Psychology Commons^™

Do Allyship And Motivation Influence Women’S Cognitive Functioning And Self-Regulation After Witnessing Sexism?, Christina Garasky

Dissertations

Prior research shows the effects of sexism can accumulate over time, resulting in severe negative, cognitive, affective, motivational, and physiological consequences for women; however, most research focuses on the consequences of being a direct target of sexism, and the cognitive and motivational consequences of being a witness of sexism have not yet been fully explored. Additionally, while it is thought that allyship can help mitigate the consequences of sexism, minimal research has tested this relationship. It was proposed that shifts in reactive approach motivation (RAM); aimed to protect against anxiety and negative affect, may direct attention away from goal-oriented behaviors, …

The Role Of Traumatic Experiences In Developing Nocturnal Panic Attacks, Nicole S. Smith

Dissertations

Nocturnal panic attacks refer to panic attacks that occur out of a sleeping state with no obvious cause, resulting in awakening at the peak of a panic attack. Nocturnal panic affects roughly half of patients with panic disorder as well as individuals with other psychological disorders such as PTSD. Prior research has suggested that experiencing a traumatic event may lead to the development of nocturnal panic attacks. The current study sought to expand upon the extant literature related to the role of trauma in nocturnal panic by collecting a comprehensive trauma and panic history in order to establish a timeline …

The Relationship Between Combat Experience, Veteran Pathology And The Pathology Of Their Intimate Partners: What Factors Predict The Pathology Of Veterans And Their Intimate Partners, Edwin A. Brennan

Dissertations

Problem Statement

Military members and their family members who are part of the Global War on Terrorism have experienced deployments and war for over sixteen years and with the resulting toll on both the veteran and their intimate partner. As a result, higher levels of pathology, such as PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression have been experienced by this population. While research has studied the effect of combat on military members, very little research has addressed the effects on family members. Further, no research that has been found by this researcher, has addressed the concept of resonating of pathology between the combat …

The Roles Of Hpa Axis Activity And Attentional Bias In The Development Of Anxiety Symptoms In Low-Income Mexican-Origin Children, Stephanie Brewer

Dissertations

The overarching goal of this research is to increase understanding of the development of anxiety in children of low-income Mexican-origin immigrants. Mexican-origin children display disproportionately high rates of mental disorders such as anxiety, as they face many chronic stressors related to poverty and immigration. A likely mediator of this process is HPA axis activity, causing a buildup of cortisol in the body in response to chronic stress. There is a large amount of evidence indicating that HPA axis activity is a mechanism through which accumulated poverty-related stress causes mental illness, but this mediator has not been examined in relation to …

Anxiety-Like Behaviors And C-Fos Expression In Adult Zebrafish: Effects Of Housing Conditions, Alcohol And Caffeine, Adam Douglas Collier

Dissertations

Alcohol abuse is the third largest risk factor for disease world, responsible for an estimated 3.3 million deaths each year. The concomitant ingestion of alcohol and caffeine is hypothesized to increase risk factors associated with alcohol use alone by reducing subjective effects of intoxication. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has recently garnered attention from researchers as an effective pre-clinical in-vivo animal model in behavioral pharmacology research, largely due to small size, low-cost and ease of drug delivery. A number of studies have reported the effects of alcohol and caffeine on zebrafish behavior at a variety of doses. However, the …

The Effects Of Chinese Calligraphy On Reducing Anxiety And Comorbid Depression Levels Among Breast Cancer Patients In Hong Kong, Anna Liu

Dissertations

Problem

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. Anxiety is a prevalent psychological concern in breast cancer patients and has negative impact on the course of their disease, treatment and recovery. This study was to investigate the effects of Chinese calligraphy on reducing the anxiety and comorbid depression levels among Hong Kong breast cancer patients with an intention to support the needs of breast cancer patients by providing alternative therapy that is culturally receptive. The primary objective of the study was to examine to what extent Chinese calligraphy intervention can reduce the anxiety and comorbid depression levels …

The Lived Experience Of Individuals With Chronic Back And Neck Pain, Depression, And/Or Anxiety, Tara L. Palmeri

Dissertations

More than 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from chronic pain (CP). People who experience chronic pain are 20 to 40% more likely to meet criteria for an anxiety disorder, and three to four times more likely to be clinically depressed than their pain-free counterparts. The relationship between CP and mental health has been studied quantitatively; however, few researchers have investigated co-morbid CP and mental health through a phenomenological lens. The subjective nature of the relationship is not comprehensively addressed within the literature.

This qualitative phenomenological study explored (a) how individuals with chronic back and/or neck pain (CBNP) experience, understand, and …

Learning To Learn And Naming Through Receptive And Expressive Identification, Kelli Perry

Dissertations

Poor or no language skills are typical of most preschool children with autism (American Psychological Association, 2013). Language can be divided into the two components of receptive, or listener, skills and expressive, or speaker, skills. Recommendations for sequencing language instruction vary across the different behavior-analytic instructional models (Lovaas, 1981; Barbara & Rasmussen, 2007; Sundberg & Partington, 1998; Sundberg, 2008). The current study sought to examine those recommendations using young children (three- to four-years-old) with limited vocal repertoires and to explore the acquisition of learning to learn (Harlow, 1949) and naming (Greer & Ross, 2007). This research (1) adds to the …

The Relation Of Anxiety, Depression, And Stress To Binge Eating Behavior, Diane L. Rosenbaum

Dissertations

Binge eating is an impairing and prevalent problem. Theories of binge eating suggest negative affect is of primary importance in the development and maintenance of binge eating behavior. To date, investigations of binge eating have often examined depression, however relatively little is known about other psychological factors. The current study aimed to extend the literature by examining several psychological factors in relation to binge eating behavior. Specifically, the relation between binge eating behavior and three psychological factors, depression, anxiety and stress, were examined. Data were collected via online surveys from a community sample of men and women of diverse backgrounds. …

Anxiety Symptoms, Parent Anxiety And Functional Impairment In Pediatric Cardiology Patients With Noncardiac Chest Pain And Benign Cardiac Complaints, Cassandra Jo Mcdonnell

Dissertations

Chest pain is regularly encountered in pediatric medical settings. Because of the popular association of chest pain with coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction adults, it is often frightening for both patients and parents. However, up to 88% of pediatric chest pain patients receive no medical explanation for their pain. Chest discomfort in the absence of medical explanation that is characterized by no more than one typical angina symptom is classified as non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP). This study examined parent anxiety, child anxiety and chest pain related functional impairment in a sample of pediatric patients with NCCP in comparison to …

Interoceptive Fear And Pain Anxiety In Non-Cardiac Chest Pain: Is Fear Associated With Reduced Physical Activity?, Jennifer Marie Craft

Dissertations

Non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) describes angina-like pain suffered by patients who lack a cardiac diagnosis (Fleet & Beitman, 1997). Despite a benign diagnosis, some NCCP patients continue to experience persistent pain, cardiac worry, impaired quality of life (Eifert, Hodson, Tracey, Seville, & Gunawardane, 1996), elevated rates of psychiatric disorders (Bass & Wade, 1984; White, et al., 2008), and negative health consequences (Eslick & Talley, 2008). Consistent with theory, research indicates that NCCP patients differentially fear cardiac sensations (Aikens, Zvolensky, & Eifert, 2001; White, Craft, & Gervino, 2010). It may be that NCCP patients avoid physical activity, which elicits feared cardiorespiratory …

Structural Models Of Comorbid Anxiety And Depression In A Primary-Care Older Adult Sample: Effect Of Medical Illness Severity, Threat, Chronicity, And Progressiveness On Model Fit, William Michael Palmer

Dissertations

Recent research suggests that anxiety disorders may be more common in later life than previously thought. Among other factors, the presence of comorbid mood disorders and medical illness confounds accurate assessment and diagnosis of these conditions in the elderly. There have been few studies, however, examining the structural relationships between anxiety and depression with older-adult samples, and even fewer have considered the effect of medical illness on these relationships. This study examined three established structural models of anxiety and depression, using a clinical sample of older adults seeking treatment in a primary-care setting (N = 2,163). It was hypothesized that …