Christopher Fox Drescher

Augusta University · Department of Psychiatry

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) individuals experience health inequities and barriers to accessing appropriate, affirming care. Little is known about differing health care experiences within the LGBTQ+ population, particularly among individuals living in underserved areas. This study explore...

This study tested the mediation of the relationship between depressive symptoms and suicide risk factor endorsement through mindful attention among a sample (N = 96) of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) adults seeking care at a free medical clinic in the Southeastern U.S. Measures included the PHQ-9, the CAMS Suicide Status Form-4 (SSF), and the...

Optimizing majority world youths’ capacity for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is an essential endeavor for psychology, yet African adolescents are rarely represented in psychology research. In this paper, we explore positive youth development (PYD) among Maasai adolescents, amid rapidly changing sociocultural and environ...

Health disparities in the sexual minority population may be exacerbated by the loneliness experienced due to minority stress. Using a minority stress framework, this study examined minority stress, protective variables, and mental health as correlates of loneliness in sexual minority individuals in a small metropolitan area in the southeastern Unit...

Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals experience hardship and mistreatment. These experiences may contribute to mental health disparities faced by this community, including suicidality. The present study examined the associations between physical- and sexual-violence victimization, homelessness, perception of safety, and suicidali...

Street-connected adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa have been neglected in scholarly research. Extant literature is largely problem focused. This study describes strengths and assets among street-connected youth in Tanzania, using a participatory, mixed methods approach. Adolescents (N = 38, 13-17 years) in a rehabilitation center for street youth i...

Sexual minority individuals experience a disproportionate burden of mental health issues, particularly in less populous cities of the southern United States. Unique identity-related stressors may explain these disparities. The current study examines relationships between sexual minority stress, identity, and anxiety in sexual minority individuals f...

Self-efficacy has been examined around the world, with research indicating its importance for personal and civic development. The General Self-Efficacy Scale has been translated into 33 languages; however, no African language version has been well established, and research on self-efficacy in the region is rare. A measure of self-efficacy in Swahil...

Background Assets-based approaches are well-suited to youth living in majority world contexts, such as East Africa. However, positive psychology research with African adolescents is rare. One hindering factor is the lack of translated measures for conducting research. Objective This study builds capacity for positive youth development research in...

Background: Smoking prevalence for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals is higher than for heterosexual, cisgender individuals. Elevated smoking rates have been linked to psychiatric comorbidities, substance use, poverty, low education levels, and stress. Objectives: This study examined mental health (MH) correlates of ciga...

Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections remain a major health concern and are linked to a number of poor outcomes. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth are particularly at risk for these issues. Although evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) programs exist, they are not necessarily tailored to...

Objectives: We used mediation models to examine the mechanisms underlying the relationships among physical fitness, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), symptoms of depression, and cognitive functioning. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional secondary analysis of the cohorts involved in the 2003-2006 project PLAY (a trial of the effects of aerobi...

The use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs is the predominant cause of the burden of disease in developed countries, including mortality excess, and wide-ranging effects on personal safety, mental health, and social well-being. This article identifies the programs, interventions, and policies effective for preventing tobacco and drug use, and alco...

Objectives: This study's purpose was to assess perceived meaning in adolescents. Specifically, our goals were to examine the psychometric properties of the Purpose in Life test-Short Form (PIL-SF) and its ability to predict psychological outcomes in an adolescent sample. Method: Aspects of well-being (self-efficacy, life satisfaction, and resili...

The current study addresses the need for accurate measurement of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in youth by investigating the psychometric properties of the Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS). The factor structure, reliability, and concurrent and discriminant validity of the CPSS were investigated in a sample of 206 6th- to 12th-grade a...

Although mental health program development and service delivery have progressed in Malaysia since its independence in 1957, a shortage of mental health professionals remains a main barrier to mental health care (Haque, 2005). Stigma and cultural beliefs about mental illness may further impede psychological help-seeking. An easy-to-use mental health...

Research and assessment skills are important competencies for psychologists to possess regardless of their professional role. Participating in collaborative research during graduate training is an effective way for graduate students to gain a diversity of experiences in these areas. The current work describes the training opportunities in a collabo...

Disaster mental health, also known as clinical-disaster psychology, is an emerging area of interest among researchers and clinicians as it is important to understand the impact disaster events have on an individual’s mental health. Research within disaster events is necessary to allow researchers and clinicians to be better prepared for future disa...

A significant percentage of disaster survivors experience negative psychological, physical, and social outcomes after a disaster. The current study advances the literature concerning the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (the Gulf Oil Spill) while addressing weaknesses of previous research. The current study includes a clinical sample of 1,119 adults rec...

Accurate assessment of cyberbullying is essential for intervention planning and evaluation. Limitations to many currently available self-report measures of cyberbullying victimization include a lack of psychometric information and a limited scope (i.e., not assessing multiple electronic mediums of cybervictimization). To address these limitations,...

The use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs is the predominant cause of the burden of disease in developed countries, including mortality excess, and wide-ranging effects on personal safety, mental health, and social well-being. This article identifies the programs, interventions, and policies effective for preventing tobacco and drug use, and alco...

Background: Data are limited regarding the prevalence of substance use among adolescents in rural and ethnically diverse communities. This study examined rates and sociodemographic correlates of lifetime substance use among adolescents in Mississippi, a rural state that is the poorest in the country (21.3% poverty rate) and has the largest proport...

Juris G. Draguns is a pioneer in international psychology and cross-cultural research. Overcoming geographical and language barriers, he has collaborated with researchers from nations such as Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Russia,...

Although the idea of animism dates to early philosophers and scientists such as Stahl, Hume, Zenophanes, Tiedemann, Froebel, Comte, Sully, and Rasmussen, the modern conceptualization of animism is generally credited to the British anthropologist seminal work Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art,...

The current study examined the impact of the Gulf Oil Spill and Hurricane Katrina, environmental attitudes, and environmental action among residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The authors sought to determine if disaster impact, worry about the environment, or connection to nature was associated with environmental action following the oil spill...

Cultivating youth's capacity to address climate change is critical for a sustainable future. This is especially true in developing countries in equatorial Africa where agrarian communities are severely affected by climate change. We examine a youth development program designed to increase knowledge and capacity for leadership and action in response...

Ugandan youth face a number of threats to their healthy development including poverty, high rates of disease, civil conflict, and environmental degradation. Cultivating developmental competencies is critical, not only for youth, but also for the future of Ugandan communities and civil society. In this article, we highlight contextual challenges fac...

Although reverse-worded items have often been incorporated in scale construction to minimize the effects of acquiescent reporting biases, some researchers have more recently begun questioning this approach and wondering whether the advantages associated with incorporating reverse-worded items is worth the complexities that they bring to measures (e...

This study sought to resolve the dimensionality of the Loneliness Questionnaire (LQ; Asher, Hymel, & Renshaw, 1984) by applying recommended confirmatory factor analytic procedures that control for method effects (Brown, 2003). This study was needed given that inconsistent findings have been reported recently regarding the structure of this instrume...

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded, releasing five billion barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over five months (referred to as the Gulf Oil Spill). This oil spill affected Gulf Coast communities, harming both sea and land wildlife, damaging the fishing industry, and destroying natural resources. In the wake of such a...

ABCT was originally founded in 1966 as the Association for the Advancement of Behavioral Therapies (AABT) and then became the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) in 2005. While cognitive therapy incorporates learning theory just as behavior therapy, AABT’s name was changed to explicitly include cognitive therapy. The name chan...