Psychology Commons^™

Predicting Depression, Anxiety, And Burden: Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, And Coping In Caregivers Of Individuals With Dementia, Claire Grant

ETD Archive

Caregivers of Individuals with Dementia (IWDs) face unique stressors as a result of their role as caregiver. While the negative outcomes associated with providing care for an IWD are well established, including increased levels of burden and increased symptoms of depression and anxiety, the predictors of these well-being outcomes are not. Based on previous research, in the proposed study, predictors include self-compassion, self-esteem, and coping techniques. It is currently unknown how these variables impact outcomes like depression, anxiety, and burden individually or how they fit together into a larger theoretical model of caregiving. This line of research has three main …

Preconception Maternal Posttraumatic Stress And Child Negative Affectivity: Prospectively Evaluating The Intergenerational Impact Of Trauma, Danielle A. Swales, Elysia Poggi Davis, Nicole E. Mahrer, Christine M. Guardino, Madeleine Shalowitz, Sharon L. Ramey, Christine Dunkel Schetter

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

The developmental origins of psychopathology begin before birth and perhaps even prior to conception. Understanding the intergenerational transmission of psychopathological risk is critical to identify sensitive windows for prevention and early intervention. Prior research demonstrates that maternal trauma history, typically assessed retrospectively, has adverse consequences for child socioemotional development. However, very few prospective studies of preconception trauma exist, and the role of preconception symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains unknown. The current study prospectively evaluates whether maternal preconception PTSD symptoms predict early childhood negative affectivity, a key dimension of temperament and predictor of later psychopathology. One hundred and eighteen …

The Effect Of Fractal Dimensionality On Behavioral Judgments Of Built Environments, William Andrew Stalker

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the effects of fractal dimensionality on ratings of beauty, relaxation, and interest, when these patterns are incorporated in a built space. Previous findings suggest that fractal patterns can be used to mimic the beneficial psychological and physiological effects that arise from viewing nature. This research focuses on studying the impact of fractal patterns when presented within urban environments. The findings here are primarily consistent with previous research. Medium D patterns are preferred over the other pattern complexities. Low D patterns are consistently rated as more relaxing. High D patterns are rated as being more interesting over low …

Effects Of Dissociation And Hyperarousal On Item And Association Memory, Naomi M. Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dual representation theory (DRT) asserts that when an individual experiences an acutely stressful or traumatic event, encoding of memory of individual parts of an event (i.e., items) is enhanced, while connections between parts of an event (i.e., associations) is impaired due to peritraumatic changes in cognitive functioning. The current project sought to refine understanding of DRT by examining the differential effect of dissociation and hyperarousal, two common peritraumatic cognitive reactions, on memory for item and association information. Method: Using experimental methods from the cognitive study of memory, two studies evaluated how individual differences in cognitive states (Study 1) and experimentally …

Perceptions Of Parental Care And Overprotection In Childhood: Influences On The Neurobiological Adaptation To Motherhood, Leah Grande

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recalled memories of caregiving in childhood are especially salient during the postpartum period and inform mothers’ conceptualization of her new parenting role. Positive perceptions of care received from one’s parents are related to improved maternal-infant bonding and positive parenting behaviors, whereas negative perceptions of care convey risk for maladaptive parenting. Few studies have investigated neural and biological mechanisms contributing to observed associations between childhood care and the adaptation to motherhood. The following studies address this gap by examining how perceptions of childhood parental care and overprotection are related to maternal behavior, oxytocin levels, and neural response. Methods: Perceived childhood maternal …

"What Works For Whom" In Family Support Programs: Leveraging Administrative Data To Improve Precision Matching, Elly M. Miles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Family support programs (FSPs) are designed to stabilize and strengthen families on a range of outcomes to promote well-being. Paradoxically, families with the greatest need are more likely to drop out or experience reduced benefit on average. This study examines patterns of differential benefit for families experiencing elevated stress through a cross-program evaluation of “what works for whom” in FSPs.

Family Resource Center Family Development Services (FDSs), Colorado Community Response (CCR), Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF), Head Start (HS), and SafeCare Case Management Pilot (Safe CMP) contributed data on 15,771 participants enrolled in services from 2014-2020. Program samples were …

Emotion Dysregulation And Intimate Partner Aggression During Pregnancy: Leveraging Both Partners’ Experiences With Dyadic Data, Victoria M. Atzl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner aggression (IPA) during pregnancy is a significant public health problem that has negative consequences for maternal and fetal health. This study examined emotion dysregulation as a potential predictor of IPA during pregnancy from a dyadic perspective. Participants were 113 couples expecting a baby and included 113 mothers (MOBs; Mage = 27.50 years, SDage = 5.53, rangeage = 19-40; 38.1% White, 24.8% Latinx, 15.9% African American, 14.2% biracial/multiracial, 3.5% Asian American/Pacific Islander, 2.7% Native American and .8% other) and 113 fathers (FOBs; Mage = 29.83 years, SDage = 7.61, rangeage = 18-55; 38.1% White, 22.1% African American, 20.4% Latinx, …

Evaluating The Impact Of Individual And Couple Relationship Education On Postpartum Depression, Maggie O’Reilly Treter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation evaluated the impact of relationship education on postpartum depression using data from two randomized controlled trials of relationship education for individuals and couples who were pregnant or recently had a baby. Paper 1 focused on a well-established relationship education program for low-income couples in Oklahoma City, Family Expectations. Key findings from Paper 1 demonstrated that being randomized to Family Expectations was associated with lower odds of experiencing depression in the first 12 months after having a baby among both mothers and fathers, though this effect was only marginally significant, and that the program had the strongest impact among …

Interrupting Holistic Processing May Improve The Detection Of Deceptive Emotional Facial Expressions, Christopher A. Gunderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although a growing body of evidence suggests that genuine and deceptive facial expressions differ, previous work is mixed as to whether observers can discern between them. One explanation is that cues to deception on the face are subtle and not readily perceived by observers. I argue that the way people process faces may obscure these cues, making them ‘unseen’ by observers. In the current work, I pit two hypotheses against each other to test whether interrupting holistic processing improves or impairs the ability to identify deceptive emotional expressions. Since people process faces holistically, one region of the face may interfere …

Experiences Of Chinese American Psychology Trainees In Multicultural Education, Helen Weng-Ian Chao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although research has established that students of color have unique experiences in their multicultural training, few studies have examined the experiences and needs of specific subgroups of students of color. This study examined Chinese American psychology trainees’ experiences in multicultural education. Qualitative data was collected from individual semi-structured interviews with Chinese American doctoral students (N = 6). Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to understand participants’ perceptions of their experiences in multicultural courses. Data analysis resulted in four themes: the (1) burden of being minoritized, (2) Chinese American identity inflection points, being (3) sidelined by whiteness, and (4) …

Executive Function And Parenting Among Latinx Caregivers Of Young Children, Amy Dominguez Fabatz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Supportive and responsive parenting is vital to the healthy development of young children. Parenting behaviors are determined by many factors, including caregivers’ cognitive resources and abilities such as executive functioning (EF). The present study investigated how two core dimensions of EF, working memory and set-shifting abilities, are related to parenting behaviors in a sample of Latinx caregivers of young children experiencing low income. Positive parenting was measured using a multi-method approach including video-coded observations, parent self-report, and evaluation of the home environment. Findings from hierarchical regressions indicated that caregiver working memory, but not set-shifting, predicted positive parenting as measured by …

Indirect Effects Of Social Stressors, Emotional Labor, And Voice Facets On Attitudinal And Behavioral Outcomes Through Burnout, Maria Alejandra Flores Espina

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Though researchers have found that burnout results in lower performance and can lead to employee turnover, this research has mainly examined main effects. It is important to study both additional antecedents and outcomes of burnout to better understand how to recognize burnout symptoms early, why they are occurring, and how to mitigate burnout. Also, it is important to examine underlying mechanisms and moderating effects between antecedents of burnout, burnout, and attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. I examined indirect effects of customer-related social stressors and emotional labor on job attitudes and withdrawal behaviors through burnout and moderation effects of voice perceptions on …

Eye-Movements Of Vocal Performers Across Experience Levels, Charlotte Kelly

Honors Program Theses

Expertise, such as music expertise, is commonly studied through an analysis of eye-movements. Experts typically have fewer fixations, longer saccade amplitudes, and thus greater perceptual spans when reading music than non-experts. Most musical expertise literature is focused on instrumentalists and sight-reading. The current study aimed to extend the research to include vocalists and to see if there are still expertise effects when both experts and non-experts are familiar with the piece of music. Participants were recruited to sing a piece from their choir once when they had first started learning the piece and again right before their concert. They were …

Quality Of Life For Deafblind Individuals: Comparing The Effect Of Living With And Without Support Service Providers, Sheridan K. Whitworth, Jaime Wilson

JADARA

The current study examines the quality of life for DeafBlind individuals who have support service providers (SSPs) compared to those who do not have SSPs. A measure of quality of life (KIDSCREEN Survey, 2004) was administered to 56 DeafBlind individuals (N=58), ages 18 years and older. Half of the individuals (n = 28) participated in the group with SSPs, and the other half participated in the group without SSPs. Results from the quantitative survey indicate that DeafBlind individuals with SSPs have consistently higher positive responses than those without SSPs.

Stigma And Criminalization Of Mental Health In An Inpatient Versus Jail Setting, Zachary C. B. Dumay, Jessica T. Harnais, Christina M. Cerminara

The Graduate Review

Stigmatization is the perceived, negative stereotype assigned to a group of individuals. This stigmatization has contributed to the criminalization of mental health, meaning that individuals with mental health issues are more likely to be arrested for behaviors that are not criminal. This project examines mental health stigma toward an individual in a psychiatric setting and a correctional setting. We hypothesized that when reading a vignette about an individual experiencing a mental health crisis, participants will stigmatize them more if they are incarcerated than if they are in a psychiatric facility. Results showed that participants exhibited a higher level of discrimination …

Mental Health Advocacy For Kids: A Social Media Campaign, B Rangel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Abstract

Mental health in children has important, life-long effects on the child (Ghandour et al., 2018; Underwood & Washington, 2016). Because it is not always easy for parents to access important mental health resources and information (CDC, 2022b), I wanted to investigate whether social media is a viable way for parents to learn more about their child’s mental health. I created and distributed ads aimed at parents on three common mental illnesses diagnosed in children: anxiety, depression, and ADHD. My ads had high levels of engagement, thus allowing the possibility that social media could be important avenue for reaching parents.

Exploring Diversity With Statistics: Step-By-Step Jasp Guides, Ruth Walker, Ashlyn Moraine, Hannah Osborn, Kristen J. Black, Asia Palmer, Kendra Scott, Leigh Humphrey, Julie Madden, Erin Prince

Open Textbooks

These resources were created to complement our undergraduate statistics lab manual, Applied Data Analysis in Psychology: Exploring Diversity with Statistics, published by Kendall Hunt publishing company. Like our lab manual, these JASP walk-through guides meaningfully and purposefully integrate and highlight diversity research to teach students how to analyze data in an open-source statistical program. The data sets utilized in these guides are from open-access databases (e.g., Pew Research Center, PLoS One, ICPSR, and more). Guides with step-by-step instructions, including annotated images and examples of how to report findings in APA format, are included for the following statistical tests: independent samples …

The Expression Of Satanist Identity: Does Visible Identification Of Satanism Predict Discrimination And Depression?, Allyson Dudley

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The current research examines the relationship between visible expression of religion, identification within Satanism, experiences of discrimination, and depression in a sample of modern Satanists (n = 1,272). Historically, Satanism has been scrutinized as immoral and a threat to public safety. The current research attempts to challenge that viewpoint by employing culturally competent methods and understanding of modern Satanism. Findings indicate a negative relationship between expression of Satanism and discrimination, expression of Satanism and depressive symptoms, in-group ties and discrimination, and identification (in-group ties and in-group affect) and depressive symptoms. Results show a positive relationship between identification with Satanism and …

Towards A Psychological Science Of Abolition Democracy: Insights For Improving Theory And Research On Race And Public Safety, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Phillip Atiba Goff

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We call for psychologists to expand their thinking on fair and just public safety by engaging with the “Abolition Democracy” framework that Du Bois (1935) articulated as the need to dissolve slavery while simultaneously taking affirmative steps to rid its toxic consequences from the body politic. Because the legacies of slavery continue to produce disparities in public safety in the U.S, both harming Black people and the institutions that could keep them safe, psychologists must take seriously questions of history and structure in addition to immediate situations. In the present article, we consider the state of knowledge regarding psychological processes …

Using Metaperceptions To Evaluate Conscientiousness And Predict Gpa, Montana R. Woolley

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Personality measures have been used for decades to predict many important workplace outcomes, however, the literature reveals weak predictive validities (Barrick et al., 2001; Morgeson et al., 2007). This study investigates metaperceptions, or an individual’s belief about how others perceive them (Laing et al., 1966), to determine if they are a more effective predictor of behavioral outcomes than the typical self-report measures used today. Metaperceptions capture a different perspective than classic self-reports and other-reports, and therefore may measure a different source of construct relevant variance. Using a student sample (N = 181), we tested three main hypotheses: (1) combining self-ratings, …

Social Media Use, Acculturation, And Self-Esteem Of Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Adults, Taylor A. Paglieri, Caroline Kobek Pezzarossi Ph.D, Deborah Schooler

JADARA

Social networking sites (SNSs) have become increasingly popular in modern society; however, research into the impacts of SNS use on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (D/HH) individuals is lacking. Through an online survey completed by 217 D/HH adults, we examined the demographic predictors of SNS use and how frequent SNS use relates to self-esteem. Deaf acculturation, age, attending a mainstream school with support services, and education level were significant predictors of SNS use for D/HH adults. Furthermore, D/HH adults with increased Deaf acculturation and frequent SNS use reported higher self-esteem.

Covid Fears And Social Anxiety In College Students, Clayton Crozier

Masters Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with numerous negative mental health outcomes such as social anxiety, and lead to a great deal of uncertainty. Intolerance of Uncertainty is a relatively new concept in the psychology literature and has begun to be studied in the context of anxiety. Literature has found a positive correlation between Intolerance of Uncertainty and several types of social anxiety. With these findings, researchers have begun to examine the COVID-19 pandemic to see how Intolerance of Uncertainty affects people’s mental health during the pandemic. Intolerance of Uncertainty may be a mediator between social anxiety and the fears …

Personality And Organizational Justice Effects On Counterproductive Work Behavior, Alec C. Drabish

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) costs U.S. organizations billions annually (e.g., Bennett & Robinson, 2000). Any behavior that goes against the goals of an organization and is intended to harm either the organization or its members can fit the definition of CWB. To properly address these problems an accurate understanding of CWB and its’ determinants is necessary. Employee perceptions of fairness (organizational justice) is linked to CWB because employees reciprocate unfair treatment with CWB (e.g., Shaw et al., 2003), and the personality traits honesty-humility and self-control are also strong determinants of CWB because high levels of these traits will suppress the …

Exploring Long-Term Impacts Of Self-Regulated Learning Interventions In K-12 Contexts: A Systematic Review, Erin Cousins, Linda Bol, Tian Luo

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

While research illustrates the benefits of interventions designed to improve self-regulated learning (SRL) and academic achievement, far fewer studies have examined the durability of these effects. This review synthesizes research on the lasting effects of 17 comprehensive SRL interventions on variables related to metacognition, cognition, motivation, and achievement in K-12 populations. Results reveal common patterns of design, domain-specificity, intervention complexity, and style of measurement instrument. Intervention effects tend to be durable regarding achievement and SRL but were mixed when presented across multiple measures of SRL. Overall findings imply that SRL interventions can lead to enduring effects on achievement and better …

The Minor Fall, The Major Lift? College Students Do Not Report Listening To Mood-Congruent Music, Hannah N. Leonhardt, James Bunde, Andrew Beer

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

Music has become an integral part of daily life in Western culture. Individuals use music for various purposes including emotion regulation, and each individual has different tendencies and preferences for how they use music. Previous research indicates that people are likely to listen to mood-congruent music and that personality characteristics--specifically those of the Big 5 personality inventory-- may predict music preference and how people choose to use music for emotion regulation.

To further address these questions, we assessed personality and music usage in a sample of undergraduate students. We predicted that affect-related traits like Neuroticism and Extraversion would predict both …

A Genuine Artifice, A Specific Vagueness: Psychotherapy, Performance, And The Practitioner, Chris M. Defossez

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The following is a literature review and research project aimed at examining the performative choices psychologists make when interacting with their patients. The goal for this research is to begin to understand the “essence” of a psychologist‘s experience as they present themselves in their work. Drawing from published literature on the therapeutic alliance, social constructionism, postmodern feminism, art, and aesthetics, the author argues that the therapeutic frame taken by a particular therapist can be understood as a performative act. This author examines the implications of this idea and what can be learned from conceptualizing the therapeutic alliance through a performative …

Spanish Translation And Psychometric Validation Of A Measure Of Acculturative Stress Among Latinx Immigrants In The Usa, Ria Grover, Kritzia Merced, Chimdindu Ohayagha, Isis Garcia-Rodriguez,, Oswaldo Moreno, Paul B. Perrin

Undergraduate Research Posters

BACKGROUND: In the U.S., the Latinx community is growing at a faster rate than any other racial and ethnic minority group. Members of this community have been found to experience a number of acculturative stressors after immigrating including xenophobia, racism, and discrimination. Although several scales have been created in recent years to measure acculturative stress in Spanish-speaking immigrants, they are long, do not have nuanced subscales, or have not been validated in an extremely diverse sample of Latinx immigrants.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to translate and psychometrically validate the Riverside Acculturative Stress Inventory (RASI) in a …

Signs In Sophocles: Modern Approaches To Ptsd In The Ajax, Charlotte Simon

Honors Theses

This project explores the relationship between ancient Greek tragedy and modern psychology, specifically focusing on instances of PTSD, both through the descriptions of symptoms and the cultural reaction to such trauma responses in both ancient and modern sources. The case study from ancient Greece is Sophocles’ play, Ajax, a dramatic depiction of a post-PTSD soldier who has a mental break and is faced with either living with what he has done or committing suicide. The primary objective of this project is to illustrate what modern psychological theory can reveal about the portrayal of PTSD in Greek tragedy and therefore also …

The Mediating Effect Of Parental Involvement On Peer Influence And Belongingness On Adolescent Educational Aspirations, Thavy Van Garst

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Parental involvement has been found to be a significant influence in determining whether adolescents are more likely to succeed academically (Georgiou & Tourva, 2007). Amongst other influences, parental involvement has been shown to impact the ability to resist negative peer influence. Additionally, having a sense of belongingness influences the probability that an adolescent will aspire to achieve higher educational aspirations (Bouchard & Berg, 2017). However, researchers have yet to examine the combination of the importance of belongingness and the impact of positive peer influence on adolescents' educational aspirations. The present study aimed to investigate whether parental involvement had a significant …

Word Superiority Effects In Dyslexics, Sarah A. Sinclair-Amend

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Distorting the word superiority effect with intraword spacing was used to investigate the processing difference in single-word reading for dyslexics and controls. Perfetti’s Reading model suggests that dyslexics would have reduced processing capacity with intraword spacing. Results from a Covid-modified experimental protocol generally did not support the hypothesis. There was poor differentiation between groups in the word capacity coefficient. Response time by itself was also not informative. However, dyslexics had reduced accuracy in distractor identification across intraword spacings due to the lack of retention in phonological working memory or attention in central executive deficit (Alt, Fox, Levy, et al., 2022; …