Digital Commons Network^™

Dacc Resting State Functional Connectivity As A Predictor Of Pain Symptoms Following Motor Vehicle Crash: A Preliminary Investigation, Jacklynn M. Fitzgerald, Emily L. Belleau, Lauren E. Ehret, Colleen Trevino, Karen J. Brasel, Christine L. Larson, Terri A Deroon-Cassini

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

There is significant heterogeneity in pain outcomes following motor vehicle crashes (MVCs), such that a sizeable portion of individuals develop symptoms of chronic pain months after injury while others recover. Despite variable outcomes, the pathogenesis of chronic pain is

currently unclear. Previous neuroimaging work implicates the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) in adaptive control of pain, while prior resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies find increased functional connectivity (FC) between the dACC and regions involved in pain processing in those with chronic pain. Hyper-connectivity of the dACC to regions that mediate pain response may therefore relate to pain severity. …

Fundamental Principles Of Metacognition: A Qualitative Study Of Metacognition, Pedagogy And Transformation, Philip Hulbig

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study investigated the transformative quality of a metacognitive education. It examined a transformative metacognitive education from both the subjective personal perspective of the student who has gone through the process of transformation and the more objective pedagogical perspective of the professors who work to bring forth such transformational experiences in their students. Through interview and analysis these perspectives were integrated to produce a pedagogical theoretical framework derived from experience and grounded in observations about metacognition across various scientific disciplines. The personal elements of metacognition that promote educational transformation from within the students were contrasted with the pedagogical approaches of …

Gender Role As A Mediating Factor In Gender Pay Equity Analysis, Jillian Ann Girard

Dissertations and Theses

The gender wage gap has been persistent despite the introduction of new laws designed to address the disparity. One of the challenges in addressing this inequity is the lack of complete understanding of the driving factors of the pay gap. One yet unexplored factor is the impact of the gender role, which is a social role based on sex/gender which provides a structure and expectations for social relationships. The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between gender role, biological sex, and base pay. A matched, cross-sectional sample drawn from large U.S. cities was utilized to test the …

Building Resilience, Ma. Regina Hechanova

Magisterial Lectures

Is resilience innate, or is it learned? In this lecture, Dr. Hechanova discusses enabling resilience from a psychological perspective.

Speaker: Maria Regina 'Gina' M. Hechanova-Alampay is a full professor at the Psychology department of the Ateneo de Manila University. Gina has a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the Central Michigan University and obtained her M.A. in Psychology and B.S. degrees from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. She has over 25 years of experience as an HR and organization development practitioner and consultant in both in the Philippines and in the US. She was named Outstanding Young Scientist in …

The Effects Of Major Depressive Disorder On Cognition And The Brain, Ashlee Stewart, Lauren L. Harburger

Modern Psychological Studies

Major depressive disorder is commonly known for its prevalence and impairing effects on the brain and behavior. One such effect is a decrease in processing speed, which leads to slower response times and an increased difficulty performing tasks that require careful attention. Impairments in spatial ability have also been reported in depressed subjects, which may be linked to impairments in executive functioning. GABA is a neurotransmitter that has been shown to play a role in the symptoms of depression. This review will examine the effects of depression on cognitive functioning and the brain, and will suggest that future research examine …

Understanding Fatigue Within A Collegiate Aviation Program, Flavio Mendonca, Julius Keller, Erik Levin, Aaron Teo

Publications

Objective: The purpose of this study was fivefold: to investigate the symptoms that would prompt collegiate aviation pilots perceive they are fatigued; to investigate the time of the day they are most fatigued; to investigate their academic and personal schedules; to investigate the methods collegiate aviation pilots utilize to ensure they are fit to fly; and to investigate whether they have received any academic and/or flight fatigue identification and management training.

Background: Fatigue is a pervasive safety hazard in aviation affecting several aspects of flight crew members’ ability to perform their job. Fatigue in aviation and its consequences has been …

The Effect Of The Difference In The Perception Of Temperature Between Sexes On The Academic Performance Of Chapin High School Students, Tiffany V. Phan

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Mental performance and mental functions may be negatively affected by decreases in thermal comfort as a result of large differences in temperature. Additionally, females are seen to be less content with room temperatures and actually prefer rooms with higher temperatures in comparison to males. This investigation explored the potential effect that sex plays in thermal perception and the impact it may yield on academic performance within a high school population. It was hypothesized that female students would experience an increase in academic performance as the temperature increased while males would experience the opposite effect. A quasi-experimental approach was used to …

Women's Lived Experiences With Benevolent Sexism, Sarah Schwerdel Ma, Lmhc

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

This dissertation sought to explore the ways in which adult women make meaning of experiences of benevolent sexism in their everyday lives. By highlighting the meaning-making process of women who have experienced benevolent sexism, this research provides an important perspective on what it is like to experience gender-based oppression. Understanding that covert forms of sexism have implications for women’s well-being is an essential aspect of social-justice oriented mental health counseling. This phenomenological study focused on the perspectives of twelve adult women who have experienced benevolent sexism. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews. Line by line data analysis of the …

The Effects Of Kindergarten And First Grade Schooling On Executive Function And Academic Skill Development: Evidence From A School Cutoff Design, Matthew H. Kim, Sammy F. Ahmed, Frederick J. Morrison

Psychology Faculty Publications

Early executive function (EF) skills reliably predict school readiness and future academic success. While children’s skills undergo rapid development during the transition to formal schooling, it remains unclear the extent to which schooling exerts a unique influence on the accelerated development of EF and academic skills during the early years of schooling. In the present study, a quasi-experimental technique known as the school cutoff design was used to examine whether same-aged children who made vs. missed the age cutoff for school entry significantly differed on EF, reading, and math outcomes. Data from 166 pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade children (Range …

Anorexia Nervosa And The Family: A Look At Well-Siblings, Parents, And Family Dynamics Through A Family Systems Perspective, Martha Avila-Zavala

Modern Psychological Studies

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is one of the main, and one of the most common types of eating disorders among adolescent individuals, especially females. It is characterized by limited eating, increased amounts of physical activity, low self-esteem, and extreme criticism of oneself and one’s body. An individual diagnosed with AN is greatly physically, mentally, and emotionally affected by it. However, an AN diagnosis also has a significant impact on the whole family. In recent years, the family has been incorporated into the treatment of an individual diagnosed with AN, which has shown to be effective in the recovery process and in …

The Influence Of Cyber-Sexual Assault On The Mental Health Outcomes Of Survivors, Kelley R. Holladay, W. Bryce Hagedorn, David Boote

Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education

Researchers examined data collected from the only national sample of cyber-sexual assault (CBSA) survivors (N = 97; 3.75\% response rate to the online survey) using three valid instruments that measure symptomology of sexual assault. We found that participants scored high across each of the inventories, indicating CBSA survivors respond in ways that are similar to sexual assault survivors concerning emotional dysregulation, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptomology, particularly if they had a history of sexual assault. Implications for counselors are reviewed, and clinical recommendations are offered.

Review Of Innumeracy In The Wild: Misunderstanding And Misusing Numbers By Ellen Peters, Gizem Karaali

Numeracy

Ellen Peters’s new book Innumeracy in the Wild: Misunderstanding and Misusing Numbers (Oxford University Press, 2020) is a whirlwind tour of psychological research on numeracy and its interactions with decision-making. The book is packed full of convincing arguments about the impact of numeracy and innumeracy on people's decisions and life outcomes, piles of supporting evidence and relevant references, and detailed expositions of multitudes of research results. Thus, it can serve the motivated reader well as a comprehensive literature review of psychologically oriented research on numeracy and decision-making.

Parental Buffering In The Context Of Poverty: Positive Parenting Behaviors Differentiate Young Children's Stress Reactivity Profiles, Samantha M. Brown, Lisa J. Schlueter, Eliana Hurwich-Reiss, Julia Dmitrieva, Elly Miles, Sarah Enos Watamura

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Experiencing poverty increases vulnerability for dysregulated hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis functioning and compromises long-term health. Positive parenting buffers children from HPA axis reactivity, yet this has primarily been documented among families not experiencing poverty. We tested the theorized power of positive parenting in 124 parent–child dyads recruited from Early Head Start (Mage = 25.21 months) by examining child cortisol trajectories using five samples collected across a standardized stress paradigm. Piecewise latent growth models revealed that positive parenting buffered children's stress responses when controlling for time of day, last stress task completed, and demographics. Positive parenting also interacted with income such that …

Central Nervous System Intravascular Lymphoma Leading To Rapidly Progressive Dementia, Christie G Turin, Kevin Ting, Anthony Bradshaw, S Richard Dunham, Karen Nunez-Wallace, Shital M Patel, Priti Dangayach, Stephanie Holdener, Weei-Chin Lin

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Intravascular lymphoma is an uncommon subtype of B-cell lymphoma with neoplastic cells limited to the lumen of small blood vessels. We report a case of a 52-year-old man who presented with constitutional symptoms and rapidly progressive dementia. He was found to have diffuse leptomeningeal and faint parenchymal enhancement on magnetic resonance imaging and was subsequently diagnosed with intravascular lymphoma following a brain biopsy. He responded remarkably well to systemic and intrathecal chemotherapy. The diagnosis and treatment of intravascular lymphoma have been guided by a few case reports and are largely based on expert opinion.

Case Conceptualization As An Alternative To Educationally Related Mental Health Assessments, Michael R. Hass, Zack Maupin, Michael Doria

Education Faculty Articles and Research

School psychologists play an essential role in the provision of school-based mental health services yet continue to spend the majority of their time conducting psychoeducational assessments. In California, changes in law regarding the provision of mental health services have increased the tension around the role of school psychologists and led to models for determining the need for mental health services that are inefficient and present a potential barrier to students receiving services in a timely manner. The paper proposes case conceptualization as a more useful and efficient approach, than traditional assessment processes for determining students’ mental needs and writing goals.

Pay Your Debts: Moral Dilemmas Of International Debt, Alessandro Del Ponte, Peter Descioli

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Should a government repay its international debts even if this imposes severe hardships on its citizens? Drawing on moral psychology, we investigate when people think a government is morally obligated to pay its debts. Participants read about a government that has to decide whether to default on its debt payments or cut vital programs. Across conditions, we varied the number of jobs at stake and whether a full or partial default is required to save them. Overall, most participants judged that a government should pay its debt even when the damage to the debtor is greater than the benefit to …

Recallable But Not Recognizable: The Influence Of Semantic Priming In Recall Paradigms, Jason D. Ozubko, Lindsey Ann Sirianni, Fahad N. Ahmad, Colin M. Macleod, Richard Addante

Psychology Faculty Publications

When people can successfully recall a studied word, they should be able to recognize it as having been studied. In cued-recall paradigms, however, participants sometimes correctly recall words in the presence of strong semantic cues but then fail to recognize those words as actually having been studied. Although the conditions necessary to produce this unusual effect are known, the underlying neural correlates have not been investigated. Across five experiments, involving both behavioral and electrophysiological methods (EEG), we investigated the cognitive and neural processes that underlie recognition failures. Experiments 1 and 2 showed behaviorally that assuming that recalled items can be …

An Analysis Of Education As A Moderator Of The Relationship Of Discrimination To Depression, Jeavonna M. Coble

Theses and Dissertations

Racism has been observed as a highly prevalent psychosocial stressor across minorities, and consistently associated with depression across racial/ethnic groups. However, existing evidence is unclear on effective buffers of discrimination to depression. Researchers have hypothesized that education may mitigate discrimination’s effects on negative mental health outcomes. Evidence evaluating education as a buffer on the relations of discrimination to depression is limited. The analysis is further complicated as the evidence linking education level to discrimination exposure is also mixed. Although some studies indicate lower education levels are associated with greater perceived racism, many studies indicate an association of higher education with …

Institutional Labels: A Language-Based Approach To Decreasing Stigma Associated With Schizophrenia And Psychiatric Hospitalization, Jaime Taylor Grabow

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with schizophrenia that have experienced psychiatric hospitalization are one of the most stigmatized populations of the mental health field. The language that is utilized to describe this population is linked with the perpetuation of stigmatizing attitudes associated with schizophrenia and psychiatric hospitalization. Altering the type of language that is used to describe these individuals can decrease stigma. Participants (N=79) were asked to read a description of a character where the language used reflected either a strength-based approach or a deficit-based approach to schizophrenia and psychiatric hospitalization. The characters are individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia that have recently been discharged from …

Adaptation And Translation Of Autism Spectrum Disorder Rating Scales For School-Age Children: Evaluating Adherence To The International Test Commission Guidelines, Tamanna Chhabra

Theses and Dissertations

he current review examines adaptations and translations of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) rating scales for school-aged children around the world. ASD rating scales are a quick and efficient way to diagnosing ASD, and adaptations of ASD scales offer low-cost methods to make tools available around the world. The International Test Commission guidelines (ITC, 2017) provide a rigorous framework for researchers to adapt and translate psychological tests. This review used the X-CAGAM (Duke, 2019) a tool developed to operationalize the guidelines to examine how well the selected ASD measures adhere to the ITC guidelines. Fourteen adaptations and translations were included in …

The Impact Of A Brief Gratitude Journaling Intervention On Third Grade Students Attending An Orthodox Jewish Elementary School In New York, Tamar Gassner

Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of positive psychology has focused on the beneficial effects of gratitude on overall wellbeing. Recent studies have demonstrated that anxiety and depressive disorders are increasingly common among youth in the United States. Further, both anxiety and depression have been linked to other comorbid mental health conditions, such as dysthymia, disruptive disorder, and substance abuse disorder. Moreover, anxiety and depression are associated with negative social and academic outcomes. Considering the prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders among youth and the associated comorbidities, it is vital to direct efforts towards prevention and early intervention. The literature supports a …

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy For Anxiety In Youth With Autism: Paving The Way To Evidence-Based Practice, Michelle M. Kirkland

Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is one of the most common and debilitating conditions co-occurring with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as it occurs in up to 84% of individuals and can influence poor psychosocial adjustment, disruptions in individual, familial and school functioning, increased emotional and behavioral problems, self-injurious behavior(s), and an overall reduced quality of life (Meyer, Mundy, Van Hecke, & Durocher, 2006; Nadeau et al., 2011; Farrugia & Hudson, 2006; Kerns et al., 2015). To date, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), an evidence-based treatment for anxiety in neurotypical youth, has seen modest, yet limited, promise in treating anxiety in youth with ASD. With extant research …

The Resulting Mental Health Pandemic From Covid-19: Research And Resources For Social Workers, Ami Lynch

Social Work Student Works

The COVID-19 pandemic will have long-lasting mental health impacts on hundreds of millions more worldwide than the contagion itself. Social workers are seeing increases in depression, anxiety, suicidality, and post-traumatic stress disorder and other negative mental health impacts. Because of this, social workers in all environments and modalities of practice need to be well-trained, agile, and energized while facing the pandemic themselves. This report compiles the impacts and concerns for a variety of social workers and their clients into a single, digestible source, supplemented by the “COVID-19 Resource Compendium for Social Workers and Their Clients”. Social workers must practice self-care, …

The Negative Impacts Of Cishet Values: An Exploration Of Lgbqtia+ Representation Within Emerging Adult Relationship Research, Kristina Betz

Psychology Student Scholarship

The hegemony informs epistemological assumptions within the field of psychology, and thus, psychological research is informed by the heteropatriarchy. Emerging adult relationships are rooted in cishet values, heteronormative and cisnormative values, erasing LGBTQIA+ romantic relationships. Emerging adult relationship research promotes cishet values by disregarding gender and sexuality spectrums through the expectations of binary gender and sexualities which produces data that cannot be generalized (Brassard et al., 2018; James-Kangal et al., 2019). Future research must utilize sample groups that include multidimensional social identities and researchers must internalize the importance of examining their dichotomized biases. Metanalytic studies and a broader critique are …

Understanding The Influence Of Childhood Experiences On The Development Of Female Sexual Perpetrators Against Underage Individuals, Cassandra Marie Hershman

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Females who are perpetrators of sexual offenses are an understudied population. Due to societies’ failure to recognize that female perpetrators exist and to recognize their abuse when it occurs, sexual abuse completed by females often goes unreported. As a result, females engaging in sexual offenses, particularly pedophilia, is seen as a rare occurrence. However, research suggests that the actual rate of female pedophilic behavior is occurring at a rate three-four times higher than what is actually reported (Cortoni, Babchishin, & Rat, 2017). This study used anonymous data from 2,828 adult females in the IRB approved study [127810-11] Effects of Recalled …

Understanding And Improving Coordination Efficiency In The Minimum Effort Game: Counterfactual- And Behavioral-Based Nudging And Cognitive Modeling, Alexander R. Hough

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Individuals often need to coordinate with others to pursue and achieve goals. However, individuals often fail to coordinate on any choice or on efficient (i.e., higher reward) choices. Researchers addressing coordination failure often used invasive methods ranging in complexity and generalizability with minimal success. There are also no clear measures for coordination behaviors. Here, I used a more parsimonious and generalizable method: Using counterfactuals (i.e., hypothetical outcomes had they or other players chosen differently) to nudge (i.e., indirectly guide and allow for free choice) individuals towards choosing options that are more likely to result in efficient coordination. I simulated a …

Political Partisanship And Male High School Students Who Carry Handguns, John Page, Wayne L. Davis

Lincoln Memorial University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Handguns play a significant role in criminal activity. About 66% of all murders and 40% of robberies involve firearms. Because there are about than 470 residents for each full-time police officer in America, the police cannot effectively protect individual citizens. According to the differential association theory, criminality is a product of shared values, motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes that can be influenced by perceptions of the legal code. Democrats and Republicans have different views on reducing social harm via gun-control legal codes, and each political party creates its own unique ambience. Indeed, because each political party believes that its gun-control …

Prevalence Rates Of Antisocial Behaviors In Generation Z, Adrianna J. Valencia

Honors Undergraduate Theses

A review of the scholarly literature suggests that mental health struggles in Generation Z have escalated in recent years. However, there is a lack of psychological research that examines antisocial behaviors in Generation Z. This study aims to determine the prevalence rates of antisocial behaviors in Generation Z. It was hypothesized that our sample of Generation Z students would show higher prevalence rates of antisocial behaviors than previous generations. We examined the data collected from our survey, which was composed of demographic and antisocial personality disorder questions. A one-way ANOVA, revealed significant differences in the categories of age, gender, school …

Predicting Objective Career Success: An Examination Of Leadership And Proactive Personality, Isabella M. Guerrero

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The overall purpose of this study is to examine whether proactive personality and leadership style (transactional and transformational) of university students help predict their academic and professional success. Students from the University of Central Florida were recruited through SONA to participate in an online Qualtrics survey. Proactive personality was measured using the Proactive Personality Scale developed by Crant and Bateman (1993). Leadership was measured using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) created by Bernard M. Bass (1985). Academic success was measured using GPA. Professional success was measured by the given promotions (raises) a student experienced in their specific job divided by …

The Development, Implementation, And Assessment Of A Stress Management Group Counseling Curriculum For Gifted Middle School Students, Chelsey Windl

Counselor Education Theses

Gifted students are a special population that is often forgotten about (Wood & Peterson, 2018). They are a diverse group of students with very unique needs. School counselors and other educators must develop their knowledge and skills for working this group. Although it may seem like they are capable of handling the academic rigor and stress associated with being part of a gifted program, this may not be the case. Research has shown that they are just as likely to have mental health issues (e.g., anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, etc.) as their peers (Wood & Peterson, 2018; Moon, 2009). Gifted …