At the heart of transformational learning is meaning-making—the act of "making sense" of an experience. A review of the literature on adult and transformational learning, adult development, and counseling revealed that there are few detailed descriptions of the process of meaning-making. The purpose of this study was to understand how meaning is constructed in the lives of those diagnosed as HIV-positive. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a sample of 18 HIV-positive men and women. Using the constant comparative method, an inductive analysis of the data revealed a process for meaning-making that involves a period of initial reaction to the diagnosis, a catalytic experience that sets into motion the meaning-making process, and three distinct yet interrelated phases of reflection and activity. The findings not only provide a clearly delineated description of the meaning-making process, they also reveal unique contributions that underscore the centrality of meaning-making in transformational learning.

Gay, lesbian, and queer individuals with a Christian upbringing often experience conflict between religion and sexual identity. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand how gay, lesbian, and queer-identified individuals with a Christian upbringing resolve conflict between sexual identity and religious beliefs. Analysis of in-depth interviews with 15 participants led to 3 conclusions. First, resolving the discord between sexual identity and religious beliefs is a five-stage process of internal conflict resolution. Second, personal and contextual factors affect every aspect of the resolution process. Finally, faith development and sexual identity development are intertwined and fluid constructions.

This mixed-methods study describes the norms supporting male-to-female and female-to-male dating violence in a diverse sample of ninth graders. The quantitative study, based on student surveys (n = 624), compared norms supporting dating violence by sex, race/ethnicity, and dating status, and it examined the relation between dating violence norms and physical aggression and victimization. The qualitative study, based on 12 focus groups, explored participants' views of dating aggression. Findings revealed more support for female-to-male aggression, greater acceptance of norms supporting dating violence by non-White students, a strong association between norms and physical aggression but only in males, and a high correlation between victimization and perpetration. Participants rejected male-to-female dating aggression because of peer pressure not to hit girls, parents' beliefs that denounce dating violence, the superior physical advantage of boys over girls, and legal consequences. Results highlight the importance of culturally sensitive and gender-specific interventions.

Despite evidence documenting the negative consequences, psychological dating violence occurs frequently in adolescent dating relationships. No information exists on the trajectories that adolescents follow and their association to nonphysical peer violence. The sample comprised 624 randomly selected 6th graders. In yearly surveys from 6th through 12th grade, 550 of the 624 students reported dating at least twice during the 3 months prior to completing the survey. These students responded to questions about frequency of engagement in psychological dating violence perpetration and victimization. We used Proc TRAJ to identify developmental trajectories of behavior over time and generalized estimating equation models to examine the associations of the trajectories and peer aggression. Adolescents followed three distinct developmental trajectories related to psychological dating violence victimization and perpetration: low, increasing, and high. Based on the joint probabilities of victimization and perpetration, we identified four predominant groups: low victimization/low perpetration (LVLP; 36%), increasing victimization/increasing perpetration (40%), high victimization/high perpetration (HVHP; 15%), and increasing victimization/low perpetration (IVLP; 7%). The LVLP had significantly more boys and White students; the HVHP group had an even gender distribution and more African-American students. For all groups, peer aggression decreased from Grade 6 to 12; students in the HVHP group reported the highest peer aggression, and students in the LVLP reported the lowest peer aggression. Findings suggest a strong, reciprocal relationship in the developmental trajectories of adolescents who experience and perpetrate psychological dating violence. Those highly engaged in these behaviors were also more likely to be violent toward peers.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) poses one of the greatest health threats of modern times. The Internet provides unparalleled access to resources that can assist individuals coping with HIV infection. Despite the promise of online resources to help individuals manage and cope with their illness, few studies have investigated the impact of their use. Those that have looked primarily at Internet use from a group perspective. These studies were usually "bounded" as well, focusing on electronic support groups or highly structured computer-based support systems that offer select users prescribed resource options. Little is known about how individuals who are "on their own"--without access to these services--use the vast, unstructured array of resources available through the Internet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Internet use on the coping ability of HIV-positive individuals. This research study employed a descriptive qualitative design that used indepth, semi structured, face-to-face interviews for data collection. The sample of 10 purposefully selected HIV-positive individuals reflected diversity in gender, age, race, education, employment, number of years living with HIV, and Internet use. Data analysis guided by the constant comparative method revealed that the impact of Internet use on coping ability involved three themes: The Internet promotes empowerment, augments social support, and facilitates helping others.