Psychology Commons^™

A Systematic Review On Anxious Attachment And Relationship Satisfaction, Laura Mendez

Theses and Dissertations

Romantic relationships can serve as a source of intimacy, security, support, and comfort for many individuals. Many studies have identified adult attachment as an important predictor of romantic relationship/marital satisfaction. However, many studies have found anxious attachment to be a predictor of poor relationship satisfaction. Moreover, individuals high in attachment anxiety have been found to constantly worry and ruminate about their relationships, specifically, about the fear of being abandoned or rejected by their romantic partner. As such, it is important to further understand which factors strengthen or weaken relationship/marital satisfaction in anxiously attached adults. This systematic review aimed to answer …

Achievement Goal Theory: Achievement Goals In Predicting Pre-Competitive Anxiety In Athletes, Ysmara Sainz

Theses and Dissertations

Being involved in a sport (team or individual) can offer numerous benefits for an athlete, such as physical and health advantages. Yet, some athletes strive for more than physical and health benefits. Some athletes strive for sport achievements and mastering sport techniques and skills. According to the achievement motivation theory, athletes are motivated for the need of achievement and striving for perceived high ability (i.e., achievement behavior). Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) proposes achievement motivation is a combination of achievement goals, achievement behavior, and perceived ability, and achievement behavior. Additionally, achievement motivation can be manipulated by achievement goal orientations. Achievement goal …

Experiences Of Stigma, Social Support, And Anxiety In People Living With Hiv In South Carolina, Sarah J. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

People living with HIV (PLHIV) experience numerous psychosocial stressors, including HIV-related stigma and heightened prevalence of mental health disorders such as depression, substance use disorders, and anxiety. However, limited research has investigated predictors of anxiety within this population. This study aimed to explore the relationship between HIV-related stigma and anxiety symptoms among PLHIV in South Carolina (SC) and to examine the role of social support as a mediator for this relationship. A total of 402 PLHIV receiving HIV care at large immunology center in SC completed a paper and pencil survey, reporting sociodemographic variables, as well as experiences of HIV-related …

Does Anxiety Sensitivity Mediate Age-Related Differences In Anxiety In Middle-Aged And Older Adults?, Katherine F. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is a mental illness that can have significant deleterious impacts on an individual’s functioning. Although anxiety has been studied in older adults, there is conflicting evidence on differences in anxiety as a function of age. Anxiety sensitivity is a construct that is positively related to anxiety but has limited research in older adults. Extant literature suggests that older adults experience less anxiety sensitivity than do younger adults. According to Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, this may be due to older adults letting go of the things that make them anxious. The current study proposed that age impacts self-rated anxiety such that …

The Feasibility Of Remote Brief Mindfulness Training And Impact On Anxiety-Related Attention Bias, Hanna Culang

Theses and Dissertations

Brief mindfulness training (BMT) improves anxiety and the allocation of attentional resources. Whether BMT can remediate disruptions in attention associated with anxiety, such as anxiety-related attention bias (AB), remains unclear. This experimental study revealed that BMT significantly improved subjective state mindfulness and state anxiety, but did not influence AB.

The Cognitive Content Specificity Hypothesis In Anxiety And Depression, Krystell Adriana Montalvo

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, we recruited 400 participants through an online platform and obtained measures of social anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, dysfunctional attitudes, and irrational thinking. We tested the cognitive content specificity hypothesis which predicts that anxious symptoms will be more highly correlated to irrational and dysfunctional beliefs with anxious cognitive content, and depressive symptoms would be more highly correlated with depressive cognitive content. The results were mixed, but generally showed that depressive cognitive content was more highly correlated to depressive symptoms, especially in the case of the positive association between irrational thoughts about self-depreciation and depressive symptoms.

Challenges Among Latine Daca Recipients And Anxiety: A Systematic Meta-Analytic Review, Isis A. Garcia-Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

Immigrant-origin Latine young adults (ILYAs) face a challenge that is specific to their developmental period. As ILYAs transition from high school to beyond (e.g., workforce, college, etc.), they begin to grapple with participating in normative experiences for all young adults in the U.S. (e.g., obtaining a driver’s license, getting their first job at 16). The lives of ILYA, particularly those who are DACAmented or DACA eligible, are characterized by the legal and social contradiction that arises from growing up in the U.S. yet facing barriers to full participation in U.S. society. The nonexistent synthesis of the exponentially growing literature in …

Systematic Review Regarding The Use Of Mindfulness-Based Mobile Applications To Reduce Psychological Symptoms And Enhance Well-Being Among General And Clinical Population Adults: Benefits, Limitations And Future Directions, Brian Clawson

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness is now utilized throughout Western Society and is part of the growing behavioral health, self-help, and wellness movements. Mobile applications have become increasingly popular for a wide variety of uses related to physical health, mental health, and self-improvement. Therefore, mindfulness-based mobile applications have promise both as stand-alone tools for end-users seeking self-help resources and as clinician-recommended adjunctive tools to enhance the process and outcomes of professional therapy. This systematic review identified, reviewed, and synthesized the findings from studies (n = 29) concerning the impact of mindfulness-based mobile applications on specific aspects of psychological functioning in both the general population …

Does Decentering Mediate The Relationship Between Mindfulness And Stress And Anxiety?, Hana Hannah Lee

Theses and Dissertations

College students are stressed and unsuccessful efforts to cope can increase risk for poor mental health, including anxiety (American College Health, 2019). Research suggests mindfulness (Bamber & Schneider, 2016) and adaptive emotion regulation (Desrosiers et al. 2013b) can buffer against the deleterious effects of distress. Decentering, a mindful emotion regulation strategy (Chambers et al., 2009), is postulated to be a mechanism by which mindfulness can lead to better mental health (Shapiro et al. 2006). Specific facets of trait mindfulness, namely Nonjudging (NJ) and Nonreactivity (NR) (Mizera et al. 2016), are directly involved in regulating one's emotions, which can help reduce …

Neural Substrates Of Fear Generalization And Its Associations With Anxiety And Intolerance Of Uncertainty, Ashley Ann Huggins

Theses and Dissertations

Fear generalization - the tendency to interpret ambiguous stimuli as threatening due to perceptual similarity to a learned threat – is an adaptive process. Overgeneralization, however, is maladaptive and has been implicated in a number of anxiety disorders. Neuroimaging research has indicated several regions sensitive to effects of generalization, including regions involved in fear excitation (e.g., amygdala, insula) and inhibition (e.g., ventromedial prefrontal cortex). Research has suggested several other small brain regions may play an important role in this process (e.g., hippocampal subfields, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis [BNST], habenula), but, to date, these regions have not been examined …

Characterizing Anxiety And Physiological Correlates In Preschool Children With Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, Jordan Ezell

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of two original research manuscripts broadly examining anxiety and potential correlates in young children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. The first manuscript assessed cardiac regulation during an auditory startle paradigm in young children (3-6 years old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), fragile x syndrome (FXS), and neurotypical peers. The second manuscript utilized a new measure developed to capture anxiety in individuals with ASD in order to assess the rate of typical and atypical anxiety and potential risk factors (ASD severity, sex, cognitive ability) for anxiety in preschool children with ASD contrasted to neurotypical preschool children. Collectively, these two …

Comparing The Effects Of Noncontingent Reinforcement And Environmental Enrichment On Problem Behavior Maintained By Automatic Reinforcement, Mary Llinas

Theses and Dissertations

Environmental enrichment (EE) and noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) are common behavior analytic interventions used to decrease problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. Both EE and NCR involve noncontingent access to preferred or competing stimuli, however, access to stimuli is intermittent (typically on a fixed-time [FT] schedule) in NCR, while in EE, the stimuli are continuously available. Despite the research on their effectiveness at reducing problem behavior, they have not been compared. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effectiveness of different schedules of reinforcement at decreasing automatically maintained problem behavior (stereotypy) and anxiety exhibited by two children with …

Behavioral, Physiological, And Molecular Characterization Of Long-Term Administration Of A Novel Estrogen Receptor Beta Agonist In A Mouse Model Of Menopause, Aaron William Fleischer

Theses and Dissertations

The menopausal loss of circulating hormones, including estrogens, is associated with negative symptoms, such as hot flashes, anxiety and depression, cognitive decline, and weight gain. Although estrogenic hormone therapies (HT) prevent many of the negative symptoms related to the menopausal transition, these same therapies are associated with increased health risks, such as the development of breast and ovarian cancers, which is mediated by the activation of the a (ERa), but not b (ERb), estrogen receptor isoform. Furthermore, ERb agonism has previously been shown to reduce preclinical indices of hot flashes, memory decline, anxiety, and depression. As most ERb agonists are …

Neural Correlates Underlying The Interactions Between Anxiety And Cannabis Use In Predicting Motor Response Inhibition, Richard Ward

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to effectively withhold an inappropriate response is a critical feature of cognitive control. Prior research indicates alterations in neural processes required for motor response inhibition in anxious individuals, including those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and those who engage in regular cannabis use. However, thus far most research has examined how anxiety-related symptoms and cannabis use influence response inhibition in isolation of one another. The current study examined the interactions between anxious symptomology and recent cannabis use in a sample that recently experienced a traumatic event using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the completion of a Stop-Signal …

The Joint Influence Of Social Support And Coping On Anxiety In Aya Cancer Survivors, Genevieve Durso

Theses and Dissertations

Background Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors experience unique psychosocial needs during remission. Cancer-related anxiety is endemic amongst AYA survivors and can impede upon the survivor’s life post-cancer treatment. Independent of one another, confiding in a social support system and frequent engagement in coping mechanisms benefit those throughout the cancer experience, leading to more positive psychosocial outcomes. Hypothesis The dual utilization of one’s social support network and coping mechanisms would reduce cancer-related anxiety in AYA cancer survivors. Methods This study’s data was derived from a prior study conducted at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, consisting of 128 adolescent and …

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy For Anxiety In Youth With Autism: Paving The Way To Evidence-Based Practice, Michelle M. Kirkland

Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is one of the most common and debilitating conditions co-occurring with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as it occurs in up to 84% of individuals and can influence poor psychosocial adjustment, disruptions in individual, familial and school functioning, increased emotional and behavioral problems, self-injurious behavior(s), and an overall reduced quality of life (Meyer, Mundy, Van Hecke, & Durocher, 2006; Nadeau et al., 2011; Farrugia & Hudson, 2006; Kerns et al., 2015). To date, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), an evidence-based treatment for anxiety in neurotypical youth, has seen modest, yet limited, promise in treating anxiety in youth with ASD. With extant research …

The Harm In Seeking Care: Assessing The Relationship Between Healthcare Discrimination And Healthcare Avoidance Behaviors In The Past Year And Since The Start Of The Coronavirus Pandemic In A Transgender And Gender Independent Sample, Kyle L. Mason

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Gender minorities encounter a myriad of barriers to accessing general and gender affirming healthcare. Financial disparities impacting affordability of healthcare costs and insurance-based denials for gender-affirming care are among prominent barriers discussed. Considerations of the prevalence of stigma, discrimination, and erasure of gender minority identities must not be neglected when seeking to understand healthcare accessibility and utilization in this population. Previous researchers have examined gender minority patients’ experiences of discrimination in healthcare settings and delaying care due to fear of discrimination. There is a dearth of knowledge about the relationship between lifetime exposure to varied forms of healthcare discrimination …

Prolonged Distress In Residents Exposed To A Technological Disaster, Lindsey S. Hieber

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the prolonged emotional and behavioral effects of an ongoing technolog-ical disaster, the Flint Water Crisis. Past research indicates that surviving a technological disaster may have prolonged effects, including stress related disorders, even after the initial exposure pe-riod has passed. The survey consisted of questions involving knowledge of the effects of lead and Legionnaires’ disease as well as questions regarding how to use water filters properly, ques-tions modeled after the Health Belief Model, behavioral changes, and an anxiety, stress, and de-pression scale. Additionally, there were questions asking participants how well they feel the crisis was handled, how much …

Humor As A Moderator Of Neuroticism’S Effect On Psychopathology And Life Satisfaction, Adir Pinchot

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research studies evaluated self-enhancing humor (also referred to as coping humor) as a coping strategy that enables an individual to better manage the negative emotions elicited by external stressors. Research has not, however, adequately considered the role that humor may play for neurotic individuals who are characterized by a propensity to experience stress and negative emotions and are, therefore, more susceptible to developing depression, anxiety, and low life satisfaction. Nor has research adequately explored how self-enhancing humor interacts with the maladaptive form of self-directed humor, namely, self-defeating humor. This study attempts to address these lacunae by analyzing whether self-enhancing …

Integrating Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Processes With Information-Processing Theory In Anxious Early Adolescents, Gilly Kahn

Theses and Dissertations

The social information-processing (I-P) model states that cognition assumes several cognitive steps (encoding, interpretation, response access, and selection). It has been shown that anxious youth display deficits or distortions at various stages of the social I-P model. In response to ambiguous situations, they show threat perception and interpretation biases, choose maladaptive responses, and engage in greater levels of avoidance than do non-anxious youth. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically-supported treatment for anxious youth. It aims to increase mindfulness, acceptance, and cognitive defusion, and to decrease experiential avoidance. The mechanisms explaining the effectiveness of ACT processes suggest that they …

Comorbidity In Context: Identifying Patterns Of Depressive And Anxiety Symptoms In African American Early Adolescents, Kathryn Behrhorst

Theses and Dissertations

Depression and anxiety during adolescence includes symptoms of irritability, sleeplessness, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, worry, avoidance, and/or restlessness. Anxiety and depressive symptoms are often comorbid and are associated with impairments across academic, social, and emotional areas of functioning. No studies to date have examined patterns of depressive and anxiety symptoms together for African American adolescents using person-centered analyses. The current study examined patterns of symptoms and domains of anxiety and depression during early adolescence using latent profile analyses (LPA). A sample of 196 African American early adolescents in grades six through eight (M_age = 12.6; 50% female) were …

Investigation Of The Relationship Between Mindfulness And Empathy In Pre-Nursing Students Exposed To A Four-Week Mindfulness Training, Debra L. Klich

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To investigate the effects of a four-week mindfulness program on levels of mindfulness, empathy, and anxiety in a group of pre-nursing students.

Methods: This study utilized a multiple-baseline across subjects design. Results from nine study participants were examined.

Results: Data demonstrates that a detectable decrease in anxiety levels can result from participation in self-directed mindfulness program as short as four weeks. Results regarding mindfulness and empathy levels were less conclusive. A specific relationship between empathy and mindfulness cannot be determined from this study.

Conclusions: Because previous studies have demonstrated a persistence of skills, practice, and benefits acquired through mindfulness …

Early Behavioral And Physiological Markers Of Social Anxiety In Fragile X Syndrome, Conner J. Black

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Social Anxiety is diagnosed in approximately 10% of neurotypical children. If left untreated, negative outcomes are highly prevalent later in life. Thus, understanding the earliest features of social anxiety can help to mitigate detrimental outcomes. Fragile X Syndrome, which has a high prevalence of social anxiety, is a genetic syndrome which creates a unique opportunity to study the earliest predictors of social anxiety before formal diagnosis. Fragile X Syndrome presents with intellectual disability and an increased prevalence of maladaptive behaviors. The current study utilized a bio-behavioral approach to study the earliest marker of social anxiety in 12- month-old infants …

Self-Confident, Inside And Out: Exploring The Antecedents Of Internal And External Self-Confidence In Women Leaders., Nisha Hafeez Quraishi

Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine levels of internal and external self-confidence in women leaders. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to explore the antecedents of self-confidence levels in women leaders, predicting that benevolent sexism would lower self-confidence through stereotype threat. 150 female leaders filled out an online survey. The results did not provide support for six out of the seven proposed hypotheses. The results found that benevolent sexism was negatively related to external self-confidence, but overall did not impact self-confidence. An exploratory analysis was conducted to further examine potential mediators and moderators in the relationship between hostile and …

Risk And Resistance Factors For Depression And Anxiety Among Youth With Sickle Cell Disease, Laura Reinman

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Depression and anxiety are common problems for adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD). It is important to understand both risk and resiliency factors contributing to psychological outcomes among youth with SCD in order to prevent and effectively treat such problems. To better elucidate contributing factors to depression and anxiety among youth with SCD selected risk and resiliency factors from the risk-and-resistance model adapted for SCD were examined (Barakat, Lash, Lutz, & Nicolaou, 2006). The risk factor of fatigue and resistance/resiliency factors of cognitive appraisal of stress and self-concept are of focus because they have been understudied, and their temporal …

The Influence Of Adhd Symptoms And Social Functioning On Anxiety And Depression Symptoms In College Students, Danielle Willis

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has shown that Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with impaired social functioning in children and adolescents. ADHD and poor social functioning have been shown to be separately associated with increased anxiety and depression symptoms as well. However, little research has examined these associations among college students. College is a transitional period of increased stress and exposure to new social situations for all students, but may be even more challenging for those with ADHD, who are already at risk for increased internalizing problems and impairment in social functioning. The current study aimed to examine the influence of ADHD symptoms …

9/11 Exposure And Parental Monitoring, Heather Zemeck

Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates the effects of 9/11/01 exposure on parental monitoring, and how depression and anxiety are associated with these effects. This research utilizes data collected from Evacuees, First Responders, and non-exposed Controls. Results revealed moderate 9/11 exposure is associated with increased parental monitoring; while, depression is associated with decreased parental monitoring.

The Impact Of Working Memory Load And Anxiety On Attention Bias Modification Training, David Lloyd Yap

Theses and Dissertations

The effect of attention bias modification training (ABMT) on anxiety-related attention bias (AB) in a large (N=204) non-clinical sample was sensitive to working memory load (WML). ABMT produced expected changes in AB in the low-WML, low-anxiety group only. High WML and high anxiety alone and in interaction disrupted ABMT.

How Does Anxiety Affect Cognitive Control? Proactive And Reactive Control Under State Anxiety, Youcai Yang

Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive control is a construct that prioritizes how we process stimuli and information and execute behaviors to flexibly and efficiently adapt to internal goals and external environmental changes. A recent theory, the Dual Mechanism of Control (DMC), distinguishes this phenomenon by two distinct cognitive control operations: proactive control and reactive control (Braver, 2012). Anxiety increases the allocation of attentional and working memory resources to threat-related stimuli, which impairs cognitive performance (Sarason, 1988), but additional work is needed to assess how anxiety impacts these two distinct forms of cognitive control. In this study, I examined how state anxiety affected proactive control, …

Moderating Effects Of Harm Avoidance On Resting-State Functional Connectivity Of The Anterior Insula, Ashley Ann Huggins

Theses and Dissertations

As an index of behavioral inhibition and an individual’s propensity to avoid, rather than seek, potentially dangerous situations, harm avoidance has been linked to internalizing psychopathology. Altered connectivity within intrinsic functional neural networks has been linked to internalizing psychopathology; however, less is known about the effects of harm avoidance on functional connectivity within and between these networks. Importantly, harm avoidance may be distinguishable from trait anxiety and have clinical relevance as a risk factor for psychopathology. To this end, the current study aimed to examine associations between harm avoidance and resting state functional connectivity. A sample of undergraduate students (n=92) …