Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

On The Relationship Between Resilience, Meaning, And Hardiness: A Bi-Factor Exploratory And Confirmatory Analysis, Lauren Weathers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Meaning in life, resilience, and hardiness have been conceptualized in a variety of ways. Some researchers theorize that these constructs share significant overlap. The goal of the current study was to examine how much overlap exists between these concepts. Three thousand and ten participants from a university in the Midwest and a university in the South completed measures of meaning in life, resilience, and hardiness. It was hypothesized that some items from these measures would create a unidimensional model while some items would create multidimensionality. Hypotheses that incorporated both models were important as there is disagreement within the literature with …

Explication Of Moral Disgust: Assessing Physiological And Behavioral Responses To Disgust Eliciting Videos, Sarah Michelle Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Results indicate a significant self-reported disgust response among core animal reminder and contamination domains whereas the moral domains elicited both anger and disgust. Physiologically no change was measured in skin conductance; heart rate decrease in response to animal reminder contamination community and autonomy video clips. Significant behavioral avoidance was demonstrated when presented with the core and animal reminder video clips. Further when measuring facial muscle activation the levator labii was significantly activated in response to the core video clip but no others. The current study highlights the difficulty in establishing characteristic responses to disgust stimuli especially within the moral domain. …

The Relationship Between Intra-Cultural Factors And Feedback Seeking Behavior In Supervision Among Counselors-In-Training In Counselor Education Programs, Sumedha Therthani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For this research study a cross-sectional correlational survey research design was utilized. Counselors in training both master and doctoral level currently receiving clinical supervision in counselor education programs (n=123) participated in this study. Participants were administered (a) tolerance of ambiguity scale (b) individual power distance scale (c) feedback-seeking frequency scale (d) feedback-seeking source scale and (e) feedback-seeking style scale. Six research questions were the subject of data analyses in this study. Analyses included conducting multivariate multiple regression and simple regression analyses to understand whether tolerance of ambiguity and status identity predict graduate counselors’ feedback-seeking (a) style (b) source and (c) …

Moral Agency: A Philosophical Inquiry Into Its Scientific Foundations, Makensey Sanders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is a longstanding discussion of what the criteria are to distinguish science from non-science. In section one of this paper, I will focus on four demarcating criteria of a scientific theory: (1) value neutrality; (2) verifiability; (3) falsifiability; and (4) reproducibility. Keeping these criteria in mind, I will turn to the notion of moral agency (focusing on psychopathy, autism, and personal identity) and the question of whether the current way we conceptualize and research it can be deemed as scientific according to the four criteria.

In section two, I will discuss the role psychopathy and autism play in understanding …

Doing Hard Things In The Context Of Values: Values Intervention As An Establishing Operation For Approach Behavior In The Presence Of Aversive Stimuli, Emmie Hebert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aversive control is an umbrella term for behavioral contingencies influenced by the removal or avoidance of aversive stimuli. When individuals are engaging in behavior that is under aversive control the behavior becomes relatively insensitive to changes in the environment outside of trying to escape or avoid the aversive stimulation. Teaching individuals to increase behavioral and psychological flexibility around potentially aversive stimuli is a goal of a therapeutic perspective called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT therapists and trainers use values to motivate their clients to engage in meaningful behaviors despite ever-changing and often aversive contexts. The aim of the current …

A Brief Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Based Intervention For Distressed Graduate Students, Emily Hannah Katt Jacobson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Graduate students report to experience distress at high rates. Research suggests that self-care behaviors such as sleep exercise and mindfulness practice can helpful for mental health and wellbeing. The current study examined the effectiveness of a brief Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) based intervention on increasing self-care behaviors in distressed graduate students at the University of Mississippi (N=7). The intervention was delivered in three 60-minute individual sessions. The effects of the intervention were examined using a concurrent multiple baseline across participants design. Results indicated that five out of seven participants shoincreases in self-reported self-care behaviors after the start of the …

The Effects Of Differing Optical Stimuli On Depth Perception In Virtual Reality, Mckennon B. Mcmillian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is well documented that egocentric depth perception is underestimated in virtual reality more often than not. Many studies have been done to try and understand why this underestimation happens and what variables affect it. While this underestimation can be shown consistently the degree of underestimation can strongly differ from study to study, with as much as 68% to as low as 6% underestimation, Jones et al. (2011, 2008); Knapp(1999); Richardson and Waller (2007). Many of these same studies use blind walking as a tool to measure depth perception. With no standardized blind walking method for virtual reality existing differing …

Validating Military Culture: The Factor Analysis Of A Military-Related Adaptation Of Acculturation, Mathew A. Tkachuck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The concept of acculturation has a long history, and measures of the construct attempt to assess the degree to which attitudes and behaviors reflect the interaction between different cultures. Berry’s acculturation framework (1997) is arguably the most empirically-supported and well-known model of acculturation. Berry’s model posits that an individual may have difficulty appropriately adapting to a culture different than his or her own depending on how much they are oriented to either culture. Moreover, Searle and Ward (1990) hypothesized that an individual’s acculturation orientation, in addition to how different the dominant and non-dominant cultures are from one another, impacts psychological …

Behavioral Inhibition And Avoidance: Identifying Vulnerabilities To Avoidant Behavior, Daniel Pineau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Avoidance is characterized as the inability of an individual to interact with a stimulus for the purpose of reducing distress. Avoidance increases the likelihood that distress and symptoms related to anxiety will increase. This may lead to further impairment and anxious pathology across the lifespan. Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) describes a temperamental vulnerability that influences approach (Behavioral Approach System; BAS) and avoidance (Behavioral Inhibition System; BIS) behaviors. The purpose of the study was to identify, using observed behavioral approach tasks, whether or not BIS/BAS influenced avoidant behavior above and beyond other avoidance vulnerabilities (anxiety sensitivity and emotion dysregulation). Participants (N=297) …

Meaning, Purpose, And Experiential Avoidance As Predictors Of Valued Behavior: An Application Of Ecological Momentary Assessment, Jeffrey Pavlacic

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Values-based interventions in therapeutic settings direct behavior with avoidance and escape functions towards valued domains that are intrinsically reinforcing. This “progression” towards valued domains fluctuates on a daily basis, predicting less psychological stress. Contemporary conceptualizations of meaning in life delineate two primary domains: purpose (goal achievement), and significance or presence of meaning (the extent to which a person perceives themselves as “mattering”). These domains have not been simultaneously and systematically investigated in college students, a population at risk for developing maladaptive coping strategies and negative affect attributed to adjustment-related issues (e.g., binge drinking, depression, increased risk for suicidal ideation). College …

Predictors Of Behavioral Health Among Firefighters In Their Third Year Of Fire Service, Victoria Alicia Torres

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Employee turnover is expensive, as job training can cost upwards of 30% of an employee’s annual salary (not including additional onboarding expenses; Boushey & Glynn, 2012). This is especially true among high stress, dangerous occupations that require specialized training such as firefighters (Envisage Technologies, 2016; Knoll, 2011; Patterson et al., 2010). Health status is a primary reason for job concerns that may lead to decline in job performance and employment separation (Hourani, Williams, & Kress, 2006; Virtanen, Kivimäki, Vahtera, Elovainio, Sund, Virtanen, & Ferrie, 2006). Two research areas that support this notion include literature on the biopsychosocial model and occupational …

Reward And Punishment: The Neural Correlates Of Reinforcement Feedback During Motor Learning, Christopher Mark Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

‘By the carrot or the stick’ reward or punishment has been contemplated by instructors to motivate their pupils to learn a new motor skill. The reinforcements of reward and punishment have demonstrated dissociable effects on motor learning with punishment enhancing the learning rate and reward increasing retention of the motor task. However it is still unclear how the brain processes reward and punishment during motor learning. This study sought to investigate the role of reinforcement feedback in cortical neural activity associated with motor learning. A novel visuomotor rotation task was employed with reward punishment or null feedback as the participants …

Gender Roles, Sexual Assertiveness, And Sexual Coercion In Lgbtq Individuals, Lavina Ying Ho

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual violence is a prominent community issue particularly within the LGBTQ+ community. The present study examined the relationships among gender roles sexual assertiveness and sexual victimization as well as sexual perpetration in a LGBTQ+ population. For most severe form of sexual violence victimization in the past year 17.6% reported having been raped. Moderated logistic regression analyses found that both gender roles and sexual assertiveness independently predicted severity of sexual victimization and perpetration. No interactions were found to predict either sexual victimization or sexual perpetration. Specifically the femininity gender role and lower levels of sexual assertiveness predicted greater likelihood for victim …

Is It Racism, Colorism, Or A Pigment Of Your Imagination? A Study On The Invisible Color Line, Yolanda Rodriguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Participants were 324 self-identified ethnic/racial minority adults recruited from a southern university in the United States and an online community (MTurk workers) primarily ranging in age from 18-30 (78.4%). Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and a measure for each of the variables of interest. A moderated mediation analysis was conducted using PROCESS (Hayes 2013) model 8. It was hypothesized that acculturation modality (X) would predict skin lightening behaviors and attitudes (Y) through three mediators (M1: Discrepancy scores M2: Satisfaction with Skin Color and M3: Desire to Change Skin Color). Psychological well-being was predicted to be a moderator (W) of the …

Teaching Kids To Say "Ew!": Parent-Child Disgust Transmission, Brooklee Lightsey Tynes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Disgust is one of the six basic emotions but research suggests it is far more complex. As individuals respond to stimuli in different manners this suggests the emotion and its development may be shaped through learning principles and cultural practices (Rozin Lowery & Ebert 1994). It is imperative to understand how children’s disgust responses are shaped though observation classical and operant conditioning demonstrated by their primary caregivers. The current study examined the transmission of the emotion of disgust from primary caregivers to their children. Participants were 17 children (55.6% female) and one of their parents in Mississippi and Nebraska. The …

Going To Bat: Assessing Disgust Sensitivity And Related Factors In Behavioral Avoidance, Molly E. Wickenhauser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study used archival data (N = 194) consisting of responses from a battery of questionnaires and data from eight behavioral avoidance tasks (BATs). Correlational analyses demonstrated that disgust sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity, state disgust and anxiety ratings during BATs, and behavioral avoidance on BATs were significantly correlated. Higher disgust sensitivity and behavioral avoidance was also associated with being female. Unexpectedly, emotion dysregulation was not correlated with disgust sensitivity or behavioral avoidance. Next, a series of hierarchical multiple linear regressions indicated that the contamination disgust domain appeared to be the strongest predictor of behavioral avoidance on core- and contamination-related BATs, …

Factors Related To Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms: Understanding The Contribution Of Disgust, Contamination Fear And Emotion Regulation, Alexandra Gilbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study included 149 students from the University of Mississippi as apart of an archival dataset from a larger lab study. Results from the primary analyses indicate that all variables of interest (i.e. contamination fear, disgust sensitivity, and emotion regulation) were significantly correlated with OC symptoms. However, despite disgust’s associations with OC symptoms, results from regression analysis suggest that neither general disgust nor individual domains of disgust were predictive of contamination-based OC symptoms above and beyond contamination fear. Results from the hierarchical regression analysis emphasize the prominent role that contamination fear has on contamination-based OC symptoms. Further, sex differences …

Empirical Support For Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (Mtfc): A Critical Review, Jennifer Marie Ladner-Graham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC), initially intended as a treatment for chronic juvenile offenders (adolescents having multiple contacts with the juvenile justice system), was designed as an alternative to placement within group facilities. MTFC allows the adolescent to remain in the community while receiving individual and family-based interventions. These interventions are dedicated to decreasing risk factors associated with offending (e.g., poor parental supervision, association with delinquent peers, poor academic performance) and increasing protective factors (e.g., effective parenting practices, healthy relationships with supportive peers, increased school involvement). MTFC has been utilized to meet the needs of a variety of populations (e.g., …

Emotion Regulation As A Predictor Of Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms, Brittany Spence Sapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research findings suggest that emotion regulation (ER) is a key component in the maintenance and development of psychopathology. However there is a paucity of research assessing ER and Obsessive-Compulsive (OC) symptoms particularly how ER relates to OC tendencies in children. Due to the pervasive nature of both ER difficulties and OC symptoms across major life domains (i.e. familial social academic) and the lasting impact of these problems into adulthood further research is needed to better understand this connection. The present study investigated this relation in a clinical sample of 472 youth (ages 10 – 17) who completed a packet of …

Knowledge, Assertiveness, Competence: Using A Self-Determination Theory Framework To Explain Sexual Satisfaction In College Students, Tanja Seifen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual satisfaction has been shown to be related to many positive factors such as high relationship satisfaction enhanced physical and psychological health and increased overall well-being. Despite making up 27% of the sexually active population in the United States young people (ages 15-24) but are typically not taught about the benefits of sexual satisfaction or how to have a pleasurable sexual experience. Due to their high risk of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancies most education and research on young people’s sexuality focuses on risk behaviors and prevention. The goal of this study was to take a positive outlook …

Youth Screening Protocol For General Psychopathology, Steven Bishop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is a high prevalence rate of psychopathology among US youth, with at least one in four youth meeting clinical criteria for a mental health condition. Those youths who experience psychopathology tend to demonstrate greater functional impairments and have more adverse outcomes compared to youth who do not have these frequently occurring conditions. It is unfortunate that many of these conditions, along with their deleterious effects, are poorly identified in pediatric settings despite the availability of screening instruments. Most screening instruments, however, assess for domain-specific areas of psychopathology only, and can require substantial time to administer and interpret within the …

Behavioral Similarities And Differences Among Symptoms Of Emetophobia, Disordered Eating, And Disgust, Jennifer Arden Petell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emetophobia, also known as the specific phobia of vomiting (SPOV), is a clinical disorder with severe symptomatology and chronicity. However, there remains a significant lack of knowledge in overall conceptualization and etiological understanding. Recent literature has described this disorder within the context of abnormal eating disorders, despite the essential difference in symptom function between SPOV and disordered eating (Keyes & Veale, 2018; Volpe et al., 2015). Therefore, the present study sought to further the conceptualization and delineation of symptoms of emetophobia and disordered eating, as well as their potential relation with disgust. More specifically, it was hypothesized that symptoms of …

Weight Teasing Among Obese Youth: Social Functioning Outcomes Following A Pediatric Weight Management Intervention, Joseph Mitchell Magness

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of excess weight and obesity among children and adolescents in the United States continues to increase. Aside from the different effects weight has on a person’s physical and psychological well-being, obese youth often experience poorer social functioning than normal weight peers. Weight teasing is among those highlighted social difficulties. Pediatric weight management program interventions have been shown to improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) across domains for obese youth. However, few studies have examined the impact of weight management interventions on social quality of life for those with a history of weight teasing. The present study aimed to …

Allodynia And Self-Efficacy In Migraineurs, Ashley N. Polk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Headache disorders are among the most comdisorders of the nervous system, with migraine alone affecting 14% of women and 6% of men worldwide each year. Headache-related self-efficacy, or one’s confidence in preventing and managing headache, is particularly important for prevention and management of headache disorders and predicts response to behavioral and pharmacological treatments. Allodynia, the perception of non-noxious stimuli as painful due to central sensitization, compounds headache-related disability and compromises efficacy of triptans. Therefore, migraineurs with allodynia may perceive headache treatments as less efficacious and thus have reduced perceived headache-related self-efficacy. However, no literature to date has explored the relationship …

Nonmedical Use Of Prescription Drugs Among Young Adults: An Examination Of Anxiety Sensitivity, Distress Tolerance, And Emotion-Driven Impulse Control Difficulties, Sara Michelle Witcraft

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with anxiety disorders are significantly more likely to develop substance use disorders than those without anxiety disorders (Kessler & Greenberg, 2002). Despite a sizeable body of literature focused on etiological and maintenance factors underlying the co-occurrence of substance use and anxiety pathology, this relationship remains poorly understood. Transdiagnostic factors, specifically distress tolerance, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion-driven impulse control difficulties, have been posited to contribute to the relationship of anxiety and substance abuse, and in particular, nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD; Dennhardt & Murphy, 2013; Wolitzky-Taylor et al., 2015). The current study examined group differences among the aforementioned transdiagnostic …

The Influence Of Recall Instructions On The Verbal Overshadowing Effect, Melissa Ann Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigated the influence of recall instructions on the verbal overshadowing effect (VOE). Participants watched a video of a burglar breaking and entering, were asked to recall information about the burglar, and attempted to identify the burglar from a photo lineup. Recall instructions were varied between participants. In Experiment 1, participants in a ‘general recall’ instruction condition were instructed to provide a description of the burglar’s physical appearance. Participants in a ‘face recall’ instruction condition were asked to provide a description of the burglar’s facial features. A control group of participants, the ‘no recall’ instruction condition, were not …

An Exploration Of Relationships Between Parenting Stress And Primary Headache Disorders, Yelena Louise Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stress is the most commonly reported trigger for headache and stress affects headache both directly through resulting physiological changes and indirectly through its effects on lifestyle and coping behaviors. However one form of stress that has been neglected within headache is parenting. Parenting stress is defined as the imbalance between parents’ perceptions of available resources and their perceived demands of parenthood. Many variables have been established as predictors of parenting stress (e.g. demographic variables child behavior maternal depression) though fewer studies have examined its effects on health. Given that headache and parenthood share similar demographic distributions and risk factors exploration …