Stress and subjective well-being among first year UK undergraduate students

Transition to university is stressful and successful adjustment is imperative for well-being. Historically research on transitional stress focussed on negative outcomes and ill health. This is the first UK study applying a positive psychology approach to investigate the characteristics that facilitate adjustment among new university students. A range of psychological strengths conceptualised as covitality factors, shown individually to influence the stress and subjective well-being (SWB) relationship were assessed among 192 first year UK undergraduates in week three of their first semester and again six months later. Path analyses revealed that optimism mediated the relationship between stress and negative affect (a component of SWB) over time, and academic self-efficacy demonstrated significant relationships with life satisfaction and positive affect. Contrary to predictions, stress levels remained stable over time although academic alienation increased and self-efficacy decreased. Optimism emerged as a key factor for new students to adjust to university, helping to buffer the impact of stress on well-being throughout the academic year. Incorporating stress management and psycho-educational interventions to develop strengths is discussed as a way of promoting confidence and agency in new students to help them cope better with the stress at university

Correctional assessment and treatment: Issues and innovations

Featuring thirty articles by experts in the field, this dynamic forensic psychology reader emphasizes the ways that forensic psychologists and other clinicians apply psychological knowledge, concepts, and principles on a day-to-day basis. Current Perspectives in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior, edited by Curt R. Bartol and Anne M. Bartol, represents cutting-edge research and theory to demonstrate the ways that psychology has contributed to the understanding of criminal behavior and policies of the criminal and civil justice systems. The Fourth Edition addresses key topics in each of five major subareas of the field--police and public safety psychology, legal psychology, the psychology of crime and delinquency, victimology and victim services, and correctional psychology.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facbooks/1189/thumbnail.jp