Counseling Psychology Program News

Counseling Psychology Student Receives Dissertation Grant to Study Trauma in Incarcerated Women

2012-05-04T10:19:00.003-05:00

Rose Gonzalez, a doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology Program, just learned that she will receive a $1,000 grant for her dissertation from the University of Southern Mississippi Committee for Services and Resources for Women. Her project is titled "The Effect of Trauma on Criminogenic Thinking and Mental Health in Incarcerated Women: an Exploratory Study."

Rose works with Dr. Mandracchia as a member of the Forensic Psychology Research Team.

Congratulations, Rose!

Master's Program Welcomes Class of 2012-13

2012-05-02T12:53:00.003-05:00

We are happy to welcome the following students into the master's program for the 2012-13 academic year:

Bailey Bennett
Missy Brame
Kaila Christman
Claire Corban
Mary Latady
Whitney Mixon
Chris Morabito
Ben Wu

Kari Leavell Wins Shafer Scholarship

2012-04-27T11:09:00.000-05:00

The Bill Shafer Scholarship was recently awarded to Kari Leavell for her outstanding work with Student Counseling Services at the University of Southern Mississippi. Congratulations, Kari!

Doctoral Program Welcomes Class of 2012-13

2012-04-18T13:52:00.000-05:00

We are happy to welcome the following students into the doctoral program for the 2012-13 academic year:

Caitlin Ayres (Kennesaw State University)
Margo Villarosa (Augusta State University)
Daniel Deason (Oklahoma State University)
Sarah Burghaus (University of Nebraska)
Lauren Osborne (University of Southern Mississippi)
Brittney Couturier (Florida Atlantic University)

Counseling Psychology Master's Students Pass Comps

2012-04-18T11:53:00.000-05:00

We are pleased to announce that all of the second year master's students passed their comprehensive examinations. Congratulations and good luck on the NCE!

Second year master's students

Counseling Psychology Program at SEPA

2012-02-16T14:55:00.000-06:00

The Counseling Psychology Program is well represented at the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) conference in New Orleans this week. Students and faculty are presenting 14 posters.

Learn About Anger and Relational Aggression

2012-02-11T14:12:00.000-06:00

As part of a series of educational presentations sponsored by the Community Counseling and Assessment Clinic, graduate students from the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab are preparing a presentation on anger and relational aggression.

Attendees will learn about the differences between healthy and unhealthy anger, brief strategies for managing anger effectively, and when to seek help for themselves or a loved one. The presenters will also address relational aggression, a behavior associated with bullying in which the aggressor harms the victim's reputation, status, or feelings of belonging through social exclusion, gossip, etc.

The presentation will be held on Feb. 29 at 6:30 PM in Room 109 of Owings-McQuagge Hall on the University of Southern Mississippi's Hattiesburg campus. It is free and open to the public.

Counseling Psychology Student to Study Hardiness and Social Support Among Recent Veterans

2012-02-07T12:09:00.000-06:00

Tory Tomassetti, a doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology Program, proposed her dissertation today. Tory's dissertation is titled Hardiness, Social Support, Parental Stress, and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Recent Service Members. She plans to investigate hardiness and social support as variables that may influence the relationship between posttraumatic stress symptoms and parental stress among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tory works with Dr. Bonnie Nicholson on her positive parenting research team.

Counseling Psychology Students and Faculty Present Alcohol Research at Conference

2012-02-01T11:26:00.000-06:00

The members of the College Alcohol Research Team are presenting their research at the Southeastern Psychological Association Conference in New Orleans, LA.

College Alcohol Research Team

Melissa Ambrosino, Dr. Ziegler Hill and Dr. Madson will present Conformity, Negative Consequences and Protective Strategy Use among College Drinkers. Resistance to peer influence was associated with fewer negative consequences when people consumed less alcohol, but did not make a difference at high levels of consumption. Further, the combination of high protective strategy use and resistance to peer influence led to less hazardous drinking even when people were consuming large amounts of alcohol.

Kayla Moorer, Dr. Ziegler Hill and Dr. Madson will present Alcohol Expectancies: A Moderated Mediation Analysis. The use of protective strategies partially mediated the relationship between positive alcohol expectancies and both alcohol consumption and negative consequences; however, gender qualified these relationships in that men were less likely to use protective strategies whether they held positive alcohol expectancies or not.

Ryan Ebersole, Jeremy Noble and Dr. Madson will present Drinking Motives, Consequences and Protective Strategies in LGB Students. The use of protective strategies partially mediated the associations between both coping with depression and enhancement motives and negative alcohol related consequences such that students with drinking motives for coping with depression and enhancing their drinking experience experienced fewer negative consequences when using more protective behavioral strategies.

Whitney Stubbs, Dr. Ziegler Hill and Dr. Madson will present Contingent Self-Esteem, Protective Behavioral Strategies and the Negative Consequences of Alcohol Consumption. Individuals with secure high self-esteem (i.e., high levels of self-esteem and low level of contingent self-esteem) reported the highest use of protective strategies, lower levels of hazardous drinking, and fewer negative consequences compared to those with fragile high self-esteem (i.e., high levels of self-esteem and high levels of contingent self-esteem). Men with true low self-esteem (i.e., low levels of self-esteem and low levels of contingent self-esteem) reported the highest level of consumption.

Missy Bonnell, Dr. Ziegler Hill and Dr. Madson will present Protective Behavioral Strategies Alcohol Consumption and Negative Consequences: Do Race and Gender Moderate these Relationships. White, non-Hispanics, men, and those who did not use the manner of drinking strategies drank the most. Serious harm reduction strategies led to drinking decreases for White, non-Hispanics but increases for African Americans. Negative consequences were higher for White non-Hispanics, and those who used fewer serious harm reduction and manner of drinking strategies. Limiting drinking strategies were associated with reduced negative consequences for everyone except African American women.
Trisha McMillon, Missy Bonnell & Dr. Madson will present Positive and Negative Alcohol Use Consequences and Protective Behavioral Strategies. Negative alcohol related consequences alcohol uniquely explained more protective strategy use than positive consequences.

Jeremy Noble, Marissa Ethridge, Dr. Ziegler Hill and Dr. Madson will present Examining the Relationship between Anxiety, Alcohol Consumption and Negative Consequences. The use of protective strategies mediated the association between alcohol consumption and negative consequences regardless of whether a student had high or low anxiety.

Drs. Madson, Arnau and Lambert will present Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale: Structural Invariance across Gender and Two Racial Groups. Results suggest that a four-factor model had the best fit to the data, and that the four-factor measurement model demonstrated partial invariance across men and women and across WNH and AA participants.

Kirsten Chodrick, Dr. Ziegler Hill and Dr. Madson will present Protective Behavioral Strategies, Injunctive Perception and College Student Drinking. Results suggest that alcohol consumption moderated the association injunctive norms had with hazardous drinking. Use of protective strategies use did not moderate any of these associations.

BASICS Program Now Accepting Student Referrals

2012-01-27T13:43:00.000-06:00

The Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students program (BASICS) is now accepting referrals of traditional-aged (18-24) Southern Miss students. Referrals are accepted from faculty, staff and students. We accept mandated and non-mandated referrals and will provide appropriate follow up with permission.

BASICS is free of charge to students and aims to help them prevent the consequences often associated with alcohol use. The BASICS program has demonstrated positive outcomes in reducing harmful drinking the past two years. Referred students who agree to participate in the evaluation associated with the program can earn up to $30 in gift certificates for Barnes and Noble or Starbucks.

Contact Dr. Michael Madson at 601.266.4546 or michael.madson@usm.edu with further questions or to make a referral.

Anger Management Classes

2012-01-24T12:43:00.000-06:00

The anger management program at the Community Counseling and Assessment Clinic will soon begin offering anger management classes for persons age 18 and up. We recognize that not everyone referred to us for anger management needs individual counseling, and we hope that these classes will provide a brief, cost-effective alternative for those who have not previously sought professional help.

This should be a great opportunity for our students to gain experience delivering evidence-based services in a group format.

Review of Applications to Doctoral Program to Begin Soon

2011-12-01T10:03:00.000-06:00

Today is the application deadline for the Doctoral Program's class of 2012. Review of applications will begin soon, as we hope to extend offers for on-campus interviews a bit earlier this year to facilitate applicants' travel plans.

Regional Differences in Relational Aggression

2011-10-20T10:07:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Kate Czar, who successfully defended her dissertation yesterday. Kate's dissertation, Regional Differences in Relational Aggression: The Role of Culture, examined regional differences in relational aggression, gender role attitudes, and normative beliefs about aggression. She collected data at two sites: the University of Southern Mississippi and Millersville University in Pennsylvania. This permitted her to compare a northern sample and a southern sample.

Southern participants reported engaging in more relational aggression and as having more traditional gender role attitudes than did northern participants. Gender role attitudes were associated with relational aggression (i.e., more traditional gender roles were positively correlated with relational aggression). Across both regions, gender role attitudes predicted general/peer relational aggression among women, independent of physical aggressiveness.

Kate worked in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab before moving away for her internship year. She is currently completing her predoctoral internship at Texas State University - San Marcos.

Women's Cognitive Appraisals of Birth Experience Predict PTSD Symptom Severity

2011-10-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Lauren Spooner, who successfully defended her dissertation entitled, Women’s Cognitive Appraisals of Their Birth Experience as Predictive and Maintaining Factors of Postpartum Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Severity.

She found that perceptions of medical staff support and negative cognitions about oneself and the world were positively associated with PTSD symptom severity. In addition, negative thoughts about oneself and the world moderated and partially mediated the relationship between staff support and PTSD symptom severity.

Relational Aggression in Students' Dating Relationships

2011-10-16T19:31:00.000-05:00

Emily Prather, an advanced doctoral student working in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab, just had a paper based on her master's thesis accepted for publication in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma.

The paper focused on relational aggression directed at romantic partners in college students' dating relationships. Participant gender and sex role attitudes predicted relational aggression; however, gender did not moderate the relationship between sex role attitudes and relational aggression. Acceptance of couple violence predicted relational aggression, independent of both trait anger and sex role attitudes.

The citation for the paper is as follows:

Prather, E., Dahlen, E. R., Nicholson, B. C., & Bullock-Yowell, E. (in press). Relational aggression in college students’ dating relationships. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma.

Counseling Psychology Students to Receive Specialized Anger Management Training

2011-09-20T10:25:00.000-05:00

Dr. Eric Dahlen

Graduate students in the Counseling Psychology program will soon have the opportunity to receive specialized training in anger management as part of their studies. On September 30, Dr. Eric Dahlen will offer a workshop approved by the National Anger Management Association (NAMA) to satisfy the required content component for certification as an Anger Management Specialist I.

Students who complete this training will be eligible for upcoming workshops designed to train them to facilitate anger management classes and provide anger management counseling through the Community Counseling and Assessment Clinic, the program's in-house training clinic. Those interested in completing the first level of NAMA certification will then have the opportunity to complete the supervision requirement.

Dr. Dahlen is an Associate Professor in the Counseling Psychology program and Director of the Community Counseling and Assessment Clinic. His research focuses on anger and aggression, as well as the role of personality in aggressive driving (see the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab for more information). He is a Distinguished Diplomate of NAMA and holds certification as an Anger Management Specialist V.

Dr. Nicholson Named Assistant Chair of Psychology Department

2011-09-11T15:18:00.000-05:00

Dr. Bonnie Nicholson

Congratulations to Dr. Bonnie Nicholson, who has just been named Assistant Chair of the Department of Psychology! We know she will do a fantastic job in this new role and are pleased to see her many contributions to the department being recognized.

Fortunately, Dr. Nicholson's new responsibilities do not mean that our program is losing her. She will continue to serve as the Director of Training for the Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program. As you can imagine, she's going to be busy!

Counseling Psychology Program Alumnus Named Training Director of Gulf Coast VA Internship

2011-08-08T14:46:00.000-05:00

We are happy to learn that Dr. Jane Schenck Varner, a graduate of the doctoral program, was recently selected to serve as Director of Training of the predoctoral internship program at the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi.

Jane defended her doctoral dissertation in 2009, "The Effects of Spiritual Well-Being, Religious Coping, and Hardiness on Parenting Behaviors in Low Socioeconomic Status Families." She completed her predoctoral internship at the Gulf Coast VA, where she received the Shatus Award, given each year to the most outstanding intern. She liked the VA so much that she accepted a post doc position there after completing her Ph.D.

Jane is going to be an outstanding training director, and we look forward to working with her in the future.

Counseling Psychology Faculty and Students at the 2011 APA Convention

2011-08-07T18:38:00.001-05:00

Pictured here from left to right are Dr. Melanie Leuty, Sarah McMurtry, Jeremy Noble, Shandrea Pendleton, Rose Gonzalez, Dr. Mike Madson, and Dr. Jon Mandracchia.

Dr. Leuty at the 2011 APA Convention

2011-08-06T14:50:00.000-05:00

Here is Dr. Melanie Leuty with her poster, "Exploring Evidence of Validity for the Construct of Work Values," at the 2011 APA Convention. The poster was co-authored by Dr. Jo-Ida Hansen of the University of Minnesota.

For more information about Dr. Leuty's research, visit her Work Values Research page.

Counseling Psychology Students at the 2011 APA Convention

2011-08-05T10:37:00.001-05:00

Faculty and students from the Counseling Psychology Program are well-represented at the 2011 American Psychological Association Convention in Washington DC. Here is Jeremy Noble, a doctoral student working on Dr. Madson's College Alcohol Research Team, with his poster, "Protective Behavioral Strategies and their Relationship with Negative Alcohol Consequences among Intercollegiate Athletes."

Jeremy's trip to APA was supported with a travel award from the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism and the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

Dr. Madson Receives NIH Loan Repayment Program Extension

2011-07-22T08:40:00.000-05:00

Dr. Mike Madson

Dr. Mike Madson has received an extension of his NIH Loan Repayment from National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism based on his work in college student alcohol use. This competitive program provides funding to clinically-focused researchers to support their careers.

Dr. Madson studies college student alcohol use and protective behavioral strategy use. He also directs and researches the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students program at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Dr. Yowell to Direct Counseling Psychology Masters Program

2011-07-21T13:37:00.000-05:00

Dr. Emily Yowell

We are pleased to congratulate Dr. Emily Yowell on assuming the duties of Master's Program Coordinator beginning in the Fall of 2011. She will make an outstanding Coordinator, and we are lucky to have her!

The Counseling Psychology Master's Program is a 60-hour graduate program at the University of Southern Mississippi training students to become licensed professional counselors and to pursue doctoral study in psychology. The program is based on a scientist-practitioner model and trains students to be informed consumers of psychological research.

Drs. Yowell and Leuty Receive Grant to Study Career Counseling Intervention

2011-07-12T13:43:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Drs. Yowell and Leuty on receiving a $3,000 one-year grant from the American Psychological Foundation to support a study titled, "Outcomes of a Group Career Counseling Intervention: A Cognitive Information Processing Manualized Approach." This will be very helpful in facilitating their respective research programs, and provide group therapy experience for Counseling Psychology graduate students.

Both Dr. Leuty and Dr. Yowell study facets of vocational psychology. Dr. Yowell's work focuses on career interests, decision-making, and self-efficacy using Holland's RIASEC theory and the Cognitive Information Processing Approach to career counseling. Dr. Leuty's research emphasizes work values and the relationship between worker-environment fit and worker health.

Dr. Mandracchia Receives Grant to Study Prison Suicide

2011-06-22T14:59:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Dr. Jon Mandracchia on receiving a competitive 2-year grant from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to support a study titled, "A Test of the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide in Prison Inmates." This will be very helpful in facilitating Dr. Mandracchia's research program.