Psychology Commons^™

Examining The Perceived Benefits For Engaging In Cybersex Behavior Among College Students, Delores D. Rimington

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined college students’ cybersex use, perceived benefits of use, time spent online, and compulsive cybersex. Participants consisted of students attending Utah State University Spring semester 2007. Data were collected via an online survey, and 262 surveys were used in the correlation and regression analyses.

Results indicated that age, religion and gender are predictive of perceiving more benefits for cybersex participation. A strong positive correlation was found between perceived benefits and compulsive cybersex use. Students’ lack of social skills was predictive of more time spent online. Time spent online for cybersex was predictive of sexually compulsive behavior. There was …

School-Based Services For Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Tonya M. Tree

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was designed to present descriptive data from a survey of 201 school psychologists. Psychologists completed a survey addressing current practices for determining placement for students with ADHD including the role of school psychologists in determining placement, how often and who monitors services, where students are served, and what services are provided in each setting. Findings indicated that psychologists were involved less frequently in placement decisions and evaluation for Section 504 than in Special Education. Students with 504 plans received less frequent follow-up than students in Special Education. Results indicated that schools were generally following federal guidelines and recommendations …

Factors That Influence The Association Between Adult Attachment And Marital Satisfaction, Daniel Leroy Hatch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Adult attachment theory offers a promising conceptual framework for understanding the psychological and contextual factors that contribute to marital satisfaction. A consistent association has been found between adult attachment dimensions and marital satisfaction. The current study examined several mediating mechanisms that may explain the relationship between adult attachment dimensions and marital satisfaction. Specifically, relationship expectations, four types of responses to accommodative dilemmas (exit, neglect, voice, and loyalty), and three forms of empathy (empathic concern, perspective taking, empathic personal distress) were hypothesized to mediate the relationship between adult attachment and marital satisfaction.

Self-report data were collected from both partners of 193 …

Mother-Child Interactions Among Latino Families And European-American Families In Relation To Children's Language Outcomes, Katie Christiansen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The number of Latino families in the United States is increasing dramatically. For some of the children in these families, the acquisition of reading skills is hampered by inadequate early language development. Early language development is a key predictor of reading success. Identifying ways in which parents in these families can help children acquire early language skills will better prepare them for acquiring reading skills.

This study used a new parenting measure, PICCOLO, to identify parenting behaviors that are related to children's language development. The primary focus of this project was on Spanish-speaking Latino families, but a group of English-speaking …

Reported Mental Health Issues And Marital Quality: A Statewide Survey, Joseph Ruben Smart

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study included a representative random sample of 886 married individuals in Utah. This sample was surveyed to discover the relationship between demographic variables, reported mental health issues, and marital quality. In addition, this study sought to discover models, using demographic variables and reported mental health issues, to predict for separate dimensions of marital quality. This survey was a replication of a study completed primarily in Oklahoma, with the addition of questions about the participants' mental health.

Spearman's rho, Pearson's R, and multiple regression were used to analyze the data. The results of the study show that: religious beliefs …

Threat Perception As A Determinant Of Pro-Environmental Behaviors: Public Involvement In Air Pollution Abatement In Cache Valley, Utah, Joshua D. Marquit

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Threat perception related to environmental issues such as air pollution may be a determinant of pro-environmental behaviors. Among the potential threats of air pollution, include the perceived impacts on the psychological, social, and economic wellbeing of a community. Because of rapid increases in population growth, urbanization, and the mountainous landscapes, the American West is extremely susceptible to the adverse impacts of air pollution.

A secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the Air Quality Perception Survey conducted in Cache County, Utah. The survey focused on the public perception of air pollution in Cache County and perceived impact on personal …

Longitudinal And Reciprocal Effects Of Ethnic Identity And Experiences Of Discrimination On Psychosocial Adjustment Of Navajo (Diné) Adolescents, Matthew D. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined the relationships among ethnic identity, cultural identity, experiences of discrimination, their interactions, and their effects on various psychosocial outcomes (self-esteem, depression, sense of school membership, social functioning, substance abuse, substance related problems, delinquent behaviors, and grade point average [GPA]). Data were collected twice over a 2-year period.

Change across time was observed in male adolescents' experiences of discrimination. Affirmation and belonging to Navajo culture was the strongest protective predictor at Time 1, but at Time 2 less consistent patterns of association emerged. Also at Time 2, experiences of discrimination emerged as a powerful negative predictor of psychosocial …

The Professional Development Of Teachers For International Contexts: A Case Study Of Concordia Language Villages' Study Abroad Programs, Michelle L. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

In the face of globalization, educational institutions the world over have developed institutional learning outcomes that seek to graduate students who are culturally competent. To accomplish this goal, colleges and schools must have a faculty who is prepared to facilitate student growth in this regard or provide the faculty with professional development opportunities to achieve that end.

Concordia Language Villages, an intensive language and culture education program sponsored by Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, is intentional in its mission to prepare young people for responsible citizenship and has professional development opportunities available to personnel in their programs and educators; however, …

Effects Of Motivational Interviewing On Levels Of Physical Activity In Older Adults, Anna M. Pignol

Theses and Dissertations

In Canada, 68% of women and 53% of men 65 and older are inactive. Physical activity is crucial for older adults being able to maintain physical and mental health, as well as quality of life. Even the frail, chronically ill, and very old adults can increase mobility and functioning through physical activity. The current study examined the effects of Motivational Interviewing (MI) on levels of physical activity in older adults. A total of 86 participants aged 55 and older were recruited in Prince Edward Island. Participants were randomly assigned by gender to the intervention plus information or to an information …

A Meta-Analysis Of Adolescent Rampage Shootings And The Potential Interconnectivity To Gifted/Talented Children With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, Meghan M. Salyers

Theses and Dissertations

On the tenth anniversary of a series of school rampage shootings in Springfield, Oregon, Littleton, Colorado, and Conyers, Georgia, the purpose of this study was to determine whether there were indications of intellectual, academic, or creative giftedness with emotional/behavioral disorders in the perpetrators. In addition, through historiographical methods, this study was designed to allow for themes to surface from the authentic writings of the adolescent shooters.

Similarities in previous research results are reported in the meta-analysis, and categories derived from my analysis of the writings of Kip Kinkel, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and T.J. Solomon are indicated in the analysis …

Parental Influences In Child Obesity, Janel Lynn Calinisan

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

One of the greatest concerns in American society is peoples’ health. In the past several years there has been an overwhelming increase in obesity in Americans. This concern relates not only to adults, but also to children, as more are found to be overweight. Many factors have been suggested as to why more children are becoming obese, including parenting, demographics, physical activity, nutrition, and biological factors. Studies have shown that parental influence or involvement can be related to child obesity such that neglected children were more likely to be obese in adolescence and sustain it through adulthood. In order to …

Being Human , Rodger K. Bufford

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

No abstract provided.

The Promise Of Academic Learning Time In A Dose-Response Model Of Early Reading Achievement, Benjamin Heuston

Theses and Dissertations

Reading has long been acknowledged to be a critical skill that is best acquired early in life. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports, American public school children continue to struggle to master the basics of reading. Although federal funding in real dollars has increased consistently over time, reading scores have not followed suit, suggesting that fiscal resources have not been applied successfully to the variables that are directly related to reading acquisition and achievement. The current state of affairs therefore suggests the need for identifying a fiscally-targetable, instructionally-relevant variable with a direct, causal relationship …

Bullying Prevention, Naveen Jonathan

Marriage and Family Therapy Faculty Presentations

Defines various forms of bullying, addresses why they are issues, discusses the motives behind bullying, and gives tips on how to stop bullying.

Sexual Orientation Among Men Associated With Christian Groups: A Discriminant Analysis, Rodger K. Bufford, James Born, Wayne E. Colwell, W Brad Johnson

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

No abstract provided.

Early Maladaptive Schemas, Attachment, Negative Affect And Relationship Satisfaction, Nicole Mcdermott

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines early maladaptive schemas (EMSs), attachment styles, depression and anxiety, and relationship satisfaction. A sample of 47 (61.7% females, 38.3% males) college students who were in a current relationship completed standardized measures for each study variable. As predicted, depression and EMSs were related to decreased relationship satisfaction. Unexpectedly, attachment styles were under-represented and therefore could not be examined in the study. Contrary to hypotheses, anxiety and relationship satisfaction were not significantly related to one another.

The Researcher As A Consumer Of Scientific Publication: How Do Name-Ordering Conventions Affect Inferences About Contribution Credits?, Boris Maciejovsky, David V. Budescu, Dan Ariely

Psychology Faculty Publications

When researchers from different fields with different norms collaborate, the question arises of how name-ordering conventions are chosen and how they affect contribution credits. In this paper, we answer these questions by studying two disciplines that exemplify the two cornerstones of name-ordering conventions: lexicographical ordering (i.e., alphabetical ordering, endorsed in economics) and nonlexicographical ordering (i.e., ordering according to individual contributions, endorsed in psychology). Inferences about credits are unambiguous in the latter arrangement but imperfect in the former, because alphabetical listing can reflect ordering according to individual contributions by chance. We contrast the fields of economics and psychology with marketing, a …

Can Normal Habits Affect Gpa?, Jessica Hildebrand, Regina Thurman

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

We wanted to see if there was a correlation between sleep and/or caffeine and students’ grade point average (GPA). To do this we surveyed 101 Lindenwood undergraduate students. We asked them how much caffeine they consumed in a day, how much sleep they get within a seven day period, and their GPA, as well as basic demographic questions. Our study found that there was a weak negative relationship between sleep and GPA whereas no relationship between caffeine consumption and GPA. We conclude that since no relationship has been found, we have made suggestions on how to investigate further given some …

Overattribution Effect, Sally Eimer

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of judgments undergraduate students made regarding a child’s behavior they observed in a brief video clip. Their attributions were expected to be affected by a key situational factor that only some were informed of. The researcher hypothesized that participants informed that the child, in the clip, was recently diagnosed with leukemia would attribute the child’s behavior to situational factors, whereas participants not given any information about the child in the clip, would attribute the child’s behavior to things intrinsic of the child.

Implicit And Explicit Self-Esteem And Their Correlations With Codependency, Rachel N. Rogers

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The present study examined the correlations between implicit and explicit self-esteem and codependency. Implicit self-esteem involves automatic, over-learned self-evaluations and explicit self-esteem refers to conscious feelings of one’s self. It was predicted that participants who scored higher on the implicit self-esteem measure would score lower on the codependency scale, regardless of scores on the explicit self-esteem scale. Participants engaged in a timed task involving me/not-me primes and positive/negative words to measure implicit self-esteem. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Spann-Fischer Codependency Scale were used to measure explicit self-esteem and codependency, respectively. Should a strong negative correlation be found between codependency …

Urban Vs. Rural Work Ethic, Lindsey D. Geeding

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The present study was conducted in order to see if there were any differences in work ethic between urban and rural areas in the St. Louis, Metropolitan area. The subjects were recruited from the Lindenwood University faculty and students. The subjects were given a questionnaire created by the researcher, and a survey created by Mirles and Garrett (1997). As the results showed, there were not enough participants gathered to show significance. However, the results did show that students seem to have a stronger work ethic than faculty.

Resisting And Transforming: Pastoral Theology And Care Of Korean Military Wives, Bocheol Chang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Korean military wives have been symbolized as "dirty," "nothing," and "evil" by Koreans, Korean Americans, and their American families. They also experience same level of oppression and discrimination within Korean American congregations. In Korea, the women suffered poverty, sexual violence, and Confucian gender discrimination. They have also experienced racial and sexual oppression, intercultural familial conflicts and violence, and identity crisis in America. All of those experiences are caused the sense of not belonging of Korean military wives.

The sense of not belonging and desperation can be explained well by Andrew Sung Park's theology of han. The theology of han …

Role Of Perceived Partner Responsiveness On Mexican American Males' Pain Severity And Depressive Symptomatology, Carolyn M. Freedman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the role of cultural indicators in moderating the influence of perceived partner responses and relationship satisfaction on pain severity and depressive symptomatology among a sample of 62 married and cohabiting Mexican American men, the majority of whom were first generation Mexican Americans, with chronic back and/or neck pain. The cultural indicators were not found to act as moderators in the analyses that involved pain severity and depressive symptomatology as outcome variables. Nevertheless, this study's findings are an important initial step in understanding the relationship dynamics among an understudied population with chronic pain and raise many important questions …

Is Bigger Better Or Is Less More? : American Compared To Non-American Consumption Habits, Amanda Bratcher, Sofia Aneas, Jesus Lopez

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if American participants compared to non-Americans participants would choose a bigger consumable item regardless of its cost when asked to choose between a smaller and larger item. Participants were shown a series of items that consisted of five pairings of two different-sized consumable items and asked to state their preference after each set of items was presented. This process was administered one time with pricing information of the items made known to the participants and one time without pricing information, counterbalancing of pricing information was utilized. The results concluded that price did …

Red Bull Marketing Techniques, Jennifer Hogenmiller, Kailey Steuber

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The differences in marketing techniques using the product Red Bull Energy Drink was investigated in this research project. Three techniques were used: the participant was read aloud information, the participant read information from a pamphlet, and the participant was shown a power point presentation. These techniques were tested to discover whether the marketing technique influenced the consumer purchase of the product. 64 participants were tested, but only 31 participants’ data was used. Many participants’ data had to be excluded due to factors of affiliation and missing data. After conducting a one-way ANOVA, we did find statistical significance between the presentation …

Gender Strength Implications And Its Effects On Task Performance, Chelsea Schumacher

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Throughout the history of research, there has been an immense interest regarding gender differences. Not only have variations in gender been observed through various social and physiological factors, but through cognitive factors as well. When reviewing previous research studies, it is evident that gender variations exist even when performing simple memory tasks. In the present study, the experimenter investigated whether implying opposing gender strength would have an effect on recall test performance. It was hypothesized that an individual would be motivated to perform more accurately on a recall test when opposing gender strength implications were introduced. When analyzing the results …

The Legacies Of Lindenwood: A Survey Of What Female Graduates Did After College, Elizabeth Dalton

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This project looked at the women who graduated from Lindenwood College in the years 1955, 1965, 1975, and 1985 to see whether or not they used their degrees outside of the home. The hypothesis that more women would use their degrees outside of the home as a result of social changes as the decades increased was not supported as the trend began to decrease with the 1975 class.

Can’T Test This: Test Performance And Anxiety, Brian Judd, Danielle Merli, Jamie Zagar

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

We analyzed test anxiety with performance on a standardized test. We had four groups of participants. We looked at two variables: time warning and presence of a confederate. We hypothesized that the performance of participants in a more natural test environment (testing in the presence of another test taker, i.e., the confederate) would perform worse than those who were tested by themselves, and that those who received a time warning would perform worse than those who did not receive a time warning. Those with a higher GPA would have performed better overall on the test. There was not a significant …

Successful Weight Loss Maintenance In Relation To Method Of Weight Loss, Angela Marinilli Pinto, Amy A. Gorin, Hollie A. Raynor, Deborah F. Tate, Joseph L. Fava, Rena R. Wing

Publications and Research

This study examined the relation between method of weight loss and long-term maintenance among successful weight losers enrolled in a weight-loss maintenance trial. Participants were 186 adults (mean age = 51.6 +/- 10.7 years, mean BMI = 28.6 +/- 4.7 kg/m(2)) enrolled in the STOP Regain trial who had lost at least 10% of their body weight in the past 2 years using a very low-calorie diet (VLCD; n = 24), commercial program (n = 95), or self-guided approach (n = 67). Participants were randomized to a weight-maintenance intervention delivered face to face or over the internet or to a …

It's In Your Nature: A Pluralistic Folk Psychology, Kristin Andrews

Sentience Collection

I suggest a pluralistic account of folk psychology according to which not all predictions or explanations rely on the attribution of mental states, and not all intentional actions are explained by mental states. This view of folk psychology is supported by research in developmental and social psychology. It is well known that people use personality traits to predict behavior. I argue that trait attribution is not shorthand for mental state attributions, since traits are not identical to beliefs or desires, and an understanding of belief or desire is not necessary for using trait attributions. In addition, we sometimes predict and …