Impact of two types of counselor intervention on Black American, Puerto Rican, and Anglo-American analogue clients.

Tested the hypothesis that types of counseling intervention may be differentially effective depending on the client's cultural background using 28 Black American (BAM), 27 Puerto Rican, and 28 Anglo American (AA) female community college students. Ss received either affective responses or closed questions from a 23-yr-old female BAM clinical psychology graduate student in an analog counseling situation that permitted S-generated responses. Content analyses and ratings of the counselor revealed that affective responses were superior to closed questions on all dependent measures for AA Ss. For BAM Ss, all content variables and 2 of 3 ratings of the counselor suggested superiority of affective responses. It is concluded that affective responses are superior to closed questions in initial counseling interviews with community college students, but inconsistencies in results suggest that further research is necessary. (67 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Food, mood, and attitude: Reducing risk for eating disorders in college women.

Food, Mood, and Attitude (FMA) is a CD-ROM prevention program developed to decrease risk for eating disorders in college women. Female 1st-year students (N = 240) were randomly assigned to the intervention (FMA) or control group. Equal numbers of students at risk and of low risk for developing an eating disorder were assigned to each condition. Participants in the FMA condition improved on all measures relative to controls. Significant 3-way interactions (Time × Condition × Risk Status) were found on measures of internalization of sociocultural attitudes about thinness, shape concerns, and weight concerns, indicating that at-risk participants in the intervention group improved to a greater extent than did low-risk participants. At follow-up, significantly fewer women in the FMA group reported overeating and excessive exercise relative to controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)