While there is an extensive literature on the theoretical and anecdotal basis of

humor being a key aspect of psychotherapy, there is relatively little research. In this study, I addressed whether the frequency of therapist humor is related to subsequent therapeutic alliance ratings by the client. I also examined if therapist humor use is related to improvement in client symptomology. I hypothesized that there will be a positive correlation between humor use and the working alliance while there will be a negative correlation between humor use and client symptomology. Video recordings of therapy sessions were coded for humor (defined by laughter present in response to the therapist) or no humor (laughter not present). These ratings were correlated to client perceptions of the working alliance (using the WAI-S) and client symptomology. I found no correlations between humor and changes in working alliance or client symptomology. The results suggest that humor use in counseling does not seem to matter, however possible limitations of the study mitigate such conclusions.

Individuals are attracted to occupational environments that align with their interests and personality characteristics (Holland, 1985, 1997). When an individual's attributes (i.e., needs, abilities, values and/or interests) align with the occupational environment's characteristics an individual is more satisfied. Past research suggests this relation is modest at best, hovering between .20 and .30 (Meyer et al., 2001, c.f. Wilkins & Tracey, 2014), with slightly higher estimates (ranging from .24 to .35) depending on how the variables of person and environment were measured (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005). Several factors contribute to such low estimates, most notably the role of moderator variables in suppressing or exacerbating the true magnitude of this relation. A moderator that has yet to be explored is that of nonwork role priority, or the degree to which an individual's work identity is valued relative to other role identities. In the current study, three hypotheses were posited to investigate nonwork role priorities as a potential moderator to the congruence-satisfaction relation. Latent class analysis was used to apply a person-centered approach to understanding response patterns and differences in these roles. The sample was differentiated best by a two-class solution and the class variable in all three hierarchical regression models explained about five percent of the variance in job satisfaction, which suggests that work and nonwork role priority are meaningful to understanding individual career happiness. Class was not identified as a significant moderator to the congruence-satisfaction relation. Discussion of limitations to the current study and recommendations for future work in this area are presented.

The relation of stigma to help-seeking attitudes and intentions and how these relations differed across cultures for American students, East Asian, and South Asian international students, were the focus of this study. Previous researchers had found that not seeking professional psychological help when needed was prevalent for both American and international students. Stigma has been found to be a salient factor in influencing attitudes of individuals and may prevent individuals from getting the help they need. Both public and self-stigma were utilized to predict attitudes and intentions to seek psychological help in a sample of 806 students. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to assess the relationships in how self-stigma, public stigma, attitudes toward counseling and intentions to seek counseling will interplay for American, East Asian and South Asian international students, further expanding on previous help-seeking model (Vogel et al., 2007). Results indicated differences in factor structure of scales for the groups, and new factors were identified. With the new factors derived, different models of help-seeking intentions were established for each group, and distinct relations among the factors were explained. Furthermore, implications for future studies and clinical relevance were highlighted.