"Family dysfunction, parental attachment, and career search self-efficacy among community college students": Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by N. E. Ryan et al (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1996, Vol 43[1], 84–89). In Table 2 on page 87, the scale labels for the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment Father subscale and the Family Structure Survey were inadvertently reversed in the 2nd and 3rd sections of the table. A corrected version of the table is provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1996-00407-009.) The relationship between family dysfunction, parental attachment, and career search self-efficacy was examined using a sample of 220 community college students. For the total sample, attachment to mother and father, and career search self-efficacy. Data were analyzed separately for men and women, which yielded results consistent with the literature. For women, attachment to mother and degree of family dysfunction combined to account for 17% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. For men, attachment to mother was the only significant predictor and accounted for 9% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. Implications for research and practice are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career self-efficacy expectations and perceived range of career options in community college students.

The first purpose of the present study was to explore the relation of socioeconomic status (SES), race, gender, career self-efficacy, career interests, and sex role orientation to career-choice range in female–male, and non-gender-dominated careers. The second purpose was to determine the relation of SES, race, sex role orientation, gender, and career interests to career self-efficacy. Results indicated that career interest and career self-efficacy expectations significantly predicted range of perceived career options above and beyond the contributions of the other dependent variables. Similarly, career interest and sex role orientation predicted self-efficacy expectations. Recommendations for future investigations of the career self-efficacy model of occupational choice as well as some possible applications of the findings to career counseling are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocational interests and career indecision among psychosis-prone college students

This study investigated the relationship between scores on scales that purport to measure psychosis-proneness and scores on vocational interests, identity, and differentiation scales in a sample of 233 college students who completed the Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation scales, the Strong Campbell Interest Inventory, and the Career Decision Scale. The present findings are consistent with prior work indicating a sex-related association of scores on measures of psychosis-proneness and vocational interests. A positive correlation between scores on vocational indecision and measures of psychosis-proneness was also found, suggesting that both men and women who score high on psychosis-proneness find it difficult to formulate long-term career goals. Finally, there was no significant correlation between scores on measures of psychosis-proneness and Holland's Vocational Differentiation Index. Present results are discussed in light of previously reported sex differences among psychosis-prone adults and diagnosed schizophrenics. The implications of the findings for vocational counselors are also addressed.     

Effects of self-efficacy-enhancing interventions on the math/science self-efficacy and career interests, goals, and actions of career undecided college students.

This investigation evaluated the effects of both performance accomplishment and vicarious learning experiences on the math/science self-efficacy and career interests, goals (i.e., aspirations), and actions (i.e., choice of major and enrollment in courses) of career undecided college students. Undergraduates who possessed at least a moderate level of math ability and who self-reported at least a moderate level of career undecidedness were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: performance accomplishment only, vicarious learning only, combined treatment (performance accomplishment and vicarious learning), or the control group. Pre- and posttreatment assessments of participants' math/science self-efficacy, vocational interests, career aspirations, and career choice actions (i.e., choice of major and courses) revealed significant effects of the performance accomplishment and combined treatments on several of the dependent variables. Theoretical and counseling implications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career decision-making and career search activities: Relative effects of career search self-efficacy and human agency.

The nature of the relationship between 3 human agency indices (assertiveness, instrumentality, and interpersonal facility), career search self-efficacy, and 3 career indices (vocational identity, career decision needs, and career activities performed) is examined. Data from 426 college men and women were analyzed using hierarchical regression to assess whether career search self-efficacy was able to mediate the relationship between human agency and each career index. For all 3 career indices, the mediator hypothesis was supported. No support was found for human agency mediating the relationship between career search self-efficacy and the career indices, nor for human agency moderating the relationship between career search self-efficacy and career indices. Implications for conducting counseling intervention programs focusing on development of career search self-efficacy expectations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective dimensions of attachment styles: Exploring self-reported attachment style, gender, and emotional experience among college students.

This study explored the relationships among self-reported attachment styles, gender, and several aspects of subjective emotional experience pertinent to the counseling situation: (a) attention to emotion, (b) intensity of emotion, and (c) emotional expressivity. Four self-report measures, including an adult attachment style questionnaire and 3 measures of emotion, were given to 140 undergraduates. Results show that attachment groups could be distinguished on the basis of their emotional experience along 2 dimensions: (a) expressivity and (b) "intentness," a combination of attention and intensity. Men and women could be distinguished on a combination of all 3 dependent measures. Gender differences were less prominent, however, when men and women within the same attachment style were compared. Implications for counseling are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family dysfunction, alexithymia, and client attachment to therapist.

Alexithymia involves problems differentiating affective states such as fear, sadness, or anger; difficulty expressing feelings; and a tendency to rely on external cues rather than internal experience for making decisions. This study examined alexithymia as a possible mediator by which dysfunctional family environment in childhood affects adult clients' attachment relationship to their therapist. Clients (N?=?61) completed measures of dysfunctional family structure (Family Structure Survey), alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale), and their counseling relationship (Client Attachment to Therapist Scale). Findings suggest that fear of separation was associated with both alexithymia and poor client attachment to therapist. Parent–child role reversal was associated with problems in identifying feelings. Role reversal and marital conflict were both associated with problems in client attachment to therapist. Results suggest that alexithymia may be a significant mediator of the relationship between family dysfunction and client attachment to therapist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bicultural self-efficacy among college students: Initial scale development and mental health correlates.

Theory and empirical research suggest that perceived self-efficacy, or one's perceived ability to perform personally significant tasks, is related to individuals' psychological well-being and mental health. Thus, the authors hypothesized that bicultural individuals' perceived ability to function competently in 2 cultures, or perceived bicultural self-efficacy, would be related positively to their psychological well-being and mental health. Three studies were conducted to develop and validate a measure of perceived bicultural self-efficacy and to explore its relationships with indices of psychological well-being and mental health. Exploratory (n = 268) and confirmatory (n = 164) factor analyses on the theoretically derived Bicultural Self-Efficacy Scale (BSES) items support a measurement model that taps into the 6 dimensions of bicultural competence proposed by T. LaFromboise, H. L. K. Coleman, and J. Gerton (1993). Furthermore, initial evidence for internal consistency (Studies 1, 2, and 3) and test–retest reliability (n = 51 Asian Americans) for each of the 6 subscales were found. Finally, perceived bicultural self-efficacy was found to be related to bicultural college students' psychological well-being and mental health. Research implications of the perceived bicultural self-efficacy construct and the potential utility of the BSES as a multidimensional measure of the construct are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and academic success among ethnically diverse first-generation community college students.

A longitudinal analysis of self-efficacy for education and sociodemographic characteristics was conducted among an ethnically diverse sample of first-generation college students (FGS) attending an urban community college. Baseline rates of self-efficacy for education and first-generation immigrant status significantly predicted increased cumulative grade point average at 1-year follow-up. These findings suggest that self-efficacy for education is an important cognitive resource among ethnically diverse FGS attending community colleges, whose immigrant generation status might have an impact on their educational success. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Love-styles among Latino community college students in Los Angeles

145 Latino community college students enrolled in Chicano Studies classes in Los Angeles, California were administered a love-attitudes scale. Analysis showed that the mean scores and endorsement patterns were similar to those in earlier research on white-Latino and white-non-Latino students in the United States. Significant gender differences were found. Latino men scored more Ludic and Agapic than women. Researchers might examine the love-styles and ethnic identity in and out of marriage among Latinos, whites, and Asians in southern California.     

Family structure and depression in female college students: Effects of parental conflict, decision-making power, and inconsistency of love.

Based on earlier findings that maladjusted Ss come from families with high interparental conflict and dominance by the parent opposite in sex to the S's, a model was developed that predicted depression in female college students. Depression was predicted to depend on parental conflict, inconsistent love from the father, and the Conflict?×?Dominance?×?Father's Inconsistency interaction. Questionnaire measures of father's and mother's inconsistency, parental conflict, and relative decision-making power (dominance) were completed by 98 college women. Averages of scores on the Beck Depression Inventory and a reworded form measuring worst past depression were entered into a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Significant relations were found between average depression and (a) parental conflict, (b) father's inconsistency, and (c) mother's inconsistency. Father's inconsistency accounted for twice as much independent variance as mother's inconsistency. The predicted triple interaction approached significance (p?=?0.06), with inconsistent love from the father in high-conflict, paternally dominated families associated with the greatest vulnerability to depression. Consistent paternal love, low conflict, and paternal dominance were associated with the least vulnerability to depression. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of family structure and conflict to levels of intimacy and parental attachment in college students

Randomly selected college juniors and seniors completed questionnaires concerning marital conflict, parental attachment, and attitudes about love and sex. Results indicated that intimacy was negatively correlated with parental conflict and divorce. Divorce and higher levels of conflict were associated with lower levels of intimacy in students' romantic relationships.     

Suicide and depression among college students.

We surveyed 962 college students from three institutions in regard to their experiences with depression and suicide. Results indicate that incidents of depression and suicide are prevalent on college campuses and that there are a number of specific causes of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior. Suicide attempters are compared with nonattempters, institutions are compared, and institutional implications for colleges and universities are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family dynamics and presenting problems in college students.

Psychological separation from parents, parental conflict and dominance, and parental symptoms were examined in relation to the common presenting problems of college students. In a random sample of 83 male and 107 female college students from intact families, a direct relation was found between degree of interpersonal conflict in the family and intrapersonal distress among family members as reported by the student. We found that the greater the degree of the conflictual dependence of the student on either or both parents, the more symptoms the student reported, both for him- or herself and for the parents. Conflict between the parents was also related to student and parental symptoms. The effect of parental conflict did not, however, vary as a function of which parent was dominant in the marital relationship. Finally, parental symptoms were found to be related to students' presenting problems, with emotional dependence serving as an important mediating variable. Implications for future research and for counseling college students are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of anxious affect on drinking self-efficacy in college students.

This study examined the role of anxious affect on drinking self-efficacy in undergraduates. Participants (N?=?73) were blocked on dispositional levels of social anxiety and randomly assigned to a social-anxiety-inducing or control condition in a 2?*?2 design. Results did not show the hypothesized interaction effect between dispositional social anxiety and the anxiety manipulation on self-efficacy for avoiding heavy drinking but did demonstrate a main effect of dispositional social anxiety on self-efficacy in situations characterized by negative affect. Significant correlations were found between alcohol expectancies of social facilitation, social anxiety, and self-efficacy for avoiding heavy drinking. Theoretical implications regarding sources of efficacy and the development of interventions for high-risk drinkers are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acculturation, enculturation, parental adherence to Asian cultural values, parenting styles, and family conflict among Asian American college students.

The present study examined the relations between perceived parenting styles and family conflict with data from 149 Asian American college students. Ratings of parenting styles were highest for authoritarian style, followed by authoritative and permissive styles. Tests of mediation revealed that authoritarian parenting significantly explained why parents’ adherence to Asian cultural values was associated with increased family conflict. Tests of moderation showed that as permissive parenting increased, more acculturated participants reported lower family conflict, although the reverse was true for their less acculturated counterparts. When authoritarian parenting increased, integrated, separated, and assimilated participants reported increased family conflict, whereas the marginalized group reported lower family conflict. Finally, assimilated participants reported less family conflicts at higher levels of authoritative parenting in comparison to the integrated, separated, and marginalized groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attributional retraining on the career beliefs and career exploration behavior of college students.

Two studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of attributional retraining as a career counseling technique for college students. Participants who received the attributional retraining treatment viewed an 8-min videotape designed to foster internal, controllable, and unstable attributions for career decision making. Participants in the control groups viewed a similar videotape that lacked any reference to career-related attributions. Results revealed that participants who received attributional retraining exhibited significant changes in career beliefs and attributional style and engaged in significantly more career exploration behavior than the participants in the control groups. An evaluation of attributional retraining as a career-counseling technique for college students is provided, and ideas for further research are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trust and self-disclosure among black college students.

Investigated 2 models of counseling to determine which best facilitated self-disclosure and trust in 18 black undergraduates. One model involved professional counselors; the other consisted of minimally trained peer counselors. Ss were systematically assigned to 1 of the 2 models and exposed to 5 60-min counseling sessions with either a professional or a peer counselor. It was hypothesized that persons participating in a peer counseling experience will trust and self-disclose at a higher level than persons participating in a professional counseling experience. Data from the Self-Disclosure Questionnaire and J. B. Rotter's 1967 Interpersonal Trust Scale did not support the hypothesis. Both groups disclosed and trusted at a significantly higher level after treatment. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive information processing among nonclinic, nonreferred college students.

A. T. Beck's (1972, 1974) cognitive theory of depression provided the conceptual framework for examining the depressive information processing of nonclinic, nonreferred college students. Specifically, the students' processing of personal information, as assessed by both the self-referent incidental recall and the personal hypothesis testing tasks, was examined as a function of their current states of depressive symptomatology, as well as cognitive vulnerability to depression. The results of canonical correlation analyses revealed that the students' experience of greater levels of depressive symptomatology was significantly related to their negative processing of personal information, in support of Beck's theory. The students' cognitive vulnerability status was found to have less of an effect on their personal information processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of career-related self-efficacy expectations to perceived career options in college women and men.

134 female and 101 male undergraduates were asked to indicate their perceptions of their capabilities to successfully complete the educational requirements and job duties of each of 10 traditionally female and 10 traditionally male occupations. Ss also indicated their degree of interest in and extent of consideration of each occupation. Finally, American College Test Math and English subtest scores were obtained. Results indicate significant and consistent sex differences in self-efficacy with regard to traditional vs nontraditional (for females) occupations: males reported equivalent self-efficacy with regard to the 2 classes of occupations; females reported significantly higher levels of self-efficacy with regard to traditional occupations and significantly lower levels of self-efficacy with regard to nontraditional occupations. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)