The study examined the relationship among social connectedness, dysfunctional interpersonal behaviors, and psychological distress. The authors specifically hypothesized that the direct negative effect of social connectedness on psychological distress would be mediated by dysfunctional interpersonal behaviors. Prior to testing the hypothesis, the authors revised the original Social Connectedness Scale (SCS; R. M. Lee & S. B. Robbins, 1995). Studies 1 and 2 describe the revision and validation of the SCS on separate samples of college students. In Study 3, the authors surveyed 184 college students and found support for the mediation hypothesis on general psychological distress. The importance of assessing social connectedness and tailoring counseling interventions for people with low connectedness and dysfunctional interpersonal behaviors is addressed.
Although multicultural awareness in counseling has risen substantially in the last decade, little research has examined counseling utilization and outcomes for ethnic minorities on university campuses. A sample of 1,166 African American, Asian American, Caucasian, and Latino help-seeking university students from over 40 universities nationwide filled out the Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ45) at the first and last therapy sessions. Caucasian students attended significantly more sessions than all other groups. Greatest distress was found at intake in Asian American students, followed by Latino, African American, and Caucasian students. All groups appeared to benefit from therapy, as noted by a decrease in symptomatology, but none of the groups met the criteria for clinically significant change for the OQ45. Implications for therapists working with minority clients are discussed.
counseling center staff members have expressed a growing concern about the perceived increasing severity of college students' presenting problems. The main goal of this study was to explore the nature and severity of college students' presenting problems by establishing a baseline measure. The research summarized here was derived from 3 large-scale studies involving 1 nonclinical and 2 clinical samples surveyed by counseling centers that were members of the Consortium of Counseling Psychological Services in Higher Education. The results of this study provided some evidence for the claim that the severity and chronicity of college students' presenting problems has been increasing over time. The results of the study were discussed in light of the existing literature and conclusions were drawn. Suggestions for university counseling centers were provided.
This study examined the dose-effect relationship between the number of sessions and therapeutic outcome in a large, nationwide counseling center research consortium. A positive relationship was found between the outcome of counseling and the number of sessions attended. The results of this study support the effectiveness of brief psychotherapy. In recent years, the dose-response metaphor borrowed from pharmacology research has gained prominence in psychotherapy outcome research, as well (see Jones, Bigelow, & Preston, 1999, for example). One of the major contributions to this type of research is the influential meta-analysis performed by Howard, Kopta, Krause, and Orlinsky (1986), who proposed a doseeffect model linking the dosage of therapy sessions attended to the improvement clients experienced by attending each session. The log of the number of sessions became the dose, and the normalized probability of improvement was defined as the effect, using probits as the unit of analysis. The researchers constructed their dosage model by probit analysis of 15 previous outcome studies, some dating as far back as 1950, and computed the predicted improvement session by session. The results verified that the longer patients remained in therapy, the greater the gain. Results also revealed that 15% of patients improve between intake and the first session (presumably due to spontaneous remission and the ameliorative effects of having sought treatment), 50% improve after 8 sessions, and 75% improve after 26 sessions. Inspired by these results, other researchers began to analyze the dose effect for
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