Ruth Chu-Lien Chao

Forbearance Coping, Identification with Heritage Culture, Acculturative Stress, and Psychological Distress among Chinese International Students.

Based on Berrys (1997) theoretical framework for acculturation, our goal in this study was to examine whether the use of a culturally relevant coping strategy (i.e., forbearance coping, a predictor) would be associated with a lower level of psychological distress (a psychological outcome), for whom (i.e., those with weaker vs. stronger identification with heritage culture, a moderator), and under what situations (i.e., lower vs. higher acculturative stress, a moderator). A total of 188 Chinese international students completed an online survey. Results from a hierarchical regression indicated a significant 3-way interaction of forbearance coping, identification with heritage culture, and acculturative stress on psychological distress. For those with a weaker identification with their heritage culture, when acculturative stress was higher, the use of forbearance coping was positively associated with psychological distress. However, this was not the case when acculturative stress was lower. In other words, the use of forbearance coping was not significantly associated with psychological distress when acculturative stress was lower. Moreover, for those with a stronger cultural heritage identification, the use of forbearance coping was not significantly associated with psychological distress regardless of whether acculturative stress was high or low. Future research and implications are discussed.

Family Support, Self-Esteem, and Perceived Racial Discrimination Among Asian American Male College Students

This study was conducted to examine under what situation (i.e., when individuals used more or less family support) and for whom (i.e., those with high or low self-esteem) perceived racial discrimination would or would not have a significant positive association with psychological distress. A total of 95 Asian American male college students completed an online survey. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated a significant 3-way interaction of family support, self-esteem, and perceived racial discrimination in predicting psychological distress after controlling for perceived general stress. A simple effect analysis was used to explore the nature of the interaction. When Asian American male college students used more family support to cope with racial discrimination, the association between perceived racial discrimination and psychological distress was not significant for those with high or low self-esteem. The result from the simple interaction indicated that, when more family support was used, the 2 slopes for high and low self-esteem were not significantly different from each other. Conversely, when they used less family support, the association between perceived racial discrimination and psychological distress was not significant for those with high self-esteem, but was significantly positive for those with low self-esteem. The result from the simple interaction indicated that, when less family support was used, the slopes for high and low self-esteem were significantly different. The result suggested that low use of family support may put these male students with low self-esteem at risk for psychological distress. Limitations, future research directions, and clinical implications were discussed.

Advisory working alliance, perceived English proficiency, and acculturative stress.

The aim of this study was to examine the moderators of (a) general or cross-cultural advisory working alliances and (b) perceived English proficiency on the association between acculturative stress and psychological distress. A total of 143 East Asian international students completed an online survey. Results from a hierarchical regression indicated significant three-way interactions of (a) General Advisory Working Alliances × Perceived English Proficiency × Acculturative Stress on Psychological Distress and (b) Cross-Cultural Advisory Working Alliances × Perceived English Proficiency × Acculturative Stress on Psychological Distress. Specifically, the present results indicated that acculturative stress was significantly associated with psychological distress only when students perceived lower English proficiency and had a stronger general or cross-cultural advisory working alliance. However, acculturative stress was not significantly related to psychological distress when these students perceived lower English proficiency and had a weaker advisory working alliance (i.e., general or cross-cultural). In addition, acculturative stress was also not significantly related to psychological distress when these students perceived higher English proficiency and had a stronger or weaker advisory working alliance (i.e., general or cross-cultural).

The Concerns about Counseling Racial Minority Clients Scale

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Concerns about Counseling Racial Minority Clients (CCRMC) scale among counselor trainees. Sample 1 was used for an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Four factors were identified, Managing Cultural Differences (α = .82), Offending or Hurting Clients (α = .87), Biased Thoughts and Behaviors (α = .81), and Client Perceptions (α = .77). The coefficient alpha for the CCRMC was .90. The results support the validity of the scale. The scores on the CCRMC and its subscales have positive associations with fear of negative evaluation from others (r = .19 to .40) and negative associations with general counseling self-efficacy (r = -.30 to -.46) and multicultural intervention self-efficacy (r = -.30 to -.64). The CCRMC significantly predicted fear of negative evaluation, session management self-efficacy, and multicultural intervention self-efficacy over and above multicultural social desirability. The validity evidence was not different between White and minority graduate trainees. In Sample 2, the estimated 1-week test-retest reliabilities ranged from .75 to .96 for the CCRMC and its four subscales.

White Racial Attitudes and White Empathy The Moderation of Openness to Diversity

A key step toward the actualization of social justice is understanding under what circumstances (i.e., high vs. low openness to diversity [OTD]) non-Latino Whites in each White racial identity attitude status show empathy toward targets of racism. Among a sample of 252 self-identified non-Latino White students, we found moderating effects of OTD. Specifically, for White undergraduates in the two least sophisticated racial identity statuses (i.e., Contact and Disintegration), those who were more open to diversity remained high on White Empathy regardless of their levels of Contact/Disintegration; conversely, those who were less open to diversity demonstrated less White Empathy. In addition, Whites in the last two statuses (i.e., Pseudo-Independence and Autonomy) showed that those who were more open to diversity still remained high on White Empathy regardless of their levels of Pseudo-Independence/Autonomy. However, for those who were less open to diversity, higher levels of Pseudo-Independence/Autonomy were associated with higher levels of empathy toward racism. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Rethinking fragmentation and diversity in psychology.

dieting is needed more than ever. From our perspective, however, the obesity epidemic provides testimony to the ineffectuality of (unrealistic) dieting, which has accompanied, and possibly contributed to, this epidemic. As for the other domains of self-change, the message is the same: Unrealistic hopes fuel failure, and given the constant rededication to self-change that characterizes our society, we can safely assume that much of the hope that motivates self-change is indeed false.

Service-learning: A training method to enhance multicultural competence toward international students.

The present study had 2 goals: (a) evaluate the effectiveness of service-learning on counselor trainees’ multicultural counseling competence (MCC); and (b) explore trainees’ own perspectives on service-learning. To achieve the first goal, we conducted hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis on data from 74 participants including a service-learning group (n = 52) and a comparison group (n = 22). The service-learning group showed significantly higher levels of MCC than those in the comparison group, t = 3.10, p < .001. To achieve the second goal, we qualitatively analyzed trainees’ responses to their experiences in service-learning using consensual qualitative research methodology (CQR; Hill et al., 1997). Consistent with quantitative results, qualitative domains regarding participant experience in the service-learning condition also revealed increase in MCC. We discuss the implications, limitations, and directions for further research on service-learning.

Counseling psychology trainees' experiences with debt stress: a mixed methods examination.

Financial debt accrued by graduate psychology students has increased in recent years and is a chief concern among psychology trainees (El-Ghoroury, Galper, Sawaqdeh, & Bufka, 2012). This study examined debt stress among counseling psychology trainees using a complementary mixed methods research design. Qualitative analyses (N = 11) using the consensual qualitative research method (CQR; Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997; Hill et al., 2005) revealed six domains, 15 categories, and 34 subcategories. Domains included social class contributions, institutional contributions, long-term effects, coping mechanisms, personal relationships, and effect on well-being. The transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and social class worldview model (Liu, Soleck, Hopps, Dunston, & Pickett, 2004) guided quantitative analyses. Results of a path analysis (N = 285) indicated total debt and subjective social class were significant predictors of debt stress and that the relationship between debt stress and psychological distress was mediated by avoidant coping. Avoidant coping also moderated the association between debt stress and psychological distress. Results are discussed in relation to professional training and the career development of counseling psychology trainees.

Rasch Analysis of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale With African Americans.

Effectively diagnosing African Americans’ self-esteem has posed an unresolved challenge. To address this assessment issue, we conducted exploratory factor analysis and Rasch analysis to assess the psychometric characteristics of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES, Rosenberg, 1965) for African American college students. The dimensional structure of the RSES was first identified with the first subsample (i.e., calibration subsample) and then held up under cross-validation with a second subsample (i.e., validation subsample). Exploratory factor analysis and Rasch analysis both supported unidimensionality of the measure, with that finding replicated for a random split of the sample. Response scale use was generally appropriate, items were endorsed at a high level reflecting high levels of self-esteem, and person separation and reliability of person separation were adequate, and reflected results similar to those found in prior research. However, as some categories were infrequently used, we also collapsed scale points and found a slight improvement in scale and item indices. No differential item functioning was found by sex or having received professional assistance versus not; there were no mean score differences by age group, marital status, or year in college. Two items were seen as problematic. Implications for theory and research on multicultural mental health are discussed.

Rasch analysis of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 with African American and White students.

Although the United States offers some of the most advanced psychological services in the world, not everyone in the country shares these services equally, resulting in health disparities. Health disparities persist when assessments do not appropriately measure different populations’ mental health problems. To address this assessment issue, we conducted principal axis factoring, confirmatory factor analysis, and Rasch analyses to assess the psychometric characteristics of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18) to evaluate whether the BSI is culturally appropriate for assessing African American students’ psychological distress. The dimensional structure of the BSI was first identified and held up under cross-validation with a second sample and a white sample. The measure was unidimensional among African American and white students. Our results suggested BSI in our samples presented characteristics such as low person separation, stability across samples, and little differential item functioning. Most African American and white students identified themselves on the low end of the categories in a 0–4 rating scale, indicating their low endorsement of the items on the BSI. Rasch analyses were completed with the original scale but also collapsing the scale to three points, with some increase in separation and reliability for the collapsed scale. As anticipated, differences in mean BSI scores were found for mental health-related variables. Implications for theory and research on multicultural health scales are discussed as are effects of item skewness on analyses.