Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond ‘Help-Seeking,’ Toward ‘Engagement’: Understanding Barriers To Mental Health Equity Among Sexual Minority Individuals, Elliot Spengler

Doctoral Dissertations

The finding that 57.4% of adults living in the United States with a diagnosable mental health disorder do not receive mental health care (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2018) opens important questions as to what structural and individual factors contribute to this “treatment gap” and individuals’ willingness and/or ability to seek out traditional mental health care. Sexual minority (SM) individuals experience inequitable mental health outcomes and report more unmet mental health needs and more barriers to health care than heterosexual individuals. Thus, there is a need to understand the process of mental health care engagement (MHCE) for SM …

Am I Stigmatized? An Experimental Examination Of High-Status Experiences Of Stigma., Christopher F. Silver

Doctoral Dissertations

Stigma is a highly researched aspect of social psychology primarily focusing on outgroup perceptions of stigma or the behaviors associated with high-status individuals toward low-status individuals. Two studies sought to explore high-status perceptions of perceived stigma, focusing on the common variables associated with stigma within low-status groups. This was to address a growing perception among high-status individuals that they experience stigma given their identity. As a focus, this study sampled White Males (Study One) and Christians (Study Two) from the United States. As part of experimental manipulation, we presented participants with three potential conditions. Condition one where participants read an …

“The Only Way I Feel Connected Is Through Other Latinx Friends”: Latinx Ethnic Identity, Social Connection, And Sense Of Belonging At A Southeastern Predominantly White Institution, Jasmine M. Koech

Masters Theses

Research demonstrates that Latinx students enrolled in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) face challenges in locating a sense of belonging and creating social connections on campus (e.g., Dueñas & Gloria, 2020). A lack of sense of belonging and limited access to affirming social connections can have negative consequences on ethnic identity development (e.g., Jones & Galliher, 2014). Our study sought to further investigate the experiences of Latinx students at a southeastern PWI, their experiences with locating a sense of belonging and social connections on campus, as well as their experiences navigating their ethnic identity development. Focus group data was collected from …

The Desire To Train: A Motivational Profile Of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Players, Terrance Tarver

Masters Theses

Combat sports, such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, require intense physical, mental, and emotional tasking within its training. With the degree of difficulty ingrained within the sport, as well as the performance-focused climate that this sport may be practiced within, many participants that once were intrigued by the sport may lose this interest and enjoyment if their goals are not met. This leads to much interest into what factors drive the motivation of those that continue to participate within Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The purpose of this study is to develop a motivational profile of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu players. 216 participants from …

Preterm Birth Among Opioid-Using Women And High-Risk Controls: The Potential Moderating Role Of Borderline Features, Summer Victoria Shore, Rachel Hickman

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Opioid use is a growing problem within this country (Maeda, Bateman, Clancy, Creanga, & Leffert, 2014). One implication of this is an increased incidence of preterm birth, defined as birth before 37 weeks gestation (Kramer et al., 2000; Norwitz & Robinson, 2001). Previous research supports an association between opioid use and preterm birth (Nørgaard, Nielsson, & Heide-Jørgensen, 2015). No research has evaluated the role mental health diagnoses aside from anxiety and depression (Benningfield et al., 2010) play in conjunction with opioid use in exacerbating the risk of preterm birth. In the proposed study, the focus is on Borderline Personality Disorder …

Interactional Synchrony In Romantic Couples: Linking Dynamic Systems Of Nonverbal Behavior With Outcome Data, Darren J. Garcia

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

The aim of this study was to bridge the growing body of research on interactional synchrony with variables reflecting relationship quality in romantic couples. Video data from 116 romantic couples who participated in a short-term relationship intervention (Gordon et al., 2019) and their self-report assessments of relationship satisfaction, emotional intimacy, and constructive communication patterns were used for analyses. Movement was objectively quantified for each partner using Motion Energy Analysis (MEA; Ramseyer & Tschacher, 2011), an automated frame-differencing method. Cross-lag correlations of the time-series data were then aggregated and operationalized as interactional synchrony. Empirical relationships between interactional synchrony and relationship …

Audiovisual Speech Processing: Implications For Speech Perception And Language Development, Ryan Andrew Cannistraci

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation aims to empirically assess the complex, multileveled relationships between audiovisual speech perception and early language development. The majority of extant language development research has justifiably focused on infants’ ability to learn language from auditory input, and indeed, infants are precocious auditory learners (Saffran & Kirkham, 2018). Complementary to auditory speech, however, are the necessarily redundant facial movements used to articulate speech. Outside of language development research, multimodal processing has been theorized to facilitate perceptual learning and cognitive development (Bahrick & Lickliter, 2000), but only a small number of empirical studies have investigated how audiovisual speech perception in infancy …

The Effects Of An Interdependent Group Contingency On Student Writing, Madeline B. Auge

Doctoral Dissertations

National data indicate that many students in the United States are not proficient in writing at grade-level expectations (Persky et al., 2003). However, there is not enough research, resources, or support for school personnel to improve student writing (Graham & Harris, 2003). Previous writing intervention studies involving performance feedback methods have shown positive impacts on student writing fluency, but it may be too time consuming for teachers to use in the classroom (Truckenmiller et al., 2014). Teachers need feasible, evidence-based writing interventions that are easy to implement in their classrooms and that motivate students to improve their writing skills.

The …

Development And Validation Of The Scale Of Emotional Functioning: Educators (Sef:Ed), Lezli Suzanne Anderson

Doctoral Dissertations

Data collected from 97 educators provide preliminary support for the psychometric integrity of an experimental self-report instrument designed to operationalize emotional intelligence (EI) specific to educators, the Scale of Emotional Functioning: Educators, or SEF:ED. Data analyses relied in part on results from an exploratory factor analysis, which revealed an acceptable three-factor solution and item-scale correlations. Reliability estimates (i.e., split-half reliability correlations) obtained for the SEF:ED subscales of Emotional Awareness, Emotional Management, and Interpersonal Relations subscales are .86, .80, and .71, respectively. Correlation coefficients (i.e., Pearson r) between the SEF:ED composite and the Profile of Emotional Competence composite (PEC; Brasseur …

Brief Sheets: Examining An Intervention That Increases Academic Reinforcement, Kyle Edward Ryan

Doctoral Dissertations

This study is designed to extend research on the Brief Sheets intervention. The Brief Sheets intervention involves taking a full-page assignment that is given to students to complete independently and breaking up this assignment into multiple, smaller assignments that still contain the same total number of problems cumulatively. An experiment was designed to see if students would complete more total problems when they were given Brief Sheets compared to a control assignment containing the same total number of problems, if the percentage of accurate responding would be higher for the Brief Sheets assignment, and if students would rate the Brief …

The Relationship Education Workshop And Its Impact On Learned Healthy Relationship Outcomes And Self-Compassion In The Emerging Adulthood Population, Ashley N. Russell

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study examined the effectiveness of the Relationship Education workshop (Davila, 2020) on several outcome measures for its target population, emerging adults. The Relationship Education workshop is comprised of two consecutive three hour sessions which take place a week apart. Participants were recruited from a southeastern state university campus. Participants were given a thorough and group-discussion based didactic focusing on the relationship competency skills of insight, mutuality, and emotion regulation with other core focuses, including relational decision making and adaptive relationship beliefs. Participants who completed the Relationship Education workshop were hypothesized to show improvement in these target domains as …

Toward A Voice-Centered Relational Anti-Racist Listening Praxis In Counselor Education, Michelle R. Bertrand

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

Abstract This article outlines key elements of an anti-racist listening praxis in counselor education. It demonstrates how racism in relationships of teaching and learning impacts racialized subjectivities, and the personal, cultural and ancestral worlds these subjectivities articulate, in a way that limits the capacity of racialized practitioners to be relational subjects and uses them instead to reinforce White/Western normativity. It describes a way of both listening to and challenging these impacts by re-centering the “I” of racialized speakers and the personal, cultural and traditional knowledges, identities and preferred ways of being to which they refer in their stories. Examples of …

Social Context Influences On Behavior Of Carolina Chickadees, Brittany A. Coppinger

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation assesses fundamental social factors that drive variation in calling and other behaviors of experimental flocks of Carolina chickadees. Specifically, I tested how group member familiarity and group composition affected individual behavior. In addition, I performed a direct experimental test of the Social Complexity Hypothesis for Communicative Complexity, which states that groups that are more socially complex will communicate with greater signal complexity than groups that are less social complex. I consider complexity to be a combination of three factors: the number of parts in a system, the variation among the parts, and the variation in the way those …

Using A Cognitive Behavioral Approach In Individual Counseling With Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery, Nina Marie Ditommaso

Doctoral Dissertations

Morbid obesity is linked to physical and psychological well-being. Bariatric surgery has shown tremendous success with rapid weight loss in the patient population with morbid obesity. These patients experience issues with weight regain post-surgery, which can be linked to psychological and social factors. Despite this, mental health counseling is rarely offered in bariatric surgery programs. The primary investigator used a six-session Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach in individual counseling with patients following bariatric surgery. The primary investigator used a single case research design to treat four participants. The primary investigator measured the effectiveness of a six-session CBT treatment, assessing for …

Attention Bias In Youth In Response To Maternal Behaviors: A Mobile Eye Tracking Study, Elizabeth A. Cousins

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Origins And Perpetuation Of Stigma Against Mental Illness, Audrey K. Barkeloo-Carter, Kirsten A. Gonzalez Ph.D.

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Cadillac, The Camry And Everything In Between: A Qualitative Investigation Of Marital Attitudes Among First-Generation South Asian Immigrants, Zahra Amer

Masters Theses

Previous research suggests that there is a significant generational divide between first- and second-generation South Asian immigrants (henceforth “SAIs”) around the issue of marriage and indicates this divide is causing psychological distress among the SAI population in the domain of marriage (Samuel, 2010; Zaidi & Shuraydi, 2002). The present study explores the current nature of this potential divide and both expands upon and updates the extant literature surrounding first-generation SAIs’ attitudes towards marriage. Analyses were conducted with a sample of ten first-generation SAIs residing in the US. Participants were recruited using the snowball sampling technique and were interviewed individually by …

“There Are Not A Lot Of Providers Who Look Like Me”: Identity And Therapy For Sexual Minority Black, Indigenous, And Other People Of Color, Saumya Arora

Masters Theses

Research suggests that sexual minority Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color (BIPOC) generally experience higher levels of psychological distress and depression, leading to poorer mental health outcomes (e.g., Sutter et al., 2017; Lim & Hewitt, 2018). However, little is known about how sexual minority BIPOC individuals cope and support their mental health. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand the various and nuanced narratives of sexual minority BIPOC in seeking mental health support, including any barriers to accessing therapy as well as other identified sources of support. Fifteen sexual minority BIPOC individuals were interviewed about …

Examining The Bidirectional Relationships Between Maternal Intrusiveness And Child Anxiety: A Longitudinal Study From Infancy To Middle Childhood, Hannah Hunter

Masters Theses

Myriad parenting behaviors have been linked to the development of internalizing disorders in children. Intrusive parenting, which is characterized by autonomy-limiting behaviors that hold the parent’s agenda above that of the child, seems to uniquely contribute to the onset of child anxiety. In laboratory tasks, anxious mothers demonstrate greater levels of intrusiveness when compared to nonanxious mothers, suggesting that intrusive behaviors may be one mechanism through which anxiety is transmitted from parent and child. Other studies suggest that parental intrusiveness is evoked in the presence of an anxious child, providing evidence for bidirectionality. The current study investigated the bidirectional effects …

Finding Consensus On Integrating Neuroeducation Into Trauma-Informed Counseling Practice: A Delphi Study, Jenna Epstein, Rachel Mcroberts

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

A Delphi Study was carried out to investigate what experts considered essential components for integrating neuroeducation into trauma-informed counseling practice. After initial recruitment, a total of 14 trauma-informed counseling experts participated in a 4-round Delphi Study, in which main areas of brain education and associated educational methods were identified. Additionally, a richer description of the perceived impact of neuroeducation on clients was discussed. The results of this Delphi Study support the integration of a number of neuroeducation topics and methods into trauma-informed counseling practice and further support the need for incorporation of neuroeducation into counselor education and supervision.

One Spark Can Light A Fire: How To Become A Mental Health Advocate, Marquinta Harvey, Shannon Jackson

Black Issues Conference

One Spark Can Light a Fire: How to Become a Mental Health Advocate

There is increasing awareness surrounding mental health and conversations are beginning to make their way to the forefront of issues that demand significant attention. However, the path from awareness to advocacy remains poorly understood. Mental Illness is an important issue that affects 1 in 4 individuals and unlike most chronic illnesses the onset occurs early in the life spectrum, usually in adolescence and young adulthood.

The issue of mental health is not limited to individual genetic predisposition and/or behaviors but involves many layers related to individual, family-related, …

Racism And Mental Health: When It Hurts To Be Black, Desiree Tallent

Black Issues Conference

This presentation provides information on types of racism, including personal, institutional and cultural aspects. The prevalence of racism among Black people is also highlighted. Additional attention is given to the negative emotional outcomes of experiencing racism as well as the resulting behavioral impact of experiences with racism among Black individuals. Special attention is given to how these issues may manifest in one’s personal life and student life. In addition to understanding how racism impacts mental and behavioral health, information is provided on positive coping methods which can lessen the dire effect of racism. These positive coping methods include the role …

Where Are The Resources?: Discussing Mental Health In Students Of Color On Utk’S Campus And The Call For Action, Zhannae S. Cummings, Diandra Walker

Black Issues Conference

Racial minority groups experience disparities in mental health and are prone to having more detrimental outcomes than their white counterparts. Current events have heightened the exposure of racial injustices experienced by communities of Black, Indigenous and people of Color (BIPOC). Given this context, the elimination of mental health disparities in people of Color requires critical attention and diligent work more so now than ever before. Culture, climate, and intrinsic bias leave some institute of higher education more challenged in promoting and supporting education for students of Color. Therefore, the purpose of this presentation is to educate participants about mental health …