Psychology Commons^™

Medical Interpreters' Experience Working With Distressed Families In Pediatric Settings, Paulina Lim

Theses and Dissertations

Effective communication between families and pediatric clinicians is essential for mitigating family stress and improving quality of care. Families who speak a primary language other than English must contend with the added stress of language barriers during stressful encounters, which could impact the quality of patient care and health outcomes. Trained medical interpreters facilitate communication, including distress expressions, during interpreted medical encounters (IME). Little is known about how interpreters identify distress and what factors impact distress identification during IME. This project describes how interpreters identify distress of families during IME, and how they identify cultural nuances in distress expression and …

Psychophysiological Impacts Associated With Social Media Use, Lindsey Hieber

Theses and Dissertations

Social media has become increasingly relevant to everyday life since its inception, with new social media applications being created regularly. There has been some research regarding social media use and mental health; with studies finding both negative and positive mental health effects possible. TikTok, one of the newest and fastest growing social media applications has not been studied thoroughly to investigate potential mental health effects. The psychophysiological impacts of social media use have not been explored at all. An initial survey was done to investigate personality and mental health effects of social media use as well as if the reasonings …

Academic Motivation Decreases Across Adolescence For Youth With And Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Effects Of Motivation On Academic Success, Zoe Smith, Marcus Flax, Stephen P. Becker, Joshua Langberg

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This longitudinal study examined growth trajectories of academic motivation in youth with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across the important developmental transition from middle school to high school, and associations with academic success. Consistent with self-determination theory (SDT) of motivation, trajectories of amotivation, extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation were modeled.

Predictors Of Relational Aggression In Women Across Adulthood, Alison Poor

Dissertations

Relational aggression involves behavior intended to harm victims’ social status or reputation through acts like manipulation, gossip, exclusion, and blackmail. Most of the research on relational aggression has focused on children and early adolescents, with college students receiving some attention in recent years. A smaller body of work supports the relevance of relational aggression among adults in workplace settings, marital relationships, and assisted-living facilities. While few studies with adults have been integrated into the literature on relational aggression, they provide evidence that these behaviors continue into adulthood. The current study explored relational aggression among women between the ages of 18 …

The Words. Or Holes. Or Both: Writing As An Integrative Methodology For Trauma, Daniel A. Castle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project seeks to identify methods authors have used to integrate their traumatic experiences. My work will analyze the genre of War Literature and specific authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and Kurt Vonnegut to explore the way writers describe the trauma of combat. Using insights from neuroscience and psychology, I will expand the field of Cognitive Literary Studies from a focus on the reader to a focus on the writer by linking neurological functions with narrative tools.

The Antagonistic Anatomy Of Anti-Shippers: A Thematic Analysis, Adrian A. Stone

Student Theses

Within the transformative fandom community is an ideologically-affiliated group known as anti-shippers, whose rhetoric contends that fictional interests are an indication of those held in reality. Anti-shippers focus solely on fictional material perceived to be sexual in nature and make frequent references to pedophilia. This rhetoric is used to justify harassment against individuals who do not share in their beliefs. As this population primarily operates on social media, this study was designed to conduct an exploratory investigation into themes gleaned from posts authored by anti-shippers on Twitter. Utilizing latent content analysis, a total of 187 posts from 222 unique users …

An Application Of The Coercive Control Framework To Cults, Sarah E. Feliciano

Student Theses

The present study utilized the coercive control framework to systematically assess coercion in cults. Former cult members (N=52) of various groups (e.g., psychological & self-help related) were interviewed via telephone for 1.5 to 3 hours. The sample was 67.31% female, 67.31% Caucasian, and 63.46% American; age ranged from 24-68 years old. An existing codebook was used by multiple coders with high intercoder reliability (89.66%). Coercive control tactics were present in all 52 narratives. Manipulation, intimidation, and microregulation were the tactics most frequently utilized. Sexual coercion/abuse, deprivation, and degradation were used least. Data also provided coercive subtactics specific to cults but …

Gender-Neutral Bathrooms On Campus: A Multicampus Study Of Cisgender And Transgender And Gender Diverse College Students, Merle Huff, Katie Edwards, Victoria Mauer, Heather Littleton, Stephanie Lim, Kayla E. Sall

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: This study examined cisgender and transgender and gender diverse (TGD) college students’ perceptions of gender-neutral bathroom availability across eight U.S. campuses, TGD students’ fear of harassment related to (lack of) availability of gender-neutral bathrooms, and the relation between fear of harassment and TGD students’ psychological distress.

Methods: Participants were 4,328 college students (4,195 cisgender, 30 binary transgender, 103 gender diverse) from eight U.S. institutions of higher education.

Results: The majority (84.2%) of TGD students and 34.6% of cisgender students perceived there were too few gender-neutral bathrooms on their campus. Further, TGD students’ fear of harassment related to a lack …

Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Adolescent Girls In Residential Treatment: Relationship With Trauma Symptoms, Substance Use, And Delinquency, Akemi E. Mii

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to negative events during childhood or adolescence including abuse, maltreatment, and exposure to household dysfunction (Kalmakis & Chandler, 2014). ACEs are associated with negative outcomes including mental and behavioral health concerns and offending (Fox et al., 2015). The risk of negative outcomes associated with ACEs increases when an individual experiences polyvictimization (experiencing multiple types of adverse events; Felitti et al., 1998; Finkelhor et al., 2011). A majority of adolescents served by residential treatment programs (RTPs) have experienced polyvictimization (Briggs et al., 2013). Research examining juvenile offending and youth delinquency has focused on boys. Thus, research …

Behavioral And Eye-Movement Correlates Of Item-Specific And Relational Memory In Autism, Greta Nicole Minor

Theses and Dissertations

Recent work has challenged past findings that documented relational memory impairments in autism. Previous studies have often relied solely on explicit behavioral responses to assess relational memory integrity, but successful performance on behavioral tasks may rely on other cognitive abilities (e.g., executive functioning) that are impaired in some autistic individuals. Eye-tracking tasks do not require explicit behavioral responses, and, further, eye movements provide an indirect measure of memory. The current study examined whether memory-specific viewing patterns toward scenes differ between autistic and non-autistic individuals. Using a long-term memory paradigm that equated for complexity between item and relational memory tasks, participants …

Exploring The Dimensions Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Affirmative Clinical Supervision, Lindsey N. Dollar

Dissertations

Graduate programs have continued to improve over time regarding incorporating training on LGB issues into coursework and practicum experiences with less emphasis on supervision. Since supervision is a major training area where therapists learn about clients and themselves, it becomes an important area for also teaching supervisees how to work with minority populations. However, relatively absent from discussions of cultural influences in supervision is a focus on LGB concerns, and missing is the ‘how to’ within the supervisory relationship. This quantitative investigation sought to learn how clinical supervisors with knowledge of LGB issues and people implement LGB-affirmative supervision, and to …

The Effects Of Primary And Secondary Task Workloads On Cybersickness In Immersive Virtual Active Exploration Experiences, Rohith Venkatakrishnan

All Dissertations

Virtual reality (VR) technology promises to transform humanity. The technology enables users to explore and interact with computer-generated environments that can be simulated to approximate or deviate from reality. This creates an endless number of ways to propitiously apply the technology in our lives. It follows that large technological conglomerates are pushing for the widespread adoption of VR, financing the creation of the Metaverse - a hypothetical representation of the next iteration of the internet.

Even with VR technology's continuous growth, its widespread adoption remains long overdue. This can largely be attributed to an affliction called cybersickness, an analog to …

Examining The Association Between Emotional Intelligence, Meaning In Life, Stress, And Burnout Among Preâ??Medical Students In The United States, Nayla Paulina Paulina Bejarano Chacon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background and significance: The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has estimated that by 2034 there will be a physician shortage of around 124,000 physicians. With burnout being one of the main drivers, it is crucial to assess it. Burnout is characterized by high levels of emotional exhaustion and cynicism and low levels of academic efficacy.There has been substantial research on burnout among healthcare providers across different levels of training; however, few studies have examined burnout among undergraduate students who wish to pursue a graduate degree in healthcare. Given the shortage of healthcare providers in the United States, it is …

The Relative Impact Of Anecdotal And Statistical Evidence On Covid-19 Vaccine Intentions., Kiran Misra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the relative impact of anecdotal and statistical safety evidence on the perceived likelihood of unvaccinated friends or relatives experiencing severe adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccination. This study also investigated the relative impact of anecdotal and statistical evidence on an individualâ??s intention to encourage unvaccinated friends and relatives to talk with healthcare providers about COVID-19 vaccination. Three hundred and fifty-nine participants were randomly assigned to one of six experimental conditions. In each condition, I manipulated the presence of base rate evidence (present, absent) that supported the safety of COVID-19 vaccination; I also manipulated the presence of anecdotal evidence …

Latino Career Choice And Prestige: Examining Prestige, Cultural Values And Family Influence In Predicting Career Choice, Edwin Ramos

Theses and Dissertations

Career choice continues to be a principal area for career development research, as finding ways to determine what contributes to career choices, and how those choices impact individuals’ micro and macro systems, informs best practices in vocational psychology. The field of vocational psychology can benefit from exploring myriad variables that may have an impact on career choice, career congruency, and persistence in the world of work; and highlighting the unique experiences and needs of diverse populations can produce new insight about different groups and people that the field should endeavor to improve. To this end, this study sought to uniquely …

Counselors’ Spirituality, Attitudes Toward Suicide, And Self-Efficacy In Conducting Suicide Risk Assessment, Tayler Hendrix

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study aimed to explore the relationship between perceived spiritual support and counselor self-efficacy in conducting suicide risk assessment, and the moderating effects of attitudes about suicide on this relationship. Based on existing theory and empirical evidence, perceived spiritual support was hypothesized to have a positive predictive relationship with counselor self-efficacy in performing suicide risk assessment; further, four different constructs pertaining to attitudes toward suicide were also hypothesized to moderate the strength and direction of this relationship. A sample of Master’s level clinicians and advanced standing Master’s graduate students (N=132) completed on online survey containing instruments measuring perceived spiritual …

Taiwanese International Students In Clinical Supervision: A Phenomenological Study, Joey Chiao-Yin Hsiao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The population of international students has continued to grow in the past two decades and become an important segment of U.S. university enrollment (Ng & Smith, 2001). Altogether, there is limited literature that is devoted to international students’ experience in clinical supervision and merely any international students studies specifically focused on the Taiwanese international student subgroup. This study examined the experiences of Taiwanese international students in clinical supervision. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to extract the phenomenon of participants’ lifeworld and qualitative data were collected from individual semi-structured interviews with Taiwanese international students (N=6). Data analysis led to four …

Risky Behavior As Motivated Emotion Regulation: A Mixed-Method Approach, Lyneé A. Herrera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Engaging in risky health behaviors is a ubiquitous human experience that often marks developmental progression from adolescence into adulthood. While much previous research has framed risky behaviors in terms of negative legal, social, and public health consequences, less empirical work has been done on potential benefits of their engagement. A growing body of research has identified emotion regulation deficits as a significant driver of risky behavior engagement, suggesting that these behaviors may offer perceived emotional benefits when other regulation strategies are less accessible. Previous research has shown that emotional outcomes can be influenced by the regulation strategies one chooses to …

Latino Men’S Barriers And Obstacles Towards Treatment Seeking Attitudes, Rebecca Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

There is a drastic difference in the number of Latino men utilizing mental healthcare as only 24 percent of Latino men with a severe mental illness ever receive treatment. Previous research has revealed stigma and attitudes are important factors in the help seeking process, but with limited Latino participants. The current study gathered survey data from Latino male university students about their levels of stigma, attitudes towards both tele – health and in person counseling, perceived barriers and benefits, treatment history, and current levels of depression. It was revealed that in contrast to previous studies, Latino men’s social stigma is …

Relationships Between Burnout, Isolation, Secondary Trauma, And Self-Compassion In Mental Health Providers, Michael Underiner, Rodger K. Bufford, Mary Peterson, Daniel Rodriquez

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

Burnout is a common challenge among mental health professionals.

It is the main catalyst for professional misconduct (Morse, et al., 2012) and common among mental health professionals (Prime, et al., 2020; Sampiao, et al, 2021; Simionato & Simpson, 2018).

COVID-19 increased social isolation, decreased social support, and strained family systems among mental health practitioners increasing risk (Prime, et al., 2020; Sampaio, et al., 2021). Social distancing also diminished systemic resources and increased reliance on personal resources for coping. Ongoing vicarious trauma increased, thus fostering burnout (McBride, et al., 2020; Shoji et al., 2016). Self-compassion is proposed as a possible solution …

Helping Your Child Manage Anxiety: A Parent Education Workshop, Clarissa Aglaén Gallardo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Anxiety has become one of the most common mental health disorders in young children, and it has been shown to have a significant impact on their development. Anxiety can make a child more susceptible to a number of negative effects, including a weakened immune system, developing “negative” habits such as nail biting, increased proneness to anger or crying, as well as difficulties in learning and retaining information. Conversely, when parents/caregivers can prevent or decrease anxiety in their children, children can better regulate their emotions, have more successful relationships, take more risks, and cope better with challenges. The purpose of this …

Perceptions Of Interpersonal And Intrapersonal Gains Following A Therapeutically Applied Tabletop Role Play Game Group, Tyler Giatroudakis

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) are group-based games which involve character creation and collaborative storytelling in an imagined setting, allowing participants to engage in problem-solving, creativity, and social interaction. While TTRPGs have recently been gaining traction, few have assessed the tandem of benefits that participants may gain simultaneously. This study examined the range of benefits for youth involved in therapeutically applied role-playing games (TARPGs), a novel intervention combining therapeutic concepts with TTRPGs. Participants were recruited from a nonprofit organization offering TARPG skill groups. A Qualtrics survey was used to assess participants' perceived gains from involvement. It was hypothesized that youth and …

Children’S Experiences Of Parental Death, “Lost But Still Remembered”, Nour Salem

Dissertations, 2020-current

Parental death is prevalent during childhood, and the emotional, social, and behavioral effects on children’s development are well-documented. Although there is extensive literature on grief in children, most studies on children’s grief have obtained data about children’s experiences though collateral interviews with parents or caregivers, from adults who lost a parent as a child, or through quantitative measures with children and caregivers. Few studies have implemented a qualitative exploration of parental death by asking bereaved children. The objective of the current study was to involve parentally bereaved children in responding to the research question, “what is it like to lose …

Examining The Measurement Invariance Of The Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory Among Hispanic And Non-Hispanic White College Women, Christina Nicole Gillezeau

Psychology ETDs

I examined whether the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R) was invariant between Hispanic/Latina and Non-Hispanic White (NHW) undergraduate women. I performed confirmatory factor analysis to assess model fit and used increasingly restrictive models to test invariance. I included 208 Hispanic/Latina women and 190 NHW women. The CFI and RMSEA model fit statistics (CFI=0.98, RMSEA=0.06 (90% confidence interval=0.04-0.08, p-value=0.16) showed that the model fit well. I constrained factor loadings to be equal in both groups to test metric invariance. I observed non-significant differences in model fit (deltaX² (9)=88.67, p>0.95, deltaCFI=0.003, deltaRMSEA=-0.011). I also constrained intercepts to be equal to …

Promoting Equal Interactions In Early Childhood Settings, Daphne Snyder

Dissertations

In the United States, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students are more likely to face disciplinary action (e.g., exclusion, suspension, and expulsion from the classroom) for engaging in the same challenging behaviors as their white peers (Badger et al., 2018; Little & Tolbert, 2018; Noguera, 2003). Due to the discrepancy in disciplinary practices, students are at risk of continued negative interactions with their teachers (Decker et al., 2007; Wymer et al., 2020). One way to improve teacher interactions toward BIPOC students is through equity-focused performance feedback regarding praise and reprimand rates (Knochel et al., 2022). The purpose of …

Examining Access To Decent Work Among Women Veterans: A Psychology Of Working Theory Perspective, Rebecca C. Gaines

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated predictors of decent work among a sample of women Veterans (N = 354), grounded in the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT). A structural equation model demonstrated that women Veterans’ experiences of marginalization, economic constraints, work volition, and career adaptability all directly predicted their ability to secure decent work, and economic constraints and marginalization experiences indirectly predicted decent work via work volition. Proactive personality was additionally examined as a moderator variable and did not significantly moderate any model paths; however, it was found to be a unique predictor of decent work and work volition, as well …

Pinpointing The Cognitive Structure Of The Cpt-3: A Case For Distribution Appropriate Statistical Methods, Chandler J. Zolliecoffer

Theses and Dissertations

The present study used the CPT-3 as a model to illustrate the complementary use of distribution-appropriate statistical methods to analyze non-normally distributed empirical datasets. Study results reaffirmed that while group-level analysis (e.g., via traditional parametric group-level analysis or distribution-appropriate group-level analysis procedures) offers insights into performance of the group in aggregate, it is oftentimes inappropriate to presume that patterns reflected by the group are, necessarily, applicable to a smaller subset of respondents. Thus, understanding how subgroups within the population navigate and approach a given task can have direct implications for more personalized/individualized assessment and treatment, especially in clinical and research …

The Impact Of Gendered Racial And Bisexual Microaggressions On The Access To Decent Work For Black Bisexual Women: An Examination Of The Moderation And Mediation Effects Of Work Volition And Proactive Personality, Angela Chloe Lewis

Dissertations

This purpose of this research was to examine the impact on gendered racial microaggressions and bisexual microaggressions on the ability to access decent work for Black bisexual women. The mediation effect of proactive personality on the relationship between gendered racial microaggressions and bisexual microaggressions with decent work was explored in this study. The moderation effect of proactive personality on the relationship between gendered racial microaggressions and bisexual microaggressions with decent work was explored in this study as well. Gendered racial microaggressions was measured using the Gendered Racial Microaggression Scale (GRMS; Lewis & Neville, 2015). Bisexual microaggressions was measured by the …

Risk And Resilience Factors For Black Individuals Who Face Racial Discrimination, Tabitha M. Mpamira

Dissertations

African Americans report extensive experiences of discrimination across a range of individual, institutional, cultural situations, and more than any other marginalized group (RWJF, 2017). The pervasiveness of discrimination keeps Black individuals at risk of severe physiological ills and heightened risk of psychopathology, including onset of depression and racial trauma symptoms (Williams & Mohammed, 2009). This study investigated risk and resilience factors for Black individuals who face racial discrimination in the United States of America by examining whether encounters of discrimination correlated with psychological distress (depression, anxiety) and racial trauma symptoms. Additionally, the study investigated factors (social support, psychological flexibility, and …

Evaluation Of A Brief Act Intervention For Reducing Depression And Anxiety Symptoms In Sexual And Gender Minority Adults, Allie Mann

Dissertations

Sexual and gender minority individuals (SGM) are at increased risk for psychological disorders compared to the general population. Despite this well-documented disparity in mental health outcomes, there is a stark lack of treatment studies examining SGM mental health. An accumulation of research has demonstrated that the source of this disparity is increased exposure of SGM individuals to stigma-related minority stress. It is necessary to examine psychological pathways that are impacted by stigma and the treatments that can reduce psychological distress in this population. Currently, we do not have the research evidence to answer the questions of if current evidence-based treatments …