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From Boys To Non-Toxic Men: An Intervention Using Expressive Arts Therapy To Foster Healthy Masculinity In Adult Men, Jennifer Liff

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

“Toxic masculinity” is a rigid form of masculine expression in the United States and other Western countries that espouses traditional norms of expression such as stoicism, power over others, control, aggression, and subjugation of women. Research has shown that it is detrimental to men’s mental health, and strict adherence to it is associated with higher rates of loneliness, depression, suicidal ideation, and violence. Earlier theories that have addressed toxic masculinity, such as the gender role strain paradigm, have taken a more pathological lens. However, the positive psychology/positive masculinity theory and relational cultural theory—contemporary theoretical frameworks that focus on healthy masculinity—show …

Feldenkrais And Music Informed Listening: A Neurophenomenological Perspective On Autism, Arona Primalani

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Phenomenologists identify the subjective body and its felt-senses as the basis for human development and consciousness, including mental health. Several mental health disorders, when viewed from a phenomenological perspective, share common symptomology related to varying extents of fractured selves, which in turn hinders dynamic interaction between individuals, their actions, and their relationships with their social and material worlds. Autism is one such condition. Hence, I created an intervention to investigate how listening, which foster subjective and intersubjective experiences, lies at the heart of somatic and arts-based interventions. This thesis, first, begins with a summary of the presenting symptoms observed in …

Towards A New Role Of Mitochondrial Hydrogen Peroxide In Synaptic Function, Cliyahnelle Z. Alexander

Student Theses and Dissertations

Aerobic metabolism is known to generate damaging ROS, particularly hydrogen peroxide. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly reactive molecules containing oxygen that have the potential to cause damage to cells and tissues in the body. ROS are highly reactive atoms or molecules that rapidly interact with other molecules within a cell. Intracellular accumulation can result in oxidative damage, dysfunction, and cell death. Due to the limitations of H₂O₂ (hydrogen peroxide) detectors, other impacts of ROS exposure may have been missed. HyPer7, a genetically encoded sensor, measures hydrogen peroxide emissions precisely and sensitively, even at sublethal levels, during …

Resilience In Refugee Youth: A Review Of Contributing Factors And Potential Barriers, Anna J. Kreisman

Honors Projects

While past research has predominantly centered on the trauma and challenges faced by refugees, there is a current shift toward examining refugee lives through a lens of resilience. The purpose of the present investigation is to examine the contributing factors and potential barriers to resilience in young refugees. I conducted a literature review of research from the past 24 years, primarily searching PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete, and SocINDEX. The review findings demonstrate that resilience can stem from individual, family, school, and community-level factors. The findings further indicate several potential barriers to resilience. In addition, I briefly discuss mental health interventions …

Knowledge Production And The Unthinkable: Weaving Stories Of Art, Gender, And Land, Christin Huntsman

Master's Theses

Colonialism is deeply and violently embedded in Western knowledge formation—dominant power structures produce epistemes that uphold and perpetuate colonial narratives. This kind of knowledge production forecloses other possibilities. Western discourse of truth becomes universalized to the point that other worldviews, other knowledges that do not conform to hegemonic norms, are suppressed or silenced. This thesis examines three areas of hegemony and erasure: art, gender, and land. First, the history of art clearly marks a delineation between Western elitist artistic masterpieces and non-Western ethnographic artifacts. Eurocentrism of art in the academy determines what counts as art and how art is categorized. …

Exploring The Role Of Pain On Physical Activity Among Youth With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Using The Biopsychosocial Model, Anna E. Van Asselt, Renee Gilbert, Meghan Tokala, Jacee Weber, Meredith L. Dreyer Gillette, Robert C. Gibler, Carolyn R. Bates, Keith August

Research Days

The Role of Pain on Physical Activity in Pediatric ALL

Keywords: Biopsychosocial model, pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, pain, physical activity

Introduction: Engaging in physical activity (PA) during cancer treatment benefits a child’s physical and mental well-being (McLaughlin et al., 2021). However, engaging in PA may be challenging due to treatment and disease-related pain (Uhl et al., 2020). Pediatric cancer research has primarily focused on management of procedural and chronic pain, with fewer studies examining how pain may interfere with PA during treatment (Clews et al., 2022). The current study qualitatively investigated the impact of pain on PA using a …

Extreme Image Transformations Improve Latent Representations In Machines, Girik Malik, Ennio Mingolla

MODVIS Workshop

Shuffling pixels in an image helps machines to learn a more robust object representation. To probe the strategies used by humans and machines for object recognition, we introduce Extreme Image Transformations (EITs). Machines rely heavily on exploiting low-level features like color and texture, so their performance degrades on out-of-distribution and adversarial inputs. Humans depend on high-level features like shapes and contours, making them relatively robust to image distortions. EITs systematically shuffle the pixels in an image, parameterized by the size of grids, probability of shuffle and binary block movement, distorting the structure of objects at both local and global levels. …

White Matter Trajectories Over The Lifespan, Stefania Conte, Dabriel Zimmerman, John E. Richards

Faculty Publications

White matter (WM) changes occur throughout the lifespan at a different rate for each developmental period. We aggregated 10879 structural MRIs and 6186 diffusion-weighted MRIs from participants between 2 weeks to 100 years of age. Age-related changes in gray matter and WM partial volumes and microstructural WM properties, both brain-wide and on 29 reconstructed tracts, were investigated as a function of biological sex and hemisphere, when appropriate. We investigated the curve fit that would best explain age-related differences by fitting linear, cubic, quadratic, and exponential models to macro and microstructural WM properties. Following the first steep increase in WM volume …

Listener Biases Toward Chinese And Latino Instructor Accents: Their Impact On Subjective Evaluations And Objective Memory Measures, Ka Wai Lau

Student Theses and Dissertations

Many people in the United States speak with a non-native accent that reveals their racial identity. Accent bias and discrimination are prevalent issues in many social interactions, including academic and work environments. Past research has argued that foreign-accented speech is generally more difficult to process. The present study aimed to explore the impact of Chinese and Latino accents compared to standard American accents on subjective evaluations and objective memory in a classroom setting. Participants were asked to evaluate speaker competence, trustworthiness, and warmth in math and Western literature lessons and completed a memory test for them. I found that Chinese-accented …

Anisotropy In Non-Rigidity Perception: The Role Of Anisotropies In Neural Populations, Akihito Maruya, Qasim Zaidi

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Defining Healthy Love: A Narrative Review Of Purity Culture's Impact On Healing From Sexual Assault, Gloria L. Diehl

Honors Projects

Over the last few decades, evangelical Christian teachings on sexuality have become an area of increasing interest as those who grew up in Purity Culture experience long-term effects on their world-concept. One area where the effects are particularly potent is attitudes regarding sexual assault. Research on healing from sexual assault identifies social responses to reports as a defining factor for the direction of healing. This literature review looks at how social support is negatively impacted by purity culture teachings through the endorsement of rape myth acceptance and victim blaming attitudes.

Parenting Styles Of Biological Parents With And Without A History Of Childhood Trauma, Alita M. Soulsby

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This paper details a survey examining the impact of childhood trauma on the future parenting style of biological parents. This study included 65 parents (58 Mothers, 7 Fathers) with (n=27) and without (n=38) a history of childhood trauma. Parents were surveyed using the Parental Style Measure (Kim, Zang, & Lee, 2015) and the Early Trauma Inventory-Self-Report- Short Form (Bremner 2007) to determine parenting style and whether the participant had a history of childhood trauma. Also, parents were asked to report the number of years from the resolution of the trauma until the commencement of parenting to determine if the demonstrated …

Pain Interference In Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Examining A Resilience Model Of Dispositional Optimism, Coping Responses, And Mind-Body Practices, Trey Heffernan

Dissertations

Chronic musculoskeletal pain is the leading cause of disability in the United States. Pain interference, or the ways chronic pain negatively interferes with everyday life, is the biggest problem impacting individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Although previous research has targeted risk factors associated with poor health outcomes, the adaptive functioning of some patients with chronic pain highlights a need for research investigating resilience factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect relationships between resilience factors of optimism, coping responses, and mind-body practices on pain interference for individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Specifically, the resilience model …

Mental-Somatic Multimorbidity In Trajectories Of Cognitive Function For Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Siting Chen, Corey L. Nagel, Ruotong Liu, Anda Botoseneanu, Heather G. Allore, Jason T. Newsom, Stephen Thielke, Jeffrey Kaye, Ana R. Quiñones

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multimorbidity may confer higher risk for cognitive decline than any single constituent disease. This study aims to identify distinct trajectories of cognitive impairment probability among middle-aged and older adults, and to assess the effect of changes in mental-somatic multimorbidity on these distinct trajectories.

Racial Stressors, Resiliency, And African American Women Counselors, Barbara Ann Bazemore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American women therapists are the second largest group of counseling providers, with many displaying behavioral health symptoms differently than other cultures. This quantitative correlational cross-sectional study explored the resiliency of African American women counselors related to racial-specific stressors inclusive of self-identity, COVID-19 anxiety, and daily discrimination. Initially, three research questions were selected to investigate the relationship between demographic factors (age, education level, active years as a counselor), racial-specific stressors (self-identity, COVID-19 pandemic anxiety, and everyday discrimination), and resiliency in 112 African American women counselors. Emails and an online survey were sent to collect data to answer the research hypotheses. …

Examination Of The Relationship Between Adhd-Related Symptoms And Pre-Attentive Auditory Processing In A Sample Of Autistic Children And Adolescents, Connor K. Mackenzie

Theses - ALL

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are two of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental conditions that also exhibit a high rate of co-occurrence. This co-occurrence leads to decreased efficacy of interventions and increased levels of impairments. This suggests that it might be relevant to examine the impact of ADHD symptoms on ASD research findings. Given that both these disorders have neurodevelopmental origins that share differences in sensory processing, the study of sensory neurophysiology might be a relevant avenue to explore. Neurophysiology has focused on pre-attentive auditory processing in both conditions compared to the neurotypical population by focusing on a …

Twice As Good: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Study On The Socialization Process Of Black Middle-Class Families And How This Shapes The Parent-Child Relationship, Dominique Nicole Walker

Dissertations - ALL

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the socialization process of Black middle-class families and explore how this shapes the parent-child relationship. The methodology that was used for this study was constructivist grounded theory. Also included within this methodology were theories and frameworks such as: Narrative Family therapy, contextual therapy, and the Intersectionality framework. Using semi-structured interviews, participants were asked to reflect upon their middle-class upbringing and to share how their socialization process shaped their relationship with their parents, both in the past and currently. There was an array of themes that were discovered from the results. …

Mindful Instincts: Exploring Differences In Intuition Amongst Men And Women, Adam Bornstein

Honors Projects in Psychology

Intuition, or the ability to quickly interpret a situation and make a decision without the use of the conscious mind, is a phenomenon that has gained a lot of popularity amongst psychologists over the last couple of decades. The phenomenon, which has been a part of human life since neanderthal days, gained a lot of popularity in the early 20th century, thanks to the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Studies have shown differences in levels of intuition amongst various groups. The most profound differences observed have been those between men’s and women’s levels of intuition. This paper dives …

Predicting Personal Growth: An Analysis Of Self-Relevant Approaches, Cole Morse

Honors Theses

Identifying predictors of personal growth–defined as striving to fulfill one’s unique potential–may be important for achieving a life of flourishing (Ryff & Singer, 2008). While existing research demonstrates the link between self-esteem and personal growth, gaps remain in our knowledge of the relationship between other potential self-referential predictors and personal growth (Paradise & Kernis, 2002). The intention of the current study is to not only conceptually replicate the link between positive self-regard (i.e., a positive self-evaluation that is theoretically akin to self-esteem) and personal growth, but to also investigate whether different ways of relating to the self offer unique pathways …

The Survivability Hierarchy Behind Bars: Themes, Reforms, And Prevention Program Evaluations In Washington State Jail Suicides, Rocky B. Marks

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Across jails nationwide, suicide remains the leading cause of death. Suicide has been the leading cause of death for U.S. jail inmates for over 40 years. In Washington State, suicide accounts for 47% of all jail fatalities while incarcerated. To address this critical issue, the U.S. Justice Department set best practices for jails to follow for suicide prevention programs in 1989. Yet, these best practices have not reduced the disproportionate rate of jail suicides. Far from a decrease, suicide deaths for jail inmates rose 13% in the last 20 years. This dissertation involved three methods of analysis for this critical …

Can Vice Make Us Virtuous? The Effects Of Greed Reminders On Charitability, Hayley Pitts

Honors Theses

Historically, society wishes to encourage people to be good – but also warns against being bad. There is little comparison between the two of which works: the threat of damnation through vice, or the promise of salvation through virtue. This study examines how each of these affect donation behavior. There are two studies within the present research, each with 149 participants randomly assigned into three categories: control, vice, and virtue. Participants were distracted then asked to view an image based on their randomly assigned category, followed by a donation question: would participants donate a $1.00 bonus to a local charity, …

Screening For Eating Disorders In Adolescents With Chronic Pain: The Eating Attitudes Test– 16–Chronic Pain, Leslie Sim, Amy Fahrenkamp, Jennifer R. Geske, Jocelyn Lebow, Hope Thilges, Carol B. Peterson, Abigail Matthews, Cynthia Harbeck-Weber

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background Few measures have been validated to screen for eating disorders (ED) in youth with chronic pain. We conducted confirmatory (CFA) of two established factor structures of the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) in a sample of youth with chronic pain attending an intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment (IIPT) program and examined the validity of the best-fitting model in predicting ED diagnoses in this sample.

Methods Participants were 880 adolescents (M age = 16.1, SD = 2.1) consecutively admitted into an IIPT program who completed the EAT-26 upon admission. CFA was conducted and in the case of inadequate fit, EFA was …

Injustice: Parental Betrayal And The Exploitation Of Child Murder In The United States, Isabella Merlini

Honors Scholar Theses

The following serves as an extensive literature review on the phenomena of filicide and familicide–the ultimate forms of parental betrayal–perpetrated within the United States. Subsequently highlighted is the theme that the people who should always take care of and love their children are sometimes also those who demonically arrange for their children’s very deaths, and while parents have the power to bring children into this world, they do not have the right to remove children from it. An overview of the unique perpetrations, victimologies, psychopathologies, and motivations that contribute to the classifications of filicide and familicide are further provided. Six …

Implementing A Career Development Program For 7th Grade Students, Courtney Danielle Martinson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Career Development programs are crucial in schools to allow students to explore and prepare for their desired career. This is done primarily in the exploration stage of career development. This stage starts late elementary with exposure to careers then continues through middle and high school getting more in depth about what steps need to be taken to achieve their career goal. This is a key developmental stage where students begin to understand their own likes and interests which plays a part in finding a career that fits with their personality as well. While understanding oneself is important when researching jobs, …

Circumcision—Deal With It! A Clinical Ethnography Of Intactivism At American Intersections, Benjamin M. Gaddes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On a routine trip to the grocery store, or while scrolling online, you might encounter the provocative and puzzling discourse of Intactivism, a viral, single-issue social movement that opposes infant male circumcision, and wonder “Huh? Why is this here, now?” This project situates Intactivism in a history of circumcision and anti-circumcision that spans from ancient Sumerian tents to the front pages of Reddit. It takes an immersive qualitative clinical ethnographic approach, nested in a broader cultural psychology that is non-reductive and pluralistic, to articulate an Intactivist ethos in its public and private dimensions. Methods include participant-observation, interviews, and framework discourse …

Female Medical Students’ Lived Experiences Of Financial Stress And Coping, Untara Shaikh, Dr. Kimberlee Bonura

Georgia Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Conference

Financial stress is a pervasive concern among medical students, with documented associations with adverse physical health, psychological morbidity, and ineffective coping. This study focuses on understanding the financial stressors female medical students face and the coping strategies they employ. While financial stress and coping mechanisms have been explored in the literature, a notable gap exists in understanding these dynamics among female students.

The study employed a phenomenological research approach to obtain data from the respondents, where data collection involved face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The Adaptation Model of Nursing, complemented by Lazarus and Folkman's Coping Theory, was a comprehensive framework for analyzing …

The Experiences Of Post Secondary School Completion Of Academically Talented African American Teenaged Parents, Adrienne Denise Butler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teen pregnancy and parenting are cited as the reasons 1 in 3 teens drop out of high school. For African American teenagers, the drop-out rate is slightly higher, with 38% of teen parents leaving high school without a diploma. Living in impoverished communities with substandard educational facilities and opportunities, academically talented African American teen mothers must make choices about education and parenting. Pregnant teens must consider their future and decide whether to keep their baby, to complete high school or dropout, and if to attend a postsecondary institute. The problem is the low college attendance and graduation rate for parenting …

Brains Over Bronze, Natalia L. Williams

Whittier Scholars Program

While we as a society have made great strides in rewarding and praising athletes for the shows of great physical display, there is a lack of support or awareness of the mental health aspects of competition, especially at the college and professional level. This project illuminates the dire need for mental health resources and training. Athletes undergo a number of pressures and challenges in their work life as well as their personal development. Through literature review, this symposium aims to offer insight on the experiences of college and professional athletes, then providing mental health and psychological skills training resources that …

An Exploration Of The Potential Impacts Of Philosophical Idealism On Psychotherapeutic Practice, Ian Richard

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This study presents a review of the modern ontologies available regarding the nature of the universe and identifies Bernardo Kastrup’s formulation of idealism as a leading model. Idealism theorizes that consciousness is the basis of reality, as opposed to physical objects. The implications of Kastrup’s idealism on psychotherapeutic practice are considered, including conflicts with the medical model, synergies with the contextual model, and suggestions for approaches that align with the findings of idealism.

Guardian's Goals And Gains: The Relationship Between Need Satisfaction And Parenting Goals In Parents Of Toddlers, Kallen E. Mitchell

Honors Theses

Self Determination Theory (SDT) theorizes that when three core psychological needs are met (i.e., competence, relatedness, and autonomy) then humans reach their highest level of optimization (Deci & Ryan, 2000). One common way people tend to satisfy these needs is through social relationships, typically ones where their efforts can be reciprocated; however, not all relationships are reciprocal. This study looks at the psychological needs within an asymmetrical relationship between a parent and their toddler aged child. Given an already established relationship (Smith et al. 2023) between need satisfaction and the types of goals parents have for their college aged kids …