Psychology Commons^™

Considering Construct Strength And Personality Differences On Susceptibility To Context Effects, Joy Samini Pawirosetiko

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Despite researchers’ best efforts, it still is unclear whether researchers and practitioners can feel comfortable randomizing survey items because of its inconsistent impact on psychometric properties. Using moderated non-linear factor analysis, the present study explored whether randomization, construct strength, and differences in conscientiousness and neuroticism affected respondents’ survey responding behavior to randomized and grouped versions of a communication anxiety measure. Randomization did not affect how respondents interpreted the measure’s content but did affect how they responded to matrix items that appeared next to repeated response scales. Construct strength positively predicted factor level differences, with respondents who reported feeling more certain …

An Assessment Of Adhd/Ld Support In Psyd Programs From The Perspective Of Faculty Advisors, Mac Zimdars

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Among psychologists and doctoral psychology students, 14.3% and 10.7% reported having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or learning disabilities (LD), respectively; 67.3% of those with any disability experienced disability-related impediments and discrimination during graduate school or the application process (Lund et al., 2014). This paper is focused on assessing current PsyD program supports for students with ADHD/LD from a faculty advisor perspective. Specifically, this research assesses the faculty advisor-advisee relationship, as well as available support services and resources. Data was collected from an anonymous survey and utilized an empirical mixed-methods approach. Three themes emerged from the study: (1) Advisors lack …

Stardust In Cedar Forest: Suicide Prevention Through Interactive Theatre For College Students, Ghina Fawaz

Honors Program Theses

Suicide can impact people from all walks of life, and for those who are vulnerable to circumstances that amplify suicidal ideation, prevention programs can be effective methods to provide relief and promote awareness to community members. The World Health Organization (2021) highlighted a global need for prevention programs targeted toward young people as suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged 15-29. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of interactive theatre as a form of psychoeducation and suicide prevention for college students. This study found that interactive theatre had a positive impact as …

Investigating The Efficacy Of Novel Measures Of Careless Responding To Tests, Mark Christopher Ramsey

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that careless responding (CR) threatens the construct validity of measures (see Huang et al., 2015; Wise & Kong, 2005). Researchers have developed and studied many measurement approaches to capture CR in surveys, with different survey measures compensating for the practical or empirical limitations of other measures. This research is distinguished from ability test CR research because ability tests are fundamentally different from surveys. Within ability tests, CR research has focused only on response time and self-report measures of CR, both of which carry limitations. The former is inflexible because the index necessitates item-level response time information, and …

The Psychology Of Hate: Moral Concerns Differentiate Hate From Dislike, Clara Pretus, Jennifer L. Ray, Yael Granot, William A. Cunningham, Jay J. Van Bavel

Psychology: Faculty Publications

We investigated whether any differences in the psychological conceptualization of hate and dislike were simply a matter of degree of negativity (i.e., hate falls on the end of the continuum of dislike) or also morality (i.e., hate is imbued with distinct moral components that distinguish it from dislike). In three lab studies in Canada and the United States, participants reported disliked and hated attitude objects and rated each on dimensions including valence, attitude strength, morality, and emotional content. Quantitative and qualitative measures revealed that hated attitude objects were more negative than disliked attitude objects and associated with moral beliefs and …

Jozefowiez & Miller, C Over T Raw Data, Ralph Miller, Jérémie Jozefowiez

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

The data set is the main file for download and the ReadMe file is attached below as an additional file.

The Effects Of Divorce On Middle-Childhood And Adolescent Cognitive Development, Emma Stewart Heffron

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Divorce is extremely common in the United States, we hold one of the highest divorce rates in the world. With this being said it can be understood that many children are caught in the middle of a divorce. Current research has looked at the difference between low conflict and high conflict divorces and the effects they may have on children, which is shown to only differ slightly. In this paper I will be looking at the effect divorce has on a child depending on their stage in development. By looking at Piaget’s Developmental Stage Theory, I am able to dissect …

Perceptions Of Parenting, Self-Esteem, And Relationships, John Bannec, Georgia Foss, Essence Hamer, Mary Elizabeth Holloway, Lauren Peterson

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Levels of satisfaction in our close relationships can be the direct causes of break-ups, divorces, longevity, and many other outcomes. Using self-esteem as a connecting variable, it is possible to trace our satisfaction in relationships all the way back to the way in which we were treated as children. Specifically, children who grow up in a household with authoritative parenting end up with higher self-esteem than those who don’t (Zakeri & Karimpour, 2011; Pinquart & Gerke, 2019; Yousaf, 2015). Further, individuals with higher levels of self-esteem tend to have higher levels of satisfaction in their close relationships, romantic or platonic, …

The Relationship Between Neuroticism And Situation Perception, Elizabeth G. Lester, Gigi Emiliani, Keeley Trainer, Kaylianna Mccormick

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Personality traits, in particular neuroticism, can influence the way individuals perceive situations as seen in Rauthmann’s study (2015) that saw consistent perceptions within the same traits. A study by Thomson (2016) found evidence for a relationship between negative perspectives and neuroticism. Additionally, McNulty (2008) saw that neurotic couples tended to have more relationship difficulties due to the negative assumptions. These negative viewpoints and assumptions translate to situation perception. The participants were recruited from Belmont University’s Introduction to Psychological courses. The subjects took two self-reported surveys regarding their personality, particularly anxiety and neuroticism, and were presented with hypothetical situations to see …

Covid-19 And Its Impact On Perceptions Of Healthcare And Health-Related Behaviors, Quinn Higgins

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The purpose of this project was to discover how certain psychological, structural, and demographic variables have contributed to people’s attitudes and perceptions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has impacted people’s everyday lives. The goal of this research was to understand how these variables, as well as individual’s knowledge of the current pandemic, their access to resources, and how they perceive and adhere to suggested safety behaviors can help us to discover why certain populations are significantly affected by COVID- 19. In particular, this research focused on how participants’ perceptions of healthcare and the support that they receive from …

The Impact Of Father Involvement And Socioeconomic Status On Child Behavior Problems, Delaney Hansen

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Research has indicated that child behavior is highly influenced by both the quantity and quality of father involvement. Despite the awareness of the important role father’s play, many parenting studies fail to focus on the father-child relationship. Furthermore, lower income families are especially important to examine due to the increased risk of lower father involvement. Identifying sources of resilience in low-income communities is needed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between father involvement, socioeconomic status and child behavior outcomes. The data was derived from a sample of 52 parent-child dyads recruited from an urban Head …

Locus Of Control, Burnout, And Work Engagement Among K-12 Teachers During Covid-19 Remote Learning, Kellie Menter

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

While teaching can be a satisfying career, teachers often report higher levels of stress than professionals in other fields. Left unmanaged, stress can lead to the occupational syndrome burnout, which can have detrimental effects on physical and mental health. In addition to the negative impact on the health and well-being of the teacher, burnout also has an indirect influence on students, as children in classrooms of teachers experiencing burnout tend to have lowered academic success and more behavioral difficulties. During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers faced new challenges that may have contributed to stress levels. Conversely, some teachers report work engagement …

Early Life Stress Inoculation Effects On Adult Behaviors, Oreoluwa Ibukunolupo Akinbo

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Chronic and acute stressors are implicated in mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and posttraumatic disorder. These adulthood disorders may be influenced by stressor exposure during early life. However, controlled mild stressors are linked to the building of resiliency towards later intense stressors. Previously, rodent models have been used to investigate the resilience-promoting effects of early life stress inoculation protocols. For example, the presentation of mild stressors (such as an experimenter handling a rodent for brief periods of time) or exposure to environmental enrichment (such as a presenting a variety of items and activities in the home cage of a …

Efficacy And Possible Mechanisms Of Change In Written Exposure Therapy In Undergraduates With Ptss: A Randomized Trial Of Wet Compared To Trauma-Focused Expressive Writing, Robyn Alyssa Ellis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Trauma exposure is common, with a 90% lifetime endorsement rate in adults in the United States and a majority of first year students reporting exposure to trauma prior to college. A minority of individuals go on to develop PTSD, with higher rates on college campuses (9-12.4%) than lifetime estimates (7%). Existing evidence-based practices for PTSD have demonstrated efficacy in reducing PTSD symptoms (PTSS), but critiques of evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for PTSD include high levels of drop-out and barriers to access. Written exposure therapy (WET) is a brief promising intervention for PTSS with a growing literature of evidence suggesting efficacy with …

Causal Attribution, Personal Responsibility, And Regret In Lung Cancer Survivors, Justin Ulland, Anthony Cortez-Morales, Kevin R. Criswell

2022 Symposium

Introduction: Lung cancer is the second-most common cancer for males and females and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are associated with a smoking history. Less is known about (a) how lung cancer survivors with and without smoking histories attribute their cancer to secondhand smoke and (b) how those attributions may be associated with personal responsibility, regret, and stigma from medical staff/professionals. This secondary data analytic study examined 196 lung cancer survivors.

Method: Paper surveys included (a) whether secondhand smoking caused their cancer, (b) whether they perceived control …

Sex Work, Haili M. Poss, Jillene Seiver

2022 Symposium

Studies have shown that attitudes towards sex work and individuals that are sex workers holds significant influence on social policies and social work. This is important to the field of psychology because understanding the attitudes towards this topic can help us form policies and provide resources with the goal of reducing stigma that comes along with this issue.

I propose to conduct a survey to determine whether people with higher sex guilt hold more stigmatizing attitudes towards sex workers and/or sex work. Respondents will be recruited from psychology classes. Level of sex guilt will be measured by the Mosher Sex-Guilt …

How Positive And Negative Emotions Are Regulated By And Associated With Stigma In University Students With And Without Mental And Physical Chronic Health Conditions, Katherine Crisp, Zlata Krisyuk, Kevin R. Criswell

2022 Symposium

Introduction: Over one-third of undergraduate students report having at least one mental or physical chronic health condition (CHC). Stigma is associated with undesirable emotion/mood, worse quality of life, and diminished academic performance. Less is known about (a) whether emotional experiences may be regulated differently between students with and without CHCs and (b) whether negative and positive emotion regulation are differentially associated with stigma awareness and internalized stigma in students with CHCs. The present study examines cross-sectional survey data from Fall 2020 quarter.

Method: Students without CHCs (n = 51) and students with CHCs (n = 150) …

Perceived Stress Of Grandparents Parenting Their Grandchildren, Beverly Gale Nicholas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Parenthood responsibilities are changing in the United States. The overall research problem for this study was that grandparents are parenting their grandchildren when their adult children are incarcerated for alcohol abuse or use. The importance of this problem is that as adults age, they are taking on the responsibilities of being parents rather than grandparents. In this new role, grandparents may not have the coping strategies or social support to ensure that they have life satisfaction during their senior years. The purpose of this study was to assess the independent variables, age and perceived stress (low, medium, and high), as …

Racial Differences In Stranger Harassment Coping Strategies, Megan Quintiliano

Selected Full-Text Master Theses 2021-

Stranger harassment is a pervasive, recurrent and, potentially damaging problem that requires women to cope with harmful effects. Stranger harassment is also a field that lacks in satisfactory research. With the aim of helping female victims and due to previous studies primarily focused on how White women in particular cope the present work will examine the racial differences in stranger harassment coping strategies. Additionally, understanding whether ideologies like system justification are associated with why women cope through certain methods is equally as important and will also be examined in the present work. The present study used a questionnaire method at …

The Psychological Aspects Of Domestic Violence, Marshell Milton Wallace

Selected Full-Text Master Theses 2021-

Domestic violence is a behavioral problem that has increased within the United States over the past decade. This master’s thesis analyzed the literature that reports on the psychological and physiological (often termed psychophysiological) portion of domestic violence. Analysis of three studies on the effects of domestic violence shows agreement that domestic violence manifests in victims as four primary physiological effects and four psychological effects. However, treatment of domestic abuse appears to concentrate on the psychological components of domestic abuse and tends to exclude the physiological aspects. This thesis argues that effective treatment for victims of domestic violence should include training …