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Beauty In The Feed: Exploring The Role Of Social Media In Women's Body Image And Emotional Satisfaction, Momina Hassan

University Honors Theses

Through a thematic analysis assessing four peer-reviewed studies, this thesis explores the relationship between social media (e.g., content, engagement factors) and how it impacts women's body image and emotional satisfaction. The studies varied in methodological approach and age demographics, but included only female participants. The research reviewed in this thesis calls attention to the harmful effects social media can have on women's health such as body dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression and disordered eating. The two main themes that emerged were appearance-based social comparison, and psychological impacts on mental health (e.g., anxiety, depression, disordered eating). Exposure to idealized images on social media …

Supporting The Mental Health Of Adolescent Mothers In Kenya And Mozambique: Pilot Protocol For The Thriving Mamas Programme, Tatiana Taylor Salisbury, Maria Suzana Bata Maguele, Fernando Chissale, Málica De Melo, Margrette Hanselmann, Kethakie Lamahewa, Evaline Chepchirchir Langat, Flávio Mandlate, Lucy Nyaga, Marleen Temmerman

Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health

Background: Poor mental health among adolescent girls during pregnancy and the year after birth (the perinatal period) has been found to have a significant detrimental effect on girls and their children. The Innovative approaches to adolescent perinatal wellbeing (INSPIRE) project co-designed an intervention (Thriving Mamas) to improve adolescent perinatal mental health in Kenya and Mozambique. The aim of the current study is to pilot test the co-designed intervention to understand how it can be adapted for further testing or scale-up.

Methods :A mixed-method, pilot cluster-randomised, efectiveness-implementation Hybrid Type II trial will be conducted among 80 adolescent girls (aged 15–19 years) …

Exploring Advanced Theory Of Mind Development Across Sociocultural Contexts: An Evaluation Of The Strange Stories In Children From Mexico And Us–Mexico Border Communities, Katherine Rice Warnell, Amy A. Weimer, Rong Huang, Daniela Kuri

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Recent research on advanced theory of mind (ToM) has questioned the extent to which existing ToM measures capture a single construct, particularly for groups understudied in developmental research. The present study examined the factor structure of one of the most commonly used advanced ToM measures, the Strange Stories task, in samples of low- and middle-income children in dual-language Spanish-English schools in US–Mexico border communities and in Mexico (N = 237 children, n = 108 male, n = 129 female, Mage = 10.05 years, SD = 1.15 years; 96.3% Hispanic/Latine). No clear factor structure emerged for the Strange Stories …

Do People Judge Sexual Harassment Differently Based On The Type Of Job A Victim Has?, Carolyne Georgiana Halfon, Destiny Mccray, Danica Kulibert

Faculty Articles

Victims of sexual harassment report facing barriers and retaliation for reporting their sexual harassment. The current study assessed one potential reason for these issues: perceptions of sexual harassment events. Participants (N = 427) read about different sexual harassment events and were told that the woman in the event worked with a masculine (e.g., EMT, school police officer, plumber) or feminine job (e.g., nurse, teacher, cleaning staff). Across three different sexual harassment claims (e.g., unwanted romantic attention, physical groping, being shown sexually explicit images), participants reported that women in masculine jobs were less prototypical women than women in feminine jobs. Furthermore, …

Do Resiliency And Coping Skills Moderate The Relationship Between Mood Disorders And Parenting Styles Due To Parental Relationship Distress?, Tiffany Burks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parental relationship dynamics such as intimate partner violence (IPV), interpersonal distress (IPD), and parental alienation (PA) can significantly affect both mental health and parenting practices. This study examined whether personal strengths, specifically resilience and problem-focused coping, could help buffer these negative outcomes. Correlational analyses showed that IPV, IPD, and PA were positively associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. IPV and PA were also negatively associated with the use of an authoritative parenting style. In contrast, resilience and problem-focused coping were linked to fewer mood-related symptoms and greater use of authoritative parenting. Multiple regression analyses revealed that IPV significantly predicted …

Hardiness, Optimism And Hope: Longitudinal Study Of How Individuals May Build Resilience Through Experiential Undergraduate University Courses, Paul Lim, Chin Heng Low, Kevin Koh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study explores the antecedents of students’ resilience in a management education setting, by looking at the role of state hope and dispositional optimism in cultivating their psychological hardiness. While resilience is recognized as integral to personal growth, extant research has predominantly focused on its correlations with psychological capital (PsyCap) elements such as hope and optimism; or examined the outcomes of hardiness as a proxy of resilience. Little has been done to explicate the directional causal relationships among the PsyCap elements and hardiness in view of resilience-building. Using a longitudinal mixed methods design, this study delves into how state hope, …

Building The Australian Counselling Profession's Research Capacity For The Future: A Collaborative Strategic Approach, Nathan Beel, E. A. Cocodia, Katrina Andrews, Stephani Stephens, Sonam Pelden, Shannon Hodges

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: This paper presents an analysis of the current research landscape within the Australian counselling profession, identifying key challenges and proposing a strategic approach to building research capacity. Problem Statement: Written by a taskforce of educational leaders, it reports their perceptions and experiences of the multifaceted challenges hindering research development. These challenges encompass the limited pipeline of future doctoral-trained counselling educators, the barriers to promotion opportunities for current counsellor educators, and the impact these deficits may have on the profession overall. Proposed Solutions: To address these challenges, the paper proposes a series of targeted strategies aimed at stakeholders across the …

Investigating The Effects Of Brief Video Interventions On White Undergraduate Students’ Racial Attitudes, Alyssa Powers

Dissertations

In this experimental study, a pretest posttest between-groups design was utilized to investigate the efficacy of two brief multicultural educational video interventions in improving the colorblind and affective racial attitudes of White undergraduate students. Ninety-eight self-identified White undergraduate students from a large, Midwestern university were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) viewing a video on the pervasiveness of individual racism and White privilege in the United States (True Colors); (b) viewing a video on institutional racism in the United States (Segregated by Design); (c) viewing a study tips video as the neutral control condition. Participants’ colorblind and affective …

Understanding Intergenerational Trauma Among Arab, Middle Eastern, And North African (Arab/Mena) Americans, Rawan H. Atari-Khan, Nuha Alshabani, S. Dolma Rabgay, Farida Refaat Elhedk, Ava Clifford, Sofia Gomariz, Warda Sahib

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African Americans experience various forms of racial–ethnic trauma in the United States, including historical and intergenerational trauma (IGT). The population has been migrating to the United States since the 1800s, and the number of migrants has risen in recent decades due to war, persecution, and family reunification. As a result, the children of these migrants may be exposed to IGT, with research suggesting that descendants of individuals who have experienced trauma are more susceptible to poor mental health outcomes. Using semistructured interviews, alongside the art of storytelling and empowerment through critical consciousness, this study investigated …

Understanding Parents’ Beliefs About The Etiology Of Youth Mental Health Problems: Differences Across Race/Ethnicity, Madeline Buchanan, Lindsay E. Holly

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Parents’ etiological explanations for youth mental health problems are relatively understudied; most studies focus on adult beliefs about the causes of mental disorders experienced by adults. This is concerning given research demonstrating that parents’ causal beliefs may influence several aspects of youth mental health service utilization including whether parents seek help for their youth and how they engage in treatment. The current study used a novel methodology to examine causal beliefs about youth mental health problems among a diverse group of parents (N = 417; 36.9% non-Hispanic White; 33.3% Black/African American; 29.8% Hispanic/Latino) who completed a series of questionnaires …

“Much Like Skydiving, I Would Really Rather Avoid It If I Can”: Asexual And Allosexual Adults’ Motives For Not Having Sexual Experiences, Alyssa N. Clark, Tracy L. Walters, Veronica Hanna-Walker

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Engaging in sex is a common practice, however, some adults may choose to not have sexual experiences for normative reasons. Asexual adults, in particular, may hold negative attitudes about sex and are less likely than allosexual adults to engage in sex. Less is known about whether adults’ motives to not have any sexual experiences differ based on sexual orientation. We use qualitative to explore asexual and allosexual adults’ intrinsic and extrinsic motives for not having sexual experiences. From a larger study, 129 adults with no sexual experiences (52.7% allosexual, Mage  = 22.0, 47.3% asexual, Mage  = 25.4; 61.2% …

Exposure To Different Motives Of Scientists Moderates Responses To Scientific Consensus: The Case Of Cultured Meat, Kimin Eom, Bryan Kwok Cheng Choy

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This research examines how exposure to different motives of scientists affects the impact of scientific consensus on public attitudes toward cultured meat. While scientific consensus on the safety of cultured meat generally increased positive attitudes toward it, this effect depended on information about scientists’ motives. Exposure to information about scientists’ financial motives weakened the positive effect of scientific consensus because it undermined trust in scientists. Information about scientists’ prosocial motives did not influence the scientific consensus effect. These findings suggest that perceived motives can shift trust in experts, thereby affecting the influence of experts on public attitudes.

Thriving In The Age Of Ai: Navigating Ai Identity Threat Through Ai Job Crafting, Yuming He

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like GenAI tools increasingly reshape the workplace, employees increasingly face threats to their work identity. Grounded in the identity threat response model and job crafting theory, this study investigates how AI identity threat influences employee AI job crafting behaviors and how these behaviors, in turn, affect vitality and learning. Using survey data from 521 full-time employees who actively engage with AI tools, the results indicate that AI identity threat stimulates both AI approach job crafting and AI avoidance job crafting. AI approach crafting enhances both vitality and learning, while AI avoidance crafting only supports vitality. …

Understanding Anti-Racism In Counselor Education: A Narratology Of Anti-Racist Pedagogy In Sociocultural Courses, Danielle G. Rodgers

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Counselors have the privilege to join children, adolescents, and adults from all walks of life in a journey of working towards mental and emotional wellness. Our code of ethics outlines “honoring diversity and embracing a multicultural approach in support of the worth, dignity, potential, and uniqueness of people within their social and cultural contexts” (p.3) and promoting social justice as two of our core professional values (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014). The ACA also stated in their Antiracist Statement in 2020 that “we have a moral and professional obligation to deconstruct institutions which have historically been designed to benefit White …

Impacts Of Parent Separation Within Siblings: A Literature Review, Araceli Tello Hernandez

University Honors Theses

Parent-child separation is a growing global issue that impacts millions of families. Although there is research on how an individual child might be impacted by separation from their parents, less is known about siblings. The importance of understanding the individual first and looking at attachment theory and resilience, its role it plays. The study serves to investigate the traumatic events of parent separation through loss whether death, divorce or immigration and seeing the gaps of literature when talking about these topics. This data relies on different literature and different research that shows how a traumatizing event can impact a child's …

More Than Hormones: Psychological Consequences Of The Medicalized Menopausal Experience, Haley Derrickson

University Honors Theses

Menopause, a transitional period that roughly half the population may experience, has a high degree of variability in onset and intensity of symptoms, one of which is depression. It is also a period in which the lives of those transitioning are highly medicalized. This literature review investigates how medicalization has increased since the term was created, and how it impacts perimenopause, menopause, and mental health.

The Impact Of Nicu Death On Bereaved Mothers, Jennie Terranova

University Honors Theses

Infant loss in the United States occurs 5.6 per 1,000 live births. This paper examines risk factors that contribute to neonatal death. Prematurity is a risk factor for NICU admission. A portion of premature babies receiving care in the NICU will die. The stressful nature of the NICU has been studied widely in journals. The impact of NICU death on hospital staff and bereaved parents has been studied less. Mortality studies suggest that bereaved mothers are at a high risk of dying within the first 5 years after their child has died. Despite the frequency of maternal death post-child loss, …

The Influence Of Ethnic Racial Identity On The Critical Consciousness Of Asian American College Students, Aliyah Sukkram

University Honors Theses

Ethical and racial identity (ERI) and critical consciousness play crucial roles in how youth of color understand themselves, contextualize their racialized experiences, and navigate oppressive social conditions. However, there has been a lack of research on both constructs in the lives of Asian American youth. Thus, this thesis aims to study the influence of ERI on the critical consciousness of Asian American college students by conducting semi-structured interviews. ERI was found to influence critical reflection and critical action but not political efficacy. The relationship between ERI and critical consciousness is understood through how youth engage with their ERI and contextualize …

Mindfulness As A Buffer Against Death Anxiety: Implications For End-Of-Life Care, Chad Alexander

University Honors Theses

Death anxiety, defined as the distress associated with the awareness of mortality, has profound psychological and cultural impacts. Western societies often respond to death salience through avoidance and medicalization, reinforcing defensive strategies described by Terror Management Theory. This project aimed to investigate whether mindfulness can serve as a buffer against death anxiety. A structured literature review was conducted using PsycINFO, PubMed, the Portland State University Library, and Google Scholar between January 2025 and April 2025. One study found that mindfulness moderated the effects of death anxiety on health-related quality of life in people living with HIV. Two experiments linked mindfulness …

A Postcolonial Re-Telling Of The Life And Times Of Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair, Lucille Marie Walker

University Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to explore the story of Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair, one of the first female doctors in the Pacific Northwest, who wrote the bill that would one day enact Oregon's long standing eugenic sterilization laws. Utilizing postcolonial framework primarily provided by psychiatrist and political writer Frantz Fanon, and supplemental literature from historian Ann Stoler, this paper will look into Dr. Adair's life story and her eugenic efforts in an attempt to understand the colonial roots of turn-of-the-century beliefs about bodies, behavior, and will ultimately aim to question how these beliefs may still reverberate through society today.

Surveying Management Strategies For Pediatric Autoimmune Hepatitis, Lillie Baca

University Honors Theses

Pediatric autoimmune hepatitis (PAIH) is a long-term condition that requires ongoing treatment and regular monitoring. It is characterized by its elevation of liver enzymes, interface hepatitis, and the specific presence of circulating autoantibodies. There is a general lack of consensus on appropriate measures of diagnostic criteria, treatment medication, and beneficial practices for monitoring the disease. The existing literature contains several subtle discrepancies that challenge a practitioner's judgement for care management of children with autoimmune hepatitis. This study is a retrospective chart review aimed at understanding the current diagnostics, treatment, and long-term management strategies of PAIH at a single center. Also, …

The Impact Of Emotions On Informal Learning Experiences In The Workplace, Jennifer L. Walavalkar

University Honors Theses

This study investigates the role of emotion--specifically valence and arousal--on informal learning experiences in the workplace. As remote and flexible work environments grow, informal learning has become the dominant method through which employees acquire new skills. Drawing on theories such as Cognitive Load Theory and Ego Depletion Theory, this research explores how emotions influence cognitive processes critical to learning, such as attention, memory, and self-regulation. Prior literature suggests that both positive and negative affect (valence) impact learning outcomes, but the specific influence of emotional intensity (arousal) in informal learning remains underexplored. Using a longitudinal survey method, ten employees at Portland …

Reality Now: Tobacco And Vaping Report, Tamara Van Der Zant, Terese Hooper, Katherine Dix, Toby Carslake

Wellbeing

This report presents findings from data collected through the Reality Now program, providing a long-term study exploring tobacco and vaping behaviours among Australian secondary school students. Conducted from 2018 to 2024, the program collected nearly 30,000 responses from students in Years 7 to 11. Using a social norms approach (SNA), the program aimed to identify and correct misperceptions about peer substance use and promote healthier behaviours. This report focuses on tobacco and vaping behaviours, whereas the broader program also examined the use of alcohol, cannabis, and MDMA. The findings show that while actual tobacco and vape use remain low, students …

Daily Creative Practice: A Path To Well-Being For Self + Society, Ellie Cashman

Masters Theses

Daily creative practice is a proven way to promote health and happiness, and to counteract what many are currently calling a global crisis in mental health.

There has perhaps never been a better time to be creative. Our collective healing and future human flourishing depend on it.

The author’s life and teaching experiences are explored, in the context of human history, (social) psychology and the challenges of contemporary culture.

Finally, the author offers a preview of a curriculum for Daily Creative Practice that will be further developed and implemented in Fall 2025, thanks to a grant from RISD’s Graduate Commons. …

Impact Of Social Motivation And Communication On Friendship And Loneliness In Autism, Rachael Roizer

Honors Scholar Theses

Friendships and loneliness are both major contributors to happiness and life satisfaction. This study probes group differences in friendship and loneliness in autism, and their links to social motivation and social communication skills. This study includes participants with autism (n = 28), loss of autism diagnosis (n = 29), and neurotypical developmental histories (n = 36). Participants completed an online survey including measures of social motivation, social communication, friendship, and loneliness. Findings indicated group differences in social communication, friendship, and loneliness, but not social motivation. There were significant associations between social motivation and friendship, social communication and …

Welcome To My Mind Palace: The Power Of Fantastical Thinking, Sadie Levine

Masters Theses

What follows is a record of my efforts to make the magic and horrors of my internal world tangible and shareable. The brain constructs hyper-specific fictional realities from childhood to adulthood, yet the scientific study of the mind often forgoes the subjective and the visual. I offer a complementary exploration of the mind - one that is highly visual and based on my own experiences, yet still contextualized in psychological research. Finding the magic in everyday life, and by extension, retreating into alternate realities, is a conscious choice I make, but I have not always had the option to choose. …

Piloting Trauma-Informed Workshops To Enhance Life Skills In Housing Transitions: Action Research, Negar Ghaderi

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This action research pilot project explores how trauma-informed, life skills workshops grounded in critical and creative thinking methods can support Housing First (HF) residents transitioning from homelessness to permanent housing. The study is based on the understanding that addressing homelessness requires more than housing provision—it demands attention to the cognitive and emotional impacts of trauma through co-created, resident-centered interventions. Using iterative cycles of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting, the project engages a small, fluctuating group of 4–5 participants from a diverse community of 60 HF residents. The pilot program includes six workshops, one focus group discussion, and individual interviews over …

Sociology: Culture, Marcia Morrison

Open Educational Resources

This work examine culture. It begins by examining the foundations of culture to include norms, values, language, symbols and knowledge. In looking at each, it breaks down the implication of each to the development of ourselves as well as the person in the environment. It moves on to look at contexts of culture such as dominant cultures juxtapose to competing cultural systems, and how the various elements of culture can serve to either promote or minimize the various cultural constructs within society.

From In To Out, Jaeyeon Shin

Masters Theses

In contemporary Korean society, where uniform ideals and social pressure often dominate, individuality—especially emotional individuality—can be difficult to maintain. This loss of personal agency has real consequences: mental and physical health challenges, including eating disorders, are on the rise.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 3 percent of the global population is affected by such disorders—roughly 1.55 million people in South Korea—despite the country having the lowest obesity rate among OECD nations. The increase, particularly among women in their teens to thirties, reflects the emotional toll of conforming to rigid societal standards.

Architecture is not merely a backdrop …

Navigating Crisis: A Qualitative Exploration Of Parents' Journeys With Suicidal Adolescents In Australian Emergency Departments, Demee Rheinberger, Lauren Mcgillivray, Fiona Shand, Sally Ann Pollard, Susanne Oliver Armstrong, Julia Lessing, Katherine Boydell

The Qualitative Report

Rates of emergency department (ED) presentations for suicide crisis (thoughts, feelings, plans and behaviours) in adolescents are increasing. Parents play a key role in supporting adolescents during and after the ED presentation, however little is known about parental experiences in the ED. Interviews with 20 parents from across Australia were undertaken to help understand this experience. A reflexive thematic analysis was conducted, resulting in three themes which explore the impact of the suicide crisis and ED presentation on the parents’ sense of identity. First, parents’ identity was threatened as they were faced with the juxtaposition between the role of protector …