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Long-Term Behavioral Health Care Unbundled: The Impact Of Comorbidity And Aggression On Caregiver Strain And Service Costs For Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities, Kristine Tevis

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Individuals with intellectual disabilities represent a unique population with an array of needs. High rates of comorbid mental and physical health conditions as well as the presence of disruptive behaviors pose significant challenges to service providers and funding entities. Existing cost models may underestimate these specialized needs and limit access to required services. Through secondary analysis of archival health data from individuals with intellectual disabilities at one agency in Nebraska (N=73), the current study examines how individual characteristics and aggression influence cost and caregiver strain from a systems theory perspective. Bivariate comparisons revealed that more severe aggression and more frequent …

The Contribution Of A Polygenic Risk Score To Individual Differences In Aggressive Behavior: The Moderating And Mediating Roles Of Stressful Events, Christa C. Christ

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Although aggression can be beneficial in certain situations (e.g. playing sports, self-defense), excessive and inappropriate aggression can lead to adverse physical and psychological health outcomes in both perpetrators and victims. Genetic susceptibility to negative environments can increase the likelihood of aggressive behavior in the context of situational risk factors. Low efficiency of serotonin neurotransmission and exposure to stress appear to play a prominent role in the etiology of aggressive behavior. A set of three studies assessed the contribution of polygenic risk (TPH2 rs4570625, SLC6A4 5-HTTLPR+rs25531, HTR1B rs13212041, MAOA uVNTR) to aggressive behavior, including alcohol-related aggression, in university students at varying …

The Role Of Anger Rumination And Autism Spectrum Disorder– Linked Perseveration In The Experience Of Aggression In The General Population, Cara E. Pugliese, Matthew S. Fritz, Susan W. White

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study (a) examined the role of anger rumination as a mediator of the relation between social anxiety and the experience of anger, hostility, and aggression, in the general population, and (b) evaluated the degree to which the presence of autism spectrum disorder characteristics moderates the indirect influence of anger rumination. We then explored whether social cognition and perseveration characteristic of autism spectrum disorder uniquely accounted for the predicted moderation. In this survey study of young adults (n = 948), anger rumination mediated the relation between social anxiety and hostility, as well as verbal and physical aggression, as predicted. Greater …

Effects Of Alcohol Intoxication And Neurocognitive Processing On Intimate Partner Aggression, Rosalita C. Maldonado

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Intimate partner aggression (IPA) is a serious public health concern that occurs with alarming frequency, results in both physical and psychological harm to victims, and costs billions of dollars per year due to healthcare costs and loss of productivity. These adverse consequences highlight the need to understand risk factors of IPA perpetration. Attempts to identify these risk factors have focused mostly on broad factors that may predispose someone to perpetrate aggression, including individual demographic and dispositional characteristics (e.g., low socioeconomic status, psychopathy). Although valuable, this knowledge cannot reveal the specific circumstances that may prompt an individual to perpetrate aggression against …

Hazardous Alcohol Use And Intimate Partner Aggression Among Dating Couples: The Role Of Impulse Control Difficulties, Laura E. Watkins, Rosalita C. Maldonado, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

To date, research identifying moderators of the alcohol–intimate partner aggression (IPA) relation-ship has focused almost exclusively on male‐perpetrated aggression, without accounting for the dy-adic processes of IPA. The current study examined hazardous alcohol use and impulse control diffi-culties as predictors of IPA among a sample of 73 heterosexual dating couples. Both actor and partner effects of these risk factors on physical and psychological aggression were examined. Results indi-cated that impulse control difficulties were an important actor and partner predictor of both physical and psychological aggression. Findings supported the multiple threshold model such that the inter-action between impulse control difficulties and …

Peer Victimization And Child Physical Health: The Moderating Role Of Pessimism, Tori R. Van Dyk, Timothy D. Nelson

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective—Involvement in peer victimization has been associated with numerous negative consequences, including poor physical health. The purpose of this study is to improve on previous research evaluating the victimization– health relationship by examining the health (i.e., health-related quality of life [HRQoL], medical service utilization) of both victims and aggressors and examining individual variation in this relationship through the moderating effect of pessimism.

Method—Sample included 125 ethnically diverse youth aged 8–11 years recruited from a low-income medical practice. Child-report of involvement in peer victimization and pessimism was assessed along with parent-report of HRQoL. 2-year medical service utilization was extracted from medical …

Emotional, Social, And Cognitive Correlates Of Stalking And Intrusive Harassment., Allissa Marquez

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Although stalking has been recognized as social problem for the last twenty years, few studies have examined the treatment needs or effectiveness with these persistent offenders. The dearth of information on appropriate intervention is in part related to the difficulty of operationalizing stalking behavior in empirical studies. Accordingly, the present study sought to examine clinically relevant indicators of functioning using both categorical and continuous definitions of stalking behavior. Two hundred and fifty male prisoners were surveyed about their engagement in intrusive and aggressive behaviors during a significant conflict, as well as their social, emotional, and cognitive functioning. Results indicated quantitative …

Do Self-Control Depletion And Negative Emotion Contribute To Intimate Partner Aggression? A Lab-Based Study, Laura E. Watkins, David Dilillo, Lesa Hoffman, Jonathan Templin

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: Intimate partner aggression (IPA) is a serious problem among dating couples. The present study examined dyadic and situational processes that may lead to IPA perpetration among a sample of 59 heterosexual couples (total n = 118), within the framework of Finkel’s I3 model. Method: IPA was assessed using an in vivo aggression task, in the context of a weak inhibiting factor (self-control depletion) and a strong impellance factor (negative emotion) generated during in vivo verbal conflict between partners (functioning as an instigating trigger). Results: Actor–partner interdependence model analyses demonstrated that negative emotion (prediscussion and reactivity) positively predicted men’s …

Bullying, Eve Brank, Lori Hoetger, Katherine Hazen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The effects of bullying on the bully and the victim can be wide reaching, impacting schoolwork, familial and peer relationships, psychological well-being, and physical health. As such, schools work to implement different intervention and prevention programs. Additionally, a variety of both criminal and civil legal interventions have recently been used to prevent or punish bullying. Most US states have enacted antibullying legislation that prohibits bullying behaviors, but definitional issues that are present in the empirical research are also present in such statutes. For instance, some states focus only on physical forms of bullying or leave definitions entirely up to individual …