Digital Commons Network^™

Anxious Attachment As A Mediator Between Parental Abuse In Childhood And Partner Attributions In Adulthood, Naomi Michele Pearson

Honors Theses

Parenting in childhood can positively or negatively affect physical and mental health and behaviors in adulthood. When a child undergoes abuse or neglect from their caregiver, they often develop inadequate adjustment, due to insecurity in close relationships, which may continue throughout their lives. Furthermore, this insecurity, established in childhood, can manifest in adult romantic relationships, as assurance-seeking, jealousy, and hostility, causing insecurely-attached individuals to attribute blame onto their partners, internal attributes, or circumstances.

These pessimistic attributions, caused by parental- influenced feelings of ambivalence and separation anxiety, may lead to increased tension and dissatisfaction within close relationships. A sample of 150 …

Social Media Usage During Covid-19: Friend Or Foe?, Claudia Dominique

Honors Theses

College students experience more stress and are more vulnerable to mental illness as compared to the general population. Both COVID-19 and social media usage have shown to be stressors that augment this pre-existing issue. The goal of the current study is to highlight the relationship between the social media usage and mental health of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing a correlational and longitudinal research design, undergraduate students completed self-report mental health and social media usage measures throughout the semester. Researchers found that both social media usage, anxiety, and depression levels were higher post-pandemic as compared to pre-pandemic. However, …

Healthy Eating, Unhealthy Mind: Measuring The Rate Of A Disordered Eating Pattern Among University Student Athletes And Non-Athletes, Erika Moeller

Honors Theses

The present study examined the rates of Orthorexia Nervosa (ON), a disordered eating pattern characterized by an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy foods, among college athletes and non-athletes at a medium-size, Midwestern university in the U.S. The present study investigated ON using two different tools: the ORTO-15 and the Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ). The independent variables were athletic status and hours of exercise per week, and the dependent variables were scores on the EHQ and ORTO-15. Participants reported demographic information, including whether they were an athlete (n = 196 athletes, 105 non-athletes) and how many hours of exercise they perform …

Investigating The Relationship Between Identity Salience And Attitudes Of Groups, Grazia Dipierro

Honors Theses

A person’s political views are largely dependent on who they are, meaning a person’s identities may inform their political attitudes. The extent to which a person is made aware of an identity may influence how they view certain issues. For example, a white woman may view the same issue in two different ways depending on whether her racial or gender identity is activated. It is hypothesized that when participants are made aware of their racial identity, White participants will hold more conservative views, while non-white participants will hold more liberal views. Additionally, when made aware of a gender identity, white …

The Relationship Between Classroom Variables And Academic Achievement Across The Preschool Year, Olivia M. Leblanc

Honors Theses

Preschool education is designed to foster social, cognitive, and academic gains for three- to five-year-old children before they enter kindergarten. Preschool education provides three- to five-year-old children with opportunities to participate in structured educational activities and to interact with groups of peers. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between specific elements of successful preschool classrooms and student outcomes across the preschool year utilizing data from 125 preschool classrooms in the Midwest. Controlling for demographic information, it was found that the implementation of social-emotional learning was significantly positively correlated with the development of self-regulation and literacy abilities, and increased …

Impact Of A Dialogic Reading Intervention On The Effectiveness Of Adaptive Magnitude Comparison Ebooks For Improving Young Children’S Magnitude Comparison Skills, Patrick C. Ehrman

Honors Theses

Dialogic reading interventions have been used successfully to increase literacy and language skills, including math language. This study aims to investigate whether a dialogic reading intervention will assist children with spatial and numerical magnitude comparison skills learned through a novel adaptive eBook designed to be read together by parents and children. We propose that a dialogic reading intervention used with an adaptive magnitude comparison eBook will improve children’s spatial and numerical magnitude comparison skills and general math skills compared to control groups. Preschool-aged children and their parents (N=27) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: adaptive magnitude comparison eBooks …

The Effects Of Helicopter Parenting In Emerging Adulthood: An Investigation Of The Roles Of Involvement And Perceived Intrusiveness, Abigail T. Flower

Honors Theses

The term “helicopter parent” describes parents who provide extensive support with high constraint to their children with a variety of possible negative outcomes (Comstock, 2019). The present study examined the effects of intensive (i.e., “helicopter”) parenting among emerging college-aged adults by comparing evaluative and descriptive measures of intensive parenting and examining their differential associations with college students’ achievement and well-being. There were three main hypotheses of the study. First, I predicted that perceptions of parental intrusiveness, captured by an evaluative measure, would be more strongly correlated with negative outcomes (e.g., poorer grades, greater depression etc.) than would the frequency and …

The Effects Of L. Rhamnosus Consumption On Male Long Evans Rat Anxiety-Like Behavior, Amanda Marie Schleper

Honors Theses

Adolescent stress in humans has been correlated with an increased likelihood of an individual to develop an alcohol use disorder later in life. Literature has demonstrated that rats subjected to adolescent stress tend to show an increased preference and consumption of ethanol. Adolescence is a critical time of development. The link between adolescent stressors and alcohol use disorders is not fully understood yet. This study examined the relationship between adolescent stress and alcohol consumption and preference in rats. Probiotics are bacteria with potential health benefits and have been well accepted as a dietary supplement. Literature shows that probiotics could decrease …

The Melody Of Spatial Memory, Victoria Lynne Karpuszka

Honors Theses

Music has been studied extensively in psychology, including research on musically-induced emotion. However, the project reported here looked at new effects of musically-induced emotions on spatial memory. Trochidis and Bigand (2013) established that music and emotions are associated. Music of a major mode, or an Ionian mode, is usually associated with positive emotions. Music of minor modes, such the Locrian or Aoelian modes, are associated with negative emotions. These associations with the specific modes are seen by the lowering of the third and sixth scale tones.

Participants for the present study completed a spatial memory task (called the “Tower of …

Maternal Depression, Child Temperament, And Risk For Depression In Adolescence A Test Of The Differential Susceptibility Hypothesis, Karina Palermo

Honors Theses

This study examines the relationship between maternal depression and offspring risk for depression. A child's difficult temperament may be especially challenging for a depressed mother. The depression, in combination with child difficult temperament, may cause changes in parenting styles that put the child at a greater risk for depression. The purpose of this study is to examine whether links between maternal depression, maternal parenting, and offspring risk for depression in adolescence vary according to child difficult temperament. It is predicted that maternal depression will be more strongly predictive of parenting deficits for mothers of children with difficult temperament. Furthermore, consistent …

Pretrial Publicity And Juror Decisionmaking: Effects Of Inadmissible Evidence And Coverage Of Its Exclusion From Trial, Rebecca Rhein

Honors Theses

The courts have long been concerned that exposure to media coverage regarding a case making its way through the judicial process (i.e., pretrial publicity [PTP]) may influence jurors’ decisionmaking in court. Indeed, empirical research over the past two decades has shown that PTP can influence juror decisions. PTP often contains descriptions of evidence or factors that are ultimately deemed inadmissible at trial (e.g., confession evidence), but no research to date has examined what occurs when confessions are reported to the public but later deemed inadmissible. We examined these issues using a 2 (Interrogation Quality: High vs. Low) x3 (Exclusion: Technicality …

Intelligence And Interpersonal Functioning In Youth And Young Adults With Varying Levels Of Psychopathic And Callous-Unemotional Traits, Marie Feyche

Honors Theses

The current study examined 30 youth and young adults ages 12-21 who were receiving therapy services at South Community, Inc. The intelligence and interpersonal functioning of individuals with varying levels of psychopathic and callous-unemotional (CU) traits was studied. Although there are a variety of conceptualizations of psychopathy, this study used the Triarchic Model of Psychopathy (TriPM), which defines the three factors of psychopathy as boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. CU traits are a downward extension of psychopathy, overlapping with the meanness factor, and are embodied by an absence of guilt, remorse, and the expression of superficial emotion. “Successful” psychopathy is a …

Wives’ Perceptions Of Husbands’ Housework And Parenting Contributions, Reilly Kate Kincaid

Honors Theses

Although husbands today may contribute more home and family labor than in previous decades, the type of contributions they make tend to be those of a “helpmate,” leaving the responsibility for organizing and managing housework and childcare to their wives. Gordon and Whelan-Berry (2005) found that husbands generally spent more time “doing” rather than “managing” in the household. The present study sought to examine working wives’ perceptions of how much their husbands “do” and/or “manage” in terms of housework and childcare. Results provide quantitative support for the high incidence of high-doing but low-managing husbands and shed light on the different …

Personality Types And Self-Reported Eating Habits, Thomas R. Lawler

Honors Theses

People with different personality types lead very different lifestyles; these personality types also affect the eating habits of an individual. Poor eating habits can lead to a myriad of health problems, including obesity and diabetes, while healthy eating habits can promote longevity. An associated problem is inaccurate reporting of eating habits by research participants and medical patients. While many studies have been conducted to examine the relationship between eating disorders and personality types, very few, if any, have examined the effects of personality types on actual eating habits as well as perceived eating habits. The proposed study will test for …

The Influence Of Self-Enhancement And Stress On Weight Gain: A Biopsychosocial Approach, Olivia G. Grondalski

Honors Theses

The current longitudinal study was conducted to test if people perceive their physical body size to be smaller than it is, and if people do self-enhance their body size, then how do body self-enhancement and stress interact to predict subsequent Body Mass Index (BMI). This study toke a biopsychosocial approach to understanding why people make health decisions by measuring participants’ self-enhancement, perceived stress, cortisol baseline levels, and stress reactivity and observing their associations and interactions with subsequent weight gain. Self-enhancement is a type of positive illusion characterized by overly positive attitudes people have towards themselves, which is used for promotion …

Do Normative And Pathological Personality Traits Overlap? Exploratory And Confirmatory Factor Analyses Of The Neo-Pi-3 And Pid-5, Lisa Eileen Stone

Honors Theses

Historically, personality disorders have been conceptualized as qualitatively distinct clinical syndromes, based on operational criteria. Consistent with this model, ten distinct set personality disorder criteria are outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, debate persists about the clinical utility of this categorical model, with many (Krueger, et al.) researchers supporting a dimensional model that focuses on pathological levels of normative personality traits.

An exploratory factor analysis (De Fruyt et al., 2013) of the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (NEOPI-3; Costa & McCrae, 2010) and The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5; Krueger, Derringer, …

Physiological And Psychological Effects Of Being Weighed In Female Participants, Julia Carroccio

Honors Theses

Stressful experiences such as constantly thinking about one's weight lead to harmful long-term physiological and psychological effects on the body. Many studies have examined the presence of weight stigma in society at large, but fewer studies have sought to determine the physical and psychological outcomes of that stigma. In the short-term, even momentary stressors could have an impact on factors such as blood pressure, for example when patients are stressed due to weighing before blood pressure is measured. This study tested whether female participants’ (N = 55) attitudes about their bodies, anxiety levels, and blood pressures were affected by being …

How Academic And Extracurricular Workload And Stress Impacts The Mental And Physical Health Of College Students, Aidan Koch

Honors Theses

Academic workload and extracurricular involvement can be sources of stress for college students. Academic workload is characterized as the student's major, course work and future graduate school and/or career path plans. Extracurricular involvement can pertain from anything to intramural sports to being the President of a student organization. The current research sought to investigate changes in mental and physical health over a semester by examining physiological and perceived stress levels in college students, in conjunction with academic workload and extracurricular involvement. Previous research found an association between stress and physical health (Peer, Hillman, Van Hoet 2015). Studies have shown sympathetic …

The Effects Of Adolescent Housing Condition And Voluntary Exercise On Alcohol Intake And Stress Response In Male Long-Evans Rats, Caroline Lynch

Honors Theses

Can regular exercise during adolescence, combined with living in a social environment, decrease the negative effects of chronic stress and lower alcohol intake later in life? The aim of this research is to answer this question using a rat model that introduces a novel behavioral intervention in the form of regular voluntary exercise in order to counteract the negative effects of chronic stress caused by socially isolated housing during adolescence. Chronic stress has been linked to the development of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in humans, and this study attempts to both model and hamper this phenomenon in rats using voluntary …

Caffeine Rush! Examining The Effects Of Caffeine On Spatial Working Memory, Alexander Lawriw

Honors Theses

Past research concerning caffeine and its effects on memory have yielded varying results. One study found that a 3-mg/kg dose of caffeine decreased reaction time during a selective attention task. However, this improvement was only found during a low display load, with no effect on reaction time occurring within a high display load (Lorist, Snell, Kok, & Mulder,1996). As such, the effects of caffeine may be dependent on a variety of other factors, such as the difficulty of the task at hand (Nehlig, 2004). This present study aimed to explore further the potential memory-enhancing qualities of caffeine with respect to …

Olfaction And Disgust As Predictors Of Elevated Perfectionism, Maia Mclin

Honors Theses

Odor detection and disgust sensitivity were once vital to survival by providing a means to assess if foods were safe for consumption. Along with odor detection and disgust sensitivity, obsessivecompulsive traits, such as checking, may have increased chance of survival by decreasing the likelihood of consuming contaminated foods leading to an evolutionary advantage (Rozin & Fallon, 1987). Current regulations that prevent the distribution of spoiled and contaminated foods in developed societies make these processes less necessary to survival today; as a result, obsessive compulsive traits that may have once been advantageous may now be pathological. Neural connections also suggest a …

The Effects Of Anxiety Induction On Olfactory Function In Healthy Young Adults, Lauren T. Olson

Honors Theses

There is significant overlap in the neural structures involved in the human limbic (emotion) and olfactory systems, and prior research findings have suggested both positive and negative associations between anxiety and odor detection sensitivity (threshold), odor identification accuracy, and odor hedonic ratings (Havlicek et al., 2012; Krusemark et al., 2013). However, knowledge about whether anxiety causes changes in olfactory perception remains unclear due to limited research findings. The present study aimed to extend the literature on olfaction and state anxiety by investing the impact of an anxiety induction on odor detection sensitivity, odor identification accuracy, and odor hedonic ratings. It …

Alcohol Deprivation Effect: An Investigation Of A Model Of Alcohol Dependence And Relapse Behaviors In Male And Female Long Evans Rats, Hanna J. Peterson

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to understand relapse behavior through a pre-clinical rodent model of relapse which models the important aspects of the human addiction and relapse condition, called the alcohol deprivation effect (ADE) model. It has been found to model alcohol addiction and relapse in rats and can therefore allow for further understanding of relapse behavior as well as allow for testing of the effects of various variables like stress or therapeutic drugs on relapse behavior. The model gives rats baseline access to ethanol and then allows them access to only water, called deprivation periods, and then gives …

Differences In The Development Of Internalizing And Externalizing Behaviors In Offspring Of Depressed Mothers, Hannah Jackson

Honors Theses

This study examines the development of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in offspring raised by mothers with depression. Specifically, it explores mediating variables that explain differential associations of maternal depression with the offspring outcomes of internalizing problems and externalizing problems. Previous research has established that there is an association between maternal depression and the development of emotional and depressive (internalizing) behaviors as well as delinquency and antisocial (externalizing) behaviors in children. This study evaluates factors such as family instability, parental patterns and behaviors, and mother-offspring relationships in order to better understand the intervening processes that explain the link from maternal depression …

The Influence Of Self-Esteem And Stress On Academic Performance In College Students, Angel J. Pagan

Honors Theses

The research sought to examine if there was an association between performance self-esteem (i.e., self-worth regarding academic performance) and stress (perceived and physiological) on end of semester grade point average (GPA) in college students. It is hypothesized that the effect of performance self-esteem on GPA at the end of the semester will vary by stress. In the two part longitudinal study participants completed measures to assess performance self-esteem and perceived stress. Participants also provided two saliva samples to assess the steroid hormone cortisol, before and after an acute lab stressor task. Participants were for permission for the researchers to access …

Chronic Administration Of Probiotic L. Rhamnosus Increases Anxiety-Like Behavior In Group-Housed Male Long Evans Rats, Parker Maddison Griff

Honors Theses

Early life stress is a risk factor for later development of alcohol use disorders and anxiety disorders in humans. Using rodent experimental models, we know that rats experiencing social isolation as early-life stress exhibit greater anxiety-like behavior and alcohol consumption than rats housed in groups. Examining potential preventive strategies, we investigated the effects of probiotics, which have previously been shown to decrease rodent anxiety-like behavior, on the relationship between early-life stress and anxiety-like behavior in rats. We hypothesized that probiotics consumption would decrease anxiety-like behavior in socially isolated rats, as well as in rats housed in groups. To our surprise, …

The Other Woman: Mate Poaching Across The Menstrual Cycle, Margaret M. Jaeger

Honors Theses

The goal of the present work was to empirically examine how mate poaching, or romantically pursuing an individual already in a committed relationship (Schmitt & Buss, 2001), varies across the menstrual cycle. The existing literature strongly suggests that partnered women are wary of ovulating women because they are deemed threatening rivals (Krems, Neel, Neuberg, Puts, & Kenrick, 2016). The series of experiments described here tested this assumption by examining both the mate poaching behaviors and perceptions of ovulating women across the menstrual cycle. The first experiment examined if ovulating women would be more willing to mate poach an attractive man. …

Effects Of Playing Computerized Versus Tactile Learning Games On Preschoolers’ Attention Skills And Comprehension: A Pilot Study, Samantha Malick

Honors Theses

The ability to attend to relevant information and resist attention to distractors is important for children’s cognitive development. Much has been written in the news about the impact of electronic media on children’s development of attention skills, but little research has been done explicitly comparing children’s attention to relevant information and resistance to distractions across activities that are presented as either a computerized or tactile learning game. The goal of this study is to compare levels of attention and distraction among preschool-aged children while they engage in a common childhood activity, playing a board game that is either presented in …

You Have The Right To…What? A Study Of Knowledge Of Americans’ Rights In Criminal Proceedings, Anna Marchiony

Honors Theses

An exploratory questionnaire was developed to assess participants’ knowledge of American rights during criminal proceedings, their confidence in that knowledge, and whether their experiences, professional or recreational, are associated with that knowledge. Questionnaire items covered topics such as Bill of Rights, Miranda Rights, Interviews and Interrogations, Rights During Trial, and Post-Conviction Rights. Demographic variables assessed field of study/employment, encounters with the Criminal Justice System, and viewership of crime-based television shows. Responses were analyzed in an attempt to find patterns in knowledge. Results showed that participants were most knowledgeable regarding the Bill of Rights, rights during a criminal trial, and post-conviction …

Behind The Stigma: The Impact Of Gender And College Adjustment On Attitudes Towards Mental Health Disorders, Maggie Inman

Honors Theses

The topic of stigmatization of mental health disorders and use of psychological services has been widely researched. Gender differences have been found in attitudes regarding acceptability and treatability of mental illness, with adherence to gender roles influencing these attitudes. Past research has not explored non-traditional gender roles or the influence of social factors, like college adjustment. This study tested three hypotheses: that men and women with more feminine gender roles will display more accepting attitudes, that men and women with poorer college adjustment will also display more accepting attitudes, and that the relationship between college adjustment and attitudes towards mental …