The Conceptualization of the Positive Cognitive Triad and Associations with Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents.

The positive cognitive triad (positive cognitions about the self, world, and future) has been considered a protective factor against depressive symptoms. This study examines three conceptualizations of the positive cognitive triad and their relation to depressive symptoms. Analyses were replicated in two samples in order to provide evidence for the validity of findings.

Developing and Applying the Propensity Score to Make Causal Inferences: Variable Selection and Stratification.

This Monte Carlo simulation examined the effects of variable selection (combinations of confounders with four patterns of relationships to outcome and assignment to treatment) and number of strata (5, 10, or 20) in propensity score analyses. The focus was on how the variations affected the average effect size compared to quasi-assignment without adjustment for bias. Results indicate that if a propensity score model does not include variables strongly related to both outcome and assignment, not only will bias not decrease, but it may possibly increase.

The Psychotherapy Outcome Problem: The Development of the Outcome Stability Index.

Objective: Psychotherapy research commonly utilizes clients' last session score as an indicator of treatment outcome. We examined whether this last session score is consistent with what would be predicted based on clients' general trajectory in psychological functioning across sessions. We focused on the unstandardized residual variance at the last session, as this represents the degree to which the session score is divergent (or not) from what is predicted from the previous sessions (i.

Transgender community belongingness as a mediator between strength of transgender identity and well-being.

This study examined transgender community belongingness as a mediator between strength of transgender identity and well-being. A total of 571 transgender adults (n = 209 transgender women, n = 217 transgender men, and n = 145 nonbinary-identified individuals) completed an online survey assessing transgender community belongingness, strength of transgender identity (operationalized as the extent to which a person self-categorizes their identity as transgender and the extent to which they believe their gender transition to be important to their self-definition), and well-being (using measures of self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and psychological well-being). Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

Racial/ethnic disparities in client unilateral termination: The role of therapists' cultural comfort.

Objective: There is growing evidence highlighting the existence of inequities in mental health treatments that occur on the basis of client race and ethnicity for some therapists. In particular, therapists vary in the degree to which their racial/ethnic minority clients unilaterally terminate as compared to White clients. Although therapists have been shown to be a key source of racial/ethnic mental health treatment disparities, less is known about what predicts which therapists will have larger disparities among their clients.

Trajectories of Change in Psychotherapy.

Objective: The current study used multilevel growth mixture modeling to ascertain groups of patients who had similar trajectories in their psychological functioning over the course of short-term treatment.

Method: A total of 10,854 clients completed a measure of psychological functioning before each session. Psychological functioning was measured by the Behavioral Health Measure, which is an index of well-being, symptoms, and life-functioning.

Multicultural competencies: What are we measuring?

The current study examined the validity of the client-rated version of the Cross-Cultural Counseling Inventory-Revised (CCCI-R). The first phase of this study involved a content validation of the CCCI-R by experts who had publications in the fields of multicultural competencies (MCCs) and psychotherapy research. Of the 20 items on the CCCI-R, 7 were rated as appropriate for client use.

Good-enough level and dose-effect models: Variation among outcomes and therapists.

Objective: The current study examined the good-enough level (GEL) and dose-effect model on three outcome variables: well-being, symptom distress, and life functioning, while accounting for therapist effects. The dose-effect model assumes the rate of change is consistent across clients, and the GEL model assumes that the rate of change will vary according to the total length of treatment.

Method: The sample included 13,664 clients who completed 2-100 sessions of therapy.

Teachers or psychologists: who should facilitate depression prevention programs in schools?

The current study evaluates a depression prevention program for adolescents led by psychologists vs. teachers in comparison to a control. The universal school-based prevention program has shown its efficacy in several studies when implemented by psychologists.

Anxiety and depression in transgender individuals: the roles of transition status, loss, social support, and coping.

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to examine facilitative and avoidant coping as mediators between distress and transition status, social support, and loss.

Method: A total of 351 transgender individuals (n = 226 transgender women and n = 125 transgender men) participated in this study. Participants completed measures on transgender identity, family history of mental health concerns, perceptions of loss, coping, depression, and anxiety.

'No-show': therapist racial/ethnic disparities in client unilateral termination.

In the present study, the authors examined the source of racial/ethnic minority (REM) disparities in unilateral termination (i.e., the client ending therapy without informing the therapist)--a form of dropout that is associated with poor alliance and outcome.

A randomized trial to evaluate the course of effects of a program to prevent adolescent depressive symptoms over 12 months.

Although few prevention studies have been designed to investigate the course of prevention effects over time, it seems that the effects on depressive symptoms increase from post-intervention to 6-month follow-up but then decrease with longer lags to follow-up. Furthermore, previous prevention studies have found differential intervention effects for boys and girls without testing possible explanations for this effect. The present randomized control group study with 301 8th-grade students examined the effects of a depression prevention program from baseline until 12-month follow-up.

Bringing the psychotherapist back: basic concepts for reading articles examining therapist effects using multilevel modeling.

Psychotherapy research examining the influence of psychotherapists on clients' clinical outcomes can provide valuable insights for enhancing psychotherapists' effectiveness. Psychotherapy data often have a hierarchical structure--multiple clients treated by the same psychotherapist. As such, researchers are more commonly turning to the use of advanced statistical methods, namely multilevel modeling (MLM), to address this complexity.