Digital Commons Network^™

An Investigation Of Cultural Competence In Teachers, Leslie Allison Evola

Wayne State University Dissertations

Using a set of scales to measure cultural competences which have been used in previous research, this study examined the relationships between Cultural Attitudes and Beliefs, Cultural Intelligence (CQ), and Ethnic Identity, as well as the Big Five personality traits and demographic variables, within a sample of 87 high school teachers. Cultural Attitudes and Beliefs predicted Metacognitive CQ, Cognitive CQ, Motivational CQ, and overall CQ above and beyond Openness. Teachers with ten years of experience or less were found to have higher CQ than teachers with more than ten years of experience, which may be attributed to age. Also, teachers …

Emotional Expression And Coping Style In Predicting Well-Being After Traumatic Brain Injury, Kaja Telmet Harper

Wayne State University Dissertations

Many survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their significant others face the chronic stress of living with cognitive and physical impairments associated with TBI; this stress takes a toll on well-being. Unfortunately, research on the mechanisms of coping after TBI has been sparse. Thus, the present study examined the influence of acquired cognitive impairment on the pattern of relationships between emotional expression, coping styles and health outcomes. Sixty individuals with moderate to severe TBI as well as 63 significant others of individuals with TBI participated. Coping style was assessed via the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations. Emotional expression was …

Narrative Exposure Therapy To Treat Traumatic Stress In Middle Eastern Refugees: A Clinical Trial, Alaa Mohammad Hijazi

Wayne State University Dissertations

There are millions of refugees and displaced persons around the world. Refugees often experience multiple stressors and traumas across the various stages of their journey such as witnessing political upheaval, loss of property and loved ones, a perilous journey, and difficulty in countries of resettlement. The multiple stressors that refugees experience place them at significant risk for various mental health problems, especially depression and post traumatic stress disorder, as well as physical health problems. Yet, despite the growing number of refugees and their vulnerability to various mental and physical health problems, knowledge about appropriate treatments for PTSD and other conditions …

Tell Me More About It: A Query Into Intelligence Scores And Their Relations With Achievement And Problem Behavior, Alicia Mariana January

Wayne State University Dissertations

Research has demonstrated negative outcomes associated with significant childhood cognitive, behavioral, emotional, or academic problems. These associations may reflect the importance of cognitive skills for mediating social and emotional functioning, however the directions of these relations remain a point of contention. Additionally, most of the child research is based on early editions of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Little attention has been given to examining the relations between behavioral adjustment, achievement, and IQ utilizing the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV). The WISC-IV uses different subtests, index scores, and norms than its predecessors and has been described as being …

Dissecting Implicit Leadership Theories: A Generalizability Analysis, Nathan Wayne Weidner

Wayne State University Dissertations

The present study uses generalizability theory to further explore the sources of variance in implicit leadership theories. Most studies which examine the differences in implicit leadership theories either focus on differences in the raters such as gender, religion, culture, and other individual differences, or focus on target differences such as race of the leader, gender of the leader, and position held by the leader. The present study used a G study design to examine the relative impact of both rater and target characteristics simultaneously. In addition to examining the relative influence of rater and target characteristics, the present study examined …

The Antecedents And Outcomes Of Mcgregor's Theory Endorsement, Amy Elizabeth Sund

Wayne State University Theses

Despite being used to categorize individuals, little is known about McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y. It is hypothesized that a number of personal traits and personal values predict theory endorsement and that endorsement is subsequently related to stress and health related outcomes. Results support the notion that individual differences are related to endorsement. Further, theory endorsement is related to stress, which mediates the relationship between theory endorsement and health.

Detecting Suboptimal Effort In Traumatic Brain Injury Assessment, Jesse Ryan Bashem

Wayne State University Theses

Purposeful presentation of suboptimal effort is a primary pitfall to accurate assessment, especially among individuals seeking compensation. It is known that successful simulation of impairment becomes increasingly difficult when feigning is required across multiple measures. This study evaluated the diagnostic efficiencies and predictive ability of five symptom validity tests: Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM), Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT), California Verbal Learning Test - Forced Choice (CVLT), Reliable Digit Span, and Word Choice Test. Participants were 57 adults with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury and 60 healthy adults coached to simulate memory impairment. Tests were evaluated using logistic regression, …

Alexithymia, Social Constraints, And Self-Efficacy As Moderators Of Written Emotional Disclosure And Coping Skills Training: For Which Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis Do These Interventions Improve Pain And Physical Functioning?, Jennifer Carty

Wayne State University Theses

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) causes pain, disability, and inflammation. Written emotional disclosure (WED) and pain coping skills training (CST) improves adjustment, but effect sizes are small to moderate; research needs to identify patients most likely to benefit from WED and CST. A moderator analyses was conducted to determine if alexithymia, social constraints, or self-efficacy predicted health outcomes from interventions at 1-, 4-, and 12-month follow-up. Health assessed at baseline and at each follow-up. Patients were randomized to WED or equivalent control (Health Behavior Writing), and to CST or equivalent control (Arthritis Education). Findings from this study suggest that alexithymia and social …

A Study Of The Effect Of Maternal Depressive Symptoms On The Mother-Infant Relationship And Protective Effect Of Maternal Reflective Functioning, Kristyn M. Wong

Wayne State University Theses

This study sought to replicate and extend findings on the effect of maternal depressive symptoms and their impact on the mother-infant relationship with regard to reflective functioning. The current sample included 101 mother-infant dyads who participated in a longitudinal study seeking to understand the effects of a traumatic childhood and how those experiences impact parenting. Measures included an assessment of depressive symptoms, an interview assessing reflective functioning capacity, and observation of mother-infant interaction. Previous findings were replicated with regard to significant correlations between parenting and reflective functioning. The current study did not find evidence for parenting mediating the relationship between …

Sex Differences In The Dopaminergic Regulation Of Courtship, But Not Pairing Behaviors In Zebra Finches, Erin Marie Lowrey

Wayne State University Theses

Dopamine is one of the key ingredients in the glue that cements social bonds in vertebrates. The D2 dopamine receptor has been implicated in the regulation of monogamous pair bonding in the prairie vole. While dopamine affects courtship behaviors in the male zebra finch, the behavioral role of dopamine acting at D2 receptors in both males and females deserves further attention. We hypothesized that the D2 receptor would regulate courtship and pairing behaviors in the male and female zebra finch. Sixteen males and females were tested using a repeated measures design. On day 1, the zebra finches were injected with …

Emotion Regulation And Executive Function Measures: Exploration Of Predicted Relationships, Frederick Warren Upton

Wayne State University Theses

Undergraduate college students (N - 170) were assessed with measures of executive function and emotion regulation, to determine whether the two constructs were related. Students completed 6 executive function tasks and 3 emotion regulation questionnaires. The executive function tasks were grouped into 3 components: inhibition, working memory, and task switching. A principle components factor analysis of emotion regulation questionnaire items was expected to produce 3 factors: appraisal of emotion, control of emotion, and instrumental use of emotion. Contrary to expectation 4 clear emotion regulation factors were produced, but only one, control of emotion, corresponded to a hypothesized component, and this …

A Test Of Seven Work Commitment Models, Keith Lynn Zabel

Wayne State University Theses

Two major work commitment models have been proposed in the literature (Morrow, 1993; Randall & Cote, 1991). Since their inception, five revised work commitment models have been created (Carmeli & Gefen, 2005; Cohen, 1999; Freund & Carmeli, 2003) using modification indices and for the most part have not been cross-validated with a subsequent sample. To determine which of seven work commitment models was best supported, structural equation analyses were conducted using a meta-analytically derived correlation matrix. Supporting previous research (Carmeli & Gefen, 2005; Cohen, 1999; Cohen, 2000; Freund & Carmeli, 2003), findings suggested Randall and Cote's (1991) model was superior …

The Relationship Of Rehabilitation Counselors' Knowledge Of The Americans With Disabilities Act 1990, Attitudes Toward Reasonable Accommodation, And Job Development Efficacy, Joy Elizabeth Inniss-Johnson

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the relationship between the rehabilitation counselors' level of knowledge, attitudes towards reasonable accommodations and job development efficacy. The more knowledgeable rehabilitation counselors are about ADA, reasonable accommodations, and their attitude toward job development, the less likely their attitudes will be expected to fluctuate. In addition, there has been very little research in terms of evaluating rehabilitation counselor's level of job placement efficacy. A survey-based design was utilized to create both a quantitative description of knowledge of the ADA, beliefs about reasonable accommodations and job placement efficacy and qualitative information concerning the barriers …

The Effects Of Motivational Interviewing On Marital And Pain Adjustment In Chronic Pain Patients And Their Spouses, Lisa Miller

Wayne State University Dissertations

Chronic pain is a costly health condition that is estimated to affect 150 million Americans. Numerous studies have shown that chronic pain affects a variety of aspects of life including mood, daily activities, and relationships. Not only does the individual with chronic pain suffer, spouses often do as well. The purpose of this study was to develop and test an intervention that utilized motivational interviewing techniques while providing tailored feedback to couples who are affected by chronic pain. This study examined which changes arose following the intervention and explored potential reasons for why these changes occurred.

Participants consisted of 47 …

On The Disambiguation Of Meaning: The Effects Of Perceptual Focus And Cognitive Load, Lynne Kennette

Wayne State University Dissertations

Most research supports a non-selective (or exhaustive) account of activation whereby multiple meanings of a word are initially activated (as discussed in Degani & Tokowicz, 2009). But what happens to the non-selected meaning of an ambigious word (e.g., bark) and how is the decision made to select one meaning over the other? A great deal research by Gernsbacher and colleagues suggests that the non-selected meaning is "discarded" via active suppression, but a competing activation-only account is also proposed by Gorfein's research group. The present dissertation examines meaning-selection in ambiguous words using a word to elicit meaning context (rather than a …

Motivating Adolescents To Chat For Health (Match): Improving Nutrition And Physical Activity In Urban Youth, Jaclyn Beth Issner

Wayne State University Dissertations

Adolescence represents a unique period of development that is filled with both opportunities and challenges. Choices and health patterns, such as sedentary activity or poor dietary intake, which are established during adolescence can set the stage for adulthood. Obesity in youth has emerged as a major health problem in the United States and across the globe (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2012). One way to help prevent obesity is by incorporating preventive intervention services into primary care health systems. The current study, therefore, evaluated the effects of a brief 1-session intervention delivered in a primary care setting in …

The Effect Of Musical Training On Verbal And Tonal Working Memory, Ching-I Lu

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation explored the translation from print to sound of the tonal language Mandarin versus English versus musical notation in healthy volunteers. The performance of musicians and non-musicians was compared across a variety of reading tasks in an attempt to examine whether musical training can facilitate Mandarin tone or phonological processing. The effects of increasing working memory load on reading performance across tasks were also examined. Results showed that increasing demands on working memory in visual recognition tasks significantly decreased performance accuracy for both musicians and non-musicians across tasks. Significant differences in accuracy rates were observed between musicians and non-musicians. …

Predictors Of Disorganized States Of Mind With Regard To Trauma In Mothers With Maltreatment Histories, Ellen Patricia Barrett-Becker

Wayne State University Dissertations

Disorganization is understood as a lack of cognitive and emotional integration of traumatic experiences (Main & Morgan, 1996). Disorganized states of mind appear to be particularly salient to parenting outcomes and represent an important psychological construct for understanding the consequences of child maltreatment and may be particularly important during the postpartum period (Ballen, et al., 2010; Lyons-Ruth & Jacobvitz, 2008; Kanotra, et al., 2007; Kaufman & Zigler, 1987).

Characteristics of child maltreatment and demographic characteristics have been linked to both disorganization and psychological symptoms of PTSD and depression (Bailey, et al., 2007; Banyard, et al., 2001; Davis, et al., 2008; …