Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Music Therapist’S Clinical Improvised Songwriting To Explore Countertransference In The Therapeutic Relationship For An Individual With Multiple Disabilities, Isabella Sances

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This qualitative and arts-based capstone thesis discusses working with individuals with multiple disabilities, songwriting in music therapy, intersubjective communication and theory, and countertransference in music therapy, by sharing the literature and presenting a method of how a music therapist’s own clinical improvised songwriting explores countertransference in the therapeutic relationship for an individual with multiple disabilities. Music therapy is used to treat individuals with multiple disabilities. The literature demonstrates that music therapy and improvisation can support communication development in clients with multiple disabilities. However, there is little research regarding countertransference and reflections by music therapists. This thesis explored post-session improvised songwriting …

A Content Analysis Of Common Relationship Challenges Among People Who Practice Polyamory, Kalyn Su, Sophie Camilleri

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Approximately 1 out of 9 people in the U.S. have engaged in polyamory (Moors et al., 2021), a relationship type in which all involved agree to have multiple romantic and/or sexual partners. Despite the commonness of polyamory, there are many misconceptions about the polyamorous experience. However, research has yet to examine common challenges that people engaged in polyamory endure. The goal of the present qualitative study was to identify the disadvantages and stressors of polyamory in order to shed light on the unique experiences of people in these relationships. 219 adults who were currently in a polyamorous relationship were asked …

The Role Of Impulsivity In Relation To The Co-Occurrence Of Binge Eating And Binge Drinking, Hannah Holst

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Binge eating and binge drinking often co-occur, but the role of impulsivity in accounting for this relationship is under-investigated. Existing research acknowledges shared risk factors, yet the specific impact of impulsivity is a critical gap. Impulsivity, characterized by impulsive decision-making, is known in addictive behaviors. This research with a sample of college and community participants assessed binge eating, binge drinking, and impulsivity. Overall, binge eating and binge drinking were uncorrelated, contrary to previous research. However, impulsivity was associated with both binge eating and binge drinking. Gender differences were also noted, along with differences between the community and college samples. The …

Relationship Quality And Metacognitive Beliefs On Grief Outcomes Of Bereaved Cancer Caregivers, Katelyn Anderson

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Cancer caregivers are a unique population among grief literature due to the typical experience of preparedness for the loss. Nevertheless, their responses may vary, with some experiencing significant distress resulting in prolonged grief disorder (PGD). PGD has higher risks for mental and health problems, creating an urgency to understand the underlying factors for appropriate treatment interventions. Research mainly examines automatic thought processes in grief coping processes, but there is minimal research on the influence of metacognitive beliefs on PGD. Furthermore, there is a limited understanding of how the quality of the relationship between the deceased and the caregiver influences PGD …

Different Methods Of Winning, Losing, And Training In Combat Sports And Their Relationship With Overall Competitive Winningness, Oliver R. Barley, Craig A. Harms

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study aimed to investigate how overall competitive winningness in combat sports depended on patterns of victory and loss, as well as training habits. Competitors (N = 280) from several combat sports participated in the study. The online survey included questions on self-reported patterns of victory (and loss), training habits, general demographics (e.g., age), and sport-specific information (e.g., stage of career and competitive style). Overall, it was found across four models that reflected diversity of winningness in combat sports that the most important predictors of competitive winningness were loss by points (negative), loss by submission (negative), loss (negative) or victory …

Talking About Relational Youth Work: Why Language Matters, Trudi Cooper, Tim Corney, Hilary Tierney, Jamie Gorman, John Sutcliffe

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The literature on youth work emphasises the importance of ‘relationship’ to good practice, moreover, the characteristics of the youth-work relationship have been posited as a defining feature of youth work in the British-influenced tradition. Despite this, little attention is paid to the choice of language used to describe how professional youth workers relate to young people, or how language choices reflect political framing of youth work and of power relationships within their practice. Language choice has implications for how youth workers perceive their professional identity, for how accountability is construed, and for inter-professional working. In this article we undertake a …

Survivor Experiences Of Male Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Literature Review, Elizabeth Burch B.S., Joseph T. Kenneally Psy.D., Stephanie Zepeda Phd

Psychology from the Margins

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes childhood sexual abuse (CSA) as a global health issue. CSA is a human violation that affects both female and male children and has a stronger detrimental impact on mental health than other traumatic childhood experiences. Despite a growing awareness of male survivors of CSA, male survivors are a marginalized group as most CSA research focuses on females. In addition, masculine norms can keep male adults from disclosing further, which can delay support and increase mental health issues. This meta- analysis reviews the current literature on this group of marginalized people and concludes with a …

The Healing Power Of Creative Storytelling: Utilizing Fiction As A Means Of Therapy In The Writer/Reader Relationship, Alicia Rose Klepper

Masters Theses

What if we wrote the challenging portions of our lives as comedies or the boring parts as grand adventures? What if we recast painful experiences into creative stories that allow us to live in proximity to our circumstances and not be overwhelmed? Storytelling is how we bridge our lives with creativity as a way to heal from the past, process the present, and hope for the future. This thesis explores how the tradition of creative storytelling has evolved to enable writers and readers to uncover and connect elements of life that would otherwise be too painful to process. By bridging …

Behavioral Indicators Of Reflective Functioning In Mother-Child Dyadic Interactions, Rachel Clingensmith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Positive parenting practices and secure attachments are consistently linked to healthy child outcomes (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991; Waters et al., 2000). Research on cognitive processes that scaffold parental behaviors which contribute to secure attachment is an essential contribution to the literature, particularly given the potential for early intervention with at-risk families. Parental Reflective Functioning (PRF) is a construct of increasing interest which has been linked to secure attachments and positive child outcomes, with one commonly used self-report measure of PRF being the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ; Camoirano, 2017; Clingensmith, 2021; Luyten et al., 2017). As such, the purpose of …

Work-Life Balance Is Imperative For How We Spend Our Time At Work And With Family, Terreca M. Defehr, Jillene Seiver

2023 Symposium

Work-life balance is imperative to how we spend our time at work and with family, and it appears to matter whether we have a job or career, which of our roles we value most, and our degree of responsibility for our children.

Low-Income Caregivers With Young Children Experience Risk And Resilience Through Pandemic-Related Stressors, Nicole Kingdon, Molly Dubuc, Rosemarie Dibiase

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In March 2020, United States government implemented health and safety mandates, including school closures, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). As a result, some caregivers with young children were forced to take on new roles. Low-income households with young children appeared to be more highly impacted than other groups, experiencing acute pandemic-related stressors on top of previous vulnerabilities. Using qualitative analysis, this study examined how low-income caregivers with young children adapted to pandemic-related stressors and how stressors may have altered relationships and well-being in the household (Daks et al., 2020). Two research questions were examined: (1) how …

On Versus Off-Campus Living: An Exploration Of College Students' Mental Well-Being, Sameer Siddiqui

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The World Health Organization defines mental health as “a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community” (“Mental Health,” 2022). Risk and protective factors can be used to predict mental health outcomes. Both positive and negative outcomes can be predicted, respectively. The categories of these include individual, relationship, community, and societal. When examining college students, it is most reasonable to study the relationship and community factors. This study examined whether living on or off campus impacts predicted mental health outcomes in …

Relationship Experiences Of Long-Term Partners Of Individuals With Narcissistic Traits, Tamara Betty-Jean Knott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The phenomenon of narcissism is well-documented and has garnered much attention from the scientific community. However, a facet of this subject that has been largely unstudied involves the consequences that narcissistic relationships have on intimates. Typically, an individual with narcissistic traits (INT) most negatively affects the romantic partner. Still, there has been very little in the way of academic knowledge, understanding of partner experiences, or how to help from a mental health standpoint. Research has implied that partnering with an INT entails distinct forms of emotional abuse (EA), resulting in the development of unique psychological distress. This qualitative narrative study …

Relationship Experiences Of Long-Term Partners Of Individuals With Narcissistic Traits, Tamara Betty-Jean Knott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The phenomenon of narcissism is well-documented and has garnered much attention from the scientific community. However, a facet of this subject that has been largely unstudied involves the consequences that narcissistic relationships have on intimates. Typically, an individual with narcissistic traits (INT) most negatively affects the romantic partner. Still, there has been very little in the way of academic knowledge, understanding of partner experiences, or how to help from a mental health standpoint. Research has implied that partnering with an INT entails distinct forms of emotional abuse (EA), resulting in the development of unique psychological distress. This qualitative narrative study …

Together: Exploring A Solution-Focused Activity For Parent And Young Adult Relationships, Ashley Bruehlman

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Parents and young adults share an important and interdependent relationship that. This mixed-methods cross-sectional study examined the systemic impact of a brief solution-focused activity to promote empathy within parent/young adult relationships (paired, n = 73). Baseline well-being and empathy scores were recorded on 5-point Likert scales. Quantitative findings highlight above average well-being scores for parents and young adults. Researchers found a significant correlation between parent and young adult well-being and empathy scores suggesting an interdependent relationship. Additionally, researchers found a significant linear correlation for parent and young adult well-being scores as predictive of empathy scores. Qualitative findings from the brief …

Teaching Siblings To Encourage And Praise Play: Supporting Interactions When One Sibling Has Autism, Holly R. Weisberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sibling relationships may be strained when one sibling is typically developing (TD) and one has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). TD siblings have been taught to encourage play in their siblings with ASD but there is limited literature examining the impact of intervention on the quality of the siblings’ relationships. In this study, we taught four TD siblings to encourage and praise play skills in their siblings with ASD as well as self-monitor those play skills. We measured changes in social-communicative behaviors during siblings’ interactions. All TD siblings learned the targeted play skills and increased social-communicative behaviors. Only …

Exploring The Interpersonal Consequences Of Adverse Childhood Experiences In College Students, Jessica Criddle, Thomas B. Sease, Esther Malm

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

The Interpersonal Process Model of Intimacy characterizes intimacy as dyadic interpersonal interactions in which vulnerable behaviors are displayed and reinforced by suitable listeners. We posited that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) would foster avoidance of vulnerable speaker behaviors in dyadic exchanges, as seen in self-concealment, and that lower levels of ACEs would be associated with more self-disclosure. Correspondingly, we examined whether self-concealment and self-disclosure simultaneously mediated the relationship between ACEs and relationship closeness in college students. Results revealed that ACEs were significantly associated with more self-concealment only. After removing self-disclosure from the model, self-concealment mediated the relationship between ACEs and relationship …

The Role Of The Sibling Relationship During Stressful Life Events, Brianna Weissel

Honors Theses

Siblings play a major role in each other’s lives. If a child has a sibling, they experience life together often going through similar struggles, events, or joys. As siblings grow up, they often disclose information to each other and why or how they disclose life events to one another can depend on many factors. The disclosure levels will likely shift as siblings grow older and move through life. The current study focused on levels of disclosure between siblings and how disclosure is related to the gender of the siblings and the degree of warmth and emotional support in their relationships. …

Knowledge Within The United States Of Child Maltreatment, Rebekah Hubacek

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

The literature has looked at the knowledge of child maltreatment amongst certain positions, i.e., teachers, caregivers (Weegar and Romano, 2019; Salloum et. al, 2019). The current study aims to find out how much knowledge the general public has of child maltreatment, including the differences of knowledge among those who are trained, who are parents to minors, who have a close relationship with a minor, and those who are/do not. There are five hypotheses. First, it was expected that the general population had a lack of knowledge of child maltreatment, that their knowledge was not greater than chance. Secondly, it was …

The Negative Impacts Of Cishet Values: An Exploration Of Lgbqtia+ Representation Within Emerging Adult Relationship Research, Kristina Betz

Psychology Student Scholarship

The hegemony informs epistemological assumptions within the field of psychology, and thus, psychological research is informed by the heteropatriarchy. Emerging adult relationships are rooted in cishet values, heteronormative and cisnormative values, erasing LGBTQIA+ romantic relationships. Emerging adult relationship research promotes cishet values by disregarding gender and sexuality spectrums through the expectations of binary gender and sexualities which produces data that cannot be generalized (Brassard et al., 2018; James-Kangal et al., 2019). Future research must utilize sample groups that include multidimensional social identities and researchers must internalize the importance of examining their dichotomized biases. Metanalytic studies and a broader critique are …

Joint Religiosity Among Satanists As A Predicator Of Sexual Satisfaction, Tayler M. Lyng

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Modern day Satanism is a sex-positive belief system with a diverse group of members. Exploration of a sample of 578 participants’ relationship styles and joint religious activities along with their self-reported sexual satisfaction has provided insight for couples and sex therapists who see and treat Satanists. Results indicated that sexual satisfaction increases with joint activity in almost all cases, though activity itself does not matter. Results also indicated that the centrality of one’s Satanist identity does not moderate the relationship between joint religious participation and sexual satisfaction and men reporting higher religiosity as not predictive of higher sexual satisfaction, both …

Can Humans Detect A Wondering Mind? : Attentiveness As A Form Of Social Exchange, Huy Le

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Exchange relationships are built through reciprocation of social resources, including, as we argue in this paper, signals that one is paying attention to another. To do so, we draw on interdisciplinary areas of involvement: mind wandering, facial prototypes, and social exchange theory to investigate (a) the types of cues people look for to detect whether an exchange partner is inattentive (i.e., mind wandering); (b) how context affects the attribution of these cues; and (c) the interactive effects between mind wandering cues and context on measures of exchange quality (i.e., trust). These ideas were tested in two different studies that manipulated …

Examining The Relationship Between Acculturative Stress And Religion/Spirituality Among International Students, Ly'jerrick Ward

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between acculturative stress and religion/spirituality of international students. This study utilized Sandhu and Asrabadi’s (1994) Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS) as well as the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORF) created by Plante and Boccaccini (1997). Much research exists on how international students adapt and acculturate to a host country. This research will add to the body of literature that exists regarding how international students use their religion/spirituality to deal with acculturative stress. Students in this study were asked a number of questions from the ASSIS …

Does Expectation Influence Relationship? A Mixed Methods Investigation Of Parental Expectation And Parent-Child Relationship Among Chinese Family Groups 期望是否會影響關係？華裔家庭中父母的期望對親子關係的影響之研究, Sharon Chiang, Sharon Chiang, Sharon Chiang

Education Dissertations

Abstract

Parental expectation, particularly among Chinese family groups, is understood to be formative upon their children’s identity, behavior in family relationships, educational success and decisions in career choices. China's long history of traditionalism in its social values, heavily based on Confucian philosophy of the family, bears this out. Significant social changes have happened in recent years due to political shifts, modernization, capitalization, immigration, and government population control policies. However, expectation is an element on which both academic study and educational research are rather limited. Current study has touched on the topic of parental expectation and raised some awareness, but the …

The Effect Of Self-Construal And Relationship On Psychological Motivations Of Dispute Resolution, Jared Syed Noetzel, Abigail Herzfeld, Ashley Votruba

UCARE Research Products

Culture acts as a lens that can influence many aspects of an individual’s life, such as their health perceptions, cognition, and even their preferred style of conflict resolution. We predict that an individual’s self-construal and the relationship to the conflicting party affects their psychological motivations for choosing a conflict style. Previous research suggests that the aforementioned goals can drive dispute resolution preferences. We hypothesized that participants with high interdependent self-construal would rate goals of animosity reduction and relationship restoration higher than participants low in interdependent self-constural, while participants with high independent self-construal would rate the goal of process control higher …

Empty Cribs: Infertility Challenges For Orthodox Jewish Couples, Itay Kohane

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation discusses an issue that is of importance to many people throughout their lifetime—infertility. One in every eight couples (12%) is incapable of carrying a pregnancy to term after one year of natural attempts. This paper further examines the prevalence of infertility among couples, bringing into focus more common variables such as gender and age. But, going beyond these, the present study will demonstrate that other variables including stressors such as social factors, interpersonal dynamics, and personal judgment affect couples in a manner which indirectly reduces their chances of conceiving a child. This research will touch on a number …

Long-Distance Relationships In The First Year Of College, Alexis Trionfo

Psychology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Previous research highlights long-distance relationships’ negative impact on academic adjustment, social life, and personal-emotional well-being for individuals in college. This study examined the impact of long-distance relationships on college adjustment, specifically in the first year of college. The concept of societal location—whether one’s partner also attended a traditional 4-year institution or not—and its impacts on college adjustment and relationship satisfaction were also investigated. Through an online survey sent to first-year students, 77 participants completed the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire. Of these participants, 33 were in a long-distance relationship and completed the Couples Satisfaction Index. During Time I, the hypothesized …

Qualities That Promote Male Friendship, Troy Alan Akins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The psychological, physical, and social circumstances surrounding the relationship between friends can be detrimental, especially in males. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the qualities that can be used to promote friendship among adult men ages 30 to 35 in the Northeastern Wyoming area. The theoretical framework for the study was Miller’s relational cultural theory. Data were collected from 11 semistructured interviews with men ages 30 to 35. Data were transcribed and analyzed to identify themes. Participants reported that they rely on acts of justice and fairness as well as established understanding to have clarity in friendship, …

Does Common-Sense Communication And The Interpersonal Relationship Predict Oral Health Self-Management?, Kieran J. Maestro

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study sought to understand how patients’ perceptions of the nature and manner of communication with dental health professionals may impact their health self-management quality and habits in the context of preventable illness. Specifically, this study investigated the distinct and overlapping impacts of (a) communication based in the Common Sense Self-Regulation Model (CSM; Leventhal et al., 1980), and (b) the interpersonal relationship between the patient and the dental health professional provider on patients’ oral hygiene quality and habits. It was hypothesized that the interpersonal relationship would positively moderate a positive relation between CSM-based communication and patients' oral health self-management and …

Understanding Latinas' Responses To Coercive Control : Marianismo Beliefs, Relationship Satisfaction, And Commitment, Nicole Da Silva

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Although substantial evidence indicates that Latinas are at high risk for experiencing negative consequences from intimate partner violence (IPV; Alvarez & Fedock, 2016), few studies have tested the applicability of theories of IPV in this population. The present study, which was based on the investment model of IPV (Rusbult, 1995), was designed to investigate how specific gender role beliefs (i.e., marianismo) for Latinas contribute to their responses to coercive control (a core aspect of IPV; Dutton & Goodman, 2009) by their male partners.