Competing selves: Negotiating the intersection of spiritual and sexual identities.

Psychotherapy has sometimes been seen as incongruent with religion and spirituality. This fact is even more pronounced when counseling lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients, who feel as if their sexual orientation places them at odds with religious doctrine that is experienced as antigay. Postmodern theory provides a context for understanding socially constructed identities that may be in conflict with one another and may also provide some insight into how therapists may approach religious issues with LGB clients. The current study uses a mixed method design to investigate the relation between religious and sexuality variables in a sample of 422 LGB respondents. Quantitative results indicated that conservative religious beliefs were related to higher levels of shame, guilt, and internalized homophobia. Qualitative results appeared to highlight eight themes, the more dominant of which indicated that issues around sexual orientation were the catalyst for questioning or changing religious affiliation or beliefs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affirming Faith Experiences and Psychological Health for Caucasian Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals.

Religious faith plays a central role in the lives of many people. Although studies and anecdotal literature have explored the conflict between sexual and religious identities, no research has investigated the role of faith group affirmation of a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) identity on the mental health of LGB members. This study compared 2 models of the relations between psychological health and current faith affirmation experiences, internalized homonegativity, and spirituality. Participants were 583 LGB individuals who identified themselves as currently affiliated with a faith group. Results indicated that the fully mediated model was a good fit and offered a more parsimonious explanation than the partially mediated model. Affirming faith experiences were related to psychological health through internalized homonegativity and spirituality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual victimization in the military: An unintended consequence of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell”?

The integration of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals into the U.S. military is a long-standing and politically and socially divisive issue. Exclusionary and pseudo-inclusionary policies that restrict openly LGB individuals from military service are also of long duration. Yet LGB servicemembers have continued to serve covertly in the military for many decades. Moreover, political issues and social conventions associated with “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” (DADT) have diverted focus from imperative research issues, such as LGB servicemembers and incidents of victimization in the military. Research is reviewed to evaluate such victimization, which is conceptualized as resulting from a convergence of sexual stigma, conservative gender role beliefs, and sexual prejudice. DADT, in combination with overarching difficulties intrinsic to sexual orientation research, serves to augment LGB victimization and reduce victim reports and help seeking. Consequently, there is a deficient evidence base for assisting LGB servicemembers and for advancing research, prevention efforts, and policy changes. Implications of repealing DADT are discussed, as are future directions for LGB military research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Christian Humanist Implicit Association Test: Validity and test?retest reliability.

The logical tension between humanistic views and traditional deity-centered religious beliefs represents an important psychological conflict for many traditionally religious individuals. Because this conflict can generate anxiety, many people may avoid it, and only encounter the issues unconsciously. We created a Christian Humanist Implicit Association Test to assess implicit evaluative responses to Humanist beliefs among Christian students. We administered the test to 233 students (96 men and 137 women) and also examined test–retest reliability on a subsample (n = 31). Validity of the test received support in correlations with established religious measures. Examples include the correlations with the Rejection of Christianity Scale (r = ?.31, p     

Parent, family, and child characteristics: Associations with mother- and father-reported emotion socialization practices.

The present research examined parental beliefs about children’s negative emotions, parent-reported marital conflict/ambivalence, and child negative emotionality and gender as predictors of mothers’ and fathers’ reported reactions to their kindergarten children’s negative emotions and self-expressiveness in the family (N = 55, two-parent families). Models predicting parents’ nonsupportive reactions and negative expressiveness were significant. For both mothers and fathers, more accepting beliefs about children’s negative emotions were associated with fewer nonsupportive reactions, and greater marital conflict/ambivalence was associated with more negative expressiveness. Furthermore, interactions between child negative emotionality and parental resources (e.g., marital conflict/ambivalence; accepting beliefs) emerged for fathers’ nonsupportive reactions and mothers’ negative expressiveness. In some instances, child gender acted as a moderator such that associations between parental beliefs about emotions and the emotion socialization outcomes emerged when child and parent gender were concordant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhibition conflict and alcohol expectancy as moderators of alcohol's relationship to condom use.

Inhibition conflict theory predicts that alcohol will decrease condom use only among individuals who are highly conflicted about using a condom, whereas expectancy theory predicts such an effect only among individuals who hold strong beliefs about alcohol's effects on sexual risk taking. In Study 1, the first of these two theories was tested using a newly developed measure of conflict. Data from 308 college students who reported on the first time they had sexual intercourse with their most recent partner (FMRP) supported the utility of this measure and showed that quantity of alcohol consumed was negatively associated with condom use only among high-conflict individuals. In Study 2, 17–25-year-old respondents reported on their first sexual intercourse, FMRP, and last intercourse (ns = 465, 1136, and 984, respectively). In a simultaneous test of both inhibition conflict theory and expectancy theory, amount of alcohol consumed was found to be negatively associated with condom use at first intercourse among individuals high in both conflict and expectancy, at FMRP among high-expectancy individuals, and at last intercourse among high-conflict individuals. These results lend partial support to both theories of alcohol's effects and suggest that an integration of these two perspectives will ultimately be required if researchers are to model adequately alcohol's effects on human social behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pulmonary function and respiratory symptoms of Portland cement workers in southern Taiwan

In Australia, planning to give birth at home was unusual in the middle to late 1980s, a choice made by only about 0.5 percent of women. This study investigated the personal beliefs and circumstances of 552 women who planned to give birth at home. Results showed that these women came from diverse backgrounds and beliefs, although in general they were of higher than average educational and occupational status, and less likely to hold Christian beliefs relative to the Australian community in general. Their lives and experiences reflected both unconventional and more traditional choices, and the view that women who give birth at home characteristically belong to the counterculture could not be justified. The findings of this study suggest that stereotypes of women who give birth at home do not apply to the circumstances of substantial numbers of women.     

Clinical Issues in Working With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients.

This article discusses some of the key clinical issues for therapists to consider when working with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. After a discussion of the biases that can influence psychotherapy, guidelines are given for conducting LGB-affirmative therapy that avoids these biases. Issues that therapists need to be familiar with in working with LGB clients include LGB identity development; couple relationships and parenting; LGB individuals as members of families; the unique stressors faced by individuals who are underrepresented in the LGB research literature (e.g., older LGB individuals, ethnic minorities, religious LGB individuals, bisexual individuals); and legal and workplace issues. An examination of the published literature is offered with particular emphasis given to the available empirical research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of religiously based discrimination among Christian students in secular and Christian university settings.

The authors utilized a modified version of Herek’s (1986, 1993) Sexual Orientation Survey to assess experiences of religiously based prejudice and discrimination reported by conservative Christian students at public (N = 96) and private religious (N = 96) university settings. Apart from hearing more prejudicial verbal comments, participants attending a secular university did not report experiencing higher levels of actual discrimination and prejudice than respondents attending a Christian university, with one exception: being discriminated against by university faculty. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were not related to perceptions of religiously based prejudice among participants. These findings neither support claims of widespread prejudice against conservative Christian students at secular universities nor permit the complete dismissal of such concerns, particularly among university faculty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development, Reliability, and Validity of the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale for Heterosexuals (LGB-KASH).

Four studies on the development and validation of the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale for Heterosexuals (LGB-KASH) were conducted. Exploratory factor analysis of an initial item pool yielded 5 factors assessing internalized affirmativeness, civil rights attitudes, knowledge, religious conflict, and hate--indicating that heterosexual knowledge and attitudes regarding LGB individuals could be conceptualized as multidimensional and wide-ranging. The stability of the multidimensional factor structure of the LGB-KASH was evaluated by confirmatory factor analysis. Test-retest stability, internal consistency, and validity coefficients supported the use and continued development of the new instrument. Significant differences were found between heterosexual and LGB individuals on all 5 factors, especially internalized affirmativeness, knowledge, and religious conflict. Implications for theory and research on heterosexual knowledge and attitudes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Was it a phase? Young women's relinquishment of lesbian/bisexual identities over a 5-year period.

There have been many anecdotal accounts of individuals who self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual only to relinquish these identities later. The current study examines this phenomenon among a sample of young nonheterosexual women who underwent 3 interviews over a 5-year period. Over a quarter of the women relinquished their lesbian/bisexual identities during this period: half reclaimed heterosexual identities and half gave up all identity labels. These women did not differ from those who maintained lesbian/bisexual identities regarding the age at which they underwent sexual identity milestones, the factors that precipitated their sexual questioning, or their recollection of childhood "indicators" same-sex sexuality. Women who relinquished their identities for heterosexual identities had small ratios of same-sex to other-sex attractions across the 5-year assessment period, but their attractions did not significantly change. Only 1 woman described her previous same-sex identification as a phase; the rest emphasized changes in how they interpreted or acted on their attractions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral agency and the sexual transmission of HIV.

Sexual transmission of HIV occurs because an infected person has unprotected sex with a previously uninfected person. The majority of HIV infections are transmitted by individuals who are unaware of their infection, and most persons who are diagnosed with HIV significantly reduce or eliminate risk behaviors once they learn they have HIV. However, a minority of known-infected individuals engage in transmission risk behavior, sometimes without disclosure to their partners. Such behavior may involve a breakdown or temporary suspension of moral mechanisms, such as personal responsibility beliefs and anticipatory self-evaluative reactions to one’s behavior. The present article reviews the literature on sexual transmission risk behavior within A. Bandura’s (1999) theoretical framework of moral agency. The article first reviews evidence for the operation of moral agency in transmission risk behavior and HIV status disclosure. Next, suggestive evidence is presented for the operation of mechanisms of moral disengagement described by Bandura. Finally, the article reviews a small number of interventions that have been shown to be effective in reducing transmission risk behavior, through the lens of moral agency, and make recommendations for future intervention research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Listening to military members returning from Iraq and/or Afghanistan: A phenomenological investigation.

Some practicing psychologists are seeing an increasing number of returned military members. The primary objective of this research was to describe and understand the experiences of American military members who had been stationed in Iraq and/or Afghanistan since the conflict began in 2003. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with 10 male military members ranging from 23 to 56 years old, who had returned from Iraq and/or Afghanistan sometime during the last 6 years. An overall thematic structure containing a ground and three figural themes, supported by participant quotations, was developed to represent the military members’ experiences. The ground was the military member’s job. The three figural themes that emerged were being there, awareness of others, and a different world. Several subthemes also emerged, including for or against being there, day-to-day basis, and dangerous within the figural theme of being there, and family, Iraqi/Afghani people, bad guys, and misconceptions of the public within the figural theme awareness of others. These findings have implications that may facilitate psychologists’ work with military member clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing multiple-minority identities: African American men who have sex with men at predominately white universities.

This study examined how African American men who have sex with men (AAMSM) manage their multiple-minority identities, including being both racial and sexual minorities at predominately White educational institutions (PWI). Using a phenomenological paradigm, AAMSM college students participated in semistructured interviews. Results suggest that AAMSM at PWIs view race, gender, and religious beliefs as of primary importance, and sexual orientation and social class as less salient aspects of their identities. Further, AAMSM attending PWIs reported experiencing both discrimination and stereotyping based on their race and sexual orientation, and their appraised risk of rejection and acceptance influenced their perception of identity options. AAMSM’s construction of their identity influenced their interpersonal associations with the African American, gay, African American and gay, and campus communities at large. Implications for future research and higher education administrators and mental health professionals are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trajectories and determinants of alcohol use among LGB young adults and their heterosexual peers: Results from a prospective study.

Lesbians, gays, and bisexuals (LGBs) are at increased risk for alcohol use during young adulthood, but the mechanisms remain inadequately understood. The aim of the present study was to examine the trajectories and determinants of alcohol use among LGB young adults who were sampled prospectively. The sample included 111 LGB individuals (47 women and 64 men) and 2,109 heterosexuals (1,279 women and 830 men), who were assessed at three time points: during the summer after their senior year of high school and during the fall and spring of their freshman year of college. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses indicated that lesbians consumed more alcohol than their heterosexual peers during high school, whereas gay men increased their alcohol use at greater rates than heterosexual men during the initial transition to college. Positive alcohol expectancies and social norms mediated this relation for both men and women. The results extend the generalizability of these processes and highlight the importance of considering normative social-cognitive influences in the development of alcohol use among LGB young adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists' competence to treat lesbian, gay and bisexual clients: State of the field and strategies for improvement.

Recognizing research which suggests that many practicing psychologists enter the field without training or with inadequate training in the knowledge, skills, and awareness needed to treat lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients, the authors in this Focus on Ethics provide suggestions for psychologists seeking competence with this population. In the lead article, Lyons fleshes out the contours of competent practice, presents the current state of psychologist competence, and calls for greater levels of competence. Next, Bieschke and Dendy respond by applying the Ethical Acculturation Model to describe the question of competence for those who may come from cultures not condoning of an LGB affirmative stance. Worthington provides hypotheses for the current rates of competence in the field and encourages the use of evidenced-based training and practice to increase competence. Finally, Georgemiller confirms the role of practicing psychologists who are heterosexual allies and identifies resources for gaining competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Out on campus: sexual orientation and academic climate in a university context

Although lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students often "come out" in university settings, empirical studies have demonstrated that these environments are often hostile toward them. The current paper posits that such hostile contexts adversely affect their educational experiences. Results from a survey of a stratified random sample of 1,927 undergraduate and graduate students on a scale measuring perceptions of academic climate (General Campus Climate) supported this claim: LGB students had more negative perceptions of a variety of campus factors. In addition, a scale measuring perceptions of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Campus Climate found that LGB students were more likely than heterosexuals to perceive the campus as inhospitable to LGB people. Women and racial and ethnic minorities were also more likely to rate the LGB climate as hostile. Finally, data from two scales measuring attitudes believed to influence these perceptions yielded gender, racial/ethnic, religious, and sexual orientation differences in theoretically meaningful directions. Results indicate that LGB students often experience the university in more negative ways than heterosexual students, and that certain campus communities--particularly women and racial/ethnic minorities--are more aware of this negativity and contribute to it less because of their relatively more progay attitudes. Implications for how to improve LGB students' experiences are discussed.     

Information-seeking and maternal self-definition during the transition to motherhood.

The self-definitional processes accompanying the transition to motherhood were examined in this study. A cross-sectional sample of more than 600 women who were planning to get pregnant within 2 years, pregnant, or in the postpartum stage completed extensive questionnaires pertaining to their experiences of pregnancy and motherhood. On the basis of the assumption of the "self-socialization" perspective that individuals actively construct their identities in response to life transitions, our analyses focused on the role of information-seeking in the developing self-definitions of women becoming mothers. As predicted, (a) women actively sought information in anticipation of a first birth, (b) they used this information to construct identities incorporating motherhood, and (c) after the birth the determinants of their self-definitions shifted from indirect sources of information to direct experiences with child care. Hence, consistent with the self-socialization perspective, information-seeking did play an important role in the women's developing self-conceptions during this life transition. Mechanisms by which information gathered may alter self-conception are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Microaggressions by supervisors of color.

Supervisors of color are not only targets of discrimination but also perpretators. The denial of supervisees’ identities reveals a lack of respect and empathy, creating significant barriers to a good supervisory relationship. An area of professional development for supervisors of color is understanding the diverse identities of our supervisees, who are increasingly multiethnic and transnational. Supervisors of color also need the opportunity to examine their experiences of microaggressions both as sender and receiver and reflect on their own identities and how they impede or enhance the quality of supervision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)