Psychology Commons^™

Structural Racism, Black Out-Group Preference, And Mental Health, Alexander J. Kellogg

Masters Theses

Structural racism has increasingly been implicated as a root cause of racial disparities in health and well-being. Specifically, areas where White Americans hold more negative attitudes toward Black Americans have been associated with both anti-Black discrimination and poorer Black physical and mental health. However, previous research has relied on cross-sectional designs and has neglected the potential effects of Black community-level attitudes on mental health. We hypothesized that higher aggregate pro-White bias among White Americans would be associated with higher implicit out-group preference among Black residents living in the same communities, above and beyond the effects of traditional measures of structural …

Bridging Empathy, Qianwen Lu

Masters Theses

As a jeweler, ally, and sympathetic witness to the traumatic stories of survivors, my work aims to support the process of reconstruction and reintegration for victims and the greater community. To move beyond isolation, resentment, and debilitating helplessness requires care and support. I want my jewelry to act as catalysts in the healing process by straddling both sides of the trauma-induced situation, to create greater awareness and empathy. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence shows that women are more likely to become victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or other forms of physical and psychological abuse in unhealthy emotional relationships. These …

Examining The Use Of Video Modeling With Verbal Feedback To Enhance Performance In Springboard Divers, Erin M. J. Isola

Masters Theses

There is a growing body of literature examining the use of behavior analytic coaching techniques to enhance athlete performance across many different sports. To date, no studies have focused on performance improvement in springboard diving. Springboard diving skills are complex behavior chains and require the accurate performance of multiple smaller, component skills. Several studies have examined different types of feedback to teach and improve complex motor skills in sports other than springboard diving (BenitezSantiago & Miltenberger, 2016; Kelley and Miltenberger, 2016; Quinn et al., 2019; Walker et al., 2020). In one such study, Walker et al. (2020) combined video and …

Does Social Support Mediate The Relationship Between Locus Of Control And Activity Levels?, Leah L. Oglesby

Masters Theses

The aim of the present study is to examine the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between internal locus of control (LOC) and engagement in activity, treating general physical activity and deliberate exercise as specific and separate domains. Two models will be investigated: a domain-general model and an exercise-specific model, the former examining the mediating effect of general social support on the relationship between health locus of control and general physical activity and the latter examining the mediating effect of exercise-specific social support on the relationship between exercise LOC and deliberate exercise engagement. Survey responses from 279 college-aged …

Efficacy Of Creative Interventions In Virtual Reality, Matthew Thomas Richesin

Masters Theses

Engaging in creative activities is known to increase well-being by reducing levels of stress, anxiety, and improve life satisfaction. Interventions utilizing creative activities have proven to enhance therapeutic results in various mental disorders. Similarly, virtual reality has emerged as an effective method of decreasing negative aspects of mental disorders. While both creative interventions and virtual reality show promise in enhancing well-being, the efficacy of combining the two has not been explored. This study aimed to combine and compare 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional art-making on stress, anxiety, and mood in a non-clinical college student sample. To accomplish this, both physiological and self-report …

Waist Circumference And The Relation To Aerobic Exercise And Perception Of Illness In Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Bailey J. Huebner

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to observe the relationship between waist circumference (WC), amount of aerobic exercise performed weekly and overall Health Belief Model (HBM) score in adults with diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Members from a local Midwest adult fitness program (n = 5) who had been diagnosed T2DM participated in this study. Participants ranged in age from 70 to 80 years with an average age of 74 years. Four of the participants were female and one participant was male. The questions included in this study were 1 .) in those with diagnosed T2DM, was a low …

The Relationship Between Neuroticism, Self-Esteem, And Disordered Eating Attitudes: Examining The Health At Every Size Theory, Liana Cho

Masters Theses

Background. In the modern day treatment of overweight/obesity, conflicting recommendations regarding treatment have been released by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) and advocates of the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement. While the AND have indicated their support for self-monitoring practices, such as keeping a food diary or tracking calories, HAES advocates have claimed that these restrictive practices may result in increased disordered eating tendencies and poor self-esteem.

Subjects. The participants for this study included 410 students at Grand Valley State University. Almost 80% of participants were female, and just over 85% of participants identified as white. …

Students Perspective Of Healthy Living In College, Andrea Coxey

Masters Theses

Using qualitative methodology, the researcher studied what participants definition of a healthy lifestyle as compared to how they actually live. Through conducting six one on one interviews with participants, it was found that physical health was the most widely recognized aspect of health, and that each participant had a unique definition of health. Mental health was not initially recognized by participants but was shown to be an important connection to all aspects of health including physical health, emotional health, sleep and nutrition. Participants recognized the importance of involvement and their transition to college as impacting their definition of health and …

The Role Of Body Image, Dieting, Self-Esteem And Binge Eating In Health Behaviors, Neha M. Tamhane

Masters Theses

Society’s obsession with an idealized thin body type has led to many individuals to seek several different, often harmful, methods to reach their body goals. Current research shows links between body image and self-esteem as well as that between dieting and binge eating-with many researchers finding that extreme dieting can lead to binge eating. The aim of this research was to assess the relationships between body image, dieting, binge eating and self-esteem to understand the ways these factors interact with each other. For this purpose, 60 female participants aged 18-26 years were recruited from Eastern Illinois University and asked to …

Perceptions Of Body Image Among College Men, Colton David Janes

Masters Theses

This study sought to better understand what influences male body image perceptions among college men attending a mid-sized Midwestern university. A qualitative research approach was utilized to better establish a better understanding on how college men construct their body image perceptions. Nine male undergraduate students in their third year or greater participated in one-on-one interviews. These participants self-identified as a member of a single-gender student organization including a social Greek letter fraternity, university athletic team, and/or other student organization(s) on-campus. Results of this study revealed that one of the most influential forces of body image perception among participants was the …

Examining The Effect Of Caffeine And Technology On Adolescent Sleep, Kaci D. Clark

Masters Theses

The current study expands upon existing sleep research by assessing adolescent caffeine consumption and technology use around bedtime and group differences in caffeine consumption and technology use in regard to sleep onset time, duration and quality, as well as symptoms of delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). Participants, ranging in age from 13 to 18 years, were recruited from two Midwestern high schools and one junior high school. Online survey software was used to capture adolescents' self-reported caffeine consumption, technology use, and sleep. Adolescents who drank more caffeine did not spend significantly more time using technology at night, nor did they …

The Effects Of High Intensity Interval Training On Body-Esteem Among College-Aged Women, Chelsea K. Duncan

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of high intensity interval training (HIIT) on body-esteem among college-aged females. The study had four participants complete a pre-intervention questionnaire, which included BMI information and the Body-Esteem Scale (BES: Franzoi & Shields, 1984). The participants then completed 12 sessions of HIIT, three sessions each week for four weeks. After completing the HIIT protocol, participants filled out a post-intervention questionnaire, including BMI and the BES. The post-intervention questionnaires were then compared to the participants' pre-intervention questionnaires using a paired-samples t test with SPSS software. Small changes in BES scores occurred, however …

Sleep Hygiene Practices: A Cross Cultural Survey Of Sleeping And Dreaming In College Students, Ivan Noe Martinez Salazar

Masters Theses

There is consensus that a sizeable percentage of people in most developed countries do not obtain adequate amounts or quality of sleep. These disruptions in sleep, when chronic and severe, can lead to psychological, behavioral and health consequences. The focus on behavioral and contextual factors that impact sleep has been termed “sleep hygiene”. An on-line anonymous survey collected sociodemographic information, as well as self-reports on sleep, sleep hygiene practices and dreaming across two cultural groups (English & Spanish speaking responders). A total of 204 participants (majority of them college and graduate students) answered the survey. Both cultural groups, English and …

Relationships Among Constructive Communication, Self-Efficacy, And Motivation In Latino Men Who Smoke: A Path Analysis, Alexander Malik Khaddouma

Masters Theses

Previous authors have posited that the health and functioning of romantic relationships may play a role in individual partners’ motivation to engage in healthier behavioral patterns. This effect of romantic relationship functioning may be particularly applicable to Latino couples, given the cultural value of familismo (Galanti, 2003). Utilizing specific factors of Lewis and colleagues’ (2006) Interdependence Model, the present study tested a model of motivation for smoking cessation in which self-efficacy mediates the effect of perceived spousal constructive communication patterns on male partners’ motivation to quit smoking. The model was tested in a sample of 173 Latino couples who underwent …

Comparing Stress Responses In Generalized Anxiety Disorder Vs. Non-Clinical Populations: A Cortisol And Alpha-Amylase Study, Dominic Joseph Di Loreto

Masters Theses

Debilitating anxiety affects 6.8 million Americans. Cortisol is an established measure of the stress response which reflects the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. However, salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) is a relatively new measure of the stress response, and it reflects the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary pathway (SAM pathway) activity. Our aim was to compare these two aspects of the stress response in a Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and a non-clinical population under a stressful stimulus (Knee replacement surgery video). To our knowledge this is the first time anyone has looked at both sAA and cortisol together with respect to GAD. We hypothesized that both cortisol …

Misunderstood: Division I African American Female Athletes’ Experiences Of Racism, Ivy Jean Pierce

Masters Theses

Anshel (1990) examined the feelings and perceptions of African American intercollegiate football players about racial issues and the implications they had for the field of sport psychology. However, the experiences of African American female athletes have not been explored. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to examine how African American Division I female athletes experience racism. A second purpose of this thesis was to assist coaches and sport psychology consultants in understanding African American Division I female athletes so they can help them reach their full personal and performance potential. A semi-structured interview guide was developed using a …

I'M The Same Me: Communication And Renegotiation Of Identity In The Weight-Loss Surgery Experiences Of Women, Heather D. Schild

Masters Theses

Adult obesity rates are on the rise in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control (2009) which has led to an increase in obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. Weight-loss surgery (WLS) has become accepted as a "cure" for obesity by the medical community. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of obese individuals electing to undergo WLS every year; 82% of these individuals are women (AHRQ, 2007). More women may be electing to undergo these procedures than men due to the pressures women face in American culture to achieve social standards of …

Health Locus Of Control, Perceived Health Competence, And Fluid Adherence In Hemodialysis Patients, Mark W. Conard

Masters Theses

Patient adherence with prescribed medical regimens is vital in promoting the health of patients. Complex medical regimens are difficult for patients to follow and it is therefore important to understand what causes patients not to follow their prescribed treatment recommendations. Hemodialysis (HD) is one such complex medical regimen that requires patients to follow strict restrictions in their diet. One area of the HD regimen that is particularly hard for patients to adhere to is restrictions in the amount of fluid they can safely consume. Research has shown that noncompliance to fluid restrictions is pervasive, with patients stating that adherence to …

A Comparison Of Concurrent And Removed Component Procedures For Teaching Toothbrushing Skills To Preschoolers, Timothy Ian Mckinley

Masters Theses

The study compared the use of a removed component program to a concurrent training program in teaching toothbrushing skills to preschool children. The removed component program separated three response components from the terminal toothbrushing response and taught them separately out-of-the mouth before requiring them in the mouth. The concurrent training program required the three response components but did not train them separately in or out of the mouth. The removed component program taught the skills faster than or equal to the concurrent program, with a significantly higher percentage of correct responses.

Relationship Between Anxiety And Level Of Aspiration Among College Male Physical Education Students, Taoheed Abdul Adedoja

Masters Theses

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between anxiety and level of aspiration among college physical education male students.

Thirty-one male physical education students, enrolled in the professional physical education classes at Eastern Illinois University, served as volunteers for the study.

Each subject completed a 40 item Anxiety Scale Questionnaire (ASQ), designed by the Institute for Personality and Anxiety Testing (IPAT), for measurement of anxiety level. The level of aspiration (Loa) scores were obtained from each subject's estimations of scores and performances on the grip strength tests administered.

The scores obtained from the anxiety questionnaire and …

Relationship Of Locus Of Control And Other Personality Characteristics In Enuretics, Judy Louise Bowlby

Masters Theses

Past research concerning the personality construct of enuretic children has demonstrated conflicting results. During recent years, the concept of internal versus external locus of control has been used in extensive research dealing with personality and behavioral characteristics of various populations. However, there had not been a study involving locus of control among enuretics. One purpose of the present study was to identify locus of control and other personality and behavioral characteristics among both enuretic and "normal" (non-enuretic) children and their mothers. Another objective was to determine valuable predictors for locus of control in enuretics, locus of control in mothers of …