Psychology Commons^™

Psychosocial Variables And Time To Injury Onset: A Hurdle Regression Analysis Model, Jeremy Sibold, Sam Zizzi

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Context:

Psychological variables have been shown to be related to athletic injury and time missed from participation in sport. We are unaware of any empirical examination of the influence of psychological variables on time to onset of injury. Objective:

To examine the influence of orthopaedic and psychosocial variables on time to injury in college athletes. Patients or Other Participants:

One hundred seventy-seven (men  =  116, women  =  61; age  =  19.45 ± 1.39 years) National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II athletes. Main Outcome Measure(s):

Hurdle regression analysis (HRA) was used to determine the influence of predictor variables on days to …

A Tailored Wellness Intervention For College Students Using Internet-Based Technology: A Pilot Study, Alessandro Quartiroli, Sam Zizzi

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot a theory-based, computer-tailored feedback system for healthy behaviors for college students at a large, public university, aiming to enhance student wellness. A total of 1300 college students were contacted. Sixty–two students completed the eight week intervention. The participants were randomly assigned into two groups and received the survey three times, consistently receiving normative or personalized feedback. The participating sample was generally healthy and mainly comprised of freshman, Caucasian, and normal weight individuals. Repeated-measure ANOVAs were run and small significant interactions were found between the type of feedback received and some …

Psychopathology Research Group, Rodrigo Becerra

ECU Research Week

No abstract provided.

Change Detection Performance In Naturalistic Scenes: The Influence Of Visual Working Memory For Identity And Spatial Locations, Bonnie L. Angelone, Melissa R. Beck

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

The present studies examined the roles of identity and spatial working memory in change detection. Observers completed a spatial or identity working memory task concurrently with a change detection task. In the change detection task, participants were presented naturalistic scenes that contained either a color or location change to one object. Concurrently, participants remembered either the colors or locations of four squares. There was specific disruption of performance when the working memory task and the change detection task loaded the same subsystem of working memory. There was also evidence that spatial information is processed more readily than identity information. This …

The Influence Of Odor And Emotion On Memory, Laura R. Shrode

Psychology Student Work

Past research has suggested that there is a special neural connectivity between the olfactory cortex, amygdala and hippocampus that is related to the connection between smell, emotion and memory (Herz & Cupchik, 1995). This experiment looked at the differences in memory recognition and memory recall between conditions with a pleasant or unpleasant scent and a positive or negative emotional state. Intrusion errors were used to estimate connections between odor, emotion, and memory. Results found that intrusion errors were equally likely to occur between all sources, suggesting source confusion. However, the specific source of the confusion did not affect memory. These …

Speak Loud And Clear: Relating Intergenerational Service-Learning To Ageism And Elderspeak, Kristin Hultgren

Psychology Student Work

Speech modification for older adults, commonly referred to as “elderspeak,” is a discriminatory behavior that affects older adults in interactions with family, friends, strangers, healthcare professionals, and long-term care facility staff. The current study investigates the relationship between Intergenerational Service-Learning (ISL) and both ageism and elderspeak. Undergraduate students enrolled in service-learning (SL) projects with older adults (N = 11) or children (N = 20), completed the Fraboni Scale of Ageism (FSA), an Implicit Associations test (IAT), and a communication map task. In the communication map task, students were asked to verbally describe a route on a given map to both …

Diminished Conditioned Responding To The Nicotine Stimulus By Antidepressant Drugs With Differing Specificity For The Serotonin And Norepinephrine Transporter, Amanda M. Dion, Scott C. Sanderson, L. Charles Murrin, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

People diagnosed with depression also tend to have a co-morbid nicotine addiction. Thus, there is interest in whether medications used to treat depression alter the effects of nicotine. This study assessed whether the antidepressant drugs citalopram, imipramine, and reboxetine, with differing specificity for the serotonin and norepinephrine transporter, altered responding controlled by the conditional stimulus (CS) effects of nicotine. Rats received intermixed 20-min nicotine (0.4 mg base/kg, SC) and saline sessions. On nicotine sessions, rats had intermittent access to sucrose; no sucrose was available on saline sessions. After discrimination performance stabilized and a nicotine generalization curve (0.025–0.4 mg/kg) was established, …

A Preliminary Study Of The Feasibility Of A Global Connections Mentoring Program For Panamanian Girls, Hannah Lambert

VA Engage Journal

Established in 1997, the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP) is a mentoring program that pairs middle school girls with college women from the University of Virginia for combined group and one-on-one mentoring. In addition to their initial preventative program model, YWLP has recently begun to develop a global connections curriculum in order to create an opportunity for cultural exchange amongst girls and women across the globe. This study focused on the feasibility of developing a YWLP ―sister site‖ in Panama City, Panama and their participating in a cultural exchange with YWLP girls in Virginia.

Testing The Indirect Effect Of Trait Mindfulness On Adolescent Cigarette Smoking Through Negative Affect And Perceived Stress Mediators, C. Anderson Johnson, David S. Black, Joel Milam, Steve Sussman

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Mindfulness refers to an enhanced attention to and awareness of present moment experience. This study examined how trait mindfulness, as measured with six items from Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale, might influence adolescent cigarette smoking frequency through its impact on depressive affect, anger affect and perceived stress mediators. Self-reported data from Chinese adolescents (N = 5287, mean age = 16.2 years, SD = 0.7; 48.8% females) were collected within 24 schools. The product of coefficients test was used to determine significant mediation paths. Results from baseline cross-sectional data indicated that trait mindfulness had a significant indirect effect on past 30-day …

Responses To Domestic Violence Public Service Ads: Memory, Attitudes, Affect, And Individual Differences, Courtney Elizabeth Welton-Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public service ads (PSAs) are an increasingly visible part of efforts to decrease the occurrence and consequences of domestic violence. Like other advertising, domestic violence PSAs are designed to grab attention, influence attitudes, and enhance memory for ad content. Over the years, images in domestic violence PSAs have changed substantially; agencies have started using pictures that generate emotions - either vivid negative images (bruised faces or body parts), or positive images (smiling faces) that contrast with the negative text. It is not clear, however, how different types of ad images influence memory for the message and attitudes about domestic violence, …

Thank You, Dear: Examining The Association Between Gratitude And Relationship Well-Being, Erica Pearse Ragan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study replicated and extended existing research on gratitude by examining the ways in which gratitude is related to both individual and relationship well-being. A total of 387 participants completed the pre assessment and were randomized into the study, with 251 participants completing the full study (i.e., pre, post, and follow-up assessments). Participants were randomly assigned to list relationship-focused gratitudes, amusing events, or general events that happened during their day for 14 days. The differential impact of the three interventions on both individual and relationship variables was investigated. The relationship-focused and general events conditions experienced decreased negative affect from …

Trauma In Transportation: Factors Contributing To Positive And Negative Outcomes Of Involvement In Trauma For Railroad Workers, Jill Veronica Pinarowicz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored several predictors of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) in a sample of 136 train employees. The first objective was to examine the influence of number of work related traumas, number of life traumas, age, personality characteristic extroversion, personality characteristic openness, social support, positive cognitive coping, and negative cognitive coping in the prediction of PTSD. The second objective was to assess the influence of number of work related traumas, number of life traumas, age, personality characteristic extroversion, personality characteristic openness, social support, positive cognitive coping, and negative cognitive coping prediction of PTG.

Freight …

The Relationship Between Middle School Students' Perceptions Of Physical Activity, Student Engagement, And Academic Achievement, Jeremy D. Moretti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Physical activity is important, and many adolescents are not meeting the recommendation that youth participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week (CDC, 2011). Physical inactivity among middle school students is on the rise and may be a contributing factor to a decline in academic performance. Prior research has focused primarily on bodily health; however, growing evidence supports the benefits of physical activity for academic achievement (Chomitz et al., 2009). This study examined the relationship between middle school students' perceptions of physical activity and student engagement they relate to academic achievement among 179 middle …

Latino Family Involvement: An Exploratory Study Of Latina Mother-Daughter Relationships And Their Effects On Educational Attainment And Resiliency, Maria Ana Rodriguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Latino family involvement is an important issue in the field of education. Effective strategies to promote family involvement in the Latino community are vital for the educational attainment of Latino students and emotional wellbeing of Latino families. This study used focus groups, in-depth interviews, and observations to examine Latino family involvement and the relationships and communication patterns between Latina mothers and daughters. The Latina mother-daughter relationship was studied in an effort to gain a better understanding of how this relationship affects a Latina daughter's educational attainment and sense of resiliency. Results indicated that a positive relationship between a Latina mother …

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? An Examination Of Factors Influencing Environmental Behavior In Denver, Colorado, Dan J. Kasper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-recycling and non-composting of municipal solid waste have important natural resource management implications, in that they both reduce energy, water, and raw natural resource use. Responsible waste management also likely has positive climate impacts by virtue of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling and composting are pro-environmental behaviors that have been shown to be influenced by numerous socio-demographic and psychological factors. This study analyzes the correlation of a number of variables with frequency of recycling and composting in select census tracts in Denver, CO, USA, with the goals of informing waste management policy and contributing to the overall pro-environmental behavior literature. …

Bully/Victim Power Inventory: Measuring The Power Imbalance In The Bully/Victim Relationship, Marybeth Plonkey-Lehto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The empirical study of the power imbalance in the bully/victim relationship has impeded research synthesis, and the need for a quantitative measure of this key component has been well established in the literature. Lack of differentiation between victimization with and without power imbalance has been cited as a possible cause for imprecise measurement. Increased precision in bully victimization measurement is needed to accurately inform research investigating psychosocial health, treatment and positive outcomes, in addition to prevention and intervention programs. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was the initial development and validation of the Bully/Victim Power Inventory aimed at differentiating perceived …

Creating A Classroom Environment That Nurtures Motivation In High School Students, Karen Ann Wirth

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was to provide high school teachers with training to increase their understanding of how research-based information can help them create classroom environments that nurture motivation in adolescents. Participating teachers completed a pre-test questionnaire to assess goal orientation, teacher efficacy, theory of intelligence, perceptions of the importance of knowledge regarding adolescent development, and autonomy-supportive attitudes and behaviors. Participants included 10 high school teachers from a suburban high school in Southern California.

Role Of The Ventral Tegmental Area And Nucleus Accumbens For The One-Trial Behavioral Sensitization Of The Preweanling Rat, Alexandria Grace Pothier

Theses Digitization Project

Behavioral sensitization is defined as an increase in behavioral responding that occurs after repeated administration of a psychostimulant. Behavioral sensitization is an important component of the addiction process that is mediated by different brain regions. In this thesis, lidocaine was used to determine those brain areas mediating one-trial behavioral sensitization in preweanling rats.

The Mediating Effects Of Perceived Person Organizational Support And Perceived Person Supervisor Support On The Relationships Among Person-Organization Fit, Person-Supervisor Fit, And Organizational Commitment, Steven Mark Crocker

Theses Digitization Project

For the present study we are primarily interested in the match between individuals' characteristics and their work environments. This match between individuals' characteristics and their work environment is known as person-environment (PE) fit. The current study's aim was to integrate and build upon the PE fit literature by investigating the relationship between various forms of PE fit and two forms of organizational commitment with a proposed mediation of perceived organizational support (POS) for PO fit and perceived supervisor support (PSS) for PS fit. Two hundred and twenty-four participants who had been employed by their organization for at least six months, …

Family Functioning And Maternal Stress In Families Of Children With Autism, Charmaine Marcella Puentes

Theses Digitization Project

The present study evaluated the relationship between domains of family functioning and maternal stress in families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and families of typically developing (TD) children. The ASD group consisted of parents of children with an ASD diagnosis currently receiving services at an on-campus center and the community group consisted of parents of TD children. Parents in both groups completed a survey as part of a larger, ongoing research study at a university located in inland southern California. For this study, data was accessed from an archival database, with the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale, the Family …

Evaluating Commensurability And Validity Of Work-Family Conflict, Enrichment, And Culture Measures In Low Income Populations, Kimberly Anne French

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this research is to examine the adequacy of our current work-family constructs and measures for studying under-represented populations by evaluating the commensurability and construct validity of three major work and family measures, conflict, enrichment, and cultre, when applied to the unique population of low income families.

Comparing Measures Of Attachment : “To Whom One Turns In Times Of Stress,” Parental Warmth, And Partner Satisfaction, Marc A. Lindberg Ph.D., April Fugett, Stuart W. Thomas

Psychology Faculty Research

The Attachment and Clinical Issues Questionnaire (ACIQ; M. A. Lindberg& S. W. Thomas, 2011), was developed over an 18-year period containing 29 scales. Thepurpose of the present study was to test (a) the validity of the attachment scales in terms ofhow they predict to whom one turns in times of stress and for affective sharing, and (b) how the attachment scales compared with the Experiences in Close Relationship Questionnaire (ECR) in terms of concurrent, convergent, and discriminant evidence. The relevant secure scales of the ACIQ predicted to whom one turned in Study 1, and Study 2 demonstrated good convergent evidence …

Community Member Perspectives From Transgender Women And Men Who Have Sex With Men On Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis As An Hiv Prevention Strategy: Implications For Implementation, Gabriel R. Galindo, Ja'nina Walker Ph.D., Patrick Hazelton, Tim Lane, Wayne T. Steward, Stephen F. Morin, Emily A. Arnold

Psychology

Background: An international randomized clinical trial (RCT) on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as an human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-prevention intervention found that taken on a daily basis, PrEP was safe and effective among men who have sex with men (MSM) and male-to-female transgender women. Within the context of the HIV epidemic in the United States (US), MSM and transgender women are the most appropriate groups to target for PrEP implementation at the population level; however, their perspectives on evidenced-based biomedical research and the results of this large trial remain virtually unknown. In this study, we examined the acceptability of individual daily use …

The Effects Of Distractors In Multiple Object Tracking Are Modulated By The Similarity Of Distractor And Target Features, Cary S. Feria

Faculty Publications

Is the effect of distractors in multiple object tracking dependent on the distractors sharing the features of the targets? In experiment 1, observers tracked five targets among five distractors that were identical to the targets and a number of additional distractors that were either identical to or featurally distinct from the targets. Results showed that distractors that are distinct from the targets in shape or color, or are stationary, impair tracking less than distractors that are identical to the targets. However, tracking performance declined as the number of distractors increased, even for featurally distinct distractors. Experiment 2 showed that distractors …

Brushed-Off Testimony, Stanley L. Brodsky, Dustin B. Wygant

Psychology Faculty and Staff Research

In line with years of tradition, soldiers young and old come together at the local pub or hall to swap war stories of time in the trenches. For the forensic clinician, the trenches represent the hard-fought battles during expert testimony. As it turns out, our pub was a social gathering at the 2012 meeting of the American Psychology Law Society in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The University of Alabama Psychology Law Program hosted a social gathering for its faculty, graduate students, alumni, and friends to come together and share stories and camaraderie. It was in this setting that we launched …

Child Custody Evaluations: Ethical, Scientific, And Practice Considerations, Robert P. Archer, Dustin Wygant

Psychology Faculty and Staff Research

Child custody evaluations are among the most difficult of forensic evaluations. The current paper examines differences between custody evaluations and other types of psychological and forensic evaluations. We also discuss important ethical issues regarding these evaluations and review the typical components of a custody evaluation, with particular attention on psychological testing as a component of custody evaluations. We then discuss the role of research in informing the interpretation of the evaluation data and provide a complete sample custody evaluation report to illustrate several points from the manuscript.

Empirically Guided Case Conceptualization Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder With The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (Mmpi-2-Rf) In A Forensic Disability Evaluation, Lauren M. Vines, Roger O. Gervais, Dustin Wygant

Psychology Faculty and Staff Research

The following article discusses how the Restructured Form of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI -2-RF; Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008) can be used in case conceptualizations for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), particularly in compensation seeking settings. We review contemporary conceptualizations of PTSD, particularly emphasizing the role that affect and personality in regards to etiology of the disorder, as well as different manifestations of the disorder. We then review the case of an individual seeking compensation for trauma related disability performed by the third author. Particular emphasis is placed on examining how interpretation of the MMPI-2-RFprofile is guided by empirical findings.

The Effect Of Neglect In Infancy On The Ability To Attach To Adoptive Caregivers, Lisa Marie Christoffer

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between neglect in infancy and the child's ability to form attachments in an adoption context. Most of the current research assesses the effect of all forms of maltreatment on attachment behavior. However this study aimed to investigate one type of maltreatment, neglect, on attachment behavior.

The Effectiveness Of Peer Strategies To Counter Bullying: Undercover Anti-Bullying Teams, Felipe De Jesus Barba

Theses Digitization Project

The following project is an analysis of a section of data collected during the development of thirty-two different undercover anti-bullying teams at Edgewater College. Edgewater College is situated by the Tamaki estuary in Pakuranga, Auckland, New England. The research was based on the data collected from mainstream students, both male and female, with ages ranging from 13-18 years old. The students in this sample have an involvement in bullying that ranges from being peer bystanders, perpetrators and/or bullying targets.

Development Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder As A Function Of Shame In Child Abuse Survivors, Guadalupe Valdivia

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was to provide support regarding the need for more research to investigate whether ethnic differences and types of abuse differences exist regarding whether shame is a mediator between childhood trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.