Psychology Commons^™

Bridging The Gap Between Career Expectations Versus Labor Market Realities, Reinette P. Madrid, Grethel T. Ledesma, Ignatius Aryono Putranto, Jyro B. Triviño

Leadership and Strategy Faculty Publications

Most students lack awareness regarding the labor market outcomes for their chosen college majors. This study aims to answer what factors affect the career expectations of graduating students at Quezon City University and how these expectations align with the prevailing labor market situation. It employed descriptive, causal, and explanatory research using a sample of 108 respondents from fourth-year information technology students for the school year 2021 to 2022. Eight of the nine null hypotheses were rejected by employing multinomial logistic and linear regression. Student fixed effects and other labor market outcomes significantly predicted salary, estimated stability, and estimated skills in …

Diverging Impacts Of Organizational Dei Practices: The Role Of Objective And Subjective Group Status, Julia Oberlin, Claudia Toma, Tessa L. Dover

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose – While DEI practices aim to enhance the outcomes of disadvantaged groups, their impact remains uncertain, with disparities often persisting. This paper examines whether the accumulation of DEI practices helps reduce psychological and work disparities between employees, considering both their objective (e.g. gender and race) and subjective (or perceived) (dis)advantage.

Design/methodology/approach – Study 1 surveyed 602 employees to assess the impact of perceiving their organization as having many orfew DEI practices on theirsense ofinclusion and job satisfaction. Study 2 used an experimental design (N 5 739) to extend the findings of Study 1 by manipulating the number of DEI …

Evolving Ai Integration In Complex Medical Decision-Making And Multidisciplinary Transplant Care: A Systematic Review Of Human-Ai Collaboration, Rachel L. Dzieran, Cihan H. Dagli, Robert J. Marley

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Purpose of Review: Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has evolved dramatically from early expert systems, which were initially considered replacements for clinical judgment, to today's collaborative frameworks that aim to augment physician decision-making. This evolution is particularly crucial in domains such as transplant surgery, where decisions carry irreversible consequences and require the integration of complex, often ambiguous data. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature from 2019 to 2025, we conducted a systematic review that analyzed key elements distinguishing successful human-AI partnerships from those that fail. Recent Findings: The ideal balance incorporates human expertise into AI systems through weighted integration approaches, rather than …

Evaluating The Pulse Of Exercise Programs: Developing And Validating The Intervention Usability Scale For Exercise (Iuse) To Enhance Implementation And Adherence, Anne Inger Mørtvedt, Eva Ageberg, Steven Elmer, Kevin Trewartha, Erich Petushek

Michigan Tech Publications

Background: Adherence to exercise interventions is often suboptimal, despite numerous studies documenting barriers and facilitators. Usability may be a critical yet underexplored determinant of adherence. This study aimed to develop and assess the psychometric properties of the Intervention Usability Scale for Exercise (IUSE). Methods: Item generation and content validation involved cognitive interviews and feedback from eight exercise intervention stakeholders and ten target users from the general public. Subsequently, 526 target users from University, Qualtrics and Prolific participant panels assessed exercise programs through an online survey. Dimensionality was assessed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and bifactor models. …

Depression, Psychological Distress, And Coping Strategies Among African Migrants In Australia: A Cross-Sectional Web-Based Study, Uchechukwu Levi Osuagwu, Lillian Mwanri, Edith N. Botchway-Commey, David Chisanga, Agness Tembo, Nnaemeka Meribe, Kathomi Gatwiri, Obed Adonteng-Kissi, Kerrie P. Doyle, Frank Darkwa Baffour, Ahmed A. Moustafa

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: African migrants constitute a significant proportion of the Australian population. While migration and resettlement offer opportunities, the associated stressors may adversely affect the mental health and well-being of African migrants. This study explored, for the first time, the prevalence of depression and psychological distress among African migrants in Australia and the relationship between coping mechanisms and mental health outcomes. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional survey of adult African migrants in Australia was conducted between February and May 2022. Participants (N = 167) who did not have a refugee status who resided in Australia for at least 12 months were recruited …

The Downstream Effect Of Gender Bias On Academic Performance And Career Aspirations Amongst Female Students In Stem Via Gender-Professional Identity Integration (G-Pii), Chi-Ying Cheng, Shuna Shiann Khoo, Shih-Fen Cheng, Yeow Leong Lee, Vandana Ramachandra Rao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background Gender imbalance in STEM, characterized by a significant underrepresentation of women, remains a significant challenge. Although gender bias is a well-known contributor to women’s attrition from STEM, the psychological mechanisms linking gender bias to departure are less well understood. Our research investigates early antecedents of attrition and the psychological processes that precede leaving the STEM pathway in tertiary education. Drawing upon identity integration research, we propose that perceived gender bias exerts undermines female STEM students’ academic performance and career aspirations by reducing their Gender-Professional Identity Integration (G-PII), a construct that captures individual differences in the perceived compatibility between a …

Changes In Physical Activity And Sleep In Relation To Reductions In Body Weight And Cholesterol Levels Among Adults With Ptsd, Jeffery Kibler, Karla Patricia Molina Valenzuela, Shalynn Murphy, Claudia Ocholski, Valeria Rangel Cunha, Dania Dabbagh, Blaise Desautels, Alexis B. Tola, Mindy Ma

Faculty Articles

There is evidence of strong relationships between posttraumatic stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Interventions focused on healthy behaviors may promote CVD risk-reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present study includes analysis of the associations among key outcomes from an intervention study of a cognitive behavioral healthy lifestyle intervention in PTSD, treated as an adjunct to standard trauma therapy. Specifically, we examined whether changes in physical activity and sleep efficiency were associated with changes in body weight and cholesterol. The health behavior intervention is conducted in 12 weekly sessions and includes four overlapping modules (physical activity, nutrition, sleep, and …

The Lived Experiences Of Custodial Grandparents In Northern Appalachia: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Christina Marie Savage

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Grandparents raising their grandchildren represent a growing demographic in North America. This qualitative transcendental phenomenological research study examined the shared lived experiences of custodial grandparents living in Northern Appalachia. This study was guided by Erikson’s seventh and eighth stages of psychosocial development and Resilience Theory. Fourteen custodial grandparents who reside within a Northern Appalachian county in Pennsylvania participated in semi-structured in-person interviews and data were analyzed using Moustakas' (1994) transcendental phenomenological method. Six themes emerged from the data: returning to parenthood later in life, accepting responsibility to protect grandchildren, changes in family roles and relationships, navigating challenges with limited support, …

The Effect Of Job Enlargement Programs On The Wellbeing Of United States Air Force Personnel, Joseph Earl Stone

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between job enlargement programs and overall wellbeing among active-duty United States Air Force personnel using a mixed method, convergent parallel approach. Utilizing a sample of 125 active-duty personnel, these two variables were examined for a predictive relationship while controlling for eight covariates utilizing multiple regression analysis (quantitative) and assessed for contextual purposes using thematic analysis (qualitative), employing survey data from all participants. The study was framed by self-determination theory (SDT), which posits that the wellbeing of individuals is affected by three core needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Quantitatively, no …

Exploring Psychological Capital And Perceived Employability In The Career Experiences Of Military Spouses, Sydney Higginbotham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Military spouses face distinct employment challenges that stem from the unique demands and disruptions that the military lifestyle can create. These disruptions can create barriers to employment that require military spouses draw on internal and external resources to adapt. Grounded in conservation of resources theory and social cognitive career theory, this study considers how psychological capital and perceived employability, as adaptive responses, contribute to an increase of one’s agency in career management. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey design was employed to test hypotheses through regression analyses. Data was collected from an online survey of a convenience sample of 41 military spouses …

Colorado Mental Health Professionals’ Personal And Professional Perspectives Of Nutrition: A Phenomenological Study, Tanya M. Tyrrell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Growing evidence supports the relationship between nutrition and mental health. However, little is known about how mental health professionals (MHPs) experience nutrition, perceive its role in relation to mental health, or integrate nutrition into psychotherapy. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore Colorado MHPs’ lived experiences with nutrition and examine how those experiences informed their professional perspectives of nutrition. Guided by constructivist epistemology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 MHPs practicing in Colorado, and data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Analysis generated eight themes. Findings revealed that 1) MHPs experienced nutrition as a lifelong developmental process …

The Correlation Of Information-Seeking Traits With Perceptions Of Artificial Intelligence Output To Ill-Defined Problems, Joel Bouchard

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a new class of technological tool whose innovation exists in its ability to engage in reciprocal, socially fluent, undetermined response generation. How individuals come to trust such responses, especially as it regards classes of problems previously unavailable to programmed computational responses, is a question of importance. Prior research has addressed motivational dispositions towards epistemic decision-making, but work examining the relationship between these traits and perceptions of AI output in epistemically ambiguous circumstances is limited. The current study aimed to address this gap by exploring how trait curiosity and need for cognitive closure (NFCC) relate …

Invisible Transitions: A Phenomenological Study On The Lived Experiences Of Christian Working Women Navigating Perimenopause, Rebekah S. Willis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Perimenopause is a significant life transition that can affect how women experience their bodies, relationships, work, and sense of self. However, the experiences of working women during this transition, specifically women of faith, remain underrepresented in existing literature. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of Christian working women navigating perimenopause, with attention to how they understood changes in daily life, professional identity, personal coping, workplace experiences, and faith. Eight women participated in semi-structured interviews. Data was analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Five major themes emerged from the findings: the disruption of a previously …

From Broken To Becoming: A Phenomenological Study Of Life Purpose Among Christian Adult Survivors Of Childhood Trauma, Chenel M. Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Childhood trauma often disrupts an individual’s sense of meaning, identity, and direction, leaving lasting effects that extend beyond psychological symptoms into how life’s purpose is understood and lived. While existing research has examined trauma, coping, and meaning in life, less is known about how survivors themselves experience and construct life purpose following traumatic experiences. This qualitative phenomenological study explored how Christian adult survivors of childhood trauma describe their lived experiences of trauma and healing, and the development of life purpose in adulthood. Semistructured interviews were conducted with seven Christian adults who self-identified as having experienced childhood trauma and healing and …

Coping Mechanisms: A Neurotypical Child's Response To A Sibling With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Heather G. Jones

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex lifelong neurodevelopment disorder with the current prevalence estimation of 1 in 31 children. With the rising prevalence of diagnosed individuals with ASD, there is an increase in the number of neurotypical children (NTC) who live with a sibling that has a diagnosis of ASD. Research on how NTC copes with daily stressors of a sibling with ASD and how their relationship is affected with a sibling with ASD is underexplored. Knowledge of ASD and coping strategies should become a regular process in the NTC life to help manage the stress that may come …

Enhancing Cognitive And Emotional Development In An Inclusive High School Setting: A Study Of Students With Intellectual Disabilities, Roxanne Miller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Students with intellectual disabilities often experience cognitive deficits that limit the development of social cognition and critical thinking skills. Challenges in executive functioning, including reduced metacognitive awareness, emotional regulation, and self-regulation, further hinder their ability to plan, monitor, and adapt their thinking and behavior, creating barriers to success in inclusive educational settings. This mixed-methods pilot study examined the effects of the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) program on the cognitive development of five high school students with intellectual disabilities enrolled in an inclusive Christian high school over one semester. Using a sequential explanatory design, quantitative data were collected via the MINDCAP …

A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Exploration Of Educational Support Model Accessibility And Parent-Perceived Connections To High School Outcomes For Students With Adhd In Georgia, Whitney Rae Bowden Kling

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of parents of students diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who attended public schools in Georgia, a southeastern state of the United States of America (USA), with a particular focus on how parents perceived the influence of access to, or denial of, Section 504 Plans and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) on their children's high school outcomes. The study was informed by the theoretical principles of behaviorism and Bronfenbrenner's bioecological process-person-context-time (PPCT) model to examine how access to individualized educational supports within the school microsystem influenced educational outcomes …

The Influence Of Embodied Cognition On Self-Efficacy, Self-Accountability, And Resilience In Women Affected By Social Expectations, Trudy D. Tabler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Research has explored cognitive-based interventions to enhance psychological constructs; however, emerging evidence regarding embodied cognition principles, which examine how bodily experiences shape our thoughts and behaviors, may provide a more integrative approach. Self-efficacy, self-accountability, and resilience are essential psychological constructs that empower women to navigate challenges, pursue goals, and maintain agency in their lives. The research explored whether embodied cognition interventions (N=9) can disrupt automatic, conformity-driven behaviors and promote increased self-efficacy, self-accountability, and resilience in women compared to techniques that rely solely on cognitive reflection (N=8), or a control group (N=8). Findings from this randomized controlled pilot study did not …

Exploring Self-Care And Mental Health Resilience Among Black Female Mental Health Therapists In Practice, Rhonda R. Mark

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Black women who serve as mental health therapists often carry a unique and invisible load, borne from caring deeply for their clients while also navigating the daily realities of race and gender bias, both inside and outside of their profession. In that context, this study examines how Black female therapists working in clinical practice care for themselves and stay emotionally resilient in the face of these challenges. It adopts a qualitative, phenomenological approach, and is grounded in intersectionality and Black feminist thought, with the goal of elevating the personal stories and lived experiences of 10 participants. Their reflections offer a …

How Partner Support Impacts The Intimate Relationship Quality Of Adult Childhood Sexual Abuse (Csa) Survivors: A Qualitative Study, Colin E. Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) often experience long-term disruptions in their ability to form and maintain healthy adult intimate relationships. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how adult survivors described partner support and its impact on their relational healing and the quality of their intimate relationships. Eleven adults who had experienced CSA and had participated in a committed intimate relationship lasting at least 12 months were recruited through a combination of convenience, purposive, and snowball sampling. Data were collected through demographic questionnaires, a Lived Experiences Timeline Activity (LETA) sheet, semi-structured interviews, field notes, and memos. …

Examining The Relationships Among Cultural Intelligence, Religiosity, And Cross-Cultural Adjustment Among Faith-Driven Expatriates Living And Working In Thailand, Jerry W. Bosken

Masters Theses

This quantitative correlational study examined the relationships among cultural intelligence, religiosity, and cross-cultural adjustment among adult faith-driven expatriates living and working in Thailand. Data were collected through an anonymous online survey using three established instruments: the Cultural Intelligence Scale, the Centrality of Religiosity Scale, and the Expatriate Adjustment Scale. The final analytic sample included 85 usable responses. Analyses included data screening, descriptive statistics, assumption testing, and multiple regression models. The results indicated that the four dimensions of cultural intelligence collectively predicted overall cross-cultural adjustment. However, motivational cultural intelligence was the only statistically significant individual predictor. Religiosity did not significantly predict …

Beyond Transformational Leadership: The Moderating Role Of Leader Hexaco Personality Traits In Fostering Psychological Safety In Law Enforcement, Daniel Q. Lentz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Law enforcement agencies struggle to recruit and retain officers due to lack of public support, criticism, and declining well-being, which raises stress levels. While operational stress affects officers, organizational stress is more damaging. Transformational leadership can help create a psychologically safe work environment, but research on this link is limited and mixed. This study examined how each HEXACO personality trait (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness) moderates this relationship, drawing on social exchange and attribution theories. Conducted in U.S. law enforcement agencies, a survey assessed officers' perceptions of their leader’s transformational style, HEXACO traits, and psychological safety. Moderation and mediation …

What We Love Online: A Deductive Thematic Analysis Of Thoughtforms, Parasocial Agent Connection, And Bidirectional Fictophilia In The Digital Liminal, Michael P. Ross

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

As artificial intelligence (AI) systems become integrated into daily life, users are forming connections with non-human agents that are functionally useful, emotionally significant, and sometimes experienced as relational. This qualitative study examined how individuals make meaning of AI thoughtforms, how online disinhibition shapes perceived connection, and how personal histories and belief systems inform whether AI companions feel emotionally or symbolically “real.” Seven adults who reported meaningful AI interactions participated in semi-structured video interviews through Microsoft Teams. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, de-identified, and analyzed in NVivo 15 using deductive thematic analysis informed by parasocial attachment, fictophilia, social cognitive theory, and online …

The Effects Of Home Virtual Reality (Vr) Firearms Systems On Self-Efficacy, Gun Attitude, And Stress, Raffi R. Stambultsyan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Advanced virtual reality (VR) firearms training systems have demonstrated benefits for military and law enforcement personnel; however, limited research has examined the psychological effects of commercially available home-based VR firearms systems. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental study was to investigate the immediate effects of the GAIM and AceXR home VR dry-fire training systems on general self-efficacy, leadership self-efficacy, perceived stress, and gun attitude among firearms-trained military and law enforcement veterans. A total of 128 participants completed validated pretest and posttest measures following participation in a VR training session using either the GAIM or AceXR platform. A one-way multivariate analysis …

Can A Critical Reflection-Based Intervention Effectively Teach Intersectional Awareness Of Gendered Racism? An Empirical Study With College Students, Jayantika Chakraborty, Alena G. Esposito

Psychology

Intersectional awareness of gendered racism refers to the understanding of how intersecting systems of power and inequality shape the distinct and unequal forms of discrimination experienced by women of color across social contexts. This form of awareness recognizes that racism and sexism operate jointly, producing qualitatively different experiences that vary across race, gender expression, and social location. Developing such awareness is foundational to advancing equity and has been linked to outcomes such as student activism and engagement with social justice efforts. However, empirical research examining whether and how intersectional awareness can be cultivated through educational interventions remains limited. Responding to …

Neural Symphony Of Flow Experience: Evidence For High-Dimensional Metastable Dynamics, Abdelrahman B. M. Eldaly, Kris Zhangguang Kang, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Leanne Lai-Hang Chan, Keng Siau, Xiao Fan Liu, Richard Huskey, Langtao Chen, Tejaswini Yelamanchili, Rene Weber

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Flow, an optimal experience characterized by deep immersion and engagement in an activity, has been extensively studied in behavioral research. However, its neural dynamic mechanism remains poorly understood. In a within-subject video gaming experiment, we captured neural activity underlying flow, boredom, and anxiety using a 64-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) system. Compared to boredom and anxiety, flow exhibits the highest global functional connectivity, metastability, and dimensionality of dynamic functional connectivity patterns, suggesting that flow is a highly adaptable process that is supported by high-dimensional neural dynamics. Unlike previous studies that focused on identifying static or localized brain activity, we examine the neural …

The Influence Of Childhood Experiential History On U.S. Vice President Jd Vance’S Personality, Amelia Brower, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of a developmental causal analysis of the adult personality of U.S. vice president JD Vance, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data relating to Vance’s personality were collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and DSM-5-TR.

The findings of the personality assessment were previously reported in a separate paper. Vance’s primary personality patterns were found to be Dominant/controlling and Ambitious/confident, supplemented by …

Schizophrenia Spectrum Biomarkers Consortium: Establishment Of A Biorepository For The Discovery Of Quantitative Fluid Biomarkers, Mohini Ranganathan, Susanne Jakob, Felecia Cerrato, Lia Urban Spillane, Tarlan S. Daryoush, Sophie Shuster, Katherine Dokholyan, Shaynna Herrera, Brian Koo, Clyde Markowitz, Pojen Deng, Sage Rush, Monica E. Calkins, Scott Troyan, Kosha Ruparel, Ruben C. Gur, Holly Reynolds, Claire Wegel, Matthew B. Johnson, Lauren Hom, Sam Bryant, Ross W. Mair, Randy L. Buckner, Rebecca Birnbaum, Christian G. Kohler, Cheryl M. Corcoran, Raquel E. Gur, Steven E. Hyman

Student Publications [Scholarly]

Background and Hypothesis: Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) produce severe symptoms, disability, and premature mortality, but only partially effective symptomatic treatments exist. Treatment development is impeded by lack of insight into disease mechanisms or objective biomarkers for clinical trials. Advances in genetics and neurobiology have converged on strong pathogenic hypotheses for SSDs centered on synapse dysfunction and excessive pruning, pathogenic processes that may produce measurable proteomic evidence in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Leveraging design precedents from successful fluid biomarkers discovery for Alzheimer’s disease, we undertook a pilot study to test the feasibility of repeated CSF and blood samples collection from individuals with …

Artificial Intelligence And Social Equities: Navigating The Intersectionalities In A Digital Age (Editorial), Daisuke Akiba, Julie Albright

Publications and Research

This editorial article introduces and synthesizes the Special Issue, “Artificial intelligence and social equities: navigating the intersectionalities in a digital age,” which examines how AI systems intersect with race, ethnicity, and interconnected identity dimensions across global contexts. The eight contributions span healthcare, digital media, higher education, organizational communication, and speculative futures, addressing anti-racist psychiatric algorithms, AI-generated visual disinformation, epistemic injustice between the Global North and South, algorithmically mediated rural–urban divides, culturally untranslated technology transfer, accessibility auditing across the AI lifecycle, and the tension between mechanical objectivity and empathic understanding. Read together, they show that AI is neither inherently …

Spiritual Abuse: A Qualitative Study On The Lived Experience Of Survivors And Their Attachment To God, Danielle Farra Bingham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Christian survivors of spiritual abuse and their relationship with God. The study also examined whether participants described those experiences using language comparable to Attachment Theory. Ten adult Christian survivors participated in semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed using Smith et al.'s (2022) interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) framework. Six Group Experiential Themes (GETs) emerged from the analysis: (a) wondering whether God was safe after sacred harm; (b) keeping God close enough to need Him and distant enough to survive; (c) trying to separate God's heart from the voices …