Matthew S. Hesson-McInnis

Affective responses, cognitive appraisals, and conflict tactics in late adolescent romantic relationships : Associations with attachment orientations

Although research has linked late adolescent attachment difficulties with broad problems in romantic relationships, less work has focused on how these difficulties relate to precise problems in these relationships. In the current study, the authors examined associations between attachment orientations and coping with conflict in romantic relationships in a sample of college students (N = 357) by developing a path analytic model. Adolescents with more-insecure attachment orientations were predicted to report more negative affect during disagreements, less confidence in coping during arguments, and less optimal conflict tactics (e.g., more conflict escalation) than youth with more-secure representations. The predictions imbedded within the model were generally supported. Although more-avoidant and more-ambivalent adolescents reported less optimal conflict tactics than did more-secure adolescents, individual differences in the attachment process predicted differential affective-cognitive responses during these disputes. This study has implications for attachment research and interventions with adolescents.

Factor Structures of Three Measures of Research Self-Efficacy:

Measures of research self-efficacy have the potential to facilitate graduate training and mentoring, but the hypothesized factor structures of these measures have not been confirmed empirically. Moreover, the underlying dimensions of research self-efficacy across multiple measures are unknown. Graduate students in psychology programs (N = 1,004) completed three research self-efficacy instruments via a Web-based survey. Confirmatory factor analyses did not support the hypothesized factor structures. An exploratory factor analysis suggested that four dimensions of research self-efficacy (data analysis, research integration, data collection, and technical writing) underlie responses to items from the three instruments. The authors present possible reasons for the differences in factor structures across instruments and suggest how the assessment of research self-efficacy may facilitate the training and career mentoring of graduate students.

Executive functioning predicts reading, mathematics, and theory of mind during the elementary years

The goal of this study was to specify how executive functioning components predict reading, mathematics, and theory of mind performance during the elementary years. A sample of 93 7- to 10-year-old children completed measures of working memory, inhibition, flexibility, reading, mathematics, and theory of mind. Path analysis revealed that all three executive functioning components (working memory, inhibition, and flexibility) mediated age differences in reading comprehension, whereas age predicted mathematics and theory of mind directly. In addition, reading mediated the influence of executive functioning components on mathematics and theory of mind, except that flexibility also predicted mathematics directly. These findings provide important details about the development of executive functioning, reading, mathematics, and theory of mind during the elementary years.

Moving Science Into State Child and Adolescent Mental Health Systems: Illinois' Evidence-Informed Practice Initiative

In 2005, the Illinois State Mental Health Authority embarked on an initiative to close the gap between research and practice in the childrens mental health system. A stakeholder advisory council developed a plan to advance evidence informed practice through policy and program initiatives. A multilevel approach was developed to achieve this objective, which included policy change, stakeholder education, and clinician training. This article focuses on the evidence-informed training process designed following review of implementation research. The training involved in-person didactic sessions and twice-monthly telephone supervision across 6 cohorts of community based clinicians, each receiving 12 months of training. Training content initially included cognitive behavioral therapy and behavioral parent training and was adapted over the years to a practice model based on common element concepts. Evaluation based on provider and parent report indicated children treated by training clinicians generally showed superior outcomes versus both a treatment-as-usual comparison group for Cohorts 1 to 4 and the statewide child population as a whole after 90 days of care for Cohorts 5 to 6. The results indicated primarily moderate to strong effects for the evidence-based training groups. Moving a large public statewide child mental health system toward more effective services is a complex and lengthy process. These results indicate training of community mental health providers in Illinois in evidence-informed practice was moderately successful in positively impacting child-level functional outcomes. These findings also influenced state policy in committing resources to continuing the initiative, even in difficult economic times.

Pilot Test Results of an HIV Prevention Intervention for High-Risk Women

Minority women, incarcerated women, and women using drugs or engaged in survival sex are most vulnerable to HIV. This pilot study was designed to estimate efficacy of an intervention, Women First!, to help these women correctly and consistently use male condoms. Women (N = 74) were recruited from jails, substance-abuse treatment centers, and public health clinics, and enrolled in a randomized controlled trial with an attention-only comparison group. The intervention, based on social cognitive theory and the theory of gender and power and awakening, was delivered over 6 weeks; unprotected vaginal intercourse and correct condom use were measured before and after the intervention. Changes on the dependent variables did not rise to statistical significance due to low power, but descriptive statistics and the multivariate partial η2 effect size estimate of 0.27 suggest that Women First! is a promising intervention. Future research will require improvements in recruitment, retention, and measurement.

Career Indecision Profile-65 Scores: Test–Retest Reliability and Measurement Equivalence in College and Noncollege Samples

The Career Indecision Profile-65 (CIP-65) is a relatively new measure of career indecision that appears to have promise for use in career counseling and research. We sought to expand the information available to those evaluating the CIP-65 for potential use by assessing its measurement equivalence in college (N = 529) and noncollege (N = 472) samples and its scores’ test–retest reliability in a subset of the college–student sample (n = 107). Six-week test–retest reliability coefficients ranged from .58 (interpersonal conflicts) to .85 (choice/commitment anxiety) for the subscale scores. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the CIP-65’s four-factor structure fit the data well in both the college and noncollege samples. The CIP-65 scores were configurally invariant in the two samples, but we did not find support for metric invariance. We offer explanations for these findings, discuss implications for practice, and present ideas for future research.