Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of The Early Childhood Traumatic Stress Screen, Sara Elisabeth Harris

Dissertations (1934 -)

The study aimed to develop a brief screening instrument to assess symptoms associated with potentially traumatic experiences (PTE) in very young children (under 6). Potential items for the Early Childhood Traumatic Stress Screen (ECTSS) were sampled from each of the major content areas implicated in trauma. The items underwent a principle component analysis, which produced a 34-item screening measure with four reliable factors and one sub-scale assessing response style. All subscales and the overall trauma composite score significantly correlated with pre-established measures of traumatic stress in very young children, and a receiver operating characteristics curve analysis identified a cut-score with …

Supportive Relationships As Protective For Children Exposed To Violence: Exploring Underlying Mechanisms, Jessica Houston

Dissertations (1934 -)

The present study examined supportive relationships with parents, teachers, peers, and neighbors as protective for youths exposed to violence. To explore how support promotes resilience, four potential mediators were examined: secure attachment, adaptive coping, processing traumatic experiences with a supportive person (parent, teacher, friend, or community adult), and an optimistic outlook on life. An at-risk sample of 107 students (71% male) aged 8-19 years (M=15) who were predominantly African American completed measures of violence exposure, social support, attachment security, coping ability, trauma-processing, and optimism. Resilience was assessed with multiple measures that included self-esteem, competence in several domains (social, scholastic, athletic, …

Temperament And Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia As Contributors To Externalizing Behavior Among Early Adolescents, Tyler Laney Ph.D.

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

The current study examines the relationship between temperament and physiological models of externalizing behavior to externalizing behavior in a community sample of early adolescents. The psychophysiological component of vagal tone, as measured by respirator sinus arrhythmia (RSA), is used with an emphasis placed on distinguishing between its function as a state versus trait measure of parasympathetic nervous system activity. Negative affectivity (NA) is proposed as a general risk factor for psychopathology. Emotion regulation, as indexed by effortful control (EC) and basal RSA, is hypothesized to function as a mediator between NA and externalizing behavior. A moderated mediation model is then …

The Makings Of An Activist: Navigating Through An Oppressive System And Understanding The Characteristics Of African American Male Activist, Tenille Wallace

All Student Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. minimizes struggles that African Americans have endured since enslavement. Oppression has robbed many minorities from developing their full potential as humans both psychologically and socially. Many African American men grapple with their identity, because their identity is formed by the dominant culture's narrative, developed by European Americans. Thus, the identity of African Americans may not be fully integrate into the dominant narrative which describes the lived experiences envision by African Americans. European Americans, specifically white researchers, maintain the status quo by neglecting African American experiences in academic literature. In order to develop a counter-narrative, researchers need to understand …

What Are Factors Of An Effective Parent And Family Involvement Program Within High School?, Nicole Walsh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to the literature, parents or guardians of high school students will participate within the high school—though their participation is dependent on many factors. Parents with a higher social capital tend to be the most involved, while parents with lower social capital tend to be less involved. In other words, generally parents or guardians with high social capital would be much more likely to be involved in their child’s school, whereas parents with low social capital would not be involved in their child’s school at all (Goodwin, Rothon, Stansfeld, 2012). In this study, the researcher formulated and analyzed the following …

Fake It Until You Make It? Female Leaders’ Emotional Expression Management And Subordinates’ Gender Stereotypes, Rebecca C. Garden

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

As part of their organizational role, leaders manage their emotional expressions for the purpose of maintaining influence over followers, a concept that has received far less attention than the impact of other leadership behaviors. Further, there is almost no existing research regarding an employees’ reactions to the female supervisors’ emotional expression management (EEM), or the influence of subordinates’ underlying gender stereotypes on the relationship between leaders’ EEM and subordinate outcomes. To gain a better understanding of how EEM and the followers’ perception of gender roles interactively influence affective and attitudinal outcomes, this study used multi-source data from female leaders and …

The Relationship Between Resilience, Attachment, And Emotional Coping Styles, Jennika K. Jenkins

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The construct of resilience has been widely associated with the ability to adequately cope with stressors, which leads to positive long-term health outcomes. Attachment and emotional coping style literatures have both been tentatively linked to resilience, with dismissive and secure attachment styles as well as the repressive coping style positively associated with resilience. However, both avoidantly attached and repressive individuals employ coping strategies that allow them to dissociate from negative emotions, which seems to contradict the stress adaptive quality of resilience. The goal of this study was to explore the theoretical parallel between the attachment and emotional coping styles literature …

An Etiological Model Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Female Oef/Oif/Ond Veterans: Adding Military Sexual Trauma As A Risk Factor, Erin Doty Kurtz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Studies on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have involved limited focus on the specific risk and protective factors for female veterans and how these may differ from factors identified for male veterans. Additionally, models incorporating risk and protective factors for PTSD in female veterans have yet to include military sexual trauma (MST) as a risk factor. Given the prevalence of MST among female service members, this study examined whether MST predicts PTSD diagnosis in addition to other frequently examined variables (premilitary trauma exposure, combat exposure, postmilitary trauma, and perceived social support). In addition, the degree …

Acculturation And Enculturation, Perception Of Depressive Symptoms, And Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Korean Americans, Kristoffer Park

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The literature suggests that acculturation, enculturation, and the perception of mental health symptoms are some of the factors that explain help-seeking behaviors in Asian Americans. While there has been previous research addressing these concerns for Asian Americans as a unified ethnic group, few studies have examined these factors to explain help-seeking behaviors specifically in Korean Americans. 107 Korean Americans were recruited from Korean American churches in a large metropolitan city in the southeast region. Participants completed an online questionnaire, which included instruments assessing acculturation (AVS-R) and enculturation (EAVS-AA-R) levels as well as their perception of how problematic depressive symptoms were …

Predicting Academic Performance: A Commitment Perspective, Frank E. Gomez Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Shifts from scientific and theoretical exploration to occupational preparation within academic scholarship has led researchers to focus on performance variables, such as grade point average (GPA), to better understand how to promote academic success. For example, researchers have examined variables to determine their influence on GPA. The purpose of this study was to identify if commitment variables in conjunction with executive functioning significantly predicted cumulative GPA in a college setting beyond previously established predictors. Results indicated that high school GPA (b = .44) was the only significant predictor of cumulative GPA. When high school GPA was eliminated from …

Work-Value Profile And Career Success, Chee Wee Koh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Work values, defined as the end states people desire and expect to realize through work, appear to play a role in career success, but the small number of past studies have reported conflicting results, some of which may be attributed to research methodology. Using a person-centered approach to model the conjoint effects of intrinsic and extrinsic work values, the present study inductively investigated the association between work-value profile and career success using a three-panel longitudinal dataset consisting of 905 lawyers from the After the Juris Doctorate (AJD) study. Latent profile analysis identified five work-value profiles: (i) Neither Intrinsic nor Extrinsic …

Effects Of Cortisol Stress Response Patterns On Autism Related Behaviors In Young Adult Males With Fragile X Syndrome And Autism Spectrum Disorders, Sara M. Matherly

Theses and Dissertations

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by deficits in social interactions (reduced eye contact, topic preoccupation, and social withdrawal) and maladaptive behaviors of anxiety, social withdrawal, and restricted interests (Kau, Tierney, Bukelis, Stump, Kates, Trescher et al., 2004). Prior research with individuals who have FXS has indicated that problem behaviors (i.e. social withdrawal and inattention) were correlated with abnormal activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA; Hessl, et. al., 2002); however, very few studies have investigated physiological patterns and associations with social dysfunction and restricted and repetitive behaviors for individuals with idiopathic ASD. The present study …

Selective Behavioral Alterations In The Hiv-1 Transgenic Rat: Implications For Diagnosis Of Pediatric Hiv-1, Kristen A. Mclaurin

Theses and Dissertations

Since the advent of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), pediatric HIV-1 (PHIV) has evolved from a fatal disease to a chronic disease with children perinatally infected with HIV-1 surviving into adulthood. The HIV-1 transgenic (Tg) rat, which expresses 7 of the 9 HIV-1 genes constitutively throughout development, was used to investigate the early development of chronic neurological impairment in PHIV. Male and female Fischer HIV-1 Tg and F344N control rats, sampled from 35 litters, were repeatedly assessed during early development using multiple experimental paradigms, including somatic growth, locomotor activity, cross-modal prepulse inhibition (PPI) and gap-prepulse inhibition (gap-PPI). A rightward shift towards …

The Influence Of Motivational Salience On Attention Selection: An Erp Investigation, Constanza De Dios

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate how motivational salience in the form of expectation violation influences spatial attention. The medial frontal negativity (MFN) ERP indexes expected value, being negative to unexpected punishments and positive to unexpected rewards. The P1 and N1 ERPs index spatial attention, being larger to stimuli in attended locations. This design attached motivational value to locations by making one visual hemifield economically rewarding (greater probability of a rewarding outcome) and the other punishing (greater probability of a punishing outcome). Keypresses to a dot probe following a reward-signifying stimulus were awarded money if correct, and …

The Psychometric Evaluation And Validation Of A Measure Assessing Pharmacological And Social Alcohol Expectancies In Adolescents, Megan Victoria Mcmurray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extending prior alcohol expectancy measurement research, this researcher (McMurray, 2013) recently developed the Pharmacological and Social Alcohol Expectancy Scale (PSAES). The PSAES is the only alcohol expectancy measure to date that provides adequate coverage of both social expectancies and the anticipated positive pharmacological effects resulting from alcohol consumption, and was developed and validated in a sample of young adults (aged 18-23). Research has shown that adolescents at high risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD) hold higher expectations of reward from alcohol, suggesting that expectancy patterns may help distinguish at-risk youth. Building upon the previous PSAES validation study, the primary purpose …

Marine Mammal Behavior: A Review Of Conservation Implications, Philippa Brakes, Sasha R. X. Dall

Social Behavior Collection

The three orders which comprise the extant marine mammals exhibit a wide range of behaviors, varying social structures, and differences in social information use. Human impacts on marine mammals and their environments are ubiquitous; from chemical and noise pollution, to marine debris, prey depletion, and ocean acidification. As a result, no marine mammal populations remain entirely unaffected by human activities. Conservation may be hindered by an inadequate understanding of the behavioral ecology of some of these species. As a result of social structure, social information use, culture, and even behavioral syndromes, marine mammal social groups, and populations can be behaviorally …

The Relation Between Discrimination, Sense Of Coherence And Health Varies According To Ethnicity; A Study Among Three Distinct Population Groups Living In Israel, Orna Baron-Epel, Vincent Berardi, John Belletierre, Waleed Shalata

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Self-reported experiences of discrimination and sense of coherence (SOC) have been found to be associated with health. A face-to-face survey of Long Term Jewish Residents (LTJR), Arabs and former Soviet Union (fSU) immigrants in Israel was performed. Respondents reported their physical and mental health, self-reported experiences of discrimination, SOC and socioeconomic status. Multivariable logistic regressions and bootstrapping path analyses were performed. Discrimination was associated with health after adjusting for all other variables. SOC was also associated with health. SOC did not mediate the strong association between discrimination and health among Israeli LTJR, but was a significant mediator among Arabs and …

The Impact Of Latency Jitter On The Interpretation Of P300 In The Assessment Of Cognitive Function, Xiaoqian Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When stimuli processing time varies in an oddball paradigm, the latency of the P300 will vary across trials. In an oddball task requiring difficult response selections, as the variation of stimuli processing time increases, so does the variation of the P300 latency, causing latency jitters in the measurement. Averaging the P300 across different trials without adjusting this latency jitter will lead to diminished P300 amplitude, resulting in inaccurate conclusions from the data. Verleger et al. (2014) reported a diminished P300 amplitude in a difficult oddball task that required subjects to make response selections among stimuli that are difficult to distinguish, …

Psychological Factors That Underlie Hazing Perceptions: A Mixed Methods Study, Jenna Strawhun

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

The quantitative phase of this mixed-methods study examined psychological predictors, including previous bullying involvement, moral disengagement, the need to belong, and their influence on students’ perceptions of hypothetical hazing behaviors. The following qualitative phase was used to explain and contextualize Phase I results through an understanding of the psychological processes related to participants’ constructed meanings of their experiences as perpetrators, witnesses, and/or victims of bullying and hazing. Study participants for Phase I and Phase II included undergraduate students enrolled in psychology courses who participated in the study for research credit. Phase II participants also received a $25.00 gift card as …

Housing And Abstinence Self-Efficacy In Formerly Incarcerated Individuals, Christopher R. Whipple

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Formerly-incarcerated individuals with substance use disorders face many barriers upon release from prison. In order to avoid returning to substance use and prison, these individuals must successfully navigate the re-entry process, which includes finding adequate housing and avoiding substance use. As abstinence self-efficacy, or confidence to abstain from substance use, has been found to predict better substance use outcomes, it is important to understand the relation between housing situations and abstinence self-efficacy in formerly-incarcerated individuals. This study examined the role that time spent in various housing situations, including controlled, recovery, independent, precarious, and homeless situations, affect abstinence self-efficacy. Two hundred …

Associations Between Social Status Insecurity And Relational Aggression In Chinese Adolescents: Moderations Of Social Cognitive Prosesses, Yunyi Long

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Adolescents pay close attention to their social status and actively pursue it through certain social behaviors. Previous studies have revealed that when adolescents feel their social standing is unsafe, namely having social status insecurity, they often use relational aggression to cope with it. However, what roles different social cognition processes play on the association between social status insecurity and relational aggression are unclear in the literature. Additionally, given that the relationship between relational victimization and relational aggression has also been observed in the literature, social status insecurity may also exert an important mediating impact on such an association. Nevertheless, few …

The Effects Of Sexual Orientation And Behavioral Style On Perceptions Of Leadership Potential And Effectiveness, Kristin Elizabeth Mann

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This research explored the influences that sexual orientation and gender norm adherence play in impacting perceptions of a leader’s hirability into and evaluation within a leadership role. Though sexual minority issues in the workplace represent a growing field of research, investigations into sexual orientation’s impact on outcomes relevant to leadership remain scant. As increasing numbers of openly gay and lesbian men and women take positions of leadership, there is a need for more information regarding the experiences of sexual minority leaders, with potential benefits to these individuals, their organizations, and related stakeholders. The research conducted here was intended to address …

Maternal Interactive Behaviors And Developmental Outcomes In Preschoolers Born Very Low Birth Weight, Rebecca E. Rieger

Psychology ETDs

Children born very low birth weight (VLBW) are at greater risk for cognitive and executive deficits than children born normal birth weight. One factor in development is parental wellbeing. Parents who report more depressive symptoms and lower perception of resources have poorer quality interactive behaviors. This study investigated the associations between maternal interactive behaviors during play and developmental outcomes in preschoolers born VLBW. A secondary goal was to understand the associations among maternal depressive symptoms, perception of resources, and interactive behaviors. A tertiary goal was to investigate racial and ethnic differences in maternal behaviors. Overall, one maternal behavior was negatively …

Responsible Gambling Training: How Do We Know What’S Working?, Janine Robinson

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

No abstract provided.

Narcissism, Sensation Seeking, Depression, Anxiety, And Cognitive Distortions: Comparative Analysis Between Poker And Video Lottery Terminal Players, David Levesque B.A., Serge Sevigny Ph.D., Christian Jacques M.Ps., Isabelle Giroux Ph.D.

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

According to the psycho-structural interaction model, the interaction between structural characteristics of a gambling game and player’s characteristics could foster the development of gambling problems. Those interactions may vary according to the types of game played. This study aims to compare poker and video lottery terminals players (VLTs) on six psychological characteristics (narcissism, sensation seeking, depression, anxiety, cognitive distortions and problem gambling severity) and to examine cognitive distortions as a mediator between personality/mood disturbance and problem gambling severity. The sample consisted of 191 poker players and 81 VLT players. Standard assessments were completed online and by phone within a cross-sectional …

Ecosystemic Effects Of Military Sexual Trauma In Male Service Members And Veterans, Jessica A. Carlile

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Military sexual trauma (MST) represents a significant, endemic concern in the United States Armed Forces. Although approximately 50% of individuals who experience MST are male, few studies have been published examining the overall experience of males who survived MST, and no known project has recruited a sample unaffiliated with Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Therefore, this study investigated the immediate and enduring ecosystemic effects of MST on male service members and veterans recruited entirely outside the VHA system. To evaluate the depth and richness of human experience, 12 participants—10 veterans and two active duty service members (50% Euro-American, 58% partnered, 75% …

A Recursive Frame Analysis Of Satir Through The Biopsychosocial Lens, Daniel Pelak

The Qualitative Report

This study attempts to add to the understanding and metatheory of the therapeutic process through the analysis of a therapeutic session through the lens of the biopsychosocial model. The study examines which interventions were utilized, in what system, and during which stage of therapy. In order to accomplish this goal, a recursive frame analysis was utilized to track the different frames and interventions of Virginia Satir’s “Of Rocks and Flowers” training session. Results indicated that Satir operated at all three levels of the biopsychosocial system and utilized exploratory questions to assess the vicious cycle in Act I, in Act II …

Restoring Ubuntu: Ecosystemic, Biopsychosocial, Afrocentric Networks For The Trauma-Healing Of Sexual Violence Survivors In Eastern Congo, Summer D. Downs

Honors Projects

The purpose of this paper is to propose that trauma healing in the Congo should be directed by the agency of Africans, characterized by an ubuntu-based systems epistemology, and facilitated throughcreative, multi-modal networks.

The Relationship Between Fragile Self-Esteem, Mindfulness, And Hostile Attribution Style, Robyn L. Haertel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study aimed to expand upon existing literature pertaining to self-perception, awareness towards the environment, and related attributions. Specifically, mindfulness and self-esteem, as well as the subset of fragile self-esteem, were examined as predictors of a hostile attribution style (HAS). Additionally, self-esteem and fragile self-esteem were investigated as correlates of mindfulness. Undergraduate students from across the country were invited via social media to participate in this online study. A total of 190 students completed four surveys used for data analyses: the Mindful-Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RES; Rosenberg 1965), Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale (CSWS; …

(Dis)Entangling Gender Expression And Race In Antigay Discrimination: An Intersectional Approach, Steph M. Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Current psychological definitions and operationalizations of antigay discrimination conceptualize negative treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBQ) individuals as a response to their same-gender sexual orientations and not other factors. Because an individual’s sexual orientation is always understood through racialized hegemonic gender ideologies, however, attention to gender expression – how one “does” gender – and dynamics of race within antigay encounters is essential. Comprised of two mixed-method studies, this dissertation examines the role of gender expression and race in antigay discriminatory encounters from two perspectives: those who are targets of discrimination (i.e., cisgender and transgender LGBQ individuals) and those …