Psychology Commons^™

The Relative Strength Of Social Media Use, Social Comparison Orientation, And Materialistic Values On Self-Worth, Jeanine Frost

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Excessive social media use is linked to psychological and emotional issues such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Social media may expose its users to idealized representations of others’ material success that, by comparison, makes individuals feel wanting. In the United States, where material possessions are often a measure of one’s value, the comparative lack of material possessions takes a toll on social media users’ self-worth. While researchers have investigated the potential for individual differences in social status seeking, malicious envy, and social media use to influence self-esteem/worth, none have examined the relative strength of social media use, social comparison …

Relationship Between Self-Concept And Self-Compassion Scores And Weight-Loss Surgery Outcomes In Women, Christine Curry-Tuthill

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity is a global health concern associated with a multitude of psychosocial issues, including emotional dysregulation, depression, low self-esteem, social isolation, and economic issues related to bias. Weight loss surgery is generally considered to be an effective treatment; however, insufficient weight loss and weight regain are not uncommon. Because self-compassion and self-concept are psychological and social constructs that have been shown to influence obesity and health, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between weight loss surgery outcomes and these two concepts to obtain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind suboptimal weight loss. The theoretical framework …

Investigating The Direction Of Item Parameter Bias In The Presence Of Rapid Guessing, Sarah Alahmadi

Dissertations, 2020-current

Inadequate examinee test-taking effort is especially concerning when the results of low-stakes tests are used to inform high-stakes policy or psychometric decisions. Although abundant is the literature on the negative impact of low test-taking effort (e.g., Wise & DeMars, 2005) and ways to address it (e.g., Alahmadi & DeMars, 2024; Lau et al., 2009), integrating it into assessment practices has long been in a rudimentary stage. The findings presented in this dissertation serve as a clarion call for testing professionals to reinforce efforts that bridge research and practice. The current study investigated how rapid guessing (RG)—a form of non-effortful test-taking …

Exploring The Intersection Of Mental Health, Self-Advocacy, And Sense Of Belonging Among Rural, First-Generation College Students, Sarah Johnson

Dissertations, 2020-current

This dissertation delves into the intersections of social and cultural capital, self-advocacy, sense of belonging, and the experiences of mental health help-seeking among rural, first-generation college students. Rural, first-generation college students face unique challenges throughout their academic journey, this dissertation aims to contribute to the literature by examining the experiences and support mechanisms that are crucial for this population to be successful in higher education. This dissertation follows a triple-manuscript style, including a conceptual manuscript, quantitative manuscript, and a qualitative manuscript. The conceptual manuscript examined how college counselors can build contextual social and cultural capital among rural, first-generation college students …

An Exploration Of The Value In Integrating Pre-Treatment Assessments Of Caregiver-Child Dyad Functioning, Emery Q. Brautigan

Dissertations, 2020-current

Parent child interactions constitute a wide variety of behaviors that have been linked to a variety of childhood outcomes. A variety of caregiver-child dyadic treatment modalities have arisen, such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Theraplay, that aim to improve the quality of parent child interaction. These modalities utilize pre-treatment semi-structured observational assessments to establish the current functioning of the caregiver-child dyad and inform treatment goals. PCIT utilizes the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System, Fourth Edition (DPICS-IV) and Theraplay utilizes the Marschak Interaction Method (MIM). Given the similar interests of these assessments in assessing the quality of parent-child interaction, a …

Cultivating Emotional Competencies In Therapists-In-Training, Tara Rajagopal

Dissertations, 2020-current

Emotions are central to the process of therapy. This is why it is important for therapists to possess emotional skills to work with their own and clients’ emotions to promote change. While therapeutic competencies have been well-researched, the emotional competencies of student therapists have received limited research attention. The present research aims to understand students’ beliefs regarding emotions in therapy and test strategies to train aspiring therapists’ emotional competencies. Students in a clinical and school psychology doctoral program participated in focus groups to explore their beliefs about emotions in therapy and their needs for emotional training. They also engaged in …

Case Manager Perceptions Of Trauma-Informed Practice And Policy In Human Service Organizations, Lachandra Brooks Prim

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

One of the goals of human service organizations is to provide help to victims of trauma, but they are often the cause of retraumatization to those individuals. The problem that was addressed in this study was the negative repercussions of retraumatization such as feelings of being unsafe, anger, guilt, shame, depression, and secondary trauma due to human service organizations not being based in trauma-informed approaches. The purpose of this generic qualitative research study was to describe and understand case managers’ perceptions of trauma-informed practices and policies across organizations and services. Ecological systems theory served as the theoretical framework for this …

Physician Burnout And The Marital Relationship: Spouse Perspective, Lisa Anne Muehlenbein

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Physician burnout rates have consistently been higher than the general working population; however, recent literature suggested that after a steady decline in physician burnout rates, the COVID-19 global pandemic and additional organizational factors have caused physician burnout to reach an all-time high. Substantial research is available on physician burnout; however, little is known about how a physician’s burnout is experienced in the marital relationship through the spouse’s perspective. This basic qualitative study used purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling methods to recruit 10 female spouses of male physicians to participate in semi-structured interviews. The research question investigated the participants’ perceptions of …

The Effects Of Acute Exercise On Retrieval-Induced Forgetting, Anna Katherine Pitts

Honors Theses

This research investigates the relationship between acute exercise on retrieval-induced forgetting. Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) is a type of active forgetting that occurs when recalling an item from memory leads to the concurrent forgetting of related items connected to the same memory. Inhibition has been theorized as a potential mechanism behind RIF. Additionally, previous studies have shown that acute exercise can contribute to and enhance cognitive inhibitory processes. Therefore, an exercise-RIF relationship is plausible because the mechanisms that influence RIF, inhibition, are also influenced by exercise. Due to this understanding, the present thesis aims to investigate that when acute vigorous-intensity exercise …

The Relationship Among Oral Contraceptive Use, Sleep, And Sexual Behavior, Sureyya Sanchez

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to discover if individuals taking oral contraceptives differed on measures of sleep and sexual behavior compared to those who are taking no form of birth control. Participants wore motion loggers every night for two-weeks, tracking their sleep, and filled out a questionnaire every morning inquiring about their sleep, sexual feelings, sexual behaviors, and affect from the day before. Research in this area of study is very sparse and results are conflicting, therefore I aimed to obtain comprehensive information to derive a basic understanding on if sexual behavior variables and sleep variables are in fact …

Measuring Alumni Career Outcomes: A Validity Study, Mason Jones

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Higher education experiences routine scrutiny as the cost continues to rise and evidence of a return on investment is variable. Higher education institutions would benefit from measuring post-graduate outcomes to better articulate their impact. The current study examines the factor structure and measurement invariance of the National Alumni Career Mobility (NACM) a 25-item survey, that is widely used to assess alumni career outcomes. Prior psychometric reports for the NACM purported two different factor structures: a five-factor and bifactor model. National reports disaggregated the data by demographic variables, including first-generation status. Disaggregation by first-generation status is problematic given the lack of …

Assessing Cannabidiol As A Novel Therapeutic For Depression Among College Students, Noah Gustin

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of the current study was to assess the utility of cannabidiol (CBD) as a novel therapeutic for college students with mild-to-moderate depression. Participants completed a fourteen-week protocol: a four-week baseline, a four-week consumption phase, a two-week washout phase, and a second four-week consumption phase. Participants were randomly assigned to a CBD condition (150mg or 300mg). Study phases were counterbalanced such that if CBD was consumed in the first consumption phase, placebo was consumed in the second consumption phase, and vice versa. Participants completed weekly and monthly surveys used to assess depressive symptoms and secondary health-related measures. While graphical …

The Effects Of Various Array Sizes On The Skill Acquisition Of Auditory-Visual Conditional Discriminations, Ashlee Parks

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Common skills frequently taught to young learners in early childhood often include simple and conditional discriminations of stimuli. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different array sizes presented to a learner when teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations. An alternating treatments design was used to determine which array size led to the quickest and longest maintained skill acquisition. The researcher tested one participant’s ability to identify a shape from arrays of four, six, and nine. During baseline, the researcher observed low levels of responding in each array indicating this was not a skill the learner had in …

Examining The Psychometric Properties Of Issaq-Ss Subscales And Testing Measurement Invariance Across First-Generation Status, Riley Herr

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The ISSAQ-SS is a new scale developed for the purpose of measuring students on twelve noncognitive skills, all of which are theoretically predictive of academic success in higher education. Each of the twelve noncognitive skills measured via the ISSAQ-SS are represented by distinct subscales which contain five to nine items. Students respond to each item using a 4-point Likert scale. Given that the ISSAQ-SS is still new, further validity evidence is needed to support the use of this scale. For example, prior to comparing ISSAQ-SS subscale scores across groups of interest, it is necessary to establish that the subscales exhibit …

Fading Reinforcement Within High-Probability Request Sequences, Morgan Mabery

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Following Mace at al.’s (1988) seminal article, which first established the efficacy of the high-probability request sequence, further research on the high-p sequence has examined the factors which impact the effectiveness of the sequence. Wilder et al.’s (2015) research supports that the use of programmed reinforcement within high-p sequences is critically important for the procedure’s effectiveness. Some research has supported the efficacy of fading the number of high-p requests presented while maintaining responding, yet no research thus far has examined the use of fading reinforcement and its effects on maintenance of responding. The present study aimed to replicate the findings …

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Ego-Resiliency And Attachment Quality: The Mediating Role Of Coping, Christopher Johnson

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Ego-resiliency is a multifaceted personality trait that is heavily associated with social competence and plays a key role in an individual’s ability to cope with stress and adapt to novel situations. Broadly speaking, ego-resiliency refers to an individual’s ability to modify one’s level of impulse inhibition in accordance with environmental demands. Three key antecedents of ego-resiliency have been identified: active engagement with the world, having a repertoire of problem-solving strategies, and the ability to quickly recover after experiencing stressful or unforeseen events. Attachment theory suggests that high-quality adolescent attachment relationships provide individuals with a “secure base” from which to explore …

Exploring The Link Between Self-Distancing And “Stress Is Enhancing” Mindsets, Kyle Green

Masters Theses, 2020-current

While stress is generally framed as debilitating, past research has shown that adopting a mindset that focuses on the positive aspects of stress, referred to as a “stress is enhancing” mindset, can improve the ways in which one engages in stressful experiences. Researchers in this area have called for further investigation of the ways in which “stress is enhancing” mindsets are adopted. This study sought to explore the practice of self-distancing as a potential mechanism. It was hypothesized that participants who were instructed to write about a personally relevant future stressor from a distanced, third-person perspective would have more positive …

Varied Versus Non-Varied Behavior-Specific Praise On Student On-Task Behavior, Courtney West

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of praise variety on student behavior, by assessing how varied and non-varied behavior-specific praise statements affect student on-task behavior. An alternating treatments design was used to compare the two praise conditions. During baseline, participants were not provided with any feedback on their interactions with students. Following baseline, instructions were given to teachers on the two skills (varied and non-varied BSP) and the experimental phase began. In the experimental phase, participants alternated between a condition providing varied BSP to students and a condition providing non-varied BSP to students. The results of …

A Component Analysis Of Behavioral Skills Training In Teaching And Maintaining Social Skills In An Adolescent With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hannah Lockwood

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Modern social skills literature show the use of behavioral skills training (BST) and role-play in social skills instruction in small-group and school-based settings, although there is limited research measuring the effects of components of the BST package in maintaining social behaviors. The purpose of the present study, in response to the work of Kornacki et al. (2013), was to measure the effectiveness of the role-play and feedback components of BST in maintaining social skills. A multiple-baseline design across behaviors was used to measure social skills acquisition across different behavior domains for an adolescent participant with autism spectrum disorder. The participant …

The Impacts Of Teacher's Pride Skill Acquisition On Student Challenging Behavior, Haley Gardner

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of teacher’s PRIDE (praise, reflection, imitation, description, and enjoyment) skill acquisition on student challenging behavior using direct measurement. PRIDE skills are positive attention skills that have demonstrated success in improving teacher-student rapport as well as reducing student maladaptive behavior within the classroom setting. A multiple baseline across behaviors design was used to assess the impacts of P + R and I + D pairings on the dependent variable, student behavior. Behavioral skills training (BST) and feedback was used to teach and maintain PRIDE skill acquisition in the intervention phases. Due …

The Effects Of Vigorous-Intensity Acute Exercise On Hippocampal- And Prefrontal Cortex-Dependent Memory, Lauren Hord

Honors Theses

Acute exercise has been shown to differentially impact memory, dependent on whether the task is considered prefrontal cortex- or hippocampal-dependent. More specifically, acute exercise has been shown to impair PFC-dependent memory while enhancing hippocampal-dependent memory. No study has compared whether exercise differentially impacts separate types of cognition, so this experiment was designed to determine the relationship between high-intensity acute exercise and both prefrontal cortex-dependent and hippocampal-dependent memory. This study consisted of five total visits for 55 participants. In the first visit, participants engaged in a maximal exercise test, where their heart rate reserve was obtained. In visits 2-5, participants engaged …

Effects Of Language Status, Community Advice, And Parent Beliefs On Heritage Language Maintenance In The U.S.: A Scoping Review, Isabelle Trujillo, Jasmine Loeung, Carolyn Quam

Student Research Symposium

This scoping review of qualitative research examines effects of language status, community advice to parents, and parents' beliefs on heritage language maintenance within a U.S. context. The review was guided by three research questions: 1. What is the nature of the relationship between a heritage language’s (HL) status in society and language maintenance across generations? 2. How does information parents receive from community members (e.g., health professionals, teachers, friends/family) influence their beliefs about the HL? 3. How do parents’ beliefs about the impact of a HL on academic/career success influence HL transmission? Thirty-four articles met inclusion criteria. Three themes were …

Work And Psychological Recovery Experiences Of Asian American And Pacific Island Workers In Higher Education, Christine M. Beceril

Student Research Symposium

Individuals from Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) backgrounds constitute the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. job market - comprising 6.7% of the U.S. population and expected to reach 15% by 2065 (United States Census Bureau, 2022). Despite their rapid growth, there has been a scarcity of literature in industrial-organizational psychology, with limited research on how AAPI workers engage in psychological recovery after work. This is a critical, yet unexplored area as previous research on psychological recovery from work has been investigated with homogenous White samples. Additionally, AAPI workers play integral roles in the U.S. higher …

Activism And Stress, Ashanti Laine T. Peredo, Taylor Gayton, Lalaine Sevillano

Student Research Symposium

Black women often shoulder a heavier burden of financial, social, and physical responsibilities within their families compared to non-Black individuals who do not identify as women. This increased load contributes significantly to mental health disorders and psychological distress and well as physical disparities. When compounded with experiences of racism and sexism, these responsibilities can lead to a sense of social invisibility and foster a tendency towards stoicism. This study is a mixed method study as it aims to quantitatively examine the relationship between activism, physical wellbeing measured by the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA), and psychological wellbeing among Black …

Online Or In-Person: What Mode Of Conversation Makes People Feel The Most Socially Connected?, Nathan P. Gheorghita, Cynthia D. Mohr, Maryann Samson, Sheila Mccabe, Julia Lynch

Student Research Symposium

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been spending significantly more time online. Today, people spend an average of 6 hours and 58 minutes online every day, and much of this time is spent socializing via various platforms. Many studies have examined the benefits and risks of socializing online, but few studies have examined online conversations specifically. In this study I aim to uncover the differences in perceived social connection based on the medium of conversation. To do this, I will administer the Connectedness During Conversations Scale (CDCS) to a sample of Portland State University students (N=80). The …

Understanding The Importance Of Social Emotional Learning In Children And The Link Between Mental Health, Lynette Marie Lubiak

Student Research Symposium

I will examine how very important it is to society to teach structured Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs to children in school. It can bring mental wellbeing and the ability to have healthy relationships, non addictive behaviors and being able to emotionally regulate themselves. Since we have pushed on only academia and not SEL for our children, mental illness has skyrocketed. This problem started after the SEL part of school was taken out of schools and then the division between rich and poor became wider and wider as time went on. If we were to bring back SEL into school, …

Connection To Places: Exploring Impacts Of Development And Individual Characteristics, Seamus Mcgrath

Psychology Honors Papers

Research revolving around Sense of Place or connections to Place is a uniquely chaotic area of study. It is understood that these connections to places have many concrete outcomes like environmental stewardship or relative comfort in a location. However, little is known about what individual characteristics predict strong connections to places. In this study, Object Attachment (via the OASM), sentimentality (Kama Muta Frequency Scale), Belongingness (via SOBI), Animistic Thinking and Development (IDEA) are posited to have connections to sense of place, measured using the Five Dimensions of Place Attachment. The analysis primarily consisted of regression models, which supported previous research …

Emotion Regulation Strategies And Perceived Emotional Intelligence: The Effect Of Age., Iwanna Sepiadou

Adultspan Journal

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We also investigated the possible effects of age on the aforementioned variables. The total sample consisted of 379 people (158 men, 220 women, 1 unreported). Across participants, 273 were young (20-39 years old) and 106 were middle-aged (40-65 years old). We found statistically significant positive correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and negative primarily correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of …

Inferring Mind Wandering From Perceptual Decision Making, Cathy Zhang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

People need to sustain focused attention to achieve goals. Yet, attention often lapses, as minds wander towards task-unrelated thoughts. The conventional way to study temporal dynamics in mental states is through intermittent thought probes, which explicitly ask if thoughts are task-related. However, probes are rare and interrupt behavior. We designed a novel paradigm aiming to infer mind wandering (MW) from performance alone. On each trial, participants see a random dot kinematogram with varying evidence and indicate the coherent direction. Importantly, responses are repetitive: 90% of trials exhibit the same direction. To validate our task, participants respond to occasional thought probes. …

Adapting And Evaluating A Theory-Driven, Non-Pharmacological Intervention To Self-Manage Pain, Jennifer Kawi, Chao Hsing Yeh, Lauren Grant, Johannes Thrul, Hulin Wu, Paul J Christo, Lorraine S Evangelista

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The existing literature has limited detail on theory-driven interventions, particularly in pain studies. We adapted Bandura's self-efficacy framework toward a theory-driven, non-pharmacological intervention using auricular point acupressure (APA) and evaluated participants' perceptions of this intervention on their pain self-management. APA is a non-invasive modality based on auricular acupuncture principles.

METHODS: We mapped our study intervention components according to Bandura's key sources of self-efficacy (performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal) to facilitate the self-management of pain. Through a qualitative study design, we conducted virtual interviews at one and three months after a 4-week APA intervention among 23 …