Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Resilience Intervention On College Students' Mental Illness And Subsequent Alcohol Use, Aitiana Ivonne Sanchez-Garciaguirre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mental illness and stigma surrounding mental illness are common among college-aged individuals. Alcohol use is also common among college-aged individuals, and often coexists with increased symptoms of mental illness, leading to unhealthy perpetual coping mechanisms. However, increased resilience and adaptive coping strategies may suppress the need to use alcohol as a coping mechanism when experiencing symptoms of mental illness and the stigma associated with it. The present study sought to utilize a resilience intervention to increase resilience and adaptive coping strategies among Hispanic college students to reduce their alcohol use and experiences of depression and/or anxiety. Additionally, the present study …

Race, Severe Mental Illness, And Crime: An Intersectional Look Into Stigma And Policy Implications, Elena Therese Vaudreuil

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Criminal behavior has been a long-discussed topic in the United States and often is tied to characteristics such as race and mental illness. The presumed connection between criminal behavior and being a member of a racial minority group or having a mental illness have been researched for years, however few researchers have sought to take an intersectional approach to investigate the unique experiences of people belonging to both groups in the criminal legal system. Using the lenses of attribution and intersectionality theories, the proposed studies sought to understand the effect of race that influences policy support of justice-involved people with …

Exploring The Barriers To Mental Health Treatment Among Justice-Involved Women Living In The U.S.-México Border Region, Rebekah Ruth Adair-Russell

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For women in the criminal justice system, mental illness is a complicated and prevalent factor, with rates ranging from 49.2% to 67.9% (Bronson & Berzofsky, 2017). To address the mental health care that justice-involved women need, scholars have called for a closer examination of barriers that hinder access to mental health and substance use treatment among this population (Winham et al., 2015; Wilfong et al., 2021). Barriers to treatment can be attitudinal (i.e., stigma and fear) or structural (i.e., transportation, cost of treatment), yet few, if any, studies have examined how these barriers present in a group of justice-involved women …

Examining The Effects Of Acute And Chronic Stress On The Interrogative Suggestibility Of Young Adults, Claudia Cota

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

High-stress situations, like police interrogations, can hinder an individual's decision-making and critical-thinking ability (Liston et al., 2009), making them more susceptible to suggestive or leading messages during questioning. While research on suggestibility mainly focuses on children and adolescents, young adults may also be vulnerable to suggestion because of their sensitivity to social feedback (Blakemore & Mills, 2014; Redlich & Goodman, 2003). Since the legal consequences of suggestibility for young adults are more severe than for children or adolescents, it is essential to examine the role of stress in young adults' suggestibility. The present study used objective and subjective methods to …

Ventral Hippocampus Mediates Inter-Trial Responding In Signaled Active Avoidance, Cecily R. Oleksiak, Samantha L. Plas, Denise Carriaga, Krithika Vasudevan, Stephen Maren, Justin M. Moscarello

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Highlights

• Ventral hippocampus mediates inter-trial responses in signaled active avoidance

• Ventral hippocampus DREADD activation drives inter-trial responding across contexts

• Context fear reduction through extinction does not reduce inter-trial responses

Abstract

The hippocampus has a central role in regulating contextual processes in memory. We have shown that pharmacological inactivation of ventral hippocampus (VH) attenuates the context-dependence of signaled active avoidance (SAA) in rats. Here, we explore whether the VH mediates intertrial responses (ITRs), which are putative unreinforced avoidance responses that occur between trials. First, we examined whether VH inactivation would affect ITRs. Male rats underwent SAA training and subsequently received intra-VH …

Exploring Peer Perspectives On Autistic Students: A Vignette Study, Justin Linville

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A 2x2 design was undertaken to determine the effects of vignette character gender and autism disclosure status on social distance scores, reading comprehension performance, and false memory induction. The introduction focuses on the theoretical threads taken from the autism, false memory, and gender literatures and how they combine to create the underpinning of the current design. A second more controlled study was compelled by initial false impressions of the deleterious effects of fast completion times. This second study resulted in lengthened completion times and improved vignette comprehension. Two-way MANOVAs with gender and autism disclosure serving as independent variables on the …

Discerning Moral Injury, Alexandra A. Merletti

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Moral injury is a recently developed psychological construct used to explain trauma that cannot be adequately explained by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It arises from experiences in which sufferers feel that they have violated deeply held moral beliefs and has multiple negative long term health and professional consequences for individuals affected. In order to better understand moral injury, this study seeks to understand how it is identified in individuals by others and utilizes Christie’s (2018) Ideal Victim Theory and Gray and Wegner’s (2009) Moral Typecasting Theory as a theoretical framework. Participants for this study were 374 undergraduate students at the …

Navigating Mental Health During Covid-19: Considerations Of Childhood Adversity, Pandemic Stress, And Loneliness, Linnea Rose Swanson

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The purpose of this dissertation study was twofold. First, to determine if the addition of bullying victimization to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Questionnaire (Felitti et al., 1998) would result in a stronger measure of childhood adversity; second to examine the interaction between ACEs, pandemic stress, loneliness, and internalizing symptoms in a sample of young adults living in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. ACEs are linked to negative outcomes in adulthood including mental health problems, stress, and loneliness. During the pandemic, increased levels of stress and loneliness were associated with higher rates of internalizing disorders among young adults. …

The Relationship Between Wisdom As Self-Transcendence And Employee Adaptive Performance: The Mediating Role Of Openness, Saeed Andaji Garmaroudi

All Dissertations

This dissertation delves into the exploration of wisdom as self-transcendence within organizational contexts. Self-transcendence is characterized by qualities such as a sense of connectedness with others and the world, moral maturity, the experience of emotions such as peace and awe, and a sense of life's meaningfulness. While self-transcendence is shown to be generally associated with positive outcomes, this dissertation takes a specific focus, aiming to empirically investigate whether these positive consequences of self-transcendence extend to organizational settings to positively impact organizationally-desired outcomes. Specifically, the study seeks to investigate the relationship between employees’ wisdom as self-transcendence and their adaptive performance. Given …

Lived Experiences, Migration Journey, Religiosity, And Spirituality Depicted In Drawings By Latino Children And Youth Crossing The U.S. Mexican Border: A Qualitative Study., Doroty Magalhaes Sato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Widespread violence forces thousands of Central American children to endure a hazardous journey toward the U.S. Border seeking refuge. In the Latino community, faith serves as a social movement of resistance against oppression, playing a vital role in migration. There is a paucity of research documenting this experience and children's overall journey. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the lived experience of crossing international borders, religiosity, and spirituality depicted in Latino children's drawings used as coping methods to endure the journey toward the U.S. southern border. This investigation employed Art-based approaches to give voices to children's experiences by analyzing 63 …

Gym Sexual Harassment And Bystander Intervention: An Application Of The Reasoned Action Approach, Eric Schisler

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective. The purpose of this study was to modify and validate an instrument to examine factors associated with being an active bystander when witnessing sexual harassment at a gym or fitness center. Using Fishbein and Ajzen’s Reasoned Action Approach (RAA), this study aimed to better understand the influence of a person’s attitude, social norms, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) on their intention to be an active bystander when witness to someone being sexually harassed at the gym in the next 30 days. Methodology. This study utilized an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, with phase one taking place between June and …

The C-Terminal Domain Of Minc Inhibits Assembly Of The Z Ring In Escherichia Coli, Gabriel R Fries, Sarah H Sperry, Tamsyn E Van Rheenen, Emma Morton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Cross-Cohort Replicable Resting-State Functional Connectivity In Predicting Symptoms And Cognition Of Schizophrenia, Chunzhi Zhao, Rongtao Jiang, Juan Bustillo, Peter Kochunov, Jessica A Turner, Chuang Liang, Zening Fu, Daoqiang Zhang, Shile Qi, Vince D Calhoun

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a debilitating mental illness characterized by adolescence or early adulthood onset of psychosis, positive and negative symptoms, as well as cognitive impairments. Despite a plethora of studies leveraging functional connectivity (FC) from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to predict symptoms and cognitive impairments of SZ, the findings have exhibited great heterogeneity. We aimed to identify congruous and replicable connectivity patterns capable of predicting positive and negative symptoms as well as cognitive impairments in SZ. Predictable functional connections (FCs) were identified by employing an individualized prediction model, whose replicability was further evaluated across three independent cohorts (BSNIP, SZ …

Getting The Dunce Cap: Examining The Effects Of Authority And Rejection On Self-Esteem, Chloe Whitfield

Honors College Theses

Social rejection has been defined as any instance in which an individual is excluded socially or fails to maintain a social relationship (Jiang & Ngai, 2020). To describe the tendency to worry about, anticipate, and overreact to social rejection, the term rejection sensitive was coined (Feldman & Downey, 1994). The present study was specifically interested in rejection sensitivity and its various influences on behavior and self-esteem, especially in an instance of receiving rejection from a person of academic authority (i.e., a professor). The study was also interested in identifying recurring personality traits in rejection-sensitive individuals. After completing an online pre-test …

The Role Of Cosmopolitan Orientation In Covid-19-Related Attitudes: Perceived Threats And Opportunities, Vaccination Willingness, And Support For Collective Containment Efforts, Angela K. Y. Leung, Brandon Koh, Verity Yu Qing Lua, James H. Liu, Sarah Y. Choi, I-Ching Lee, Michelle Lee, Mei-Hua Lin, Darrin Hodgetts, Sylvia X. Chen

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Cosmopolitan individuals identify themselves as "citizens of the world." In the present research, we tested the idea that endorsing a cosmopolitan orientation (CO) is adaptive in the COVID-19 crisis. Cosmopolitan individuals more readily transcend national parochialism, show greater concern for all humanity, and prioritize collective interests. In a two-wave multi-region investigation with six samples from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and the U.S., we first established longitudinal and cross-cultural measurement invariance of the CO scale. Next, we found that people with a higher CO tended to perceive over time a greater threat posed by COVID-19, take more safety measures, …

An Integrated Transformational Teaching Model For Empowering Undergraduate Psychology Students To Cultivate Self-Awareness, Wellness Practices, And Resilient Mindsets During Their Undergraduate Careers, Summerrae L. Arcemont

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This Narrative inquiry explored psychology students’ perceptions of self-awareness interventions and wellness training in undergraduate psychology coursework. Participants included seven undergraduate psychology majors who completed a psychology health and wellness course in the Fall 2023 semester at a regional university in the Southeast. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and examined to identify themes in the students’ stories regarding their journeys through the wellness course. The use of reflexive thematic analysis helped determine the following five overarching themes from the data: Roadmap for Navigating Wellness, Group Experience, Newfound Insight, Personal Growth and Transformations, and Moving Forward. The results of this study highlighted …

Self-Care Techniques To Decrease Special Education Teacher Burnout, Carrie Frost

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focal topic of my capstone project is special education teacher burnout and how self-care techniques can reduce the likelihood of chronic stress and burnout. The challenges of being a special education teacher include but are not limited to, various disabilities and behaviors, lack of classroom and administration support, and overall management. Research conducted by Emery and Vandenberg (2010) stated that special education teachers often experience burnout, which commonly leads to employee attrition. Burnout and the personal stress that comes with it are the biggest contributors to the shortage of qualified special educators throughout the United States. Their challenges involve …

The Viral Spread Of Xenophobia: Analyzing The Influence Of Far-Right Politics On Anti-Asian Sentiment Expressed On Social Media During Covid-19., Robert F. Arnold Iii

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Throughout history, viral outbreaks have frequently led to the emergence of biased and discriminatory attitudes, often targeting populations that deviate from Western norms. These sentiments commonly manifest as xenophobia and racism (Chen, 2020; Chou, 2021). This report serves as an in-depth analysis of the role far-right political phrasing of Covid-19 as the “Chinese Virus,” played in the proliferation of anti-Asian and xenophobic attitudes, expressed on the social media platform X (Twitter). This study also aims to better understand the various different factors that cause followers of far-right politics to engage and believe in anti-Asian sentiment online. Using Integrated Threat Theory …

Dismantling The Stigma Of "Strong Black Girl" & "Strong Black Boy:" Cultural And Gender Differences In Trauma And Suicidality Among Black Adolescents, Tiffany Mosier-Hunter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Trauma exposure has been linked to a plethora of negative outcomes, including suicidality. Despite the abundance of research on the effects of trauma, little is known about its relationship with suicidality among adolescents. Moreover, even less research examines cultural and gender specific risk factors among Black adolescents. This study was founded on the cultural model of suicide, and the gendering of suicide theory, suggesting that suicidality in minority populations is influenced by cultural experiences (i.e., traumas) and perceptions of suicide, as well as gender differences that dictate where Black adolescents fall on the suicide spectrum. Using archival data (e.g., YRBSS) …

A Review Of Training For First Responders When Interacting With Individuals With Diagnoses, Mackenzie Drost, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Safety is a priority for first responders when responding to calls, but there have been numerous cases in which unintentional harm was caused when interacting with individuals with diagnoses or disabilities. Thus, it seems as though effective training procedures for these professionals is critical. However, training for first responders varies from state to state and can depend on the county in which the services are provided. Although behavioral skills training (BST) has a well-established history of training non behavior-analytic professionals and although there have been some encouraging recommendations for the effective dissemination of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to those outside …

Positive Psychology In The Ncaa: Amplifying The Power And Uplifting The Voices Of Student Athletes In Multiple Mental Health Studies, Ashley C. Green

Dissertations

Mental health resources and programming in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) continues to expand in research and implementation in collegiate athletic departments of all institutions. This study sought to respond to and expand on dissertation research conducted by Dr. Heather Ryan (2021), an administrator in the athletic department at Duke University, and Dr. Chelsi Day (2011) previously the sport psychologist from Ohio State University athletics, and currently for the National Basketball Association (NBA) team, the Memphis Grizzlies. Both are identified as experts regarding student-athlete research regarding mental health needs and accessibility within the NCAA. Topics of research evaluated for …

Examining Theoretically Derived Mechanisms Underlying The Relationships Between Sexual Arousal, Alcohol Use History, And Sexual Aggression, Kailey Ann Richner

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Various interventions have attempted to reduce the rates of sexual violence perpetrated by college men; however, meta-analyses suggest interventions need to further evaluate theoretically derived mechanisms to improve outcomes (Malamuth et al., 2018; DeGue et al., 2014; Vladutiu, et al., 2011). To address this concern, the present study utilized the Integrated Theory of Sexual Offending (ITSO; Ward et al., 2016; Ward & Beech, 2008; 2006) to explore mechanisms underlying the relationships between sexual arousal, alcohol use history (AUH), and sexual aggression. Working memory, impulsivity, and affective forecasting paradigms were selected to map onto the ITSO’s neuropsychological mechanisms. The interaction between …

Self-Perception And Positive Stereotype Endorsement, Aileen Lovitt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The origin and reasoning behind the use of racial stereotypes has been a point of interest for researchers over the years. Many different theories have been proposed including those related to cognitive, evolutionary, and motivational explanations. However, most of these theories and the research backing them primarily focus on negative stereotyping. The origin of positive stereotyping, which also has negative implications associated with their use, has not been evaluated fully. Previous research has suggested that the motive to preserve self-worth and positive self-concept may play a role in stereotype endorsement. Two studies were conducted with the purpose of investigating whether …

Age, Gender, And Sexual Orientation And Their Effects On Online Dating Motivations, Jenna Leigh Mcpherson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Online dating and dating apps are becoming more common as a means to meet a romantic or sexual partner (e.g. Rosenfeld, Thomas, & Hausen, 2019). Previous literature on the motivations for why people use dating apps and how they differ among participants of varying age, gender, and sexual orientation has not allowed for comparisons across these groups, or shows conflicting findings. In order to consolidate existing literature and further explore the topic, I conducted both a meta-analysis and meta-synthesis. The meta-analysis demonstrated a gender difference in the motivation of casual sex, such that men scored higher than women. The meta-synthesis …

Examining The Risks And Resilience Of Older Adults Living With Hiv/Aids: Qualitative Community-Based Participatory Research Studies In Southern Nevada, Brandon Ranuschio

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the height of the HIV pandemic in the 1980s, medical interventions have significantly increased the life expectancy of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) and made HIV/AIDS a livable, chronic health condition. Because of this, PLWH have been living longer lives and thriving with the help of HIV sector healthcare and service providers. However, with their longer life expectancy, older PLWH have been experiencing other health challenges. One such challenge is the risk of developing HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND), which is a condition that affects up to 50% of PLWH at some point in their lifetime, with middle-aged and older …

Children's Beliefs About Search Engines., Lauren N. Girouard-Hallam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children rely on information from other sources to think and learn about the world around them. As the world around them digitizes, their options for where to seek new information have expanded to include technological sources like Google Search. This dissertation examines what factors impact children’s trust in search engines, particularly Google. In the first set of studies, 4- to 8-year old children were asked whether technological informants and a teacher could answer stable and changing questions, and which informant would have the better answer. With age, children endorsed the Google search engine at higher rates and the teacher at …

Improving Pitch Recognition By Fading Visual Prompts, Joshua Lawrence Ford

Theses and Dissertations

Behavioral Science and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) provides tools and technologies that can be used by players, coaches, and researchers to enhance the traditional training for student athletes. The current study was designed to examine whether stimulus prompts would facilitate collegiate baseball player’s accuracy of pitch identification for three pitches. A secondary measure was to decrease the latency from the launch of a pitch to identification of the pitch. Decreases in the latency of a hitter recognizing a pitch and increases in pitch recognition accuracy were noted using visual analysis. Stimulus fading showed mixed results across participants. Future directions and …

The Effects Of Performance Matrix Scorecards And Job Crafting On Student-Concentrated Supervised Fieldwork Experience And Burnout Levels, Mary Louise Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Prioritizing behavior analyst well-being should start during coursework and concentrated supervised fieldwork (CSF) experience. Research shows burnout is highly likely in human service settings, and teaching individuals how to implement protective factors against burnout should be a focus in addition to required coursework and practicum experience. Experiment 1 will analyze the effects of a performance matrix scorecard on improved productivity and well-being for students starting their practicum experience. Experiment 2 will teach students how to practice job crafting to enhance the use of the performance matrix scorecard. Using these tools could teach students generalizable skills to maintain high levels of …

Are Research Studies Too Boring?: Incorporating Gamification Elements In Mental Rotation For Children., Samantha Zakrzewski

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Many cognitive tasks are perceived as boring by children due to their redundancy, lengthy trials, and required cognitive effort. Children’s performance on these tasks might therefore be hampered, not by a lack of cognitive ability, but rather by a lack of motivation to complete these tasks. Mental rotation, a type of cognitive task, has been extensively studied, due to its prevalence in daily living, in activities such as loading a dishwasher or packing a car, and its relation to STEM success. However, similar to other cognitive tasks, mental rotation tasks often result in fatigue and boredom in children. Hence, the …

Decisions, Decisions: The Influence Of Anxiety On Decision Making, Allisun Romain

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of the present study was to better understand the influence of state anxiety on decision making, including how constructs such as trait anxiety and emotional intelligence may moderate this relationship. Participants were randomly assigned to a state anxiety-inducing condition or a control condition. They were then prompted to complete a computerized dynamic decision-making task in which optimal performance requires exploring a novel decision environment and learning reward contingencies of the task. Prior to the experimental manipulation, participants also completed self-report measures of trait anxiety and emotional intelligence. Independent sample t tests were employed to measure differences between the …