Psychology Commons^™

Changes In Fentanyl Demand Following Naltrexone, Morphine, And Buprenorphine In Male Rats, Lindsey R. Hammerslag, Rebecca S. Hofford, Qiwen Kang, Richard J. Kryscio, Joshua S. Beckmann, Michael T. Bardo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) exhibit high levels of economic demand for opioids, with high levels of consumption and relative insensitivity to changes in price. Because the medications used to treat OUD in medication-assisted therapy (MAT) act as antagonists or agonists at μ opioid receptors, they may alter the relationship between price and opioid intake.

Methods: This study examined demand for a commonly abused synthetic prescription opioid, fentanyl, in male rats following s.c. pre-treatment with naltrexone (0.1–1.0 mg/kg), morphine (0.3–3.0 mg/kg) or buprenorphine (0.3–3.0 mg/kg). We normalized demand curves to intake at the lowest price and estimated effects …

The Impact Of Socio-Economic Status, Life History, And Biological Sex On Affective Empathy In Adults, Shadow R. Love

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

ABSTRACT

A discussion of affective (or emotional) empathy as it is impacted by socioeconomic status (SES), life history, and biological sex is presented. The current study examined a gap in prior research by examining the interaction between these three variables and affective empathy. Participants were 504 adults between the ages of 18-68, with average age of 37 and primarily biological sex male (64%). Ethnicity varied with the majority as White/Caucasian (68.8%) followed in descending response rate by Hispanic or Latino/a, Black or African American, Asian, Native American or American Indian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and 1.6% as two …

Uncovering The Depression Treatment Gap: The Role Of Motivation To Change, God Image, And Religious Affiliation, Cyrus Chiasson

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Research analyzing factors that are indicative of treatment seeking for depression is warranted. In the United States, approximately 70% of individuals with depression do not receive treatment. The aim of the current study is to evaluate motivation to change, God image, and religious affiliation as predictors of current treatment engagement for depression. Motivation to change has previously been evaluated as a predictor of treatment outcome for depression but not as a predictor of current treatment engagement. Additionally, previous research indicates religious involvement is associated with less depressive symptomology but is in turn related to negative views towards mental health treatment …

Dear Mama, These Cops Don’T Understand Me: The Influence Of Mental Health Stigma On Youth Incarceration, Ashley Lockwood

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Youth within the juvenile justice system have a higher prevalence of mental illness when compared to the general population, with some literature revealing up to 80% of incarcerated youth possess a diagnosable disorder (Shufelt & Cocozza, 2006; Underwood & Washington, 2016). Today, mental health stigma is widely prevalent and results in prejudice, discrimination, lowered self-esteem, and other negative outcomes for individuals struggling with mental health related issues (Corrigan & Watson, 2002; Dalgin & Gilbride 2003). With this in mind, the role mental health stigma plays in the lives of youth in the juvenile justice system should not be overlooked. Although …

Understanding Resilience: Investigating The Relationship Between Risk Factors, Resilience, And Psychological Well-Being, Paulyna Schulz

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Numerous studies have indicated that adversity serves as a primary antecedent in the development of psychological resilience, however, adversity can have negative effects on psychological well-being. The current study focused on contributing to present literature by further investigating the roles of protective factors and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on resilience development, as well as the relationship between risk factors, resilience, and psychological well-being in adulthood. It was hypothesized that ACEs would predict the development of resilience when protective factors were high. It was also hypothesized that resilience positively influences the relationship between risk factors and psychological well-being by negating the …

Assessing Implicit Leadership And Followership Theories, Daniel Bashore

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Implicit Leadership and Followership Theories (ILTs and IFTs, respectively) are individuals’ schemas composed of attributes that characterize leaders and followers. ILTs and IFTs are commonly measured through direct measures, however, researchers have questioned the validity of popular direct measures. With better and more parallel measures, we can examine the extent to which individuals think about leaders and followers as similar or dissimilar. Also, although substantial research has examined predictors of explicit leadership and leaders’ behavior, little research has attempted to examine antecedents of implicit leadership or followership. Using a sample of working adults (N = 243), the current study created …

The Equivalency Of Digital And Paper-Based Administration Of The Wechsler Intellegence Scale For Children-Fifth Edition With Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Students, Kenneth Reimer

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

This study explored the equivalence of the digital and paper-based version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 5th Edition (WISC-V) with deaf and hard-ofhearing children. There are a number of psychological tests being administered using both paper and digital formats. There is currently no literature on the validity of using these new digital tests with deaf and hard-of-hearing children. This study used a repeated measures design in which deaf and hard-of-hearing participants took the Figure Weights and Matrix Reasoning subtests of the WISC-V in counterbalanced order. The study found no format effect for the Figure Weights subtest with this …

Do Cognitive Distortions And Coping Skills Predict Scar Acceptance And Body Esteem In Women With Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators Or Pacemakers?, Nora Brier

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether cognitions and coping skills predict scar acceptance and body esteem in women 18 years and older with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) or pacemakers. A convenience sample of 272 individuals responded to a Facebook post. The measures were a demographic questionnaire, the Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised (Short) (SPSI-R:S), the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults, the Patient Scar Assessment Questionnaire (PSAQ), the Florida Patient Acceptance Survey, and the Inventory of Cognitive Distortions (ICD). Pearson correlation coefficient results revealed a moderate negative correlation between Negative Problem Orientation (NPO) and Body Esteem (Weight), …

Why Them: The Informal Caregiver's Transition To A Cancer Diagnosis, Rebecca Hoppe, Marcia A. Winter, Tara A. Albrecht

Graduate Research Posters

Background: Hematologic malignancies (HM) are life-threatening cancers associated with high mortality, numerous symptoms, and lengthy hospitalizations. Informal caregivers (family or friend; IC) of adults with various diseases experience negative quality of life and poor psychological well-being. However, there is scant research exploring the IC experience.

Objective: To learn how ICs adapt to patients’ diagnosis of HM and their caregiver role.

Methods: The current study used a qualitative descriptive design to analyze the semi-structured interview responses from ICs (N=28) within six weeks of the patients’ HM diagnosis. A content analysis was conducted to generate common themes.

Findings: Several themes emerged related …

Fast Decision-Making Under Time And Resource Constraints, Kyle Gabriel Lassak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Practical decision makers are inherently limited by computational and memory resources as well as the time available in which to make decisions. To cope with these limitations, humans actively seek methods which limit their resource demands by exploiting structure within the environment and exploiting a coupling between their sensing and actuation to form heuristics for fast decision-making. To date, such behavior has not been replicated in artificial agents. This research explores how heuristics may be incorporated into the decision-making process to quickly make high-quality decisions through the analysis of a prominent case study: the outfielder problem. In the outfielder problem, …

Mental Health Service Use In The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz S. Alangari

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Objectives: The goal of this project was to increase knowledge concerning the current prevalence, needs and barriers to mental health service use in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It’s purpose was to gather data that would help to inform future policy decisions aimed at optimizing the use and availability of these services in the KSA. There were three specific aims: 1) Examine the barriers to initiation and continuation of mental health treatment in people with a disorder diagnosed during the previous 12-months. 2) Explore the prevalence and predictors of mental health treatment dropout. 3) Examine the prevalence and patterns …

Frontal Brain Injury: Effects On Flexibility, Impulse Control, And Attention, Christopher Matthew O'Hearn

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is defined as an impact to the head, penetration of the skull, or rapid deceleration of the skull, resulting in an alteration of brain function or neurological deficit. Cognitive deficits are common following TBI and often go unresolved due to a lack of effective treatments. These deficits often perseverate into the chronic post injury phase, so the development of rehabilitative strategies is imperative. Behavioral flexibility, impulse control, and attention are a few cognitive processes that are commonly affected by TBI. The current research compares these processes between rats with and without a severe frontal brain injury …

Evaluating The Effects Of Meditation On Students’ With Disabilities On-Task Performance, Lauren Ashley Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

This document will address the following prompts: (a) compare and contrast A-B-A-B designs and multiple probe designs for their applications to research questions, respective strengths and weaknesses, and threats to internal validity, (b) evaluate Wilson and Dixon (2010) for rigor, risk of bias, and quality based on What Works Clearinghouse’s measures, and (c) provide a rationale for the use of meditation with students with disabilities and outline procedures a practitioner could follow to implement meditation with a student with behavioral challenges.

The Role Of Flavors In Electronic Cigarette Abuse Liability In Tobacco-Naïve Young Adults, Ilana Haliwa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A primary public health concern associated with the use of electronic cigarettes (ECIGS) has been the risk of product initiation by vulnerable young adults who are largely naïve to tobacco. The use of ECIGs among such individuals may be influenced by the wide variety of sweet flavored liquids available for purchase. Previous work suggests that one flavor, menthol, increases the likelihood of abuse of cigarettes. Thus, the United States Food and Drug Administration has requested input from the research community regarding the abuse liability of flavored ECIGs in order to inform future product regulation. Using a double-blind, within-subject study design, …

Investigating Metacognitive Fluency As A Judgment Cue In Choice Overload, Michael R. Ho

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Choice overload describes the finding that individuals report being less satisfied and defer choice more often when choosing from larger rather than smaller choice sets. Researchers have proposed various theoretical models to account for this phenomenon; however, these models have yielded conflicting results. Critically, little research has sought to identify the cognitive mechanism underlying choice overload. The present study reviews models of choice overload and offers a more parsimonious account of choice overload. More specifically, metacognitive fluency, or the subjective interpretation of choice difficulty, plays a critical role during choice and may account for conflicting results in current choice overload …

Improving Outcomes For Children Impacted By Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces): A Study Of Intervention Effectiveness Guided By Developmental Theory, Lisa Teachanarong Aragon

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is the term often used to refer to a set of negative experiences occurring in childhood that hold high potential for inducing toxic stress and complex trauma in children (Felitti et al., 1998). Studies have shown that ACEs are common, often co-occur, and exhibit a strong dose-response relationship to many developmental outcomes across the lifespan (e.g., Anda et al., 2006; Blodgett, 2014; Dong et al., 2004; Metzler et al., 2017). As public awareness of ACEs, their prevalence, and their impact has spread, public interest in implementing effective prevention and intervention strategies has also increased (Donisch et …

The Use Of Graphic Conceptual Models In Theory-Driven Evaluation, Susana Marianne Bonis

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Theory-driven evaluation has been adopted by numerous philanthropic organizations and government agencies across the world. Many evaluators also have embraced elements of theorydriven evaluation, regardless of their approach to evaluation. In theory-driven evaluation, the beliefs or assumptions behind an intervention are made explicit and used to guide the evaluation. These may be based on the perspectives and experiences of stakeholders, social science theory, observation, and previous evaluation and research. A graphic conceptual model, often in the form of a logic model or theory of change, is commonly developed to show how an intervention is expected to lead to desired outcomes. …

Self-Compassion As A Protective Factor Against Minority Stress For Lgbt Individuals, Morgan Christine Bowlen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Objectives: Research has found that anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders are more prevalent in LGBT individuals than heterosexual individuals (Fergusson, Horwood, & Beautrais, 1999). An explanation for these differences has been put forward by Meyer (2003), the Minority Stress Model, which is a theoretical framework that proposes that individuals who occupy a stigmatized minority status, such as LGBT individuals, may experience increased stress on the basis of stigmatization associated with this status. Results from multiple studies support the relationship between mindfulness and coping skills, life satisfaction, and positive health outcomes for LGBT individuals (Crews & Crawford, 2015; Gayner …

Enhancing The Impact Of Behavioral Activation Via Prospection, Chelsey M. Maxson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Coercive And Compulsive Treatment Of Eating Disorders: Surveying Treatment Providers’ Attitudes And Behavior., Jessica Cowan

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Stigma toward individuals with eating disorders is common and well-documented. Individuals with eating disorders regularly report experiencing stigma associated with perceptions that they are to blame for their illness, that their illness is trivial compared to other conditions, or that they are engaging in disordered behavior to gain attention. These stigmatizing attitudes toward eating disorders are also reported by the general public and healthcare professionals, including those who treat eating disorders. Treatment of these illnesses at all levels of care often include paternalistic approaches such as coercion and compulsion that can have both adverse and advantageous consequences. While there are …

Ayurvedic And Bionian Theories Of Thinking: Mental Digestion And The Truth Instinct, Jenna Labbe-Watson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This theoretical paper integrates Ayurvedic and Bionian psychoanalytic theories of thinking into a new, integrative understanding of how individuals learn from experience. The relationship between knowledge, emotional experience, and the truth instinct is explored. Ayurvedic and Bionian theories describe the complexity involved in transforming raw sensory and emotional experiences into thoughts that nourish our intelligence and permit us to continually dream ourselves into being. Ayurvedic theories of intrapsychic processes and the anatomy and physiology of the mind will be explicated alongside Bionian concepts of intersubjective projective identification. For the promotion and maintenance of psychological growth, Bionian psychoanalytic thinkers describe the …

Impact Of Transnationalism On Multiracial Challenges And Resilience Among Asian Mixed-Race Adults In The United States, Sooyeon Lee-Garland

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This was a quantitative study which examined past and present transnational activities as predictors of multiracial identity challenges and resilience among second generation U.S. born Asian mixed-race adults. Two hundred seventeen participants completed the following three survey questionnaires: a demographic form, the Multiracial Challenge and Resilience Scale (MCRS; Salahuddin & O’Brien, 2011) and an author-adapted version of the Past and Present TS- Transnationalism Scale (Murphy & Mahalingam, 2004). This study is based on the idea of integrating critical race theory, critical mixed-race studies, and intersectionality of both participants’ and parents’ gender and ethnic/racial identity among self-identified Asian mixed-race individuals. The …

Resilience In Adult Women Who Experienced Early Mother Loss, Elizabeth Schmitz-Binnall

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The primary purpose of this dissertation study was to explore levels of resilience in adult women whose mothers died when the participants were children. The death of a mother during an individual’s childhood is an adverse event that can affect all areas of that person’s life. It is intuitive to believe that early mother death would cause long-term effects on the overall resilience levels of the individuals; however, there has been minimal research exploring resilience in this population. With a sample of 245 women throughout the United States, this study used the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 25 (CD-RISC-25) to begin investigating …

The Psychology Of Breakup Sex: Exploring The Motivational Factors And Affective Consequences Of Post-Breakup Sexual Activity, James Moran, T. Joel Wade, Damian Murray

Faculty Journal Articles

Popular culture has recently publicized a seemingly new postbreakup behavior called breakup sex. While the media expresses the benefits of participating in breakup sex, there is no research to support these claimed benefits. The current research was designed to begin to better understand this postbreakup behavior. In the first study, we examined how past breakup sex experiences made the individuals feel and how people predict they would feel in the future (n = 212). Results suggested that men are more likely than women to have felt better about themselves, while women tend to state they felt better about the …

The Reproductive Priming Effect Revisited: Mate Poaching, Mate Copying, Or Both?., Rebecca Burch, T. Joel Wade, James Moran

Faculty Journal Articles

According to the reproductive priming effect, an individual who enters into a romantic relationship tends to see an increase in admirers. To further understand the mechanisms underlying this effect and its relationship with mate poaching and copying, 560 undergraduates were asked to report their experiences of being a romantic target (i.e., experiencing more admirers when in a new relationship) or an admirer (having greater attraction for someone in a relationship). Over two thirds of respondents noticed this increase in admirers, and approximately half reported being more attracted to a person who recently entered a new relationship. Many of the responses …

Conjoint Behavioral Consultation With Latinx Families And Children: What Works For Whom?, Samantha Eastberg

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

Latinx students in the United States are at risk for unmet mental and behavioral health needs (Kataoka, Zhang, & Wells, 2002; Toppelberg, Hollinshead, Collins, & Nieto-Castañon, 2013) and are disproportionately referred for special education and disciplinary consequences (Moreno & Segura-Herrera, 2014). Effective approaches and interventions are needed to address behavioral and socioemotional concerns for Latinx students; Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC) is one such approach. CBC is an indirect problem-solving approach designed to build socioemotional skills and decrease maladaptive behaviors in children (Sheridan & Kratochwill, 2008). Preliminary research demonstrates that CBC is effective for Latinx children and families (Clarke et al., …

Enhancing The Rewarding Effects And Subsequent Self-Administration Of Nicotine Through Appetitive Interoceptive Conditioning, Allissa Flynn

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Nicotine is commonly considered to be the primary addictive constituent in tobacco products. Therefore, research focused on nicotine and its effects is necessary for understanding nicotine dependency and in developing potential cessation treatments. Research has confirmed the relevance of learning processes associated with nicotine and their influence on the development of addiction. Conditioning involving interoceptive stimuli is increasingly cited as playing a role in many diseases, psychopathologies, and drug addiction. The internal stimulus effects of nicotine can form associations with other reinforcing stimuli through a process of Pavlovian conditioning where nicotine is the conditioned stimulus. In this way, nicotine acquires …

Maternal Factors In The Disordered Eating Of Adolescent Girls: Proposing And Evaluating A New Model, Miriam Goldstein

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Disordered eating behaviors occur at high rates among adolescent girls of all ethnicities and are associated with increased risk of eating disorders. Maternal influences such as maternal disordered eating, childhood feeding practices, and the mother-teen relationship quality have been implicated as risk factors for disordered eating in adolescent girls, but few studies have examined the interplay of these influences within a single model, controlling for adolescent age. To address this gap, the current study proposed a theoretical model and tested a series of moderated mediation pathways from maternal disordered eating to disordered eating behaviors in female adolescents. The model was …

The Effect Of Emphasizing Strengths On Readiness To Change, Taylor Dunn

Capstone Showcase

TAYLOR DUNN

The Effect of Emphasizing Strengths on Readiness to Change

Research Mentor: Dr. Steven Robbins

Researchers have called for the examination of what kind of discussion in therapy is the most beneficial. Although past literature calls for an emphasis on restructuring a client’s negative thoughts and behaviors, there has been an increasing amount of research on the benefits of using positive psychology interventions. “Strength-based approaches” in particular have shown to lead to an attainment of various clinical outcomes. This study attempts to analyze how an emphasis on character strengths influences a person’s readiness to change in comparison to a …

Factors And Alleviation Of Learned Helplessness In The Elderly, Ashley Eckett

Capstone Showcase

Learned helplessness is a condition caused by maladaptive thinking related to a sense of powerlessness. It can result from lack of control in the face of life challenges leading to a loss of hope, motivation, and an inability to take action. Learned helplessness can have negative effects on an individual both mentally and physically. In regards to the elderly population, it can cause premature death. Gaining a better understanding of learned helplessness can play a lead role in preventing it and its negative effects in the geriatric population. The aim of the literature review was to answer how to recognize …