Digital Commons Network^™

Fostering Friendship And Acceptance In An Inclusive Summer Day Camp, Emily Villani

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Historically, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) have faced barriers to social inclusion and forming friendships - essential life factors. Research has indicated the importance of reducing social barriers to inclusion and highlights the benefits of improving social skills and fostering positive attitudes about IDDs for facilitating friendship formation and inclusion. With the goal of fostering friendships, the S³ summer camp offered 22 youth (aged 9-14) with and without IDDs accessible and inclusive STEM education and a one-week social skills training package which included disability awareness lessons. Analysis examined the effects of this training package on participants’ friendship …

Differences In Mental Health Attitudes, Symptoms, And Help-Seeking Behaviors Between College Student-Athletes And Non-Athletes, Cristian Miralles

Honors College Theses

This study examined differences in mental health stigma, attitudes, and help-seeking behaviors between student-athletes and non-athletes. 8 student-athletes and 231 non-athletes from a rural college in southeastern USA took an online survey, and independent samples t-tests were conducted to examine group differences. There were no statistically significant differences in any measure between student-athletes and nonathletes. However, exploratory sex analyses found females had lower stigma and used services more frequently compared to males. Participants then explained any mental health resources they utilize, with most using ‘Personal Relationships’ when needed. ‘No need’, or participants who's mental health concerns were not significant enough …

Shifting Perspectives On Crime: Empathy, Cognitive Reappraisal, And Media Sources, Gillian Sherman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

When reporting crime, media sources can influence public perception of the crime, the victim, and the perpetrator. They can also influence the justice policies that people endorse. With support growing for more community-oriented justice policies that allow for perpetrator reintegration (Maruna & King, 2009), it is important to understand how portrayals of crime may soften public judgements toward perpetrators without reducing concern for victims. In two studies drawing from empathy-attitude effect research (Batson et al., 1998) and emotion regulation theory (Gross, 1998) this research examines how media portrayals of a crime may cause people to change their perceptions of those …

Examining The Relationship Between Help-Seeking Behaviors, Mental Health Perceptions, And Preferred Modality Of Therapy Services Among University Students In Arab Countries: A Comparitive Study, Roxanne Wolmarans

Theses

As mental health concerns continue to grow in the modern world, many are faced with barriers to seeking help due to attitudes, beliefs and self-stigma. This is especially true within Arab cultures. The main objective for this study was to examine how these attitudes, beliefs and self-stigma may impact a person’s help seeking behavior’s when compared to a preferred modality of treatment, namely online and face-to-face therapy. A cross-sectional study using online surveys consisting of the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Survey (SSOSH), the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale - Short Form (ATSPPH - SF), the Online Counselling Attitude …

Black College Students Perceptions Of The Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate, Rickae Rodney

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored Black college students’ perceptions of COVID-19 related mandates. Black college students with higher perceptions of racism, stronger ethnic identity, and greater distrust in science were expected to have more negative attitudes about COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates. Results varied when relationships were tested.

Economics Or Culture? Measuring Economic Thinking And Cultural Enrichment Beliefs About Immigration., Paolo Aldrin Palma

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present work attempts to distinguish people’s economic concerns about immigration from their (anti-)diversity attitudes, and examines how these economic concerns influence attitudes towards immigrants. To do this, we develop a scale to assess economic thinking and cultural enrichment beliefs about immigration (ETI/CBI). Economic thinking was associated with personality and ideological traits related to viewing the world as competitive and anti-diversity attitudes. Cultural enrichment beliefs on the other hand, were associated with traits associated with a preference for equity and pro-diversity orientations. Furthermore, economic thinking was associated with greater preferences to reduce immigration for all migrant groups except economic migrants, …

Perceptions Of The Veterans Administration And Mental Health Treatment Seeking Intentions Among Veterans, Hilary Hines

Dissertations

Among the veteran population there is a trend of underutilizing mental health services despite the higher number of veterans with mental health diagnoses. Though previous research has examined barriers to mental health care such as stigma and a warrior mentality, there may be additional barriers that emanate from the system to which veterans are entitled and encouraged to use, the Veterans Administration (VA). This study examined the mediational relationships among perceptions of the VA, attitudes about seeking mental health treatment at the VA, and intentions to seek mental health treatment at the VA among veterans. Data from 96 veterans were …

Dinstinction Between Prejudice And Stereotyping For Negative In-Group Attitudes, Manal Aboargob

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There are conflicting findings for disadvantaged group membersâ?? attitudes towards their group. Some studies suggest that disadvantaged groups have positive in-group attitudes, while other studies suggest they have negative in-group attitudes, or even outgroup favoritism. This may be in part due to the simultaneous measurement of stereotypic and prejudicial attitudes, and I suggest that studying their distinction might better explain the discrepancy found in the literature. Further, research has yet to look at how differences in personal attitudes versus perception of public attitudes is related to the differing results found in disadvantaged group attitudes. In the proposed study, it is …

Changing Vaccine Hesitant Attitudes Of Parents Using Moral Persuasion, Max Vitro

Master's Theses

In the fight against Covid-19, overt, science-based messaging is not enough to persuade everyone to get vaccinated no matter how encouraging the data. Recent studies on attitudes toward vaccines and other health-promoting measures have provided clues as to why so many are still opposed, suggesting many who were resistant had reasons that were rooted along moral grounds. This process of moralization occurs when a belief becomes a moral matter of ‘right and wrong’ rather than a means to an end. Because moral beliefs are more entrenched, they’ve proven much more difficult to change. There is one approach that could increase …

Predictors Of Attitudes About Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd), Claire Sullivan

Masters Theses

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are far less likely to enroll in secondary education than neurotypical students and students with disabilities (White et al., 2016). There is little research on the factors contributing to the reluctance of young adults on the autism spectrum to seek higher education. This study aims to answer two research questions. The first research question aims to determine if there is a predominance of negative attitudes towards ASD amongst present undergraduate college students. The second research question explores whether this could be a determining factor in a college determination for students with ASD. This current …

Correlates Of Mental Health Clinician Self-Awareness And Insight Of Attitudes Toward Older Adults, Susan L. Mcinvale

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractOlder adults (ages 65 and older) are expected to increase in the United States by over 70 million by the year 2030. The older adult population requires specialized medical and mental health services to address the needs related to aging. Mental health clinicians trained to address these needs may help older adults to utilize mental health counseling. Self-awareness of attitudes, insight, and knowledge may be skills that affect the attitudes of mental health clinicians toward older adults. Previous research has found that mental health clinicians who engage in self-awareness during a counseling session may improve counseling competency; however, little research …

Myths And Fables Of Electroconvulsive Therapy: Knowledge, Attitudes, And Stigmas Of Ect In College Students, Madison Anne Brown

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This study builds upon extensive research on Electroconvulsive Therapy’s (ECT) effectiveness and advancements over time while providing insight into its continuous stigmatization as a psychotherapeutic treatment. The literature provided in this paper explores ECT’s historical background and its misrepresentations in society commonly perpetuated in the media. To further examine present day perceptions of ECT, this study evaluated Bard College undergraduate students’ (n = 24) knowledge, attitudes, and stigmas towards ECT. The data was collected using a five part questionnaire concerning the socio-demographic of participants (part 1), stigmas about ECT (part 2), knowledge about ECT (part 3), sources of knowledge of …

Correlates Of Mental Health Clinician Self-Awareness And Insight Of Attitudes Toward Older Adults, Susan L. Mcinvale

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractOlder adults (ages 65 and older) are expected to increase in the United States by over 70 million by the year 2030. The older adult population requires specialized medical and mental health services to address the needs related to aging. Mental health clinicians trained to address these needs may help older adults to utilize mental health counseling. Self-awareness of attitudes, insight, and knowledge may be skills that affect the attitudes of mental health clinicians toward older adults. Previous research has found that mental health clinicians who engage in self-awareness during a counseling session may improve counseling competency; however, little research …

Positive And Negative Contact As Predictors Of Attitudes Toward Law Enforcement, Benjamin Jackson Anjewierden

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Using intergroup contact theory (ICT), which posits that contact experiences with members of outgroups relate to attitudes toward those outgroups as a whole, the current study examines how positive and negative experiences with members of law enforcement predict general attitudes toward law enforcement. It specifically examines how attitudes toward individual members of law enforcement from contact experiences generalize to law enforcement as a whole, and how this generalization process is more or less effective when members of law enforcement are seen as more or less representative of law enforcement as a group (i.e., when law enforcement group membership is salient). …

Religiosity, Family Sexual Communication & Gender As Predictors Of Attitudes Toward Oral Sex Among College/University Students In The United States, Antoinette Napier

Dissertations

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether religiosity, family sexual communication and gender were predictors of attitudes toward oral sex among college/university students in the United States.

Method

Participants completed several surveys, which measured participants' personal religiosity, family sexual communication, and attitudes toward oral sex. A path analysis model was used to analyze the relationship between the proposed variables.

Results

The path analysis hypothesized model resulted in a poor fit for the data. The model was respecified by removing three items which showed weak beta weights. The respecified model produced a good fit for the data. The …

Drivers Of Change In Mindfulness- And Acceptance-Based Interventions With Athletes: Investigating The Influence Of Dosage, Readiness, And Attitudes, Thomas O. Minkler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Mindfulness- and Acceptance-based interventions (MABIs) are being used with increasing frequency with sport participants. Research suggests that such interventions may promote sport performance and impact performance-relevant factors, although the current quality and quantity of research is low. Specifically, questions about intervention engagement (i.e., dosage), potentially impacted by stage of change and attitudes toward sport psychology, need clarification. The present study utilized a multi-method, quasi-experimental longitudinal design with female- and male- identified NCAA collegiate athletes to investigate the effects of an MABI. Specifically, one NCAA Division II team (n = 16) and three NCAA Division III teams (n = …

Young Adolescents’ And Parents’ Attitudes And Perspective Taking About Appropriate Mobile Phone Use, Stephanie Jean Cleary

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study explored whether young adolescents and their parents have similar attitudes about appropriate mobile phone use, and whether those attitudes vary depending upon adolescent or parent phone user, the mobile phone use context (i.e., family dinner table, party, or homework/ work), and their self-perspective or other’s perspective. Fifty-two adolescents in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade (age range 11 years to 14 years and 5 months; 26 males, 23 females, 3 non-binaries) and their parent or guardian participated. Adolescents identified as white/European American (82.7%), multiple races (5.8%), Asian (5.8%), black/African American (1.9%), and Hispanic/Latinx/Spanish (1.9%), or did not respond (1.9%). …

Prior Parental Incarceration And The Impact Towards Attitudes About Law Enforcement As Adults, Jennifer Spencer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The number of incarcerations has been climbing drastically, especially in the United States. A forgotten minority which remains understudied is those children of incarcerated individuals. Many studies have found parental separation to be associated with problematic behavior in children. However, little to no information is known on the attitudes of offspring of incarcerated people toward law enforcement and the police. The current study examined just this, researching children of incarcerated parents’ attitudes towards legitimacy and confidence in the police during adulthood. Participants (N = 55) were undergraduate students at a small university who gained extra credit for voluntary participation. …

Factors Associated With College Students' Intention To Use Telehealth For Primary Care, Conor Duffy

Theses and Dissertations

College students are less likely than the general population to have a regular primary care provider and engage in routine health visits. Recent research provides evidence that telehealth is a convenient alternative to in-person primary care and that college students are comfortable using this technology, suggesting that telehealth has the potential to mitigate this disparity. However, little research has examined which factors are associated with college students’ intention to use telehealth and attitudes toward telehealth specifically in the primary care context. The overarching goal of this study was to address this gap in the literature and identify factors associated with …

Intersectional Identities Of Race And Religion Of African American Muslims And Their Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services, Cheruba A. Dhanaraj

Dissertations

African American Muslims have overlapping and interconnected identities of race and religion that can be conceptualized by the intersectionality framework to understand the complexities of barriers they face when seeking mental health services. African American Muslims have a higher risk of mental health issues due to systemic racism, racial discrimination, racial trauma, and Islamophobic discrimination. Yet, there is a lack of scholarly research or studies that focus explicitly on African American Muslims' specific mental health needs, barriers, and attitudes related to seeking mental health treatment.

This study sought to fill the gap in knowledge about attitudes toward seeking mental health …

Changing Public Perception Of Dementia: The Effect And Credibility Of Three Informational Models., Diana Hedrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Since the 1970s, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia have been portrayed in a medicalized, symptom-focused manner to help spread awareness, improve diagnosis, and push for treatment research. In recent decades, there has been movement towards a biopsychosocial, person-centered approach that considers social and psychological factors that interact with biological diseases processes. Common biopsychosocial approaches retain an emphasis on deficits and symptoms. New research has integrated positive psychology constructs and dementia. This integration of positive psychology principles and dementia care and research has the potential to more accurately capture the experience of having dementia. Objectives: This dissertation tested how the portrayal …

Cultural, Contextual, And Individual Determinants Of Mental Health Service Utilization Among Latinx Emerging Adults, Kenia Carrera Diaz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Despite being at an increased risk of experiencing mental health problems, Latinx emerging adults underutilize professional psychological services compared to other ethnic/racial groups. It is important for researchers to understand this mental health disparity to improve Latinx emerging adults’ use of quality mental health services (MHS). The current project investigated factors that might influence Latinx emerging adult’s use of MHS through two separate studies. In the first study, I systematically reviewed research published in the past decade that examined predictors of MHS use among Latinx emerging adults. A total of 9 studies were found and included in this review. This …

The Effects Of Communication Differences On Listeners’ Attitudes Of Warmth And Competence, Credibility, Intelligences, And Social Distance, Rebecca D. Parks

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Prior research has shown that listeners may hold a variety of negative attitudes towards individuals with speech or language disorders, such as beliefs that they are lower in intelligence, friendliness, or competence (Allards & Williams, 2008; Bettens et al., 2020; Lallh & Rochet, 2000). These studies have suggested that attitudes tend to vary based on the type and severity of the disorder, but results are inconclusive on specific communication characteristics impacting perceptions. The present study measured participants’ attitudes towards an actor portraying either a language, fluency, articulation, or voice disorder. The between-subjects design involved participants being randomly assigned to listen …

What Happens In Vegas: The Influence Of Las Vegas On High-Risk Attitudes And Behaviors, Marissa Tiemann

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The probability of victimization is affected by various factors, such as child abuse, a history of victimization, sexual assault, substance abuse, and risky behaviors. Previous research has attributed differences in victimization risk to differences in lifestyle. Overtly sexual cultures like Las Vegas, Nevada, could impact the adoption of risky behaviors (e.g., binge drinking, casual sex, and substance abuse) that could increase victimization risks. This study seeks to understand the impact of the city of Las Vegas on adopting high risk sexual attitudes and behaviors by examining the length of time an individual has spent in Las Vegas. This study used …

Essentialism Predicts Attitudes Toward Gender Non-Binary People, Tianny Stephanie Ocasio

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Few studies have examined attitudes toward gender non-binary people (i.e., individuals who do not consider themselves as strictly men or women). I hypothesized that essentialism (i.e., the belief that social categories and group differences are inherent, informative, and immutable) might be a key predictor of these attitudes. Moreover, I predicted that essentialism would interact with how gender non-binary identity is defined, with essentialist thinkers finding the idea of a full rejection of the gender binary particularly unpalatable. In two studies, cisgender participants (Study 1 N=496; Study 2 N=227) read a definition of gender non-binary identity as representing a third gender …

The Effect Of The Black Lives Matter Movement On American Attitudes, Isabelle Warren

Honors Theses

The present research focuses on changing attitudes towards Black Lives Matter (BLM)

and racism. Black Lives Matter was founded in 2013, but came to a political and social forefront following the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. Based on research that large-scale movements have the capability of creating long term attitudinal changes, this research seeks to address the significance of BLM on attitudes in undergraduate students. Participants were recruited from University of Richmond Introduction to Psychology courses over the Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, and Spring 2022 semesters. They completed a survey assessing their attitudes towards …

More Than Just Virtual Communication: Examining Canadian Volunteers’ Virtual Contact Experiences With Refugees, Maria Besselink

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Canada plays a key role in addressing the ‘global refugee crisis’ as it accepts more refugees per capita than any other country. Although Canadians increasingly view support for immigration and multiculturalism as integral components of their national identity, the number of immigrants and refugees Canada accepts yearly is an increasingly polarized issue. In line with the Intergroup Contact Hypothesis, the current study investigated how Canadian volunteers’ repeated virtual contact experiences with refugees affected their generalized attitudes towards refugees over time. Our findings did not suggest that the quality and quantity of participants’ virtual contact experiences affected their attitudes. The findings …

Development Of A New Measure Of Political Ideology, Vanessa M. Sinclair

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Ideology is central to political psychology, but despite recent renewed interest in studying political ideology, its measurement is inconsistent. Ideology scales are numerous and heterogeneous in content. Further, there is disagreement on whether ideology is unidimensional multi-dimensional, and what the nature of these dimensions are. These inconsistencies limit the generalizability of conclusions made about ideology as it relates to political views and behaviour. There is a clear need for a conceptual model that is grounded in theory, and for a well-validated scale that organizes and quantifies ideology. Chapter 1 reviews the state of ideology measurement and identifies plausible dimensions supported …

Animal Abuse In Egypt: An Assessment Of Attitudes, Behaviors And Protective Factors Among University Students And Graduates., Salma El Saedy

Theses and Dissertations

Animal abuse is an understudied problem in Egypt with possible ramifications on both non-human and human animals and links to interpersonal violence and conduct problems. This study aims to explore the attitudes and behaviors of Egyptian university students and graduates towards the treatment and use of animals in society and to test if exposure to animal abuse is associated with abusive behavior. The study also aims to identify possible protective factors against animal abuse among a group of positive deviants. A mixed-methods approach was used to study these questions; an online survey was disseminated over social media platforms, and 99 …

Leveraging Moral Foundations To Increase Covid-19 Vaccination, Cara Elizabeth Ray

Dissertations

Despite the vast majority of the eligible U.S. adult population being vaccinated against COVID-19, geographical clusters of unvaccinated individuals pose a substantial risk of outbreak. It is important to encourage as many individuals as possible to vaccinate against COVID-19 to reduce its spread and severity. Past research has identified endorsement of the purity and liberty moral foundations – intuitive domains of moral concern – as predictors of vaccine hesitancy and political conservatism, while conservatism is itself associated with vaccine hesitancy. Across two online surveys, I examined the effects of a message invoking the purity and liberty foundations as well as …