Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Expand Your Horizon: Investigating An Online Intervention For Weight Bias Internalization, Alexandria Davies

Theses and Dissertations

Weight bias internalization (WBI; i.e., self-directed weight stigma or the degree to which individuals apply negative weight-based stereotypes to themselves), is problematic because it is associated with increased stress, emotional eating, healthcare avoidance, and exercise avoidance. Thus, WBI exacerbates health disparities and there is an urgent need to create treatments that address this concern. The current study examined the preliminary effectiveness of a previously developed online body gratitude journaling intervention (i.e., Expand Your Horizon) compared to an active control writing condition in emerging adult women with WBI. Racially/ethnically diverse women (N=100; n=49) or Expand Your Horizon ( …

Mobile-Based Contingency Management To Promote Daily Self-Monitoring Of Pain Severity And Related Measures In An Online Sample Of Individuals With Chronic Pain, Kathryn Polak`

Theses and Dissertations

Between 11% and 40% of the US population experience chronic pain. One promising pain management solution is remote self-monitoring. Unfortunately, low rates of adherence have impeded the use of remote self-monitoring among chronic pain patients. One robust strategy for improving adherence is contingency management (CM). This project pilot tested a fully-automated CM app (DynamiCare Rewards) programmed with an escalating variable-ratio reinforcement schedule for promoting daily self-monitoring of pain symptom severity, related variables (e.g., sleep), and prescription opioid use over a 28-day period in a sample of individuals with chronic pain. A pilot RCT compared participants randomized to CM (n …

Breaking The Cycle: A Longitudinal Study Of Factors That Disrupt Peer Selection And Influence Processes Among Urban Youth, Kelly E. Oconnor

Theses and Dissertations

Having friends who engage in problem behavior (i.e., aggression, substance use, delinquency) has consistently been linked to adolescents’ own engagement in problem behavior. There are, however, several key gaps in the literature on peer influence. Few studies have considered the influence of friends’ prosocial behavior and there has been limited research to identify promotive factors that influence urban youths’ affiliation with peers who engage in problem and prosocial behavior across early adolescence, a time of heightened susceptibility to peer influence. The purpose of this study was to identify modifiable promotive factors that reduce adolescents’ problem behavior by decreasing exposure to …

Flourishing After Sexual Assault: An Examination Of Self-Compassion In Women, Jessica E. Rick

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Sexual assault is a serious and increasing public health concern, which has spurred recent development of the #metoo movement (Miller, 2017; Sigurdsson, 2018). Much of the current literature and treatment emphasis focuses on how to bring survivors of sexual assault back to baseline functioning. This exclusive focus on stability models often neglects pathways by which survivors thrive and flourish following experiences with sexual violence. It is important to consider how sexual assault experiences relate to flourishing efforts. Self-compassion, or the ability to be open and non-judgmental about one’s own suffering and treat oneself with kindness in the face of pain, …

Effects Of An Educational Intervention On Students’ Knowledge And Attitude Towards Working With Older Adults, Johnna L. Kelley

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Many individuals report reservations about working with an older adult population. A potential factor that may influence this is openness to experience. Additionally, research shows that educational interventions are effective in increasing individuals’ level of knowledge on various topics including older adults and aging. This increased level of knowledge contributes to a higher level of willingness to work with an older adult population. In order to support and extend the existing literature on this topic, we examined the effect of a short-term education session on undergraduate students’ willingness to work with older adults in a variety of positions and settings. …

Moral Injury: Examining The Role Of Meaning Making In Veterans, Katelyn A. Mccreight

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Moral injury is a transdiagnostic process that spans a collection of symptoms similar to PTSD (Litz et al., 2009). Many veterans develop PTSD symptoms following exposure to potentially morally injurious events (pMIE) occurring in the context of war (e.g., killing an enemy combatant or accidentally killing a civilian; (Currier, Holland, & Malott, 2014; Litz et al., 2009; Purcell, Koenig, Bosch & Maguen, 2016). The potential mediating and moderating variables between moral injury and PTSD may also contribute to pMIE-related PTSD symptoms being overlooked and left untreated (Litz et al., 2009). Furthermore, while extensive research has been conducted on coping and …

The Contribution Of Adverse Childhood Experiences To The Interplay Between Insecure Attachment Characteristics, Trait Emotional Intelligence, Difficulties In Emotion Regulation, And Personality Organization, Kseniia Gvozdieva

Dissertations and Theses

There are well-established connections between unfavorable attachment experiences and subsequent personality pathology. Individuals with adverse attachment experiences and those with personality pathology have been found to have difficulty with emotional awareness and emotion regulation. Attachment characteristics inform emotional intelligence and emotion regulation, while emotional intelligence and emotion regulation capacities can be protective against personality pathology and serve as a potential mechanism of positive change in one’s attachment. Complex trauma disrupts attachment and the subsequent development of emotional intelligence, emotion regulation, as well as personality structure.

In this dissertation, we examine the ways in which individual attachment patterns can be linked …

Does Social Media Promote Disordered Eating?, Carly Feldstein

Dissertations and Theses

Hispanic people are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. with a total of 18.5% of the U.S population being of Hispanic descent (United States Census Bureau, 2020). Although eating disorders (ED), particularly those involving binge eating, comprise a significant health concern, EDs are often overlooked in the Hispanic culture (Higgins et al., 2016; Opara & Santos, 2019). Hispanic individuals have comparable rates of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and an even higher rate of binge eating disorders compared to non- Hispanic (NH) White individuals (Higgins et al., 2016). Within Hispanic adults, the lifetime prevalence of EDs is higher …

The Buffering Effects Of Resilience On Alcohol Use: A Phenotypic And Genotypic Investigation, Shannon Cusack

Theses and Dissertations

The college years encompass a time of vulnerability for problematic alcohol use/alcohol use disorder (AUD) and exposure to traumatic events (TE), which is a transdiagnostic risk factor for AUD, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and comorbid AUD-PTSD. However, not all who experience a TE develop these disorders, highlighting the need to identify factors that impact post-trauma outcomes. Resilience has been shown to be associated with lower alcohol consumption and related problems following TE, though the buffering effects of resilience on alcohol use have not yet been examined. Further, twin studies demonstrate that resilience is moderately heritable, but further research is needed …

Western Clinicians’ Diagnostic Accuracy Of Culture-Bound Syndromes, Lisa Y. Chung

Theses and Dissertations

Culture-bound syndromes are of increasing importance in today’s more diverse world. The current study measured the ability of clinicians trained in a western setting to accurately diagnose culture-bound syndromes from cultures outside of their background. Eight-four clinicians were recruited through the American Psychological Association (APA) membership directory. All recruited clinicians were asked to read three vignettes. In two vignettes a patient was suffering from either Hwabyung or Ataque de Nervios and the third vignette represented a control GAD vignette. The clinicians were asked to diagnose the patient in the vignette, to explain what information informed their diagnosis, to complete two …

Differential Mechanisms Linking Early Childhood Violence Exposure And Social/Environmental Deprivation To Adolescent Conduct Problems: Exploration Of A Gene-By-Environment Interaction, Samantha R. Awada

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The dimensional model of adversity and psychopathology (DMAP) posits dimensions of childhood adversity (i.e., deprivation, violence exposure) differentially predict child neurobiological outcomes and behavioral correlates of these neurobiological outcomes. Both deprivation and violence exposure are associated with higher child conduct problems. Genetic and environmental vulnerability factors often interact to increase or decrease risk for developing adolescent conduct problems. One gene of particular interest is COMT, which is implicated in the dopaminergic system. The present study explored whether dimensions of childhood adversity during the child’s first five years of life interacted with COMT genotype to differentially confer cognitive (i.e., executive dysfunction) …

Bidirectional Associations Between Parenting Practices And Child Conduct Problems: The Moderating Role Of Callous-Unemotional Behavior, Elizabeth R. Corning

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A growing body of research has evidenced bidirectional associations between parenting practices and the development of conduct problems in children. However, studies examining the effect of child callous-unemotional (CU) behavior in the context of these reciprocal associations have produced mixed findings. This study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N= 4,898) to investigate bidirectional associations between parenting practices (i.e., positive and harsh) and child conduct problems across ages 3, 5, and 9 and determine if these associations are moderated by child CU behavior. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that higher positive parenting at age 5 was associated …

Development Of Adolescent Romantic Competencies: Interaction Of Parental Management, Adolescent Perceptions Of Marriage, And Attachment, Lauren Elizabeth Hauck

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Adolescent dating behaviors are associated with romantic behaviors in adulthood. The Development of Early Adolescent Romantic Relationships model proposes that indirect parenting behaviors are associated with the development of adolescent romantic competencies. Other evidence has started to accumulate suggesting that direct parenting practices also influence the development of adolescent romantic competencies. The current study used structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between adolescents’ attachment orientations, parents’ romantic behaviors, and direct parenting practices and adolescents’ romantic competence (i.e., love, conflict, and poor problem solving). Additionally, adolescents’ ethnic group identity (i.e., Latino or non-Latino) was considered as a moderator of these …

The Role Of Affect In The Relationship Between Social Stress And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptomology, Alyssa S. Mielock

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychological disorder that may develop following a traumatic event. Many factors have been shown to contribute to maintaining the distressing and impairing symptoms in response to the event. Internal factors, such as increased negative affect (NA), is positively associated with PTSD symptom severity (PTSS). External factors like social support have a negative relationship with PTSS; increased levels of social support are associated with decreased PTSS. Another external factor that may contribute to PTSS is increased stress. There are mixed findings as to how a psychosocial stressor impacts trauma-exposed samples physiologically. The current study addressed …

Longitudinal And Concurrent Contributions Of Verbal And Physical Scaffolding To Toddlers’ Inhibitory Control, Anton Petrenko

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Executive function (EF) is crucial to lifespan development and environmental factors have been found to impact its development. Previous research has shown that parenting can make meaningful impacts on children’s EF, with scaffolding receiving broad support. Scaffolding refers to an adult’s ability to guide a child through a challenging task without providing too much or too little support. However, many of the studies which have examined scaffolding have been done in preschool- and school-aged samples, with limited research conducted in younger samples. Very few studies have separately examined verbal and physical components of scaffolding, which may differentially contribute to children’s …

The Effect Of Mortality Salience On Compromising Mate Selection Standards In Homosexual And Heterosexual Individuals, Sydney Rohmann

Masters Theses

Terror management theory (TMT), proposed by Greenberg, Pyszcynski, and Solomon (1986), suggests that humans cope with terror resulting from the knowledge of their own mortality. The need for coping mechanisms arises when individuals are reminded of their own inevitable death; that is, when they experience mortality salience (MS). Hirschberger, Florian, and Mikulincer (2002) found that when primed with death reminders, heterosexual individuals tend to compromise their ideal mate selection to form close relationships. There has also been extensive research on the differences between homosexual and heterosexual mating preferences. This study examined the effect mortality salience has on an individuals’ mate …

Examining The Relationship Between Social Anxiety And Social Media Engagement, Emilee A. Kruchten

Masters Theses

The relationship between social anxiety and social media has been studied looking at social networking sites as a whole, or looking at problematic use of social networking sites. However, to the authors knowledge, no research study has been conducted comparing different social media sites. This study intended to look specifically at the relationship between social anxiety and Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat in college students. Furthermore, this study assessed fear of negative evaluation, fear of positive evaluation, fear of missing out, and social comparison as potential meditators of this relationship. It was hypothesized that there would be a relationship between social …

The Relationship Between Distress Intolerance, Emotional Dysregulation, And Social Networking Site Addiction, Matthew Nozaki

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The use of social networking sites (SNSs) continues to increase. SNS addiction refers to the maladaptive behaviors associated with addiction and the use of SNSs. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between emotional dysregulation and SNS addiction as well as investigate the association between distress intolerance and SNS addiction through emotional dysregulation. The social cognitive theory served as the theoretical framework. A total of 210 individuals completed an anonymous online survey through Qualtrics, which consisted of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), and the Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS). Linear regression was …

Coping Strategies Among Disciplined Psychologists Working High-Conflict Custody Cases, Stephanie Joy Norris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Psychologists who work with high conflict custody cases have one of the highest risks of receiving a board complaint against their license. There is no qualitative research specific to psychologists who have been disciplined from their state licensing board because of their work with high conflict custody cases. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and understand the meaning of the experiences of psychologists who have worked or are currently working on high-conflict custody cases and have received discipline from their state licensing board. The transactional theory of stress and coping was used as the foundation for which …

Examining Crying Frequency And Duration In African American Women Dealing With Racism, Anika Fonson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The research concerning adult crying is limited, and no studies have been conducted using African American women. The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental study was to explore if crying acts as a coping mechanism for African American women faced with racism and if crying is related to positive mental health outcomes. Past research has indicated that women experiencing racism may seek out support as described by the tend and befriend theory. Crying has been described as a form of release when people are in positions in which they find it hard to cope. A sample of 140 African American women …