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Intergenerational Risk And Resilience Pathways From Discrimination And Acculturative Stress To Infant Mental Health, Sabrina R. Liu, Curt A. Sandman, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Preconception and prenatal stress impact fetal and infant development, and women of color are disproportionately exposed to sociocultural stressors like discrimination and acculturative stress. However, few studies examine links between mothers’ exposure to these stressors and offspring mental health, or possible mitigating factors. Using linear regression, we tested associations between prenatally assessed maternal acculturative stress and discrimination on infant negative emotionality among 113 Latinx/Hispanic, Asian American, Black, and Multiethnic mothers and their children. Additionally, we tested interactions between stressors and potential pre- and postnatal resilience-promoting factors: community cohesion, social support, communalism, and parenting self-efficacy. Discrimination and acculturative stress were related …

Selectivity And Sociality: Aggression And Affiliation Shape Vole Social Relationships, Nicole S. Lee, Annaliese K. Beery

Psychology: Faculty Publications

The formation of selective social relationships is not a requirement of group living; sociality can be supported by motivation for social interaction in the absence of preferences for specific individuals, and by tolerance in place of social motivation. For species that form selective social relationships, these can be maintained by preference for familiar partners, as well as by avoidance of or aggression toward individuals outside of the social bond. In this review, we explore the roles that aggression, motivation, and tolerance play in the maintenance of selective affiliation. We focus on prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) and meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) …

Does Optic Flow Provide Information About Actions?, Hannah Masoner

Dissertations

Optic flow, the pattern of light generated in the visual field by motion of objects and the observer’s body, serves as information that underwrites perception of events, actions and affordances. This visual pattern informs the observer about their own actions in relation to their surroundings, as well as those of others. This study explored the limits of action detection for others as well as the role of optic flow. First-person videos were created using camera recordings of the actor’s perspective as they performed various movements (jumping jacks, jumping, squatting, sitting, etc.). In three experiments participants attempted to detect the action …

Event-Related Correlates Of Evolving Trust Evaluations, Ariel W. Snowden, Allison S. Hancock, Catalin V. Buhusi, Christopher M. Warren

Psychology Student Research

Accurate decisions about whether to trust someone are critical for adaptive social behavior. Previous research into trustworthiness decisions about face stimuli have focused on individuals. Here, decisions about groups of people are made cumulatively on the basis of sequences of faces. Participants chose to either increase or withdraw an initial investment in mock companies based on how trustworthy the company representatives (face stimuli) appeared. Companies were formed using participant trust ratings from the previous week, to create strong trustworthy, weak trustworthy, weak untrustworthy, and strong untrustworthy companies. Participants made faster, more accurate decisions for companies carrying stronger evidence (e.g., faces …

Examining The Role Of Social Support And Neighborhood Deprivation In The Relationship Between Multiple Aces And Health Risk Behaviors, Marin L. Henderson-Posther

Dissertations and Theses

The accumulation of multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is associated with the disproportionate development of health risk behaviors (HRBs), such as smoking, substance use, physical inactivity, and risky HIV behaviors. The impact of neighborhood social inequities on the association between multiple ACEs and HRBs is not well known. This study aims to examine the impact of stressors associated with neighborhood deprivation on ACE-related HRBs, the potential protective factor of perceived social support (PSS), as well as better understand disproportionality experienced by racial/ethnic minorities. Through merging data from the 2010 Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey (n = …

Evaluation Of Hippocampal Allostatic Load-Associated Factors In Animal Models Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Relevance To Human Ptsd, Dennis Parker Kelley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with elevated allostatic load, nearly double the risk for metabolic syndrome, reduced hippocampal volume, and contextual memory processing deficits. Emerging evidence suggests that these stress effects may predispose individuals to the development of PTSD, and there is a known relationship between chronic stress and metabolic dysfunction. In this work, we utilized two rat models of PTSD to explore these connections. We used an acute predator odor stressor to investigate the relationship between PTSD-like behaviors and mitochondrial dysfunction in the hippocampus of rats, and we observed that conditioned place avoidance was associated with reduced mitochondrial …

The Importance Of Health Literacy: A Student-Led Workshop On Lay Communication, Sarah Jean Kamp, Jafra D. Thomas

Kinesiology and Public Health

The purpose of this experiential senior project workshop was to advance the knowledge and practice of health communication by (a) delivering a training workshop to Cal Poly undergraduate students and (b) by exploring the relationship between health literacy and effective communication through completion of a rapid review of the literature. The reviewed literature served the purpose of helping the student further design the workshop to elicit a foundational understanding of the elements of effective communication of health information as well as the history and evolution of health literacy as a concept. The workshop revised and delivered by the student was …

Emergent Intra-Pair Sex Differences And Organized Behavior In Pair Bonded Prairie Voles (Microtus Ochrogaster), Liza E. Brusman, David S.W. Protter, Allison C. Fultz, Maya U. Paulson, Gabriel D. Chapel, Isaiah O. Elges, Ryan T. Cameron, Annaliese K. Beery, Zoe R. Donaldson

Psychology: Faculty Publications

In pair bonding animals, coordinated behavior between partners is required for the pair to accomplish shared goals such as raising young. Despite this, experimental designs rarely assess the behavior of both partners within a bonded pair. Thus, we lack an understanding of the interdependent behavioral dynamics between partners that likely facilitate relationship success. To identify intra-pair behavioral correlates of pair bonding, we used socially monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) and tested both partners using social choice and non-choice tests at short- and long-term pairing timepoints. Females developed a preference for their partner more rapidly than males, with preference driven by …

Sex Differences In The Reward Value Of Familiar Mates In Prairie Voles, Daniel M. Vahaba, Emily R. Halstead, Zoe R. Donaldson, Todd H. Ahern, Annaliese K. Beery

Psychology: Faculty Publications

The rewarding properties of social interactions facilitate relationship formation and maintenance. Prairie voles are one of the few laboratory species that form selective relationships, manifested as “partner preferences” for familiar partners versus strangers. While both sexes exhibit strong partner preferences, this similarity in outward behavior likely results from sex-specific neurobiological mechanisms. We recently demonstrated that in operant trials, females worked hardest for access to familiar conspecifics of either sex, while males worked equally hard for access to any female, indicating a sex difference in social motivation. As tests were performed with one social target at a time, males might have …

Pervasive Neglect Of Sex Differences In Biomedical Research, Irving Zucker, Brian J. Prendergast, Annaliese K. Beery

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Females have long been underrepresented in preclinical research and clinical drug trials. Directives by the U.S. National Institutes of Health have increased female participation in research protocols, although analysis of outcomes by sex remains infrequent. The long-held view that traits of female rats and mice are more variable than those of males is discredited, supporting equal representation of both sexes in most studies. Drug pharmacokinetic analysis reveals that, among subjects administered a standard drug dose, women are exposed to higher blood drug concentrations and longer drug elimination times. This contributes to increased adverse drug reactions in women and suggests that …

A Meta-Analysis: The Relationship Between Connectedness To Nature And Well-Being, Naomi Wu

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Ecotherapy and nature-based interventions have been shown to be evidence-based treatment for physical and mental health. The rekindling of the human and nature relationship helps cultivate a bi-directional, reciprocal circle of healing. The resulting benefit is the increased well-being of individuals, society, and the earth. This study is a meta-analytic review of 13 articles (22 studies) to examine the relationship between connection to nature and various domains of well-being, including emotional, psychological, social, and overall. Eligibility criteria for the study were the inclusion of at least one measure of connectedness to nature, one measure of well-being or life satisfaction, and …

Gender Does Not Equal Genitalia: A Review Of The Implications Of Inclusivity In School-Based Sexual Health Education On The Identity Development Of Non-Binary And Transgender Adolescents, Sol N. Rise

University Honors Theses

Abstinence-only based sexual education has historically been the predominant form of school-based sexuality and sexual health education in the United States since the early 1900s. In recent years, there has been an emergence of more expansive and inclusive comprehensive education, however, both types of sexual education continue to affirm hetero- and cis-centric social and cultural norms around gender and sexual identity that leave transgender and non-binary youth at increased risk of poor psychological well-being and physical health outcomes compared to their peers. There have been considerable recommendations within the discourse community for the linguistic de-gendering of anatomy and anatomical processes, …

Child Success And Parental Marital Status: The Impact Of Mental Health, Poverty, And Trauma, Cambria Ort

University Honors Theses

Children are brought into this world under many different circumstances and to many different families. Some are planned, some are not; all come from families with a range of income, relationship status, and experiences. Throughout a child's life, there can be many changes in the family unit that impact the ways parents are available to care for their children. This includes divorce/separation, incarceration, co-parenting, married life, etc., relationship statuses may change over time. Different life stressors impact the financial wellbeing of a family and parents’ ability to spend time with their children. This study used secondary data analysis of the …

Factors Contributing To The Recognition Of A Potential Nonsexual Multiple Relationship, Nikki Patel

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Clinical psychologists encounter situations for which no prescriptive professional standards exist, necessitating therapists’ judgment to determine an appropriate course of action. This study examines the first step of therapists’ decision-making process—recognition of the potential for a nonsexual multiple relationship. Based on the existing literature and previous empirical findings, our hypotheses are that (1) therapist sex (female), higher scores on the PAQ Expressivity (femininity) scale, higher scores on the VIA-IS-V3 Self-control scale, and participants’ ranking Nonmaleficence as the most important ethical principle would be significantly (positively) predictive of Recognition scores, (2) higher scores on the PAQ Instrumentality (masculinity) scale, higher scores …

Sexual Coercion, Unintended Pregnancy, And Poor Reproductive Health Among Adolescent Girls (Aged 13 - 19) In Mexico, Arun Kumar Acharya, Maria Luisa Martinez

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In Mexico, nearly 23,000 adolescents between the ages of 12-17 years suffer sexual coercion every year. This group also has a high birth rate of 77/1,000 adolescents, which indicates that one in every five pregnant women is an adolescent. This study describes the sexual coercion of victims and their views regarding the experience based on data collected from 37 Mexican girls between the age of 13 to 19, selected purposively using the snowball method in Monterrey city, Mexico. Results indicate that sexual coercion among adolescents is a serious problem, where 70% of adolescents experienced vaginal sexual coercion, nearly 22% experienced …

Cognitive Control Processes In Behavior Therapy For Youth With Tourette’S Disorder, Joseph F. Mcguire, Alexandra Sturm, Emily J. Ricketts, Gabrielle E. Montalbano, Susanna Chang, Douglas W. Woods, James Mccracken, John Piacentini

Psychological Science Faculty Works

Background

Cognitive control processes are implicated in the behavioral treatment of Tourette’s disorder (TD). However, the influence of these processes on treatment outcomes has received minimal attention. This study examined whether cognitive control processes and/or tic suppression predicted reductions in tic severity and treatment response to behavior therapy.

Method

Fifty-three youth with TD or a pervasive tic disorder participated in a randomized wait list-controlled trial of behavior therapy. Following a baseline assessment to evaluate psychiatric diagnoses, tic severity, and cognitive control processes (e.g., response selection, inhibition, and suppression), youth were randomly assigned to receive eight sessions of behavior therapy ( …

The Diversity Of Norm Psychologies: A Challenge For The Law, Paul Sheldon Davies

William & Mary Law Review

Can we craft a coherent set of laws applicable to populations with deep cultural diversity? The full force of this question—call it the generalization challenge—has emerged recently thanks to advances in the sciences of the human, especially theories of neuroscience and psychology framed by theories of biological and especially cultural evolution. The goal of this Article is to describe enough of those advances to make clear the force of the challenge. The motivation is simple: as we endeavor to imagine the future of law in light of discoveries in neuroscience and related disciplines, being apprised of the generalization challenge may …

Developmental Trajectories Of Positive Emotion Regulation: The Moderating Effects Of Gender And Parenting, Hailey Caudle

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

This study examined the frequency of daily positive events as a predictor of positive emotion regulation strategies in adolescence, particularly dampening and positive rumination. Furthermore, I hypothesized this relationship may be moderated by the gender of the adolescent and their parent’s socialization of positive emotion, through enhancing or dampening their adolescent’s positive emotion. Lastly, I hypothesized that the moderation of parental socialization of positive emotion on emotion regulation would differ based on the gender of the adolescent. Adolescents in Belgium participated in a longitudinal self-report study (n_baseline= 815) assessed at three timepoints. Cross-sectionally, daily positive events significantly …

Self-Compassion Mediates The Link Between Attachment Security And Intimate Relationship Quality For Couples Navigating Pregnancy, Tuyen Huynh, Eric Phillips, Rebecca L. Brock

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Millions of couples navigate the transition from pregnancy to postpartum in a given year, and this period of change and adjustment in the family is associated with elevated risk for intimate relationship dysfunction. Self-compassion has the potential to promote skills that are essential for healthy adaptation (e.g., emotion regulation, greater openness and flexibility, more awareness of the needs of oneself and one’s partner). The overarching goal of the present study was to investigate the role of self-compassion in intimate relationship quality during pregnancy. A sample of 159 couples completed semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Parents engaging in more compassionate self-responding during …

Differences In List Learning Performance On The Moca Wordlist And Shepherd Verbal Learning Test In Cognitively Normal, Mci, And Ad Individuals, Gabrielle Montgomery Gavitt

Theses and Dissertations

Title: Differences in List Learning Performance on the MoCA wordlist and Shepherd Verbal Learning Test in Cognitively Normal, MCI, and AD Individuals Author: Gabrielle Montgomery Gavitt, M.S. Major Advisor: Anthony LoGalbo, Ph.D. Objective: The present study examines performance on the MoCA wordlist and SVLT wordlist and their association with the outcomes of healthy, MCI, and AD in a memory disorder clinic sample and community sample. Method: Archival data form 125 Health First Memory Disorder Clinic patients was utilized. Data from a community sample of geriatric individuals was also utilized. Participants were included if they were administered both the MoCA and …

Current State Of Inclusion Education: A Cross-State Analysis Of Compliance, Teacher Certification, And Students With Disabilities Academic Outcomes, Emily Rose Winters

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Since passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) there has been a legal requirement to provide students with disabilities the most inclusive education possible (Winchell et al., 2018) while Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 requires that education be delivered by highly qualified teachers. Despite this, there have been minimal parameters set by the federal government in relation to inclusion education implementation or what constitutes a highly qualified teacher leading to significant variance in state inclusion education methods (Westling, 2019) and requirements for initial teaching certification or licensure (United States Department of Education, 2019; Youngs et al., 2003). …

Pathways From Child Maltreatment To Proactive And Reactive Aggression: The Role Of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptom Clusters, Elizabeth M. Mcrae, Laura Stoppelbein, Sarah E. O'Kelley, Paula K. Fite, Shana B. Smith

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Objective: Childhood aggression is related to a myriad of negative concurrent and long-term outcomes. To mitigate the risks associated with childhood aggression, it is important to understand risk factors that might predispose one to aggressive behaviors. One risk factor commonly associated with aggression is the experience of child maltreatment. A common outcome associated with child maltreatment is the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Several prevailing theoretical models of both post-traumatic stress and aggression indicate that these constructs have similar underlying cognitive, behavioral, and emotional mechanisms. Therefore, the present study examined the relations between and among child maltreatment, PTSS clusters, …

“I Went Into This As One Person, And Then Came Out A Totally Different Person”: Native Lgbtq2s+ Young Adults’ Conceptions Of Trauma, Rachel M. Schmitz, Ruby Charak

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Intersecting sources of stigma influence harmful mental health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2S+) young adults (YA) of color as they must manage multiple oppressions. Experiencing both mental health challenges and victimization, LGBTQ2S+ YA of color struggle with distinctive psychological traumas. There is a critical need to determine how certain groups of LGBTQ2S+ YA of color’s marginalized social statuses shape trauma understandings. Native LGBTQ2S+ people in general endure diverse forms of oppression and trauma, such as histories of colonialism, contemporary racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism. Understanding the subjective interpretations of violence and trauma among Native LGBTQ2S+ …

Comparison Of The Gad-7 And Impact Symptom Cluster Scores In Measuring Anxiety Among College Athletes, Robert Steven Cruz

Theses and Dissertations

Assessing the needs of mental health among college athletes is important given the prevalence rates, stigma, and complications that may arise after experiencing a concussion. Utilizing the General Anxiety Disorder- 7 (GAD-7) as an independent measure of anxiety at concussion baseline evaluation was explored among Division II collegiate athletes (n=568), which also included the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) symptom clusters. ImPACT symptom clusters can be divided into four cluster (affective, cognitive, physical/somatic, and sleep) encompassing a 22-item self-report questionnaire. Simple linear regressions revealed that GAD-7 total score was significantly predicted by all four ImPACT symptom clusters. The …

Marital Satisfaction, Parental Stress, & Perceived Social Support Of Mothers Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Miriam Khiari Millan

Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the effects of both formal and informal social supports on mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder’s marital satisfaction and parental stress. To our knowledge, no other study has examined the relationship between various formal support types and marital satisfaction. This study aimed to fill this gap by examining the effects of both formal and informal social supports on mothers of children with ASD’s marital satisfaction and maternal stress. A sample of 151 mothers of children with ASD completed the online survey, assessing their use of formal and informal supports, their perceived effectiveness of said social …

Psychophysiological Predictors Of Change In Emotion Dysregulation 6 Months After Traumatic Injury, Jacklynn M. Fitzgerald, Sydney Clare Timmer-Murillo, Claire Sheeran, Hailey Begg, Morgan Christoph, Terri A Deroon-Cassini, Christine L. Larson

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Emotional dysregulation that occurs after trauma conveys risk for multiple disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Psychophysiological data (e.g., skin conductance level [SCL]) may be a useful biomarker for quantifying emotion dysregulation given that autonomic nervous system (ANS)-mediated arousal may underlie this feature. In this longitudinal study, we tested whether SCL collected following a single-incident traumatic injury could predict changes in emotion dysregulation over 6 months. Sixty-six adults were recruited from the emergency department; SCL was quantified during an active trauma narrative, in which participants re-told their traumatic event to a research staff member, as well as a …

Cognitive Control Processes In Behavior Therapy For Youth With Tourette’S Disorder, Joseph F. Mcguire, Alexandra Sturm, Emily J. Ricketts, Gabrielle E. Montalbano, Susanna W. Chang, Sandra K. Loo, Douglas W. Woods, James T. Mccracken, John Piacentini

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Cognitive control processes are implicated in the behavioral treatment of Tourette’s disorder (TD). However, the influence of these processes on treatment outcomes has received minimal attention. This study examined whether cognitive control processes and/or tic suppression predicted reductions in tic severity and treatment response to behavior therapy.

Method

Fifty-three youth with TD or a pervasive tic disorder participated in a randomized wait list-controlled trial of behavior therapy. Following a baseline assessment to evaluate psychiatric diagnoses, tic severity, and cognitive control processes (e.g., response selection, inhibition, and suppression), youth were randomly assigned to receive eight sessions of behavior therapy ( …

Examining Differences In Parenting Stress, Parenting Efficacy, And Household Context Among Mothers Of Youth With Autism And/Or Adhd, Hillary K. Schiltz, Alana J. Mcvey, Kelsey Gonring, Angela D. Haendel, Christina Murphy, Amy V. Van Hecke, Alyson C. Gerdes

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Parents of youth with neurodevelopmental disorders experience unique stressors in family functioning when compared to parents of neurotypical youth. A paucity of research, however, has examined differences in parenting experiences across families of youth with varying neurodevelopmental disorder presentations. This paper focuses on two common and frequently co-occurring conditions: autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In this study, we compared parenting stress, parenting efficacy, and the household context across a sample of 90 mothers of adolescents ages 11–16 years with (1) autism, (2) ADHD, or (3) autism and clinically-elevated ADHD symptoms (Autism + ADHD). Our findings demonstrated differences in …

Perceived Cultural Impacts Of Climate Change Motivate Climate Action And Support For Climate Policy, Kim-Pong Tam, Angela K. Y. Leung, Brandon Koh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The impacts of climate change on human cultures have received increasing attention in recent years. However, the extent to which people are aware of these impacts, whether such awareness motivates climate action, and what kinds of people show stronger awareness are rarely understood. The present investigation provides the very first set of answers to these questions. In two studies (with a student sample with N = 199 from Singapore and a demographically representative sample with N = 625 from the USA), we observed a generally high level of awareness among our participants. Most importantly, perceived cultural impacts of climate change …

A Systematic Literature Review On The Resilience Reported By Bipoc In The Face Of Discrimination, Lianelys Cabrera Martinez, Aldo Barrita, Gloria Wong-Padoongpatt

Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal

The present study is a systematic literature review on the psychology of resilience, or the ability to bounce back after a difficult situation (Smith, 2008). Although resilience is a timely and relevant variable in social psychology, little is known about its connection to the racism-related experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). This review explores how resilience manifests in the BIPOC community and its influence on the identity of minority groups. Previous research has shown that BIPOC reports higher resilience (Carter, 2012); however, there is still uncertainty around its connection to discrimination. Through the analysis of nine final …