Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Clinical Psychology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Clinical Psychology

The Association Between Increase In Maternal Education And Child Behavioral And Academic Outcomes: The Mediating Role Of The Home Learning Environment And Positive Parenting, Samantha R. Awada Jan 2019

The Association Between Increase In Maternal Education And Child Behavioral And Academic Outcomes: The Mediating Role Of The Home Learning Environment And Positive Parenting, Samantha R. Awada

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Research on maternal educational attainment has shown associations between higher levels of maternal education and positive child outcomes, such as greater academic proficiency and fewer externalizing problems. Most studies examine maternal education as a stable construct, measuring it at one point in time; however, a sizeable minority of mothers pursue education after the birth of a child. As such, it is important to investigate whether an increase in maternal education is a protective or a risk factor for child outcomes. Further, few have explored the processes through which the association between increases in maternal education and child outcomes exist. The …


Assessment Of “Meaning Made”: An Empirical Examination Of Factorial Structure And Measure Validity, Andrea M. Despotes Jan 2019

Assessment Of “Meaning Made”: An Empirical Examination Of Factorial Structure And Measure Validity, Andrea M. Despotes

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Meaning-making theory posits that appraisal of a stressful event leads to distress if it is discrepant with one’s sense of “global meaning,” and such distress stimulates meaning-making processes aimed at eliminating the discrepancy. If meaning making leads to new meaning (i.e., “meaning made”), the stress-induced discrepancy is reduced, which generally is expected to result in positive adjustment. This study investigated the factorial structure of the meaning made construct using a sample (N = 372) of Amazon Mechanical Turk workers in the United States having “Masters” status and a minimum approval rating of 95%. Participants reported an average age of about …


An Experimental Examination Of Religious Teaching And Thought-Action Fusion, Johanna Anita Younce Jan 2019

An Experimental Examination Of Religious Teaching And Thought-Action Fusion, Johanna Anita Younce

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Scrupulosity is an understudied symptom dimension of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that involves moral- and religious-based obsessions and compulsions. There are several different underlying cognitive beliefs that have been shown to be related to the development and maintenance of OCD, but one—moral thought-action fusion (TAF-moral)—has been highly associated with scrupulosity. TAF-moral is the belief that thoughts are morally equivalent to actions, including thoughts that are intrusive in nature. It has been found that individuals from different religious traditions display different levels of TAF-moral and display different strengths of association between TAF-moral and religiosity. However, these differences have not been examined experimentally …


Further Exploration Of The Relationship Between Worry And Contrast Avoidance, Anna E. Snyder Jan 2019

Further Exploration Of The Relationship Between Worry And Contrast Avoidance, Anna E. Snyder

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Contrast Avoidance Model of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) proposes that individuals with GAD are sensitive to negative emotional contrasts (i.e., sharp shifts from neutral or positive emotional states to negative emotional states). These individuals prefer to remain in a negative emotional state to avoid these negative contrasts. They stay in this state by worrying. The present study aimed to directly test the Contrast Avoidance Model of GAD by using an experimental manipulation and also to further develop the literature on the relationship between contrast avoidance, worry, and GAD. Results of this study showed mixed support for the model overall; …


Cognitive Bias Modification For Negative Sexual Assault Disclosure Experiences: Examining A Mechanism For Improving Post-Disclosure Well-Being, Caitlin Mary Mcnamara Pinciotti Jan 2019

Cognitive Bias Modification For Negative Sexual Assault Disclosure Experiences: Examining A Mechanism For Improving Post-Disclosure Well-Being, Caitlin Mary Mcnamara Pinciotti

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Following a sexual assault, many survivors choose to disclose the experience to others. More commonly, these conversations occur between friends, family members, or significant others, but survivors may also disclose to professionals, such as law enforcement and medical professionals. Unfortunately, support providers often do not respond supportively to disclosing survivors, and unsupportive acknowledgement and turning-against reactions are common. Extant literature has overwhelmingly indicated that these negative reactions have lasting detrimental effects on survivors, including leading to increased symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other adverse outcomes. Although social support and PTSD theories converge to suggest that negative disclosure experiences …


The Effects Of Pre-Existing Beliefs About Alcohol Consumption On Predicting Victim Blame In Incapacitated And Drug Facilitated Rape, Robyn Alyssa Ellis Jan 2019

The Effects Of Pre-Existing Beliefs About Alcohol Consumption On Predicting Victim Blame In Incapacitated And Drug Facilitated Rape, Robyn Alyssa Ellis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Alcohol-involved sexual assault is more common on college and appears to garner more negative social reactions, such as victim blaming than forcible assault. There are two specified types of alcohol-involved sexual assaults identified in the literature: drug and alcohol facilitated rape (DAFR) and incapacitated rape (IR). Factors such as rape myths, rape scripts and alcohol expectancies also have been implicated in victim blaming. This study sought to test Abbey’s model of alcohol’s role in sexual assault in predicting victim blame by a third-party observer and examine differences in victim blame between IR and DAFR. Participants included 227 undergraduates at a …


Examining The Utility Of A Brief Self-Compassion Intervention For Emotion Regulation In Individuals With Exposure To Trauma, Sara Jean Himmerich Jan 2019

Examining The Utility Of A Brief Self-Compassion Intervention For Emotion Regulation In Individuals With Exposure To Trauma, Sara Jean Himmerich

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Research suggests that abilities to moderate and process trauma-related emotions may predict symptoms of posttraumatic stress, with the overuse of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies presenting a potential vulnerability to experiencing difficulties following trauma exposure. Self-compassion has been associated with the acceptance of negative emotions, with research finding evidence for positive associations between self-compassion and adaptive emotion regulation. Additionally, research suggests an inverse relationship between self-compassion and symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Self-compassion has been conceptualized and studied as a skill that can be learned, with studies finding support for improved abilities following targeted interventions. However, more research is needed to establish …


Exploring The Relationship Between Facets Of Mindfulness And Emotion Regulatory Flexibility, Anthony Nicholas Reffi Jan 2019

Exploring The Relationship Between Facets Of Mindfulness And Emotion Regulatory Flexibility, Anthony Nicholas Reffi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Emotion dysregulation can often be attributed to an inability to employ a range of regulatory strategies across varying stressful situations (i.e., regulatory flexibility). Therefore, it remains clinically relevant to determine the mechanisms that facilitate regulatory flexibility. Although mindfulness and regulatory flexibility have been linked, relations between mindfulness facets and regulatory flexibility have not yet been considered. This study aimed to determine which facets of self-reported trait mindfulness are related to regulatory choice flexibility. Using a previously validated performance-based emotion regulation choice paradigm, undergraduates (N = 78; 62.8% female; Mage = 19.82, SD = 2.03) chose to use either reappraisal or …


Behavioral Interference Of Memory Reconsolidation As A Treatment For Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms, Benjamin Darnell Jan 2019

Behavioral Interference Of Memory Reconsolidation As A Treatment For Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms, Benjamin Darnell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is best conceptualized as a failure of the stress response to naturally resolve following trauma exposure (e.g., Orcutt, Bonanno, Hannan, & Miron, 2014). Current treatments are effective for some, but not all who suffer from PTSD (e.g., Bradley, Greene, Russ, Dutra, & Westen, 2005; Lee et al., 2016), and relapse is common (Ursano et al., 2004; Davidson et al., 2001). Considering that PTSD is a memory-based disorder, a treatment that could augment trauma memories has the potential to address the limitations of current interventions. Research on memory suggests that, if a memory is retrieved under the …


Examining The Relationship Between Self-Compassion And Emotion Regulation Strategies Using Ambulatory Assessment Methods, Lindsay Mae Miller Jan 2019

Examining The Relationship Between Self-Compassion And Emotion Regulation Strategies Using Ambulatory Assessment Methods, Lindsay Mae Miller

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Self-compassion focuses on how individuals treat themselves during periods of suffering. Overall, self-compassion is positively associated with adaptive mental health outcomes and negatively associated with psychopathology. One potential mechanism by which self-compassion may influence other constructs is emotion regulation. Unfortunately, most research about emotion regulation is conducted using retrospective reporting, meaning that the data are subject to memory biases. Ambulatory assessment methods allow for more frequent sampling, thus decreasing the reliance on recall. Using this methodology, the present study examined how differences in self-compassion were related to emotion regulation in daily life. Contrary to predictions, few ambulatory measures (depression, anxiety, …


Trauma Memory: The Role Of Alexithymia And Emotion Regulation, Jennifer Milliken Jan 2019

Trauma Memory: The Role Of Alexithymia And Emotion Regulation, Jennifer Milliken

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Alexithymia is a clinical term used to describe individuals who struggle to connect to their emotional experiences. Alexithymia is observed among individuals with a variety of mental health problems (Taylor, 2000; Taylor, Bagby, & Parker, 1997), and may characterize more severe clinical presentations (e.g., Frewen, Dozois, Neufeld, & Lanius, 2008). In addition, alexithymia seems to be related to adverse treatment outcomes (Kosten, Krystal, Giller, Frank, & Dan, 1992; Ogrodniczuk, Piper, & Joyce, 2011). This study adds to the current literature by examining the effect of alexithymia and emotion regulation (i.e., emotion suppression; emotion acceptance) on variables associated with trauma memory …