Social Psychology Commons^™

Social Factors In Prescription Stimulant Abuse Among College Students, Trevor J. Levingston

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In an attempt to maximize their academic performance, many American college students turn toward such prescription stimulant drugs as Adderall and Ritalin, which can increase users' attention span and ability to focus, but are not without risks, including such aversive side effects as anxiety, migraines, and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Prevalence rates for prescription stimulant abuse (PSA) by college students vary widely, with rates as high as 50.6% (McCabe, West, Teter, & Boyd, 2014). PSA among college students is most commonly endorsed for perceived academic benefits, but many students report engaging in recreational PSA, often to resist the depressant effects of alcohol …

The Experience Of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Through The Lens Of Abraham Lincoln: The Effects Of Mental Health Stigma, Daryl Claude Medina

Senior Theses

Living with generalized anxiety disorder, also known as GAD, in the United States of America is difficult not only for the individual, but also for the people around him or her. Lifestyle changes have to be made, family dynamics need to be adjusted, and last but not least, all relationships must become flexible. In fact, these major life changes are never fixed and must continually adapt to the needs of the individual with generalized anxiety disorder since it is a lifelong medical condition. As with any other mental illness, dealing with generalized anxiety disorder takes great sacrifice in terms of …

Water, Sanitation And Hygiene In Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement, Katelyn Bergl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Culture On The Use Of Healthcare Services By Refugees In Southcentral Kentucky: A Mixed Study, Chika N. Ejike

Dissertations

The world as a global village has become a ubiquitous trope in the popular discourse, and Bowling Green, Kentucky, with its substantial immigrant population, may be considered an exemplar of this idealized community. It has become an ideal location for research regarding the challenges faced by immigrants. Due to the diverse cultural identities of the refugee/immigrant population, it is particularly well suited for studies into complex culturally dependent healthcare utilization patterns.

The central research question for the study was as follows: What are the healthcare-seeking behavioral patterns (as influenced by culture) among refugees at their nearest healthcare facilities? This mixed …

Attachment As Affirmation To Inhibit Health Risk Information Avoidance, Elizabeth C. Mccrary

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous research on information avoidance has revealed that people choose to avoid negative health information, but that this effect is interrupted by self-affirmation (Howell & Shepperd, 2013). The current study aimed to contribute to the field’s understanding of the conditions under which self-affirmation reduces information avoidance by using a unique affirmation: secure attachment figures. I hypothesized that activating a secure attachment would serve as the affirmation necessary for participants to choose to view their risk information for a fictitious enzyme deficiency. However, when given a choice, participants in both the experimental and control conditions chose to view this information. At …

Being While Doing: An Inductive Model Of Mindfulness At Work, Christopher Lyddy, Darren J. Good

School of Business Faculty Publications

Mindfulness at work has drawn growing interest as empirical evidence increasingly supports its positive workplace impacts. Yet theory also suggests that mindfulness is a cognitive mode of “Being” that may be incompatible with the cognitive mode of “Doing” that undergirds workplace functioning. Therefore, mindfulness at work has been theorized as “being while doing,” but little is known regarding how people experience these two modes in combination, nor the influences or outcomes of this interaction. Drawing on a sample of 39 semi-structured interviews, this study explores how professionals experience being mindful at work. The relationship between Being and Doing modes demonstrated …

Expanding Intersectionality Praxis: Informing Culturally-Responsive Programming For Black And Latino Gay And Bisexual Young Men, Justin T. Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Black/Latino gay/bisexual young men face a multitude of health disparities caused by various determinants of health. However, despite the awareness of the gaps, health intervention research rarely explores the impact of current health intervention strategies on Black/Latino gay/bisexual young men’s overall health and well-being. Traditional health interventions are deficit-based, health condition-specific, and often limited in their cultural-specificity. As health-related fields move toward holistic, evidence-based practices, new primary prevention approaches need to emerge. Using qualitative investigation strategies, this study included primary analysis of participatory workshop artifacts, and secondary analysis of survey and focus group data. This study identified critical factors necessary …

Warmth And Competence Traits: Perceptions Of Female And Male Nurse Stereotypes, Randolph E. Gross

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A nursing shortage looms ahead; 1.03 million new nurses will be needed by 2022 to meet society's healthcare needs. A major barrier to recruitment of women and men are nurse stereotypes. The literature suggests four female and four male stereotypes exist; however, no quantitative research exists that explores perceptions of non-nursing undergraduate students. Approximately, 90% of college students do not consider nursing as a career option, and 72% have misconceptions of what nurses do in reality.

According to social cognitive theory's Stereotype Content Model (SCM), perceptions are viewed through a combination of two dimensions: warmth and competence. The author devised …

Measuring The Effectiveness Of Benefit-Provisioning And Cost-Inflicting Mate Retention Tactics Through Relationship Outcomes, Tara Delecce

Wayne State University Dissertations

Mate retention has received much less research attention compared to mate choice and attraction. Even the research that has been done on mate retention often only aims to identify what constitutes as mate retention tactics. In the current studies, the effectiveness of mate retention strategies is explored by measuring relationship outcomes of tactics unlike previous research that measures effectiveness through perceptions of relationship satisfaction. In Study 1, individuals who have experienced a nonmarital breakup reported on their own and their ex-partners’ mate retention tactics before the breakup to see which ones predicted the outcome of relationship dissolution. Tests for moderation …

Graduate Bulletin, 2017-2018, Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

This Is Us Saying Who We Are: Speaking The Rhetoric Of Mental Disability, Renuka Uthappa

Wayne State University Dissertations

People with mental disabilities, or what are sometimes referred to as “mental illnesses,” face stigma when they interact with the public. To fight this stigma, the members of a small, grassroots, advocacy organization known as the Speakers Bureau travel to high school and college classrooms narrating their experiences with mental disability. They do so to replace culturally circulating stereotypes regarding such disability with more accurate and positive images. This dissertation is an auto-ethnographic exploration of the rhetoric of the Speakers Bureau. Through rhetorical analysis of members’ classroom speeches, of interviews with each speaker, and of the speaker’s self- assessment of …

The Lived Experience Of Intersectionality Among African American Women With Breast Cancer, Teri D. Armour Burton

Dissertations

African American women (AAW) continue to have breast cancer mortality rates that are 42% higher than White women (De Santis et al., 2015). Researchers suggest that an epistemological approach that integrates the biomedical and feminist models would be more effective in addressing health disparities. The concept of intersectionality, which grew out of the Black feminist movement, provides a lens in which to view the lived experiences of AAW with breast cancer. The intersectionality paradigm attempts to address the marginalized, oppressive, intersecting social existence of AAW through the examination of identity, social class, and power.

This qualitative study applied a descriptive …

An Evidence-Based Mentorship Program For Experienced Nurses, Roma Allen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Turnover of experienced nurses is a component of the nursing shortage, which has created a lack of expert nurses administering bedside care. The project site is a Chicago suburban hospital with an average first year turnover of experienced nurses at 35%. This rate is above the 27% first year turnover reported by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council. This project focused on development and evaluation of an evidence-based mentorship program supported by theory that can contribute to an increase in experienced nurse retention. A detailed literature review references causative factors of turnover, such as an increasing workload, a multigenerational and aging …

A Comparison Of Neuropathic Pain In Hiv Disease And Diabetes Mellitus, Mary Catherine George

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Neuropathy is a nerve disorder found in HIV disease and diabetes mellitus that indicates damage in the peripheral nervous system. Burning, tingling, stabbing, shooting, and painful sensations in the hands and feet are common symptoms of this chronic disorder, and no treatments are available that repair the nerves. The approved pain treatments are few and only available for the diabetic neuropathy population. A mixed-methods study of archival data was performed to compare patients with painful neuropathy (PN) associated with 2 diseases: HIV (HIV-PN) and diabetes mellitus (DPN). This study examined the similarities and differences of the pain narratives and common …

"You're Doing Fine, Right?": Adolescent Siblings Of Substance Abusers, Cynthia E. Clarfield

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There has been a rising interest in addiction medicine and addiction treatment in both the medical and behavioral health science fields. Research suggests having a family member with a substance abuse problem has negative impacts on both physical and mental health (Orford, Copello, Velleman, & Templeton, 2010a). Despite advances toward understanding the experiences of family members affected by a loved one's addiction, the siblings of substance abusers have been largely excluded from scientific research and literature. As a result, little is known about how siblings experience the impacts of a brother or sister's addiction; even less is known about the …

The Role Of Afrocentric Features In Mental Healthcare Utilization And Counselor Preferences In Black College Students, Randl B. Dent

Theses and Dissertations

Though mental health issues are prevalent in Black young adults, they underutilize mental healthcare services. This research examined the role of feature-based discrimination in mental healthcare (under)utilization. Study 1, a secondary analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, provided no evidence supporting a link between skin tone and mental healthcare utilization, when controlling for depression diagnosis. However, when controlling for depression symptoms, there was a trend such that Black young adults with darker, as opposed to lighter, skin tone utilized healthcare less. Study 2, an experimental study with 33 Black college students, showed 73% of the …

Socio-Cognitive Factors And Perceived Consequences Associated With Alternative Forms Of Alcohol Use, Abbly L. Braitman, Ashley N. Linden-Carmichael, Amy L. Stamates, Cathy Lau-Barraco

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: Popular media have highly publicized alternative forms of alcohol use (eg, eyeballing, inhaling alcohol vapor) among college students as a growing concern, possibly associated with severe health risks. Formative research indicates rarity of use.

Participants and Methods: College students (Study 1: n = 411; Study 2: n = 687) completed an online survey.

Results: Findings confirmed infrequent use of alternative methods of alcohol use and low likelihood of trying them in the future (Study 1). Participants indicated varied reasons for possibly trying each alternative form of alcohol use, but consistently perceived consequences for all forms (ie, health concerns), as …

The Effects Of Gender And Perception Of Community Safety On Happiness, Jennifer K. Daffon

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Income-based indicators of happiness have been shown to be limited in their ability to predict happiness. Alternative measures of happiness have been gaining prominence in happiness research, and two predictors of happiness were investigated in the current study. The extent to which happiness (measured by affect, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being) could be predicted by gender and perception of community safety was investigated with 19,644 participant responses to The Happiness Alliance Survey. Multiple linear regression models indicated that gender and community safety are significant predictors of affect, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being. The effect of the predictor variables was similar …

Attune With Baby: An Innovative Attunement Program For Parents And Families With Integrated Evaluation, Sara Beth Lohre

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Infants speak in their own language; sounds, screeches, cries, and howls that help them to communicate their caregiving needs. Unaware, parents may develop a checklist of caregiving approaches to the baby. The infant tells the adult directly what they need, and waits for the parent to respond. Infant talk may change from soft and quiet to loud and aggressive; coos and cries become crying and screams as the infant’s caregiver—communicating the intensity of emotion, urgency of their request, or their frustration with varied and sometimes inadequate, failed, or missing caregiving patterns the infant has no choice but to accept. When …

Examining Preference Of Home-Based Telemental Health Among Rural Veterans, Paige Dixon

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Rural veterans face significant disparities to health care that have resulted in lower physical and mental health related quality of life when compared to their urban counterparts (Weeks et al., 2006). Such disparities are further complicated by the six-fold increase in prevalence of mental health diagnoses among Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans (Seal et al., 2009). These rising rates are particularly relevant to rural veterans as they represent 41% of the overall Veteran Health Administration enrollees, but only 19% of the general population (U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs, 2012; U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). Rural veterans face three …

The Effect Of Confirmation Bias In Criminal Investigative Decision Making, Wayne A. Wallace

Harold L. Hodgkinson Award for Outstanding Dissertation

Confirmation bias occurs when a person believes in or searches for evidence to support his or her favored theory while ignoring or excusing disconfirmatory evidence and is disinclined to change his or her belief once he or she arrives at a conclusion. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether emotionally charged evidence and evidence presentation order could influence an investigator's belief in a suspect's guilt. The study included 166 sworn police officers (basic training recruits, patrol officers, and criminal investigators) who completed online surveys in response to criminal vignettes across different scenarios to record their measure of …

Alleged Insanity: Frank Johnson Sr., Racial Injustice, And The Failure Of The Mental Health Care System In South Carolina, Jonathon P. Johnson

Senior Theses

This thesis is about Frank Johnson Sr. and the circumstances that led to his downfall as a farmer and father of six, to his tragic death in the isolation of a racially segregated mental institution 18 miles away from his home. Using his life and incarceration at the South Carolina State Park mental health facility, I argue that racial injustice contributed to his tragic death and the woefully inadequate treatment thousands of African Americans in South Carolina received during Jim Crow. Additionally, I argue that the tragic circumstances around my great grandfather’s institutionalization and death were part of an enduring …

Body Image And Quality Of Life Among Postsurgical Bariatric Patients, Amy Leigh White

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

In recent decades, bariatric surgery has become an increasingly popular intervention for the treatment of morbid obesity. Bariatric surgery leads to substantial improvements in physical health (e.g., weight loss, increased life expectancy) and psychological health (e.g., body image, quality of life). After bariatric surgery, many patients undergo subsequent surgical procedures to remove excess skin (“body contouring”), which are also associated with positive medical and psychological outcomes.

The present study sought to expand upon existing research into the psychosocial outcomes of bariatric surgery, investigate correlates of patients’ desire for body contouring, and determine whether presurgical motivations were associated with postsurgical outcomes. …

Observational Assessment Of Empathy In Parent-Child Verbal Exchanges And Their Influence On Child Behavior, Patty Carambot

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Empathy, the ability to both experientially share in and understand others’ thoughts, behaviors, and feelings, is vital for human adaptation. Deficits in empathy development have implications across the lifespan for the development of prosocial behavior, social functioning, mental health disorders, and risk for antisocial behavior (e.g., Guajardo, Snyder, & Petersen, 2009; Moreno, Klute & Robinson, 2008). In light of these societal and individual burdens, it is imperative to foster and strengthen the development of this ability early in life to prevent or ameliorate such negative outcomes. This type of prevention can take a variety of forms, but parent and child …

Commentaries On Deepak Chopra And Menas Kafatos’ Book, “You Are The Universe”; 2017, Harmony Books., Shelli Joye

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

No abstract provided.

Commentaries On Deepak Chopra And Menas Kafatos’ Book, “You Are The Universe”; 2017, Harmony Books., Ervin Laszlo

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

No abstract provided.

From The Handbook Of The Laszlo Institute Of New Paradigm Research And The Intelligence Of The Cosmos , Inner Traditions, September 2017, Ervin Laszlo

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

No abstract provided.

The Pribram – Bohm Hypothesis Part Ii: The Physiology Of Consciousness, Shelli R. Joye

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

A physiology of consciousness is elaborated, based upon implications of the Pribram-Bohm hypothesis (developed in Part I of this series). The model presented here is in sharp contrast to the prevailing conviction among neuroscientists that consciousness will eventually be discovered to be a physiological epiphenomenon of neuronal electrical impulses firing in the brain. In contrast, the Pribram-Bohm theory holds that consciousness, inherent in what Bohm views cosmologically as “the Whole,” manifests as a dynamic conscious energy resonance bridging the explicate space-time domain with the nonlocal, transcendent flux domain termed the “implicate order.” Presented in Part I, the Pribram-Bohm hypothesis posits …

Commentaries On Deepak Chopra And Menas Kafatos’ Book, “You Are The Universe”; 2017, Harmony Books., Allan Combs

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

No abstract provided.

Commentaries On Deepak Chopra And Menas Kafatos’ Book, “You Are The Universe”; 2017, Harmony Books., Jim Smith

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

No abstract provided.