Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Psychological And Support Characteristics Of Parents Of Child Sexual Abuse Victims: Relationship With Child Functioning And Treatment, Poonam Tavkar

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Child sexual abuse continues to be a prevalent and complex problem in today’s society as it poses serious and pervasive mental health risks to child victims and their non-offending parents. The main objectives of this study were (a) to elucidate the psychological symptoms and support needs of parents of child sexual abuse victims as they present to group treatment, (b) to examine changes in psychological symptoms and support needs and their relationship with child functioning over the course of a parallel group treatment, and (c) to examine the impact of these factors on completion of group treatment. Participants included 104 …

The Instructional And Emotional Quality Of Parent-Child Book Reading And Early Head Start Children’S Learning Outcomes, Keely D. Cline

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The primary objective of this study was to understand how two dimensions of parent-child book-reading quality – instructional and emotional –interact and relate to learning in a sample of linguistically and culturally diverse, low-income children. Participants included 81 parents and their children who took part in home-based Early Head Start programs in rural counties in the Midwest. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test two hypotheses: (1) the instructional and emotional qualities of parent behavior during shared book reading interact and relate to infants’ and toddlers’ cognitive scores (as measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development Second …

Dialectical Behavior Therapy In State Hospitals: Does It Work And What Moderates The Outcomes?, Amanda L. Collins

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) demonstrates effectiveness in the treatment of individuals diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder in an outpatient setting. DBT has also been adapted for inpatient settings and demonstrates effectiveness with this population. To date no published literature examines the effectiveness of the standard outpatient model implemented in an inpatient setting. Furthermore, the literature examining inpatient DBT is done on treatment units where DBT is the sole treatment modality. There is no published literature regarding the use of DBT in conjunction with another treatment program. Therefore, this study examines the effectiveness of the standard outpatient DBT model implemented in …

Social Cognition And Interaction Training (Scit) For Individuals With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders In Outpatient Treatment Settings, Petra Kleinlein

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The role of social cognition in severe mental illness (SMI) has gained much attention, especially over the last decade. The impact of deficits in socio-cognitive functioning has been found to have detrimental effects on key areas of day-to-day functioning in individuals with SMI, such as gaining and maintaining employment and overall experienced quality of life. Treatment of individuals with SMI is challenging, as the presentation of individual signs and symptoms is rather heterogeneous. There are several treatment approaches addressing deficits ranging from broader social and interpersonal functioning to neurocognitive and more intrapersonal functioning. As research in the domain of social …

Multiple Determinants Of Sexualized Behavior In Middle Childhood: A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective, Natasha Elkovitch

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In order to adequately and appropriately intervene with children exhibiting problematic sexual behaviors, a comprehensive understanding of etiology is imperative. Although sexually abused children are observed engaging in more problematic sexual behaviors than their normative or psychiatric counterparts, it is clear that such behaviors may be the result of factors other than, or in addition to, sexual abuse. The goal of the present study was utilize a developmental psychopathology perspective in broadening our understanding of mechanisms associated with the development of problematic sexual behaviors in childhood. Participants for the study include 1, 149 children (51.8% female) drawn from the Longitudinal …

Sexual Risk Recognition Deficits: The Role Of Prior Victimization And Emotion Dysregulation, Kate L. Walsh

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recent theoretical writings suggest that the ineffective regulation of negative emotional states may reduce the ability of women to detect and respond effectively to situational and interpersonal factors that increase risk for sexual assault. However, little empirical research has explored this hypothesis. In the present study, it was hypothesized that prior sexual victimization and negative mood state would each independently predict poor risk recognition and less effective defensive actions in response to an analogue sexual assault vignette. Further, these variables were expected to interact to produce particularly impaired risk responses. Finally, that the in vivo emotion regulation strategy of suppression …

Social Networks, Social Identities, And Mindset Of At-Risk College Students, Troy A. Romero

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Success in higher education is typically measured by retention and graduation, and traditionally the students who are least likely to succeed are at-risk students. At-risk students are characterized by one or more of the following: being from underrepresented ethnicities and cultures, having low socioeconomic status, being educated in poorly funded primary and secondary education systems, being first-generation college students, or being otherwise marginalized in society. This study was designed to test how at-risk students differ from other students in terms of the size of their academic social networks, the strength of their academic identities, and their mindset, and to what …

The Role Of The Peer Group In Adolescence: Effects On Internalizing And Externalizing Symptoms, Glen J. Veed

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

An adolescent’s peer group has been theorized to influence the development of psychopathology. However, little research has examined the adolescent peer group using information obtained directly from peers in a longitudinal framework. Research has also been limited on peer group influence on the development of internalizing disorders. The study used Social Network Analysis to examine self-reported anxiety, depression, aggression, and delinquency in the fall and spring of one school year for students in a rural high school. In addition to examining the effect of the peer group on individual reports of psychopathology, the strength of this relation was compared to …

A Comparison Of Two Theoretical Models Of Procedural Justice In The Context Of Child Protection Proceedings, Twila Wingrove

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this study, the researcher tested two theoretical models of justice in the context of child protection proceedings. Participants read a case file describing a hypothetical child neglect case. The file included the court petition, the caseworker’s court report, a summary of the protective custody hearing, and the judge’s final order. Within the case file, the researcher manipulated four variables: procedural treatment, interpersonal treatment, severity of child neglect, and assigned role (judge or parent). Results of confirmatory factor analyses suggested that a four-factor model of justice judgments best fit the data. Consistent with the organizational justice approach (Colquitt, 2001) the …

Neuropsychological Effects Of The Traumatic Stress Response In Sexually Abused Adolescents Throughout Treatment, Kathryn R. Wilson

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Child maltreatment is a pervasive problem in our society that has long-term detrimental consequences to the development of the affected child such as future brain growth and functioning. The alteration of the biochemical stress response system in the brain that changes an individual’s ability to respond efficiently and efficaciously to future stressors is conceptualized as the traumatic stress response. The purpose of this research was to explore the effects of the traumatic stress response on sexually abused adolescents’ through a two-tiered study of neuropsychological functioning throughout treatment. It was determined that there are measurable differences in neuropsychological processing in sexually …

Nonlinear Dynamics Of Infant Sitting Postural Control, Joan E. Deffeyes

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sitting is one of the first developmental milestones that an infant achieves. Thus measurements of sitting posture present an opportunity to assess sensorimotor development at a young age, in order to identify infants who might benefit from therapeutic intervention, and to monitor the efficacy of the intervention. Sitting postural sway data was collected using a force plate from infants with typical development, and from infants with delayed development, where the delay in development was due to cerebral palsy in most of the infants in the study. The center of pressure time series from the infant sitting was subjected to a …

Distinguishing Civil And Criminal Institutional Deprivations Of Liberty: An Analysis Of Expressive Functions, Marc W. Pearce

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A basic function of the criminal justice system is to impose legal punishment through deprivations of liberty. Because deprivations of liberty that flow from civil institutions are not punitive, the distinction between civil and criminal institutional deprivations of liberty arguably hinges on the concept of punishment. Punishment, in turn, may be distinguished from non-punitive sanctions based on its unique expressive function; that is, punishment is defined in part by the special feelings of resentment and judgments of disapproval that it expresses. These feelings and judgments have been labeled “condemnation.” This dissertation explores whether condemnation can be translated into an empirical …

Temperament, Parenting, And Prosocial Behaviors: Applying A New Interactive Theory Of Prosocial Development, Meredith Mcginley

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The primary purpose of the current study was to examine whether theoretically based interactions between dimensions of children’s temperament and maternal socialization predicted children’s and early adolescents’ prosocial (i.e, helping) behaviors. A new theory was derived by examining how an existing interactive model of early moral development, Kochanska’s (1993) theory of early conscience internalization, would apply to the prediction of prosocial behaviors. Aspects of child temperament and maternal socialization were thought to operate in a different manner from Kochanska’s theory. Unlike early conscience internalization, fearful temperament and parental punishment do not appear to promote prosocial behavior. Moreover, it was thought …

Anxiety And Emotion Dysregulation In Daily Life: An Experience-Sampling Comparison Of Social Phobia And Generalized Anxiety Disorder Analogue Groups, Nathan Alan Miller

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recent research suggests the presence of both common and disorder-specific emotion regulation deficits across the anxiety disorders (Turk et al., 2005), including those that may be uniquely characteristic of social phobia (SP; Kashdan & Breen, 2008; Kashdan & Steger, 2006; Turk et al., 2005). The purpose of the present study was to replicate and expand upon this growing literature in important directions. The initial portion of this study involved administration of relevant self-report symptom, emotion, and emotion regulation survey measures to a large undergraduate sample (N = 784). Scores on several symptom measures were used to create a SP analogue …

The Fine Line Of Perfectionism: Is It A Strength Or A Weakness In The Workplace?, Lindsay Bousman

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Perfectionism has been traditionally researched in the clinical psychology domain. While some research has used a normal student population, research applying perfectionism theories to a normal adult population working in Corporate America has not been conducted. Current research suggests two distinct types of perfectionism, maladaptive and adaptive, with different consequences. In this research, maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism were used to determine that traditional perfectionism measures can be used with a working adult sample to achieve similar psychometric properties, and to preliminarily test hypotheses related to their relationship with other individual difference variables. Second, maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism were used to …

Comprehension Of Health Plan Language For Denial Of Benefit Claims, E. Kiernan Mcgorty

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

ERISA requires that plan administrators provide consumers with understandable health plan documents. The present study assessed the readability and comprehensibility of medical necessity and claims procedure clauses. For Study 1, I collected 40 summary plan descriptions from a diverse sample of employers and ran readability tests on the medical necessity and claims procedure clauses. Scores on the Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch Grade Level, and Fog Index indicated that the clauses were, in violation of ERISA’s disclosure requirement, written at reading levels beyond those one might expect the average plan participant to possess.

In Studies 2 and 3, employees read either …

Job Applicants’ Testing And Organizational Perceptions: The Effects Of Test Information And Attitude Strength, Andrew L. Noon

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This quasi-experimental study examined job applicants’ organizational perceptions prior to and immediately after completing pre-employment assessments, and after the hiring decision was announced. Participants were actual applicants (N = 262) for non-exempt level data processing positions at a medium-size Midwestern insurance company. As part of the selection process, applicants completed both a cognitive ability test and a personality inventory. Information about the tests was used as a manipulation. Approximately half of the participants received information prior to completing the assessments that explained the tests’ content, job relatedness, and validity, and a description of the testing process, while the other …

Characteristics Of Staff-Patient Interactions On A Behavioral Treatment Unit For Patients With Serious Mental Illness, And The Effects Of A Behavior Management Training Program On Staff Performance, Lindsay S. Schenkel

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Despite the existence of effective psychological interventions for people diagnosed with schizophrenia, these continue to be underutilized. This problem is most critical in the case of so called “treatment-refractory” patients, where, paradoxically, effective interventions with among the strongest evidence base in psychiatry exist – namely – inpatient social-learning-based rehabilitation programs. Barriers to implementation and effective maintenance of such programs include a low frequency of staff-patient interactions and a relatively high frequency of non-therapeutic staff behaviors, lack of staff training and background in behavioral treatment, negative attitudes towards behavioral interventions, and tension between professional disciplines. This study examined the nature and …