Psychology Commons^™

Reimagining My Body, Center For Public Service

SURGE

I stood there, shoulders slouched, elbows locked, hands glued to the side of the toilet. My body convulsing, I told myself, “this is the last time, just one more time and you’ll get back on track tomorrow.” It wasn’t the last time. I had been forcing myself to purge for months at this point, and each time I hated myself for it.

It was something I couldn’t control. It wasn’t out of a need for attention as so commonly thought, but a pure need to be the unreachable level of thin that I thought would make me beautiful. I was …

Feeling Sad? Maybe You Are Just Uncertain! A Predictive Test For Depression, Dana Elizabeth Larson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current study examined the relationship between depression and uncertainty within the stress-diathesis model. Depression is a mental health disorder that is wide spread within our society. However, few causes of this disease have been able to be identified. Studies in uncertainty have shown that it is a major stressor in day-to-day life. Previous research has shown that individuals with high levels of uncertainty show higher levels of depression. The stress-diathesis model, a model originally developed to explain differences in development of schizophrenia, provides a theoretically meaningful way to combine these two concepts. The model states that a person who …

Pilates, Mindfulness And Somatic Education, Karen Caldwell, Marianne Adams, Rebecca Quinn, Mandy Harrison, Jeffrey M. Greeson

Faculty Scholarship for the College of Science & Mathematics

The Pilates Method is a form of somatic education with the potential to cultivate mindfulness – a mental quality associated with overall well-being. However, controlled studies are needed to determine whether changes in mindfulness are specific to the Pilates Method or also result from other forms of exercise. This quasi-experimental study compared Pilates Method mat classes and recreational exercise classes on measures of mindfulness and well-being at the beginning, middle and end of a 15 week semester. Total mindfulness scores increased overall for the Pilates Method group but not for the exercise control group, and these increases were directly related …

Suicide-Related Imagining And Acquired Capability: Investigating The Role Of Imagery In Self-Harm Behaviors, Tara C. Holaday

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the role of suicide-related mental imagery in suicidal behavior. It was hypothesized that engagement (frequency, emotional impact, vividness, realism) with suicidal imagery would be related to suicidality, with greater engagement with imagery associated with more suicidal behaviors. Acquired capability for suicide was expected to be a mediator of this relationship. These hypotheses were tested by surveying 237 undergraduate university students (59% female; mean age = 20). Students completed a packet of self-report measures: The Modified Suicidal Cognitions Interview, The Acquired Capability for Suicide Scale, and the Self-Harm Behavior Questionnaire. Results suggested that …

Increased Risk And Related Factors Of Depression Among Patients With Copd: A Population-Based Cohort Study, Tzung-Yi Tsai, Hanoch Livneh, Ming-Chi Lu, Pang-Yau Tsai, Pei-Chun Chen, Fung-Chang Sung

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

Depression is a common and mostly undertreated problem in patients with chronic diseases. However, population-based studies on the association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and subsequent depression are limited in Asian populations. This study evaluated the incidence and risk factors of depression for patients with COPD in Taiwan.

Methods

Using the claims data from the National Health Insurance of Taiwan, we identified 38,010 COPD patients newly diagnosed in 2000–2004 and 38,010 subjects without COPD frequency, matched by sex, age and index date. The incidence rate and hazard ratio for depression were estimated by the end of 2008.

Results …

The Cognitive Processes Underlying Affective Decision-Making Predicting Adolescent Smoking Behaviors In A Longitudinal Study, C. Anderson Johnson, Lin Xiao, Gilly Koritzky, Antoine Bechara

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This study investigates the relationship between three different cognitive processes underlying the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and adolescent smoking behaviors in a longitudinal study. We conducted a longitudinal study of 181 Chinese adolescents in Chengdu City, China. The participants were followed from 10th to 11th grade. When they were in the 10th grade (Time 1), we tested these adolescents’ decision-making using the IGT and working memory capacity using the Self-ordered Pointing Test (SOPT). Self-report questionnaires were used to assess school academic performance and smoking behaviors. The same questionnaires were completed again at the 1-year follow-up (Time 2). The Expectancy-Valence (EV) …

The Relationship Between Self-Presentation Concerns And Pre-Game Affect Among Adolescent Football Players, Leslie W. Podlog, Marc Lochbaum, Jens Kleinert, James Dimmock, Maria Newton, Stefanie Podlog (Nee Schulte)

Athletic Training Collection

Background:

The influence of self-presentation concerns on the adolescent sport experience has received scant empirical attention. The purpose of this investigation was to prospectively examine the relationship among self-presentational concerns and pre-game affective states among middle and high school aged football players.

Methods:

American football players (n = 112; mean age = 15.57 years) completed a measure of self-presentational concerns (SPSQ, McGowan, et al., 2008) a week prior to the measurement of selected pre-game affective states (i.e., attentiveness, self-assurance, serenity, and fear).

Results:

Regression analyses revealed that concerns about appearing athletically untalented negatively contributed to the significant prediction ( p …

Predicting Health Trajectories, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

With data going back to pre-World War II, the HRS paints a picture of how we will age . As people age, men are less likely to have physical disabilities than women, but die earlier. Those with higher socio-economic status and education levels have less physical disabilities as they grow old. Less educated single women are often the least financially prepared for retirement.

Those are the main findings of the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS), described as "the mother ship" of statistics on aging by Michael Hurd, Principal Senior Researcher and Director at the RAND Center for the …

The Problem With Adhd: Researchers' Constructions And Parents' Accounts, Bora Pajo, David Cohen Dr.

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

An enduring controversy over the nature of ADHD complicates parents’ decisions regarding children likely to be diagnosed with the condition. Using a fallibilist perspective, this review examines how researchers construe ADHD and acknowledge the controversy. From a systematic literature search of empirical reports using parents of ADHD-diagnosed children as primary informants, 36 reports published between 1996 and 2008 (corresponding to 30 studies) were selected. Data on the studies’ characteristics and methodologies, definitions of ADHD, and extent of the acknowledgment of the ADHD controversy were extracted, as were data on a wide range of parental concerns and experiences. Researchers in 27 …

Can Consumers Make Affordable Care Affordable? The Value Of Choice Architecture, Eric J. Johnson, Ran Hassin, Tom Baker, Allison T. Bajger, Galen Treuer

All Faculty Scholarship

Starting this October, tens of millions will be choosing health coverage on a state or federal health insurance exchange as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We examine how well people make these choices, how well they think they do, and what can be done to improve these choices. We conducted 6 experiments asking people to choose the most cost-effective policy using websites modeled on current exchanges. Our results suggest there is significant room for improvement. Without interventions, respondents perform at near chance levels and show a significant bias, overweighting out-of-pocket expenses and deductibles. Financial incentives do …

The Relationship Between Job Structure, Burnout, And Coping Methods Among Public School County Bus Drivers, Bus Aides, Mechanics, And Clerical Workers, Monica Restrepo

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the structure of jobs and burnout, and to assess to what extent, if any this relationship was moderated by individual coping methods. This study was supported by the Karasek's (1998) Job Demand-Control-Support theory of work stress as well as Maslach and Leiter's (1993) theory of burnout. Coping was examined as a moderator based on the conceptualization of Lazarus and Folkman (1984).

Two overall overarching questions framed this study: (a) what is the relationship between job structure, as operationalized by job title, and burnout across different occupations in support services …

Loss Of Sustained Activity In The Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex In Response To Repeated Stress In Individuals With Early-Life Emotional Abuse: Implications For Depression Vulnerability, Lihong Wang, Natalie Paul, Steven J. Stanton, Jeffrey M. Greeson, Moria J. Smoski

Faculty Scholarship for the College of Science & Mathematics

Repeated psychosocial stress in early-life has significant impact on both behavior and neural function which, together, increase vulnerability to depression. However, neural mechanisms related to repeated stress remain unclear. We hypothesize that early-life stress may result in a reduced capacity for cognitive control in response to a repeated stressor, particularly in individuals who developed maladaptive emotional processing strategies, namely trait rumination. Individuals who encountered early-life stress but have adaptive emotional processing, namely trait mindfulness, may demonstrate an opposite pattern. Using a mental arithmetic task to induce mild stress and a mindful breathing task to induce a mindful state, we tested …

The Effect Of Visual Suggestion On Exercise Motivation And Outcomes, Thomas G. Plante, Ashley Morisako, Justine Folk, Elizabeth Kay, Caroline Read, Ashley Dunn, Angel Perez, Eleanor Willemsen

Psychology

Theories of suggestion and motivation were used to examine if college students exercising in an environment with low or high motivation posters would affect mood, perceived exertion, and exercise workload (i.e., RPM and speed). A total of 134 students (62 males, 72 females) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions while exercising: relaxing posters (i.e., tropical nature), motivational posters (i.e., competitive bikers), or no posters (i.e., control). Participants completed 20 minutes of exercise at their own pace. Measures of mood were taken immediately prior to and following exercise. Exercise workload was recorded throughout. Results indicate that participants in the …

A Narrative Review Of Yoga And Mindfulness As Complementary Therapies For Addiction., Surbhi Khanna, Jeffrey M Greeson

Faculty Scholarship for the College of Science & Mathematics

This paper reviews the philosophical origins, current scientific evidence, and clinical promise of yoga and mindfulness as complementary therapies for addiction. Historically, there are eight elements of yoga that, together, comprise ethical principles and practices for living a meaningful, purposeful, moral and self-disciplined life. Traditional yoga practices, including postures and meditation, direct attention toward one's health, while acknowledging the spiritual aspects of one's nature. Mindfulness derives from ancient Buddhist philosophy, and mindfulness meditation practices, such as gentle Hatha yoga and mindful breathing, are increasingly integrated into secular health care settings. Current theoretical models suggest that the skills, insights, and self-awareness …

Stress, Coping, And Depression In Adolescents： A Longitudinal Analysis Of Data From National Longitudinal Study Of Adolescent Health, Xiaoyun Zhang

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

The study examined the relationships among stress, coping and depression using the public-use data from the first three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Harris & Udry, 1994-2008). The total sample of 3844 participants aged from 11 to 27 was included in the analysis. Latent growth curve modeling was used to identify the developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms and stressful life events from age 12 to age 24, respectively; Latent growth curve modeling with two-construct parallel processes was used to examine the associations between stressful life events and depressive symptoms over time. Path analysis was used to …

An Event-Related Examination Of Neural Activity During Social Interactions, Jason Themanson, Stephanie Khatcherian, Aaron Ball, Peter Rosen

Scholarship

Social exclusion is known to cause alterations in neural activity and perceptions of social distress. However, previous research is largely limited to examining social interactions as a unitary phenomenon without investigating adjustments in neural and attentional processes that occur during social interactions. To address this limitation, we examined neural activity on a trial-by-trial basis during different social interactions. Our results show conflict monitoring neural alarm activation, indexed by the N2, in response to specific exclusionary events; even during interactions that are inclusionary overall and in the absence of self-reported feelings of social pain. Furthermore, we show enhanced attentional activation to …

Self-Regulation And Physical Activity In Wku Employees, Scott Perkins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Many Americans do not engage in the recommended amount of physical activity, and thus do not receive the potential physical and mental health benefits from physical activity. Stage of change is a model that categorizes individuals into one of five stages based on behavior and intentions for future behavior. This model is useful for promoting physical activity because it allows for tailoring of interventions to individuals with different physical activity levels and readiness for change. The main purpose of this research was to test if more adaptive scores for Essential Self-Regulation Model (ESRM) constructs are found for persons in higher …

Inequality And Health: Stress Mediates The Relationship Between Subjective Ses And Wellbeing, Elizabeth L. Tull

Honors College

Socioeconomic disadvantage is linked to a variety of health problems ranging from obesity to mental illness (Ball & Crawford, 2005; Wilkinson & Pickett, 2009). The problem lies not in the inequalities between societies, but within societies themselves (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2009). An individual’s perception of his or her socioeconomic status (SES) relative to others may be more important to their health than objective measures of SES, such as income or education. Stress associated with the perception of low status could also be linked to negative health outcomes (Adler et al., 2000). In the current research, I examined the relationship between …

Attitude Accessiblity As A Determinant Of Object Construal And Evaluation, Alison I. Young, Russell H. Fazio

Faculty Scholarship – Psychology

Attitude accessibility, the ease with which a given attitude comes to mind, has been demonstrated to affect attention. The current experiments focus on the construal of multiply-categorizable objects. They seek to provide evidence that (a) construals toward which individuals have more accessible attitudes, i.e., those that are more attitude-evoking, are more likely to influence the evaluation of related objects and that (b) this effect of attitude accessibility on construal processes can be extended to a whole series of objects which vary along multiple dimensions. Experiment 1 provides evidence that construals whose related attitudes were made more accessible via attitude rehearsal …

Efinancial Health: Discovering Synergies In The Promotion Of Physical, Mental, And Financial Health, Nan Taylor

Cornerstone 1 Reports : Expansion and Enhancements of the Thinkfinity Platform

No abstract provided.

Combatting Dental Anxiety In Patients, Gretchen Osdoba

Natural Science Student Work

Dental Anxiety is a highly debilitating condition that can keep people away from the dentist and from receiving critical care. This can lead to serious medical conditions that could have easily been prevented through proper dental care. The purpose of this paper is to describe the nature of dental fear and the different treatment options available. I will focus on helpful traits of dentists and the use of psychological treatments, nitrous oxide, anti-anxiety medications, and general anesthesia to reduce this fear. I will also discuss a comparison of a psychological treatment and an anti-anxiety medication as short-term and long-term treatment …

Lateralized Difference In Tympanic Membrane Temperature: Emotion And Hemispheric Activity, Ruth E. Propper, Tad T. Brunyé

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We review literature examining relationships between tympanic membrane temperature (TMT), affective/motivational orientation, and hemispheric activity. Lateralized differences in TMT might enable real-time monitoring of hemispheric activity in real-world conditions, and could serve as a corroborating marker of mental illnesses associated with specific affective dysregulation. We support the proposal that TMT holds potential for broadly indexing lateralized brain physiology during tasks demanding the processing and representation of emotional and/or motivational states, and for predicting trait-related affective/motivational orientations. The precise nature of the relationship between TMT and brain physiology, however, remains elusive. Indeed the limited extant research has sampled different participant populations …

Religious Commitment And Depression During Pregnancy, Tifani R. Fletcher, Andrea D. Clements, Lana Mcgrady, Beth A. Bailey

ETSU Faculty Works

Abstract available through the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Social Relations, Health Behaviors, And Health Outcomes: A Survey And Synthesis, Louis Tay, Kenneth Tan, Ed Diener, Elizabeth Gonzalez

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The primary goal of this paper is to summarise current evidence on social relations and health, specifically how social integration and social support are related to health behaviors and health outcomes, using results from published reviews. Our analysis revealed that social relations are beneficial for health behaviors such as chronic illness self-management and decreased suicidal tendency. The salutary effects of general measures of social relations (e.g. being validated, being cared for, etc.) on health behaviors (e.g. healthy diet, physical activity, smoking, alcohol abuse) are weaker, but specific measures of social relations targeting corresponding health behaviors are more predictive. There is …

Marital Status And Religious Commitment Predict Prenatal Tobacco, Alcohol, And Illicit Substance Use In Southern Appalachia, Andrea D. Clements, Tifani R. Fletcher, Lana Mcgrady, Beth A. Bailey

ETSU Faculty Works

Abstract available through the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Functional Impairment, Illness Burden, And Depressive Symptoms In Older Adults: Does Type Of Social Relationship Matter?, Joshua P. Hatfield, Jameson K. Hirsch, Jeffrey M. Lyness

ETSU Faculty Works

Objective: The nature of interpersonal relationships, whether supportive or critical, may affect the association between health status and mental health outcomes. We examined the potential moderating effects of social support, as a buffer, and family criticism, as an exacerbating factor, on the association between illness burden, functional impairment and depressive symptoms.

Methods: Our sample of 735 older adults, 65 years and older, was recruited from internal and family medicine primary care offices. Trained interviewers administered the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Duke Social Support Inventory, and Family Emotional Involvement and Criticism Scale. Physician-rated assessments of health, including the Karnofsky Performance …

The Concept Of Time In Rehabilitation And Psychosocial Adaptation To Chronic Illness And Disability: Parts I And Ii, Hanoch Livneh

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Human fascination with the concept of time can be traced to antiquity. Time has been viewed as fundamental to all human experience, and efforts to understand its nature, structure, and relationship to the human experience have generated a burgeoning body of literature, over the past two millennia, among philosophers, astronomers, physicists, and more recently psychologists. Yet, the field of rehabilitation counseling has been rather silent on the role of time and especially its place in understanding psychosocial adaptation to chronic illnesses and disabilities. In the first part of this article, the author seeks to (a) provide a brief review of …

Activating Health Goals Reduces (Increases) Hedonic Evaluation Of Food Brands For People Who Harbor Highly Positive (Negative) Affect Toward Them, Lauren F. Mayor, Paul M. Connell

Faculty of Marketing & International Business Publications

Associations of pleasure and fun with junk foods have the potential to create considerable challenges for efforts to improve diets. The aim of this research was to determine whether activating health goals had the potential to exploit mixed motivations (i.e., health and pleasure) that people have related to food, and subsequently strip junk foods of the expected pleasure derived from them. In study 1, 98 participants evaluated a soft drink brand after being primed (not primed) for health. In study 2, 93 participants evaluated a presweetened breakfast cereal brand after being primed (not primed) for health. In both studies, participants …

Finding Still Waters And Green Pastures: Understanding And Reducing Stress In Urban Church Planting, David R. Dunaetz

Selected Faculty Publications

The work of urban church planters is often hindered by high levels of stress. Stress may be viewed as a process that involves stressors and an individual’s perceptions of both the level of threat and his or her ability to deal with the threat. The long term and the short term consequences of stress can be attenuated through appropriate coping strategies such as problem solving, prayer, and seeking social support. Recent empirical evidence indicates that exposure to nature is also very effective, a strategy that might be especially beneficial to urban church planters and their ministries. Several practical applications are …

Age-Related Concomitants Of Obtaining Mental Health Care In Adulthood, Erin L. Woodhead, R. C. Cronkite, R. H. Moos, H. Valenstein, C. Timko

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.