Psychology Commons^™

Depression, Music Choice, And Affective Outcomes In Daily Life, Sunkyung Yoon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Persons with depression consistently report a preference for sad music. Are such preferences maladaptive or beneficial? We tested this question in a 3-part study that examined 77 participants’ (39 with and 38 without clinical depression) music choice in daily life, affective outcomes, and the reasons for music choice. During a 3-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA), participants chose a song from a pre-set music library of happy and sad songs and rated their affect before and after hearing the chosen song. In addition, we analyzed the characteristics (e.g., tempo) of participants’ free song choices over 7 days (from participants’ Spotfiy music …

Motivation Matters: The Interaction Of Approach And Avoidance Alcohol Motivation And Self-Control Demands In College Drinkers, Becky K. Gius

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Failure in self-control has long been identified as a risk factor for problematic alcohol use among college students, as individuals who are less equipped or less able to regulate their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors use alcohol more frequently and are at greater risk for binge drinking. Recent findings suggest self-control depletion and motivation interact to determine performance on subsequent tasks that require self-control. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the ways self-control exertion and desires to use alcohol (approach inclinations) and desires to avoid using alcohol (avoidance inclinations) impact subsequent alcohol use behavior. Using ecological momentary assessment, …

Threat-Induced Alterations In Cognition And Associations With Disinhibited Behavior, Julia B. Mcdonald

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When a threat is detected, brain networks associated with threat processing are activated while other processes are deprioritized. While this resource allocation is adaptive, it makes it especially difficult to effortfully direct thoughts, emotions, and behaviors (use cognitive control) during situations of high stress. Further, this threat response is most efficient in response to short-term or predictable stressors (“threats”) but loses its efficiency for ambiguous or unpredictable threats. Despite research that suggests that threat induces psychological states associated with breakdown in cognitive control processes, no study has directly examined how predictability of threat impacts neurocognitive indicators of cognitive control processes. …

The Effect Of Acute Interpersonal Racial Discrimination On Smoking Motivation And Behavior Among Black Smokers, Patricia F. Calixte-Civil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In comparison to White smokers, Black smokers are more likely to report both discrimination and less success in smoking cessation. No previous study has tested the causal relationship between actual experienced racial discrimination and smoking variables associated with cessation. The goal of this study was to test the casual influence of interpersonal racial discrimination on smoking motivation (i.e., the urge to smoke cigarettes, cessation self-efficacy, and smoking behavior) using a controlled experimental design. We used a virtual ball-playing game to create a laboratory model of racial discrimination. A 2x2 between-subjects factorial design (inclusion/exclusion vs. ingroup/outgroup) was used to randomly assign …

Perfectionism, Negative Life Events, And Cognitive Appraisal: A Contextual Model Of Perfectionism’S Maladaptive Nature, Ansley M. Bender

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Perfectionism is highly (Grzegorek, Slaney, Franze, & Rice, 2004; Rice, Ashby, & Gilman, 2011) and increasingly (Curran & Hill, 2017) prevalent. Alarmingly, perfectionism is associated with various concerning correlates and outcomes, including suicide ideation and attempts (e.g. Smith, Sherry, et al., 2018). Whereas it is clear that perfectionism presents as a vulnerability for suicide, very little is known about when its maladaptive features may be particularly activated or by what pathway such a relationship exists. A preliminary, but underdeveloped, area of research suggests a role for negative life events in potentiating the effects of perfectionism, operating under the assumption that …

Examining The Effect Of Context On Responses To Social Interaction, Renee R. Hangartner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ambiguous nature of social interactions between coeds may lead to under reporting of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment has been studied using mostly cross-sectional methods for over 30 years. However, despite decades of research, prevalence rates of sexual harassment have been found to vary considerably across and within studies. This inconsistency in findings makes drawing conclusions about the prevalence of sexual harassment challenging. Thus, the focus of the field should shift to identifying what behaviors are perceived to be sexual harassment and how that perception may vary by context. To reduce the ambiguity surrounding the labeling of an interaction as …

Linking Trait-Based Influences With Proximal, Contextually Driven Processes To Understand The Relationship Between Alcohol Use And Risk Behavior, Patrick M. Logan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Impulsivity-related traits explain a significant and meaningful level of variance in the prediction of drinking behavior. Previous research has demonstrated that although risk taking propensity has been conceptualized as a "trait-like" construct, there are contextual and situational factors that affect an individual's likelihood of engaging in risk taking behavior, including drinking behavior. Despite the well-established relationship between alcohol use and risk behavior (e.g., risky sexual behavior, physical assault, etc.), it is unclear how alcohol-related context influences risk taking on a computerized behavioral task. Grounded in alcohol expectancy theory (which holds that information processing about the rewarding effects of alcohol mediates …

Linking Sleep And Aggression: The Role Of Response Inhibition And Emotional Processing, Melanie L. Bozzay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although shorter sleep duration is theorized to increase the risk of engaging in aggressive behavior, experimental studies examining this relationship yield conflicting findings. Since sleep serves in part to regulate the functioning of prefrontal brain regions, insufficient sleep may deleteriously impact the individual’s ability to inhibit rash action and alter emotional processing, which could in turn increase aggressive tendencies. However, no studies have examined the extent to which naturally occurring insufficient sleep is linked to aggression or potential mechanisms of this relationship, limiting understanding of and the generalizability of extant findings. Thus, the present study examined whether cognitive (deficits in …

Disentangling The Impact Of Poor Sleep From Depressive Symptoms On Emotion Regulation, Kimberly O'Leary

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Depressive symptoms and sleep are both strongly associated with deficits in emotional functioning (Durmer & Dinges, 2005; van der Helm & Walker, 2010). Although sleep and depression are tightly intertwined, understanding their independent and conjoint impact on emotional functioning is imperative. Given the limitations of previous designs, the primary goal of this study was to examine the separate impact of poor sleep quality and depressive symptoms on emotion regulation. In order to accomplish this goal, we preselected groups on the basis of their sleep and depression profiles: individuals with mainly sleep problems (N = 30), individuals with mainly depressive symptoms …

Discrimination, Victimization, And Suicidality In The Lgbtq Population: The Role Of Psychological Pain And Perceived Connectedness, Amanda L. Peterson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) are at a higher risk for suicide compared to the general population, but little is known about why this is. Many LGBTQ individuals face some form of discrimination or victimization in their lifetime, and some evidence suggests these experiences may contribute to this group’s higher suicide risk. Unfortunately, research has only examined the impact of direct discrimination/victimization on suicidality and has neglected to examine how ambient discrimination/victimization relates to suicidality. Additionally, although some links exist between discrimination, victimization, and suicide, the mechanisms by which these are related are unknown. …

Message Received? The Relationship Between Graphic Warning Labels, Message Framing, And Psychological Responses Among Smokers, John B. Correa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: This study was designed to evaluate the effects of graphic components and message content on daily smokers’ responses to cigarette pack warning labels. It was hypothesized that graphic warning labels (GWLs) would produce increases in state psychological reactance, that loss-framed messages would generate increases in risk perception and psychological reactance, and that GWLs and gain-framed messages would interact to generate increases in motivation to quit smoking when compared to the GWL/loss-framed condition. It was also hypothesized that trait reactance, smoking behavior, and baseline motivation to quit smoking would moderate effects of the warning label exposures.

Method: In a within-subjects …

Are Mixed-Sex And Single-Sex Groups Equally Effective Across Males And Females? A Quasi-Experimental Investigation Of A Cognitive Dissonance-Based Eating Disorder Prevention Program In Mixed-Sex High School Populations, Christina L. Verzijl

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Body Project is a cognitive dissonance-based eating disorder (ED) preventive intervention program with ample empirical support among adolescent and undergraduate female samples. Recently, community stakeholders and data suggest that preventive efforts must also target body satisfaction and increasing ED symptomatology seen in males. The current study examined the efficacy of a male-only (MO), a mixed-sex (MS), and a traditional female-only (FO) Body Project program compared to a minimal attention control (AC) in a community sample. Participants included adolescents male and female students (N = 182) aged 13-19 years across three high school sites. Participants completed self-report measures assessing body …

Exploring The Decisional Process Behind Alcohol Use: Converging Evidence Across Multiple Theories, Emily T. Noyes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the etiological and maintaining processes of problematic drinking continues to be a challenge. There has been a growing amount of research focusing on the decisional processes that act to maintain addictive behaviors. Elucidating this underlying process is key to understanding the range of drinking behavior observed among individuals. Rather than relying on one theory, examining overlap between multiple theories of alcohol use may lead to a better understanding of such a process. Using a construct validation approach, this study utilized motivational (Ambivalence Model of Craving), cognitive (Alcohol Outcome Expectancy Theory), and behavioral theories (Behavioral Economics) of alcohol use to …

A Longitudinal Exploration Of Drive For Leanness: Potential Uniqueness, Sex Neutrality, Adaptive Nature, And Sociocultural Fit, Brittany Lang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Historically disordered eating research has been gendered with models focusing on women’s pursuit of a thin ideal, as well as men’s attempts to obtain a muscular ideal. The motivations to achieve these ideals are called the drive for thinness (DT) and drive for muscularity (DM). More recently, a cultural shift has been noted in that ideal bodies are converging across sexes to a lean ideal, with the associated motivation being labeled the drive for leanness (DL). As DL is a nascent construct, little is known about its relationships with DT and DM, or if it predicts or is predicted by …

Predicting Weight Loss Following Bariatric Surgery: The Impact Of Stress, Depression, Social Support And Patient Gender, Erica Ahlich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The buffering effect of social support against a range of stress-related health outcomes has been well-documented in a variety of research areas; however, no previous work has examined the applicability of this model to bariatric surgery outcomes. Additionally, based on previous evidence and relevant theoretical work, the stress-buffering effect of social support may show important gender differences. The current study examined stress, depression, social support, and patient gender as predictors of curvilinear weight loss trajectories during the first year following surgery. Data were collected using retrospective chart review. The buffering effects of three types of support were explored using growth …

Effects Of Motivation On Prospective Memory Performance In Huntington's Disease, Emily Jane Kellogg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prospective memory (PM) refers to memory for future intentions and involves several cognitive processes including memory, executive functions, and attention. PM has been studied extensively in clinical populations in which these cognitive processes are impaired but has only recently been studied in Huntington’s disease (HD), a neurodegenerative disease of the basal ganglia that is associated with neuropsychiatric, movement, and cognitive changes. The purpose of the present study was to further examine PM in HD, as well as investigate the influence of impulsivity on PM performance and whether a monetary incentive (either reward or loss) would improve PM performance. Results of …

The Role Of Fathers In Behavioral Parent Training: An Exploration Of Parent-Related Factors In Parent And Child Treatment Outcomes, Brittany L. Jordan-Arthur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite a well-documented need for parent training in the treatment and prevention of child behavior problems, as well as the well-documented benefit of including fathers in preventative and treatment interventions, surprisingly little clinical intervention research examines the role of fathers in such trainings. This research examined the role of father involvement in behavioral parent training by examining parent-related characteristics in relation to treatment outcomes for both mothers and fathers, examining differences between mothers and fathers, and examining the additive benefit of including fathers in treatment across two studies. Both studies utilized archival data obtained from a university- and community-based parent …

An Evaluation Of Suicide Risk Assessment And Management Trainings In Clinical Psychology Doctoral Programs, Maureen F. Monahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It has been suggested that mental health professionals are insufficiently trained to assess and manage suicide risk (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Defense [USDVA/DOD], 2013; Goldsmith, Pellmar, Kleinman, & Burney, 2002; Jobes, Rudd, Overholser, & Joiner, 2008; Mirick, McCauley, Bridger, & Berkowitz, 2015; Silverman & Berman, 2014) and this problem may originate during graduate training (Feldman & Freedenthal, 2006; Mackelprang, Karle, Reighl, & Cash, 2014; Rudd, Cukrowicz, & Bryan, 2008; Schmitz et al., 2012). Unfortunately, however, this area has been inadequately studied (Battista, 2007; Cramer, Johnson, McLaughlin, Rausch, & Conroy, 2013; Department of Health and Human Services, 2012; Stuber …

Development And Validation Of The Exercise Appearance Motivations Scale, Leah S. Boepple

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exercise rooted in changing one’s appearance is associated with increased disordered eating and body image pathology. There are a limited number of scales assessing appearance-based exercise, and those that do are methodologically flawed. The aim of the current work was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of appearance-based exercise (Exercise Appearance Motivations Scale (EAMS)). Female undergraduate students (N = 650) completed an online survey designed to assess the EAMS’ psychometric properties. Factor analysis and hierarchical regressions were used for measure development and validation. Five factors of the EAMS were identified through factor analysis: muscularity, appearance, societal pressures, shape/weight, and avoidance/shame. …

An Experimental Examination Of Automatic Interpretation Biases In Major Depression, Alexandra H. Cowden Hindash

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive theories of depression have long posited automatic interpretation biases (AIB) as a central contributor to depressed mood. The current study was first to examine AIB in a clinically defined depressed sample. While assessing AIB using a semantic association paradigm, pupillary reactivity was simultaneously recorded to build insight into the AIB process. A total of 53 individuals (25 depressed and 28 healthy control) completed the Word Sentence Association Paradigm for Depression (WSAP-D) while pupillary reactivity was recorded. Results revealed the depressed group was significantly more likely to endorse negative AIB and less likely to endorse benign AIB compared to healthy …

Contributors To And Correlates Of Loneliness In Lung Cancer Patients, Kelly A. Hyland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background

Loneliness, or the perceived discrepancy between the quantity and quality of ones’ actual social relationships and desired level of connectedness, is a potentially important psychosocial factor in lung cancer patients. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship of loneliness to depressive symptoms, quality of life, and social-cognitive variables and to explore the role of loneliness in mediating relationships between social-cognitive variables and depressive symptoms and quality of life. Finally, the study examined whether loneliness predicted change over time in depressive symptoms and quality of life.

Methods

Lung cancer patients were recruited from the Moffitt Cancer …

Rumination And Worry: Factor Structure And Predictive Utility, Andrew Mark Kiselica

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Criticism of discrete classification systems for mental disorders has led to a focus on identification of mechanisms that cut across symptom clusters, known as transdiagnostic factors. One such proposed factor is negative repetitive thought (NRT), or a perseverative, often uncontrollable, focus on negative information, experiences, or expectations. Worry and rumination are two major constructs thought to compose NRT. No confirmatory factor analyses have investigated whether worry and rumination might compose a general NRT factor, discrete factors, or some combination of the two. The first purpose of the current study was to use confirmatory factor analyses to uncover whether worry and …

Psychopathic Traits, Gender, And Sexual Motivations: Paths To Sexual Coercion, Amy M. Hoffmann

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although evidence suggests that both men and women perpetrate sexual coercion, the majority of work has traditionally focused on men as perpetrators and women as victims. Psy-chological factors, including psychopathic traits and sexual motivations, have been proposed to characterize sexually coercive men. However, the sparse existing research using female samples suggests that these models may not adequately characterize female sexual coercers. In particular, although there is evidence that sexual motivations may mediate the relationship between psycho-pathic traits and coercion perpetration, there is a dearth of information regarding gender as a po-tential moderator of these mediating paths. To improve our understanding …

A Psychometric Evaluation Of The Compensatory Eating And Behaviors In Response To Alcohol Consumption Scale (Cebracs), Emily M. Choquette

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drunkorexia refers to a set of disordered eating behaviors that occur in the context of a drinking episode for the purpose of 1) off setting caloric intake of the alcohol or 2) increasing the effects of alcohol. The Compensatory Eating and Behaviors in Response to Alcohol Consumption Scale (CEBRACS) was developed with the purpose of measuring drunkorexia behaviors at three time points: before, during, and after a drinking episode. The purpose of this study was to further validate the measure for use in men and women by examining measurement invariance, reliability, and validity. First, single group confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) …

Depression And Choice Of Emotional Stimuli, Sunkyung Yoon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent research argued that people with major depressive disorder (MDD) tend to prefer sad stimuli because they want to upregulate their sad feelings. This paper aims to examine investigate the choice of emotional stimuli among those who have MDD, compared to individuals without MDD (healthy controls, HC), and explore the reasons for their choice. Seventy six female university students (38 per group) completed three tasks: 1) In the replication music task, participants listened to happy, neutral, and sad music excerpts, chose the one they wanted to listen most, and reported the reasons of their choice. 2) The Emotional Stimuli Selection …

Development And Validation Of The Distress Tolerance Questionnaire (Dtq), Elizabeth C. Rojas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Distress tolerance (DT) is the perceived ability to withstand psychological stress, and has been studied for its relationship to psychopathology, personality features, mood states, and behaviors. Previous work suggests that the two existing modalities of DT measurement (behavioral and self-report) are tapping conceptually and empirically different constructs. The current developed a novel, self-report measure of DT that conceptually mapped onto behavioral DT in two samples: community participants (N = 982) and undergraduates (N = 282). Two separate factors emerged, non-goal oriented distress intolerance (DI), and goal-oriented distress tolerance (DT). Fit indices were acceptable in the community sample, but poor in …

Psychosocial Mechanisms Of Outcome In Pediatric Psychiatry, Alessandro S. De Nadai

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nearly half of all youths experience a mental health disorder at some point during childhood (Merikangas et al., 2010). Pediatric psychopathology is associated with a substantial amount of impairment in the school, social, and home domains, and such symptoms can have adverse impacts on subsequent development (Beauchaine & Hinshaw, 2013; Patel, Flisher, Hetrick, & McGorry, 2007). Fortunately, a number of medications have demonstrated efficacy in treating a number of mental health conditions (Martin, Scahill, & Kratochvil, 2010). Despite these demonstrated effects, treatment response is often incomplete, and the mechanisms by which pharmacotherapy lead to behavior change are not well understood. …

A Motivational Interviewing Intervention To Increase Utilization Of Smoking Cessation Services Among Veterans Undergoing Substance Use Treatment, Nicole S. Menzie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Smoking remains the single most preventable cause of death worldwide and primary cause of several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory illness (USDHHS, 2014). Although the prevalence of smoking among the general population continues to decline, the prevalence of smoking among the veteran population remains high. In addition, the prevalence of smoking among veterans with substance and alcohol use disorders is 2 to 3 times higher than in the general population. Over the years, the VA has implemented empirically-based treatments for smoking cessation to address the cigarette smoking epidemic. These services, however, are greatly underutilized. Motivational interviewing (MI) has …

The Development And Validation Of The Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-3 (Pacs-3), Lauren M. Schaefer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Both theory and research implicate appearance comparison processes in the development of body image disturbance and disordered eating. Although several measures of appearance comparison exist, each has significant limitations. The Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised (PACS-R) and its earlier versions are measures designed to assess the frequency of appearance comparisons among men and women. In the current study, the PACS-R was revised to (a) examine comparisons of weight/shape, muscularity, and overall physical appearance, (b) include items to assess comparisons with distal targets, (c) provide an assessment of upward versus downward comparisons, and (d) provide an assessment of the acute emotional impact …

The Effect Of Androstenone As A Mating Prime On Drinking And Approach Behavior, Robin Tan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent research has shown that sexual activity may be influenced by variables suggested by evolutionary theory, such as pheromonal cues. A recent study in our laboratory indicated that female pheromones influence men’s drinking and approach behavior based on hidden pathways of behavioral influence caused by chemosensory signals. The current study sought to examine whether a link exists between male pheromones and women’s drinking and approach behavior, through the use of a possible male sex pheromone called androstenone, and sought to examine this link within the context of a women’s ovulation cycle. One hundred and three female participants were primed with …