Psychology Commons^™

Factors Moderating The Association Between Social Network “Drinking Buddies” And Personal Drinking, Karolina Kazlauskaite

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Peer relationships have been implicated as a salient factor on individual drinking outcomes. One specific subset of peers in one’s social network, identified as drinking buddies, have been associated with an elevated risk for harmful drinking in college students—beyond drinking peers in one’s network alone. Despite their salience on individual alcohol outcomes, little is known regarding what makes drinking buddies more or less influential. While moderators of peer influence have been examined, prior research on peer influence predominantly focuses on adolescent populations, presenting gaps in the literature regarding moderators of college student drinking buddies specifically. As such, the current study …

Nightmares And Self-Injury Among High-Risk Adolescents: Examining The Role Of Emotion Regulation, Kinjal K. Patel

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) are a public health concern among youth. SITB rates rise drastically during adolescence -- a critical and sensitive developmental period characterized by dramatic changes in biological and social systems. Prior research has identified distal risk factors which tell us who is at risk for SITBs. Emerging research suggests proximal risk factors may be useful to identify when an individual may be at risk for SITBs. One promising proximal risk factor for SITBs is sleep problems. Although the relation between sleep problems and SITBs has been widely documented, little is known about the short-term, proximal links …

Incremental Validity Of The Mmpi-A-Rf And Maci In A Clinical Outpatient Setting, Madison Smart-Mccarthy

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

With the persistent rise of depression and suicide in adolescents, it is imperative that clinicians select empirically supported measures that accurately assess these conditions (Van Orman, 2022; Sellbom & Suhr, 2020). One empirical method used to evaluate measures is incremental validity. Incremental validity examines the level of improvement in predicting a phenomenon when adding a test or procedure to a combination of other instruments (APA, 2020). Experts regard the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—Adolescent Version—Restructured Form (MMPI-A-RF; Archer et al., 2016) and the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI; Millon et al., 1993) as psychometrically sound measures often used in clinical practice. …

The Impact Of Mandatory Substance Abuse Counselor Reporting Requirements On Child Maltreatment Reporting Outcomes, Bilgé Özgé Yilmaz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study sought to examine how state-level mandatory reporting policies are associated with child maltreatment reporting through analysis of the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN, 2021). This study aimed: 1) to examine how the implementation of substance abuse counselor reporting requirements is associated with the reporting process, including the disposition of reports and the presence of substance abuse; and 2) to examine differences in the above outcomes based on associations between non-specific reporting requirements and specific requirements that mention substance use counselors. A quasi-experimental approach with repeated cross-sectional data was utilized, as it is a …

The Mediation Effects Of Adaptive Blindness Strategies On The Relation Between Institutional Betrayal From Military Sexual Assault And Mental Health Symptoms, Rachel L. Davies

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Military sexual assault is a serious and prevalent issue. The frequency with which military sexual assault occurs and the nature of the response to these events within the military system may contribute to institutional betrayal. Institutional betrayal is the failure of an institution, such as the military, to prevent sexual assault from occurring and/or the failure to support a survivor after sexual assault. Adaptive blindness strategies are forms of coping strategies that help individuals navigate a relationship they depend on when there is a betrayal. Two adaptive blindness strategies are self-blame and minimization. Although the adaptive blindness strategies may allow …

The Influence Of Minority Stress, Coping, And A Pandemic On The Relationship Between Sexual Orientation And Mental Health: A Mixed Methods Study, James Michael Macchia

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

For decades, scientific literature has shown that sexual minority individuals across populations are disproportionately affected by negative mental health outcomes when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. These disparities are largely attributable to minority stress. Coping is a significant factor that can impact the content and severity of mental health outcomes and coping behaviors have been shown to vary based on sexual orientation. Mental health outcomes may also differ between sexual minority subgroups due to additional factors such as double discrimination and bisexual invisibility/erasure. Moreover, factors such as internalized homophobia and community connectedness have demonstrated strong associations with sexual minority mental …

Dental Care Utilization Among U.S. Children Participating In Early Head Start Programs, Ahlam Ibraheem Joufi

Health Services Research Dissertations

Early childhood caries (ECC) remains one of the most common preventable diseases among children under the age of 6 years. Several national stakeholders recommend establishing a continuous collaboration of individuals involved with receiving oral health services (dental home) and routine dental care for the child by 12 months. Despite this recommendation, disparities exist among young, low-income children in preventive dental service utilization. The Early Head Start (EHS) program serves low-income children aged 0-3 years and their families and promotes oral health practices and service utilization within the program. This study aims to examine predictors of dental care utilization among children …

Assessing Sexual Minority Women’S Barriers And Facilitators To Seeking And Accessing Mental And Physical Healthcare: A Mixed Methods Study, Charlotte A. Dawson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sexual minority women (SMW) experience greater mental and physical health concerns when compared to heterosexual women. Three key areas of health SMW report these disparities are: mental health, binge eating/body size, and sexual and reproductive health. SMW also report difficulties accessing healthcare in these three areas. An exploratory sequential mixed methods design was utilized to assess barriers and facilitators to healthcare access for young SMW. Study 1 included 20 semi-structured interviews with SMW, resulting in themes of barriers and facilitators identified by participants. These themes were converted into scale items. In Study 2, an expert panel of mental and physical …

The Impact Of Covid-19 Stressors, Racial Discrimination, And Racial Socialization On Family Functioning In Black Families, Regina L. Alexander

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Marginalized communities, specifically Black Americans, have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which has resulted in more hospitalizations and deaths within this particular community. However, this disproportionate impact of COVID-19 is likely the result of ongoing health disparities related to a lack of access to adequate healthcare. In addition to health disparities specifically related to COVID-19, Black Americans have also experienced public displays of racial discrimination resulting from the systemic racism that has occurred for many years. It has been determined that stress spillover can impact relationship factors and this same spillover may be an important factor by which …

Examining The Experience And Impact Of Teen-To-Teen Crisis Line Work For Youth Volunteers: A Pilot Study, Taylor Kalgren

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

For young people, suicide is a leading cause of death. In addition, suicidal thoughts and behaviors begin during adolescence, and rates are high during this developmental period. Crisis lines are one of the oldest suicide prevention strategies used today. Crisis line work is challenging, and therefore, examining the health and safety of these operators is critical. Teen-to-teen (t2t) crisis lines are a unique resource where adolescent volunteers help their similarity aged peers. The goal of this pilot study was to begin to evaluate the impact of t2t crisis lines for youth volunteers. Twenty youth crisis line volunteers (ages 15-20) were …

Affect, Mind-Body Factors, And Disordered And Intuitive Eating Behaviors: Examining Naturalistic Associations Among Young Women With Elevated Eating Disorder Symptoms, Kelly A. Romano

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Objective: The present study examined whether three mind-body factors—emotion dysregulation, interoceptive sensibility, and mindfulness—that are theorized to be implicated in the onset and maintenance of eating disorder (ED) pathology mediated (Aim 1) and moderated (Aim 2) within-person associations between affect and women with elevated ED symptoms’ disordered and intuitive eating behavior use. Method: Participants included 150 young women with elevated ED symptoms who completed a 10-day ecological momentary assessment protocol. To address Aim 1, multilevel structural equation models examined whether the mindbody factors (separately) mediated momentary associations between negative and positive affect, and women’s disordered (dietary restriction, loss of control …

Trauma Exposure And Transdiagnostic Distress: Examining Shared And Ptsd-Specific Associations, Michael L. Crowe, Sage E. Hawn, Erika J. Wolf, Terence M. Keane, Brian P. Marx

Psychology Faculty Publications

Dimensional models of psychopathology suggest that the causes and consequences of psychopathology are attributable to a combination of syndrome specific and transdiagnostic features. There is considerable evidence that trauma exposure confers risk for a wide range of psychiatric conditions, yet no previous work has specifically examined the higher-order effects of trauma exposure within a structural model. We examined transdiagnostic and PTSD-specific associations with multiple forms of trauma exposure within a nation-wide sample (N = 1,649; 50% female) of military Veterans over-selected for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A higher-order Distress variable was estimated using PTSD, major depressive disorder (MDD), and generalized …

Examining The Experience Of Teen-To-Teen Crisis Line Work For Adolescent Volunteers: A Pilot Study, Taylor Kalgren Bs, Catherine R. Glenn Phd, Raksha Kandlur Ms, Kelsie Allison Ms, Annie Duan Bs, Cheryl Karp, Morgan Leets, Sandipan Dutta Phd, Madelyn Gould Phd, Mph

College of Sciences Posters

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are high and increasing among youth. Crisis lines are one of the oldest downstream approaches for suicide prevention, which have demonstrated effectiveness for adults and preliminary effectiveness for youth. Teen-to-teen (t2t) crisis lines are a unique resource where adolescent volunteers help their similarly aged peers (through texts, chats, calls, and emails). However, no research to date has examined the impacts of t2t crisis line volunteering on the youth. The goal of this pilot study is to begin to evaluate the experience of t2t crisis lines for the youth volunteers. Adolescent (n=20, ages 15-20) volunteers were recruited …

Ptsd And Alcohol Use Disorders Predict The Pace Of Cellular Aging, Sage E. Hawn, Xiang Zhao, Mark W. Miller, Sara Wallander, Christine Govan, Anjanette Stone, Steven A. Schichman, Mark W. Logue, Erika J. Wolf

Psychology Faculty Publications

Advanced epigenetic age is associated with psychopathology and may help to explain the link between psychopathology and physical health morbidity and mortality. Using a longitudinal sample of 171 trauma-exposed Veterans, we modeled the rate of change in epigenetic age across two time points (averaging 5.58 years apart) using two epigenetic age algorithms (GrimAge and Horvath) and tested associations with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol use disorder (AUD), and depression. Results showed that PTSD (β = .199) and AUD (β = .186) were associated with a quickened pace of epigenetic aging over time (ps < .021). Results replicate and extend prior work and offer foundational support for identifying interventions that slow the pace of biological aging among those with psychopathology.

Differences In Relationship And Sexual Satisfaction And Social Support Between Only Lesbian, Mostly Lesbian, And Bisexual Women, Meredith I. Turner, Cassidy M. Sandoval, Charlotte A. Dawson, Kristin E. Heron

College of Sciences Posters

Research suggests relationship and sexual satisfaction and social support are correlated with components of well-being such as anxiety, depression, and physical health. Differences in relationship and sexual satisfaction and social support have been identified between sexual minority women (SMW; i.e., lesbian and bisexual) and heterosexual women. However, classifying SMW into a single group may mask important differences. Further research is needed to better understand the differences in relationship and sexual satisfaction and social support between subgroups of SMW. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine differences in these constructs between women who identify as only lesbian, mostly …

"I Just Want To Be Me, Authentically": Identity Shifting Among Racially And Ethnically Diverse Young Adults, Aerika Brittian Loyd, Dulce Wilkinson Westberg, Lenisha Williams, Marisha Humphries, Alan Meca, Julie Carmen Rodil

Psychology Faculty Publications

Identity shifting represents a common but complex social, behavioral, and cognitive phenomenon. However, some forms of identity shifting originate in response to structural, institutional, and interpersonal marginalization enacted on lower status groups, such as people of color in the United States. The current study investigated ways young adults from diverse ethnic/racial groups discussed shifting to fit in with White Americans (a dominant group) in the United States and their own ethnic/racial group (a minoritized group) and elucidated self-reported motivations for shifting. Participants consisted of 764 young adults (ages = 18–23) recruited from two large public universities in the Southeast and …

Fear And Trembling While Working In A Pandemic: An Exploratory Meta-Analysis Of Workers’ Covid-19 Distress, William P. Jimenez, Ian M. Katz, Elissa A. Liguori

Psychology Faculty Publications

The global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of workers and taken its toll on health and well-being. In line with recent calls for more inductive and abductive occupational health science research, we exploratorily meta-analyzed workers’ COVID-19 distress, defined as psychological and psychosomatic strain contextualized to experiencing the virus and pandemic broadly. We identified many existing COVID-19 distress measures (e.g., Fear of COVID-19 Scale by Ahorsu et al., 2020; Coronavirus Anxiety Scale by Lee, 2020a) and correlates, including demographic variables (viz., gender, marital status, whether worker has children), positive well-being (e.g., quality of life, perceived social support, resilience), negative well-being …

An Electrophysiological Examination Of Attentional Biases To Emotional Faces In Depression And Social Anxiety, Nathan M. Hager

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Cognitive theories have proposed that major depressive disorder (MDD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) involve attentional biases toward and away from specific environmental stimuli. Research has often examined these biases in response to emotional facial expressions, but evidence of attentional biases is mixed. An event-related potential called the N2pc offers advantages over other measures of attentional bias and may clarify conflicting findings. Studies on the N2pc and social anxiety have found consistent results, but there is little work examining depression. Previous N2pc studies are limited by the types of emotional faces they use and by comparing attention for emotional faces …

Racial Differences In Tobacco Use And Risk Factors Among Young Adults: Roles Of Expectancies And Emotion Regulation, Laurel Brockenberry

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

African Americans experience higher mortality from lung cancer and other smoking-related diseases than Caucasian Americans (Kochanek et al., 2016) despite engaging in cigarette and e-cigarette use significantly less or at comparable rates to other racial groups (CDC, 2015; Schoeborn, 2013). During adolescence, smoking prevalence is lower among African Americans than Caucasian Americans, but there is a “cross-over effect” whereby smoking rates become similar later in adulthood (Belgrave et al, 2010). The mechanisms driving this effect are poorly understood. Thus, examining motivating factors for tobacco use, such as outcome expectancies and emotion regulation, may be especially illuminating for young adult African …

Contextual Factors Of Harsh Parenting: Investigating The Role Of Impulsivity And Parent Attribution Bias Under Conditions Of Household Chaos, Kelsey T. Ellis

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The use of harsh parenting strategies as a form of disciplining child misbehavior has been identified as an underlying factor for child abuse; thus, it is important to examine underlying causal factors for harsh parenting. While not originally formulated around harsh parenting, social information processing models of reactive aggression have highlighted internal attributions and impulsivity as key processes in social decision-making. Therefore, the current study integrated these theoretical models to explore how these processes are involved in harsh parenting behaviors and how these processes may interact in the context of environmental factors such as household chaos. Results revealed significant direct …

The Association Of Objectification And Discrimination With Partner Gender And Disordered Eating Behaviors In Bisexual Women, Rachel A. Amerson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sexual minority women are at increased risk of negative outcomes compared to heterosexual women. Bisexual women report disparities when compared to both heterosexual and lesbian women. The disparities experienced by bisexual women also appear to vary based on the gender of their partner, with those partnered with men reporting more negative health outcomes than those partnered with women. One area in which heterosexual and sexual minority women’s experiences differ is in the experience of objectification or being treated as a body rather than a person. While objectification has been linked to negative outcomes, such as body shame and disordered eating …

What We Learn From Each Other: Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth Among Non-Helping Professionals Following Exposure To Peer Trauma Experiences, Tiphanie Gayle Sutton

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Trauma can result in adverse psychological outcomes from survivors and the helping professionals who support them. Vicarious (or secondary) traumatization is common among helping professionals and can lead to compassion fatigue and burnout. However, empathetic engagement with trauma survivors and their stories has been shown to lead to positive vicarious outcomes, including vicarious posttraumatic growth. Vicarious posttraumatic growth has been linked to personal and professional benefits for helping professionals. However, positive vicarious outcomes after engagement with peer trauma experiences had yet to be explored outside of helping relationships. The present study found that vicarious posttraumatic growth in non-helping professionals was …

Testing A Contextual Framework Of Intimate Partner Violence In Young Adults, Phoebe Tabb Hitson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Bell and Naugle (2008) proposed a comprehensive theoretical framework that includes multiple variables hypothesized to be involved in intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, including distal and proximal variables. The current study (1) assessed the extent to which childhood physical abuse victimization, interparental violence, insecure attachment, accepting beliefs about violence, sexism, stress, alcohol and marijuana use, relationship satisfaction, emotion regulation, and anger management were associated with physical IPV perpetration; (2) determined whether some of these variables influenced physical IPV perpetration more than others; (3) explored the mediation of distal variables by more proximal variables in predicting physical IPV perpetration; and (4) …

Patient-Targeted Googling: A Mixed-Methods Examination Of Psychologists’ Perceptions And Practices, Emily L. Putnam

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Patient-targeted Googling (PTG) refers to a healthcare professional searching their patient’s name or other identifying information on the Internet. Existing research is inconclusive regarding the prevalence and perceptions of PTG among psychologists, and the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethics Code lacks guidance on the topic. The present study used a mixed-methods approach with two arms of data collection (online survey, N = 94; and virtual focus groups, N = 36) to clarify PTG practices, explore PTG attitudes, and understand training and ethical guidance needs of psychologists and psychology trainees. Results revealed that 47.9% of psychologists and trainees reported having engaged …

Reevaluating The Factor Structure Of The Family Resilience Assessment Scale For African American College Students, Quandrea Rachelle Harper

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to reevaluate the initial validation process of the Family Resilience Assessment Scale (FRAS) and to validate the measure for use with African Americans. Although the FRAS has been previously validated using a sample from the general population in the U.S. and has demonstrated cross-cultural utility, its applicability for use specifically with African Americans is inconclusive, as demonstrated by preliminary research findings. In the current study, data were collected from a sample of African American college students to conduct an exploratory factor analysis using all 66 items initially included in Sixbey’s validation study, and a …

Implementing An Online, Integrative, Multi-Component, Group-Based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Cbt) For The Reduction Of Caregiver Burden In Primary Familial Caregivers Of Persons With Dementia: A Preliminary Test Of Feasibility, Daniel Robert Schaffer

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the preliminary feasibility of an online, manualized, group-based, multi-component, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatment approach for the reduction of caregiver burden among family caregivers of persons with dementia. This study had five primary hypotheses: (1) the recruitment plan, as outlined within this study, would yield the target number of participants within a 12-month period; (2) the proposed group therapy protocol would produce a positive therapeutic climate, as operationalized by increased levels of perceived social support, perceived group cohesion, positive therapeutic alliance, and positive engagement; (3) this study would maintain adequate participant retention, …

Validation And Measurement Invariance Of A First-Generation College Student Identity Scale, Kelsie K. Allison

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

First-generation college students (FGCS) comprise approximately 56% of the U.S. post-secondary institution population, yet they face substantially more academic, financial, and additional unique issues than continuing-generation college students. Research on FGCS has been steadily growing in recent years, however, literature on identity for this population is sparse. To address these gaps in the literature, the aim of the current study was to adapt, validate, and establish full factorial measurement invariance across Black and White FGCS for a multidimensional quantitative measure of first-generation college student identity. The final sample included 425 current FGCS (81.2% female; M_age = 24.4 years, SD …

Guilty As Not (Re)Charged: Calling, Work-Recovery Guilt, And Their Effects On Recovery Experiences, Jeffrey Drake Terry

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Public and scholarly interest in the concept of work as a calling has grown considerably over the past few decades (Thompson & Bunderson, 2019). Much of this research has focused on the positive outcomes of calling, including increased work engagement (e.g., Dobrow Riza et al., 2019) and job performance (e.g., Park et al., 2016). However, a few studies have focused on the negative outcomes of calling, such as limited psychological detachment from work (Clinton et al., 2017). According to Work as Calling Theory (WCT; Duffy et al., 2018), psychological climate and individual differences may help to explain why some individuals …

Campus Racial Climate And Mental Well-Being Among College Students: The Role Of Feeling Valued, Sense Of Belonging, And Racial Saliency, Raksha Kandlur Ma, Catherine Glenn Phd

College of Sciences Posters

Around 73% of students report experiencing a mental health crisis during college, and 64% report dropping out for mental health reasons. Research indicates that negative campus racial climate contributes to poor mental health, but few studies have examined factors that may moderate this impact. The current study examined potential moderators of the impact of negative campus racial climate on students’ mental health, including whether: (1) feeling valued and (2) belongingness at school may buffer, or reduce, risk and (3) higher racial saliency may increase risk. Data were drawn from the Healthy Minds Study, administered to a random sample of 4,000 …

Examining A Neural Measure Of Attentional Bias To Emotional Faces In Social Anxiety And Depression, Nathan M. Hager, Matt R. Judah, Alicia L. Milam, Hannah C. Hamrick, Catherine R. Glenn

College of Sciences Posters

Cognitive theories suggest that attentional biases may contribute to both social anxiety and depression, such that attention may be biased to focus on or away from certain information (e.g., rejecting or sad images; Clark & McManus, 2002; Lemoult & Gotlib, 2019). Although research is mixed, recent studies using a neural measure called the N2pc (an event-related potential) has indicated attentional biases in social anxiety. However, little N2pc research has examined depression or co-occurring depression and social anxiety.

The current study used electroencephalography to measure the N2pc during a dot-probe task in which images of faces with emotional or neutral expressions …