Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Mediating And Moderating Factors In Associations Between Physical And Relational Victimization And Social And Academic Competence Among Urban Adolescents, Lisa Ulmer

Theses and Dissertations

Peer victimization is prevalent among school-aged youth and is associated with difficulties including decreased academic and social competence. Although relations between victimization and academic and social competence have been examined, fewer studies have considered how underlying processes linking these constructs are related or whether relations differ for adolescent subgroups. The current study’s purpose was to examine potential mediating and moderating effects in associations between physical and relational victimization and academic and social competence. Participants included a predominantly African American sample of 271 adolescents participating in a longitudinal violence prevention project. Path models showed significant negative associations between teacher-rated physical victimization …

Maternal Depressive Symptoms And Health Outcomes In Youths With Type 1 Diabetes: A Mediational Model, Struemph Kari Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: The rate and impact of depressive symptoms were examined with two models based on known effects of depression on variables related to diabetes management, parental involvement and diabetes conflict. The proposed models will measure potential effects high maternal depressive symptoms may have on parental monitoring and involvement and diabetes specific conflict and how these variables may in turn relate to poor regimen adherence. Methods: Participants included 225 mothers and young adolescents (aged 11-14) with T1D. Diabetes self-care behaviors were measured with the 24 Hour Recall Interview, parental involvement and monitoring were measured with the Parent Management of Diabetes Scale, …

Urban Adolescents’ Cognitive Responses To Peer Victimization: Does Psychosocial Adjustment Play A Role?, Amie Bettencourt

Theses and Dissertations

Peer victimization is characterized by acts of physical, relational, and verbal aggression that can contribute to maladjustment. Youths’ responses to peer victimization are guided by social information-processing (SIP) skills that impact their adjustment. Maladjustment can contribute to biases in SIP. Biased processing occurs when youth rely on existing schemas without attending to cues from the immediate social context. These processing deficits contribute to the enactment of problematic responses that may lead to further maladjustment. However, not all youth exhibit SIP deficits. A recent study identified four adjustment clusters based on differences in aggression, anxiety, depression, social acceptance, and victimization within …

The Relationship Between Childhood Adversity And Depression: The Influence Of Schemas And Coping Style On Depression Course, Jessica Childress

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explored the relationship between childhood adversity and depression course, and the influence of Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) and coping on this relationship. A sample of participants in a small-scale university study (n=100) provided information through retrospective assessment of adverse childhood experiences. Information through self-report assessment of coping style, Early Maladaptive Schema (EMS), and depressive symptoms was also obtained. Seventy-three percent of the sample reported experiencing at least one of the adversities assessed. Childhood adversity was a predictor of acute symptoms of depression, and general negative affect, indicating that experiencing childhood adversity leads to acute and chronic symptoms of …

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Theory Of An Efficacious Treatment Plan., Valerie Jeanette Johnston

Theses and Dissertations

There are numerous commonalities and similarities in the symptoms presented in those individuals suffering from Korsakoff's Syndrome, Vascular Dementia, B vitamin deficiencies and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. These similarities include physiological, neurological and psychological findings. B vitamin supplementation is being used effectively to treat several of these disorders. Because of these similarities and commonalities in both symptomology and physiology, it is my hypothesis that PTSD may be partially or totally a consequence of a B vitamin deficiency. Narrative re-exposure therapy is already in use to treat those with PTSD. Using the Biopsychosocial Model of health psychology, I propose an empirical study …

Hate: Juror Perceptions Of Crime Classification, Attributions Of Blame, And Impact Of Extra-Legal Factors, Karyn M. Plumm

Theses and Dissertations

A jury simulation paradigm was employed in this series of studies exploring hate crime. In the first two studies., crime label (i.e., bias-motivated assault ·vs. first degree assault) and victim gender were varied within the context of a sexual orientation motivated (study 1) or gender motivated (study 2) hate crime scenario. Results from the first study indicated that attributions of blame against the victim varied as a function of participants' attitudes toward minority sexual orientation. Results of study two indicated that participants in the assault condition were more likely to find the defendant guilty than those in the hate crime …

When Personality Traits Need A Frame Of Reference: Enhancing The Predictive Validity Of Non-Cognitive Measures, Andrew David English

Theses and Dissertations

The reconsideration of personality among personnel specialists is partly due to the discovery of the five-factor model of personality or the "Big Five" (Costa, 1996). In the years following the acceptance of this taxonomy, several researchers have examined the relationship of the "Big Five" personality traits to numerous job performance criteria. Research has show:n that personality testing can contribute significant incremental validity over that of cognitive ability and skills (Neuman & Wright, 1999). The issues of trait consistency and the faking of personality measures have divided researchers in regards to how detrimental the effects of each are. The results of …

Sociometric Categorization Of Children: An Empirically Based Method, Robert S. Falk

Theses and Dissertations

The use of sociometric assessment as a method for investigating the social competence of children and the prediction of future adjustment difficulties was reviewed. Recent methods used to form up to five sociometric groups (Popular, Average, Rejected, Neglected, and Controversial) were surveyed.

Various combinations of raw scores, standard deviation units, standardized scores, and binomial probability scores have been used in classification procedures. lnclusion/exclusion criteria, or cutoff scores, have been based on arbitrary statistical decisions regarding the ”extremeness" of children’s statements (positive and negative nominations) regarding their peers. These aspects of sociometric categorization result in limitations on the validity and generalizability …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Two Exercise Programs On Children's Self-Concept, Locus Of Control, And Mood, Lynne Blanken Einhaus

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of two physical fitness programs on children's self-concept, locus of control and mood were investigated in this study. It was expected that children who participated in a vigorous running program would demonstrate reduced depression and anxiety but a more internal locus of control and an increase in self-concept than children in a routine exercise group.

Participants in the Running Group were three fifth grade classes of a public elementary school in Richmond, Virginia (N = 60). Participants in the Routine Exercise Group were three fifth grade classes from a comparable public elementary school in the same district (N …

Use Of An External Inhibition Procedure In The Treatment Of Spider Phobic Subjects, Jerome D. Gilmore

Theses and Dissertations

This research represented an extension of previous work on the therapeutic application of the external inhibition phenomenon, and sought to examine the effects of such a procedure on the verbal- cognitive, motoric, and physiological components of the anxiety response. To accomplish this, subjects were selected and treatment effects evaluated on the basis of changes elicited in each of the three response modalities by a specific fear stimulus, The relative effectiveness of the external inhibition treatment in modifying the multiple components of the anxiety response was examined by a comparison with procedures controlling for expectancy effects and repeated exposure to the …

Locus-Of-Control In An Interactionist Approach To Behavior, Christopher Jacob Reiss

Theses and Dissertations

The impetus for this empirical study is: 1) to provide further construct validity for the I-E scale; and 2) to advance the locus-of-control construct as an important concept in the growing theoretical model of interactionism. The main models in personality psychology are compared and contrasted with interactionism.

The literature on locus-of-control, implicating its importance for understanding the interactionist perspective, is reviewed. Because anxiety and anagram tasks are utilized as person and situation variables in the present study they also are reviewed prior to stating specific hypotheses. 2 The major hypotheses are: 1) that the state anxiety of subjects with scores …

Effects Of Cognitive Set On The Physiological, Subjective, And Behavioral Responses To Fearful Stimuli, Jerome D. Gilmore

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the effects of cognitive set on the physiological, subjective, and motoric responses of fearful and non-fearful subjects exposed to specific fear stimuli. High, moderate, and low mutilation fear subjects were given instructions designed to persuade them that they were or were not afraid of mutilation stimuli. The extent to which instructions differentially affected subjects in the three fear groups and produced differential effects on responses in the three modalities was examined. The degree to which the physiological, self-report, and behavioral channels responded concordantly was also investigated.

A series of hypotheses were derived which generally indicated that high-fear …

Effectiveness Of Professionals Vs. Paraprofessionals In The Group Management Of Test Anxiety, Matthew P. Bars

Theses and Dissertations

This research was concerned with the relative effectiveness of professional and paraprofessional therapists in group management of college students exhibiting test anxiety. It was predicted that both the professional and paraprofessional therapists' groups would exhibit significant pre-post decreases in debilitating test anxiety. It was also predicted that there would be no significant pre-post differences between the professional and paraprofessional therapists' groups. Subjects were 26 participants in five Illinois State University Student Counseling Center Test Anxiety Workshops. Subjects completed a modified State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Achievement Anxiety Test at the beginning and end of the test anxiety workshops.

The hypothesis that …