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An Investigation Of The Reliability And Validity Of The Enderle-Severson Transition Rating Scale, Susan J. Severson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the technical characteristics of the Enderle-Severson Transition Rating Scale (ESTR; Enderle & Severson, 1991) and to add to the knowledge base about measurement in transition. Validity ;was examined by evaluating the scale's concurrent criterion-related validity, construct validity, and content validity. A measure of reliability was performed by examining the internal consistency of subscales and the entire scale.

The samples studied were special education teachers in North Dakota and Minnesota as well as the students they served. The student subjects had identified disabilities of learning disability, emotional disturbance, or mental retardation. All students …

The Acute Effects Of Cocaine In Pigeons Performing Under A Progressive-Ratio Schedule, Claudia Ann Jones

Masters Theses

Although the progressive-ratio (PR) schedule has been used frequently to quantify the reinforcing effectiveness of self-administered drugs, it has seldom been used to examine the effects of drugs on food-maintained behavior and has never been used to evaluate the effects of cocaine on such behavior. In the present study, the effects of acute administrations of cocaine were evaluated in pigeons responding under a PR schedule of food delivery. Overall, cocaine produced a dose-dependent effect on food-maintained behavior. In general, acute administrations of cocaine at 0.56 to 3.2 mg/kg increased breaking points, whereas doses above 5.6 mg/kg decreased breaking points. Low …

Early Adolescent Family Formation, Lisa J. Crockett

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

In the United States, adolescent family formation has been considered a major social problem since the late 1970s. The sources of concern are multiple. First, teenage childbearing is associated with risks for the mother and her child, including health problems, reduced life chances, and a greater likelihood of living in poverty. Second, a large and increasing proportion of births to teenagers are nonmarital; this appears to compound these risks. Third, the rate of teenage childbearing in the United States far exceeds those in other Western, industrialized countries (Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1986). The high rate of adolescent pregnancy in the United …

Relations Between Social Skills And High-Risk Sexual Interactions Among Adolescents, Douglas W. Nangle, David J. Hansen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Researchers have begun to employ social-skills training in efforts to change the sexual behavior of adolescents. However, despite the promise of social-skills training, little is known about how social skills are related to the sexual practices of adolescents. The present article reviews the current literature and proposes a conceptual framework for understanding the relations between social skills and sexual behavior of adolescents by (a)examining the relationship between sexual activity and social skills, (b) examining the development of sexual-interaction skills and deficits, (c) summarizing what is currently known about the relations between social skills and sexual behavior, (d) discussing current issues …

A Longitudinal Investigation Of The Relationship Between Educational Investment And Adolescent Sexual Activity, Christine Mccauley Ohannessian, Lisa J. Crockett

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The relation between educational investment and sexual behavior was examined longitudinally in a sample of 479 rural adolescents. Surveys were administered to the subjects twice—once when they were in the 8th, 9th, and 10th grades, and again 2 years later when they were in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. Results indicated that among girls, educational investment predicted sexual activity, with academic grades in school significantly predicting reported frequency of sexual activity 2 years later. In contrast for boys, sexual involvement predicted later educational investment, particularly involvement in academic activities. These findings suggest different developmental patterns for boys and girls. …

Extending Continuous Versus Discontinuous Conditioned Stimuli Before Versus After Unconditioned Stimuli, Melody Albert, Sean Ricker, Rick A. Bevins, John J.B. Ayres

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Conditioned suppression was used with rats to study the effects of extending conditioned stimuli (CSs) before versus after the delivery of unconditioned stimuli. These extensions are termed B and A extensions, respectively. Within-group designs were used to compare the effects of extending CSs when 2-min parts of those CSs were separated by temporal gaps of 6 min versus a separation of no gap. The results were as follows: (a) B extensions weakened conditioning more than did A extensions, with or without gaps; (b) under some conditions, this asymmetrical effect persisted with extended training; (c) gaps between 2-min parts of a …

Long-Term Consequences Of Childhood Physical Abuse, Robin Malinosky-Rummell, David J. Hansen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This article reviews the literature on the long-term consequences of childhood physical abuse. Empirical research is discussed within 7 topic areas: aggressive and violent behavior, nonviolent criminal behavior, substance abuse, self-injurious and suicidal behavior, emotional problems, interpersonal problems, and academic and vocational difficulties. The studies reviewed involve primarily adult populations, although pertinent findings from literature on children and adolescents are briefly summarized. Some variables that affect the relation between physical abuse and long-term consequences are examined. These moderator variables include maltreatment characteristics, individual factors, family factors, and environmental factors. The article ends with suggestions for future research on long-term consequences …

Systematic Development Of Trans-Theoretically Based Behavioral Risk Management Programs, Galen E. Cole, David R. Holtgrave, Nilka M. Rios

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors explain the development and use of a behavioral Risk management strategy. It is designed for developing interventions to change behaviors, e.g., to lower the Risk of AIDS. The advantage of their strategy is said to be its structure combined with flexibility. Intervenors are not restricted to a single model in determining factors most relevant to changing Risky behavior.

“Sound” Alternatives To Visual Graphics For Exploratory Data Analysis, John H. Flowers, Terry A. Hauer

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Efficient exploratory data analysis (EDA) maybe aided by succinct, but informative, graphical representations (e.g., Tukey plots) that convey information about central tendency, variability, and shape of distributions, and that permit detection of outliers. Using research strategies adapted from studies of cross-modal perceptual equivalence, we show how auditory analogies of such displays may offer an effective alternative to visual plots for EDA.

Mutuality And Intimacy In Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder And Normal Boys' Friendship Relations, Anna Loring Tyler

Master's Theses

The present study explored both the frequency and patterns of affective expression, play duration, and communicative exchange among dyads of boys diagnosed with ADHD with their friend. As expected, few significant differences between the two groups were revealed through frequency analyses, but interesting findings resulted from the examination of the patterns of behaviors (through sequential analyses). Overall, the results supported the hypothesis of less mutuality and intimacy in the friendships of boys diagnosed with ADHD. The boys in the ADHD/friend dyads were found to spend more time in nonassociative play during free-play and to be less likely to return to …

Authoritarianism And Attitudes Toward Contemporary Social Issues In The 1990s, Bill E. Peterson, Richard M. Doty, David G. Winter

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Three studies were conducted to examine the relevance of authoritarianism to contemporary social attitudes, with special emphasis on AIDS, drug use, and the environment. In Studies 1 and 2, students scoring higher on authoritarianism (measured by Byrne's balanced F scale and Altemeyer's Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale, respectively) were more likely to endorse harsh, punitive sentiments and solutions to the problems of AIDS and drugs and less likely to endorse more egalitarian ones. These two issues are presumed to represent a threat to the "American way of life" and provide clear out-groups for authoritarian aggression. Regarding the environment, authoritarians express hostility toward …

Preventive Interventions In Early Adolescence: Developmental And Contextual Challenges, Bonnie L. Barber, Lisa J. Crockett

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Adolescence today is broadly perceived as a more difficult and dangerous period than in previous decades. Those holding this view point to increases in teenage pregnancy and childbearing, sexually transmitted diseases, alcohol abuse, drug addiction, juvenile arrests, depression, and suicide as indicators of changing conditions. Although uncommon in childhood, these problems increase in early adolescence, and they can lead to greater likelihood of negative developmental trajectories. Because young adolescents are at the age when these issues are surfacing, they are a particularly important target group for interventions designed to prevent or delay the onset of negative behavior patterns (Crockett & …

“Introduction” To Developmental Perspectives On Motivation, Janis Jacobs

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This volume marks the 40th anniversary of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, and with it a renewed commitment to the Symposium's original focus on motivation. Although we may reemphasize the topic, it is clear that motivation, as an area of study, has changed dramatically over the past 40 years. Although motivation has remained an important theme, it has had to share the stage with other important topics as the field of psychology has expanded. In addition, the concept of motivation has been applied to many diverse areas, has been defined and measured in a variety of ways, and has been …

Good Grief! Coping With Death And Dying In A Hospice Situation, Pegg Warnick

Masters Theses

The purpose of this qualitative study is to discover and examine the coping strategies concerning death and dying from the perspectives of hospice patients and hospice volunteers. A review of applicable literature, informal but structured interviews and participant observation are procedures for the study. The focus of the study lies in three areas: what are the internal attributes used to cope?; what are the external support systems used to cope? and, what are the adjustments in personal goals? Research for this study was patterned after Hegge's study (1991) who surveyed the coping strategies of the recently widowed elderly. The instruments …

Persistent Emotional Disorder In Children With Neurological Soft Signs, Daniel Pine, David Shaffer, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Provides clinical details in the form of 11 case vignettes from a prospective epidemiological study that found the combination of childhood 'soft' signs and anxious behavior to be a strong risk factor for adolescent emotional disorders. The original study conducted a neuropsychiatric assessment of 180 African-American adolescents (aged 16–18 yrs) who had been followed through childhood. The at-risk Ss exhibited a persistent and specific pattern of both motor abnormalities and anxiety, obsessional compulsive, or depressive symptoms over time. The form of at-risk Ss' neurological and psychiatric abnormalities is consistent with a link between motor system abnormalities and …

Place-Identity And Homelessness : The Restorative Nature Of The Home, Marie Sadkowski

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research aims to address deficiencies in the Place-Identity literature and establish whether the home is a central and mediating environment within this theory. An exploration of the association between homelessness and Place-Identity provides a vehicle for clarifying the psychological role of the home and in doing so an increased awareness of this social problem is promoted. Korpela's (1989) and Kaplan's (1983) theories on place, accentuating active self-regulatory mechanisms and restorative environments, act as a catalyst and provide a solid foundation for this current research. The extensive literature on the home highlights the different conceptions that abound and the lack …

A Study Investigating The Cognitive Variables Involved In Adolescent Use Of Alcohol, William E. Fahey

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship of adolescents• level of alcohol use to various cognitive and contextual variables. The cognitive variables of concern included (a) alcohol knowledge, (b) generation of alternatives thinking, (c) means-ends thinking, and (d) selfefficacy. The contextual variables were specific factors associated with most recent alcohol use experiences. The sample consisted of 113 high school sophomores from two separate high schools located within a rural county in the upper Midwest. Subjects were separated into three groups (Nonusers, Occasional Users, and Heavy Users) based on their self-reported level of alcohol use in the past month. Subjects completed various questionnaires …

The Effects Of Chronic Migraine And Tension Headache On Neuropsychological Functioning, Kerri J. Lamberty

Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to examine possible neuropsychological deficits in migraine and tension headache subjects. Past research has been inconclusive, with some studies indicating that chronic migraine headache sufferers do exhibit some neuropsychological deficits such as short-term memory difficulties, gross motor slowing, and verbal memory deficits, while other studies have indicated that no deficits are seen in this group Also examined were headache precipitant and headache-related behaviors that these groups partake in when experiencing headache pain. Past research has suggested that migraine headache sufferers tend to deal with their headache pain differently than tension headache sufferers.

Ninety undergraduate psychology …

Fantasy Proneness And Psychological Coping, Kenneth D. Huff

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, objective measures of self-esteem, satisfaction with life, trait anxiety, and schizotypal psychopathology were administered to 493 subjects representing the full range of fantasy proneness as determined by their scores on the Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (ICMI); in addition, subjects selected for high, medium, and low levels of fantasy proneness were administered measures of state anxiety and coping skills during a stressful laboratory condition. This was done in order to contribute to the construct validity of fantasy proneness and to provide empirical inquiry into the nature of fantasy proneness as a psychological coping strategy.

In replication …

Mutual Impacts Of Toughening On Crises And Losses, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

It is usually expected that if we are overwhelmed by an episode of crisis or loss that we may temporarily cope ineffectively, whereas when weare exposed to a sequence of challenges and stressors that are managable, we learn gradually to become better able to cope with such events. The "toughness" concept relates to analogous processes at the physiological level. The concept is based upon a wide variety of research with both animals and humans that is reviewed in detail elsewhere (Dienslbier, 1989). The focus of this chapter will instead be upon how toughness influences both physiological and psychological responses to …

Predisposing Psychological Factors In The Development Of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy: A Review Of The Empirical Evidence, Stephen Bruehl, Charles R. Carlson

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Objective: To examine the literature for evidence that psychological factors predispose certain individuals to development of reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD).

Data Sources: English-language journal articles that described psychological data on patients diagnosed with RSD, identified through Medline search and bibliography reviews.

Study Selection: All studies reporting data on psychological factors in adult, adolescent, or child patients with RSD were included.

Data Extraction: We extracted data regarding psychological factors in patients with RSD and assessed validity of these studies through evaluation against seven basic research criteria.

Data Synthesis: Of the 20 articles reviewed, 15 reported the presence of depression, anxiety, and/or …

The Psychiatrist And Execution Competency: Fording Murky Ethical Waters, Douglas Mossman Md

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

The focus of this article is whether it is ethical for physicians to participate in the evaluation or treatment of condemned prisoners who are incompetent. According to Ward, this may be the "ultimate question, faced by psychiatrists who are asked to deal with execution competency. This article is not intended to offer an answer to this question. Rather, it seeks to (1) elucidate issues connected to the "ultimate question's" resolution, (2) articulate a set of premises within which psychiatrists should evaluate their relationship to institutions whose purposes include punishing criminals, and (3) suggest that, if the death penalty itself is …

One-Trial Backward Excitatory Fear Conditioning Transfers Across Contexts, Rick A. Bevins, John J. B. Ayres

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

One path to human phobia may be one-trial backward fear conditioning. Human phobias transfer readily across contexts. However, animal studies of one-trial backward fear conditioning have yet to demonstrate such transfer. The present study sought to do so. It used a lick-suppression procedure with 84 naive male albino rats. Two conditioning contexts, designated O and V, were crossed factorially with two test contexts, O and V. Within each cell of the factorial design, rats received in the conditioning context either a single 12 sec tone backward paired with a single 4 sec 1 mA shock or the same tone explicitly …

Sibling Confl Ict In Early Adolescence, Marcela Raffaelli

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study examined sibling conflict and relationship qualities in early adolescence. One hundred four 10- to 15-year-olds (mean age 11.7 years) completed questionnaires assessing the quality of their relationship with their closest sibling, and were interviewed about a recent, specific conflict with that sibling. Analysis suggests that sibling conflict fulfills several functions in early adolescence, including reinforcing family and relationship rules and delineating interpersonal boundaries. Few differences attributable to age or gender constellation of the sibling dyad emerged, and rivalry did not appear to be a primary impetus to conflict during this age period. Instead, sibling conflict appears to create …

Differential Perception Of Histrionic Personality Disorder Symptoms In Males Vs. Females, Susan L. Swihart

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the differential perception of severity of histrionic personality disorder symptoms in males versus females in order to investigate one possible explanation for the increased rates in diagnosis of this disorder in females. Thirty male and thirty female volunteer undergraduates from a midwestern university were asked to sort the DSM-III-R criteria for all the personality disorders, including the two proposed categories, selfdefeating and sadistic personality disorders, according to degree of abnormality. Each criterion was typed on a separate index card for a total of 142 cards and subjects were asked to sort the symptom cards on a Likert-type …

Book Review, Juanita V. Field

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Review of the following: Risk-Taking BEHAVIOR. (J. Frank Yates, ed., Wiley 1992) [244 pp.] Acknowledgements, author index, figures, preface, references, series preface, subject index, tables. LC 91-21229, ISBN 0-471-92250-1. [Cloth $64.95. 1 Wiley Drive, Somerset NJ 08875.

Individual Response To Risk As A Function Of Normative Social Pressure: A Pilot Study Of Seat Belt Use, Kenneth D. Boehm, John T. Keating, Karl W. Pfefferkorn, Audra J. Pfeltz, Brady G. Serafin, Jessica L. Sullivan, Karen L. Thode, Kevin M. Vincent, Juanita V. Field

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors attempt to clarify some of the variables that influence whether people act appropriately when a Risk is substantial and subject to individual control. They do so by reporting results of a pilot study of seat belt use. Also, the authors believe their approach to be generalizable to problems such as encouraging people to test for radon, to use condoms to prevent AIDS or to quit smoking.

Motivational Effects On A Psychometric Measure Of Prefrontal Brain Functioning In Patients With Chronic Schizophrenia And Related Disorders, Paul C. Smith

Dissertations

This study compared multiple sequential performances on a computerized version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Grant & Berg, 1948; Harris, 1986) by adult men receiving institutional inpatient treatment for chronic schizophrenia and related disorders. Participants were exposed to differential test conditions of minimal post-session non-contingent token reinforcement (baseline phases) and enhanced intra-session performance-contingent token reinforcement (experimental phase). Each major participant resided at the same continuing treatment unit at Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital receiving similar social therapies but idiosyncratic psychotropic medication regimens, changes in which were tracked in relation to test performances. A simple single-subject reversal design was employed with …

A Comparison Of Unidimensional And Multidimensional Locus Of Control Scales For The Measurement Of The Effects Of Self-Regulation Training, Alan Joseph Paduano

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Comprehensive training in self regulation (SR) (including biofeedback training, relaxation techniques, and cognitive therapy principles) has been proposed as a means of affecting change in individual locus of control (LOC) orientation. The current study directly compared a uni-dimensional LOC scale (Ratter, 1966) with a multidimensional LOC scale (Levenson, 1973) in the ability to detect changes in the LOC orientation. Other effects of SR training were measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Scale (STAY) and the Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT). Nineteen participants in a biofeedback/stress reduction class completed a course in SR training. The pre-test/post-test results were compared with those of a …

Effects Of Expectancy On Assessing Covariation In Data: “Prior Belief” Versus “Meaning”, Dorritt Billman, Brian H. Bornstein, Jeffrey Richards

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A large number of researchers have addressed the question of how prior beliefs affect assessment of covariation in new data. Some have suggested that prior beliefs disrupt covariation assessment (Nisbett & Ross, 1980), while others have claimed they help (Wright & Murphy, 1984). Research in this tradition has not consistently distinguished meaningfulness of the data from expectations about the particular relationship between the variables to be assessed. We collected covariance judgments on meaningful variable pairs where subjects had a prior belief in a positive relation, had a prior belief in a negative relation, had a prior belief that the variables …