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The Influence Of Minority Stress, Coping, And A Pandemic On The Relationship Between Sexual Orientation And Mental Health: A Mixed Methods Study, James Michael Macchia

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

For decades, scientific literature has shown that sexual minority individuals across populations are disproportionately affected by negative mental health outcomes when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. These disparities are largely attributable to minority stress. Coping is a significant factor that can impact the content and severity of mental health outcomes and coping behaviors have been shown to vary based on sexual orientation. Mental health outcomes may also differ between sexual minority subgroups due to additional factors such as double discrimination and bisexual invisibility/erasure. Moreover, factors such as internalized homophobia and community connectedness have demonstrated strong associations with sexual minority mental …

The Mediation Effects Of Adaptive Blindness Strategies On The Relation Between Institutional Betrayal From Military Sexual Assault And Mental Health Symptoms, Rachel L. Davies

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Military sexual assault is a serious and prevalent issue. The frequency with which military sexual assault occurs and the nature of the response to these events within the military system may contribute to institutional betrayal. Institutional betrayal is the failure of an institution, such as the military, to prevent sexual assault from occurring and/or the failure to support a survivor after sexual assault. Adaptive blindness strategies are forms of coping strategies that help individuals navigate a relationship they depend on when there is a betrayal. Two adaptive blindness strategies are self-blame and minimization. Although the adaptive blindness strategies may allow …

Attention And Task Engagement During Automated Driving, James Richard Unverricht

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Many young drivers suffer fatal crashes each year in the United States at a rate approximately three times greater than more experienced drivers. Automated driving systems may serve to mitigate young drivers high crash rates but remain underexplored in research. This dissertation project examined the effects of levels of automation and interestingness of auditory clips on latent hazard anticipation in young drivers during simulated driving. Participants drove a vehicle at varying levels of vehicle automation (SAE Level 0, 2, or 3) in simulated scenarios, each containing a latent hazard event during which a boring, neutral, or interesting auditory clip was …

Operational Hazard Anticipation: Examination Of Overt Anticipatory Behaviors In Latent Hazard Scenarios Using A High-Fidelity Driving Simulator, Sarah Elizabeth Yahoodik

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Young drivers are more likely to be involved in fatal crashes compared to more experienced drivers. Perceptual-cognitive skills such as anticipating and mitigating hazards may contribute to this risk. However, the connection between anticipating a hazard and successfully mitigating said hazard is not clear. One novel concept that may bridge hazard anticipation and mitigation is operational hazard anticipation. Operational hazard anticipation is the act of engaging in anticipatory actions in preparation for the possibility of eventual hazard mitigation. This study examined a possible measure of operational hazard anticipation, hovering one’s foot over the brake and accelerator, and the relationship between …

Examining The Experience And Impact Of Teen-To-Teen Crisis Line Work For Youth Volunteers: A Pilot Study, Taylor Kalgren

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

For young people, suicide is a leading cause of death. In addition, suicidal thoughts and behaviors begin during adolescence, and rates are high during this developmental period. Crisis lines are one of the oldest suicide prevention strategies used today. Crisis line work is challenging, and therefore, examining the health and safety of these operators is critical. Teen-to-teen (t2t) crisis lines are a unique resource where adolescent volunteers help their similarity aged peers. The goal of this pilot study was to begin to evaluate the impact of t2t crisis lines for youth volunteers. Twenty youth crisis line volunteers (ages 15-20) were …

The Effect Of Viewing Different Modalities Of Alcohol-Related Social Media Content Shared By Friends On Alcohol Outcomes: A Longitudinal Examination, Megan E. Strowger

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Social influences have robust associations with problematic alcohol use among emerging adult college students. Examinations of social influences increasingly focus on social media influences via alcohol-related content (ARC) sharing and viewing. Limited longitudinal research suggests that increased exposure to ARC is associated with increased alcohol consumption among college students over time. Most research examining exposure has not focused on who (e.g., specific friends) is sharing this content, the modality (e.g., photos) or the qualities of those sharing content and their relationship (e.g., closeness) to the viewer. The current study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between alcohol consumption/consequences and: 1) sharing …

The Impact Of Covid-19 Stressors, Racial Discrimination, And Racial Socialization On Family Functioning In Black Families, Regina L. Alexander

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Marginalized communities, specifically Black Americans, have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which has resulted in more hospitalizations and deaths within this particular community. However, this disproportionate impact of COVID-19 is likely the result of ongoing health disparities related to a lack of access to adequate healthcare. In addition to health disparities specifically related to COVID-19, Black Americans have also experienced public displays of racial discrimination resulting from the systemic racism that has occurred for many years. It has been determined that stress spillover can impact relationship factors and this same spillover may be an important factor by which …

Affect, Mind-Body Factors, And Disordered And Intuitive Eating Behaviors: Examining Naturalistic Associations Among Young Women With Elevated Eating Disorder Symptoms, Kelly A. Romano

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Objective: The present study examined whether three mind-body factors—emotion dysregulation, interoceptive sensibility, and mindfulness—that are theorized to be implicated in the onset and maintenance of eating disorder (ED) pathology mediated (Aim 1) and moderated (Aim 2) within-person associations between affect and women with elevated ED symptoms’ disordered and intuitive eating behavior use. Method: Participants included 150 young women with elevated ED symptoms who completed a 10-day ecological momentary assessment protocol. To address Aim 1, multilevel structural equation models examined whether the mindbody factors (separately) mediated momentary associations between negative and positive affect, and women’s disordered (dietary restriction, loss of control …

Comparison Between The Effects Of Acute Physical And Psychosocial Stress On Feedback-Based Learning, Xiao Yang, Brittany Nackley, Bruce H. Friedman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Stress modulates feedback-based learning, a process that has been implicated in declining mental function in aging and mental disorders. While acute physical and psychosocial stressors have been used interchangeably in studies on feedback-based learning, the two types of stressors involve distinct physiological and psychological processes. Whether the two types of stressors differentially influence feedback processing remains unclear. The present study compared the effects of physical and psychosocial stressors on feedback-based learning. Ninety-six subjects (Mage = 19.11 years; 50 female) completed either a cold pressor task (CPT) or mental arithmetic task (MAT), as the physical or psychosocial stressor, while electrocardiography and …

Providing Family Centered Care Within Pediatric Integrated Care Settings, Emily D. Bebber

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Parent engagement remains critical to pediatric care. Both pediatric medical and mental health care remains dependent upon parent/guardian engagement to support successful outcomes for children and adolescents. Efforts to enhance Family Centered Care (FCC) has been spotlighted within pediatric care since the 1950s and the inclusion of counselors within integrated behavior health (IBH) teams ushers a need for an evolved understanding of the implementation of FCC, including parent/guardian engagement across professional roles. Using an explanatory mixed-method design, I examined team implementation of Family Centered Care (FCC) among different provider types (e.g., physicians, nurses, licensed mental health providers, social workers, technicians) …

Predicting E-Cigarette Use Among Emerging Adults Using Perceived Social Norms And Outcome Expectancies, Stephen N. Hanson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Despite low rates of combustible tobacco use rates among adolescents and young adults, e-cigarettes continue to gain popularity. A few factors have been shown to be related to e-cigarette use based on prior research. One such example is social enhancement expectancies. Additionally, greater perceptions of harm have been found to be inversely related to e-cigarette use such that those that expect increased risk to their health are less likely to report using e-cigarettes. I hypothesized that social enhancement expectancies would mediate the relationship between perceptions of social norms and e-cigarette dependence. I also hypothesized that perceived harm, such as greater …

The Effect Of Minority Stress On Sexual Minority College Students' Mental Health: The Role Of General Social Support And Sexuality-Specific Social Support, Lee A. Golembiewski

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sexual minority (SM) college students continue to face greater mental health problems relative to their heterosexual peers (Woodford et al., 2014; Wilson & Liss, 2022). According to minority stress theory, SM individuals face distal (e.g., heterosexist discrimination) and proximal (e.g., expectations of rejection, internalized homophobia, and concealment) stressors related to their SM identity which can have negative effects on their mental health (Douglass & Conlin, 2020; Meyer, 2003). However, social support has been hypothesized to help protect against the effects of minority stress experienced by SM individuals (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Moody & Smith, 2013). Most of the existing research …

Towards A Formal Theory Of Humor In Organizations, Richard Joseph Hayes

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Current theories and models of humor conceptualize humor at the individual, dyadic, and organizational level. These theories laid the foundation for research and empirical findings that have established humor’s impact in the workplace. Yet, because these theories are not integrated, they individually do not offer a comprehensive view of humor in the workplace across different levels, hindering the development of multilevel research designs. Additionally, the ambiguity of these narrative theories hampers empirical testing precision. This dissertation expands the literature by introducing a mathematical, multilevel model of humor and tests that theory using computational simulation methods. Synthetic environments reproduced observed correlations …

Human Psychology Factors Influencing Agile Team Autonomy In Post-Pandemic Remote Software Organizations, Ravikiran Kalluri

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Agile project management methods are gaining in popularity in the software industry as software development teams are being asked to be adaptive to market needs and resilient to change and uncertainty. With increasing market uncertainty, global competition, and time-to-market pressure, it is becoming a challenge to develop an innovative product and deliver it on-time without the opportunity that comes from team autonomy to experiment and learn from failures in a remote workplace. To resolve this challenge, it is critical to understand the myriad human psychological factors in play that influence Agile team autonomy in a remote work environment.

The role …

Determining The Degree To Which Ideational Behavior Predicts Occupational Identity Achievement In Emerging Adult College Students Preceding Entry Into The Fourth Industrial Revolution Workforce, Carrington M. Faulk

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

As emerging adults transition into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) workforce, it is essential to understand the factors that predict successful occupational identity achievement, as automation will impact human occupational identity crises. This descriptive cross-sectional study implemented a correlation design to determine the degree to which ideational behavior predicts occupational identity achievement preceding entry into the 4IR workforce. Using a sample of 166 emerging adult college students from a Mid-Atlantic, diverse, four-year university, data were collected using Runco’s Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS) and Melgosa’s Occupational Identity Achievement subscale (OIA). Results showed that ideational behavior significantly predicted occupational identity achievement ( …

A Comparison Of Nonverbal And Paraverbal Behaviors In Simulated And Virtual Patient Encounters, Sarah Powers, Mark W. Scerbo, Matthew Pacailler, Macy Kisiel, Baillie Hirst, Ginger S. Watson, Lauren Hamel, Fred Kron

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

The present study assessed whether trainees display similar nonverbal and paraverbal behaviors when interacting with a simulated (SP) and virtual patient (VP). Sixty second slices of time following four interactions were rated for the presence and frequency of three nonverbal and paraverbal behaviors. Results revealed that students exhibited fewer behaviors in the VP interaction, possibly due to differences social inhibition or fidelity between the two formats.

The Association Between Vigorous Physical Activity And Alcohol Use, Christina James, Emily Junkin, Cathy Lau-Barraco

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Evidence supports a positive association between excessive exercise and alcohol use among young adults. Past research has looked at the effects of medium-intensity physical activity regarding alcohol use prevention among college students, suggesting a positive linear association between these two variables. However, prior research has primarily focused on men. Thus, questions regarding health-compromising behaviors, such as excessive drinking and exercise among women, remain to be investigated. Further, questions have been raised concerning the pattern of association between vigorous physical activity and alcohol use among men versus women. The present study aims to replicate prior research by evaluating (1) the association …

Community Healthcare Providers’ Perspectives On Hiv Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep) Use Among Black Women, Kayla Pitchford, Sylvia Shangani, Charlotte Dawson, Kristin Heron

College of Sciences Posters

The most at-risk population among women for HIV diagnosis in the U.S. are Black women, who account for 61% of all new HIV cases. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a safe and effective HIV prevention method for people at risk of HIV acquisition. Despite being disproportionately affected by HIV, Black women’s knowledge, perceived benefits, and uptake of PrEP remain low. The socio-ecological model may be useful for understanding why there is a low uptake of PrEP among Black women by examining the complex interplay between individual, relationship, community, and societal factors. The current study used the socio-ecological framework to explore provider …

My Baby, My Move+: Feasibility Of A Community Prenatal Wellbeing Intervention, Jenn A. Leiferman, Rachael Lacy, Jessica Walls, Charlotte V. Farewell, Mary K. Dinger, Danielle Symons Downs, Sarah S. Farrabi, Jennifer L. Huberty, James F. Paulson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background

Excessive gestational weight gain (EGWG), insufficient prenatal physical activity and sleep, and poor psychological wellbeing independently increase risks for adverse maternal and infant outcomes. A novel approach to mitigate these risks is utilizing peer support in a community-based prenatal intervention. This study assessed the feasibility (acceptability, demand, implementation, and practicality) of a remotely delivered prenatal physical activity intervention called My Baby, My Move + (MBMM +) that aims to increase prenatal physical activity, enhance mood and sleep hygiene, and reduce EGWG.

Methods

Participants were recruited through community organizations, local clinics, and social media platforms in the Fall of 2020 …

Trauma Exposure And Transdiagnostic Distress: Examining Shared And Ptsd-Specific Associations, Michael L. Crowe, Sage E. Hawn, Erika J. Wolf, Terence M. Keane, Brian P. Marx

Psychology Faculty Publications

Dimensional models of psychopathology suggest that the causes and consequences of psychopathology are attributable to a combination of syndrome specific and transdiagnostic features. There is considerable evidence that trauma exposure confers risk for a wide range of psychiatric conditions, yet no previous work has specifically examined the higher-order effects of trauma exposure within a structural model. We examined transdiagnostic and PTSD-specific associations with multiple forms of trauma exposure within a nation-wide sample (N = 1,649; 50% female) of military Veterans over-selected for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A higher-order Distress variable was estimated using PTSD, major depressive disorder (MDD), and generalized …

Confidence Intervals For The Coefficient Alpha Difference From Two Independent Samples (Groups), Miguel Padilla

Psychology Faculty Publications

Four different bootstrap methods for estimating confidence intervals (CIs) for a coefficient alpha difference from two independent samples (groups) were examined. These four CIs were compared to the most promising non-bootstrap CI alternatives in the literature. All CIs were assessed with a Monte Carlo simulation with conditions similar to previous research. The results indicate that there is a clear order in coverage performance of the CIs. The bootstrapped highest density interval had the best coverage performance across all simulation conditions. Yet, it was impacted by unequal sample sizes when one of the groups had the smallest sample size investigated of …

Can We Predict Who Tries E-Cigarettes?, Samantha A. Fitzer, Joe Flores, James M. Henson

College of Health Sciences Posters

Background: Since the emergence of e-cigarettes in the United States in 2007, the aerosol-delivery devices have become the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth. This trend puts decades of work deterring young people from cigarettes in jeopardy and increases the risk of exposing a new generation of young people to nicotine. Researchers need to know what behaviors to target and who is at greatest risk in order to act upon the U.S. surgeon general’s 2018 call to action.

Method: This study examined a variety of factors that have the potential to differentiate college students on their e-cigarette use. …

Examining The Experience Of Teen-To-Teen Crisis Line Work For Adolescent Volunteers: A Pilot Study, Taylor Kalgren Bs, Catherine R. Glenn Phd, Raksha Kandlur Ms, Kelsie Allison Ms, Annie Duan Bs, Cheryl Karp, Morgan Leets, Sandipan Dutta Phd, Madelyn Gould Phd, Mph

College of Sciences Posters

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are high and increasing among youth. Crisis lines are one of the oldest downstream approaches for suicide prevention, which have demonstrated effectiveness for adults and preliminary effectiveness for youth. Teen-to-teen (t2t) crisis lines are a unique resource where adolescent volunteers help their similarly aged peers (through texts, chats, calls, and emails). However, no research to date has examined the impacts of t2t crisis line volunteering on the youth. The goal of this pilot study is to begin to evaluate the experience of t2t crisis lines for the youth volunteers. Adolescent (n=20, ages 15-20) volunteers were recruited …

When Diversity Measures Are Nonequivalent: Advice For Practitioners, Kristen Denae Eggler, Jeffrey Olenick, Eric A. Surface, Jamie Ousterout

College of Sciences Posters

When addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion, researchers and organizations often focus on group differences in outcomes of interest. However, groups do not always interpret surveys in the same way, causing measurement nonequivalence. Measurement nonequivalence makes it difficult, if not impossible, to compare group differences presenting a problem for how conclusions are drawn. To better understand group differences in survey responding, the current study assessed measurement invariance across five diversity-related measures using the methods outlined by Nye and colleagues (Nye et al., 2019; Somaraju et al., 2022). Data were collected across three organizations (N = 732) from different industries (i.e., …

Covid-19, Mental Health, Technology Use, And Job Satisfaction Among School Psychology Trainers, Joel O. Bocanegra, Jennifer Gallup, Minghui Hou, Aaron A. Gubi, Chung-Hau Fan, Nai-Jiin Yang, Celal Perihan

Educational Foundations & Leadership Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to exacerbate the school psychology personnel crisis. There is a dearth of knowledge regarding how the pandemic has impacted school psychology trainers and course delivery. In this national study, 92 school psychology trainers completed an online questionnaire regarding technological instructional changes, job satisfaction, and their own mental health well-being during the pandemic. Findings suggest that during the portion of the pandemic assessed most trainers reported that they: (a) switched from in-person instruction to primarily online instruction, (b) were mostly satisfied with their jobs, and (c) generally experienced a positive sense of well-being. Furthermore, a sizable portion …

Differences In Relationship And Sexual Satisfaction And Social Support Between Only Lesbian, Mostly Lesbian, And Bisexual Women, Meredith I. Turner, Cassidy M. Sandoval, Charlotte A. Dawson, Kristin E. Heron

College of Sciences Posters

Research suggests relationship and sexual satisfaction and social support are correlated with components of well-being such as anxiety, depression, and physical health. Differences in relationship and sexual satisfaction and social support have been identified between sexual minority women (SMW; i.e., lesbian and bisexual) and heterosexual women. However, classifying SMW into a single group may mask important differences. Further research is needed to better understand the differences in relationship and sexual satisfaction and social support between subgroups of SMW. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine differences in these constructs between women who identify as only lesbian, mostly …

Murder On The Vr Express: Studying The Impact Of Thought Experiments At A Distance In Virtual Reality, Andrew Kissel, Krzysztof J. Rechowicz, John B. Shull

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Hypothetical thought experiments allow researchers to gain insights into widespread moral intuitions and provide opportunities for individuals to explore their moral commitments. Previous thought experiment studies in virtual reality (VR) required participants to come to an on-site laboratory, which possibly restricted the study population, introduced an observer effect, and made internal reflection on the participants’ part more difficult. These shortcomings are particularly crucial today, as results from such studies are increasingly impacting the development of artificial intelligence systems, self-driving cars, and other technologies. This paper explores the viability of deploying thought experiments in commercially available in-home VR headsets. We conducted …

Employee Green Behavior As The Core Of Environmentally Sustainable Organizations, Hannes Zacher, Cort W. Rudolph, Ian M. Katz

Psychology Faculty Publications

Environmental sustainability has become an ethical and strategic imperative for organizations, and more and more employees are interested, encouraged, or instructed to act in environmentally sustainable ways. Consequently, organizational scholars have increasingly studied individual-level antecedents of employee pro-environmental or employee green behavior (EGB). We argue that, to advance this literature and to inform effective interventions, research should investigate how EGB, as a compound performance domain, is associated with antecedents and consequences at multiple levels (i.e., individual, team, work context, organization, society). Accordingly, we pursue three interrelated goals with this review. We first present a comprehensive review of research on EGB, …

Boring But Demanding: Using Secondary Tasks To Counter The Driver Vigilance Decrement For Partially Automated Driving, Scott Mishler, Jing Chen

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective

We investigated secondary–task–based countermeasures to the vigilance decrement during a simulated partially automated driving (PAD) task, with the goal of understanding the underlying mechanism of the vigilance decrement and maintaining driver vigilance in PAD.

Background

Partial driving automation requires a human driver to monitor the roadway, but humans are notoriously bad at monitoring tasks over long periods of time, demonstrating the vigilance decrement in such tasks. The overload explanations of the vigilance decrement predict the decrement to be worse with added secondary tasks due to increased task demands and depleted attentional resources, whereas the underload explanations predict the vigilance …

Childhood Bullying Victimization, Emotion Regulation, Rumination, Distress Tolerance, And Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-National Examination Among Young Adults In Seven Countries, Madelyn H. Labella, Neelamberi D. Klein, Georgina Yeboah, Claire Bailey, Ashley N. Doane, Debra Kaminer, Adrian J. Bravo, Cross-Cultural Addictions Study Team

Psychology Faculty Publications

Existing research suggests a robust association between childhood bullying victimization and depressive symptoms in adulthood, but less is known about potential mediators of this link. Furthermore, there is limited cross-national research evaluating similarities and differences in bullying victimization and its associations with mental health. The current study addressed gaps in the literature by evaluating cognitive and affective responses to stress (i.e., emotion regulation, rumination, and distress tolerance) as potential mediators of the link between recalled bullying victimization and current depressive symptoms among 5909 (70.6% female) college students from seven countries. Results revealed specific indirect associations of bullying victimization through distress …