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The first career interest inventory emerged in the late 1920s. The response options for the questions in the Strong Vocational Interest Blank included &lsquo, like&rsquo, and &lsquo, dislike.&rsquo, Both answers are emotional reactions. Regrettably, clients within the context of vocational counseling often regard negative feelings (e.g., dislikes) as inconsequential. Yet, negative emotionality can be adaptive and feasibly assist career decision-makers. In the literature on college students&rsquo, career development and emotional functioning, there is a paucity of information about how negative emotions advance the career decision-making process and how career decision-makers apply such knowledge. Hence, a sample of undergraduates (n = 256) was recruited to ascertain imaginable adaptive career decision-making benefits from negative affect. Employing a Mixed Methods-Grounded Theory methodology, the present study tabulated the negative emotional reactions of college students to vocations that were self- or computer-reported. In addition, their answers to two investigative questions about the selection of their negative emotions were analyzed. From the data, three negative meta-emotions emerged as reactions to participants&rsquo, reported occupations, four adaptive purposes for their selected negative affect were also discovered. A theoretical framework and applicative suggestions from the findings are presented.

Significant research on emotion and career development has transpired in the past few decades. Regrettably, certain aspects of emotional functioning germane to the career decision-making process remain ambiguous. Specifically, kinds and frequency of affective reactions to career options along with helpful ways to assimilate this emotional information in the counseling experience are unclarified. In contrast, this study operationalized an intervention designed to facilitate emotional awareness and tested it with a sample of 451 undergraduates exploring career information. Using a descriptive research design, a frequency distribution of 40,207 affective responses revealed six noticeable recurring emotions resulted from participants’ reflections on career possibilities. This pattern, consistent over a 3-year interval, comprised the majority (59%) of total elicited affect. Moreover, a statistically significant higher percentage of positive emotional responses emerged with college students’ self-assigned occupations relative to computer-generated careers. Practical applications of the affective information for career counseling purposes are also discussed.

Twenty-six years ago, Bergin, Masters, and Richards (1987) published results from a correlational study of Allport's two religious orientations with indices of pathology and social personality traits. Curiously, Batson's quest religion, a third religious orientation, was not included. The omission appears to accompany the unremitting uneasiness and confusion with religious doubt in the American Christian church. In contrast, the present study identified a set of mature and adaptive social personality traits related to doubt phenomena. Specifically, multiple regression analyses of questionnaire data from 642 religious undergraduates revealed four personality dispositions predicted quest religious orientation and theological exploration. Implications with and applications of the findings are discussed.

Among the plethora of career theories and counseling practices, human emotion continues to be underrepresented. The paucity is evoking discontentment. For many career specialists, a distal role for emotionality has become untenable. This study demonstrated emotional intelligence (EI) associates with familiar constructs within the career decision-making journey. In particular, multiple regression analyses of 561 collegians revealed EI as a salient predictor of vocational personality (Holland’s Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional [RIASEC]), vocational identity, and career indecision. The findings also exposed important gender differences and distinguished which competency of EI is germane to what career construct and gender. Implications from the findings and practical applications for placing emotion in a more proximal role by career counselors are discussed.

Different ideological perspectives about religious doubt spawn controversy and confusion among some Christians. Typically misunderstood as unbelief, doubt is often characterized as dangerous if not outright prohibited by Scripture. As this study demonstrates, comprehending religious doubt through the lens of Marcia's ego identity statuses offers a more nuanced understanding of the cognitive phenomenon. Multiple regression analyses of survey data from 604 religious adolescents revealed identity moratorium, identity achievement, and doctrinal uncertainties are positive predictors of doubt while identity foreclosure, identity diffusion, and religious satisfaction are negative predictors. Implications from the findings relevant to Erikson and Batson's theories are discussed along with practical applications for those in the church community working with youth. ********** Over the past thirty years, a broad base of knowledge about religious doubt has accumulated. Yet, this phenomenon in human cognition remains a controversial and confusing topic among many Christians (Guinness, 1976; McLaren, 2003). Some of the misunderstanding about religious doubt can be eliminated by taking into account the identity status of doubters and their unique experiences with identity formation. More specifically, Marcia's ego-identity statuses can function as an interpretative lens assisting interested persons in comprehending religious doubt and coping with it. Unfortunately, the relationship between religious doubt and identity statuses has been understudied. The following discussion exposes aspects of the controversy and confusion associated with doubt among Christians and presents a rationale for and outcomes from a multiple regression study with religious adolescents on the doubt-identity relationship. A Controversial Phenomenon Beck (1990) contended, "Doubt is an integral part of each person's belief system" (p. 327). Any contact with reality creates contact with doubtable ideas (Newbigin, 1995). However, some Christians perceive doubt as a significant threat functioning as a usurper or enemy of the faith and entailing risky, dangerous, and destructive thinking. Lucado (1989) described doubt as an obnoxious pest, a "nosey neighbor," which must be barred or prohibited from the mind and soul. Buchanan (2000) likened doubt as a cancer burning and mutating healthy beliefs, a carcinoma with an insatiable appetite consuming like quicksand and uncomforted by evidence. Moreover, Darmani (2002) considered doubt as a demonic weapon striking in the vulnerable moments of life and creating a disturbing restlessness within the human heart. Other religious adherents embrace doubt. They regard it as a universal experience germinated from human finitude and a necessity for faith maturation and its transitional experiences (Fowler, 1996; Halfaer, 1972; Parks, 2000; Tillich, 1957). Instead of an adversarial role, some evangelicals view doubt as a valuable aspect of mental life encouraging authenticity with God. Geering (1997) argued doubt is not the rival of faith, but a foe of false beliefs. Webber (2002) identified a new generation within the church, 'the younger evangelicals,' and noted they expect theological and biblical thought to be "lively [and] controversial," because they are not afraid to "question, push, and challenge" (p. 168). Moreover, Jones (2001) profiled Christian post-moderns as persons who deconstruct the known by questioning everything, assuming nothing, and taking nothing for granted, habits which often lead them to be skeptical and cynical. A Confusing Phenomenon Along with being controversial, religious doubt is often confused with other mental processes (Beck, 1990). Unbelief is one of those phenomena. For instance, in John 20, Thomas was confronted with a report from his companions about their encounter with the resurrected Messiah (v. 25a). The common interpretation of his reaction is that he doubted. …

Late life depression has become recognized as a serious mental health problem. Almost 1 in 6 elderly suffer (often in silence) with late life depression. New care delivery agents need to be uncovered and mobilized. Because older Americans' religious habits positively impact their sense of well-being and physical health, the church becomes an ideal medium to offer educational programming focused onprevention and early intervention. This article presents a proposal for how the church could become an agent of help to depressed elderly and their families.