Digital Commons Network^™

Food Preferences Between Diverse Ethnic Groups In A College Population, Enrique Gallegos Covarrubias

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Obesity and its psychosocial and medical consequences are costing the United States billions of dollars per year. Many factors such as lack of physical activity, changing lifestyles, and unhealthy eating behaviors contribute to the increasing prevalence of obesity. In the present study, food preferences among college-aged students were measured from two different geographical locations (Texas and Iowa). Gender (men vs. women), ethnicity (Hispanic vs. Caucasian), and Body Mass Index scores (normal vs. overweight) were utilized as dependent variables to measure food preferences. Participants were required to rate four menus, which included important nutritional information. Ratings were obtained to measure how …

Suicide Attempt And Characteristics Of Religiously Affiliated Puerto Rican Adolescents And Young Adults, Saúl Rivera

Dissertations

Problem. Recent research has identified several risk factors associated with attempted suicide among the general population. Puerto Ricans, in general, and Puerto Rican Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs), in particular, may face unique challenges that are related to their familial, social, and religious environment that may affect the suicidal attempts among this group. Therefore, this study examined family-related factors, history of being abused, religiosity factors, sexuality factors, gender, substance abuse, age, and socioeconomic status factors among a sample of religiously affiliated Puerto Ricans (73.2% SDAs) living on the island.

Methodology. The data for the study came from the Avance PR study. Avance …

Size Matters: A Test Of Boldness In Eight Populations Of The Poeciliid Brachyraphis Episcopi, Culum Brown, Victoria Braithwaite

Sentience Collection

Individual variation in behaviour within populations may be explained in part by demographics and long-term, stable individual psychological differences. We examined the relation between boldness (taken as the time to emerge from a shelter and explore a novel environment) and body size in eight populations of the poeciliid Brachyraphis episcopi originating from sites upstream and downstream of waterfalls in four rivers that run into the Panama Canal. The relation between body size and time to emerge from a shelter was positive, with larger fish taking longer to emerge. This relation differed between downstream and upstream sites, being significant in the …

Measuring Student Well-Being In The Context Of Australian Schooling : Discussion Paper, Julian Fraillon

Wellbeing

This report was commissioned by the South Australian Department of Education and Children's Services as an agent of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). The report constitutes Phase 1 of a planned two phase process. Specifically this report defines a measurement construct for student well-being; outlines a methodology for measuring student well-being; and provides recommendations for ongoing work in the measuring, reporting and monitoring of student well-being (Phase 2).

Shame And Negative Body Image In Adolescent Females, Erin K. Anderson-Fortier

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Current research in the fields of shame, body image, and adolescent female weight has had little convergence until recently. Biological changes that occur during adolescence, particularly weight gain for females, may result in feelings of shame. Shame is an involuntary reaction to the belief that the self is inherently flawed. Body image begins to form in early childhood, and "is a multidimensional construct that refers to subjective perceptual and altitudinal experiences about one's body, particularly one's physical appearance" (Cash, Melnyk, & Hrabosky, 2004, p.305). Body image may be negatively impacted when the adolescent female's belief that her actual body is …

Representation Of The Elderly In Counselor Education Textbooks, Alicia V. Fahr

Dissertations

The counseling profession requires multicultural competence in meeting the needs of diverse groups. The responsibility for training counseling students to work effectively with the elderly falls upon counselor educators. Textbooks convey cultural values and contribute to what is learned by students. Specifically,textbooks may contribute to how counseling students think about older adults and aging issues. This study was designed to determine how older adults and aging issues are represented in counselor education texts.

The textbooks used most frequently by 11 randomly selected master's degree programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001) were identified …

Broken Scales: Obesity And Justice In America, Adam Benforado, Jon Hanson, David Yosifon

Faculty Publications

This Article is not so much about the scales we use to measure weight, but the scales we use to infer causation and assign responsibility-including the scales of justice. Ultimately, the problem we face is not obesity itself. Obesity is only a symptom of the problem. When scientists and public health experts point to various environmental agents-whether larger portion sizes, corn subsidies, video games, or urban sprawl-they, too, overlook the deeper source of our troubles. Our real problem is that we have an extremely difficult time seeing and understanding the role of unseen features in our environment and within us …

Infant Heart Transplant: Perioperative Indicators Of Neurocognitive Development, Joy Michelle Gardner

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Approximately five to eight births per 1000 in the United States are born with a congenital heart defect (Limperopoulos et al, 1999), the primary defect in 57% is hypoplastic left heart syndrome (Johnston, 1991). A fatal disease twenty years ago, survival has jumped from less than 5% to 91% of infants surviving their one-month birthday due to advances in palliative and transplant procedures (Razzouk et al, 1996). Unfortunately, the decrease in mortality has been unmatched by a decrease in morbidity, which continues to be a major risk factor when undergoing deep hypothermia (du Plessis, 2000). While neurodevelopmental and cognitive dysfunction …

Examining Multisystem Coordination In Response To Stressors In Early Childhood, Tiffany Phu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a set of two studies that investigate linkages between the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis and Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) in response to a stressor paradigm among young children experiencing low-income. Contextual/child factors that shape multisystem physiologic coordination were also examined. A novel application of structural equation modeling was used to model sample-by-sample linkages between salivary analytes that indexed HPA axis and SNS functioning (respectively, salivary cortisol and salivary alpha amylase [sAA]). The preschoolers in Study 1 showed linkages between salivary cortisol and sAA across a novel research visit at their childcare center that included a stressor paradigm. Child …

The Life-Long Diminution Of Anxiety Response As A Consequence Of Reproductive Experience, Ilan M. Mcnamara

Master's Theses

Reproductive experience (RE), associated with hormonal fluctuations and enriching environmental stimuli, enhances spatial memory and blunts responses to stress/anxiety. Whereas stress reductions occur during lactation, the persistence of the RE-anxiolytic effects is unclear; and little research has focused on the HP A axis, amygdala, and other anxietyrelated areas. Using an elevated plus maze (EPM), we examined anxiety in nulliparous (NP), primiparous (PP), and multiparous (MP) females (zero, one, or two litters, respectively) at 6, 10, 14, 18, and 22 months of age. Brains were subsequently analyzed for neurodegeneration in dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). RE significantly dampened anxiety (defined by time …

Exploring The Relationship Between Race-Related Stress, Identity And Well-Being Among African Americans, Darrick Tovar-Murray

Dissertations

For almost four hundred years, African Americans have been victims of race-related stress. Race-related stress is defined as the encounters between individuals and their environment that surface from racism and strain an individual's resources or threaten his or her well-being. Despite findings on the negative impact of racism on African Americans' well-being, very little research has focused on the relationships between race-related stress, identity and well-being among African Americans.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between race-related stress, identity, and well-being among African Americans. A total of 196 African American community members and college students participated …

Body Image, Emotional Regulation, And Binge Eating In Obese Females, Courtney D. Stahl

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with binge eating disorder (BED) tend to endorse significant overconcerns with weight and shape and a greater propensity to eat in response to negative mood states. The primary aim of this study was to examine the impact of body image disturbance on the self-regulation of affect in female obese non-binge (n=46) and binge eaters (n=l09). Groups were similar in age (M=46.3) and race (84% Caucasian). Obese non-binge eaters were significantly less obese (BMI=35.50) than their binge eating counterparts (BMI=38.60). On the Multidimensional Body Self-Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), obese binge eaters endorsed significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction, greater feelings of …

The Association Of Blood Type On The Five Factors Of Personality In Chinese Adolescents, Kunher Wu

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of this study was to identify the number of personality factors in Chinese adolescents using the Chinese Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and to determine whether blood type is associated with personality. It is widely accepted by psychologists that the five-factor model can provide an adequate representation of adult personality dimensions, but there is less agreement on the number of factors observable in adolescence. A total of 3,396 11^th graders from the city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan completed the Chinese NEO-PI-R. Principle component analysis with varimax rotation showed five factors of personality in these Taiwanese adolescents, which clearly …

Nutrition Education For Persons With Disabilities, Jada A. Miller

Masters Theses

This study provides descriptive information about the dietary knowledge and intake of community-based young adults who have been diagnosed with a number of disabilities. A nutrition education curriculum was implemented for the Experimental group (N=9) and at a later date for the Delayed Intervention group (N=9). Results indicated that the three-week nutrition education curriculum produced moderate improvement in participants' nutritional knowledge and moderate improvement in nutritional value of foods chosen from a menu. However, the intervention proved to have a negligible effect on the nutritional value of foods consumed within this population of individuals.

Based on the results of this …

Perceptions Of Height, Attractiveness, And Power, Michelle A. Worth

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how perceptions of physical attractiveness and power changed based on an individual's height and gender. Participants were 117 Rowan University students (53 males and 64 females, mean age = 20.9 years). Students were administered a packet that asked demographic data including their age, sex, height, weight, major, hometown, academic status, and marital status. Upon completion of this data, the students were asked to complete a packet where they viewed 10 target persons that varied in height and sex, then answered a series of questions about their perceptions of the target's attractiveness and …

Recognition Of Self Among Persons With Dementia: Pictures Versus Names As Environmental Supports, Jennifer Gross, Mary E. Harmon, Rebecca A. Myers, Rachel L. Evans, Natalie R. Kay, Senez Rodriguez-Charbonier, Thomas R. Herzog

Peer Reviewed Articles

The physical environment can promote the functional ability of persons with dementia. Many care facilities use environmental signage (e.g., names on doors) to facilitate adaptive behavior (e.g., room finding). However, the effects of such signage on residents’functioning are not well understood. In three experiments, we investigated if persons with moderate to severe dementia had the required skills necessary to benefit from signage. Compared to a control condition (recognition of fellow residents’ photographs), a high percentage of participants could identify written names and photographs of themselves (Experiment 1). Moreover, name and photographic labels helped participants identify belongings (Experiment 2). Training improved …

Physicians' Health Promotion Practices For Mexican American Patients At Risk For Type 2 Diabetes, Holly Day Mcfarland

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relationship between physicians' perceptions of Mexican American patients at risk for Type 2 diabetes and the subsequent care they provide was studied. Primary care providers responded to questionnaires about their health promotion practices. A 2x2 analysis of variance was used to identify differences in reported treatment of patients that accounted for both ethnicity and risk. Results indicated Hispanic patients received less time with their providers than Caucasian patients regardless of risk for Type 2 diabetes. Both groups received about the same reported care in terms of information gathered for diagnosis, diagnosis made, and treatment regimen prescribed. Data also suggested …

Predictors Of Graduation And Rearrest In A Contemporary Juvenile Drug Court Program, Anthony Phillip Tranchita

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research on the efficacy of drug courts for substance-abusing criminal adult offenders has generally found reduced recidivism rates, and both actual and potential cost savings to the public. However, outcome research on juvenile drug courts has been limited. Furthermore, little research has examined variables that may be predictive of outcome in this population. This study reports graduation and rearrest rates for a sample of juvenile drug court participants in Salt Lake City, Utah. Also, this research assessed whether demographics, prior arrest history, attendance at drug education classes, serving detention time, or a preprogram measure of degree of substance abuse (SAS …

The Use Of Habit Reversal Training In The Treatment Of Trichotillomania: A Single Subject Design, Courtney M. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of self-monitoring and a multicomponent behavioral intervention on the treatment of Trichotillomania (TTM). The subject in this study was a 12-year-old African American female who has demonstrated hair-pulling behavior for several years. The interventions that were implemented were journaling and Habit Reversal Training (HRT). The types of measurements that were used were direct observation, daily logs, and standardized questionnaires. The standardized assessments were the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC, March, 1998) and the Trichotillomania Severity and Impairment Scales (Swedo et al., 1989). In the study, the introduction of journaling …

Reducing Cardiovascular Risk Factors In Postmenopausal Women Through A Lifestyle Change Intervention, Robert Albert Carels, Lynn A. Darby, Holly M. Cacciapaglia, Olivia M. Douglass

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: The impact of a 6-month lifestyle change intervention on cardiovascular risk factors in obese, sedentary, postmenopausal women was examined. A secondary aim of this investigation was to determine whether the addition of self-control skills training to an empirically supported lifestyle change intervention would result in greater cardiovascular risk reduction. Methods: Forty-four women were randomly assigned to receive either a lifestyle change or a lifestyle change with self-control skills intervention. Pretreatment and posttreatment weight loss, body composition, physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, diet, blood pressure (BP), blood lipids, and psychosocial functioning were assessed. Also, at 1-year posttreatment, weight loss, body composition, …

Psychological Effects Of Martial Arts Training: Fear Of Physical Assault And Self -Esteem, Robert C. Clanton

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in the effects of martial arts training on self-esteem and fear of physical assault. Two studies were performed. The Fear of Physical Assault Scale was developed in the first study in order to measure individuals' perceived vulnerability to attack. Results indicated that the instrument was a reliable measure. Males scored significantly higher on the scale, indicating that they tend to perceive themselves as less vulnerable and more competent at defending themselves against physical assault. The second study examined the effects of martial arts training on the self-esteem and fear of …

The Relationship Between Creativity And Psychiatric Vulnerability: A Meta-Analysis Of Empirical Studies, Charity Benham

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The belief that creativity and madness are interrelated has endured across the centuries. Artists, poets, and philosophers have been perceived as special individuals blessed or cursed with "divine madness" beginning in the days of Socrates. Many of the great minds of classical western civilization have believed that artists are qualitatively different than average people (Becker, 2001). Psychology and psychiatry have addressed the creativity/madness question utilizing a wide variety of approaches. There are numerous review articles, psychobiographical works, empirical studies, and theoretical papers which attempt to determine the nature of creativity and how it relates to psychiatric functioning.

This study utilized …

Biotechnology And The Law: A Consideration Of Intellectual Property Rights And Related Social Issues, Michael D. Mehta

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Recent advances in biotechnology are expected by many to improve crop yield, reduce reliance on agricultural inputs like pesticides and herbicides, alleviate world hunger, improve the safety and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, assist in the discovery of genes that trigger diseases like cancer, and make more efficient our legal institutions through DNA testing. Clearly, innovations in biotechnology are a powerful force for social change, and they pose unique challenges and opportunities for legal scholars and institutions. This section of the Pierce Law Review focuses on the interface between law and technology by examining how innovations in biotechnology accelerate debates about …

Difficulties In Recognizing And Treating Depression In The Elderly : Implications For Counselors, Kristin A. Schloemer

Graduate Research Papers

Diagnosing elderly depression is a difficult, overlooked process. Many elderly seek out family physicians, but few visit mental healthcare professionals (Lyness et al., 1997; Sable & Dunn, 2002). When assessing elderly depression, it is important for counselors to be aware of symptoms, ensuring correct treatment.

According to Friedrich ( 1999), it is difficult for healthcare professionals, including counselors, to diagnose depression in the elderly. As elderly may not display traditional depressive symptoms, it is necessary to distinguish between depression, bereavement, and illness, all common in late life. Once depression has been diagnosed, treatments including: medication, psychotherapy, or perhaps the most …

Behavioral Intervention And Prevention Of Feeding Difficulties In Infants And Toddlers, Mary Louise Kerwin, P. S. Eicher

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

Although eating is considered an automatic physiologic process, many children experience feeding difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for assessment, treatment and prevention of feeding difficulties in children. Identification and treatment of any factors actively interfering with feeding success is a critical cornerstone for effective behavioral interventions for feeding. Using variables that comprise the structure of a meal, this paper discusses how these variables might be manipulated in behavioral interventions for feeding problems. Recommendations for prevention of feeding problems are also presented.

The Impact Of Child Life Non-Pharmacologic Pain Interventions On Pediatric Patient's Pain Perception In The Emergency Department, Wendy Lee Reynolds-Wilcox

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this current study is to examine the impact of non-pharmacologic pain interventions administered by trained Child Life professionals in an emergency department on pain perception in children. Results showed no significant decrease in children's pain report during the medical procedure compared to before the medical procedure. However, pain after the medical procedure is significantly less than pain during the medical procedure.

The Impact Of Social Disorganization And Public School Characteristics In Explaining Suspensions And Expulsions, Amanda De Vries Liabeuf

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to examine if school or community characteristics correlate with suspensions and expulsions. The data examined in this study were drawn from Riverside County schools. The schools were examined to determine if school or social disorganization characteristics correlate with suspension and expulsion rates.

A Transdisciplinary Focus On Drug Abuse Prevention: An Introduction, Steve Sussman, Alan W. Stacy, C. Anderson Johnson, Mary Ann Pentz, Elizabeth Robertson

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This article introduces the scope of the Special Issue. A variety of scientific disciplines are brought together to establish theoretical integration of the arenas of drug use, misuse, “abuse,” and drug misuse prevention. Transdisciplinary scientific collaboration (TDSC) is utilized as a process of integration. Introductory comments regarding the strengths and limitations of TDSC are presented. Then, the relevance of genetics to substance misuse and substance misuse prevention is presented. Next, the relevance of cognition for prevention is discussed. Specifically, neurologically plausible distinctions in cognition and implicit cognition and their relevance for prevention are discussed. At a relatively molar social-level of …

Analysis Of Demographic Variables And Levels Of Stress In Law Enforcement Officers, Kathleen M. Jansen

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Employment in a law enforcement profession exposes an individual to potential stressors not experienced in most other professions. Sporadic efforts have been made to design stress management programs to assist officers in coping with the demands of their jobs. Much of the previous research on law enforcement stress has focused on examining the effectiveness of various coping skills; however, the training has focused on teaching a healthy lifestyle. This study seeks to add to the existing research by examining what elements of the job are perceived as the most stressful and what demographic variables, if any, may influence an individual's …

The Journal Of Undergraduate Research: Volume 02

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

This is the complete issue of the South Dakota State University Journal of Undergraduate Research, Volume 2.