Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Exercise On Mental Health: A Research Review, Kaylani Benson

Honors College Theses

This research review looks at the effects exercise and physical activity have on mental health. The results of this review are based upon the results of the formal studies that have been included. These studies are Benefits of Exercise on Physical and Mental Health in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients, Exercise Effects on Mental Health of Preschool Children, The Effect of Morning Exercise on Mental Health of Female Police Employees, Exercise and Mental Health of People Living with HIV: A Systemic Review, Exercise Improves Physical Function and Mental Health of Brain Cancer Survivors: Two Exploratory Case Studies, Effect of Yogic and Physical …

10.1

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

No abstract provided.

The Promotion Of Adolescent Problem Drinking Through Social Attitudes And Pressures

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

About 80% of adolescents in the United States are experimenting with alcohol by age 15 (Davies, 2012). A major factor in this rate of alcohol use can be explained by adolescent’s propensity for learning from their environment (Tomilson & Brown, 2012). Unfortunately, the current social climate teenagers are experiencing could be promoting alcohol involvement (Coker & Borders, 2001). This review examines the impact of several social attitudes and pressures contributing to adolescent problem drinking. Further understanding of these factors may be valuable to parents and professionals aiming to prevent the development of problem adolescent drinking behaviors.

Emotions In Conflict Resolution: A New Model Of Constructive Conflict

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Conflict is basic to living, and emotion is fundamental to the emergence and resolution of conflict. Early theoretical approaches to emotion described it in terms of physiological states, but more recent research points to its connection to cognitive appraisal and goal progress. Specifically, emotion is characterized as mediating between cognition and behavior. This review identifies shortcomings of the “emotion as a mediator” approach, including its overemphasis on negative emotions as well as its failure to consider the complicated role of human agency. A new model is proposed that incorporates constrained agency, positive emotion, and cognitive appraisal as components of a …

The Power Of Discomfort In Learning Abroad, Alexis Barge

Capstone Collection

Currently, the majority of students who study abroad do so through short-term programs. In fact, in 2015 over 60% of students who studied abroad chose short-term programs lasting eight weeks or less (IIE, 2016). It has long been the belief that study abroad has the potential to be a life-changing and transformative experience, not just academically but also for personal growth and development. Many professionals agree that the students who go abroad on short-term study abroad programs are significantly less likely to experience meaningful learning outside of the subject matter they are studying, and are less likely to experience personal …

Self-Esteem In Spanish-Speaking Latinos In Northwest Ohio, Mckenna Freeman

Honors Projects

Self-esteem is a widely-studied construct across many disciplines of social science. However, previous research regarding self-esteem and language barriers has focused primarily on children and adolescent populations, while much less research has examined this relationship among adults. The current study measures linguistic acculturation and self-esteem in both Latino and control adult samples. Hypothesis 1 states that participants in the Latino sample would report significantly lower self-esteem than the control sample. Hypothesis 2 states that linguistic acculturation levels in Spanish speaking Latinos would be positively correlated with self-esteem. Finally, a research question was addressed measuring the differences in self-esteem between foreign …

Sleep And Young Children's Development Of Self-Regulation And Academic Skills, Emily Michelle Weiss

Dissertations and Theses

School readiness incorporates children's academic abilities and their ability to self-regulate in the classroom. Prior research shows that sleep is related to children's development of these skills, although the mechanisms through which sleep affects school readiness are not well understood. Research also indicates that economically disadvantaged children and children of color may have poorer academic and regulatory skills at school entry and may sleep less and sleep less well on a regular basis.

The current study explores the role of sleep quantity and quality in young children's development of two skills critical for school success: self-regulation and academic abilities. This …

Attachment, Trauma, And Intimacy With God, Jodie Kathleen Gardner

Conversations: A Graduate Student Journal of the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology

Attachment theory provides a robust framework for understanding spiritual development and perceptions of God. An integration of research from attachment theory, affective neuroscience, emotional information processing, and trauma, is clarifying the competing research findings involving compensation and correspondence in spiritual development. Empirical evidence suggests the distinction between explicit theological beliefs and implicit perception of God as an attachment figure may explain the discrepancy between compensatory practices and correspondence, and how one interacts with God, and copes with negative life events. Studies of post-traumatic stress disorder suggest specific association between the extreme stress of trauma and alterations in emotional processing. Trauma …

12.2

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Understanding Reactive Attachment Disorder In Children

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is recently new to clinical literature. RAD is a “Stress and Trauma-Related Disorder” that stems from an inability for a child to attach to a caregiver. Aside from some psychoanalytic foundations, most of what is known about RAD is based off John Bowlby’s attachment theory. As research has developed, RAD has been considered its own diagnosis in the DSM-5 rather than labelled under the umbrella term of “attachment disorder.” A biopsychosocial model of RAD argues that RAD is primarily formed and exacerbated by neglect from a caregiver that can infringe upon the child’s ability to form …

Real Men Burp Babies And Real Women Deliver Dough: The Advantages Of Nontraditional Parental Roles

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Stay-at-home fathers and working mothers continue to defy gender expectations despite traditional societal beliefs pertaining to gender roles. These nontraditional couples model a contemporary and egalitarian lifestyle for their children in a world that is increasingly advocating for more gender equality within and outside of the home. Children within these households exhibit positive cognitive traits, enhanced behavioral developments, and enriched familial relationships (Brown, Mangelsdorf, & Neff, 2012; Deutsch, Servis , & Payne, 2001; Dunn, Rochlen, & O’Brien, 2013; Fischer & Anderson, 2012; Flaskerud, 2012; Lucas-Thompson, Goldberg, & Prause, 2010 ; Rushing & Powell, 2015; Williams & Radin, 1999; Wills & …

Responding To Bullying By Gender

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

The present literature review examines how the construction of gender influences bullying among children and adolescents, as w ell as the possible effects of bullying on children, both as bullies an d victims. An in-depth, theoretical analysis of gender stereotype and gender construction is presented, through a review of cognitive development theory, social learning theory, and cultivation theory. Gender construction leads children to adopt different behaviors and to interact with peers in various ways (Emilson et al., 2016; Fagot, 1994; Tobin et al., 2010). Among children and adolescents, the two most prominent forms of bullying that result from gender construction …

Exploring The Role Of Spirituality And Spiritual Beliefs In The Pursuit Of Excellence And Attainment Of Peak Performance In Professional Athletes, Ashley Ballard, Charles H. Wilson Jr.

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

Little research has been found which examines the assessment of spirituality in sport performers and its possible role in performance enhancement. The goal of the current study was to understand if and how spirituality impacts athleticism. The subjective experiences of Christian spirituality in an American World Sprinter (male), a British Olympic Sprint Canoe Racer (female), and a retired American Minor League Baseball player (male) were analyzed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data leading to three major themes: “The Belief and Confidence in God”, “Individual and Communal Prayer”, and “The Influential …

Validation Of Minimally-Invasive Sample Collection Methods For Measurement Of Telomere Length, Stephanie A. Stout, Jue Lin, Natalie Hernandez, Elysia Poggi Davis, Elizabeth Blackburn, Judith E. Carroll, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Objective: The discovery of telomere length (TL) as a biomarker of cellular aging and correlate of age-related disease has generated a new field of research in the biology of healthy aging. Although the most common method of sample collection for TL is venous blood draw, less-invasive DNA collection methods are becoming more widely used. However, how TL relates across tissues derived from these sample collection methods is poorly understood. The current study is the first to characterize the associations in TL across three sample collection methods: venous whole blood, finger prick dried blood spot and saliva.

Methods: TL …

Effects Of Restrained Eating On Episodic Memory And Implications For Homeostatic Appetite Regulation, Morgan Kindel

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Recent studies in the fields of Psychology and Neuroscience suggest a relationship between episodic memory and appetite regulation. A majority of these studies have used BMI as an important variable in this relationship and have found mild episodic memory deficits to be more likely in individuals with higher BMI’s. The goal of this research was to determine whether restrained disordered eating, regardless of BMI, influenced episodic memory and appetite regulation. Initially, we predicted that individuals showing dietary restraint would show signs of a stronger episodic memory, and therefore would have weaker hunger cues and stronger satiety cues, and that in …

Examining The Perceived Influence Of A Comprehensive Youth Development Program For Promoting Black Male High School Persistence, Richard Gray Walker

Dissertations

Black male youth in the United States drop out of high school at a rate consistently higher than their White counterparts. A lack of academic persistence contributes to lower workforce participation rates among Black Americans, which leads to lower national productivity and unrealized personal prosperity. Youth development research has developed an extensive body of knowledge regarding possible causes and contributing factors of minority high school dropout. Literature shows youth experience higher dropout rates when they grow up in adversity. Adversity risks such as dysfunctional families, cultural discontinuity between home and school, dysfunctional neighborhoods, or low-expectations from teachers contribute to graduation …

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Is Associated With Enhanced Cognitive Control Network Activity In Major Depression And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Zhen Yang, Desmond Oathes, Kristin Linn, Steven Bruce, Theodore Satterthwaite, Philip Cook, Emma Satchell, Haochang Shou, Yvette Sheline

Psychology Faculty Works

BACKGROUND: Both major depressive disorder (MDD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are characterized by depressive symptoms, abnormalities in brain regions important for cognitive control, and response to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). However, whether a common neural mechanism underlies CBT response across diagnoses is unknown. METHODS: Brain activity during a cognitive control task was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 104 participants: 28 patients with MDD, 53 patients with PTSD, and 23 healthy control subjects; depression and anxiety symptoms were determined on the same day. A patient subset (n = 31) entered manualized CBT and, along with controls (n = …

An Assessment Of Frontal Lobe Activity And Bdnf Levels Following Concussion In Collegiate Athletes: A Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study, Keara Kangas

All NMU Master's Theses

Impacts to the head that are associated with sports related injuries, can result in a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), known as a concussion. Previous research has assessed how mTBIs affect the brain, but these assessments are limited in their ability to directly measure the consequences of mTBI. Along with concussion assessments, only a few studies have used neuroimaging techniques to evaluate brain injury. This study utilized a neuroimaging technique that is inexpensive, non-invasive, and portable, to measure brain activity post-concussion. In particular, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to measure prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during the dot-probe task of affective …

Race And Sexual Orientation Lssues In Graduate Classrooms: How Faculty In Psychology Experience Them Emerging Alongside One Another, Raymond L. Sheets Jr.

Dissertations

The inclusion of sexual orientation and race-related issues into mainstream psychology has gained much needed momentum in recent years. The field of counseling psychology, in particular, has helped fuel this momentum with its appreciation for, and commitment to, developing academic and applied psychologists who attend to an evolving multicultural society. Within the academic environment, faculty members have the responsibility of facilitating student learning in their respective classrooms; this facilitation becomes challenging in the face of emotionally charged topics such as race and sexual orientation. How then do graduate faculty who teach these courses experience race and sexual orientation comingling within …

A Qualitative Study Of Group Therapy Incorporating Rap Music With Inmates, Abigail V. Richards

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This study aims to explore the lived experiences of inmates who participate in group psychotherapy incorporating elements of rap music. Rap music includes elements such as emotional expression, songwriting, community building, freestyling, and beat, which can be beneficial for individuals experiencing typical symptoms of incarceration such as anxiety, self-discovery, and difficulties regulating emotion. Ten inmates of a Missouri county justice center (50% male) were recruited on a volunteer basis to participate in a five-week psychotherapy group. The study involves psychoeducation, group-drumming, self-expression, and improvisation. Qualitative data were collected through an interview process with participants, including inmates, facilitators and supervisors. Results …

A Critical Review Of Postfeminist Sensibility, S. Riley, A. Evans, S. Elliott, C. Rice, Jeanne Marecek

Psychology Faculty Works

This paper critically reviews how feminist academic psychologists, social scientists, and media scholars have developed Rosalind Gill's generative construct “postfeminist sensibility.” We describe the key themes of postfeminist sensibility, a noncoherent set of ideas about femininity, embodiment, and empowerment circulating across a range of media. Ideas that inform women's sense of self, making postfeminist sensibility an important object for psychological study. We then consider research that drew on postfeminist sensibility, focusing on new sexual subjectivities, which developed analysis of agency, empowerment, and the possibilities and limitations in taking up new subjectivities associated with postfeminism, as well as who could take …

Effects Of Nicotine Exposure On Methamphetamine Oral Self-Administration, Extinction, And Reinstatement In Adolescent Rats, Zachary Robert Harmony

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Adolescence is a vulnerable developmental period in regards to drug initiation and use. The gateway hypothesis suggests that adolescent cigarette smoking may result in a heightened risk for methamphetamine use. However, little is understood about the role of nicotine on adolescent methamphetamine addiction. The aim of the present study was to determine whether early, late, or continuous adolescent nicotine exposure would alter oral methamphetamine self-administration, extinction, or reinstatement. A total of 164 male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were pretreated with saline or nicotine (0.16, or 0.64 mg/kg, sc) beginning on postnatal day (PD) 25 for 10 consecutive days. On PD …

Physical Aggressiveness And Gray Matter Deficits In Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex, David S. Chester, Donald R. Lynam, Richard Milich, C. Nathan Dewall

Psychology Faculty Publications

What causes individuals to hurt others? Since the famous case of Phineas Gage, lesions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) have been reliably linked to physically aggressive behavior. However, it is unclear whether naturally-occurring deficits in VMPFC, among normal individuals, might have widespread consequences for aggression. Using voxel based morphometry, we regressed gray matter density from the brains of 138 normal female and male adults onto their dispositional levels of physical aggression, verbal aggression, and sex, simultaneously. Physical, but not verbal, aggression was associated with reduced gray matter volume in the VMPFC and to a lesser extent, frontopolar cortex. Participants …

Preschoolers And Pandas Making Friends: A Journey About Healing From Brain Injury, Barbara Anne Doucette

Museum Studies Projects

Preschoolers that have obtained Non-Accidental Injury (NAI) from familial child abuse are in need of having a unique place for neurorehabilitation in correlation with traditional therapies. My thesis project suggests adding an exhibit annex to an existing giant panda exhibit that will give preschoolers an opportunity to help develop new neuropathways when exposed to mediation and creative activities. Meditation and creative activities are being examined by neuroscientists as an aid in neuroplasticity after brain injury. This thesis reviews the neurotypical preschooler’s milestones and the playful means by which they are achieved. Conjoining the contemporary museums’ and zoological gardens’ outreach to …

Measuring Heightened Attention To Alcohol In A Naturalistic Setting: A Validation Study, Ramey G. Monem, Mark T. Fillmore

Psychology Faculty Publications

Attentional bias to alcohol-related stimuli is believed to be an important contributor to the development and maintenance of drug abuse. There is a considerable body of research examining attentional bias, much of which has typically utilized image-display tasks as a means to assess the phenomenon. Little, however, is known about the nature of this bias in an individual’s natural environment. The current study sought to implement a novel approach to assessing attentional bias in vivo. Participants wore portable eye-tracking glasses that recorded video from their point of view and measured fixation time to objects they observed. They entered a room …

Life-Long Creativity: Changing The Narrative Of Aging And Retirement, Jennifer K. Gippel Dr

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The current narratives and stereotypes around retirement and aging are both inaccurate and incomplete. The popular media regularly portrays retirees and older citizens as blissfully happy but bland; or physically feeble and forgetful. Rarely are they portrayed as achievers and vibrant problem solvers. Instead they are perceived by policy makers as a problem to be solved. This project offers a different narrative ― one that presents retirement and aging as a unique time of creative opportunity, possibility, and freedom to choose. The primary outcome of the project is two chapters of a book entitled: Retirement by design: How to discover …

Assessment Of Reliability And Stability Of Various Visual Search Parameters, Michael Don Mizer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Research in social science has been on a continuous self-correcting path as scientists find new ways to look at old problems. Recent technology has given us the ability to perform compounded calculations in a fraction of previous times while recording complex measurements with greater degrees of precision. While this is helpful regarding corporeal measures, quantifying cognition is still a difficult task. Recently, many computer-aided eye tracking devices have been developed and used to validate visual search theories. However, few inquiries have been made assessing the reliability and stability of these methods. This study assessed the reliability and stability of visual …

Criminal Justice Majors: Are They Tougher On Crime?, Anthony Javornik

Honors College Theses

The United States of America incarcerates more individuals than any other nation in the world. Therefore, the United States has one of the most active correctional systems and it is imperative to examine the system thoroughly. Generally speaking, there have been 3 accepted models of the correctional system since the 1940’s: custodial, rehabilitation, and reintegration. Although it is possible to find institutions that subscribe to each of these models respectively, the custodial model is the most common in the United States. Therefore, this study seeks to examine college students’ perception of crime, in order to help explain why the general …

The Substance Abuse Treatment Experience Of Men Who Have Sex With Men, Scott Sanford Johnson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The following qualitative research study focuses on the substance abuse treatment experiences of men who have sex with men. Current research in this area indicates that while these men sometimes seek treatment for substance abuse issues, their treatment experience can be compromised due to personal fears or ignorance on the part of treatment staff members or others in treatment (Cabaj, 2008; Cheng, 2003; Hellman, Stanton, lee, Tytun, & Vachon, 1989). Specific goals of this study include: (1) gaining insight into the treatment experience(s) of these men and (2) learning about how their individual and collective treatment experience(s) contribute to their …

Parent-Teacher Communication About Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Examination Of Collaborative Problem Solving, Gazi F. Azad, Mina Kim, Steven C. Marcus, David S. Mandell, Susan M. Sheridan Dr.

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Effective parent-teacher communication involves problem-solving concerns about students. Few studies have examined problem solving interactions between parents and teachers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with a particular focus on identifying communication barriers and strategies for improving them. This study examined the problem-solving behaviors of parents and teachers of children with ASD. Participants included 18 teachers and 39 parents of children with ASD. Parent-teacher dyads were prompted to discuss and provide a solution for a problem that a student experienced at home and at school. Parents and teachers also reported on their problem-solving behaviors. Results showed that parents and …