Psychology Commons^™

Development And Evaluation Of A Geriatric Mood Management Program, J.W. Huh, Erin Woodhead, Sarah Brunskill, Christine Gould, Kathleen Mcconnell, J. Lisa Tenover

Faculty Publications

To address the needs of older veterans with mood disorders, the VA Palo Alto Health Care System Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center developed a program that offers mental health services delivered by geriatrics-trained providers.

School And Community-Based Childhood Obesity: Implications For Policy And Practice, Suzette Fromm Reed, Judah J. Viola, Karen Lynch

Faculty Publications

This introduction to a special issue of the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community on the topic of childhood obesity prevention lays some of the basis for the state of affairs of the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States as of 2012 and the need for and types of existing prevention and intervention efforts underway. At the intersection of public health and community psychology, each of the five articles presents some insights into how prevention and intervention efforts currently underway are fairing and offers some implications for program developers and policy makers to start to turn around …

Mental Illness And Danger To Self, Cynthia V. Ward

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Do Religious Affirmations, Religious Commitments, Or General Commitments Mitigate The Negative Effects Of Exposure To Thin Ideals?, Mary Inman, Erica Iceberg, Laura Mckeel

Faculty Publications

Western pressures for thinness tell women that having a thin body makes a person worthy. Two factors that may provide alternative means of self-worth are religion and general commitment to a meaningful goal. This study experimentally tested whether religious-affirming statements buffered against exposure to thin models for everyone, or only for women with strong religious commitment. It also examined the relationships among religious commitment, general commitment, and body satisfaction. One hundred eleven women at a religious-affiliated college completed the commitment scales and baseline body measures. They were later randomly assigned to read one set of affirming statements, after which they …

Quantitative Genetics Of Response To Novelty And Other Stimuli By Infant Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta) Across Three Behavioral Assessments, G. L. Fawcett, A. M. Dettmer, D. Kay, M. Raveendran, James Dee Higley, N. D. Ryan, J. L. Cameron, J. Rogers

Faculty Publications

Primate behavior is influenced by both heritable factors and environmental experience during development. Previous studies of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) examined the effects of genetic variation on expressed behavior and related neurobiological traits (heritability and/or genetic association) using a variety of study designs. Most of these prior studies examined genetic effects on the behavior of adults or adolescent rhesus macaques, not in young macaques early in development. To assess environmental and additive genetic variation in behavioral reactivity and response to novelty among infants, we investigated a range of behavioral traits in a large number (N = 428) of pedigreed infants …

Why Gesture!, Gale Stam

Faculty Publications

An editorial on the importance of gesture in understanding second language acquisition and in teaching language.

The Prosocial And Aggressive Driving Inventory (Padi): A Self-Report Measure Of Safe And Unsafe Driving Behaviors, Paul B. Harris, John M. Houston, Jose A. Vazquez, Janan A. Smither, Amanda Harms, Jeffrey A. Dahlke, Daniel A. Sachau

Faculty Publications

Surveys of 1217 undergraduate students supported the reliability (inter-item and test-retest) and validity of the Prosocial and Aggressive Driving Inventory (PADI). Principal component analyses on the PADI items yielded two scales: Prosocial Driving (17 items) and Aggressive Driving (12 items). Prosocial Driving was associated with fewer reported traffic accidents and violations, with participants who were older and female, and with lower Boredom Susceptibility and Hostility scores, and higher scores on Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, and Neuroticism. Aggressive Driving was associated with more frequent traffic violations, with female participants, and with higher scores on Competitiveness, Sensation Seeking, Hostility, and Extraversion, and lower …

Homeless Service Utilization Report: Hawai‘I 2014, Sarah Yuan, Hong Vo, Kristen D. Gleason Phd

Faculty Publications

The 2014 Homeless Services Utilization Report is the ninth annual report produced by the Center on Family at the University of Hawai‘i at M¯anoa and the Homeless Programs Office in the Hawai‘i State Department of Human Services. This year, the report aims to provide data related to four types of programs that have been implemented in the state of Hawai‘i and are intended to address homelessness. Results from the system and program-level analysis will be presented. As in previous years, the report includes usage information about shelter programs and outreach programs. Shelter programs provide temporary shelter for homeless individuals and …

The Trees, My Lungs: Self Psychology And The Natural World At An American Buddhist Center, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

This study employs ethnographic field data to trace a dialogue between the self psychological concept of the selfobject and experiences regarding the concept of “interbeing” at a Vietnamese Buddhist monastery in the United States. The dialogue develops an understanding of human experiences with the nonhuman natural world which are tensive, liminal, and nondual. From the dialogue I find that the selfobject concept, when applied to this form of Buddhism, must be inclusive enough to embrace relationships with animals, stones, and other natural forms. The dialogue further delineates a self psychological methodology for examining religions in their interactions with natural forms.

The Influence Of Possible Selves On Global Citizenship Identification, Marion E. Blake, Stephen Reysen

Faculty Publications

We examined the influence of a ‘possible self’ activity on antecedents, identification, and outcomes of global citizenship. Participants wrote about either hoped-for selves as active global citizens, feared selves as inactive global citizens, or a typical day (control) and then answered questions to gauge their global citizen identification. Results show that the saliency of a feared self as an inactive global citizen led to greater identification with the global citizen identity. A structural equation model shows that feared self (vs hoped-for self) predicted greater global citizenship identification, through the perception of one’s normative environment as prescribing a global citizen identity …

Attitudes Toward Anger Management Scale: Development And Initial Validation, David J. Boudreaux, Eric R. Dahlen, Michael B. Madson, Emily Bullock-Yowell

Faculty Publications

This article describes the development and preliminary validation of the Attitudes Toward Anger Management Scale (ATAMS), a self-report measure of attitudes toward anger management services. Undergraduate volunteers (N = 415) completed an initial version of the instrument. Principal components analysis yielded a two-factor solution. Convergent and incremental validities were supported.

Using Internet Artifacts To Profile A Child Pornography Suspect, Kathryn C. Seigfried-Spellar, Marcus K. Rogers

Faculty Publications

Digital evidence plays a crucial role in child pornography investigations. However, in the following case study, the authors argue that the behavioral analysis or “profiling” of digital evidence can also play a vital role in child pornography investigations. The following case study assessed the Internet Browsing History (Internet Explorer Bookmarks, Mozilla Bookmarks, and Mozilla History) from a suspected child pornography user’s computer. The suspect in this case claimed to be conducting an ad hoc law enforcement investigation. After the URLs were classified (Neutral; Adult Porn; Child Porn; Adult Dating sites; Pictures from Social Networking Profiles; Chat Sessions; Bestiality; Data Cleaning; …

The Year Of Magical Thinking: Fraud, Loss, And Grief, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

In The Year of Magical Thinking, her wrenching memoir of the year following the death of her husband John Gregory Dunne, Joan Didion describes the episodes of magical thinking that forestalled her acceptance of Dunne's sudden absence from her life. In the hours after his death, she charged his cell phone. Weeks later, she gave his clothes to charity but kept his shoes because, she thought, "He would need shoes if he were to return."

Modern grief theory tells us that episodes like these are common during the months following a loved one's death, particularly when the death, like …

Association Between Latent Toxoplasmosis And Major Depression, Generalised Anxiety Disorder And Panic Disorder In Human Adults, Shawn D. Gale, Bruce L. Brown, Andrew Berrett, Lance D. Erickson, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

Latent infection with the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) has been associated with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and self-harm behaviour. However, the potential relationship between T. gondii immunoglobulin G antibody (IgG) seropositivity and generalised-anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder (PD) has not been investigated. The associations between serum reactivity to T. gondii and major depressive disorder (MDD), GAD and PD were evaluated in a total sample of 1 846 adult participants between the ages of 20 and 39 years from the United States Center for Disease Control's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Approximately 16% of the overall …

The Influence Of Pornography On Sexual Scripts And Hooking Up Among Emerging Adults In College, Scott Braithwaite, Gwen Coulson, Krista Keddington, Frank D. Fincham

Faculty Publications

The explosive growth in access to the Internet has led to a commensurate increase in the availability, anonymity, andaffordabilityofpornography.Anemergingbodyofresearch has shown associations between pornography and certain behaviors and attitudes; yet, how pornography actually influences these outcomes has not been documented. In two studies (Study 1N=969; Study 2N=992) we examined the hypothesis that pornography influences potentially risky sexual behavior (hooking up) among emerging adults via sexual scripts. Our results demonstrate that more frequent viewing of pornography is associated with a higher incidence of hooking up and a higher number of unique hook up partners. We replicated these effects both cross-sectionally and …

Interest And Informational Preferences Regarding Genomic Testing For Modest Increases In Colorectal Cancer Risk, Wendy C. Birmingham, A E. Anderson, K G. Flores, Watcharaporn Boonyasiriwat, Amanda Gammon, Wendy Kohlmann, M D. Schwartz, J Samadder, K Boucher, A Y. Kinney

Faculty Publications

Background/Aims: This study explored the interest in genomic testing for modest changes in colorectal cancer risk and preferences for receiving genomic risk communications among individuals with intermediate disease risk due to a family history of colorectal cancer. Methods: Surveys were conducted on 272 men and women at intermediate risk for colorectal cancer enrolled in a randomized trial comparing a remote personalized risk communication intervention (TeleCARE) aimed at promoting colonoscopy to a generic print control condition. Guided by Leventhal’s Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation, we examined demographic and psychosocial factors possibly associated with interest in SNP testing. Descriptive statistics and logistic …

Relationship Quality And Oxytocin: Influence Of Stable And Modifiable Aspects Of Relationships, Wendy C. Birmingham, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Kathleen C. Light

Faculty Publications

Prior studies report that couples with higher relationship quality show higher oxytocin (OT) levels, yet other studies report those with higher distress have increased OT. This study investigated these competing predictions in the context of a support enhancement intervention among 34 young married couples (N = 68). Preintervention marital quality (Dyadic Adjustment Scale) was examined for associations with plasma and salivary OT levels 4 weeks apart and for changes between these time points within the intervention group. High relationship quality, not distress, was associated with higher OT in both saliva and plasma at both time points. No significant interaction …

Modeling Change In The Presence Of Non-Randomly Missing Data: Evaluating A Shared Parameter Mixture Model, Scott A. Baldwin, Nisha C. Gottfredson, Daniel J. Bauer

Faculty Publications

In longitudinal research, interest often centers on individual trajectories of change over time. When there is missing data, a concern is whether data are systematically missing as a function of the individual trajectories. Such a missing data process, termed random coefficient-dependent missingness, is statistically non-ignorable and can bias parameter estimates obtained from conventional growth models that assume missing data are missing at random. This paper describes a shared-parameter mixture model (SPMM) for testing the sensitivity of growth model parameter estimates to a random coefficient-dependent missingness mechanism. Simulations show that the SPMM recovers trajectory estimates as well as or better than …

Mother–Infant Interactions In Free-Ranging Rhesus Macaques: Relationships Between Physiological And Behavioral Variables, Dario Maestripieri, Christy L. Hoffman, George M. Anderson, C. Sue Carter, J. Dee Higley

Faculty Publications

Studies of mother–infant relationships in nonhuman primates have increasingly attempted to understand the neuroendocrine bases of interindividual variation in mothering styles and the mechanisms through which early exposure to variable mothering styles affects infant behavioral development. In this study of free-ranging rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, we aimed to: 1) compare lactating and nonlactating females to investigate whether lactation is associated with changes in plasma cortisol, prolactin and oxytocin, as well as changes in CSF levels of serotonin and dopamine metabolites (5-HIAA and HVA); 2) examine the extent to which interindividual variation in maternal physiology is associated with …

Psychometric Properties Of The Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale, Amy Storfer-Isser, Monique K. Lebourgeois, John Harsh, Carolyn J. Tompsett, Susan Redline

Faculty Publications

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale (ASHS), a self-report measure assessing sleep practices theoretically important for optimal sleep. Data were collected on a community sample of 514 adolescents (16–19; 17.7 ± 0.4 years; 50% female) participating in the late adolescent examination of a longitudinal study on sleep and health. Sleep hygiene and daytime sleepiness were obtained from adolescent reports, behavior from caretaker reports, and sleep-wake estimation on weekdays from wrist actigraphy. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the empirical and conceptually based factor structure were similar for six of the eight proposed sleep hygiene domains. Internal …

Identifying Authors By Phonoprints In Their Characters’ Names: An Exploratory Study, Bruce L. Brown, Brad Wilcox, Wendy Baker Smemoe, Sharon Black, Justin Bray

Faculty Publications

If authors put words together in ways that can be recognized as wordprints (Hilton, 1990; Morton, 1979; Archer et al., 1997), do they put sounds together in identifiable ways when they invent names? Could they have unique sound prints (phonoprints) as well? This exploratory study compared phonemic patterns of fictional names in the poorly written Manuscript Story by Spalding and the extremely well-written Lord of the Rings and related works by J. R. R. Tolkein with names from an authentic public record, the nineteenth-century US Census. Phonotactic probabilities were determined using a calculator (Vitevitch and Luce, 2004) available on the …

Physiological Arousal In Autism And Fragile X Syndrome: Group Comparisons And Links With Pragmatic Language, Jessica Klusek, G E. Martin, M Losh

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Day-Night Differences In Neural Activation In Histaminergic And Serotonergic Areas With Putative Projections To The Cerebrospinal Fluid In A Diurnal Brain, Alexandra Castillo-Ruiz, Andrew J. Gall, Laura Smale, Antonio A. Nunez

Faculty Publications

In nocturnal rodents, brain areas that promote wakefulness have a circadian pattern of neural activation that mirrors the sleep/wake cycle, with more neural activation during the active phase than during the rest phase. To investigate whether differences in temporal patterns of neural activity in wake-promoting regions contribute to differences in daily patterns of wakefulness between nocturnal and diurnal species, we assessed Fos expression patterns in the tuberomammillary (TMM), supramammillary (SUM), and raphe nuclei of male grass rats maintained in a 12:12 h light-dark cycle. Day-night profiles of Fos expression were observed in the ventral and dorsal TMM, in the SUM, …

Graduate Students’ Geropsychology Training Opportunities And Perceived Competence In Working With Older Adults, Erin Woodhead, Erin Emery, Nancy Pachana, Theresa Scott, Candace Konnert, Barry Edelstein

Faculty Publications

The current study surveyed clinical and counseling graduate students in the United States (n = 380), Canada (n = 211), Australia (n = 117), and New Zealand (n = 20) to assess geropsychology training opportunities and perceived competency in working with older adults. More geropsychology opportunities were available to participants from the United States and Australia/New Zealand than from Canada. Participants not enrolled in programs with specialty geropsychology tracks reported a lower proportion of faculty doing research, F(1, 537) = 182.13, p < .001 and clinical work, F(1, 452) = 36.13, p < .001 with older adults, lower perceived level of interest among faculty in increasing aging content, F(1, 584) = 59.98, p < .001, fewer aging courses taken, F(1, 582) = 46.91, p < .001, and fewer total practicum hours with older adult clients, F(1, 313) = 10.88, p = .001. For participants enrolled in a program with a specialty track, higher levels of perceived competency were associated with higher levels of perceived interest among faculty in increasing aging content (β = 0.29, p = .045) and more courses that included geropsychology topics (β = 0.42, p = .020). Significant associations were similar for participants not enrolled in a program with a specialty track, except that more practicum sites with older adults (β = 0.19, p = .002) and more total practicum hours with older adults (β = 0.31, p < .001) were also associated with ratings of perceived competency. Participants anticipated working with older adults in their future careers via seeing a wide age range of clients in independent practice, working in a specialty that includes older adults (neuropsychology), or including older family members in services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)

What Would My Avatar Do? Gaming, Pathology, And Risky Decision Making, Kira Bailey, Robert West, Judson Kuffel

Faculty Publications

Recent work has revealed a relationship between pathological video game use and increased impulsivity among children and adolescents. A few studies have also demonstrated increased risk-taking outside of the video game environment following game play, but this work has largely focused on one genre of video games (i.e., racing). Motivated by these findings, the aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between pathological and non-pathological video game use, impulsivity, and risky decision making. The current study also investigated the relationship between experience with two of the most popular genres of video games [i.e., first-person shooter (FPS) and …

Life Stressors And Resources And The 23-Year Course Of Depression, Ruth Cronkite, Erin Woodhead, Andrea Finlay, Christine Timko, Kirsten Hu, Rudolf Moos

Faculty Publications

Background Life stressors and personal and social resources are associated with depression in the short-term, but little is known about their associations with the long-term course of depression. The current paper presents results of a 23-year study of community adults who were receiving treatment for depression at baseline (N=382). Methods Semi-parametric group-based modeling was used to identify depression trajectories and determine baseline predictors of belonging to each trajectory group. Results There were three distinct courses of depression: high severity at baseline with slow decline, moderate severity at baseline with rapid decline, and low severity at baseline with rapid …

Cognitive Conflict Adaptation In Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Scott A. Baldwin, Michael J. Larson, Ann Clawson, Peter E. Clayson

Faculty Publications

ndividuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) display poor emotional conflict adaptation, a cogni- tive control process requiring the adjustment of performance based on previous-trial conflict. It is unclear whether GAD-related conflict adaptation difficulties are present during tasks without emotionally-salient stimuli. We examined conflict adaptation using the N2 component of the event-related potential (ERP) and behavioral responses on a Flanker task from 35 individuals with GAD and 35 controls. Groups did not differ on conflict adaptation accuracy; individuals with GAD also displayed intact RT conflict adaptation. In contrast, individuals with GAD showed decreased amplitude N2 principal component for conflict adap- tation. …

An Investigation Of The Association Between Arithmetic Achievement And Symbolic And Nonsymbolic Magnitude Processing In 5-9 Year-Old Children: Evidence From A Paper-And-Pencil Test, Nadia Nosworthy

Faculty Publications

Recently, there has been a growing emphasis on basic number processing competencies (such as the ability to judge which of two numbers is larger) and their role in predicting individual differences in school-relevant math achievement. Children’s ability to compare both symbolic (e.g. Arabic numerals) and nonsymbolic (e.g. dot arrays) magnitudes has been found to correlate with their math achievement. The available evidence, however, has focused on computerized paradigms, which may not always be suitable for universal, quick application in the classroom. Furthermore, it is currently unclear whether both symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude comparison are related to children’s performance on tests …

Longitudinal Progression Of Frontal And Temporal Lobe Changes In Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, Matthew J. Smith, Lei Wang, John G. Csernansky

Faculty Publications

Cortical abnormalities are considered a neurobiological characteristic of schizophrenia. However, the pattern of such deficits as they progress over the illness remains poorly understood. The goal of this project was to assess the progression of cortical thinning in frontal and temporal cortical regions in schizophrenia, and determine whether relationships exist between them and neuropsychological and clinical symptom profiles. As part of a larger longitudinal 2-year followup study, schizophrenia (n=20) and healthy participants (n=20) group-matched for age, gender, and recent-alcohol use, were selected. Using MRI, estimates of gray matter thickness were derived from primary anatomical gyri of the frontal and temporal …

Gender Differences In The Associations Among Body Mass Index, Weight Loss, Exercise, And Drinking Among College Students, Adam E. Barry Phd, Shawn Whiteman Phd, Anna K. Piazza-Gardner Ms, Alexander C. Jensen Phd

Faculty Publications

Objective: To explore gender differences regarding weight management behaviors of college drinkers. Participants: Nationally representative sample of college students from the fall 2008 American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment II (N = 26,062 students). Methods: Structural equation modeling was used to examine potential gender differences in associations among exercise, weight loss behaviors, and alcohol use. Results: Critical ratio tests revealed that associations between exercise and weight loss behaviors were more strongly correlated among females as compared with males. For females, there was a small negative association between exercise and drinking behaviors; in contrast, for males, there was a …