Psychology Commons^™

A Longitudinal Examination Of The Relations Between Racial Discrimination And Executive Function, Aldona Chorzepa

Theses and Dissertations

Discrimination has been linked to changes in executive function. This relationship may explain links between discrimination and adverse health and mental health outcomes, including depression, substance use, and health behavior. To date, the research examining this question has been limited, as the majority of studies reviewed employed experimental manipulations for discrimination exposure and tested acute same-day effects in the lab. Clarifying the extent to which exposure to discrimination impacts executive function over time in young adults is crucial to identifying opportunities for intervention. The current study evaluates the relations of both recent and lifetime exposure to racial discrimination to three …

Disparities Between Native Americans And White Individuals In Trajectories Of Community Participation Over The 5 Years After Traumatic Brain Injury, Jack Watson

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) disproportionately affects minoritized populations within the U.S., especially Native Americans who are more likely to experience a more severe or fatal TBI than White individuals. The current study used a subsample of 63 Native Americans with TBI from the TBI Model Systems (TBIMS) database matched by age, sex, and injury severity to 63 White individuals to examine disparities in community participation, as measured by the Participation Assessment with Recombined Tools—Objective (PART-O), over the five years following TBI. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and chi-square tests revealed Native Americans were less likely to be employed prior to injury, …

Does The Apoe-Ε4 Allele Differentially Influence Cognition: A Longitudinal Investigation In Healthy Older Adults At Risk For Alzheimer’S Disease, Aditya Kulkarni

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: The apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele is the strongest susceptibility factor for sporadic, late-onset, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, not all persons who carry the ε4 allele show significant cognitive decline, and thus do not progress to dementia. The impact of the ε4 allele on memory decline has been documented primarily in populations already demonstrating cognitive impairment (i.e., those with mild cognitive impairment or dementia), with fewer investigations completed in baseline healthy older adults. Investigations of the ε4 allele and its influence on non-memory domains are also sparse in the literature. Furthermore, these cognitive investigations are typically cross-sectional and …

Single-Case Pilot Study For Longitudinal Analysis Of Referential Failures And Sentiment In Schizophrenic Speech From Client-Centered Psychotherapy Recordings, Travis A. Musich

Dissertations

Though computational linguistic analyses have revealed the presence of distinctly characteristic language features in schizophrenic disordered speech, the relative stability of these language features in longitudinal samples is still unknown. This longitudinal pilot study analyzed schizophrenic disordered speech data from the archival therapy audio recordings of one patient spanning 23 years. End-to-end Neural Coreference Resolution software was used to analyze transcribed speech data from three therapy sessions to identify ambiguous pronouns, referred to as referential failures, which were reviewed and confirmed by multiple raters. Speech samples were analyzed using Google Cloud Natural Language API software for sentiment variables (i.e., score, …

The Initial Development, Factor Structure, And Psychometric Validation Of The Impostor Phenomenon Assessment (Ipa): A Novel Assessment Of Impostor Phenomenon, Deanna L. Walker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite growing attention surrounding impostor phenomenon (also known as “imposter syndrome”), recent reviews have suggested that current measures may be inadequate in capturing the complex and multifaceted nature of this construct (i.e., thoughts, feelings, and behaviours). The objective of my dissertation research program was to clarify the theoretical conceptualization of impostor phenomenon based on experiences in an achievement-oriented setting, and to develop a novel and psychometrically valid method of measuring this construct. I began by conducting an extensive review of the literature and developing an item pool for a novel impostor phenomenon assessment. I then conducted exploratory factor …

Predictors Of Emotional Health Across Autistic And Non-Autistic Students' First Semester Of College, Erin E. Mckenney

Theses and Dissertations

The prevention and treatment of mental health concerns, including depression, are significant priorities for autistic adults. While several theories have been proposed to explain the high prevalence of depression in autistic populations, little longitudinal research has been done on potential causal mechanisms. Additional research is needed to explore how proposed contributors to depression from general population research -- namely, negative repetitive thinking, lack of social opportunity, and attributional style -- predict and/or moderate the development of depressive symptoms in autistic individuals. The current study investigates these potential predictors' relationship to internalizing symptoms over the course of college students' first semester. …

How Individual Differences And The Use Of Humor Shape Relationships In Teams Over Time, Melissa Vazquez

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Due to its ability to influence social interactions and relationships, humor can play an important role in team dynamics. The aims of this project are to examine how team member individual differences in humor styles relates to the expression of humor over time, and how humor usage shapes relationships between team members. Hypotheses were tested using data from highly interdependent teams working together over an extended period. Results have implications for the selection of team members, and the training and management of unique teams. In all, this research provides validation evidence for the HSQ measure as a predictor of humor …

Longitudinal Associations Between Parenting Stress, Adolescent Temperament, And Externalizing Behaviors, Kristina Kochanova

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Although there is growing evidence that parenting stress and adolescent externalizing problems are linked cross-sectionally similarly to families of younger children, longitudinal research examining the direction of these associations among families of adolescents is limited. This study examined the direction of the link between parenting stress and adolescent externalizing problems over time and whether the associations differed due to adolescent temperament. Participants were 333 biological mothers (Mage = 40.15, SDage = 6.86; 75.7% White) with a 12- to 17-year-old adolescent. They were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and completed psychometrically valid measures through Qualtrics at two time points, six months …

An Interdisciplinary Investigation Of Infant Sleep: How We Study It, What It Means For Other Areas Of Development, And Where Methodological Creativity Can Take Us, Melissa Noel Horger

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present dissertation is broken into six chapters. Chapters 2 through 5 comprise four research projects that build upon each other and in both theoretical and methodological ways. The bookends – my introduction and conclusion – are written for an interdisciplinary, even lay audience. In its entirety, the text is centered on infant sleep. First, I describe the functional role of sleep and liken it to a barista working in a coffee shop. Then, I lay out researcher choices – of design and measurement – when incorporating sleep as a facet of a research paradigm. After comparing three measurement techniques …

Clear Adjustment: Status Self-Concept Clarity And Emotion Regulation, Isidro Landa

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One factor associated with a person’s adjustment during important life transitions is self-concept clarity (SCC)—“the extent to which the contents of an individual's self-concept (e.g., perceived personal attributes) are clearly and confidently defined…”. However, it is not fully understood why and for whom SCC predicts adjustment. Recent work suggests that SCC may function as a resource for regulatory functions, allowing one to focus on long-term self-relevant goals rather than narrowly focusing on regulating immediate discomfort associated with uncertainty. It is possible that having high SCC facilitates emotion regulation in such a way that it allows one to engage and further …

Person-Centered Profile Consistency: A Test Of Longitudinal Personality Consistency, Amanda Wright

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Test-retest correlations are a common way to quantify stability in personality. However, these single estimates obscure patterns of consistency as well as individual differences in consistency. Importantly, examining patterns of consistency provides insights into the underlying processes driving personality development. The current study used Bayesian multilevel asymptotic models to examine trends of person-centered consistency using item-level profile correlations across four to nine waves with four datasets (N = 21,616). Results indicated that there were, on average, very high levels of profile consistency across time, highlighting one aspect of the stable nature of personality. There were notable individual differences in …

Testing Competing Mediation Models Of The Effects Of Weight Bias Internalization And Weight Suppression On Disordered Eating In Young Adults, Samantha J. Withnell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The current study investigated a novel theoretical model of longitudinal relations between weight bias internalization (WBI), weight suppression, and disordered eating. Undergraduate students (N = 787) completed surveys at three time points. Path analysis was used to test competing models representing the temporal order of effects between WBI and weight suppression on disordered eating symptoms. Neither pathway was supported by the data, indicating that WBI and weight suppression were not related over time. However, results supported distinct effects of WBI versus weight suppression on the prediction of overall disordered eating, binge eating, and body dissatisfaction over six-month follow up. …

Finding Teams That Fight Fair: Exploring Trajectories Of Team Conflict Over Time, Natasha E. Ouslis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Disagreements are a reality for teams. Yet how and when teams experience conflict may impact their chances of success. We know relatively little about how team conflict emerges over time, especially for project-based teams. Disagreements over personal topics, logistics, and contributions have been consistently damaging to team performance (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003; O’Neill, Allen, & Hastings, 2013). The implications of task-based conflict over time, however, are inconsistent and poorly understood. To resolve these questions, I conducted three studies examining how conflict developed over the lifetimes of 272 engineering design project teams. Study 1 explored the measurement and patterns of …

Reading In Kapampangan, Filipino, And English: A Look At Multilingual Children In An Economically Challenging Philippine Community, Portia Padilla

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present studies advance current understanding of the skills and processes involved in multilingual reading, especially in less researched alphabetic languages. These studies examined whether the dominant models in reading in English can explain the reading processes involved among low-income multilingual speakers of Kapampangan (L1), Filipino (L2), and English (L3) in the Philippines, a developing country. Kapampangan and Filipino use the same Roman alphabet that English uses. However, these two languages have transparent orthographies while English has an opaque orthography.

Study 1 examined the psycholinguistic grain size theory within the context of multilingual reading. There were three hundred twenty-six children …

Thwarted Interpersonal Needs, Depression, And Sleep Disturbances In Primary Care: Does Gratitude Help You Sleep?, Heather R. Altier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sleep disturbances are prevalent in primary care patients and can be exacerbated by interpersonal dysfunction and depression. As well, thwarted interpersonal needs (TIN), including thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness, contribute to depression. However, the presence of gratitude, a cognitive-emotional protective factor, may improve symptoms. We longitudinally examined the mediating role of depressive symptoms on the relation between TIN and sleep disturbances, and the moderating role of gratitude on the TIN-sleep disturbances and depression-sleep disturbances linkages. Our primary care patient sample (N = 223) completed self-report surveys at baseline (T1) and at a one-year follow-up (T2; n = 97). Patients …

An Examination Of Employee Coachability And Managerial Coaching In Organizations, Jake Alexander Weiss

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Volatile, complex, and ambiguous work environments require organizations to focus on continuous employee development and performance improvement across all organizational levels. As a result, organizational development (OD) practices for employee development rapidly increased throughout the past decade. One such vital individualized training intervention – organizational coaching – facilitates continuous behavioral change, development, and performance improvement across employees (Joo et al., 2012). Researchers, like practitioners, though, often examine coaching in isolation, focusing on the coach without considering the impact those being coached (i.e., coachees) have on the success of the coaching process. Coachees’ ability to seek, thoughtfully consider, act, and change …

Socioeconomic Disadvantage And Brain Structure In Adulthood, Alexander J. Dufford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood has been associated with difficulties in physical and mental health later in life. A potential pathway underlying this association is through variations in brain development. While associations between concurrent socioeconomic disadvantage and brain structural development have been established, it is unclear if there are prospective associations between childhood disadvantage and brain structure later in life (adulthood). The following studies address these gaps in the knowledge by examining the prospective association between childhood socioeconomic status and brain structure in adulthood. Study One examines the association between average family income across childhood and brain structural morphometry in adulthood. …

Dating Violence Victimization And Posttraumatic Stress Outcomes Among Urban Adolescents: The Moderating And Mediating Role Of Positive Outlook, Carine Leslie

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent dating violence occurs far too frequently in early adolescence and is related to adverse mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress symptoms. One focus within this literature has been to determine and better understand how protective processes may function in influencing relations between risk factors and dating violence victimization. A protective factor that has not been explored in the dating literature is positive outlook. The current short-term longitudinal study investigated whether dating violence victimization at Time 1 predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms at Time 2 among African American middle school students and examine whether positive outlook moderated or mediated this relation. …

Sleep, Experiential Avoidance, And Mental Health Symptoms, Anthony Reffi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The explanatory mechanisms by which sleep disturbances promote psychopathology are not well understood. Given that poor sleep promotes a broad range of negative emotions the next day, sleep disturbances may increase the tendency to identify inner experiences as aversive, thereby promoting experiential avoidance (EA). Though temporarily effective, the frequent and rigid use of EA has been shown to worsen mental health. Therefore, using a seven-day ecological momentary assessment design, this study investigated momentary EA as a mechanism linking subjective sleep quality and quantity with subsequent anxiety and depressive symptoms. Undergraduate participants (N = 86, Mage = 19.72) first completed an …

A Longitudinal Investigation Of Social Functioning In Children With Neurofibromatosis Type 1, Danielle Glad

Theses and Dissertations

Social difficulties are commonly reported by parents and teachers of children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and can impact a child’s social relationships. Investigations of social functioning in children with NF1 during early childhood are scarce, with most studies focusing on school age. This study aims to characterize the emergence of social skills challenges for children with NF1, with a special focus on the stability of social skills longitudinally and the interrelations of social skills with ADHD symptomatology and cognitive function. Participants included children with NF1 who were assessed longitudinally during early childhood from the ages of 3-6 years (T1; …

The Influence Of Team Cohesion And Contextual Performance On Project Team Performance Over Time, Melissa Vazquez

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Theory and empirical research suggest that team cohesion and contextual performance relate to team performance. However, while general support exists for a team cohesion and contextual performance relationship, less is known about the how the relationship evolves over time. This study aimed to examine the extent to which team cohesion and contextual performance reciprocally relate over time. Data were collected from 245 individuals comprising 40 student project teams engaged in the Capsim business simulation over a 10-week quarter. Results supported hypothesis 1; based on a cross-lagged path model, a stronger relationship exists between contextual performance at time point 1 and …

Test Emotions, Value, And Self-Efficacy: A Longitudinal Model Predicting Examinee Effort And Performance On A Low-Stakes Test, Paulius Satkus

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The validity of scores from low-stakes tests may be compromised by examinee motivation. Expectancy-Value theory (EV) has been used to frame the antecedents of examinee motivation in low-stakes testing contexts. According to EV theory, the perceived value of the test and the expectancy to succeed on the test directly affect examinee effort, which then affects test performance. Cross-sectional research studies in low-stakes testing contexts offer some support of EV theory. Control-Value theory (CV) serves as another theory to understand motivation toward a task. CV theory encompasses the constructs of expectancy and value from EV theory, but incorporates test emotions as …

Emotion Differentiation Moderates The Effects Of Rumination On Depression: A Longitudinal Study, Yunjing Liu

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Elevated trait rumination is associated with and predicts the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD), but not all people with elevated trait rumination develop MDD. We hypothesize that certain emotional processes weaken the rumination-depression link, protecting people against increases in depression. In the current prospective longitudinal study, we examined one such process, emotion differentiation—the ability to identify and label specific emotions. Because higher negative emotion differentiation (NED) has been associated with greater psychological well-being and people typically ruminate in the context of negative affect, we predicted that NED, but not positive emotion differentiation (PED), would moderate the rumination-depression association, such …

The Ecology Of Educational Attainment: Resilience Among Black High School Students, Jacqueline O. Davis

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Achievement gaps among students of color in the United States are pervasive and persistent. Identifying trajectories of resilience among Black teens is an important step toward promoting their educational attainment. This study identified risk and protective factors at the individual, family, and school levels hypothesized to influence Black high school students’ attainment. The effects of these risk (behavior problems, lack of college planning, and school problems) and protective factors (academic self-efficacy, parent involvement, and academic climate) on Black students’ educational attainment at 10-year follow-up were assessed. The sample included 2,423 Black 10th-grade students who participated in the Education Longitudinal Study …

Certainty About The Absence Of Positive Future Events As A Unique Predictor Of Suicidal Ideation Over An 18-Month Period, Christina A. Rombola

Theses and Dissertations

We examined the effects of two components of depressive predictive certainty, Certainty-AP and Certainty-N, on suicidal ideation over an 18-month period. We hypothesized that Certainty-AP would better predict SI than Certainty-N, and that future-event fluency would significantly moderate the Certainty-AP and SI relationship. Results and potential implications are discussed.

Examining The Temporal Directionality Between Teaching Behavior And Affect In High School Students., Bridget Cauley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous empirical studies demonstrate a cross-sectional association between teaching behaviors and students’ positive and negative affect and depressive symptoms. However, only one study comprised only of middle school students has examined the temporal direction of these associations, meaning the temporal direction of associations for high school students remains unclear. Therefore, this two-wave study with high school students investigated the temporal direction of the associations between teaching behaviors and students’ positive and negative affect. Participating students from one public high school (N = 188; 88.8% White; 69.7% female) completed the Teaching Behavior Questionnaire and the Positive Affect and Negative Affect …

Long-Term Impact Of Lifelong Fitness: Examining Longitudinal Exercise Behavior In College Students, Garrett Drake

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Over time, the United States population has gradually shifted to an increasingly inactive lifestyle, and there has been a decline in health behavior. Only 50% of the population meet the recommended guidelines for weekly physical activity. With this glaring increase of inactive lifestyles, programs designed to increase health behavior change have become crucial. One solution to this problem has been a required Lifelong Fitness class at George Fox University where new college students learn knowledge and skills to implement for healthier lifestyles during this transformative time. A multiple regression model predicting long-term exercise by pre-minutes of exercise, post-minutes of exercise, …

Longitudinal Outcomes Of Youth Who Age Out Of Foster Care, Tegan Lesperance

Wayne State University Dissertations

LONGITUDINAL OUTCOMES OF YOUTH WHO AGE OUT OF FOSTER CARE

by

TEGAN LESPERANCE

May 2018

Advisor: Dr. Paul Toro

Major: Psychology (Clinical)

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Each year in America, between 20,000 and 30,000 youths reach an age, typically 18 years, when they must exit the foster care system due to age restrictions, in a process referred to as aging out (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016). These youths disproportionately experience a host of negative outcomes, including high rates of homelessness and precarious housing, high levels of psychological distress and victimization, increased risk of substance abuse, lower …

Attachment Styles And The Michelangelo Phenomenon: Role Of Individual Differences In Interpersonal Growth Striving, Laura Marika Patrick

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Michelangelo Phenomenon provides an interpersonal model of goal pursuits and suggests that close partners sculpt one another and help them move toward their ideal selves. Attachment theory also provides a parallel explanation of how close others can help one another move toward their goals. The purpose of the current research was to look at the influence of attachment on the Michelangelo Phenomenon and test whether it best fit as a predictor, mediator, or moderator. The hypotheses were tested across three studies (two longitudinal and one cross-sectional) using a maximum likelihood estimation path analysis following APIM assumptions. The results provided strong …

Neurogenetics Of The Externalizing Spectrum, Caitlin E. Carey

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Externalizing spectrum disorders, which include attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, alcohol and substance use disorders, and antisocial personality disorder, are characterized by behavioral disinhibition and are thought to be manifestations of a common heritable liability factor throughout the lifespan. However, relatively little is known about their underlying etiology. Here, I probe genetic and neural risk mechanisms for externalizing psychopathology in three complementary studies. First, I report an indirect association between genetic risk for childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and problem drinking in young adulthood, mediated by heightened reward-related neural activity within the ventral striatum, among 404 college students. I …