The influence of confidentiality conditions on self-disclosure of early adolescents.

A self-disclosure questionnaire was administered to 45 male and 45 female 7th–8th graders under 1 of 3 conditions: confidentiality explicitly assured, no instructions regarding confidentiality, and confidentiality explicitly not assured. A self-disclosure score was derived by summing the number of "true" responses to a 74-item questionnaire. Results do not support the hypothesis that Ss would more frequently disclose personal and possibly stigmatizing information when confidentiality was assured. Across conditions, males disclosed significantly more frequently than females, suggesting that females were more cautious and had a higher level of self-protective needs. Responses to a posttest questionnaire revealed significant overreporting of confidentiality instructions among males and females. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social perspective-taking skills in maltreated children and adolescents.

The primary goal of this study was to assess the ability of maltreated school-age children and adolescents to understand the thoughts, feelings, and points of view of others. Level of egocentrism and social perspective-taking coordination were assessed in a group of 49 maltreated and 49 demographically matched nonmaltreated children. Twenty-six elementary and 23 high school students in each group were individually interviewed and their responses to hypothetical interpersonal situations coded for egocentricity and level of perspective-taking ability. The findings revealed that maltreated children and adolescents were more egocentric and delayed in their social perspective-taking development than their nonmaltreated peers and that they reported lower levels of global self-worth. However, differences within the group of maltreated children and adolescents emerged with regard to negotiating novel relationships, as those with fewer internalizing or externalizing symptoms exhibited better skills in this area than their peers who displayed more symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of therapist self-disclosure on patients' perceptions of empathy, competence and trust in an analogue psychotherapeutic interaction.

Psychodynamically oriented clinicians uniformly contraindicate the use of therapist self-disclosure, whereas practitioners disposed toward a humanistic-existential perspective often regard this practice as an essential condition of treatment. In the present study, 57 psychotherapy patients (aged 18–55 yrs) read 1 of 3 patient–therapist dialogs in which the degree of therapist self-disclosure was high, low, or nil. Ss completed the Relationship Inventory and Sorenson Relationship Questionnaire to measure perceived therapist empathy, competence, and trust. Findings confirm the prediction that greater therapist self-disclosure would be related to poorer evaluations of the therapist. Results question the use of self-disclosure as a psychotherapeutic technique and suggest that self-disclosure may adversely affect the perceptions on which the therapeutic alliance is based. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist self-disclosure.

Studied therapist self-disclosure in 8 cases of brief psychotherapy with anxious/depressed female clients (aged 32–60 yrs) and experienced therapists (aged 34–78 yrs). As predicted, reassuring disclosures were rated as more helpful by clients and therapists and led to higher levels of client experiencing than did challenging disclosures. However, no support was found for the hypothesis that self-involving (present tense) disclosures would be more helpful than self-disclosing (past tense) disclosures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal liking and self-disclosure.

66 female college students viewed a videorecording of a female stranger who discussed her opinions about 10 social issues. After this, Ss rated the stranger on the Interpersonal Judgment Scale and indicated on the Self-Disclosure Questionnaire what topics they would be willing to discuss with the stranger. What the Ss would discuss was found to be positively related to their characteristic level of disclosure and their attraction toward the stranger. Implications for therapist–client interactions are discussed. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training psychiatric nursing staff in social approval skills.

18 psychiatric nursing staff members (mean age 32 yrs) participated in an experimental training study to test the effectiveness of a brief microtraining instructional format against a traditional discussion training format. Results indicate that both microtraining and discussion treatments produced improved in-vivo performance of verbal and nonverbal social-approval skills, but microtraining treatment resulted in significantly greater in-vivo use of both verbal and nonverbal social-approval skills at posttreatment and a 5-wk follow-up. No differences in skill comprehension were evident across the 2 training treatments. (French abstract) (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training novice psychotherapists: Helping skills and beyond.

We provide a rationale for doing helping skills training with novice psychotherapists, present a basic framework for our ideas, outline the major components of training, and then talk about what comes after helping skills training. We provide hypotheses that can be tested to determine the effectiveness of helping skills training for novice psychotherapists and encourage researchers to do more research in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Loneliness and patterns of self-disclosure.

The 1st study examined the hypothesis that feeling lonely is related to a self-perceived lack of self-disclosure to significant others. 37 male and 38 female undergraduates rated themselves on the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire. Analyses showed that for males and females, loneliness was significantly and linearly related to a self-perceived lack of intimate disclosure to opposite-sex friends. For females, loneliness was also associated with a perceived lack of self-disclosure to same-sex friends. The 2nd study investigated the relationship between loneliness and actual disclosure behavior. 24 lonely and 23 nonlonely Ss were paired with nonlonely partners in a structured acquaintanceship exercise. Both opposite-sex and same-sex pairs were included in the design. Postexercise ratings by partners indicated that lonely Ss were less effective than nonlonely Ss in making themselves known. Analysis of the intimacy level in the conversations showed that lonely Ss had significantly different patterns of disclosure than nonlonely Ss. The authors suggest that the self-disclosure style of the lonely person impairs the normal development of social relationships. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Norms affecting self-disclosure in men and women.

In a study with 128 undergraduates, it was predicted that attributions of mental illness would be based on the extent to which self-disclosure deviates from appropriate sex role behavior for men and women. In support of this hypothesis Ss of both sexes rated a male stimulus person as being better adjusted when he failed to disclose than when he did disclose information about a personal problem. The reverse trend occurred when a female stimulus person was being evaluated; she was seen as better adjusted when she disclosed than when she did not. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of self-disclosure in psychotherapy and marriage.

This study compared patterns of self-disclosure in psychotherapy and marriage. Participants (48 married, current psychotherapy patients, mean age = 42) completed a 101-item Disclosure to Therapist Inventory and a companion measure, a 101-item Disclosure to Spouse Inventory. Results indicated a pattern of greater disclosure to one's therapist in regard to issues involving despair (e.g., feelings of depression), and to one's spouse in regard to procreation and body concerns (e.g., birth control) and values (e.g., feelings about religion, race, or politics). Issues involving sex were infrequently discussed in either context. Discrepancy scores (differences between extent of disclosure and perceived importance) were greater in the spouse condition. Outcome predictors varied by situation, with overall disclosure predicting therapeutic outcome and both overall disclosure and discrepancy scores predicting marital satisfaction. Findings suggest that although there is substantial overlap in issues discussed in these two contexts, certain intimate disclosures are perceived as situation-specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived child-rearing practices and self-disclosure patterns.

Investigated "the relationship between parental reinforcement and patterns of verbal expression," administering the Self-Disclosure Questionnaire, the Parent-Child Interaction Rating Scale, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale to undergraduates. It was found that Ss turned to parents for personal disclosure, and that a relationship exists between stated self-expression to parents and perceived parental nurturance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of self-disclosure in college students.

Administered a battery of tests and a self-disclosure task to 14 male and 24 female undergraduates to determine correlates of initial level of self-disclosure. Among the results it was found that Ss with higher needs for social approval were more evasive, and that sex was significantly related to self-disclosure. Males were less open and less prone to report negative characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition and transfer of empathy by the parents of early adolescents through structured learning training.

Measured the effectiveness of A. P. Goldstein's (1973) structured learning training (modeling, role playing, and social reinforcement) in teaching parents of adolescents to respond empathically to their children; also measured was the extent to which transfer of training occurs when adolescents participate in training with their parents. 37 mothers of 6th-8th graders volunteered to attend a minicourse on communication. The mothers were divided into 4 groups, including the control group. All groups except the control group received structured learning training in empathy; in 1 group the children did not participate, in a 2nd group the children participated separately, and in the 3rd group they participated with their parents. After 3 wks (6 hrs) of training, the treatment groups showed significantly more empathy. The closeness of the mean empathy scores on the behavioral measure to the scores on the written measure suggested that all 3 treatment groups transferred the skill they had learned. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Narrative empathy.

Therapeutic empathy is described as an active narrative process, in which the therapist attempts to construe and express the inner emotional logic of the client's problem patterns. The empathic narrative is contrasted to the external narrative, which describes the client from the outside and the client's behavior as making sense from the point of view of the theory rather than from that of the client's. The criterion of an empathic narrative is that it elicits from the client the response "That's me!" The external narrative, in distinction, fails to elicit this self-recognition. The persistent rejection of the therapist's formulations by the client and the ensuing state of therapeutic impasse is interpreted as being often due to the therapist's assumption that the client should accept an external narrative as if it were an empathic one. When such a situation develops, the therapist may overcome the impasse by acknowledging the externality of the previous therapeutic narrative and proposing a potentially empathic one in its stead. Three case examples of a 49-yr-old married woman, a teenage girl, and 28-yr-old single male are presented to demonstrate narrative empathy within the therapeutic context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of self-disclosure in interpersonal attraction.

Administered R. W. Green's self-disclosure scales to 44 male undergraduates. Ss then listened to the self-disclosures of a "stranger" (tape recording), and were instructed to talk about themselves to this person. Results indicate that high-disclosure Ss were more attracted to a high-disclosing stranger, but revealed more about themselves to a stranger with lower self-disclosure behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual orientation and empathy.

Administered an empathy scale and the Embedded Figures Test to 32 male undergraduates to explore the relationship between empathy, as an interpersonal affective variable, and psychological differentiation. As was predicted, empathy was significantly correlated with perceptual orientation (p     

Psychotherapist self-disclosure and transparency in the Internet age.

All psychotherapists engage in self-disclosure with their clients. At times it may be deliberate or nondeliberate, verbal or nonverbal, and avoidable or unavoidable. Yet, modern-day Internet technologies have redefined the meaning and applications of self-disclosure and transparency in psychotherapy. Consumers of mental health services can easily access large amounts of information about their psychologists. Clients' online searches about their psychotherapists may range from normal curiosity to criminal stalking. Following an examination of these issues, three invited experts share their commentaries on the issues raised. A historical review of self-disclosure in the mental health professions and the opposition of many theorists and practitioners to its use are provided. Further, the roles of Internet social networking and online communities for psychotherapists and their clients and prospective clients are explored, along with the clinical meaning of the ever-increasing digital transparencies of psychologists, trainees, and clients. Advice is provided for how to view, understand, and consider web postings by psychotherapists, clients, and others. Implications for clinical practice and training are provided along with recommendations for how to effectively address issues of digital transparency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Timing of self-disclosure, reciprocity of self-disclosure, and reactions to an initial interview.

Interviewed 54 college females individually for 40 min about how they were influenced by friends, family, and persons in authority. The interviewer disclosed experiences, attitudes, and beliefs similar and dissimilar to those revealed by the S 0, 4, or 12 times during the interview. Such disclosures occurred prior to (modeling situation) or immediately after (reinforcement situation) S disclosures. An intermediate number of disclosures resulted in significantly more S disclosures and led to the interviewer's being described as significantly more empathic, warm, and congruent. Timing of interviewer disclosures had no effect. Results suggest that an intermediate level of interviewer self-disclosure may best initiate reciprocity of disclosure, which in turn can lead to more positive reactions to the interviewer. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)