Psychology Commons^™

Affective Depression Mediates Ptsd To Suicide In A Sample Of Treatment-Seeking First Responders, James Whitworth, Jeanine Galusha, Jose Carbajal, Warren Ponder, Donna Schuman

Faculty Publications

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the associations of comorbid

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), affective or somatic depression, and

suicide among first responders (FRs). Method: We used baseline data from

FRs (N = 232) who sought services at a nonprofit mental health agency specializing

in treating trauma exposed FRs. We conducted two PROCESS simple

mediation models with PTSD as the predictor, affective depression and somatic

depression as the mediators, and suicidality as the dependent variable.

Results: Affective depression significantly mediated the relationship between

PTSD and suicidality, whereas somatic depression did not. The direct effect …

Shame, Stigma, And Callousness: A Moderated Mediation Study Of Sex Offender Empathy Strength, Robert M. Ferow

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Callous, lacking sympathy, heartless, and cold are but a few synonyms for people that demonstrate a deficit in empathy. Psychologists, criminologists, and sociologists have tried to explain this phenomenon of callousness, or lack of empathy found in criminals for hundreds of years. Issues of definitions of empathy, personality disorders, character flaws, and even neurobiological issues have been studied in their relation to empathy. Theories of criminology have been presented to explain the reasons for lack of empathy. However, as of yet, no conclusive findings demonstrate the order or function in loss of empathy strength. This study will endeavor to describe …

The Role Of Negative Affects As Mediators In The Relationship Between Stress And Mental Health In Ecuadorian Adolescents, Rodrigo Moreta-Herrera, Doris Zumba-Tello, Jaisalmer De Frutos-Lucas, Stefanía Llerena-Freire, Alexandra Salinas-Palma, Almudena Trucharte-Martínez

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Stress and negative emotions have adverse consequences for the mental health of adolescents, an area that deserves further examination. These attributes are associated with each other and regularly interact in different ways. The way they exert an influence can be both direct and indirect, so the general objective is to elucidate the potential mediating effect of negative affects in the relationship between stress and mental health in Ecuadorian adolescents. Participants and procedure: An explanatory and mediation design based on structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied with 1154 high school students from Ecuador (67.7% women) aged 14 to 19 years …

Pathways To Preferences For Collaborative Conflict Resolution: Disputants’ Process Goals Drive Preferences, Ashley Votruba, Jared Noetzel, Abigail L. Herzfeld

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Understanding individuals’ preferences for how to resolve conflict—specifically legal disputes—has long interested researchers, particularly those considering procedural justice. This study considers the impact of relational factors that influence individuals’ preferences for dispute resolution processes for civil legal issues. Specifically, it examines the impact of self-construal and the relationship between the parties in conflict on preferences for specific features of dispute resolution processes and considers the role of underlying resolution goals as potential mediators in a parallel mediation model. Using a novel paradigm in which the outcome variables of interest focused on specific dispute resolution process features allowed the researchers to …

It Takes Two: Professional Interconnections And Potential Collaborations Between Small-Town Family Attorneys And Couple/Family Therapists, Wendy Lenk Mcclary

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Attorneys who specialize in family practice may experience significant rates of mood disorders and substance reliance. Law schools typically do not provide supportive coursework or mentoring to help students learn to manage their feelings and those of crisis-impacted clients. Lawyers may well consider that understanding emotional needs and providing emotional support does not fall within their codes of practice. Societal stigma may prevent family attorneys and their clients from seeking therapy. Small-town attorneys may be particularly vulnerable to professional stress and safety concerns. The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the lived experiences of family attorneys practicing …

Exercise, Cognition, And Cannabis Use In Adolescents, Ileana Pacheco-Colón

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy and/or chronic cannabis use has been associated with neurocognitive impairment and decline, often in domains such as memory and executive functioning. On the other hand, exercise has been linked to positive effects on brain and cognitive health across the lifespan, as well as to better substance use outcomes. Despite this, little is known about the ways in which exercise could help prevent or ameliorate adverse cannabis-related outcomes among adolescents.

Through three separate studies, the current dissertation examines interrelations among exercise, cognition, and cannabis use in children and adolescents in an effort to determine whether exercise can prevent or ameliorate …

Academic Stress, Physical Activity, Sleep, And Mental Health Among Chinese Adolescents, Xihe Zhu, Justin A. Haegele, Huarong Liu, Fangliang Yu

Human Movement Sciences & Special Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of academic stress on physical activity and sleep, and subsequently their impacts on anxiety and depression. Methods: This cross-sectional study collected data from a convenience sample of 1533 adolescents in an eastern province in China. Surveys were used to collect data on academic stress, anxiety, depression, sleep, physical activity, and demographics. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and path analysis were used to analyze data. Results: The participants reported about 6.77 ± 0.89 h of sleep per day and 1.62 ± 1.79 days of 60 min of physical activity each week. Academic …

Moral Disengagement And Generalized Social Trust As Mediators And Moderators Of Rule-Respecting Behaviors During The Covid-19 Outbreak, Guido Alessandri, Lorenzo Filosa, Marie S. Tisak, Elisabetta Crocetti, Giuseppe Crea, Lorenzo Avanzi

Psychology Faculty Publications

In this study, we tested a theoretical model with moral disengagement, a mediator, and generalized social trust (GST), a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between personality traits and rule-respecting behaviors (i.e., social distancing and stay-at-home), during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Italy. The data were collected on 1520 participants (61% males). General results are threefold: (1) moral disengagement mediated the relationship between emotional stability, narcissism, psychopathy, and social distancing; (2) among components of GST, trust in Government mediated the relationship between psychopathy and social distancing; trust in known others mediated the relationship between emotional stability, agreeableness, …

A Mediational Analysis: Investigating The Role Of Academic Self-Efficacy In The Relationship Between Bullying Victimization And Depression, Rachel Elizabeth Doody

Senior Honors Projects

Bullying is one of the most pervasive problems faced during childhood. Bullying victimization has been demonstrated to be strongly associated with numerous mental health outcomes, including depression. Research suggests that self-efficacy may play a role in the relationship between bullying victimization and depressive symptoms. The present study hypothesized that academic self-efficacy would mediate this relationship. Participants (N=206, M_age = 19.5, 70.4% female) were college students who completed Bullying and Relationship Scale– Revised, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. Regression analyses indicated that the overall regression model was significant (β= .19, t (106) = 6.823, …

Let It Rest: Sleep And Health As Positive Correlates Of Forgiveness Of Others And Self-Forgiveness, Loren Toussaint, Andrew J. Gall, Alyssa Cheadle, David R. Williams

Faculty Publications

Objective: The present study examined forgiveness of others, self-forgiveness, sleep, and health in a nationally representative sample of United States adults. It was hypothesised that sleep would mediate the associations of forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness with health.

Design: A nationally representative survey of 1,423 United States adults.

Main Outcome Measures: Measures included forgiveness of others, self-forgiveness, sleep quantity, sleep quality, psychological distress, life satisfaction, and self-rated physical health.

Results: Forgiveness of others (β = .20, p < .001) and self-forgiveness (β = .11, p < .01) were associated with sleep and forgiveness of others (β = .24, p < .001) and self-forgiveness (β = .27, p < .001) were associated with health. Sleep was associated with health (β = .45, p < .001) and also acted as a mediator of the associations of forgiveness of others (β = .09, p < .01) and self-forgiveness (β = .05, p < .01) with health.

Conclusions: Forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness may attenuate emotions such as anger, regret, and rumination and provide …

Affective States And Work Attitudes Linking Abusive Supervision To Employee Performance And The Impact Of Ethical Climate On Abusive Supervision And Work Attitudes, Armando Falcon

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prior research indicates that abusive supervision (AS, Tepper, 2000) is associated with employee job performance. On the other hand, ethical organizational climate (EOC; Victor & Cullen, 1988) has yet to be investigated in the context of AS. The objective of the present study is to evaluate, within a general sample of US employees, (1) the relative strength of specific indirect effects of AS on performance via positive (PA) and negative (NA) affect, and via work-related attitudes (Leader-member exchange, LMX; Interactional justice, IJ; Perceived organizational support, POS; Affective organizational commitment, AOC), and (2) the relationship between EOC, AS, and the same …

Parenting In Low-Income Context: Assessment Of A Psychosocial Group Intervention In Brazil, Mariana Juras, L. Costa

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

This article aims to evaluate the methodology of a psychosocial group intervention with low-income separated parents with small children in Brazil, which focused on the differentiation of marital and parental roles after the separation. This pilot study based on the research-action epistemology included mixed-methods of qualitative and quantitative instruments to collect data while providing the interventions to the participants.The intervention consisted in individual interviews followed by seven biweekly group sessions to address separation related issues. Besides these data, pre- and post-group questionnaires were also compared. Seven separated parents participated in the individual interviews, but only three participated on the group …

The Mediating Role Of Health Consciousness In The Relation Between Emotional Intelligence And Health Behaviors, Adriana Espinosa, Selma Kadic-Maglajlic

Publications and Research

The goals of this study were to identify groups of health-related behaviors among young adults (N = 314, Mage = 21.94, SD = 6.53), gauge the relation between emotional intelligence and health behaviors in this population, and assess health consciousness as mediator of said relation. Latent class analysis identified two mutually exclusive health behavior groups, which according to response patterns were labeled as Healthy and Unhealthy.The Healthy group(56%)was composed of individuals who had a healthy diet (i.e.,low fat and high fiber),exercised regularly,and who frequently engaged in behaviors that prevent oral and skin-related diseases. In contrast, the Unhealthy group (44%) rarely …

A Comparison Of Alternative Bias-Corrections In The Bias-Corrected Bootstrap Test Of Mediation, Donna Chen

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Although the bias-corrected (BC) bootstrap is an oft recommended method for obtaining more powerful confidence intervals in mediation analysis, it has also been found to have elevated Type I error rates in conditions with small sample sizes. Given that the BC bootstrap is used most often in studies with low power due to small sample size, the focus of this study is to consider alternative measures of bias that will reduce the elevated Type I error rate without reducing power. The alternatives examined fall under two categories: bias correction and transformation. Although the bias correction methods did not significantly decrease …

Does Savoring Mediate The Relationships Between Explanatory Style And Mood Outcomes?, Paul E. Jose, Bee T. Lim, Soyeon Kim, Fred B. Bryant

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Research has shown that explanatory style predicts negative mood outcomes as well as positive mood outcomes, but the mechanisms by which this occurs are unclear. We investigated here whether the manner in which people savor life events might help explain these relationships. Specifically, we examined whether amplifying and dampening savoring mediated the associations between pessimistic and optimistic explanatory styles on the one hand, and positive and negative mood outcomes on the other. A sample of 103 university students completed self-report measures of explanatory style (ASQ), savoring (WOSC), and a variety of mood outcomes (i.e., happiness, life satisfaction, depression, and anxiety). …

Health Beliefs As A Key Determinant Of Intent To Use Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids (Aas) Among High-School Football Players: Implications For Prevention, Amanda E. Halliburton, Matthew S. Fritz

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) is problematic for youth because of negative effects such as reduced fertility, increased aggression and exposure to toxic chemicals. An effective programme for addressing this problem is Adolescents Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS). This secondary analysis expands prior research by identifying prominent mechanisms of change and highlighting key longitudinal processes that contributed to the success of ATLAS. The current sample consists of highschool football players (N = 1.068; M_age = 15.25) who began ATLAS in grades nine through eleven and participated in booster sessions for two years post-baseline. Knowledge of AAS …

Interpersonal Apologies: A Psychological Perspective Of Why They Might Work In Law?, Alfred Allan, James Strickland, Maria M. Allan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Apologies have become an accepted feature in many fields of law and there is evidence that they make a constructive contribution to the resolution of disputes. The reason for this might be that they address the intangible needs of parties after adverse events that law otherwise find difficult to address. Legal reformers introduced apologies into law primarily on the basis of deductive reasoning without being able to refer to a comprehensive psychological theory that explains the apology process; in part because apology was only identified as a psychological construct worthy of empirical research during the last quarter of the 20th …

The Acceptance Of Apologies In The Corrective Process: Implications For Research And Practice, James Strickland, Alfred Allan, Maria M. Allan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Apology scholars and researchers in psychology, law, and justice commonly conceptualise the corrective process that follows wrongful behaviour as an apology-followed-by-forgiveness sequence. In this paper, however, we suggest on the basis of our analysis of the research literature that a more suitable conceptualisation of the corrective process is one that includes the acceptance of an apology as an additional discrete step that is distinct from forgiveness. We begin with a brief discussion of the psychological view of apologies as a process of negotiation between offending and offended parties, and how psychologists conceive peoples’ responses to apologies. We also review the …

Extraversion And Agreeableness: Divergent Routes To Daily Satisfaction With Social Relationships, William Tov, Ze Ling Nai, Huey Woon Lee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We examined the unique effects of extraversion and agreeableness (and honesty-humility) on everyday satisfaction with family, friends, romantic life, and acquaintances, and explored potential mediators of these effects. Three diary studies (Ns = 206, 139, 185) were conducted on Singaporean university students. In Studies 1 and 2, participants rated their satisfaction with different relationship categories. In Study 3, participants rated their satisfaction and social interactions with 10 target individuals each day for a 1-week period. Both extraversion and agreeableness predicted relationship satisfaction. However, the effect of extraversion was mediated by greater levels of trust in others, whereas the effect of …

Comparing Different Sequential Mediational Interpretations Of Beck’S Depression Model In Adolescents., Patrick Pössel

Faculty Scholarship

Depression is a developmental phenomenon with significantly increasing rates during adolescence. As Beck’s cognitive model of depression has been commonly accepted to explain the development and maintenance of depression, it is crucial to understand how and when cognitive vulnerabilities predicted in this model begin to interact. Three sequential interpretations of this model were compared. The causal mediational interpretation identifies dysfunctional attitudes as most distal to depressive symptoms, followed by cognitive errors, cognitive triad, and negative automatic thoughts, with each construct successively more proximal to depressive symptoms. In the symptom model the causal chain is reversed, with depressive symptoms as the …

Does Pornography Consumption Increase Participation In Friends With Benefits Relationships?, Scott R. Braithwaite, Sean C. Aaron, Krista Joy Dowdle, Kersti A. Spjut, Frank D. Fincham

Faculty Publications

Friends with benefits (FWB) relationships integrate two types of relationships—friendship and a relationship that includes sexual intimacy but without an expectation of commitment. These relationships are often seen as less risky than other casual sexual behaviors, but they still pose a high risk of contracting an STI. Pornography consumption has been connected to increases in risky sexual behavior in other types of casual sex. In two studies (Study 1 N = 850; Study 2 N = 992), we examined the hypothesis that pornography use influences FWB behaviors, specifically through the mechanism of sexual scripts. Our results demonstrate that more frequent …

Parent–Child Connectedness Mediates The Association Between Marital Conflict And Children’S Internalizing/Externalizing Outcomes, Scott Braithwaite, Emily Steele, Kersti A. Spjut, Krista Joy Dowdle, James Harper

Faculty Publications

A number of studies of marital conflict have examined both parent- and child–reports of marital conflict and child outcomes, but additional research is needed to provide evidence for potential mechanisms of action explaining the association between marital conflict and child internalizing and externalizing outcomes. In the present study (N = 330 2-parent/child triads), we show that the connectedness of the parent–child relationship (as reported by parents, but not children) significantly mediated the effect of marital conflict on children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Our findings suggest that children’s perceptions are important when trying to understand the impact of marital conflict, but …

The Impact Of Cumulative Risk On Parenting Behaviors As Mediated By Parental Distress, Courtney E. Green

Senior Honors Theses

Cumulative risk is a salient construct addressed in family dynamics research. There have been multiple relationships established among cumulative risk, parenting, and child outcomes through previous research. The current study furthered this body of research by addressing the role of parenting distress within models predicting parenting behaviors within a context of risk. Cumulative risk, parenting, child behavior, and transactional relationships highlighted the relationships between an environment of risk and resulting parenting outcomes. It was predicted that parental distress will act as a mediator variable between the baseline cumulative risk and later parenting behaviors. This hypothesis was tested using data from …

The Effect Of Community Participation On Subjective Well-Being In Community Dwelling Elders, Elise English

Honors Projects

Relationships between health and life satisfaction, health and community participation, and community participation and life satisfaction are well documented in the literature. The current project investigates the confluence of these three variables, specifically whether community participation arbitrates the relationship between physical health challenges and life satisfaction. Using a sample of community dwelling elders from five counties in central Illinois, a mediation analysis assessed the interrelationships between each of the three variables; of particular interest was whether community participation arbitrated the relationship between physical health challenges and life satisfaction. A mediational model could not be tested because there is no statistical …

Reducing Self-Objectification: Are Dissonance-Based Methods A Possible Approach?, Carolyn Becker, Kaitlin Hill, Rebecca Greif, H. Han, Tiffany Stewart

Psychology Faculty Research

Background: Previous research has documented that self-objectification is associated with numerous negative outcomes including body shame, eating disorder (ED) pathology, and negative affect. This exploratory open study investigated whether or not an evidence-based body image improvement program that targets thin-ideal internalization in university women also reduces self-objectification. A second aim of the study was to determine if previous findings showing that body shame mediated the relationship between self-objectification and eating disorder pathology at a single time point (consistent with self-objectification theory) but did not mediate longitudinally (inconsistent with self-objectification theory) would be replicated in a new sample under novel conditions. …

Mimicry And Just World Beliefs: Mimicking Makes Men View The World As More Personally Just, Marielle Stel, Kees Van Der Bos, Su-Hsien Samantha Sim, Sonja Rispens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

People's just world beliefs are related to how they feel and behave towards others: the stronger people hold beliefs that the world treats them fairly, the more they feel and act pro-socially towards others. It is conceivable, therefore, that pro-social feelings and behaviours towards others can strengthen people's personal belief in a just world, especially when people expect these positive feelings to be returned. Because mimicry enhances pro-social feelings towards others, we argue that mimicry may strengthen peoples’ personal just world beliefs via positive feelings for the mimicked person and the expectation that these positive feelings are returned. Moreover, we …

Impulsiveness Mediates The Association Between Gabra2 Snps And Lifetime Alcohol Problems, S. Villafuerte, V. Strumba, S. F. Stoltenberg, R. A. Zucker, M. Burmeister

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Genetic variants in GABRA2 have previously been shown to be associated with alcohol measures, electroencephalography (EEG) β waves and impulsiveness-related traits. Impulsiveness is a behavioral risk factor for alcohol and other substance abuse. Here, we tested association between 11 variants in GABRA2 with NEO-impulsiveness and problem drinking. Our sample of 295 unrelated adult subjects was from a community of families with at least one male with DSM-IV alcohol use diagnosis, and from a socioeconomically comparable control group. Ten GABRA2 SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) were associated with the NEO-impulsiveness (P < 0.03). The alleles associated with higher impulsiveness correspond to the minor alleles identified in previous alcohol dependence studies. All ten SNPs are in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with each other and represent one effect on impulsiveness. Four SNPs and the corresponding haplotype from intron 3 to intron 4 were also associated with Lifetime Alcohol Problems Score (LAPS, P < 0.03) (not corrected for multiple testing). Impulsiveness partially mediates (22.6% average) this relation between GABRA2 and LAPS. Our results suggest that GABRA2 variation in …

Interdisciplinary Psychology And Law Training In Family And Child Mediation: An Empirical Study Of The Effects On Law Student Mediators, Amy Applegate, Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, Brittany N. Rudd, Ann Freeman, Brian D'Onofrio

Articles by Maurer Faculty

There is growing interest in interdisciplinary training programs for law students. The goal of these programs is to prepare law students for the real world interdisciplinary settings they will face in their careers. However, there exists little research to provide evidence of the utility of such training. This study examined the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary psychology and law training program on law students using a multi-method approach (i.e., knowledge tests and focus group discussion). Findings suggest that interdisciplinary training of law students increased law students’ knowledge of law and psychology, was enjoyed by law students, and had a beneficial impact …

Changing Minds: The Work Of Mediators And Empirical Studies Of Persuasion, James H. Stark, Douglas N. Frenkel

All Faculty Scholarship

The use of mediation has grown exponentially in recent years in courts, agencies, and community settings. Yet the field of mediation still operates to a considerable extent on folklore and opinion, rather than reliable knowledge. Mediator attempts at persuasion are pervasive in a wide variety of mediation contexts, yet “persuasion” is, for some, a pejorative word and a contested norm in the field. Perhaps as a result, there has been little, if any, evidence-based writing about what kinds of persuasive appeals might be effective in mediation, how they might operate, and how they might be experienced by disputants. In an …

Testing The Indirect Effect Of Trait Mindfulness On Adolescent Cigarette Smoking Through Negative Affect And Perceived Stress Mediators, C. Anderson Johnson, David S. Black, Joel Milam, Steve Sussman

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Mindfulness refers to an enhanced attention to and awareness of present moment experience. This study examined how trait mindfulness, as measured with six items from Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale, might influence adolescent cigarette smoking frequency through its impact on depressive affect, anger affect and perceived stress mediators. Self-reported data from Chinese adolescents (N = 5287, mean age = 16.2 years, SD = 0.7; 48.8% females) were collected within 24 schools. The product of coefficients test was used to determine significant mediation paths. Results from baseline cross-sectional data indicated that trait mindfulness had a significant indirect effect on past 30-day …