Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Log Kya Kahenge: Psychological Well-Being And Perceived Stigma In The South Asian American Community, Khushboo Jain

Pomona Senior Theses

Current research has independently studied depression, stigma, and coping mechanisms in relation to culture, yet the effects of perceived stigma on the relationship between depression and control coping are heavily understudied. Typically, studies have broadly focused on comparing eastern and western cultures, but have not analyzed how populations with mixed cultural influences experience depression and stigma and further engage in control coping mechanisms. This study thus explores how perceived stigma moderates the relationship between depressive symptoms and control coping mechanisms for South Asian Americans. The study hypothesizes that the level of perceived stigma will moderate the relationship between depression and …

Personality And Mental Health Support Effects On Occupational Trauma And Posttraumatic Growth In Police Officers, Jennifer Leigh Wills

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate relationships between occupational trauma exposure, work environment stress, personality traits, posttraumatic stress, and posttraumatic growth in police officers.

Scope of the study: A cross sectional mixed method research study design with longitudinal component was utilized. The sample consisted of 109 police officers in approximately 13 police agencies from multiple communities ranging from small rural departments to major city and statewide agencies.

Instruments used: The California Psychological Inventory 434 (CPI-434); the Police Stress Questionnaire-Operational; the Police Stress Questionnaire-Organizational; the Critical Incident History Questionnaire; the Posttraumatic Checklist for the DSM-5; the Centrality of …

Does Personality Moderate The Relationship Between Video Gaming And Quality Of Life?, Jean M. Devenny

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Video game research has expanded greatly in recent decades, fueled partly by concerns that video game content affects real-word behaviors and experiences. Despite the preponderance of research on the effects of video game content on various outcomes, there are still areas left to be explored. For example, while the American Psychological Association has concluded that violent video game content serves as a risk factor for real-life aggression, the association has also recommended the pursuit of additional research on alternative variables that may influence the relationship between video game content and outcomes (APA Task Force on Violent Media, 2015). The present …

Philosophical Ends To Scientific Means: Diagnosis And The Epistemology Of Psychology, Christopher Michael Johnson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Modern scientific psychology continues to advance toward newer and greater discoveries of the inner workings of the human mind, posited in the belief that a universal objectivity exists if only to be found. Despite the professional emphasis on conducting psychological enterprises in this manner, the field has spent much of its formalized existence struggling to answer some of its most basic questions. This paper thoroughly explores the nature of a scientific psychology, while suggesting that psychology may find wisdom in its philosophical origins. It further suggests that psychology continue toward a postmodern epistemology, in which a unitary psychological reality is …

The Use Of The Elaboration Likelihood Model And Attitude Change In Personality Disorder Patients, Jillian Kaplan

Scripps Senior Theses

Previous research has studied the relationship between the use of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and various personality traits when individuals are presented with persuasive information. This study aims to examine attitude change toward treatment in personality disorder (PD) patients using the ELM. It is predicted that patients of BPD, SPD, and OCPD will be more likely to use the central route of processing, while patients of NPD will be more likely to use the peripheral route of processing when evaluating persuasive information due the personality traits characteristic of the respective disorders. Selected patients of the four PDs of interest …

Into The Wild: Factors Mediating The Positive Outcomes Of Wilderness Based Therapy, Layla Moehring

Scripps Senior Theses

Wildnerness therapy is becoming increasingly popular as a treatment for adolescents. It has been established as an efficacious treatment in previous literature, but the mechanisms as to why have thus far remained a mystery. This research is looking at the connection between wilderness therapy and DBT, another evidence-based treatment. This study will examine 156 adolescents, comparing the efficacy of wilderness therapy to traditional inpatient and intensive outpatient. Pre-treatment assessments of suicidal ideation, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance will be taken. It is expected that there will be main effects for each of the treatments, but that wilderness therapy will be …

Men's Receptivity To Mental Health Help Seeking Intervention Messages: The Effects Of Message Sender Gender And Message Content, Faye Lafond

Scripps Senior Theses

Men are much less likely to seek out mental health care services than women, despite having equally significant mental health related needs. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the construction and delivery of intervention messages designed to encourage men to seek help for mental health concerns. 225 men in the United States were randomly assigned to one of 4 vignette conditions featuring a pro-mental health help seeking message, varying based on the gender of the sender of the message (male vs. female) and based on the inclusion of information concerning misconceptions about therapy (inclusion vs. …

Posttraumatic Stress As A Unique Contributor To Related Health Outcomes And Healthcare Utilization In Adult Survivors Of Childhood Cancer, Emily Kathleen Crochet

Theses and Dissertations

Despite its significance in medical populations, research on posttraumatic stress (PTSS) in this population is limited in existing studies by small sample sizes and lack of follow-up data. This manuscript provides review of literature on behavioral health outcomes, which include neurocognitive and psychosocial late effects of disease/treatment, engagement in health-promoting or risk behaviors, and healthcare utilization in the childhood cancer survivor population. The current study examined the impact of PTSS on these domains of functioning, using data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS), a multi-institutional sample. Results indicated 13.7% of survivors in our sample experienced PTSS. Survivors with PTSS …

Evaluating Stigmatizing Attitudes Among Clinicians Toward People With Abdl And Pedophilic Interests, Katlyn Hanson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Because child sexual abuse continues to be covered by mainstream media, the public has become more aware of the paraphilic interest pedophilia. While there is no definitive correlation between an individual with pedophilic interests and offenses against a child, strong public stigmatization toward these individuals remain. Additionally, stigmatizing attitudes have been found toward other paraphilic interests such as fetishes. This is the first study to evaluate and compare clinicians' attitudes toward the paraphilic interest pedophilia and the fetish interest community of Adult Baby/Diaper Lovers (ABDL). Clinicians were randomly assigned to one of three survey conditions assessing their attitudes toward people …

Acculturation, Biculturalism, And Familistic Cultural Values' Relationship With Latino Mental Health, Nathalie Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As the Latino population increases in the United States, mental health professionals encounter mixed research findings on immigrant mental health. There seems to be an epidemiological paradox in relation to Latino mental health and the effect that acculturation has on anxiety and depression symptoms among this minority population. One discernible research limitation in the existing literature is that researchers measure acculturation as a unidimensional, rather than multidimensional, construct. The present study examined not only acculturation, but also biculturalism, as correlates of depression and anxiety symptoms in a Latino population. Additionally, the present study identified potential Latino cultural buffers against depressive …

“Will I Follow You Into The Dark?": Effects Of Celebrity Suicide On Suicide-Attempt Rates, T. Joseph Fountain

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Previous research has shown that mass-media reports of a suicide death predict an increase in suicide deaths, dubbed the Werther effect (Niederkrotenthaler, et al., 2012). Content intended to protect from suicide contagion in mass-media reports of suicide may reduce the Werther effect, described as the Papageno effect (Niederkrotenthaler, et al., 2010). Werther and Papageno effects have not been investigated for their influence on suicide-attempt rates in the United States. An increase in suicide deaths in the United States followed mass-media reports of Robin Williams’s death by suicide (Fink, Santaella-Tenorio, & Keyes, 2018), lending support for the Werther effect. A significant …

Caregiver Support And Advocacy For Children With Disabilities In Guyana, Shiromanie Sharla Khargi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

In Guyana, a developing country in South America, many parental caregivers of disabled people struggle to understand their children's disability as well as provide, and advocate for, educational resources and medical and psychological care for their children. The researchers have found that the needs of this population have been minimized placing disabled people at risk for neglect, abuse, and death. In 2006, the Convention on the Rights for People with Disabilities created a plan to help developing countries improve the care and advocacy for people with disabilities. The purpose of this evaluative study, which was guided by general systems …

Family Relational Experiences During Major Transitions With A Chronic Illness, Juanita Sibayan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although health care transitions have received some attention in the literature, few researchers have emphasized family relational experiences and communication during major changes while living with a chronic illness. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experience of parents and their adult children while transitioning from pediatric to adult care of a chronic illness. The bio-psychosocial theory, family systems theory, and attachment theory established the context for this study. A criterion-based sampling technique and snowball sampling were used to recruit 7 parents and 6 of their adult children aged 18 to 30 years who were diagnosed …

A Literature Review Of The Male Abortion Experience, Caroline Kaltenborn

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This literature review analyzed five studies involving men’s experience when their partner undergoes an abortion. These studies were chosen due to their specific focus on men’s experiences in abortion and the psychological effects experienced. Though study methodology and demographic material varied, common findings were deduced. Common emotional experiences reported included responsibility (Kero & Lalos, 2004; Reich & Brindis, 2006), relief (Kero & Lalos, 2004; Jones et al., 2017), guilt (Jones et al., 2017; Kero & Lalos, 2004), and anger (Coyle & Rue, 2015; Jones et al., 2017). The involvement these men had in the abortion decision-making process and their involvement …

An Examination Of The Scale Of Accurate Personality Prediction’S (Sapp) Test-Retest Reliability Across A Four-Week Period, Taylor Catherine Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The questions surrounding how well one can truly know him/herself dates as far back as Ancient Greek times, and answering the question has been a difficult task given the complexity of human beings, and a somewhat subjective term such as the “self.” As science and technology continue to advance, so do the attempts to accurately define self-knowledge. Miller (2000) took defining self-knowledge a step further, and developed a test derived from the Sixteen Personality Prediction Questionnaire (16PF) to measure individuals’ level of self-knowledge how well they know themselves, based on their ability to accurately predict their scores on the 16PF. …

Effects Of Benefactor Type On Gratitude And Indebtedness, Trese Janette Mclaughlin

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Gratitude can be a strong emotion, as can be indebtedness. Although historically in the social sciences gratitude and indebtedness have been equated with each other, situations may differentially affect these emotions. One situational aspect that may impact these emotions differentially is the type of benefactor; an individual, independent institution, or a related institution. Does the type of benefactor impact gratitude responses? The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate this question. Using a scenario methodology, I manipulated type of benefactor and cost of the benefit to the benefactor. With this study, I hope to gain more knowledge of gratitude …

Minority Stress And Mental Health Among Transgender Persons, Elizabeth Alice Sapareto

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Transgender people, a minority population, are at increased risk for negative health and mental health consequences. Profound societal discrimination and stigmatization lead to systemic institutional barriers and lack of access to health care services. Research with lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations shows a strong association between minority stress and mental health; however, there is a gap in research for the transgender population. This study, based on theories of minority stress, positive psychology, the biopsychosocial model, and the transgender model, was conducted to clarify this relationship for the transgender population. Four research questions were proposed. A final sample of N = …

Walking And Talking For The Elevation Of Mood And Satisfaction Levels, Lori Jean Kellner-Schoelles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study is important because of the high prevalence of mental and physical disorders experienced by American adults. These bring undue strain to those suffering them and to the health care system because research indicates that many of these disorders may be mitigated via supportive conversation, or through the practice of physical exercise. The purpose of this quantitative treatment-control study was to examine the relationship between the practice of walking/talking and resulting mood and satisfaction levels. Self-determination theory and biopsychosocial perspectives were used to provide a framework for the study. The research questions asked whether there was a mood response …

Effect Of External Locus-Of-Hope On Acquired Capability For Suicide, Yitzchok Wagshul

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have investigated the role of hope as a protective factor against suicide. Of the 3 factors posited by Joiner's interpersonal theory of suicide (IPTS) to be necessary before suicide can occur, increased hope has been shown to reduce 2 (thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness), but, counterintuitively, to increase the 3rd (acquired capability for suicide). A fuller understanding of this phenomenon may lie with Bernardo's locus-of-hope construct-pursuant to which hope may lie not only in one's own plans and capabilities (internal locus-of-hope) but in those of others (external locus-of-hope) but to date no study has researched the relationship between external …

Childhood Lead Exposure And Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis, Megan Glenn Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Lead exposure during childhood is a significant global public health concern as the potential effects of exposure can result in the need for long-term treatment, diminished productivity in society, and financial strain on the health care system. There is strong evidence of a relationship between lead exposure and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, there is a gap in the current literature regarding the relationship between lead exposure and specific symptoms of ADHD and the strength of that relationship. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine and help quantify this relationship. Cohen's d was used as the standardized mean effect size …