collaborative practice in family therapy raises questions about how therapists can use professional authority to facilitate change and how clients can assert their knowledge and agency. We used conversation analysis to investigate how the authority to know and to determine here-and-now action (i.e., who does what, and how, in therapy) was negotiated and accomplished in 10 sessions of emotion-focused therapy involving chair work. Therapists were observed to rely on a particular interactional sequence structure: stepwise entry into a directive, in which directives were preceded by a question-answer sequence. We show how instances where clients' views were elicited prior to the delivery of a directive resulted in different interactional consequences from instances where therapists straightforwardly directed clients to perform some action. The study offers evidence concerning how therapists can facilitate chair work collaboratively and responsively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reasons for sex are associated with sexual and relational outcomes. This study investigated reasons for sex at last sex, with a focus on obligation (an avoidance motivation) and doing something nice for a partner (an approach motivation), and their associations with sexual and relationship satisfaction, while controlling for marital duration, age, and sexual desire. We investigated these reasons among married, midlife Canadian women (n = 324), men (n = 275), and 25 non-binary/gender queer participants 40 to 59 years of age. Participants were recruited from a Qualtrics analytics panel and completed an online questionnaire. Obligation was reported as a reason for having sex by 12.4% of women and 1.8% of men; "doing something nice" was reported by 10.2% of women and 9.5% of men. In regression analyses, women who reported having sex for obligation had significantly lower relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction than women who did not report this reason. In contrast, having sex to do something nice for one's partner was associated with higher sexual satisfaction among women. Findings indicate that having sex when feeling obligated may be associated with negative sexual and relational outcomes among midlife women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to determine whether the variables of the Sexual Self-control Model that predict sexual resourcefulness and consenting to unwanted sexual advances in undergraduate women also apply to undergraduate [...]

This study examined the mechanisms of resourcefulness and perceived control of stress in the relationships between academic stress and students' resilience, university adaptation, and physical health, respectively. A sample of 586 undergraduate students completed questionnaires assessing the aforementioned variables. Analyses involved serial and parallel indirect effect models which demonstrated that individuals higher in academic stress were more likely to be less resilient if they were less resourceful and had lower perceived control of stress. Similar indirect effects were observed for the relationships between academic stress and the outcome variables university adaptation and physical health. Guided by existing theory, further serial indirect effects testing suggested that resourcefulness and perceived control of stress were best conceptualized as correlated processes. The importance and utility of teaching resourcefulness skills to students is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have investigated the directionality between relationship and sexual satisfaction; however, there remains no definitive conclusion. Previous longitudinal studies have not conceptualized relationship and sexual satisfaction as systematic developmental processes and have focused on predicting scores at later time points. Instead, researchers should be concerned with understanding how relationship and sexual satisfaction change together over time. The objective of this study was to use longitudinal data from midlife American marriages to test the directionality of the association between relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction. Multivariate latent growth curve modeling of 1,456 midlife Americans married for 20 years from the Midlife in the United States study was used to compare directionality models. Findings support that long-term, stable marriages of midlife Americans at the sample level were characterized by a linear increase in relationship satisfaction over 20 years and a linear decline in sexual satisfaction during the same time frame. A co-change model, wherein relationship and sexual satisfaction changed together over time, fit the data best. Trajectory correlations showed that changes in relationship and sexual satisfaction were strongly interconnected. High initial levels of sexual satisfaction protected against declines in relationship satisfaction over 20 years. Results support that relationship and sexual satisfaction change together over time and highlight that the longitudinal association between these outcomes is dynamic rather than static. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tom Andersen is considered one of the key contributors to the development of postmodern practice. Little is known, however, about the ways in which his ideas and practices are routinely carried out in situ. We used Conversation Analysis (CA) to investigate a session of couple therapy facilitated by Andersen. We show how Andersen and client participants oriented to and addressed problems of understanding that occurred between them. The source of this trouble was Andersen's use of unusual question formulations. We offer preliminary evidence that such unusual formulations served particular interactional and institutional (i.e., therapeutic) functions in their local contexts of use. We conclude by considering some implications of this analysis-and of conversation analytic inquiry more generally-for the practice of family therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]