Publications by authors named "Paul Handal"

Previous research suggests that, despite the commonality of mental illness in the United States, the majority of U.S. individuals with mental illness do not seek treatment.

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Background: There is little systematic information about intelligence and academic achievement among sheltered homeless adults. This study adds descriptive data on intelligence and academic achievement, examines discrepancies across these concepts, and explores the associations among demographic and psychosocial characteristics in the context of intelligence categories and discrepancies.

Methods: We studied intelligence, academic achievement, and discrepancies between IQ and academic achievement among 188 individuals experiencing homelessness who were systematically recruited from a large, urban, 24-hour homeless recovery center.

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Traumatic experiences that become self-defining impact posttraumatic outcomes, yet exact mechanisms are currently being studied. Recent research has used the Centrality of Event Scale (CES). However, the factor structure of the CES has been in question.

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Conflict has deleterious effects on the adjustment of children, adolescence, and emerging adults. The literature is less robust on the adverse effects of conflict avoidance on adjustment as well as the beneficial effect of resolution in these age groups. The literature is markedly sparser on these relationships in adults.

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Anniversary reactions are an accepted part of bereavement, but recent research demonstrates that ARs can be seen across many traumatic events. The present study explores how constructivist theories could characterize ARs caused by the death of a loved one or sexual violence. = 234 women answered questionnaires regarding their posttraumatic adjustment, meaning made of the trauma, trauma centrality, and social validation or invalidation of their trauma.

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Previous research suggests that both poverty and minority status significantly influence academic achievement. Nativity schools, which have been extensively researched, have been found effective for students coming from low socioeconomic statuses and diverse backgrounds. Differences were examined between an urban public school district and an urban parochial school that uses the Nativity model (henceforth referred to as Nativity School).

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Although the depression and anxiety subscales (DASS-D and DASS-A) of the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales are commonly used in adolescents, few studies have investigated the convergent validity of/potential cutoff scores for these subscales in U.S. adolescents.

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Religion, science and government have been institutions throughout the ages that have helped us deal with fears and threats like SARS-CoV-2. However, reliance on any one of these institutions exclusively has limitations and therefore are sources of disappointments. The SARS-CoV-2 is a reminder that we can and need to blend these seemingly divergent views of science, religion and government.

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This study examined possible differences in self-reported psychological distress and need of treatment in two samples of well-educated adults, which were obtained from two larger studies that were conducted separately in 2005 and 2018. Psychological distress and need for treatment were reported using the Langner Symptom Survey, a psychometrically robust measure of nonspecific distress that provides validated cutoff scores for those in need of receiving mental healthcare services. Treatment utilization was examined through self-report in which respondents indicated whether they had never received treatment, previously received treatment, or were currently receiving treatment.

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A review of the literature investigating the relationship between religion and spirituality and broad personality traits reveals methodological limitations. The present study sought to contribute to the present literature by investigating differences on personality traits among men and women who identified as either religious only (R), spiritual only (S), both spiritual and religious (B), or neither spiritual nor religious (N). One thousand thirty-seven (1037) adults (M age = 36.

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We begin with a review of death anxiety in emerging adults and then report on a descriptive survey study using the Revised Livingston-Zimet Death Anxiety Scale (RLZDAS). Research questions dealt with the RLZDAS' factor structure, demographic patterns, and hypothesized correlations with distress and religiosity/spirituality. We surveyed university-enrolled emerging adults (n = 706).

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This study examined differences between male and female emerging adults on low, moderate, and high levels of religious integration in relation to psychological distress. Participants were recruited from undergraduate courses at a religiously affiliated, Midwestern university and completed the integration scale of the Personal Religious Inventory and the Langner Symptom Survey. Due to significantly higher reports of religious integration in female participants, the sample was separated by sex.

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This study investigated the dimensionality of the Langner Symptom Survey and replicated a recent finding regarding a clinically validated cutoff score in emerging adults. Nine hundred thirteen (631 females and 282 males) students at a private university in the Midwestern United States participated online as part of a larger study and completed the Langner Symptom Survey and a demographic questionnaire. Results from exploratory principal components and confirmatory factor analyses provided support for both a six- and three-factor model of the Langner Symptom Survey, with the three-factor model offering marginally better confirmatory fit indices and greater parsimony of interpretation.

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The present study provided a methodological critique regarding psychometric investigations of the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) and its variants. Nine hundred seventeen (630 females and 287 males) university students (M age = 19.24) completed the DUREL, the Personal Religious Inventory, and the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale online.

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This study examined measures of religion and spirituality in a sample of male and female emerging adult college students whose parents were either divorced or intact using the Personal Religious Inventory, the Duke University Religion Index, the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale, the Spiritual Transcendence Scale, and the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale. Data were collected online, and 66% of participants received extra credit for participating. A main effect of sex was found, as females reported significantly higher scores than men on all but one measure of religion and spirituality, and the dataset was separated by sex.

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This study sought to determine whether measures of religion and spirituality could discriminate between emerging adult males who self-identified as both religious and spiritual (B), religious only (R), spiritual only (S), or neither (N). Two religion measures and three spirituality measures were employed to assess the constructs. It was predicted that those who self-identify as religious only would score significantly higher on the religion measures than those who identified as spiritual only, and those that identified as spiritual only would score significantly higher on the spirituality measures than those who identified as religious only.

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This study examined the relationship between and among religion, religious coping, and positive/negative psychological adjustment and investigated whether the four religious coping styles of Self-Directing, Deferring, Collaborative, and Turning to Religion would significantly moderate the relationship between religion and psychological adjustment. Each of the four religious coping measures were significant moderators between religion and positive and negative adjustment. However, the high self-directing and high religion group showed opposite results from the other three coping styles, in that they were the most maladjusted and least satisfied with life compared to the other three integration and religious coping groups.

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This study was a follow up investigation of Brawer et al.'s (Prof Psychol Res Pr 33(2):203-206, 2002) survey of education and training of clinical psychologists in religion/spirituality. Directors of clinical training were surveyed to determine whether changes had occurred in the coverage of religion and spirituality through course work, research, supervision, and in the systematic coverage of the content area.

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