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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Supportive Relationships As Protective For Children Exposed To Violence: Exploring Underlying Mechanisms, Jessica Houston Jul 2016

Supportive Relationships As Protective For Children Exposed To Violence: Exploring Underlying Mechanisms, Jessica Houston

Dissertations (1934 -)

The present study examined supportive relationships with parents, teachers, peers, and neighbors as protective for youths exposed to violence. To explore how support promotes resilience, four potential mediators were examined: secure attachment, adaptive coping, processing traumatic experiences with a supportive person (parent, teacher, friend, or community adult), and an optimistic outlook on life. An at-risk sample of 107 students (71% male) aged 8-19 years (M=15) who were predominantly African American completed measures of violence exposure, social support, attachment security, coping ability, trauma-processing, and optimism. Resilience was assessed with multiple measures that included self-esteem, competence in several domains (social, scholastic, athletic, …


The Relationship Between Executive Dysfunction And Criminality In Forensic Psychiatric And Correctional Populations, Erin J. Shumlich Jun 2016

The Relationship Between Executive Dysfunction And Criminality In Forensic Psychiatric And Correctional Populations, Erin J. Shumlich

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Crime has immense social and economic impact. Understanding and treating the underlying factors of criminal behavior is essential to creating an overall safer society. Deficits in executive functioning — inhibition, cognitive shifting, and working memory — have been implicated as a factor contributing to criminal behavior. Method: Manuscript 1 examines the relationship between executive dysfunction and severity and frequency of criminal behavior of forensic psychiatric patients, individuals who committed crime under the influence of a severe mental disorder. Manuscript 2 compares the executive functioning of two unique criminal populations — forensic psychiatric patients and correctional offenders. Results: Poorer executive functioning …


Fundamental Image Theory: An Integrated Model Of Trauma, Cassandra K. Sieg May 2016

Fundamental Image Theory: An Integrated Model Of Trauma, Cassandra K. Sieg

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Historically, trauma theory and intervention has focused on “actual or threatened death or serious injury” (DSM-IV; APA, 1994). More recently, the field has broadened its consideration to a range of trauma and stressor related disorders, including perpetration induced traumautic stress (PITS; MacNair, 2015). Violence perpetration has negative implications on a personal, interpersonal, and group level, but a review of the literature reveals a significant gap in our understanding of perpetration-induced traumatic stress, including 2 fundamental questions: how does perpetrating violence cause trauma, and how can we treat this trauma? None of the existing psychological models adequately answer the first question, …


The Moderating Effects Of Protective And Risk Factors On Outcomes For Behavioral Smoking Cessation Treatment, Holly Reid Jan 2016

The Moderating Effects Of Protective And Risk Factors On Outcomes For Behavioral Smoking Cessation Treatment, Holly Reid

Wayne State University Dissertations

The rate of cigarette smoking is three-fold higher among adults living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Autoimmune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) than in the general population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Relative to non-smoking HIV-positive adults, HIV-positive cigarette smokers have even higher mortality rates, more physical health problems, greater tobacco-related health disparities, lower quality of life, and more barriers to treatment. These barriers are often interrelated with the significantly higher rate of trauma and violence exposure reported in both cigarette smokers and persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA; CDC). Violence exposure not only predicts emotional distress and substance use, but also …


School Community Members' Perceptions Regarding Lgbt-Based Bullying, Harassment, And Violence, Steven W. Street Jan 2016

School Community Members' Perceptions Regarding Lgbt-Based Bullying, Harassment, And Violence, Steven W. Street

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Tennessee, a majority of students who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (LGBT) do not feel safe due to bullying and harassment that is targeted toward them by their peers. Schools, such as MTS school (a pseudonym), are not required to specify protection for LGBT students, causing the LGBT bullying to continue without being reported and resulting in higher absences, lower achievement, greater mental health issues, and in some cases, suicidal ideation among LGBT students. Through confidential personal interviews that were transcribed and coded, this case study's purpose was to better understand how MTS adult stakeholders perceive (a) …


The Role Of Stressors And Academic Competence In Adolescent Depression By Race, Ishani Ravindra Deo Jan 2016

The Role Of Stressors And Academic Competence In Adolescent Depression By Race, Ishani Ravindra Deo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether adolescents’ perceptions of academic competence serve as a mediator of the relationship between various kinds of stressful experiences and depression symptoms. Additionally, we hypothesized that the utility of this model would change with adolescents’ race. Methods: The sample consisted of 260 adolescents, approximately half of whom were African American (N = 141) and half of whom were European American (N = 119). Measures were administered to participants at a single time point via in-school questionnaires, and the resulting data were analyzed both for mediation and with moderated path analyses. Results: …


Religious Priming And Moral Reasoning As A Manipulation For Supporting Violence, Brandt A. Smith Jan 2016

Religious Priming And Moral Reasoning As A Manipulation For Supporting Violence, Brandt A. Smith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present research tests the effects of religious priming and cued moral reasoning on support for violence against others. Further, the present research examined the effects of two individual difference measures, Social Vigilantism and the degree to which people accept religion as a social force research demonstrates that religious priming elicits greater compliance by acting as a cognitive distraction. The data show that lower levels of moral reasoning and religious priming lead to higher activism, radicalism, and extremism scores as well as higher agreement with a recorded message. Implications and future directions are discussed.