Psychology Commons^™

Treatment Preferences And Outcome In A Randomized Controlled Trial For Depression Comparing Supportive-Expressive Therapy To Medication And Pill Placebo, Sophia Elsie Winter

Doctoral Dissertations

Previous research regarding the relationship between patient treatment preferences on outcome has been equivocal, with some studies finding a significant relationship between preference match and outcome, and others finding no such evidence. This study examines the effect of patient treatment preference match on outcome using data from a previously published randomized controlled trial comparing supportive-expressive therapy (SET), to antidepressant medication plus clinical management, and to pill-placebo plus clinical management. The original study included 156 participants receiving treatment at the Center for Psychotherapy research at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. This study is the first to examine the relationship …

Academic Work Ethic In Middle School Students: Extending Scale Research And Investigating Construct Validity, Emily Pendergrast Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations

This three-study dissertation was designed to: 1) extend the research on Parkhurst’s (2013) Academic Work Ethic-Student (AWE-S) scale, 2) develop and analyze reliability of the Academic Work Ethic-Teacher (AWE-T) scale, and 3) expound on the construct validity of academic work ethic by comparing AWE-S and AWE-T scores to external factors (i.e., grades, perceived support, and parental work ethic) and Grit (Duckworth, 2007), a similar construct. Research was conducted in both rural and urban middle schools in Tennessee and included student, teacher, and parent participants.

Both scales were found to have high reliability coefficients and stable factor structures. Student scale (AWE-S) …

Testing A Model Based Approach To Selective And Flexible Attention, Anastasia Nicole Kerr-German

Masters Theses

A recent neural-process approach using dynamic field theory (DFT), put forth by Buss and Spencer (2014), demonstrated how a simple dimensional attention mechanism can explain the behavioral and neural data associated with the development of flexible attention and performance in the Dimensional Change Card Sorting task (DCCS). Taking a dynamical systems approach to the development of attention in executive functioning is critical as it allows us to further probe the underlying processes and mechanisms that give rise to later life success.

The goal of the current proposal is to generalize DFT in order to explain the development of selective attention …

Family Environment Variables And Adjustment Outcomes In Appalachian Youth: The Moderating Role Of Participation In Extracurricular Activities, Rebecca Lee Shorter

Masters Theses

Objective: Poor family functioning and parenting practices are often linked to poor adjustment outcomes for children and adolescents. We examined the association between relational and contextual family environment variables and adjustment outcomes in an understudied sample of rural Appalachian youth. Also examined was whether extracurricular involvement moderated the relationship between these variables. Method: Participants were 367 adolescents from multiple high schools (grades 9-12) in an Appalachian region of rural East Tennessee. Self-report measures were used to assess internalizing and externalizing problems, family relationships, extracurricular activity, and health risk behaviors; truancy data was collected from academic records. Results: As expected, family …

Intra-Individual And Cross-Partner Associations Between The Five Facets Of Mindfulness And Relationship Satisfaction, Katherine Allison Lenger

Masters Theses

Research has established that mindfulness may be useful to individual and dyadic wellbeing among both early-stage and long-term relationships. Nonetheless, it remains unclear which mechanisms of mindfulness are most relevant to relationship satisfaction among long-term married couples. Furthermore, although previous research suggests that an individual’s total mindfulness is not related to his or her partner’s relationship satisfaction, we have yet to determine whether any specific facets of mindfulness may evidence a significant cross-partner association with relationship satisfaction. The present study seeks to address these gaps in the literature using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Data were collected from 164 …

Effects Of Social Status On Responses To Social Defeat Stress In Female Syrian Hamsters, Ashley V. Campbell, Matthew A. Cooper

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Transgender Self-Attitudes: Formation And Change A Qualitative Study, Juliet Ezhil Meggs

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study explored attitudes of transgender people about being transgender and how these attitudes had formed and changed over participants’ lifetimes. Using a qualitative, grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2003), interviews with 11 transgender adults were coded and analyzed. Two primary categories of attitudes were identified: participant attitudes regarding acceptability of being transgender and attitudes regarding how possible they believed it is to be transgender and/or transition genders. Early in life, most participants had little exposure to the idea of being transgender, and those that knew of it often initially believed that it would too difficult or impossible to transition. …

Examining Consensual Non-Monogamy Among Emerging Adult Samples: A Collection Of Studies, Kayla Marie Sizemore

Doctoral Dissertations

Using multiple methodologies, this collection of manuscripts examined various components of CNM during the period of emerging adulthood. Manuscript one presents a systematic review and critique of the methodology used in research on CNM attitudes and desire among emerging adults between 1974 and 2016. Several methodological characteristics were reviewed across 18 empirical articles, including sample characteristics, recruitment and sampling strategy, measurement, and overall methodology and focus. Despite general commentary among researchers in this field, this review concludes that CNM research has shown little improvement with regard to its methodological limitations since the 1970’s.

The second manuscript contributes to the extant …

Investigating The Role Of Testosterone Signaling At Androgen Receptors In Resiliency To Social Stress, Catherine Tucker Clinard

Doctoral Dissertations

Social experience can alter how individuals cope with stressful events and contribute to individual differences in stress vulnerability. We have previously tested dominant and subordinate male Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) in a conditioned defeat model and found that dominant individuals show reduced defeat-induced changes in behavior compared to subordinates. Dominant hamsters also show increased neural activation following social defeat stress in brain regions that regulate social behavior and coping with stress, including the medial amygdala (MeA). Because winning aggressive encounters generates a surge in plasma testosterone and androgen receptors are abundant in the MeA, we tested whether testosterone …

Therapy Dogs In The College Classroom: The Effect Of Dogs On Stress, Anxiety, And Spanish L2 Phonological Learning And Performance, Elaine Maralee Henry

Doctoral Dissertations

Anxiety and stress invoked by the second language classroom setting has the ability to cause numerous detrimental physiological changes which impair the learning process. A more natural, “immersion” type atmosphere is often desired when teaching a second language; however, this is not typically possible with college classes. Therefore, the addition of therapy dogs to college second language classes may be a beneficial solution since therapy dogs are frequently cited as having the ability to lower stress and anxiety in many different settings. Stroking and interacting with a dog may reduce many markers of stress, including blood pressure, heart rate, and …

Examining The Nature And Consequences Of Interfunctional Bias In A Corporate Setting, William Adam Powell

Doctoral Dissertations

Interfunctional bias is examined in this dissertation as a potential barrier to interfunctional cooperation. Interfunctional cooperation is desirable in modern corporate organizations as a contributor to effective service delivery, operations planning, and sales performance. Interfunctional stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination are hypothesized to relate positively, and together provide the bias-based theoretical basis through which barriers to interfunctional cooperation can be more thoroughly understood. Based on the extant literature in marketing and psychology, competing models of interfunctional bias are developed and hypothesized. In the first of three studies a questionnaire-based survey of supply chain employees’ perceptions of salespeople permitted the examination of …

Burnout In Young Adult Performing Artists, Benjamin Hyun Stocking

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the experience of burnout in adolescent/young adult performing arts (i.e. a World-Class junior drum & bugle corps) at the beginning of their competitive training season. Specifically, this study took particular interest in investigating the predictive influence of psychological variables such as performance anxiety, psychological coping skills, and coping functions in predicting who was more prone to burnout as well as who returned or dropped out after the competitive season.

Data were drawn from an archive of 144 drum corps performers, representing one world class drum and bugle corps at the beginning of …

Ethnic Discrimination And Psychological Distress Among Middle Eastern/Arab Americans: The Roles Of Religiosity, Coping, Ethnic Identity, And Family Connectedness, Ayse Selin Ikizler

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite increased public attention in the past decade towards the Middle East and Arab world, only a small but growing body of research literature investigating the mental health of individuals with ethnic background originating in these countries exists. Given the major stigma associated with being Middle Eastern/Arab (MEA) in the United States, the mental health-related implications for MEA Americans is of particular interest in the present study. Specifically, we investigated (1) the moderating role of religiosity in the link between religious affiliation and ethnic discrimination and (2) potential mediators (coping via internalization, detachment, and drugs/alcohol) and moderators (ethnic identity and …

Native American Young Adults In Their Transition To College, And Persistence Through The First Year, Adrian Alexander Rodriguez

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation study focused on a mixed-methods exploration of Native American students’ perceptions of risks and protective factors as they transitioned to college at a predominately White institution (PWI), and navigated through their first year. Due to low numbers of Native Americans at PWIs, individuals have described feeling invisible, which negatively impacts their ethnic identity development, sense of belonging, wellbeing, and retention in college. Factors involving respect, positive relationships, cultural affirmation, and resiliency are associated with success and retention for Native American students.

A mixed-methods model, guided by grounded theory and principles of social justice advocacy provided a reflection on …

Internalized Heterosexism, Religious Coping, And Psychache In Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Young Adults, Jon Raymond Bourn

Doctoral Dissertations

Psychache, or unbearable psychological pain (Shneidman, 1993, 1999), has been found to be the most proximal predictor of suicidality. There is evidence that heterosexism (Crain-Gully, 2011), including internalized heterosexism (IH; Bourn & Miles, 2015), is related to psychache among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals. The current study sought to further examine the relationship between IH and psychache, by identifying potential factors that moderate and mediate the relationship between IH and psychache. It was hypothesized that, in a sample of religiously-identified LGB young adults, (a) IH would be significantly, negatively correlated with positive religious coping (PRC) and significantly, positively correlated …

The Effects Of The Color Wheel System On Disruptive Behavior And Classroom Climate: Validating The Color Wheel In Kindergarten Classrooms, Tiffany Lynn Watson

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study was initiated by a principal who was interested in implementing the Color Wheel System in her school. The purpose of the current study was to empirically validate the classroom management system for kindergarten students. Although there is some evidence that the procedure may be effective with kindergarten students, no scientific procedures have been applied to evaluate the Color Wheel System in kindergarten classrooms. Analyses were conducted on the average inappropriate vocalizations and out-of-seat behavior of the entire class (i.e., 16-17 students) across three classrooms. We also evaluated the effect of the Color Wheel System on students’ perception …

Conformity To Masculine Norms: A Case-Based Time-Series Analysis Of Men In Intergroup Dialogue, Isaac Curtiss Brandt

Doctoral Dissertations

There is an established and growing body of research associating poor health outcomes among men with conformity to socialized masculine gender norms (Bonar et al., 2011; Borsari, Murphy, & Barnett, 2007; Courtenay, 2011). This study explored whether this socialization is subject to change in four individual male participants in a multi-week, small group learning environment called Intergroup Dialogue (IGD). Participants in IGD “closely examine the socially constructed norms and ideologies that guide their (often unconscious) beliefs” (Dessel & Rogge, 2008 p.213). IGD groups met for eight sessions. Pre- and Post-group scores on the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory-46 (CMNI) were …

Relationship Qualities: Investigating The Nature Of Self-Identified Couple Strengths And Language Use During A Strengths Interview, Katie Cassandra Wischkaemper

Doctoral Dissertations

Research and practice in couple therapy has been influenced by positive psychology, and other factors, to create a nuanced viewed of relationship health. Relationship strengths are thought to be informative of overall relationship health, possibly even more so than relationship concerns (Gable, Gonzaga, & Strachman, 2006; Sullivan, Pasch, Johnson, & Bradbury, 2010). The present project explored the association between self-identified relationship strengths and couple satisfaction. Then, the study examined the association between self and partner pronoun use and level of couple satisfaction during an interview about relationship strengths.

Aim 1 replicated Gray and colleagues’ (under review) project which examined the …

College Adjustment, Discrimination, And Social Support Among Students Of Color, Daniela Andrea Recabarren

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite efforts to increase underrepresented student enrollment, Students of Color continue to have significantly lower college retention rates compared to their White counterparts on many U.S.college campuses. This study investigated associations between general ethnic discrimination, emotional adjustment to college, and attachment to college in Students of Color at one predominantly White public institution in theSoutheastern U.S. Students who were the first in their immediate family to attend college were compared to those with a parent who attended college. Social support from family and friends at home, as well as social integration in school were investigated as buffers of the impact …

Perceiving Sexual Consent: The Effects Of Gender And Alcohol Use On Perceptions Of Sexual Consent, Sarah Elizabeth Mauck

Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding sexual assault hinges on a firm conceptualization of sexual consent; however, few studies have investigated sexual consent, and much research related to sexual consent relies on traditional sexual script theory rather than a communicative model of sexual consent. The current study addressed gaps in the literature by employing a vignette technique to examine effects of vignette character gender and alcohol use and observer gender on observers’ perceptions of sexual consent for characters presented in a nonconsensual sexual scenario. Participants (N=387) were recruited via MTurk and were administered 1 of 4 randomly assigned vignettes. Participants then responded to items related …

Predictors Of Musical Performance: Personality, Performance Anxiety, And Flow, Whitney Jean Statham

Doctoral Dissertations

There is evidence to suggest that many university schools of music struggle with student retention. In many music programs, a significant factor in students being able to matriculate in their areas of study is based on quality of performance under “high-stakes” or high-pressure performances in the form of jury performances. The importance placed on these jury performances makes the ability to predict a student’s success in this area highly valuable to students and music educators. Using the Big Five Model of personality, and a measure of narrow personality traits, this study used a stepwise multiple regression to examine the relationship …

The On-Screen Water Cooler: Effects Of Televised User-Generated Comments On Cognitive Processing, Social Presence, And Viewing Experience., Jaclyn Ann Cameron

Doctoral Dissertations

Social television combines traditional television viewing and interactions with social media to create a phenomenon that connects otherwise autonomous viewers through a shared viewing experience. This dissertation explores one type of social television: on-screen user-generated comments. Although the practice spans multiple television genres, little is known about its effect on viewers’ cognitive processing of the media, perceptions of the social presence of other viewers, or the viewers’ experience of the media. Two experimental studies explored the effects of on-screen user-generated comments on cognitive processing of the media message, the effect of manipulating the content of on-screen user-generated comments and individual …

Functions Of Aggression And Peer Victimization In Elementary School Children: The Mediating Role Of Social Preference, Samantha Manring

Masters Theses

This study examined the longitudinal associations among functions of aggression, social preference, and peer victimization. Participants were 492 children (249 girls, 227 boys) in grades 2-5. Proactive and reactive aggression was assessed via a self-report measure and indices of social preference and peer victimization were assessed via a peer nomination inventory. Data was collected during the fall and spring of two academic years. Results suggest that the relation between aggression, social preference, and peer victimization varied by the function of aggression and gender. For girls, reactive aggression was a significant negative predictor of social preference. Findings also revealed social preference …

Music Student Satisfaction: The Relationship Between Learning Style Preferences And Major Satisfaction, Cora Marie Powers

Masters Theses

Based on Holland’s (1997) theory of person-environment fit, the primary purpose of this study was to examine learning style preferences of college music students utilizing the Kolb Learning Styles Inventory and VARK Learning Styles Inventory (Kolb, 1976, 1984 ; Fleming & Mills, 1992). These preferences were also explored relative to music students’satisfaction with their major. A tendency to prefer the Aural, Kinesthetic, and Active Experimentation learning styles was observed in the 134 music majors sampled. Among the music students sampled, those who most prefer the Active Experimentation learning style are most satisfied with their major. Some differences in learning style …

Convergence To Consensus In Heterogeneous Groups And The Emergence Of Informal Leadership, Sergey Gavrilets, Jeremy David Auerbach, Mark Van Vugt

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

When group cohesion is essential, groups must have efficient strategies in place for consensus decisionmaking. Recent theoretical work suggests that shared decision-making is often the most efficient way for dealing with both information uncertainty and individual variation in preferences. However, some animal and most human groups make collective decisions through particular individuals, leaders, that have a disproportionate influence on group decision-making. To address this discrepancy between theory and data, we study a simple, but general, model that explicitly focuses on the dynamics of consensus building in groups composed by individuals who are heterogeneous in preferences, certain personality traits (agreeability and …

Impulsivity And The Dissolution Of Romantic Relationships, Stephanie Marie Smith

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Word Learning In Quiet And In Noise: A Preliminary Study, Grace Marie Wholley

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Development Of The Coach Autonomy Support Beliefs Scale, Johannes Jakob Raabe

Doctoral Dissertations

Coaches’ autonomy support is one of the most meaningful influences on the satisfaction of athletes’ basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Mageau & Vallerand, 2003). Fostering these needs cultivates self-determined motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000), which has been found to positively affect individuals’ effort, persistence when faced with adversity, performance, performance-related anxiety, and well-being (Gillet, Berjot, & Gobance, 2009; Mack et al., 2011; Podlog & Dionigi, 2010; Vallerand & Losier, 1999). The reasoned action approach (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) suggests that coaches’ attitude, perceived behavioral control, and perceived norm toward autonomy support influences their use of autonomysupportive behaviors. …

Influences On Self-Regulated Learning In Low-Income Children: Examining The Role Of Private And Social Speech As Self-Regulation Tools, Lisa Ann Connor

Doctoral Dissertations

Self-regulated learning (SRL) allows children to become autonomous learners through facilitating their active planning, monitoring, and evaluation of their performance in the classroom. Low-income children have been found to exhibit lower SRL abilities compared to middle-class children. SRL is linked to a number of long-term academic outcomes, and thus, understanding what contributes to this ability is essential for intervention. One potential mediator of children’s emerging SRL abilities is language. Social Constructivist Theory provides a lens to view this relationship between language and SRL, denoting the importance of both the physical and social dimensions of the classroom when examining cognitive development. …

Examining The Writing Motivation And Achievement Of At-Risk Elementary-Aged Students, Melissa Sue Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

Writing achievement of students in the United States is weak. Approximately 75% of 12th graders are not proficient writers (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2012) and performance of students in poverty lags behind that of more affluent peers. Because writing is complex (Torrance & Galbraith, 2006) and often viewed as aversive to students (Boscolo & Gelati, 2013), motivation is an important consideration for teachers. However, little research exists examining writing motivation.

A correlational research design was employed to examine writing achievement and motivation (i.e., self-efficacy and attributions) of at-risk elementary-aged students (N = 61). Participants, who attended Title 1 …