Psychology Commons^™

The Relationship Between Childhood Attachment Style And Adult Dissociation, Laura Michelle Swiney

ETD Archive

The relationship between attachment style and dissociation was examined in this study. A total of 36 undergraduate students were administered self-report questionnaires that revealed their attachment style, and then underwent two tasks (dot-staring and mirror-staring) to evoke acute dissociative symptoms. In a repeated-measures design, it was found that individuals with insecure attachment experienced a significant increase in dissociation following both of the tasks than did those who were securely attached. Additionally, this increase was significantly greater for those participants who reported higher everyday dissociation

Coordination Of Continuous And Discrete Components Of Action, Stephanie L. Kilian

ETD Archive

Goal-directed movement may contain discrete and continuous components of action. In this experiment, participants moved back and forth between targets using a computer mouse in a cyclical aiming task. It was of interest to examine the relation between a discrete button press on a computer mouse, indicating an attempt at target capture, and the peak position of the corresponding, continuous movement trajectory of the mouse. How might the spatial and temporal relations between those events vary as a function of variations in task constraints? In particular, this experiment varied the target width (W) and amplitude requirement (A), where variations of …

Effects Of Orientation Change On Spatial Learning Of Novel Environments On Younger And Older Adults, Michael J. Fox

ETD Archive

Yamamoto and DeGirolamo (2012) found that increasing age has unequal effects of impairment on spatial learning dependent on the perspective in which an environment is learned. Further, the learned condition of ground-level perspective (first-person exploratory) showed greater decline in elderly participants than was found in aerial (map reading) conditions. These results supported previous research involving fMRI scans implicating the medial temporal lobe (MTL) role in exploratory navigation of novel environments and MRI scans indicating MTL atrophy with age. However, Yamamoto and DeGirolamo (2012) did not consider the effects of conducting the experiment with one condition being presented with changing orientation …

The Time Course Of A Bilingual Stroop Task, Sara Incera Burkert

ETD Archive

The purpose of the current study was to analyze the continuous dynamics of a bilingual Stroop task (between and within languages, and in proficient bilinguals' first and second languages, L1 and L2, respectively). Understanding the time course of a bilingual Stroop task provides new insights regarding current theories of the bilingual mind. As found previously, interference emerged before facilitation and these effects were stronger within languages and in L1. Interestingly, mouse-tracking data showed (1) different time courses for the two Stroop processes (i.e., interference emerged earlier than facilitation), (2) different time courses within and between languages (i.e., within-languages effects emerged …

Predicting Use Of Evidence-Based Treatments By Helping Professionals For The Treatment Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Sean A. Lafleur

ETD Archive

Research suggests that evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for posttraumatic stress disorder are underutilized by counselors, psychologists, and other helping professionals (Becker, Zayfert, & Anderson, 2004 Van Minnen, Hendriks, & Olff, 2010). The current study examined factors that may predict use of EBTs by helping professionals including theoretical orientation, workplace setting, training, client preference, and highest degree held by the helping professional. Training was the only factor found to significantly predict the use of EBTs, suggesting that training may be key in disseminating EBTs and increasing their use

Attitudes Toward The Cervical Cancer Screening Procedure Across Trauma Types, Emma Melaragno

ETD Archive

Cervical cancer can be prevented or treated if the recommended gynecological care is obtained. However, there are many barriers to cervical cancer screening attendance, potentially including interpersonal trauma. Sexual assault has been consistently linked to the inadequate use of or nonattendance to routine Pap smears. Intimate partner violence (IPV) and physical assault may also lead to avoidance of cervical cancer screening. Vulnerability, involving an absence of control and being overpowered by another individual, is a common factor across interpersonal trauma types and may also occur during a Pap smear. The similarities between interpersonal trauma and cervical cancer screening and potential …

Law School Personal Statements: An Analysis Of Race And Gender Variations In "Impression Management" Among Law School Applicants, Amy L. Miller

ETD Archive

This study examined 200 personal statements of male, female, White, and African-American law school applicants to better understand how applicants use impression management to gain admission to law school. Data showed significant differences in how males compared to females and Whites compared to African-Americans use impression management in their law school personal statements. The research found African-Americans discussed personal motivation more often than did White applicants. White females and African-American males more frequently utilized conditions of motivation, gender or race, and personal story to demonstrate their capability to succeed in law school despite generally lower academic indicators. Females had more …

How Coping, Ptsd And Treatment Preferences Interact?, Martha Mae Golubski

ETD Archive

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder characterized by symptoms of intrusive recollection, avoidance or numbing, and hyper arousal following being exposed to a traumatic event involving threatened or actual death or serious injury (4th ed., text rev, DSM-IV-TR American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Those with PTSD, employ a variety of coping strategies to deal with the symptoms following their trauma exposure. Across studies, it has been found that coping styles which are active have a positive effect on both physical and psychological health (Gil & Caspi, 2005 Lazarus & Moskowits, 2004 Olff, Langeland, & Gersons, 2005). However, avoidance coping …

Professional Missionary, Amateur Father: Using Missiological Principles And Family Systems Theory To Raise An Emotionally Healthy Family., David R. Dunaetz, Stephen S. Lambert

Selected Faculty Publications

Missionary fathers are sometimes better equipped to undertake the missionary task than to be successful husbands and fathers in stressful, cross-cultural contexts. This paper examines several missiological principles which are congruent with family systems theory that can help missionary fathers ensure the success of their family life.

The Relationship Between Collective Action And Well-Being And Its Moderators: Pervasiveness Of Discrimination And Dimensions Of Action, Mindi D. Foster

Psychology Faculty Publications

Given the negative impact of perceiving gender discrimination on health (e.g., Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009), there is a need to develop interventions to attenuate this effect; collective action may be one such intervention. Study 1 (N = 185) used an experimental paradigm to investigate whether undergraduate women in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada perceived pervasiveness of discrimination would interact with their collective action-taking to predict negative mood and well-being. Results showed that among those perceiving pervasive gender discrimination, informing friends/family and informing the media led to greater well-being than doing nothing, whereas among those perceiving gender discrimination as isolated, doing nothing …

Is Burnout A Depressive Disorder? A Reexamination With Special Focus On Atypical Depression, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Eric Laurent

Publications and Research

Whether burnout and depression cover the same psychopathology remains to be elucidated. To date, subtypes of depression have been overlooked in research on the burnout–depression overlap. Our aim was to estimate the prevalence of depressive disorders in workers with burnout while examining the overlap of burnout with the atypical subtype of depression. The present study included 5,575 schoolteachers (mean age = 41 years; 78% female). Burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Depression was measured with the 9-item depression scale of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Atypical features of depression were examined using a dedicated module, referenced to …

Addressing The Consequences Of Violence And Adversity: The Development Of A Group Mental Health Intervention For War-Affected Youth In Sierra Leone, Theresa S. Betancourt, Elizabeth A. Newnham, Katrina Hann, Ryan K. Mcbain, Adeyinka M. Akinsulure-Smith, John Weisz, Grace M. Lilienthal, Nathan Hansen

Publications and Research

It is estimated that over one billion children and adolescents live in regions affected by armed conflict Oacob et al., 2007). Whereas access to mental health care is already very limited in low- and middle-income countries (LAMIC}-the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the level of untreated mental disorders among adults in low- and middleincome countries may be as high as 78 percent (Kohn, Saxena, Levav & Saraceno, 2004)-the gap between the need for services and their limited availability is accentuated in regions affected by armed conflict (Betancourt, McBain, Newnham & Brennan, 2013; IASC, 2007; Walker et al., 2011). Among adolescents …

Interactions Between African Americans And Police Officers: How Cultural Stereotypes Create A Wrongful Conviction Pipeline For African Americans, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Erroneous convictions are not as rare as one might expect and when they occur, the wrongfully accused are more often African American than White: Of those who were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated in the last quarter century, 47% were African American (The National Registry of Exonerations, 2013), even though only 13% of the U.S. population is (Rastogi, Johnson, Hoeffel, & Drewery, 2011). Yet Gould, Carrano, Leo, and Young’s (2013) recent analysis of miscarriages of justice indicated that race does not reliably differentiate between cases in which innocent defendants are wrongfully convicted as opposed to rightfully acquitted. They suggested that, …

The Effects Of A Career-Planning Course On Community College Students' Career Self-Efficacy And Career Indecisiveness, Jefferey Samuel Lip

Wayne State University Dissertations

The principal aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a career-planning course for college students who were undecided on a major or want to change or confirm their major at community college. The career-planning course was designed to assist students in becoming more aware of themselves and career options. From this study, the career-planning course assisted students in improving their career decision-making self-efficacy. A reduction in career decision-making difficulties for students was seen in this study. A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group research design was used for this study. To determine if the experimental and control group were …

Empathy As A Moderator Of Adolescent Bullying Behavior And Moral Disengagement After Controlling For Social Desirability, Amy Zelidman

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the moderating influence empathy has on the associations between adolescent bullying behavior and moral disengagement after controlling for social desirability (e.g., response bias). 676 students in 7th and 8th grade from a suburban middle school in Southeast Michigan participated in this study in the fall of 2012.

Results showed male respondents were more likely than female respondents to (a) report engaging in all forms of traditional bullying behavior overall, including physical, verbal, and social bullying and (b) report higher rates of physical victimization and moral disengagement. Female respondents were more likely to …

Accumulation Of Subcortical Iron As A Modifier Of Volumetric And Cognitive Decline In Healthy Aging: Two Longitudinal Studies, Ana Marie Daugherty

Wayne State University Dissertations

Accumulation of non-heme iron in the brain has been theorized as a cellular mechanism underlying global neural and cognitive decline in normal aging and neurodegenerative disease. Relatively few studies of brain iron in normal aging exist and extant studies are almost exclusively cross-sectional. Here, I estimated iron content via T2* and measured volumes in several brain regions in two independent samples of healthy adults. The first sample (N = 89) was measured twice with a two-year delay; and the second sample (N = 32) was assessed four times over a span of 7 years. Latent models estimated change in iron …

Religiosity-Spirituality And Risky Drinking Over The Transition To College: A Multi-Wave Longitudinal Study, Brian J. Klassen

Wayne State University Dissertations

Although the relationship between religiosity-spirituality and risky alcohol use is one of the most frequently studied topics in mental health, relatively little is known about how these variables relate to each other over time, especially during specific developmental periods such as the transition from high school to college. This study analyzed three waves of self-report data collected from a sample (N=623) of college students over a two-year period. Analyses examined (1) the stability of religiosity-spirituality and risky drinking over the transition to college, (2) the magnitude and direction of relationships between religiosity-spirituality and risky drinking, (3) the degree to which …

Understanding The Role Of Nutritional Stress In The Adult And Developing Zebra Finch, Jessica Bayley Thompson

Wayne State University Dissertations

Songbirds are particularly susceptible to stress during the sensitive period for song learning. Thus the developmental stress hypothesis (DSH) proposes that adult song reflects a male's early life environment during this period. Nutritional stress (NS) has been shown to cause deficits in song learning and adult song output that are salient to females. Female song birds consistently prefer control males over those raised under NS, yet the effects NS on females are still unclear. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) has been implicated in this process. However, evidence directly linking HPA functioning to the deficits due to NS have inconsistently shown elevations …

Coping Similarity And Psychosocial Risk Factors In Couples With Chronic Pain, Amy M. Williams

Wayne State University Dissertations

Chronic pain is an important public health problem that is associated with a host of negative individual and relationship outcomes. Chronic pain is a chronic stressor that both the individual in pain and their spouse must cope with. The current study examined how pain coping similarity within the couple predicted not only patient adjustment, but also spouse adjustment in a longitudinal study. Participants were 108 heterosexual couples in which one partner had chronic pain. The participants completed measures at 3 time points at 6 month intervals. Both the patient and spouse individually completed questionnaires pertaining to their marriage, mood, pain …

Self-Construal Moderates Testosterone Reactivity To Competitive Outcomes, Keith Welker

Wayne State University Dissertations

Previous research shows that testosterone reactivity to competitive outcomes predicts aggressive behavior in men. However, some studies have failed to find these effects, and it has been suggested that individual differences moderate the relationships between competitive outcomes, testosterone fluctuations, and aggressive behavior. The current research examined whether one individual difference--self-construal--would moderate these effects. In Study 1, participants were assigned to win or lose a competitive video game and engaged in a reactive aggression task. Results indicated that increases in testosterone in response to winning and decreases in response to losing occurred in men with independent, not interdependent, self-construals. These changes …

An Analysis Of Self: The Development And Assessment Of A Measure Of Selfobject Needs, Eamonn Arble

Wayne State University Dissertations

The theory of self psychology as advanced by Heinz Kohut (1971, 1977, 1984) emphasized the importance of early developmental experiences, most centrally, the empathic attunement of caregivers as key nutrients for fostering the capacity for healthy self-regulation and interpersonal relations. Kohut elaborated three critical selfobject needs (i.e., idealizing, mirroring, and twinship) that were ideally satiated by these early experiences, deeming the fulfillment of these needs as essential for developing a healthy sense of self, capable of sustaining ambitions, self-soothing, and caring for others and oneself. In the case of psychopathology, these needs were theorized to have gone unmet, leaving the …

Identifying And Understanding Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among College Students, Angela S. Fedewa

Wayne State University Dissertations

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior in college students

at an urban university was studied. Relations between NSSI

and poor quality relationships with their parents and peers, as

well as deficient coping and help-seeking behavior were examined

from an attachment perspective. Undergraduates were recruited

via an online psychology subject pool and completed an online survey.

T-tests were conducted to identify what variables differed between

students who engaged in NSSI in contrast to students that did not.

In addition, a discriminant function analysis was conducted. It was

found that intrapersonal and interpersonal variables predicted group

membership (i.e. social desirability, body protection, positive affect, …

A Daily Study Of The Sleep-Pain Relationship In Fibromyalgia, Maren Elizabeth Hyde-Nolan

Wayne State University Dissertations

Fibromyalgia (FM) impacts millions of individuals around the world and is characterized by widespread chronic pain and tenderness as well as nonrestorative sleep, fatigue, and stiffness (Wolfe et al., 1990; Wolfe et al., 2010). Poor sleep quality is reported by more than 90% of individuals with FM, suggesting that sleep disturbance may be a contributing factor to the pain experience (Moldofsky, 2008). Recent reviews of the literature have established the connection between sleep and pain, although the direction of this relationship remains unclear (Finan et al., 2013; Moldofsky, 2001). This dissertation sought to examine the daily relationship between sleep and …

Associations Between Maternal Maltreatment-Specific Shame, Maternal-Infant Interactions, And Infant Emotion Regulation, Rena A. Menke

Wayne State University Dissertations

The current study focuses on maltreatment-specific shame as a potential mechanism by which mothers' histories of childhood maltreatment might influence parenting and infant emotion regulation. Shame is a common reaction to childhood maltreatment, and the persistence of maltreatment-specific shame is associated with psychopathology and other psychosocial problems long after the abuse ends (Andrews, Brewin, Rose, & Kirk, 2000; Feiring, Taska, & Lewis, 2002a; Feiring & Taska, 2005). Despite being associated with psychopathology (e.g., depression, PTSD), shame is a conceptually distinct abuse-specific reaction that can interfere with self and interpersonal development (Feiring, Cleland & Simon, 2010; Feiring, Simon, Cleland, 2009; Feiring, …

Mental Health Service Utilization Among African-American Adolescents, Marilyn Franklin

Wayne State University Dissertations

Underutilization of mental health services by ethnic minorities has been identified as a major public health threat by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2001). Research on ethnic disparities has focused on identifying the sociodemographic correlates of between group differences in treatment attendance. The current study adds to the utilization literature by exploring within group differences amongst a sample of African-American families. Based on extant literature related to treatment utilization in other samples, this study examined the associations between multiple modifiable factors and adolescent treatment engagement amongst 90 African-American caregiver-adolescent dyads.

Consistent with previous research, psychological symptoms, functional …

Health-Related Behaviors In Low-Income, Minority Youth: The Role Of Motivation, Basic Needs, Mental Health, And Environmental Barriers, Brittany A. Kohlberger

Wayne State University Dissertations

Engaging in health-related behaviors, such as exercise, healthy eating, and sleep hygiene, are associated with fewer externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and higher self-esteem, suggesting that there may be large benefits to engaging in health-related behaviors during the transitional developmental phase of adolescence (Ong, Wickramaratne, Tang, & Weissmann, 2006; Stathopoulou, Power, Berry, Smits, & Otto, 2006). The purpose of the current study was to identify key psychological processes and external factors that may boost or impede youths' motivation and engagement in health-related behaviors. Specifically, we expected that higher levels of psychological symptoms and environmental barriers will be significantly, negatively associated …

Factors Related To Quality Of Life In Families Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jessica R. Garrett

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how caretakers of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are able to move through adverse circumstances with which they are confronted while raising their child with considerable developmental needs and challenges. Family resilience in this study includes family quality of life, locus of control, sense of coherence, perceived stress, uncertainty, severity, and demands. The participants in this study were 153 parents of children diagnosed with ASD. The parents were members of the Autism Society of Oakland County. The participants completed a survey comprised of six scales (Parental Concerns Questionnaire, Perceived …

Toward Sustainable Development Through Nurturing Diversity, Leon Jackson, Deon Meiring, Fons Van De Vijver, Erhabor Idemudia, William Gabrenya

IACCP Proceedings of the Biennial International Conferences

A peer-revieved book based on presentations at the XXI Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2012, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

(c) 2014, International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (ebook) ISBN 978-0-620-60283-9

Goal-Setting And Task Performance Among Nigerian Managers In A Cross-Cultural Context, Andrew A. Mogaji

Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences

This study assessed goal-setting and task performance among Nigerian managers. Data were collected from 521 subjects including 176 Yoruba, 147 Igbo and 198 Hausa/Fulani managerial employees in Lagos, Nigeria. The relevant scales of the 57-item questionnaire designed by Mendonca and Kanungo (1994) were used to obtain measures of the dependent variables. Mean scores in goal setting and performance-intrinsic reward contingency were highest among the Yoruba managers followed by Hausa/Fulani and Igbo managers respectively. Mean score in task significance was highest among the Igbo managers followed by Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani managers respectively. Mean score in performance-extrinsic reward contingency was highest among …

Brands Of Gender And Acculturation In Immigration Process Of Second World War Survivors In Southern Brazil, Bruna Krimberg Von Muhlen, Marlene Neves Strey

Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences

This study focused on how a migration context drives changes in attitudes and identity. We investigate the process of acculturation of Jewish survivors of the Second World War who immigrated to South of Brazil decades ago. This is a complex immigration because the immigrants who survived the Second World War were more vulnerable to experience stress of acculturation since most of them lost their families, homes, and everything but their lives. This research consisted in a documentary and discourse analysis of interviews made with Jewish survivors’ immigrants performed by the Jewish Cultural Institute Marc Chagall in Porto Alegre, Brazil. As …