Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Self-Reported Strengths And Weaknesses In The Prediction Of Institutional Aggression, Sarah A. Demarco

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Aggression on inpatient psychiatric units poses a multitude of issues not only for patients, but also for staff. Thus, the identification of dynamic risk factors that may increase and also of protective factors that may decrease the likelihood of a patient becoming aggressive is important. The current study sought to expand on the current literature by examining if there is a difference between self-perceived strengths and risk factors between aggressive and nonaggressive patients. More specifically, it was hypothesized that self-reported strengths would moderate the relationship between self-reported risk factors and institutional aggression (IA) in forensic and in civil psychiatric units …

Recovery Knowledge, Skills, And Attitudes Of Doctoral Students In Apa-Accredited Clinical Psychology Programs, And Interns In Apa-Accredited And Appic-Member Internships, Carmella R. Tress

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The concept of Recovery can be understood as an attitude or perspective about people, an attitude that encompasses beliefs about the respect, power, responsibility, empowerment, and hope that people deserve. Knowledge of and attitudes towards Recovery principles are instrumental to the development of Recovery-oriented approaches to mental health care. However, until the present study, information had not been gathered regarding the knowledge and attitudes that clinical psychology doctoral students and pre-doctoral interns have towards Recovery principles and the provision of Recovery-oriented services. A survey of a national sample of 189 doctoral students in APA-accredited programs, and 185 pre-doctoral interns in …

Perceived Parenting Styles Of Mothers With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Madina Bakhitova

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between maternal PTSD symptoms and parenting, specifically the authoritarian and permissive parenting styles, and parental dimensions of nurturance, consistency, control, and physical punishment. Participants included a convenience sample of 84 mothers (40% Hispanic, 35% African American, and 25% Caucasian) from a community behavioral-health agency in Philadelphia. The mothers completed a brief demographic questionnaire, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist – Civilian Version (PCL – C), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Parenting Authority Questionnaire – Revised Version (PAQ – R), and the Parenting Dimensions Inventory – Short Version (PDI – S). …

Impacts Of The Recovery Movement On Treatment Adherence For Individuals With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Kelly J. Campanile

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The recovery movement presents a shift in the treatment of severe mental illness to a more person-centered approach. The current researcher hypothesized that the more recovery-oriented a treatment was perceived to be, the more participants would have attended appointments and adhered to their psychiatric medication regimen. The variables of empowerment, recovery assessment, attitudes toward treatment, and participatory decision-making were explored in relation to their possible correlation with increased treatment adherence. An archival data set was used. Participants included 215 adults who met criteria for a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. The participants generally rated their treatment as high on all four of …

Hispanic Immigrant Parental Messages Of Resiliency And Emotional Regulation To Their Children: An Examination Of Important Variables And An Intervention, Rodrigo Velezmoro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This two-part study examined the adjustment of Hispanic immigrants. Part one examined the communication that occurs between Hispanic immigrant parents and their adolescents/young adults about life in the United States (U.S.). It also examined how attitudes toward the U.S. and various protective factors influence psychological adjustment. Hispanic immigrants (n = 123) with an average of 11 years living in the United States and their adolescents/young adults between the ages of 14-22 served as participants. For both parents and their adolescents/young adults, favorable attitudes toward the U.S. were associated with improved psychological adjustment. Contrary to prediction, attitudes toward the U.S. did …

Testing A Brief Treatment To Reduce The Frequency Of Panic Attacks In A Clinical Outpatient Population, Benjamin N. Daniels

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Panic attacks, the key symptom of panic disorder and an associated feature of various anxiety disorders, are extremely distressing events that can negatively impact an individual’s mental health, physical health, and quality of life. This study validated a brief treatment for panic attacks, designed to reduce the frequency of panic attacks after the first session, in an outpatient clinical population. One participant was recruited to participate in this single case experimental ABA design with follow-up, where a reversal was not expected, due to the maintenance of positive effects. The treatment included both cognitive and behavioral techniques. The results were analyzed …

An Anti-Bullying Intervention For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Catherine Rex

CMC Senior Theses

The effects of a video modeling intervention, given to six children with ASD, were evaluated through a multiple-baseline and multiple-probe design across children. The research targeted teaching children with ASD to assertively respond to physical bullying, verbal bullying, and social exclusion, as well as telling one’s mother. In baseline, the participants demonstrated inconsistent to no skills for responding to the bullying in the vignette movies (SAAS) and the generalization probe skits. During intervention the participants watched a video of a person assertively responding to bullying, and were assessed through VM questions and SAAS. Post-intervention the children participated in generalization probe …

Trauma, Personality, And Behavior: A Longitudinal Study Predicting Adverse Outcomes After Sexual Assault From Personality Prior To The Assault, Jessica L. Combs

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Exposure to sexual assault results in ongoing harms for women. After an assault, some women engage higher levels of externalizing behaviors, such as drinking problems and drug use, and others experience higher levels of internalizing dysfunction, such as clinical anxiety and clinical depression. In a longitudinal sample of 1929 freshman college women assessed across three time points, I found the following. Pre-assault negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly when distressed) interacted with assault exposure to predict increased subsequent drinking and initiation of drug use. Pre-assault trait anxiety/depression interacted with assault exposure to predict increased subsequent clinical anxiety and depression. …

Emotional Dysregulation And Borderline Personality Disorder: Explaining The Link Between Secondary Psychopathy And Alexithymia, Leigh Elizabeth Ridings, Catherine J. Lutz-Zois

Psychology Faculty Publications

Research explaining the overlap between psychopathy and alexithymia is in its infancy. A study by Lander, Lutz-Zois, Rye, and Goodnight (2012) revealed a significant positive correlation between secondary, but not primary, psychopathy and alexithymia. However, little is known about what accounts for this differential association. Because both alexithymia (Webb & McMurran, 2008) and secondary psychopathy (Blackburn, 1996) have been linked to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), the current study sought to determine if emotional processing deficits characteristic of BPD could explain the link between secondary psychopathy and alexithymia. The results supported the hypothesis that BPD would mediate the association between secondary …

Peers, Parent-Child Conflict, And Familial History In The Prediction Of Substance Use In College, Angela M. Holth

Departmental Honors Projects

Using a cross-sectional study design, we examined whether peer relationships, parent-child conflict and family history of substance problems predicted substance use (frequency and quantify of alcohol, nicotine and marijuana use, age at first and alcohol and marijuana use, and maximum number of drinks consumed in a 24 hour period) in a sample of college students (N=194). Our findings suggested the following: 1) deviant peers and deviant substance using peers were significantly related to increases in all substance use measures, and a decrease in age at first alcohol, use but not age at first marijuana use. 2) there were no gender …

I Cheat Because I Can: Power, Sexism And Approval Of Infidelity, Teni Davoudian

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study examined the moderating role of ambivalent sexism in the relationship between power and approval of infidelity. College students were randomly assigned to high- and low-power conditions and completed measures assessing their perceived power, endorsed sexism toward men and women, and approval of their own possible infidelity. It was hypothesized that the association between perceived power and permissive attitudes toward infidelity would vary according to participants' endorsement of hostile and benevolent sexism. The hypotheses were partially supported, and the results revealed the importance of both participant gender and sexism as predictors of attitudes toward infidelity. Hostile sexism toward men …

Child Sexual Abuse, Attachment, Dating Behaviors, And Sexual Assault, Lucie Holmgreen

Dissertations (1934 -)

The current study used survey methodology to investigate the relationships among child sexual abuse, adult attachment, risky dating behaviors, and sexual assault. Specifically, it tested a model whereby attachment mediates a hypothesized relationship between child sexual abuse and risky dating behaviors, thus partially explaining sexual abuse survivors' risk of sexual assault (or revictimization). Results indicate that child sexual abuse relates to attachment anxiety but not to avoidance or the dating behaviors studied. While risky dating behaviors are associated with increased rates of sexual assault, most of them were not predicted by attachment. Attachment avoidance does relate, however, to some key …

Parent And Family Outcomes Of An Empirically Validated Social Skills Intervention For Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Jeffrey Scott Karst

Dissertations (1934 -)

Past research has indicated that raising a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with increased parenting stress, decreased parenting self-efficacy, and increased family distress. While ASD therapies often include significant parental involvement and are typically time-intensive and expensive, studies of ASD treatment have not widely evaluated the impact of treatment on caregivers or the family. There is evidence that successful long-term treatment outcomes are dependent on healthy systemic functioning, and thus it is important to understand how any particular treatment adjunctively affects parents and the family system. The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills …

Verbal Overshadowing And The Effects Of Earwitness Testimony On The Likelihood Of Correct Identification Of Target Voices, John P. Buckley Iii

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Verbal overshadowing is the process by which verbalizing memory interferes with the original memory (Schooler & Engstler-Schooler, 1990). While verbal overshadowing is robust with eyewitness events, it is not a definite occurrence. However, can verbal overshadowing affect memories of auditory information? Previous research on earwitness testimony has shown a verbal overshadowing effect in which the ability to accurately identify a witness's voice is impaired after verbally describing the voice participants heard (Perfect, Hunt, & Harris, 2002). I examined how voice lineup identification may be influenced by verbally describing a presented voice, a nonpresented voice, or an unrelated event. Results did …

The Role Of Religion In The Relationship Between Loneliness And Health Behaviors, Lindsy Jean Magee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While research has demonstrated the relationship of religion to health risk and health promoting behaviors, it has not investigated the relationship between religious coping and health risk and health promoting behaviors. In addition, while the link between loneliness and certain health risk and health promoting behaviors has been established, little research has looked at the potential effect that religion has on the relationship between loneliness, health risk, and health promoting behaviors. As such, it was the purpose of this study to investigate the relationship between religious coping and health risk and health promoting behaviors and to investigate the role of …

Effectiveness Of A Brief Parent Training Intervention, Brian Legg

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

This study examined the effectiveness of a brief parent-training intervention in reducing defiance in children. Four African American single mothers with children demonstrating clinically diagnosable levels of defiance participated in this study. Parental stress and general maladaptive behaviors of children were evaluated pre- and post-treatment. In addition, participants completed treatment-satisfaction questionnaires to assess the perceived value of the accommodations and training structure. Results indicated some reduction in child defiance in three of the four participants. Parental stress and overall child maladaptive externalizing behaviors were both reduced over the entire study for two participants. Participants reported that the flexibility of individually …

The Effects Of Mental Health Stigma On Treatment Attitude Within The Therapeutic Dyad: Therapist Beliefts In The Mental Health Recovery Process For Patients With Schizophrenia, Michele R. Miele

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

OBJECTIVE: Stigma maintains a belief that a recovery process is infeasible for patients with schizophrenia. As clients internalize stigma and therapists maintain a conceptualization of non-recovery, their core beliefs about recovery may become treatment barriers. This study investigated clinicians’ attitudes towards recovery by evaluating the relationship between knowledge of schizophrenia, attitudes of stigma, and attitudes of tolerance held towards people with schizophrenia; included in the evaluation are years of experience working as a mental health professional.

METHOD: This study is a cross-sectional survey design using a sample of 319 participants. The survey consisted of the following measures: knowledge of …

The Effects Of Acknowledging Cultural Differences On Therapeutic Alliance In Cross-Cultural Therapy, Jean-Pierre Assouad

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Therapeutic alliance has been documented to have a significant impact on therapy. This study examined the impact that acknowledging visible cultural differences in the first session of treatment has on therapeutic alliance, perceived clinician cross-cultural competency, and potential attrition. A vignette study design was utilized with 26 subjects who were patients at the PCOM Center for Brief Therapy. The patients were randomly assigned one of four vignettes that consisted of a cross-cultural therapy situation, in which visible cultural differences were either addressed or not by a clinician. Following the reading of the vignette, the subjects were asked to complete the …

The Effects Of Yoga With Meditation (Ywm) On Self-Criticism, Self-Compassion, And Mindfulness, Kelly Newby

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention, Yoga with Meditation (YWM), on self-criticism, self-compassion, and mindfulness in a graduate student population. When compared to a control group, the experimental group reported decreased self-criticism, and increased self-compassion and mindfulness. The experimental group consisted of graduate students interested in participating in weekly yoga and meditation classes over the course of a two-month time period. Each participant was encouraged to complete self-report measures prior to the first YWM session, and after the completion of each YWM class. Baseline and post-intervention scores of 24 individuals who attended at least four of the …

Stress In Mothers Of Newly Diagnosed Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Barriers To Care, Use Of Support Services, And Child Behavior, Michelle Petrongolo

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

A reasonable amount of parenting stress is not only expected, but often adaptive (Deater- Deckard, & Scarr, 1996); however, in the presence of chronically high levels of stress, negative outcomes are common. Parents of children with special needs, particularly autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are especially vulnerable to the presence of clinically significant levels of stress, making this group an important focus in the prevention of negative outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to determine the contribution of barriers to care, social support, and child behavioral problems to stress levels of parents with a child newly diagnosed with ASD. …