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Relative Sensitivity Of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy And Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging To Cognitive Function Among Nondemented Individuals Infected With Hiv, Robert Paul, Thomas Ernst, Adam Brickman, Constantin Yiannoutsos, David Tate, Ronald Cohen, Bradford Navia

Psychology Faculty Works

In the present study, we examined the relationships among cognitive function, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) brain metabolite indices measured in the basal ganglia, and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the caudate nucleus and the putamen in the earliest stages of HIV-related cognitive involvement. Participants included 22 HIV-positive individuals and 20 HIV-negative individuals. HIV-positive individuals performed significantly more poorly than the HIV-negative individuals on several cognitive measures. In addition, the choline/creatine ratio was significantly higher and the N-acetyl aspartate/choline ratio was significantly lower among HIV patients. The caudate and putamen sizes were smaller among HIV-positive patients compared with controls; however, …

The Science Of Excellence, Randy Borum

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Pre-Pubertal Social Experiences On The Responsiveness Of Juvenile Rats To Predator Odors, Stephen M. Siviy

Psychology Faculty Publications

The extent to which social variables may modulate the fear associated with a predator cue was assessed in juvenile rats. Cat odor reduced play to a comparable extent in both socially housed and isolate-housed rats, although socially housed rats exhibited more risk assessment during extinction. Rats that had played previously in the context used for assessing fear hid slightly less when exposed to cat odor than those rats that had not played previously in the testing context. However, no other differences were found between these two groups suggesting that prior social experience with the testing context has minimal effects on …

The Political Personality Of 2008 Republican Presidential Nominee John Mccain, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Arizona senator John McCain, Republican nominee in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data regarding Sen. McCain was extracted from biographical sources and published reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC manual. McCain’s …

Christian Narratives Of Forgiveness: An Examination Of Components Used By Christian Laypeople In The Process Of Forgiveness, Heath H. Fervida

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

There is rising interest in forgiveness within the social sciences; however, the religious roots of forgiveness are often overlooked. The primary aim of this research was to assess whether those of Christian faith have unique elements in their forgiveness process. Motives and mechanism of forgiveness were assessed in 100 Christian narratives of forgiveness and then considered in light of current process models. The results of this analysis show that Christians incorporate the main components of current process models; however, they also approach them with motives and mechanisms unique to the Christian faith. Their understanding of God and a relationship with …

Forgiveness And Consideration Of Future Consequences In Aggressive Driving, Michael Moore, Eric R. Dahlen

Faculty Publications

Most research on aggressive driving has focused on identifying aspects of driver personality which will exacerbate it (e.g., sensation seeking, impulsiveness, driving anger, etc.). The present study was designed to examine two theoretically relevant but previously unexplored personality factors predicted to reduce the risk of aggressive driving: trait forgiveness and consideration of future consequences. The utility of these variables in predicting aggressive driving and driving anger expression was evaluated among 316 college student volunteers. Hierarchical multiple regressions permitted an analysis of the incremental validity of these constructs beyond respondent gender, age, miles driven per week, and driving anger. Both forgiveness …

Predictive Measures Of Cognitive Outcome In Adults Sustaining Brain Injury, Herminia De La Rosa-Trujillo

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

To date, there is no consistent and accurate outcome prediction method for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Commonly used clinical measures such as the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and traditional radiological methods of x-rays and computed tomography (CT) scans do not always accurately predict patient functional outcome. These radiological methods are adequate in determining gross structural anatomical disturbances, however, they are unable to detect more diffuse cellular damage believed to be responsible for the functional impairments evidenced in patients sustaining TBI. Magnetic resonance imaging allows for various non-invasive sequencing techniques that have demonstrated to be a potentially valuable method …

A Theory Of Positive Mental Health, Jason D. Rowden

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

For many decades psychological research has erred on the side of looking toward pathology and has neglected to define what positive mental health functioning is on an individual level (Dahlsgaard, Peterson, & Seligman, 2005, p. 203). Without a sound theory of positive mental health, the field of psychology is left guessing as to its meaning. The importance of having a clear definition of mental health cannot be underscored enough. Without a clear understanding of mental health, the field of psychology is forced to function with varying opinions, defined by each clinician. The goal of the current thesis is to contribute …

Psychosocial Predictors Of Adolescent Sexual Initiation In The Caribbean, Tenesha Samantha Berry

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Literature supports that adolescent early sexual initiation is more likely to result in multiple sex partners and less protection, making early sexual activity an HIV/ AIDS risk. Delaying sexual initiation may thus be an important combatant to the spread of HIV/ AIDS. This study's objective was to examine sexual initiation in 234 Jamaican youth ages 13-19. Perception of peers' and parents' pro-risk attitudes, parental monitoring, parental discussions about sex; religious importance and HIV/AIDS knowledge were investigated via a survey including items from the Center for Disease Control's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).

This study utilized archival data as part of …

A Brief Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index With Less Potential For Bias, Mitch Earleywine, Joseph W. Labrie, Eric R. Pedersen

Heads Up!

The Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI), a popular measure of alcohol-related problems in adolescents, varies with many theoretically-relevant measures of individual differences, including sex. The sex differences in RAPI scores fit many models of alcohol problems but could also arise from biased items. In addition, a short form could increase the scale’s utility. The current study examined RAPI scores, an additional inventory of problem drinking, and measures of alcohol consumption in over 2,000 college student drinkers. Analyses revealed items that functioned differentially for men and women. Dropping these items created a shorter scale with almost identical psychometric properties but less …

Healing Young People Thru Empowerment (H.Y.P.E.): A Hip-Hop Therapy Program For Black Adolescent Males, Adia B. Mcclellan

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Treating Black adolescent males with disruptive behavior disorders can be challenging for psychologists and other mental health professionals The negative perception of this group within society, as well as the absence of clinical training exploring issues pertinent to Black adolescent males, among other things, may hinder a professional’s ability to effectively work with this population. This doctoral project discussed the research in several areas currently pertinent to Black adolescent males, as well as factors that have historically been oppressive to Black Americans. It then describes several DSM-IV-TR diagnoses and legal classifications associated with Disruptive Behavior Disorders. In addition, research analyzing …

"It's All One Big Circle": Welfare Discourse And The Everyday Lives Of Urban Adolescents, Staci T. Lowe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Welfare reform succeeded, in part, because of discourse that characterized the poverty problem as one of long-term dependency and personal irresponsibility. Adolescent pregnancy was targeted as both cause and manifestation of a welfare crisis. This study examined how welfare reform was perceived and experienced by lowincome, urban adolescents. Findings from interviews revealed that adolescents agreed with many of the basic tenets of welfare reform, largely because they had appropriated much of the discourse prevalent in wider society. However, their complex life stories contained a powerful subtext concerning structural determinants of poverty that ran counter to prevailing notions of "personal responsibility."

Arginine Vasopressin And Male Attachment: A Marital And Family Therapy Perspective, Calvin James Thomsen

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Social neuroscience offers a promising way to understand some dimensions of adult attachment. Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a neuropeptide with significant implications for human social behavior and it provides an important testing ground to explore links between social/interpersonal neurobiology and attachment. It has a distinctive impact on the social/relational behavior of certain male animals, most notably prairie voles. It fosters monogamy, creates attachment to both mate and offspring, and increases affiliation and a desire for physical proximity with other animals of the species. There has been much speculation that it might play a similar role with human males. This study …

Examining The Relationship Between Proactive Personality And Career Success, Jeremy Owens

Modern Psychological Studies

With increasing levels of employee autonomy and responsibility in today's workforce, proactive behavior and the performance of discretionary, extra-role work behaviors are becoming vital to effective organizational functioning. This study examined how proactive personality relates to career success through extra-role behaviors including innovation, contextual performance, and organizational citizenship behavior by surveying 302 employees from a large manufacturing organization. Hierarchical regression and multiple mediation analyses showed that the relationship between proactive personality and career success is at least partially influenced by indirect effects via extra-role behaviors, even after controlling for demographic and personality variables (age, sex, and FFM traits).

Defining Roles In The Online Classroom To Assure Learning, Chris Ponder Ii

Modern Psychological Studies

The emergence of the internet has provided the opportunity for universities to begin offering online courses. As more students seek flexibility in education delivery, the greater the need becomes for online learning, which may result in developing courses that do not promote assurance of learning. This paper will explore how assurance of learning can take place in the online courseroom by evaluating student, instructor, and instructional design readiness for online learning, as well as defining the role of how each can promote assurance of learning utilizing reflective questions.

Same, But Different: Understanding Asians' Attitudes Towards Affirmative Action, Luisa J. Maun, Brian J. O'Leary

Modern Psychological Studies

Organizations often use affirmative action plans to increase demographic diversity, but, the success of these plans depends on employee attitudes. Attitudes toward affirmative action differ among racial groups, with Blacks having more favorable attitudes than Hispanics, Asians, and Whites (e.g., Bell, Harrison, & McLaughlin, 1997). To correct a paucity of literature that includes a large Asian American sample, Asian participants from various ethnicities, such as Indian, Filipino, and Vietnamese, (N = 181) completed several online questionnaires at surveymonkey.com about affirmative action attitudes (Attitude Towards Affirmative Action Scale), collectivism/individualism (Triandis & Gelfand, 1998) , and ethnic identity (Multigroup Measure of Ethnic …

The Effects Of Acquaintance Versus Stranger Rape And Gender On Rape Myth Acceptance And Attitudes Toward Rape In College Students, Shellie Patscheck, Sharon Shears

Modern Psychological Studies

This original empirical experiment assessed effects of acquaintance versus stranger rape and gender on rape myth acceptance and attitudes toward rape in college students. Participants read hypothetical scenarios depicting acquaintance or stranger rape, and then completed modified versions of Burt's Rape Myth Acceptance Scale and Feild's Attitudes Toward Rape Scale. Based on previous research, we predicted that males would demonstrate more negative attitudes and would be more supportive of rape myth acceptance than females. In addition, given the relative lack of previous literature on this topic, we predicted that the two conditions for type of rape would be different, but …

Enhancing Decision Making By Implementing Likelihood Alarm Technology In Integrated Displays, Rylan M. Clark, Ernesto A. Bustamente

Modern Psychological Studies

Complex environments with automated systems, such as aircraft cockpits and nuclear control rooms, require critical decisions to be made about human intervention. Human monitors operating in these roles must interact with copious amounts of information. Decision support tools within integrated displays, especially alarms, aid people in monitoring these systems by capturing their attention to focus on possibly dangerous conditions. Once signaled, monitors choose whether they wish to acknowledge the alarm and search for more process status, or ignore it. This study investigates the impact of likelihood alarm technology versus traditional binary alarms on decision making accuracy and response bias in …

The Importance Of Early Intervention: Treatments For Conduct Disorder Versus Treatments For Antisocial Personality Disorder, Lindsay J. Buck

Modern Psychological Studies

This literature review focuses on both medicinal and therapeutic treatment options for Conduct Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder. Conduct Disorder is considered a precursor to Antisocial Personality Disorder, and research on the treatment of both of these disorders suggests that early intervention, during childhood and adolescence, is the most promising treatment option for people diagnosed with Conduct Disorder. Medicinal treatments for Conduct Disorder that are discussed within this literature review are lithium, methylphenidate, and risperidone, while the therapeutic treatments reviewed are parent management training and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Less encouraging research results have been found for the treatment of Antisocial Personality …

The Effectiveness Of Treatment In An Inpatient And Outpatient Psychiatric Facility, Timothy Quan Tran

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The present study is aimed at examining treatment outcome in a large psychiatric facility that provides both inpatient and outpatient services to a broad range of patients. Not only will patient outcomes be assessed at a facility-wide level, but patient outcomes on the various units/programs in the facility will also be assessed and compared. It is expected that, facility wide, patients will show significant improvement on the outcome measure from admission to discharge, but that patient outcomes will differ across the various units/programs in the facility. In sum, the results of the paired-sample t-test and effect size obtained in this …

Individual Response To Three Types Of Nonlethal Weapons, Tyrone R. Nixon, Cynthia M. Bridges, Mara S. Aruguete

Modern Psychological Studies

This study investigates behavioral reactions to three types of nonlethal weapons (NLWs) used by the U.S. military. We provided participants with simulated situations involving military use of NLWs, and asked them to predict how they would react. We found variations in response according to weapon type. In general, individuals were unlikely to aggress or disperse, although these reactions were mediated by demographic factors. It may be important for Army officials to know the behavioral effects of NLWs in order to use them effectively.

Supervisors' Reports Of The Effects Of Supervisor Self-Disclosure On Supervisees, Sarah Knox, Alan W. Burkard, Lisa M. Edwards, Jacquelyn J. Smith, Lewis Z. Schlosser

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

Using consensual qualitative research, researchers interviewed 16 supervisors regarding their use of self-disclosure in supervision. Supervisors reported that their prior training in supervisor self-disclosure (SRSD) came via didactic sources and encouraged judicious use of SRSD. Supervisors used SRSD to enhance supervisee development and normalize their experiences; supervisors did not use SRSD when it derailed supervision or was developmentally inappropriate for supervisees. In describing specific examples of the intervention, SRSD occurred in good supervision relationships, was stimulated by supervisees struggling, was intended to teach or normalize, and focused on supervisors' reactions to their own or their supervisees' clients. SRSD yielded largely …

An Experimental Test Of The Maintenance And Vulnerability Hypothesis Of Depression In Consideration Of The Cognitive Hierarchy., Patrick Pössel, Kerstin Knopf

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

According to Beck's cognitive model of depression the activation of dysfunctional beliefs triggers negative automatic thoughts, which can be interpreted as the proximal “cause” for emotional, somatic, and motivational symptoms of depression. This top-down processes of beliefs causing thoughts and furthermore of thoughts causing symptoms can be called “cognitive hierarchy.” Besides these processes there are bottom-up influences as well with dysfunctional beliefs being activated by external and internal events. A differentiation between top-down processes and bottom-up influences can be drawn with the first being seen as causing thoughts and emotions while the latter only activate existing beliefs. To test Beck's …

Family Variables As Predictors Of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Outcome, Gina R. Sillo

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The current study sought to investigate the importance of family variables as they potentially predict treatment outcome for adolescents at two intensive outpatient drug treatment programs. A growing body of research has demonstrated that family dynamics serve to influence drug using behaviors and substance abuse treatment. More specifically, empirical support has suggested that the quality of family relationships is an important factor serving to influence affective treatment. The current investigation considered two primary domains of family influence: family cohesion and family conflict. Results revealed that the study variables comprising these domains were not found to be associated with adolescent treatment …

Sensitivity To Change Of The Behavior And Symptom Identification Scale (Basis-32), Christopher S. Corbett

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

With the increased demand for evidence based mental health interventions, there has been an increased need for comprehensive ways to determine the validity of certain measures used to measure therapy effectiveness. The Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-32) is one of the most widely used measures for measuring therapy outcomes. This study was conducted on the BASIS-32 investigating the validity of the instrument, not only on the overall and subtest level, but also on the item level. This study is particular in that it also measured the validity of the instrument in being sensitive to client reported change over time. …

Breast Cancer Screening Disparities In Japanese-American Women, Theodora Stratis

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Cancer screening disparities in ethnic minority women have received much research attention in the last several years due to a marked increase in ethnic minority cancer incidence and poor survival rates (Miller, Kollnel, Bernstein, Young Swanson, West et ah, 1996). Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for Asian American women (Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research & Training, 2002) and, although their incidence and mortality rates are lower than Caucasian women, these rates continue to increase every year. This increasing mortality rate is likely due to the underutilization of breast cancer screening by Asian American women. Asian …

Study Of Executive Functioning Training In Adolescents Diagnosed With Autism, Jessica Postil

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study investigated the effectiveness of a manualized executive functioning training program used with adolescents diagnosed with autism. Three male adolescents were trained on executive function activities using a combination of Applied Behavioral Analysis and executive functioning activities. Training programs were administered individually, lasting for 2 hours per day for 20 days. Participants were tested 1 month before training, 1 week before treatment, immediately after training and at a one-month follow-up. Significant improvements were seen in performance on executive functioning tasks that required motor speed, verbal fluency, monitoring, predicting, planning and organization skills. Significant changes in the participant’s adaptive behavior …

A Pilot Study Tracking Physiological And Psychological Indicators Of Stress, Garrett G. Chesley

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Aims: It is the aim of this research to investigate the degree to which psychological and physiological distress levels coincide for those receiving psychological treatment. Another aim of this research is to investigate the effects of feedback to therapists on patient progress on a psychological and physiological outcome measure.

Methods:Adult outpatient partial hospitalization patients participating in eating disorder treatment were invited to take part in this research. In addition to demographic data, each participant was asked to fill out the Outcome Questionnairre - 45 and to deposit 4 ml of saliva into a collection tube to obtain cortisol measurements …

Cognitive And Language Development In Young Children With Plagiocephaly, Vidhya Krishnamurthy

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Deformational plagiocephaly is a craniofacial condition where the occipital region of an infant’s skull becomes flattened as a result of prenatal or external factors. It is considered to be a primarily cosmetic condition that has no significant long term consequences. A few recent studies, however, have begun to suggest that children with deformational plagiocephaly may exhibit developmental delays or deficits. The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive and language functioning of preschool age children who had been diagnosed with deformational plagiocephaly. Further, the study hoped to understand the relationship between developmental functioning in infancy and cognitive and …

Keep Public Places Open To The Autistic, Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, Carol Salber, Shawn Neff

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

What does it mean to be "well-behaved"?

A recent Associated Press article (Aug. 17 World-Herald) discussed the "disruptive behavior" of individuals with autism. As mothers and activists on behalf of children with autism, we have a different perspective.