Psychology Commons^™

Racial Experiences And Racial Identity Experiences Of “New” African Americans In The United States, Sosna Marshet, Kenna Yadeta

Undergraduate Research Posters

The challenges faced by Black immigrants in the United States are significant, beginning with isolation and loneliness and intensified by pervasive discrimination. This study examines the impact of racism on the racial identity of Black immigrants in the United States. Using the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI), various dimensions of Black identity were measured among 119 Black first and second-generation immigrants aged 18 to 51. The results showed a positive correlation between experiences of racism and the centrality dimension of Black identity, a negative correlation with the humanist, and a positive correlation with Nationalist dimensions of Black identity. These …

Perspectives Of Middle School Students On Their Engagement And Relevance In Science, Dylan E. Young, Kamil Hankour, Javonti Braxton, Martinique Sealy, Hui Sun, Christine Bae

Undergraduate Research Posters

The purpose of this study is to explore urban middle school students' thoughts and attitudes about engagement, belonging, use of their funds of knowledge (FoK), and discourse in their science classrooms. Historically, students from this population often feel disengaged and alienated from science, which is why it is important to study their point of view; and, there is currently a dearth of literature that does so (Emdin et al., 2021; Fredricks et al., 2018). The engagement model used includes behavioral, cognitive, affective and social dimensions (Wang et al., 2016). The data was collected in a study that involves collaboration between …

The Association Between Survivors’ Guilt And Gratitude In The Belongingness Of Refugee College Students, Mehwish Safdar

Undergraduate Research Posters

Many refugees experience significant stress and trauma before relocating to their host country (Leo, 2021) and often encounter new challenges when adapting to their unfamiliar environment. Refugee college students, who are often the first in their families to attend college, face additional pressure to excel academically to give back to their families and host country (Turjanmaa & Jasinskaja-Lahti, 2020). Despite prior research on refugee individuals, little work has focused on refugee college students. This study aimed to address this gap by examining the relationships between survivors’ guilt, gratitude, indebtedness, and belongingness in 16 refugee university students. Specifically, the study investigated …

Prevalence Of Nicotine Delivery Systems By Biological Sex In The Spit For Science Study, Ayrton Quiroz, Amy Adkins, S4s Working Group, Elizabeth Prom-Wormley, Elizabeth K. Do, Megan Cooke, James Clifford, Hermine H. Maes

Undergraduate Research Posters

Nicotine intake usage trends have changed over recent decades given the wide variety of nicotine delivery systems including cigarettes, vaping, hookah, and snubs/chewables. These trends also vary by demographic factors, such as race/ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). For example, studies in rat populations, as well as humans, have found that females tend to be more dependent on nicotine products and have a more difficult time quitting than male rats and humans (Pogun et al., 2017). Also, race/ethnicity may impact the frequency of nicotine usage in different populations; in that non-white Hispanics were more susceptible to smoking through adolescence with …

Memory Reconsolidation And Alcohol Use Disorder: Intravenous Infusion Of Ketamine To Alleviate Addictive Symptoms In Alcohol Use Disorder Diagnoses, Yasaswi Veera

Undergraduate Research Posters

According to the National Institute of Health, substance use disorder in the United States in 2021 caused nearly 106,000 deaths and an annual healthcare and criminal justice expenditure of roughly $200 billion, however, only 10% of diagnoses receive proper treatment. This is primarily due to the lack of previous research in addictive studies as well as the lack of accessibility to resources and proper treatments. Current treatments for alcohol use disorder range from medications and behavioral therapies, such as acamprosate, naltrexone, and cognitive behavior therapy. Much of these treatments consist of reconditioning the brain to associate alcohol with a negative …

The Relationship Between Social Media Use And Depression And Anxiety Symptoms During Covid-19, Tene'sha L. Crews, Christina Sheerin

Undergraduate Research Posters

The rise of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global surge in exposure to disaster and crisis-related media. Increases in poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression, are associated with increased exposure to such media content (Abbas et al., 2021; Riehm et al., 2020; Zhao & Zhou, 2020). In recent years, social media has become one of the most widely used sources for news; approximately 48% of adult Americans receive their news from social media (Pew Research Center, 2021). During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in social media use due to social distancing and …

Spanish Translation And Psychometric Validation Of A Measure Of Acculturative Stress Among Latinx Immigrants In The Usa, Ria Grover, Kritzia Merced, Chimdindu Ohayagha, Isis Garcia-Rodriguez,, Oswaldo Moreno, Paul B. Perrin

Undergraduate Research Posters

BACKGROUND: In the U.S., the Latinx community is growing at a faster rate than any other racial and ethnic minority group. Members of this community have been found to experience a number of acculturative stressors after immigrating including xenophobia, racism, and discrimination. Although several scales have been created in recent years to measure acculturative stress in Spanish-speaking immigrants, they are long, do not have nuanced subscales, or have not been validated in an extremely diverse sample of Latinx immigrants.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to translate and psychometrically validate the Riverside Acculturative Stress Inventory (RASI) in a …

Adolescent Expressive Reluctance Exacerbates Risk For Substance Use Following Daily Hassles, Chad M. Hensberger, David W. Sosnowski M.S., Wendy Kliewer Ph.D, Kristina Mcguire M.S.

Undergraduate Research Posters

Previous research has established a link between adolescent’s perceived daily hassles and subsequent adjustment, but less is known about factors that exacerbate this relationship. The purpose of the present study was to identify if adolescent’s reluctance to express emotions moderated the association between their perceived daily hassles and subsequent substance use (i.e., alcohol, marijuana, tobacco). Cross-sectional data were obtained from a larger study that examined the effects of exposure to community violence among low-income, urban adolescents (N = 260, M_age = 14.14, SD = 1.62 years; 92% African American; 54% female). Linear regression analyses controlling for adolescent age, …

How Personal Names Shape The Way Society Sees People As Individuals In The United States., Rand Gabriel M. Buenaventura

Undergraduate Research Posters

In a world where people are disadvantaged by first impressions and implicit bias, names factor a lot into a person’s successes in life. Whether it be first names, last names, the number of middle initials, the gender and racial implications of a person’s name, and societal standards surrounding names and naming systems, there are multiple ways names shape a person’s identity. Thus, it is important to ask how personal names shape the way people are seen as individuals in the United States and contribute to their identity. Names are a trait that people are born with, usually determined before anything …

College Student Alcohol Use And Engagement In Prevention Programming, Alexis H. Branch, Shimona Kumar, Christina Mcgrath

Undergraduate Research Posters

Social problems and adverse consequences have been associated with risky alcohol use (Paschall et al, 2015). Personalized Normative Feedback (PNF) has been utilized to address these problems (White and Hingson, 2014) by comparing students’ alcohol use to campus or national norms (Butler et al, 2009). The current investigation sought to understand differences in alcohol use behaviors in freshmen who did and did not report completion of a personalized feedback intervention (PFI) in a diverse sample of college students from the Spit for Science (S4S) project. S4S is a campus-wide, longitudinal study on the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to …

Effects Of Nostalgia On Responses To Negative Feedback, Michaela K. Avino, Thomas Cotter, Simron Richard, Athena Cairo, Jeffrey Green

Undergraduate Research Posters

Nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion evoked by memories of cherished personal experiences. Though nostalgia is a self-focused emotion, it has many interpersonal effects as well. Feeling nostalgia increases feelings of social connectedness and self esteem, and may protect against negative effects of existential threat (Wildschut et al., 2006). However, less is known about the extent to which nostalgia relates to anger and aggression. We hypothesized that nostalgia would buffer against the effect of negative feedback on feelings of anger and motivation to aggress. Undergraduate students wrote about a nostalgic or objective memory, and then received negative feedback about another personal …

The Bamboo Ceiling: A Study Of Barriers To Asian American Advancement, Emily Cheng

Undergraduate Research Posters

The idea of cultural diversity in the workplace is a popular one, generating much discussion about the inclusion of and affirmative action toward minorities. However, these conversations rarely involve Asian Americans, who despite above-average levels of educational achievement, household income, and employment, find themselves underrepresented in and shut-out of upper-level management positions. In this project, I investigated the stereotype of East-Asian Americans as a model minority (created by non-Asians) to find out why East-Asian Americans are underrepresented in upper-level management in corporate workplaces, a phenomenon known as the “bamboo ceiling.” I explored a variety of scholarly sources that analyzed the …

Alexithymia Moderates The Association Between Maternal Depressive Symptoms And Perceived Adolescent Adjustment, Hayne Noh

Undergraduate Research Posters

Rates of suicide among African American youth are increasing faster than any other ethnic group (Bridge et al., 2015). With mental illness associated with suicide rates, it is essential to understand how symptoms manifest during adolescence. Although the association between maternal depression and poor adolescent adjustment is well established, there is a dearth of evidence examining the impact of maternal alexithymia on adolescent adjustment, particularly among low-income youth. The goal of the study was to elucidate the role of maternal alexithymia (difficulty understanding and expressing emotion) in the association between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent adjustment within a sample of …

Abating Prejudice With Presence: Dispositional Mindfulness Increases Interracial Helping Behavior, Justin Tubbs, Daniel R. Berry, Kirk Warren Brown

Undergraduate Research Posters

Helping behavior is less frequently shown toward members of social out-groups (Cikra, Bruneau, & Saxe, 2011). Race defines a common source of social division in America and other countries, and although most condemn racial discrimination, helping is undermined in interracial interactions (Saucier, Miller, & Doucet, 2005). Recent theory suggests that mindfulness, a receptive attention to one’s present experience, can attenuate the conceptual boundaries that typically separate and distance oneself from others (Trautwein, Schmidt, & Naranjo, 2014). We designed an experiment to examine whether dispositional mindfulness would be associated with increased helping behavior in interracial contexts. Self-identifying White participants ( …

The Netflix Effect And Defining Binge-Watching, Brenna C. Davis

Undergraduate Research Posters

With the accessibility of television programs provided by popular streaming platforms, like Netflix, consumers can watch episodes or seasons of their favorite programming in just one sitting. This new practice of watching television has been referred to as binge-watching, and is defined by Netflix as watching two to six episodes of the same show in one sitting. Netflix’s definition is the most widely used definition of binge-watching, but does not account for the varying lengths of episodes for the different types of programming. There is a lack of standardization in what constitutes a television binge, like the standards that exist …

Are Parental Involvement, Religiosity, And Relationship Quality Associated With Substance Use Messages In South African Families?, Jerry L. Mize Ii, Wendy Kliewer

Undergraduate Research Posters

Using transcribed interviews from a GEO- and UKZN-funded study with a low-income, multi-ethnic sample in Durban, South Africa (N = 272), messages regarding what caregivers recall saying to their children about drug use were coded into one of eight categories by a trained research team. Categories included: Just the Facts, Real Examples, Resistance Tactics, Drugs are Bad, Negative Consequences, Encouraging Abstinence, Zero Tolerance, and Use Responsibly. The contributions of 1) parent religiosity, 2) parental involvement, and 3) parent-adolescent relationship quality to the message content were examined. Few overall differences in message content were found across the predictors suggesting that alternative …

Perceptions Of Harm And Addiction Among Dual Users Of Cigarettes And E-Cigarettes, Julia S. Rozman

Undergraduate Research Posters

Background: Tobacco harm perceptions are important factors in why individuals may initiate, substitute, and/or engage in dual or poly-tobacco use patterns. Identifying correlates of these perceptions is important for understanding why these cognitions may exist and help provide intervention targets. The purpose of the current study was to examine perceptions of harm and addiction among a sample of cigarette and electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) users and examine whether these perceptions differ by demographics, other substance use, and tobacco use history.

Methods: The current sample consisted of 29 individuals who consented to participate in a clinical laboratory study of dual cigarette and …

The Effects Of Pet Ownership On Anxiety And Depression Among Trauma-Exposed College Students, Dung N. Nguyentran, Marlene A. Michniak, James J. Jung, Christine Q. Do

Undergraduate Research Posters

Rates of anxiety and depression are prevalent in college students and can be attributed in part to stress and trauma-related events. However, studies suggest that pet ownership has the possibility of alleviating symptoms of anxiety, depression, negative emotions, and suicide. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between pet ownership and levels of anxiety and depression among those who have experienced a traumatic event. The sample was comprised of five hundred and forty-seven VCU students who completed an online survey from Spit for Science during their junior year. Linear regressions were performed to determine the nature and …

Risk Factors Associated With First-Year College Dropout, Tiffany K. Ho, Divya Krishna

Undergraduate Research Posters

Previous research has shown that a variety of factors can impact college student’s academic performance, including healthy nutrition, physical activity, substance use, smoking, early sexual activity, bullying, excessive television watching, internet use, and playing video games. The purpose of the current study was to explore possible predictors of dropout in students after their first year of college. Data came from the Spit for Science sample and were limited to individuals in the first three cohorts that answered the survey during the fall of their freshmen year (N=6105). Logistic regression was used to test a variety of risk factors, including mental/behavior …

Examining The Psychological Adjustments Of Neurotypical Siblings Of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd) And Determining The Efficiency Of Support Groups, Swathi Deo Sambatha

Undergraduate Research Posters

Neurotypical siblings of individuals with behavioral disorders are reported to have complex, complicated psychological adjustments that vary significantly due to a multitude of sociodemographic factors. In addition, these children are at risk of mental health disorders and negative psychological symptoms. Support groups or extensive social support are known to increase intra-communication and create better sibling dynamics between the neurotypical and autistic siblings. This paper investigates such complications to the psychological adjustment of neurotypical siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and determines the implications of the utilization of support groups/social support. The analyzed trends and reportings of multiple studies …

The Effects Of Eastern Versus Western Cultures On Women's Perceptions And Disclosure Of Mental Illness, Whitney Roxanne Sherrick

Undergraduate Research Posters

Mental illnesses and the stigma that surrounds them have caused societal unrest since the development of the modern human. However, there remain differences in the way individuals perceive mental illness, allowing various levels of stigma to arise. The focus of this research is to determine the contrast between the views of Western and Eastern cultures concerning mental health status - exploring how cultural expectations for women affect their perception, and disclosure, of mental illnesses. This research involves studies that examined societal expectations for Western and Eastern cultures, and experiments measuring the perceptions of mental illness from individuals with various heritages. …

The Relation Between Infant Construction Strategy And Language Development In Toddlers, Gullnar Syed, Emily C. Marcinowski, Stacey C. Dusing, George F. Michel, Eliza L. Nelson

Undergraduate Research Posters

Infants learn from interaction with physical objects in their environments. Object construction, or merging individual objects into a single structure, has been linked previously to language. Items and toys can be structured and combined with similarity to word combinations (Greenfield, 1991). Infants initially combine 2 objects and then graduate on to combine 3 pieces or more. Words are put together in comparable ways, with each word corresponding to an object, and a sentence corresponding to a single structure. The purpose of this project is to explore how construction ability in infants affects language ability in toddlers. We hypothesize that the …

The Relationship Between Exercise And Depression And Anxiety In College Students, Joshua Frank, Dr. Amy Adkins, Nathan Thomas, Dr. Danielle Dick

Undergraduate Research Posters

The literature shows an inverse association between exercise and mental disorders. The aim of this study is to further elaborate on this association with regards to exercise and its relationship with anxiety and depression in a college sample. The subject group focused on seniors in the Spit for Science data set which incorporated a total of 821 students. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to estimate the overall metabolic equivalents (MET’s) each student spent in walking, moderate, or vigorous activity levels in the previous week. Sum scores were used to measure depression and anxiety. Overall,the …

"Black People Don't Tip": Racism In The Restaurant Industry, Hortance E. Houngbeke

Undergraduate Research Posters

Due to discrimination, waiters are less likely to provide good customer service to their black dinners solely based on the assumption that they are poor tippers. The theory of discrimination is the foundation of this observational study where attentiveness is measured to reflect waiters’ avoidance of African American diners. Assuming waiters start with their preconceived notions about Black customers, this research will use the critical race theory to determine if waiters are less attentive to African American diners. To further understand the subtle discriminatory behavior of waiters toward African Americans, this study analyzes observational data from a sample of waiters …

Depression Intervention Programs In Low-Income High Schools, Gopika Hari

Undergraduate Research Posters

It is estimated that 2.6 million adolescents suffer from major depressive episodes each year. Research has noted that symptoms in youth have become indicators of mental health complications later in life. Studies reveal that low income is a risk factor for depression and that socioeconomically-disadvantaged teenagers are more than twice as likely to develop mental illnesses. Only roughly 25% of children with mental illnesses receive adequate help and 80% of these resources come from schools. This study focuses on establishing the importance of depression intervention programs in low-income high schools and on designing novel guidelines for effective protocols. A compilation …

Stall Seat Journal As A Social Norms Intervention For Risky Drinking Among College Students, Zackaria I. Niazi, Mariam Alshagra, Rhianna G. Ericson, Jinni Su Ph.D., Linda C. Hancock Ph.D.

Undergraduate Research Posters

Alcohol use is prevalent among college students and many participate in risky drinking behaviors over the course of their college careers, leading to negative consequences. The social norms theory posits that individuals behave based on their perceptions of peer behavior. Overestimation of peers’ problem behavior is associated with increase in their own problem behavior. The Stall Seat Journal (SSJ), developed by the Wellness Resource Center, is used in part to help correct common misperceptions, including those related to peer alcohol use. Our study aimed to see if Stall Seat Journal readership was associated with perception of peer alcohol use among …

Promoting Prosocial Responsiveness Across Racial Divides Through Mindfulness, Chris J. Wall, Paul E. Plonski, Daniel R. Berry, Kirk W. Brown

Undergraduate Research Posters

In interracial and other intergroup interactions, prosocial emotions and actions are often undermined (Cikara & van Bavel, 2014). Perceiving psychological separateness between “us” and “them” – which is often an automatic, unintentional process – is psychological kindling for lower prosocial responsiveness that leads to prejudice, discrimination, aggressive conflict (Cikara, 2015). Recent research has shown that mindfulness, an open and unconditional attention to one’s present experiences, is associated with decreased automaticity and racial bias (Kang, Gruber, & Gray, 2013; Lueke & Gibson, 2014), barriers that hinder prosocial responsiveness (Trautwien, Schmidt, & Naranjo, 2014). Two experiments investigated whether brief mindfulness training promoted …

Asthma-Related Anxiety And Quick-Relief Medication Use In Urban Children With Asthma, Sarah E. Astrab, Robin Everhart

Undergraduate Research Posters

Among children, asthma is the most common chronic illness. Although not curable, asthma is manageable with the use of both daily controller medication and quick relief or rescue medication. Anxiety has been found to increase asthma symptoms in children. Caregivers who are anxious about their child’s asthma symptoms may perceive their child’s asthma as more severe or doubt their ability to manage their child’s asthma, which can result in the misuse of asthma medication. This study focused on the association between asthma-related anxiety and the use of quick-relief asthma medications in a low-income, urban sample in Richmond, Virginia. Child participants …

Effect Of Maternal Sensitivity On Language Acquisition Of Multiples, Madhuri Prayaga

Undergraduate Research Posters

The purpose of this study was to examine language acquisition and development in multiple birth children compared to singleton children in order to examine how decreased maternal sensitivity amongst mothers of multiple compared to mothers of singletons affects language acquisition skills in children.. The first phase of research for this study started with research on maternal sensitivity, specifically differing levels of it amongst mothers of different types of children, either by singletons of multiples, and potential causes for these differing levels of maternal sensitivity. The second phase focused on language skills of multiple and singletons at a young age and …

Heterosexism Faced By Adolescents In The Rural United States: A Case For Implementing Student-Made Lgbt Programs, Beau W. Coggsdale

Undergraduate Research Posters

GSAs, Gay-Straight Alliances, influence the heterosexist environment within a school system, especially rural schools. The data was collected from various journals documenting suicide rates and levels of self-esteem in rural environments. A lot of the data was collected was cross-referenced because of the lack of research into LGBT youth in rural environments. Much of the research that was conducted was focused on ameliorating internalized homophobia of urban LGBT youth instead of rural LGBT youth, so research into LGBT urban youth was applied to those in a rural environment. Heterosexism exists in school systems because of the lack of support for …