Digital Commons Network^™

Evidence Base And Development Of The Wellbeing Program Guide, Katherine L. Dix, Ee Liz Puah, Tamara Van Der Zant, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Shani Sniedze

Wellbeing

This report outlines the background and initial development stage of The Wellbeing Program Guide (wellbeingguide.acer.org), a comprehensive national resource aimed at supporting schools in selecting and implementing wellbeing programs that meet diverse contexts and student needs. Wellbeing is considered in its broadest sense, to include evidence-based mental health, alcohol and other drug, and suicide prevention programs, along with social and emotional learning. Developed collaboratively by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and Department of Health Tasmania, with advice from education and industry stakeholders, the Guide prioritised the needs of school communities in Tasmania, but also includes programs serving other …

Investigating The Ecology Of The Homeless Court: The Promise Of Quasi-Experimental And Statistical Learning Methods, Dylan Wong

Theses and Dissertations

Interactions with the legal system are a crucial factor in maintaining homelessness. Difficulties in addressing legal issues are barriers to accessing services and finding employment and housing. Across the United States, the homeless court is an emerging legal program that has been developed to break this cycle, but they appear to face numerous capacity and coordination problems. Few empirical and systematic investigations have been conducted on homeless court programs. Further, previous studies of homeless courts focus their process and outcome measures on the priorities of the legal system. An investigation into the ecology, or environmental context, of homeless persons would …

Investigating Individual Variability In Autistic Identity And Its Moderating Effects On Mental Health And Quality Of Life, Sydney Richelle Terroso

Theses and Dissertations

The autistic community has long voiced the mental health of autistic adults as a key clinical and research priority. Autistic identity, or the recognition and embrace of core autistic traits as integral to an individual's identity as a whole, may be a potential target for therapeutic approaches aimed at supporting well-being and quality of life. The current study investigates individual differences in self-reported autistic identity scores by demographic factors and by features of autism and health history using online survey data from N=225 autistic adults. Additionally, with a subset of the participants who completed an interconnected study of current mental …

Social Comparison Target Selections As Health Information Preferences: Exploring Contextual Influences Among Women In Midlife With Elevated Risk For Cardiovascular Disease, Emmanuel Lapitan

Theses and Dissertations

Insufficient physical activity (PA) heightens the risk of chronic illnesses including cardiovascular disease (CVD), particularly among women in midlife with conditions such as hypertension. Behavioral interventions often use psychoeducation and skills training to increase PA, but how individuals interact with health-relevant information and how this relates to daily PA behavior is unclear. Health information preferences vary between individuals, but whether they vary for the same individual across contexts has been understudied. In particular, the role of contextual factors in predicting social comparison (i.e., evaluating oneself relative to others to obtain information about oneself) are not well understood. The purpose of …

Navigating Perceptions: How Organizational Type And Message Source Affect Willingness To Fly In Automated Air Taxis, Cody James Sweatt

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A new era of transportation and business is beginning to emerge. Advanced air mobility (AAM), which uses highly automated aircraft that transport passengers and cargo in the underutilized, low-altitude airspace above and around urban areas, is rapidly becoming a reality (FAA, 2023). These new companies will utilize air taxis, which are automated, electric, vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and will potentially foster a revolutionary new commerce infrastructure. Unfortunately, it is not currently understood how the credibility of a message source or specific type of organization that owns and operates an automated air taxi company influences a customer’s willingness to …

Language Brokering Conditions The Indirect Association Between Mexican‐Origin Adolescents' Academic Discrimination And Educational Expectations, Su Yeong Kim, Yayu Du, Chantal Alvarado, Wei Xiang Sim, Wen Wen, Tianlu Zhang, Jingyi Shen

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Mexican-origin adolescents, a significant portion of the US Latino population, often experience a decline in educational expectations from early to late adolescence. Contextual factors such as academic discrimination and language brokering for parents may contribute to this decline. This study investigates the indirect effect of academic discrimination experienced in middle school on educational expectations in young adulthood through high school grades and engagement, and the moderating role of language brokering experiences in these relations. Data were collected from 604 Mexican-origin adolescents across four waves from 2012 to 2023. Academic discrimination experiences in middle school were negatively associated with school grades …

Principal Component Analysis Of Emotion Related Concepts, Ana Kellermann Jimenez

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Past research has established the overlap between several emotion-related factors, such as alexithymia, empathy, emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and mentalization. The aim of the present study was to analyze where these variables overlapped and how they related to different psychological and psychopathological variables. This was accomplished through the use of a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and four canonical correlation models. The results indicated that there was an eight-component structure that included Alexithymia, Valuing Emotions, Mistrusting Emotions, Positive Reframe, Perspective-Taking, Empathetic Concern, Emotional Pessimism, and Avoiding Emotions. The internal reliability of the components ranged from adequate to excellent. The validity of the …

The Moderating Effects Of Religious Support And Family Support Between Racial Discrimination And Psychological Health Outcomes Among Black Adolescents, Tiera Cleveland

Theses and Dissertations

Racial discrimination is a common experience for Black adolescents. This study aimed to examine family support and religious support as a moderating variable between discrimination and mental health among Black adolescents. This study utilized data from an existing data set, the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent (NSAL-A). The NSAL-A included 1170 adolescents: 810 African American¹ and 360 Black Caribbean². The sample contained an equal amount of female (n = 608) and male (n = 562) Black adolescents³, who range in age from 13 to 17 years. Significant findings suggest that family support moderates the impact …

Characteristics Of Individuals Who Desired A Mentor But Did Not Have One: A Nationally Representative Study, Kenzie Delposen

Theses and Dissertations

Youth are experiencing increased mental health challenges due to the parallel increase in loneliness and social isolation. Mentorship has emerged as a potential solution to reduce social isolation and provide support, guidance, and encouragement to young people. The context of the mentoring relationship positively impacts adolescent lives by promoting a safe, stable, nurturing relationship (SSNR) to reinforce the intrinsic motivation to connect with others. However, many young people lack these relationships despite indicating that there were times when they wanted one (Garringer & Banning, 2023). Access to mentorship is influenced by factors such as racial or ethnic background, socioeconomic status …

Investigating The Impact Of Cross-Loadings On Model Fit And Mediation Inferences In The Latent Mediator Model, Qiulin Lu

Theses and Dissertations

Cross-loadings are a common phenomenon in psychological research. Extant studies have focused primarily on measurement models, like confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and have shown that omitted cross-loadings can bias the inter-factor correlation. These results suggest that omitted cross-loadings might likewise bias structural paths in other structural equation models (SEMs), but this area remains under-investigated. Such an effect could impact the evaluation of third variable effects, like mediation, when estimated in a SEM framework.

This study addresses this gap by examining the effects of cross-loadings in single, latent mediator model in a simulation study. The performances of conventional SEM and Bayesian …

Latinx Parent Acculturation And Acculturative Stress: Impact On Family Functioning And Youth Well-Being, Julie Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that acculturation and acculturative stress can influence family dynamics and Latinx youth well-being. Guided by the Family Stress Model, the current study aimed to assess a latent measurement model of acculturation and examine the relationship between acculturation and acculturative stress and how acculturative stress is related to family processes and youth adjustment. Data included 898 youth and 630 parents from the SOL Youth study. Structural equation modeling was used to assess a latent two-factor measurement model of acculturation and its relation to parental acculturative stress as well as how parental acculturative stress is related to family functioning …

Deprivation And Threat As Predictors Of Executive Functioning And Emotion Regulation In Early Adolescence: The Protective Role Of School Support, Abigail Best De Arellano

Theses and Dissertations

Childhood adversity (CA) impacts a large proportion of US youth with far reaching consequences for development and subsequent health outcomes (McLaughlin et al., 2012). Given the widespread impact of CA, it is imperative to understand how these exposures impact development, as well as identify opportunities for intervention. McLaughlin and Sheridan (2016) proposed the Dimensional Model of Adversity of Psychopathology (DMAP), providing a framework for understanding the heterogeneity of outcomes related to exposure to CA. DMAP emphasizes that deprivation (i.e., lack of expected cognitive or social stimulation) and environmental threat (i.e., exposure to harm or the threat of harm) impacts youth …

Effects Of Verbal Tasks On Driving Simulator Performance, Jonathan Cheshire Rann

Theses and Dissertations

We report the results from a driving simulator paradigm we developed to test the effects of simple verbal tasks on simultaneous driving performance. A total of 74 undergraduate students participated in two experiments in which they controlled a car using the steering wheel to track a moving target. The dependent measure, overall deviation from target, was continuously recorded. Experiment 1 (E1) tested tracking performance during slow and fast target speeds under conditions involving either no verbal input or output (Absent), passive listening to spoken prompts via headphones (Listen), or responding to the spoken prompts (Respond). Experiment 2 (E2) was similar …

Stimulation Of The Rostromedial Tegmental Nucleus Induces Long-Lasting Avoidance Behavior, Jacob Ryan Watson

Theses and Dissertations

The role of midbrain dopamine (DA) activity in reward seeking and reinforcement learning is well-documented, contrasting the lesser-understood impact of inhibitory signaling on DAergic activity, especially in the context of aversive learning and avoidance. The rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) is a GABAergic midbrain structure activated by aversive stimuli and exerts inhibitory influence over ventral tegmental area (VTA) DAergic activity in response to aversive consequences. Stimulation of the RMTg decreases the firing rate of VTA DA neurons and direct inhibition of the RMTg – VTA circuit enhances persistent reward seeking despite aversive consequences, a major criterion of substance use disorder (SUD). …

How Do People Discern Authenticity From Emotional Expressions, Sewon Oh

Theses and Dissertations

Emotional authenticity is a crucial element in the development and progression of social relationships. However, limited research has comprehensively examined how emotional authenticity perception is shaped by different communication channels, visual attention, and individual differences. This thesis aimed to investigate the emotional authenticity perception from multiple perspectives, including the feasibility of authenticity manipulation, the influence of multimodal cues, and visual attention allocation in assessing authenticity from facial expressions. Findings demonstrated that authenticity could be successfully manipulated by both professional and non-professional actors. Participants differentiated both authenticity and emotion most accurately in audiovisual expressions. The audio channel played an important role …

Religious Beliefs, Cooperation, And Evolutionary Mechanisms, Nicole Fellice Ko, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Religion is an organized system of spiritual beliefs, practices, and rituals that often involve a sense of the divine (Schilbrack, 2022). An evolutionary mechanism is an evolved set of traits that interpret environmental inputs and generate behavioral responses that enhance survival or reproductive success (Li et al., 2018). Cooperation refers to the act of individuals or groups working together to achieve a shared goal or mutual benefit (Alós-Ferrer & Garagnani, 2020).

Definition And Classification Of Dystonia, Alberto Albanese, Kailash P Bhatia, Victor S C Fung, Mark Hallett, Joseph Jankovic, Christine Klein, Joachim K Krauss, Anthony E Lang, Jonathan W Mink, Sanjay Pandey, Jan K Teller, Marina A J Tijssen, Marie Vidailhet, H A Jinnah

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Dystonia is a movement disorder with varied clinical features and diverse etiologies. Here we present a revision of the 2013 consensus definition and classification of dystonia in light of subsequent publications and experience with its application during the last decade. A panel of movement disorder specialists with expertise in dystonia reviewed the original document and proposed some revision. There was broad consensus to retain the definition of dystonia with only minor clarifications to the wording. Dystonia is defined as a movement disorder characterized by sustained or intermittent abnormal movements, postures, or both. Dystonic movements and postures are typically patterned and …

Sex-Dependent Modulation Of Behavioral Allocation Via Ventral Tegmental Area-Nucleus Accumbens Shell Circuitry, Kristen A. Mclaurin, Jessica M. Illenberger, Hailong Li, Rosemarie M. Booze, Charles F. Mactutus

Faculty Publications

Diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder, cocaine type (i.e., cocaine use disorder), outlined in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, imply that the disorder arises, at least in part, from the maladaptive allocation of behavior to drug use. To date, however, the neural circuits involved in the allocation of behavior have not been systematically evaluated. Herein, a chemogenetics approach (i.e., designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs)) was utilized in combination with a concurrent choice self-administration experimental paradigm to evaluate the role of the mesolimbic neurocircuit in the allocation of behavior. Pharmacological activation …

Natural Language Processing Pipeline For Assessment Data: An R-Based Tutorial, Constanza Mardones-Segovia, Shiyu Wang, Allan S. Cohen

Chinese/English Journal of Educational Measurement and Evaluation | 教育测量与评估双语期刊

Natural language processing (NLP) has become an increasingly popular approach for analyzing textual responses in educational assessments. An important part of NLP involves cleaning and structuring examinees' written responses to create input data that conserves the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of the words, thereby enabling the extraction of these features. This paper provides foundational knowledge on the steps needed for using NLP in educational measurement tasks, guiding researchers and practitioners through text preprocessing, feature extraction, and analyzing textual data from constructed response items. Additionally, an R-based example using Latent Dirichlet Allocation is provided, illustrating each step in the pipeline.

Outcomes Related To College Students' Attachment, Suzanne Vaccaro

Psychology ETDs

Young adults aged 18-25 have the highest prevalence of mental health issues compared to adults over age 25. Mental health outcomes during emerging adulthood may be linked to early childhood variables, such as attachment, grounded in early caregiving, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (Hughes et al., 2017; Waters & Roisman, 2019). The current study examined relationships between the attachment script assessment (ASA), a measure intended to elicit secure base script knowledge, indicative of secure attachment state of mind, ACEs, and mental health outcomes among a diverse sample of college students aged 18 to 25. Although results did not indicate relationships …

Correlates Of School Absenteeism: A Systematic Review Of What We Know And What We Don’T, Samantha C. Maguire

Dissertations - ALL

School absenteeism has been referred to as a hidden educational crisis by the United States Department of Education. National data show that chronic absenteeism has doubled since pre-pandemic rates, increasing from about 16% of school students to nearly 30% during the 2021-22 school year. To understand this widespread issue, I conducted a systematic review of the available literature on potential risk factors or correlates associated with school absenteeism. A total of 106 studies published between 2000 and 2023 were included in this review. Coding was completed by me and advanced research assistants to determine how school absenteeism has been defined …

Nature's Medicine? The Associations Of Organized Youth Sport, Unstructured Physical Activity, And Land-Use Recreation With Children's Mental Health, Emotional Control, And Social Well-Being, Natalie Stagnone, Katherine Alexander, Kat V. Adams, Travis Dorsch

Human Development and Family Studies Student Research

Physical activity is well-established as beneficial for children’s physical and mental health, yet limited research has explored how different activity types impact psychosocial outcomes. This is a cross-sectional study that examined associations between youth participation in organized sport, unstructured physical activity, and land-use recreation and their psychosocial health. Survey data were collected from 3246 caregivers of children in the Intermountain West region of the United States. Respondents reported on children’s physical activity engagement and psychosocial outcomes, including mental health, emotional control, and social well-being. All three activity types were significantly associated with improved psychosocial health (p < 0.001). Compared to organized sport, unstructured physical activity and land-use recreation were associated with significantly higher levels of mental health and emotional control (p_adj < 0.001), although with a small effect size (η^{2 …}

Innovative Partnerships To Expand School-Based Health Capacity In Rural Communities, Robyn Thomas Pitts, Amy K. Mcdiarmid

DU Rural Summit Conference Proceedings

Our nation's youth are in dire need of increased access to high-quality school-based mental health (SBMH) services. In Colorado’s rural areas, the school psychologist-to-student ratio is 1:2,128— over four times the recommended level. Our team secured $4M in federal and state funding to implement an innovative partnership strategy for strengthening rural SBMH capacity. We describe how innovative partnerships enabled us to overcome systemic barriers to training future school psychologists as they live, work, and learn in rural settings. Our culturally sustaining approach to program design, implementation, and evaluation leverages family-school-community partnerships to expand rural SBMH capacity.

The Relationship Between Hope, Religiosity, And Meaning In Life In Adults Who Experienced Relational Loss, Elyse Hope Linder

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Relationship loss from death or living loss significantly impacts almost every human being at some point in life. Extensive research has examined the constructs of hope, religiosity, meaning in life, and grieving. Researchers have identified the contributions of these constructs in helping individuals understand and make sense of relational loss. However, limited, if any, literature exists on the relationships between all the constructs, particularly with an interdisciplinary view of hope. This present study examined these relationships and the moderating effect of hope and religiosity in adults who have experienced significant relationship loss within the past six years. Data was collected …

To Use Or Not To Use Exclusionary Discipline In Early Childhood Education? A Phenomenological Analysis Of Pre-Kindergarten Teachers In Alabama, Christal C. Coker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to examine the lived experiences of pre- kindergarten teachers in Alabama regarding their use of and restraint from using exclusionary discipline. The study aimed to find outcomes that could potentially improve social contexts in Alabama's preschools by creating more equitable learning environments. The problem addressed by the study is that the lived experience of preschool teachers regarding their use of and restraint from using exclusionary discipline when students misbehave at school remains to be discovered. A purposive sampling strategy was employed to recruit seven preschool teachers licensed in Alabama for a one-on-one semi-structured Zoom …

Quantifying Adversary Military Forces’ Susceptibility To Cognitive Attacks, Bonnie Rushing, Cole Nelson, Shouhuai Xu, Christofer “Raven” O’Keefe, Olga Karpoyan

Military Cyber Affairs

This paper introduces a method to quantify international populations’ susceptibility to cyber cognitive attacks using press freedom and media trust metrics. We present the Cognitive Influence Calculator, a tool that estimates susceptibility (𝑆) based on Press Freedom Scores (PFS) and media trust levels. Findings show that while authoritarian regimes are harder to reach, successful cognitive attacks have greater impacts due to higher trust in state-controlled narratives. Using U.S. wargaming data and international trust metrics, we compute susceptibility scores for the U.S., Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Results show an inverse relationship between PFS and media susceptibility, with local/allied …

Understanding Russia’S Cyber Policies, Strategies, And Doctrines, Bryan Hancock, Hanh Nguyen, Olga Karpoyan, Ekzhin Ear, Shouhuai Xu

Military Cyber Affairs

This study analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of Russia’s cyber policies, strategies, and doctrines through a systematic set of attributes, leading to key insights: (i) Russia has proactively adapted its cyber policies, strategies, and doctrines to its evolving environment; (ii) Russia actively conducts cognitive warfare, but remains equally vulnerable to it; and (iii) Russia’s cyber posture faces significant challenges, including a limited technological base, shortage of skilled personnel, and restrictive approach to information control, all of which undermine the effectiveness of its strategies. These insights offer valuable implications for US Cyber Command and the Department of Defense.

Exploring Predictors Of Treatment Response To Glp-1 Receptor Agonists For Smoking Cessation, Luba Yammine, Constanza De Dios, Robert Suchting, Charles E Green, David A Nielsen, Consuelo Walss-Bass, Joy M Schmitz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Understanding predictors of smoking cessation medication efficacy facilitates the ability to enhance treatment effectiveness. In our pilot trial, exenatide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, adjunct to nicotine patch improved smoking abstinence compared to nicotine patch alone. This secondary analysis explores potential baseline characteristics associated with differential treatment response to exenatide.

Aims and methods: The parent trial randomized (1:1) 84 smokers with prediabetes and/or overweight to once-weekly placebo or exenatide, 2 mg, subcutaneously. All participants received nicotine patch (21 mg) and brief smoking cessation counseling, with biologically confirmed 7-day point prevalence abstinence at week 6 (end-of-treatment) deemed the primary outcome. …

An Autistic “Linguatype”? Neologisms, New Words, And New Insights, Emily Zane, Rhiannon Luyster

Emerson Authors, Researchers, & Creators

In this commentary, we present new ideas about autistic neologisms. This essay has two primary goals. First, we argue that an autistic predilection to form neologisms generates intriguing new hypotheses about language in autism, including the possibility that a tendency to use neologisms could be a featural element of an autistic “linguatype” (as in “phenotype”). Second, we suggest that the study of neologism meaning, form, and use can yield insights about a specific speaker and about autistic language, generally. To support both aims, we present the largest collection to date of autistic neologisms. We supply an initial framework for considering …

Psychology 32: Human Growth And Development Syllabus, Joanna M. Agnello

Open Educational Resources

This Open Educational Resources (OER) syllabus for an introductory Developmental Psychology course offers a no-cost, adaptable framework for exploring human development across the lifespan. The course is structured chronologically, from prenatal development through late adulthood, integrating cognitive, emotional, and sociocultural perspectives. This OER syllabus aims to foster student-centered learning, critical thinking, community building and real-world applications of developmental concepts. All content is openly licensed.