Psychology Commons^™

Interaction Of Adhd Severity And Neighborhood-Level Ses On Preschoolers’ Risk For Obesity At School-Age, Ramya V. Jayanthi

Dissertations and Theses

Background: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) oftentimes emerges during the preschool years. School-age children with ADHD are at an increased risk for obesity as compared to their non-ADHD peers, but it is unknown if this risk is observed in younger children. Socioeconomic status (SES) is negatively related to both ADHD and obesity, but how SES interacts with ADHD to affect later obesity is unknown. This study aimed to examine if preschool ADHD diagnosis and severity interacted with neighborhood-level SES to increase risk for overweight/obesity and greater growth in BMI at school-age. We hypothesized that ADHD severity/diagnosis would be associated with greater growth …

The Makings Of Creativity And Empathy: Maps Of Maternal Representations, Anielle M. Fredman

Dissertations and Theses

ABSTRACT

The Makings of Creativity and Empathy: Maps of Maternal Representations

by

Anielle M. Fredman

Advisor: Sasha Rudenstine, Ph.D.

The present study investigates the relationship between maternal fantasy of the child and their relationship, and children’s unconscious processes. In addition, the study aims to ascertain the link between maternal representations and aspects of the child’s intrapsychic world, including ego functioning, object relations, and processes of separation-individuation.

Maternal fantasy was measured in an original way with a tripartite typology of Positive, Mixed-Complex, and Contradictory Representations, applied to the Parent Development Interview-Revised Short (Slade et al., 2004), adapted from the Working Model …

Compassion-Based Resilience Training (Cbrt) For Frontline Healthcare Workers In Contact With Covid-19 Patients, Michael Perez Sosa

Dissertations and Theses

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has had deleterious consequences for the mental health of frontline healthcare workers worldwide. One systemic review of the literature found high prevalence rates of anxiety (67.55%), depression (58.89%), and stress (62.99%) reported by this population (Vizheh et al., 2020). Additionally, high rates of burnout and symptoms associated with trauma have also been ubiquitous during the pandemic for frontline healthcare workers. The purpose of this study is to investigate Compassion-Based Resilience Training (CBRT) as a remotely delivered intervention for frontline healthcare workers in contact with COVID-19 patients to reduce symptoms associated with stress, depression, anxiety, burnout, and …

The Impact Of Perceived Social Support On Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Elizabeth Eng

Dissertations and Theses

Individuals who have experienced repeated and interpersonal trauma often develop symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), along with additional features relating to disturbances in self-organization (DSO), which is now known as Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD). CPTSD has been seen to be associated with adverse outcomes such as somatic symptoms, attachment insecurity, and overall lower life satisfaction (Karatzias et al., 2018; Kuhar & Zager Kocjan 2022; Maercker et al, 2022). Due to these additional features relating to DSO, CPTSD has been identified as distinct from PTSD, and so it has been important to investigate these unique symptoms. One such symptom …

How Adults Use Reddit To Cope With Being Children Of Divorce, Tamera A. Joseph

Dissertations and Theses

How do adults on social media describe their experiences as a child of divorce? The purpose of this study was to explore how posts on the social media platform Reddit are used by people to reflect on their parents’ divorce when they were younger. Reddit is a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. The platform allows users to post content such as links, posts, images, and discussion boards. Posts on the website are organized by subjects called “subreddits”. In these subreddits, users discuss topics from news, philosophy, entertainment, and life experiences. Existing public data of archived and …

Unity Against Adversity: Examining The Moderating Effect Of A Sense Of Community Between Discrimination And Discrimination-Related Distress Among Racial And Ethnic Minoritized Adults, Kimberly Velazquez

Dissertations and Theses

Background: Racial and ethnic minoritized populations are significantly more likely to develop mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, than White populations. Some of the predominant causes are rooted in the impact of discrimination, and other social determinants of health (SDOH), including adverse experiences. Studies found that discrimination can lead to a distinct form of anxiety described as discrimination-related distress, which has a higher negative association with poor mental health symptoms. It has been suggested that having a strong sense of community (SOC) –a collective sentiment shared by community members regarding their membership, feelings of belonging, …

Paradoxical Insomnia, A Chronic Insomnia Subtype In Patients With Temporomandibular Disorder, Christy Chan

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this secondary data analysis study is to determine: 1) if individuals with Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD) present subjective-objective discrepancies in sleep parameters derived from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to their respective polysomnography (PSG) counterparts for the presence of sleep misperception and 2) to examine specific PSQI-sleep measures that showed significantly higher rates of disturbance in TMD participants in relation to subjective daytime dysfunction and objectively short sleep. The first hypothesis is that there will be an absence of subjective-objective correspondence on specific sleep measures only in TMD participants, while in control participants, it is expected that …

Internalized Gender Role Stereotypes Within Young Women And The Presentation Of Somatic Symptomatology Of Major Depressive Disorder, Michelle Miselevich

Dissertations and Theses

Evidence suggests that two distinct disorders are currently being diagnosed as depression. One, somatic depression, involves depression plus several somatic symptoms while the other, pure depression, involves depression without as much somatic symptomatology. Somatic depression has been hypothesized to afflict women who view themselves non traditionally and thus do not agree with traditional stereotypes of women. Measures of agreement with negative stereotypes of members of their own group have been found in several groups to be positively related to depression. This may apply among women to pure depression. Thus, women who exhibit pure depression are hypothesized to exhibit agreement with …

Immigrant Therapists’ Perceptions Of Transference, Countertransference, And Racial Experiences In The United States, Lian Malki-Schubert

Dissertations and Theses

There has been a steady increase in the percentage of immigrant therapists in the US. In psychology doctoral programs, the number of foreign-born students has doubled between 1997 and 2016. The present study aimed to examine the perceived impact of therapists’ immigrant identity when working with US-born and foreign-born clients, as little research has been dedicated to this topic. Another central theme this study sought to explore was immigrant therapists’ perspective shifts on racial identity upon arriving in the US. Given that race is a social construct that is culturally bound, the study investigated immigrant therapists’ perceptions of racial identity …

An Exploration Of The Relation Between Psychological Functioning And Reactions To Global Climate Change For Late Adolescents In New York City, Emma Routhier

Dissertations and Theses

Climate change poses a potentially unique generational crisis, as it threatens the viability of the very world that the current adolescent generation stands to inherit. While some studies have begun to appreciate the specific experience of adolescents as it pertains to climate change, they attend to young people’s behavior or self-reported feelings. The present study aims to employ psychoanalytic constructs, with attention to the unconscious determinants of psychic life and behavior, in an empirical examination of this topic, and to introduce a level of sensitivity to the vicissitudes of the adolescent period that have not previously been addressed in the …

Immigrant Risk, Self-Discontinuity, And The Role Of Nostalgia, Leila Talhouk

Dissertations and Theses

Background: There are conflicting theories and data about immigrants’ health in the host country (e.g., immigrant risk vs. paradox), which have encouraged researchers to examine more nuanced factors related to immigration to clarify these inconsistencies. This two-part study aimed to shed light on these discrepancies by investigating psychoanalytic concepts that have not yet been empirically tested. The study focuses on immigrant self-discontinuity, a migration- induced disruption in one’s sense of self-sameness and unconscious sense of going-on-being, manifesting in moments of disorientation, disorganization, or dissociative-like experiences. There is no adequate instrument to measure this construct; as such, Part 1 of the …

Early Adversity, Emotion Regulation, Object Relational Functioning, And The Moderating Effect Of Gender Identity: A Community Sample Study, Victoria Schilder

Dissertations and Theses

Introduction: Clinical and social psychological literature have long demonstrated group status, culture, and social support as equally integral and influential factors which contribute directly both to the quality of one’s lived experience, and to the development and experience of one’s sense of identity or selfness. For example, acceptable norms regarding behavior, dress, and emotional experience – particularly when an individual does not live up to societal standards – have been demonstrated to contribute to deleterious internalizations surrounding self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem. More specifically, the social and cultural implications of being identified as “female” versus “male” have been found to be …

The Moderating Roles Of Racial Discrimination And Covid-19 Stress On The Association Between College Students’ Cannabis Use And Psychosocial Functioning, Shannique Richards

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

The Moderating Roles of Racial Discrimination and COVID-19 Stress on the Association between College Students’ Cannabis Use and Psychosocial Functioning

By

Shannique Richards, MA

Advisor: Sarah O’Neill, PhD

Greater use of cannabis is linked to poorer psychosocial outcomes. Rates of cannabis use are particularly high in racial/ethnic minoritized (REM) and socioeconomically disadvantaged college students. Cannabis use has been correlated with exposure to trauma. REM and socioeconomically disadvantaged college students report higher rates of trauma exposure, including discrimination and health and social disparities than their White peers. This study examined exposure to two types of potentially traumatic events (racial discrimination …

Psychedelic Use And Psychological Flexibility: The Role Of Decentering, Mystical Experiences, Ego-Dissolution, And Insight, William M. Campo

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate potential associations between psychological flexibility (PF) and characteristics of the psychedelic experience: self-perceived meaningful intention, feelings of comfort and safety, decentering, mystical experiences, ego-dissolution, and insight. The first hypothesis was that perceived meaningful intention and feelings of comfort/safety during the psychedelic experience were expected to be associated with PF, decentering, mystical experiences, ego-dissolution, and insight. The second hypothesis was that decentering, mystical experiences, ego-dissolution, and insight were expected to be associated with greater PF. Participants who used classic psychedelic substances prior to this study were recruited from social media. The sample after …

Therapeutic Considerations For The Polycule: A Qualitative Exploration Of Consensual Non-Monogamy In Couples Treatment, Tema Watstein

Dissertations and Theses

Despite the growing visibility of consensual non-monogamy culturally and in the academic domain, treatment of CNM relationships has been understudied from the clinical perspective. This study utilized a sample of 11 clinicians, who discussed their experiences of treating non-monogamous couples through a semi-structured interview. Qualitative thematic analysis led to the emergence of robust themes, which were synthesized into three broader categories: 1. Therapeutic Process, 2. Issues in Treatment, and 3. The Meaning of Non-Monogamy. Therapists discussed their own clinical processes, with emphasis on countertransference, frame, self-disclosure, and considerations for training. Themes also emerged surrounding common issues in treatment, ranging from …

Examining The Effect Of Object Relations And Defense Mechanisms On Interpersonal Relations In Adults With Adhd Symptoms, Cherise White

Dissertations and Theses

Impaired interpersonal functioning, often persistent from childhood through adulthood, is common in ADHD. Symptoms of ADHD such as restlessness and impulsivity may result in behaviors such as being overly talkative, interrupting or intruding on others already engaged in activities, while inattentive symptoms may result in a person being perceived as aloof, indifferent, and/or uncaring (APA, 2013; Friedman et al., 2003). As compared to adults without a history of elevated ADHD symptoms, more impaired interpersonal functioning has been found among young adults with ADHD, and this increased impairment in adults with ADHD is often a primary reason they pursue therapy (Horowitz …

Joint Laughter Between Patient And Therapist: Exploring The Function Of These Moments And Their Relationship To The Working Alliance In Short-Term Psychotherapy, Molly Rappaport

Dissertations and Theses

Laughter emerges in infancy and reflects mutually aroused and regulated positive affect within the caregiver-infant relationship and repeated cycles of shared, co-regulated positive arousal have been shown to play a critical role in fueling secure attachment bond formation and laying the groundwork for the infant’s capacity for affect regulation (Schore, 2003). Throughout life, laughter continues to function as an attachment behavior with the possibility of promoting interpersonal closeness or creating distance. Attitudes toward the role of laughter in psychotherapy vary among psychodynamically-oriented clinicians and research has mostly focused on the kinds of humor and interventions that provoke laughter rather than …

The Perception Of Partner’S Pornography Use As A Betrayal: The Role Of Trust, Investment, Commitment, And Forgiveness, Vi Nguyen

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the roles of relationship factors (e.g., trust, investment, and commitment) and forgiveness in the perception of partner pornography use as a betrayal. It was hypothesized that relationship factors and forgiveness would be significantly related to pornography distress, betrayal intensity, and depression. Participants were recruited from three sources: students from an urban university in the Northeast through an online platform called SONA (N = 13), social media sites (i.e., Facebook and Reddit, N = 1105), and through the snowballing technique (N = 49). The final sample size after the data cleaning procedure was …

African American English As A Predictor Of Ethnic And Ethnolinguistic Identity In Adolescence, Giahna L. Glasco

Dissertations and Theses

This study’s purposes were to provide support for the Social identity theory of African American English (Vietze & Glasco, 2022) and the meanings African American English (AAE) speakers assign to their dialect. The study was primarily based on Tajfel’s (1979) social identity theory that proposes individuals derive a sense of self from group membership. The qualitative analyses examined ethnic and language group memberships. Ethnic identity development (Phinney, 1992), and ethnolinguistic identity theories (Giles and Johnson, 1987) guided narrative and content analyses of Kiese Laymon’s memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir (Laymon, 2018). The sample included 21 African American English conversations …

“I Knew These Marvelous People”: Gay Men’S Experiences Of Long-Term Hiv/Aids Survival, Ilana J. Sichel

Dissertations and Theses

The gay and bisexual men who were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS before the pharmaceutical breakthroughs of the mid-1990s were given what was expected to be a death sentence. Instead, the majority of those who began the newly available treatments outlived not just their initial prognoses but their lovers, friends, and community members who had already perished. This study used grounded theory analysis of semi-structured interviews with a sample of 10 self-identified gay men who are long-term HIV/AIDS survivors to explore experiences of trauma, loss, and mourning in relation to current psychological wellbeing. Qualitative thematic analysis indicated that despite demographic variance among …

Early Risk Factors For School-Age Adhd And Irritability: The Roles Of Prenatal Risk, Intrusive Parenting Style During Preschool And Caregiver-Child Attachment Quality., Ashley M. Rainford

Dissertations and Theses

ADHD is a highly impairing neurodevelopmental disorder and the family context provides a critical early environment where children’s risk for the disorder may be heightened or reduced. A parent’s style, that is their approach to interacting and guiding the child may provide children with warmth and security, or elicit fear, distrust and disappointment, both of which in turn impact behavior. However, the parent-child relationship is not unidirectional; it is dynamic. Children with high ADHD-like behaviors have greater difficulty relating to and interacting with their caregivers, while caregivers become increasingly stressed and show greater hostility and less warmth in their parenting. …

Loneliness, Interpersonal Sensitivity And The Mechanisms Through Which The Dimensions Of Trait Emotional Intelligence May Protect Against Clinical Depression, Eva H. Leighton

Dissertations and Theses

Reducing the prevalence of loneliness and depression are important public health objectives. This dissertation aims to contribute to these objectives by improving our understanding of the relationship between loneliness and depression. Specifically, we assessed three additional constructs known to be strongly associated with loneliness and depression –-perceived social support, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal sensitivity –- with the aim of showing how these three constructs influence the relationship between loneliness and depression. Previous research that jointly examines all five constructs has not been identified by the author in an extensive search of prior literature.

Specifically, this dissertation tested the following hypotheses: …

Identification Of Adhd And Comorbid Disorders In Children: The Potential Role Of Minority Group Membership, Rachel H. Tayler

Dissertations and Theses

Identification of ADHD and Comorbid Disorders in Children: The potential role of minority group membership

by

Rachel Tayler, MSc, MA

Advisor: Sarah O’Neill, PhD

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects six million US children. Females, Latinx, and possibly Black children have lower rates of diagnosis than their Male and White non-Latinx peers. ADHD is behaviorally defined, and as such, clinicians' perceptions of symptoms and determination of diagnoses may be influenced by demographic factors such as race, ethnicity and sex.

This vignette study examined whether clinicians' implicit ethnic, racial, and sex biases affect diagnosis of ADHD and comorbid conditions. Psychiatry trainees and pediatricians …

Being Black & Blue: Sex As A Moderator Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Depressive Symptoms Among Black Emerging Adults, Wynta C. Alexander

Dissertations and Theses

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been linked to adult mental health consequences (e.g., depressive symptoms). Black people are disproportionately affected by ACEs, and factors related to ethnic subgroups and/or sex may produce differential depressive outcomes. The current study examined the moderating role of sex in the association between adverse childhood experiences and depression symptoms using a life course of health approach among a sample of Black emerging adults. Participants (n = 159) of the current study were Black (e.g., African – American) and Black Caribbean (e.g., Jamaican) undergraduate students (18 – 59 years old; 72.3% female) attending a large, public …

Covid-19 Vaccine Related Anxiety Partially Mediates The Association Between Covid-19 Related Anxiety And Student Adjustment To College During The Pandemic, Hanh Nguyen

Dissertations and Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruptions to the education of millions of college students, who were forced to adapt to sudden changes in living and learning environments. In this study, we sought to investigate two different dimensions of anxiety that were specific to the pandemic – COVID-19 related anxiety and COVID-19 vaccine anxiety – hoping to pinpoint the relationship between these two variables and students’ ability to adapt to college. Specifically, using cross sectional survey data during three semester waves (Spring 2021, Fall 2021, and Spring 2022) we hypothesized (1) a decreasing trend across time in both COVID-19 related anxiety …

Does Social Media Promote Disordered Eating?, Carly Feldstein

Dissertations and Theses

Hispanic people are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. with a total of 18.5% of the U.S population being of Hispanic descent (United States Census Bureau, 2020). Although eating disorders (ED), particularly those involving binge eating, comprise a significant health concern, EDs are often overlooked in the Hispanic culture (Higgins et al., 2016; Opara & Santos, 2019). Hispanic individuals have comparable rates of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and an even higher rate of binge eating disorders compared to non- Hispanic (NH) White individuals (Higgins et al., 2016). Within Hispanic adults, the lifetime prevalence of EDs is higher …

Protecting Civilians In Un Peace Operations: The Need For Enhanced Training, Allison S. Haddad

Dissertations and Theses

The present study shows that the protection of civilians (POC) tasks implemented in multiple United Nations (UN) peace operations have not always been executed as intended and, as a result, are accompanied by a number of dysfunctions. Among these dysfunctions are inadequate community engagement, peacekeeper misconduct stemming from the lack of proper training mechanisms, and lack of resources. In consideration of these issues, UN peace operations would profoundly benefit from enhancements offering plausible and beneficial change to the field. Such changes involve the responsibility of the UN, the responsibility of national actors, field implementations, and the psychological well-being of peacekeepers. …

Exploring A Mediational Model Of The Relationship Between Skin Color And Mate Selection In Desi Young Adults, Rabiya Ahmed

Dissertations and Theses

Skin color bias is present in South Asia and is especially apparent within the Desi (i.e., South Asian) marriage market, where explicit preferences for fair-skinned marital partners are made and lighter skin is perceived as more attractive. It is also known that, through the halo effect, attractive people are perceived to possess positive personality traits. The present study aimed to determine if skin color is associated with long-term mate preference among U.S.-based Desi adults as it is among Desi in South Asia, and if so, if that relationship is mediated by perceived attractiveness. It also aimed to determine if, in …

Timing Of Sexual Minority Identity Developmental Milestones And Well-Being Among Three Generations Of Gay Men, Joseph R. Hillesheim

Dissertations and Theses

Social and political changes during recent decades have contributed to a more accepting environment for sexual minorities (non-heterosexual individuals) in the U.S., but recent evidence suggests that these shifts may create a “developmental collision” for younger generations (Meyer et al., 2021; Russell & Fish, 2019). Younger generations of sexual minorities “come out” and reach other sexual identity milestones earlier than older generations, and earlier timing of sexual identity development may contribute to increased vulnerability to stigma. The present study aimed to contribute to limited research on the relationship between the timing of sexual identity development milestones and well-being among three …

Examining Cultural Orientation As A Moderator: Attachment Style, Forgiveness, And Depression, Linghsi Liu

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of cultural orientation on the relation between attachment style and forgiveness and between forgiveness and depression. It was hypothesized that a secure attachment style would be associated with greater dispositional forgiveness of both self and others. Specifically, for those high in collectivism, insecure attachment will be associated with greater other-forgiveness and for those high in individualism, insecure attachment will be associated with greater self-forgiveness. It was also predicted that self and other forgiveness would be associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Specifically, for those high in collectivism, other forgiveness will …