Psychology Commons^™

An Investigation Of Negative Appraisals Due To Negative Mood And How They Affect Satisfaction And Job Performance, Cristina Keiko Hudson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ample research has investigated the relationship between non-work and work domains finding consistent links between stressors in one and strains in the other. Additionally, there exist explanatory models of these associations such as psychological/physical sickness and related absences and loss or fear of losing personal resources. The current investigation combined variables from the spillover model and Affective Events Theory to test a new model with negative mood at its core. It hypothesized marital and financial stressors lead to negative mood at home which spills over into the work domain resulting in relatively more negative appraisals of work events. Negative mood …

Listening In Action: Students' Mobile Music Experiences In The Digital Age, Rebecca Marie Rinsema

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the introduction of the iPod in 2001, portable music listening devices that play or stream compressed music files have steadily become the standard devices used to listen to music. Despite this, few music education researchers have investigated the role that such devices have in shaping students' music listening experiences. This dissertation is meant to fill that gap in the literature and contribute to the existing sociological and psychological literature on music listening in everyday life.

Phenomenology served as the theoretical framework for the design of the study. 10 college students from three institutions underwent iterative interviews and were asked …

Quality Of Life In Adult Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: The Role Of Moderating And Mediating Variables, Brittany Belle Speisman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: This study examined the contribution of various aspects of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) on quality of life (QoL) in 102 adults with a principal diagnosis of OCD from an archival database. Method: Participants were assessed for DSM-IV diagnoses by trained clinicians using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule, 4th Edition (ADIS-IV), the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), and an unstructured interview. Further information was attained using the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory Revised (OCI-R) and the Medical Outcome Study-36 (MOS-36). Results: Results indicated that obsessive-compulsive symptom severity was positively correlated with diminished emotional health, social …

Cultivating An Engaged Workforce: The Roles Of Leader Personality, Motivation, And Leadership Style, Amy Marie Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the links between leadership style, leader personality, and motivation to lead, with employee engagement. Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and abusive supervision styles were examined in relation to levels of employee engagement via a sample of n=195 employees and n=130 managers. Consistent with findings from Christian, Garza, and Slaughter (2011), transformational leadership showed a positive link to employee engagement (r= .38, p< .05). On the opposite end, abusive supervision was negatively related to employee engagement (r= -.27, p< .05). Contingent reward leadership showed a positive link to employee engagement (r= .32, p< .05).

Relationships between personality and leadership style were framed according to the socioanalytic framework (Hogan & Shelton, 1998). This study did not find any significant differences in the relationships between the expected leadership behaviors and the traits …

The Interrelationships Among Family Stress, Parenting Behavior, And Behavior Problems: An Investigation Of Internationally Adopted Chinese Girls, Cheryl Gelley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although there have been many studies investigating international adoptees' outcomes in relation to their pre-adoption experiences, there is a paucity of research investigating the influence of post-adoption experiences. Guided by the proximity of the family to the child in Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological systems theory of human development, this study addressed a gap in the literature by investigating the interrelationships among family-related variables (e.g., stress in family environment, parenting behavior) and 648 internationally adopted Chinese girls' behavior problems. Moderate, positive relationships were found between family stress and both internalizing (r = .43, p < .001) and externalizing (r = .59, p < .001) behavior problems. Modest, inverse relationships were found between authoritative parenting and both internalizing (r = -.08, p < .01) and externalizing (r = -.15, p < .001) behavior problems. Additionally, modest to moderate, positive relationships were found between authoritarian and permissive parenting and internalizing (r = .18, p < .001; r = .19, p < .001, respectively) and externalizing (r = .39, p < .001; r = .34, p < .001, respectively) behavior problems. Finally, authoritarian and permissive parenting behaviors were partial mediators between family stress and both internalizing (R² = .08, p < .001; R² = .08, p …

The Relationships Between Individual Characteristics, Work Factors, And Emotional Labor Strategies In The Prediction Of Burnout Among Mental Health Service Providers, Jessica Belle Handelsman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Relatively few empirical studies in the professional burnout literature have examined mental health providers (MHPs). Research on other professional groups has demonstrated that certain emotion regulation strategies, known as emotional labor (i.e., deep acting and surface acting), are common responses to perceived display rules (i.e., professional guidelines for emotional expression), and are differentially associated with burnout. The present study aimed to fill a gap in the literature by evaluating the empirical links between work stressors (i.e., role conflict, role ambiguity, and lack of autonomy), personality (i.e., extraversion), emotional labor (i.e., surface acting and deep acting), and burnout in a sample …

Does Crowding Obscure The Presence Of Attentional Guidance In Contextual Cueing?, Steven William Fiske

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The contextual cueing effect was initially thought to be the product of memory guiding attention to the target location. However, the steep search slopes obtained in contextual cueing indicate an absence of attentional guidance. We hypothesized that crowding could be obscuring the presence of attentional guidance and investigated this possibility in 2 experiments. Crowding was manipulated by varying the density of items in the local target region in a contextual cueing task. We observed a significant reduction in search slopes between the novel and repeated conditions when crowding was reduced. Enhancing crowding eliminated the contextual cueing effect. These findings suggest …

Emotional Reactivity And Regulation In Current And Remitted Depression: An Event Related Potential Study, Lauren M. Bylsma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is thought to be characterized by emotion regulation deficits, including decreased use of adaptive strategies such as reappraisal, but little is known about the exact nature of these deficits and whether or not they are specific to the depressed mood state. The late positive potential (LPP) is a sustained positive deflection of the event-related potential (ERP) associated with responding to emotionally-valenced stimuli, and reappraisal strategies have been found to reduce LPP magnitude in response to emotional stimuli in healthy individuals, but this effect has not been examined in MDD. This study utilized ERPs to examine emotional …

A Retrospective And Prospective Comparison Of Hungarian Children Who Have One Or Two Episodes Of Depression, Vanessa Panaite

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Early onset depression is associated with high recurrence rates later in life. Recurrent depressive episodes during childhood may be particularly problematic, if additional episodes have a scarring effect that hinders healthy development. Distinguishing between first onsets and recurrences has been useful in understanding adult depression. This distinction has seldom been examined in pediatric depression, in part because it is difficult to enroll adequate samples of children with recurrent depression. We conducted archival analyses of carefully-diagnosed pediatric probands with depression first onset between ages of 4 and 12. Probands who reported one depressive episode (N = 435) were compared with probands …

Using Contextual Cues To Influence The Role Of Priming In The Transformation Of Stimulus Functions: A Relational Frame Theory Investigation In Implicit Social Stereotyping., Jacob Daar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This basic study was designed to explore the conceptualization of prejudice as a form of contextually controlled, derived, and arbitrarily applicable relational responding. Basic studies utilizing RFT methodologies have yielded examples of how stimulus functions of one set of stimuli, such as a stereotyped group, can transform the functions of another stimulus, such as an individual. Priming procedures, as contextual cues, have been used to affect prejudicial responding. Stimuli participating in relational frames have been shown to be sensitive to such priming procedures; however, the role of context in the priming of derived relational responses has not yet been established. …

General Strain Theory And Juvenile Delinquency: A Cross-Cultural Study, Wen-Hsu Lin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

General strain theory (GST) (Agnew, 1992, 2001, 2006a) is an established criminological theory. Although the theory has been examined by many and enjoys empirical support, some limitations of previous studies need to be addressed. First, previous studies have not incorporated all major types of strain in their models; hence, the effects of these strains on delinquency are unclear. Second, many previous studies did not include negative emotions and even negative emotions other than anger. Finally, and the most serious limitation, many previous studies rely heavily on samples from Western countries, mostly the U.S.; thus, possible cultural influences are ignored. Although …

Cyber-Bullying In High School: Associated Individual And Contextual Factors Of Involvement, Marissa Alexis Feldman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For the past several decades, researchers have extensively investigated the impact of bullying on the nation's youth. Although we may now have a better understanding of these maladaptive behaviors, recent technological advances have created a new forum for bullying. The current study investigated adolescent experiences with cyber-bullying using a self-report survey. Youth (N=2,086) from five high schools (grades 9-12) were surveyed to identify individual, peer, parenting, and school factors hypothesized to be related to involvement in cyber-bullying as a victim, perpetrator, or both. Results indicated that cyber-involvement was related to a variety of psychosocial factors, with students who were both …

An Investigation Into High Quality Leader Member Exchange Relationships And Their Relation To Followers' Motivation To Lead, Michael Rossi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research further investigates the motivation to lead (MTL) construct and its antecedents. While existing research has investigated culture, personality, and direct experience as an antecedent to MTL, the indirect experience of observing an effective leader has not been studied. It was hypothesized that having an effective supervisor would be related to followers' leadership self efficacy and MTL. It was also hypothesized that this relationship would be moderated by the quality of the relationship between leader and follower. Little evidence was found supporting these hypotheses. In addition, the existing research into MTL has failed to establish the link between MTL …

The Role Of Acculturation In Adolescent Mental Health And Academic Achievement: Mediational Pathways, Ariz Rojas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the different pathways by which acculturation may influence Hispanic adolescents' psychological functioning and academic achievement. Proposed mediational pathways included adolescent perceptions of mothers' and fathers' parenting practices, acculturative stress, self-esteem, academic support, and academic motivation. Participants included 116 9^th and 10^th grade students recruited from high schools and a parent for each student. Parents completed a measure of acculturation and rated their adolescents' psychological symptomology. Adolescents completed measures of perceived parenting (mother and father), a self-report of psychological symptoms, a measure of acculturation and acculturative stress, as well as ratings of academic support and motivation. …

Computer Adaptive Rating Scales (Cars) For The Employment Interview, Greg F. Schmidt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the effectiveness of computerized adaptive rating scales (CARS) in comparison to the relatively more common behavioral anchored ratings scales (BARS) format. The current study sought to extend the body of psychometric research of CARS while investigating its potential for use in the employment interview. Using 43 videotaped interviews and supervisor job performance ratings, and constructing a new task-performance based CARS, it was hypothesized that employment interview ratings produced using the CARS format would yield significantly higher predictive validity coefficients than those produced by the BARS format. Results showed that while interview ratings produced in the CARS format …

Increasing Adolescents' Subjective Well-Being: Effects Of A Positive Psychology Intervention In Comparison To The Effects Of Therapeutic Alliance, Youth Factors, And Expectancy For Change, Jessica A. Savage

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the variance in subjective well-being (SWB) of early adolescents (n = 54) exposed to a positive psychology intervention aimed at increasing positive affect and life satisfaction as well as decreasing negative affect through intentional activities (e.g., gratitude journals, acts of kindness, use of character strengths, optimistic thinking). Understanding how to increase SWB among youth is important because of its associations with positive indicators of psychological and academic functioning. However, prior research is limited regarding interventions targeting SWB in youth and excludes the relation of common factors of therapeutic change. Based on the literature regarding therapeutic change, youth …

Health-Promoting Behaviors And Subjective Well-Being Among Early Adolescents, Emily J. Shaffer-Hudkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the specific health-promoting behaviors employed by early adolescents (n = 246) and their subjective well-being (SWB) to provide an understanding of how mental and physical wellness relate in teens. Participants self-reported on their dietary habits, physical activity, sleep hygiene, safety habits, and attitudes toward substance use. A comprehensive assessment of SWB was also gathered (i.e., global life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). The researcher hypothesized that each of the five health-promoting behaviors assessed in the current study would have significant, positive correlations with the SWB of early adolescents, in that youth who reported higher levels of …

Using Stratified Item Selection To Reduce The Number Of Items Rated In Standard Setting, Tiffany Nicole Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of stratified item sampling in order to reduce the number of items needed in Modified Angoff standard setting studies. Representative subsets of items were extracted from a total of 30 full-length tests based upon content weights, item difficulty, and item discrimination. Cut scores obtained from various size subsets of each test were compared to the full-length test cut score as a measure of generalizability. Applied sampling results indicated that 50% of the full-length test is sufficient to obtain cut scores within one standard error of estimate (SEE) of the …

Predictors Of Body Dissatisfaction, Eating Disturbance, And Depressive Symptoms In Mothers, Steffanie Sperry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Body image, eating disturbance, and depressive symptomatology have been examined extensively in the general population. The assessment of these variables within the postpartum period has also been a target of recent research. Unfortunately, no existing studies have examined the intercorrelations among these factors in mothers of young children, despite increasing media pressure for moms to maintain a slim, pre-pregnancy body. The current study examined predictors of body dissatisfaction, eating disturbance, and depressive symptoms in mothers of children aged 0-5. Simple correlations were followed by a series of linear multiple regressions incorporating sociocultural predictors alongside covariates identified in the extant literature. …

The Role Of Contextual Associations In The Selection Of Objects, Noah Patrick Sulman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes a sequence of experiments addressing basic questions about the control of visual attention and the relationship between attention and object recognition. This work reviews compelling findings addressing attentional control on the basis of high-level perceptual properties. In five experiments observers were presented with a rapid sequence of object photographs and instructed to either detect or selectively encode a verbally cued object category. When these object categories (e.g. "baseball") were preceded by contextual images associated with a given object category (e.g. "baseball diamond"), observers were less likely to accurately report information about the target item. This effect obtained …

Celestial Bodies, Jared Calvin White

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following is a collection of original poetry written over a span of three years while attending the University of South Florida. The poetry is divided into five numbered sections, marking the major thematic divisions. Preceding the poetry is a critical introduction to the work that outlines the author's developing thematic ideology.

A Mixed Method Study On The Peripartum Experience And Postpartum Effects Of Emergency Hysterectomy Due To Postpartum Hemorrhage, Cara De La Cruz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Little is known about the experience and psychological outcomes for women who experience emergency peripartum hysterectomy (EPH). The objective of this study was to explore women's experiences of EPH and to determine if women who experience EPH were more likely to experience mental health sequelae.

Methods: This mixed method design involved a quantitative and a qualitative phase. The quantitative phase used a retrospective cohort design. Women were sampled through on-line communities, including an EPH support group, and a larger website for mothers. Women completed on-line surveys covering sociodemographic, obstetric/gynecological/ and psychiatric information, including screens for depression and Post-Traumatic Stress …

Links Between Parents' And Children's Levels Of Gratitude, Life Satisfaction, And Hope, Brenna D. Hoy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Positive psychology encourages a focus on identifying and promoting wellness in individuals rather than analyzing psychopathology. Although decades of research shows that mental illness is in part environmental and hereditary, little is known about the relationship between parental levels of positive emotions such as gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope, and their children's levels of the same constructs. This study utilized a past, present, and future framework of positive emotions to explore parental and child levels of gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope. This quantitative study analyzed correlations between self-reported levels of gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope among a sample of 153 …

Perseverative Cognition, Cognitive Load, And Distraction In Recovery From Stress, Alvin B. Jin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Perseverative cognition is the repetitive cognitive representation of a stressor, which includes the concepts of worry and rumination. These thoughts delay post-stress cardiovascular recovery, which may lead to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. This may be due to the negative emotional content of perseverative cognition or because it involves cognitive effort. The aim of this study was to identify the unique influences of negative emotional content and cognitive effort during recovery. Participants (N = 120) were given a demanding task purportedly as a measure of intelligence and then given false negative feedback. Immediately following, participants engaged in one of …

Responding To Tobacco Craving: Acceptance Versus Suppression, Erika B. Litvin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Most treatments for substance use disorders (SUDs) are based on a model that craving is a primary cause of relapse, and therefore they emphasize skills for preventing and reducing craving. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) provides a theoretical rationale for "acceptance" of drug-related thoughts and cravings, and proscribes suppression, a more intuitive and commonly used coping strategy. However, it remains largely unknown whether various coping strategies differentially affect craving intensity, drug use behavior, or other relevant outcomes during a craving episode. Using a randomized, between-subjects design (acceptance-based coping, suppression-based coping, or no coping instructions/control), the current study compared the effect …

Transition Experiences Of Adolescent Survivors Of Childhood Cancer: A Qualitative Investigation, Alana Delores Lopez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent survivors of childhood cancer are a growing population with unique needs as they face a combination of challenges associated with normal development and returning to life after treatment completion (Wakefield et al., 2010). One specific need identified in the research literature includes the effective delivery of transitional care and planning (Hewitt, Greenfield, & Stovall, 2005). It has been suggested that the provision of transition care and planning can help facilitate the shift from one phase of care to another and promote positive transition experiences (National Cancer Institute, 2008). The shift from off-treatment to post-treatment and school reintegration have been …

Repeated Binge Pattern Ethanol Administration During Adolescence Or Adulthood: Long-Term Changes In Voluntary Ethanol Intake And Mesolimbic Dopamine Functionality In Male Rats, Antoniette Michelle Maldonado-Devincci

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Binge alcohol consumption is a rising concern in the United States, especially among adolescents as during this developmental period alcohol use is usually initiated and has been shown to cause detrimental effects on brain structure and function. These findings have been established through the use of binge models in animals, where animals are repeatedly administered high doses of ethanol typically over a period of three or four days. While such work has examined the effects of a four-day and repeated three-day binge, there has been almost no work conducted aimed at investigating the long-term behavioral and neurochemical and/or functional consequences …

Middle School Students' Willingness To Engage In Different Types Of Activities With Peers: The Effect Of Presence Of Adhd Symptoms And Familiarity With Adhd, Melanie M. Mcmahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In addition to the increased risk they face for social and academic problems, adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) must also contend with stigma attached to the disorder. For instance, youth prefer greater social distance from students described with ADHD symptoms than from peers with asthma (Walker, Coleman, Lee, Squire, & Friesen, 2008), and adolescents are also reluctant to engage in activities (e.g., go to the movies, study together) with a peer described with ADHD symptoms compared to peers described as obese or autistic (Law, Sinclair, & Fraser, 2007). Familiarity with individuals diagnosed with ADHD may influence adolescents' perceptions of their …

A Gay Savior: Reducing Anti-Gay Feelings With Gay Male Kindness Following Ostracism, Kenneth Michniewicz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social scientists have extensively examined ways of reducing negative feelings toward minority groups. However, no research has examined the ability for passive ostracism, the implicit exclusion of an individual by one's peers, to reduce such negative feelings despite evidence that such exclusion can yield similar positive benefits. The present study sought to address this deficit in the literature by exploring whether or not implicit ostracism by one's peers can cause a kind gesture by a stigmatized minority group member (gay men) to improve general perceptions of the associated group. A sample of 211 undergraduate students from the University of South …

Visual Search For Smoking Stimuli: Detection And Distraction, Jason A. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research has shown that the attentional systems of addicted individuals are biased towards drug-related stimuli, but despite several decades of effort these results have frequently been inconsistent. Though commonly believed to result from addiction and dependence, cognitive research would suggest that frequent exposure to drug-related stimuli could affect the attentional processing of drug-related cues even if no actual drug use occurs. The present investigation examined attentional bias for smoking cues using a novel visual search paradigm amongst smokers currently in nicotine withdrawal and fully satiated smokers, as well as a non-smoker control group. Variables related to smoking behavior, as …