Objective: As cognitive dissonance is theorized to contribute to the effects of dissonance-based eating disorder prevention programs, we evaluated a high-dissonance version of this program against a low-dissonance version and a wait-list control condition to provide an experimental test of the mechanism of intervention effects. Method: Female…

This article describes the development and initial validation of a new instrument to measure academic stress--the Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents (ESSA). A series of cross-sectional questionnaire surveys were conducted with more than 2,000 Chinese adolescents to examine the psychometric properties. The final 16-item ESSA contains five…

The current investigation was designed to identify emotion states students experience during mathematics activities, and in particular to distinguish emotions contingent on experiences of success and experiences of failure. Students' task-related emotional responses were recorded following experiences of success and failure while working with an…

To date, there have been few studies of mothers' and fathers' roles in caring for their adult children with intellectual disabilities. The present study investigated the care-giving roles of mother and father couples caring for their adult offspring with an intellectual disability, their psychological health, and the demands and satisfaction of…

Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is a form of behavior therapy that focuses on evoking desired behavior rather than on the existing problem behavior. To illustrate the use of this form of therapy, the authors undertook a study of 10 case studies of applications of SFBT with people with a mild intellectual disability (MID). For all 10 cases,…

It is well-known that patients having sustained frontal-lobe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are severely impaired on tests of emotion recognition. Indeed, these patients have significant difficulty recognizing facial expressions of emotion, and such deficits are often associated with decreased social functioning and poor quality of life. As of yet,…

This study examined shifts in adolescents' attachment relationships with parents and peers during a 7-week wilderness therapy program. Ninety-six adolescents, aged 14-17, completed three quantitative measurements evaluating attachment relationships with mother, father and peers pre and post treatment. Adolescents reported improved attachment…

This article aims to increase our understanding of how amateur musicians become teachers as a change of career, how they use their musical and life skills in their teaching, and how their teaching impacts on their musical identity. The questionnaire responses of 67 career-change instrumental and vocal teachers showed evidence of their strong…

As more young people are identified with autism spectrum diagnoses without co-occurring intellectual disability (i.e. high-functioning autism spectrum disorder; HFASD), it is imperative that we begin to study the needs of this population. We sought to gain a preliminary estimate of the scope of the problem and to examine psychiatric risks…

Fifty-five transgender youth described their gender development and some of the stressful life experiences related to their gender identity and gender expression. More than two-thirds of youth reported past verbal abuse by their parents or peers related to their gender identity and nonconformity, and approximately one-fifth to one-third reported…

Objective: Clinical scientists, policymakers, and individuals must make decisions concerning effective interventions that address health-related issues. We use longitudinal data on loneliness and depressive symptoms and a new class of causal models to illustrate how empirical evidence can be used to inform intervention trial design and clinical…

There are substantial differences in happiness in nations. Average happiness on scale 0-10 ranges in 2006 from 3.24 in Togo to 8.00 in Denmark and the inequality of happiness, as measured by the standard deviation, ranges from 0.85 in Laos to 3.02 in the Dominican Republic. Much of these differences are due to quality of governance and in…

Problem behavior theory posits that tolerance of deviance is an antecedent to antisocial behavior and substance use. In contrast, cognitive dissonance theory implies that acceptability of a behavior may increase after experiencing the behavior. Using structural equation modeling, this investigation tested whether changes in tolerance of deviance…

This study examined the impact of breathing awareness meditation (BAM), life skills (LS) training, and health education (HE) interventions on self-reported hostility and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in 121 African American (AA) ninth graders at increased risk for development of essential hypertension. They were randomly assigned to BAM,…

In addition to the triad of impairments experienced by children and adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), they often present with symptoms of psychiatric disorders. To date, very few studies have examined gender differences in regards to psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents diagnosed with an ASD. Thus, the current…