Psychology Commons^™

An Analysis Of School Psychology Journal Articles And Annual Convenion Program Presentations, Katrina Lynn Handschuh Plowman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Ethics is a topic of great importance for professional school psychologists. The National Association of School Psychologists’ (NASP) Principles for Professional Ethics is a document that originated in 1974 and was most recently revised in 2010. The function of this document is to guide school psychologists’ conduct in their professional careers. This study examines the content of school psychology journals, the NASP school psychology newspaper, and NASP convention abstracts from the last 16 years to evaluate the ethical topics being discussed within the school psychology community. A search of the publications related to ethics provides answers to several questions while …

A Review Of Court Cases Involving Cognitive Ability Testing And Employment Practices: 1992-2015, Nicholas H. Morris

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This review is an extension of a study by Shoenfelt and Pedigo (2005). The purpose of this review is to help form an understanding of how the courts handle cases where an organization has used a cognitive ability test to select employees and consequently faced charges. Cognitive ability testing is the best known predictor of job performance for a wide range of jobs. However, cognitive ability testing also is known to lead organizations to select fewer members of protected groups, such as African Americans, Hispanics, and women. The cases that were reviewed were identified in the LexisNexis database. In order …

Developing A Measure Assessing Virtual Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, Samuel Louis Galbraith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In a time when technology is an integral part of life, virtual workplaces are becoming more of a staple in organizations and will likely continue to do so as technology use increases (Cascio, 2000). Due to the rise in virtual workplaces, employees are interacting face-to-face less, and organizations are requiring more from them. Employees must perform behaviors that are outside of their formal job description. These positive behaviors are considered to be organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), which are employee behaviors that promote organizational effectiveness that are not part of an employee’s formal job description and are therefore not formally recognized …

The Consistency Of Ratings On The Cab-T Executive Functioning Scale As Compared To The Brief, Briese C. Chapman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Executive functioning is an umbrella term used to describe abilities that include self-monitoring, goal-setting, planning, organization, attention, and working memory. Broadband behavior rating scales are commonly used by school psychologists and the instruments often now include an executive functioning scale. It is unknown, however, how these scales, based on a few items, compare to more extensive rating scales that solely measure executive functioning. The current study examined the overall consistency between the executive functioning scale on one broadband instrument to another instrument that assesses multiple areas of executive functioning by having teachers complete both instruments at the same point in …

Impact Of Assumption Violations On The Accuracy Of Direct Range Restriction Adjustments, Austin J. Hall

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

For decades researchers, analysts, and organizational professionals have utilized correction equations to adjust for the effects of various statistical artifacts. However, every correction method has certain assumptions that must be satisfied to work properly. These assumptions are likely rarely satisfied for range restriction corrections. As a result, these correction methods are used in a manner that can lead to incorrect results.

The current study employed a Monte Carlo design to examine the direct range restriction correction. Analyses were conducted to examine the accuracy of adjustments made with the direct range restriction correction when its assumption of perfect top-down selection was …

Mediating Factors In The Relationship Between Non-Suicidal Self-Injury And Suicide Attempt, Amanda Gail Williams

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is considered a strong predictor of suicidal behavior, although the exact relationship between NSSI and suicide is not clear. Several factors have been suggested in previous research, including attitudes toward one’s own body, thoughts and beliefs regarding death and suicide, and the ability to cause physical harm to oneself. In the current study, the researcher obtained data from 285 young adult participants who reported a history of NSSI. Two multiple mediation models were tested in which body protection, suicide-related concerns, and acquired capability for suicide were examined as mediators of the relationship between NSSI and suicide attempt …

Participation In Organizational Health And Wellness Programs, Sarah C. Adams

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Health and wellness programs are being utilized by organizations at growing rates. Research on health and wellness programs is typically confined to the program of a single organization and the employees participating in that specific program. Typically, this research examines the outcomes of health and wellness programs in organizations, such as return on investment in terms of medical costs, as well as improvements in the health of the employees. However, little information is known about those who choose to participate in health and wellness programs and the characteristics that may influence their participation.

This study examined the relationship between demographic …

Do Psychological Contract Perceptions Mediate The Relationship Between Procedural Fairness And Prosocial Behavioral Intentions Under Conditions Of Uncertainty Threat?, Kayla D. Finuf

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Organizational justice and citizenship behaviors are important components that contribute to an organization’s overall effectiveness. Additionally, when an employee enters into a new organization, they form psychological contracts with their employer that consists of elements such as fairness and consultation. This study aimed to integrate the literature on organizational justice, psychological contract, and organizational citizenship behaviors, as well as look at the possible effects uncertainty may play. Specifically, it was proposed that psychological contract would mediate the moderating effects of uncertainty and justice in predicting prosocial behavioral intentions. Results did not support the hypothesis. Interestingly, however, identification with the university …

Ua66 Ogden College Of Science & Engineering Newsletter, Cheryl Stevens, Dean

Ogden College of Science & Engineering Publications

No abstract provided.

Managing Microaggressions In The College Classroom, Gayle Mallinger, Jay Gabbard, Saundra Starks

Social Work Faculty Publications

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ollege students are increasingly diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, religious/spiritual beliefs, immigration status, social and economic class, veterans’ status, and the intersections therein. However, microaggressions— subtle forms of prejudice and discrimination— continue to occur inside our classrooms. Although most faculty members are mindful of overt biases in the classroom setting, the recognition and management of microaggressions present more of a challenge. This article adds to the nascent literature on microaggressions in higher education by defining the multifaceted nature of microaggressions, discussing the damaging consequences of microaggressions for faculty and students, and …

2016 Abstracts Student Research Conference, Student Research Conference

Student Research Conference Select Presentations

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Working Alliance On Clinical Outcomes In Veterans Enrolled In Suicide-Specific Group Therapy, Brittany N. Groh

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Suicide is a global issue that has led researchers to seek interventions that will have a significant impact on mental health and wellbeing. Veterans comprise the largest number of suicides annually compared to other groups. There is a higher prevalence of mental disorders due to combat related experiences that may play a role in increased rates of suicide. Examined clinical diagnoses in this study include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, alcohol use and substance use. This study explores how group therapy and working alliance play a role in reducing suicidality in a group therapy setting. The first hypotheses is that …

The Female Perception Of Safety On A College Campus, Kimberly N. Miles

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Previous research has shown the prevalence of females on college campuses across the nation experiencing a generalized fear of being victimized or violently assaulted while on campus. This fear is generated by the knowledge of violent crimes towards women on campus, as well as the perception alone that there are assaults happening on campus. Studies have noted that this fear held by female students can significantly affect their academic progress and overall wellbeing while at school. This study chose to examine the female students of Western Kentucky University and their personal perception of safety on college campuses comparing students who …

Women’S Perceptions Of Muscular Body Image And Its Impact On Eating Disorders, Juliana Eovino

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD, 2015), the largest majority of people with an Eating Disorder (ED) are female college aged students. The current study suggests this is due to the differences in society’s portrayal of gender. Media suggests women should strive for a thinness that is unrealistic and unattainable for most women. Participants for the current study take two surveys at separate times to measure how media portrayals of the female body affects eating disorders. The surveys are made up of either a media influence stressing the importance of muscularity or a thinness …

Anxiety, Uncertainty, Distress Tolerance, And Eating Disorder Symptoms As Related To Non-Suicidal Self-Injury In Young Adults, Mandi L. Martin

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Adolescents and college-aged individuals are particularly at risk for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and eating disorders. Research is lacking regarding the cognitive and emotional factors behind the formation and maintenance of both types of pathology. This study examines anxiety, intolerance to uncertainty (IU), and distress tolerance in relation to both constructs in two separate samples (Sample 1: n=364, 58.5% freshmen, 75.8% female; Sample 2: n=156, 52.6% freshman, 66.0% female) with 32.4% and 40% reporting any history of NSSI, respectively. Participants completed a packet of questionnaires regarding the variables of interest and were debriefed and referred as necessary. In the first sample, …

Ua66 Ogden College Of Science & Engineering Newsletter, Cheryl Stevens, Dean

Ogden College of Science & Engineering Publications

No abstract provided.

Ethical Decision Making: The Lived Experiences Of African American Women Leaders In Western Kentucky, Greta G. Jones

Dissertations

The purpose of the phenomenological qualitative study was to determine the way in which 10 African American women leaders in organizations in Western Kentucky made difficult decisions based on their ethical values. African American. The constructs reviewed in the study include ethics, decision making, leadership, and African American women. Empirical Phenomenology was used as the methodological approach for this qualitative study in order to understand the lived experiences that shaped the ethical values in the workplaces among the women. According to the findings, the seven overarching themes that emerged from the participant narratives are: (1) professing Christian, (2) ethical foundation …

Motivational Differences In Why Sports Fans Attend Minor League Baseball And Roller Derby Events, Anissa S. Pugh

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The aim of the current study was to examine the differences in sport fan motivation factors between mainstream (Minor League baseball) and atypical (roller derby) fans. Eighty-one fans (40 Minor League baseball and 41 roller derby) completed an 8 question demographic survey, a 26-item Sport Fan Motivation Scale, a 7-item Sport Spectator Identification Scale, and a 10-item Sport Fan Exploratory Curiosity Scale. It was believed that fans of Minor League baseball would be more motivated by the entertainment factor than roller derby fans. While roller derby fans would be more motivated by eustress, group affiliation and family factors at the …

The Effects Of Aging On Associative Learning And Memory Retrieval In Causal Judgment, Jessica Parks Arnold

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research has shown that detecting and judging causal relationships requires associative learning and memory. Retrospective revaluation of causal cues requires associative memory (Aitken, Larkin, & Dickinson, 2001) to bind multiple cues together and use these associations to retrieve unseen cues for revaluation of their associative value. The difficulty that older adults experience with respect to retrospective revaluation could occur because of their deficit in associative binding and retrieval (Mutter, Atchley, & Plumlee, 2012). Like retrospective revaluation, blocking requires cue – outcome associative learning, but unlike retrospective revaluation, blocking does not require binding two cues together nor does it require using …

Examining The Relationship Between Functions Of Self-Directed Violence And The Suicide Implicit Association Test, Cody D. Haynes

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Suicide and non-suicidal self-injury are concerning and prevalent phenomena in the United States; as a result, much research has been undertaken in order to investigate these topics (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015a). Although the exploration of risk factors is a common approach, other novel approaches have been developed in order to better understand self-directed violence (Klonsky & May, 2013). One of these is a focus on functions served by these behaviors, which is theorized to contribute to grasping their etiologies and help provide effective treatment (Glenn & Klonsky, 2011). Another approach is investigating implicit cognition and selfassociations’ influences …

Age And Context Dependency In Causal Learning, Katherine Danielle Lowry

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The ability to make associations between causal cues and outcomes is an important adaptive trait that allows us to properly prepare for an upcoming event. Encoding context is a type of associative processing; thus, context is also an important aspect of acquiring causal relationships. Context gives us additional information about how two events are related and allows us to be flexible in how we respond to causal cues. Research indicates that older adults exhibit an associative deficit as well as a deficit in contextual processing; therefore, it seems likely that these deficits are responsible for the deficit in older adults’ …

Examining Associations Between Infant Temperament, Parental Competence, And Family Resources And Their Effects On Parental Sensitivity, Victoria L. Greenwell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A sensitive parent-child relationship is essential in ensuring the healthy mental and physical development of an individual. Parental sensitivity can be affected by parent characteristics, such parental competence and resources as well as child characteristics, such as negative reactivity. The combination of how these parent and infant factors predict parental sensitivity has not been examined with both mothers and fathers. The current study involved 30, 4-month old infants and their mothers and fathers. Parents completed questionnaires measuring infant temperament and parental competence. They also participated in a demographic interview to measure family resources, as well as a dyadic parent-infant face-to-face …

Success Indicators Of College Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Megan M. Prickett

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined the executive functioning skills as students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) entered college. The participants consisted of 95 college students with ASD who attended the Kelly Autism Program (KAP) on Western Kentucky University’s campus in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The individuals in the sample were categorized three groups: individuals who graduated from college, individuals who were still attending college, and individuals who dropped out of college. The results indicated that the executive functioning skills of inhibiting and initiation were statistically significantly different between the three groups and additional skills were significantly different when comparing only the group that …

Training Evaluation Investigating Core Self-Evaluations And Perceptions Of Training Transfer, Thomas P. Patterson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although training evaluation is understood as an important way of determining the effectiveness of a training program, additional research in the area of training transfer and core self-evaluations (CSE) could provide insight on measuring the effectiveness of training programs. Training transfer differences and CSE were examined in training courses offered in a workforce development program. The goals of the study were to: (1) evaluate the validity of using CSE as a means of predicting perceptions of transfer, (2) test the previous findings that utility reactions measures are a stronger predictor of transfer than affective reactions measures, (3) determine which type …

Impact Of A Teacher Training Program To Increase Cognitively Stimulating Talk: Pretest And Immediate Post-Test Results, Laura E. Fisher

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The literacy skills that students develop in preschool are an imperative aspect of school readiness and later academic success. Research has established that some students begin their educational experience at a disadvantage due to the low socioeconomic status (SES) of their family and, as a result, low levels of conversation between parents and children, restricted access to books, and low values placed on literacy. Past research supports that shared book reading is one of the most beneficial activities in which teachers can partake in order to optimize their students’ language development. The Head Start program is intended to alleviate the …

Factors Affecting Academic Procrastination, John Paul Reynolds

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study sought to understand the relationships among locus of control, parenting style, academic procrastination, and financial independence with a population of undergraduate students. A sample of 61 students (39 females, 21 males, 1 other) completed measures of demographics, locus of control, parenting style, and academic procrastination. Participants were recruited within the last two weeks of the semester. Therefore, the sample probably contained a higher percentage of procrastinators than the general population. There were no significant correlations across the total sample. There was a significant positive correlation between higher scores on the Parental Authority Questionnaire authoritative scale and the Procrastination …

The Relationship Between Bilingualism, Cognitive Control, And Mind Wandering, Leah J. Shulley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The unique linguistic experience of bilingualism purportedly produces cognitive control advantages. Although there is a significant body of evidence supporting this view, there are also several recently published research studies that failed to replicate bilingual advantages. Furthermore, there is some evidence of a publication bias that favors findings supporting a bilingual advantage. The purpose of this study was to address this discrepancy in the literature by examining performance of bilinguals and monolinguals on a variety of cognitive control tasks. A second purpose was to determine how bilinguals are able to achieve better performance if they do indeed have an advantage. …

The Electrophysiology Of Written Informal Language, Taylor S. Blaetz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Language is an essential component of human behavior. It is ubiquitous, but more importantly, it is malleable and it is constantly changing. Part of the dynamic nature of informal communication is the introduction and adoption of new linguistic elements. Online communication provides a window into this informal public discourse; therefore, it may be useful for testing hypotheses about the processes underlying the acquisition and use of new words. The comprehension of informal language may lead to an understanding of how these new informal words are integrated into our mental lexicon. The current study was an electroencephalographic (EEG) investigation of the …

Effects Of Life Review On Happiness And Life Satisfaction In Older Adults, Molly C. White

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Life review involves a systematic, chronological review of an individual’s life from birth to death as well as an examination of the meaningfulness of life experiences and events. The purpose of the current study was to discover the effects of life review on happiness and life satisfaction in the older population. Participants from 71 to 85 years of age completed a demographics questionnaire, the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). SHS and SWLS were completed every other day from the beginning to the end of the data collection process. Once a consistent baseline was reached …

Impact Of A Teacher Training Program To Increase Informative Praise And Decrease Commands And Negative Comments, Lauren A. Binford

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research has found that many children who come from a low socioeconomic background often begin their schooling careers behind most students. Head Start programs around the nation are utilized to close the gap in achievement, by providing those students with the educational support necessary to prepare them for future schooling. However, when assessed with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), Head Start programs have been found to be weaker in the area of Instructional Support. As a result, teachers are falling short in the way they provide feedback, incorporate higher thinking skills, and foster language development. In order to strengthen …