Digital Commons Network^™

Fostering Developmentally Nurturant Relationships To Promote Character And Thriving: Perspectives Of Program Practitioners In Rural South Africa, Jonathan M. Tirrell, Alexa Hasse, Margaret Mackin, Elizabeth Dowling, Kirsten Olander, Roya Abbasi-Asl, Katherine Mcconnel, Thobeka Kwela, Raah Msimango, Justine Mccarthy-Martin, Tyler Howard, Angela Larkan, Richard Lerner

Journal of Youth Development

Developmentally nurturant relationships are fundamental to enabling children to thrive across contexts, including homes, schools, and communities. Such relationships are also a central feature of effective positive youth development (PYD) programming. As strengths-based PYD programs are increasingly being adopted in majority-world countries, a better understanding of how to foster and promote developmentally nurturant relationships is needed. As part of the Thanda Study of Character and Health, we interviewed 15 program practitioners about their understandings of and approaches to fostering developmentally nurturant relationships with children enrolled in Thanda programs in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Phenomenological analysis indicated that practitioners’ understanding of …

Investigating Potential Bias In Public Acceptance Of Restorative Justice: The Influence Of Situational And Offender Characteristics, Kiara Haynes

Student Theses

Restorative Justice has been an emerging justice mechanism in the U.S. since the 1970s that advocates are working to expand more widely throughout the justice system. Due to victims and the broader community of the offender being an integral part of the Restorative Justice process, it is critical to consider the general public's support of this novel justice mechanism, as well as the influence that social biases among the public may have on the experience of defendants going through the system. The study conducted examined the effect that social biases toward an offender's personal characteristics have on attitudes and opinions …

Temporal Integration In Music And Aesthetic Judgments: Assessing Musical Taste Through A Transformer-Based Approach, Sophia M. Senderak

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Music unfolds over time, requiring listeners to integrate information moment by moment to make aesthetic judgments. Although we know that music is likely processed on multiple timescales, it is not known which musical features contribute to short versus long timeframes. This study examined whether a computational measure of temporal integration could help explain aesthetic responses to music. Participants (N = 28) listened to 32 sixty-second clips of classical and electronic music, and continuously rated their enjoyment with a dial. After listening, they then gave an overall liking judgment for each clip. To quantify temporal integration, we derived an integration measure …

Neural Correlates Of Recognition Memory And Metamemory In Breast Cancer Survivors: An Event-Related Potential Study, Dishari Zaman Azad

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Breast cancer survivors (BCS) often report noticeable cognitive difficulties despite showing limited impairment on standardized neuropsychological tests. Some have theorized that this is simply an insensitivity of standardized testing to subtle cognitive changes (test-insensitivity hypothesis), whereas others have suggested there are early neural changes that are detected by patients but precede detection by these tests (early signal hypothesis) or that when they achieve normal performance, it is through saliently effortful compensatory processes (compensation hypothesis). The present study tested these theories by assessing metamemory and recognition memory retrieval in BCS and non-cancer controls (NCC) using both behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) …

A Theoretical Framework And The Development Of A Multidimensional Scale Of Purpose In Life, Louis Fang, Alfred Allan, Joanne M. Dickson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose in life is a key resource in existential psychology. However, its conceptual variability has hindered its application in mainstream practice. This paper presents a holistic, theoretical framework of purpose in life, the purpose in life system, developed from an integration of existing motivational theories and models. Based on our framework, we constructed the 12-item Multidimensional Measure of Purpose in Life (MMOP) and tested its psychometric properties across two studies. In Study 1 (N = 238), confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor higher-order model of purpose in life (present-oriented purpose in life, future-oriented purpose in life, purpose congruence across time), …

Hunger, Hardship, And Distress In Late Life: A Moderated Mediation Analysis Of Wealth, Food Insecurity, And Psychological Distress Among Older Kenyans, James Muruthi, Gabrielle Maloney, Beatrice Oppong, Joy Ogingo, Diana Orawo, Risper Kirui

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On Female College Students' Social Emotional Development: Is Flourishing Possible?, Kaylee Kirkwood

University Honors Theses

Adverse childhood experiences are events of trauma and abuse that occur prior to age eighteen. High rates of sexual violence against girls and female undergraduate students inspired this study to explore how trauma may impact development and overall college experience. This thesis employed a small exploratory pilot study to investigate childhood trauma and social-emotional development among a small sample of female college students (ages 18-25; n = 41). Participants recruited through the Prolific Database completed an online Qualtrics survey consisting of screeners, demographic questions, measures of trauma history and emotional functioning, and optional open-ended experience-based questions. Measures were guided by …

Ecological And Political Grief In College Students: Making Meaning In Uncertain Times, Kate Hlad

University Honors Theses

The study aims to explore grief experiences of college students in relation to world issues, namely ecological and political concerns and ways of making/finding meaning, hope, and purpose. To address a gap in research on manifestations of combined and multifaceted world grief experiences, qualitative research was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews with 6 different college students. Common themes arose from the interviewees' grief experiences including hopelessness, overwhelm, anger, and changed future planning. Additionally, participants shared their experience finding community, engaging in creative pursuits, and taking action against oppressive systems in order to experience hope and purpose individually and …

School Counseling With Indigenous Students In Rural America: The Role Of A Counselor In Supporting An Indigenous Pedagogy Based Curriculum, Donovan Greene

University Honors Theses

Indigenous students are a huge population that are not fully supported by the school psychology field. This is primarily due to cognitive imperialism and the focus on a Western monoculture in education. This has led school psychologists and counselors feeling underprepared and lacking the tools to work with Indigenous students and as a result these  students are harmed academically and in terms of their mental wellness. This essay opens with a literature review of scholarship on school counselors working with Indigenous students. To improve relations, I suggest implementing more culturally focused interventions. Unfortunately there is a lack of research on …

Daily Problematic Smartphone Use Predicts Decreases In Self-Control Capacity: Evidence From Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model, Adalia Yin Hui Goh, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Amidst the widespread increase in global smartphone screen time and the phenomenon of ‘The Great Exhaustion’, where multiple surveys indicate pervasive tiredness and feelings of being drained, there is growing concern about the link between problematic smartphone use and the capacity for self-control. While numerous studies have investigated the relationship between problematic smartphone use and self-control capacity, they are mostly cross-sectional. Thus, it is unclear whether the lack of capacity for self-control is an antecedent or consequence of problematic smartphone use. Addressing the research gap, we conducted a 7-day diary study to investigate the bidirectional relationship between problematic smartphone use …

Legends, Lies, & Rewritten Lives: After The Little Bighorn: Forgotten Struggles Of Those Who Walked Away, 2nd Edition, Thomas B. Davidson

DU Textbooks

This Story surrounds an event that occurred one summer on June 25, 1876, along the banks of the Little Bighorn River in what is now the state of Montana. Seen from a 21st century perch, it is a story of a collision between two very different civilizations or empires. Both empire’s military fought in the manner of their society. This narrative will attempt to balance the believable truth of what happened in that contest between the military representatives of both societies while also trying to tell an engaging story, without drifting into naked partisanship, purple prose, or sensationalism. The narrative …

The Five Cs Of Positive Youth Development In Singapore: Building Adolescent Resilience, Teresa Theodora Jing Yi Tan, Li Neng Lee

Journal of Youth Development

The Five Cs of Positive Youth Development (PYD) model is one of the most empirically discussed frameworks on youth thriving. Generalisability of the model was investigated among 210 middle (15-18 years old) and 250 late (19-25 years old) adolescents in Singapore. The Five Cs of PYD was evaluated as a mediator between intentional self-regulation, social-emotional competencies and family functioning, and the outcome of adolescent resilience. Results validate the model among youths in Singapore and show that the Five Cs of PYD positively predict adolescent resilience. The study extends the global application of the model while highlighting the need to consider …

A Simulation To Compare Models For A Longitudinal Ordinal Response With A Multilevel Cross-Classified Data Structure, Rachel S. Perlin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This is a simulation study that compares four models for analyzing three-level longitudinal cross-classified data with an ordinal outcome, treatment effect and a category-specific effect. The models include the cumulative model, the sequential model, the adjacent category model, and a metric model. Data were generated for each of the first three models with 27,000 generated datasets each, totaling 81,000. The datasets vary along three continuous variables: the number of level-3 units, the ratio of treatment groups to control groups, and the treatment effect size. The outcome has four ordinal response categories. Each model had two predictor variables: treatment and time. …

Being Reflexive About Reflexivity: The Ethical Imperative Of Reflexive Practice When Engaging In Sensitive And Contentious Research, Giselle Woodley, See, Sian Tomkinson, Stephanie Milford

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Research topics involving sex, sexuality or sexual content online including pornography, are often considered sensitive or contentious. These topics can evoke strong attitudes, values, beliefs, biases, and potential prejudices from researchers themselves. As such, it is ethically imperative to identify and critically examine one's own perspectives in relation to the research on such topics to ensure transparency, acknowledge the researcher's positionality, and prioritise participant perspectives. Reflexivity offers a valuable way to sustain critical reflection and engage with one's own position and assumptions towards the topic in question. This paper offer a vulnerable exploration and reflection on the reflexive process within …

Intellectual Play And Its Relationship To Teacher Self-Efficacy, Gregory William Kile

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study set out to explore what can be done to improve outcomes for students in Indiana public schools and beyond by exploring ways in which educational leaders might be able to increase levels of teacher self-efficacy in their existing staff. It looked specifically at intellectual play, defined as the behaviors associated with metacognition, play, and innovation, and analyzed its relationship with teacher self-efficacy. Student achievement and overall success in school is critically important to them as individuals and to our society as a whole. If there are innovative ways to improve those outcomes for students, they should be explored. …

Well-Being Of University Students In Singapore, Tina Li Yi Ng, Andree Hartanto, William Tov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Singapore provides an insightful case study for university student well-being due to its national culture of competitiveness. Amid a meritocratic society that valorizes academic success as the path to securing one’s future (Ho et al., 1998), educational attainment is central to Singaporean university students’ well-being (Inter-University Network, 2022). In response to Singapore’s increasing incidence of mental health challenges among young adults (Ministry of Health Singapore, 2022), the government and higher education institutes have sought to destigmatize mental health and improve accessibility to related resources. In this chapter, we review the literature on the well-being of Singaporean university students. We situate …

From Review To Synthesis: A Step-By-Step Methodological Guide To Systematic Reviews And Multilevel Meta-Analyses, Meilan Hu, Paye Shin Koh, Xun Ci Soh, Andree Hartanto, Nadyanna M. Majeed

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We provide a step-by-step guide on conducting a quantitative systematic review (i.e., meta-analysis) using the open-source programming language R, as well as conducting a multilevel meta-analysis, in contexts where effect sizes are non-independent (e.g., multiple studies from the same lab). Quantitative systematic reviews offer researchers a method for synthesizing large bodies of literature, helping clarify inconsistent findings, identify research gaps, and refine theoretical models. However, existing tutorials often assume prior knowledge and/or experience, often overlooking foundational concepts. To address this gap, a comprehensive walkthrough of the systematic review process is presented, covering pre-registration, literature search and retrieval, screening, risk of …

The Emerging Roles Of Ai In Self-Directed Stress Management: Systematic Review, Mary Kamillah Grace Reyes, Shauna Sha Min Teo, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background: Stress is widespread and carries substantial mental health, social, and economic burdens. Yet, access to clinician-led stress management remains constrained by service capacity, cost, and stigma. In response, artificial intelligence (AI)–enabled tools have rapidly proliferated as scalable, self-directed options. However, evidence on how these systems support stress management outside formal clinical settings remains fragmented. Objective: This systematic review aimed to synthesize empirical evidence on how AI-enabled technologies are used for self-directed stress management. We mapped the emerging functions of these tools, the psychological frameworks informing their design, the populations and settings studied, and the outcomes reported. Methods: We conducted …

Ai Fatigue In Human–Ai Interaction: Conceptual Framework, Scale Development And Validation, And Associations With Ai Engagement, Gabriel R. Lau, K. T. A. Sandeeshwara Kasturiratna, Adalia Y. H. Goh, Eddie M. W. Tong, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Emerging from the accelerating pace of AI development, user fatigue arising from prolonged human–AI interaction has become an increasing concern in public discourse. This growing attention underscores the need to clarify why sustained engagement with AI systems can generate psychophysiological strain and how such exhaustion manifests in users. The present research develops a conceptual framework for AI fatigue and introduces the 15-item AI Fatigue Scale as a validated tool for examining its correlates. Across four studies with 717 participants, we generated and content-validated an item pool, identified and confirmed a four-factor (cognitive, emotional, physical, behavioural) higher-order model. The scale demonstrated …

Durable Benefits Of Learning-By-Teaching For Research Question Generation Performance: A Field Experiment, Stephen Wee Hun Lim, Sarah Shi Hui Wong, Piyawan Visessuvanapoom

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Generating good questions is central to scientific inquiry. How can we improve this skill in classrooms? This field experiment showed that teaching others enhances students’ ability to generate higher-order research questions that create new knowledge. Whereas learning-by-teaching often involves delivering face-to-face or video-recorded lectures, we tested its efficient implementation via writing a verbatim (i.e., word-for-word) teaching script, exactly as how one would orate a lecture. In a research and statistical methods course, 199 undergraduates studied statistical concepts by writing verbatim teaching scripts or study notes. One month later, students’ long-term learning was assessed on a high-stakes test, whereby they explained …

Perceived Risk Of Substance Use And Associations With Early Experimentation: A Latent Profile Analysis Using Abcd Study Data, Alejandra Fernandez, Deanna M. Barch, Micah E. Johnson, Hugh Garavan, Alexandra S. Potter, Sarahjane L. Dube, Nicholas Allgaier, Ethan T. Hunt, Miguel Ángel Cano, Sandra Estrada Gonzalez

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Objective: The current study aims to determine heterogenous latent profiles of substance use perceived harm and examine the concurrent associations between profiles and substance use experimentation.

Methods: We used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM Study (5.1 data release) 1-year follow up. Participants (N = 11184) were 52.2% male between the ages of 9 and 14 (M age = 10.48, SD = 0.65). Latent profile analysis was used with 11 perceived harm indicators. Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the association between profile membership and substance use experimentation (i.e., alcohol sipping, tobacco puffing, and cannabis puffing).

Results: …

Understanding Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Disabilitiesto Improve Out-Of-School Programs, Vanessa Spero, David C. Diehl, John M. Diaz, Serap Gorucu

Journal of Youth Development

This study explores adolescents’ attitudes and perceptions toward individuals with disabilities in out-of-school time (OST) settings. Gaining insight into these attitudes can help inform future initiatives and interventions to develop programs that foster inclusion and greater participation of people with disabilities in OST programs. This study employed quantitative methods using the Brief Questionnaire for Adolescents on Attitudes Toward Persons with a Disability (CBAD-12A), developed by Álvarez-Delgado et al. (2020), to survey adolescents about their attitudes and perceptions toward individuals with disabilities. The results of the study revealed no statistically significant differences in attitudes toward individuals with disabilities based on whether …

The Heart Of Camp: Belonging, Relationships, And Growth Of Character And Skills, Alecia Moser, Nila Rosen, Maurice Elias, Sarah R. Sprayberry, Andrea Vest Ettekal

Journal of Youth Development

This study examined how campers’ experiences of belonging, counselor support, and new close friendships relate to life skill and character development in North American Jewish youth. Residential summer camps are relational settings that promote positive youth development. Although belonging and supportive relationships are theorized to drive such development, few studies have tested these camp features in current camper populations, and less is known about how friendship formation and perceptions of counselors distinctly interact with belonging to shape development. In this study, end-of-summer surveys were administered to middle- and high-school-aged campers at five Jewish residential summer camps. Measures included assessing belonging, …

4‑H Efforts Toward Demographic Representation, 1980–2025: A State‑Of‑The‑Art Review (Part 1), Jeremy Elliott-Engel, Jeff Wayne Howard

Journal of Youth Development

This state-of-the-art review synthesizes 45 years of scholarship (1980–2025) to assess how effectively the 4-H program has worked to serve a demographically representative youth population. Drawing on academic and gray literature (n=99) sources, the review traces 4-H’s evolution from its segregated land grant origins to contemporary efforts focused on access, equity, inclusion, and belonging. It documents progress in culturally responsive programming and national diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) initiatives while highlighting persistent disparities in participation and benefit distribution. The review identifies effective strategies, enduring structural barriers, and areas where research and practice remain limited, offering a comprehensive foundation for understanding 4-H’s …

Familial Roles In Grief With A Focus On Eldest Daughters In Latinx Communities, Julianna Falcon

University Honors Theses

The way in which grief impacts an individual is something that varies from person to person. However how grief impacts eldest daughters within the Latinx community and their familial roles is a subject that has had little to no research done thus far. The four participants in this exploratory study describe their own experiences with the shift in familial roles and their experience navigating grief. They all shared their experiences through semi-structured interviews. Where the findings displayed key themes surrounding expectations, support, proximity, and academic impacts within each of the interviews. More detail is provided within this study on how …

Interrupted By Design: The Impact Of Push Notifications On Stress And Task Performance, Mia Hohmann

University Honors Theses

As digital communication becomes unavoidable at work, notifications have become one of the most common and overlooked sources of interruption. Drawing from current technostress literature, this study investigates how notifications impact acute and perceived stress as well as task speed and accuracy. In an experimental setting, employed university students (N = 35) completed a data-entry task while receiving either no notifications, task-relevant notifications or task-irrelevant notifications to examine how different types of digital interruptions influenced stress and performance. Stress was measured through a pre- and post-task survey and performance was assessed through both speed and accuracy. Although results showed significant …

Birth Satisfaction, As Measured By The Birth Satisfaction Scale–Revised (Bss-R), And Its Role In Predicting Breastfeeding Duration, Maternal-Infant Attachment, And Postpartum Depression, Molly Parker

University Honors Theses

Birth satisfaction has been consistently associated with improved maternal outcomes such as reduced postpartum depression (PPD), stronger maternal-infant attachment, and longer breastfeeding duration. However, the extent to which birth satisfaction independently predicts these outcomes remains unclear. This study examined whether birth satisfaction, as measured by the Birth Satisfaction Scale–Revised (BSS-R), predicts postpartum depression, maternal-infant attachment, and breastfeeding duration in a longitudinal cohort.

Data were drawn from the Prenatal Environmental And Child Health (PEACH) study. Birth satisfaction was assessed at 12 months postpartum using the BSS-R. Postpartum depression was measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), maternal-infant attachment using the …

Rarely Asked: The Systemic Failure To Support The Mental Health Of Caregivers Of Medically Complex Children, Morgan Motsinger

University Honors Theses

Approximately one in four households in the United States cares for a child with special healthcare needs, yet the mental health of the caregivers providing that care is rarely addressed by the medical, faith, community, and social systems around them. This thesis examines the systemic gaps in mental health support for caregivers of children with life-limiting or medically complex diagnoses through a review of existing literature and an original mixed-method survey of 58 caregivers. Findings indicate that 50% of caregivers received no mental health support from their child's medical team at any point. Every respondent reported at least one clinically …

Looking Upwards And Out: Comparing Buddhist And Humanist Frameworks For Enlightenment, Mason Mckinney-Best

University Honors Theses

During the Zen Boom of the 1950's, Psychologists, Philosophers, and other western thinkers were exposed to Zen Buddhism and began to harness some of the principles for use in Psychology. In the last 3 decades, Psychologists have renewed their interest in Buddhism, especially as "fourth wave" cultural competence has become an important part of Psychological practice. While work has been done in developing clinical applications of Buddhist practices, more could be found in Buddhism for the person who wishes to become more healthy.

Within Psychology, one figure had exactly that objective: Abraham Maslow. His work on Self-Actualization has been …

Grief, Silence, And Surveillance In Academic Settings, Rakhi Grey

University Honors Theses

This study examines how grief is silenced, monitored, and regulated within higher education settings. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students who experienced the death of someone significant, this study explores how institutional expectations surrounding productivity, professionalism, emotional control, and academic functioning shape grief disclosure, emotional expression, and help-seeking behaviors. Using a critical theoretical framework informed by concepts of disenfranchised grief, legitimacy hierarchies, and surveillance, findings suggest that grief within higher education is not simply individually experienced, but socially and institutionally regulated. Participants described academic environments that often left little space for ongoing grief, requiring students to compartmentalize emotional distress, …