Bullying and Victimization: The Role of Conduct Problems and Psychopathic Traits

Bullying and victimization occurring in adolescence can have a long‐lasting negative impact into adulthood. This study investigates whether conduct problems (CP) and dimensions of psychopathy predict the developmental course of bullying and victimization from ages 12 to 14 among 1,416 Greek‐Cypriot adolescents. Results indicate that initial levels of bullying were highest among adolescents scoring high on narcissism, impulsivity, or CP—particularly for those also showing high callous‐unemotional (CU) traits. Bullying behaviors were also more stable among youth scoring high on narcissism. Further, youth high on impulsivity showed more stable victimization by peers across development. Importantly, adolescents high on CP+CU were at greater risk for engaging in bullying across development compared with those scoring lower on CU traits or CP.     

Harnessing the Power of Play in Emotionally Focused Family Therapy With Preschool Children

Emotionally focused family therapy (EFFT) is an attachment‐based therapy model that has been used with older children and adolescents. More recently, it has been suggested for use with young children. EFFT holds promise as a clinical treatment for young children coping with attachment problems, but more detailed guidelines are needed for implementing the model with this age‐group. Whereas preschool and kindergarten age children are less able to participate in talk therapy than older children, accommodations need to be made to this approach when the identified patient is a young child. This article offers a variety of play therapy activities that may be incorporated within an EFFT framework to strengthen the emotional bonds in families with children ages four to six.     

No Room for Respectability: Boundary Work in Interaction at a Shanghai Rental

This article examines the dramaturgical challenges of doing boundary work for a group of college women living with non‐college women at an overcrowded rental. To regulate tenant conduct and maintain their sense of self‐worth, the college women engaged in defensive othering and constructed their identity as “high‐quality” people on the basis of their characterization of their less‐educated roommates as “low‐quality” people. Their strategy of gaining self‐worth at their roommates' expense violated basic rules of social interaction that require participants to give face to gain face. This study shows that, in addition to weakening group solidarity and reproducing social inequalities, defensive othering also undermines subordinates' effort to gain self‐worth in the co‐presence of other subordinates. A video abstract is available at http://tinyurl.com/yath4o65     

Predicting Change in Marital Satisfaction Throughout Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy

Emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT) is an empirically validated approach to couple therapy that uses attachment theory to understand the needs and emotions of romantic partners. EFT is recognized as one of the most effective approaches to couple therapy, but to guide therapists in their use of EFT, a theoretically based model to predict change is needed. This study tested such a model by recruiting 32 couples, and 14 therapists who provided approximately 21 sessions of EFT. Couples completed self‐report measures of marital satisfaction, attachment security, relationship trust, and emotional control at pre‐ and posttherapy and after each therapy session. Results of hierarchical linear modeling suggested that individuals higher on self‐report attachment anxiety and higher levels of emotional control had greater change in marital satisfaction across EFT sessions. Assessing attachment security at the start of therapy will inform therapists of the emotion regulating strategies used by couples and may help couples achieve positive outcomes from EFT.     

Relational Ethics and Moral Imagination in Contemporary Systemic Practice

This article discusses an approach to relational ethics in contemporary systemic practice. It explores the possibilities offered by traditions of moral philosophy in attending to problems from a relational ethics perspective. This includes a focus on relationships as a crucial element in the development and maintenance of a moral self and how couples and families construct an ethical platform together, both consciously and unconsciously; and also how relational ethics may inform ideas about the values‐driven problems people present in therapy. Finally, it suggests how ethical responsibility and accountability can be constructed as relational responsiveness. Despite our associations with morality as judgmental and rule driven, moral conduct and decision‐making can involve imaginative, creative and aesthetic possibilities.     

Interpersonal Perceptions of Narcissism in an At‐Risk Adolescent Sample: A Social Relations Analysis

This study utilized Kenny's social relations model (SRM) to explore the interpersonal correlates of narcissism in an adolescent sample from a voluntary residential program. Participants were forty‐seven 16–18‐year‐olds (24 males, 23 females) attending a 22‐week residential program. Participants completed a self‐report measure of narcissism and rated one another on narcissism‐related traits and social status variables. Individuals with high levels of self‐reported narcissism were perceived by peers as antagonistic and likely to engage in future delinquency. Self‐reported narcissism was also associated with peer perceptions of narcissism‐related traits. Therefore, adolescent narcissism seems to be detected by peers and is associated with peer perceptions of some negative qualities. Potential implications of these findings are discussed.     

Couple Therapy and Attachment: An Interview with Susan Johnson

Susan M. Johnson is an international expert in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT). She is a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Marital and Family Therapy Clinic at Ottawa Civic Hospital. She is the author of The Practice of Emotionally Focused Marital Therapy – Creating Connection (Brunner/Mazel, 1996) and the co‐author of Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples: The Heart of the Matter. EFT is now one of the most empirically validated couples therapies and is accepted as such by the American Psychological Association. On sabbatical in 1999, she went to New Zealand and then visited Australia in April, conducting workshops in Sydney and Perth.     

“An Economics of Capital”: Genealogies of Everyday Financial Conduct

Although recent forms of neoliberalism have been associated with everyday forms of ‘investment’, this paper argues that the financial conduct of everyday populations has long been an intense site of intervention. Drawing on the history of nineteenth and twentieth‐century Canadian government savings, annuities and tax deferral programs, this paper argues that everyday financial conduct has long been a key site of experimentation and innovation in practices of the self. These programs experiment with a language and practice of investment which emphasizes everyday conduct as a space of individual responsibility attached to diverse political goals. This suggests that enterprise as a mode of self and citizenship has a diverse and longer trajectory that predates neoliberalism. By extension, this paper conclude with a case for more diversified, complicated and historically‐situated analyses of ‘neoliberalism’.     

Predicting Follow‐up Outcomes in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: The Role of Change in Trust,Relationship‐Specific Attachment,and Emotional Engagement

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), an evidence‐based couple therapy (Johnson, Hunsley, Greenberg, & Schindler, 1999), strives to foster lasting change through the creation of secure attachment bonds in distressed couples. Although studies have demonstrated lasting change in follow‐up (Wiebe et al., in press), research is needed to investigate predictors of long‐term outcomes. Our goal was to investigate predictors of long‐term outcomes in relationship satisfaction. Relationship satisfaction was assessed across 24 months in a sample of 32 couples who received an average of 21 EFT sessions. Decreases in attachment avoidance were most predictive of higher relationship satisfaction across follow‐up. These findings support the theoretical assumption that EFT helps couples foster lasting change in relationship satisfaction through the facilitation of secure attachment bonds.     

The Interpersonal Relationships and Social Perceptions of Adolescent Perfectionists

This study investigated the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism, self‐reported interpersonal relationships, and peer‐reported prosocial, disruptive, and academic behaviors among a general sample of 984 9th‐grade adolescents. Cut‐scores from the Almost Perfect Scale‐Revised (APS‐R; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001 ) classified adolescents as adaptive perfectionists, maladaptive perfectionists, and nonperfectionist. Adaptive perfectionists reported significantly higher levels of positive interpersonal relationships than maladaptive perfectionists or nonperfectionists. Further, peers rated both perfectionism groups as more prosocial and less disruptive than nonperfectionists. Adaptive perfectionists were more liked than maladaptive perfectionists. Implications of these findings, particularly as they pertain to the nomothetic understanding of multidimensional perfectionism among older, school‐aged adolescents conclude the paper.     

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy for Parents Raising a Child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study

Many couples raising children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often resilient in confronting unique parental demands, while others experience greater risk for relational distress. Research has shown that Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT) is efficacious with couples raising chronically ill children and relevant to the relational demands of parents of children diagnosed with an ASD. This pilot study tested the effectiveness of EFT with seven couples presenting with moderate to severe distress, who were also parents of a child diagnosed with an ASD. Results demonstrated significant decreases in marital distress at posttreatment and 6‐month follow‐up. The study also identified several unique themes associated with couple distress and the parenting experiences of this population.     

Motivational Profiles and Career Decision Making of High School Students

Based on self‐determination theory, this study sought to identify distinct motivational profiles in a sample of high school students (N = 396, mean age = 17.02 years) using a person‐centered approach. Three motivational clusters of students emerged: self‐determined students, non‐self‐determined students, and externally regulated students. Differences between and among these profiles across career exploration and career indecision levels were analyzed. Overall, self‐determination theory appears to offer a conceptual framework for organizing career interventions. The fact that motivational profiles can distinguish students among career exploration and career indecision levels leads the authors to reaffirm the importance of differential career intervention practices. Future research should examine the stability of motivational profiles, their predictive power over career exploration and career decision making, and the differences between highly motivated students regarding the career decision‐making process.     

What Makes an Entrepreneur and Does it Pay? Native Men,Turks, and Other Migrants in Germany

This paper focuses on the entrepreneurial endeavours of immigrants' and natives in Germany, concentrating on Turks, Germany's largest immigrant group and one under‐studied in the literature. Self‐employed Turks in Germany represent about 70 per cent of all Turkish entrepreneurs in the European Union. We use data from the German Socio‐economic Panel to study patterns of self‐employment. First, we identify the characteristics of the self‐employed individuals and understand their underlying drive into self‐employment. Next we investigate how immigrant entrepreneurs fare in the labour market and compare their earnings to those of the natives. It is important for decision makers to understand entrepreneurial patterns so that they can shape policy that better fosters entrepreneurial activities. This paper presents several findings that can inform better policymaking. First, our investigation indicates that education is not decisive in determining whether one will choose self‐employment over salaried work nor in explaining earnings. The estimated age‐earnings profiles are the same for natives and immigrants, while the proclivity to become self‐employed is concave with respect to age for both groups. Immigrants' start with a higher probability to work than natives but have a slower increase in the self‐employment probabilities thereafter. The earnings of self‐employed immigrants' are higher initially, but their earnings path crosses eventually that of the natives. Second, we find some suggestion of ethnic entrepreneurial spirit. Turks are 70 per cent more likely to be self‐employed than any other immigrant group, although they do not necessarily earn more. These patterns should be further explored.     

The Relationship Between Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury and Family Functioning: Adolescent and Parent Perspectives

We explored parent and adolescent reports of family functioning, how this differed if the parent was aware that their child self‐injured, and how parental awareness of self‐injury was related to self‐injury frequency, self‐injury severity, and help seeking. Participants were 117 parent–adolescent dyads, in 23 of which the adolescent self‐injured. Adolescents who self‐injured reported poorer family functioning than their parents, but parents who did not know about their child's self‐injury reported similar functioning to parents whose children did not self‐injure. Parents were more likely to know that their child self‐injured when the behavior was severe and frequent. Help‐seeking was more likely when parents knew about self‐injury. Family‐based interventions which emphasize perspective‐taking could be used to effectively treat self‐injury.     

EFFECTS OF A COMMUNICATION TRAINING COMPONENT ADDED TO AN EMOTIONALLY FOCUSED COUPLES THERAPY

In this study a 4-session communication skills training component was added to an 8-session Emotionally Focused couples therapy package. This treatment (EFT + CT) was compared to 12 sessions of Emotionally Focused therapy (EFT) to investigate whether the communication training component enhanced the effectiveness of EFT, and both treatments were compared to a wait-list control. Both treatments achieved superior gains at posttest compared to the control group on measures of marital adjustment and target complaint improvement (but not on intimacy and passionate love), with EFT + CT being superior on communication. The only differential treatment effect was EFT's superiority on target complaints at follow-up.     

Effects of Career Counseling on French Adults: An Experimental Study

This research project is focused on theoretical and empirical works analyzing the effects of career counseling. This experimental and longitudinal study has been carried out in France; it compares a sample of individuals having undertaken competence assessment with a control group and deals with self‐esteem, self‐analysis, self‐concept, and the participants' situations. The results correspond to the authors' main hypotheses: The effect size calculated for all the variables (+0.62) is similar to the one observed in the meta‐analyses concerning the same topic. The stability of effects has also been demonstrated for 2 out of 3 categories of variables (effect size +0.44) in spite of a slight decrease in the production of self‐concept. Finally, treatment intensity seems to have a lesser effect than the one expected, but it strengthens its role in the development of self‐analysis. The discussion focuses on the prospects for counseling practice assessment, as well as theoretical directions meriting future development.     

The Impact of Blamer‐softening on Romantic Attachment in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT; Johnson, 2004 ) treats relationship distress by targeting couples' relationship‐specific attachment insecurity. In this study, we used hierarchical linear modeling (Singer & Willett, 2003 ) to examine intercept and slope discontinuities in softened couples' trajectories of change in relationship satisfaction and relationship‐specific attachment over the course of therapy from a total sample of 32 couples. Softened couples (n = 16) reported a significant increase in relationship satisfaction and a significant decrease in attachment avoidance at the softening session. Although softened couples displayed an initial increase in relationship‐specific attachment anxiety at the softening session, their scores significantly decreased across post‐softening sessions. Results demonstrated the importance of the blamer‐softening change event in facilitating change in EFT.     

Maisons Familiales -- Senegal

The local associations of Maisons Familiales (MF) in Senegal periodically conduct participatory evaluations of community projects. 2 evaluations often used include internal exercises by and for the staff, such as a written questionnaire, and an assisted self evaluation. An assisted self evaluation often involves participant subgroups discussing problems and possible solutions with each subgroup later sharing items with a national and/or a foreign evaluation facilitator. The facilitator(s) meets with all the subgroups and brings out important issues in the subgroups, then all the subgroups discuss the issues and form a consensus on what actions should be taken. The training staff at an MF center thought the program was fine based on what a few people said, but, after looking at statistics on the number of trainees over a couple of years, the staff learned that the numbers have declined. The staff then discussed the situation and learned that a barrier had developed between the training staff and villagers. As in any evaluation, one must distinguish between the subjective view (what people say) and objective reality (the actual situation using data). In another type of self evaluation, a group discussed dynamism in a village and came up with 4 different points of view. After visiting a "dynamic" and a "nondynamic" village using the 4 points as measurements, the group learned that its previous impressions of the 2 villages were not completely borne out. This evaluation helped the staff to see villagers' priorities and to listen better. Despite wanting to conduct a real impact evaluation, workers have not yet done so because they do not have time to schedule evaluations, do not have enough base line data, and do not know how to account for influences on changes in the villages other than the MF training programs.     

Verification of Self Using a Mathematical Theory of Identity,Feeling, and Behavior

The current study tests the affect control theory of self, a mathematical theory that demonstrates a core social psychological principle: individuals strive for a stable and coherent self through identity selection and behavior. In the affect control theory of self, the self is conceptualized as self‐sentiments, which are measured on three dimensions: evaluation (good/bad), potency (powerful/powerless), and activity (fast/slow). In a longitudinal sample of college men and women, I find the self‐sentiment predicts how individuals describe themselves on a range of terms, including primary emotions and both stigmatized and esteemed traits related to mental illness and self‐esteem. It also predicts various productive and deviant behaviors five months later. Thus, the current study demonstrates the theoretical precision of the theory, its ability for understanding human behavior, and its potential for identifying at‐risk individuals.