Few studies have examined cultural factors in the context of jail-based psychotherapy. Given that incarcerated populations often consist of larger proportions of racial/ethnic minoritized groups and lower socioeconomic status individuals, more culturally oriented services could improve treatment outcomes. The multicultural orientation (MCO) framework could maximize psychotherapy outcomes with this clinical population; however, previous research has not examined MCO in a jail-based treatment setting. Additionally, research has historically utilized client and therapist perspectives of therapeutic alliance and cultural processes during psychotherapy, with observer perspectives receiving minimal attention. This study contributes to existing literature on jail-based psychotherapy and therapist MCO by investigating client and observer perspectives of therapists' demonstration of cultural humility, missed cultural opportunities (i.e., a therapist's engagement in cultural discussions during session), and therapeutic alliance. Fifty-eight adult (M = 35.18 years; SD = 10.52) clients participated in this study. Participants were predominately men (84.5%) and self-identified as White (27.6%), Multiracial (24.1%), African American/Black (20.7%), or Latine/Hispanic (20.7%). Results indicated that both clients and observers indicated a stronger therapeutic alliance if they perceived the therapist as more culturally humble. Clients indicated lower alliance when they perceived the therapist to have missed more cultural opportunities during session. There was no relationship between client and observer ratings of therapist cultural humility, missed cultural opportunities, or therapeutic alliance. This study provides evidence regarding the potential utility of comparing client and observer perspectives of therapeutic alliance and cultural processes in psychotherapy, as well as contributes to the scarcity of research on psychotherapy treatment in jail settings.

Sexual activity occurs among a large portion of young adults and adolescents, including high school students. While about 40% of high school students nationwide have engaged in sexual intercourse, more information is needed about how individual characteristics may relate to larger patterns of adolescent sexual behavior. This exploratory study utilized a latent class analysis (LCA) to identify clusters of high school students (N = 801) based on demographic characteristics, sexual refusal skills, healthy relationship skills, sociosexuality, internalizing symptoms, alcohol use, various forms of social support (i.e., parents, friends, teachers), and sexual activity at baseline to predict their sexual behavior at a 6-month follow-up. Four unique latent classes were identified based on these baseline predictors. Distinctions in the profiles of high schoolers varied significantly by internalizing symptoms, race/ethnicity, sexually conservative attitudes, and social support in the prediction of adolescent sexual activity at 6-months. This study contributes to the investigation of demographic, social, psychological, attitudinal, and behavioral factors that may distinguish high school students from one another in terms of their longitudinal rates of sexual activity.

Latinx in the USA experience disparities in morbidity and mortality when compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Patient-centered culturally sensitive health care (PC-CSHC) has been deemed a best practice approach to alleviate and eliminate these disparities. However, literature on how Latinx patients perceive their care and what indicators of PC-CSHC may be most related to treatment outcomes is limited. This study collected data from 81 adult Latinx participants who had been admitted to an inpatient care unit to understand the following: (a) their perception of their providers' PC-CSHC in three different areas: Competence/Confidence, Sensitivity/Interpersonal, and Respect/Communication; (b) whether there are differences between English- and Spanish-speaking Latinx patients in their perception of their providers' PC-CSHC; and (c) whether these PC-CSHC indicators were associated to patient satisfaction, patient-provider communication, and therapeutic alliance. Participants were mostly male, older than 55 years of age, and working or lower class, with English as their primary language. Results showed that patients rated their providers' Competence (M = 3.57, SD = .46) higher than both Sensitivity, t(68) = .04, p = .04, (M = 3.49, SD =.54), and Respect, t(53) = 2.765, p = .008, (M = 3.38, SD = .57). English-speaking Latinx were overall less satisfied with their providers than Spanish-speaking Latinx, in particular in their communication. Finally, higher provider cultural sensitivity appears to be a predictor of patient satisfaction, patient-provider communication, and working alliance. Implications for refining provider trainings to treat this vulnerable and understudied (i.e., Latinx) population are discussed.

Relationship education programs (REPs) have substantial bodies of evidence that support their efficacy as community-based relationship education interventions for many couples, including racial/ethnic minority (REM) couples and couples from low-income households. While many studies support the efficacy of REPs, less is known about the characteristics of couples who experience worse relationship functioning after these interventions. Accordingly, we examined whether pre-intervention relationship factors would be associated with couples who reported worse relational commitment post-intervention. A total of 1,710 individuals (N = 855 couples) from a large, low-income, urban center participated in REPs. The sample was predominantly African American/Black (58.1%) and Hispanic/Latinx (40.6%), including 16 same-sex couples. Across all outcome variables (dedication, constraint, and separation), the participants receiving the intervention in a group format were more likely to report worse relationship functioning after the intervention. Negative communication was found to be more predictive than positive communication, and higher baseline respect counter-intuitively predicted greater odds of deterioration, especially for female partners. This study calls attention to why couples may experience worsening of commitment after REPs, and ultimately, may help predict which low-income, REM couples may benefit from relationship education, as well as how programs can be better culturally tailored to meet their needs.