Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating The Gendered Effects Of Caregiving Policies In Academia, Molly R. Simmons, Aishwarya Kumar, Katrina A. Burch Ph.D.

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Although women receive more doctorates across disciplines, they continue to be underrepresented in academia with representation of women faculty diminishing at higher ranks relative to their male counterparts. This phenomenon is known as the ‘leaky pipeline,’ and is frequently observed in STEM fields, though it exists across disciplines. Previous studies suggest the motherhood penalty heavily impacts women’s careers, especially in academia where biological and tenure clocks coincide. The overall aim of this study is to examine the gendered effects of caregiving policies for faculty in STEM fields at regional comprehensive universities through integrating the Work-Home Resources (W-HR) Model and feminist …

Motivational Interviewing May Resolve Vaccine Hesitancy, Scott L. Baughan

Clinical Research in Practice: The Journal of Team Hippocrates

A clinical decision report using:

Gagneur A, Lemaître T, Gosselin V, et al. A postpartum vaccination promotion intervention using motivational interviewing techniques improves short-term vaccine coverage: PromoVac study. BMC public health. 2018;18(1):811. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5724-y

for a juvenile patient with a caregiver who is skeptical about the safety of routine vaccinations.

Survivor Experiences Of Male Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Literature Review, Elizabeth Burch B.S., Joseph T. Kenneally Psy.D., Stephanie Zepeda Phd

Psychology from the Margins

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes childhood sexual abuse (CSA) as a global health issue. CSA is a human violation that affects both female and male children and has a stronger detrimental impact on mental health than other traumatic childhood experiences. Despite a growing awareness of male survivors of CSA, male survivors are a marginalized group as most CSA research focuses on females. In addition, masculine norms can keep male adults from disclosing further, which can delay support and increase mental health issues. This meta- analysis reviews the current literature on this group of marginalized people and concludes with a …

Colorism Among Black Youth In The United States: An Examination Of Impacts On Education, Jasmine Major, Teneeshia R. Johnson, Antoinette Wilson, Stacie Defreitas

Psychology from the Margins

Black students with darker complexions experience a disproportionate application of exclusionary practices within educational settings (Crutchfield et al., 2022). This review seeks to highlight colorism’s impact on the Black community in the education system through examining the historical context of colorism, the connection between colorism and racism, and how colorism is manifested and perpetuated in contemporary society in the United States. “Antiblackness” is an enduring trait of the United States that has rooted and fixed itself to its school structures (Coles & Powell, 2019). Schools are inherently political in that they adhere to and perpetuate the dominant ideologies of society …

History Untold: A Historical Review Of Psychological Harm Of Racialized Minorities, Coralann M. Garcia, Kyana D. Hamilton

Psychology from the Margins

The legacy of social sciences is riddled with examples of harm toward racial minorities. Since its inception, the field of psychology has enforced power imbalances between researchers and research participants (APA, 2021a). Due to this imbalance, there have been violations of human dignity by psychological researchers from disciplines including social, clinical, cognitive, and counseling psychology (Winston, 2020). As the field of psychology continues to expand, it is necessary to redress the harmful legacies of psychological practices hindering help-seeking behaviors for many minoritized groups. As future practitioners and researchers, we recognize the instrumental role of past and current psychologists in shaping …

From We To Me: Moving Towards An Examination Of Self Identity In An Online, Global, Collaborative, Learning Environment, Danielle P. Espino, Eric Hamilton, Kristina Lux, Seung B. Lee

Education Division Scholarship

This paper reflects on previous work using QE to examine patterns of discourse of adolescent learners in a virtual, global, collaborative informal learning setting. The collective impact of involvement in the project on participants’ experiences was observed in various reflective interviews over the last five years. The deep reflection of this work resulted in a research shift from the general impact on the participants to a shift towards examining how such experiences shape self-identity, such as recognizing identity congruence, relational self, and overcoming negative identity fostered by master narrative frameworks. An initial examination of pre-assessment interviews indicates that younger students …

Early Resveratrol Treatment Mitigates Joint Degeneration And Dampens Pain In A Mouse Model Of Pseudoachondroplasia (Psach), Jacqueline T Hecht, Alka C Veerisetty, Debabrata Patra, Mohammad G Hossain, Frankie Chiu, Claire Mobed, Francis H Gannon, Karen L Posey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH), a severe dwarfing condition associated with early-onset joint degeneration and lifelong joint pain, is caused by mutations in cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP). The mechanisms underlying the mutant-COMP pathology have been defined using the MT-COMP mouse model of PSACH that has the common D469del mutation. Mutant-COMP protein does not fold properly, and it is retained in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) of chondrocytes rather than being exported to the extracellular matrix (ECM), driving ER stress that stimulates oxidative stress and inflammation, driving a self-perpetuating cycle. CHOP (ER stress signaling protein) and TNFα inflammation drive high levels of mTORC1 …

Early Resveratrol Treatment Mitigates Joint Degeneration And Dampens Pain In A Mouse Model Of Pseudoachondroplasia (Psach), Jacqueline T Hecht, Alka C Veerisetty, Debabrata Patra, Mohammad G Hossain, Frankie Chiu, Claire Mobed, Francis H Gannon, Karen L Posey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH), a severe dwarfing condition associated with early-onset joint degeneration and lifelong joint pain, is caused by mutations in cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP). The mechanisms underlying the mutant-COMP pathology have been defined using the MT-COMP mouse model of PSACH that has the common D469del mutation. Mutant-COMP protein does not fold properly, and it is retained in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) of chondrocytes rather than being exported to the extracellular matrix (ECM), driving ER stress that stimulates oxidative stress and inflammation, driving a self-perpetuating cycle. CHOP (ER stress signaling protein) and TNFα inflammation drive high levels of mTORC1 …

The Importance Of Caregivers, Family, And Context For Child Welfare Involved Youth And A National Child Sample: A Structural Equation Modeling Perspective, Nathan Michael Lutz

Dissertations

This bundled, three-study dissertation examines how the relationships that children have with adult family members impact mental health outcomes, including internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors. The first study examines the moderating effect of relationship satisfaction on the relationship between kin involvement and child psychopathology. The second study uses data from the 2017 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), examining the mediating effect of the parent-child relationship on the associations across various systems in which children are embedded and mental health diagnoses. The third paper examined the interactions between both family strengths and caregiver involvement with the parent child relationship and …

Examining The Bidirectional Associations Between Parenting And Adolescent Coping In The Context Of Exposure To Community Violence, Jenny Phan

Dissertations

Coping refers to all the strategies and processes that an individual uses to eliminate, reduce or tolerate stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Rosario et al., 2003). Within the general coping literature, research has observed that use of approach-oriented coping strategies is associated with positive psychosocial outcomes, and avoidant-oriented coping strategies is associated with negative psychosocial outcomes (e.g., Compas et al., 2001; Wadsworth & Compas, 2002). However, most of these studies have focused exclusively or predominantly on middle-class White participants (e.g., Compas et al., 2001; Wadsworth & Compas, 2002) which may limit the generalizability of these findings to other groups. Further, …

Parenting And Psychosocial Functioning In Youth With Spina Bifida: Making Connections With Other Cns-Related Chronic Health Conditions, Adrien M. Winning

Dissertations

Parenting practices have been linked to psychosocial outcomes in children who have chronic health conditions that affect the central nervous system (CNS), such as spina bifida (SB). However, there remains a need for (1) more evidence-based assessments that capture parenting in SB, (2) additional research focused on parenting in early childhood in SB, as this is a critical developmental period that has been understudied, and (3) systematic reviews that synthesize parenting research across CNS-related conditions to guide future work. This dissertation includes three papers that aim to address each of these gaps in the current literature. Specifically, the first study …

The Relationship Between Sex And Functional Outcome In First-Episode Schizophrenia: The Role Of Premorbid Adjustment And Insight, Joseph Ventura, Kenneth L. Subotnik, Sam Han, Gerhard S. Hellemann, Michael F. Green, Keith H. Nuechterlein

All Faculty Open Access Publications

Background Studies that examined sex differences in first-episode patients consistently show that males compared to females have poor premorbid adjustment, earlier age of onset, worse clinical characteristics, and poorer outcomes. However, little is known about potential mediators that could explain these sex differences. Methods Our sample consisted of 137 individuals with first episode schizophrenia (males, n = 105; 77%) with a mean age of 22.1(s.d. = 4.1) years and mean education of 12.5(s.d. = 1.7) years. At entry, patients were within 2 years of their first psychotic episode onset. Baseline assessments were conducted for premorbid adjustment, symptoms, cognitive functioning, insight, …

The Healing Power Of Creative Storytelling: Utilizing Fiction As A Means Of Therapy In The Writer/Reader Relationship, Alicia Rose Klepper

Masters Theses

What if we wrote the challenging portions of our lives as comedies or the boring parts as grand adventures? What if we recast painful experiences into creative stories that allow us to live in proximity to our circumstances and not be overwhelmed? Storytelling is how we bridge our lives with creativity as a way to heal from the past, process the present, and hope for the future. This thesis explores how the tradition of creative storytelling has evolved to enable writers and readers to uncover and connect elements of life that would otherwise be too painful to process. By bridging …

A Comparison Of Adult Black And White Male Killers' Behaviors, Their Motives For Murder, And What They Do With Their Victims' Bodies, Tracy Sargent

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Studies involving murder are often focused on one offender group or a specific victim type. Due to focused research on this topic, there is a need to explore homicidal research between two offender groups in order to compare deviant behaviors of persons who commit murder. The comparison of adult black male offenders and adult white male offenders, their motivations for murder, and what offenders do with their victims’ bodies is explored in the study. A total of 300 solved homicide cases, which consists primarily of adult male and female victims, and several child murders was collected. Such murder motivations of …

A Preliminary Timeline Of The Midbrain Development In The Monodelphis Domestica Animal Model, Ismael Perez, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Colloquium

Introduction: The Brazilian short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis Domestica) is an understudied animal model compared to the Mus musculus that has been identified as a perfect candidate to study neurodevelopment (Baggott, L. & Moore, H., 1990). What makes the Monodelphis Domestica a perfect specimen for neurodevelopment is that the embryo develops outside the pouch of the mother providing easy noninvasive access to track changes across different developmental stages (Mate et al., 1994).

Objective: The objective of the study is to compare the area and volume in the development of the Monodelphis’s midbrain across three different developmental stages. Our research is beneficial because …

Sex Differences In Stress Reactivity And Responses To Novelty In The Gray Short-Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis Domestica), Esperanza I. Alaniz, Nicole Altamirano, Joseph Rafac, Katelynn Renteria, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Colloquium

Introduction: Investigating how exposures to stress and novel environments influence behavior is important for translational research that aims to improve mental health. Previous studies have focused on reactions to novelty and revealed changes in defense reactions and exploratory behavior. (Pisula et al., 2012).

Objective: The focus of the present study is to investigate sex differences in behavioral responses to novel environments and restraint stress in the gray short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica). Using the Monodelphis is innovative because it is a non-traditional animal model that is ideal for developmental research.

Methods: Using AnyMaze video tracking software, animals’ behaviors (6 males, 6 …

Assembly Of An Inexpensive Rat Jugular Catheter Button Based On A Split-Septum Needleless Intravenous System, Mauricio Suarez, Elizabeth J. Cantrell, Ken T. Wakabayashi, Caroline E. Bass

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Rat intravenous self-administration is a widely-used animal model in the study of substance use disorders. Rats are tethered to a drug delivery system usually through a port or button that inter- faces the drug delivery system with a chronic indwelling jugular vein catheter. These buttons can be purchased commercially but are costly, presenting a significant economic barrier for many researchers. Many researchers manufacture buttons in-house from a combination of individual custom made and commercially available components, resulting in large variation in terms of how the animals are handled and the longevity of catheter patency. We have developed a jugular catheter …

Psychosocial Development Measures Modification For Adolescents With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Myles Maxey, Troy E. Beckert, Diana Meter, Trenton Landon

Human Development and Family Studies Faculty Publications

Background: Although diagnosis and identification of IDD is improving, adolescents with IDD receive limited attention in research, particularly concerning their psychosocial development. Measures developed and normed with typically developing populations may not be appropriate for IDD populations and may result in biased assessment. Aim: This study aimed to develop and validate modified psychosocial development assessments for adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), addressing the absence of such assessments.

Method: It involved two phases: modifying existing instruments and validating the revised versions. Four stakeholder groups participated: adolescents with IDD, parents, and scholars in adolescent developmental and disabilities. Validation included two …

Sex Differences In Stress Reactivity, Brain Morphology, And Oxytocin In The Hypothalamus Of The Gray Short-Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis Domestica), Esperanza I. Zacarias, Daniela Rodriguez, Alexandra Chalons, Sasawan Heingraj, Nicole Altamirano, Joseph Rafac, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Colloquium

Understanding the effects of stress on behavior and cognition is important due to its impact on mental health and wellbeing (Schneiderman et al. 2005). Translational animal research can contribute to the development of new treatments that can improve therapeutic outcomes and our understanding of the neurobiology of stress. In the present study, we complement behavioral stress reactivity with immunohistochemical localization of oxytocin in the hypothalamus, a neuropeptide that regulates stress (Neumann & Slattery, 2016). Oxytocin has potential therapeutic use for mental health disorders (Neumann & Slattery, 2016), and the effects of oxytocin seem to be sexually dimorphic (Love, 2018). Using …

Disaster Movies And The Perception Of Human Behavior Myths In Disasters, John Carr

Dissertations

This study explored if disaster movies change the perceptions viewers hold regarding human behavior in disasters, and if so, whether these effects are observable six weeks after watching the disaster movie. The study documented the anticipation of disaster myths in human behavior for 121 respondents, providing data that can better inform the discussion of disaster myths and realities. The study found changes to anticipation of disaster myths in human behavior and realities across multiple categories, with statistically significant results related to the factor of Looting Myth. Limitations for this study include a small sample size, and the external influence of …

Adults' Subjective Experiences Of Exploitation In South Africa, Fatiema Benjamin, Rachel Chinyakata Dr, Edna Grace Rich Professor, Erica Koegler Professor, Nicolette Vanessa Roman Professor

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The exploitation of people in the environments in which they live and work continues to be a challenge globally despite efforts by stakeholders at national and international levels to bring this to a halt. Exploitation has both short-term and long-term impacts on the lives of the survivors. Attention should be given to preventing new incidents and addressing ongoing exploitation. However, there is a lack of research that focuses on the subjective experiences of different forms of exploitation within the Western Cape, South Africa. Therefore, this paper explores individuals’ experiences of being exploited, focusing on the types of exploitative situations participants …

Caregiver Emotional Support Following Child Sexual Abuse: Links With Child Adjustment Problems, Melissa Sitton

Psychology Theses and Dissertations

Emotional support is theorized to be beneficial to youth after experiences of sexual abuse. However, meta-analytic and systematic reviews of the literature indicate inconsistent evidence of relations between caregiver emotional support and youth functioning after sexual abuse. The current study addressed several methodological factors that may have contributed to inconsistent findings in this literature (i.e., small samples, poor measurement of emotional support, collection of data from only one source) and examined relations between caregiver emotional support and youth functioning after sexual abuse. Participants were 460 youth (M_age = 13.78, SD = 1.77) who presented at a child advocacy …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Psy 1001 (General Psychology), Phillip Hamid

Open Educational Resources

An introduction to the problems, methods and concepts of psychology, covering a range of topics which characterize the discipline, including history, methodology and professional ethics, biological foundations, perception, motivation and emotion, learning, memory and thinking, individual differences, intelligence, personality, behavior disorders and their treatment, group processes.

Pubertal Progression And Its Relationship To Psychological And Behavioral Outcomes Among Adolescent Boys, Meng-Che Tsai, Yu-Chung Lawrence Wang, Hsun-Yu Chan

Faculty Publications

Variations in pubertal timing and tempo have relevance to psychosocial development. Accounting for pubertal timing, tempo, and psychosocial development simultaneously in a model remains challenging. This study aimed to document the typology of pubertal development in a cohort of Taiwanese adolescent boys and then to examine how the associations between psychosocial variables across time vary by the patterns of pubertal development. A group of adolescent boys (n = 1,368) reported pubertal signs and psychosocial variables for 3 years since seventh grade. The growth mixture model revealed three major classes of pubertal transition: average pubertal growth, late-onset with rapid catch-up, and …

Insanity Defense Attitudes: The Impact Of Biological Sex, Mental Illness, And Jury Instruction, Haley Moon, Brooke Mann

Psychology Faculty Publications

Approximately 20% of incarcerated individuals in jails and 15% of those in state prisons have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness, meaning that there are approximately 356,000 incarcerated persons with serious mental illness in jails and prisons alone (Torrey et al., 2014). Today, mental health stigma is widely prevalent amongst society and particularly there is a strong stigma associated with mental illness and criminality (Mossière & Maeder, 2015). Society typically perceives verdicts associated with insanity/mental illness as an alternative for not wanting to take responsibility for one’s actions and as a “loop-hole” to get out of serving time (Hans …

Third-Party Reactions To Performance Feedback, Daroon Mohammed Jalil

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Although the provision of feedback has traditionally been treated as a dyadic event, I argue for the existence of a neglected third-party - the witness. Drawing from the dual process model of vicarious mistreatment and feedback intervention theory, I hypothesize that 1) third parties experience negative [positive] affect when witnessing an unjust [just] feedback event, 2) negative [positive] affect is stronger when feedback cues are self-referenced [task-referenced], and 3) negative [positive] affect is related to a subsequent decrease [increase] in feedback seeking intentions. Results from a 2x2 between-subjects experiment with 470 participants provide partial support for the hypotheses. Third-parties experienced …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Self-Identified Politically Conservative Students In Graduate Counseling Programs In Public Universities, Elizabeth A. Orrison

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Professionals within the fields of social science predominantly identify as liberal (Woessner & Kelly-Woessner, 2015) and many issues related to politics, such as power and oppression, are inherent and central to the social science fields (Lerner, 2020). Past research has shown the potential for political bias in academia, which has been linked to the lack of representation of various political identities. Most research on political academic bias is not current, making it difficult to find relevant research on this topic published within the last ten years. Currently, there has been no identified research or scholarly production that specifically explores self-identified …

Nightmares And Self-Injury Among High-Risk Adolescents: Examining The Role Of Emotion Regulation, Kinjal K. Patel

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) are a public health concern among youth. SITB rates rise drastically during adolescence -- a critical and sensitive developmental period characterized by dramatic changes in biological and social systems. Prior research has identified distal risk factors which tell us who is at risk for SITBs. Emerging research suggests proximal risk factors may be useful to identify when an individual may be at risk for SITBs. One promising proximal risk factor for SITBs is sleep problems. Although the relation between sleep problems and SITBs has been widely documented, little is known about the short-term, proximal links …

Exemplar Trans-Affirmative Therapists: A Consensual Qualitative Research Study, Shannon Skaistis

Dissertations (1934 -)

The consensus approach for psychotherapy with transgender and nonbinary clients (TNB) has come to be known as trans-affirmative psychotherapy (TAP). TAP is influenced by a collection of guidelines and models (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2010; APA, 2015; Chang et al., 2017; Singh & dickey, 2017) and a small number of empirical studies related to psychotherapy with transgender clients (e.g., Elder, 2016; McCullough et al., 2017, Mizock & Lundquist, 2016, Morris et al., 2020). However, the limited empirical research and guidelines provide minimal direction to clinicians working in-session with TNB clients. This study sought to investigate the perceptions of exemplar clinicians’ …

Internalizing Symptoms In Autistic Young Adults: Comparing The Cognitive And Physiological Components Of Emotion Regulation, Sarah Lehman

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Autistic people experience co-occurring mental illness at a substantially greater rate compared to their neurotypical counterparts. Of these comorbid psychopathologies, internalizing disorders (anxiety and depression) are among the most prevalent. Emotion dysregulation has been identified as a contributing factor to this phenomenon and potential treatment target. The current study employed cognitive (e.g., use of suppression and use of cognitive reappraisal) and physiological (e.g., respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and heart period) measures to more holistically capture the multifaceted construct of emotion regulation compared to prior research. In a sample of autistic young adults (N = 63) ages 17-29 (M = 20.14), …