Psychology Commons^™

Rarely Asked: The Systemic Failure To Support The Mental Health Of Caregivers Of Medically Complex Children, Morgan Motsinger

University Honors Theses

Approximately one in four households in the United States cares for a child with special healthcare needs, yet the mental health of the caregivers providing that care is rarely addressed by the medical, faith, community, and social systems around them. This thesis examines the systemic gaps in mental health support for caregivers of children with life-limiting or medically complex diagnoses through a review of existing literature and an original mixed-method survey of 58 caregivers. Findings indicate that 50% of caregivers received no mental health support from their child's medical team at any point. Every respondent reported at least one clinically …

The Emerging Roles Of Ai In Self-Directed Stress Management: Systematic Review, Mary Kamillah Grace Reyes, Shauna Sha Min Teo, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background: Stress is widespread and carries substantial mental health, social, and economic burdens. Yet, access to clinician-led stress management remains constrained by service capacity, cost, and stigma. In response, artificial intelligence (AI)–enabled tools have rapidly proliferated as scalable, self-directed options. However, evidence on how these systems support stress management outside formal clinical settings remains fragmented. Objective: This systematic review aimed to synthesize empirical evidence on how AI-enabled technologies are used for self-directed stress management. We mapped the emerging functions of these tools, the psychological frameworks informing their design, the populations and settings studied, and the outcomes reported. Methods: We conducted …

Anti-Mattering And Negative Core Beliefs In The Association Between Internalized Racism And Social Anxiety, Alicia K. López

Graduate Masters Theses

Internalized racism is associated with adverse mental health conditions, including anxiety. However, research examining the relation between internalized racism and social anxiety remains limited. The primary purpose of this current study was to explore the relation between internalized racism and social anxiety and whether cognitive processes, such as negative core beliefs about the self or interpersonal factors, such as anti-mattering help explain this relation.  Specifically, this study examined anti-mattering as a potential mediator linking internalized racism and social anxiety and whether negative core beliefs about the self, mediate the relation between internalized racism and anti-mattering. Lastly, the study examined a …

Identity And Distress: The Role Of Misracialization And Membership Esteem In Multiracial Mental Health, Jordan Cherry

Graduate Masters Theses

The population of Multiracial individuals in the US is growing (Jones et al., 2021). Multiracial people face a higher likelihood of adverse consequences, including reconciling the significance of holding multiple racial identities in a society that predominantly categorizes race in single categorical terms (Gabriel et al., 2023). The inaccurate perception of Multiracial individuals by others, or misracialization, is a result of this dynamic. Research indicates that inaccurate racial representation relates to worse mental health outcomes for Multiracial individuals (Campbell & Troyer, 2007; Does et al., 2023; Franco, Toomey, et al., 2021; Lusk et al., 2010). Further, one’s racialized experiences have …

Racism, Coping, And In-Race Heterosexism Among Asian American Sexually Expansive People: A Moderated Moderation Analysis, Miah Theresse A. Sabas

Graduate Masters Theses

Asian American sexually expansive people (AA SEP) are at elevated risk of psychological distress at the intersection of racism and heterosexism (Takeda et al., 2021). Less is known about how AA SEP cope with intersectional oppression, including experiences of in-race heterosexism. With a sample of 105 AA SEP, correlations indicated a positive link between psychological distress (PD; DASS-21, Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) and racism-related stress (RRS; Brief PEDQ-CV, Brondolo et al., 2005), but not in-race heterosexism (Perceived Racism in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Communities Scale, Sarno et al., 2015). Moderation analyses indicated only active coping buffered the relation between RRS …

Temwayaj: An Exploration Of Intergenerational Trauma And Resilience Through The Wisdom Of Haitian Elders, Niara J. Carrenard

Graduate Masters Theses

Haitian people have a unique history of trauma shaped by colonial violence, the brutal legacy of slavery, and political instability all of which intersect to create a complex and multifaceted experience of trauma across generations. This study explores how intergenerational and historical trauma are understood, carried and expressed across generations in the Haitian community. Drawing from grounded theory, this research examines the layered effects of colonial violence and chronic instability on Haitian people. While trauma is typically described as an individual phenomenon, this project is examining trauma as a relational process that manifests amongst different generations. Through in-depth qualitative interviews, …

Trends Of Pediatric Psychotropic Polypharmacy In Massachusetts Before And During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Gianna D'Ambrozio

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Youth in the U.S. and internationally are increasingly being diagnosed with depression and related psychiatric conditions (Murthy, 2021) many of whom are being subjected to non-evidence-based, or what has been termed irrational, psychotropic polypharmacy (Barnett & Concepcion Zayas, 2019). Psychotropic polypharmacy can be defined as “the use of 2 or more psychiatric medications in the same patient,” (Zito et al., 2021) though definitions can vary. Using data from the Center for Health Information Analysis’ Massachusetts All-Payer Claims Database, this study examined the sociodemographic factors associated with high rates of polypharmacy, a hypothesized increase in pediatric psychotropic polypharmacy rates in Massachusetts …

Clinician Perspectives On Fistula Mental Health, Victoria K. Leonard

Doctoral Dissertations

Background – Obstetric fistula is a childbirth injury caused by prolonged labor that leads to stillbirth and incontinence, spurring social exclusion and isolation. These layers of trauma put women with fistula at great risk for psychological suffering, which has profound negative socioeconomic impacts on them, their families, and communities. This study captured treatment as usual at Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT), the country’s largest provider of fistula care.

Method – Improving holistic fistula treatment requires engaging the clinicians who care for women with fistula. This study aimed to investigate the training, beliefs, and treatment approaches of nurses and …

The Efficacy Of Dialectical Behavior Therapy For Anorexia Nervosa In Adolescent Females: A Literature Review, Tyler L. Brink

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

Anorexia nervosa (AN) in adolescent females is associated with high mortality, significant relapse rates, and cognitive and emotional disturbances, suggesting that existing treatments may not sufficiently address core maintaining mechanisms. This literature review synthesizes current research examining the efficacy of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT) for adolescent females with AN, with emphasis on neurobiological vulnerability, emotional dysregulation, and maladaptive overcontrol. Neuroimaging research indicates reductions in cortical thickness and gray matter in regions associated with self-referential processing and emotional regulation, while emerging evidence suggests structural plasticity following mindfulness-based interventions. Behavioral studies demonstrate that emotional dysregulation …

Investigating The Moderating Roles Of Adolescent Peer Relationship Difficulties And Prosocial Behavior On The Relationship Between Triangulation And Adolescent Emotional Symptoms During Parental Divorce, Taylor Kalei Demotta

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

The divorce process is a stressful, transitional period that is widely experienced by families in the United States. This process incites a variety of stressors and deleterious family dynamics that impact children and adolescents. The divorce literature has identified parental conflict as a significant contributor to youth outcomes following divorce. Therefore, researchers have aimed to investigate the specific dynamics occurring during interparental discord that may influence youth. Triangulation, or the involvement of children in parental disagreements, has been found to mediate the relationship between parental conflict and adolescents’ internalizing symptoms. Adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to triangulation due to increases …

The Impact Of Translated Phq-9 And Gad-7 Scales On Treatment Recommendations In An Adult Vietnamese Population: A 3-Month Primary Care Evaluation, Vivienne Bui

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Depression and anxiety are prevalent yet underdiagnosed in limited-English-proficient (LEP) populations due to language barriers, cultural stigma, and provider bias. Vietnamese-speaking patients are particularly vulnerable to under-recognition in primary care. This quality improvement project evaluated whether implementing Vietnamese-translated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) tools would improve mental health diagnosis and referral rates. Guided by the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Model, a pre–post design was conducted at a San Diego clinic from March 26 to June 26, 2025. Vietnamese-speaking adults (≥18 years) completed translated PHQ-9 and GAD-7 forms during intake. Providers used scores in conjunction with clinical …

Becoming A Body-Centered Psychotherapist: Developing A Reflective Method For Navigating Dual Professional Identity In Dance/Movement Therapy Training, Emma Rose Barbosa

Expressive Therapies Theses

The field of mental health counseling frequently prioritizes verbal modalities, often leaving dance/movement therapists (DMTs) in training to navigate clinical environments that diverge from their primary movement-first modality. Without adequate preparation for this tension, emerging DMTs risk losing access to their primary treatment modality at a critical stage of professional development. The literature review highlights the mind-body connection as a theoretical foundation for somatic integration in clinical practice, examines the development of the internal witness through authentic movement practice, and explores selected current perspectives on DMT within individual counseling contexts. To investigate further themes, a heuristic study was conducted during …

Associations Between Mmpi-3 And Cape Scores: Measuring Psychosis Symptoms In A Non-Clinical Population, Tigis A. Applin, Ashlynne N. Wright, Andrew Kremyar, Megan R. Whitman, Yossef S. Ben-Porath Ph.D.

Aurora

Psychosis includes two major types of symptoms: positive (i.e., hallucinations, delusions, paranoia) and negative (i.e., flat affect, poverty of speech, lack of motivation). Psychosis is also frequently comorbid with depressive and other mood disorder symptoms. Differentiating positive, negative, and depression symptoms is important, as practicing clinicians may tailor treatments to specific presenting symptoms. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) is a broadband measure of personality and psychopathology that includes scales that measure both psychosis and depression related symptoms. Prior studies indicate that scale scores on previous versions of the MMPI-3 can help with the differential diagnosis of depressive and psychosis-related …

Feasibility Of Staff Training In Facilitating Affirmative Moving With Unhoused Lgbtq+ Individuals, Sujin Ma

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Homelessness-service environments require non-clinical frontline staff to manage frequent crises and provide relational support to sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals with extensive trauma and minority stress histories. However, staff training often prioritizes didactic knowledge over embodied skills that support emotional regulation, attunement, and identity-affirming engagement. Grounded in trauma-informed care, minority stress theory, and somatic learning, this mixed-methods study examined the feasibility and preliminary patterns of change associated with an embodied staff training designed to prepare non-clinical workers to facilitate Affirmative Moving (AM), a brief movement-based, LGBTQ+-affirming support group model.

The study was conducted between July and September 2025 at …

Functional Domains’ Ability To Predict Outcomes In Comparison To Absenteeism In A National Sample Of School Age Children, Randolph Dupont

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

School absenteeism poses a critical challenge for educators, clinicians, and policymakers due to its strong associations with impairments across academic, social, mental health, and family domains. Traditional models conceptualize absenteeism systemically, using dimensional definitions (e.g., chronic absenteeism defined by missed days), or analytically, using categorical definitions (e.g., truancy, school refusal). Both approaches are limited in capturing the functional consequences of school attendance problems (SAPs). This study evaluated whether a functional impairment model, which emphasizes how domains of functioning are disrupted by absenteeism, provides a more accurate framework for predicting outcomes than absenteeism frequency alone. Using longitudinal data from the Adolescent …

Barriers And Bridges: Exploring Factors That Shape Mental Health Service Utilization In Rural America, Margaret Wiwuga

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Despite disproportionately higher suicide mortality rates and comparable prevalence of mental illness across urban and rural communities in the United States, rural populations across the nation experience significantly lower access to and utilization of mental health services, naturally leading to worse comprehensive outcomes. This literature review examines multifaceted factors shaping mental health service use in rural America, taking note of both barrier and enabling factors that impede or enable these unique populations’ willingness and ability to access and use mental health services. Ten articles published prior to September 9, 2025, were selected from the James Madison University Libraries’ Psychology and …

Neurodiversity In Counseling: Counseling Strategies For Supporting Neurodiverse Clients, Emily R. Plowright

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Neurodiversity recognizes the natural differences in human functioning, including the unique ways that individuals think, learn, and process information. The neurodiversity movement views these differences as valuable, challenging historical beliefs that label them as deficits. Despite growing awareness of neurodiversity, counseling research and practice have largely overlooked the unique needs of neurodiverse clients, resulting in barriers to accessing mental health care. This paper addresses the concept and models of disability to provide context for understanding neurodiversity. Neurodiverse identities, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), specific learning disorders (SLDs), and tic disorder, are explored through their diagnostic criteria …

What’S Behind The Mask: The Diagnostic Divide In The Female Autism Phenotype, Shelley Gies Alston

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social communication and restrictive, repetitive behaviors; however, women are diagnosed at significantly lower rates than men. This study examined whether DSM-5-TR diagnostic practices may contribute to the underdiagnosis and delayed identification of ASD in individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB), with attention to masking behaviors, gendered social expectations, and clinician interpretation of symptoms. Grounded in the Female Autism Phenotype (FAP), a retrospective mixed-methods study surveyed 12 AFAB individuals aged 18–24 who self-identified or were formally diagnosed with ASD. Participants completed a 44-item online survey including Likert-scale and open-ended …

Underlying Mechanisms In The Relationship Between Ptsd And Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Jillian B. Heymann

Dissertations

Current bodies of knowledge support the relationships between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), pain catastrophizing and PTSD, and pain catastrophizing and IBS. However, much less is known regarding how pain catastrophizing influences the relationship between PTSD and IBS. Additionally, while correlations between some demographic and trauma-related symptomatology have been elucidated in the relationship between PTSD and IBS, their impact as potential moderators on the relationship between PTSD and IBS has yet to be fully examined. Examining a student sample from a large midwestern university, the present study aimed to investigate the potential mediating and moderating roles …

Predicting Psychosis Through Speech: A Case For Nlp In Clinical Practice, Lydia Britton '27

Student Research

Psychosis is difficult to identify in early stages; however, changes in speech and language offer insights and indicators of emerging symptomatology. This paper examines the potential for Natural Language Processing (NLP) and other computational linguistic techniques for improving the predicition of psychosis disorders through automated analysis of speech. Existing research shows that lingustic markers that are aligned with Formal Thought Disorder, including reduced semantic coherence, poverty of content, tangentiality, reduced syntactic complexity, and pragmatic deficits, can help to distinguish between individuals who are experiencing or at risk for psychosis from healthy controls. Traditional clinical assessments may have difficulty identifying and …

Book Review: Addressing Anxiety In Young Learners: A Teacher’S Guide To Recognizing Needs And Resolving Behaviors, Jacqueline Sperling

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of pediatric mental illnesses, especially anxiety disorders, have increased significantly (Racine et al., 2021), and with this change, teachers have been tasked with educating even more students who have additional needs.

Addressing Anxiety in Young Learners: A Teacher’s Guide to Recognizing Needs and Resolving Behaviors is a book that aims to provide teachers with an understanding of pediatric anxiety disorders and practical tools to support students who present with symptoms of them. The following review of the book describes what the book addresses, highlights strengths, examines areas for improvement, and offers additional …

An Equity-Based And Culturally Responsive Bill Of Rights For Early Childhood Students Of Color With Exceptionalities, Evette Simmons-Reed, Michelle Frazier Trotman Scott, Gloria Tardash, Mildred Boveda, Donna Y. Ford

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing disparities in early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) services for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) disabled children, exposing critical gaps in access, services and support. systemic inconsistencies in implementation, training, and funding, remain barriers limit opportunities for CLD students to benefit, despite the aims of the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEA). To address these inequities, this manuscript proposes an expanded and updated Culturally Responsive Equity-Based Bill of Rights for EI and ECSE. Building upon Ford and colleagues' (2018) work, this revised document extends protections to children aged zero to five, emphasizing …

Guest Editor's Introduction: Methodological Innovations For Advancing Early Childhood Educational And Psychological Research, Anthony Mangino Ph.D.

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

The goal of this special issue is to provide you, the inquisitive reader and developmental scientist, with some of the methodological tools to aid in augmenting your analytic capacity.

Climate Anxiety Shapes Career And Parenthood Decisions In College Students, Minha Hossain, Patrycja Sleboda-Sobolev

Publications and Research

This study examined how climate anxiety influences future-oriented decision-making among college students, with particular attention to four decision-making domains: career planning, parenthood decisions, sustainability behaviors, and geographic mobility. Although climate anxiety has become increasingly common among young adults, less research has explored how it shapes long-term life decisions within diverse U.S. college populations or how psychological and contextual factors influence these relationships. A sample of 257 undergraduate students from Baruch College completed a Qualtrics survey measuring climate anxiety, climate-related emotions, hope, self-efficacy, migration background, and future-oriented decision-making domains. Results indicated that climate anxiety significantly predicted career and parenthood decision-making, but …

Sexual Identity And Sleep Health In Adolescents: The Role Of Parenting Practices, Alexa Grace Deyo

Theses - ALL

Adolescence is a developmental period marked by heightened vulnerability to insufficient sleep, which contributes to adverse emotional, cognitive, and physical health outcomes. Evidence indicates that adolescents who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) are at an increased risk for poor sleep relative to their heterosexual peers. However, little is known about which dimensions of sleep health differ by sexual identity or modifiable factors that may underlie these differences. This study examined whether adolescent sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and daytime sleepiness differed by sexual identity, and investigated whether parental acceptance and parental monitoring helped explain these differences. Participants were 5,919 …

The Association Between Proximal Sexual And Gender Minority Stressors And Alcohol-Related Outcomes: The Moderating Role Of Experiential Avoidance, Nicolas Cardenas

Theses - ALL

Unhealthy alcohol use is prevalent in college environments, and disproportionately higher among sexual and gender minority (SGM) undergraduate college students. Minority stress theory posits that SGM stressors, particularly proximal forms of stressors (e.g., internalized stigma), negatively impact psychological processes, which are then associated with an increased prevalence of alcohol use. Experiential avoidance, or the avoidance of uncomfortable internal experiences, is one such psychological process that may influence the association between internal SGM stress and alcohol-related outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine if experiential avoidance significantly moderates the association between SGM internal stressors (i.e., internalized stigma and rejection …

Mending The Research-Practice Gap In Psychology: Using Role-Play, Self-Reflection, And Ai Feedback To Enhance Unified Protocol Skill Development, Farryn A. Pauly

Honors Theses

This study explores ways to bridge the research-practice gap in psychology by examining how role-play, structured self-reflections, and AI-generated feedback support the development of Unified Protocol (UP) clinical skills. Using a single-subject design, the researcher simulated therapy sessions with a volunteer acting as the patient, implementing UP modules in sequence, while collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. Each session included preparation using the UP, role-play, and pre- and post-session reflection. Performance was evaluated using Lyssn, an AI-based platform that generated Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale (CTRS; Young & Beck, 1980) scores and detailed feedback on CBT techniques. This was interpreted and …

Factors Relating To Memory, Kyra Vanheirseele

Honors Theses

Cognitive and emotional processes are increasingly recognized as important factors influencing memory functioning. In the current study, the associations between depressive symptoms, selfcritical rumination, sleep quality, and cognitive confidence with self-referent memory recall were examined in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 60; 70.0% female, 21.7% male; M age = 19.36 years, SD = 1.21). The sample was predominantly White (73.2%), with additional representation from Black or African American (14.3%), American Indian or Alaska Native (1.8%), Asian (1.8%), and other racial groups (8.9%). Using established self-report measures, participants reported on depressive symptoms (Schmitt & Maes, 2000; Sauer et al., …

The Associations Between Problematic Social Media Use, Social Media Appearance Preoccupation, And Sleep Quality Among Emerging Adults, Lily Gisclair

Honors Theses

Emerging adulthood is a critical developmental window in which significant transitions increase vulnerability to mental health challenges. Additionally, emerging adults are spending large amounts of time on social media sites. Recent literature suggests that problematic social media use and social media appearance preoccupation could all play a role in increased anxiety, depression, and poorer sleep outcomes in young people. However, to our knowledge, few studies have directly examined the associations among all of these variables specifically in the emerging adult population. The current study was designed to examine these associations among 178 emerging adults between the ages of 18 and …

Elective Abortion, Moral Injury, And Maternal Bonding To The First Child, Jennifer Marie Lightner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.