Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Do Professor Characteristics Influence College Students' Mental Health Disclosure?, Giselle Solorio, Kenneth Barideaux Jr.

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

Previous studies have provided some evidence that college students may hesitate to disclose their mental health status because of social stigma; however, more research is needed to identify and understand the factors that influence students’ willingness to disclose. For example, it is unclear how professor characteristics impact the likelihood of disclosure. In the current study we examined whether the gender of the professor (male vs. female) and the professor’s teaching discipline (STEM vs. humanities) affected students' likelihood to disclose a mental health problem. Participants read a fictitious syllabus where the professor was either male or female and taught a chemistry …

Determining The More Effective Behavior Analytic Intervention For Children With Autism Who Exhibit Pica Behaviors, Jennifer J. Lanham

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Determining the More Effective Behavior Analytic Intervention for Children With Autism Who Exhibit Pica Behaviors. Jennifer J. Lanham, 2024: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice. Keywords: autism, pica, eating disorders, intervention, applied behavior analysis

This dissertation was designed to determine which behavior analytic intervention was more effective in the treatment and reduction of mouthing non-nutritive substances in children diagnosed with autism. This study included four participants in an A-B-A reversal design with a component analysis across four intervention phases. The study participants were enrolled in a center-based treatment environment …

Discrimination, Sleep Disturbances, And Drinking Frequency Among Racially Diverse Adolescents: A Follow-Up Prospective Study, Emma Schillinger

Theses - ALL

Previous research has highlighted the role of discrimination experiences in the development and escalation of sleep disturbances and alcohol use among diverse adolescents. However, few studies have examined the role of discrimination experiences in the reciprocal sleep-alcohol relationship prospectively. The present study examined the prospective relationship among discrimination experiences, sleep disturbances, and alcohol use, and tested racial disparities within this risk pathway. Secondary analyses were conducted on the data drawn from a two-wave (Years 1 and 2; Y1 and Y2, respectively) online survey study of 414 high school students (Mage = 15.07 [SD = 1.19]; 57% female; 41% Black; 22% …

Grit, Resilience, Well-Being, And Family Structure’S Relationship With College Attendance, Joshua Ireland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Bullying Involvement And Depression Among Youth With Adhd: Is Positive Parenting Protective?, Jessica A. Simmons

Dissertations - ALL

Abstract Background: Youth with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at increased independent risk for bullying involvement or depression yet the topic of bullying involvement and depression in ADHD is poorly understood and largely considered without a guiding theoretical framework. Research on the relation between ADHD and bullying is still in its early stages and less is known about the risk and protective factors that may contribute to the development or buffering of depression in these youth. Family factors such as positive parenting promote resilience in children with ADHD, help reduce the risk for youth depression and help to …

Pediatric Chronic Pain And Anxiety And Depression Symptoms: The Association With Parenting Stress, Alison Vrabec

Theses - ALL

As many as 38% of children experience chronic pain, and of these children about 26% have a comorbid mental health diagnosis. Parents of children with a chronic health condition demonstrate elevations in stress when compared to parents with healthy children. It is likely that when chronic pain is comorbid with mental health disorders, parents may experience greater stress. Social isolation and financial burdens may be associated with parenting stress, which may be even higher in parents of children with chronic pain compared to parents of children without chronic pain. While most pediatric chronic pain literature focuses on how parenting behaviors …

Game Addiction, The Impostor Phenomenon, And Social Adjustment Among Young Adults In India, Jessy Fenn, Jain P Jegi, H Deva Nandan

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online gaming grew rapidly, becoming a social lifeline for many youths confined to their homes while turning others into gaming addicts. Online gaming not only led to connections with other youths but also opened the gates to fantasy worlds filled with adventures and missions that could be accomplished with quick thinking and quick fingers. Success there could lead to further addiction and inversely affect gamers’ real-world social life. Could the gap between their online success and their social adjustment in the real world manifest itself as feelings of being an impostor? The aim of this research …

The Perceptions Of Single Parents Raising A Child Diagnosed With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder With Behavioral And Emotional Concerns, Peterann Marie Blackstock

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Peer Recovery Support Effects On Substance Abuse In Rural Outpatient Community Behavioral Health, Melissa Bruce

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Mental Health Professionals’ Experience Bridging The Gap Between The Mental Health Community And Law Enforcement, Amber Nichole Anderson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Attachment Insecurity And Cognitive Flexibility On Mentalization In Psychotherapists, Michael Scharf

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

The wounded healer concept suggests that one's therapeutic ability is rooted in one's own experiences of pain and suffering. The present study used this concept as a theoretical framework from which to explore issues related to therapist insecure attachment and therapist skill. It examined the role of therapist cognitive flexibility in the relationship between therapist attachment insecurity and therapist mentalization capacity. Participants were 158 therapists from different clinical fields of study and varying levels of clinical experience who completed an online protocol. Results indicated that avoidant attachment negatively predicted mentalization capacity, validating in a therapist sample what previous studies have …

Maladaptive Perfectionism And Regulation Of Negative Affect After Failure: The Influences Of Self-Esteem And Mindfulness, Gregory Neil Friedman

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

The aim of the present study was to investigate the use of emotion regulation strategies among adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists and determine if there are differences. It proposed a model that maladaptive perfectionists experience heightened negative affect in response to their perceived deficiencies, and that both self-esteem and mindfulness contribute to emotion regulation strategy choice. A sample of 336 participants, ages 18 and older, completed online self-report measures related to perfectionism, self-esteem, mindfulness, current affect, and emotion regulation strategy choice, along with a manipulated failure task. Results showed that after a perceived failure, maladaptive perfectionists had lower odds of choosing …

Development Of Bibliotherapy For Emetophobia In Children, Katerina Levy M.S.

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Emetophobia has been cited in the literature as one of the least understood and largely understudied anxiety disorders and is estimated to impact 2-7% of the population (Boschen, 2007; Graziano et al., 2010; Hunter & Anthony, 2009; Marks, 1987; Veale & Lambrou, 2006). Even less is known about emetophobia in children, and research has primarily focused on case studies to highlight the phenomenology of emetophobia as well as the trajectory of treatment (Graziano et al., 2010). Given the limited knowledge on emetophobia, few resources exist to aid and facilitate treatment (i.e., children’s storybooks or treatment manuals). Including children’s books in …

Examining The Effects Of Manualized Suicide Intervention Training On Clinical Psychology Doctoral Trainees: A Quasi-Experimental Trial, Alexander Dorfman M.S.

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Although most clinical psychology doctoral trainees encounter at least one suicidal client over the course of their training (Dexter-Mazza & Freeman, 2003), there is notable variability in the degree of formal suicide risk assessment and intervention training offered across clinical psychology doctoral programs (Monahan & Karver, 2021). Most suicide-related training involves passive (e.g., lectures) rather than active (e.g., role-plays, experiential exercises) training techniques, despite evidence for the effectiveness of the latter in improving clinicians’ skills (Gryglewicz et al., 2020). The Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a manualized, evidence-based training incorporating didactics and role-plays (LivingWorks, 2013; Rodgers, 2010). The …

The Image Of Schizophrenia In Spain's Healthcare System, Meghan Webb

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

Schizophrenia affects thousands of people in Spain and is one of the most serious mental health disorders in existence. Despite its this characteristic, schizophrenia did not always get the proper attention it deserved within the country’s healthcare system. This was largely due to the influence that the Spanish government had, and continues to have, over the healthcare system, giving it the power to choose how the disorder was represented. Therefore, what does that mean for schizophrenia in Spain’s healthcare system today? This essay will explore the ways in which schizophrenia was represented in Spain’s healthcare system through an examination of …

The Efficacy Of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Compared To Cognitive Behavioral Therapy And Drug Counseling For Substance Use Disorders: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Morris D. Franco, Ma, Ms

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

In 2021, drug overdoses were the leading cause of death in the US for those under age 50, with a toll of 100,306 lives, an increase of 28.5% from 2020 (Center for Disease Control, 2021). This increasing toll makes it imperative to identify effective research-based treatments. Psychodynamic psychotherapy (PDT) is an option for treating substance-use disorder (SUD); however, few studies have examined its effectiveness. This meta-analysis builds on Warshaw’s 2022 meta-analysis of studies on the efficacy of PDT in treating SUDs. We conducted a between-groups analysis of randomized controlled trials, analyzing post-treatment and follow-up differences between PDT and cognitive behavioral …

Examining The Relationship Between Anger At The Self And Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) Symptoms, Dina M. Cottone

Theses and Dissertations

The emotion concept of "self-anger" is ill-defined and under-researched. While self-anger bears similarities to traditional anger ("other-anger"), it also retains features of shame and guilt. In addition, self-anger shares ruminative qualities and self-condemning thoughts with depression. As a result, self-anger can become maladaptive at persistent and unhealthy levels. Furthermore, individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be at an increased risk for dysfunctional self-anger, considering their proneness to increased anger and depressive tendencies compared to non-ADHD counterparts. However, the relationship between ADHD and self-anger has not yet been explored in the literature. The purpose of this study was to examine the …

The Relationship Between Clinician-Perceived Competency And Expert-Rated Competency In Rebt Using Anxiety-Focused Simulated-Based Practice, Morgan Klein Schall

Theses and Dissertations

Though competency is of utmost importance to clinical practice (Muse et al., 2022), there have been minimal studies that have explored the relationship between clinician-perceived competency and expert-rated competency with the REBT framework. Competency in the delivery of psychotherapy is expected, but not well-defined (Fairburn & Cooper, 2011). Differences between perceived competency and expert-rated competency (Paunov et al., 2023) create further challenges in defining competency. While clinical competency in psychotherapy provision has been linked to client outcomes, this relationship varies depending on clinical model of psychotherapy as well as clinical problem (Collyer et al., 2020). Most of the competency in …

How Do Mindfulness And Self-Compassion Elicit Unfavorable Outcomes? No Moderating Effect Detected, Jason T. Katz

Theses and Dissertations

This work investigated the interaction of mindfulness and self-compassion when predicting flourishing. Mindfulness and self-compassion have become increasingly popular for their benefits, but there is much to uncover about how these variables elicit favorable and unfavorable outcomes. We hypothesized that having high levels of mindfulness and self-compassion would elicit the strongest relationships with flourishing. We also hypothesized that having high levels of both mindfulness and self-compassion would prevent either variable from having negative relationships with flourishing. Our survey gauged the mindfulness, self-compassion, and flourishing levels of 180 participants from a large, urban, parochial university undergraduate pool. We used hierarchical linear …

The Association Between Cognitive Flexibility, Childhood Adversity Exposure, And Internalizing And Externalizing Symptoms, Emilie Paul

Theses and Dissertations

Adversity exposure in childhood is associated with greater risk for developing internalizing and externalizing problems throughout childhood and adolescence (Henry et al., 2021). Adversity exposure may confer risk by impacting executive function, including reduced cognitive flexibility, due to the neurobiological consequences of increased stress hormone exposure (Kavanaugh et al., 2017). Previous research has linked adversity exposure to reduced cognitive flexibility in youth (Kavanaugh et al., 2017). Lower cognitive flexibility is also associated with internalizing and externalizing problems including depression, anxiety, and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder in youth and adults (Patwardhan et al., 2021; Stange et al., 2017; Braenden et al., …

The Shape Of Depressive Symptom Change: Comparing Sudden And Gradual Gains In Routine Practice, Blaine Deangelis M.A., M.S.

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Sudden gains, or rapid symptom reductions between two consecutive sessions, have been shown to predict better psychotherapy outcomes, especially for depression (e.g., Shalom & Aderka, 2020). However, several gaps remain in the existing literature on sudden gains, including underrepresentation of naturalistic studies and the circularity critique that it is tautological to examine symptom reduction during treatment as a predictor for overall pre to post-treatment symptom improvements. Furthermore, little is known about whether and which extra-therapeutic factors, or factors that exist within a client’s life outside treatment, are associated with sudden gains. To address these gaps, the current study examined the …

Maintaining Well-Being Within A Culture Of Ableism: The False Self, Defenses, And The Disability Identity, Nina Therese Bakoyiannis

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

Disabled individuals face rampant discrimination in the form of ableist microaggressions (Kattari, 2019) and healthcare neglect (Komisar et al., 2005; Power & Bartlett, 2019), yet research on the impact of ableism on well-being is lacking. Watermeyer (2012) posits that disabled people employ necessary defensive strategies to cope with the reality of such oppressive confounds, such as Winnicott’s False Self (1960)—the artificial persona one consciously or unconsciously employs to protect oneself from social rejection. However, in the only study known to the researcher that assesses the role of the False Self within the disability community, Eichengreen & Hoofien (2017) explore discriminatory …

Deliberate Practice To Improve Behavioral Parent Training Skills Among Clinical Trainees, Olivia Anne Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

Deliberate practice (DP) is a method in which structured activities are done to specifically improve performance in a given domain. Training programs, like DP, can incorporate different learning experiences to assist trainees in developing not only competency but improving client outcomes in specific therapies, like behavioral parent training (BPT). The current study examined the impact of an online-simulated DP training component on the competency among trainees, and parent-reported child outcomes after brief, virtual BPT. Eight trainees/parents were randomly assigned to the intervention group or comparison group. All trainees received didactics in BPT, with the intervention group receiving additional DP training …

Friendship Dissolution: An Unspoken Loss During Emerging Adulthood, Alyssa Shapiro, M.S., Lmsw

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

This research explored the phenomenon of friendship dissolution for emerging adults (18-25 years). While romantic dissolution in this age group has received extensive attention (Belu et al., 2016), there remains a notable gap in understanding friendship dissolution during emerging adulthood, despite the recognized significance of high-quality friendships during this transitional developmental period (Arnette, 2006; McNamara Barry et al., 2014). Eighteen emerging adult participants partook in a semi-structured interview asking them to describe their experience of a friendship dissolution with a close or best friend during emerging adulthood. Using Moustaka’s (1994) structured coding method, interview transcripts were methodically coded and analyzed. …

In The Religious Closet: A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Experiences Of Jewish Ultra Orthodox Nonbelievers, Yael Fessel

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

The visibility of individuals losing faith in Jewish ultra-Orthodox communities is increasing, with previous research explaining the unique challenges faced by nonbelievers in these communities. Existing literature identifies a group of individuals called “double lifers,” or those “in the closet,” who have internally disavowed Jewish Orthodox beliefs yet remain within their communities to avoid the consequences of disclosing nonbelief. Due to limited research on double lifers, this study seeks to explore the lived experiences of Jewish ultra-Orthodox double lifers through a phenomenological research approach. Twelve self-identified double lifers from ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities between the ages of 28-49 were recruited via …

An Examination Of Differences In Course Satisfaction Between In Person And Remote Learning For Psyd Students, Alexandra Thrasher

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Many doctor of psychology (PsyD) students have chosen distance learning over in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite distance education’s novelty and the potential effect on student competency and satisfaction, little to no research to date explores PsyD students' experiences learning clinical concepts or seeing clients remotely during the pandemic. Previous research on online course satisfaction at the graduate level was conducted in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic-related stressors may have influenced results. Furthermore, research on online course satisfaction has yet to be conducted with PsyD students. Graduate students in PsyD programs may fall into the category of "non-traditional" students …

Challenges In Diagnosing Adhd: Discrepancies Between Behavioral And Executive Functioning Indicators, Amneet Kaur

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and executive function deficits. The DSM-5-TR (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022), along with the DSM IV-TR (APA, 2000) and the DSM-5 (APA, 2013), emphasizes the behavioral aspects of ADHD while giving scant attention to executive function deficits, complicating diagnosis for clinicians and potentially resulting in misdiagnosis. This study seeks to identify the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses based on psychological evaluations where data from behavioral rating scales meet DSM criteria, but data from executive functioning measures do not, suggesting potential misdiagnosis. In this descriptive mixed design content …

A Longitudinal Examination Of The Relations Between Racial Discrimination And Executive Function, Aldona Chorzepa

Theses and Dissertations

Discrimination has been linked to changes in executive function. This relationship may explain links between discrimination and adverse health and mental health outcomes, including depression, substance use, and health behavior. To date, the research examining this question has been limited, as the majority of studies reviewed employed experimental manipulations for discrimination exposure and tested acute same-day effects in the lab. Clarifying the extent to which exposure to discrimination impacts executive function over time in young adults is crucial to identifying opportunities for intervention. The current study evaluates the relations of both recent and lifetime exposure to racial discrimination to three …

Does Friendship Quality Moderate The Association Between Social Anxiety And Loneliness In College Students?, Gavriel Boniuk

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

There is a strong positive association between social anxiety and loneliness (Maes et al., 2019). This relationship appears to be weaker the higher the quality of children’s friendships (Erath et al., 2010). While the moderational relationship has been demonstrated among middle school children, it is not known whether it extends into the college population. There are important developmental differences between adolescents and college students. For example, the increased reliance on friendships that is typical during college may result in an increase in the protective nature of friendship quality in the relationship between social anxiety and loneliness (Danneel et al., 2019; …

Exploring The Effects Of Interviewer Body Language Availability During A Videoconference Behavioral Health Interview, Efthymia Orkopoulou

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This experiment sought to explore whether an interviewer’s body language availability would have any effects on participants’ interactional engagement levels, positivity-negativity of interaction, and their nonverbal synchrony. Six participants answered questions about their well-being during a Zoom interview. Participants were exposed to three Near and three Far video framing conditions alternating every 10 min. Results showed that body language availability did not have reliable effects on the examined nonverbal communication indices. Time, however, did have some significant and close-to-significant effects on certain variables. Treatment reversal graphs showed that body language availability may reliably impact some participants’ responding. However, the rarity …