Psychology Commons^™

Child Sexual Trauma And Traumagenic Dynamics: The Mediating Role Of Family Environment On Adulthood Functioning Among Hispanic And Caucasian Females, Jose Mauricio Ramirez

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Child Sexual Abuse has received great attention in the last three decades and a major societal issue today. Several studies have suggested that the prevalence of CSA in women is in the range of 6% to 62% depending on how the data was collected (e.g., interviews, surveys) and the nature of the population sampled (e.g., general population, clinical population). Because of CSA, victims are impacted by the experience and encounter a change in the way they perceive the world on both the way they act and react upon it. Some research on the characteristics of CSA and effects in adult …

Study Of The Four Factor Theory Of Women’S Sexual Function, Julie M. Merrell

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Tiefer, Hall, and Tavris (2002) described factors comprising four categories of female sexual function. They suggested that unique factors need to be examined to understand sexual function in women. Socio-cultural, political, or economic factors, partner and relationship factors, psychological factors, and medical factors were described as aspects of women’s lives that can be the source of sexual dysfunction. In a previous study, Merrell (2007) utilized Tiefer et al’s (2002) four factor model of sexual functioning to examine female sexual functioning looking specifically at body shame, relationship satisfaction, positive and negative affect, sexual self-schema, and overall health. Based on the results …

47-Channel Burst-Mode Recording Hydrophone System Enabling Measurements Of The Dynamic Echolocation Behavior Of Free-Swimming Dolphins, Josefin Starkhammar, Mats Amundin, Johan Nilsson, Stan A. Kuczaj, Monica Almqvist, Hans W. Persson

Faculty Publications

Detailed echolocation behavior studies on free-swimming dolphins require a measurement system that incorporates multiple hydrophones (often > 16). However, the high data flow rate of previous systems has limited their usefulness since only minute long recordings have been manageable. To address this problem, this report describes a 47-channel burst-mode recording hydrophone system that enables highly resolved full beamwidth measurements on multiple free-swimming dolphins during prolonged recording periods. The system facilitates a wide range of biosonar studies since it eliminates the need to restrict the movement of animals in order to study the fine details of their sonar beams. (C) 2009 Acoustical …

Emotional Labor Demands, Wages And Gender: A Within-Person, Between-Jobs Study, Devasheesh P. Bhave, Theresa M. Glomb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Although research suggests the important role of gender in emotional labour, its effect on the relationship between emotional labour demands and wages has not been examined explicitly. The current study investigates this relationship by testing hypotheses derived from theories of vocational choice and labour market supply and demand. Hypotheses are tested using a unique within-person, between-jobs longitudinal dataset with information on two jobs for each worker in a national sample of U.S. workers (N=5,488). After controlling for relevant variables related to wages, results suggest men incur wage penalties of approximately 6% when moving to occupations with higher emotional labour demands. …

Sexual Risk Recognition Deficits: The Role Of Prior Victimization And Emotion Dysregulation, Kate L. Walsh

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recent theoretical writings suggest that the ineffective regulation of negative emotional states may reduce the ability of women to detect and respond effectively to situational and interpersonal factors that increase risk for sexual assault. However, little empirical research has explored this hypothesis. In the present study, it was hypothesized that prior sexual victimization and negative mood state would each independently predict poor risk recognition and less effective defensive actions in response to an analogue sexual assault vignette. Further, these variables were expected to interact to produce particularly impaired risk responses. Finally, that the in vivo emotion regulation strategy of suppression …

Taking Development Seriously: Critique Of The 2008 Jme Special Issue On Moral Functioning, John C. Gibbs, David Moshman, Marvin W. Berkowitz, Karen S. Basinger, Rebecca L. Grime

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This essay comments on articles that composed a Journal of Moral Education Special Issue (September, 2008, 37[3]). The issue was intended to honor the 50th anniversary of Lawrence Kohlberg’s doctoral dissertation and his subsequent impact on the field of moral development and education. The articles were characterized by the issue editor (Don Collins Reed) as providing a “look forward” from Kohlberg’s work toward a more comprehensive or integrated model of moral functioning. Prominent were culturally pluralist and biologically based themes, such as cultural learning; expert skill; culturally shaped and neurobiologically based predispositions or intuitions; and moral self-relevance or centrality. Inadequately …

The Use Of Personality Test Norms In Work Settings: Effects Of Sample Size And Relevance, Robert P. Tett, Jenna R. (Fitzke) Pieper, Patrick L. Wadlington, Scott A. Davies, Michael G. Anderson, Jeff Foster

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The value of personality test norms for use in work settings depends on norm sample size (N) and relevance, yet research on these criteria is scant and corresponding standards are vague. Using basic statistical principles and Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) data from 5 sales and 4 trucking samples (N range = 394–6,200), we show that (a) N >100 has little practical impact on the reliability of norm-based standard scores (max=±10 percentile points in 99% of samples) and (b) personality profiles vary more from using different norm samples, between as well as within job families. Averaging across scales, T-scores based on …

Cognitive Error Questionnaire (Ceq) : Psychometric Properties And Factor Structure Of The German Translation., Patrick Pössel

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

A central component of Beck et al.’s (1979) cognitive theory of depression is faulty information processing reflected by so-called cognitive errors. These cognitive errors are the reason why depressed individuals systematically misinterpret the significance of events in a negative way. They are usually assessed with the application of the Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CEQ). This study examines the psychometric properties and factor structure of the German version of the CEQ in a sample of 796 volunteers at a German university. Results confirmed that the German CEQ has satisfactory to very good psychometric properties, like the American original. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated …

Environmental Fit: A Model For Assessing And Treating Problem Behavior Associated With Curricular Difficulties In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Audrey Blakeley-Smith, Edward G. Carr, Sanja I. Cale, Jamie S. Owen-Deschryver

Peer Reviewed Articles

Theoretical considerations suggest that problem behavior should increase when a child’s competency does not match the curricular demands of the environment (i.e., when there is poor environmental fit). In the present study, environmental fit was examined for six children with autism spectrum disorders. Results indicated that the children exhibited high rates of problem behavior associated with poor motor or academic competency. Curricular modifications resulted in (a) a decrease in the level of problem behavior, (b) an increase in the percentage of task steps completed correctly, and (c) improved affect. Adults who worked with the children reported ease of intervention techniques. …

Rules For Becoming A Graceful Woman: Rhetorical Analysis Of The Japanese Self-Help Book Grace Of Women, Kaori Yamada

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

People buy and read books to gain something they lack in their lives. One might read a novel to have fun, one might read a philosophy book to rethink his/her worldview, or one might read a how-to book to learn an easy process for self-improvement. Self-help books, in particular, are explicit instruction manuals for achieving personal and relational well being (Zimmerman, Holm, and Haddock 122). By analyzing popular self-help books, one can discover what people believe they might be lacking.

The Best Of His Kind?, Fred B. Bryant

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

A Dialectic Perspective On Innovation: Conflicting Demands, Multiple Pathways, And Ambidexterity, Ronald Bledow, Michael Frese, Neil Anderson, Miriam Erez, James Farr

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Innovation, the development and intentional introduction of new and useful ideas by individuals, teams, and organizations, lies at the heart of human adaptation. Decades of research in different disciplines and at different organizational levels have produced a wealth of knowledge about how innovation emerges and the factors that facilitate and inhibit innovation. We propose that this knowledge needs integration. In an initial step toward this goal, we apply a dialectic perspective on innovation to overcome limitations of dichotomous reasoning and to gain a more valid account of innovation. We point out that individuals, teams, and organizations need to self-regulate and …

Modulation Of Long-Term Memory By Arousal In Alexithymia: The Role Of Interpretation, Kristy A. Nielson, Mitchell A. Meltzer

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Moderate physiological or emotional arousal induced after learning modulates memory consolidation, helping to distinguish important memories from trivial ones. Yet, the contribution of subjective awareness or interpretation of arousal to this effect is uncertain. Alexithymia, which is an inability to describe or identify one’s emotional and arousal states even though physiological responses to arousal are intact, provides a tool to evaluate the role of arousal interpretation. Participants scoring high and low on alexithymia (N = 30 each) learned a list of 30 words, followed by immediate recall. Participants then saw either an arousing (oral surgery) or neutral video (tooth …

Profiles Of Drug Endangered Children: Investigation In A Clinical Sample, Imanie Samanmali Wijayaratne

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Despite the increase in children born prenatally exposed to methamphetamine, little is known about the cognitive and neuropsychological outcomes of these children. Research specific to prenatal-methamphetamine exposure is extremely limited and has been primarily restricted to rat studies. This research combined with the few studies examining children prenatally exposed to methamphetamine suggests that methamphetamine-exposure is associated with various cognitive and neuropsychological delays and is impacted by both biological and environmental factors. Given the scarcity of research in this area, the current study used archival data from a psychological assessment clinic to (1) describe the frequency of prenatal methamphetamine-exposure cases, (2) …

The Relationship Of Infant Feeding And Self-Regulation In Pediatric Obesity, Amy Rebecca Beck

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Pediatric overweight and obesity is a growing national epidemic with 15 percent of children ages 6-19 considered obese and at least 22 percent considered overweight. Although there are many suggested causes, treatments, and preventions for this epidemic, a construct that is showing promise in the current literature as a preventive factor against obesity is breastfeeding in infancy. However, the mechanisms by which breastfeeding may impact later childhood weight are unknown. Some of the literature posits the possibility of self-regulation as a key mechanism in the role of breastfeeding in pediatric overweight/obesity. The purpose of this study was to examine the …

Semantic Memory Activation In Individuals At Risk For Developing Alzheimer Disease, Michael Seidenberg, Leslie Guidotti, Kristy A. Nielson, John L. Woodard, Sally Durgerian, Piero Antuono, Q. Zhang, Stephen M. Rao

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: To determine whether whole-brain, event-related fMRI can distinguish healthy older adults with known Alzheimer disease (AD) risk factors (family history, APOE ε4) from controls using a semantic memory task involving discrimination of famous from unfamiliar names.

Methods: Sixty-nine cognitively asymptomatic adults were divided into 3 groups (n = 23 each) based on AD risk: 1) no family history, no ε4 allele (control [CON]); 2) family history, no ε4 allele (FH); and 3) family history and ε4 allele (FH+ε4). Separate hemodynamic response functions were extracted for famous and unfamiliar names using deconvolution analysis (correct trials only).

Results: Cognitively intact older …

High Cortisol Levels In The Offspring Of Parents With Bipolar Disorder During Two Weeks Of Daily Sampling, Mark A. Ellenbogen, Jonathan Santo, Anne-Marie Linnen, Claire-Dominique Walker, Sheilagh Hodgins

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objectives: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is compromised in major depression, bipolar disorder (BD), and in the offspring of parents with major depression. Less is known about the offspring of parents with BD (FH+). The present project provides follow-up to a previous study showing that the adolescent (mean age 16.7 years) FH+ offspring had higher salivary cortisol levels than the offspring of parents with no mental disorder (FH−) throughout the day in their natural environment, and that girls had higher cortisol levels than boys (Ellenbogen MA, Hodgins S, Walker C-D, Adam S, Couture S. Daytime cortisol and stress reactivity in the …

Why Was I Rejected? How The Attributed Reason For Social Rejection Impacts Subsequent Behavior., Brian Curtis Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is proposed that differences in rejection attribution could yield variations in subsequent prosocial behavior. To test the attribution hypothesis, 109 participants were randomly assigned to a performance based rejection, a personally based rejection, or a control condition and then worked with an ostensible partner via the Internet to develop uses for a common household item. Prosocial behavior was measured by the number of uses a participant generated (working harder for the team). When generating creative uses, participants in the rejection conditions performed significantly worse than nonrejected participants (F(2,74) = 4.576, p<.05, r²=.11). However, in contradiction …

The Formation Of "Outsider" Through Labeling And Sentence Lengths For Immigrants Of Hispanic Descent., Jeremy Jason Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if individuals who supported denying citizenship to children of foreign parentage and making English the sole language spoken in the United States held the opinion that a sentence length over 15 years was appropriate for non-U.S. individuals. Other purposes were to determine if individuals with high religiosity or who carried a lethal weapon also held the opinion that a sentence length over 15 years was appropriate for non-U.S. individuals.

Pearson's Chi-Square was used to determine if a significant relationship existed between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The data indicated that …

Data Mining: Assessment Of Features Quality Of Class Discrimination Using Arif Index And Its Application To Physiological Datasets, Dr. Muhammad Arif, A. Fida

International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies

Quality of features determines the maximum achievable accuracy by any arbitrary classifier in pattern classification problem. In this paper, we have proposed an index that can assess the quality of features in discrimination of patterns in different classes. This index is in-sensitive to the complexity of boundary separating different classes if there is no overlap among features of different classes. Proposed index is model free and requires no clustering algorithm to discover the clustering structure present in the feature space. It is only based on the information of local neighborhood of feature vectors in the feature space. This index can …

Mood Over Matter: Can Happiness Be Your Undoing?, Melissa Falkenstern, Holly H. Schiffrin, S. Katherine Nelson, Lyndsey Ford, Christina Keyser

Psychological Science Articles

Research in the field of positive psychology has revealed many advantages of positive emotions. According to the undoing hypothesis (Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998), positive affect can undo the physiological effects of negative emotion. The present study examined whether positive emotions could undo the cognitive effects of negative emotion. A letter identification task was used to measure changes in cognitive processing of 86 college students who were induced into a positive, negative, or neutral affective state by viewing various film clips. The results of this study provided preliminary support for the hypothesis that positive emotions undo the cognitive effects of negative …

Development Of The Test Item Pool For A Screening Instrument Of Emotional And Behavioral Disorder Of Elementary School Students., Laura Eileen Conley

Theses and Dissertations

The functioning of children with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) is a concern for parents and educators. Screening focuses efforts to identify and prevent/remediate EBD for students most at risk. Current screening instruments fail to meet three factors that may be related to successful early identification. The three factors are universality (rates all students), brevity, and identification of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. This thesis began the construction of a screener with all three factors. The thesis determined a conceptual basis for the instrument and created an item pool. The conceptualization was based on a literature review. The item pool was …

Sexual Behaviors Of Students Studying Abroad, Jenna Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the risky sexual behaviors of students studying abroad, given that prior research has shown that individuals on vacation and international travelers are engaging in riskier sexual behavior while away from home. Participants included NJ university students, between the ages 18-50, who are currently or have studied abroad within the past 6 years. Student information was obtained from Rowan University and each individual was emailed a link to an anonymous online survey. The survey included questions from the Rosenburg Self-Esteem Questionnaire, Relationship Scale Questionnaire, Relationship Questionnaire and questions based on prior research (Milhausen …

Thankful Feelings, Thoughts & Behavior: A Tripartite Model Of Evaluating Benefactors And Benefits, Maureen Mathews

Theses and Dissertations

Gratitude and indebtedness have been treated as similar constructs that occur in social exchange, but little work has examined how these constructs are independent from each other. Relatedly, how a person evaluates the components of a social exchange – the benefactor and benefit – can vary. Two exploratory studies examined affective, cognitive and behavioral measurement during a social exchange to test whether they were associated with gratitude and indebtedness. Participants completed a distribution game for which they gave and received tickets for a raffle with a fictitious partner. Study 1 (N=34) findings indicated that gratitude was associated with positive affect, …

Religious Affiliation, Religious And Spiritual Practices, And Burnout Among Adolescent Residential Staff Members, Tara Sanderson, Rodger K. Bufford, Mary K. Peterson, Victoria Ravensberg

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

Adolescent residential treatment staff members have jobs that are emotionally exhausting, physically taxing and spiritually draining. Good coping skills, including religious/spiritual practices, may reduce burnout. Results from a small rural adolescent residential treatment center indicated a high degree of burnout. Burnout was negatively correlated with existential and religious well-being, stress, income, social support and personal mental health treatment

Examining The Relationships Between Parental Efficacy, Parenting Styles And Repetitive Behaviors In Children With Autism, James R. Carrillo

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between parental efficacy, parenting styles and stereotypical behaviors exhibited by children with autism. Fourteen mothers and their children with autism (ages 14-21) were recruited from local schools and the rehabilitation center. Surveys used in this study included the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R), Parents Sense of Competence (PSOC) and the Parents Locus of Control (PLOC) scale. Also incorporated was the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Even though there was no correlation between the PLOC and stereotypical behaviors of the RBS-R, results revealed a significant relationship between the PSOC and the RBS-R. …

Knowledge, Attitudes, And Job Satisfaction In Long-Term Care: A Comparison Between Licensed Nurses And Nursing Assistants, Lynne Almand

Graduate Theses

Knowledge, attitudes, and job satisfaction of long-term care workers were examined to determine if a relationship existed between these factors and if differences existed between licensed nurses and nursing assistants. Participants included 36 nurses and 60 assistants from five nursing homes in the Midland/Odessa area. Results indicated that nurses had significantly more positive attitudes toward (t(94) = -5.72, p<.05) and increased knowledge of older adults (t(94) = 2.71, p<.05) than assistants. In addition, more positive attitudes were significantly associated with more knowledge of the elderly (r(96) = -0.36, p<.05) as well as increased levels of job satisfaction (r(96) = -0.53, p<.05).

The Impact Of Friendships And Mutual Antipathies On Children's Social Behavior And Social Cognition, Elizabeth M. Boulie

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Mutual antipathies are rare among preschoolers and are common among older school age children, but little is known about the prevalence of mutual antipathies among younger school age children. One goal of this study was to examine the prevalence of mutual antipathies among first graders to determine if they are common among younger children. A second goal of the study was to examine the impact of friendship and mutual antipathies on children’s social behavior and social cognition. A sample of first, third, and fifth graders (N = 512) first completed rating and nomination sociometric assessments to assess participation in friendships …

Depressive Symptoms And Marital Satisfaction In The Context Of Chronic Disease: A Longitudinal Dyadic Analysis, Rachel Pruchno, Maureen Wilson-Genderson, Francine P Cartwright

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

These analyses examined the longitudinal relationships between depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction over a 2-year period as experienced by 315 patients with end-stage renal disease and their spouses. Using multilevel modeling, the authors examined both individual and cross-partner effects of depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction on patients and spouses, testing bidirectional causality. Results indicate that mean and time-varying depressive symptoms of both patients and spouses were associated with their own marital satisfaction. Although mean marital satisfaction was associated with own depressive symptoms for both patients and spouses, time-varying marital satisfaction did not affect depressive symptoms for either patients or spouses. …

Social Support Domains For Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Assessing Perceived Needs And Stress Levels, Rachel N. Wolf

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current study investigated types of social support needs through a number of domains reported by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) along with the relationship of these needs to reported parental stress. Female participants (N = 35) in the South Central Kentucky region responded to a number of measures regarding perceptions of their current stress levels on the Parenting Stress Index - Short Form (PSI-SF) and their perceptions on social support needs through a modified version of the Family Needs Questionnaire (FNQ). The results indicated that there was a moderately strong correlation between social support needs and …