Psychology Commons^™

Identifying Trauma Related Predictors Of Dissociation In Maltreated Youth, Amanda L. Mraz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Maltreated youth who experience traumatic dissociation are at an increased risk for various psychopathological difficulties. Much is still unknown about the machinations behind experiences of dissociation post-trauma. This study aimed to identify variables that place maltreated youth at risk for experiencing traumatic dissociation (e.g., dissociative amnesia, absorption and imaginative involvement, passive influence, depersonalization and derealization, and total adolescent dissociative experiences symptoms (A-DES)). Investigatory variables included demographic (e.g., age, gender, and racial identity), cognitive (e.g., resiliency and posttraumatic cognitions), and psychological (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) and anxiety) factors. Classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was utilized to observe the …

Anxious And Oppositional Behavior Factors In A Community Sample Of Youth With Selective Mutism, Andrew Gerthoffer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Selective mutism (SM) is a childhood disorder characterized by a failure to speak in certain situations (e.g., school, social situations; APA, 2013). SM is best assessed using a comprehensive multimodal strategy (Dow et al., 1995; Krysanski, 2003; Viana et al., 2009; Wong, 2010), including parent reports of a child’s behavior. One commonly used parent report measure is the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). The purpose of the present study was to identify specific CBCL items that may help substantiate SM subtypes in children. The study used confirmatory factor analysis to determine whether a two-factor structure (anxious and …

Assessing The Effect Of Race Saliency In Measures Of Children’S Implicit Bias, Veronica A. Glover

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The main goal of this study was to determine if race saliency affected responses on implicit measures of racial bias. Including racial labels in measures assessing implicit bias, particularly when presenting two racial groups vs. just one group, may inadvertently cue children that race is an important grouping variable and, in turn, increase the bias they display. We investigated 8- and 13-year old children’s performance on the affective priming task (APT), which does not use labels; the single category implicit association test (SCIAT) with Black faces and the SCIAT with White faces, each of which includes only one racial label; …

The Presentation Of Childhood Parental Divorce In Adulthood: A Retrospective Phenomenological Study, Sheala Catherine Morrison

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has been a wealth of research aimed at developing an understanding of the way in which the experience of divorce impacts children. However, adult children of divorce have been widely underrepresented in this literature, much of which is outdated being at least ten years old. With shifting societal attitudes and the transformation of the family system since the 1990's it is crucial that the research is updated in order to stay up on the way children and families are impacted in today's society. The purpose of this study was to hear directly from adults who experienced their parents' divorce …

The Influence Of Person Familiarity On Children's Social Information Processing, Andrew J. Cummings

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined the influence person familiarity has on children's social information processing (SIP) choices and emotion recognition. Children in grades 2nd through 5th watch a videotaped expression of a familiar or unfamiliar individual while listening to a hypothetical social interaction. Following the video clip, children responded to open-ended questions and prompted questions designed to assess their strategies and goals in the social interaction. Children also selected from two choices (either `on purpose' or `by accident') for their attribution of the individual's intent. Last, children identified the emotion that they believed the individual in the video was experiencing the most. …

Resilience And Trauma In Maltreated Youth, Timothy Day

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research into resilience represents a theoretical shift from the medical model in contemporary psychology to a focus on adaptation (Poulou, 2007). The relationship however between resilience and the development and PTSD in children remains unclear. The purpose of this present study is to expand on this research by investigating resilience and adaptability with respect to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms across maltreated youth of different ethnicities at risk for PTSD. Participants will be recruited from a Department of Family Services (DFS)-affiliated clinic in the Las Vegas area and administered the Children's PTSD Inventory (CPTSD-I), Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 Parent …

Executive Function Profiles In Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury, Erik Nelson Ringdahl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Traumatic brain injury is a common cause of disability and death among children in the United States. Insult to the frontal and temporal lobes are frequent in closed head brain injury. Cognitive deficits in a variety of domains are common sequelae of brain trauma. In many cases, trauma to the frontal and temporal lobe regions engender prominent deficits in higher-order cognitive processing, memory, and attention.

Higher-order cognitive processing, or Executive Functions are the grouping of cognitive processes necessary for organization of thoughts and activities, attending to the activities, prioritizing tasks, managing time efficiently, and making decisions (Alvarez & Emory, 2006; …

Enhanced Food Marketing To Children On The Internet: A Content Analysis, Sarah A. Ochsner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In light of the continuing epidemic of childhood obesity, aggressive food marketing strategies have come under increased scrutiny as a possible contributing factor. It has been acknowledged in numerous studies, that poor nutrient quality of food and beverages dominate children's programming. The growth in child-specific media envoys has further increased favorable opportunities to market food and beverages to children, notably less regulated and parentally unsupervised. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 65% of children aged 6-11 have home access to the Internet; and today, the majority of food manufacturers operate websites appealing to children. The Institute of Medicine issued a …

Cluster Analysis Of The Tomal Standardization Sample, Nicholas Shizuo Thaler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children experience natural cognitive changes as they grow older, with more rapid memory development when they are younger. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the expected normal variation in youth using the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL; Reynolds & Bigler, 1994). The TOMAL is a broad-band verbal and nonverbal memory battery that has been standardized on youth aged 5-19, providing a good source of information on memory development in healthy children. Cluster analysis analyzed 1121 children selected from the TOMAL standardization sample and identified homogeneous profile subtypes of memory and learning. In addition, three age ranges …

Modeling: A Cognitive Approach In Ameliorating Impulsivity In Hyperactive Children, Ronald T. Brown

Integrated Health Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.