Y. Joel Wong

Strength-Centered Therapy: A social constructionist, virtues-based psychotherapy.

This article describes Strength-Centered Therapy, a new therapeutic model based on the positive psychology of character strengths and virtues as well as social constructionist perspectives on psychotherapy. The contributions of the positive psychology of character strengths and social constructionist conceptualizations of psychotherapy are examined. In addition, the theoretical assumptions, applications, and limitations of Strength-Centered Therapy are discussed. It is argued that Strength- Centered Therapy might contribute to the revival of character strengths and virtues in psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Risk and Protective Factors Associated With Asian American Students' Suicidal Ideation: A Multicampus, National Study

Risk and protective factors associated with suicidal ideation among 1,377 Asian American college students across 66 U.S. campuses were examined. The results indicated a variety of factors were associated with morbid thoughts: medication for mental health concerns, gender, GPA, undergraduate status, religious affiliation, living with a family member, living with a partner, and active participation in student organizations. Furthermore, some of these factors were related to serious consideration of suicide: medication for mental health concerns, undergraduate status, living with family, and active participation in student organizations. Among Asian Americans who seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months, recent family, academic, and financial problems were the top three most frequent significant events occurring before the development of suicidal ideation.

Moderation effects of perfectionism and discrimination on interpersonal factors and suicide ideation

This study examined the moderating effects of 3 risk factors-perfectionistic personal discrepancy, perfectionistic family discrepancy, and discrimination-on the associations between interpersonal risk factors (i.e., perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness) and suicide ideation in a sample of 466 Asian international students studying in the United States. We focused specifically on perceived discrimination and maladaptive perfectionism as moderating risk factors to Joiners (2005) interpersonal theory of suicidal behavior. We incorporated both personal and family discrepancy as indicators of maladaptive perfectionism. Personal discrepancy refers to the tendency of individuals to perceive that they failed to meet their own standards, whereas family discrepancy refers to individuals tendency to perceive that they failed to meet their families standards. Results highlight the significance of studying this overlooked population in the suicide ideation literature. Maladaptive perfectionism (i.e., personal and family discrepancy) as well as discrimination were found to be positively associated with suicide ideation. Moreover, family discrepancy and perceived discrimination were found to intensify the associations between interpersonal risk factors (i.e., perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness) and suicide ideation. These findings underscore the importance of considering interpersonal factors in addressing suicidal risks with populations from collectivistic cultures. Research and clinical implications are also addressed.

Predictors of Asian American Adolescents' Suicide Attempts: A Latent Class Regression Analysis

Although suicide-related outcomes among Asian American adolescents are a serious public health problem in the United States, research in this area has been relatively sparse. To address this gap in the empirical literature, this study examined subgroups of Asian American adolescents for whom family, school, and peer relationships exerted differential effects on suicide attempts. Data were drawn from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health dataset and included responses from a national sample of 959 Asian American adolescents (48.0% girls; average age at Wave 2xa0=xa016.43). A latent class regression was used to assess the optimal number of latent classes (i.e., subgroups of participants) that explained the associations between family, school, and peer relationships and subsequent suicide attempts. Three latent classes were identified. Most participants belonged to a latent class in which family, school, and peer relationships were protective factors. However, stronger school relationships and peer relationships were found to be risk factors in two other latent classes. The three latent classes also differed significantly in terms of suicide attempts, gender, and acculturation. The practical implications of this study, particularly for educators and mental health professionals, are discussed.

The Racial-Cultural Framework: A Framework for Addressing Suicide-Related Outcomes in Communities of Color

Suicide-related outcomes are a major public health challenge in communities of color in the United States. To address these challenges, this Major Contribution makes theoretical, empirical, and practice-related contributions to scholarship on suicide-related outcomes among people of color. In this article, the authors present a new framework to conceptualize previous suicidology scholarship, address existing literature gaps, and inform counseling psychologists’ future work on suicide-related outcomes in U.S. communities of color. The framework consists of three components and nine principles that highlight the types of constructs, populations, and preventive interventions that should be emphasized in theory, research, and practice addressing suicide-related outcomes in communities of color. The authors explain why suicide-related outcomes in communities of color deserve attention, describe the framework, and discuss implications of the framework for future practice and training. It is hoped that this framework can serve as a resource and impetus for new paradigms of suicidology work in communities of color.

The Inventory of Subjective Masculinity Experiences: Development and Psychometric Properties:

The purpose of this article is to describe the development of the Inventory of Subjective Masculinity Experiences (ISME) and to provide preliminary evidence for the psychometric properties of this scale. Subjective masculinity experiences are defined as mens subjective experiences of what it means to be a man (e.g., As a man, I need to be strong). Participants (220 men) completed the sentence, “As a man…” 10 times. Participants open-ended responses were coded according to 23 dimensions of subjective masculinity experiences. Five of the twenty-three ISME dimensions included responses that comprised at least 5 percent of all participant responses: Family, Responsibility, Emotional Toughness, Work, and Physical Body. Preliminary evidence for the convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity of these dimensions was provided. The ISME-Family and ISME-Responsibility were negatively associated with psychological distress, whereas the ISME-Work was positively related to psychological distress. The ISME-Emotional Toughness was negatively related to life satisfaction. The use of the ISME in clinical and research settings is discussed.

Multicultural training on American Indian issues: Testing the effectiveness of an intervention to change attitudes toward Native-themed mascots.

This study investigated attitudes toward Native-themed mascots in the context of color-blind racial attitudes. Results indicate that higher color-blind racial attitudes are related to lower awareness of the offensiveness of Native-themed mascots. The researchers tested the effectiveness of a training intervention designed to produce attitudinal change among masters level counseling students. Results demonstrate that the training intervention produced significantly greater attitudinal change than did a general training session on culturally sensitive counseling practices with American Indian clients, particularly among students with high color-blind racial attitudes. Results also indicate that this training intervention on Native-themed mascots contributed to lower color-blind racial attitudes, thus increasing the students awareness of societal racism. Psychological training programs may benefit from augmenting their multicultural counseling curriculum by specifically addressing the offensive nature of Native-themed mascots. An awareness of the marginalization of American Indians, particularly as it involves racialized mascots, can reduce color-blind racial attitudes, and may provide psychologists with a more comprehensive understanding of aspects of the reality of American Indian clients that contribute to their worldview.

Male Asian International Students' Perceived Racial Discrimination, Masculine Identity, and Subjective Masculinity Stress: A Moderated Mediation Model

This study examined male Asian international college students perceptions of racial discrimination, subjective masculinity stress, centrality of masculine identity, and psychological distress by testing a moderated mediation model. Participants were 160 male Asian international college students from 2 large public universities. Participants perceived racial discrimination was positively related to their subjective masculinity stress only at high (but not low) levels of masculine identity centrality. Additionally, subjective masculinity stress was positively related to psychological distress, although this association was stronger among those who reported high levels of masculine identity centrality. The authors also detected a moderated mediation effect in which subjective masculinity stress mediated the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and psychological distress only at high (but not low) levels of masculine identity centrality. These findings contribute to the counseling psychology literature by highlighting the connections between race- and gender-related stressors as well as the relevance of masculine identity to an understanding of mens mental health.

The Psychology of Encouragement Theory, Research, and Applications

Despite the frequent use of encouragement in everyday social life, encouragement remains an understudied topic in positive psychology and counseling psychology. To address this gap, this article resolves ambiguity in terminology and synthesizes diverse streams of theorizing and research to propose an integrative psychological science of encouragement. The author offers a definition of encouragement, delineates its conceptual boundaries, and proposes a conceptual model that provides a taxonomy of encouragement processes. Known as the Tripartite Encouragement Model (TEM), this model charts the foci, features, and levels of encouragement. Encouragement is conceptualized, at different levels, as an act of interpersonal communication, a character strength, as well as an ecological group norm. The author explains how encouragement can enhance the quality of counseling practice as well as practical applications in other areas of psychology. Finally, the author delineates how the TEM can guide future research on the psychology of encouragement.

Vietnamese American Immigrant Parents: A Pilot Parenting Intervention.

The main goal of this mixed-methods study was to examine the perceived effectiveness of a brief, community-based parenting intervention for Vietnamese American immigrant parents. A key component of the intervention involved participants listening to Vietnamese American adolescents’ discussions about their relationships with their parents utilizing a fishbowl group format. After the parenting intervention, a focus group interview was conducted with eight participants to examine their reactions to the intervention. The following qualitative themes emerged from the focus group: (a) increased insight on parent—child relations, (b) need for improvement in communication skills, (c) parent—child cultural gaps, (d) issues of trust between parent and child, and (e) benefits from participation in the workshop. Quantitative findings revealed that after the intervention, participants reported greater intention to show expressive love to their children as well as increased parental empathy.