Digital Commons Network^™

Public Stigma Towards The Presentation Of Self-Diagnosed Mental Illness, Asheley Marie Roberts

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Negative attitudes toward people with mental illnesses leads these individuals to utilize non-traditional avenues of support-seeking, including online venues. Within these venues, particularly the website Tumblr, the practice of self-diagnosing is common. At present, self-diagnosing is understudied, making it difficult to determine if self-diagnosed individuals face public stigma. Thus, one question about this phenomenon is as follows: are people who present themselves online as self-diagnosed stigmatized compared to those who present themselves as professionally diagnosed? The proposed thesis will address this question. Participants will view one of three Tumblr blogs (professionally diagnosed, self-diagnosed, and no diagnosis). It is hypothesized that …

Preferences Of Self-Help Books And Their Presumed Credibility In The College Population, Morgan V. Wild Ms.

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Self-help books are utilized as a cost-effective way of reducing psychological or emotional difficulties. Many self-help books target various types of mental health distress, and are easily accessed by the public. As of 2016, Americans spent 2.7 billion dollars on general self-help approaches, including self-help books (Nahin, Barnes, and Stussman, 2016). The present study seeks to investigate potential clients’ preferences of self-help books and their associated credibility. This study expands the work of Redding, Herbert, Forman, and Gaudiano (2008) who rated and examined the psychological properties of 50 bestselling self-help books published from the late 1990’s to 2005. The current …

Creativity, Psychopathology, And Psychological Flexibility, Lee Carpenter

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between creativity and impairment in quality of life due to psychological disorder has an unclear relationship. Some studies indicate creativity and psychopathology have a significant relationship (Andreasen, 1987) while other studies indicate the two having no connection at all (Karlsson, 1970). The current study examined (1) what direct correlations exist between creative achievement and quality of life impairment, psychological inflexibility and quality of life impairment, and symptoms of psychoticism and quality of life impairment, and (2) how the indirect relationship between creative achievement and quality of life impairment in the context of symptoms of psychoticism changes at varying …

The Influence Of Race And Gender On The Choice Of A Mental Health Provider, Meghan Rackers

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Although the current mental health treatment model provides little opportunity for consumers of services to exert control of their mental health experiences (specifically when choosing a provider), the ability to select a service provider may aid in the formation of the therapeutic alliance. The abundance of research regarding the topic of racial and gender matching of clinicians and clients has focused on treatment outcomes and client retention, and less on client preference and how it relates to likelihood that they will seek out services. Previous studies have used face-valid surveys asking whether clients would prefer a clinician who is a …

The Relationship Between Social Anxiety And Conforming Behavior In A Computerized Task, Jeremy Vargas

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This study assessed the relationship between social anxiety symptoms and conforming behavior in both ambiguous and unambiguous computerized context. The majority of the participants for the sample consisted of Caucasian (78%) females (71%) who completed the task entirely (N = 94). Measures of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) were used to assess social anxiety, while a computer mediated problem-solving task was used to assess conforming behavior. It was hypothesized that conforming behavior would be greater in the ambiguous context compared to the unambiguous context; and that social anxiety scores would be correlated with higher conforming behavior. While a Wilcoxon …

The Concurrent Validity Of The Learning Component Of The Missouri Ability Scale, Nicholas Johnson

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The present study was designed to determine the concurrent validity of the Missouri Ability Scale (MAS), a new measure of independent functioning and learning currently in development. The MAS consists of 10 subtests and is designed to be administered to the examinee and an informant. Fifty individuals (M = 13.1 years; SD = 5.8 years) were administered the MAS and a cognitive abilities test (i.e. WISC-V, KABC-II, WJ-IV). Overall, the Spearman correlations between the MAS learning component and the measures of intellectual ability were moderate-to-strong, indicating good validity. Consistent with the hypotheses, the MAS learning component and the Cattel-Horn-Carroll …

Imposter Phenomenon: Distinct Construct Or Achievement-Related Affective Experience?, Meghan R. Wilke

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Imposter Phenomenon (IP), also known as Imposter Syndrome, is an internal experience that has been observed to occur in high achieving individuals. These individuals do not believe their achievements are due to their own abilities or hard-work: They credit external sources such as luck, errors in admissions or grading, or fooling others as the reason for any successes. IP has been observed in many populations including college professors, medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy students, librarians with graduate degrees, and other successful professionals. Previous research has found that individuals who experience IP may also experience fear of failure, fear of negative …

The Dichotomous Model Of Substance Abuse: The Elephant In The Room, Shelby Jones

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Addiction can be defined as a repetitive use of a substance or drug that occurs despite any negative outcomes associated with its use. Substance use addiction affects many different areas of an individual’s life, and is often associated with stigma which can result in shame, secrecy, or rejection. There are many theoretical models behind the etiology and maintenance of substance use addiction that include biological, sociological, physiological, and other factors. This investigation examines college-aged individuals’ beliefs about which theoretical model best explains substance use addiction, and if those beliefs can be manipulated when presented with new or opposing information. …

Adolescent Perceptions Of Behavioral Functioning: Measuring Perceptions Of One's Own Behavior, Aaron Hale

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

As bullying type behaviors have increased in recent years, many school districts have responded by implementing rigid zero-tolerance policies that punish students with no regard toward situational or social contexts. These policies have been shown to have many negative social, psychological, and academic consequences. Numerous social and developmental factors involved in bullying-type situations make it necessary to gather information on both the frequency and the social contexts in which they occur: exhibiting these behaviors toward close friends versus exhibiting these behaviors toward individuals who are not close friends. Of particular interest is if students exhibit bullying-type behaviors more often in …

A Comparison Of The Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test And The Wechsler Scales, Samantha Denhart

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to determine the correlation between a commonly used cognitive ability test (i.e., Wechsler) and a verbal memory test (i.e., Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test) by analyzing archival data from a clinical sample of adults. Many researchers have continued to establish the relationship between cognitive ability, or IQ, and learning and memory skills; however, there is little research regarding when differences between IQ and memory scores are statistically significant. Results of this study indicated 17 of 20 IQ index/memory correlations were statistically significant and a series of simple regressions generated standardized residuals. These residuals generated confidence bands …

Testing Performance As It Relates To Academic Self-Concept And Test Anxiety In Students With And Without Adhd, Kyrstin Sutton-Davis

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Students who are diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) comprise 25% of students with disabilities who receive educational accommodations in post-secondary settings, and represent roughly 2 - 4% of college students (Weyandt et al., 2013). However, there are mixed results regarding the efficacy of testing accommodations, specifically extended time, and whether these accommodations may offer an advantage to students with ADHD (Gregg & Nelson, 2012). In addition to extended test time, students with ADHD commonly use minimal disturbance rooms. However, there is little research regarding the efficacy of the accommodation. The relationship among academic self-concept, test anxiety, test performance, and testing …

Rape-Related Beliefs And Social Reactions, Tara Pursley

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Many agree that sexual violence is a pervasive problem, but there is less disagreement regarding how to define or label it. Recent research has determined that rape-related beliefs are the strongest predictors for how both victims and non-victims conceptualize and label unwanted sexual experiences. What is less understood is the way that this conceptualization influences how non-victims respond to a disclosure. The current study sought to fill this gap by examining how rape-related beliefs affect the definitional and labeling process and how this process affects responses to a disclosure of sexual violence in a sample of non-victims. Participants included 119 …