Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Adverse Childhood Experiences(Aces) And Nonverbal Reasoning Skills, Monika Malinowska

Dissertations

Severe stress and interpersonal traumatic experience in childhood have a cascade effect on an individual's physical and mental health. There is evidence that people with complex adverse childhood experiences have diminished cognitive abilities. However, there are few studies on the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) on non-verbal reasoning skills. This study aimed to assess the relationships between ACEs, non-verbal reasoning skills, and academic achievement.

An Inaugural, Qualitative Examination Of The Relationships Between People With Gender Nonconforming Expression And Social Anxiety, Chrystiana Jones

Dissertations

The focus in this research was on the experience of social anxiety associated with people with gender nonconformity. The study involved consideration of the issues people with gender nonconformity face as well as the mental impact that often occurs as a result of the rejection of other people in their lives, including their family and friends, as well as how and in what ways gender nonconforming people are affected by negativity in their environment. Data related to the problems that develop with such people, in particular the impact of stigmatization, discrimination, and social anxiety on people with gender nonconformity were …

Parenting And Students' Gpa In The Latino Population: An Exploratory Study, Carolina Arboleda

Dissertations

The present study experimentally investigated Latino high school students’ grade point averages (GPA) and the parenting styles used by their parents based on Baumrind’s (1968, 1971, 1989, 1991) theory of parenting behaviors. Participants (N=52) were asked to take a survey of 62 questions total addressing three parenting dimensions as measured by the Escala Parental Breve to categorize their parents’ behaviors into parenting styles. Participants also responded to demographic questions such as English proficiency, household income, parents’ education level, and other relevant factors impacting parenting and GPA. Results from the study were limited as there was a limited number of participants; …

Culturally Adapted Multiphasic Treatment Program: A Proposed Model For Increasing Successful Community Reintegration For Sex-Trafficked Black Teens, Shayla A. Wright

Dissertations

The commercial sex trafficking industry is a silent epidemic that has been sweeping across nations for centuries. Within the United States, Black teen girls make up the largest demographic of commercially sexually exploited children. Despite efforts, most treatment interventions and programs have limited success in preventing or reintegrating Black teen girls into their respective communities. Even more alarming, most treatment interventions do not consider the impact of culture and other lived experiences. This critical literature review identified and evaluated effective treatment modalities and programs for Black teens and discussed key components that
have been found for community reintegration. The research …

Pathways To Offending: Domestic Sex Trafficking, Julie Williams

Dissertations

Multidisciplinary professionals across criminal justice, public policy, education, and health and

human services have all attempted to understand the complex phenomenon of sex trafficking to assist victims, correct offenders, and prevent future abuse. However, current research has struggled to agree on terms, definitions of terms, best measures of prevalence, and recommendations to address sex trafficking in the United States. This review of current literature aims to offer a synthesized framework to conceptualize domestic sex trafficking perpetrator behaviors (what they do), their uses of force, fraud, and coercion (how they do it), and their motivations and justifications/rationalizations for those behaviors (why …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Latinx And Black Communities, Carolina Zuluaga

Dissertations

This critical literature review project explored the impact of COVID-19 on Latinx and Black communities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of September 28, 2022, around 16% of COVID-19 cases in the United States were among Latinx people, and 14% of cases were among Black people (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Since COVID-19 began, clinicians have become more conscious of the effects of health disparities within racial and ethnic minorities, which has warranted increased advocacy by educating health and mental health providers and creating and providing resources to these communities and clinicians. The review …

A Gift To My Self: A Psychoanalytic Approach To Understanding The Experiences Of Women Who Choose Not To Have Children, Irina D. Tchania

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although motherhood has long been a normative female experience, individual decisions regarding bearing and mothering children vary among women. Partly due to shifts in gender roles and contemporary societal expectations, the conflation of womanhood with motherhood – and the centrality of motherhood within female identity – is being increasingly challenged. Women who choose to remain childless make up a growing, unique, and understudied population group. Decisions regarding intentional childlessness have been considered through the lenses of sociology and feminist critique, while psychologically and psychoanalytically oriented scholarship is more limited. This study aimed to further our understanding of the voluntarily childless …

Voiding The Unwanted Self: An Examination Of Racialized Violence In The United States, Benjamin Stark

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is concerned with the role of the psychic defenses projection and projective identification in the processes which lead to racialized violence in the United States. The dissertation posits that projection has been less considered as a primary driver of racialized violence than other psychic processes and should be better integrated into psychological research and literature on racialized violence. The thesis begins with a detailed examination of two instances of racialized violence, the first a macro example of nation vs. nation: the United States’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, before which the United States fantasized Iraq was developing weapons …

The Relationship Between Sexting Behaviors And Image-Based Sexual Abuse (Ibsa): Does Sexting Predict Ibsa?, Seunghye Yang

Student Theses

With development of technology, Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA), a new type of sexual abuse, has emerged. It is defined as nonconsensually creating nude or sexual images of others; nonconsensually distributing nude or sexual images of others; and threatening to distribute nude or sexual images of others (Henry & Flynn, 2019; Powell et al., 2019). As this is a relatively new phenomenon, risk factors for IBSA are not yet well understood. It has been suggested that sexting may be a risk factor for IBSA as the two behaviors share some common characteristics. For example, both sexting and IBSA involve sending or …

Telehealth Functional Behavior Assessment In Practice: A Demonstration Of The Clinical Utility Of Dynamic Probability Analyses And Estimates Of Contingency Strength, Lilith Michaele Reuter-Yuill

Dissertations

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 and acceleration of coronavirus disease cases resulted in a global pandemic and presented unique and unprecedented humanitarian issues. Behavior analysts trained in the area of functional behavior assessment offer important services that may assist families to address behavioral challenges that they face during this difficult time. Despite the growing body of evidence of telehealth functional behavior assessments, practitioners still face several unknowns. In Experiment I, a telehealth functional behavior assessment was conducted with three children with autism spectrum disorder. Assessment methods represented a continuum of experimental control from unstructured conditions (no experimental control), structured descriptive assessment …

Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Literature Review, Savannah M. Demicoli

University Honors Theses

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), previously referred to as Multiple Personalities Disorder, has been historically misrepresented in the media and excluded from professional training. This literature review describes the information presented in various research studies to illustrate what DID is, the theoretical models that have been used in application to DID, the role of childhood trauma, as well as successful treatment methods and accessibility of resources. In understanding DID, it is necessary to look at the disorder’s prevalence, background, and major symptoms of amnesia and switching between personality states. The theoretical models that will be covered include the Sociocognitive/Fantasy Model and …

The Psychology Of Protest: Activism Involvement And Burnout, Keyera Gaulden, Tara Shelby, Lynette Bikos

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

Since January 2021, the SPU community has protested policies that result in employment discrimination for the LGBTQIA+ community. We tested a model of indirect effects, predicting protest-related burnout directly from hours per week of protest activity and indirectly through eight work values. No work values predicted protest engagement and protest-related burnout was not predicted by weekly hours of protest engagement. The work value relationship, had an was inversely related to protest-related burnout (*B* = -0.293, *p* = 0.003); security was positively related to protest-related burnout (*B* = 0.150, *p* = 0.072). Our model predicted 31% of the protest burnout variance.

Emotion Dysregulation And Acquired Capability For Suicide: A Correlational Analysis, Ben Barnette, Janelle Wee, Molly Hassler, Johanna Knight, Keyne Law

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

This study examines the relationship between emotion dysregulation and acquired capability for suicide using self-report, behavioral, and physiological measures. Participants (N = 47) completed the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004) and the Cold Pressor Task (CPT). Bivariate correlational analyses were conducted to examine the strength and direction of associations between several variables including participants’ age and gender, baseline emotion dysregulation (i.e., DERS scores), baseline respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) and withdrawal RSA, and pain tolerance, persistence, and threshold values. Results suggest that an individual’s ability to self-regulate at rest is associated with greater persistence through pain.

Ruminative Subtypes As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Self-Compassion And Suicidality, Erin Mcmeekin, Michelle Pei, Keyne Law

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

We sought to determine whether ruminative subtypes modulate the relationship between self-compassion and thwarted belongingness (TB) and perceived burdensomeness (PB). The coalescence of PB and TB elicits suicidal desire (Van Orden et al., 2010). Self-compassion has been found to ameliorate suffering and self-blame, serving as a reliable protective factor for suicide (Sun et al., 2020). Rumination impacts the relationship between self-compassion and psychopathology (Raes, 2010) and the brooding subtype was consistently found as a risk factor for suicide (Rogers et al., 2017). Participants were undergraduate students (n =264; Mage = 20.85, SD= 5.29; 82% Female, 63% White) who completed the: …

Testing Perceived Moral Transgressions As Mediating Links Of Ptsd Symptoms To Distress, Sarah Roth, Sierra Sumner, Thane Erickson

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms cause distress for 5-20% of individuals worldwide. Cognitive models of PTSD emphasize negative social cognitions about the world, and recent research suggests a relatively unexplored moral dimension. In this study, we test whether perceived moral transgressions mediated the relationship between PTSD symptoms and distress, using both correlational and experimental data., Participants recruited via MTurk (N = 400) completed measures of PTSD symptoms and perceived transgressions of others in the past week, read randomly assigned news vignettes, with and without transgressions, and endorsed current distress levels. We will present study design and preliminary regressions results.

Combat Exposure And The Influence Of Psychopathy On Suicidality In Military Veterans, Dante Buell, Rocky Marks, Nicole Moreira, Ben Barnette, Keyne Law

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

The link between combat exposure and suicidality is well-established, yet the impact of psychopathic traits on this relationship has been overlooked. This study aims to address this gap by exploring how different psychopathic traits influence the link between combat exposure and suicidal ideation or acquired capability for suicide. The results suggest that psychopathic traits significantly affect the relationship between combat exposure and suicidal ideation, highlighting the need to consider suicide risk for military personnel with high levels of these traits who may be contemplating combat. Understanding the interplay between psychopathy and combat exposure is essential within military suicide risk assessment.

Loneliness In Covid-19 Pandemic Among Adults Impacted By Developmental Disabilities, Natalie Snodgrass, Thane Erickson, Beverly Wilson

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

Developmental disabilities (DD) are lifelong conditions causing impairment in behavioral, language, physical, and cognitive functioning (Zablotsky et al., 2019). Individuals with DDs were at greater risk for health issues and experiencing loneliness pre-pandemic (Alexandria et al., 2021; Desroches et al., 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic may have further exacerbated loneliness but has yet to be explored in DDs. We plan to examine loneliness in adults impacted by DDs (adults and parents) in context of pandemic stress. Correlations and regression analyses will examine relationships between loneliness and pandemic stress, coping styles, anxiety, and depression.

Mental Health In The Workplace: How First-Generation Professional Status Does Not Predict Mental Health Outcomes., Cammy Widman, Timothy Overstreet, Melissa-Ann Lagunas, Joel Jin

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

First generation professionals (FGPs)––individuals who are the first in their family to receive a college degree and obtain a higher-level professional position––face additional stressors throughout their professional career that may lead to more psychological distress. This study investigates the relationship between FGP status, maladaptive perfectionism, fear of failure, wellbeing, and mental health outcomes within an FGP and non-FGP population (n = 210). We found that maladaptive perfectionism was higher in the FGP population, however findings from our parallel mediation analyses revealed no significant differences between FGPs and non-FGPs mental health outcomes.

Treatment Outcome From Cognitive Processing Therapy Examined Three Ways, Sophie Haven

Dissertations

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), is an evidence-based treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective in treating PTSD. Nonetheless, CPT can have a high rate of treatment non-completion. Attrition from therapy has been operationally defined using multiple contrasting methods. Understanding attrition using a definition with the most clinical utility is essential to improving outcomes from efficacious treatments. Two clinically relevant definitions for attrition, session attendance and symptom improvement, are critical to understanding attrition. Combining information from both definitions, to create four separate groups, will provide more accurate information about …

Talking With Horses: Equine Assisted Activities To Promote Social Engagement In Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Amy Ezhaya

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Purpose of Project: The purpose of this evidenced-based project is to gather data on how therapeutic horseback riding (THR) facilitates social engagement in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The project aims to provide alternative treatment options and disseminate information to providers on the importance of community partnerships.

Background: In 2020, it was estimated that 1 in 54 children had ASD, which is a 170% increase since 2000. Often, those diagnosed with ASD also experience co-occurring mental health diagnoses placing a large burden of care on our healthcare system. THR is a growing alternative treatment option and has been found …