Psychology Commons^™

Social Ties And Cardiovascular Function: An Examination Of Relationship Positivity And Negativity During Stress, Wendy C. Birmingham, Bert N. Uchino, Timothy W. Smith, Kathy C. Light, David M. Sanbonmatsu

Faculty Publications

The quality and quantity of one’s relationships have been reliably linked to morbidity and mortality. More recently, studies have focused on links between relationships and cardiovascular reactivity as a physiological mechanism via the stress-buffering hypothesis. However, not all social relationships are consistently positive which points to the importance of a more comprehensive examination of relationship that includes negative qualities. In this study, we manipulated relationship positivity and negativity with an experimenter and examined its influence on cardiovascular reactivity. Results revealed that relationship positivity was associated with lower systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity for men and women. Relationship negativity, on the …

Small Individual Loans And Mental Health: A Randomized Controlled Trial Among South African Adults, Lia C. H. Fernald, Rita Hamad, Dean Karlan, Emily J. Ozer, Jonathan Zinman

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: In the developing world, access to small, individual loans has been variously hailed as a poverty-alleviation tool – in the context of "microcredit" – but has also been criticized as "usury" and harmful to vulnerable borrowers. Prior studies have assessed effects of access to credit on traditional economic outcomes for poor borrowers, but effects on mental health have been largely ignored.

Methods: Applicants who had previously been rejected (n = 257) for a loan (200% annual percentage rate – APR) from a lender in South Africa were randomly assigned to a "second-look" that encouraged loan officers to approve their …

The Effects Of Acute Stress On Human Prefrontal Working Memory Systems, Anthony J. Porcelli, Daniel Cruz, Karen Wenberg, Michael D. Patterson, Bharat B. Biswal, Bart Rypma

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

We examined the relationship between acute stress and prefrontal-cortex (PFC) based working memory (WM) systems using behavioral (Experiment 1) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; Experiment 2) paradigms. Subjects performed a delayed-response item-recognition task, with alternating blocks of high and low WM demand trials. During scanning, participants performed this task under three stress conditions: cold stress (induced by cold-water hand-immersion), a room temperature water control (induced by tepid-water hand-immersion), and no-water control (no hand-immersion). Performance was affected by WM demand, but not stress. Cold stress elicited greater salivary cortisol readings in behavioral subjects, and greater PFC signal change in fMRI …

Romance In College: Effects Of Relationship Stress And Commitment On Scholastic Performance, Lauren Alderson, Kate Gruenloh

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Due to the increased number of observed college students involved in romantic relationships, we decided to conduct a study to see if any correlation existed between those involved in romantic relationships and the students’ academics. In addition to this hypothesis, we were also interested in the varying levels of stress and commitment of a romantic relationship and their influence on academic performance. However after surveying 66 college participants regarding their feelings and opinions about their current or past relationships, our statistical findings did not support our initial research hypothesis.

Yoga As An Intervention For Stress Reduction And Enhanced Wellbeing In African American Athletes, Jennifer Fallon

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study explored the preventive impact of a brief Hat ha yoga program on stress-reduction and enhanced wellbeing in a sample of healthy African American college athletes. African Americans suffer higher rates of hypertension and sudden cardiac death syndrome, both linked to stress. Study design was single case, with six replications, utilizing comparison of pre- and post-intervention scores on physiological and psychological indicators of distress and wellbeing. Findings were inconsistent across participants and measures, though generally included beneficial increases in positive affect (i.e ., C = 0.567 , Z = 2 071, p < 0.05) and perceived physical health (i.e., C = 0489, Z = 1. 721, …

Escape From Death Row: A Study Of “Tripping” As An Individual Adjustment Strategy Among Death Row Prisoners, Sandra Mcgunigall-Smith, Robert Johnson

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The literature on stress and coping in American prisons tends to focus on the social dimensions of prison life. This literature describes a prison culture that shapes prison adjustment; such a culture entails norms, roles, and groups (including gangs) that dictate norms of adjustment. The literature also suggests that prisoners have to find a way to get along in the more public areas of the prison (such as the prison yard or mess hall) or retreat to smaller worlds within the prison while carving out “niches” that allow them to adjust in ways they find more familiar—in their jobs, …

The Relationship Between Early Life Stress And Microstructural Integrity Of The Corpus Callosum In A Non-Clinical Population, Robert H. Paul, Lorrie Henry, Stuart M. Grieve, Thomas J. Guilmette

Psychology Faculty Works

Background: Previous studies have examined the impact of early life stress (ELS) on the gross morphometry of brain regions, including the corpus callosum. However, studies have not examined the relationship between ELS and the microstructural integrity of the brain. Previous studies have examined the impact of early life stress (ELS) on the gross morphometry of brain regions, including the corpus callosum. However, studies have not examined the relationship between ELS and the microstructural integrity of the brain. Methods: In the present study we evaluated this relationship in healthy non-clinical participants using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and self-reported history of ELS. …

Religiosity And Successful Aging, Jessica L. York

ETD Archive

There has been an increasing amount of elderly individuals who have avoided the crippling health and physical problems that appear to vex so much of the older adult population. These successful agers have also learned to cope more effectively with both the normative and traumatic stressors they encounter over time. Successful aging has been defined in numerous ways and studied in a variety of contexts. This study set to define successful aging in terms of anxiety, depression, and subjective well-being, while also examining the relationship of successful aging with religiosity. The fundamental goal of this study was to examine the …

Retributive Justice, Restorative Justice, And Forgiveness: An Experimental Psychophysiology Analysis, Charlotte Vanoyen-Witvliet, Everett L. Worthington, Lindsey M. Root, Amy F. Sato, Thomas E. Ludwig, Julie J. Exline

Faculty Publications

This experiment assessed the emotional self-reports and physiology of justice outcomes and forgiveness responses to a common crime, using a three Justice (retributive, restorative, no justice) × 2 Forgiveness (forgiveness, none) repeated-measures design. Participants (27 males, 29 females) imagined their residence was burglarized, followed by six counterbalanced justice–forgiveness outcomes. Imagery of justice—especially restorative—and forgiveness each reduced unforgiving motivations and negative emotion (anger, fear), and increased prosocial and positive emotion (empathy, gratitude). Imagery of granting forgiveness (versus not) was associated with less heart rate reactivity and better recovery; less negative emotion expression at the brow (corrugator EMG); and less aroused …

Police Stress, Dennis J. Stevens

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

This entry defines police officer stress and describes its consequences, origins, and the individual and organizational methods to control it. Controlling stress can enhance the delivery of police services and guide officers toward healthy lifestyles. One definition of stress is the wear and tear our bodies and minds experience as we react to physiological, psychological, and environmental changes throughout our lives. It is a nonspecific response of the body to a demand for change. Its centerpiece is the relationship between an external event and an internal response: For every action, there’s a reaction.

Teacher Self-Efficacy, Collective Teacher Efficacy, Automatic Thoughts, States Of Mind, And Stress In Elementary School Teachers, Robert W. Shambaugh

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

This study examined the relationships between teacher self-efficacy, collective teacher efficacy, automatic thoughts, Balanced States of Mind (BSOM) model, and levels of stress in regular education elementary school teachers. A sample of 66 teachers from rural and urban south central Pennsylvania school districts completed the following questionnaires: Teacher Beliefs Scale (TBS), Collective Teacher Beliefs Scale (CTBS), Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire - Revised (ATQR), Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI), and a demographic survey. A ratio of positive to positive-plus-negative automatic thoughts from the Balanced States of Mind model (BSOM) became the fifth variable. This study presumes that teachers have more stress today following …

Adolescents' Stress And Health: Parental Influences And Cognitive Mediators, Reesa Donnelly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research to date indicates that parental and cognitive variables play a role in stress responses and health outcomes. Although researchers are beginning to focus on developmental processes in stress/health outcomes, there is little research examining which parental behaviors are most predictive of stress/health and whether cognitive variables mediate this relationship. As a result, the current study examines the self-reports of 160 late adolescents regarding parental behaviors, cognitive variables, and stress/health outcomes. In addition, blood pressure reactivity to a stressful situation was collected as a physiological measure of stress. The results suggest that, among the parental behaviors that are examined, parental …

Investigating The Effects Of Tactile Stress On A Military Touniquet Application Task, Razia Nayeem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In combat, soldiers encounter stress from multiple sources including loss of sleep, extremely high levels of physical and psychological discomfort, extended periods of increased vigilance, and intense danger. Therefore, it is imperative to train such personnel on how to cope with these stressors. One way to do this is to include stressors in different forms of training to acclimate soldiers to the subsequent stress of combat. Due to their advantages, tactile trainers are being investigated increasingly for the use of training Army medics in this context. The present work examines how vibrating tactile sensors, or tactors, can be used as …

The Stress-Affiliation Paradigm Revisited: Do People Prefer The Kindness Of Strangers Or Their Attractiveness?, Norman P. Li, Rose A. Halterman, Margaret J. Cason, George P. Knight, Jon K. Maner

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Two studies employed a classic affiliation-under-stress paradigm and examined people's preferences for affiliating with kind versus attractive same- and opposite-sex targets. When men were under default conditions of low stress, they preferred to affiliate with attractive women. However, men placed in a high stress situation instead preferred to interact with kind women. Regardless of stress level, women preferred to affiliate with kind, rather than attractive, men. When choosing among interaction partners of their own sex, participants uniformly chose to interact with kind others, regardless of stress level. This research builds on traditional stress-affiliation research, which has focused on whether people …

Familialism, Social Support, And Stress: Positive Implications For Pregnant Latinas, Belinda Campos, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This study examined the association of familialism, a cultural value that emphasizes close family relationships, with social Support, stress, pregnancy anxiety, and infant birth weight. Foreign-born Latina (n = 31), U.S.-born Latina (n = 68), and European American (n = 166) women living in the United States participated in a prospective study of pregnancy in which they completed measures of familialism, social support, stress, and pregnancy anxiety during their second trimester. As expected, Latinas scored higher on familialism than European Americans. Familialism was positively correlated with social support and negatively correlated with stress and pregnancy anxiety in the overall sample. …

Retributive Justice, Restorative Justice, And Forgiveness: An Experimental Psychophysiology Analysis, Charlotte Witvliet, Everett L. Worthington, Lindsey M. Root, Amy F. Sato, Thomas E. Ludwig, Julie J. Exline

Faculty Scholarship

This experiment assessed the emotional self-reports and physiology of justice outcomes and forgiveness responses to a common crime, using a three Justice (retributive, restorative, no justice) × 2 Forgiveness (forgiveness, none) repeated-measures design. Participants (27 males, 29 females) imagined their residence was burglarized, followed by six counterbalanced justice–forgiveness outcomes. Imagery of justice—especially restorative—and forgiveness each reduced unforgiving motivations and negative emotion (anger, fear), and increased prosocial and positive emotion (empathy, gratitude). Imagery of granting forgiveness (versus not) was associated with less heart rate reactivity and better recovery; less negative emotion expression at the brow (corrugator EMG); and less aroused …

Is There Something Unique About Marriage? The Relative Impact Of Marital Status, Relationship Quality, And Network Social Support On Ambulatory Blood Pressure And Mental Health, Wendy C. Birmingham, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Brandon Q. Jones

Faculty Publications

Background Having close social relationships and being married specifically have been reliably associated with health benefits including lower morbidity and mortality. Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of marital status, relationship quality, and network support on measures of psychological and cardiovascular health. Method We examined ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) among 204 married and 99 single males and females (N=303). Results We found that both marital status and marital quality were important. Married individuals had greater satisfaction with life (SWL) and blood pressure dipping than single individuals. High marital quality was associated with lower ABP, lower …

Factors Contributing To The Shortage Of Speech-Language Pathologists In Utah Schools, Stephanie Harris

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined factors contributing to Utah's critical shortage of school-based speech-language pathologists. Specifically, this study focused on the following three constructs: (a) stress levels among professionals currently in the field, (b) attrition and the reasons professionals leave their positions, and (c) factors at the university level. Stress among Utah's speech-language pathologists was assessed using the Speech-Language Pathologist Stress Inventory (Fimian, Lieberman, & Fasteneau, 1991). Of the 230 potential participants, 97 completed and returned questionnaires. Results indicated that Utah's school-based speech-language pathologists experience less overall stress than a normative sample of speech-language pathologists throughout the United States; however, Utah's professionals …

Work-Family Predictors Of Parenting Outcomes, Marian L. Troutman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to examine the direct relationship between stress (i.e., economic strain and work-family conflict) and parenting outcomes (i.e., parenting satisfaction, authoritative parenting and authoritarian parenting), and how social support moderates the relationship between the two predictors (i.e., work-family conflict and economic strain) and the three parenting outcomes. Participants included 135 parents who were workers. They completed questionnaires that assessed work-family conflict, economic strain, social support, parenting satisfaction and parenting style. The researcher hypothesized that for participants who face multiple demanding roles (i.e., worker and parent), work-family conflict and economic pressure would be negatively related …

A Meeting Of East And West: Can Eastern-Influenced Therapies Be Effective In The Treatment Of Stress And Mood Disorders?, Paula Pelavin

Undergraduate Research Symposium (UGRS)

Given that the human brain is plastic and that structural alterations have been seen in monks who meditate on a regular basis, the question arises of whether these two facts are actually related. Furthermore, if this is in fact the case, would it be possible to apply these findings to the public? In this paper I will present the different conditions that induce neuroplasticity as well as give an overview of meditation and the ways that it is practiced nowadays. To this end I will argue that if monks are able to alter the structure of their brains and the …

The Effect Of Food Deprivation On Cigarette Smoking In Females, Darla E. Kendzor

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Studies have shown that food deprivation is associated with increases in the self-administration of nicotine and other substances in laboratory animals. However, little is known about the effects of food deprivation on substance use in humans. The purpose of the present study was to compare smoking rates, expired carbon monoxide levels, and smoking topography in 15 female participants during a state of acute food deprivation and in a non-deprived state. A within-subjects design was utilized to test the primary hypotheses that smoking rate and expired carbon monoxide levels would be greater among the participants in the food-deprived condition than in …

The Impact Of College Student Immersion Service Learning Trips On Coping With Stress And Vocational Identity, Brad A. Mills, Richard B. Bersamina, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

This study examined the impact of service learning immersion trips on vocational identity and coping with stress among college students. Fifty-one students (15 males, 36 females) who participated in immersion trips and 76 students (25 males, 51 females) in a non-immersion control group completed a series of questionnaires directly before and immediately after both fall and spring break immersion trips, and during a four-month follow up. Results suggest that, after returning from an immersion trip, students report a greater ability to cope with stress and a somewhat stronger sense of vocational identity relative to students who do not participate in …

Expectations And Stress Related To Choosing And Providing Treatment: A Comparative Study Of Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders Or With Down Syndrome, Virginia H. Mackintosh

Theses and Dissertations

This study looked at the level of stress experienced by parents (N = 280) of children with an autism spectrum disorder (Autism, n = 134; Asperger's disorder, n = 36; & PDD-NOS, n = 42) or with Down syndrome (n = 68) as it related to child's impairment and to the process of choosing and providing treatments. Using the new Family Access to Disability Services (FADS) measure, it was discovered that parents of children with an autism spectrum diagnosis had more difficulty in accessing and providing the treatments they wanted for their children. Higher FADS scores predicted parenting stress, even …

Locus Of Control And Self-Efficacy: Potential Mediators Of Stress, Illness, And Utilization Of Health Services In College Studen, Angela Roddenberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stress has been linked to increased illness in several biologically based studies. In contrast, only a limited number of studies have assessed psychological variables related to stress, with self-efficacy and locus of control serving as potentially important variables. Thus, the current study investigated the mediating effects of self-efficacy and locus of control in the relationship between stress, psychological and physical symptoms, and the utilization of health services in college students. Results suggested that stress was correlated positively with symptoms. External locus of control was correlated positively with stress and symptoms, and self-efficacy was correlated negatively with stress and symptoms. Further, …

Posttraumatic Growth Among College Students At A Large Urban University: The Role Of Social Support And Unsupportive Social Interactions, Wendy E. Balliet

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between both social support and unsupportive interactions and psychological outcomes, in a sample of college students who recently had experienced a stressful event. The research design was cross-sectional, and data were collected from 142 college students. As hypothesized, a significant positive association was found between unsupportive interactions received by participants and depressive symptoms. Contrary to hypotheses, no significant associations were found between unsupportive interactions and positive emotion or posttraumatic growth. Additionally, no significant relationship was evident between received emotional support and the outcome variables. Exploratory analysis revealed that positive reappraisal …

Structure Of Aggression Among Urban Youth: Competing Factor Models Of Subtypes Of Physical And Relational Aggression, Sarah W. Helms

Theses and Dissertations

Aggression has been demonstrated to pose a serious threat to the adaptive development of youth, with decades of research demonstrating the negative associations between aggression and other problem behaviors, both concurrently and predictively. However, despite this body of research, the current psychological literature continues to suffer from a lack of an overarching organizational framework from which to structure the construct(s) of aggression. Furthermore, existing discrepancies across the literature, particularly in the definitions of and outcomes associated with non-physical forms of aggression (e.g., relational aggression, social aggression), exacerbate the complexities facing prevention and intervention specialists. Insofar as research can isolate the …

Binge Eating In Ethnically Diverse Obese Adolescents, Clarice K. Gerke

Theses and Dissertations

Rates of pediatric obesity in America are reaching epidemic proportions. Studies using both community and treatment-seeking samples of obese adolescents indicate that a subset engage in binge eating behaviors. This study investigated the prevalence and severity of binge eating behaviors among 86 primarily African American 11 to 17 year old adolescents seeking outpatient treatment for obesity. This study also examined the associations of stressful experiences (specifically, weight-related teasing, trauma, and daily hassles) with binge eating, as well as potential mediators and moderators of these relationships. Twenty-eight percent of the sample reported at least one episode of binge eating in the …

Aged Rats: Sex Differences And Responses To Chronic Stress, Rachel E. Bowman, Neil J. Maclusky, Samantha Diaz-Weinstein, Mark C. Zrull, Victoria N. Luine

Psychology Faculty Publications

Cognitive, as well as physiological, sex differences exist in young adult rats under both basal conditions and following chronic stress; however, few studies have examined whether sex differences remain in aged subjects and whether responses to stress are altered. We compared aged male and female Fischer 344 rats (21.5 months at testing) without stress and when given 21 days of restraint for 6 h/day on locomotion, anxiety-related behaviors, object recognition (non-spatial memory), object placement (spatial memory), body weight and serum steroid hormone levels. Control (unstressed) females had lower levels of estradiol and testosterone and higher corticosterone than males, and stress …

Possible Undue Stress Factors On Graduating Seniors, Steven L. Hahne

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the hypothesis of the experiment is true, which was to find if the student body thinks that a policy to which the graduating seniors must turn in all graded work two weeks before the final exam is fair. It also offers a chance for the student body to voice opinions or suggestions in an open and anonymous questionnaire format. Fifty students chose to partake in a questionnaire that included questions about the university’s policy. They were divided into two groups: one group had twenty-three students [freshman and sophomores] of Human Subject …

Ethics And Welfare: Pain Perception In Fish, L. U. Sneddon

Aquaculture Collection

Fish welfare is currently a controversial subject with many scientific studies now demonstrating the possibility for fish to experience negative events such as pain, fear and stress. This has important implications in the treatment of fish during commercial and experimental procedures in terms of ethics and welfare. In this review, the evidence for pain perception in fish is considered and the repercussions for the use of fish as a research model as well as in aquaculture and largescale fisheries. These issues are discussed briefly from a welfare and ethical perspective.