Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons^™

Promoting Adherence And Retention To Clinical Trials In Special Populations: A Women's Health Initiative Workshop, Sara Wilcox, Sally Shumaker, Deborah Bowen, Michelle Naughton, Milagros Rosal, Shari Ludlam, Elizabeth Dugan, Julie Hunt, Stephanie Stevens

Elizabeth Dugan

This paper describes a Women's Health Initiative workshop on promoting adherence and retention in randomized clinical trials among ethnic minority women, participants of lower socioeconomic status, and older women. Workshop objectives were: (1) to increase knowledge of demographic and cultural characteristics of diverse groups, (2) to increase awareness of how diversity can affect interactions in clinical research, (3) to explore how research staff behavior can influence adherence and retention, and (4) to increase knowledge of strategies to enhance adherence and retention in special populations. The workshop emphasized the importance of understanding beliefs, values, and experiences that are common in diverse …

The Overtraining Syndrome In Endurance Athletes; A Guide For Coaches And Athletic Trainers For Prevention And Treatment, Shannon M. Hughes

Student Dissertations & Theses

Training may be the most vital aspect of competition for serious athletes. The goal of training is to improve athletic performance by improving physiological performance, but there are instances when training can push an athlete physiologically beyond the threshold of tolerance. Most coaches and athletic trainers are aware that overtraining leads to physical injury when little recovery time is allowed, but what is still unclear is how overtraining affects the emotional and psychological stability of the athlete. The purpose of this guide is to educate coaches, athletic trainers, and even athletes, on the methods to potentially avoid overtraining, to recognize …

The Effect Of Gender Role And Males' Attitudes Toward Receiving Mental Health Therapy, Christina H. Thomas

Student Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this research study was to build upon previous research pertaining to gender role and young adult male attitudes towards receiving mental health therapy. An additional purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between media exposure and attitude toward mental health therapy. The first hypothesis was that there would be a positive correlation between gender role scores and attitudes with the BEM Sex- Role Inventory (BSRI) and with scores on attitudes with the Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPHS) in young adult males. The second hypothesis was that young adult males who watched a …

The Electrophysiological And Neuropsychological Organization Of Long Term Memory, Richard J. Addante

Psychology Faculty Publications

The electrophysiological correlates of recognition memory retrieval were examined in order to identify the neural conditions that precede accurate memory retrieval, characterize the processes that contribute to high and low confidence memory responses, and determine which memory processes are impaired after brain injury. Human electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded during recognition confidence and source memory judgments in three experiments. In Experiment 1, mid-frontal pre-stimulus theta oscillations were found to precede the stimulus presentation of items that were successfully recollected, but they were not found to be predictive of item familiarity. Moreover, during stimulus presentation, recollection was associated with an increase in …

Pathological Personality Traits Among Patients With Absent, Current, And Remitted Substance Use Disorders, Christopher J. Hopwood, Leslie C. Morey, Andrew E. Skodol, Charles A. Sanislow, Carlos M. Grilo, Emily B. Ansell, Thomas H. Mcglashan, John C. Markowitz, Anthony Pinto, Shirley Yen, M. Tracie Shea, John G. Gunderson, Mary C. Zanarini, Robert L. Stout

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

Personality traits may provide underlying risk factors for and/or sequelae to substance use disorders (SUDs). In this study Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP) traits were compared in a clinical sample (N=704, age 18–45) with current, past, or no historical alcohol or non-alcohol substance use disorders (AUD and NASUD) as assessed by DSM-IV semi-structured interview. Results corroborated previous research in showing associations of negative temperament and disinhibition to SUD, highlighting the importance of these traits for indicating substance use proclivity or the chronic effects of substance use. Certain traits (manipulativeness, self-harm, disinhibition, and impulsivity for AUD, and disinhibition and …

Self-Harm Subscale Of The Schedule Of Nonadaptive And Adaptive Personality (Snap): Predicting Suicide Attempts Over 8 Years Of Follow-Up, Shirley Yen, M. Tracie Shea, Zach Walsh, Maria O. Edelen, Christopher J. Hopwood, John C. Markowitz, Emily B. Ansell, Leslie C. Morey, Carlos M. Grilo, Charles A. Sanislow, Andrew E. Skodol, John G. Gunderson, Mary C. Zanarini, Thomas H. Mcglashan

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

Objective: We examined the predictive power of the self-harm subscale of the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP) to identify suicide attempters in the Collaborative Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders (CLPS).

Method: The SNAP, a self-report personality inventory, was administered to 733 CLPS participants at baseline, of whom 701 (96%) had at least 6 months of follow-up data. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed to examine the SNAP–self-harm subscale (SNAP- SH) in predicting the 129 suicide attempters over 8 years of follow-up. Possible moderators of prediction were examined, including borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and substance …

Social Goals In Urban Physical Education: Relationships With Effort And Disruptive Behavior, Alex C. Garn, Nate Mccaughtry, Bo Shen, Jeffrey J. Martin, Mariane Fahlman

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

This study investigated the relationships among four distinct types of social goals, effort, and disruptive behavior in urban physical education. Social responsibility, affiliation, recognition, status goals, along with effort and disruptive behavior in physical education were reported by high school physical education students (N = 314) from three urban schools. Findings from correlation and structural equa- tion modeling analyses revealed that social responsibility goals had a positive relationship with effort and an inverse relationship with disruptive behavior. Social status goals demonstrated a positive relationship with disruptive behavior and no relationship with effort. Social recognition goal results were mixed, as …

Integrating The Development Of Children And Gestalt Therapy, Jennifer J. Thompson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

There are many theories that have contributed to what we know about the development of children; for instance, theoretical diversity supports the complexities of human nature. A child's developmental level will impact his ability to relate. Gestalt theory supports the child's phenomenological view by focusing on the here-and-now of what is happening in the therapeutic environment. Most of what a child will do is in response to a need or want. The child will work toward fulfilling that need. The child may develop maladaptive ways to fulfill his needs based on the environment in which he lives. Gestalt play therapy …

Pressure Pain Threshold Testing Demonstrates Predictive Ability In People With Acute Whiplash., David Walton

David Walton

No abstract provided.

Initial Mlu Predicts The Relative Efficacy Of Two Grammatical Treatments In Preschoolers With Specific Language Impairments, Paul J. Yoder, Dennis L. Molfese, Elizabeth Gardner

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Purpose—We sought to confirm predictions based on past findings that pre-treatment mean length of utterance (MLU) would predict which of two grammatical treatments would best facilitate generalized and maintained grammatical development in preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI).

Method—The participants were 57 preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI). A randomized group experiment was used. The two grammatical treatments were Broad Target Recasts (BTR) and Milieu Language Teaching (MLT). MLU was assessed at Time 1 in two conversational language samples. Growth rate of productive grammar was quantified using growth curve modeling on the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) from …

Ten-Year Course Of Borderline Personality Disorder: Psychopathology And Function From The Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Study, John G. Gunderson, Robert L. Stout, Thomas H. Mcglashan, M. Tracie Shea, Leslie C. Morey, Carlos M. Grilo, Mary C. Zanarini, Shirley Yen, John C. Markowitz, Charles A. Sanislow, Emily B. Ansell, Anthony Pinto, Andrew E. Skodol

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

Context: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is traditionally considered chronic and intractable.

Objective: To compare the course of BPD’s psychopathology and social function with that of other personality disorders and with major depressive disorder (MDD) over 10 years. Design: A collaborative study of treatment-seeking, 18- to 45-year-old patients followed up with standardized, reliable, and repeated measures of diagnostic remission and relapse and of both global social functioning and subtypes of social functioning.

Setting: Nineteen clinical settings (hospital and outpatient) in 4 northeastern US cities.

Participants: Three study groups, including 175 patients with BPD, 312 with cluster C personality disorders, and 95 …

The Importance Of Self-Efficacy And Basic Psychological Needs In Children’S Physical Activity: Measurement, Prediction And Intervention, Casey E. Gray

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The importance of physical activity in the overall health promotion and primary prevention of cardiovascular disease risk factors and metabolic diseases in children is well established. Nonetheless, interventions to increase physical activity among this population have been largely unsuccessful. The main objective of the research in this dissertation was to explore the suitability of self-efficacy and basic psychological needs for physical activity prediction and intervention in children. Item generation and psychometric evaluation of psychological questionnaires occurred in study 1 (Chapter 2). Using a prospective design, study 2 (Chapter 3) established task efficacy, barriers efficacy, competence, and autonomy as significant predictors …

Prenatal Smoking And Drinking Implications For Subsequent Child Maltreatment, Nicholas Alexander Adams

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Prenatal smoking and drinking are very serious problems that have continued to plague society. They have multiple negative effects on the child both physically and cognitively. This study explored the relationship between prenatal abuse, i.e., prenatal smoking and prenatal drinking, and subsequent child physical abuse and official reports of child maltreatment. It was hypothesized that mothers who smoked or drank prenatally would be more likely to physically abuse their child postnatally and have official reports of child maltreatment. The sample included women participating in Wave III of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health. N = 620 women who answered …

Interictal Magnetoencephalographic Findings Related With Surgical Outcomes In Lesional And Nonlesional Neocortical Epilepsy, Rui Zhang, Ting Wu, Yingying Wang, Hongyi Liu, Yuanjie Zou, Wen Liu, Jing Xiang, Chaoyong Xiao, Lu Yang, Zhen Fu

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Purpose: To investigate whether interictal magnetoencephalography (MEG) concordant with other techniques can predict surgical outcome in patients with lesional and nonlesional refractory neocortical epilepsy (NE).

Methods: 23 Patients with lesional NE and 20 patients with nonlesional NE were studied. MEG was recorded for all patients with a 275 channel whole-head system. Synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) with excess kurtosis (g2) and conventional Equivalent Current Dipole (ECD) were used for MEG data analysis. 27 Patients underwent long-term extraoperative intracranial video electroencephalography (iVEEG) monitoring. Surgical outcomes were assessed based on more than 1-year of post-surgical follow-up using Engel classification system.

Results: As we …

Contextual Control Of Orienting Eye-Head Gaze Shifts In The Monkey, Brendan B. Chapman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Vision is one of the principal methods used by primates to acquire information about the surrounding environment. As a result, both humans and monkeys have a highly evolved oculomotor system that functions to rapidly relocate the line of sight to areas of interest. These orienting movements are called gaze shifts. Gaze shifts commonly include the coordinated movement of the eyes-in-head and the head-in-space. This thesis examines the muscular and neural control of orienting head movements.

The contextual control of behavior is important as it allows one to act appropriately in response to different situations. A common task used to examine …

Gender Differences In Mentoring In Australia: Mentor Functions And Outcomes, Terri A. Scandura Phd, Ethlyn A. Williams

Terri A. Scandura

The issue of gender differences in mentoring remains controversial since some studies find gender differences and many do not. Perhaps the context of the mentoring relationship provides an explanation of why gender affects mentoring in some studies. Since most studies of mentoring to date have employed U.S, samples, the question of whether gender differences may emerge in studies of menta ring in non-U.S. samples needs investigation. The present study will examine the role of gender, mentoring functions and the interactive effects of gender and mentoring in relation to career expectations, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in a sample of N=156 …

U.S. Cultural Involvement And Its Association With Co-Occurring Substance Abuse And Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Youth In The Dominican Republic, Elián P. Cabrera-Nguyen, Juan B. Peña

Elián P. Cabrera-Nguyen

We examined the relationship of US cultural involvement with substance abuse and sexual risk behavior profiles from our nationally representative sample of public high school students in the Dominican Republic. Using a novel methodological approach to control for selection bias, we examined explanations for the so-called Latino or Hispanic immigrant paradox. A latent class regression analysis with manifest and latent covariates found that US cultural involvement indicators were independent and robust predictors of increased risk of co-ocurring substance abuse and sexual risk behaviors. Implications for prevention efforts targeting risk behaviors among Latino/a adolescents in the US and abroad are considered.

Theory Of Mind Temperament And Prosocial Behavior In Preschoolers, Shannon R. Funkhouser

Honors Theses

Theory of mind is the ability to understand that others have thoughts, beliefs, or ideas that differ from one’s own. This study investigated the relationship between theory-of-mind and prosocial behavior in 42 preschoolers. Prosocial behavior is defined as voluntary actions intended to benefit another. The role of temperament was also examined in terms of the relationship between prosocial behavior and theory of mind. The researcher went to two preschools and administered a battery of seven theory-of-mind tasks individually to each child (Wellman & Lui, 2004). Parents completed a temperament questionnaire measuring emotionality, activity, sociability, and shyness. Teachers rated each child’s …

The Effects Of Death Priming And Survival Processing On Retention, Stephane Boileau

Honors Theses

In 2007, J.S Nairne, S.R Thompson and J. N. S. Pandeirada investigated the idea that memory systems might have evolved in order to help us remember fitness-relevant information, especially relevant to our own survival. They showed that retention of words rated for their relevance to survival is superior to any other deep processing condition like pleasantness, imagery, self-referential processing, and so on. Since then, many experiments have investigated this “survival processing” effect. Recently, a retention benefit for subjects being primed about thinking of their own death has also been found (Hart & Burns, 2011). I present an experiment that looks …

Cognitive Dissonance As A Potential Mediator Of The Misinformation Effect, Nina S. Jordan

Honors Theses

The current study was interested in examining the relationship between cognitive dissonance and susceptibility to misinformation. Participants were exposed to two emotional images; subsequently, they composed a counterattitudinal essay concerned with generating arguments in support of a tuition increase. Participants were either given a set of objective questions concerning the images or a set of misleading questions. All participants were then administered final questionnaires that contained both misleading and non-leading questions. This study hypothesized that participants in the dissonance-induced condition were likely to be more susceptible to the inclusion of misinformation during the final recall task. Findings indicated that participants …

Do Good Things Come To Those Who Wait?: The Role Of Delayed Gratification And Individual Differences In Consumer Purchasing Decisions, Rachel L. Lazarus

Honors Theses

A common dilemma that occurs in life involves choosing between rewards available in the present and greater rewards that require willingness to wait or work (Funder & Block 1989). Delayed gratification is a learned behavior where the individual sets aside feelings of satisfaction or gratification until a pre-determined time (Hodges 2001). The current study investigates the relationship between the personality trait of self-monitoring (high vs. low), and one’s ability to delay gratification. Previous research has found a relationship between impulse buying and self-monitoring, where high self-monitors are more likely to engage in impulse buying behaviors and the opposite for low …

The Role Of Personality On Persuasion To Exercise: Does Conscientiousness And Extraversion Moderate The Constructs Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior?, Amanda I. Samuels

Honors Theses

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is a leading theoretical model used to explain the intention-behavior relationship as it relates to exercise. Even though TPB consistently explains some of the variance between intention and behavior, the rest of the variance has yet to be explained. This study investigates whether individual differences in terms of the Big Five personality dimensions, specifically, Conscientiousness and Extraversion, can account for any of the additional variance. The present research extends on past research by examining how personality relates to intention in terms of its relation to the constructs of TPB. 122 students at Union college …

Development Of A Scale To Assess Avoidance Behavior Due To A Fear Of Falling: The Fear Of Falling Avoidance Behavior Questionnaire (Ffabq), Cortney Durand, D. Shalom Powell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: A history of falls or imbalance may lead to a fear of falling which may lead to self-imposed avoidance of activity; this avoidance may stimulate a vicious cycle of deconditioning and subsequent falls.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire that would quantify avoidance behavior due to a fear of falling.

Design: This study consisted of two parts, questionnaire development and psychometric testing. Questionnaire development included an expert panel and 39 assisted living residents. Psychometric testing included 63 community dwelling subjects with various health conditions.

Methods: Questionnaire development included the evaluation …

Thrust Joint Manipulation Education: Student Perceptions Of Learning And Practical Experiences In Spinal Manipulation Within Entry-Level Physical Therapist Education Programs, Joshua Thomas Marks, Lisa Basl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: Spinal thrust joint manipulation (TJM) education is mandatory in all professional entry-level physical therapy programs, yet TJM is under-utilized in daily practice. This descriptive study expands on previous data about how TJM is taught and includes data for the perceived confidence students have when performing TJM.

Methods: A 39-question descriptive survey inquiring about TJM education and selfperceived confidence in performing TJM was distributed via email to 213 accredited physical therapy programs.

Subjects: Respondents ranged in age from 22-45 (mean age=25.61 years). Respondents included 435 professional physical therapy students (84 male, 285 female) who have completed their …

School Refusal Behavior: The Relationship Between Functions And Symptom Sets, Marisa Charlene Hendron

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current study examined the relationship between functions of school refusal behavior and internalizing and externalizing symptom sets in a community sample of 200 youth and parents recruited from two truancy settings. The first hypothesis was that youth who endorsed refusing school primarily to avoid stimuli that provoke negative affectivity (function 1) would report more symptoms of generalized anxiety and depression. The second hypothesis was that youth who endorsed refusing school primarily to escape from aversive social or evaluative situations (function 2) would report more symptoms of social anxiety. The third hypothesis was that youth who endorsed refusing school primarily …

Can Personality Disorder Experts Recognize Dsm-Iv Personality Disorders From Five-Factor Model Descriptions Of Patient Cases?, Benjamin M. Rottman, Nancy S. Kim, Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Charles A. Sanislow

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

Background: Dimensional models of personality are under consideration for integration into the next Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), but the clinical utility of such models is unclear.

Objective: To test the ability of clinical researchers who specialize in personality disorders to diagnose personality disorders using dimensional assessments and to compare those researchers’ ratings of clinical utility for a dimensional system versus for the DSM-IV.

Method: A sample of 73 researchers who had each published at least 3 (median = 15) articles on personal- ity disorders participated between December 2008 and January 2009. The Five-Factor Model (FFM), one …

The Association Of Personality Disorders With The Prospective 7-Year Course Of Anxiety Disorders, Emily B. Ansell, Anthony Pinto, Maria O. Edelen, John C. Markowitz, Charles A. Sanislow, Shirley Yen, Mary C. Zanarini, Andrew E. Skodol, M. Tracie Shea, Leslie C. Morey, John G. Gunderson, Thomas H. Mcglashan, Carlos M. Grilo

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

Background. This study prospectively examined the natural clinical course of six anxiety disorders over 7 years of follow-up in individuals with personality disorders (PDs) and/or major depressive disorder. Rates of remission, relapse, new episode onset and chronicity of anxiety disorders were examined for specific associations with PDs.

Method. Participants were 499 patients with anxiety disorders in the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study, who were assessed with structured interviews for psychiatric disorders at yearly intervals throughout 7 years of follow-up. These data were used to determine probabilities of changes in disorder status for social phobia (SP), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive …

Response To An Abnormal Ovarian Cancer-Screening Test Result: Test Of The Social Cognitive Processing And Cognitive Social Health Information Processing Models, Michael A. Andrykowski, Edward J. Pavlik

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

All cancer screening tests produce a proportion of abnormal results requiring follow up. Consequently, the cancer-screening setting is a natural laboratory for examining psychological and behavioural response to a threatening health-related event. This study tested hypotheses derived from the social cognitive processing and cognitive-social health information processing models in trying to understand response to an abnormal ovarian cancer (OC) screening test result. Women (n = 278) receiving an abnormal screening test result a mean of 7 weeks earlier were assessed prior to a repeat screening test intended to clarify their previous abnormal result. Measures of disposition (optimism, informational coping style), …

Neuromagnetic Measures Of Word Processing In Bilinguals And Monolinguals, Yingying Wang, Jing Xiang, Jennifer Vannest, Tom Holroyd, Daria Narmoneva, Paul Horn, Yinhong Liu, Douglas Rose, Ton Degrauw, Scott Holland

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Objective: This study aimed to use magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine the question of whether Mandarin-English bilingual speakers recruit the same cortical areas or develop distinct language-specific networks without overlaps for word processing.

Methods: Eight healthy Mandarin-English bilingual adults and eight healthy English monolingual adults were scanned while single-word paradigms were audio-visually presented.

Results: Our results showed significantly stronger beta-band power suppression in the right inferior parietal lobe (IPL) covering the supramarginal gyrus (BA 40) and angular gyrus (BA 39) for bilinguals when processing Mandarin versus English. Moreover, there were no significant differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in the left inferior …

Sleep Assessments In Healthy School-Aged Children Using Actigraphy: Concordance With Polysomnography, Karen Spruyt, David Gozal, Ehab Dayyat, Adrienne Roman, Dennis L. Molfese

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Actigraphic recordings (ACT) are widely used in school children as a less intrusive and more extended approach to evaluation of sleep problems. However, critical assessment of the validity and reliability of ACT against overnight polysomnography (NPSG) are unavailable. Thus, we explored the degree of concordance between NPSG and ACT in school-aged children to delineate potential ACT boundaries when interpreting pediatric sleep. Non-dominant wrist ACT was simultaneously recorded with NPSG in 149 healthy school-aged children (4.1 to 8.8 years old, 41.7% boys and 80.4% Caucasian) recruited from the community. Analyses were limited to the Actiware (MiniMitter-64) calculated parameters originating from 1-min …