Trait negative affect has emerged as a fundamental psychological dimension that can undermine mental health and well-being. Although recent evidence indicates that negative affect often declines over time, the malleable psychological mechanisms that predict these declines are not yet fully understood. The authors tested whether positive automatic thoughts (PATs) predicted negative affect through a positive relationship with self-esteem and hence an inverse relationship with negative automatic thoughts. Measures of these constructs were administered to 161 undergraduates. Consistent with theory and hypotheses, self-esteem and negative thoughts fully mediated the relationship between PATs and trait negative affect: PATs predicted higher self-esteem, which predicted less frequent negative thoughts. Negative thoughts directly predicted negative affect. The cross-sectional structural equation model accounted for 65% of the variance in negative affect. An alternative model in which self-esteem was construed as predicting PATs, and hence negative thoughts and negative affect, was not supported.

There are high rates of comorbidity between heavy drinking and depressive symptoms among college students, often resulting in severe alcohol-related consequences. No empirically supported treatment exists that concurrently addresses both of these problems in this population. Research with college students has demonstrated that brief motivational interventions (BMIs) reduce heavy drinking and alcohol-related consequences, and that cognitive behavioral therapy for depression (CBT-D) is effective in reducing depressive symptoms. Thus, a program combining BMI and CBT-D appears ideal for college students with co-occurring binge drinking and depressive symptoms. This manuscript presents the rationale and format of a BMI + CBT-D treatment protocol for this population, and provides a case example of a female college student who received the protocol and experienced improvement in depressive symptoms, a reduction in alcohol use and alcohol-related negative consequences, and an increase in readiness to change alcohol consumption. We discuss theoretical and clinical implications of these findings, and suggest directions for future research.

Credit cards have become a common method of payment for college students in China. It is important that they form good credit card usage behaviors and build a good credit history early in their financial life. Using data collected from 10 universities in China, results of this study found that being financially dependent on their parents is negatively associated with Chinese college students’ ability to pay their credit card bills. The study also found that students with a high level of financial knowledge were less likely to take cash advances on their credit card. Implications for financial educators and parents as well as policymakers were provided.

Paying for college expenses can be stressful for anyone, regardless of citizenship status. Asian American students and their parents may be negotiating with each other who will shoulder these expenses, while international Asian students often enter this country with their parents' financial support already established. This is the first study to specifically examine a large sample of Asian college students (n = 671) and explore how parents influence Asian students' financial attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors through a family financial socialization theoretical lens. Results show that financial socialization is positively associated with financial behaviors for all Asian college students. Findings are informative for college counselors, financial advisors, educators, and clinicians who work with Asian students and their parents.

Explicit parent–child financial socialization is one way that parents may help children feel less stress in college and increase their academic performance. To test this assumption, we used family financial socialization theory to inform multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and structural equation models (SEM). The results largely support the theory. Participants were 752 college students from a U.S. university. Specific findings indicate that students from more affluent families were more often taught to budget. Parent–child teaching/training was strongly associated with felt parental–financial influence and fewer worrisome academic behaviors because of economic pressure. Students who felt greater parent–financial influence and experienced fewer effects of economic pressure, achieved higher college grade point averages (GPAs). An implication of this study is the importance of strengthening support for financial learning in families.

This study used data from online focus groups collected from November 2014 to April 2015 to understand college students’ decision-making processes when borrowing money to finance their education. Data were collected using an online course management system. Results suggest that (a) students relied heavily on advice from parents, guidance counselors, and friends; (b) attending college was not possible without student loans; and (c) students knew very little about the loans they would be responsible for repaying. Recommendations for financial educators and counselors to help student borrowers make prudent decisions about education debt are presented.

To meet college student needs for financial counseling, it is important to assess why they seek counseling and the extent to which differing financial situations are tied to financial stress. This study examined these issues with a sample of 554 college students who participated in financial counseling and found financial problems in various situations were each linked to increased financial stress. Financial stress was positively associated with having student loans and other forms of debt and was higher for female students and lower for those having investments. From a needs assessment perspective, it is apparent that college students may be able to benefit more from comprehensive financial counseling than from financial advising that is tailored primarily to a single issue.

Cyber psychological abuse and social media surveillance of ex-partners are relatively common virtual forms of behavior linked with intimate partner violence (Pineda, Galán, Martínez-Martínez, Campagne, & Piqueras, 2021) as well as on-going and dangerous intimate partner stalking (Logan & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2021). While both forms of behavior are concerning, especially after the dissolution of a romantic relationship, transdiagnostic shared and unique predictors of each are relatively unknown. In the current study, we examined the associations between intolerance of uncertainty and emotion dysregulation and the perpetration of post-breakup cyber psychological abuse and social media surveillance. We asked college students (n = 284) to report on their intolerance of uncertainty, emotion dysregulation difficulties (particularly difficulties engaging in goal directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, and lack of emotional clarity), and behaviors towards their ex-partner associated with the perpetration of cyber psychological abuse and social media surveillance. Participants reported engaging in an average of 2.4 (SD = 2.17) post-breakup behaviors associated with cyber psychological abuse and 4.47 (SD = 3.60) different acts of social media surveillance. Mediation models supported the premise that intolerance of uncertainty is predictive of emotion dysregulation, which, in turn, mediated the association between intolerance of uncertainty and both cyber psychological abuse and social media surveillance. Subscale analyses specifically highlighted difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior as an important mediator of both behaviors. Taken together, this suggests that intolerance of uncertainty and poor emotion regulation after a relationship breakup are potential drivers of unhealthy ex-partner focused behaviors on social media and other electronic mediums of communication.

Rates of sexual violence (SV) and dating violence (DV) are high on college campuses; federal law mandates colleges provide SV/DV prevention programming to incoming students. Programs showing the strongest empirical support are bystander programs; however, their small group format makes it impractical to use them with large student bodies. In a pilot feasibility study, we compared in-person and e-intervention SV/DV bystander intervention programs and randomly assigned 562 students to one of the programs. Students completed measures of knowledge and attitudes at 3 points over 6 months. Both groups changed significantly in the expected direction on all measures, with no differences between groups in change over time. Results suggest that e-interventions may be a viable alternative to in-person SV/DV programs for meeting federal mandates.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether anger and jealousy mediate the relationship between adult attachment styles (i.e., dismissive, fearful, preoccupied, secure) and physical intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration for both men and women. Method: Undergraduate students (n = 431) were sampled from a large Midwestern U.S. university. Results: Mediational analyses revealed that anger mediated the associations between each of the four attachment styles and violence perpetration for women. However, neither anger nor jealousy mediated the association between attachment and violence perpetration for men. Conclusions: Young women’s IPV perpetration appears more closely related to their emotional responses, in particular anger, but violence perpetration in young men does not necessarily seem to follow this pattern. These findings suggest specific strategies which may be useful for preventive efforts of violence perpetration in young adult women, such as anger-related emotion regulation skills training.