Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Utah Families- The Issues They Face, Ted W. Warstadt, Larry Forthun

All Archived Publications

With the wide variety of difficulties that our society faces and the limited funding available to address these concerns, it is important to identify and prioritize critical family issues. Because the family is a major contributor to individual and societal development, it is important to focus attention on issues which have a direct impact on family functioning. In identifying issues it is also helpful to understand demographic and geographic influences which may contribute to an individual's perceived urgency of a given issue. This can assist policy makers in their efforts to appropriately allocate limited funds to the best suited and …

Identifying Differences Among Male Sex Offenders: Child Molesters Versus Exhibitionists Versus Voyeurs, David P. Defrancesco

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Social histories and testing data were compiled during initial placement assessments of 147 individuals arrested and charged as child molesters, exhibitionists, and voyeurs. These data were statistically analyzed using discriminant analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Child molesters, exhibitionists, and voyeurs were found to differ with regards to history of voyeurism; Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) L scale scores; sexual arousal in response to a violent scenario involving a 12-year-old male, measured via penile plethysmography; and age. Implications of these results are discussed relative to the population sampled and future research.

Development And Validation Of A Systematic Training Program For The Diagnosis Of Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, And Concomitant Conditions, Lind K. Todd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The research concerning eating disorders and concomitant conditions shows that anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are serious disorders that pose many diagnostic and therapeutic challenges to mental health and nutrition professionals. Most psychologists and nutritionists receive broad-based training that likely only superficially touches upon the importance of these diagnostic issues. Nevertheless, effective treatment planning requires that diagnostic issues and concomitant conditions be evaluated and incorporated into the diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders. Thus, there is an increasing need for specialized training in order to better evaluate and treat the complicated clinical picture presented by eating disorder clients.

However to …

An Experimental Study Of Techniques To Improve Response Rates Of Mail Questionnarie, Eun-Hee Shin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The study examined (a) which single technique (cover letter sponsorship, personalization, anonymity, or appeal) is most effective in increasing response rates with mail questionnaires, and (b) which combination of these selected techniques is most effective in increasing such response rates. Questionnaires concerning faculty evaluation were sent to a national sample of professors.

The present study found that identification of a university as the sponsor of the survey resulted in a significantly higher response rate than that obtained when the survey was sponsored by a private research institute. There was a significant increase in response rates when the cover letter was …

The Impact Of Psychosocial Variables On Immune System Functioning In A Sample Of Hiv-Positive Males, Gary K. Richey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study addressed the issue of the relationship between psychological well-being and immune function in a sample of HIV seropositive homosexual and bisexual males. A control group of HIV seronegative gay males was included. The study assessed the relationship between various psychological independent variables and immune system functioning over a 24-month time period for the seropositive subjects. Data on depression, coping style, psychosocial stress, and psychomatic symptoms were collected at baseline, as well as data on depression at 12 months and CD4 counts at 6-month intervals over a 2-year period. Preliminary analyses comparing HIV seropositive to HIV seronegative subjects showed …

The Efficacy Of Multidisciplinary Treatment Programs For Chronic Low-Back Pain: A Meta-Analysis, Jane E. Curtis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Chronic low-back pain is a prevalent and costly problem for many adults in the United States. Currently, multidisciplinary treatment approaches are the treatment of choice for this problem. A meta-analysis was conducted on 43 published studies to describe the nature of these programs, the patients involved in them, treatment efficacy at discharge and follow-up, and possible relationships between these characteristics and outcome.

Results show that these programs were often in university medical settings, with an emphasis on active patient participation. Common treatment approaches included physical therapy, skills training, medication management, supportive therapy, and behavior modification. Patients involved in these programs …

Implications Of Mediating Parent-Child Interactions In The Treatment Of Child Abuse, Connie Faye Nelke

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Child abuse has been shown to have a detrimental effect on the emotion development of the abused child. Due to a history with the parent that includes a high proportion of negative interactions and an impaired parent-child relationship, the child who has been subjected to physical abuse often manifests psychological symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that treatment aimed at increasing the frequency of positive interaction in the parent-child relationship had on the emotional status of the abused child. Results showed that parent-child interaction play sessions were effective in increasing positive interaction and decreasing subsequent …

Presentation Of A Standard Intervention During The Intake Interview, Gregory Burns

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The provision of psychotherapeutic services has undergone many changes in its history. Recently the field of therapy has seen an increased emphasis on providing services in briefer periods of time, which has resulted in greater investigation into the parameters that influence rapid therapeutic growth by clients. Despite this push for quick results, many service agencies continue to utilize initial intake interviews that focus exclusively on gathering diagnostic and demographic information. Therapeutic intervention is therefore reserved for some later time when the clients can be accommodated from the agency's waiting list. The present study investigated the influence of a standard intervention …

An Examination Of Operant-Respondent Interaction In The Development Of Tolerance To Ethanol, Brady Justin Phelps

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In four experiments, pigeons performed on schedules of food reinforcement across two different contexts. One context consisted of having the operant chamber fully illuminated, with increased noise levels, and reflective aluminum foil draped over the chamber sidewalls. This context was paired with oral injections of water. Another context consisting of having the chamber dark except for response keylight and at ambient noise levels was paired with oral injections of ethanol. Ethanol dosages were determined by using a dose that doubled the average variable-ratio postreinforcement pause. These procedures established the dark context as a conditioned stimulus capable of producing Pavlovian conditioned …

The Effect Of Dyad Interaction And Marital Adjustment On Cognitive Performance In Everyday Logical Problem Solving, Donna R. B. Rogers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The theory of formal operations as a final stage of adult development has come under criticism for various reasons, primarily the overemphasis on logical thought processes which are based on invariant and absolute rules within a closed system. Everyday problems, in contrast, are typically "open-ended" and are defined by the context in which they are embedded.

The purpose of this study was to investigate cognitive behaviors that occurred between two individuals as they cooperatively worked together to solve logical problems. Of interest were the effects of marital adjustment on cognitive performance, the relation between social behaviors, marital adjustment, and cognition, …

Cognitive Variables And Marital Satisfaction, Carol Green

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Researchers and therapists have given increasing attention and recognition to the cognitive components of marital distress. Numerous investigators have attempted to identify and operationalize key cognitive variables that are related to marital satisfaction. In doing so, researchers have looked at the differences between distressed and nondistressed couples in relation to certain categories of cognitive variables, hoping to demonstrate that a significant relationship exists between certain types of cognition and marital satisfaction. Although investigators agree that certain categories of cognition are directly related to marital satisfaction, there is no clear consensus on the degree of influence that these cognitive variables have …

The Relationship Between Students' Evaluation Of Faculty And Students' Grades, Eun-Hee Shin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The study examined (a) the relationship between the grade students expect to receive and their evaluation rating, (b) the relationship between students' prior cumulative GPA and their evaluation rating, and (c) to what extent do other variables account for the relationship between grade and evaluation rating.

The present study found a significant, consistent relationship between students' expected grades and their evaluation ratings of professor. The relationship between students' cumulative GPA and ratings is negligible and should not be considered an important score of bias. The implication of this study is that great caution should be exercised when using such ratings …

Interactions In Sibling Dyads With One Preschool-Aged Child With A Disability, Carl R. Summers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A number of previous researchers have concluded a higher incidence of behavioral and psychological problems exists among children who are siblings of children with disabilities than among children whose siblings have no disabilities. There is some evidence in previous research that the incidence of behavioral and psychological problems may be attributable to differences in sib ling interaction patterns; specifically, frequency of interaction, imitation, agonism, dominance, and prosocial behavior. In this study, observational techniques were used to determine imitation, agonism, dominance, and prosocial behavior for two groups of children: 1) those whose siblings were disabled, and 2) those whose siblings had …

A Cognitive Process Approach To Interpreting Performance On The Booklet Category Test And The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Phillip R. Wolfe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Modified administration techniques that relied on patient verbalization of reasoning on each item were devised. For the WCST, verbalized scores correlated highly with conventional scores. However, patterns of age, education, and IQ covariates for each scoring condition were very different, raising questions concerning what such verbalized scores measured. Further research based upon a prospective research design was suggested to address this question. Factor analysis of WCST scores for each scoring condition resulted in almost identical three-factor solutions in each case: (a) ineffective, perseverative responding; (b) nonperseverative number errors; and (c) Maintaining Set. A three-part hierarchy of response determinants for the …

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Of Adolescent Depression: Effects On Multiple Parameters, Steven E. Curtis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Clinical depression is the most frequently reported mental health problem for adolescents. Previously studied psychological treatment approaches for adolescent depression have recently been combined and packaged into a comprehensive psychoeducational intervention titled the Adolescent Coping With Depression Course (ACWDC). This study investigated whether treatment of clinically depressed adolescents using the ACWDC resulted in significant emotional, behavioral, and/or academic performance changes as reported by the adolescent, and observed by the parents and teachers.

Nineteen clinically depressed adolescents were identified by screening 876 students in a local high school, using a multistage screening procedure. All selected subjects met the DSM III-R criteria …

Identification Of The Causes And Characteristics Of Suicide Among American Indian Youth, Rebecca R. Crawford

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Blackfeet youth suicide Attempters and a sample of non-suicide Attempters were compared on the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES- 111), the Family Environment Scale (FES), the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI), the revised Beck Depression Scale (BDI) and a biographical inventory. The purpose of this study was to define a set of variables that identify Indian youth with a high potential for suicide. The study sample consisted of 60 participants between the ages of 15-24, 30 suicide Attempters and 30 non-suicide Attempters, from the Blackfeet reservation.

Fifteen identified variables were proposed to differentiate between the two groups. Analyses …

Neurolinguistic Programming Treatment Of Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Susan Rogers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The goal of the study was to determine the effect of the neurolinguistic programming procedure of visual-kinesthetic dissociation on symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in a sample of Vietnam combat veterans. Thirty-eight veterans in a Veterans Administration treatment program were given three sessions of either visual-kinesthetic dissociation or regular program activities. Overall post-traumatic symptoms, re-experiencing symptoms, and amount of sleep were measured before and after treatment and at a three month follow-up. Results indicated that the treatment program itself had no significant effect on symptoms measured, nor did the addition of visual-kinesthetic dissociation provide any incremental symptom relief.

The Influence Of Social Support On The Stress Level Of Parents With Disabled Children, Shannon J. Pratt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the relationship between social support and stress in 572 families of disabled children in various parts of the United States. To utilize multidimensional models such as Dunst's ecological model and the Double ABCX model of stress, additional variables were investigated; these included family characteristics and recent life events (FILE). A regression design was used, with family characteristics, recent life events (FILE), perceived helpfulness of social support (FSS), and perceived adequacy of resources (FRS) as independent variables, and parental stress (PSI) as the dependent variable (PSI). Helpfulness of social support, recent life events, and family characteristics all predicted …

The Relationship Of Depression, Gender, And Sex Roles, Scott V. Cutler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between gender and depression as a function of sex roles. Four hundred twenty subjects were recruited from two introductory psychology courses at Utah State University. Subjects completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

A difference was found in the rate of depression between females and males that exceeds the generally accepted 2:1 ratio. There was a female to male ratio of approximately 4:1 in the group of subjects who indicated a high level of depression on the Beck Depression Inventory.

Multiple Regression Analysis was computed …

The Role Of Prior Knowledge And Elaboration In Text Comprehension And Memory: A Comparison Of Self-Generated Elaboration Versus Text-Provided Elaboration, Sung-Il Kim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A series of six experiments investigated the effect of text-provided elaborations and prior knowledge on memory for text. In all experiments, subjects read 28 episodes, half of which were associated with well-known individuals, and the other half were associated with unknown individuals. In Experiment 1, text-provided elaborations enhanced recall only when the reader did not possess a high level of prior knowledge. The findings from Experiment 1 were hypothesized to be the result of readers generating relevant elaborations during text comprehension. Experiment 2 supported this hypothesis by providing evidence of self-generated elaborations. Experiment 3 provided evidence that this generation process …

Knowing Which Way Is Up: Sex Differences In Understanding Horizontality And Verticality, Gary A. Goodrich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In previous research men have been shown to obtain higher mean scores on tests of horizontality (H) and verticality (V) than do women. This study investigated the role of experiential factors in this gender difference. Undergraduate psychology students were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: training, enhanced training, and placebo. The pretest measure of verticality and horizontality (V/H), training, and posttest were administered via videotape. Major findings were: men obtained higher mean V/H scores than women; V and H scores correlated significantly; and training increased performance relative to a placebo, but enhanced training was not superior to standard …