The Counseling Psychologist

Internalization of stigmatizing messages from society is a primary risk factor for transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people. To locate points of intervention for TNB people with a high level of internalized transnegativity, the present study examined predictors of internalized transnegativity in Korean TNB adults (N = 268) using a multiple mediator model. We hypothesized that parental attachment would predict internalized transnegativity through the mediating effect of self-shame, rejection sensitivity, and self-concept clarity. The analysis provided partial support for the mediator hypothesis. The results were consistent with a model in which self-shame fully mediates the relation between parental attachment and internalized transnegativity, with no evidence of a mediating role for self-concept clarity or rejection sensitivity. This study shows that TNB individuals reporting insecure attachment with parents are more likely to experience internalized transnegativity, and the relation is largely accounted for by the indirect effect via general self-shame.

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a major disruption to the lives of college students, impacting their well-being and academic experiences. This two-point, longitudinal study (Wave 2 N = 286) investigated how the pandemic impacted college students, how students coped, and how their resilience and coping profiles were associated with their well-being, academic performance, and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Latent Profile Analyses showed that students’ coping profiles changed after the pandemic started. Compared to Active Copers—those who used more active coping strategies during the pandemic, (a) Withdrawal Copers had poorer academic performance and reported lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction, more loneliness, and less favorable help-seeking attitudes; and (b) Undifferentiated Copers reported lower levels of happiness, more loneliness, and less favorable help-seeking attitudes. Using the convergent mixed-methods design and a combination of person- and variable-centered approaches, our findings have important implications for practice, advocacy, education, training, and future research.

The present study fills a gap in the Arab American psychological literature by exploring the impact of racial ambiguity and legal invisibility on Arab American women’s sense of belonging and well-being. This exploratory consensual qualitative research (CQR) investigation analyzed interview data from 13 nonveiled Arab American women. The interview probed their reactions to Arab Americans’ legal invisibility in the United States, their perceptions of how White people and Black, Indigenous, and people of Color (BIPOC) perceived them racially, and examined their emotional responses and coping strategies. The study’s results revealed participants’ feelings of invisibility, invalidation, and hurt when they were not recognized as BIPOC, highlighting the participants’ experience of exclusion. The results not only have implications for professional practice, education, and research but also for policy. In particular, this study lends support to Arab and Middle Eastern North African (MENA) advocacy efforts for formal recognition in the United States via representation in the U.S. Census and elsewhere.

Theory suggests that a secure base can moderate the effects of racism on mental health outcomes among people of Color (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2022). Thus, the current study tested this hypothesis with a sample of 301 Asian American adolescents who completed a 25-minute online survey. Two hierarchical multiple regression models examined whether secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment with mothers and fathers moderated the link between racism and mental health. We found that when Asian American adolescents reported frequent experiences of racism, secure attachment with fathers was not enough to mitigate the effects of racism. Specifically, simple slopes indicated that at high and moderate levels of secure attachment with fathers, adolescents reported slightly better mental health with few racism experiences but indicated a slight decrease in mental health with frequent racism experiences. Findings highlight the importance of dismantling racial discrimination to support Asian American adolescents’ mental health.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to capture the lived experiences of sizeism, or size discrimination, for fat and big men. The intention of this study was to identify the essence of fat and big men’s experience of sizeism to more adequately understand how sizeism may impact the lives of these men to assist with the creation of more culturally competent psychological services and interventions for this population. A total of 10 participants were included in this study. Participants self-identified as fat or big, cisgender, and varied in race/ethnic identity and age (from 25 to 44 years). Data analysis of their experiences revealed five emergent themes: (a) accessing masculinity, (b) navigating thin privilege, (c) psychological consequences of living in fat male bodies, (d) sexual capital, (e) and fat/big as identity.

Amid today's polycrisis—marked by global violence, chaos, and uncertainty—there is an urgent imperative for healing. In this reimagined presidential address, I advocate for centering justice and joy as powerful forces for healing, which is a core value of the Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP). I share SCP's yearlong activities exploring personal and collective healing. Drawing from interdisciplinary research, critical dialogue, and my experiences co-teaching a course on this topic, I introduce a framework outlining six healing ingredients of joy: deep connection, existential recognition, flow, shared beliefs and actions, radical hope, and self-determination/freedom/liberation. Before presenting this framework, I examine Black joy as a counter to the epistemic violence that often erases the contributions of Black scholars. The proposed new framework portrays joy not only as a personal emotion, but as a collective assertion of humanity. I conclude with recommendations to advance healing practices in research, training, and practice.

In the inaugural speech for the Society of Counseling Psychology’s Janet E. Helms Racial Justice Award, the author thanked the multiple parties responsible for establishing the award in recognition of her efforts toward promoting racial justice and for providing impetus for future generations to carry forth the mission of racial justice in the various domains that define counseling psychology. In addition, she contended that the march toward racial justice has been obscured by multicultural pluralism that denies the effects of racism on everyone regardless of culture or other isms. As a consequence, counselors’ skills are often inadequate for addressing systemic policies intended to neutralize racial justice efforts. The author proposes some crude racial justice guidelines for counselors to encourage them to mitigate the confusion that now exists with respect to racism, racial justice, and culture in our profession and society at large.

The Student Affiliates of Seventeen (SAS) is the national student organization for Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP). In August 2024, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s counseling psychology program finished its 2-year tenure as the 16th and final host institution of the SAS. The purpose of this report is to review the efforts of the SAS in the past year as well as across our term as a whole. More specifically, we highlight the efforts from committee members across the SAS as well as identify three themes across our tenure: fostering structural stability, fostering community, and fostering advocacy and liberation. We also provide final reflections on the SAS as an organization and our vision for the future directions of the SAS.