Psychology

Abstract This pilot study aims to increase our understanding of therapists' subjective attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of working with clients with problems of addiction. The study yielded useful clarifications, arising from the finding that opinions about the nature of ...

This article presents an in-depth study illuminating how experiences of addiction and accompanying feelings, thoughts and expressions appear to the participant in the context of her life. It focuses on the participant's engagement with alcohol as an experience of flux and instability and ...

The aim of this study was to explore how participants use metaphors to express and communicate experiences and emotions that may have been previously unexpressed or unexplored, and perhaps too painful to address directly. In addition, this study investigates the potential of using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in metaphor research. Data were collected in semi-structured interviews, designed to capture a rich and detailed description of participants' experiences of addiction and what the experiences means to them. Six participants took part in the study. The data were analysed using IPA. The results capture the abundance and vividness of metaphorical expressions embedded in participants' accounts and produce insights and a richer picture of the participants' experiences. The study highlights the power of metaphors as tools for communicating and sharing experience, as well as the particular ways in which metaphors make sense as part of individual lives. We believe that IPA can make a valuable contribution to metaphor analysis as it attends both to the experiential dimension of metaphors through phenomenological analysis, as well as to the hermeneutic possibilities opening up through the capacity of metaphors to make connections between disparate ideas and concepts.

This study sought to investigate differences in the coping strategies adopted by male and female first year students in a higher education environment and the extent to which such strategies had an impact on self-esteem and attainment. Results revealed significant differences between males and females in terms of engagement in coping strategies and academic attainment. Specifically, males exhibited greater ability to detach themselves from the emotions of a situation, were more inclined to demonstrate emotional inhibition or ‘bottling up’ of emotions and reported higher self-esteem. In addition, it was observed that females attained at a significantly higher level than males. Practical implications and recommendations for future research are identified.

This research quantifies the impact of high school suspension on the graduation rates of students in 48 metro Atlanta public high schools. Pearson correlation coefficient methods were used to infer the impact of school suspension on the graduation rates. The results indicated an inverse relationship between the two variables r=-0.5662, p=<.05, confirming a moderate negative correlation between the two variables. Increases in suspension were correlated with decreases in graduation rates. Findings suggest support for the hypothesis that school suspensions appear to decrease high school graduation attainment. The paper concludes by discussing implications of currently inequitable discipline practices on equal opportunity for school leaning.