Mental and Social Health Commons^™

Factors Influencing Health Behaviors In Those At Risk For Developing Schizophrenia, Adriana C. Pennacchi

Theses and Dissertations

Significant health concerns are common among those with schizophrenia- spectrum disorders and are associated with an average lifespan reduction of 15-20 years compared to the general public (Saha, Chant, & McGrath, 2007). Although symptoms of the disorder can disrupt self-care and health behaviors, evidence also suggests that problematic health behaviors are present before the onset of the manifest disorder. One example includes nicotine use which is elevated in those with a family history of schizophrenia (Ferchiou et al., 2012) and in those who show subclinical signs of risk for schizophrenia (Esterberg, Jones, Compton, & Walker, 2007). Despite these findings, there …

New Measures To Capture End Of Life Concerns In Huntington Disease: Meaning And Purpose And Concern With Death And Dying From Hdqlife (A Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement System)., N E Carlozzi, N R Downing, M K Mccormack, S G Schilling, J S Perlmutter, E A Hahn, J S Lai, S Frank, K A Quaid, J S Paulsen, D Cella, S M Goodnight, J A Miner, M A Nance

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

PURPOSE: Huntington disease (HD) is an incurable terminal disease. Thus, end of life (EOL) concerns are common in these individuals. A quantitative measure of EOL concerns in HD would enable a better understanding of how these concerns impact health-related quality of life. Therefore, we developed new measures of EOL for use in HD.

METHODS: An EOL item pool of 45 items was field tested in 507 individuals with prodromal or manifest HD. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA, respectively) were conducted to establish unidimensional item pools. Item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning analyses were applied to …

Hdqlife: Development And Assessment Of Health-Related Quality Of Life In Huntington Disease (Hd), N E Carlozzi, S G Schilling, J-S Lai, J S Paulsen, E A Hahn, J S Perlmutter, C A Ross, N R Downing, A L Kratz, M K Mccormack, M A Nance, K A Quaid, J C Stout, R C Gershon, R E Ready, J A Miner, S K Barton, S L Perlman, S M Rao, S Frank, I Shoulson, H Marin, M D Geschwind, P Dayalu, S M Goodnight, D Cella

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

PURPOSE: Huntington disease (HD) is a chronic, debilitating genetic disease that affects physical, emotional, cognitive, and social health. Existing patient-reported outcomes (PROs) of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) used in HD are neither comprehensive, nor do they adequately account for clinically meaningful changes in function. While new PROs examining HRQOL (i.e., Neuro-QoL-Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders and PROMIS-Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) offer solutions to many of these shortcomings, they do not include HD-specific content, nor have they been validated in HD. HDQLIFE addresses this by validating 12 PROMIS/Neuro-QoL domains in individuals with HD and by using established PROMIS …

Contingency Management Works, Clients Like It, And It Is Cost-Effective., Kimberly C. Kirby, Lois A Benishek, Mary B Tabit

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

No abstract provided.

Examining Multi-Session Brief Intervention For Substance Use In Primary Care: Research Methods Of A Randomized Controlled Trial., Jaclyn E Chambers, Adam C Brooks, Rachel Medvin, David S Metzger, Jennifer Lauby, Carolyn M Carpenedo, Kevin E Favor, Kimberly C Kirby

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

BACKGROUND: Brief interventions such as Screening, a single session of Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) have shown mixed effectiveness in primary care. However, there are indications that multi-session brief interventions may demonstrate more consistently positive outcomes, and perhaps a more intensive approach would be of benefit in addressing substance use in primary care. This study compared the effectiveness of SBIRT with a single BI session (BI/RT) to a multi-session brief-treatment intervention (BI/RT+) in primary care. We also developed easy-to-use, evidence-based materials to assist clinicians in delivering these interventions.

METHODS/DESIGN: This study was conducted in three Federally Qualified Healthcare …

Do Mindfulness, Rumination Or Social Problem-Solving Factors Predict Distress?, Gabriela Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

Depression and anxiety continue to be prevalent concerns, with lifetime prevalence rates of 41% for depressive symptoms and 15% for anxious symptoms. Reputable studies confirm that high self-reported mindful awareness and social problem solving are both individually related to a lower severity of self-reported depressive symptoms. Rumination has also been found to have a significant relationship with depressive and anxious symptoms. Yet, these etiological factors have not been studied in combination, which is the focus of the current study. Hypothesis 1: Mindfulness, rumination, and social problem-solving will predict depressive symptoms after controlling for the variance predicted by Time 1 (T1) …

The Effects Of Abuse On Mental Health Outcomes Of Males, Helana Russo

Theses and Dissertations

Childhood sexual and physical abuse has been found to have lasting effects on one's physical and mental health in adulthood. Studies have found that childhood abuse is linked to a variety of mental health conditions that tend to present later in life. This paper investigates specifically how childhood abuse experiences may affect the mental health of male victims, explicitly examining whether the type of abuse has an effect on the way mental health problems express, whether internalized or externalized disorders are more prominent depending on the abuse type. The study also aims to compare mental health outcomes of abused males …

Sexism And How It Mediates The Relationship Between Gender And Rape Myth Acceptance, Caroline Feinberg

Theses and Dissertations

Rape is a significant social and health problem in the United States with around 17.7 million women being forcibly raped at some time in their lives. While a rape-supportive culture and victim blame are concepts that aid in explaining rape, understanding societal held ideas about rape and traditional gender role beliefs can explain. Therefore, the present study focuses on how ambivalent sexist belief structures mediate the relationship between gender and rape myth acceptance. It was hypothesized that ambivalent sexism (AS) when divided into its four separate concepts: hostile (HS), protective paternalism (PP), complementary gender differentiation (CGD), and heterosexual intimacy (HI), …

Understanding Factors Contributing To Risky Sexual Activity In The Study Abroad Environment, Tiffany Marcantonio

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers suggest that study abroad students may be an un-identified high risk group for risky sexual activity. The goal of this study was to determine whether factors predictive of risky sexual activity at home (sexual sensation seeking, alcohol and sex expectancies, alcohol consumption and previous risky behaviors) may also influence such behavior while abroad. Data was collected longitudinally with a pre and post survey that assessed the above constructs. Twenty-four study abroad students completed the pre survey and six completed the post survey. Two Independent samples t-tests were conducted to clarify differences between gender and students who completed the pre-survey …

The Effects Of Family Responsibilities And Gender On Seeking Substance-Abuse Treatment, Holly Weiss

Theses and Dissertations

It is evident in the media, from news reports to published research, that substance use is a serious and extensive problem (SAMHSA, 2012). The problem with drug use is not a new issue, but with a changing society the substance abuse issue is changing as well. With substance abuse at its highest in about ten years, it would be expected that treatment admissions would be at the highest levels as well, yet the numbers have remained constant (SAHMSA, 2012). The changing society has helped foster increased drug use, but it has also assisted in developing new difficulties that those affected …

Effects Of Violent Video Games On Sexual Aggression In Males, Elizabeth Ealer

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to investigate the link between short-term violent video game play and engagement in sexually aggressive behaviors. In this study, participants were randomly assigned to play 15 minutes of Grand Theft Auto (experimental group) or Tetris Evolution (control group) on an Xbox. After game play, participants engaged in a joke telling paradigm, in which participants were given 10 sexually aggressive jokes, and were instructed to tell between 0-10 of the jokes to a female confederate. The number of jokes told is related to sexually aggressive behaviors outside of the laboratory. The researchers of this study …

The Relationship Between Cognitive Inhibition, Mental Illness, And Creativity, Christina Carter

Theses and Dissertations

The current study explored how the symptom severity of the affective and schizophrenia spectrums related to performance on a divergent thinking task and self-reports of creative achievement, as well as the contribution of cognitive inhibition as a moderating factor between these variables. 98 participants completed a 1.5 hour battery of tests that combined measures between this study and another study. Measures pertaining to this study included self-report measures of schizotypy and hypomania, a divergent thinking creativity task, a computerized stimuli-response task, and two self-reports of creative achievement. Correlations were conducted to examine linear relationships, nonlinear regression models were conducted to …

Outness As A Protective Factor Against Risky Sex In Gay Males, Margaret Levicoff

Theses and Dissertations

Homosexual men between the ages of 15 and 25 constitute a disproportionate majority of new sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS, worldwide (Harper, 2007). Men who have sex with men (MSM) more frequently engage in riskier health behaviors, such as drinking, substance use, and risky sexual practices than their heterosexual counterparts (Hamilton & Mahalik, 2009). The current study sampled 150 self-identified homosexual men between the ages of 18 through 30 to assess whether or not level of outness influenced the likelihood of an individual to engage in risky sexual behaviors. Participants completed an online survey that measured each individual's level …

The Efficacy Of Bibliotherapy For Social Anxiety And Depressive Symptomology, Paige Palumbo

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, the efficacy of a self-help treatment was examined. Participants were undergraduates experiencing comorbid social anxiety and depressive symptoms. It is hypothesized that those in the treatment condition (n=5) would experience a significant reduction in social anxiety and depressive symptoms over the course of the nine week treatment. In addition, it is hypothesized that these gains would be greater than the gains experienced by individuals in the wait-list control condition (n=5). The results of this study did support the hypotheses.

Preferences For Systems Of Psychotherapy And Beliefs About The Causes Of Depression, Andrew Jarema

Theses and Dissertations

Despite multiple treatments being equally effective in treating depression, individuals may have preferences for which intervention they receive. There has been evidence that psychotherapy is preferred over medication or other professional treatments. Psychotherapy, however, is a broad term that does not capture the reality of diverse systems of therapy available to consumers. Therefore, the current study hypothesized that if given the choice between conceptually different types of psychotherapy, individuals would express a preference for at least one treatment over the others. Results from 221 college students indicate that when offered descriptions of problem-solving, cognitive, interpersonal, or behavioral activation therapies, both …

The Effect Of Quality Of Life And Health Behaviors In Schizotypy, Victoria Giordano

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia are typically found to engage in higher rates of poorer health behaviors, such as higher rates of smoking and poorer nutrition. Along with poorer health behaviors, individuals with schizophrenia tend to report a lower quality of life than an individual without a schizophrenia diagnosis. Our study chose to look at schizotypy, or sub-clinical schizophrenia, and its relation to quality of life and health behaviors. We found that individuals that measure high on the subclinical schizotypy scale tend to mirror the health and quality of life ratings of an individual diagnosed with schizophrenia - they are more …

An Examination Of The Relationships Between Rumination, Social Problem-Solving, Mindfulness And Depressive Symptomology, Taylor Wiltsee

Theses and Dissertations

The present study will examine the relationships between rumination, social problem-solving, mindfulness, and depressive symptomology. These relationships will be evaluated by means of Pearson correlations, and the testing of the proposed path model using AMOS. In order to test our hypotheses, undergraduate students were asked to complete a battery of self-report measures to quantify ruminative tendencies, problem-solving ability, mindfulness skills, and depressive symptom severity and were given course credit for participation. Results indicate that hypotheses were partially supported. Bivariate correlations yielded statistically significant relationships between each of the constructs, with rumination positively associated with depressive symptoms, and negatively associated with …

Assessing Risk Factors And Levels Of Functioning Across The Continuum Of Psychosis, James Castorina

Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia and other related psychotic disorders are often associated with impairments in social and general functioning. It has been proposed that there may be underlying factors such as personality traits or cognitive abilities that contribute to one's psychosis proneness, or levels of schizotypy. In the current study, we expect to see a decline in overall functioning and verbal memory according to symptom severity. Particularly, we hypothesize a similar pattern with overall functioning and verbal memory in regards to negative symptomology with comparable results between an outpatient sample and those with high levels of schizotypy. Furthermore, based on prior research, we …

Coping Strategies, Psychopathological Symptoms, And Posttraumatic Growth Following Trauma And Stressful Life Events, Jessica Henninger

Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined the predictive value of stressful life experiences and coping strategies on posttraumatic growth and psychopathological symptoms. Using the Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire (TLEQ), the Brief COPE, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), hierarchical linear regression models were used to explore the contribution of specific coping strategies to predict posttraumatic growth and psychopathological symptoms following exposure to a trauma/stressful life event. We hypothesized that coping styles such as planning, humor, and acceptance would predict more adaptive outcomes, whereas coping styles such as venting, substance use, and denial would predict more maladaptive outcomes. …

The Effect Of The Victim-Offender Relationship And Pre-Assault Intoxication On Ptsd Symptom Severity, Diandra Meloni

Theses and Dissertations

College-aged women are at an increased risk for experiencing non-consensual sexual contact (i.e. sexual assault) relative to the general population. Women who endure a sexual assault are at an increased risk for developing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Intoxication by drugs and/or alcohol during an assault is linked to victims experiencing less severe PTSD symptoms; however, little is known about how the victim-offender relationship relates to PTSD symptom severity. The current study sampled 125 university women on measures that assessed degree of sexual victimization and resulting PTSD symptoms. It was hypothesized that both intoxication and the victim-offender relationship would affect PTSD …

Impulsivity Traits As Determinants For Smoking Behavior, Stacey Munyon

Theses and Dissertations

The notion that smoking is in direct relation to the character trait of impulsivity is widely agreed upon. This study examines the individual character traits of the UPPS-P impulsivity scale that comprise the construct of impulsivity as they relate to cigarette smoking. This study seeks to illustrate whether or not there is determination of smoking behavior as a result of high levels of one or more of these impulsive traits. Analysis will be evaluated through means of several different analyses of variance to determine if any relationships are present.

The Victimization-Substance Relationship: An Examination Of Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences And Post-Assault Substance Use, Jessica Melillo

Theses and Dissertations

Women with nonconsensual sexual experience (NSE) history are at elevated risk of experiencing revictimization and engaging in post-NSE substance use. Though the risk of college women experiencing NSEs has been well-established, high school women have been mostly overlooked in the literature, especially in relation to revictimization pathways. Substance use post-high school NSE, post-college NSE, and post-revictimization were examined, with revictimization being defined as an NSE in high school and an NSE in college. Female college students (N = 195) completed measures that assessed degree of sexual victimization, quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption and illicit drug use, and substance-related consequences. …

Gender Differences And Depression In Self-Disclosure On The Therapeutic Relationship, Nicole Rubio

Theses and Dissertations

The counseling relationship is a major factor in promoting change from the client in the therapeutic relationship. Additional factors contributing to or hindering this relationship including gender, depressive symptomology, and disclosure tendency, collectively require further attention to facilitate improved treatment outcomes in counseling. Male and female college students (N = 212) completed measures that assessed depression symptomology and disclosure tendency. It was hypothesized that female college students would engage in greater levels of self-disclosure than male students and that greater depressive symptomology would equate to a lesser degree of disclosure tendency. The employed ANOVA model found no interaction between gender, …

Money Management For The Severe And Persistently Mentally Ill, Simone Kurtz-Dougherty

Theses and Dissertations

Five men diagnosed with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI) were recruited from a partial care program to participate in a study on the efficacy of teaching money management skills. The participants were also assessed on perceived stress, financial strain, and symptomology. The men were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a waitlist control group; both groups received an intervention for money management consisting of a workshop on budgeting and weekly coaching based on expenses. Participants in the experimental group received the money management class immediately after a pretest baseline was established and the wait-list control group received …

Randomized Clinical Trial Examining Duration Of Voucher-Based Reinforcement Therapy For Cocaine Abstinence., Kimberly C Kirby, Carolyn M Carpenedo, Karen L Dugosh, Beth J Rosenwasser, Lois A Benishek, Alicia Janik, Rachel Keashen, Elena Bresani, Kenneth Silverman

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

BACKGROUND: This is the first study to systematically manipulate duration of voucher-based reinforcement therapy (VBRT) to see if extending the duration increases abstinence during and following VBRT.

METHODS: We randomized cocaine-dependent methadone-maintained adults to Standard (12 weeks; n=62) or Extended (36 weeks; n=68) VBRT and provided escalating voucher amounts contingent upon urinalysis verification of cocaine abstinence. Urinalysis was scheduled at least every 2 weeks during the 48-week study and more frequently during VBRT (3/week) and 12 weeks of Aftercare (2/week).

RESULTS: Extended VBRT produced longer durations of continuous cocaine abstinence during weeks 1-24 (5.7 vs 2.7 weeks; p=0.003) and proportionally …

A Comparison Of Attention Bias Paradigms Related To Insomnia, Nathaniel Maloney

Theses and Dissertations

Attentional bias to sleep related stimuli by poor sleepers has been reported as a factor in initiating and maintaining sleep disturbance. In this study, three paradigms (Flicker, Posner, and Stroop) were used in comparison to further investigate the role of attentional biases in Primary Insomnia. Participants (n=117) were split into good sleepers and poor sleepers using a median split with the Pittsburgh Insomnia Rating Scale (PIRS). Using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) as the covariate, two-way mixed modality ANCOVAs were conducted for each paradigm revealing no significant differences in word type, quality of sleep, or the interaction …

Are Your Parents To Blame? Disentangling Temperament, Parenting Style, And Schemas In The Development Of Depressive Symptoms, Jenny Delorme

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined Jeffrey Young's Schema Theory (1990; 2003) and its influence in understanding the etiological factors related to depressive symptoms. It was hypothesized that there would be significant interactions between parenting and temperament traits. It was also hypothesized that The Defectiveness and Insufficient Self Control EMSs would mediate the relationship between the significant parenting/temperament interactions and depressive symptoms. Participants were administered the Young Schema Questionnaire Short form-3 to measure the endorsement of schemas; the Beck Depression Inventory to measure symptoms of depression; the Young Parenting Inventory to measure perceived parenting; and the Adult Temperament Questionnaire to measure temperament traits. …

Spirituality And Alcohol Consumption In A General Population, Nicole Keenan

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between spirituality and alcohol consumption in a general population because spirituality is important when it comes to the treatment and continued recovery from addiction. In order to measure spirituality, we used three psychometrically tested measures; The Intrinsic Spirituality Scale, the Spiritual Intelligence Self Report Inventory, and the Spiritual Assessment Inventory. To measure alcohol consumption we utilized the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Results sustain the multidimensionality and overlap between spirituality and religion and the need for more complete definitions. Our findings support the buffering relationship between spirituality and alcohol consumption as well as a relationship …

Locus Of Control And Quality Of Life In Individuals With Schizotypy, Rachael Paulbeck

Theses and Dissertations

The present study collected data from 200 undergraduate students (106 male, 94 female) and sought to examine the relationship between levels of stress, cognitive processes related to stress management (Locus of Control- LOC; Sense of Coherence; SOC), and quality of life (QOL) across varying levels of risk for developing schizophrenia. Results indicated that high-risk individuals are significantly more likely to have an external locus of control (F=4.121, p=.018) supporting hypothesis 1. Counter to our second hypothesis, locus of control was not directly associated with QOL. However, LOC was correlated with both stress and level of risk for schizophrenia which (in …

The Freshman Experience, Stephanie Mannon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory research was to investigate if change in sexual risk-taking behavior between high school and college can be predicted as a function of the interaction of person and situation traits. College, conceptualized as a backspace (situation) construct, and personality traits (sensation-seeking, neuroticism, extraversion) conducive to deviant behavior were examined. While significant risky behavior was reported for all students (n = 252), hierarchical regression analyses revealed that higher levels of the specified personality traits in combination with on-campus backspace residential status was not predictive of greater change in engagement in sexual risk-taking behavior. Implications for future research …