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Psychological Determinants Of Physical Activity And The Prediction Of Physical Activity Levels In African American Men, Alvin L. Morton Iii

Doctoral Dissertations

African American (AA) men experience disproportionally higher rates of non-communicable, chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular, type 2 diabetes, and renal failure) than White men. Physical activity (PA) is known to reduce the progression of CVD, type 2 diabetes, and renal failure. National statistics illustrate that AA men are less likely to get sufficient levels of PA to obtain health benefits. Although many factors (e.g., biomedical, socio-cultural) influence participation in PA, the psychological factors at the individual level are essential to beginning and maintaining activity. Therefore, understanding the psychological determinants of PA in AA men and their associations with meeting national guidelines …

“Stick To Sports”: Fan Moral Reasoning Strategies And Subsequent Psychological Well-Being In Response To An Athlete’S Controversial Political Associations, Stephen Warren

Doctoral Dissertations

With athletes actively protesting on and off the court, as well as sports organizations embracing activism efforts like Black Lives Matter, the importance of understanding how sports fans respond to athletes engaging in or being associated with politics is increasing, as well. If part of the draw for watching sports and identifying with teams is the potential to increase psychological health, what happens when fans are presented with political viewpoints within sports that they disagree with? This dissertation uses two studies to explore how fans of the New England Patriots responded to reading an article about a rookie Patriots player …

“If I’Ve Got God On My Side, I Can Do It”: A Phenomenological Investigation Of The Lived Experiences Of Spirituality For Lds Ncaa Di Student-Athletes, Matthew J. Moore

Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of spirituality for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (DI) student-athletes who also identified as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Using an existential phenomenological approach (Thomas & Pollio, 2002), nine interviews were conducted with four self-identified female and five self-identified male members of the LDS Church who were current NCAA DI athletes at the time of the study; they participated in four different DI sports (cross-country/track and field, football, soccer, and volleyball) and attended five different DI institutions. Their mean age was …

An Examination Of Music Majors’ Exercise Motivations And Readiness For Change, Jason Ruggieri

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examined hypothesized differences in college students’ exercise behaviors, motivations, and readiness for change. Previous research confirms longstanding health benefits of regular physical activity and corresponding wellbeing and mortality risks of a sedentary lifestyle. Despite this evidence, people become increasingly more inactive over time. Overall, college students perpetuate these life-long sedentariness trends. Music students encounter physical performance demands unique to degree programs, endorsing more physical and mental health complaints than most undergraduates. Self-determination theory and the transtheoretical model of behavior change postulate individuals with strong self-directed motivations and willingness to enact behavior changes are more likely to be physically …

Development Of A Scale Designed To Measure Interest In Verbal And Written Expression, Jared Ian Goldman

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to create a scale that measures an individual’s interest in verbal and written expression. Psychological theorists have held that individuals benefit emotionally from articulating their thoughts and feelings; these theories have found support in empirical studies that suggest the psychological benefits of certain language-based behaviors and experience in language-rich environments. Moreover, theorists and researchers have identified differences in individuals’ relationships with language. In light of this literature, this scale is an attempt to create a measure that assesses an individual’s relationship with language in a novel way. This paper consists of two studies. The …

Working Alliances: The Implications Of Person-Centered Theory For Student-Teacher Relationships And Learning, Adam Parker Cogbill

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation project, I interview four therapists and four writing teachers to learn if there were any significant similarities in differences in their approaches to dyadic relationships with students and clients. By dyadic, I mean what happens between individuals in a 1-on-1 setting when subjectivities collide. I was guided in my investigation by the core concepts of person-centered theory, which have heavily influenced the work of clinical therapists for the past half-century or more. These concepts are congruence, or whether one’s behaviors and speech match what one is feeling; empathy, the process of entering and becoming familiar with another’s …

Ultrasonic Vocalizations And Stress Resilience: Behavioral And Neurobiological Correlates, Nathaniel P. Stafford

Doctoral Dissertations

When we are exposed to a traumatic or stressful life event, some individuals may develop symptoms of anxiety or depression while others may appear unaffected. In humans and nonhuman organisms, the ability to cope plays a large role in how an organism responds to a stressor, and this coping may be influenced by innate mechanisms. We have identified the use of ultrasonic vocalizations during intermittent swim stress (ISS) to forecast innate behavioral differences in stress reactivity. Vocalizing rats are resilient as they exhibit less cognitive impairment, motivational changes, and fewer anxiety-like behaviors typically observed post-ISS. Resilience should be associated with …

Emotionally And Socially Aware Approaches To Understanding And Changing Users’ Cybersecurity Behavior, Michael Fagan

Doctoral Dissertations

Security is a priority to most, but studies show that users commonly fail to adopt recommended cybersecurity behavior. Researchers have looked to user factors for explanations of this gap, finding security and convenience to be common considerations, along with perceptions of risks and past experiences. Some have tried to alter user behavior, but are targeted at specific advice and focused on rational motivations to persuade users.

In this thesis, three expertly recommended cybersecurity advice (i.e., updating software regularly, using two-factor authentication, using a secure password manager) are deeply explored. These results inform the design of videos in a systematic study …

An Evaluation Of Traffic Control Devices And Driver Distraction On Driver Behavior At Railway-Highway Grade Crossings, Radhameris A. Gomez Gabriel

Doctoral Dissertations

At-grade crossings (grade crossings) are those crossings in which any part of a roadway intersects with railroad tracks. Safety at these railroad-highway grade crossings is a major concern, with traffic control warning devices serving as the main mechanisms for improving safety. There are three factors that influence a driver’s behavior at a given crossing. First, traffic control devices, including warning devices at the railroad-highway grade crossings, provide the driver with information whose impact will depend in part on the likelihood that the driver knows whether to glance in the direction of the device based on prior experience, and in part …

Impacting Student Slumber: An Analysis Of Self-Report And Physiological Data Following A Psychoeducational Intervention, Danielle N. Newman

Doctoral Dissertations

Research shows that college students have extensive rates of sleep struggles, with up to 89% of college students reporting that they have moderate to severe difficulties with sleep (Buboltz, Brown, & Soper, 2001). Insufficient sleep has been linked to problems with academics (Kelly, Kelly, & Clanton, 2001; Taylor, Vatthauer, Bramoweth, Ruggero, & Roane, 2013), mental health (Ghumman & Barnes, 2013; Home, 1993; Manber & Chambers, 2009), physical health (Dahl & Lewin, 2002; Gailliot et al., 2007; Lyytikainen, Rahkonen, Lahelma, & Lallukka, 2011; Van Cauter, Leproult, & Plat, 2000), and a variety of other problems. Results pertaining to the suggested and …

The Development And Validation Of An Automatic-Item Generation Measure Of Cognitive Ability, Scott Hines

Doctoral Dissertations

Cognitive ability is perhaps the most studied individual difference available to researchers, being measured quickly and effectively while demonstrating a predictable influence on many life outcomes. Historically, the evolution of the psychometric study of cognitive abilities has pivoted on the development of new and better methodologies allowing for a more complete and efficient capture of intellect. For instance, recent advances in computer and Internet technology have largely replaced traditional pencil-and-paper methods, allowing for innovative item development and presentation. However, concerns regarding the potential adverse impact and test security of online measures of cognitive ability, particularly in unproctored situations, are well …

Personal Intelligence And Learning About Personality In Everyday Life, Jayne L. Allen

Doctoral Dissertations

As we encounter other people, we form impressions of and judgments about them. Based on these evaluations, we choose whether we want to interact any further, and if we do, what type of relationship we want to have. Although such choices can have far-reaching consequences, we typically base them on tacit knowledge. Our abilities to reason about our own and others’ personalities—abilities theorized to be part of a personal intelligence (Mayer, 2008)—determine in part the relationship outcomes we experience.

The existence of such an intelligence implies that people have a “database” they consult when making personality-relevant decisions. This raises the …

The Mediating Influence Of Career Aspirations And Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy On Self-Differentiation, Vocational Identity, And Career Indecision, Jay Justin Middleton

Doctoral Dissertations

Research indicates that numerous family variables influence the career-development process (Osipow, 1983). Bowen's family systems theory is one model through which to view the development and influence of the family on career development (Bowen, 1972). According to his theory, individuals begin life highly dependent on family members for all forms of support. As people grow into adults, they slowly become independent of their family, or self-differentiated. Adults low in self-differentiation have been found to make decisions in order to appease their families. Further, low levels of self-differentiation have been related to greater mental health problems (Skowron & Friedlander, 1998) and …

Using Latent Class Cluster Analysis To Identify And Profile Organizational Subclimates: An Exploratory Investigation Using Safety Climate As An Exemplar, Amy Frost Stevenson

Doctoral Dissertations

Organizational climate refers to the shared meaning organizational members attach to the events, policies, practices, and procedures they experience as well as to the behaviors they see being rewarded, supported, and expected (Schneider, Ehrhart, & Macey, 2011). Climate scholars have most frequently used referent-shift consensus and dispersion composition models (Chan, 1998) to conceptualize and measure organizational climate. Based on these models, climate emergence has been characterized by low variance or high consensus of individual-level climate perceptions (Chan, 1998; Ehrhart, Schneider, & Macey, 2013; Hazy & Ashley, 2011; Kuenzi & Schminke, 2009) within formally defined organizational groups (e.g., work teams).

Climate …

Evaluating Indicators Of Job Performance: Distributions And Types Of Analyses, Richard J. Chambers Ii

Doctoral Dissertations

Distributions of job performance indicators have historically been assumed to be normally distributed (Aguinis & O'Boyle, 2014; Schmidt & Hunter, 1983; Tiffin, 1947). Generally, any evidence to the contrary has been attributed to errors in the measurement of job performance (Murphy, 2008). A few researchers have been skeptical of this assumption (Micceri, 1989; Murphy, 1999; Saal, Downey, & Lahey, 1980); yet, only recently has research demonstrated that in certain specific situations job performance is exponentially distributed (Aguinis, O'Boyle, Gonzalez-Mulé, & Joo, 2016; O'Boyle & Aguinis, 2012). To date there have been few recommendations in the Industrial-Organizational Psychology literature about how …

Anxiolytic Effects Of Propranolol And Diphenoxylate On Mice And Automated Stretch-Attend Posture Analysis, Kevin Scott Holly

Doctoral Dissertations

The prevention of social anxiety, performance anxiety, and social phobia via the combination of two generic drugs, diphenoxylate HC1 (opioid) plus atropine sulfate (anticholinergic) and propranolol HCl (beta blocker) was evaluated in mice through behavioral studies. A patent published on a September 8, 2011 by Benjamin D. Holly, US 2011/0218215 Al, prompted the research. The drug combination of diphenoxylate and atropine plus propranolol could be an immediate treatment for patients suffering from acute phobic and social anxiety disorders. Demonstrating the anxiolytic effects of the treatment on mice would validate a mouse model for neuroscientist to be used to detect the …

The Relationship Between Executive Functioning And Substance Abuse, John M. Tracy

Doctoral Dissertations

Substance use disorders are a widespread issue in society today with approximately 20 million people in the U.S. alone experiencing drug-related problems (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2012). However, treatment is often ineffectual with approximately 50% of addicted individuals returning to substance use. One factor found to impact individuals' treatment response is their neuropsychological functioning. Drug-abusers frequently exhibit severe executive functioning impairments across a number of domains, and there is evidence that these deficits may be time and substance-dependent. Executive functions are mental processes critical in motivation, planning, and goal-directed behaviors. With extended abstinence, research suggests cognitive improvements …

Psychometric Properties Of Three Common Depression Measures In Breast Cancer Patients With Major Depressive Disorder, Audrey Ashton File

Doctoral Dissertations

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in the United States and MDD is the most common mental health problem in women with breast cancer. There is lack of research on measures of depression in this population. This study examined the psychometric properties of three commonly used depression measures, the BDI-II, CES-D, and HRSD, with clinically depressed breast cancer patients (n = 127). Findings revealed the measures displayed good distributional characteristics, internal consistency, and convergent validity. Discriminative validity with the BAI was not demonstrated, however, and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the existing models of these …

Personal Factors, Domain Specificity, And Risky Decision-Making, Rose Niles

Doctoral Dissertations

Adults make many risky decisions daily, such as choosing to drive over the speed limit or going outside without previously applying sunscreen. How and why adults make such decisions remains relatively unknown and has gained much research attention. Traditional models of decision-making, such as Expected Utility Theory (Bernoulli, 1954) and Prospect Theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1972) have proven too simplistic, as they do not account for the regular deviations from expected decision-making processes. Likewise, models that attempt to categorize individuals as risk seeking and risk-averse do not hold up well when decisional-domain is examined (Blais & Weber, 2006). Contemporary research …

Chronotype Preference, Partial Sleep Deprivation, And Executive Functions Performance Throughout The Wake-Cycle, Devin Layne Merritt

Doctoral Dissertations

Sleep is vital to survival and well-being. Adequate sleep, which is conceptualized in terms of quantity and quality, is positively related to a number of cognitive functions. In terms of length, it has been recommended that individuals in late adolescence and adulthood should receive no less than eight hours of sleep. Negative effects on higher-order mental processes have been found in states of sleep deprivation. Individuals who experience total sleep deprivation show decrements in performance on tasks of executive function (i.e. sustained attention, planning, and decision making). However, the effects of partial sleep deprivation on executive functions has not been …

Factors Predicting Weight Loss And Weight Gain In Bariatric Surgery Patients, Deborah Potisek Simpson

Doctoral Dissertations

Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States that can result in problems in multiple areas of an individual's life. Bariatric surgery has been shown to be an effective weight loss treatment for obese and morbidly obese individuals; however, although many individuals obtain long-term weight loss success after surgery, there is a percentage of patients who do not obtain the expected weight loss or end up regaining the weight they had initially lost. In an attempt to identify those who may be at risk for poorer results after bariatric surgery, most surgeons require that an individual undergo a psychological …

Ptsd, Academic Achievement, And College Persistence: The Moderating Effects Of Coping Mechanisms And Social Support, Rebecca Granda

Doctoral Dissertations

Prevalence rates of lifetime exposure to trauma for college students range from 50 to 90% indicating that most college students begin the first year of college with a history of trauma. Previous studies suggest a significant negative relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and college retention; however, these studies have mainly focused on the negative effects of trauma exposure and PTSD on college students' persistence. As a result, it was unknown whether the effects of PTSD on academic achievement and college persistence can be moderated by protective factors, such as coping skills and social support. The purpose of this study …

The Effects Of Encouraging Student-Faculty Interaction On Academic Success, Identity Development, And Student Retention In The First Year Of College, Katerina Karaivanova

Doctoral Dissertations

The study presented in this dissertation was designed to investigate the effects of a brief intervention encouraging student-faculty interaction among college students on their academic achievement, college adjustment and intent to withdraw. Additionally, the effects of identity style on academic achievement, college adjustment, and student-faculty interaction were examined. Two hundred and five first year students participated in a four-part study, measuring the frequency and quality of student-faculty interaction, college adjustment, and identity development at three different time points. Students were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups; only one group received the advice to meet with faculty outside of …

The Role Of Social Agency In Student Learning, Michael C. Melville

Doctoral Dissertations

Although the pedagogical strategy known as the personalization principle has received considerable support in the laboratory, there is little work examining its generalizability, ecological validity, and potential for statistical mediation and moderation. In 5 experiments, these topics are examined in the laboratory as well as in a real classroom setting. Experiment 1a provides evidence for moderation of the effect of the personalization principle by the learner’s score on the need to belong scale. Experiment 1b shows support for a variable that measures subjective perceptions of the learning material mediating the effect of the personalization principle on learning outcomes. Experiments 2 …

Cellular Coding Properties Of Goal Directed Behavior In The Mediodorsal And Intralaminar Nucleus Of The Rat: Comparisons To Prefrontal Cortex, Rikki Lou Ann Miller

Doctoral Dissertations

The mediodorsal (MD) and rostral intralaminar (IL) nuclei of central thalamus interact with prefrontal cortex (PFC) through multiple pathways to control goal directed behavior. The initial purpose of this dissertation was to characterize cellular coding properties of these nuclei in central thalamus using electrophysiological measures in awake, behaving rats performing a dynamic delayed non-match to position (DNMTP) task. Two major aims were developed. The first of these was based on the strong reciprocal connections between central thalamus and PFC. Therefore, the current data was compared to data previously collected in prefrontal cortex (Onos et al., 2015). The second was that …

Reasons For Revealing And Concealing Interpersonal Trauma, Sidney Bennett

Doctoral Dissertations

Prior research has documented the role that revealing and concealing interpersonal violence has on health outcomes for victims (e.g., Ullman, 2010). The present paper aims to add to the existing research by presenting a new model, The Revealing and Concealing Process Model for Interpersonal Trauma, to describe the process that occurs when victims reveal or conceal interpersonal violence. The second stage of the model (i.e., reasons for revealing/concealing interpersonal violence) was tested by: 1. Creating a measure to assess the reasons for revealing and concealing interpersonal violence and 2. Identifying whether getting goals met for revealing/concealing is related to health …

Using Your Mind To Train Your Body: An Experimental Autobiographical Memory Intervention For Adolescent Physical Activity, Mathew Biondolillo

Doctoral Dissertations

Developmentally, physical activity levels tend to decline from adolescence to early adulthood. Adolescent physical activity programs have been largely ineffective, leading to a call for new low-cost interventions. This study examined the effects of an autobiographical memory intervention on adolescent physical activity. Over six weeks, students (N = 558) in a New England middle school completed questionnaires and were timed weekly in physical education classes while training for a school-wide race. During Week Three, some students were asked to provide a positive motivational physical activity memory and others a control memory. Students indicated their intentions to be physical active, completed …

What Is Self-Potential And How Does It Relate To Personal Intelligence?, Bonnie Ann Barlow

Doctoral Dissertations

Intelligence is an important ability that we use in our everyday lives to understand people, such as choosing the best partner to work with on a project. Personal intelligence is the ability to “reason about personality and its processes, as applied to one’s self and others” (Mayer, Panter & Caruso, 2012). The Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI) was developed to test this important ability. If the TOPI measures people’s ability to understand their own and other’s personality, as personal intelligence increases so should a person’s level of self-potential. This idea was tested in two studies by conducting correlations between the …

Major Decisions: Personal Intelligence And Students' Reasoning About College Majors, Kateryna Sylaska

Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers and universities have devoted substantial resources to understanding college students’ experiences in college. One gap in the literature surrounds understanding students’ major selection process. In the current series of studies, I utilized previous research and semi-structured interviews to create the Students’ Reasoning about their Major Survey (RAMS). I conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on the items in two distinct samples and found a general factor (Satisfaction with the Major) and seven secondary factors (Balance and Flexibility, Prestige, Interpersonal Similarity, Effort and Difficulty, Interest, Perceived Competence, and Decision Aversion). I hypothesized that the RAMS would be related to personal …

A Literary And Psychological Portrait Of The Belle Epoque, James Difilippo

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation depicts the Belle Epoque (1870-1914) whose Zeitgeist was epitomized by the motto, fluctuat, nec mergitur (Willms 339). The transformation in the spirit of Europe revealed the emergence of the conscious, the influence of the unconscious and the discovery of psychoanalysis. Although the fin de siècle was a period of degeneration, the epoch also represented hope for a new beginning. The Belle Epoque in Paris displayed a coat of arms that represented a metaphorical emblem of a tumultuous, sailing ship having an unattainable destination. The national self-awareness engendered a collective pathology, self-confidence and pride that characterized the consciousness of …