Psychology Commons^™

Values Narratives For Personal Growth: Formative Evaluation Of The Laws Of Life Essay Program, Victoria Banyard, Sherry L. Hamby, Ed De St. Aubin, John H. Grych

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Evidence that even very brief writing exercises can change the way people see themselves and promote more positive mental and physical health has led to increased interest in their use in school settings and elsewhere. To date, however, research designs rely heavily on samples of college students and experimental studies of writing tasks carried out in the lab. There has been less investigation of the potential impact of more naturally occurring expressive writing exercises that exist in places like schools and that focus on adolescents. The current study was a process evaluation of the Laws of Life Essay, a values-based …

Defining Treatment Response In Trichotillomania: A Signal Detection Analysis, David C. Houghton, Matthew R. Capriotti, Alessandro S. De Nadai, Scott N. Compton, Michael P. Twohig, Angela M. Neal-Barnett, Stephen M. Saunders, Martin E. Franklin, Douglas W. Woods

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

The Massachusetts General Hospital Hairpulling Scale (MGH-HPS) and the NIMH Trichotillomania Severity Scale (NIMH-TSS) are two widely used measures of trichotillomania severity. Despite their popular use, currently no empirically-supported guidelines exist to determine the degrees of change on these scales that best indicate treatment response. Determination of such criteria could aid in clinical decision-making by defining clinically significant treatment response/recovery and producing accurate power analyses for use in clinical trials research. Adults with trichotillomania (N = 69) participated in a randomized controlled trial of psychotherapy and were assessed before and after treatment. Response status was measured via the Clinical …

Improved Cardiorespiratory Fitness Is Associated With Increased Cortical Thickness In Mild Cognitive Impairment, Katherine Reiter, Kristy A. Nielson, Theresa J. Smith, Lauren R. Weiss, Alfonso J. Alfini, J. C. Smith

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Cortical atrophy is a biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that correlates with clinical symptoms. This study examined changes in cortical thickness from before to after an exercise intervention in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy elders. Thirty physically inactive older adults (14 MCI, 16 healthy controls) underwent MRI before and after participating in a 12-week moderate intensity walking intervention. Participants were between the ages of 61 and 88. Change in cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed using residualized scores of the peak rate of oxygen consumption (V̇O_2peak) from pre- to post-intervention. Structural magnetic resonance images were processed using FreeSurfer v5.1.0. …

Barriers And Facilitators Of Suicide Risk Assessment In Emergency Departments: A Qualitative Study Of Provider Perspectives, Megan L. Petrik, Peter M. Gutierrez, Jon S. Berlin, Stephen M. Saunders

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Objective

To understand emergency department (ED) providers’ perspectives regarding the barriers and facilitators of suicide risk assessment and to use these perspectives to inform recommendations for best practices in ED suicide risk assessment.

Methods

Ninety-two ED providers from two hospital systems in a Midwestern state responded to open-ended questions via an online survey that assessed their perspectives on the barriers and facilitators to assess suicide risk as well as their preferred assessment methods. Responses were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis approach.

Results

Qualitative analysis yielded six themes that impact suicide risk assessment. Time, privacy, collaboration and consultation with other …

A Review Of Peer Relationships And Friendships In Youth With Adhd, Denise M. Gardner, Alyson C. Gerdes

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: The purpose of this essay is to examine peer relationships in youth with ADHD and to review current peer functioning interventions.

Method: The studies included in this review were identified using the following search terms: “attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,” “ADHD,” “peer relationships,” “friendships,” “social skills,” “intervention,” and “treatment.” Other than a few seminal studies published prior to 2000, studies included were published between 2000 and 2012.

Results/Discussion: Background information regarding peer relationship difficulties and specific social skills deficits of youth with ADHD is reviewed and current social skills and friendship intervention programs are examined. Future directions also are provided.

Treatment Response In Couple Therapy: Relationship Adjustment And Individual Functioning Change Processes, Lynne M. Knobloch-Fedders, William M. Pinsof, Claudia M. Haase

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

This study, a naturalistic investigation of the process of change in relationship adjustment and individual functioning during conjoint therapy, examined the first 8 sessions of a multisystemic model of couple therapy, integrative problem-centered metaframeworks (Breunlin, Pinsof, Russell, & Lebow, 2011; Pinsof, Breunlin, Russell, & Lebow, 2011). The sample consisted of 125 heterosexual couples who reported on their relationship adjustment and individual functioning before every session using the Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change (Pinsof et al., 2009; Pinsof, Zinbarg, et al., in press). Data were analyzed using dyadic latent growth curve and cross-lagged models. For both men and women, relationship adjustment …

A Neurobiological Pathway That Mediates Stress-Induced Drug Use, Oliver Vranjkovic

Dissertations (1934 -)

Cocaine addiction represents a tremendous health and financial burden on our society and the high rate of relapse to cocaine use in abstinent addicts represents a major barrier to effective therapy. Thus, understanding the factors that contribute to relapse and the underlying neurobiological processes is important for guiding the development of treatment for addiction. Stressful life events often trigger drug use in recovering addicts. The contribution of stress to drug use is problematic due to the unpredictable and often uncontrollable nature of stress. A growing literature indicates that norepinephrine and corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) in the brain play key roles …

Sexual Minority Stress And Suicide Risk: Identifying Resilience Through Personality Profile Analysis, Nicholas A. Livingston, Nicholas C. Heck, Annesa Flentje, Hillary Gleason, Kathyrn M. Oost, Bryan N. Cochran

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Sexual minority-based victimization, which includes threats or enacted interpersonal violence, predicts elevated suicide risk among sexual minority individuals. However, research on personality factors that contribute to resilience among sexual minority populations is lacking. Using the Five-Factor Model, we hypothesized that individuals classified as adaptive (vs. at-risk) would be at decreased risk for a suicide attempt in the context of reported lifetime victimization. Sexual minority-identified young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years (N = 412) were recruited nationally and asked to complete an online survey containing measures of personality, sexual minority stress, and lifetime suicide attempts. A 2-stage …

Confirming, Validating, And Norming The Factor Structure Of Systemic Therapy Inventory Of Change Initial And Intersession, William M. Pinsof, Richard E. Zinbarg, Kenichi Shimokawa, Tara A. Latta, Jacob Z. Goldsmith, Lynne M. Knobloch-Fedders, Anthony L. Chambers, Jay L. Lebow

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Progress or feedback research tracks and feeds back client progress data throughout the course of psychotherapy. In the effort to empirically ground psychotherapeutic practice, feedback research is both a complement and alternative to empirically supported manualized treatments. Evidence suggests that tracking and feeding back progress data with individual or nonsystemic feedback systems improves outcomes in individual and couple therapy. The research reported in this article pertains to the STIC^® (Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change)—the first client‐report feedback system designed to empirically assess and track change within client systems from multisystemic and multidimensional perspectives in individual, couple, and family therapy. …

The Potential To Promote Resilience: Piloting A Minority Stress-Informed, Gsa-Based, Mental Health Promotion Program For Lgbtq Youth, Nicholas C. Heck

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

This article describes the results of a pilot study to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a mental health promotion program that was developed to address minority stressors and promote coping skills among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth. It was hypothesized that the program would be feasible to implement within the context of a gay–straight alliance (GSA) and that GSA members would find the program acceptable (e.g., educational, enjoyable, helpful, and relevant). Participants included 10 members of a high school GSA in the northeastern United States. The program sessions were delivered during GSA meetings. The first session …

Web-Based Training For An Evidence-Supported Treatment: Training Completion And Knowledge Acquisition In A Global Sample Of Learners, Nicholas C. Heck, Benjamin E. Saunders, Daniel W. Smith

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this investigation is to describe the characteristics of professional and preprofessional learners who registered for and completed TF-CBTWeb, a modular, web-based training program designed to promote the dissemination of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and to demonstrate the feasibility of this method of dissemination. Between October 1, 2005, and October 1, 2012, a total of 123,848 learners registered for TF-CBTWeb, of whom 98,646 (79.7%) initiated the learning activities by beginning the first module pretest. Of those, 67,201 (68.1%) completed the full training. Registrants hailed from 130 countries worldwide, and they had varied educational backgrounds, professional identities (both …

Ethnic Microaggressions, Traumatic Stress Symptoms, And Latino Depression: A Moderated Mediational Model, Lucas Torres, Joelle T. Taknint

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Although ethnic microaggressions have received increased empirical attention in recent years, there remains a paucity of research regarding how these subtle covert forms of discrimination contribute to Latino mental health. The present study examined the role of traumatic stress symptoms underlying the relationship between ethnic microaggressions and depression. Further, ethnic identity and general self-efficacy were tested as moderators between the ethnic microaggressions and traumatic stress link. Among a sample of 113 Latino adults, moderated mediational analyses revealed statistically significant conditional indirect effects in which traumatic stress symptoms mediated the relationship between ethnic microaggressions and depression while ethnic identity and self-efficacy …

Examining Dsm Criteria For Trichotillomania In A Dimensional Framework: Implications For Dsm-5 And Diagnostic Practice, David C. Houghton, Steve Balsis, Dan J. Stein, Scott N. Compton, Michael P. Twohig, Stephen M. Saunders, Martin E. Franklin, Angela M. Neal-Barnett, Douglas W. Woods

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Background: Diagnosis of Trichotillomania (TTM) requires meeting several criteria that aim to embody the core pathology of the disorder. These criteria are traditionally interpreted monothetically, in that they are all equally necessary for diagnosis. Alternatively, a dimensional conceptualization of psychopathology allows for examination of the relatedness of each criterion to the TTM latent continuum.

Objectives: First, to examine the ability of recently removed criteria (B and C) to identify the latent dimensions of TTM psychopathology, such that they discriminate between individuals with low and high degrees of hair pulling severity. Second, to determine the impact of removing criteria B and …

Neural Plasticity In Response To Intervention In Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Sheryl Jayne Stevens

Dissertations (1934 -)

Current theories of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) suggest that they may develop from the transactional interaction between biological risk factors and environmental processes (Dawson et al., 2009). Due to the brain’s experience-expectant nature, one’s degree of social exposure may have a significant impact on their brain development and behavioral presentation. In addition to the primary critical neurodevelopmental period identified in early childhood, recent research has demonstrated a second period of substantial neurodevelopment during the adolescent period (Sisk & Foster, 2004). This study investigated the neural and behavioral impact of participation in an empirically validated behavioral intervention (The Program for the …

Primary And Family Stigma Of Mental Illness: Comparing Perceptions Of African Americans And European Americans, Julia Rubinshteyn

Dissertations (1934 -)

Research has shown that stigma is a significant barrier to mental health treatment seeking, and that African Americans tend to have significantly lower rates of treatment seeking compared to European Americans (Wang et al., 2005). Stigma affecting the individual directly is called primary stigma (Corrigan & Kleinlein, 2005), whereas stigma affecting the individual’s family members is referred to as family stigma. In the present study, a vignette was presented to 287 undergraduate students at Marquette University. The study examined attitudes of primary and family stigma toward a target based on race (European American or African American) and type of mental …

Hope Among Resilient African American Adolescents, Jessica Briana Mcclintock

Dissertations (1934 -)

African American youth have historically been disproportionately affected by an array of environmental stressors that have put them at higher risk for poor adjustment outcomes (Adams III et al., 2003; Mcloyd, 1990). Despite their hardships, not all of these youth fall victim to negative environmental influences (Miller & MacIntosh, 1999). Many exceed expectations and their lives take positive trajectories that lead to positive adaptation (Hunter, 2012; Miller & MacIntosh, 1999). This positive adaptation in spite of significant risk is referred to as resilience (Cicchetti, 2010). While the importance of resilience has been well documented in European Americans, the majority of …

Stay-At-Home-Fathers Navigating Depression: A Consensual Qualitative Research Study, William Douglas Meyers Caperton

Dissertations (1934 -)

Evidence suggests that the practices through which men are socialized to become masculine may serve both to restrict their potential in ways that lead to psychological distress, and also to restrict the ways in which they respond to such distress (Addis & Mahalik, 2003; Mahalik, Good, Tager, Levant, & Mackowiak, 2012; O’Neil, 2008). While we are beginning to understand masculine depression (Cochran & Rabinowitz, 2000; Magovcevic & Addis, 2008) and paternal depression (Paulson & Bazemore, 2010; Ramachandani & Psychogiou, 2009), almost nothing is known about how SAHFs experience depression, nor their experiences and beliefs regarding help-seeking and psychotherapy. The trend …

Examination Of A Parent-Assisted, Friendship-Building Program For Adolescents With Adhd, Denise Marie Gardner

Dissertations (1934 -)

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood disorder that often contributes to impairment in multiple domains, including peer functioning. Specifically, youth with ADHD tend to have fewer friends and lower quality friendships, experience greater peer victimization, and engage in more inappropriate social behaviors than typically developing peers. Researchers have highlighted the need for long-term interventions that directly address peer difficulties, emphasize dyadic friendship-building, and include a parent component. Thus, the current pilot study will examine the effectiveness of PEERS, a parent-assisted, friendship-building program, at establishing mutual friendships and improving current peer relationships in adolescents with ADHD. Participants in the study …

A Parent-Child Therapy Program For Latino Families, Michael P. Fung

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study used a randomized control design with treatment and wait-list conditions to evaluate the efficacy of a culturally-adapted version of the Early Pathways program (Fox & Gresl, 2014), an in-home, parent-child therapy program with 137 at-risk Latino children under the age of six referred for severe behavior and emotional problems, such as aggression, oppositional behavior, self-injury and property destruction. Early Pathways directly engaged the parent-child dyad, emphasizing parent-directed training and child-engagement activities, such as psycho-education, child-led play, and cognitive-behavioral strategies. Cultural modifications included establishing community partnerships to identify Latino family needs, translation of materials, offering bilingual services, acculturation assessment, …

Application Of Item Response Theory To Measures Of Verbal Learning, Indrani K. Thiruselvam

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study utilized item response theory (IRT) methods to investigate if item parameters of select trials in the California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II; Delis, Kramer, Kaplan, & Ober, 2000) and the Logical Memory subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scales – Fourth Edition (WMS-IV; Wechsler, 2009) vary as a function of the serial position effect. In addition, this study compared the effectiveness of CVLT-II and LM in quantifying verbal memory functioning, and determined if a weighted scoring approach improves the quantification of verbal memory. Archival data from 755 individuals (516 college students, 239 patients at a neuropsychology clinic) were utilized …

The Effects Of Specific Mental Illness Stigma Beliefs On Treatment Seeking Attitudes, Henry Arthur Boeh

Dissertations (1934 -)

Despite significant gains in the research base and effectiveness of psychotherapy, only thirty to forty percent of individuals experiencing mental illness symptoms seek treatment. A large barrier preventing many individuals from seeking psychotherapy is the stigma that surrounds mental illness. This study reviews the current state of mental illness stigma literature and presents a new Treatment Seeking Barriers Model (TSBM) that attempts to better explain the connection between stigma and treatment seeking. The goal of the current study was to isolate and manipulate responsibility or immutability beliefs related to depression in order to evaluate their relationship with treatment seeking stigma. …

Role Of Shared Care In The Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms And Self-Care In Patients With Heart Failure, Susan Cole

Dissertations (1934 -)

Heart failure (HF) is a chronic condition affecting over 5 million Americans. Heart failure accounts for over 32 billion dollars in total cost each year, and is the most common cause of hospitalization for persons 65 years of age or older. Patients with HF experience poor self-care, are at risk for depressive symptoms, and have high rates of 30-day hospital readmissions. Social support influences depressive symptoms, self-care, and hospital readmissions. Shared care was used to operationalize social support. Shared care is a system of three relationship processes communication, decision making, and reciprocity, used to exchange social support. The purpose of …

Examination Of A Parent-Assisted, Friendship-Building Program For Adolescents With Adhd, Denise M. Gardner, Alyson C. Gerdes, Kelsey Ann Weinberger

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: Youth with ADHD experience significant impairment in peer functioning. Based on recommendations from the literature, the current pilot study examined the effectiveness of a parent-assisted, friendship-building program at establishing mutual friendships and improving peer relationships in adolescents with ADHD. Method: Participants included 20 adolescents with ADHD (ages 11-16 years) and their parent(s). Families completed the Program for the Evaluation and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS). Measures of friendship quality, social knowledge, social self-efficacy, get-togethers, and peer conflict were completed at baseline and post-treatment. At post-treatment, participants also reported on the initiation of a new friendship. Results: Baseline to post-treatment …

Defining Early Positive Response To Psychotherapy: An Empirical Comparison Between Clinically Significant Change Criteria And Growth Mixture Modeling, Julian Rubel, Wolfgang Lutz, Stephen Mark Kopta, Katharina Köck, Takuya Minami, Dirk Zimmermann, Stephen M. Saunders

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Several different approaches have been applied to identify early positive change in response to psychotherapy so as to predict later treatment outcome and length as well as use this information for outcome monitoring and treatment planning. In this study, simple methods based on clinically significant change criteria and computationally demanding growth mixture modeling (GMM) are compared with regard to their overlap and uniqueness as well as their characteristics in terms of initial impairment, therapy outcome, and treatment length. The GMM approach identified a highly specific subgroup of early improving patients. These patients were characterized by higher average intake impairments and …

Executive Functioning And Risk For Alzheimer's Disease In The Cognitively Intact: Family History Predicts Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Performance, Kathleen Hazlett, Christina Marie Figueroa, Kristy A. Nielson

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research typically focuses on memory. However, executive functioning (EF) deficits are also common among AD patients; these deficits are associated with decreased functioning in activities of daily living, an important criterion in diagnosing AD. A classic test of EF ability, the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST), has demonstrated sensitivity to differentiating individuals with AD from healthy controls, discriminating AD groups based on disease severity, and distinguishing AD from other types of dementia. Such sensitivity to AD raises the possibility that the WCST is also sensitive to very early, preclinical differences between those who have heightened risk for …

The Role Of Personality In Predicting Drug And Alcohol Use Among Sexual Minorities, Nicholas A. Livingston, Kathyrn M. Oost, Nicholas C. Heck, Bryan N. Cochran

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Research consistently demonstrates that sexual minority status is associated with increased risk of problematic substance use. Existing literature in this area has focused on group-specific minority stress factors (e.g., victimization and internalized heterosexism). However, no known research has tested the incremental validity of personality traits as predictors of substance use beyond identified group-specific risk factors. A sample of 704 sexual minority adults was recruited nationally from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning community organizations and social networking Web sites and asked to complete an online survey containing measures of personality, sexual minority stress, and substance use. Hierarchical regression models …

The Interchangeability Of Cvlt-Ii And Wms-Iv Verbal Paired Associates Scores: A Slightly Different Story, Indrani K. Thiruselvam, Elisabeth M. Vogt, James B. Hoelzle

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

We investigated the similarity of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) Auditory Memory Index (AMI) scores when California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II) scores are substituted for WMS-IV Verbal Paired Associates (VPA) subtest scores. College students (n = 103) were administered select WMS-IV subtests and the CVLT-II in a randomized order. Immediate and delayed VPA scaled scores were significantly greater than VPA substitute scaled scores derived from CVLT-II performance. At the Index level, AMI scores were significantly lower when CVLT-II scores were used in place of VPA scores. It is important that clinicians recognize the accepted substitution of CVLT-II …

Genetic Risk For Alzheimer's Disease Alters The Five-Year Trajectory Of Semantic Memory Activation In Cognitively Intact Elders, Stephen M. Rao, Aaron Bonner-Jackson, Kristy A. Nielson, Michael Seidenberg, J. Carson Smith, John L. Woodard, Sally Durgerian

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Healthy aging is associated with cognitive declines typically accompanied by increased task-related brain activity in comparison to younger counterparts. The Scaffolding Theory of Aging and Cognition (STAC) (Park and Reuter-Lorenz, 2009; Reuter-Lorenz and Park, 2014) posits that compensatory brain processes are responsible for maintaining normal cognitive performance in older adults, despite accumulation of aging-related neural damage. Cross-sectional studies indicate that cognitively intact elders at genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) demonstrate patterns of increased brain activity compared to low risk elders, suggesting that compensation represents an early response to AD-associated pathology. Whether this compensatory response persists or declines with the …

Reading Between The Lines: Cultural Sexual Scripts And Collegiate Sexual Behaviors, Lauren Yadlosky

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Cultural sexual scripts provide individuals with a general understanding of how to respond in sexual situations given their environment. College students navigate the college culture keeping various elements of these sexual scripts in mind. Utilizing 1,007 undergraduates, the researcher investigated the current relevance of traditional sexual scripts and the relationships between various levels of cultural sexual scripts (i.e., the collective versus individual perceptions of them) and their relation to reported sexual engagement. Researchers also explored factors that predict these relationships. Results suggested current sexual scripts still largely reflect traditional ones, depending on the sexual behavior being assessed. Individual perceptions of …

Mechanisms Of Regulation: Profiling The Impact Of Emotion Regulation On Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Samantha Ann Chesney

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Trauma survivors are at a high risk for developing symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS) and often experience difficulties with emotion regulation. However, there is no clear understanding of how multiple strategies may be used to effectively regulate PTS. The current study evaluates participants' use of six different strategies and investigates whether a specific profile of emotion regulation (i.e., the individual's default pattern of regulation, determined by the frequency with which s/he uses different strategies from a regulation inventory) is related to PTS. Results of a hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that four profiles of emotion regulation were present in the current …