Michelle K. Williams

The Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well-Being: Psychometric properties, demographic comparisons, and evidence of validity

The Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well-Being (QEWB) was developed to measure well-being in a manner consistent with how it is conceptualized in eudaimonist philosophy. Aspects of eudaimonic well-being assessed by the QEWB include self-discovery, perceived development of ones best potentials, a sense of purpose and meaning in life, intense involvement in activities, investment of significant effort, and enjoyment of activities as personally expressive. The QEWB was administered to two large, ethnically diverse samples of college students drawn from multiple sites across the United States. A three-part evaluation of the instrument was conducted: (1) evaluating psychometric properties, (2) comparing QEWB scores across gender, age, ethnicity, family income, and family structure, and (3) assessing the convergent, discriminant, construct, and incremental validity of the QEWB. Six hypotheses relating QEWB scores to identity formation, personality traits, and positive and negative psychological functioning were evaluated. The internal consistency of the scale was high and results of independent CFAs indicated that the QEWB items patterned onto a common factor. The distribution of scores approximated a normal curve. Demographic variables were found to predict only small proportions of QEWB score variability. Support for the hypotheses tested provides evidence for the validity of the QEWB as an instrument for assessing eudaimonic well-being. Implications for theory and future research directions are discussed.

Gender differences related to heterosexual condom use: The influence of negotiation styles

The present study had three primary goals. The first was to identify gender differences related to negotiation styles associated with condom use. We hypothesized that women would report engaging in more negotiation behaviors associated with condom use than men. The second goal was to determine whether the relationships between intentions to use condoms and past condom use for women and men were moderated by negotiation behaviors. The third goal was to examine gender differences in responses to an open-ended question inquiring why participants did not use condoms. Male and female college students (N = 219) anonymously completed a series of measures. The results indicated that women and men have unique roles in the negotiation process; women play a more active role in negotiation of condom use, while men play a more reactive role. The relationship between intentions to use condoms and past condom use increased for men when their partners were more active in the process of deciding whether to use condoms. Responses to the open-ended item revealed that women identified perceptions of low risk as the most common reason for not using condoms, while men identified the inconvenience or unavailability of condoms as the most common reason. The implications of these results are discussed as they relate to health efforts to increase condom use.

Identity consolidation and health risk behaviors in college students.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the protective role of personal identity consolidation against health risk behaviors in college-attending emerging adults. METHODS A multisite sample of 1546 college students completed measures of personal identity consolidation and recent risk behavior engagement. RESULTS Multivariate Poisson regression indicated that personal identity consolidation was negatively related to binge drinking, illicit drug use, sexual risk behaviors, and risky driving. These findings were consistent across gender, ethnicity, and place of residence. CONCLUSIONS A consolidated sense of personal identity may protect college-attending emerging adults from health-compromising behaviors. Health professionals could incorporate an identity development component into college health programming.

Examining Effects of Anticipated Stigma, Centrality, Salience, Internalization, and Outness on Psychological Distress for People with Concealable Stigmatized Identities

Understanding how stigmatized identities contribute to increased rates of depression and anxiety is critical to stigma reduction and mental health treatment. There has been little research testing multiple aspects of stigmatized identities simultaneously. In the current study, we collected data from a diverse, urban, adult community sample of people with a concealed stigmatized identity (CSI). We targeted 5 specific CSIs – mental illness, substance abuse, experience of domestic violence, experience of sexual assault, and experience of childhood abuse – that have been shown to put people at risk for increased psychological distress. We collected measures of the anticipation of being devalued by others if the identity became known (anticipated stigma), the level of defining oneself by the stigmatized identity (centrality), the frequency of thinking about the identity (salience), the extent of agreement with negative stereotypes about the identity (internalized stigma), and extent to which other people currently know about the identity (outness). Results showed that greater anticipated stigma, greater identity salience, and lower levels of outness each uniquely and significantly predicted variance in increased psychological distress (a composite of depression and anxiety). In examining communalities and differences across the five identities, we found that mean levels of the stigma variables differed across the identities, with people with substance abuse and mental illness reporting greater anticipated and internalized stigma. However, the prediction pattern of the variables for psychological distress was similar across the substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence, and childhood abuse identities (but not sexual assault). Understanding which components of stigmatized identities predict distress can lead to more effective treatment for people experiencing psychological distress.

Experience of maltreatment as a child and acceptance of violence in adult intimate relationships: mediating effects of distortions in cognitive schemas

Links exist between being subjected to maltreatment as a child and tendencies to accept violence as normative in adult relationships. Constructivist Self Development Theory suggests that such relationships may be affected by “cognitive disruptions” in “self” and “other” schemas. Mediating effects of distorted cognitive schemas on the association between history of child maltreatment and the acceptance of violence in intimate interpersonal relationships were investigated among 433 men and women. Outcomes indicated that individuals who reported childhood maltreatment were more likely to display distortions in their cognitive schemas and those individuals with disrupted schemas were more likely to accept relationship violence. Least-square multiple regression analyses revealed that distorted beliefs fully mediated the relationship between reporting childhood maltreatment and acceptance of violence, for both men and women. Subsidiary analyses suggested that this full mediation was replicated for schemas involving the self but not for schemas about others.

Acculturation and well-being among college students from immigrant families

OBJECTIVE The present study was designed to ascertain the associations between acculturation and well-being in first-generation and second-generation immigrant college students. Acculturation was operationalized as a multidimensional construct comprised of heritage and American cultural practices, values (individualism and collectivism), and identifications, and well-being was operationalized in terms of subjective, psychological, and eudaimonic components. METHOD Participants were 2,774 first-generation and second-generation immigrant students (70% women), from 6 ethnic groups and from 30 colleges and universities around the United States. Participants completed measures of heritage and American cultural practices, values, and identifications, as well as of subjective, psychological, and eudaimonic well-being. RESULTS Findings indicated that individualistic values were positively related to psychological and eudaimonic well-being, and positively, although somewhat less strongly, linked with subjective well-being. American and heritage identifications were both modestly related to psychological and eudaimonic well-being. These findings were consistent across gender, immigrant generation (first versus second), and ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS Psychological and eudaimonic well-being appear to be inherently individualistic conceptions of happiness, and endorsement of individualistic values appears linked with these forms of well-being. Attachments to a cultural group-the United States, ones country of origin, or both-appear to promote psychological and eudaimonic well-being as well. The present findings suggest that similar strategies can be used to promote well-being for both male and female students, for students from various ethnic backgrounds, and for both first-generation and second-generation immigrant students.

Examining the Complexities of Suicidal Behavior in the African American Community

Once considered a “White thing,” suicide is now the third leading cause of death for African Americans, behind only homicide and unintentional injury. Although the rates of suicide for African American women remain low and relatively unchanged, the rates for African American men have increased dramatically during the past 20 years. The changes in the suicide rates for African American youth have motivated researchers to investigate protective and risk factors associated with suicide. In light of some of the current findings that identify religious participation as a protective factor against suicide for African Americans, an alternative perspective is provided that examines the contribution of spirituality and specific religious practices on gender differences in suicide risk.

From Discrimination to Internalized Mental Illness Stigma: The Mediating Roles of Anticipated Discrimination and Anticipated Stigma

OBJECTIVE Internalizing mental illness stigma is related to poorer well-being, but less is known about the factors that predict levels of internalized stigma. This study explored how experiences of discrimination relate to greater anticipation of discrimination and devaluation in the future and how anticipation of stigma in turn predicts greater stigma internalization. METHOD Participants were 105 adults with mental illness who self-reported their experiences of discrimination based on their mental illness, their anticipation of discrimination and social devaluation from others in the future, and their level of internalized stigma. Participants were approached in several locations and completed surveys on laptop computers. RESULTS Correlational analyses indicated that more experiences of discrimination due to ones mental illness were related to increased anticipated discrimination in the future, increased anticipated social stigma from others, and greater internalized stigma. Multiple serial mediator analyses showed that the effect of experiences of discrimination on internalized stigma was fully mediated by increased anticipated discrimination and anticipated stigma. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Experiences of discrimination over ones lifetime may influence not only how much future discrimination people with mental illness are concerned with but also how much they internalize negative feelings about the self. Mental health professionals may need to address concerns with future discrimination and devaluation in order to decrease internalized stigma.

Good Choices, Poor Choices Relationship Between the Quality of Identity Commitments and Psychosocial Functioning

Research indicates making identity commitments on the part of emerging adults is associated with a wide range of psychosocial benefits. Data from a large research collaborative were used to evaluate hypotheses drawn from eudaimonic identity theory that the benefits of commitment are attributable to the quality of the commitments held. Findings from a study with 9,650 students attending 30 colleges and universities replicated previous research indicating the benefits of identity commitments with respect to subjective well-being, psychological well-being, self-esteem, an internal locus of control; and reduced likelihood of symptoms of general anxiety, social anxiety, and depression. However, when a measure of the quality of identity commitments was added to the analyses, results indicated that commitment quality accounted almost entirely for the associations of identity commitments with psychosocial functioning. Identity commitments of low quality were found to be associated with psychological costs rather than benefits. Implications for helping emerging adults distinguish better identity choices are discussed.

Out and healthy: Being more "out" about a concealable stigmatized identity may boost the health benefits of social support.

This research examined whether the relationship between perceived social support and health would be moderated by level of outness for people living with different concealable stigmatized identities (mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, rape, or childhood abuse). A total of 394 people living with a concealable stigmatized identity completed a survey. Consistent with hypotheses, at high levels of outness, social support predicted better health; at low levels of outness, social support was less predictive of health. People concealing a stigmatized identity may only be able to reap the health benefits of social support if they are “out” about the stigmatized identity.