Psychology Commons^™

The Roles Of Identity Formation And Moral Identity In College Student Mental Health, Health-Risk Behaviors, And Psychological Well-Being, Sam A. Hardy, Stephen W. Francis, Byron L. Zamboanga, Su Yeong Kim, Spencer G. Anderson, Larry F. Forthun

Faculty Publications

Objectives: This study examined the roles of identity formation and moral identity in predicting college student mental health (anxiety and depressive symptoms), health-risk behaviors (hazardous alcohol use and sexual risk taking), and psychological well-being (self-esteem and meaning).

Method: The sample comprised 9,500 college students (aged 18–25 years, mean = 19.78, standard deviation = 1.61: 73% female; 62% European American), from 31 different universities, who completed an online self-report survey. Results: Structural equation models found that identity maturity (commitment making and identity synthesis) predicted 5 of the health outcomes (except sexual risk taking), and moral identity predicted ail of the health …

Religiousness And Levels Of Hazardous Alcohol Use: A Latent Profile Analysis, Peter J. Jankowski, Sam A. Hardy, Byron L. Zamboanga, Lindsay S. Ham, Seth J. Schwartz, Su Yeong Kim, Larry F. Forthun, Melina M. Bersamin, Roxanne A. Donovan, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Erica A. Hurley, Miguel Ángel Cano

Faculty Publications

Prior person-centered research has consistently identified a subgroup of highly religious participants that uses significantly less alcohol when compared to the other subgroups. The construct of religious motivation is absent from existing examinations of the nuanced combinations of religiousness dimensions within persons, and alcohol expectancy valuations have yet to be included as outcome variables. Variable-centered approaches have found religious motivation and alcohol expectancy valuations to play a protective role against individuals’ hazardous alcohol use. The current study examined latent religiousness profiles and hazardous alcohol use in a large, multisite sample of ethnically diverse college students. The sample consisted of 7412 …

Identity Dimensions And Related Processes In Emerging Adulthood: Helpful Or Harmful?, Rachel A. Ritchie, Alan Meca, Vanessa L. Madrazo, Seth J. Schwartz, Sam A. Hardy, Byron L. Zamboanga, Robert S. Weisskirch, Su Yeong Kim, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Lindsay S. Ham, Richard M. Lee

Faculty Publications

Objectives: The current study evaluated the mediational role of well-being in the relationship between identity development and psychosocial functioning. Method: A sample of 7,649 undergraduate students (73% female: mean age = 19.95, standard deviation = 1.98: 62% Caucasian) completed measures of personal identity, well-being, internalizing symptoms, externalizing problems, and health-risk behaviors.

Results: Results revealed that (a) identity exploration and commitment were negatively associated with internalizing symptoms, health-risk behaviors, and externalizing problems through well-being, (b) ruminative exploration was negatively associated with well-being and positively associated with externalizing problems, and (c) increased levels of ruminative exploration appear more detrimental for men than …

Neural Responses To Happy, Fearful And Angry Faces Of Varying Identities In 5-And 7-Month-Old Infants, Laurie Bayet, Katherine L. Perdue, Hannah F. Behrendt, John E. Richards, Alissa Westerlund, Julia K. Cataldo, Charles A. Nelson Iii

Faculty Publications

The processing of facial emotion is an important social skill that develops throughout infancy and early childhood. Here we investigate the neural underpinnings of the ability to process facial emotion across changes in facial identity in cross-sectional groups of 5- and 7-month-old infants. We simultaneously measured neural metabolic, behavioral, and autonomic responses to happy, fearful, and angry faces of different female models using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), eye-tracking, and heart rate measures. We observed significant neural activation to these facial emotions in a distributed set of frontal and temporal brain regions, and longer looking to the mouth region of angry …

Increased Mood Disorder Symptoms, Perceived Stress, And Alcohol Use Among College Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Nora E. Charles, Stephanie J. Strong, Lauren C. Burns, Margaret R. Bullerjahn, Katherine M. Serafine

Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruption during the spring of 2020. Many college students were told to leave campus at spring break and to complete the semester remotely. This study evaluates effects of this disruption on student well-being. Measures of psychological symptoms, perceived stress, and alcohol use during the pandemic were completed by 148 students in spring 2020 and 352 students in fall 2020 at a university in the southeastern U.S. Results from both cohorts were compared to 240 students who completed the same measures in the fall 2019 semester. Participants in spring 2020 reported more mood disorder symptoms, perceived …

Pharmacokinetics And Pharmacodynamics Of Immediate- And Modified-Release Mycophenolic Acid Preparations In Healthy Beagle Dogs, Micheal Klotsman, Sebastien Coquery, Gayatri Sathyan, Vatsala Naageshwaran, Paddy Shivanand, Amanda J. Fairchild, Oliver A. Garden, Wayne H. Anderson

Faculty Publications

Background: Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is a broad-acting immunomodulating agent that may be therapeutically beneficial for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases in canine patients.

Objectives: To determine the suppressive effects of MPA on T-cell proliferation, and to assess the feasibility of a canine-specific q24 h modified-release MPA formulation (OKV-1001b).

Animals: Fifteen healthy purpose-bred male beagle dogs.

Methods: Two nearly identical open-label fifteen-day studies were conducted in which dogs were randomized to receive mycophenolate mofetil (MMF; 10 mg/kg q12h), or two doses of OKV-1001b (270 mg and 180 mg; q24h). Serial pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) samples were collected on Days 1, …

Variable- And Person-Centered Approaches To Affect-Biased Attention In Infancy Reveal Unique Relations With Infant Negative Affect And Maternal Anxiety, Alicia Vallorani, Xiaoxue Fu, Santiago Morales, Vanessa Lobue, Kristin A. Buss, Koraly Perez-Edgar

Faculty Publications

Affect-biased attention is an automatic process that prioritizes emotionally or motivationally salient stimuli. Several models of affect-biased attention and its development suggest that it comprises an individual's ability to both engage with and disengage from emotional stimuli. Researchers typically rely on singular tasks to measure affect-biased attention, which may lead to inconsistent results across studies. Here we examined affect-biased attention across three tasks in a unique sample of 193 infants, using both variable-centered (factor analysis; FA) and person-centered (latent profile analysis; LPA) approaches. Using exploratory FA, we found evidence for two factors of affect-biased attention: an Engagement factor and a …

Clarifying The Relationship Of Dissociative Experiences To Suicide Ideation And Attempts: A Multimethod Examination In Two Samples, Mikayla C. Pachkowski, Megan L. Rogers, Boaz Y. Saffer, Nicole M. Caulfield, E. David Klonsky

Faculty Publications

Fears of pain, injury, and death may represent key barriers to acting on suicidal thoughts. Dissociation, which involves a disconnection from one's body, may reduce fears and sensations of pain associated with harming the body, in turn facilitating suicide attempts. This study examined whether dissociation differentiated individuals with a history of suicide attempts from those with a history of suicide ideation, and investigated whether other relevant constructs explain this relationship. Sample 1 included 754 undergraduates (Mage = 21, 79% female) who completed a battery of self-report measures. Sample 2 included 247 undergraduates (Mage = 19, 74% female) who completed a …

Psychosocial Factors In Coronary Heart Disease, Elizabeth J. Vella Phd

Faculty Publications

Cardiovascular disease represents the leading cause of death globally, which includes mortality due to stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD); of these two forms of cardiovascular disease, CHD accounts for more deaths annually (World Health Organization, 2015). The primary features of CHD include plaque development in the coronary arteries (atherosclerosis), heart attack (myocardial infarct), and acute chest pain (angina; Labarthe, 1998). The traditional risk factors for CHD include age, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, inactive lifestyle, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and family history of the disease (World Heart Federation, 2015). Epidemiologic evidence suggests that traditional risk factors of CHD …

“I Hate To Be A Burden!”: Experiencing Feelings Associated With Ostracism Due To One's Poor Performance Burdening The Group, James H. Wirth, Donald F. Sacco, Mitch Brown, Bradley M. Okdie

Faculty Publications

We examined if perceiving oneself as burdensome, due to performing poorly in a group, can lead to feelings associated with ostracism (being excluded and ignored), without actually being ostracized. Participants completed a typing game (Study 1) or solved Remote Associates Test (Study 2) items where they performed worse, equal, or better than the group. To isolate the influence of burdensomeness, participants were consistently selected by computerized agents to play. In each study, worse performers experienced greater perceptions of being burdensome, less basic need satisfaction, increased negative mood, and greater anticipation of being excluded from a future group task compared to …

Impact Of Adverse Childhood Events On The Psychosocial Functioning Of Children Affected By Parental Hiv In Rural China, Jordan Ezell, Sayward Harrison, Yanping Jiang, Xiaoming Li

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Children affected by parental HIV are more likely than unaffected peers to experience trauma and are at-risk for negative psychological and social outcomes. This study aimed to examine the relationship between adverse childhood events and psychosocial functioning among children affected by parental HIV.

Methods: A total of 790 children ages 6–17 from Henan, China were enrolled in a longitudinal, randomized controlled trial of a resilience-based psychosocial intervention. At baseline, children reported on numerous psychosocial factors, including trauma exposure, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and peer social functioning. We used linear regression analysis to test the direct effect of trauma …

Treating Children Exposed To Domestic Violence: Group-Based Intervention, Gary M. Burlingame, Rachel A. Arnold

Faculty Publications

D omestic violence is a serious societal problem that sadly threatens many children. Results from the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) demonstrate that nearly 26% of children are exposed to family violence during their lifetime, including psychological/emotional intimate partner violence, physical intimate partner violence, parental assault of a sibling, and/or other family violence (Hamby et al., 2011). The consequences can be significant. For instance, childhood exposure to intimate partner violence is associated with mental health issues, such as posttraumatic stress and anxiety symptoms (Hamby et al., 2011). While rates of domestic violence have been declining in the …

Caregiver Treatment Consumption In An Experimental Treatment Marketplace, Delaney J. Darragh

Faculty Publications

Behavioral economics is an approach to understanding consumer behavior by integrating behavioral science with economic principles. Behavioral economics incorporates traditional economic principles with operant learning approaches. There is limited research examining how individuals consume psychological and behavioral treatments. This is especially the case for treatments designed for children. The current study used data from a previously collected sample to explore gender differences in an experimental treatment marketplace (ETM). Experimental treatment marketplaces are generally used to evaluate choices between goods and services (e.g., types of behavior interventions). An ETM was developed to evaluate treatment consumption when levels of evidence differed between …

Functional Altruism Among Agreeable And Narcissistic Donors: Evidence From Crowdsourced Fundraisers, Kelsey M. Drea, Mitch Brown, Donald F. Sacco

Faculty Publications

Given the increasing popularity of crowdsourced fundraisers, understanding how characteristics of funding initiatives and donors influence donations has critical real-world implications. Across two studies, we identified potential situational factors most conducive to successful crowdsourcing while also determining whether individual differences in various personality factors predicted differing levels of donation. Participants in Study 1 (MAge = 19.99; 309 women, 75 men) viewed descriptions that manipulated donation type (organizer donation, anonymous donation, no donation) and type of fundraiser (self-organized, other-organized), and reported their willingness to donate to an individual’s medical treatment and completed inventories assessing Big Five personality traits. In Study 2 …

Association Between Toxoplasma Gondii Seropositivity And Serointensity And Brain Volume In Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study, Bruce L. Brown, Lance D. Erickson, Shawn D. Gale, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

The intracellular protozoal parasite Toxoplasma gondii has been associated with worsened cognitive function in animal models and in humans. Despite these associations, the mechanisms by which Toxoplasma gondii might affect cognitive function remain unknown, although Toxoplasma gondii does produce physiologically active intraneuronal cysts and appears to affect dopamine synthesis. Using data from the UK Biobank, we sought to determine whether Toxoplasma gondii is associated with decreased prefrontal, hippocampal, and thalamic gray-matter volumes and with decreased total gray-matter and total white-matter volumes in an adult community-based sample. The results from adjusted multivariable regression modelling showed no associations between Toxoplasma gondii and …

Psychotherapy Utilization And Presenting Concerns Among International Asian And Asian American Students In A University Counseling Center., Hannah Stokes, Derek Griner, Timothy B. Smith, Mark Beecher, G. E. Kawika Allen, Jon Cox, Klint Hobbs, Natalie Ann Kirtley

Faculty Publications

Limited psychological research has disaggregated the experiences of Asian American (AA) from international Asian (IA) college students seeking psychotherapy. When combined, important differences between these groups are overlooked. We examined archival data collected from AA, IA, and European American (EA) students at a large, Western, university counseling center. Results indicated no significant differences between groups related to maximum number of psychotherapy sessions attended or likelihood of treatment discontinuance. However, we found significant differences between these groups on a number of items related to presenting concerns and to severity of presenting distress, with IA students presenting with the most distress, followed …

Forgiveness And Gratitude As Mediators Between Religious Commitment And Well-Being Among Latter-Day Saint Polynesian Americans, Davis Kealanohea Kane, G. E. Kawika Allen, Timothy B. Smith, M Ming, Aaron Jackson, Derek Griner, Elizabeth Cutrer-Parraga

Faculty Publications

An abundance of research has investigated well-being as it relates to religiosity and character strengths, such as forgiveness and gratitude. However, few studies have investigated how increases in forgiveness and gratitude might explain why religious commitment enhances well-being, particularly for U.S. ethnic/racial minority populations. This study investigated if the character strengths of forgiveness and gratitude mediated the relationship between religious commitment and well-being among Latter-day Saint Polynesian Americans – a fast growing, yet understudied, population. Results indicated that forgiveness and gratitude fully mediated the relationship between religious commitment and self-esteem, and gratitude partially mediated the relationship between religious commitment and …

Recruiting And Retaining School Psychologists: The Role Of District Level Administrative Supervisors, Ellie L. Young, Rachel Butler, Timothy B. Smith, Sterling Hilton, Alivia Smith

Faculty Publications

A shortage of school psychologists has been evident since the profession was initially recognized as a distinct field, and there is insufficient research on what current administrative supervisors are doing to address this problem. This qualitative study examined the perceptions of district level administrative supervisors regarding recruitment and retention of school psychologists. Participants reported the following: (a) school psychology graduate programs not producing enough school psychologists, (b) challenges of finding school psychologists to hire, (c) competing with neighboring school districts, and (d) trying to recruit and retain in a worker’s market that favors the school psychologist. These administrative supervisors also …

Cultural Identity Formation: A Personal Narrative, Jose Carbajal

Faculty Publications

This paper provides an autoethnography of personal experiences and perceptions of being a minoritized individual. This is the story of a professional social worker learning to adapt to social norms and expectations of self. I discuss the struggles I experienced as an adolescent and as a young adult attending college. This narrative highlights the intersection of faith and social work at moments in my professional development. It is at this intersection that this social worker learns to live a holistic life without feeling discriminated against or ashamed of his identity. I begin to actualize a reality with imperfect beings who …

Does Inhibitory Control Training Reduce Weight And Caloric Intake In Adults With Overweight And Obesity? A Pre-Registered, Randomized Controlled Event-Related Potential (Erp) Study, Kaylie A. Carbine, Alexandra M. Muir, Whitney D. Allen, James D. Lecheminant, Scott A. Baldwin, Chad D. Jensen, C. Brock Kirwan, Michael Larson

Faculty Publications

A cognitive intervention that may reduce weight and caloric intake is inhibitory control training (ICT; having individuals repeatedly withhold dominant responses to unhealthy food images). We conducted a randomized controlled trial where 100 individuals with overweight or obesity were assigned to complete a generic (n = 48) or food-specific ICT (n = 52) training four times per week for four weeks. Weight and caloric intake were ob- tained at baseline, four-weeks, and 12-weeks. Participants also completed high-calorie and neutral go/no-go tasks while N2 event-related potential (ERP) data, a neural indicator of inhibitory control, was measured at all visits. Results from …

Repetition Of Computer Security Warnings Results In Differential Repetition Suppression Effects As Revealed With Functional Mri, C. Brock Kirwan, Daniel K. Bjornn, Bonnie Brinton Anderson, Anthony Vance, David Eargle, Jeffrey L. Jenkins

Faculty Publications

Computer users are often the last line of defense in computer security. However, with repeated exposures to system messages and computer security warnings, neural and behavioral responses show evidence of habituation. Habituation has been demonstrated at a neural level as repetition suppression where responses are attenuated with subsequent repetitions. In the brain, repetition suppression to visual stimuli has been demonstrated in multiple cortical areas, including the occipital lobe and medial temporal lobe. Prior research into the repetition suppression effect has generally focused on a single repetition and has not examined the pattern of signal suppression with repeated exposures. We used …

Conceptualizing Spirituality And Religion As Psychological Processes: Validation Of The Factor Structure Of The Bmmrs, Brick Johnstone, Patricia Bruininks, Erin I. Smith, Dong Pil Yoon, Daniel Cohen, Laird Edman, Joseph Bankard, Charlotte Vanoyen-Witvliet

Faculty Publications

This study validated previous principal component analyses of the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS) that have been conducted with persons with diverse medical conditions and traumatic brain injuries from diverse cultures (India, US), ethnicities (African American, Caucasian, South Asian), and religions (Christian, Hindu, Muslim). Participants included 398 healthy undergraduate students who completed the BMMRS online. A principal components factor analysis identified a five factor solution accounting for 64.00% of the variance in scores, labelled as: (1) Positive Spiritual Experience; (2) Negative Spiritual Experience/Congregational Support; (3) Forgiveness; (4) Religious Practices; and (5) Positive Congregational Support. The current analysis is supportive …

Reducing False Recognition In The Deese-Roediger/Mcdermott Paradigm: Related Lures Reveal How Distinctive Encoding Improves Encoding And Monitoring Processes, Mark J. Huff, Glen E. Bodner, Matthew R. Gretz

Faculty Publications

In the Deese-Roediger/McDermott (DRM) paradigm, distinctive encoding of list items typically reduces false recognition of critical lures relative to a read-only control. This reduction can be due to enhanced item-specific processing, reduced relational processing, and/or increased test-based monitoring. However, it is unclear whether distinctive encoding reduces false recognition in a selective or global manner. To examine this question, participants studied DRM lists using a distinctive item-specific anagram generation task and then completed a recognition test which included both DRM critical lures and either strongly related lures (Experiment 1) or weakly related lures (Experiment 2). Compared to a read-control group, the …

Psychological, Addictive, And Health Behavior Implications Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Michael J. Zvolensky, Lorra Garey, Andrew H. Rogers, Norman B. Schmidt, Anka .. Vujanovic, Eric A. Storch, Julia D. Buckner, Daniel J. Paulus, Candice Alfano, Jasper A. J. Smits, Connall O'Cleirigh

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Single-Case Experimental Designs For Behavioral Neuroscience, Paul L. Soto

Faculty Publications

Single-case experimental designs (SCEDs) are commonly used in behavior analytic research but rarely used in behavioral neuroscience research. The recent development of technologies that allow control of the timing of neurobiological events such as gene expression and neuronal firing enable the fruitful application of SCEDs for the study of brain-behavior relations. There are at least 3 benefits expected from applying SCEDs to study how neurobiological events affect behavior. First, SCEDs entail direct within- and across-subject assessments of reliability, likely increasing the probability of replication across studies and encouraging a search for the causes of replication failure when they occur. Second, …

Toxoplasma Gondii Seropositivity And Serointensity And Cognitive Function In Adults, Bruce L. Brown, Shawn D. Gale, Lance D. Erickson, Evan L. Thacker, Elizabeth L. Mitchell, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

Infecting approximately one-third of the world’s human population, Toxoplasma gondii has been associated with cognitive function. Here, we sought to further characterize the association between Toxoplasma gondii and cognitive function in a community sample of adults aged approximately 40 to70 years. Using adjusted linear regression models, we found associations of Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity with worse reasoning (b = -.192, p < .05) and matrix pattern completion (b = -.681, p < .01), of higher anti-Toxoplasma gondii p22 antibody levels with worse reasoning (b = -.078, p < .01) and slower Trails (numeric) performance (b = 5.962, p < .05), of higher anti-Toxoplasma gondii sag1 levels with worse reasoning (b = -.081, p < .05) and worse matrix pattern completion (b = -.217, p < .05), and of higher mean of the anti-Toxoplasma gondii p22 and sag1 levels with worse reasoning (b = -.112, p < .05), slower Trails (numeric) performance (b = 9.195, p < .05), and worse matrix pattern completion (b = -.245, p < .05). Neither age nor educational attainment moderated associations between the measures of Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity or serointensity. Sex, however, moderated the association between the sag1 titer and digit-symbol substitution and the association between the mean of the p22 and sag1 levels and digit-symbol substitution, and income moderated the association between Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and numeric memory and the association between the p22 level and symbol-digit substitution. Based on the available neuropsychological tasks in this study, Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and serointensity were associated with some aspects of poorer executive function in adults.

Belief In Unconscious Repressed Memory Is Widespread: A Comment On Brewin, Li, Ntarantana, Unsworth, And Mcneilis (2019), Henry Otgaar, Jianqin Wang, Mark L. Howe, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Elizabeth F. Loftus, Steven Jay Lynn, Harald Merckelbach, Lawrence Patihis

Faculty Publications

What does believing in repressed memory mean? In a recent article in this journal, Brewin, Li, Ntarantana, Unsworth, and McNeilis (2019, Study 3) argued that when people are asked to indicate their belief in repressed memory, they might actually think of deliberate memory suppression rather than unconscious repressed memory. They further argued that in contrast to belief in unconscious repressed memory, belief in deliberate memory suppression is not scientifically controversial. In this commentary, we show that they are incorrect on both counts. Although Brewin and colleagues surveyed people to indicate their belief in deliberate memory suppression, they neglected to ask …

Insomnia Is Associated With Frequency Of Suicidal Ideation Independent Of Depression: A Replication And Extension Of Findings From The National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey, Zach Simmons, Lance D. Erickson, Dawson Hedges, Daniel Kay

Faculty Publications

Objective: Insomnia is associated with suicidality, although the mechanisms of this association are unclear. This study sought to replicate previous findings showing that insomnia symptoms but not sleep duration are associated with frequency of suicidal ideation in adults. We further investigated whether depression or sleep duration moderates the association between insomnia symptoms and frequency of suicidal ideation.

Materials and Methods: We used the 2005–2006 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to replicate previously reported findings from the 2007–2008 cycle. We used ordered logistic regression to determine whether insomnia symptoms were associated with frequency of suicidal ideation independently …

Young Adults' Short-Term Trajectories Of Moderate Physical Activity: Relations With Self-Evaluation Processes, Alex .. Garn, Kelly L. Simonton

Faculty Publications

Young adults face numerous barriers that can undermine their engagement in healthy behaviors. For example, young adults on average experience disproportionally large declines in physical activity (PA) participation compared to other demographic groups. Self-evaluation processes may help explain these declines. This study investigated young adults' weekly trajectories of moderate physical activity, exploring self-evaluation processes, including self-efficacy and shame as time-varying covariates. A total of 71 young adults (Mage = 21.25,SD= 1.18; 55% male) reported moderate physical activity, exercise self-efficacy, and anticipated shame toward exercise once a week for 5 weeks. Latent growth curve models showed that a linear slope fit …

The Identity Formation Process Of Immigrant Children: A Case Study Synthesis, Jose Carbajal

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Children who immigrate often have difficulties in adjusting to their host country. A single case study based on similar narratives is composed to develop the character of a child’s developmental cultural issues as he immigrated to the United States from El Salvador. Attachment theory is reviewed to discuss how detachment and re-attachment affected him. A review of the literature on assimilation and acculturation is also provided. Objectives: The author synthesizes the work experience with the population with migration history to illustrate how attachment and loss impact these individuals, through a composed case study illustrated through the experience of Ramni, …