Psychology Commons^™

Suicide Attempts Among Emotionally And Behaviorally Disturbed Adolescents Removed From The Home, Faith M. Wanja

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between adolescent suicide behavior and the age of removal from home amongst children with emotional and behavioral disturbance. The study aims to determine whether a child�s removal from home can be counted as a viable basis for the development of suicide prevention programs and an expansion for evidence based practices. The study was conducted using archived de-identified data collected and provided by a private not-for-profit behavioral health treatment facility located in rural Kansas. The participants included male and female adolescents between the ages of thirteen to eighteen years old that were admitted …

Relationship Satisfaction In Native Koreans And Korean Americans As A Function Of Alexithymia, Emotional Intelligence, And Marital Vows Orientation, Victoria Lee, Linda Berg-Cross, Kyung Suh

Department of Psychology Faculty Publications

The common stereotype of the inexpressive Asian, holding all emotions at bay, continues in our expectations of how Asian couples relate in intimate relationships. There is also a widely held belief that Asian marriages embrace more covenant-oriented commitments, compromising individual freedom and expression for the sake of harmony and integration of the couple. The current study attempted to test these stereotypes among Koreans living in the United States and Native Koreans. Results indicated that the dominant culture significantly shapes the expression and importance of alexithymia among Koreans, but when Koreans are a minority group, traditional beliefs may exert an even …

Mindfulness And Parental Stress Among Parents Of Children With Development Delays: The Role Of The Marital Relationship, Merideth Robinson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Background: Studies have found that marital satisfaction and parenting stress are important risk factors for negative child outcomes. However, parenting stress and broader family factors like the marital relationship are rarely addressed in interventions targeting childhood problems. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) appears to be the stress-based intervention that has the most empirical support with over 50 studies demonstrating its effectiveness; however, to date no peer-reviewed article has been published examining whether this intervention can help reduce parenting stress (Chiesa, & Serretti, 2009; Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, & Walach, 2004). Similarly, research has shown that marital satisfaction significantly impacts parental stress and …

Animals Represent The Past And The Future, Thomas R. Zentall

Psychology Faculty Publications

It has been proposed by some that only humans have the ability to mentallytravel back in time (i.e., have episodic memory) and forward in time (i.e., have the ability to simulate the future). However, there is evidence from a variety of nonhuman animals (e.g., primates, dolphins, scrub jays, rats, and pigeons) that they have some ability to recover personal memories of what-where-when an event occurred (an earlier requirement of the ability to recover an episodic memory) and answer unexpected questions (another requirement to distinguish between semantic and episodic memory). Also, perhaps more critically, according to Tulving’s more recent definition of …

Measuring Bonds In Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy, Carla K. Sloan-Brown

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Equine-facilitated psychotherapy is a type of animal-assisted intervention that has potential to be an effective therapeutic modality in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. It is theorized that a meaningful relationship is formed between client and horse; this relationship is thought to inspire meaningful change in the client. The current study found evidence of human-equine bonds and determined they can be measured quantitatively using adapted bonding scales. This study also explored variables that may impact bonds formed between clients and horse co-therapists. Finally, a potential correlation between the strength of the bond and the severity of symptoms over the course of …

Temperament, Attachment, And Coparenting As Risk And Protective Factors Of Depression In Young Adulthood, Whitney Giesing

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Depression is a serious mental illness that affects millions of people. Depression can cause severe life impairment and is associated with numerous life threatening risk factors. Though treatment of depression is important, prevention is ideal. Therefore, it is important to understand associated risk and protective factors of depression. Several factors may precede the development of depression in young adulthood. This study sought to better understand the role of temperament, parent-child attachment relationships, and child reported co-parenting quality on the development of depressive symptoms in young adults between the ages of 18 and 22. Previous studies have suggested that some temperament …

The Effects Of Coping, Self-Esteem, And Social Support On Stress And Wellbeing, Emily Meyerhoffer-Kubalik

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The present study aimed to add to the literature on the internal and external factors that may buffer the negative effects of stress. Specifically, the present study examined the effects of coping styles, self-esteem, and social support on both psychological wellbeing and stress. Participants (N = 198) were administered a measure of coping styles (COPE), self-esteem (Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale), social support (SSQ-R), psychological wellbeing (MHI), and stress (ICSRLE). Results showed problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping were associated with better psychological wellbeing and lower stress. Avoidant coping was associated with lower psychological wellbeing and higher stress. Self-esteem was also related to …

Strengths Versus Deficits: The Impact Of Gender Role Conflict And Counseling Approach On The Appeal Of Therapy For Men, Jeff Reznicek-Parrado

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Current trends from the fields of mental health, criminal justice, and sociology suggest that despite men’s significant mental health problems (i.e. Moscick, 1995; Sue, Sue, & Sue, 2003; Greenfield & Snell, 1999; Follman, Aronsen, & Pan, 2013), they are much more reluctant to seek mental health help than women (Addis & Mahalik, 2003; Olfson & Marcus, 2010). Sociologists and psychologists have suggested that this disparity in help seeking can be largely explained by a cultural mismatch between the context of masculinity and the context of psychotherapy. Psychologists have called for a paradigm shift in the way clinical services are rendered …

The Effects Of Leader Behavior On Follower Ethical Behavior: Examining The Mediating Roles Of Ethical Efficacy And Moral Disengagement, Noel Palmer

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recent ethical scandals in organizations are often cited when pointing to leaders as the culprits who foster corruption in their organization; however, little empirical work examines the individual processes through which leaders may influence follower ethical decision-making and behavior. Drawing from principles of social cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1986, 1997), moral self-regulatory capacities are presented as a means by which leaders may influence followers. Specifically, I hypothesize that leader influence on follower (un)ethical behavior is mediated through follower ethical efficacy beliefs and moral disengagement processes. I also suggest that ethical efficacy interacts with ethical leadership to influence behavior. …

Targeted Threats: An Examination Of Thematic Content And Approach Behavior Displayed By Mentally Ill And Non-Mentally Ill Contactors, Charles D. Darrow

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Threat assessment involves a set of investigative and operational techniques used to identify, assess, and manage the risks of targeted violence and other problematic approach behavior. The threat assessment approach continues to be refined through empirical research conducted in an effort to identify and better understand the risk factors for engaging in such behaviors, which accounts for the transition to a more dynamic evaluative process. Pertinent is the examination of thematic content utilized by subjects who engage in threatening behavior toward identifiable victims. In targeted threat assessment, thematic content examination involves the analyses of what the threatening individual is saying …

Child Emotional Abuse And Its Relationship To Obesity, Kelly Anderson Driscoll

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Over the past 30 years in the United States childhood obesity has more than tripled (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). In 2008, 18.5% of adolescents of the age 12-18 years old were obese in the United States (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). With the increase of obesity Americans have spent approximately 9% of their total medical costs on obesity-related illnesses (Finkelstein, Fiebelkorn, &Wang, 2003). Previous research documented the relationship between virtually every form of child abuse and subsequent obesity. Restricting focus to child emotional abuse, while studies have linked emotional abuse to the long-term consequence of …

Neural Correlates Of The Extreme Male Brain Theory In Adolescents With And Without Autism Spectrum Disorders, Audrey Meyer Carson

Dissertations (1934 -)

The Extreme Male Brain (EMB) theory (Baron-Cohen, 2003) is a behavioral theory of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), suggesting that the triad of behavioral impairments in ASD can be conceptualized psychologically as impairment in empathizing, coupled with a superior capacity for systemizing. Despite studies of the behavioral manifestations of this theory, it lacks neurological findings, specifically evidence of less coordinated activity between the left and right hemisphere in ASD (i.e. more lateralized activity). This study attempted to investigate neural correlates of the EMB theory utilizing EEG coherence, an index of neural connectivity, to determine if a more lateralized profile exists in …

Conservative Holiness Pastors' Ability To Assess Depression And Their Willingness To Refer To Mental Health Professionals, Andrew Graham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the willingness and ability of Conservative Holiness pastors to assess depression and their willingness to refer to mental health professionals. Eighty-six pastors completed a four-part survey that measured diagnostic accuracy, willingness to refer, attitudes toward mental health, perceived competency to assist, recognition of need for help and confidence in mental health professionals. Demographic characteristics and case study responses were investigated through analysis of frequency data; relationships with demographic variables were analyzed using Spearman's rho and independent t-tests; relationships with variables derived from the scales were analyzed using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation. Analyses found …

The Effectiveness Of A Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program That Offer Special Benefits For Pregnant And Parenting Teens: A Qualitative Study, Marsha Brown

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Teen pregnancy continues to be a problem for families, educators, health care professionals, and the government. Teenagers are not afforded the opportunity to learn or receive reinforcement on God's laws on abstaining from premarital sex because religious education is not allowed in the public school system. This increase has led to the creation of the Teenage Parenting Center (TAPP), located in southwest Georgia. TAPP is one of 64 schools in a school district that offers special benefits for pregnant and parenting teens. This qualitative case study used a phenomenological approach to explore the experience of eight former attendees of the …

Treatment Of Psychiatric Inpatients With Relationship Dysfunction Using A Short Term Cognitive Interpersonal Intervention: A Pilot Study, Tamra Rasberry

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Relationship conflict for the psychiatric patient can have significant detrimental effects. There are specific types of interactions that can increase conflict and predict the potential for relapse; these have been identified by research and designated as components of Expressed Emotion (EE). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) have been very effective when targeting specific psychiatric diagnoses, but less effective when addressing relationship conflict. The majority of studies addressing relationship conflict have taken place in an outpatient, long-term setting. There is limited research that utilizes an inpatient short-term intensive therapy with relationship conflict as its sole focus, targeting areas …

Factors That Contribute To Burnout Among Elementary School Counselors, Yesenia Lopez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the relationship between elementary school counselors' self-efficacy, counselor-to-student ratio, and employment in a Title I school and burnout on the dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. This study also investigated which factor(s) (i.e., self-efficacy, counselor-to-student ratio, or employment in a Title I school) predicts burnout on the dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment among elementary school counselors. Data collected from 84 elementary school counselors were used to test four hypotheses. A significant positive relation was found between elementary school counselors' self-efficacy and personal accomplishment. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were not related to elementary …

Revisiting The Multicultural Experience-Creativity Link: The Effects Of Cultural Distance And Comparison Mindset, Chi-Ying Cheng, Angela K. Y. Leung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A growing literature provides evidence for the multicultural experience-creativity link such that exposure to the juxtaposition of two cultures facilitates individual creativity. The underlying mechanisms for this relationship, however, are still far from being well explored. Drawing upon the novel perspective of motivated cognition, we hypothesize that two factors interact to affect creative outcomes: (a) perceived cultural distance between the two juxtaposed cultures, and (b) comparison mind-sets. Specifically, we argue that individuals’ creative performance will be increased only when a difference mind-set is employed to process the cultural stimuli that are sufficiently different from each other. In two studies, individuals …

Advancing Our Understanding Of Team Motivation: Integrating Conceptual Approaches And Content Areas, Guihyun Grace Park, Matthias Spitzmuller, Richard P. Deshon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although research on team motivation has been one of the fastest growing research domains in organizational science, progress in this domain has been hampered by a lack of integrative reviews. Thus, we develop a theoretical framework in this article to summarize and discuss different conceptual approaches to team motivation for the following six content areas: team design, team needs, team goals, team self-regulation, team efficacy, and team affect. Our framework organizes previous research according to two dimensions. First, we assess the degree of interdependence between team members’ motivational states, differentiating between models that conceptualize team motivation as functionally equivalent to …

Heritage-Culture Images Disrupt Immigrants’ Second-Language Processing Through Triggering First-Language Interference, Shu Zhang, Michael W. Morris, Chi-Ying Cheng, Andy J. Yap

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

For bicultural individuals, visual cues of a setting’s cultural expectations can activate associated representations, switching the frames that guide their judgments. Research suggests that cultural cues may affect judgments through automatic priming, but has yet to investigate consequences for linguistic performance. The present studies investigate the proposal that heritage-culture cues hinder immigrants’ second-language processing by priming first-language structures. For Chinese immigrants in the United States, speaking to a Chinese (vs. Caucasian) face reduced their English fluency, but at the same time increased their social comfort, effects that did not occur for a comparison group of European Americans (study 1). Similarly, …

Kiasu (怕輸) And Its Moderating Effects On Multicultural Experiences On Creativity And Persistence Tasks, Lay See Ong, Chi-Ying Cheng, Ying-Yi Hong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Question: Can a cultural norm exert both positive and negative influence on its subscribers? Method: Three experimental studies explored this question in creativity and persistence tasks. Findings: The answer is YES. Kiasu (a Singaporean cultural norm) can either impair creativity performance or help boost persistency.

The Identification And Classification Of Flow Disruptions In The Operating Room During Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy And Open Hernia Repair Procedures, Sacha N. Duff

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The operating room is one of the most complex work environments in healthcare; it is estimated that at least 7% of adverse events due to medical error occur in the operating room. Flow disruptions are events that cause a "break" in the primary surgical task, or the loss of any team member's situational awareness. An empirical link between flow disruptions and surgical errors in the OR has been established; therefore, identifying and classifying the specific flow disruptions present during different types of procedures should facilitate the development of evidence-based interventions. The goal of this study was to identify and classify …

Investigation Of Videogame Flow: Effects Of Expertise And Challenge, Jolie G. Gascon

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The number of participants in this expertise and videogame flow test totaled 80 from multiple target locations. Participants engaged in various levels of the videogame Super Mario Bros. Twenty experts and twenty novices experienced the easier level of World 1-2 while the other twenty experts and novices were exposed to the more difficult level World 6-1. After gameplay, participants completed a modified survey measuring flow. This survey, along with overall percentage game score, was analyzed. A significant interaction was found between game level (challenge level) and skill levels in perceived immersion, with significant main effects for expertise in perceived skill, …

Moral Development In The Military: The Efficacy Of Rotc Morality Training At The Sophomore Level, Paul A. Gillett

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) is an accessions program designed to produce quality commissioned Officers for operational units, in support of strategic Department of Defense (DoD) objectives. The traditional program length of 4 years coincides with the average number of years required to obtain a baccalaureates degree in the United States, in part because a degree is required for program completion. The program goals are to develop candidates physically, mentally, and morally in order to ensure they can be entrusted with the highest levels of leadership required of a US citizen.

This study aimed at assessing the moral development …

The Effects Of Acute Psychosocial Stress On Cognitive Performance, Anne I.S. Gray

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of acute psychosocial stress on cognitive performance. Psychosocial stress evolves from the perceived presence of a social evaluative threat and results in the activation of the home hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. As part of this reaction the stress hormone cortisol is secreted into the blood stream, ultimately crossing the blood-brain barrier, where it can have profound effects on various aspects of cognition. A review of the literature reveals that that attention, working memory, spatial judgment and cognitive processing efficiency are particularly susceptible to stress induced changes in performance level. A test battery …

The Effects Of Sensor Performance As Modeled By Signal Detection Theory On The Performance Of Reinforcement Learning In A Target Acquisition Task, Nate Quirion

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) today are fulfilling more roles than ever before. There is a general push to have these systems feature more advanced autonomous capabilities in the near future. To achieve autonomous behavior requires some unique approaches to control and decision making. More advanced versions of these approaches are able to adapt their own behavior and examine their past experiences to increase their future mission performance. To achieve adaptive behavior and decision making capabilities this study used Reinforcement Learning algorithms. In this research the effects of sensor performance, as modeled through Signal Detection Theory (SDT), on the ability of …

Pay Satisfaction And Work-Family Conflict Across Time, Devasheesh P. Bhave, Amit Kramer, Theresa M. Glomb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

On the basis of justice and exchange theories, the authors propose that employees offset their levels of work–family conflict (WFC) with their levels of pay satisfaction. Results based on two waves of data indicate that pay satisfaction has a negative relationship with WFC after controlling for actual pay and other work-related and family-related variables. Analysis of pay satisfaction dimensions reveals that satisfaction with benefits and pay structure are negatively related to WFC, whereas satisfaction with pay level and pay raise are not. Number of dependents and level of education moderate the relationship between pay satisfaction and WFC; specifically, having more …

Hyperboloid Discounting Of Delayed Outcomes: Magnitude Effects And The Gain-Loss Asymmetry, Todd Mckerchar, Stephen Pickford, Shannon R. Robertson

Research, Publications & Creative Work

For more than 20 years, a plethora of research has been conducted on the discounting of delayed rewards. In contrast, there has been relatively little research on the discounting of delayed aversive outcomes (e.g., monetary losses). The present study examined the discounting of delayed hypothetical gains and losses by 55 college undergraduates at two monetary amounts, $1,000 and $25,000. A simple hyperbola generally provided very poor fits to the data. In contrast, a hyperboloid provided much better fits to the discounting of all outcomes, and its exponent was frequently less than unity. Although the rate of discounting was greater for …

The Effects Of Generative Strategies In Instructional Simulations On Learning, Cognitive Load, And Calibration Accuracy, Jennifer R. Morrison

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Instructional simulations can provide a powerful medium for learners to interact with a model representing underlying principles of content or phenomena. While a promising medium for developing a learner's own mental model, reviews of simulation learning have revealed less than promising results (Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, & Kulik, 1985; Kulik & Kulik, 1991), perhaps due to the lack of instructional supports inherent with a discovery-based approach. This study examined the use of generative strategies as an instructional support to promote learning from a physics simulation. Generative strategies, originally proposed by Wittrock (1974, 1989), strengthen understanding by prompting learners to create meaning between …

Eating Disorder Prevention: Current Evidence-Base And Future Directions, Eric Stice, Carolyn Becker, S. Yokum

Psychology Faculty Research

Objective

This narrative review sought to (a) characterize prevention programs that have produced reliable, reproducible, and clinically meaningful effects in efficacy trials, (b) discuss effectiveness trials that have tested whether prevention programs produce intervention effects under ecologically valid real-world conditions, (c) discuss dissemination efforts and research on dissemination, and (d) offer suggestions regarding directions for future research in this field.

Conclusion

A literature revealed that 6 prevention programs have produced significant reductions in eating disorder symptoms through at least 6-month follow-up and that 2 have significantly reduced future eating disorder onset. Effectiveness trials indicate that 2 prevention programs have produced …

Psychological Skills Do Not Always Help Performance: The Moderating Role Of Narcissism, R. Roberts, T. Woodman, L. Hardy, L. Davis, Harry M. Wallace

Psychology Faculty Research

Psychological skills are typically viewed as beneficial to performance in competition. Conversely, narcissists appear to thrive in competitive environments so should not need psychological skills to the same degree as less narcissistic individuals. To investigate this moderating hypothesis high-standard ice-skaters completed measures of narcissism, psychological skills, and anxiety before performing their competition routine during training. A week later, participants performed the same routine in competition. Performance was operationalized as the difference between competition and training scores. Moderated regression analyses revealed that narcissism moderated the relationship between psychological skills and performance. Psychological skill effectiveness depends on an individual's degree of narcissism.