"Counseling Psychologist, The"

doi: 10.1177/0011000020973004pmid: N/A

Lins de Holanda Coelho, Gabriel; Pereira Monteiro, Renan; Vilar, Roosevelt; H. P. Hanel, Paul; Cunha Moizéis, Heloísa Bárbara; Gouveia, Valdiney Veloso

doi: 10.1177/0011000020949146pmid: N/A

Perfectionism can be understood as a personality trait that establishes excessively high standards for the performance of individuals and ostensibly critical self-evaluations. It is associated with a range of variables, such as anxiety, suicidal tendencies, depression, and low satisfaction with life. The Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS) overcame some limitations of previous measures (e.g., ambiguity, nonnecessary factors). In the present research, we provide psychometric evidence of the adequacy of the SAPS in Brazil. The original two-factor structure was replicated. The items showed good discrimination, level of difficulty, and informativeness for the overall measure. The SAPS also presented acceptable reliability levels, full measurement invariance across participants’ gender, and partial invariance across countries (Brazil and the United States). Finally, perfectionism was meaningfully associated with personality traits and human values. In sum, our findings suggest that the SAPS is psychometrically adequate for further use in Brazil.

Bikos, Lynette H.; Forman, Rebekah; Patton, Kaitlin M.

doi: 10.1177/0011000020951861pmid: N/A

Adjustment to the interpersonal and environmental contexts of a host country is critical for sojourners. Founded in social cognitive career theory, the Self-Efficacy for Sociocultural Adaptation Scale (SESCAS) is a multidimensional scale that assesses self-efficacy for three types of tasks (affective, behavioral, cognitive) in two cultural contexts (environmental, interpersonal). We conducted item-total correlations, confirmatory factor analyses, reliability analyses (test-retest, internal consistency), within-scale convergent and discriminant validity, convergent and discriminant validity, and predictive validity assessments across an initial sample of the general population (n = 227), a cross-validation sample of undergraduate students enrolled in education abroad (n = 546), and a predictive validity sample of re-entered education abroad undergraduates (n = 74). Psychometric properties of the scale support its use as a total score and as various subfactor constellations. Researchers are encouraged to use the SESCAS to explore how self-efficacy for sociocultural adaptation may contribute to global learning outcomes and well-being.

Garrison, Yunkyoung Loh; Rice, Alexander; Liu, William Ming

doi: 10.1177/0011000020962072pmid: N/A

The purpose of this study is to develop the American Meritocracy Myth Stress Scale (AMMSS), capable of assessing college students’ psychological stress within the context of the pervasive myth of meritocracy. This psychological stress stems from the association between their perceptions of their own hard work and social class mobility. Underpinned by the social class worldview model-revised, American meritocracy myth stress is conceptualized as the psychological stress that individuals experience when disequilibrium exists between the dominant and pervasive meritocracy ideology and their efforts to climb the social ladder through hard work. Three substudies were conducted for exploratory factor analysis (Study 1: n = 887); confirmatory factor analysis, validity, and measurement invariance (Study 2: n = 903); and 2-week test–retest reliability (Study 3: n = 37). The results of these studies provide empirical support for the AMMSS. We discuss implications for practice, advocacy, training, and future research.

Cherry, Marcus A.; Wilcox, Melanie M.

doi: 10.1177/0011000020954534pmid: N/A

Women regularly endure sexist microaggressions, which are often associated with anger, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and trauma. The cumulative effects of sexist microaggressions may result in internalized sexism and undermine self-compassion. Notably, prolonged exposure to sexism is associated with trauma symptoms; however, the traumatic effects of sexist microaggressions have remained largely theoretical. Thus, we examined the role of sexist microaggressions as a traumatic stressor and evaluated self-compassion and internalized misogyny as mediators of sexism-based traumatic stress. With a sample of 370 adult cisgender women, results suggested that sexist microaggressions significantly and positively predicted trauma symptomology, and that this relationship was partially mediated by self-compassion but not internalized misogyny. Results supported sexism as a traumatic stressor, and low self-compassion as a mechanism through which sexist microaggressions result in traumatic stress. We discuss implications for research and practice.

Budge, Stephanie L.; Orzechowski, Maria; Schams, Samantha; Lavender, Amy; Onsgard, Kate; Leibowitz, Scott; Katz-Wise, Sabra L.

doi: 10.1177/0011000020945051pmid: N/A

Increased scientific understanding explains why transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) youth report more mental health concerns than their cisgender peers. However, the emotional processes of TGNC youth have not been assessed beyond mental health diagnoses. Our aim in this study was to investigate how TGNC youth understand, experience, and label their emotional experiences. We conduced a two-tiered qualitative analysis of 20 predominantly White TGNC youths, ages 7–18 years, resulting in the creation of the appraisal, valence, arousal theory of emotions. Within the theory, emotions are categorized in four quadrants: Reflective/Unpleasant, Anticipatory/Unpleasant, Reflective/Pleasant, and Anticipatory/Pleasant. Results indicated that the majority of TGNC youths’ emotions were located in the Reflective/Unpleasant and Reflective/Pleasant quadrants. The current study highlights TGNC youths’ appraisal of emotions and the potential impact on youths’ cognitive and emotional processes. Interventions should attend to pleasant and unpleasant aspects of emotions while also focusing on youths’ understanding of the context of their emotions.