A further examination of antecedents of correctional staff life satisfaction

Working in corrections is not only a demanding job, but a socially important one. While a growing number of studies have examined how the work environment impacts the job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of staff, very few studies have examined how working in corrections impacts the life satisfaction of workers. The current study utilized OLS regression to examine the antecedents of life satisfaction among staff at a Midwestern private prison. Job satisfaction had a positive relationship with life satisfaction, while age, work on family conflict, family on work conflict, and job involvement all had statistically significant negative effects. Finally, perceptions of the level of financial rewards, job stress, organizational commitment, gender, race, educational level, tenure, supervisory status, position, marital status, and having children, all had non-significant associations with overall satisfaction with life.     

Interpretation and the Therapeutic Relationship: An Attempt at Integration

The term integrative psychotherapy can have a range of meanings. It can refer to integration between therapeutic approaches grounded in different theoretical frameworks as exemplified in Wachtel’s (Psychoanalysis and behavior therapy: toward an integration. Basic Books, New York, 1977) Psychoanalysis and Behavior Therapy. Many therapists informally practice this sort of integration when, in response to problems and issues presented by the patient, they intuitively borrow from a variety of approaches in their clinical work. Therapeutic integration can also refer to attempts at integration within a single broad therapeutic approach such as psychoanalytic or psychodynamic. This is the direction I will take in this article. My goal in this paper is to contribute to the possibility of integration among different theoretical approaches within psychoanalysis in a delimited area. The delimited area that I will focus on is the tension between an emphasis on interpretation and insight versus an emphasis on the therapeutic relationship as the primary agent of therapeutic change. Rather than an “either-or” position, I will show that integrating theories about both aspects of this process leads to a richer, more complex picture of what happens in psychodynamically-informed therapy.     

Concretizing the Concept of Social Stress

The concept of social stress, as adapted from Selye’s work on biology, is insufficient to explain psychological functioning. To be useful, social stress must include enduring social practices characteristic of particular social systems that violate socially generated as well as biological needs. Some of these stressful events are gender role, poverty, and societal practices such as extreme competition, individualism, and materialism.     

Passion,Intimacy, and Commitment in Casual Sexual Relationships in a Canadian Sample of Emerging Adults

Research on casual sexual relationships (CSRs) among emerging adults is prevalent, yet our empirical and theoretical knowledge of relationship processes involved in these relationships is limited. The present study’s objective was to compare four CSR partner types (acquaintance, friend, non-dating partner, ex-romantic partner) on passion, intimacy, and commitment, the components of Sternberg’s triangular theory of love. A total of 441 Canadians aged 18–25 years who were not in a romantic relationship, and who reported having had more than one sexual contact with their last CSR partner, completed an online survey. Across all partner types, passion was highest, followed by intimacy and commitment. Levels of passion, intimacy, and commitment generally increased with partner familiarity. However, CSR partner type differences on the three components were partially explained by CSR components (i.e., frequency of sexual activity, frequency of social activity, whether partners saw each other with the main goal of having sex, sexual exclusivity agreement, and hopes about the relationship). Results are consistent with CSRs’ emphasis on sexuality, and, to a lesser extent, emotions. However, they challenge the mainstream and scientific conflation of CSRs with an absence of emotional bond, commitment, or love.     

Positive and negative affect: A maximum-likelihood approach

Using the LISREL maximum-likelihood program, the relation between Bradburn's positive affect and negative affect scales is examined for three age groups of adults. It is found that (a) unequal item loadings fit significantly better than equal item loadings; (b) the best-fitting loadings for the elderly are significantly different from those of the non-elderly; (c) the positive and negative affect scales are substantially correlated and (d) correlations with related variables are stronger when positive and negative affect scales are formed by maximum-likelihood loadings rather than by unit loadings. Given the widespread use of Bradburn's scales, implications of these results for subjective well-being are discussed.     

Substance abuse, suicidality, and self-esteem in South African adolescents

Associations among six different domains of self-esteem (peers, school, family, sports/athletics, body image, and global self-worth) and risk behaviors related to substance use and suicidality were investigated in a sample of South African adolescents. Students enrolled in Grades 8 and 11 at independent secondary schools in Cape Town (N = 116) completed the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (SEQ) and a questionnaire that asked about their participation in a range of risk behaviors. Logistic regression analyses indicated that particular domains of self-esteem were differentially associated with indicators of alcohol, cigarette and drug use and suicidal ideation or behaviors in adolescents. Family self-esteem showed the strongest overall pattern of associations with the risk behaviors. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that interventions which aim to protect adolescents from engaging in risk behaviors by increasing their self-esteem are likely to be most effective and cost-efficient if they are aimed at the family and school domains.     

Binge Drinking Among Undergraduate College Students in the United States: Implications for Other Substance Use

Abstract

The authors examined the relationship between binge drinking and other substance use among US college students, using nationally representative data from the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavior Survey implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Compared with nonbinge drinkers, current binge drinkers were significantly more likely to report “ever” using and current use of cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, and other illegal drugs. The researchers also found that the more often students binge drank, the more likely they were to have ever used cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs, and the more likely they were to report current use of cigarettes and marijuana. Those who design programs to prevent binge drinking and use of other substances should take into account the reality that many students use more than one substance and that the more frequently students report binge drinking, the more likely they are to be using other substances as well.