Counseling psychology

Sexual violence (SV) is a significant problem that impacts women on college campuses at an alarming rate (Fischer et al., 2018). The body of research published regarding women’s experiences with SV on college campuses disproportionately focuses on Caucasian women (Oney, 2018). Few studies address the specific concerns of minority women and their experiences with SV and even fewer studies serve to identify contributing factors to their recovery. In addition to the prevalence of SV on college campuses, the rates of rape myth acceptance (RMA) that have been studied among this age group focus primarily on White cisgender men and women, and again, are understudied in women who identify as racial/ethnic minorities (Oney, 2018).
Research correlates high levels of RMA with a decreased willingness to accept recovery-promoting assistance post-SV, which reduces a survivor’s willingness to access to services such as counseling (Oney, 2018). The objective of this study was to determine if rape myth acceptance predicts recovery self-efficacy and if experiences of SV serve as a mediating variable between recovery-self efficacy and RMA in ethnic and racial minority college-age women.
The results of this study indicate that RMA does not predict or mediate the variables of recovery self-efficacy and SV. A linear regression analysis was used to establish if RMA predicts recovery self-efficacy, the factors within the scales were not correlated and additional tests yielded non-statistically significant results; (b = -0.02, t = -0.29, p = .77). The study also was unable to provide evidence of experiences of SV being a mediating variable between RMA and recovery self-efficacy through a mediation analysis (b =.00, SE = .002, 95% CI = [-.004, .004], p =.89).

Mindfulness – nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment - has recently garnered significant attention in psychological literature for decreasing clinical symptoms. Certain personality traits such as emotionality, however, can predict higher levels of anxiety and depression. The present study examines whether mindfulness mediates the relationship between personality traits and perceived stress and depression in nonclinical populations. A total of 321 participants from two samples—American and Japanese undergraduates —self-reported scores on measures of mindfulness, personality, perceived stress and depression. Cross-cultural comparisons following measurement invariance tests also allow for insight into the definition of mindfulness, especially given the Eastern religion origin of mindfulness. Results demonstrate that mindfulness partially mediates the relationships between personality clinical symptoms, particularly for extraversion and conscientiousness. These results can play an important role for developing mindfulness-based treatment and prevention programs and bridge an important gap between Western conceived and Eastern religion mindfulness.