Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy For Deafblind Individuals With Progressive Vision Loss, Chelsey Laurito

Theses and Dissertations

Deafblind individuals with progressive visual conditions are presented with the challenge of adjusting to the gradual loss of sight over time and the social, psychological, environmental, and communicative implications relative to that process. Mental health treatment for these individuals is not widely researched due to the lack of homogeneity in the deafblind population; therefore, exploratory studies are necessary. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is an evidence-based treatment that has successfully addressed a range of symptoms in many psychological and medical diagnoses but has not been researched with individuals who are deafblind. In this multiple baseline design study, the researcher delivered …

Reflective Processing And Intimate Partner Violence, Rachel Zukerman

Theses and Dissertations

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a prevalent problem, especially among college students. The serious physical and psychological consequences of IPV highlight the need to better understand its correlates. Individuals tend to process information and make decisions in different ways; these styles of thinking and decision likely hold important implications for intimate partnerships. Using a sample of undergraduate students, the current study aims to better understand the thinking processes of those who engage in IPV. Furthering our understanding of the cognitive processes that predict IPV may hold important treatment implications, both from a preventive and therapeutic standpoint. Previous studies show that …

The Psychometric Properties Of A Social-Emotional Learning Measure, Allison Murray

Theses and Dissertations

Each year many students take college admissions exams (i.e., SAT® and ACT®), hoping to demonstrate their ability to perform at a collegiate level and gain admission to desired universities. However, a growing movement encourages colleges and universities to abandon this practice in their admissions protocol and instead consider alternative factors, such as, social-emotional learning skills, to identify promising applicants. As such, this study examined the psychometric properties of a novel social-emotional learning measure, ACT® Tessera®, which conceptualizes social-emotional traits through the Five-Factor Model lens using different measurement methods (Self Report Likert, Situational Judgement Tests, Forced Choice). Using data obtained from …

Adaptation And Translation Of Autism Spectrum Disorder Rating Scales For School-Age Children: Evaluating Adherence To The International Test Commission Guidelines, Tamanna Chhabra

Theses and Dissertations

he current review examines adaptations and translations of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) rating scales for school-aged children around the world. ASD rating scales are a quick and efficient way to diagnosing ASD, and adaptations of ASD scales offer low-cost methods to make tools available around the world. The International Test Commission guidelines (ITC, 2017) provide a rigorous framework for researchers to adapt and translate psychological tests. This review used the X-CAGAM (Duke, 2019) a tool developed to operationalize the guidelines to examine how well the selected ASD measures adhere to the ITC guidelines. Fourteen adaptations and translations were included in …

The Roles Of Cardiovascular Disease And Depression In The Relationship Between Respiratory Disease And Neuropsychological Functioning In Older Adults, Alexander J. Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

The pathophysiology of severe respiratory diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), supports the theory that oxygen deprivation to the brain may impact the brain’s execution of cognitive functions. Imaging studies also suggest that neuroanatomical changes in areas of the brain responsible for cognitive processes may be associated with respiratory diseases. Research in this area has failed to conclude definitively, especially in an older adult population, which is more likely to experience comorbid depression and cardiovascular disease, universally acknowledged predictors of poorer cognitive performance, the extent of the relationship between respiratory illness and cognitive functioning. The current …

Understanding Anger At The Self, Tasnova Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

When people think of the emotion of anger, they think of being angry at someone or something else. Researchers have slowly found that anger can be experienced even if there is no other person to blame, by being angry at themselves. There is not enough research on understanding what self-anger entails. This paper explains a study that analyzed the relationship between other-anger and self-anger and examines how the effects of action may correlate between anger towards the self and depressed behaviors in terms of self-condemnation and other traits. The study had 169 participants, recruited from various sources. Participants were instructed …

Exploring Emotion Regulation And Altruism When Experiencing Compassion Fatigue From Humanitarian Crises, Including Covid- 19., Saniya Tabani

Theses and Dissertations

Despite knowledge of devastating statistics, it has been observed that when hundreds, or even millions are suffering in large-scale crises, including genocides, refugee crises, and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, humans seem unable to process and comprehend the magnitude of that suffering on an emotional level. While the expectation is that compassion should increase proportionally with the number of people suffering in catastrophes, prior research has shown a negative relationship such that as need increases, donations decrease. Some factors that may impact this include the identifiable victim effect, use of emotion regulation strategies, specific cognitive processing styles, and compassion fatigue. …

Effectiveness Of E-Health Interventions For Externalizing Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis, Celeste Sangiorgio

Theses and Dissertations

eHealth treatments vary widely from automated treatment protocols to professional-led treatment tools that are integrated into treatment protocols with therapists. This dissertation organized, coded, and submitted 33 eHealth treatment trials to meta-analytic study to assess eHealth treatment study effectiveness overall and for each type of eHealth treatment type. Systematic review and descriptive analyses revealed that eHealth treatments that target externalizing behaviors varied widely in study, sample, and design characteristics. eHealth treatments most frequently targeted externalizing behaviors in adolescent samples (n = 22), adapted cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to digital platforms (n = 11), and integrated digital tools into traditional treatment …

The Impact Of A Brief Gratitude Journaling Intervention On Third Grade Students Attending An Orthodox Jewish Elementary School In New York, Tamar Gassner

Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of positive psychology has focused on the beneficial effects of gratitude on overall wellbeing. Recent studies have demonstrated that anxiety and depressive disorders are increasingly common among youth in the United States. Further, both anxiety and depression have been linked to other comorbid mental health conditions, such as dysthymia, disruptive disorder, and substance abuse disorder. Moreover, anxiety and depression are associated with negative social and academic outcomes. Considering the prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders among youth and the associated comorbidities, it is vital to direct efforts towards prevention and early intervention. The literature supports a …

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy For Anxiety In Youth With Autism: Paving The Way To Evidence-Based Practice, Michelle M. Kirkland

Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is one of the most common and debilitating conditions co-occurring with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as it occurs in up to 84% of individuals and can influence poor psychosocial adjustment, disruptions in individual, familial and school functioning, increased emotional and behavioral problems, self-injurious behavior(s), and an overall reduced quality of life (Meyer, Mundy, Van Hecke, & Durocher, 2006; Nadeau et al., 2011; Farrugia & Hudson, 2006; Kerns et al., 2015). To date, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), an evidence-based treatment for anxiety in neurotypical youth, has seen modest, yet limited, promise in treating anxiety in youth with ASD. With extant research …

The Contribution Of Self-Esteem, Self-Compassion, And Self-Acceptance/Self-Condemnation In Predicting Psychopathology And Well-Being, Persefoni N. Andronikos

Theses and Dissertations

Many self-concepts have developed over time. This study investigated the relationship between self-esteem, unconditional self-acceptance (USA)/irrational self-condemnation, and self-compassion. Each of these aspects of the self is thought to lead to disturbance, yet the relationship of these concepts to each other and which has the unique influence on psychopathology and well-being, is unclear. The current study sampled 303 adults from the United States of America who completed scales measuring each of the self-constructs and anxiety, depression, anger, and flourishing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicated mostly medium to large, correlational relationships amongst the self-constructs, as well as the self …

Does Inhibitory Control And Emotion Regulation Alter The Degree To Which Aggressogenic Thought Is Expressed?, Jessica Lindsey Held

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of emotion dysregulation and inhibitory control on aggressogenic thought-behavior associations were investigated among 362 fifth- and sixth-grade boys (n = 195) and girls (n = 167) on Long Island, New York. Other-reported anger dysregulation and inhibitory control significantly qualified the relationship between all three cognitions (hostile attributions of intent, revenge goals in both ambiguous and unambiguous situations, and self-efficacy) and aggression. However, our predicted pattern for these 3-way interaction was supported only when the cognition involved self-efficacy—self-efficacy for aggression was most strongly associated with aggressive behavior under high levels of anger dysregulation and low levels of inhibitory control. …

School Psychologists’ Training And Practice Regarding Sexual And/Or Gender Minority Students, Ashley Hicks

Theses and Dissertations

As sexual and/or gender minority (SGM) youth are at-risk for discrimination and mental health problems, the purposes of this study were to document the state of SGM-related training and professional development for school psychologists, understand school psychologists’ engagement in SGM-related activities, and gain insight into barriers to engagement in those activities. Three data sources were analyzed: 145 syllabi from 35 school psychology graduate programs; 1,905 presentations from ten years of National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) annual conventions; and survey data from 205 school psychologists. SGM content was appropriately represented at NASP but not in graduate education. Most survey respondents …

Positive Family Intervention For Families Of Children With Fragile X Syndrome: Using Telehealth To Reduce Problem Behavior And Improve Maternal Mental Health Author(S): Carmen Ann Kemper Mootz, Carmen Ann Kemper Mootz

Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of Positive Family Intervention (PFI), delivered via teletherapy, for a family of a child diagnosed with Fragile X syndrome (FXS). PFI combines elements of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and positive-behavior support (PBS). A single-subject AB design was used across one participant to evaluate changes in observed problem behavior. Following nine weeks of baseline data collection, the participating mother was administered PFI via WebEx for eight 90-minute sessions, once per week. After the treatment was complete, three weeks of post-treatment follow-up data on problem behavior were collected from video- recordings. The participant uploaded …

Social Constraints As A Mediator Of The Relations Of Discrimination To Anger Expression In A Community Sample, Sahira Hamid

Theses and Dissertations

Research has consistently demonstrated that anger is the dominant emotional response following experiences of racial discrimination. Studying anger itself may not be sufficient because anger can be expressed in a variety of ways, therefore it is necessary to examine different forms of anger expression. I hypothesized that social constraint would mediate the relations between discrimination and anger expression. Social constraint in the context of discrimination refers to an individual’s perception that communication about episodes of discrimination will be invalidated or minimized by others (either the same race or other race individuals). Social constraint, in turn, may influence the expression of …

Shades Of Aggression: What Role Does Race Play In Educational Decision-Making?, Ashley Oliver

Theses and Dissertations

Though there is an awareness of African American students being disproportionally overrepresented in special education, research is limited in the examination of the role of race on how school psychologists and special education decision-makers perceive and make educational decisions. The present study examined the perception of 547 practicing school psychologists and special education decision-makers who were randomly assigned to a video vignette (African American or White male child) displaying the same aggressive behavior in a classroom and were asked to report on the intensity of the aggressive behavior, view of the behavior as a problem, perception of academic functioning, utility …

Importance Of Knowledge Of Behavior In Predicting Parent Perception Of Problem Behaviors, Ronnit Nazarian

Theses and Dissertations

The influence of familial factors (e.g., child-related, parental, and environmental characteristics) on child problem behaviors has regularly been studied. An under-researched area is how these variables work to predict how well parents understand their child’s problem behavior function. 338 parents, recruited through MTurk and Facebook, of children between 3 to 5 years old displaying early onset problem behavior participated in this research. Of the 338 children, 206 (61%) indicated significantly problematic behaviors. This research examines parent knowledge of behavior and their understanding of the function of their child’s problem behavior. Moreover, whether a parent’s understanding of the function of their …

Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Discrimination: An Examination Of The Role Of Blame Cognitions In Ptsd And Depression Symptoms, Timothy Stahl

Theses and Dissertations

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) emerging adults experience higher rates of trauma and discrimination, and subsequent PTSD and depression, than heterosexual emerging adults (Feinstein et al., 2012; Hatzenbuehler et al., 2008; Roberts et al., 2010). Our understanding of the relations between trauma/discrimination and psychiatric sequelae in LGB emerging adults is limited by: (1) uncertainty in the possible differential impact of LGB-specific trauma versus non-LGB-specific trauma, (2) uncertainty of the unique impacts of trauma and discrimination, and (3) lack of studies integrating cognitive theories of trauma (Brewin & Holmes, 2003) into Hatzenbuehler’s (2009) psychological mediation framework. This cross-sectional study included 82 …

Finding Agreeableness: A Replication Of Its Lower Order Factor Structure And An Exploration Of Cognitive And Psychopathology, Gerald Armando Pantoja

Theses and Dissertations

Although some effort has been made to reach an empirical consensus on the structure of agreeableness (Crowe, Lynam, & Miller, 2017; Davies, 2014), research exploring how facets of agreeableness relate to important psychological outcomes is lacking. Two studies were conducted to address these issues. In Study 1, in a large sample of 722 participants, we carried out an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis on agreeableness items from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP; Goldberg, 2006) to determine the lower-order structure of agreeableness and examined whether the facets were differentially related to cognitive outcomes. In Study 2, in an …

Examining Start Times Among Schools In New York State: Patterns, Rationale, And Implications, Danielle Lundgren

Theses and Dissertations

School start times have a significant impact on students’ academic (Keller et al., 2015; Kelley et al., 2017; Lewin et al., 2017), social/emotional (Wahlstrom et al., 2017), and behavioral functioning (Keller et al., 2017). This present study examined the patterns, rationale, and implications for school start times among schools within New York State (NYS). School principals/CEOs completed a survey that included various questions about their school and start times, with additional data collected from the NYS Education Department website. Overall, this study found that a majority of schools in NYS start before 8:30 a.m. Factors rated to contribute most greatly …

Moving Up The Pipeline: Factors Associated With Interest In School Psychology Programs, Amrita Singh

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the growing number of minority students in U.S. public schools, only a small percentage of school psychology graduate students, trainers and practicing school psychologists identify themselves as racial minorities. Analyses were conducted on 512 responses to a national survey that investigated demographic and other qualitative factors that are associated with interest in school psychology master’s and doctoral programs. Additionally, analyses were also conducted to examine demographic differences that exist between undergraduate students interested in PsyD versus PhD school psychology programs. The study aimed to investigate whether there was: (a) a significant relationship between doctoral interest and higher household incomes, …

Examining The Relationship Between Alzheimer’S Disease, Depression, And Social Support, Marko Lamela

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between Alzheimer’s Disease and depression to determine whether a correlation existed and whether depression led to greater outcomes of Alzheimer’s Disease. Depression-Alzheimer’s relations have been mixed in previous research. Data from an existing data set of visitors to the Alzheimer’s Disease Centers with three or more visits (N= 19, 652) was used to test correlations between depression and Alzheimer’s, later odds of developing Alzheimer’s, and possible moderating effects of social support. A positive correlation was found between depression and Alzheimer’s Disease. Patients with depression were found to be more likely to have Alzheimer’s. There was …

Identifying Mcmi-Iv Personality Disorder Subgroups Using Exploratory Factor Analysis And Latent Class Analysis, Amanda Fisher

Theses and Dissertations

Patients diagnosed with personality disorders (PDs) have higher morbidity and mortality rates than those without PDs. The DSM-5 PD diagnoses and the cluster system lack a theoretical and empirical basis, which hinders the development of knowledge about PDs and interventions for PDs. This present study attempts to add to this literature by forming PD groups using a combination of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and latent class analysis (LCA) based on PD scores from the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV (MCMI-IV), a method recommended by Gorman and Primavera (1983). Participants were 251 English speaking males and females ages 18 to 75 seeking …

Parenting And Physical Aggression Across Infancy, Brooke Edelman

Theses and Dissertations

While physical aggression is known to be common in toddlerhood, new research suggests that aggression is evident even in infancy. Further, early aggression is stable and predicts maladaptive outcomes later in life. Research supports close associations between harsh, overreactive discipline and physical aggression in early childhood. Harsh discipline encourages and maintains coercive processes in which reciprocal, transactional interchanges escalate aversive behaviors in both parent and child. In accordance with a developmental system perspective, we hypothesized that the congruency between parenting and aggression would increase with age as a result of these transactional interactions on the dyad. A normative US sample …

Perceived Racial Discrimination And Its Association To Unhealthy Consumption And Obesity, Julie Kittleman

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that both recent and lifetime racial discrimination along with discrimination subscales (social exclusion, work discrimination, stigmatization, and threat or physical harassment) is linked to unhealthy food consumption and health habits. Discrimination has been identified as a possible risk factor for unhealthy food consumption. Research has not yet clearly concluded if unhealthy consumption is a function of recent or chronic exposure to discrimination, the specific type of discrimination or if the effects of discrimination are independent of other life stressors such as neighborhood poverty and stress. Participants (n = 142) were …

Psychologists’ Conceptualizations Of Clients And Their Relation To Psychotherapy Outcomes: A Profile Analysis, Han Lim Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The aims of this research is to 1) quantitatively assess therapist perceptions of prototypically difficult and successful clients and assess whether characterizations of such clients vary as a function of therapist level of experience and sex, 2) examine whether clients who characterize themselves as more similar to the prototype show different rates of change in psychotherapy, and 3) evaluate whether clients’ self-reported personality and attitudes change in psychotherapy become more or less similar to the prototype profiles. There were no differences in prototypical difficult and successful client profiles as a function of therapist sex or level of experience. Clients’ improvements …

Humor As A Moderator Of Neuroticism’S Effect On Psychopathology And Life Satisfaction, Adir Pinchot

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research studies evaluated self-enhancing humor (also referred to as coping humor) as a coping strategy that enables an individual to better manage the negative emotions elicited by external stressors. Research has not, however, adequately considered the role that humor may play for neurotic individuals who are characterized by a propensity to experience stress and negative emotions and are, therefore, more susceptible to developing depression, anxiety, and low life satisfaction. Nor has research adequately explored how self-enhancing humor interacts with the maladaptive form of self-directed humor, namely, self-defeating humor. This study attempts to address these lacunae by analyzing whether self-enhancing …

The Effects Of Interpersonal Discrimination On Social Cognition And Depressive Symptoms, Emilia Eva Mikrut

Theses and Dissertations

Interpersonal racial/ethnic discrimination is a risk factor for poor psychological well-being, including symptoms of depression. Emerging research suggests that changes in social cognition, including relational schemas about the self and others that facilitate navigation of the social world, may be one mechanism underlying the relation between exposure to discrimination and psychological distress. Prior studies have often examined the mediating role of one or two negative relational schemas in isolation. However, less is known about the unique and combined effects of multiple dimensions of social cognition on the relation between exposure to interpersonal racial/ethnic discrimination and depressive symptoms. This study tested …

Confirmatory Factor Analysis And Estimator Comparison Of Two Short Forms Of An Irrational And Rational Beliefs Scale Author(S): Joanne Raptis, Joanne Raptis

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined two abbreviated versions of the Attitudes and Beliefs Scale-2 (ABS-2) to compare their factor structure and ability to achieve model fit to the data. The original scale, a measure of irrational and rational beliefs as defined by REBT theory, was designed with 72 items reflecting irrational and rational beliefs and each involving one of four cognitive processes and one of three content areas. The ABS-2 had been criticized for its length and the inconsistency of findings regarding its factor structure. Two groups of researchers independently created short forms of the ABS-2 using 24 of the original …

An Evaluation Of The Advance Directives-Live Action Simulation Training (Ad-Last) Program, Alexandra Rosa Spinelli

Theses and Dissertations

Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a process that captures a patient’s wishes in the case of future circumstances in which they are unable to express them. Studies show that less than one third of the general population has completed some type of formal Advance Directive (AD). There are barriers to completing ADs, and these barriers operate on multiple levels, including, patient, provider and institutional. To improve providers’ capacity to help patients complete ACP, and overcome these barriers, a provider-focused intervention was conducted. The current study is an analysis of archival data collected from the Advance Directives-Live Action Simulation Training (AD-LAST) …