Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Anhedonia And Impulsivity In College Alcohol Use: A Path Analysis, Sydney N. Stamatovich

Dissertations and Theses

This study tested a path model to explore whether different types of anhedonia are associated with alcohol use and problems via different types of impulsivity in 640 college students (ages 18-25). This study parsed anhedonia into four specific facets: consummatory and anticipatory anhedonia, and “recreational” and social anhedonia. Consummatory anhedonia (i.e., the “liking” of a reward) was hypothesized to be associated with alcohol use and problems via sensation seeking, a component of impulsivity where individuals tend to seek out rewarding, yet sometimes risky stimuli. Further, anticipatory anhedonia (i.e., the process of “looking forward to” or “wanting” a reward) was hypothesized …

Childhood Interpersonal Trauma And Disordered Eating; The Mediating Role Of Social Information Processing Deficits, Deviated Pubertal Timing, And Emotion, Cazzie Es Steinzor

Dissertations and Theses

Childhood maltreatment has been identified as a risk factor for psychopathology, including disordered eating. The current study tested a transdiagnostic theoretical model, posited by McLaughlin and colleagues (2020), that integrates difficulties with emotions, perceived deviation in pubertal timing, and social information processing deficits to explain the relationship between childhood maltreatment exposure and the development of a range of psychopathology. Specifically, the current study incorporated the aforementioned mechanisms to explain the relationship of child maltreatment with disordered eating. While research supports associations between the aforementioned variables, it is unclear if these three mechanisms better explain the relationship between exposure to childhood …

“I Knew These Marvelous People”: Gay Men’S Experiences Of Long-Term Hiv/Aids Survival, Ilana J. Sichel

Dissertations and Theses

The gay and bisexual men who were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS before the pharmaceutical breakthroughs of the mid-1990s were given what was expected to be a death sentence. Instead, the majority of those who began the newly available treatments outlived not just their initial prognoses but their lovers, friends, and community members who had already perished. This study used grounded theory analysis of semi-structured interviews with a sample of 10 self-identified gay men who are long-term HIV/AIDS survivors to explore experiences of trauma, loss, and mourning in relation to current psychological wellbeing. Qualitative thematic analysis indicated that despite demographic variance among …

Early Risk Factors For School-Age Adhd And Irritability: The Roles Of Prenatal Risk, Intrusive Parenting Style During Preschool And Caregiver-Child Attachment Quality., Ashley M. Rainford

Dissertations and Theses

ADHD is a highly impairing neurodevelopmental disorder and the family context provides a critical early environment where children’s risk for the disorder may be heightened or reduced. A parent’s style, that is their approach to interacting and guiding the child may provide children with warmth and security, or elicit fear, distrust and disappointment, both of which in turn impact behavior. However, the parent-child relationship is not unidirectional; it is dynamic. Children with high ADHD-like behaviors have greater difficulty relating to and interacting with their caregivers, while caregivers become increasingly stressed and show greater hostility and less warmth in their parenting. …

Loneliness, Interpersonal Sensitivity And The Mechanisms Through Which The Dimensions Of Trait Emotional Intelligence May Protect Against Clinical Depression, Eva H. Leighton

Dissertations and Theses

Reducing the prevalence of loneliness and depression are important public health objectives. This dissertation aims to contribute to these objectives by improving our understanding of the relationship between loneliness and depression. Specifically, we assessed three additional constructs known to be strongly associated with loneliness and depression –-perceived social support, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal sensitivity –- with the aim of showing how these three constructs influence the relationship between loneliness and depression. Previous research that jointly examines all five constructs has not been identified by the author in an extensive search of prior literature.

Specifically, this dissertation tested the following hypotheses: …

Identification Of Adhd And Comorbid Disorders In Children: The Potential Role Of Minority Group Membership, Rachel H. Tayler

Dissertations and Theses

Identification of ADHD and Comorbid Disorders in Children: The potential role of minority group membership

by

Rachel Tayler, MSc, MA

Advisor: Sarah O’Neill, PhD

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects six million US children. Females, Latinx, and possibly Black children have lower rates of diagnosis than their Male and White non-Latinx peers. ADHD is behaviorally defined, and as such, clinicians' perceptions of symptoms and determination of diagnoses may be influenced by demographic factors such as race, ethnicity and sex.

This vignette study examined whether clinicians' implicit ethnic, racial, and sex biases affect diagnosis of ADHD and comorbid conditions. Psychiatry trainees and pediatricians …

Being Black & Blue: Sex As A Moderator Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Depressive Symptoms Among Black Emerging Adults, Wynta C. Alexander

Dissertations and Theses

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been linked to adult mental health consequences (e.g., depressive symptoms). Black people are disproportionately affected by ACEs, and factors related to ethnic subgroups and/or sex may produce differential depressive outcomes. The current study examined the moderating role of sex in the association between adverse childhood experiences and depression symptoms using a life course of health approach among a sample of Black emerging adults. Participants (n = 159) of the current study were Black (e.g., African – American) and Black Caribbean (e.g., Jamaican) undergraduate students (18 – 59 years old; 72.3% female) attending a large, public …

Joint Laughter Between Patient And Therapist: Exploring The Function Of These Moments And Their Relationship To The Working Alliance In Short-Term Psychotherapy, Molly Rappaport

Dissertations and Theses

Laughter emerges in infancy and reflects mutually aroused and regulated positive affect within the caregiver-infant relationship and repeated cycles of shared, co-regulated positive arousal have been shown to play a critical role in fueling secure attachment bond formation and laying the groundwork for the infant’s capacity for affect regulation (Schore, 2003). Throughout life, laughter continues to function as an attachment behavior with the possibility of promoting interpersonal closeness or creating distance. Attitudes toward the role of laughter in psychotherapy vary among psychodynamically-oriented clinicians and research has mostly focused on the kinds of humor and interventions that provoke laughter rather than …

Relation Of Emotion Regulation Difficulties, Self-Compassion, And Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Emily Anne Kalantar

Dissertations and Theses

Exposure to potentially traumatic events is associated with high emotion regulation difficulties, development of posttraumatic stress disorder, and elevated healthcare expenditures. Emotion regulation difficulties are related to worse clinical and sub-clinical posttraumatic stress symptomology relative to use of effective emotion regulation strategies. Yet, significant variance in posttraumatic stress symptom severity remains unexplained after accounting for emotion regulation difficulties, suggesting identification of additional explanatory variables is warranted. Considerable research suggests high (vs. low) self-compassion, which entails extending kindness to oneself, is related to more effective emotion regulation and low posttraumatic stress symptom severity. As such, self-compassion may be one variable that …

The Role Of Emotional Attention Regulation In High Psychopathy Incarcerated Males, Michael K. Webb

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the role of emotional attention regulation in men (N = 60) currently incarcerated in a Midwestern prison. Modern conceptualizations define psychopathy as a multifaceted and dimensional construct that includes atypical experience of affect, interpersonal problems, and remarkable social deviance. Attentional differences and deficient emotional experience have been shown to predict psychopathy and other outcomes related to the construct. However, attentional and emotional functioning in individuals high in psychopathy is complex and results have been shown to vary across discrete emotion states and experimental paradigms. The negative preception hypothesis (Kosson et al. 2018) suggests that these differences may …

Relationship Between The Broad Autism Phenotype, Social Support, Emotion Regulation, And Depression In Parents Of Children With Autism, Chelsey Vanness

Dissertations and Theses

Associations between the Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) and depressive symptoms among parents of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been well established. However, the nature of this relationship has not been examined; emotion dysregulation and perceived social support could provide further understanding. This study aimed to explore the indirect association between BAP traits and depressive symptoms via emotion dysregulation and perceived social support. Participants were 219 parents of children with ASD, ages ranging from 22 to 69 years old (M = 38.37, SD = 8.72). Participants completed online questionnaires including the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ), Difficulties in …

The Contribution Of Adverse Childhood Experiences To The Interplay Between Insecure Attachment Characteristics, Trait Emotional Intelligence, Difficulties In Emotion Regulation, And Personality Organization, Kseniia Gvozdieva

Dissertations and Theses

There are well-established connections between unfavorable attachment experiences and subsequent personality pathology. Individuals with adverse attachment experiences and those with personality pathology have been found to have difficulty with emotional awareness and emotion regulation. Attachment characteristics inform emotional intelligence and emotion regulation, while emotional intelligence and emotion regulation capacities can be protective against personality pathology and serve as a potential mechanism of positive change in one’s attachment. Complex trauma disrupts attachment and the subsequent development of emotional intelligence, emotion regulation, as well as personality structure.

In this dissertation, we examine the ways in which individual attachment patterns can be linked …

Does Social Media Promote Disordered Eating?, Carly Feldstein

Dissertations and Theses

Hispanic people are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. with a total of 18.5% of the U.S population being of Hispanic descent (United States Census Bureau, 2020). Although eating disorders (ED), particularly those involving binge eating, comprise a significant health concern, EDs are often overlooked in the Hispanic culture (Higgins et al., 2016; Opara & Santos, 2019). Hispanic individuals have comparable rates of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and an even higher rate of binge eating disorders compared to non- Hispanic (NH) White individuals (Higgins et al., 2016). Within Hispanic adults, the lifetime prevalence of EDs is higher …

Does Overweight/Obesity Moderate The Association Between Adhd And Internalizing Difficulties In Young Adults?, Breanna Badripersaud

Dissertations and Theses

This study’s objective was to investigate if ADHD symptoms and BMI are associated with internalizing impairments of depression, anxiety, stress and lower self-esteem in college students. It was predicted that higher ADHD symptoms would be associated with elevated depression, anxiety, stress, and low self-esteem, especially if BMI fell in the overweight/obese range. Undergraduate students [N= 580; Mean (SD) age= 20.7 (3.10)] from an urban campus completed an online survey comprising self-report measures of demographics, height/weight, attention and hyperactivity/impulsivity (Barkley Deficits Executive Functioning Scale ADHD- Executive Function Index), depression, anxiety, stress (all using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale) and self- …

The Epidemiology Of Somatic Depression And Eating Disorders: The Relationship Between Depressive Subtypes And Symptoms Of Disordered Eating, Anita M. Sicignano

Dissertations and Theses

Depression is known to affect females in much greater numbers than males, with about three times as many women having the disorder as men (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A similar gender disparity can be seen in eating disorders, where up to nine in ten sufferers are female (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Studies have shown that most of the gender difference in depression occurs as a result of women experiencing a form of depression involving a number of body-centric symptoms, including headaches, weight changes, fatigue, and insomnia, which has been termed “somatic depression” (Silverstein et al., 2013). Some of the symptoms, …

Mechanisms Of Value-Biased Prioritization In Fast Sensorimotor Decision Making, Kivilcim Afacan-Seref

Dissertations and Theses

In dynamic environments, split-second sensorimotor decisions must be prioritized according to potential payoffs to maximize overall rewards. The impact of relative value on deliberative perceptual judgments has been examined extensively, but relatively little is known about value-biasing mechanisms in the common situation where physical evidence is strong but the time to act is severely limited. This research examines the behavioral and electrophysiological indices of how value biases split-second perceptual decisions and the possible mechanisms underlying the process. In prominent decision models, a noisy but statistically stationary representation of sensory evidence is integrated over time to an action-triggering bound, and value-biases …

Exploring Obesity, Adhd Severity, And Disordered Eating Behavior Among College Students, Carolina Rozario

Dissertations and Theses

Obesity is a global epidemic because of the potential health risks. There is evidence that many obese individuals manifest persistent ADHD symptoms, and that both disorders increase risk for binge eating. Nevertheless, how obesity and ADHD may increase risk for binge eating work is unclear. Neuropsychological deficits are common to all disorders and may help to explain the relations observed. The aim of this study was to explore whether neuropsychological dysfunction, especially inhibitory control weaknesses, moderate the association between greater BMI and more severe ADHD and disordered eating behaviors. Thirty-nine undergraduate college students (27 females; Mean age = 20.77, SD …

The Effects Of Offender Age And Offender-Victim Relationship On Modus Operandi Strategies To Lure The Victim, Hayley Lauren Tews

Dissertations and Theses

Research on the modus operandi (“method of operation”) of child sexual abuse (CSA) offenders has been useful in informing successful prevention programs (LeClerc, 2009). However, a gap in the literature regarding the strategies offenders use to lure potential CSA victims still remains. The present study seeks to examine the effects of offender-victim relationship and offender age on the use of strategies to lure victims for the purpose of committing CSA. Data for this study is taken from a larger investigation which included 854 identified adolescent and adult CSA offenders from nine different states. A 2 X 2 MANCOVA analysis revealed …

Scl-90 Characteristics Of The Borderline Personality Disorder In A Day Treatment Setting, Jeananne Theresa Feagan

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this present study was to examine test performance of the Borderline Personality Disorder on the Symptom Checklist .(SCL-90). This investigation addressed whether the Borderline Personality Disorder has a distinctive profile on the SCL-90, and whether the profile is distinguishable in comparison with two other groups with mental disorders.

The Effects Of Overt And Covert Observation On The Clinical Behavior Emitted By Untrained Clinicians, Carol L.K. Middleton

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the effects overt and covert observation of live clinical sessions have on the number of social/ neutral verbal behaviors emitted by untrained speech clinicians and their respective clients enrolled Summer Term, 1980, in the Articulation and Language Clinic at Portland State University, Speech and Hearing Sciences. The Boone-Prescott Interactional analysis System (Boone and Prescott, 1972), a numerically coded system, was used to record clinician-client interactions. Data were obtained for a randomly selected five minute period from each of forty clinical sessions.

Factorial Structure Of The Hamilton Rating Scale For Depression, Kevin Page O'Brien

Dissertations and Theses

The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRS), a 17-item observer-rated scale, was first developed in 1960 to assess the severity of depressive symptomatology in patients diagnosed as suffering from depression. The HRS has since demonstrated high inter-rater reliability (with coefficients ranging from .87 to .94), and has proven useful in measuring changes of severity following treatment.

Since its development, the HRS has been the focus of several factor analytic investigations, four of which attempted to assess the instrument for factorial invariance. Factorial invariance refers to the generalizability or applicability of dimensions developed from one sample to another. While some consensus …

Interpersonal Behavior And Depression: An Examination Of Self-Descriptions On The Interpersonal Check List, Douglas Steven Andrews

Dissertations and Theses

Depressive disorders are recognized as being of long standing clinical and theoretical concern. Early psychoanalytic conceptualizations of depression were later reformulated into theories emphasizing interpersonal manifestations of depression, notably passive-dependent oral trends. Recent research efforts have explored specific interpersonal behaviors and their relationship to depression. Although some studies have been done utilizing self-report data of interpersonal behavior, little has been done utilizing self-descriptions of interpersonal traits drawn from a sample of clinically depressed psychiatric outpatients.

Comparisons Of Videotape Observation To Direct Observation, John W. Hanlan

Dissertations and Theses

This research examined the validity of videotaped analyses of clinical sessions in comparison to direct (live) observations. The subjects were eleven student clinicians and their respective clients, enrolled Fall Term, 1979, in Portland State University's Speech and Hearing Sciences Articulation and Language and Urban Language Clinics. The Boone-Prescott Interactional Analysis System, a numerically coded system, was used to record clinician/client interactions. Data were obtained for a randomly selected five-minute period from each of thirty clinical sessions.

Homosexuality Among Women: Historical And Current Views In Psychology, Craig Bracy

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this review is to evaluate the methodology of past and present research with female homosexuals and then to summarize the current state of knowledge in psychology and psychiatry. The data presented in this review have been derived predominantly from material abstracted in the Medicus Index (1900-1976) and Psychology Abstracts (1927-1976).

This reviewer has established specific criteria by which all studies throughout this literature review will be examined. These are: sample size, sampling of experimental control groups, variable controlled (age, education, etc), how sexual orientation was determined, and tests and questionnaires employed, their reliability, validity, administration, and interpretation. …

Clinical Application Of The Midi-Mult, Barbara Hendricks

Dissertations and Theses

The MMPI is used as a diagnostic tool in clinical settings. However, its length is a detriment. Various attempts have been made to develop shortened versions of the standard MMPI. One of the widely used short forms is Kincannon's Mini-Mult, but its validity scales are less accurate than the full MMPI.

Dean's Midi-Mult is a more recent short form of the MMPI designed to approximate more closely the scores on the validity scales and clinical scales of the standard MMPI.

Shaping Of Marital Interaction: A Clinical-Research Approach, Cynthia Luders Clay

Dissertations and Theses

In the last ten years, a number of behavioral approaches to marital therapy have been developed and applied to married couples. Intervention techniques have included selective reinforcement, extinction, modeling, aversive consequences, and contingency contracting. The present study investigated the use of the bug-in-the-ear (BITE) instrument as an aid in shaping marital interaction. The BITE has been applied in several child behavior modification programs, but no applications in marital therapy have been reported.

The use of the BITE has been demonstrated and is considered clinically feasible. Since the N of this study was small and since the raters evaluating progress were …

Obesity : Two Behavioral Approaches To Weight Reduction, Albert Blake Davidson

Dissertations and Theses

Much of the research on obesity has been designed to explore its relationship to the behavior of overeating. Although a number of physiological, societal, cultural and family background variables have been detailed, researchers have sought an approach that does not rely heavily on these considerations. Most weight reduction programs fail to recognize and concentrate on empirically demonstrated differences between obese and normal subjects. Researchers have shown that obese subjects seem to be more sensitive to external than internal stimuli. A behavioral approach to weight reduction that emphasizes and uses these external stimuli was hypothesized to be the treatment of choice. …

The Effect Of Labeling Disfluencies As 'Stuttering' And Contingent And Yoked "Wrong" On The Disfluencies Of Normal Speakers, Dennis Ray Staines

Dissertations and Theses

A labeling variable suggested by Wendell Johnson's "diagnosogenic" theory of the onset of stuttering was included in this study of the disfluencies of normal speaking college students in order to explore further the hypothetical relationship between normal disfluency and the onset of stuttering. A total of 60 Ss were randomly assigned to the following groups, each containing 10 Ss: I. Labeling Chastisement plus Contingent "wrong;" II. Labeling Chastisement plus Yoked (non-contingent) "wrong;" III. Labeling Chastisement - No "wrong;" IV. No Labeling Chastisement Contingent "wrong;" V. No Labeling Chastisement - Yoked "wrong;" VI. No Labeling Chastisement - No "wrong" …