Digital Commons Network^™

“Il Faut Manger” : Eating Disorders In Cameroonian Women, Jennifer Madowitz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study is to investigate unhealthy eating attitudes and negative body images in young Cameroonian women. The study will center around a standardized questionnaire that covers eating attitudes. The research will also focus on the traditional Cameroonian idea of beauty, versus the more Western, “modern,” body image that is popular today. By exploring cultural factors through observation, as well as interviews, and analyzing key statistics from the questionnaire, this paper has come to the conclusion that though the problem of eating disorders and body dissatisfaction are not as high in Cameroon as they are in the United …

Biological Psychiatry: A Practice In Search Of A Science, W. Joseph Wyatt, Donna M. Midkiff

Psychology Faculty Research

The rise of the biological causation model in the past thirty years is traced to psychiatry’s efforts to regain lost status and to protect itself from intrusions by non-medical practitioners, as well as to the pharmaceutical industry’s drive for profits. Evidence in support of the model, including studies of identical twins and of brain structure and function, are less revealing than was earlier thought, due to problems in methodology and interpretation. Organized psychiatry, when challenged in 2003, was unable to provide compelling evidence for biological causation of most mental and behavioral disorders. A paradigm shift away from biological causation and …

Determinants Of Physical Activity In An Inclusive Setting, Stephen Kodish, Pamela Hodges Kulinna, Jeffrey J. Martin, Robert Pangrazi, Paul Darst

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

The purposes of this study included (a) to determine if the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) predicted intentions of individuals with and without disabilities to be physically active, (b) to determine if the TPB predicted behaviors of individuals with and without disabilities to be physically active, and (c) to determine if significant differences were present in physical activity opportunities between inclusive and non-inclusive elementary physical education classes taught by the same teacher. Students (N = 114, ages 10-13) completed questionnaires assessing the TPB constructs and had four days of PA evaluated through pedometer measurements. Analyses revealed that subjective norm …

Girls' Perception Of Physical Environmental Factors And Transportation: Reliability And Association With Physical Activity And Active Transport To School, Kelly R. Evenson, Amanda Birnbaum, Ariane L. Bedimo-Rung, James Sallis, Carolyn C. Voorhees, Kimberly Ring, John P. Elder

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background

Preliminary evidence suggests that the physical environment and transportation are associated with youth physical activity levels. Only a few studies have examined the association of physical environmental factors on walking and bicycling to school. Therefore, the purpose of this study was (1) to examine the test-retest reliability of a survey designed for youth to assess perceptions of physical environmental factors (e.g. safety, aesthetics, facilities near the home) and transportation, and (2) to describe the associations of these perceptions with both physical activity and active transport to school.

Methods

Test and retest surveys, administered a median of 12 days later, …

Religious Coping Among People Of Individuals With Hiv/Aids, Boitumelo Rakwena

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study examined how religion affects one’s psychological health as he/she deals with life crisis. Religious coping strategies explained variance above and beyond demographics variables. Although religious and spiritual beliefs and practices have been frequently associated with greater psychological well-being among the illness populations, religious coping remains rather unexplored. Further, studies on the role of religious coping on caregivers of the chronically ill are even less available. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore religious coping in parents/caregivers who care for teens/adults with HIV/AIDS. This study proposed to examine this facet of illness in a community health center …

Sorority Eating Patterns: A Longitudinal Investigation, Marissa Hobbs

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To date, most research in the area of college women and eating disorders has only been conducted to determine the prevalence of eating disorders among selected college subgroups. Although such research is limited, particularly for those women that choose to join social sororities, it generally indicates that sorority women represent a subgroup with high instances of eating disorders and often presents a conflicting view of these women's eating patterns and beliefs regarding weight loss and food. The present study was designed to continue the investigation of sorority women and their eating patterns by conducting a longitudinal study, consisting of five …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Psychosocial Adjustment Of Khmer Refugees In Three Massachusetts Communities, Leakhena Nou

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This paper uses a sociological stress process model to explore the Khmer adult refugees’ experience in Massachusetts. The analysis is based on the responses of three focus groups in the Khmer communities of Lowell, Lynn, and Revere, Massachusetts. The focus groups provided an in-depth understanding of sources of stress, stress mediators, and psychosocial adjustment/adaptational patterns for Khmer refugees who had experienced the Cambodian genocide. Symptoms and reactions associated with underlying causes of mental health problems had culturally specific relevance to physical illness and mental health.

The Impact Of Reading Programs As A Map Project Strategy, Tena Jones

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 was enacted to protect the United States' most vulnerable students and was signed into law in January 2002 (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). For many years, black, Hispanic, special education, and limited English proficient students were not achieving at the same level as their white, middle-class counterparts because schools were not held accountable for their individual progress. The achievement gap is well documented in previous research at all levels of education. Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress  (NAEP) from 1996 to 2000, obtained from a national sample of 8th- …

Social Familiarity As A Predictor Of Observational Learning In The Domestic Dog (Canis Familiaris), Lana Gent

Psychology Dissertations - Archive

Experiments utilizing observational learning in dogs are becoming more frequent, but few investigate the familiarity relationship between model and observer. Two experiments were designed to explore the familiarity relationship between conspecifics and heterospecifics. The first experiment utilized a heterospecific-conspecific training dynamic and the conditions of the experiment varied how familiar (familiar or unfamiliar) observing dogs were to the heterospecific and conspecific models. Forty-eight dogs were assigned to four conditions varying in familiarity of the human demonstrator and model dog. A separate control condition (n=12) were trained with operant techniques and did not receive demonstration or familiarity variables. Analysis of data …

Eating Disorder Risk In Subgroups Of College Freshman Women, Karen E. Gochnour

Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this study was to identify subgroups within the college population having a heightened risk for eating disorders. The information for this analysis was retrieved from an existing data set. The two variables that were compared were self selection of college major at the initial collection during freshman year. The sample size of 1,924 was used to see if subgroups of college majors had a heightened risk. Twenty groups composed of similar majors were studied. The majors of Dance, Dietetics, Physical Education, and Communications had heightened risk according to analysis percentage of each group in the clinical range …

Using The Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 In Obesity Treatment, Adam L. Arechiga

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 (OQ-45) can be used in the treatment of obesity to predict participant dropout and initial treatment success, in terms of weight loss (Lambert et. al, 2002a). The OQ-45 has been used with success to predict dropout from psychotherapy in clinical populations. It was hypothesized that higher pretreatment OQ-45 scores would be associated with less program completion and less weight loss by the end of treatment.

Method: The study employed a non-experimental time series design. Seventy-eight participants were recruited from the three local obesity treatment programs, which …

Assessing The Parent Involvement Component Of A Head Start Program, Stephanie Wilkerson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Head Start, a federally funded preschool program that provides a diverse array of services to children ages three to five years, strongly emphasizes the importance of parent involvement in its program. The purpose of the present study was to examine Head Start parents' perceptions of the parent involvement component of a regional Head Start program. Specifically, this study assessed barriers to parent involvement with the program, parent participation and satisfaction with the program, and whether or not parents were aware of the various aspects of the Head Start parent involvement component. This study also compared satisfaction ratings of parents who …

Therapeutic Processes In A Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment For Depressed Adolescents With Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Meredith Brent

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Youth with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have higher rates of depression than healthy youth. A cognitive-behavioral treatment, primary and secondary control enhancement training-physical illness (PASCET-PI), for depressed adolescents with IBD was associated with reductions in depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study was to examine the salience of nonspecific processes (factors inherent in any human relationship) and specific processes (factors related to therapy content) during PASCET-PI sessions and their association with improvements in psychological functioning.

Participants included 10 adolescent patients with IBD with mean illness duration of 31.9 months. At intake, eight participants qualified for a diagnosis of major depressive …

A Multilevel Analysis Of The Relationship Between Birth-Order And Intelligence, Aaron Wichman

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications

Many previous studies have found relationships between birth order and intelligence, but use cross-sectional designs or manifest other threats to internal validity. Using the National

Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children (NLSY) data and multilevel analyses with control variables, we show that when these threats are removed, two major results emerge : (a) Birth order has no measurable influence on children’s intelligence; and (b) Control variables provide strong evidence that earlier-reported birth order effects on intelligence are attributable to environmental and genetic factors that vary between, not within families. Identical sets of analyses on 7-8 and 13-14 year-old children from the …

Diabetes Self-Management: Patient Cognition And The Development Of Expertise, Katherine D. Lippa

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Expert decision making has been widely researched among professionals, but non-professionals make many equally complex decisions. This study uses the case of type II diabetes to explore complex decision making among non-professionals. It was hypothesized that three cognitive aspects of expertise, problem detection, functional relationships, and problem solving, would be linked with higher levels of self-management (higher adherence and lower glucose). Twenty participants with diabetes were interviewed concerning their knowledge and experiences with diabetes. Participants also completed a questionnaire concerning their self-management practices. Interviews were transcribed and thematically coded. Participants who displayed characteristics of expert cognition reported higher levels of …

Exploration And Habituation In Intact Free Moving Octopus Vulgaris, Jennifer Mather

Sentience Collection

Despite the huge numbers of studies published on the learning of cephalopod mollusks, studies on non-associative learning are scarce. We tested non-associative learning (habituation) and exploration in Octopus vulgaris in two different studies using a prey-shaped object (Study A) and inanimate objects and food objects (Study B). Study A consisted of the repeated presentation of a prey-like stimulus, which 23 subjects could only explore visually. In study B, 14 octopuses were presented two Lego blocks (one black and white with a smooth surface, one a blue "snowflake" with a rough surface) and two food items, one preferred (clams) and one …

A Very Little Bit Of Knowledge: Re-Evaluating The Meaning Of The Heritability Of Iq, David S. Moore

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

There is a deeper assumption underlying adoption studies that is often not acknowledged by either adoption study researchers or their critics, and it is an assumptions that is at least as important as the two considered by Richardson and Norgate: the assumption that the heritability statistics generated by adoption studies are informative about something of consequence. Although Richardson and Norgate’s paper presents several valid criticisms of adoption studies of IQ that lead them to suggest a ‘radical reappraisal’ of such studies, a reappraisal even more radical than the one they suggest might, in fact, be warranted.

An Assessment Of Obese And Non Obese Girls’ Metabolic Rate During Television Viewing, Reading, And Resting., Theodore Cooper, L. Klesges, M. Debon, R. Klesges, M. Shelton

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Compassion Fatigue In The Animal-Care Community, Charles R. Figley, Robert G. Roop

eBooks

Compassion fatigue---the exhaustion caused by the demands of being empathic and helpful to those who are suffering---is found at every level among the underserved, underappreciated, and uncomplaining caregivers in animal-related fields. In this ground-breaking book, two prominent leaders in the field examination the causes of compassion fatigue and offer help to those who suffer from it.

Compassion Fatigue in the Animal-Care Community is a must-read for animal shelter employees, volunteers, and board members veterinarians, and veterinary practice and veterinary hospital staffs wildlife rehabilitators breed-rescue or equine-rescue volunteers.

Life-Course Socioeconomic Position And Hypertension In African American Men: The Pitt County Study, Sherman A. James, John Van Hoewyk, Robert F. Belli, David S. Strogatz, David R. Williams, Trevillore E. Raghunathan

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objectives. We investigated the odds of hypertension for Black men in relationship to their socioeconomic position (SEP) in both childhood and adulthood.

Methods. On the basis of their parents’ occupation, we classified 379 men in the Pitt County (North Carolina) Study into low and high childhood SEP. The men’s own education, occupation, employment status, and home ownership status were used to classify them into low and high adulthood SEP. Four life-course SEP categories resulted: low childhood/low adulthood, low childhood/high adulthood, high childhood/low adulthood, and high childhood/high adulthood.

Results. Low childhood SEP was associated with a 60% greater …

Descriptive Study Of The Planning, Implementation, And Outcome Of A Parent School Involvement Program, Carol Mack

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Research verifies a positive impact on academic achievement based upon parental involvement with children's educational needs and school programs. It takes a sense of partnership between parents and schools to achieve positive educational outcomes for children. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the development, implementation and outcome of a Parent School Involvement Project involving parent-training workshops. While no statistically significant relationship could be found between improvement in student homework completion rates and parent attendance at school-sponsored parent training workshops, parents, faculty, and administration were united in their belief that the program was a positive and promising approach to …

The Role Of Expectancies In Binge Eating Behavior, Jessica Larose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The central aim of the present study was to examine the role of expectancies in binge eating behavior. Two distinct statistical techniques were used to accomplish this goal. First, regression analyses were conducted using variables previously identified in the literature, as well as eating expectancies as measured by the Eating Expectancy Inventory (EEI). For both females and males, regression equations including expectancies accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in binge eating behavior. Second, memory modeling techniques were used to model the probable organization of eating expectancies. Memory modeling of hypothetical expectancy networks has lead to successful interventions in …

Development Of An Internet-Based Disease Management Program For People With Diabetes , Robert L. Mailliard

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Diabetes is a chronic illness that currently has no cure. Quality of life can be improved by the person’s own adherence to treatment and motivation to manage their diabetes. Both of these factors are difficult maintain and access to patient education materials is limited. This study developed an Internet-based disease management program for people with diabetes. This diabetes disease management program followed the PRECEDE health program planning model. Focus groups and key informant interviews people with diabetes were run in order to obtain feedback for this program. Cognitive-behavioral and health behavior change theory were integrated in to the program to …

Spaced-Retrieval Effects On Memory For Scenes In Older Adults With Probable Alzheimer's Disease, Emily Olinde

LSU Master's Theses

Previous studies have found the spaced-retrieval memory intervention technique to be successful in training people with probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to learn new, simple associations. In the present study, we expanded on these previous findings by training eight participants with probable AD to learn the names and pictures of countries via spaced retrieval. We demonstrated the flexibility of the technique, gave insight as to the effects of distracters on the spaced-retrieval training performance, and demonstrated the memorial effects of adding pictorial support to the text.

Effects Of Smoking Cessation And Female Sex Hormones On Food Intake In Postmenopausal Women, Megan Ranae Apperson

LSU Master's Theses

Following smoking cessation, individuals increase their food intake. Women experience greater postcessation hyperphagia than men, and older women may increase their food intake more than younger women. Some research has suggested that postcessation increases in food intake may be macronutrient specific. However, previous investigations of macronutrient specific changes in food intake following smoking cessation have had significant methodological problems. The current study assessed changes in total food intake and macronutrient selection using the Macronutrient Self-Selection Paradigm (MSSP), a direct, laboratory based measure of food intake that is valid and reliable with respect to macronutrient intake. Fifty-five postmenopausal females completed the …

Impact Of A Stage-Matched Weight Loss Intervention On Stage Of Change Progression In Predominantly African-American Female Primary Care Patients, Jamie Sue Bodenlos

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Obesity is associated with several chronic medical conditions. Certain individuals are at higher risk for obesity including low-income African American females. Despite the many benefits to weight loss, many individuals do not seek treatment. Individuals are likely to attend primary care appointments where obesity can be targeted. Although stage matched interventions based on the Transtheoretical Model (TM) have been used successfully to aid in health behavior change, few studies have examined the use of stage matched weight loss interventions in African American females. There is also a paucity of research examining the effects of stage matched weight loss interventions on …

The Rate Of Decline Of Social Skills Across Dementing And Non-Dementing Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities: A Longitudinal Study, Julia D. Lott

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study sought to establish rate of decline of adaptive skills in a population of individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and dementia compared to similar persons without dementia, as well as examining the variability of positive and negative social behaviors across diagnostic classes. Among the general population, differential rates of functional decline have been established for normal aging and dementia. This knowledge assists in making differential diagnoses of dementia, establishing prognosis, and long-term planning. For this study, participants in each group were individually matched for age, gender, Down’s syndrome status, and level of ID. Participants in the matched control group …

Do Overweight Inactive Parents Raise Overweight Inactive Children? Examination Of The Influence Of The Home Environment On Weight Status Of Children Over Time, Emily York-Crowe

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary aim of this study was to test whether body mass index (BMI), psychosocial, and behavioral parental variables were associated with similar variables in children at baseline, and whether these variables also served as significant predictors of overweight status in children after two years. While there have been several cross-sectional studies examining the impact of parental behaviors and characteristics on similar variables in children, and several longitudinal studies predicting weight status, BMI percentile, and risk factors of disease in children over time, there is a paucity of research that has identified (cross-sectionally) and then tested (longitudinally) significant parental variables …

The Relationship Between Mania And Feeding/Mealtime Behavior Problems Among Persons With Intellectual Disability, Rinita Laud

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study represents the first to assess whether a relationship between mania and feeding/mealtime behavior problems exists in individuals with ID. Participants were compared across three groups (manic, non-manic psychiatrically impaired, and controls) on subscales and items of the Screening Tool for fEeding Problems (STEP). An attempt was made to assess for differences in problematic feeding behavior. Individuals in the manic group exhibited clinically significant symptoms of mania (n = 18), those in the non-manic psychiatrically impaired group exhibited symptoms of psychopathology other than mania (n = 18), and those in the control group did not exhibit symptoms of mania …

The Relationship Between Body Image And Self-Esteem In Older Adulthood, Lucie Guegan

Theses : Honours

Purpose: Given the global trend of population ageing and the fact that Australia will experience a significant increase in the proportion of older adults, research into ageing issues has become a National priority. Whilst body image and self-esteem have been empirically linked, the relationship among older adults has been neglected. The present study investigated several body image variables and their relationship to self-esteem in a sample of older adults. Design and Methods: Questionnaires consisting of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire were administered to 148 adults aged between 65 and 85 years, living independently in the …