The mediating role of perceived social support in the relationships between general causality orientations and locus of control with psychopathological symptoms

The main aim of this study is to investigate the mediator role of perceived social support in the relationship between general causality orientations and locus of control with psychopathological symptoms. Total 751 participants were consisted of 558 female ages between 17 and 36 (Female M = 19.03, SD = 0.09) (74.3%), 192 male ages between 17 and 37 (Male M = 20.71, SD = 0.17) (25.6%) and a participant who did not provide any gender information. We used the General Causality Orientations Scale (GCOS) and Locus of Control Scale (LOCS) in order to understand the basic motivation for the emergence of behavior. Beck depression Inventory (BDI) used to evaluate the psychological symptoms for depression, Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) for obsessive-compulsive symptomology and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) for overall psychological distress and finally to evaluate mediating role of social support used the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS). According to the results, having internal locus of control and autonomy orientation have shown positive effect to statistically significant predictors for psychological symptomology, having external locus of control and impersonal orientation have shown negative effect. Perceived social support was found to be suited for the role of partial mediator, and social support from friends was found to have more positive roles than social support from family. In conclusion, exceedingly considerable to conduct further research in order to contribute to the understanding of the mediating role of general causality orientations and locus of control with psychopathology symptomology.

Transgender Resiliency: A Comparison of Transgender and Cisgender Therapy Clients’ Family Functioning and Psychological Symptomology

Existing literature often suggests transgender people face increased vulnerabilities in comparison to cisgender people and poorer mental and physical health outcomes. However, studies are increasingly exploring resilience of transgender people and factors contributing to positive coping. The current study compared transgender to cisgender clients at a University-based couple and family therapy center on self-reported psychological symptomology and family functioning. Transgender individuals did not differ significantly from cisgender individuals on family functioning, however transgender individuals reported significantly fewer symptoms on all twelve subscales of psychological symptomology, despite lower income and lower levels of education. Results suggest transgender individuals may develop unique traits or processes allowing them to more effectively cope with stressors, supporting the presence of resiliency in this population.

Orthorexia Nervosa: An Examination of the Prevalence, Correlates, and Associated Impairment in a University Sample

Orthorexia nervosa is characterized by an obsession with eating “pure” or “healthy” foods. Despite emergent interest, few studies have been published about orthorexia to date. This study examined the phenomenology, correlates, and associated impairment of orthorexia in 404 undergraduate students. A battery of self-report questionnaires assessed orthorexia symptoms, related functional impairment, disordered eating, perfectionism, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, appearance anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. In total, 35.4% of participants endorsed elevated orthorexia symptoms, with primary concerns related to guilt associated with dietary transgressions and experiencing control when eating in a desired manner. Orthorexia symptoms demonstrated small to medium correlations with associated impairment variables, perfectionism, disordered eating, appearance anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Mean differences were observed across all variables (except depressive symptoms) between individuals elevated and not elevated on orthorexia symptoms. Collectively, this study suggests a relatively high frequency of orthorexia symptoms using current methods (which have significant limitations) and demonstrate fairly modest associations with psychological symptomology.

Applicability of the Goodness-of-Fit Hypothesis to Coping with Daily Hassles

This study examined the applicability of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) goodness-of-fit hypothesis to the relationship between college students' daily hassles and psychological symptomology. Specifically, the model predicts that, given a daily hassle which one may change, it is more functional to alter the source of the daily hassle than it is to let the stressor go unchecked and simply try to manage the negative emotions produced by the event. Conversely, given a stressor one cannot alter it is more functional to regulate the emotions produced by the event than to engage in repeated futile attempts to change an uncontrollable stressor. It was predicted that subjects who tended to violate these principles across multiple daily hassles would be characterized by the highest psychological symptomology. Although the 69 college students' frequency of daily hassles was positively associated with psychological symptomology and students tended to match the method of coping with the appraised controllability of their daily hassles, no support for the goodness-of-fit hypothesis was found.