Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Interrelationships Among Family Stress, Parenting Behavior, And Behavior Problems: An Investigation Of Internationally Adopted Chinese Girls, Cheryl Gelley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although there have been many studies investigating international adoptees' outcomes in relation to their pre-adoption experiences, there is a paucity of research investigating the influence of post-adoption experiences. Guided by the proximity of the family to the child in Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological systems theory of human development, this study addressed a gap in the literature by investigating the interrelationships among family-related variables (e.g., stress in family environment, parenting behavior) and 648 internationally adopted Chinese girls' behavior problems. Moderate, positive relationships were found between family stress and both internalizing (r = .43, p < .001) and externalizing (r = .59, p < .001) behavior problems. Modest, inverse relationships were found between authoritative parenting and both internalizing (r = -.08, p < .01) and externalizing (r = -.15, p < .001) behavior problems. Additionally, modest to moderate, positive relationships were found between authoritarian and permissive parenting and internalizing (r = .18, p < .001; r = .19, p < .001, respectively) and externalizing (r = .39, p < .001; r = .34, p < .001, respectively) behavior problems. Finally, authoritarian and permissive parenting behaviors were partial mediators between family stress and both internalizing (R² = .08, p < .001; R² = .08, p …

The Relationships Between Individual Characteristics, Work Factors, And Emotional Labor Strategies In The Prediction Of Burnout Among Mental Health Service Providers, Jessica Belle Handelsman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Relatively few empirical studies in the professional burnout literature have examined mental health providers (MHPs). Research on other professional groups has demonstrated that certain emotion regulation strategies, known as emotional labor (i.e., deep acting and surface acting), are common responses to perceived display rules (i.e., professional guidelines for emotional expression), and are differentially associated with burnout. The present study aimed to fill a gap in the literature by evaluating the empirical links between work stressors (i.e., role conflict, role ambiguity, and lack of autonomy), personality (i.e., extraversion), emotional labor (i.e., surface acting and deep acting), and burnout in a sample …

Distress Tolerance Moderates The Relationship Between Negative Affect Intensity With Borderline Personality Disorder Levels, Marina Bornovalova, Alexis Matusiewicz, Elizabeth Rojas

Psychology Faculty Publications

A number of studies have suggested that negative emotionality and negative affect intensity play key roles in the development and maintenance of borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, more recent research indicates that one's response to affective discomfort may be an even more important variable in the pathogenesis of BPD than either negative emotionality or negative affect intensity per se. As such, the current study aimed to empirically test the moderating role of 2 well-validated laboratory measures of the ability to tolerate psychological distress (distress tolerance) in the relationship of negative emotionality and negative affect intensity with BPD levels. Results provide …

Smart Rehabilitation For The 21st Century: The Tampa Smart Home For Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury, Jan Jasiewicz, William D. Kearns, Jeffrey Craighead, James L. Fozard, Steven Scott, Jay Mccarthy

William D. Kearns, PhD

No abstract provided.

Smart Rehabilitation For The 21st Century: The Tampa Smart Home For Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury, Jan Jasiewicz, William D. Kearns, Jeffrey Craighead, James L. Fozard, Steven Scott, Jay Mccarthy

Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Does Crowding Obscure The Presence Of Attentional Guidance In Contextual Cueing?, Steven William Fiske

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The contextual cueing effect was initially thought to be the product of memory guiding attention to the target location. However, the steep search slopes obtained in contextual cueing indicate an absence of attentional guidance. We hypothesized that crowding could be obscuring the presence of attentional guidance and investigated this possibility in 2 experiments. Crowding was manipulated by varying the density of items in the local target region in a contextual cueing task. We observed a significant reduction in search slopes between the novel and repeated conditions when crowding was reduced. Enhancing crowding eliminated the contextual cueing effect. These findings suggest …

Emotional Reactivity And Regulation In Current And Remitted Depression: An Event Related Potential Study, Lauren M. Bylsma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is thought to be characterized by emotion regulation deficits, including decreased use of adaptive strategies such as reappraisal, but little is known about the exact nature of these deficits and whether or not they are specific to the depressed mood state. The late positive potential (LPP) is a sustained positive deflection of the event-related potential (ERP) associated with responding to emotionally-valenced stimuli, and reappraisal strategies have been found to reduce LPP magnitude in response to emotional stimuli in healthy individuals, but this effect has not been examined in MDD. This study utilized ERPs to examine emotional …

Seven Pillars Of Small War Power, Randy Borum

Randy Borum

We may need to modify our traditional “center of gravity” analysis to accommodate multiple centers of gravity in an asymmetric diffusion of power. Insurgencies and movements of resistance are dynamic, living systems powered by social dynamics.65 Successful insurgent movements leverage their available sources of power to gain the sympathy of the broader population and to mobilize a small cadre of armed forces. For the insurgent, these dynamics—the power of rising expectations, the power of the people, the power of the underdog, the power of agility, the power of resistance, the power of security, and the power of belonging—become the pillars …

A Retrospective And Prospective Comparison Of Hungarian Children Who Have One Or Two Episodes Of Depression, Vanessa Panaite

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Early onset depression is associated with high recurrence rates later in life. Recurrent depressive episodes during childhood may be particularly problematic, if additional episodes have a scarring effect that hinders healthy development. Distinguishing between first onsets and recurrences has been useful in understanding adult depression. This distinction has seldom been examined in pediatric depression, in part because it is difficult to enroll adequate samples of children with recurrent depression. We conducted archival analyses of carefully-diagnosed pediatric probands with depression first onset between ages of 4 and 12. Probands who reported one depressive episode (N = 435) were compared with probands …

Development And Validation Of The Minnesota Borderline Personality Disorder Scale, Marina Bornovalova, Brian M Hicks, Christopher J. Patrick, William G Iacono, Matt Mcgue

Psychology Faculty Publications

Although large epidemiological data sets can inform research on the etiology and development of borderline personality disorder (BPD), they rarely include BPD measures. In some cases, however, proxy measures can be constructed using instruments already in these data sets. In this study, the authors developed and validated a self-report measure of BPD from the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Items for the new instrument—the Minnesota BPD scale (MBPD) —were identified and refined using three large samples: undergraduates, community adolescent twins, and urban substance users. The authors determined the construct validity of the MBPD scale by examining its association with (a) diagnosed …

Individualism/Collectivism And Organizational Citizenship Behavior, María Celeste Dávila De León, Marcia Finkelstein

Psychology Faculty Publications

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) are workplace activities that exceed an employee’s formal job requirements and contribute to the effective functioning of the organization. We explored the roles of the dispositional traits of individualism and collectivism in the prediction of OCB. The relationship was examined in the context of other constructs known to influence OCB, specifically, motives and identity as an organizational citizen. A total of 367 employees in 24 organizations completed surveys measuring individualism/collectivism, OCB motives, strength of organizational citizen role identity, and amount of OCB. The results showed collectivism to be a significant predictor of Organizational Concern and Prosocial …

Evidence-Based Pharmacotherapy For Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder And Chronic Tic Disorders, Alessandro S. De Nadai, Eric A. Storch, Joseph F. Mcguire, Adam B. Lewin, Tanya K. Murphy

Psychology Faculty Publications

In recent years, much progress has been made in pharmacotherapy for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and chronic tic disorders (CTDs). What were previously considered relatively intractable conditions now have an array of efficacious medicinal (and psychosocial) interventions available at clinicians' disposal, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, atypical antipsychotics, and alpha-2 agonists. The purpose of this review is to discuss the evidence base for pharmacotherapy with pediatric OCD and CTDs with regard to efficacy, tolerability, and safety, and to put this evidence in the context of clinical management in integrated behavioral healthcare. While there is no single panacea for these disorders, …

Wireless Telesurveillance System For Detecting Dementia, William D. Kearns, James L. Fozard, Vilis O. Nams, Jeffrey D. Craighead

William D. Kearns, PhD

Objective We hypothesized path tortuosity (an index of casual locomotor variability) measured by a movement telesurveillance system would be suitable for assisted living facility residents clinically diagnosed with dementia. Background We examined the relationship of dementia to path tortuosity and to movement speed and path length variability, both of which increase in dementia. Methods Daytime movements of 25 elders (19 female; 14 with dementia; average age 80.6) were monitored for 30 days using radio transponders measuring location with a maximum accuracy of 20 cm. After 30 days, the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) and Revised Algase Wandering Scale-Community Version (RAWS-CV) …

Gender Differences In Prosocial Behavior: Organizational Citizenship Behavior, María Celeste Dávila De León, Marcie Finkelstein, Juan Ignacio Castien

Psychology Faculty Publications

El comportamiento de ciudadanía organizacional (CCO) alude a las actividades que hacen los empleados y que exceden de los requeri-mientos formales del puesto, contribuyendo al efectivo funcionamiento de la organización. Estas conductas pueden estar dirigidas hacia los compañe-ros o hacia la organización en sí. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las diferencias en función del género en el desarrollo de CCO siguiendo la teoría funcional de las motivaciones y el modelo de la identidad de rol. Un total de 974 trabajadores cumplimentaron un cuestionario que evaluaba la frecuencia de estos comportamientos, los motivos para ponerlos en prácti-ca y la …

How Should Addiction-Related Research At The National Institutes Of Health Be Reorganized?, Bankole A. Johnson, Robert O. Messing, Michael E. Charness, John C. Crabbe, Mark S. Goldman, R. Adron Harris, Henry R. Kranzler, Mack C. Mitchell Jr., Sara Jo Nixon, Edward P. Riley, Marc A. Schuckit, Kenneth J. Sher, Jennifer D. Thomas

Psychology Faculty Publications

The decades-old debate about the optimum organizational structure of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has reached a crescendo with the recent deliberations of the Scientific Management Review Board, which, despite the lack of a crisis, proposed a structural reorganization that would dissolve the two institutes and create a new institute for substance use, abuse, and addiction, in hope of new scientific and public health advances (Collins, 2010). For a new institute to succeed, a multitude of potential challenges need to be negotiated effectively

Wireless Telesurveillance System For Detecting Dementia, William D. Kearns, James L. Fozard, Vilis O. Nams, Jeffrey D. Craighead

Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Faculty Publications

Objective We hypothesized path tortuosity (an index of casual locomotor variability) measured by a movement telesurveillance system would be suitable for assisted living facility residents clinically diagnosed with dementia. Background We examined the relationship of dementia to path tortuosity and to movement speed and path length variability, both of which increase in dementia. Methods Daytime movements of 25 elders (19 female; 14 with dementia; average age 80.6) were monitored for 30 days using radio transponders measuring location with a maximum accuracy of 20 cm. After 30 days, the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) and Revised Algase Wandering Scale-Community Version (RAWS-CV) …

The Relationships Between Frontal Alpha Asymmetry, Mood, And Emotional Memory, Ross Avila

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Frontal alpha asymmetry is often used as a metric to compare activation between homologous frontal brain sites. A positive asymmetry refers to greater activation in the left hemisphere than in the right hemisphere, while the opposite is true of negative asymmetries. Two expansive but largely separate bodies of research have examined the relationships between (1) frontal asymmetry scores and mood, and (2) mood and emotional memory performance. Specifically, one body of research has found that positive moods are associated with positive asymmetries while negative moods are associated with negative asymmetries. A second body of literature has examined the effects of …

Drug Courts Work, But How? Preliminary Development Of A Measure To Assess Drug Court Structure And Processes, Blake Barrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The high prevalence of substance use disorders is well-documented among criminal offenders. Drug courts are specialty judicial programs designed to: 1) improve public safety outcomes; 2) reduce criminal recidivism and substance abuse among offenders with substance use disorders; and 3) better utilize scarce criminal justice and treatment resources. Drug courts operate through partnerships between the criminal justice, behavioral health and public health systems. Offenders participate in an intensive regimen of substance abuse treatment and case management while under close judicial supervision. Drug courts' effectiveness in reducing criminal recidivism and drug use has been documented through numerous primary studies as well …

The Role Of Discrete Emotions In Predicting Counterproductive Work Behavior, Jeremy Allen Bauer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigates how discrete negative emotions are related to specific facets of counterproductive work behaviors (CWB). The sample consisted of 241 employees who reported their frequency of experiencing negative emotions and their frequency of committing CWBs in the workplace. For 103 employees, supervisor reports of employee CWB were also obtained. The findings provide evidence that a wide range of negative emotions are related to most of the sub facets of CWB. There was also some evidence that supervisor reports differ systematically from employee reports of CWB. The theoretical, methodological, and organizational implications are discussed.

The Positive Illusory Bias: Do Adhd Symptoms Differ Among Young Adolescents With Accurate Versus Discrepant Self-Perceptions?, Sarah A. Fefer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into whether inattentive, hyperactive/ impulsive, and depressive symptoms differ among young adolescents with negative, accurate, or positive self-perceptions of their academic and social competence. Current literature suggests that elementary-age children with ADHD display overly positive self-perceptions, often referred to as the positive illusory bias (PIB; Owens, Goldfine, Evangelista, Hoza, & Kaiser, 2007). Self-reports of academic and social self-concept were compared to teacher ratings and test scores for 164 middle school students in an effort to determine if the PIB was present within this sample. Inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms were found to …

Cyber-Bullying In High School: Associated Individual And Contextual Factors Of Involvement, Marissa Alexis Feldman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For the past several decades, researchers have extensively investigated the impact of bullying on the nation's youth. Although we may now have a better understanding of these maladaptive behaviors, recent technological advances have created a new forum for bullying. The current study investigated adolescent experiences with cyber-bullying using a self-report survey. Youth (N=2,086) from five high schools (grades 9-12) were surveyed to identify individual, peer, parenting, and school factors hypothesized to be related to involvement in cyber-bullying as a victim, perpetrator, or both. Results indicated that cyber-involvement was related to a variety of psychosocial factors, with students who were both …

A Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of The Irrational Beliefs Inventory From English To Icelandic, Gudmundur Torfi Heimisson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Irrational Beliefs Inventory (IBI) was built to measure self-defeating beliefs as conceptualized in Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy. The IBI has five factors: worrying, rigidity, problem avoidance, need for approval, and emotional irresponsibility. A three-phase cross-cultural study was conducted to translate and adapt the IBI from English to Icelandic, and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) approach was used for a test of factorial validity and cross-cultural invariance.

In Phase 1, the IBI was translated from English to Icelandic, using a forward-translation and back-translation. Two forward-translators and two back-translators were recruited. In Phase 2, qualitative interview methods were used in both the …

Links Between Parents' And Children's Levels Of Gratitude, Life Satisfaction, And Hope, Brenna D. Hoy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Positive psychology encourages a focus on identifying and promoting wellness in individuals rather than analyzing psychopathology. Although decades of research shows that mental illness is in part environmental and hereditary, little is known about the relationship between parental levels of positive emotions such as gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope, and their children's levels of the same constructs. This study utilized a past, present, and future framework of positive emotions to explore parental and child levels of gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope. This quantitative study analyzed correlations between self-reported levels of gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope among a sample of 153 …

Friendship Networks, Perceived Reciprocity Of Support, And Depression, Ryan Francis Huff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using social network analysis as a theoretical framework, the current study examined the associations between self-reported egocentric network characteristics and depression among a sample of United States college students. It is important to understand factors related to depression among this population due to the severity of its potential outcomes (e.g., suicide and interpersonal problems at school). Drawing inspiration from a recent study conducted by Christina Falci and Clea McNeely (2009), the current investigation used OLS regression to test for both linear and curvilinear relationships between egocentric network size and depression. Potential interactions between network size, density, and gender were also …

Perseverative Cognition, Cognitive Load, And Distraction In Recovery From Stress, Alvin B. Jin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Perseverative cognition is the repetitive cognitive representation of a stressor, which includes the concepts of worry and rumination. These thoughts delay post-stress cardiovascular recovery, which may lead to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. This may be due to the negative emotional content of perseverative cognition or because it involves cognitive effort. The aim of this study was to identify the unique influences of negative emotional content and cognitive effort during recovery. Participants (N = 120) were given a demanding task purportedly as a measure of intelligence and then given false negative feedback. Immediately following, participants engaged in one of …

When Does Fidelity Matter? An Evaluation Of Two Medical Simulation Methods, Nneka Joseph

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Job or task simulations are used in training when the use of the real task is dangerous or expensive, such as flying aircraft or surgery. This study focused on comparing two types of simulations used in assessments during a Clinical Performance Examination of third-year medical students: computer enhanced mannequins and standardized patients. Each type of simulation has advantages, but little empirical work exists to guide the use of different types of simulation for training and evaluating different aspects of performance. This study analyzed performance scores for different competencies as well as the reliability and validity of the different simulation types. …

Rethinking Buffer Operations In A Dual-Store Framework, Melissa Lehman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Atkinson and Shiffrin's (1968) dual-store model of memory includes a structural memory store along with control processes conceptualized as a rehearsal buffer. I present a variant of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s buffer model within a global memory framework that accounts for findings previously thought to be difficult for it to explain. This model assumes a limited capacity buffer where information is stored about items, along with information about associations between items and between items and the context in which they are studied. The strength of association between items and context is limited by the number of items simultaneously occupying the buffer. …

Responding To Tobacco Craving: Acceptance Versus Suppression, Erika B. Litvin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Most treatments for substance use disorders (SUDs) are based on a model that craving is a primary cause of relapse, and therefore they emphasize skills for preventing and reducing craving. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) provides a theoretical rationale for "acceptance" of drug-related thoughts and cravings, and proscribes suppression, a more intuitive and commonly used coping strategy. However, it remains largely unknown whether various coping strategies differentially affect craving intensity, drug use behavior, or other relevant outcomes during a craving episode. Using a randomized, between-subjects design (acceptance-based coping, suppression-based coping, or no coping instructions/control), the current study compared the effect …

General Strain Theory And Juvenile Delinquency: A Cross-Cultural Study, Wen-Hsu Lin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

General strain theory (GST) (Agnew, 1992, 2001, 2006a) is an established criminological theory. Although the theory has been examined by many and enjoys empirical support, some limitations of previous studies need to be addressed. First, previous studies have not incorporated all major types of strain in their models; hence, the effects of these strains on delinquency are unclear. Second, many previous studies did not include negative emotions and even negative emotions other than anger. Finally, and the most serious limitation, many previous studies rely heavily on samples from Western countries, mostly the U.S.; thus, possible cultural influences are ignored. Although …

Transition Experiences Of Adolescent Survivors Of Childhood Cancer: A Qualitative Investigation, Alana Delores Lopez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent survivors of childhood cancer are a growing population with unique needs as they face a combination of challenges associated with normal development and returning to life after treatment completion (Wakefield et al., 2010). One specific need identified in the research literature includes the effective delivery of transitional care and planning (Hewitt, Greenfield, & Stovall, 2005). It has been suggested that the provision of transition care and planning can help facilitate the shift from one phase of care to another and promote positive transition experiences (National Cancer Institute, 2008). The shift from off-treatment to post-treatment and school reintegration have been …