Psychology Commons^™

Building From The Family Stress Model: Examining The Role Of Maternal Impulsivity And Neighborhood Collective Efficacy On Adolescent Psychological Symptoms, Lauren Therese Mcneela

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Family Stress Model (FSM) offers an understanding of the complex relationship between economic hardship and child outcomes through a number of parent factors (e.g., psychological functioning) and parenting practices; however, additional variables of influence were considered within this framework, as a way to fully encapsulate the processes within the family and neighborhood contexts that influence child psychological functioning. Using the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, formerly called Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a sample of primarily low-income, single-parent households, the present study examined the FSM in relation to adolescent externalizing and internalizing psychological outcomes. Additionally, …

Self-Compassion Intervention For Shame In Trauma-Exposed Gender And Sexual Minorities, Kyla A. Leonard

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Individuals who identify as gender or sexual minorities (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, queer, transgender, nonbinary, intersex, gender nonconforming, etc.) have a high prevalence of interpersonal trauma. These individuals also experience a higher likelihood of experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms after exposure to potentially traumatic events. It has also been shown that those who identify as gender or sexual minorities experience high rates of shame due to minority stress and psychological factors such as internalized heterosexism. Experiences of shame are a central component in the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms, particularly within this population. Self-compassion is an …

Examining Relations Among Educator Demands, Burnout, And Engagement: Work Recovery As A Moderator During Covid-19, Kellie Menter

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Education is described as a fulfilling career field; however, educator shortages associated with burnout and job dissatisfaction constitute a major issue in public education currently. During the COVID-19 pandemic, new challenges resulted in increased job stress for many educators. Using survey responses of a sample of 159 educators from a midwestern public school district, the current study explored whether a personal resource, work recovery experiences, was associated with educator burnout and work engagement during the context of remote instruction associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated psychological detachment significantly moderated the relation between demands and burnout. However, control over leisure …

Explicit And Implicit: Traumatized Cognitions And Identities, Brandon Michael Davis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Negative cognitions following exposure to traumatic events, such as viewing the self or the world negatively, are a crucial factor in the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Furthermore, evidence points to traumatic exposure impacting identity and perception of the self. Effective measurement of these negative self-cognitions is important for understanding the consequences of traumatic events. Self-report measures are the most common approach to studying cognitions, but other methods such as cognitive tasks that require automatic responses may give further insight into negative posttraumatic cognitions. This study sought to investigate self-report and automatic evaluations of trauma cognitions in …

Motivation, Engagement, And The Student-Teacher Relationship As Predictors Of Academic Outcomes, Courtney Weaver

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Motivation and engagement have long been studied in educational literature as factors that contribute to student academic achievement. The student-teacher relationship has also gained attention as a factor that exerts influence on students’ performance in the classroom. Models that consider context, or the ways in which these student- and teacher-level factors work together, are lacking in the literature. The current study employed an ecological systems framework with concepts from two related theories, attachment and self-determination, to investigate the roles of motivation, engagement, closeness and conflict in the student-teacher relationship as influences on student academic outcomes. Data for the current study …

Social Gender Norms And Depression In College Students, Derek Deeney

Masters Theses

The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there was a relationship between the conformity to social gender norms (masculine and feminine) and depression among male and female college students at a mid-sized, four-year public institution in the Midwest. A secondary purpose was to investigate if there was a difference in depression between males and females, and if a there was a difference in conformity to social gender norms (masculine and feminine) between males and females. Understanding the trends in social norm conformity and depression can lead to changes in how faculty and staff in higher education …

Further Psychometric Examination Of The Late Adolescent Social Support Inventory, Nicole Shaffer

Masters Theses

The current study set out to provide validity evidence for the Late Adolescent Social Support Inventory (LASSI), a scale designed to measure the perception of the availability of social support. Participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses at Eastern Illinois University. There were 69 participants who completed the LASSI, an alternative measure of social support (the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, shortened version; ISEL – 12), measures of depression, anxiety and stress (the subscales of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, short version; DASS – 21), and a measure of satisfaction with life (the Satisfaction with Life Scale; SWLS). All scales demonstrated …

Investigating Sleep Education Criteria In Illinois Public Schools And Its Alignment With Evidence-Based Practices, Bayleigh T. Pasley

Masters Theses

The purpose of the current study was to examine high school health curricula regarding sleep prevention and intervention practices and whether instructional content aligned with best practice for this age group. Specifically, the Primary Investigator and her thesis chair developed the Sleep Education and Preventative Practices Checklist/Questionnaire (SEPPC and SEPPQ) as tools to evaluate the sleep content covered in different public high schools across Illinois. The SEPPC and SEPPQ were identical in that they contained 17 different items which looked at different sleep topics reviewed by current literature. The SEPPC/Q contained two main topics: adolescent sleep knowledge (11 topics/items) and …

The Effect Of School Uniforms On High School Students’ Feelings About School And Their Communities, Maggie Vavrik

Masters Theses

What you wear can feel like a defining aspect of who you are as a person. For high schoolers especially, how they look on the outside, can affect other factors such as their sense of belonging and safety both within their school and their community. In this study, I conducted focus groups at a high school which requires uniforms to be worn. Through the focus groups, I was able to learn how wearing a uniform impacted them on a daily basis. During the study I was also able to observe at the school for a day and note the trends …

Replication Of Construct Validity Of The Behavior Assessment System For Children-Third Edition Teacher Rating Scales (Basc-3 Trs) And The Adjustment Scales For Children And Adolescents (Asca), Joel Katla

Masters Theses

Behavior rating scales, such as the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children-Third Edition Teacher Rating Scale Child form and the Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents (ASCA) are common tools to help school psychologists identify and assess problematic behaviors and youth psychopathology. However, the original BASC, the BASC-2, and the BASC-3 have little replication research available. The ASCA, while now having potentially outdated norms, has had replication research conducted and is considered empirically sound. Burback (2020) empirically compared the BASC-3 TRS-C with the ASCA to assess construct validity (convergent, discriminant, divergent) since there were no published studies replicating research presented in …

Student Perceptions Of Teacher Praise: Considering Diversity, Kealie S. Jenkins

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to expand the praise preference literature by considering student diversity. Specifically, students (grades 7-12) acceptability and preferences for praise and reprimand were assessed while considering the following: (a) White/ Non-White, (b) Rural/ Suburban, (c) Special Education/ General Education, and (d) Low SES/ Middle-High SES. Students’ acceptability and preferences for praise and reprimand were collected through the Adolescent Praise and Reprimand Preference Survey (APRPS). A total of 1125 students completed the APRPS. Regardless of diverse group comparisons (except Low SES and Middle/High SES) the top three preferences across (schoolwork and appropriate behavior) all groups included …

Emailed Support For Implementation Fidelity: The Effects Of Email Prompts On Teacher Use Of Bsp, Kathryn Krouse

Masters Theses

This study sought to expand the literature on the effects of emailed implementation support on teachers’ use of behavior specific praise. The effects of the intervention on select student outcomes were also observed. Participants were four early elementary school teachers that sought support for implementing research-based classroom management practices. A concurrent A-B-C-D multiple-probe design was utilized to observe changes in the teachers’ behavior specific praise and correction frequencies and their students’ on-task and disruptive behaviors when didactic training, email prompting, and email performance feedback were introduced in separate phases. The results indicated that three of the four participants increased their …

Witnessing Bullying And Internalizing Symptoms: The Influence Of Peer Relationships, Matthew Geisler

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Bullying is a common problem in schools and has been associated with many different negative outcomes for students. While there has been considerable research examining students who are directly involved in bullying scenarios such as the bullies and victims themselves, less is known about the other students who witness bullying events at school. Bullying scenarios become more common at a similar time where peer relationships become more important in the daily lives of students as they begin to spend more time interacting with their peers. Positive peer relationships have been associated with positive outcomes for students and thus may serve …

Does Gossip Predict Desire For Apologies?, Teddy Schupack

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Gossip and reputation contribute to the smooth functioning of society. Apologizing after a transgression is one way people can repair their relationships and reputations. The current research proposed that reputation concern would promote the desire to apologize after a transgression among those who would be the targets of gossip to an interdependent recipient. The results from the current study, however, did not support the hypothesis. There was no observed difference in the desire to apologize when people believed their behavior would be gossiped about to a related person versus an unrelated person.

Stand-Up Leaders: Creation Of A Perceived Intentions-Based Taxonomy Of Humor, Morgan Gabrielle Tillery

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

As with any behavior, humor has the ability to shape the way that others perceive us. When leaders use humor, we can perceive them as more likeable or as escalating conflict. Going further into the cognitive evaluation of humor may assist us in exploring the cause of divergent outcomes. The current research proposes that an influential element of our perceptions of humor is our perceptions of the humor user’s intention. Two studies were conducted to explore the impact that this element has on workplace outcomes, specifically affective commitment and emotional labor. Study 1 utilized a qualitative approach to identify common …

The Effect Of Inverse Reasoning On Scrupulosity Symptoms, Anna M. White

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The inference-based approach (IBA) is a cognitive model which proposes that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) primarily develops and is maintained by unhealthy reasoning processes. One such unhealthy reasoning process identified by the IBA is inverse reasoning, in which conclusions about reality are drawn based on what could be true despite evidence indicating that a conclusion is not true. Research indicates that the IBA may be particularly relevant for OCD presentations involving lower levels of insight, including scrupulosity—obsessions and compulsions with religious or moral themes. Although the IBA is a model developed for OCD generally, no research has examined whether the IBA …

Race-Based Stressors And Racial Trauma: The Moderating Role Of Parental Racial Socialization, Jessica S. Philip

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Experiences of race-based stressors are linked with worse psychological outcomes for racial/ethnic minority individuals (e.g., Ferdinand et al., 2015). The way in which parents talk to their children about race (i.e., racial/ethnic socialization; RES) may exacerbate or buffer against the strength of this link (e.g., Keum & Ahn, 2021). Therefore, the present study examined the links between race-based stressors, RES, and psychological outcomes (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress, racial trauma) across multiple racial/ethnic minority groups. The present study also explored the different RES messages as potential moderators for the link between race-based stressors and outcomes, as well as differences in these …

The Association Between Parent Ses, Child Externalizing And Internalizing Behaviors, And Home-School Communication, Brianna Isabel Banks

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Existing literature has evidenced that parent involvement (PI) in education has a significant and positive association with child outcomes, including social-emotional, behavioral, and academic achievement. Much of the research, however, examines the associations between home-based and school-based PI constructs and their associations with student academic achievement outcomes. The present study adds to the PI literature by examining the longitudinal associations between parent factors (i.e., mean income-to-needs ratio from age birth to age 9 and highest maternal educational attainment at age 5) and the home-school communication PI construct (i.e., quality and quantity reported by teachers and primary caregivers) at age 9. …

Assessment Of Caretaker Resources And Motivation In The Wean-To-Market Phase Of Swine Production, Joshua W. Holtkamp

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This study is a novel application of I/O Psychology principles to the U.S. swine industry. The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) recently identified caretaker motivation related to compliance with biosecurity behaviors as a priority needing to be better understood. This exploratory study seeks to identify if there is indeed a worker motivation issue within the industry that is impacting compliance with biosecurity, and if so, establish both a baseline of motivation and a better understanding of the primary influencing factors. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Job Demands/Resources Model of Burnout as a framework, an online survey was …

Nonlinear Changes In Facial Affect And Posttraumatic Growth: Assessment Of Ecological Momentary Assessment Video Data, Aaron M. Harwell, David Pincus, Bernard P. Ricca, Emmeline Taylor, Charles C. Benight

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Posttraumatic Growth (PTG), characterized by newfound meaning, perspective, and purpose for trauma survivors, remains enigmatic in its nature. This state is thought to arise from the dynamic interplay of biopsychosocial factors; however, the nature of this interplay is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the intricate relationship between PTG and facial affect dynamics, shedding light on the complex interplay of biopsychosocial factors that underpin this transformative process. We conducted a comprehensive investigation involving 19 wildfire survivors who provided daily self-reported PTG ratings alongside smartphone videos analyzed using Automated Facial Affect Recognition (AFAR) software. Our findings revealed compelling evidence of self-organization …

Associations Between Positive Affect And Physical Activity From Young Adulthood To Midlife: A 25-Year Prospective Study, Farah Qureshi, Laura D. Kubzansky, Ying Chen, Jackie Soo, Eric S. Kim, Donald Lloyd-Jones, Julia K. Boehm

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: Positive affect may influence health by promoting physical activity, but evidence evaluating this association is mostly cross-sectional and cannot discern directionality. This study used a counterfactual-based framework to estimate the causal effect of positive affect on physical activity patterns over 25 years, accounting for potential reverse associations. Method: Data were from 3,352 participants in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study. Repeated assessments of positive affect and physical activity were collected from 1990 to 2016. Longitudinal associations were evaluated in two ways: (a) using baseline positive affect in traditional linear mixed models that accounted for reverse causal …

Justice Via Chat? How Litigants’ Preferences And Attorneys’ Recommendations Influence The Choice To Use Online Dispute Resolution, Andrea C. F. Wolfs, Donna Shestowsky

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

There is a significant need for empirical evidence concerning how litigants compare and choose between various modalities of online dispute resolution (ODR) and traditional in-person mediation for resolving legal disputes. To fill this need, we examined three potentially relevant psychological factors: (a) baseline attitudes toward in-person, video, and text-based mediation; (b) past communication style used by litigants; and (c) expert advice via attorney recommendations. We utilized a 2 × 3 × 3 design with communication style as a between-subjects variable, mediation modality as a within-subjects variable, and attorney recommendation randomized as either aligning with or differing from the participant’s baseline …

An Examination Of The Relation Between Memory Self-Efficacy And Working Memory Within The Cognitive Reserve Framework, Genna Marie Mashinchi Ma

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dementia has been found to negatively affect multiple aspects of cognitive functioning. Despite an increasing prevalence of cognitive decline, many aging adults do not experience reduced cognitive functioning. The reason as to why some experience cognitive decline and others do not is still unclear. One leading theory thought to explain this phenomenon is the cognitive reserve theory (CR), which proposes that certain lifestyle factors (e.g., educational attainment, occupational attainment, and leisure activity participation) prolong one’s cognitive functioning and reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Memory self-efficacy (MSE), defined as one’s beliefs in their memory ability, was found to be positively …

Emotional Eating, Nutritional Knowledge, And Socioeconomic Status As Predictors Of Body Mass Index, Tifani Buss

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity is an ill-health condition that can lead to other ill-health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, asthma, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. Obesity is also a condition that does not discriminate regarding age, gender, or race/ethnicity. In light of obesity’s status as a global epidemic, efforts for prevention and intervention treatments are needed to improve individuals’ health and quality of life. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine emotional eating, nutritional knowledge, and socioeconomic status, as predictors of body mass index (BMI). These factors were examined through the lens of general strain …

Examining Differences In Self-Concept And Language Between Monolingual And Bilingual Undergraduate Students, Marilyn Vega-Wagner

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The literature is lacking in studies that examine self-concept and language status among individuals older than adolescence. The purpose of this study is to conduct a quantitative nonexperimental comparative design to examine differences in self-concept and language status (monolingual or bilingual) between male and female undergraduate students in California. A total of 97 participants were examined in the study. The researcher conducted descriptive statistics on the demographics as well as a MANOVA and an ANOVA to answer the proposed research question. Based on the findings presented, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis of research question 1: There is …

Role Play Or Real Play: A Quasi-Experiment In The Counseling Classroom, Elke Schmeling

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between pedagogy and self-efficacy beliefs is at the core of this dissertation. A continued demand for mental health service providers who can handle challenging caseloads requires novice professionals who are both well prepared and confident in their own skills and abilities, as self-efficacy is a positive predictor of performance. Since experiential learning opportunities are considered particularly beneficial to fostering self-efficacy beliefs, two cohorts of graduate students in a beginning psychotherapy course who engaged in different experiential learning activities were compared in terms of their counseling self-efficacy growth over the course of one semester. One cohort of students engaged …

Evaluating The Effects Of Self-Monitoring On Physical Activity Within A Health Coaching Package, Morgan E. Valois

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The World Health Organization recommends that adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every week. Engaging in physical activity improves long-term health, unfortunately, half of the adults in the United States do not meet the recommended levels. Health coaching is a patient-oriented approach to deliver behavior change interventions that has been shown to increase physical activity and improve health outcomes. Self-monitoring is a component of health coaching, and is a behavior change technique that has been identified as an integral component of health interventions that resulted in improved health outcomes. However, the specific effects …

On The Influence Of Private Stimulus Magnitude When Reporting Private Events, Christian T. Hickman

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The nature of private events provides challenges to developing a scientific understanding of the conditions under which humans learn to describe private events. Replicating and extending procedures from Stocco et al. (2014), we further evaluated the conditions under which verbal responses come under the control of private stimuli. Given that some participants vocal responses came under the control of public stimuli in Stocco et al. (2014), we implemented more subtle public accompaniments with all participants to reduce the likelihood of public stimuli acquiring control of participant’s verbal responses. Further, we systematically manipulated the visual clarity of the presented stimuli using …

Filipina American Mothers’ Experiences Obtaining Services For Their Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Nina Chelle Boling

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a multifaceted developmental condition that manifests in early childhood, affecting various aspects of neurologic, biological, adaptive, social, linguistic, and cognitive functions. A timely and accurate diagnosis of ASD is crucial for effective intervention, promoting personal and social growth, and fostering independent adulthood. However, obtaining this diagnosis can pose challenges, particularly for people of color, who often encounter disparities in healthcare access compared to their White counterparts. This study aims to investigate the experiences of Filipina mothers raising children with ASD, specifically focusing on their journey to access appropriate autism services.

As of 2019, there were …

On The Social Validity Of Teaching Children To Give A Polite Response, Nancy V. Ramirez

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Some children, including individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), may respond rudely when expressing their opinions about nonpreferred gifts or aspects of someone else’s appearance (Bergstrom et al., 2016; Saarni, 1984; Talwar et al., 2007; Xu et al., 2010). One proposed solution discussed in the literature to decrease rude responses in children involves teaching children to tell a socially appropriate lie, often referred to as prosocial lies, as an alternative response. These types of lies are defined as “lies that have some benefit for the lie recipient and are not intended to cause harm to another individual” (Popliger et …