Psychology Commons^™

Examining Negative Thinking Styles And Thought Control Strategies Within Borderline Personality Disorder, Courtney K. Mason

Theses and Dissertations

Components of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) include emotion and cognitive dysregulation. The Emotional Cascade Model (Selby & Joiner, 2009; Selby et al., 2009) suggests negative affect and the cognitive process of rumination could be interchangeably increasing over time, leading to maladaptive behaviors. The current study evaluated negative thinking styles (i.e., anger rumination, sadness rumination, worry, catastrophizing) and thought control strategies (i.e., brooding, reflection, thought suppression) in relation to BPD traits using path analyses in a college student sample (N = 204). Results indicated anger rumination, sadness rumination, and worry indirectly predicted BPD traits through thought suppression, brooding, and reflection. However, …

Full Issue Salubritas 1 (2021), Editors Salubritas

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

Inaugural issue of Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-empowered Counseling

A Practical Application Of Self Psychology In Counseling, A. Jordan Wright

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Self psychology has undergone a significant evolution since it was initially developed and proposed by Heinz Kohut, including broadening conceptions of what purposes selfobjects can serve for individuals. Its application to counseling has been as an organizing framework and overarching theory of human development and psychopathology. The concept of selfobjects, however, has the potential to provide specific guidance and technique in micro-interactions within counseling. Individual moments within counseling present opportunities for a counselor to intervene, and self psychology can provide a deliberate decision-making tool for how to respond. Being deliberate in interventions throughout counseling has the potential to improve outcomes. …

Relation Of Emotion Regulation Difficulties, Self-Compassion, And Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Emily Anne Kalantar

Dissertations and Theses

Exposure to potentially traumatic events is associated with high emotion regulation difficulties, development of posttraumatic stress disorder, and elevated healthcare expenditures. Emotion regulation difficulties are related to worse clinical and sub-clinical posttraumatic stress symptomology relative to use of effective emotion regulation strategies. Yet, significant variance in posttraumatic stress symptom severity remains unexplained after accounting for emotion regulation difficulties, suggesting identification of additional explanatory variables is warranted. Considerable research suggests high (vs. low) self-compassion, which entails extending kindness to oneself, is related to more effective emotion regulation and low posttraumatic stress symptom severity. As such, self-compassion may be one variable that …

The Impact Of Moral Injury And Moral Distress On Spirituality From A Military Perspective, Emily Sproule

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain greater insight and understanding of how moral injury, moral distress, and shame can influence spirituality and to determine ways to effectively improve treatment to support and serve those carrying these unspeakable wounds. The experience of loss, betrayal, uncertainty, and fractured spirits can affect an individual’s beliefs about the self. The primary aim of this study was to explore how veterans now view themselves in the eyes of God or their Higher Power or why they so choose not to partake in their spirituality. Results were based on aggregate analyses and summations of …

The Relationship Between Cognitive Functioning And Internalizing/Externalizing Behaviors In Children And Adolescents With Down Syndrome, Jessalin R. Good

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Introduction: Down syndrome (DS) is a developmental disorder caused by a complete extra copy of chromosome 21. This genetic error results in a variety of other symptoms related to a range of medical and cognitive challenges. Although it has been reported that a significant relationship exists between cognitive functioning and both internalizing and externalizing behaviors in typically developing (TD) individuals, the literature is severely limited in investigating this relationship in those with DS.

Rationale: Internalizing and externalizing behaviors have been shown to have a negative relationship with cognitive functioning in TD children and adolescents (Shankman et al., 2010; Wood et …

Childhood Sexual Abuse Disclosure And Mental Health Outcomes: The Relationship Between Gender, Parental Style, And Masculinity Norms, Kayla E. Hall

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Objective: The current study aims to investigate social reactions to childhood sexual abuse disclosure (CSA) in adult men and women. Additionally, the study explores the relationship between conformity to masculinity norms and perception of parental style on timing of disclosure and resulting internalizing and externalizing symptoms and substance abuse.

Method: Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, 299 adult men and women residing in the U.S. (M_age = 35.9, SD_age= 10.5; 53% female; 78% European American) completed an anonymous online series of survey items pertaining to childhood sexual abuse, internalizing and externalizing mental health symptoms, substance abuse, social reactions …

Practitioner Use Of And Attitudes Towards Videoconferencing For The Delivery Of Evidence-Based Telemental Health Interventions: A Mixed Methods Study, Kathryn E. Parisi, Alex R. Dopp, Lauren B. Quetsch

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The implementation of evidence-based psychosocial interventions using video-conference delivery (VCD) has the potential to increase accessibility to effective treatments, although its use remains limited and understudied. This study employed a mixed methods approach in surveying mental health practitioners about their attitudes regarding VCD of interventions that are considered evidence-based (i.e., have been shown to improve targeted outcomes in rigorous research). One hundred and eleven practitioners were sampled from several national and regional U.S. practice organizations and were administered quantitative surveys about their use of and attitudes towards VCD of evidence-based interventions (EBI). We examined the relationship between practitioner-level technology access, …

The Role Of Embodied Metaphor In The Relationship Between Vestibular Dysfunction, Anxiety And The Self, Kaitlyn Abrams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is considerable evidence that vestibular dysfunction and anxiety are correlated. Clinical and philosophical arguments suggest that a loss of sense of self, experienced through symptoms like derealization and depersonalization, might contribute to this relationship. The present study used a mixed methods approach, including Systematic Metaphor Analysis, to analyze written short answer and quantitative survey data from one hundred and thirteen participants with vestibular disorders. The Systematic Metaphor Analysis revealed several primary metaphor concepts which elucidated the connections between concrete experience and abstract concepts in vestibular dysfunction. These included metaphors of Agency, Stability, Orientation, Self-Object, and Figure-Ground. Primary metaphors for …

Big Five Aspect Personalty Scales And Social Anxiety Severity In A Nonpsychiatric Sample, Samantha Simpson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Personality can be explored hierarchically with higher- and lower-order factors. Recent research suggests the personality hierarchy is comprised of higher-order Big Five traits with two lower-order factors per Big Five trait, termed aspects. There is a lack of research examining the relationship between these lower-order aspects and social anxiety (SA) severity. To better understand these relationships, 443 university undergraduate students (72.2% female; mean age = 20.48, SD = 4.64) completed the Big Five Aspects Scale (BFAS) and the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory- 23 (SPAI-23), and were retained following exclusionary criteria. Path analysis, covarying for sex, age, and general anxiety …

Social Cognition, Impulsivity, And Emotion Regulation Factors In Aggressive Behavior Among Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder., Kelly E. Slaughter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) exhibit greater levels of aggressive behavior than their typically developing peers, often resulting in impairment in social and family functioning. Aggressive behavior is often differentiated into two functions: reactive, or “hot-blooded” and proactive, or “cold-blooded” aggression. Prior research has identified several factors contributing to aggressive behavior within a general population, including emotion dysregulation, negative urgency, social information processing (SIP), and parenting behaviors. A paucity of research has examined these factors within an ADHD population. Thus, the present study aimed to examine social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive factors associated with aggression among children with ADHD. Specifically, …

The Role Of Emotional Attention Regulation In High Psychopathy Incarcerated Males, Michael K. Webb

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the role of emotional attention regulation in men (N = 60) currently incarcerated in a Midwestern prison. Modern conceptualizations define psychopathy as a multifaceted and dimensional construct that includes atypical experience of affect, interpersonal problems, and remarkable social deviance. Attentional differences and deficient emotional experience have been shown to predict psychopathy and other outcomes related to the construct. However, attentional and emotional functioning in individuals high in psychopathy is complex and results have been shown to vary across discrete emotion states and experimental paradigms. The negative preception hypothesis (Kosson et al. 2018) suggests that these differences may …

The Effectiveness Of An Act App In Promoting Wellbeing And Psychological Flexibility, Brooke Short

Honors College Theses

While mental health apps could potentially increase access to mental health resources, only 3.05% of depression and anxiety apps on the Apple App store had published research support as of 2018 (Marshall et al., 2019). The present study aims to evaluate an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) mental health app. ACT aims to cultivate psychological flexibility, the ability to fully experience and accept one’s present context while engaging in behavior that aligns with one’s values (Hayes et al., 2006). Gloster et al. (2020) reviewed ACT metanalyses and found it to be efficacious for a range of conditions. Past research has …

Body Image Among High School And College Female Athletes, Mercedes A. Robinson

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This study examined body image among female high school athletes and college athletes across different sports. Athletes participating in track and field, tennis, cross country, dance, cheer, softball, golf, basketball, soccer, and volleyball completed self-report questionnaires assessing various components of body image including the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearances Questionnaire (SATAQ-4), and an edited version of the CHEER Survey. Responses on the questionnaires were analyzed to evaluate differences between high school and college athletes. No differences were found between high school and college athletes on measures of shape/weight concerns, sociocultural pressures for thinness, or internalization of the …

Identifying Risk Factors For Ptsd Symptom Clusters In Maltreated, Multiracial Youth Using Nonparametric Modeling, Mallory Constantine

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Multiracial youth are one of the most at-risk racial groups for child maltreatment. Multiracial individuals are also more likely to report mental health concerns than other racial or ethnic groups. This study aimed to identify demographic and psychological risk factors that are unique to multiracial, maltreated youth with respect to PTSD symptoms (i.e., re-experiencing, hyperarousal, avoidance) through classification and regression tree (CART) analyses. Participants included 99 multiracial, maltreated youth directly following their placement in an emergency group shelter due to substantiated maltreatment. The first hypothesis was that female gender, English first language, questions related to guilt and self-blame, and depressive …

Feasibility And Efficacy Of Virtual Darkness In Reducing Intra-Individual Sleep Variability Among Young Adults With Insomnia, Samantha Nicole Sherwood

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

BackgroundInsomnia impacts 30% of people and is associated with increased risk for medical and psychiatric illness. However, pharmacological treatments for sleep yield mixed results and often result in undesirable side effects indicating a need for novel insomnia interventions. Sleep patterns also demonstrate high intra-individual variability which may be associated with greater daytime impairment, and sleep-wake cycles are strongly affected by the timing of exposure to blue-green wavelength light. Virtual darkness, a novel intervention, blocks blue wavelength light from reaching the eye to simulate actual darkness on retinal cells sensitive to light. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to …

Provider Attributions, Emotions, & Responses To Patients With Poor Diabetes Management, Kelly Marie Mackenzie

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) presents challenges to both patients and healthcare providers. While researchers have begun to understand the patient-specific difficulties associated with diabetes management, less is known about how providers perceive and experience patients who are struggling to manage their T2DM, particularly in the context of training environments. The aim of the present study was to better understand the cognitions, emotions, and behavioral responses of medical trainees when presented with a clinical vignette of a patient with poor diabetes self-care. To this end, the research was guided by attribution-emotion models of helping and avoidance. It was hypothesized that …

Mental Health Treatment In Juvenile Correctional Facilities: Utilizing Assessment To Inform Treatment, Sarah Riccio

Dissertations

Youth in juvenile correctional facilities face a wide range of mental health difficulties. Over the years, the juvenile justice system has prioritized the need for providing appropriate and effective treatment services to youth throughout their detainment. Despite these ongoing efforts, treatment practices in juvenile correctional facilities continue to fall short. This study will first focus on assessment practices within these facilities and the impact current practices have on diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of comprehensive evaluations for informing diagnosis and determining the individual treatment needs of detained youth. An integrated approach to assessment will …

The Optimum Performance Program In Sports - Youth: A Case Study, Karolyne Bastos Stucki

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Ethnically and racially diverse youth athletes underutilize mental health services, resulting in social and economic costs to society (Gudiño et al., 2008; Snowden & Yamada, 2005). Almost half of all children and adolescents participate in sport, and sport participation is especially common in youth from ethnically and racially diverse neighborhoods (Holt, 2008; NSCH, 2017). Therefore, sport may be an effective strategy to permit diverse youth to receive mental health services. The current case study examines The Optimum Performance Program in Sports (TOPPS; a sport-specific family behavior therapy) in an Asian American youth athlete evidencing Social Anxiety Disorder (DSM-5). A within …

Reported Motivations For Non-Medical Use Of Prescription Stimulants In A Sample Of Community College Students, Taylor Wexler

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction. Prior research has found high rates of behavioral health concerns, including several forms of substance use, among community college students. However, the prevalence of non-medical use of prescription stimulants (NMUS) as well as the motivations driving NMUS among community college students is unknown. Methods. Survey results from 13 community colleges within the Tennessee Board of Regents school system were evaluated to explore 1) rates of NMUS, 2) reported motivations for NMUS, and 3) how demographic characteristics including race, age, and income differ based on self-reported reasons for NMUS. Results. NMUS was reported by approximately 9% of the overall sample. …

Optimism And Physical Health-Related Quality Of Life In Chronic Illness: Mediating Effects Of Control Beliefs And Health Behaviors, Morgan Treaster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Among persons living with, or recovering from, chronic illness, poor physical health-related quality of life is a concern, as current and residual illness symptoms and treatment side effects may deleteriously impact physical functioning and fulfillment of daily roles. Numerous cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors may impact perceptions of health status. Optimism, for example, is conceptualized as belief in the occurrence of positive future outcomes, and is beneficially associated with physical health-related quality of life. Further, optimism may contribute to enhanced perceptions of control and efficacy over disease symptoms and general health, manifesting as proactive health behaviors (e.g., wellness behaviors; treatment …

Sleeping With The Enemy: Examining The Relationship Between Sleep And Pain In Post-9/11 Veterans, John L. Schwartz Jr.

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

United States veterans are a diverse group of individuals, yet as a result of their service, they share a unique set of customs, traditions, and values. Post-9/11 veterans are more likely to experience elevated levels of pain and poor sleep quality compared to their civilian counterparts; however, little is known about how beliefs related to veterans’ pain impact their sleep and how levels of pain acceptance influence the sleep-pain association. This study examined relationships between sleep and pain in a sample of 102 post-9/11 veterans. Results support associations between pain and sleep identified in other populations. Positive correlations were found …

Intention-Behavior Discrepancies For Alcohol Consumption Among College Students, Emily Kaye Junkin

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Unplanned drinkers may experience elevated risk for drinking-related harm. Research examining unplanned drinking focuses on the unplanned nature of a drinking episode (i.e., did the student drink when no drinking was planned), yet this does not capture the importance of the unintended quantity consumed. For instance, a discrepancy between drinking intentions and actual consumption has the potential to differentially impact alcohol-related outcomes beyond what is accounted for by unplanned drinking episodes. Further, research has not investigated how college students’ unintended drinking is associated with alcohol-related consequences. Moreover, utilization of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) has been shown to decrease negative outcomes …

The Influence Of Emotion Regulation And Neural Cognitive Control On Distress Tolerance, Alicia L. Milam

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Tolerance of negative emotions has been associated with transdiagnostic negative mental health outcomes. Theory and research implicate emotion regulation and cognitive control as factors in tolerance of negative emotions. But their unique contributions to tolerance of negative emotions and interdependency have been unclear due to methodological limitations. This study aimed to explicate cognitive and emotional factors affecting distress tolerance in a non-clinical sample of emerging adults. Undergraduate psychology students completed self-report measures of emotion regulation ability and tolerance of negative emotions. The N2 ERP component elicited by a Go-NoGo task was also used as a neurophysiological marker of cognitive control …

An Experimental Investigation Into The Impact Of Acute Stress On Alcohol Craving Through Implicit Coping Motives, Douglas J. Glenn

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Drinking to cope with negative emotions is associated with many negative alcohol-related outcomes such as increased alcohol use, drinking-related problems, and alcohol use disorders. An acute stressor is one example of a stimulus leading to negative emotions that an individual may wish to avoid. Research has shown that acute stress positively relates to drinking. Specifically, previous experimental studies have shown that individuals exposed to a stressor drink more alcohol and have stronger urges to drink than those not exposed to a stressor. Thus, it may be that drinking to cope explains why people experience alcohol cravings after experiencing a stressor. …

Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Mental Health Diagnosis Of Maltreated Youth, Shadie Burke

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Racial/ethnic marginalized youth are more likely to receive a misdiagnosis of a mental health disorder than their White peers. Misdiagnosis contributes to existing disparities for racial/ethnic marginalized groups by leading to longer durations of untreated and worsening mental health symptoms. For maltreated youth, receiving a misdiagnosis can lead to a failure to connect with appropriate mental health services, medication regimens, therapeutic foster homes, and academic and developmental resources. To date, very few empirical studies have identified disparities in mental health diagnosis among racial/ethnic marginalized maltreated youth. The present study examined two key research questions: (1) what racial/ethnic disparities in diagnoses …

Perceptions Of Naloxone Training And Administration Among Law Enforcement Officers, Katelyn Rae Goodall

Theses and Dissertations

The opioid epidemic was officially declared a public health emergency in 2017 when the rate of deaths per day from opioid overdoses was steadily increasing (CMS, n.d.). As of 2019 – 2020, 61,297 of the 83,544 reported drug overdose deaths were attributed to opioids in general, with 48,729 accounted for by synthetic opioids (CDC, 2021). Due to the significant impact on public health and safety, law enforcement departments have been tasked with developing and implementing naloxone policies and trainings. Law enforcement officers are often the first on the scene of an overdose outnumber fire rescue and emergency medical responders across …

Schizophrenia And Prison Life, Sofia Enes

Kean Quest

This literature review is meant to highlight incarcerated individuals with schizophrenia within the prison system. Evidence from researchers suggests that there are also difficulties gathering data on such individuals when said individuals also have paranoid schizophrenia, as cooperation and blatant refusal to participate is common in these individuals

Relief And Reward Drinking Across Time In Community And Treatment-Seeking Samples, Julia E. Swan

Psychology ETDs

Classifying people with alcohol use disorder into homogenous groups based on observed characteristics (i.e., phenotypes) could match individuals to specific treatments. The reward-relief phenotype classifies individuals based on whether they drink to enhance rewarding experiences and/or to relieve negative states. The current study is a secondary data analysis of a community sample of non-treatment seeking heavy drinkers (n = 189) and two randomized clinical trial samples of individuals with alcohol use disorder (n = 1726, 1383) that aimed to determine if the reward-relief phenotype is identified across samples, is stable over time, and predicts long-term alcohol consumption and consequences. We …

The Personal And Relational Impact Of Varying Responses To Fat Talk In The Context Of Female Friendship, Riley M. Sebastian

Psychology ETDs

The current study aimed to measure the immediate impact of various responses to Fat Talk on college women. Participants were given trait-level questionnaires followed by prompts to imagine a scenario in which they engaged in Fat Talk. Participants were presented with four counterbalanced audio response conditions followed by several single-item measures. Repeated-measures one-way ANOVAs examined the impact of response and significant differences in personal and relational factors across the four response conditions were found. A mixed-model ANOVA demonstrated that baseline variables did not impact participants’ reactions to the different Fat Talk responses. Finally, frequency of Fat Talk was correlated with …