Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

The Role Of Dopamine In Decision Making Processes In Drosophila Melanogaster, Michelle C. Bowers

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Understanding the neural processes that mediate decision making is a relatively new field of investigation in the scientific community. With the ultimate goal of understanding how humans decide between one path and another, simpler models such as Drosophila Melanogaster, the common fruit fly, are often utilized as a way of determining the neural circuits involved in these decision-making processes. One of the most important decisions flies make is the decision of where to lay their eggs (oviposit). Choosing the proper substrate upon which to lay eggs is a crucial decision that can ultimately impact their fecundity. This paper investigates the …

The Effectiveness Of Implementing A Collaborative Mental Health Approach On Quality Of Life For Individuals Of Low Socioeconomic Status, Tyler Z. Tooley

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The ultimate purpose of this study is to provide insight and education to mental health clinicians, politicians and the general public of the numerous effects poverty has on mental health, in addition to the most beneficial ways to combat those insidious effects. The specific barriers met by individuals of low socioeconomic status severely affect psychological and physical health, as well as social and environmental relationships, which therefore diminish overall quality of life. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of implementing a collaborative mental health approach for low income individuals on length of engagement in services and …

Demographic Predictors Of Adult Behaviors In The Pediatric Postoperative Environment, Natasha H. Hikita, Amber Osorno, Carlie Taurosa, Michelle A. Fortier, Zeev N. Kain, Brooke N. Jenkins

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Over 85% of children experience postoperative pain. If poorly treated, pediatric postoperative pain may lead to various negative health outcomes. Adult behaviors may be associated with child experiences in the postoperative environment. For example, adult behaviors such as distraction, humor, and coping advice divert a child’s attention away from their pain and thus, may significantly reduce child postoperative distress. In contrast, adult behaviors such as empathy, reassurance, and apology direct a child’s attention towards their pain which may increase a child’s overall postoperative distress. Moreover, patient demographic factors, like child ethnicity, may significantly alter the frequency of use of these …

Searching For Neural Mechanisms Of Social Cognition, Chandler Siemonsma, Cristina Uribe, Louanne Boyd, Aaron Schurger, Deanna Hughes, Tian Lan

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Social cognition involves the integration and pruning of perceptual information which leads to the formation of an abstract representation, which is also known as the perceptual gist. This study examined 87 differences in visual perception of Mooney face stimuli of differing sizes and the relationship to gist formation in ten individuals with autism compared to neurotypical controls. Parents of both groups completed the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2) to assess social functioning in real-world scenarios.

Promoting Resilience In Self-Management (Prism): Adverse Childhood Experiences And Impacts On Emotion Regulation, Kasey Ann Macedo

Honors Scholar Theses

PRISM (Promoting Resilience in Self-Management) is a mindfulness-based intervention that aims to strengthen emotion regulation skills among individuals by employing cognitive behavioral therapy components. The purpose of the current study is to identify the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and depression, as well as to examine the changes in emotion regulation strategies of participants by comparing pre and post test data. The participants were voluntarily recruited from the Cornerstone Foundation, a homeless shelter, food pantry, and community center in Vernon, CT. The 13 participants completed PRISM through four weeks of two-hour workshop sessions in a small-group format. Results indicate …

Positive Emotions And Favorable Cardiovascular Health: A 20-Year Longitudinal Study, Julia K. Boehm, Ying Chen, Farah Qureshi, Jackie Soo, Peter Umokoro, Rosalba Hernandez, Donald Lloyd-Jones, Laura D. Kubzansky

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

No studies have examined whether positive emotions lead to favorable cardiovascular health (CVH) early in the lifespan, before cardiovascular disease is diagnosed. Moreover, the direction of the association has not been thoroughly investigated. Among younger adults, we investigated whether baseline positive emotions were associated with better CVH over 20 years. We also considered whether baseline CVH was associated with subsequent positive emotions during the same period.

Participants included 4196 Black and White men and women from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study. Positive emotions and cardiovascular-related parameters were each assessed in 1990 (this study's baseline), with repeated …

The Tipping Point In Psychopathy: Role Of Psychopathic Traits In Trauma Exposure, Sneha M. Gupta

Student Theses

Though psychopathy has been associated with a socially deviant lifestyle, the idea of “successful” psychopathy has gained increased attention. Previous research has explored whether psychopathic traits play a role in trauma exposure/ PTSD, using clinical and forensic populations. Results from these studies suggest that Factor 1 traits may protect from trauma exposure (Factor 1 Theory) while Factor 2 traits may worsen the impact of trauma through exacerbated exposure to traumatic events. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between each of Factor 1 traits and Factor 2 traits with trauma exposure and PTSD. In a sample of …

2019/2020 Lrsp: Ricardo Andres Pimentel, Ricardo Andres Pimentel

Library Research Scholars Program

Decades of constant wars have produced millions of military personnel returning home after their stints protecting their country. Though many of these military members are able to fully reintegrate into society, a significant minority return with psychical and psychological difficulties. Included in this vast list of difficulties is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This disorder is particularly endemic to military populations, and although numerous treatment modalities are available to veterans with PTSD, they are not all effective for every individual. Thus, numerous grassroots and private organizations have been working to pair veterans with service dogs for the treatment of PTSD. …

(Des)Cuidando A Quienes Nos Crían: Una Exploración Cualitativa Del Abordaje Para El Diagnóstico, La Prevención Y El Tratamiento De La Depresión Posparto En La Ciudad Autónoma De Buenos Aires (2020) / (In)Adequate Care For Those Who Raise Us: A Qualitative Exploration Of The Approach To Diagnosis, Prevention And Treatment Of Postpartum Depression In The City Of Buenos Aires (2020), April Hopcroft

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Aunque el embarazo y la maternidad están representadas como periodos de alegría, la llegada de un bebé es una transición significativa en la vida que también puede provocar sentimientos de ansiedad y depresión. La depresión posparto (DPP) es un trastorno de estado de ánimo que plantea consecuencias graves para ambas madre y bebé. Dada la vacancia de investigación en la Argentina, este trabajo pretende analizar el abordaje actual de intervención de la DPP en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Los objetivos específicos son: 1) identificar y describir el proceso de diagnóstico, prevención y tratamiento, y 2) indagar las percepciones …

The Relationship Between Social Functioning And Anxiety Symptoms In Preschoolers With Autism, Kaylee L. Cox

Senior Theses

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in social functioning. Furthermore, children with ASD have been found to have high rates of comorbid anxiety. Understanding the relationship between ASD and comorbid anxiety is essential in raising awareness of anxiety symptomology in children with ASD in hopes of better informing treatment and support. The present study examines the relationship between social functioning and general anxiety in children with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) children. The first objective of this study was to examine group differences in social impairments and anxiety symptoms between children diagnosed with ASD and TD children. …

Recognizing The Need For Mental Health Reform In The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Kara Mchorse

St. Mary's Law Journal

The ways in which mental health care and the criminal justice system interact are in desperate need of reform in Texas. The rate of mental illness in Texas is higher than the current state of mental health care can provide for. While state hospitals were once the primary care facilities of those with mental illness, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has taken on that role in the last few decades; and when the criminal justice system becomes entangled with mental health care, it often leads to “unmitigated disaster.” If Texas continues to allow the TDCJ to act as …

Impact Of Indian Demonetization On Working And Non-Working Married Women: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Naved Iqbal, Imtiyaz A. Dar, Irum Khan

The Qualitative Report

The sudden announcement of demonetization in India caused an immediate financial crisis that cascaded throughout the whole country and consequently caused suffering in the lives of many people, one such group being married women. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore and understand how married women were impacted by the demonetization policy. A total of 20 working and non-working women were selected from New Delhi and a qualitative research design based on interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed. The present study identified three themes (i.e., problems due to demonetization, coping with demonetization, and diverse experiences associated with hidden money) and …

Development And Psychometrics Of The English Version Of The Itch Cognitions Questionnaire, Carolyn J. Heckman, Christina Schut, Mary Riley, Anke Ehlers, Rodrigo Valdes-Rodriguez, Jörg Kupfer, Uwe Gieler, Jerod L. Stapleton

Health, Behavior & Society Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to validate the English version of the Itch Cognition Questionnaire in a sample of patients with chronic itch due to psoriasis or atopic dermatitis. An English-language version of an instrument assessing itch-related cognitions is needed since cognitions can contribute to a worsening of itch, and chronic itch is prevalent in English-speaking counties and internationally.

METHODS: The German Itch Cognitions Questionnaire was translated into English, and cognitive interviewing was conducted to finalize item wording. Internal and test-retest reliability, item discrimination, responsiveness to change, and construct, convergent, and discriminant validity were assessed in a national …

Variable Magnitude And Frequency Financial Reinforcement Is Effective At Increasing Adults’ Free-Living Physical Activity, Vincent Berardi, Melbourne Hovell, Jane C. Hurley, Christine B. Phillips, John Belletierre, Michael Todd, Marc A. Adams

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Financial rewards can increase health behaviors, but little research has quantified the effects of different reinforcement schedules on this process. This analysis compares the average moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) associated with six distinct positive reinforcement schedules implemented within a physical activity promotion clinical trial. In this trial, participants (N = 512) wore an accelerometer for 1 year and were prescribed one of two types of MVPA goals: a static 30-min goal or an adaptive goal based on the MVPA produced over the previous 9 days. As participants met goals, they transitioned through a sequence of reinforcement stages, beginning with …

An Investigation Of Word Learning In The Presence Of Gaze: Evidence From School-Age Children With Typical Development Or Autism Spectrum Disorder, Janet Y. Bang, Aparna S. Nadig

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Little is understood about how children attend to and learn from gaze when learning new words, and whether gaze confers any benefits beyond word mapping. We examine whether 6- to 11-year-old typically-developing children (n = 43) and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (n = 25) attend to and learn with gaze differently from another directional cue, an arrow cue. An eye-tracker recorded children’s attention to videos while they were taught novel words with a gaze cue or an arrow cue. Videos included objects when they were static or when they were manipulated to demonstrate the object’s function. Word learning was …

The History Of Lobotomies: Examining Its Impacts On Marginalized Groups And The Development Of Psychosurgery, Simon Godin, Brett Leblanc

Psychology from the Margins

Frontal lobotomies, which are defined as the lesioning of the frontal lobe from the rest of the brain, were performed extensively from the 1930s to the 1960s in Europe and the United States, significantly impacting psychology and psychosurgery. The history of frontal lobotomies features many different practitioners with diverse methods; however, the overwhelming majority of popular lobotomists committed unethical actions by today’s standards that led to the direct marginalization of specific demographics. Using a framework guided by an exploration of those historically disempowered by the performance of lobotomies, this review article traces the lobotomy’s historical progression, focusing on the unethical …

The Project Talent Twin And Sibling Study: Zygosity And New Data Collection, Carol A. Prescott, Ellen E. Walters, Thalida Em Arpawong, Catalina Zavala, Tara L. Gruenewald, Margaret Gatz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The Project Talent Twin and Sibling (PTTS) study includes 4481 multiples and their 522 nontwin siblings from 2233 families. The sample was drawn from Project Talent, a U.S. national longitudinal study of 377,000 individuals born 1942–1946, first assessed in 1960 and representative of U.S. students in secondary school (Grades 9–12). In addition to the twins and triplets, the 1960 dataset includes 84,000 siblings from 40,000 other families. This design is both genetically informative and unique in facilitating separation of the ‘common’ environment into three sources of variation: shared by all siblings within a family, specific to twin-pairs, and associated with …

The Missing Moral Dimension: Perceptions Of Transgressions And The Moderating Role Of Moral Foundations On Psychological Distress, Hannah Reas

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Anxiety and depression can be represented on a dimensional spectrum of negative affect, broadly termed psychological distress. Research has identified several factors that maintain negative emotion, but have neglected the possibility that individuals’ interpretations of moral issues in the larger macro-system affects their level of distress. Thus, the current study investigated the role of perceptions of moral transgressions, or cognitive interpretations of stimuli (“transgressions”) that violate beliefs about right and wrong, as a predictor of psychological distress. Furthermore, this study tested how perceptions of moral transgressions vary as a function of individuals’ own moral intuitions, or moral foundations. Participants ( …

Perceptions And Understanding Of Research Situations As A Function Of Consent Form Characteristics And Experimenter Instructions, Jeremy D. Heider, Jessica L. Hartnett, Emmanuel J. Perez, John E. Edlund

Faculty Publications

Two studies examined how research methodology affected participant behaviors. Study 1 tested (a) consent form perspective (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person) and (b) information on participants’ right to sue upon perceptions of coercion, ability to recall consent information, and performance on experimental tasks. Unexpectedly, participants who received instructions without the right to sue information had significantly better recall of their research rights. Study 2 manipulated (a) consent form complexity (presence or absence of jargon) and (b) the detail of verbal instructions (simple, elaborate); participants who received a consent form with simpler language spent more time on a difficult task, and …

The Provider Perspective On Behavioral Health Care For Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Individuals In The Central Great Plains: A Qualitative Study Of Approaches And Needs, Natalie Holt, Debra A. Hope, Richard Mocarski, Heather Meyer, Robyn King, Nathan Woodruff

Trans Collaborations Academic Papers

Purpose—Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals interact with mental health care systems at high rates and experience substantial barriers to care. Rural TGNC individuals face additional disparities in accessing appropriate mental health services. Little research has focused on the mental healthcare providers who work with TGNC individuals in underserved areas. The current study sought to describe the mental health care services delivered by providers perceived as affirming by TGNC community members in the Central Great Plains.

Methods—We conducted qualitative interviews with 10 providers to understand how providers seek cultural competency and conceptualize and work with their TGNC clients given the …

Task-Offload Tools Improve Productivity And Performance In Geopolitical Forecasting, Ion Juvina, Othalia Larue, Colin Widmer, Subhashini Ganapathy, Srikanth Nadella, Brandon Minnery, Lance Ramshaw, Emile Servan-Schreiber, Maurice Balick, Ralph Weischedel

Psychology Faculty Publications

Recent studies in geopolitical forecasting have identifiedpsychological variables that predict forecasting accuracy.We studied the effect of providing human forecasters withautomated information search and task management supporttools. Our research aimed to determine whether use of thesupport tools could explain additional variance in forecast-ing performance above and beyond psychological variables.We found that the provided tools encouraged participants todo more work (i.e., information search, communication, re-flection, etc.), which in turn resulted in improved forecast-ing performance.

Sin Papeles: The Experiences Of Undocumented Central American Immigrants In The United States, Elizabeth Jarquin

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

In the United States, the topic of immigration represents a source of intense debate, which has escalated in recent years. Research indicates that Latinx immigrants are negatively impacted by current immigration policies— they are feeling afraid, angry, exhausted, defeated, overwhelmed, and concerned about themselves and their family (Castrellón, Rivarola, & López, 2017; Wray-Lake et al., 2018). This research, however, has largely neglected the Central American subgroup and the experiences of undocumented immigrants. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of undocumented Central American immigrants and their families within the current sociopolitical context. I utilized interpretative phenomenological analysis …

A Five-Sample Confirmatory Factor Analytic Study Of Burnout-Depression Overlap, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Jay Verkuilen

Publications and Research

Objective: It has been asserted that burnout—a condition ascribed to unresolvable job stress—should not be mistaken for a depressive syndrome. In this confirmatory factor analytic study, the validity of this assertion was examined.

Methods: Five samples of employed individuals, recruited in Switzerland and France, were mobilized for this study (N = 3,113). Burnout symptoms were assessed with the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Measure, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)—General Survey, and the MBI for Educators. Depressive symptoms were measured with the PHQ‐9.

Results: In all five samples, the latent factors pertaining to burnout’s components correlated on average more highly with the latent Depression …

Associations Between Stress, Racial Discrimination, And Cytokine Levels In Black Americans, Takia Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Inflammation is a common pathophysiological pathway for a number of chronic diseases and is influenced by exposure to stress. Although there are racial disparities in health outcomes, relatively little is known about factors that may influence the inflammatory response in Black American individuals. This study examined whether racial discrimination and other forms of stress are associated with the balance of pro- and anti- inflammatory cytokines in Black American adults. Data from 22 participants were drawn from a larger study of Black American children (ages 5-12) and their primary caregivers drawn from low income neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia. Caregivers reported demographics, …

Black Women And Body Image: Implications Of The Racialized Beauty Aesthetic, Rachel L. Boutte

Theses and Dissertations

Black women have the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity relative to any other demographic group in the United States, however current weight management interventions appear least effective for them. Although several hypotheses have been proposed to explain these outcomes, few studies have collected data to evaluate how well they fit the lived experiences of Black women. In particular, the potential roles of body image and body dissatisfaction in the development and maintenance of overweight and obesity in Black women are not well understood. Extant literature largely reports that Black women are inoculated from body dissatisfaction due to cultural factors, …

Transcriptomic Profiling Of Postmortem Prefrontal Cortex And Nucleus Accumbens From Chronic Alcohol Abusers., Eric S. Vornholt

Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness that develops from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. While it is well documented that AUD is heritable, the shift from recreational alcohol use to abuse/dependence is poorly understood. In this dissertation, using postmortem brain tissue from individuals with alcohol dependence (AD), we profiled the genome-wide expression of circular RNA (circRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and messenger RNA (mRNA) to better understand the impact of gene expression on the development of AUD. To achieve this, we performed two independent studies that explore transcriptome differences between AD cases and controls. The first of …

Political Centrism, Perspective Taking, And Outgroup Derogation: An Integrated Model, David Kesler

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The relationship between perspective taking abilities, political centrism, and outgroup derogation is not defined at this time. While previous research has demonstrated a negative relationship between political centrism and outgroup derogation (Van Prooijen, Krouwel, Boiten, & Eendebak, 2015), the relationship between the other variables is unclear. Therefore, the current study sought to measure the relationship between (1) perspective taking abilities and political centrism, (2) perspective taking and outgroup derogation, (3) political centrism and outgroup derogation and lastly, (4) whether the relationship between perspective taking abilities and political outgroup derogation would be mediated by an individual's level of political centrism.

Somatic Symptoms And Binge Eating In Women's Daily Lives, Kelly A. Romano, Kristin E. Heron, Kathryn E. Smith, Ross D. Crosby, Scott G. Engel, Stephen A. Wonderlich, Raina D. Pang, Tyler B. Mason

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective

The present study aimed to determine whether the momentary severity of women's somatic symptoms was concurrently and prospectively associated with their engagement in binge eating in naturalistic settings.

Method

Thirty women (M_age = 34.13, SD = 13.92) who had engaged in binge eating at least once over the month prior to study entry completed a 14-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol. During each of the 14 days, participants received five semi-random surveys via text message that assessed momentary somatic symptom severity (i.e., headaches, stomachaches/pain, chest/heart pain, faintness/dizziness, shortness of breath, fatigue) and disordered eating behaviors. Generalized estimating equations …

The Relationship Between Social Media Engagement And Psychological Well-Being In College Students At The University Of New Hampshire, Emily G. D'Antonio

Honors Theses and Capstones

Social media use has increased substantially in recent years, and for the college-aged population, social media is often the leading method of communication. Research indicates this reliance on digital connection could have a negative impact on the health of young adults (Bagroy et al., 2017). The college years are a time of personal growth and defining actions, yet can also be burdened by mental health issues related to stress, anxiety, and depression (Hunt & Eisenberg, 2010). Acknowledging these trends, the current study explores how college students’ specific frequency and intentionality while interacting on social media relates to their psychological well-being. …

Fight, Flight, Or Freezing? Investigating The Immobility Response In Military Veterans, Paige Elizabeth King

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When the body is faced with threat to life or limb, the autonomic nervous system works to overcome the danger – by either fight, flight, or freezing. While immobility may not appear to be the most logical solution, theories exist that it allows for judgement of the situation and preparation for action. This study investigated the stress response that military veterans, with or without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), demonstrate when shown unpleasant images. Researchers wanted to determine the extent to which veterans would show freezing or immobile responses when under an unpleasant image condition. It was hypothesized that veterans who …