Personality and Social Contexts Commons^™

Reevaluating The Factor Structure Of The Family Resilience Assessment Scale For African American College Students, Quandrea Rachelle Harper

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to reevaluate the initial validation process of the Family Resilience Assessment Scale (FRAS) and to validate the measure for use with African Americans. Although the FRAS has been previously validated using a sample from the general population in the U.S. and has demonstrated cross-cultural utility, its applicability for use specifically with African Americans is inconclusive, as demonstrated by preliminary research findings. In the current study, data were collected from a sample of African American college students to conduct an exploratory factor analysis using all 66 items initially included in Sixbey’s validation study, and a …

The Influence Of Emotion Regulation And Neural Cognitive Control On Distress Tolerance, Alicia L. Milam

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Tolerance of negative emotions has been associated with transdiagnostic negative mental health outcomes. Theory and research implicate emotion regulation and cognitive control as factors in tolerance of negative emotions. But their unique contributions to tolerance of negative emotions and interdependency have been unclear due to methodological limitations. This study aimed to explicate cognitive and emotional factors affecting distress tolerance in a non-clinical sample of emerging adults. Undergraduate psychology students completed self-report measures of emotion regulation ability and tolerance of negative emotions. The N2 ERP component elicited by a Go-NoGo task was also used as a neurophysiological marker of cognitive control …

The Effects Of Optimism, Transformational Leadership, And Work Engagement On Work Outcomes: A Moderated Mediation Model, Chad Kenneally

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Optimism serves as a powerful resource that can help employees accomplish tasks at work and overcome challenges. However, there are still psychological connections that need to be drawn to explain why optimism has these effects. The Job Demands-Resources Model and the general resource perspective have previously investigated resources in the workplace and the relationships they hold with different work outcomes. In this study, work engagement was investigated as a mediator between optimism and task performance, work withdrawal, and turnover intention. Transformational leadership was investigated as a moderator for the relationship between optimism and work engagement. Optimism was expected to have …

Helping Employees Help The Environment: An Intervention To Increase Environmental Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (Ocb-E) Via A Subtle Stimulus, Rebecca C. Garden

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Researchers’ understanding of the relationships between environmentally-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (i.e., OCB-Es) and other workplace variables have improved since the turn of the century, but both our comprehension of the behaviors and the effectiveness of interventions targeting them require much more investigation. Further, there is very little research that examines the role of positive affect in promoting these behaviors, even though scholars have suggested that it may be the “silver bullet” (Kals & Müller, 2012) to facilitating employees’ voluntary environmental actions. To that end, the aim of the current research is to take an initial step towards understanding how organizations …

Improving The Sensitivity Of The Vrin-R Scale On The Mmpi-A-Rf, Stefan E. Latulip

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

When respondents to self-report measures fail to answer in accordance with item content it distorts the accuracy of obtained test scores, degrading the ability of clinicians to use results to make accurate diagnoses and recommendations. The Variable Response Inconsistency (VRIN) scale was created for the MMPI-2 and was later revised as the VRIN-r scale for the MMPI-2-RF and MMPI-A-RF in order to detect and invalidate protocols over saturated with random responding. Analyses conducted by Pitta (2016) revealed that the VRIN-r scale for the MMPI-A-RF was not ideally sensitive to the detection of random responding in protocols. This study explored adding …

Examining The Measurement Invariance Of The Mmpi-A-Rf Externalizing Scales Across Korean And American Adolescent Normative Samples, Kristoffer Yong Park

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory – Adolescents – Restructured Form (MMPI-A-RF; Archer, Handel, Ben-Porath, & Tellegen, 2016) is a newly developed instrument in personality and psychopathology and has been translated into many different languages, including the Korean language (University of Minnesota Press, 2016). Due to the cultural differences between Korean and American populations, it is important that constructs measured in the MMPI-A-RF are interpretable across cultures. Focusing on the Externalizing Scales, the present study used multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) to examine the measurement invariance in Korean and American adolescent normative samples. Partially supporting the hypothesis, the results showed that …

The Association Between Emotional Competencies And E-Cigarette Susceptibility, Laurel Brockenberry

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The prevalence of e-cigarette use in young adults rose dramatically in the United States over the past decade. Nonetheless, our understanding of the motives that make young adults more susceptible to e-cigarette use remains limited. Risk factors associated with susceptibility to combustible cigarettes suggest that negative affect reduction outcome expectancies are positively associated with cigarette susceptibility in this age group. Further, emotion competencies, such as emotion regulation difficulties, distress tolerance, and positive and negative urgency have been positively associated with both susceptibility and negative affect reduction expectancies. Determining the role of negative affect reduction outcome expectancies on e-cigarette use requires …

The Effects Of Risky Alcohol Use And Type Of Hook Up Behaviors On The Relationship Between Hooking Up To Cope And Negative Affect, Leah E. Stevens

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Hook up behaviors are sexual behaviors that participants engage in consensually without the expectation of a romantic commitment, and occur frequently in the college context and often co-occur with binge drinking. Research indicates several factors (i.e., alcohol intoxication, type of sexual behavior, specific motives for hooking up, gender) are predictors of negative emotions associated with hook up experiences, such as regret, shame, confusion, and disappointment. Using hooking up as a coping mechanism coupled with experiencing negative emotions due to hook up experiences are associated with aspects of poor mental health such as depression and anxiety. Therefore, the present sought: (1) …

Psychometric Functioning Of The Mmpi-A Restructured Form Vrin-R, Trin-R, Crin, And Cannot Say Scales With Varying Degrees Of Randomness, Acquiescence, Counter-Acquiescence, And Omitted Items, Amy C. Pitta

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The MMPI-A-RF (Archer, Handel, Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2016) is a new measure of adolescent personality and psychopathology derived from the MMPI-A (Butcher, Williams, Graham, Archer, Tellegen, Ben-Porath & Kaemmer, 1992) item pool. Similar to the MMPI-A, the MMPI-A-RF includes indexes designed to assess non-content-based responding and omitted items. Building on Handel, Ben-Porath, Tellegen & Archer’s study (2010) on adults, the current study utilized computer simulation of random, acquiescent, counteracquiescent, and omitted responses to examine how adolescent validity scale and RC scale scores are affected by increasing degrees of non-content-based responding. Further, RC scale validity coefficients were examined to see how …

Examining The Measurement Invariance Of The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form Internalizing Specific Problem Scales In African- American And Caucasian Men, Megan Anne Brokenbourgh

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Test bias has long been an area of investigation in the personality assessment literature, including the MMPI-2-RF. Research on previous versions of the MMPI and MMPI-2-RF has pointed to mixed results. The current study aims to examine test bias on the MMPI-2-RF’s nine Internalizing Specific Problem Scales by examining measurement invariance using MIMIC modeling and investigating differential item functioning (DIF). After removal of invalid protocols, the first sample consisted of 2,980 protocols from various settings requested from Pearson (255 African American and 2,755 Caucasian protocols). The second sample consisted of 1,379 valid protocols from psychiatric inpatient settings (1,245 Caucasian and …

Interrelationships Between Sensation Seeking And Psychopathy, Casey S. Iwai

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Psychopathic and sensation seeking traits are often correlated; however, sensation seeking alone is not inherently pathological. This study seeks to investigate possible moderating variables between individuals who are high on sensation seeking but low on measures of psychopathic or antisocial traits. Specifically, a positive family environment is hypothesized to be a moderating variable in the development of psychopathic traits among high sensation seekers. A college student sample assessed for psychopathy, sensation seeking, and family functioning is used to test this hypothesis. Significant relationships between all three constructs were found. Similar to previous data, sensation seeking was found to correlate with …

Protective Behavioral Strategy Subtypes As Moderators Of The Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption And Alcohol-Related Problems, Benjamin A. Kite

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Protective behavioral strategy (or drinking control strategy) use is widely regarded as an effective tool for reducing negative consequences from consuming alcohol (Martens et al., 2005; Martens et al., 2008). Research has shown that frequent protective behavioral strategy use buffers the relationship between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems (Borden et al., 2011), and that gender moderates this effect (Benton et al., 2004); however. The present research was used to expand on previous research showing that protective behavioral strategy use can buffer the relationship between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. Further, the assessment of protective behavioral strategy use across gender was …

Psychometric Properties Of The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (Mmpi-2-Rf) Fbs-R, Fs, And Rbs Scales In A Neuropsychological Setting, Danielle M.E. Ransom

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) is the most widely used self-report measure of personality and psychopathology in the United States. The recently released MMPI-2-RF (Restructured Form), meanwhile, was designed to be a shorter and more efficient version of the MMPI-2. All MMPI-2-RF items are fully contained within the larger MMPI-2 and all IVIMPI-2-RE scales may be scored from a standard MMPI-2 administration. This study sought to examine the relationship between the RBS, Fs, and FBS-r over-reporting validity scales of the MMPI-2-RF, a stand-alone measure of symptom validity/cognitive effort, and neuropsychological indicators commonly used in assessment batteries. Results of this …

Stability And Change In Goal Orientation And Their Relationship With Performance: Testing Density Distributions Using Latent Trait-State Models, Michael Charles Mihalecz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Goal orientation has been proposed to influence a number of training and work outcomes. However, results have been inconsistent and predicted relationships are weaker than anticipated (Payne, Youngcourt & Beaubien, 2007). Weak findings may be due to inconsistencies in how goal orientation is conceptualized and operationalized (DeShon & Gillespie, 2005; Grant & Dweck, 2003; Kaplan & Maehr, 2007). One such inconsistency is the treatment of goal orientation as a stable trait or a malleable state. Issues of state-versus-trait have long fueled the person-situation debate in personality psychology. Fleeson (2001) offered a solution for integrating the two theoretical perspectives called the …

American And Chinese Personality Traits And Task Load In Simulated Flight Crews: Individual And Team Level Effects, Matthew Edward Loesch

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Understanding the impact of pilot interpersonal dynamics may be crucial for flight team success as well as the prevention of air crash disasters. Achieving optimum performance from flight teams requires limiting unnecessary pilot task load. This study examined American and Chinese simulated flight crews. Factors believed to affect cockpit interpersonal dynamics and subsequent crew task loads were pilot personality and nationality. Pilot personality, team personality elevation, team personality variability, and team nationality were analyzed for their potential impact on task load perceptions. Twenty-four American, 23 Chinese, and 23 mixed nationality two person teams were created and used for comparisons. Increasing …

Psychometric Properties Of The Mmpi-A Harris-Lingoes And Si Subscales In A Forensic Sample, Ashley K. Winkleman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine the internal and external psychometric properties of the Harris-Lingoes subscales. This was accomplished by use of both self-report and caregiver-rated external criterion measures. The present study employed an archival data set consisting of 760 adolescents (470 boys and 290 girls) who completed the MMPI-A at an outpatient adolescent treatment facility as part of a court-ordered psychological evaluation. Overall, a number of subscales demonstrated good internal consistency reliability (e.g., D4 and Hy3) whereas other subscales (e.g., Pd2) demonstrated unacceptable internal consistency reliability for both genders. Correlations with external self-report scores and caregiver …

Authoritarianism, Hostility Toward Women, Attitudes Toward Violence, Rape Myth Acceptance, And Sexual Aggression, Gina M. Bondi

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Almost one out of every five women has been, or will have been, the victim of sexual aggression and/or rape in their lives (National Institute of Justice, 2000). This staggering statistic exemplifies the importance of speculating which traits are related to, or are predictive of, sexually aggressive behavior. Based on previous research, the current study investigated relationships between authoritarianism, hostility toward women, attitudes toward violence, and rape myth acceptance, as related sexual aggression in undergraduate men It was projected that authoritarianism, hostility toward women, attitudes toward violence, and rape myth acceptance would significantly and positively predict all dimensions of sexual …

What Is Positive Disclosure And To Whom Do We Disclose? The Role Of Topics, Gender And Type Of Relationship In Positive Self-Disclosure, Elizabeth Landers Ford

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study examined what topics (including experiences, feelings, and thoughts) people define as positive self-disclosure. The study also looked at reasons people generate for self-disclosing versus not disclosing something positive. Male and female students spontaneously described a past experience or feeling they perceive to be personal and positive. They then indicated whether or not they disclosed about these experiences or feelings to their father, mother, same-sex friend, and a past or present significant other/spouse. These descriptions were coded into one of eight categories: Religion, Family Development, Friendship, Sex, Romance, Self-Confidence, Achievement, and Helping Behavior, plus a Miscellaneous category. There were …

Identifying The Dimensions Of Integrity: A Confirmatory And Discriminant Validity Analysis, Arlene Pace Green

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

While Integrity tests have demonstrated significant predictive and concurrent validity, the meaning and structure of integrity test scores are not well understood. The purpose of the present investigation was to empirically verify the results of a previous study that used an inductive method to define integrity and identify its constituent dimensions (Green, 1999). Specifically, the present investigation used item analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, discriminant validity analysis, and an analysis of social desirability to test the validity of the five integrity dimensions identified by Green (1999): Concern for Others, Conscientiousness, Emotional Control, Fairness, and Honesty. Results confirmed that Integrity acts as …

An Examination Of Personality As A Predictor Of Guard Behavior In A Virtual Environment, Jean M. Catanzaro

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Military personnel need access to realistic training tools that can provide a safe environment in which to acquire skills that will generalize to real world tasks. A virtual environment (VE) is one such tool. The focus of the present study was to evaluate a VE as a training tool for military guards. The first goal was to examine the potential of VE technology to provide effective training for standing watch at a military checkpoint. The second goal was to study a set of personality traits that might predict performance. Participants completed the NEO Personality Inventory and were trained to perform …

Proactive Personality And The Big Five As Predictors Of Motivation To Learn, Jonathan E. Turner

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

In an environment of changing psychological contracts, corporate downsizing, and increases in alternative self-paced training delivery channels, motivation to learn is believed to represent a key variable in employee self-development that distinguishes employees who will thrive from those who will not. Predicting this variable, then, becomes an important step in managing workforce development and helping employees help themselves. Therefore, the efficacy of relevant personality characteristics as predictors of motivation to learn was investigated. Proactive personality and the Big Five factors of personality were hypothesized to be predictive of motivation to learn. These personality variables are relevant because they have been …

An Analysis Of Two Forms Of Self-Defense Training And Their Impact On Women's Sense Of Personal Safety Self-Efficacy, Darcy Shannon Cox

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

It is estimated that a quarter to a third of women will be sexually assaulted in some way over the course of their lifetimes. Ozer and Bandura (1990) sought to study the ability of a mastery model self defense program for women to increase women's self efficacy about their ability to prevent assault. They found significant changes for all dependent variables used in their study at posttest and at a six month follow-up. The current study sought to compare their findings to those found using a mastery model self defense program for both genders and a vicarious model self defense …

Factor Analysis Of The Mmpi-A Content Scales: Item-Level And Scale-Level Analyses, Lisa Kay Mccarthy

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This investigation identified and interpreted the overall factor structure of the MMPI-A content scales through the use of scale-level analyses, and examined the factor structure of each individual content scale through item-level analyses. The MMPI-A normative sample (805 males, 815 females) and a clinical sample (266 males, 92 females) were used in the analyses. Scale-level analyses yielded a two factor solution for the normative male and clinical groups and a one factor solution for the normative sample and normative female group. The factors were labeled General Maladjustment and Externalizing Tendencies. Item-level analyses provided one factor solutions for the majority of …

Men Who Batter: Personality Variables, Relationship Variables, And Treatment Outcome, Lisa M. Petrica

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between the personality characteristics of male batterers and treatment outcome. It also examined a pattern of communication found in violent couples where the male pursues the female and the female withdraws in an argument. The study also compared alcohol use with treatment outcome.

Twenty-one men who attended a group psychoeducational treatment program for batterers completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2). The men were divided into three groups based on their scores: non-pathological (normal profile), narcissistic/antisocial (elevated psychopathic deviate scale), and severely disordered (elevations on several scales). Pre and post-test measures were completed: Dyadic Adjustment …

A Discovery-Oriented Process Study Of Enactment In Family Therapy: Development Of The Family Therapy Enactment Rating Scale, Elizabeth Ong-Mythuan Fong

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

With the effectiveness of psychotherapy now well-supported in both the individual and family literatures (Garfield & Bergin, 1994), we are entering an era where questions of how and why therapy works are of interest. More specifically, there has been support and encouragement by some researchers (Rice & Greenberg, 1984; Mahrer, 1988) for the use of discovery-oriented methodologies to explore clinical phenomena that have yet to be empirically validated. The following is a discovery-oriented study of enactment, a structural family therapy intervention. The theoretical goals of enactments, their relevance to clinical practice, as well as how they are actually implemented in …

African-American Males' Perception Of Law Enforcement: A Psychophysiological Perspective, Adolph Brown Iii

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study compared the psychophysiological reactivity of African American and European American males to authority. Nineteen African American males and 23 European American males were randomly assigned to either be interrogated by a police officer, or see a police officer interrogate that experimenter or view a videotape of police activity. Participants' physiological reactivity, acceptance of authority, fear of negative evaluation or social anxiety, and apprehension and anxiety in stressful situations as well as EMG, SCR, heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure were measured. African American males were hypothesized to show greater physiological response than European American males and participants who …

A Repertory Grid Assessment Of Traitedness And Its Relation To The Validity Of The Neo Pi-R Conscientiousness Scale, Susan Nancy Heidal-Schiltz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Since Allport (1937) first introduced the idea that traits may vary in their relevance for particular individuals, several investigators have explored ways to operationalize the construct of traitedness in order to improve the criterion-related validity of a trait-based approach to personality assessment. Specifically, these investigators have examined the utility of traitedness indicators as moderators of trait-criterion correlations, seeking to separate those individuals who are predictable on a given trait dimension from those who are not. This study attempted to determine whether the criterion-related validity of the Conscientiousness scale from the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992) …

Mmpi And Rorschach Findings Of Individuals Approved For Gender Reassignment Surgery, Gregory Ralph Caron

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Both clinical experience and empirical data from psychological tests present a picture of extreme clinical variation among those individuals who request gender reassignment surgery. Results of past empirical studies utilizing the MMPI and the Rorschach Test have tended to be equivocal regarding the level and nature of psychopathology associated with samples of gender dysphorics. These past studies are considered limited particularly in terms of methodological problems related to statistical power. This present study examined the nature and degree of psychopathology in a sample of candidates approved for gender reassignment surgery as reflected on their MMPI-2 clinical scale values and scores …

Development Of A K-Correction Factor For The Mmpi-A, Jody Jacobson Alperin

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

In 1992, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - Adolescent (MMPI-A) was developed to meet the unique experiences and needs of adolescents. Despite evidence that adolescents often demonstrate response biases in taking the MMPI-A, currently there is no method to systematically "correct" for the effect of test-taking attitude on profile configuration with this age group. The K-correction factor has been widely used to correct for defensiveness or underreporting of symptomatology on the MMPI among adult respondents, although results of cross-validation research on the effectiveness of the K-correction factor have been inconclusive. The present study derived age-appropriate K-weights to determine the degree …

Neuropsychological Functioning Among Violent And Nonviolent Sex Offenders, Pamela Knox-Jones

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Violent sex offenders, nonviolent sex offenders, violent non-sex offenders, and nonviolent non-sex offenders were compared on neuropsychological testing and on personality testing. A neuropsychological test battery and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - 2 (MMPI-2) were administered to 93 and 50 male felons respectively. Subjects were drawn from a data base provided by the state Department of Corrections. Potential indicators of neuropsychological impairment were controlled during the selection process. Analyses of Variance (alpha =.05) found that violent sex offenders scored significantly lower than the other three groups on two measures that are sensitive to left hemisphere impairment and one that …