Digital Commons Network^™

Attention Problems In Black Children Presenting To Pediatric Integrated Primary Care: Comorbidities And Gender Differences, Jaylynn A. Floyd, Heather A. Jones

McNair Journal at VCU

Introduction: Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity-disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a lifetime prevalence rate of 8.7% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Numerous previous studies have exhibited how ADHD can be debilitating with both symptoms and impairments, but Black youth remain understudied (Green et al., 2024). To add, ADHD may present differently depending on one’s gender (Young et al. 2020), and bias has been shown to influence ratings of someone’s ADHD symptoms (Fairman et al., 2020). To combat these health disparities seen within the literature, this study aimed to describe attention problems in Black youth and to investigate whether attention …

Immersive Philosophical Thought Experiments Through Virtual Reality, Gordon Carlson Ph.D., Sammuel (Rob) Byer Ph.D.

Informatics Faculty Publications

Virtual reality (VR) is transforming higher education by providing immersive and interactive learning environments that enhance traditional pedagogical methods. While disciplines such as medicine and engineering have been early adopters of VR for skill development and simulation training, its potential in the humanities, particularly Philosophy, is only beginning to be explored. Philosophy courses often challenge students to grapple with abstract concepts and complex ethical dilemmas which can feel disconnected from real-world applications. VR offers a unique opportunity to bridge this gap by allowing students to experience these scenarios in lifelike, immersive settings. This study examines the use of VR in …

Evaluation Of The Feasibility And Effectiveness Of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Children And Youth In Ukraine During The War, Elisa Pfeiffer, Maike Garbade, Renee Beer, Anette Birgersson, Natalie Cabrera, Judith A Cohen, Esther Deblinger, Rafaela Gjini, Veronica Kirsch, Zlatina Kostova, Michael Larsson, Anthony Mannarino, Gavin Moffitt, Marja Onsjö, Tale Ostensjo, Anna Vikgren, Hanna Weyler, Vitalii Klymchuk, Cedric Sachser

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

BACKGROUND: The large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 resulted in a humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands of children exposed to traumatic events. To date, trauma-focused evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for children and youth have not been systematically evaluated and implemented in Ukraine. This study aims at evaluating 1) the feasibility of a training program for Ukrainian therapists on Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT) and 2) the feasibility and effectiveness of the treatment for children, youth, and their families in and from Ukraine during the ongoing war.

METHODS: The project "TF-CBT Ukraine" was implemented between March 2022 and May …

Evidence Base And Development Of The Wellbeing Program Guide, Katherine L. Dix, Ee Liz Puah, Tamara Van Der Zant, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Shani Sniedze

Wellbeing

This report outlines the background and initial development stage of The Wellbeing Program Guide (wellbeingguide.acer.org), a comprehensive national resource aimed at supporting schools in selecting and implementing wellbeing programs that meet diverse contexts and student needs. Wellbeing is considered in its broadest sense, to include evidence-based mental health, alcohol and other drug, and suicide prevention programs, along with social and emotional learning. Developed collaboratively by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and Department of Health Tasmania, with advice from education and industry stakeholders, the Guide prioritised the needs of school communities in Tasmania, but also includes programs serving other …

Autism Care Continuum: Exploring Specialty Services Across The Lifespan Within U.S. Academic Medical Centers, Alexis Khuu

Theses and Dissertations

Autistic people—particularly adults—experience high rates of co-occurring mental health problems and often report unmet service needs. Although several barriers to accessing quality care are well-documented, the broader landscape of autism-specific services across the lifespan remains under-researched. This two-part thesis aimed to address this gap by examining the availability of autism-specific services, as well as patterns in service utilization and associated costs, among autistic children and adults. The first study employed a systematic web-scraping protocol and data extraction procedure to identify and characterize autism specialty services offered by U.S. academic medical centers. This work revealed a general lack of autism specialty …

Power And Resistance: Black Americans' Multifaceted Perceptions Of Ingroup Strengths And Their Effects On Collective Efficacy And Resistance, Hu Young Jeong, Johanna Vollhardt, Michelle S. Twali

Psychology

The current research examines perceived ingroup strengths and their relationship with collective efficacy, generalized power, and resistance among Black Americans. Two studies investigated how different perceptions of ingroup strengths (e.g. collective resilience, ingroup solidarity, intergroup coalitions, ingroup resistance, and intergroup respect) were associated with generalized power perceptions, perceived collective efficacy, and resistance behaviours. Study 1 demonstrated that collective resilience, ingroup solidarity, and intergroup coalitions predicted increased collective efficacy, which in turn predicted organized resistance but not everyday resistance. Perceived control over resources and influence predicted generalized power but not resistance behaviours. Study 2 extended these findings by including perceived ingroup …

Cutting Through Stigma: Suggested Best Practices For Aharm Reduction Approach To Nonsuicidal Self-Injury, Lindsay Lundeen, Erin Kern Popejoy

Counseling, Leadership, and Research Methods Faculty Publications and Presentations

For many counselors, both topics of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and harm reduction practices can feel intimidating and unclear. Yet, depending on the client, discussion of complete and immediate cessation from NSSI can feel impossible and isolating. This article combines harm reduction principles, a concept initially developed for addiction treatment, with select existing recommendations for NSSI treatment to offer a clinician's guide to best practices for harm reduction implementation with clients engaging in NSSI. By meeting clients where they are and offering a supportive space to brainstorm nontraditional treatment options, counselors can maintain the core principles of the American Counseling Association's …

The Relationship Between The Light And Dark Triads Of Personality, Covid-19 Threat, And Covid-19 Vaccine Status In College Students, Alyssa M. Howard, Terry F. Pettijohn Ii

Psychology

The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States was due, or at least in part, to the resistance to health guidelines, minimal to no safety measures implemented by nearly half the U.S. citizens, and, to a lesser extent, the initial lack of understanding into the pathogenic mode of transmission. The present study examined links between the Dark (i.e.., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) and Light (i.e.., compassion, empathy, altruism) Triad of personality traits, the perceived threat level of COVID-19, and COVID-19 vaccine uptake in an undergraduate college sample (N = 147). The study found no statistically significant differences in …

From Photogrammetry To Virtual Reality: A Framework For Assessing Visual Fidelity In Structural Inspections, Xiangxiong Kong, Terry F. Pettijohn, Hovhannes Torikyan

Psychology

Civil structures carry significant service loads over long times but are prone to deterioration due to various natural impacts. Traditionally, these structures are inspected in situ by qualified engineers, a method that is high-cost, risky, time-consuming, and prone to error. Recently, researchers have explored innovative practices by using virtual reality (VR) technologies as inspection platforms. Despite such efforts, a critical question remains: can VR models accurately reflect real-world structural conditions? This study presents a comprehensive framework for assessing the visual fidelity of VR models for structural inspection. To make it viable, we first introduce a novel workflow that integrates UAV-based …

The Lived Experience Of Religious Trauma Among Transgender And Gender Diverse People: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Patrick T. Meyer

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Religion has served as a framework to support the psychological well-being of people across cultures throughout human history, yet there is growing scholarly and public interest in how religious institutions and people inflict harm on members through spiritual means. Extant literature demonstrated that transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people experience gendered microaggressions in religious spaces, and their social position within the church likely holds unique insights into the subjective experience of religious trauma. Even though research with people who have had adverse religious experiences has increased over time, little is known about TGD people who experience lasting psychological damage due …

Atypical Beta Oscillatory Dynamics Are Related To Poor Procedural Learning In Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder, Jarrad A.G. Lum, Kaila M. Hamilton, Li Ann Leow, Welber Marinovic, Ian Fuelscher, Pamela Barhoun, Talitha C. Ford, Aron T. Hill, Samaneh Nahravani, Melissa Kirkovski, Peter G. Enticott, Christian Hyde

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Procedural learning difficulties are commonly reported in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), yet the neural basis of this impairment remains unclear. This study addressed this gap by examining the correlation between cortical oscillatory activity and procedural learning of a sequence of finger movements in children with and without DCD. Participants were 19 children with DCD and 38 typically developing (TD) children, with a mean age of 10 years and 3 months. Children completed the Serial Reaction Time task, a standard measure of procedural learning, during which they unintentionally learned a sequence of finger movements. Electroencephalography (EEG) was continuously recorded …

Investigating Individual Variability In Autistic Identity And Its Moderating Effects On Mental Health And Quality Of Life, Sydney Richelle Terroso

Theses and Dissertations

The autistic community has long voiced the mental health of autistic adults as a key clinical and research priority. Autistic identity, or the recognition and embrace of core autistic traits as integral to an individual's identity as a whole, may be a potential target for therapeutic approaches aimed at supporting well-being and quality of life. The current study investigates individual differences in self-reported autistic identity scores by demographic factors and by features of autism and health history using online survey data from N=225 autistic adults. Additionally, with a subset of the participants who completed an interconnected study of current mental …

Social Comparison Target Selections As Health Information Preferences: Exploring Contextual Influences Among Women In Midlife With Elevated Risk For Cardiovascular Disease, Emmanuel Lapitan

Theses and Dissertations

Insufficient physical activity (PA) heightens the risk of chronic illnesses including cardiovascular disease (CVD), particularly among women in midlife with conditions such as hypertension. Behavioral interventions often use psychoeducation and skills training to increase PA, but how individuals interact with health-relevant information and how this relates to daily PA behavior is unclear. Health information preferences vary between individuals, but whether they vary for the same individual across contexts has been understudied. In particular, the role of contextual factors in predicting social comparison (i.e., evaluating oneself relative to others to obtain information about oneself) are not well understood. The purpose of …

The Relationships Between Expectancy-Value Beliefs, Communal Value Beliefs, Family Identity, And Academic Persistence Among First- And Continuing-Generation College Students, Douglas W. Snuffer

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

First-generation college students (students for whom neither parent has a 4-year college degree) have lower college graduation rates than their continuing-generation peers (Cahalan et al., 2021; Fry, 2021). First-generation students may experience barriers to higher education, leading to lower levels of academic achievement motivation for college. Two of these barriers may include 1) cultural mismatch (Stephens, Fryberg, et al., 2012) with colleges via communal value (a value set that emphasizes community and family over the self) and 2) a strong sense of family identity, which lends itself to perceived family obligations (Fuligni et al., 2007). To examine the relationships between …

Author Reply: Investment Case For Mental Health, Cyprian Mostert

Population Health, East Africa

No abstract provided.

How Do People Discern Authenticity From Emotional Expressions, Sewon Oh

Theses and Dissertations

Emotional authenticity is a crucial element in the development and progression of social relationships. However, limited research has comprehensively examined how emotional authenticity perception is shaped by different communication channels, visual attention, and individual differences. This thesis aimed to investigate the emotional authenticity perception from multiple perspectives, including the feasibility of authenticity manipulation, the influence of multimodal cues, and visual attention allocation in assessing authenticity from facial expressions. Findings demonstrated that authenticity could be successfully manipulated by both professional and non-professional actors. Participants differentiated both authenticity and emotion most accurately in audiovisual expressions. The audio channel played an important role …

Investigating The Ecology Of The Homeless Court: The Promise Of Quasi-Experimental And Statistical Learning Methods, Dylan Wong

Theses and Dissertations

Interactions with the legal system are a crucial factor in maintaining homelessness. Difficulties in addressing legal issues are barriers to accessing services and finding employment and housing. Across the United States, the homeless court is an emerging legal program that has been developed to break this cycle, but they appear to face numerous capacity and coordination problems. Few empirical and systematic investigations have been conducted on homeless court programs. Further, previous studies of homeless courts focus their process and outcome measures on the priorities of the legal system. An investigation into the ecology, or environmental context, of homeless persons would …

Characteristics Of Individuals Who Desired A Mentor But Did Not Have One: A Nationally Representative Study, Kenzie Delposen

Theses and Dissertations

Youth are experiencing increased mental health challenges due to the parallel increase in loneliness and social isolation. Mentorship has emerged as a potential solution to reduce social isolation and provide support, guidance, and encouragement to young people. The context of the mentoring relationship positively impacts adolescent lives by promoting a safe, stable, nurturing relationship (SSNR) to reinforce the intrinsic motivation to connect with others. However, many young people lack these relationships despite indicating that there were times when they wanted one (Garringer & Banning, 2023). Access to mentorship is influenced by factors such as racial or ethnic background, socioeconomic status …

Investigating The Impact Of Cross-Loadings On Model Fit And Mediation Inferences In The Latent Mediator Model, Qiulin Lu

Theses and Dissertations

Cross-loadings are a common phenomenon in psychological research. Extant studies have focused primarily on measurement models, like confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and have shown that omitted cross-loadings can bias the inter-factor correlation. These results suggest that omitted cross-loadings might likewise bias structural paths in other structural equation models (SEMs), but this area remains under-investigated. Such an effect could impact the evaluation of third variable effects, like mediation, when estimated in a SEM framework.

This study addresses this gap by examining the effects of cross-loadings in single, latent mediator model in a simulation study. The performances of conventional SEM and Bayesian …

Latinx Parent Acculturation And Acculturative Stress: Impact On Family Functioning And Youth Well-Being, Julie Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that acculturation and acculturative stress can influence family dynamics and Latinx youth well-being. Guided by the Family Stress Model, the current study aimed to assess a latent measurement model of acculturation and examine the relationship between acculturation and acculturative stress and how acculturative stress is related to family processes and youth adjustment. Data included 898 youth and 630 parents from the SOL Youth study. Structural equation modeling was used to assess a latent two-factor measurement model of acculturation and its relation to parental acculturative stress as well as how parental acculturative stress is related to family functioning …

Deprivation And Threat As Predictors Of Executive Functioning And Emotion Regulation In Early Adolescence: The Protective Role Of School Support, Abigail Best De Arellano

Theses and Dissertations

Childhood adversity (CA) impacts a large proportion of US youth with far reaching consequences for development and subsequent health outcomes (McLaughlin et al., 2012). Given the widespread impact of CA, it is imperative to understand how these exposures impact development, as well as identify opportunities for intervention. McLaughlin and Sheridan (2016) proposed the Dimensional Model of Adversity of Psychopathology (DMAP), providing a framework for understanding the heterogeneity of outcomes related to exposure to CA. DMAP emphasizes that deprivation (i.e., lack of expected cognitive or social stimulation) and environmental threat (i.e., exposure to harm or the threat of harm) impacts youth …

Navigating Perceptions: How Organizational Type And Message Source Affect Willingness To Fly In Automated Air Taxis, Cody James Sweatt

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A new era of transportation and business is beginning to emerge. Advanced air mobility (AAM), which uses highly automated aircraft that transport passengers and cargo in the underutilized, low-altitude airspace above and around urban areas, is rapidly becoming a reality (FAA, 2023). These new companies will utilize air taxis, which are automated, electric, vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and will potentially foster a revolutionary new commerce infrastructure. Unfortunately, it is not currently understood how the credibility of a message source or specific type of organization that owns and operates an automated air taxi company influences a customer’s willingness to …

Language Brokering Conditions The Indirect Association Between Mexican‐Origin Adolescents' Academic Discrimination And Educational Expectations, Su Yeong Kim, Yayu Du, Chantal Alvarado, Wei Xiang Sim, Wen Wen, Tianlu Zhang, Jingyi Shen

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Mexican-origin adolescents, a significant portion of the US Latino population, often experience a decline in educational expectations from early to late adolescence. Contextual factors such as academic discrimination and language brokering for parents may contribute to this decline. This study investigates the indirect effect of academic discrimination experienced in middle school on educational expectations in young adulthood through high school grades and engagement, and the moderating role of language brokering experiences in these relations. Data were collected from 604 Mexican-origin adolescents across four waves from 2012 to 2023. Academic discrimination experiences in middle school were negatively associated with school grades …

Different Beliefs About Collective Victimisation Predict Support For Distinct Resistance Strategies: Survey Findings Among The Kurdish Diaspora, Helin Ünal, Johanna Vollhardt

Psychology

People make sense of their group's collective victimisation in different ways. These different collective victimisation beliefs may be linked to distinct resistance strategies against the ingroup's victimisation. However, most studies have only examined a few collective victimisation beliefs and resistance strategies, limited to prototypical collective action and failed to consider which constructs are most relevant for the given context. Addressing these gaps, the present study uses a multimethod approach with findings from a Q methodology study informing a survey study to examine the relationship between context-relevant, understudied collective victimisation beliefs and resistance strategies among Kurds from Turkey and Northern Kurdistan …

Religious Beliefs, Cooperation, And Evolutionary Mechanisms, Nicole Fellice Ko, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Religion is an organized system of spiritual beliefs, practices, and rituals that often involve a sense of the divine (Schilbrack, 2022). An evolutionary mechanism is an evolved set of traits that interpret environmental inputs and generate behavioral responses that enhance survival or reproductive success (Li et al., 2018). Cooperation refers to the act of individuals or groups working together to achieve a shared goal or mutual benefit (Alós-Ferrer & Garagnani, 2020).

The Experience Of Codependency In Young Adult Romantic Relationships, Amanda S. Soares

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This qualitative study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experiences of codependency among four young adults (ages 21–24) who had recently exited a codependent romantic relationship. Through in-depth interviews, themes around emotional enmeshment, identity loss, boundary erosion, emotional suppression, and healing were found. Findings indicate that early attachment patterns, trauma, and socialization intersect with emotional vulnerability and self-worth to create conditions ripe for codependent dynamics. Participants describe both the psychological toll of these relationships and the personal growth that followed. These insights contribute to the limited literature on young adult codependency and may inform prevention and intervention …

Time Alters Distinct Memories Driven By Sensory Prediction Errors And Task Errors In Sensorimotor Adaptation, Li Ann Leow, Welber Marinovic, Scott Albert, Timothy J. Carroll

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Prior learning can impair future learning when the requirements of the two memories conflict, a phenomenon termed anterograde interference. In sensorimotor adaptation, the passage of time between initial and future learning can reduce such interference effects, leading to the interpretation that time consolidates motor memories, protecting motor memories from interference. However, we still do not fully understand how time affects learning, as some studies found no effects of time on interference. One possible explanation for such inconclusive findings is that time has distinct effects on the multiple processes underpinning sensorimotor adaptation, and these processes may compensate for each other's effects …

Going Gray Too Early? Effects Of Color On Facial Identification, Roman M. Pardo

Masters Theses (Archived)

This study investigated a possible bias in face-matching and ID-screening decision making- color incongruity (i.e., one face image presented in color and one in grayscale). Expanding on previous research, the 2x2 mixed methods experiment incorporated eye tracking measures (i.e., fixations). Participants N= 25 were randomly assigned to compare color or grayscale IDs (between groups comparison) to a 10 s color video of a person moving their head side to side. The task consisted of 2 practice and 48 face-matching trials with medium prevalence (MP, 24 match, 24 mismatch) presented as one of four pseudo-random and counterbalanced orders. Signal detection …

Research On The Evolutionary Game Of Users' Digital Reading Trace Sharing From Perspective Of Privacy Protection, Jing Liu, Jingyu Ji, Chengzhi Liu, Liyan Chang

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance] Under the perspective of privacy protection, exploring the sharing of users' digital reading traces is of great significance for creating a healthy and orderly digital reading environment and promoting the high-quality development of national reading.

[Method/process] A tripartite evolutionary game model of users, digital reading platforms and the government is constructed to reveal the dynamic evolution process and stable strategy of each subject's strategy selection through mathematical derivation, and numerical simulation is used to verify the accuracy of the model.

[Result/conclusion] The study shows that the strategy choices of users, digital reading platforms and the government are highly coupled, …

Culture Bears The Way, While Technology Facilitates Action: Research Of The Adoption Willingness Of Aigc In Academic Writing Among Young Scholars, Jiangfeng Liu, Zihui Wang, Zhiwei Hu, Lei Pei

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance] Clarifying the influencing factors of young scholars' willingness to use AIGC and its path of action,then making effective enhancement strategies,would help to further expand the application of AIGC in academic writing.

[Method/process] This paper combs through the studies on AIGC information behavior, and identifies TOE(Technology-Organization-Envifonment，TOE) theory and research life cycle theory as the base theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for procedural grounded theory coding. Then, a questionnaire survey and qualitative comparative analysis using fuzzy sets were conducted to obtain the influencing factors grouping path.

[Result/conclusion] Five factors, induding content quality, system quality, perceived risk, expectation confirmation, and group norms, …