Psychology Commons^™

More Than Four Walls: The Psychology Of Home

DePaul Magazine

Joe Ferrari, professor of psychology and Vincent de Paul professor in DePaul's College of Science and Health, discusses his research to understand what "home" means to people, a nebulous, but important feeling we have. The psychology of home is an important new area study because of the millions of baby boomers heading into retirement in the United States who may be headed for life in nursing facilities and the 59.5 million displaced persons worldwide who will need assistance dealing with disruption and feelings of loss.

From Combat Zones To The Classroom: Transitional Adjustment In Oef/Oif Student Veterans, Lorrie Kato, Jeremy D. Jinkerson, Sarah C. Holland, Henry V. Soper

The Qualitative Report

With 600,000 veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom enrolled in higher education with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, recognizing and responding to their predictable adjustment issues is imperative. Existing qualitative research has identified some transitional issues encountered by small groups of veterans. Because of qualitative research’s limited generalizability, however, themes may be viewed as more generalizable when corroborated by student veterans in different regions. In order to provide an in-depth description of the themes related to the post-deployment adjustment process, the first author conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 student veterans from a Southwestern community college who were returning to …

Correlates Of Satisfaction With Life For People Who Identify As Transgender And Sexual Minority, Christopher C. Bober, Kristen L. Suing, Dustin K. Shepler

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Researchers have focused on understanding factors such as resiliency, medical concerns, and coping skills in the lives of transgender and gender-nonconforming people. However, little research has examined how transgender and gender-nonconforming people cognitively evaluate their own lives. Furthermore, many people who identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming also report a sexual minority identity status. In this study, we sought to understand how aspects of sexual self-concept (i.e., sexual esteem and sexual anxiety), internalized homonegativity, and level of outness about sexual identity correlated to self-appraisals of satisfaction with life (SWL) in a sample of transgender and gender-nonconforming people who identified as sexual …

"He Told Me That My Waist And Private Parts Have Been Ravaged By Demons:" Sexual Exploitation Of Female Church Members By "Prophets" In Nigeria, Chima Agazue

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In urban southern Nigeria there is a widespread spiritual revival pioneered by Pentecostal pastors who claim to deliver prophecies, miracles, and healings. In many places, multiple churches can be seen within a few hundred yards of each other, while in other places, different floors of multistory buildings are occupied by different church denominations. There is competition among the pastors to present themselves as spiritually powerful and financially favored by God. Some of the pastors, calling themselves “prophets,” engage in immoral and fraudulent activities. Women are the predominant followers of these male religious leaders, and sexual exploitation of vulnerable women by …

A Moveable Beast: Subjective Influence Of Human-Animal Relationships On Risk Perception, And Risk Behaviour During Bushfire Threat, Joshua L. Trigg, Kirrilly Thompson, Bradley Smith, Pauleen Bennett

The Qualitative Report

This article examines how human-animal connections influence risk perception and behaviour in companion animal guardians exposed to bushfire threat in Australia. Although the objective role of psychological bonds with companion animals is well accepted by researchers, subjective interpretations of these bonds by animal guardians are relatively underexamined in this context. We argue that the ways in which connections with pets and other animals are represented influences different forms of safety-risk perception and behaviour when managing animals’ safety in the face of disaster threat. Thematic analysis of 21 semi-structured interviews with South Australian residents in bushfire-affected areas supported the role of …

Using Self-Determination Theory To Improve College Access Among Minority Student Populations, Tyler Smith

SPACE: Student Perspectives About Civic Engagement

College aspirations among high school students have increased substantially in recent years, but minority students are only making up a small portion of the total college population. Resulting from the disparities seen in enrollment among the minority populations, many college preparation programs have developed. These programs seek to motivate students to attend college through increasing competence, by developing feelings of community among other methods. Self-determination theory states that to inhibit motivation, three psychological needs are to be met: competence, connectedness and autonomy (Ryan & Deci, 2000a). Based upon this theory, it was believed that its application would increase the effectiveness …

Navigating Academia: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Sense Of Community, Student-Faculty Relationships, And Student Success, Camilla Cummings

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

College enrollment in the United States is higher than it has ever been before. However, there is a strong delineation between students who feel supported and able to use education as a tool and students who do not. The present study aims to understand the impact of sense of community and faculty-student relationships on student success and engagement. This cross-sectional study used quantitative and qualitative methodologies to examine sense of community and engagement in 210 undergraduate students. Sense of community, mentorship, university experiences, social intelligence, and demographic variables were analyzed using bivariate correlations, multiple linear regression, t-tests, and thematic content …

Understanding The Employment Barriers And Support Needs Of People Living With Psychosis, Margaret Hampson, Richard Hicks, Bruce Watt

The Qualitative Report

This study investigated the employment barriers and support needs of people living with psychosis. A purposive community sample of 137 volunteers drawn from six key stakeholder groups were invited to participate in focus groups and semi-structured individual interviews to elicit their perceptions on the employment barriers and support needs of people living with psychosis. The stakeholder groups included in this study were people with lived experience of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, carers, health professionals, employers, employment service providers, and community members. Data obtained from 14 focus groups and 31 semi-structured individual interviews were transcribed, imported into NVivo 10, and coded …

Reciprocity: Caring For America's Caregivers, Courtney Dunn

The Downtown Review

Should families be forced to choose between the health of a caregiver and patient? Through the eyes of a woman caring for her husband with Alzheimer's disease, we see that family caregivers suffer tremendous amounts of stress while caring for the patient. Despite the time and efforts required to care for someone with Alzheimer's disease, people every day choose this as an alternative to out-of-home care. This often leads to depression, anxiety, and physical stress which can result in series medical issues. Considering the increase of people with Alzheimer's disease in the United States, this article argues that support programs …

I Want To Get This Off My Chest: When Perpetrators Publicly Disclose How They Raped Their Victims, Rebekah M. Sandy, Amy Gregg, Carolyn Brennan, Kevin Swartout

DISCOVERY: Georgia State Honors College Undergraduate Research Journal

Women live in a world where nearly one in four will experience sexual assault. In fact, sexual violence is now so common that the World Health Organization recently declared it a global epidemic. Despite the prevalence of such incidents, few perpetrators self-identify. In the cases where they did acknowledge their infractions, many perpetrators said they acted as they did because they misconceived a partner’s sexual intention. This current article will argue that confusion about consent serves as more than a potential risk factor; it also provides a reason for disclosing details about the assault.

By using the social media website, …

Information Behavior In The Mobile Environment: An Overview, Ziming Liu

School of Information Student Research Journal

As smartphones become ubiquitous, they increasingly influence the way in which students seek and use information. It is important to understand emerging information behavior as a result of wide spread use of smartphones. This paper provides an overview of information behavior in the mobile environment. Gender differences in mobile information seeking are discussed. People interact with mobile information in varied and unpredictable locations or while in transit. The mobility of information engagement is an important issue that human information theory should embrace.