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Full-Text Articles in Counseling Psychology

The Effects Of Check In/Check Out On Levels Of Problem Behavior And Academic Engagement In Elementary School Students, Leila Mullooly Miller Dec 2011

The Effects Of Check In/Check Out On Levels Of Problem Behavior And Academic Engagement In Elementary School Students, Leila Mullooly Miller

Master's Theses

Previous studies have largely evaluated the effects of check in/ check out (CICO) using office discipline referrals (ODRs). However, ODRs are not always reliable measures of student behavior, and direct observation is known to be an accurate tool for behavioral measurement. Due to this, the current study used direct observations to evaluate the effects of CICO on levels of problem behavior and academic engagement for a group of elementary school students. One second, one fourth, and one sixth grade student served as participants. Results indicate CICO is effective in decreasing problem behavior and increasing academic engagement. Data from teacher ratings …


Women's Cognitive Appraisals Of Their Birth Experience As Predictive And Maintaining Factors Of Postpartum Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Severity, Lauren Carr Spooner Dec 2011

Women's Cognitive Appraisals Of Their Birth Experience As Predictive And Maintaining Factors Of Postpartum Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Severity, Lauren Carr Spooner

Dissertations

Empirical support has accumulated for evidence of posttraumatic stress symptoms following approximately 30% of childbirth experiences (Olde, van der Hart, Kleber, & van Son, 2006). Researchers have suggested that there is a complex relationship among predisposing, precipitating, and maintaining factors that impact postpartum PTSD (Slade, 2006). Anxiety, perception of support, and negative cognitions are such factors that have been shown to significantly correlate with PTSD symptoms (Foa & Rothbaum, 1998; Olde et al., 2006; Soet, Brack, & Dilorio, 2003), but have not been studied together in relation to PTSD associated with traumatic birth. The current study controlled for trait anxiety …


Parenting A Chronically Ill Child: Social Support, Coping, Family Hardiness, And Maternal Stress, Kathryn Lynch Bigalke Aug 2011

Parenting A Chronically Ill Child: Social Support, Coping, Family Hardiness, And Maternal Stress, Kathryn Lynch Bigalke

Master's Theses

Parents of children with cancer experience higher stress than parents of children with other medical conditions or with no developmental concerns (Canam, 1993; Cohen, 1999). Researchers are beginning to explore a number of protective factors that may influence parental stress in parents of children with cancer. Social support (Abidin, 1992), problem-focused coping (Judge, 1998), and family hardiness (Maddi et al., 2006) have been related to lower levels of stress and more positive outcomes in parents of healthy children, but have not been fully explored in the pediatric cancer population. The current study was designed to assess the relationship between parental …


The Effects Of Facial Expression On Out-Group Discrimination, Charles Brendan Clark May 2011

The Effects Of Facial Expression On Out-Group Discrimination, Charles Brendan Clark

Dissertations

The current paper sought to test the hypothesis that the facial expression of smiling would mitigate the effects of out-group discrimination. Study 1 examined the influence of facial expression (smiling or frowning), gender (man or woman), and race (Black or White) on resource allocation decisions. Participants were shown arrays of facial photographs. The arrays all contained eight photographs and were counterbalanced to contain all combinations of the variables of interest (i.e., each group had a smiling man of each race, a smiling woman of each race, a frowning man of each race, and a frowning woman of each race). The …


Hope, Optimism, Stress, And Social Support In Parents Of Children With Intellectual Disabilities, Josephine Estelle Cooke Aug 2010

Hope, Optimism, Stress, And Social Support In Parents Of Children With Intellectual Disabilities, Josephine Estelle Cooke

Dissertations

Hope, optimism, and social support have been shown to be important protective factors for parents of children with intellectual disabilities, and these factors have been shown to have important relationships with parenting behaviors. Hope and optimism have not been studied as possible predictive variables for parenting behaviors for this population, and the interactions of these three variables with parenting behaviors have not been examined with this population. Stress has been shown to relate to positive and negative parenting behaviors (Abidin, 1995), and high levels of stress are correlated with a perception of low levels of social support. No studies have …


Exploring The Accuracy Of Highly Positive Self-Evaluations: A Bogus Pipeline Examination Of Fragile Self-Esteem, Erin Michele Myers Aug 2010

Exploring The Accuracy Of Highly Positive Self-Evaluations: A Bogus Pipeline Examination Of Fragile Self-Esteem, Erin Michele Myers

Dissertations

The present study tested the prediction that individuals with fragile high selfesteem are engaging in impression management when they claim to possess highly positive feelings of self-worth. Phase One participants (N = 449) completed internetbased measures of self-esteem level and self-esteem fragility under standard conditions. Phase Two participants (N = 75) completed laboratory-based measures of self-esteem under control or ‘bogus pipeline’ conditions designed to encourage participants to respond more honestly to questionnaires concerning their self-worth. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed partial support for the impression management hypothesis such that individuals with discrepant high self-esteem (i.e., high explicit selfesteem and low …


Long-Term Relationships Between Religiousness And Posttraumatic Stress Response Following Resource Loss From Hurricane Katrina, Amy Katherine Chamberlain Aug 2010

Long-Term Relationships Between Religiousness And Posttraumatic Stress Response Following Resource Loss From Hurricane Katrina, Amy Katherine Chamberlain

Dissertations

The experience of living through Hurricane Katrina and the resulting losses incurred from the storm have had lasting effects on residents of the United States Gulf Coast. One way in which survivors of Hurricane Katrina have attempted to cope with the resulting stress of such loss is through religious means. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of resource loss on the resulting stress reactions for survivors, particularly in light of the impact religiosity, religious social support, and religious coping have on long-term stress responses to the disaster. Literature shows that these religious factors have been found …


Increasing Readiness To Change Anger: A Motivational Group Intervention, Gregory Lee Futral Aug 2010

Increasing Readiness To Change Anger: A Motivational Group Intervention, Gregory Lee Futral

Dissertations

The conceptualization and treatment of problematic anger has received increased attention in the literature in recent years. Among the challenges in working with persons experiencing anger-related difficulties, barriers in forming the therapeutic alliance (Tafrate & Kassinove, 2003), resistance behaviors (DiGiuseppe, 1995), and/or low motivation to change (DiGiuseppe & Tafrate, 2007) have been commonly identified as having the potential to derail the treatment process. Strategies developed to increase treatment motivation and readiness to change, such as those found in the literature on the transtheoretical model (TTM; Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982) and motivational interviewing (MI; Miller & Rollnick, 2002), have been proposed …


Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (Pbss) Across Racial Groups, Sasha Joy Lambert May 2010

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (Pbss) Across Racial Groups, Sasha Joy Lambert

Dissertations

Alcohol consumption among college students, and the negative alcohol-related consequences that accompany that consumption, have been consistent concerns for colleges and the general public for several decades. Protective behavioral strategies are emerging in the literature as a potentially effective means of reducing harm to students; however, psychometrically sound measures for protective behavioral strategies are only in a development stage at this point. One such measure, the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (PBSS), showed particular promise in this area, but previous research suffered from sample limitations, particularly very low sampling of students of color. In the current study, additional items were added …


Scarred Images: Using Appearance As A Motivator To Reduce Driving Under The Influence Of Alcohol, Mary-Theresa Mcnabb Aug 2009

Scarred Images: Using Appearance As A Motivator To Reduce Driving Under The Influence Of Alcohol, Mary-Theresa Mcnabb

Dissertations

In response to continued driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) amongst young adults and increased drinking and driving amongst females, the current study aimed to decrease such risky behavior using threats to appearance as a deterrent. One hundred and thirty-three undergraduates at the University of Southern Mississippi completed a threepart study after sequential assignment to one of three groups, a no-photo group, a crash scene photo group, or a personalized-photo group. Baseline measures were taken concerning participants' alcohol-related behaviors. One week later all groups were given statistical information commonly available in DUI prevention pamphlets together with strategies to avoid …


A Psychometric Evaluation Of The Revised Optimism-Pessimism Scale Of The Mmpi-2, Ginger Burge Debrule Aug 2009

A Psychometric Evaluation Of The Revised Optimism-Pessimism Scale Of The Mmpi-2, Ginger Burge Debrule

Dissertations

The present study tested the psychometric properties of the Revised Optimism-Pessimism Scale (PSM-R) of the MMPI-2. This scale purportedly measures the respondent's explanatory style on a dimension of optimism and pessimism. Participants included 92 college undergraduates and 2,729 participants from archived outpatient data. The PSM-R is a reliable measure, based on test-retest reliability and internal consistency. However, the construct validity of the measure is questionable. Evaluation of the PSM-R items suggests that the items are not all related to the optimism-pessimism construct. In addition, convergent validity of the PSM-R was assessed using measures of attributional style, dispositional optimism, hope, depression, …


Attachment Anxiety And Avoidance: Relationship To Body Image And Exercise Behavior, Kathryn Louise Brown Aug 2009

Attachment Anxiety And Avoidance: Relationship To Body Image And Exercise Behavior, Kathryn Louise Brown

Dissertations

This study was designed to investigate the role of attachment anxiety and avoidance in predicting persons' body image, body appreciation, and obligatory exercise behavior. Two hundred and twenty eight participants (100 men and 128 women) completed the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ; Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994), Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ; Cash, 2000), Body Appreciation Scale (BAS; Avalos et al., 2005), and Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire (OEQ; Pasman & Thompson, 1988). Results provided at least partial support for many of the hypotheses. The current study replicated results from previous research pertaining to the relationship between attachment and body image. However, the results …


Interrelations Among Personality, Religious And Nonreligious Coping, And Mental Health, Jude Martin Henningsgaard Aug 2009

Interrelations Among Personality, Religious And Nonreligious Coping, And Mental Health, Jude Martin Henningsgaard

Dissertations

Religion's involvement in the coping process remains an underexplored area of coping research despite most psychologists agreeing that religion is integral to this process for many individuals. Interestingly, there is some disagreement among psychologists regarding whether religious coping can be "reduced" to nonreligious coping (Siegel, Anderman, & Schrimshaw, 2001). To better understand how religious and nonreligious coping contribute uniquely to the prediction of mental health outcomes, the study's first and second goals were to determine the incremental validity of each type of coping, above and beyond the other. The study's third goal was to determine whether select coping strategies mediated …


A Longitudinal Examination Of Outcomes Related To Emotional Abuse In Children, Lauren Seale Fryer Aug 2009

A Longitudinal Examination Of Outcomes Related To Emotional Abuse In Children, Lauren Seale Fryer

Dissertations

Emotional abuse has been linked to both intemalizing and extemalizing outcomes in adults and children, even after controlling for the presence of physical and/or sexual abuse in childhood (Braver, Bumberry, Green, & Rawson, 1992; Gibb et al., 2001; Kaufman & Cicchetti, 1989; Kim & Cicchetti, 2006). The developmental/organizational perspective, as well as attachment theory, suggests that emotional abuse occurring in childhood will result in disrupted views of subsequent relationships, leading to maladaptive outcomes such as aggression, depression, and low self-esteem (Cicchetti & Toth, 1995). The current study examined these relations in an archival sample of lowincome urban children ages 5 …


The Relation Among Sleep, Routines, And Behavior In Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jill Angelique Henderson Aug 2009

The Relation Among Sleep, Routines, And Behavior In Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jill Angelique Henderson

Dissertations

Children with an ASD have a propensity for routines and reportedly have a greater incidence of sleep disturbance and externalizing behaviors than typical children. In addition, significant relations have been identified among routines, sleep behavior, and externalizing behavior in a community sample of children, suggesting that a lack of routines maybe related to sleep disturbance and externalizing behaviors. However, to date, no known studies have thoroughly examined the relation between these variables in children with an ASD. The primary purpose of the present investigation was to examine relations among routines, sleep, and behavior in children with an ASD. Primary caregivers …


The Effect Of Holland's Person-Environment Fit On Trait Anger, Interpersonal Conflict At Work, And Workplace Aggression, Aimee Chantelle Pseekos Aug 2009

The Effect Of Holland's Person-Environment Fit On Trait Anger, Interpersonal Conflict At Work, And Workplace Aggression, Aimee Chantelle Pseekos

Dissertations

This study examined the effect of Person-Environment fit, as defined by Holland's (1997) theory, on trait anger, interpersonal conflict at work, and workplace aggression in a sample of employees in the United States. Job satisfaction was also examined with regard to concurrent and discriminant validity information for this sample. Results indicated that there was not a statistically significant effect of Person- Environment fit on trait anger, interpersonal conflict at work, or workplace aggression. The concurrent and discriminant validity of findings was supported through relationships between job satisfaction, Person-Environment fit, and workplace aggression. Limitations and implications for further research related to …


The Role Of Racial Attitudes And Identity In Black Client-White Counselor Dyads, Tara Michelle Ferguson Dec 2008

The Role Of Racial Attitudes And Identity In Black Client-White Counselor Dyads, Tara Michelle Ferguson

Dissertations

The therapeutic alliance has become an important area of investigation in the psychotherapy literature due to its demonstration of a moderate and consistent relationship with therapy outcomes. Some researchers have suggested that barriers to alliance formation may exist in cross-ethnic dyads due to different worldviews, race related socialization experiences, and racial attitudes. Although past research has indicated that racial identity and attitudes played a role in predicting various counseling processes, no studies in this area have examined their influence in actual counseling dyads. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of Black racial identity and attitude …


Religious Orientation And Religious Coping In Adolescents With And Without A Chronic Illness, Jacqueline Beine Brown Aug 2008

Religious Orientation And Religious Coping In Adolescents With And Without A Chronic Illness, Jacqueline Beine Brown

Dissertations

Religion plays an important role in most people's lives and can greatly affect how individuals cope and interpret stressful situations. However, very little is known about how adolescents incorporate religion into their lives (e.g., is it central or peripheral to their lives, do they utilize religious coping). Furthermore, given the additional stressors experienced by adolescents who have a chronic illness, it is likely their religious orientations and religious coping strategies are different from their healthy peers. Thus, the present study was designed to examine the constructs in both typically developing and chronically ill adolescents. Additional constructs of hope, general coping, …


Increasing Narrative Coherence In The Bereaved: The Effect Of Narrative Review On Grief Reaction, Stefanie Suzon Boswell Aug 2008

Increasing Narrative Coherence In The Bereaved: The Effect Of Narrative Review On Grief Reaction, Stefanie Suzon Boswell

Dissertations

In order to investigate the utility of an experimental expressive writing intervention designed to increase narrative coherence (write about loss combined with review of previous narratives) as a potential bereavement intervention, it was compared to a standard expressive writing intervention (write about loss with no opportunity for review), and two trivial writing conditions (one with and one without opportunity for review). Although all writing groups experienced beneficial effects across time, participants in the experimental and standard conditions reported significantly greater personal growth as a function of time when compared to control participants.


The Effect Of Writing As Exposure Therapy On Ptsd Symptoms, Daniel Scott Debrule Aug 2008

The Effect Of Writing As Exposure Therapy On Ptsd Symptoms, Daniel Scott Debrule

Dissertations

The majority of empirically supported treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder involve some form of exposure, which desensitizes an individual to traumarelated information. Theoretical work has suggested that the mechanism of exposure may explain the tendency for writing to lessen symptoms, and empirical evidence of writing and PTSD symptoms suggests that modifying the writing paradigm may result in better symptom relief. The present investigation aimed to compare the efficacy of an exposurebased writing intervention to the standard writing paradigm. A total of 68 undergraduates that were screened for PTSD symptoms were randomly assigned to write about their most severe trauma for …


Health Anxiety And Cognition: Chronic Awareness Of Health Concerns Or Situational Activation Of Latent Dysfunctional Assumptions About Illness?, Desmon Craig Mitchell Aug 2008

Health Anxiety And Cognition: Chronic Awareness Of Health Concerns Or Situational Activation Of Latent Dysfunctional Assumptions About Illness?, Desmon Craig Mitchell

Dissertations

Rationale: This study investigated if health anxious individuals have chronically aroused illness-related concerns or if these concerns remain latent, only to be activated when first primed by illness-related stimuli. To test these alternatives this study examined whether participants, with varying levels of health anxiety, differed as to their (a) performance on an emotional Stroop task that included health-related words, (b) memory tasks (free recall and recognition tasks), and (c) the participants' dream content, after either being exposed, or not exposed, to an illness-related trigger. Hypotheses: If illness concerns are chronically activated in health anxious individuals, then participants will perform worse …


Future Psychologists' Perceptions Of Managed Care, Michele Renae Boyer Blood May 2008

Future Psychologists' Perceptions Of Managed Care, Michele Renae Boyer Blood

Dissertations

This study was designed to examine future psychologists' perceptions of managed care, as well as their managed care related training and work experience. Data for this project were gathered electronically via a specially designed website. Participants were 119 future psychologists completing predoctoral internships in university counseling centers (n = 61) and hospitals (n = 58). Variables examined included predoctoral interns' attitudes towards managed care and their perceptions of the importance of knowledge in three critical domains relevant to service provision in the contemporary marketplace (i.e., general reimbursement, risk management, misdiagnosis). One measure, the Demographic and Practice Information Form (DAPIF), was …