Using the meaning making model as our framework, we examined relations among global and appraised meaning and well-being in a sample of 189 college students who had experienced a highly stressful event in the past 5 years. Results suggested that elements of both global meaning (especially self-esteem beliefs) and situational meaning (especially appraisals of the event as violating one's goals) were independently related to a range of well-being outcomes, including depression, anxiety, stress, subjective happiness, and life satisfaction. However, relations varied by specific aspect of well-being. Neither control nor religious beliefs were consistently related to well-being. These results demonstrate the importance of both global and situational meanings in adjusting to life stress. Counselors should attend to both global and situational meanings in the context of helping clients deal with stressful experiences; such attention may focus on bolstering adaptive global beliefs such as self-esteem while also reappraising situational meanings, particularly of the event as violating important global beliefs and goals.

Yoga interventions are heterogeneous and vary along multiple dimensions. These dimensions may affect mental and physical health outcomes in different ways or through different mechanisms. However, most studies of the effects of yoga on health do not adequately describe or quantify the components of the interventions being implemented. This lack of detail prevents researchers from making comparisons across studies and limits our understanding of the relative effects of different aspects of yoga interventions. To address this problem, we developed the Essential Properties of Yoga Questionnaire (EPYQ), which allows researchers to objectively characterize their interventions. We present here the reliability and validity data from the final phases of this measure-development project. Analyses identified fourteen key dimensions of yoga interventions measured by the EPYQ: acceptance/compassion, bandhas, body awareness, breathwork, instructor mention of health benefits, individual attention, meditation and mindfulness, mental and emotional awareness, physicality, active postures, restorative postures, social aspects, spirituality, and yoga philosophy. The EPYQ demonstrated good reliability, as assessed by internal consistency and test-retest reliability analysis, and evidence suggests that the EPYQ is a valid measure of multiple dimensions of yoga. The measure is ready for use by clinicians and researchers. Results indicate that, currently, trained objective raters should score interventions to avoid reference frame errors and potential rating bias, but alternative approaches may be developed. The EPYQ will allow researchers to link specific yoga dimensions to identifiable health outcomes and optimize the design of yoga interventions for specific conditions.

The family is the principal context for religious and spiritual socialization. Although religion remains a central force in the lives of most African Americans, research has failed to explore the role and impact of family on religious socialization within this population. This study addresses that gap in the literature by (1) exploring adults' perceptions of the influence of their parents, grandparents, and siblings on their religious and spiritual lives, and (2) examining the extent to which those perceptions are associated with subjective religiosity, subjective spirituality, religious importance, and commitment to religious socialization among a community sample of urban-residing African American adults in the Midwest and Northeast (N = 319). Findings revealed that, on average, parents, grandparents, and siblings positively influenced adults' religious commitment and values. However, mothers had the greatest positive influence on these outcomes. Religious commitment and values were differentially associated with family members as a function of the generation and gender of the family member. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Worldviews—a person’s fundamental perspectives on social and metaphysical reality—relate to multiple aspects of psychological functioning and well-being. Theory on emerging adulthood contends that individuals between the ages of 18 and 29 explore and change their worldviews as they strive to develop a coherent identity. Simultaneously, emerging adults experience many significant life events. The relationship between life events and worldview development in emerging adulthood has yet to be investigated. We conducted a longitudinal analysis of changes in emerging adult college students’ (N = 168) worldviews over the course of a semester and explored how positive and negatives life events were associated with belief change. Findings revealed that 76.8% of emerging adults in our sample experienced a reliable change in at least one worldview. Additionally, the positive impact of life events was found to mitigate decreases in self-worth beliefs. We conclude by highlighting implications for theory and suggesting future lines of research.

Yoga interventions have considerable heterogeneity, are multi-dimensional, and may impact health in different ways. However, most research reports regarding the effects of yoga on health and wellbeing do not adequately describe the components of the yoga interventions being used. Thus, drawing comparisons across studies or understanding the relative effects of specific aspects of a yoga intervention are rarely possible. To address this problem, we created the Essential Properties of Yoga Questionnaire (EPYQ) Project, an NCCAM-funded set of studies to develop a translational tool for yoga researchers. Here we describe the methods and developmental processes used in the EPYQ Project in detail. The project consists of four main phases. Phase I was designed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the relevant aspects of yoga by conducting a comprehensive systematic literature review and conducting focus groups with stakeholders including a wide variety of yoga teachers and students. In Phase II, a pool of potential questionnaire items was developed for the prototypic questionnaire using information from Phase I. Cognitive interviews were conducted with the preliminary EPYQ items to assess the perceived clarity, meaning, and importance of each item. In Phase III, the prototypic questionnaire was administered to two large samples of yoga students and instructors. Military personnel and veterans who practiced or taught yoga (n = 329) were recruited to participate. Factor analysis and item response theory were used to identify factors and select the final questionnaire items. Phase IV is ongoing and will collect reliability and validity data on the final instrument. Results are expected to be available in 2016. The EPYQ will provide an objective tool for describing the amount of various components of yoga interventions, eventually allowing researchers to link specific yoga components to health benefits, and facilitating the design of yoga interventions for specific health conditions.