Psychology Commons^™

Adhd Performance On Nonverbal Measures Of Set Shifting And Working Memory, S. Hans Stoltzfus

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The relationship between language and cognition is an area of inquiry among many psychologists (Pellicano, 2010; Russel, 1996). The connection between thoughts, verbal language, and nonverbal communication turned researchers towards the relationship between language and executive functioning. Executive functioning (EF) is described as tasks involving working memory, inhibition, and set shifting (Miyake and Friedman (2012)). Despite studies demonstrating the correlation between language deficits and lower executive functioning there is not consensus on the directionality of the relationship (Kuhn, et al 2014; Boting et al., 2017). Data from the Leiter International Performance Scale, Third Edition (Leiter-3) (Roid, et al., 2013) were …

How Psychotherapists Practice In The Digital Era, Josh Weinstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The digital era, marked by digital devices connected via high speed data networks, has altered human experience in profound ways over the past 40 years. The potential for novel forms of human relating and fulfillment of desire has led to myriad changes in behavior, thought and unconscious activity. While many adapt or thrive in expanded reality, for some, the digital can be context, source and/or location for psychological affliction. When those who suffer seek psychological relief, how psychotherapists listen for, conceptualize and work with the effects of the digital matter a great deal. While theoretical and quantitative research literature exists …

The Integration Of Roman Catholic Traditions And Evidence-Based Psychological Services, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest, and most enduring continuous organization, secular or religious, of any kind in the world with a 2,000-plus-year history. It currently includes well over a billion people. Regardless of its size, scope, history, and impact, the Roman Catholic Church is often greatly misunderstood and people frequently maintain stereotypic and even discriminatory views about Catholics and their clerical leaders. The purpose of this article is to present the integration of the Roman Catholic tradition into psychological assessment and therapy and to provide several examples of this integration. The article highlights how this integration can be …

Assessing The Predictors Of On-Campus Student Wellbeing In The Time Of Covid-19, Victoria Lynn Hrzich

Theses and Dissertations

College students endure a great deal of stress and are one of the most vulnerable groups for mental health difficulties. Despite the stressors they face, a vast array of research highlights several factors that contribute to student wellbeing, such as social support, coping, and psychological flexibility. Similar trends have been found in the literature on student distress and wellbeing following large-scale crises. Due to the unprecedented nature of COVID-19, there is limited research on student distress levels during the pandemic and the effectiveness of these previously useful stress management factors during this unique crisis. Therefore, the current study assessed student …

Effects Of A Mindfulness-Based Intervention On Psychological Outcomes Including Self-Compassion, Mental Health, And Behavioral Outcomes In Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Natalia Andrea Velásquez

Theses and Dissertations

The present study utilized a brief mindfulness-based intervention to examine the relationship between psychological/behavioral factors, such as mindfulness and self-compassion, in improving parental stress, psychological well-being, and behavioral outcomes in parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Four parents of children with ASD engaged in a 3-session mindfulness-based intervention that included psychoeducation on mindfulness and self-compassion skills, experiential exercises, and implementation of mindfulness and self-compassion skills in parenting vignettes. Measurements included the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), Parental Stress Index-4 Short Form (PSI-4 SF), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), and behavioral mindfulness …

Assessing Homeless Mental Health Needs And Barriers To Seeking Treatment, Devyn Marie Varner

Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that mental health difficulties are highly prevalent within the homeless population across the globe. Living on the street is shown to contribute to the development of mental health issues and the exacerbation of preexisting mental health conditions. Research studies also indicate that homeless individuals face limited access to healthcare and report negative healthcare experiences. However, there are few studies that specifically examine mental health care access within the homeless population. Therefore, this study aimed to identify specific mental health needs within the local homeless population, and examined barriers preventing homeless individuals from seeking mental health treatment. A total …

Antecedents Of Borderline Personality Disorder And Antisocial Personality Disorder: An Examination Of Gene X Environment Interactions, Amy L. Medina

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Current thinking suggests that genotypes associated with impulse-control disorders and negative emotionality, such as monoamine oxidase-a (MAOA), interact with negative early environmental factors like childhood maltreatment and develop into the disorders know as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). Using existing data from a prospective cohort design study of the consequences of child abuse and neglect, participants (N = 896 represent individuals with documented histories of child abuse and neglect and a matched comparison group that were followed up into adulthood and interviewed. A subsample of 631 participants gave permission for DNA extraction and analyses during …

Student Well-Being In The Time Of Covid: Survey Of Online Students’ Coping, Ellen Catherine Coble

Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has presented the global population with a considerable stressor resulting in significant loss of life, impaired health, disrupted social practices, and economic atrophy. While many have been impacted and are currently being studied, a population less frequently considered in the literature is that of online college students. Previous research has indicated the influence of several factors on college students’ well-being when coping with stress under typical circumstances such as coping strategies (e.g., problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant/dysfunctional), experiential avoidance, and social support. Studies performed in the wake of large-scale crises highlight proximity to the crisis …

Adolescent Healthcare Contacts In The Year Before Suicide: A Case Control Study, Ana Lanier, Jordan Braciszewski, Hsueh-Han Yeh, Gregory Simon, Rebecca Rossom, Frances Lynch, Stephen Waring, Christine Lu, Ashli Owen-Smith, Arbe Beck, Brian Ahmedani

Medical Student Research Symposium

Introduction: Suicide rates among adolescents have risen steadily since 2007, creating a dire need to expand prevention protocols. Healthcare systems have been identified as a key avenue for identification and intervention. To date, no comprehensive analysis has been done to understand adolescent-specific characteristics and healthcare utilization prior to suicide death.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted using records from eight healthcare systems nationwide. Data from 450 subjects aged 10-24 who died by suicide between the years 2000-2013 was matched with 4500 controls based on health system and time period of membership. We examined past-year health diagnoses and patterns of visit …

The Oq-45: The Structure Of Mental Health Symptoms During Psychotherapy, Lindsay Arader

Theses and Dissertations

The structure of the Outcome Questionnaire-45 (OQ-45; Lambert et al., 2004b) was examined across three time points in a sample of 199 psychotherapy clients at an outpatient community clinic in the greater New York area. Five models—a one-factor model, two-factor (oblique) model, three-factor (oblique) model, two sub-factor bifactor model, and three sub-factor bifactor model—were tested at baseline, 8 weeks, and 16 weeks. The two sub-factor bifactor model fit the data best at baseline, and the three sub-factor bifactor model fit the data best at 8 weeks and 16 weeks. These results demonstrate that the OQ-45 items load onto one general …

Reflective Processing And Intimate Partner Violence, Rachel Zukerman

Theses and Dissertations

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a prevalent problem, especially among college students. The serious physical and psychological consequences of IPV highlight the need to better understand its correlates. Individuals tend to process information and make decisions in different ways; these styles of thinking and decision likely hold important implications for intimate partnerships. Using a sample of undergraduate students, the current study aims to better understand the thinking processes of those who engage in IPV. Furthering our understanding of the cognitive processes that predict IPV may hold important treatment implications, both from a preventive and therapeutic standpoint. Previous studies show that …

Effectiveness Of E-Health Interventions For Externalizing Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis, Celeste Sangiorgio

Theses and Dissertations

eHealth treatments vary widely from automated treatment protocols to professional-led treatment tools that are integrated into treatment protocols with therapists. This dissertation organized, coded, and submitted 33 eHealth treatment trials to meta-analytic study to assess eHealth treatment study effectiveness overall and for each type of eHealth treatment type. Systematic review and descriptive analyses revealed that eHealth treatments that target externalizing behaviors varied widely in study, sample, and design characteristics. eHealth treatments most frequently targeted externalizing behaviors in adolescent samples (n = 22), adapted cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to digital platforms (n = 11), and integrated digital tools into traditional treatment …

Food For Thought: An Exploration Of The Interplay Between Eating Disorder Recovery And Recovery Instagram Accounts, Allison Dashow

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Social media use is more widespread than ever, with over 800 million monthly active users on Instagram alone (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). The literature suggests an association between social media usage and mental health issues, specifically that it increases body image concerns, body comparisons, and disordered eating (Saunders & Eaton, 2018; Tiggemann & Slater, 2013). While multiple studies have investigated the type of content present and individuals’ experiences within pro-eating disorder (ED) communities, few studies to date have examined Instagram’s (IG) ED recovery communities. The aim of the current study was to explore the interplay between individuals’ ED recovery and …

A Multifaceted Approach To Understanding Schizoid Personality Across Behavioral, Intrapsychic, And Interpersonal Domains, Soo Hyun Cho Lee

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

The aim of the present study was to gain a comprehensive understanding of the interaction amongst the behavioral, intrapsychic, and interpersonal domains of schizoid personality. A sample of 227 Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) players, ages 18 to 30, completed online self-report measures concerning maladaptive personality traits and several aspects of interpersonal functioning. The sample also provided narratives for Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards that were coded by the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale for the TAT (MOA-TAT) to measure schizoid self-other representations. Results showed that schizoid personality could be understood as a dimensional construct, specifically as a constellation of …

Who’S Afraid Of Whiteness? White Privilege, White Racial Identity And The Motivated Defense Of White Supremacy, Michael Strupp-Levitsky

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

Racial inequality pervades American society, yet this reality is largely denied or misattributed by many White people (Bonilla-Silva & Dietrich, 2011). Why are White Americans so resistant to acknowledging their privilege as unearned and therefore illegitimate? While some research suggests nominal benefit of raising awareness of White privilege (e.g., decreases in modern racist beliefs), other work indicates outright defensive reactions (e.g., increased hardship claiming). System Justification Theory conceptualizes these defenses as attempts to legitimize the current social order and resist change. In this dissertation, I sought to address the inconsistencies in the literature by identifying factors that affect the type …

Shame And Depression: Psychological And Cultural Factors In A Sample Of Middle Eastern Women, Amira Hanna

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

Shame is a self-conscious emotion that has been frequently tied to psychopathology; however, despite its deep-rooted influence in the Arab culture, little research has been conducted on its effect on the mental health of this population. Thus, this study investigated the impact of shame proneness on depression severity in a sample of adult Middle Eastern women living in the United States. The study also explored other factors that are highly relevant for this population, including anger suppression, religiosity, interdependent self construal, and Middle Eastern ethnic identity. Specifically, the study investigated the role anger suppression plays in explaining the relationship between …

Alliance, Power Dynamics And Response Styles In The Clinical Supervisory Relationship, Kara Kathleen Norlander

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

Supervisors provide evaluations, act as professional gatekeepers, and serve a central function to psychotherapy training, yet little is known about the impact of power dynamics on the supervisory relationship and the psychotherapy trainee. The present study offers a closer examination of Bordin’s (1983) concept of supervisory alliance, revealing a largely unappreciated emphasis on defusing tension associated with power. This study is the first to investigate how soft and hard power impact supervisory alliance, while also further validating the recently developed Power Dynamics in Supervision Scale (PDSS; Cook, McKibben & Wind, 2018). The Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (Luborsky & Crits-Christoph, 1998) …

Finding Agency In The Invalidating Environment: Sexism, Control, And Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Dbt), Wyatt D'Emilia

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

Endorsing an external locus of control, the belief that luck, chance, and/or powerful others determine the outcomes of one’s behaviors, leads to myriad negative outcomes. Young women in the United States have been increasingly endorsing external loci, increasing their risk for psychopathology. Experiencing sexism, an unfortunately persistent stressor, notably decreases women’s sense of agency. There therefore is a clear need to identify means by which women can more effectively cope with sexism and the external locus that often follows. Secondary control (SC), a construct whereby people accept their circumstances and adjust their behavior to fit in with their environments, has …

A Comparison Of Clinic-Based And Telehealth Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Abigail Peskin

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the rich evidence for early intervention to prevent/treat emotional and behavioral disorders, a gap continues to exist between research and practice, and multitudinous barriers prevent families from accessing vital evidence-based services. Telehealth is an emerging area of research and clinical practice, often proposed as a solution for multiple barriers to service provision. However, despite scattered promising evidence translating in-person treatments to telehealth, many treatments still lack established effectiveness in a virtual format. Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) is a traditionally in-person behavioral parenting intervention uniquely well-suited to telehealth, as during typical clinic practice the clinician is not in the clinic …

Understanding The Influence Of Childhood Experiences On The Development Of Female Sexual Perpetrators Against Underage Individuals, Cassandra Marie Hershman

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Females who are perpetrators of sexual offenses are an understudied population. Due to societies’ failure to recognize that female perpetrators exist and to recognize their abuse when it occurs, sexual abuse completed by females often goes unreported. As a result, females engaging in sexual offenses, particularly pedophilia, is seen as a rare occurrence. However, research suggests that the actual rate of female pedophilic behavior is occurring at a rate three-four times higher than what is actually reported (Cortoni, Babchishin, & Rat, 2017). This study used anonymous data from 2,828 adult females in the IRB approved study [127810-11] Effects of Recalled …

The Association Of Cultural Orientation With Identity Development And Psychological Adjustment, Madison M. Cooper

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The current study aimed to examine possible relationships between cultural orientation and identity formation. Late adolescent college students (N = 480) completed an anonymous survey online. Measures included the Cultural Orientation Scale, the Ego Identity Process Questionnaire, and the Identity Distress Survey. Contrary to predictions, neither identity exploration nor identity distress were found to be related to cultural orientation. However, identity commitment was significantly correlated with both individualism and collectivism. Further, a ONEWAY ANOVA suggested differences between identity statuses. An LSD post-hoc analyses found that the two committed statuses, Achievement (high in identity commitment after extensive identity exploration) and …

Parental Self-Efficacy, Parenting Stress, And Mental Health Among Latina Mothers Of Young Children, Thania Galvan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parenthood can increase the risk for mental health concerns, especially for Latina mothers. Poor maternal mental health can result in significant negative maternal and child outcomes, particularly if a mother’s mental health needs go unmet. In an attempt to better understand the factors that impact Latina mother’s mental health, this study explored the relations among parental self-efficacy, parenting stress, and mental health. It also explored mother’s self-reported resource availability and sociocultural factors as potential modifiable points of interventions in these relations.

Methods: The study was conducted using data from 132 Latina mothers that participated in a larger project examining stress …

Trainee Attitudes Toward Social Class As Predictors Of Clinical Decision Making: Exploring The Effects Of Classism In Psychotherapy, Jeremy J. Coleman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined the effects of classist beliefs on trainee attitudes toward their client based on perceived social-class status. This study sought to determine whether classist attitudes contribute to meaningful differences in clinical decision making. A sample of mental health trainees (n = 147) attending graduate-level programs in the U.S. were recruited and randomly assigned to one of two clinical vignette conditions. Both vignette conditions included identical data regarding a hypothetical client’s presenting concerns (e.g., sleep disturbance, worry, rumination, loneliness), but differed on indicators of client socioeconomic status (SES). Results showed statistically significant between-group differences on ratings of clinical …

Moderate Effects Of Anxiety And Physical Activities On The Relationship Between Body Image And Covid-19 Fear, Yutong Guo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Improving psychological well-being has been a hot topic in counseling psychology research. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s lifestyle has been changed that caused series mental health problems. Using a sample of 576 participants from different universities. This study examined whether Covid-19 correlated with Body image a) whether anxiety moderated this relationship. b) whether physical activities moderated this relationship. c) how does different kind of body image avoidance being influenced. Pearson’s correlation test and linear regression analyses were conducted. The result indicated that COVID-19 fear has significantly positive relationship with body image. physical activities level has significantly increase the relationship …

Preconception Stress, Affect-Biased Attention, And Negative Affectivity: Assessing Pathways And Early Markers Of Psychopathological Risk In Infancy And Childhood, Danielle A. Swales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The developmental origins of mental health likely begin early in life and perhaps even prior to conception. Research is needed to elucidate pathways of risk and resilience in the development of psychopathology. The goal of the current dissertation was to explore how both preconception and postnatal experiences influence negative affectivity, a robust and transdiagnostic risk factor for later psychiatric symptoms. The present dissertation accomplished this goal by completing two independent studies, each of which are presented in the format of standalone journal articles. Study one focused on evaluating how preconception experiences, specifically maternal symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), impact …

The Social Role Of Gender: How Gender Roles And Gender Stress Impact Dating Violence Attitudes And Outcomes, Jin Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Dating violence is a prevalent problem with many long-term deleterious effects, including difficulties with future relationships. Much of the research regarding beliefs about dating violence focuses on the acceptability of violence. The justification of violence in certain situations, such as self-defense, revenge, or playing around, has been found to be strongly related with dating violence, and even to predict dating violence perpetration, particularly among men. Further research has shown that individuals who adhere to traditional gender role attitudes display greater acceptance of violence against women in particular. Additional research has shown that when gender norms are violated, it leads to …

The Semantic And Acoustic Voice Features Differentiating Neutral And Traumatic Narratives, Yosef Shimon Amrami

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a quantitative and qualitative exploration of how one linguistically communicates emotions through an autobiographical narrative. Psycholinguistic research has affirmed that linguistic features of a narrative, including semantic and acoustic features, indicate a narrator’s emotions and physiological. This study investigated whether these linguistic features could help differentiate between trauma and neutral narratives and if they can predict autobiographical narratives’ subjective trauma ratings (STR). Qualitative analyses of the positive and negative evaluative statements were also conducted, which indicated the narrators’ thought processes during recall. Twenty-two Spanish-English college students participated in this study and narrated both traumatic and neutral narratives. …

Exploring Emotion Regulation And Altruism When Experiencing Compassion Fatigue From Humanitarian Crises, Including Covid- 19., Saniya Tabani

Theses and Dissertations

Despite knowledge of devastating statistics, it has been observed that when hundreds, or even millions are suffering in large-scale crises, including genocides, refugee crises, and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, humans seem unable to process and comprehend the magnitude of that suffering on an emotional level. While the expectation is that compassion should increase proportionally with the number of people suffering in catastrophes, prior research has shown a negative relationship such that as need increases, donations decrease. Some factors that may impact this include the identifiable victim effect, use of emotion regulation strategies, specific cognitive processing styles, and compassion fatigue. …

Return To Play And Class For Concussed College Athletes Predicted From Post-Concussion Symptom Domains, Jazmin Nicole Mogavero

Theses and Dissertations

Each year approximately 1.6 to 3.8 million people suffer a sports-related traumatic brain injury (Langlois, Rutland-Brown, & Wald, 2006). Concussions, a common form of mild traumatic brain injury, account for 75% of total brain injuries in the United States (Faul, Xu, Wald, & Coronado, 2010). In sports, concussions account for 1 of every 10 injuries (Marar, McIlvain, Fields, & Comstock, 2012). Overall, concussion symptoms typically remit within one to four weeks from injury (McCrea, 2007); however, conflict exists surrounding the duration of time that would be safe for a concussed student-athlete to return to functioning, both to sport and to …

Mental Health Service Utilization, Knowledge, Stigma, And Protective Factors In A College Student Sample: The Influence Of Racial Categories And Student-Athlete Status, Jasmine M. Morigney

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Students of color and student-athletes undergo unique stressors in college, such as discrimination and time constraints, that impact their mental health needs. They have shown more mental health stigma and less service utilization. This study explored these variables and groups using secondary data analyses from the 2019-2020 Healthy Minds Study (HMS). The current study hypothesized that utilization would be associated with stigma, knowledge, and resilience. Additionally, student-athletes and students of color would report less utilization and more stigma and resilience. Results indicated that students of color reported no difference in utilization and less stigma and resilience than White students. Student-athletes …