Graduate Institute for Professional Psychology

Objective: Because physical exercise improves psychological functioning, it may be beneficial to college students with maltreatment histories. Thus, we tested the hypotheses that cumulative maltreatment would negatively affect psychological functioning, physical exercise would positively affect psychological functioning, and emotion regulation difficulties would negatively contribute to the prediction of psychological functioning. Participants: Participants were 90 undergraduate students (71.1% female, 65.6% white). Methods: Participants completed questionnaires regarding their maltreatment and physical exercise history, emotion regulation difficulties, and psychological functioning. Results: Cumulative maltreatment was negatively correlated with self-esteem and positively correlated with PTSD/depression and frequent exercise was negatively correlated with PTSD/depression. Emotion regulation difficulties impacted the relationships between maltreatment history and psychological functioning, and accounted for much of the variability in psychological functioning. Cumulative maltreatment and exercise impacted different domains of emotion regulation which in turn uniquely affect psychological functioning. Conclusions: Therapeutic interventions should aim to improve these specific emotion regulation abilities.

Doctoral programs in professional psychology have been impacted by changes in APA accreditation criteria, a shortage of predoctoral internships, and the emergence of detailed core competencies that students are expected to achieve during their graduate training. Although the internship imbalance has received broader attention, developments in accreditation criteria and competency benchmarks may be less familiar to undergraduate students and their advisors. A wider discussion of these three factors would likely improve the advising and preparation of students applying to doctoral programs, give applicants a more realistic expectation of doctoral training, and better inform curriculum developments at the undergraduate level.