Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Follow-Up Evaluation Of Treatment For Anxiety And Depression Provided In A University-Based Primary Care Clinic, Renée M. Grinnell

Theses and Dissertations

Although integrated primary care psychology services are becoming increasingly common, the literature lacks adequate research support for the longitudinal durability of treatment effects following the conclusion of brief primary care interventions. This study served as a follow-up program evaluation of psychological services for depression and anxiety provided at the Medical College of Virginia’s Ambulatory Care Center in Richmond, Virginia. Data were collected on 47 adult primary care patients who received treatment for depression and/or anxiety between six and 18 months prior to the follow-up telephone call. Data were collected on the trajectory of depression scores throughout and following treatment, treatment …

The Relationship Between Marital Status And Psychological Resilience In Chronic Pain, James B. Wade, Robert P. Hart, James H. Wade, Jasmohan S. Bajaj, Donald D. Price

Psychiatry Publications

We examined the relationship between marital status and a 2-stage model of pain-related effect, consisting of pain unpleasantness and suffering. We studied 1914 chronic pain patients using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) to clarify whether marital status was a determinant factor in the emotional or ideational suffering associated with chronic pain after controlling for pain sensation intensity, age, and ethnicity. Marital status was unrelated to immediate unpleasantness (). We found a strong association with emotional suffering () but not with negative illness beliefs (). Interestingly, widowed subjects experienced significantly less frustration, fear, and anger than all other groups (married, divorced, …

Improved Detection Of Common Variants Associated With Schizophrenia And Bipolar Disorder Using Pleiotropy-Informed Conditional False Discovery Rate, Ole A. Andreassen, Wesley K. Thompson, Andrew J. Schork, Stephan Ripke, Morten Mattingsdal, John R. Kelsoe, Kenneth S. Kendler, Michael C. O'Donovan, Dan Rujescu, Thomas Werge, Pamela Sklar, J. Cooper Roddey, Chi-Hua Chen, Linda Mcevoy, Rahul S. Desikan, Srdjan Djurovic, Anders M. Dale

Psychiatry Publications

Several lines of evidence suggest that genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have the potential to explain more of the “missing heritability” of common complex phenotypes. However, reliable methods to identify a larger proportion of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that impact disease risk are currently lacking. Here, we use a genetic pleiotropy-informed conditional false discovery rate (FDR) method on GWAS summary statistics data to identify new loci associated with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorders (BD), two highly heritable disorders with significant missing heritability. Epidemiological and clinical evidence suggest similar disease characteristics and overlapping genes between SCZ and BD. Here, we computed conditional …

Association Study Of 167 Candidate Genes For Schizophrenia Selected By A Multi-Domain Evidence-Based Prioritization Algorithm And Neurodevelopmental Hypothesis, Zhongming Zhao, Bradley T. Webb, Peilin Jia, T. Bernard Bigdeli, Brion S. Maher, Edwin Van Den Oord, Sarah Bergen, Richard L. Amdur, Francis A. O'Neill, Dermot Walsh, Dawn L. Thiselton, Xianging Chen, Carlos N. Pato, The International Schizophrenia Consortium, Brien P. Riley, Kenneth S. Kendler, Ayman H. Fanous

Psychiatry Publications

Integrating evidence from multiple domains is useful in prioritizing disease candidate genes for subsequent testing. We ranked all known human genes (n = 3819) under linkage peaks in the Irish Study of High-Density Schizophrenia Families using three different evidence domains: 1) a meta-analysis of microarray gene expression results using the Stanley Brain collection, 2) a schizophrenia protein-protein interaction network, and 3) a systematic literature search. Each gene was assigned a domain-specific p-value and ranked after evaluating the evidence within each domain. For comparison to this ranking process, a large-scale candidate gene hypothesis was also tested by including genes with Gene …

Suicidal Risk Factors Of Recurrent Major Depression In Han Chinese Women, Yuzhang Zhu, Hongni Zhang, Shenxun Shi, Jingfang Gao, Youhui Li, Ming Tao, Kerang Zhang, Xumei Wang, Chengge Gao, Lijun Yang, Kan Li, Jiangguo Shi, Gang Wang, Lanfen Liu, Jinbei Zhang, Bo Du, Guoqing Jiang, Jianhua Shen, Zhen Zhang, Wei Liang, Jing Sun, Jian Hu, Tiebang Liu, Xueyi Wang, Guodong Miao, Huaqing Meng, Yi Li, Chunmei Hu, Yi Li, Guoping Huang, Gongying Li, Baowei Ha, Hong Deng, Qiyi Mei, Hui Zhong, Shugui Gao, Hong Sang, Yutang Zhang, Xiang Fang, Fengyu Yu, Donglin Yang, Tieqiao Liu, Yunchun Chen, Xiaohong Hong, Wenyuan Wu, Guibing Chen, Min Cai, Yan Song, Jiyang Pan, Jicheng Dong, Runde Pan, Wei Zhang, Zhenming Shen, Zhengrong Liu, Danhua Gu, Xiaoping Wang, Xiaojuan Liu, Qiwen Zhang, Yihan Li, Yiping Chen, Kenneth S. Kendler, Jonathan Flint, Ying Liu

Psychiatry Publications

The relationship between suicidality and major depression is complex. Socio- demography, clinical features, comorbidity, clinical symptoms, and stressful life events are important factors influencing suicide in major depression, but these are not well defined. Thus, the aim of the present study was to assess the associations between the above-mentioned factors and suicide ideation, suicide plan, and suicide attempt in 6008 Han Chinese women with recurrent major depression (MD). Patients with any suicidality had significantly more MD symptoms, a significantly greater number of stressful life events, a positive family history of MD, a greater number of episodes, a significant experience of …

Association Testing Strategy For Data From Dense Marker Panels, Donghyung Lee, Silviu-Alin Bacanu

Psychiatry Publications

Genome wide association studies have been usually analyzed in a univariate manner. The commonly used univariate tests have one degree of freedom and assume an additive mode of inheritance. The experiment-wise significance of these univariate statistics is obtained by adjusting for multiple testing. Next generation sequencing studies, which assay 10-20 million variants, are beginning to come online. For these studies, the strategy of additive univariate testing and multiple testing adjustment is likely to result in a loss of power due to (1) the substantial multiple testing burden and (2) the possibility of a non-additive causal mode of inheritance. To reduce …

Clinical Features Of Patients With Dysthymia In A Large Cohort Of Han Chinese Women With Recurrent Major Depression, Wenqing Wu, Zhoubing Wang, Yan Wei, Guanghua Zhang, Shenxun Shi, Jingfang Gao, Youhui Li, Ming Tao, Kerang Zhang, Xumei Wang, Chengge Gao, Lijun Yang, Kan Li, Jianguo Shi, Gang Wang, Lanfen Liu, Jinbei Zhang, Bo Du, Guoqing Jiang, Jianhua Shen, Ying Liu, Wei Liang, Jing Sun, Jian Hu, Tiebang Liu, Xueyi Wang, Guodong Miao, Huaqing Meng, Yi Li, Guoping Huang, Gongying Li, Baowei Ha, Hong Deng, Qiyi Mei, Hui Zhong, Shugui Gao, Hong Sang, Yutang Zhang, Xiang Fang, Fengyu Yu, Donglin Yang, Tieqiao Liu, Yunchun Chen, Xiaohong Hong, Wenyuan Wu, Guibing Chen, Min Cai, Yan Song, Jiyang Pan, Jicheng Dong, Runde Pan, Wei Zhang, Zhenming Shen, Zhengrong Liu, Danhua Gu, Xiaoping Wang, Xiaojuan Liu, Qiwen Zhang, Yihan Li, Yiping Chen, Kenneth S. Kendler, Jonathan Flint, Zhen Zhang

Psychiatry Publications

Background

Dysthymia is a form of chronic mild depression that has a complex relationship with major depressive disorder (MDD). Here we investigate the role of environmental risk factors, including stressful life events and parenting style, in patients with both MDD and dysthymia. We ask whether these risk factors act in the same way in MDD with and without dysthymia.

Results

We examined the clinical features in 5,950 Han Chinese women with MDD between 30–60 years of age across China. We confirmed earlier results by replicating prior analyses in 3,950 new MDD cases. There were no significant differences between the two …

Resemblance Of Symptoms For Major Depression Assessed At Interview Versus From Hospital Record Review, Ying Chen, Haimin Li, Yihan Li, Dong Xie, Zhiyang Wang, Fuzhong Wang, Yuan Shen, Sulin Ni, Yan Wei, Yanhua Liu, Lanfen Liu, Chengge Gao, Jun Liu, Lijuan Yan, Gang Wang, Keqing Li, Qiang He, Tiehang Liu, Jinbei Zhang, Yan Ren, Qunli Du, Jing Tian, Honghui Chen, Yanfang Luo, Fengzhi Zhang, Guangwei Sun, Chunjie Shan, Xueyi Wang, Yutang Zhang, Xiaoqin Weng, Yunchun Chen, Zhen Kang, Jing Guan, Yiping Chen, Shenxun Shi, Kenneth S. Kendler, Jonathan Flint, Hong Deng

Psychiatry Publications

Background

Diagnostic information for psychiatric research often depends on both clinical interviews and medical records. Although discrepancies between these two sources are well known, there have been few studies into the degree and origins of inconsistencies.

Principal findings

We compared data from structured interviews and medical records on 1,970 Han Chinese women with recurrent DSM-IV major depression (MD). Correlations were high for age at onset of MD (0.93) and number of episodes (0.70), intermediate for family history (+0.62) and duration of longest episode (+0.43) and variable but generally more modest for individual depressive symptoms (mean kappa = 0.32). Four factors …

Comparison Of Statistical Tests For Association Between Rare Variants And Binary Traits, Silviu-Alin Bacanu, Matthew R. Nelson, John C. Whittaker

Psychiatry Publications

Genome-wide association studies have found thousands of common genetic variants associated with a wide variety of diseases and other complex traits. However, a large portion of the predicted genetic contribution to many traits remains unknown. One plausible explanation is that some of the missing variation is due to the effects of rare variants. Nonetheless, the statistical analysis of rare variants is challenging. A commonly used method is to contrast, within the same region (gene), the frequency of minor alleles at rare variants between cases and controls. However, this strategy is most useful under the assumption that the tested variants have …

Network-Assisted Investigation Of Combined Causal Signals From Genome-Wide Association Studies In Schizophrenia, Peilin Jia, Lily Wang, Ayman H. Fanous, Carlos N. Pato, Todd L. Edwards, Zhongming Zhao

Psychiatry Publications

With the recent success of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), a wealth of association data has been accomplished for more than 200 complex diseases/traits, proposing a strong demand for data integration and interpretation. A combinatory analysis of multiple GWAS datasets, or an integrative analysis of GWAS data and other high-throughput data, has been particularly promising. In this study, we proposed an integrative analysis framework of multiple GWAS datasets by overlaying association signals onto the protein-protein interaction network, and demonstrated it using schizophrenia datasets. Building on a dense module search algorithm, we first searched for significantly enriched subnetworks for schizophrenia in each …

The Interleukin 3 Gene (Il3) Contributes To Human Brain Volume Variation By Regulating Proliferation And Survival Of Neural Progenitors, Xiao-Jian Luo, Ming Li, Liang Huang, Khwangsik Nho, Min Deng, Qiang Chen, Daniel R. Weinberger, Alejandro A. Vasquez, Mark Rijpkema, Venkata S. Mattay, Andrew J. Saykin, Li Shen, Guillen Fernandez, Barbara Franke, Jing-Chun Chen, Xiang-Ning Chen, Jin-Kai Wang, Xiao Xiao, Xue-Bin Qi, Kun Xiang, Ying-Mei Peng, Xiang-Yu Cao, Yi Li, Xiao-Dong Shi, Lin Gan, Bing Su

Psychiatry Publications

One of the most significant evolutionary changes underlying the highly developed cognitive abilities of humans is the greatly enlarged brain volume. In addition to being far greater than in most other species, the volume of the human brain exhibits extensive variation and distinct sexual dimorphism in the general population. However, little is known about the genetic mechanisms underlying normal variation as well as the observed sex difference in human brain volume. Here we show that interleukin-3 (IL3) is strongly associated with brain volume variation in four genetically divergent populations. We identified a sequence polymorphism (rs31480) in the IL3 promoter which …

Variants Located Upstream Of Chrnb4 On Chromosome 15q25.1 Are Associated With Age At Onset Of Daily Smoking And Habitual Smoking, Manav Kapoor, Jen-Chyong Wang, Sarah Bertelsen, Kathy Bucholz, John P. Budde, Anthony Hinrichs, Arpana Agrawal, Andrew Brooks, David Chorlian, Danielle Dick, Victor Hesselbrock, Tatiana Foroud, John Kramer, Sammuel Kuperman, Niklas Manz, John Numberger Jr, Bernice Porjesz, John Rice, Jay Tischfield, Xiaoling Xuei, Marc Schuckit, Haward J. Edenberg, Laura J. Bierut, Alison M. Goate

Psychiatry Publications

Several genome-wide association and candidate gene studies have linked chromosome 15q24–q25.1 (a region including the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 gene cluster) with alcohol dependence, nicotine dependence and smoking-related illnesses such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. To further examine the impact of these genes on the development of substance use disorders, we tested whether variants within and flanking theCHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 gene cluster affect the transition to daily smoking (individuals who smoked cigarettes 4 or more days per week) in a cross sectional sample of adolescents and young adults from the COGA (Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism) families. Subjects were …

Genome-Wide Gene-Environment Study Identifies Glutamate Receptor Gene Grin2a As A Parkinson's Disease Modifier Gene Via Interaction With Coffee, Taye H. Hamza, Honglei Chen, Erin M. Hill-Burns, Shannon L. Rhodes, Jennifer Montimurro, Denise M. Kay, Albert Tenesa, Victoria I. Kusel, Patricia Sheehan, Muthukrishnan Eaaswarkhanth, Dora Yearout, Ali Samii, John W. Roberts, Pinky Agarwal, Yvette Bordelon, Yikyung Park, Liyong Wang, Jianjun Gao, Jeffery M. Vance, Kenneth S. Kendler, Silviu-Alin Bacanu, William K. Scott, Beate Ritz, John Nutt, Stweart A. Factor, Cyrus P. Zabetian, Haydeh Payami

Psychiatry Publications

Our aim was to identify genes that influence the inverse association of coffee with the risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD). We used genome-wide genotype data and lifetime caffeinated-coffee-consumption data on 1,458 persons with PD and 931 without PD from the NeuroGenetics Research Consortium (NGRC), and we performed a genome-wide association and interaction study (GWAIS), testing each SNP's main-effect plus its interaction with coffee, adjusting for sex, age, and two principal components. We then stratified subjects as heavy or light coffee-drinkers and performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) in each group. We replicated the most significant SNP. Finally, we imputed the …

Acsl6 Is Associated With The Number Of Cigarettes Smoked And Its Expression Is Altered By Chronic Nicotine Exposure, Jingchun Chen, Darlene H. Brunzell, Kia J. Jackson, Andrew Van Der Vaart, Jennie Z. Ma, Thomas J. Payne, Richard Sherva, Lindsay A. Farrer, Pablo Gejman, Douglas F. Levinson, Peter Holmans, Steven H. Aggen, Imad Damaj, Po-Hsiu Kuo, Bradley T. Webb, Raymond Anton, Henry R. Kranzler, Joel Gelemter, Minf D. Li, Kenneth S. Kendler, Xiangning Chen

Psychiatry Publications

Individuals with schizophrenia tend to be heavy smokers and are at high risk for tobacco dependence. However, the nature of the comorbidity is not entirely clear. We previously reported evidence for association of schizophrenia with SNPs and SNP haplotypes in a region of chromosome 5q containing the SPEC2, PDZ-GEF2 and ACSL6 genes. In this current study, analysis of the control subjects of the Molecular Genetics of Schizophrenia (MGS) sample showed similar pattern of association with number of cigarettes smoked per day (numCIG) for the same region. To further test if this locus is associated with tobacco smoking as measured …

Schizophrenia Gene Networks And Pathways And Their Applications For Novel Candidate Gene Selection, Jingchun Sun, Peilin Jia, Ayman H. Fanous, Edwin Van Den Oord, Xiangning Chen, Brien P. Riley, Richard L. Amdur, Kenneth S. Kendler, Zhongming Zhao

Psychiatry Publications

Background

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a heritable, complex mental disorder. We have seen limited success in finding causal genes for schizophrenia from numerous conventional studies. Protein interaction network and pathway-based analysis may provide us an alternative and effective approach to investigating the molecular mechanisms of schizophrenia.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We selected a list of schizophrenia candidate genes (SZGenes) using a multi-dimensional evidence-based approach. The global network properties of proteins encoded by these SZGenes were explored in the context of the human protein interactome while local network properties were investigated by comparing SZ-specific and cancer-specific networks that were extracted from the human interactome. …

Multiple Independent Loci At Chromosome 15q25.1 Affect Smoking Quantity: A Meta-Analysis And Comparison With Lung Cancer And Copd, Nancy L. Saccone, Robert C. Culverhouse, Tae-Hwi Schwantes-An, Dale S. Cannon, Xiangning Chen, Sven Cichon, Ina Giegling, Shizhong Han, Younghun Han, Kaisu Keskitalo-Vuokko, Xiangyang Kong, Maria T. Landi, Jennie Z. Ma, Susan E. Short, Sarah H. Stephens, Victoria L. Stevens, Lingwei Sun, Yufei Wang, Angela S. Wenzlaff, Steven H. Aggen, Naomi Breslau, Peter Broderick, Nilanjan Chatterjee, Jingchun Chen, Andrew C. Heath, Marku Heliovaara, Nicole R. Hoft, David J. Hunter, Majken K. Jensen, Nicholas G. Martin, Grant W. Montgomery, Tianhua Niu, Thomas J. Payne, Leena Peltonen, Michele L. Pergadia, John P. Rice, Richard Sherva, Margaret R. Spitz, Juzhong Sun, Jen C. Wang, Robert B. Weiss, William Wheeler, Stephanie H. Witt, Bao-Zhu Yang, Neil E. Caporaso, Marissa A. Ehringer, Tim Eisen, Susan M. Gapstur, Joel Gelemter, Richard Houlston, Jaakko Kaprio, Kenneth S. Kendler, Peter Kraft, Mark F. Leppert, Ming D. Li, Pamela A. F. Madden, Markus M. Nothen, Sreekumar Pillai, Marcella Rietschel, Dan Rujescu, Ann Schwartz, Christopher I. Amos, Laura J. Bierut

Psychiatry Publications

Recently, genetic association findings for nicotine dependence, smoking behavior, and smoking-related diseases converged to implicate the chromosome 15q25.1 region, which includes the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 cholinergic nicotinic receptor subunit genes. In particular, association with the nonsynonymous CHRNA5 SNP rs16969968 and correlates has been replicated in several independent studies. Extensive genotyping of this region has suggested additional statistically distinct signals for nicotine dependence, tagged by rs578776 and rs588765. One goal of the Consortium for the Genetic Analysis of Smoking Phenotypes (CGASP) is to elucidate the associations among these markers and dichotomous smoking quantity (heavy versus light smoking), lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary …

New Genomic Structure For Prostate Cancer Specific Gene Pca3 Within Bmcc1: Implications For Prostate Cancer Detection And Progression, Raymond A. Clarke, Zhongming Zhao, An-Yuan Guo, Kathrein Roper, Linda Teng, Zhi-Ming Fang, Hema Samaratunga, Martin F. Lavin, Robert A. Gardiner

Psychiatry Publications

Background

The prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3/DD3) gene is a highly specific biomarker upregulated in prostate cancer (PCa). In order to understand the importance of PCA3 in PCa we investigated the organization and evolution of the PCA3 gene locus.

Methods/Principal Findings

We have employed cDNA synthesis, RTPCR and DNA sequencing to identify 4 new transcription start sites, 4 polyadenylation sites and 2 new differentially spliced exons in an extended form of PCA3. Primers designed from these novel PCA3 exons greatly improve RT-PCR based discrimination between PCa, PCa metastases and BPH specimens. Comparative genomic analyses demonstrated that PCA3 has …

Genome-Wide Association Identifies A Common Variant In The Reelin Gene That Increases The Risk Of Schizophrenia Only In Women, Sagiv Shifman, Martina Johannesson, Michal Bronstein, Sam X. Chen, David A. Collier, Nicholas J. Craddock, Kenneth S. Kendler, Tao Li, Michael C. O'Donovan, F. Anthony O'Neill, Michael J. Owen, Dermot Walsh, Daniel R. Weinberger, Cuie Sun, Jonathan Flint, Ariel Darvasi

Psychiatry Publications

Sex differences in schizophrenia are well known, but their genetic basis has not been identified. We performed a genome-wide association scan for schizophrenia in an Ashkenazi Jewish population using DNA pooling. We found a female-specific association with rs7341475, a SNP in the fourth intron of the reelin (RELN) gene (p = 2.9 × 10−5 in women), with a significant gene-sex effect (p = 1.8 × 10−4). We studied rs7341475 in four additional populations, totaling 2,274 cases and 4,401 controls. A significant effect was observed only in women, replicating the initial result (p = 2.1 × 10−3 in …

Linkage Analysis Of A Model Quantitative Trait In Humans: Finger Ridge Count Shows Significant Multivariate Linkage To 5q14.1, Sarah E. Medland, Danuta Z. Loesch, Bogdan Mdzewski, Gu Zhu, Grant W. Montgomery, Nicholas G. Martin

Psychiatry Publications

The finger ridge count (a measure of pattern size) is one of the most heritable complex traits studied in humans and has been considered a model human polygenic trait in quantitative genetic analysis. Here, we report the results of the first genome-wide linkage scan for finger ridge count in a sample of 2,114 offspring from 922 nuclear families. Both univariate linkage to the absolute ridge count (a sum of all the ridge counts on all ten fingers), and multivariate linkage analyses of the counts on individual fingers, were conducted. The multivariate analyses yielded significant linkage to 5q14.1 (Logarithm of odds …

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of A Substance Abuse Awareness And Prevention Program Developed For Use With University-Level Varsity Student-Athletes, Robert Joseph Marcello

Theses and Dissertations

Substance abuse problems affect all segments of society including collegiate athletics. Drug testing programs are viewed as one method of combating this problem, however, more emphasis should be placed upon developing effective prevention programs. Towards this end, the first purpose of this study was to draw from available literature to design a prevention program which would cater to the specific needs of student- athletes. The position is taken that since multiple factors such as genetic predisposition, the pharmacological properties of various substances, psychological variables, and environmental/socio-cultural influences are implicated in the etiology of substance abuse difficulties, multi-focused/broad-spectrum intervention programs would …

The Role Of Familial Conflict In The Adaptation To Menarche: Sequential Analysis Of Family Interaction, Grayson N. Holmbeck

Theses and Dissertations

Past research has suggested that temporary perturbations characterize parent-adolescent relations after the onset of pubertal change. The purpose of this study was to further delineate the characteristics of these disruptions in families with seventh-grade girls. Current operational definitions of family conflict in an observational context are inadequate and a potentially more useful definition was offered: conflict is believed to exist when there is the simultaneous occurrence of opposing interpersonal forces.

Two studies were conducted. A validation study was done to determine the psychosocial correlates of the following conflict variables: frequencies and reciprocal dyadic sequences of interruptions and disagreements. The affective …

Phonetic Ambiguity Perception In Reading Disabled And Non-Disabled Children And Adolescents, Elizabeth A. Carter

Theses and Dissertations

There are speculations that disabled readers may fail to correctly decode written words because they are insensitive to language's phonetic form. This insensitivity is presumed by some to be due to a speech perceptual deficit. The purpose of the current study was to assess differences between disabled and non-disabled adolescents and elementary school students in their perceptual accuracy in decoding phonetically ambiguous speech. The effects of two processing factors derived from previous research, priming and word form (e.g., Spencer & Carter, 1982), were also examined to assess how perceptual processes may differ between groups. Clinical evidence of some verbal problems …

An Assessment Of The Perception Of Phonetic Ambiguities In 4 And 5 Year Olds, Elizabeth A. Carter

Theses and Dissertations

The question of how humans clearly perceive speech, which is anything but clear when analyzed acoustically, has prompted researchers to look at the phenomenon of phonetic ambiguity. In adults, phonetic ambiguity perception has been shown to be aided by the listener using expectations due to the saliency (i.e., familiarity of the ambiguous word or phrase) and to pre-exposure (i.e., priming) to the items prior to testing. Priming makes the subject aware of the alternative (i.e., unfamiliar or rare) member of a phonetic ambiguity pair. In the present study, thirty-two 4 and 5 year olds were exposed to a tape containing …

Relaxation Therapy As An Adjunct Strategy For The Treatment Of Bronchial Asthma: An Examination Of Pertinent Psychological And Illness Variables, Robert Joseph Marcello

Theses and Dissertations

Bronchial asthma is described as a relatively common and heterogeneous disorder. The complexity of the pathophysiological process and the myriad of etiological and precipitating factors are discussed. Such factors include: heredity, allergies, and psychological precipitants. The position is taken that regardless of what caused the initial onset of symptoms, psychological factors may contribute to the intractability and severity of the disorder. The utility of Behavior Therapy Techniques such as: Relaxation Therapy, Biofeedback- Assisted Relaxation Therapy, and Systematic Desensitization; as adjunct strategies for the treatment of bronchial asthma is discussed. It is concluded that while each of these arousal reducing strategies …

The Influence Of Assertiveness Characteristics Of Raters On Perceived Assertiveness In Others, Elise Heffelfinger Labe Sloan

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the perceptions of assertiveness, limited to the situation of ability to refuse requests, by assertive and nonassertive subjects as they rated assertive and nonassertive encoders. Gender differences were also assessed. Subjects were 40 Caucasion male and female undergraduate General Psychology students at a large urban university. Within each gender group there were 10 high-assertive and 10 low-assertive subjects as determined by their scores on the second part of the Conflict Resolution Inventory. The subjects rated videotaped assertive and unassertive encoders on an attractiveness scale, assertiveness scale, and on the Impact Message Inventory, (an interpersonal assessment instrument). …

An Investigation Of Central Nervous System Conduction Properties In Diabetes Mellitus Using Brainstem Auditory And Somatosensory Evoked Potentials, Randy L. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

In this study brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs), median nerve conduction velocities (CV) and early somatosensory evoked potentials ( SEPs), were employed as indices of neural conduction properties in a group of young insulin dependent diabetics (five males and five females) and a group of nondiabetic controls (five males and five females). The median nerve CV was determined from 64 summated nerve responses recorded at the elbow. The nerve was stimulated at the wrist using 0.2 msec square wave electrical pulses. The SEP was recorded from scalp electrodes using the same median nerve stimulation technique as for the CV measure. …

The Relationship Between Type A Coronary-Prone Behavior Pattern, Achievement, And Life Satisfaction, Larraine A. Felland

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern, academic achievement and life satisfaction. The subjects were 87 undergraduates selected for their extreme scores on the Jenkins Activity Survey, Form T. There were 41 Type As and 46 Type Bs. Along with the Jenkins Activity Survey, Form T the participants were administered a life satisfaction survey similar to Soper's (1979) and their official academic gradepoint average was obtained from the Academic Records office. A point-biserial correlation indicated that there was a significant (p

The various relationships and their possible explanations and indications were discussed in depth. Significance of …

The Effect Of The Interviewer's Status Upon The Linguistic Style And Impact Messages Cenerated By The "Obsessive Personality", Vincent B. Greenwood

Theses and Dissertations

The present study addressed some of the peripheral statements emanating from Kiesler’s (Kiesler, Bernstein & Anchin, 1976) core communications theory by examining (1) a specific component of the communication style of the obsessive personality, (2) the distinctive emotional engagements the obsessive personality elicits when interacting with others, and (3) a situational determinant that is hypothesized to trigger relatively intense expression of the obsessive’s self-defeating communication style, as well as a higher level of state anxiety.

Specifically, the study examined the effects of a high or low status interviewer upon one expressive measure of speech and upon relationship consequences for groups …

The Effect Of Security And Dominance On Task Perseverance, Gary M. Katz

Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated Maslow's assertion that individuals who were insecure and dominant would express their insecurity in a different manner than those individuals who were insecure and submissive. The amount of time spent on a puzzle solving task was used as an index of the expression of insecurity. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant interaction of security and dominance on the amount of time spent on the puzzle solving task, with the insecure-dominant group demonstrating more persistence than the insecure-submissive group at the task.

A pool of potential subjects completed Maslow's (1952) Security-Insecurity Inventory and the …

Effects Of Winning And Losing On The Interaction Pattern Of Group Partners, Jarell F. Killian

Theses and Dissertations

Of special interest in the field of social psychology are the differences among groups in their functioning that distinguishes them from one another. Cartwright and Zander (1960) speak of this in pointing out that some groups work together with a great deal more success, satisfaction, and with a greater sense of togetherness than others. Some groups are racked with dissent, insouciance, and such a failure to meet goals and standards as to result in a slow death of inactivity. These differences persist even under basically identical circumstances. Concerning this point, Pepitone and Kleiner (1957, p. 192) state:

Everyday observations of …