Psychology Commons^™

How Children Recognize Emotions: Familiarity, Emotional Information Processing, And Autism Spectrum Disorder, Katy Wagner Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ability to identify facial emotional cues is an important nonverbal communicative skill that may be impaired in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), although prior research has produced inconsistent findings regarding the nature and extent of these impairments. The present study examined facial emotion recognition (FER) abilities in 105 children aged 3 to 8 years, including 32 children with ASD and 73 typically developing (TD) children. Relationships between FER performance and resting-state electroencephalographic (EEG) activity were explored in a smaller subsample. The study investigated effects of emotion type, facial familiarity, emotional intensity, and stimulus presentation format (dynamic versus static) …

The Use Of Breathing Meditation With Bipoc Trauma Survivors, Keerthi Sundaramurthy

Doctoral Dissertations

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of mindfulness-based practices to reduce psychological distress. Although interest in mindfulness-based care is growing, studies investigating virtual interventions for BIPOC trauma survivors remain limited. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of a breathing meditation intervention on mental health outcomes in a sample of trauma-exposed BIPOC adults, using a randomized post-test only design. Participants in the intervention group were asked to complete a 10-minute box breathing meditation daily for four weeks. Quantitative analyses revealed that those in the intervention group reported significantly lower symptoms of anxiety and …

Seasonal Affective Disorder’S Prevalence And Impact On Organizational Outcomes In The Northeastern United States, Tommaso Bruce Fernandes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression linked to seasonal changes, primarily affects individuals during fall and winter. More insight was needed on the prevalence of SAD and the role of social support in moderating its impact on organizational outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between SAD and organizational outcomes, including employee well-being, absenteeism, job satisfaction, and productivity, in the Northeastern United States, where SAD symptoms are more prevalent due to environmental factors. Engel’s biopsychosocial model and Cullen’s social support theory provided a theoretical framework for the study. A quantitative cross-sectional design, featuring structured …

Navigating Queer Identities In Rural Communities: The Role Of Social Support In Shaping Lgbq+ Adolescents’ Identity Development, Michaela Elaine Pierson

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Adolescents who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (LGBQ+) develop their identities within complex social contexts. In rural settings, limited access to affirming resources and greater exposure to stigma may further shape identity development. Guided by social ecological and minority stress theories, this study examined whether perceived family and friend support predict identity affirmation and internalized homonegativity among rural LGBQ+ adolescents. Participants included 53 adolescents ages 13 to 18 drawn from a larger dataset. Group differences across demographic variables were examined, and regression analyses were used to evaluate the predictive role of family and friend support. No significant group …

Peer Attachment And Popularity Among Adolescents: The Mediating Role Of Relational Aggression, Katherine S. Fosco, Bailee Hill, Yan Li, Michelle F. Wright

DePaul Discoveries

Popularity during adolescence may pose a challenging social barrier, involving the desire for exclusivity and the need for broader peer connections. This study investigated the longitudinal effects of peer attachment on popularity among adolescents and the mediation process of relational aggression, expecting that peer attachment would be linked to reduced relational aggression, in turn relating to lower popularity at a later time point. The research participants (N = 569) included adolescents between the ages of 11 and 15 in the United States with data collection occurring at three time points. The path from Time 1 peer attachment to Time 2 …

Distributed Impressions: How Multiple Minds Come Together To Shape Person Perception, Lindsey J. Tepfer

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Moments after perceiving another person, we immediately infer a wealth of information about them. Despite the complexities within our social environments, we distill an incredible magnitude of details available to us into compressed representations of other people’s minds and mannerisms. Yet research has focused largely on mapping isolated stimuli—divorced from its messy context—to the spontaneous impressions they provoke. As a result, there are many unanswered questions about how our judgments are influenced by the rich and noisy social world we inhabit. Here, I’ve leveraged two paradigms to investigate how impression formation and updating may operate when the constraints of the …

The Primary Care Brief Intervention Competency Assessment Tool (Bi-Cat): Examining Reliability And Validity, Arielle Guillod

Dissertations

Within primary care, the Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) model integrates behavioral health services into medical settings through brief, population‑based interventions delivered by behavioral health consultants (BHCs). Although effective performance in this role requires competencies distinct from traditional mental health practice, few psychometrically sound tools exist to assess clinical skills in primary care. The Brief Intervention Competency Assessment Tool (BICAT) is commonly used for this purpose but lacks published evidence supporting its reliability and validity. This dissertation examined the psychometric properties of the BICAT across two studies. Study 1 evaluated factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity in a heterogeneous …

Investigating The Links Between Parent Math Anxiety, Parenting Behaviors, And Child Math Achievement And Math Anxiety In Middle Childhood, Kimia Akhavein

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Existing research indicates that parents’ math anxiety is a robust predictor of children’s math achievement and math anxiety. The current dissertation study moved the literature forward by examining the transmission of parents’ math anxiety to children’s math achievement and math anxiety via autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting behaviors using an observational coding scheme during a homework help task when children were in second grade. The first research aim examined if parents’ autonomy supportive and controlling behaviors mediated the link between parents’ math anxiety and children’s math achievement and math anxiety one year later. The second research aim examined whether parents’ emotion …

Law Enforcement Help-Seeking Behaviors And Organizational Mental Health Supports, Jordan Elizabeth Longendorf

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to the traumatic and repetitive nature of law enforcement work, mental health support is often needed by officers, but is not consistently sought. Law enforcement leaders need to understand this concern as a leading indicator of workforce well-being, organizational effectiveness, and officers’ willingness to seek needed mental health support. Guided by the conceptual framework of Rickwood and Thomas’s help-seeking behaviors, the purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore law enforcement officers’ lived experiences of help-seeking behaviors for emotional and mental health issues. Data were collected through six semistructured interviews with current law enforcement officers in four different …

Immigration-Related Sociopolitical Stress, Mental Health, And Tobacco Use Among Mexican American College Students, Seth R. Schwartz, C. Nathan Marti, Liza Talavera-Garza, Caroline E. North, Qingua Yang, Dhiraj Murthy, Srishty Arora, Anna V. Wilkinson, Alexandra Loukas

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Sociopolitical stress associated with the policies and rhetoric coming from recent U.S. presidential administrations is of particular concern vis-à-vis Hispanic individuals, who have been disproportionately targeted for detention and deportation. Such stress may be associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, and ultimately with tobacco use. However, there is a paucity of research examining how sociopolitical stress is associated with mental health problems and substance use among Hispanic emerging adults. Accordingly, the present study was designed to examine the extent to which, within a sample of Mexican American college students, sociopolitical stress would be linked with tobacco use indirectly through …

Emophilia: An Integrated Guide For Mental Health Professionals, Joseph H. Preckajlo, Erica Baer, Richard P. Conti

Forensic Scholars Today

Emophilia, the tendency to fall in love quickly and frequently, has emerged as a distinct, nonpathological relationship trait with implications for early-stage romance, sexual health, and relationship stability. This integrated guide synthesizes conceptual, psychometric, motivational, personality, and clinical findings to support assessment and intervention. Emophilia appears to be an approach-oriented, reward-sensitive construct (vs. anxiety-driven attachment needs), shows satisfactory measurement properties, modest associations with personality, and consistent links to rapid bonding, relational churn, and attraction to antisocial traits. We offer practical assessment strategies, pacing and screening interventions, and ethical/cultural considerations, while highlighting research gaps (e.g., longitudinal tests, neurohormonal mechanisms, and mediation …

Psychosocial Characteristics Of Self-Identifying Incels, Joleen Koroluck

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research examining individuals who self-identify as involuntary celibates (incels) has increased in response to concerns surrounding online grievance communities and violence-related rhetoric. Despite growing scholarship, limited research has examined the psychosocial lived experiences of individuals who identify as incels. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore these experiences and examine factors associated with violent or extremist beliefs within incel-related online communities. Guided by social comparison theory and social identity theory, reflexive thematic analysis was used to examine 90 publicly available forum posts collected from 4Chan, Incel.is, and Looksmaxx. The data were manually coded and analyzed through iterative thematic …

Maternal Attachment Style As A Moderator Between Maternal Stress And Postpartum Depressive Symptoms, Kristie Lynn Hills

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This research aimed to discover if maternal attachment style moderates the association between maternal stress and postpartum depressive symptoms for mothers living in the United States. Previous research has indicated a trend of maternal bonding mediating the association between postpartum depression and maternal stress. In this study, attachment theory was utilized as the foundational theory for understanding whether the link between maternal stress and postpartum depressive symptoms vary as a function of maternal attachment style. This quantitative examination was completed using a multiple regression analytic approach. An online questionnaire measured the three study variables. The target population for this study …

Shame, Resilience, And Disclosure Predictors Of Mental Health Seeking In Male Veterans With Ptsd And Military Sexual Trauma, Neftali Melendez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Male veterans are often the least likely to report military sexual trauma (MST), increasing the experience of shame, fear, fragility, and mental health disorders. The primary goal of this study was to examine the relationship of shame (internal and external), attitudes towards disclosure, and resilience on mental health help-seeking in male veterans who have experienced sexual abuse while in the military. Brown’s theory of shame resilience guided the development of the hypotheses and interpretation of results. Approximately 146 veterans participated in an anonymous online cross-sectional survey using a convenience sampling design and psychometrically validated questionnaires (Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale, …

The Relationship Between Autistic Traits And Depression Among Self-Reporting College-Aged Adults, Tyler Michael Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Depression is a prevalent mental health concern among emerging adults, particularly within college populations where academic, social, and developmental stressors are heightened. Autistic traits are increasingly understood as dimensional characteristics that exist across both clinical and non-clinical populations, yet their relationship to depressive symptoms in college-aged adults remains insufficiently understood. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional correlational study was to examine the relationship between self-reported autistic traits and depressive symptoms among non-clinical adults aged 18 to 25. The study was grounded in Beck’s cognitive theory of depression and the diathesis–stress model, which posit that cognitive vulnerabilities interact with environmental stressors …

Navigating Leadership With A History Of Parental Incarceration: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Nurse Managers’ Professional Relationships And Coaching Receptivity, Demetria Hazlett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurse managers play a critical role in healthcare organizations, yet limited research has examined how early-life adversity, such as parental incarceration, influences leadership relationships and development. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study, guided by interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), was to explore how nurse managers’ lived experiences of parental incarceration made sense of their influenced attachment-related relational patterns, professional relationships, and receptivity to leadership coaching. The attachment theory and Karpman’s Drama Triangle grounded this study. The participants comprised eight nurse managers in six states within the United States. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using the IPA analytic …

Penilaian Safety Climate Di Area Quarry Pada Pabrik Semen Di Indonesia, Andrizqa Andrizqa, Mufti Wirawan, Raden Ismail Haq, Asep Zaenal Muttaqien, Muhammad Arifin Ramzy Lubis

National Journal of Occupational Health and Safety

Work in the quarry area of the cement industry has a high risk of occupational accidents. Workers' understanding of the safety climate is important to prevent workplace accidents and injuries. This study aimed to assess the safety climate in the quarry area of a cement plant in Indonesia while identifying aspects that still require improvement. This study employed a descriptive quantitative approach using a questionnaire adapted from the Loughborough Safety Climate Assessment Toolkit (LSCAT). The sample consisted of all workers in the quarry area, including 49 permanent workers and 90 contract workers. The results showed that the average safety climate …

Beyond The Cycle: How Menstruation Influences Gender Identity And Well-Being In Binary And Non-Binary Adults, Rin Nguyen

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Approximately 1.8 billion people worldwide menstruate, including transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people, yet their experiences remain underrepresented in research. Given that menstruation can affect gender alignment and psychological well-being, understanding its impact on TGD people is critical. Gender congruence, or alignment between one’s gender identity and expression, is a key factor influencing well-being, with research linking it to reduced depression and anxiety. Furthermore, emerging research on gender euphoria, the joy experienced when gender congruence is experienced, suggests it may serve as a protective factor for mental health and well-being. Gender euphoria has been associated with reduced psychological distress and increased …

The Stigma Experiences Of The African American Transgender Individual In Mental Health Settings, Linda Shaw Henley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The intersection of race, gender identity, and systemic marginalization has profound implications for mental health outcomes, particularly among African American transgender individuals. Addressing African American transgender individuals’ stigma experiences in mental health settings is important because transgender individuals have dual minority statuses, wherein racism, stigma, transphobia, and institutional neglect converge, significantly impacting their access to affirming and effective mental health treatment. The purpose of this study was to explore the stigma experiences of the African American transgender individual in mental health settings. The phenomenon of interest in this study was stigma experiences in mental health settings with mental health providers. …

Francis Bacon As Philosopher Of Leadership: The Essays As Manual For Values-Based Leaders, Matthew Sharpe

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

This essay presents the case for Francis Bacon as what we would today term a leadership theorist avant la letter, focusing on the development of the character of leaders, faced with all the pressures of their role.  We aim to show Bacon's leadership theory at once anticipates without directly embodying contemporary leadership theories (in part 1): not only presenting a robust moral vision for leadership, as serving the public good (part 2), but differentiating characteristic kinds of “followers,” with their strengths, weaknesses, and characteristic vices, and realistically addressing how to best lead them (Part 3); and providing ten "how …

How Young Mothers’ Interpersonal And Emotional Well-Being Impacts Parental Stress And Dating Violence, Jonathan Jin

Theses and Dissertations

This two-part dissertation investigated two distinct, yet interconnected aspects of young mothers’ wellbeing which span individual and interpersonal factors. Study 1 examined how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are related to parental stress, and how symptoms of anxiety and depression might mediate this association. Within a sample 255 young mothers with an average age of 22.2 (SD = 2.3), the pooled results of a parallel mediation model across 10 imputed datasets indicated a significant average direct effect of ACEs on parental stress (0.25, p < .01), suggesting that experiencing a history of ACEs was significantly associated with more parental stress. Study 2 examined the relationship between young mothers’ romantic attachment, emotion regulation, and dating violence (DV) victimization. In a different sample of 256 young mothers with an average age of 19.8 years (SD = 1.1), more avoidant (less secure) romantic attachment styles (β = 0.26, SE = 0.1, p < 0.01) and more anxious romantic attachment styles (linear component β = 3.81, SE = 0.9, p < 0.001 and quadratic component β = -2.86, SE = 0.9, p < 0.01) were significantly associated with greater DV victimization. Future research may extend this work by using longitudinal designs to test bidirectional links between interpersonal and emotional wellbeing factors among young mothers.

The Double Attraction Paradox, Rem Jaen D. Krafft

Publications and Research

The Double Attraction Paradox is a podcast series that teaches adolescents how to navigate attraction through body language, limerence, and mirroring while understanding the psychology behind emotional connection. It is a manuscript that combines personal experience, observations, and research, inspired by Rem Jaen D. Krafft's high school crush. Not only does it provide a guide for teenagers and young adults, but it also encourages readers to better understand attraction, communication, and emotional development. The final chapter examines how peer pressure, traditional high school cliques, fear of rejection, and fear of intimacy may influence societal norms, emotional contagion, and relationship formation …

Not Two Selves But A Relational Field: A Relational Frame Theory Reading Of Gollum, Emilio R. López-Navarro

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article examines Gollum’s divided selfhood in The Lord of the Rings as a phenomenon constructed and enacted through language rather than as a simple moral or psychological split. Building on recent linguistic work on Gollum’s idiolect, it draws on Relational Frame Theory (RFT) as a descriptive framework for analyzing how speech organizes perspective, value, and action. The argument is literary rather than clinical: RFT is used not to diagnose Gollum, but to specify the verbal structures through which Tolkien renders inner conflict audible. Four relational processes are central to the analysis: deictic instability in shifts among “Sméagol,” “Gollum,” “we,” …

Childhood Development Podcast Assignment, Masha Komolova

Open Educational Resources

The assignment asks students to analyze how a particular aspect of their childhood has shaped them into a person they are today. Students will use literature review, interview with a caregiver, and their own reflection to analyze their childhood development and its effects on them. The assignment will be in the form of a podcast.

Telling On Themselves: A Qualitative Study On The Linguistic Markers Of Deception In High-Stakes Speech, James Butcher

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Deception detection in forensic and legal settings has historically relied on behavioral and nonverbal cues. Extensive research has demonstrated that these indicators are unreliable and prone to bias. This reliance has a significant impact on investigations, legal outcomes, and public trust. Although linguistic research has identified individual markers of deceptive speech, limited attention has been given to how multiple linguistic cues interact in real-world, high-stakes contexts. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how pronoun shifts, avoidance language, and equivocation cluster together during high-stakes deceptive speech. Truth-default theory (TDT) served as the theoretical foundation, and critical discourse analysis …

“Pride Runs Through Our Veins”: A Qualitative Investigation Of Black Parents’ Ethnic-Racial Socialization Practices Among Black Youth With Disabilities, Nicole A. Telfer, Danielle J. Allen, Noreen Yazejian, Iheoma U. Iruka

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

While ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) practices are crucial in Black/African American families, little is known about ERS practices in Black families of Black children with disabilities. In the current study, we investigated ERS practices among Black/African American parents’ who are raising children with disabilities and how this may influence children’s outcomes. A total of N = 8 Black/African American parents were invited for semi-structured interviews to explore more deeply their ERS practices among their children with disabilities. Several themes emerged from the data, which highlights ERS practices from a DisCrit lens, as well as the overall experiences of parents and their …

Systematic Errors In Judging The Performance Of Others, Michael J. Benson

Psychology ETDs

The well-documented tendency of people to be poor estimators of their relative abilities can be problematic in real life. These errors in are highly asymmetric: the worst performers dramatically overestimate their relative ability, whereas the best performers underestimate theirs (Kruger & Dunning, 1999). There are two possible causes of this misjudgment of relative ability: 1) participants are poor estimators of their own performance, or 2) participants are poor estimators of the comparison group’s performance. Kruger and Dunning (1999) attributed overestimation in the worst performers to the former problem but attributed the underestimation in the best performers to the latter problem. …

Do I Fit In Here? How Immigrants’ Endorsement Of Social Markers Is Related To Their Wellbeing In Three Migrant Receiving Societies, Justine Dandy, Chan Hoong Leong, Adam Komisarof, Travis Lim, Krystal Perkins

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Social markers of acceptance are the attributes seen as important for immigrants to achieve or display in order to be accepted similarly to a local-born citizen. In research on constructions of national identity, factor analysis reveals a culture-specific, two-factor structure akin to the ethnic–civic distinction observed. In this paper, we extend this work by examining the relationship between social markers of acceptance and immigrants’ well-being in three national contexts: Australia, Japan, and the U.S. Specifically, in study 1 we examined the factor structure of social markers in non-immigrant samples in each context (Australia, n = 1357; Japan, n = 2000; …

Cross-Regional Acculturative Stress And Mental Well-Being Among Undergraduate Students In China, Wenqi Zhang, Peiyi Wang, Chuansheng Chen, Baojuan Ye, Jianmin Shao

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

The transition to new environments often induces stress, but relatively few studies have explored the acculturative stress among college students relocating within the same country. This study adapted and validated the Riverside Acculturation Stress Inventory to assess cross-regional acculturative stress (CAS) among college students in China. We first used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the factor structure of the CAS scale. We then determined the reliability (internal consistency) and the validity of the CAS scale by examining CAS’s relationship with sociodemographic factors and mental well-being. Finally, we tested the moderating role of self-esteem as well as the mediation pathways through …

A Holistic Christian Perspective On Wellness For College Students - A Qualitative Analysis, Shari L. Jurgens, Deb Majewski, Jessica Clevering

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

Aim: This study sought to explore the impact of a Christ-centered, holistic wellness course on college-aged students’ understanding of key wellness principles. The goal was to gain insight into how students comprehend and apply these principles considering their spiritual and personal development.

Background: Wellness education for undergraduate students is both timely and essential, especially within Christian higher education, where nurturing the whole person is a core value. A common misconception is that wellness pertains only to physical and mental health. However, Scripture affirms that human flourishing involves a harmony of body, mind, and spirit. A holistic, biblically informed approach to …