Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Does Inhibitory Control And Emotion Regulation Alter The Degree To Which Aggressogenic Thought Is Expressed?, Jessica Lindsey Held

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of emotion dysregulation and inhibitory control on aggressogenic thought-behavior associations were investigated among 362 fifth- and sixth-grade boys (n = 195) and girls (n = 167) on Long Island, New York. Other-reported anger dysregulation and inhibitory control significantly qualified the relationship between all three cognitions (hostile attributions of intent, revenge goals in both ambiguous and unambiguous situations, and self-efficacy) and aggression. However, our predicted pattern for these 3-way interaction was supported only when the cognition involved self-efficacy—self-efficacy for aggression was most strongly associated with aggressive behavior under high levels of anger dysregulation and low levels of inhibitory control. …

Perceived Racial Discrimination And Its Association To Unhealthy Consumption And Obesity, Julie Kittleman

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that both recent and lifetime racial discrimination along with discrimination subscales (social exclusion, work discrimination, stigmatization, and threat or physical harassment) is linked to unhealthy food consumption and health habits. Discrimination has been identified as a possible risk factor for unhealthy food consumption. Research has not yet clearly concluded if unhealthy consumption is a function of recent or chronic exposure to discrimination, the specific type of discrimination or if the effects of discrimination are independent of other life stressors such as neighborhood poverty and stress. Participants (n = 142) were …

Psychologists’ Conceptualizations Of Clients And Their Relation To Psychotherapy Outcomes: A Profile Analysis, Han Lim Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The aims of this research is to 1) quantitatively assess therapist perceptions of prototypically difficult and successful clients and assess whether characterizations of such clients vary as a function of therapist level of experience and sex, 2) examine whether clients who characterize themselves as more similar to the prototype show different rates of change in psychotherapy, and 3) evaluate whether clients’ self-reported personality and attitudes change in psychotherapy become more or less similar to the prototype profiles. There were no differences in prototypical difficult and successful client profiles as a function of therapist sex or level of experience. Clients’ improvements …

Identifying Mcmi-Iv Personality Disorder Subgroups Using Exploratory Factor Analysis And Latent Class Analysis, Amanda Fisher

Theses and Dissertations

Patients diagnosed with personality disorders (PDs) have higher morbidity and mortality rates than those without PDs. The DSM-5 PD diagnoses and the cluster system lack a theoretical and empirical basis, which hinders the development of knowledge about PDs and interventions for PDs. This present study attempts to add to this literature by forming PD groups using a combination of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and latent class analysis (LCA) based on PD scores from the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV (MCMI-IV), a method recommended by Gorman and Primavera (1983). Participants were 251 English speaking males and females ages 18 to 75 seeking …

Parenting And Physical Aggression Across Infancy, Brooke Edelman

Theses and Dissertations

While physical aggression is known to be common in toddlerhood, new research suggests that aggression is evident even in infancy. Further, early aggression is stable and predicts maladaptive outcomes later in life. Research supports close associations between harsh, overreactive discipline and physical aggression in early childhood. Harsh discipline encourages and maintains coercive processes in which reciprocal, transactional interchanges escalate aversive behaviors in both parent and child. In accordance with a developmental system perspective, we hypothesized that the congruency between parenting and aggression would increase with age as a result of these transactional interactions on the dyad. A normative US sample …

Parent Stress And Externalizing Behaviors Are Related: The Reason They Are Related Depends On Child Age, Maura Francis

Theses and Dissertations

Children with externalizing disorders are typically found to be more challenging to interact with and are met with less patience, empathy, and distress tolerance in managing their symptoms compared to children with internalizing disorders. Not only are the symptoms of these disorders challenging for children but also for parents, which can cause a considerable amount of stress. These symptoms are typically addressed by different interventions that primarily require parent involvement to manage disruptive behaviors and non-compliance. There is also common comorbidity that often overlaps between externalizing and internalizing symptoms, which can make differential diagnosis and treatment planning more difficult than …

Importance Of Knowledge Of Behavior In Predicting Parent Perception Of Problem Behaviors, Ronnit Nazarian

Theses and Dissertations

The influence of familial factors (e.g., child-related, parental, and environmental characteristics) on child problem behaviors has regularly been studied. An under-researched area is how these variables work to predict how well parents understand their child’s problem behavior function. 338 parents, recruited through MTurk and Facebook, of children between 3 to 5 years old displaying early onset problem behavior participated in this research. Of the 338 children, 206 (61%) indicated significantly problematic behaviors. This research examines parent knowledge of behavior and their understanding of the function of their child’s problem behavior. Moreover, whether a parent’s understanding of the function of their …

Examining The Relationship Between Alzheimer’S Disease, Depression, And Social Support, Marko Lamela

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between Alzheimer’s Disease and depression to determine whether a correlation existed and whether depression led to greater outcomes of Alzheimer’s Disease. Depression-Alzheimer’s relations have been mixed in previous research. Data from an existing data set of visitors to the Alzheimer’s Disease Centers with three or more visits (N= 19, 652) was used to test correlations between depression and Alzheimer’s, later odds of developing Alzheimer’s, and possible moderating effects of social support. A positive correlation was found between depression and Alzheimer’s Disease. Patients with depression were found to be more likely to have Alzheimer’s. There was …

Integrating Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Processes With Information-Processing Theory In Anxious Early Adolescents, Gilly Kahn

Theses and Dissertations

The social information-processing (I-P) model states that cognition assumes several cognitive steps (encoding, interpretation, response access, and selection). It has been shown that anxious youth display deficits or distortions at various stages of the social I-P model. In response to ambiguous situations, they show threat perception and interpretation biases, choose maladaptive responses, and engage in greater levels of avoidance than do non-anxious youth. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically-supported treatment for anxious youth. It aims to increase mindfulness, acceptance, and cognitive defusion, and to decrease experiential avoidance. The mechanisms explaining the effectiveness of ACT processes suggest that they …

Ptsd And Immunological Correlations Of Attention And Working Memory In Gulf War Illness, Mary Jeffrey

Theses and Dissertations

Gulf War Illness (GWI) impacts 25 to 32 percent of those deployed in the 1991 Gulf War (White et al., 2016) and includes symptoms related to fatigue and mood/neurological disturbances. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain the influence of trauma exposure and chemical exposure when investigating neuropsychological symptoms. This cross-sectional study utilized a group of veterans with and without GWI (n=61) to investigate: 1) the unique impact that GWI has on a survey measure of attention and memory or the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). We also investigated how PTSD symptoms, followed by fatigue levels, improved the GWI model …

The Relationship Between Access To School Counseling And Students’ Attainment And Persistence In Postsecondary And Stem Education Outcomes, Dana Brookover

Theses and Dissertations

School counselors design and implement comprehensive school counseling programs to support students’ academic, college and career, and personal/social development (ASCA, 2019). This includes the school counselor’s important role in college readiness counseling and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) counseling (Falco, 2017; Gilfillan, 2018). The current study focused on the relationships between access to school counseling and students’ long-term college readiness outcomes. Through a Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent et al., 1994) lens, two models to predict (1) college attainment and persistence and (2) STEM major attainment and persistence, were tested through logistic regression analyses. Additionally, this study also …

Aspektet Legjislative Reformuese Të Administratës Publike Në Republikën E Kosovës, Lirie Mehmeti Osmani

Theses and Dissertations

Reformimi i Administratës publike është njëri nga elementet kyçe në aspektin e shtetndërtimit dhe integrimit të Republikës së Kosovës. Kjo reformë ka për synim rritjen e efikasitetit dhe efektivitetit të kësaj administrate, modernizimin e saj dhe përfaqësimin proporcional të popullsisë në organet e shtetit. Kosova ka kaluar një periudhë mjaft të vështirë të themelimit dhe ndërtimit të administratës shtetërore, posaqërisht fillet e para pas luftës së vitit 1999.

Në Kosovë janë duke u zhvilluar reforma në administratën publike nën udhëheqjen e Ministrisë së Administratës Publike dhe Zyrës. Këto veprime janë duke u mirëpritur nga Institucionet e Bashkimit Evropian, sepse kjo …

Sistemi Presidencial- Rasti I Shba-Ve, Qëndrim Sopa

Theses and Dissertations

Sistemi presidencial është një sistem qeverisës demokratik dhe republikan, ku një kryetar i qeverisë drejton një degë ekzekutive që është e ndarë nga dega legjislative. Ky kryetar qeverie në të shumtën e rasteve është edhe kreu i shtetit, i cili quhet president. Në teorinë bashkëkohore politike nuk ekzistojnë rregulla unike të funksionimit të sistemeve parlamentare sepse parlamentarizmi nuk paraqitet si një model i vetëm. Ai sot paraqitet në forma dhe variante të ndryshme, në varësi nga parimet dhe veçoritë e organizimit politik të shteteve të ndryshme.

Bazat e sistemit politik në SHBA janë përcaktuar me kushtetutën e vitit 1787 e …

“Gjuha E Nxitjes Dhe E Urrejtjes Në Mediat E Shkruara Elektronike Në Kosovë”, Medina Sherifi

Theses and Dissertations

Përdorimi i mjeteve të komunikimit në mediat e shkruara ka shfaqur avantazhe të panumërta lidhur me përhapjen e informacionit drejt një audiencë më të gjerë duke tejkaluar kufijtë gjeografikë si dhe me kosto të ulët ekonomike. Por ndoshta për shkak të natyrës demokratike të përdorimit të mediave online, liria e shprehjes në mjetet e komunikimit online vërehet të përdoret e pakufizuar dhe e pakontrolluar. Gazetarët por edhe individët e thjeshtë mund të postojnë cdo gjë në rrjetet sociale apo portale të ndryshme, pa kriter apo limit, duke cuar rrjedhimisht në rritje të përdorimit të gjuhës së nxitjes dhe urrejtjes. Punimi …

Ndikimi I Marketingut Përmes Mediave Sociale Tek Kompanitë Prodhuese Në Kosovë, Leutrim Haziraj

Theses and Dissertations

Ky punim ka për qëllim që të shqyrtojë ndikimin e marketingut që realizohet përmes mediave sociale në kompanitë prodhuese në Kosovë. Në punim konsiderohet madhësia e kompanisë, investimet financiare të dedikuara për aktivitetet e marketingut në media sociale. Punimi gjithashtu ka për qëllim të shqyrtojë edhe këndvërshtimin e individëve për marketingun në mediat sociale, të cilët potencialisht janë konsumatorë të kompanive që ne i kemi marrë për hulumtim në këtë punim. Metodologjia e punimit është bazuar në mbledhjen e të dhënave sasiore përmes fazës së hulumtimit me përdorimin e pyetësorëve online. Pyetësorët janë dërguar tek: Menaxherët e marketingut/personat përgjegjës për …

Caffeine Use And Associations With Sleep In Adolescents With And Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Caroline N. Cusick

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to compare caffeine consumption in the morning, afternoon, and evening in adolescents with and without Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and examine associations with sleep functioning. Participants were 302 adolescents (ages 12-14) with (n=140) and without (n=162) ADHD. Adolescents wore actigraph watches to assess total sleep time and wake after sleep onset and reported on their sleep-wake problems and the number of caffeinated beverages consumed per day in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Parents reported on adolescents’ difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep. Chi-square analyses, odds ratios, and path analyses were conducted. Analyses controlled for sex, …

Cyberbullying: School Administrators' Perceptions Of Law And Prevalence, And Their Roles In Prevention, Intervention And Discipline, Suzan Gragg Denby

Theses and Dissertations

This study was aimed at investigating secondary school administrators’ experiences with and their perceptions of cyberbullying, as well as their intervention and prevention procedures. As technology has become ubiquitous in our society, students’ use has increased and impacted the school environment. Given the potential for cyberbullying and the negative effects of such, schools harbor the responsibility to prevent and intervene in such occurrences. This can be a tricky process.

This study included 12 administrators of secondary schools across eight school divisions in Virginia. Through an interview process, administrators spoke of their experiences with technology and cyberbullying incidents, and how they …

The Effects Of Ingroup Threat On The Anchoring And Adjustment Heuristic, Mattie V. Hedgebeth

Theses and Dissertations

Since its introduction in 1974, the anchoring and adjustment heuristic has been a topic of interest within the field of decision making. Although much work has examined factors that affect the process of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic, very little has been studied about the self-processes that may influence how individuals anchor. More specifically, self and ingroup motivations have yet to be explored. This research sought to identify whether an individual’s magnitude of adjustment from an anchor can be affected by either an enhancement or threat of the individual’s ingroup. I hypothesized that ingroup enhancing information would induce a smaller …

Negative Urgency As A Risk Factor For Intimate Partner Aggression: The Untold Story Of Maladaptive Interpersonal Emotion Regulation, Alexandra M. Martelli

Theses and Dissertations

Interpersonal conflict frequently occurs in daily life, especially within intimate relationship contexts. The strategies people use to respond to conflict can either bring couples together or push them further apart. Furthermore, impulsive traits, such as negative urgency, leave individuals vulnerable to conflict. Individuals high in negative urgency have difficulty regulating their emotional reactions to negative experiences, often failing to employ adaptive interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) strategies. No research to date has examined the link between negative urgency and the use of negative IER. Fifty-four couples completed self-report measures of negative urgency, effective interpersonal regulation of negative affect, and intimate partner …

The Correlation Between Maternal Postpartum Depression And Child Psychopathology, T'Keyah I. Vaughan

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a phenomenon that affects nearly 10-15% of pregnancies in the US. It is characterized by depressed mood or anhedonia and lasting for more than 2 weeks. PPD changes how moms interact with family members and child-rearing behavior. Depression is a phenomenon that is also known to affect the psychopathology of children. However, the specifics of how postpartum depression impacts children remains controversial. Many studies do not control for major depressive disorder which makes it difficult to disentangle the impact depression has within the first year of life. Furthermore, other PPD risk factors may be confounding …

What Happens When Cross-Sector Partnerships Are Mandated? Analyzing Trust Through A Transaction Cost Approach, Vanessa Hubbard Rastberger Dr

Theses and Dissertations

Cross-sector partnerships that combine the perspectives and needs of public, private, and nonprofit sectors have been used to address public policy challenges. Research has shown that trust and reputation among partners play an important role in the performance of partnerships. Trust has been positively associated with the reduction of transaction costs of partnerships, and therefore, this study used a Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) approach as the theoretical framework.

Some partnerships are volitional while others are the results of legal or other mandates. Does this volitional or non-volitional (mandated) status affect how collaboration is perceived? For instance, will collaboration and trust …

The Intersection Of Social Stress, Mental Well-Being, And Sexual Health Among Black Women In Emerging Adulthood, Brandi Galloway

Theses and Dissertations

With an estimated 37,000 new HIV infections each year, HIV continues to be a major public health concern. HIV affects some populations more than others. Young Black women, in particular, are disproportionately affected by HIV. While being a woman does not typically increase a person’s HIV risk, being Black and being a woman does.

Data indicate that individual-level factors do not fully address the differences in HIV and STIs between Black emerging adult women and their White counterparts. Thus, it is critical to better understand contextual factors such as social stress and mental-wellbeing which might better account for these disparities. …

A Comparative Study Of The Influence Of Credential Attainment On Employment Outcomes In Rural And Urban Localities, Carrie S. Douglas

Theses and Dissertations

The significance of credentials has heightened considerably in recent decades with numerous federal and state policy initiatives aimed at increasing credential attainment. Various public workforce programs support these efforts, including the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which provided training to job-seekers from 1998 through 2015. Scholars point to human capital theory to explain how education investments yield economic gains. Screening, signaling, and credentialist theories provide a framework for examining the ways that credentials are used in labor markets. The literature on rural labor markets suggests that conditions are very different from their urban counterparts, with significant challenges existing in terms …

Predicting Black Male Undergraduate Degree Completion At A Pwi Examining Single Indicators Of Religiosity, Anxiety, And Depression., Nickolas Spears Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Religiosity is a well-known protective factor for mental health as a coping and resilience source, which positively affects Black male college students' academic success. However, less is known about whether religiosity predicts degree completion and buffers Black males' mental health from a quantitative research approach. Black males have one of the lowest degree completion rates at four-year institutions. Students who experience poor mental health outcomes have lower degree completion. This study utilized logistic regression to investigate whether religiosity: (1) predicted degree completion among Black male undergraduate students and (2) moderated anxiety and depression. The results suggest Black males identify high …

Swipe Right For Condoms And Testing: Differences In High-Risk Sexual Behavior And Sexual Health Beliefs Among Dating App Users Compared To Non-App Users, Shelby A. Smout

Theses and Dissertations

Millions of Americans are currently using smartphone dating applications (apps) to socialize and meet with others. In some cases, app-based conversations lead to sexual interactions. Previous research examining the relationship between the use of dating apps and sexual behaviors has found that individuals who use dating apps and meet with partners from the app are more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behaviors such as having multiple partners and inconsistent condom use. Individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 are the group most likely to be using dating apps compared to other age groups and are a high-risk group …

Credit The Parents? The Impact Of Racial Socialization On African American Students’ Stress-Related Coping And College Adjustment, Briana Bouldin

Theses and Dissertations

Many new stressors emerge in college and have a significant impact on college adjustment. However, little is known about common stressors, their causes, and impact on college adjustment for students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This project investigated the extent to which different college stressors impact sleep-related college adjustment, and whether racial socialization and emotion regulation strategies serve as coping strategies that moderate this relationship for HBCU students. The theoretical framework for the study was an adapted version of the Integrative Conceptual Model of Adaptive Socialization (ICMAS; Dunbar et al., 2017). Data were collected via an online survey …

Children’S Participation Rights In Child Welfare Systems: Identifying Opportunities For Implementation, Anna M. Cody

Theses and Dissertations

Children’s participation rights are critically important for supporting children’s well-being. Studies across the world consistently demonstrate that children and youth feel uninvolved, silenced and marginalized within the child welfare context which has a direct impact on their physical safety as well as their subjective well-being. There has been a shift in US policy and practice towards recognizing the value and importance of engaging youth, older youth in particular, in being involved with planning for their care and for their future. However, definitions of what meaningful “youth engagement” might look like within the child welfare context generally lack clarity. In addition, …

A Phenomenological Study Of Nonbinary Resilience And Mental Health, Calvin J. Hall Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Nonbinary individuals, or those who do not exclusively identify with a male or female gender, have gained increasing recognition and representation within the past ten years. Despite these steps forward, nonbinary individuals still experience higher rates of sexual assault, police brutality/harassment, job-related discrimination, and erasure when compared to binary transgender individuals, or gender-diverse individuals who exclusively identify as male or female. These disparities in violence, discriminatory practices, and erasure have been linked to exceptionally high rates of depression and anxiety in nonbinary people within the U.S. Thus, efforts to improve nonbinary mental health are critically needed. Previous research finds that …

Social Learning Theory And Digital Piracy: Explaining Uploading Behaviors Of Digital Pirates, Cydney J. Lowenstein

Theses and Dissertations

Digital piracy has received significant attention in criminological research but almost no studies have explored illegal uploading and how it may differ from illegal downloading. It is important to examine what theories can explain illegal uploading behaviors and their related factors to develop more effective policies to address digital piracy. This dissertation examined whether Akers’ (1998) social learning theory could explain engagement in digital piracy, both illegal downloading and uploading behavior. Additionally, this research examined the relationship between reciprocity and digital piracy. Questionnaires were administered to 398 university students and 315 visitors to several online communities using a combination of …

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 …