Social Psychology Commons^™

Understanding The Lived Experience Of Mental Health Following An Alpha-Gal Syndrome Diagnosis: A Phenomenological Study Grounded In Maslow’S Hierarchy Of Needs, Heather L. Hargis

Dissertations

Alpha-gal syndrome is a tick-borne food allergy that triggers delayed allergic reactions to mammalian products and profoundly alters daily life. While growing research examines the physiological aspects of alpha-gal syndrome, little is known about its psychological impact. This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of individuals with alpha-gal syndrome to understand how the condition influences mental health through the lens of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Data was collected through semi-structured virtual interviews with adults medically diagnosed with alpha-gal syndrome. Thematic analysis revealed significant challenges in meeting Maslow’s lower-tier needs—physiological, safety, and love/belonging—due to dietary restrictions, medical uncertainty, social isolation, and …

The Experiences Of African Americans Seeking Health Care Services, Sandy Latreice Sullivan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health care experiences are shaped by life events and cultural background, making engagement with providers individualized. African Americans have historically reported distrust of health professionals due to targeted mistreatment. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the experiences of middle-aged African American adults receiving care from non-African American health care providers. Rosenstock’s health belief model was the framework for the study. Nine participants were recruited from social media using purposeful sampling. Data were gathered through semistructured interviews held on Zoom. Saldana’s four-step qualitative data analysis process was utilized to analyze the data. The results of the data …

Childhood Events And Counseling Experiences Of Chinese And Korean American Transracial Adoptees, Mele Kramer, Lee Stadtlander

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

From the 1950s through 2024, transracial adoptions—particularly of Korean and Chinese children—have been increasingly prevalent in Western societies. While these adoptions provided children with opportunities to grow up in loving and supportive families, they also introduced unique challenges related to identity, cultural integration, and self-esteem. This basic qualitative study aimed to explore the lived experiences of Chinese and Korean transracial adoptees (TRAs) within their adoptive families, in their interactions with counseling, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of counseling interventions. The study was grounded in Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) and the Openness to Communication framework to examine the experiences of 19 …

“Home.”: A Trauma-Informed Children’S Book Exploring Secure Attachment For Children In Foster Care, Keeli Langford

Undergraduate Theses

Estimates suggest 6% of U.S. children (nearly half a million) will be placed in foster care at any point between their birth and eighteenth birthday (Turney & Wildeman, 2017). This population of children is subject to multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; Turney & Wildeman, 2017). Such ACEs include parental divorce, parental incarceration, parental abuse, a household member with a psychological disorder, violence exposure, or a household member grappling with substance use. Exposure to childhood ACEs can negatively affect children behaviorally, emotionally, socially, and academically (Lawrence et al., 2006; McGuire et al., 2021). Research indicates youth in foster care are more …

Understanding The Barriers And Challenges Of Spanish-Speaking Latinos Who Received Calaim Initiative Social Support Services, Jessica De Lara Vallejo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Spanish-speaking Latinos continue to face significant barriers when attempting to access social support services through healthcare initiatives such as California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM). Despite previous efforts to address this issue, this population continues to encounter barriers such as systemic discrimination, language barriers, and limited access to culturally responsive care. This qualitative study was guided by the consolidated framework for implementation research and used an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach to explore the lived experiences of Spanish-speaking Latino parents whose children received CalAIM asthma home remediation (AHR) services. The purpose of this study was to understand the barriers and challenges …

The Impact Of Microaggression Exposure On Emotional Reactivity And Distress Following An Emotionally Provocative Movie Scene, Gwendolyn Jefferson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This quantitative study explored how past experiences with racial microaggressions affect emotional reactions to racially charged media and whether factors like age and gender influence that response. Using Minority Stress Theory as a guide, 183 African American adults completed the Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory before and after watching a racially provocative film clip. The first analysis found no direct link between microaggression exposure and emotional change. However, further testing with analysis of variance showed that people with higher exposure reported much stronger emotional distress than those with lower exposure, F(1,180) = 38.12, p < .001, η² = .175. When demographic factors were added in a hierarchical regression, the model became significant, F(7,175) = 2.06, p = .036, R² = .076, showing that age (β = .086, p = .009) and gender (β = 1.505, p = .039) influenced emotional responses. Thus, older African American women showed the strongest distress, suggesting that the combined effects of race, gender, and age increase vulnerability to racial stress. These findings support the idea that racial trauma is complex and shaped by overlapping social identities. The study highlights the need for culturally sensitive mental health support, inclusive media portrayals, and greater awareness of generational and caregiving stress among African American women. By showing how overlapping identities shape emotional well-being, this research advances social change through empathy, reduced stigma, and institutional accountability, encouraging equity-driven practices that foster racial healing, fairness, and psychological resilience across communities.

The Lived Experiences Of Imposter Syndrome Among Women Of Color Professors In Higher Education, Adrianna Marie Hooker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the unique challenges faced by women of color professors in higher education, who often experience imposter syndrome due to systemic barriers and underrepresentation. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how these professors experienced and made meaning of imposter syndrome in academic settings. The central research question examined the meaning of imposter syndrome among women of color professors in higher education. This study was grounded in intersectionality and self-determination theory, which provided frameworks for understanding how multiple identities influenced feelings of inadequacy and professional identity. Participants included 12 women of …

The Impact Of Stereotype Threat And Grit On The Experience Of Imposter Syndrome, Lindsey C. Davis

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

In-Progress Research Imposter syndrome (IP) is a psychological phenomenon in which one has an internal experience of intellectual phoniness. This phenomenon is particularly seen within workplaces. Past researchers have found that females tend to report higher levels of IP, with Stereotype Threat (ST) being a cited explanation. A common denominator in much of the literature is how a lack of Belongingness can activate Stereotype Threat in females, especially in male-dominated workplaces. It has been found that individuals high in IP, especially females, tend to experience poor mental health outcomes. Past research has also established a link between IP and Conscientiousness …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Parenting Under Constraint: How Histories Of Abuse And Sexual Violence Shape Mothers' Caregiving In A Homeless Shelter, Kiera P. Irvin

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Background: Mothers experiencing homelessness often carry extensive trauma histories, yet little work examines how abuse and sexual violence shape day-to-day parenting inside communal shelter settings. This study explored how trauma histories intersect with shelter structures to influence caregiving and feelings surrounding parenting among homeless mothers.

Method: Using a qualitative design, four mothers (ages 30–51) residing in a large Midwestern homeless shelter completed approximately 30-minute, semi-structured interviews in a private room onsite. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed with inductive reflexive thematic analysis in Dedoose.

Results: Three interrelated themes were identified. (1) Parenting Under Constraint, in which communal living, limited …

Applied Social And Positive Psychology (Asapp), Whitney L. Heppner Phd

Academic Affairs

The completed and ongoing work is accomplishing/has accomplished 4 specific aims that were identified prior to the project: 1) Developed translational, workforce skills for students. Students enhanced communication skills (professional communication directly with community partners; presenting orally); collaboration skills (projects are completed in teams); and analytical inquiry skills (understanding and thinking critically about scientific research; translating science to non-scientists) through their interactions with community partners and their lessons to community audience. 2.1)Addressed community partner needs for social-emotional/mental health education. Meetings with community partners each semester identify important topics, and GC student topics are tailored to these conversations. 2.2) Taught valuable …

Competitive Stress And Life History Mismatch, Norman P. Li, Amy J. Y. Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Simulations, correlational studies, and laboratory experiments have recently shown that cues to high-resource competition may be steering individuals toward increasingly less favorable attitudes toward reproduction and slower life-history strategies. This work suggests that, alongside extrinsic mortality, it may be fruitful to examine the role of competitive stress cues in shaping life-history strategies.

Associations Between Perceived Stress And Glycemic Measures: Gender And Age As Moderators, Ming-Hong Tsai, Charlene Enhui Goh, Michelle H. Lee, Francine Seah, Maybritte Lim, Eveline Febriana, Jiahui Fu, Julie K. Yip, Philip Presham, Sue-Anne Ee Shiow Toh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Introduction Prediabetes presents an opportunity for early intervention. Growing evidence suggests that psychological stress may contribute to glucose dysregulation, but the findings are inconsistent. This study aimed to clarify the association between perceived stress and glycemic measures, by first testing gender as a moderator, and then examining age as a moderator within each gender group. Research design and methods We analyzed cross-sectional data from 470 diabetes-free adults in Singapore. Participants completed the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale, comprising two subscales: perceived helplessness and perceived self-efficacy. Glycemic measures included fasting plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and 2-hour plasma glucose (2h-PG) following an oral …

The Link Between Intergenerational Social Mobility Of Cohorts And Individual Self-Rated Health: A Multi-Country Analysis., Jacinth J. X. Tan, Gregory T. H. Hng, Faith A. Wee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This research examined the potential health consequences of increased opportunities for social mobility. Specifically, we used indices of intergenerational social mobility of cohorts—the average level of change in economic status relative to one’s parents experienced across individuals within a cohort—as proxy measures of individuals’ exposure to opportunities for social mobility and investigated links to their self-rated health (SRH). We combined recent multi-country data on cohort social mobility from the World Bank with multi-country individual SRH data from the World Values Survey waves six (Ncountries=44, Nrespondents=48,955) and seven (Ncountries=41, Nrespondents=37,051). Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that at the aggregate, SRH had negative …

Constructing A Scale For Self-Disclosure Among University Students (Short Version), Mariam H. Allahyani Prof.

International Journal for Research in Education

The current research aimed to develop a shortened version of the self-disclosure scale. The scale was applied to several samples to ensure the availability of psychometric properties. It was also applied to a stratified random sample consisting of (408) male and female students from Umm Al-Qura University to determine their level of self-disclosure. The results showed that the scale has good psychometric properties, as the exploratory factor analysis showed that the scale consists of (11) items that saturate one factor, and the percentage of total explained variance reached (52.1%). The results of the confirmatory factor analysis also showed the availability …

Urban Public Perceptions And Usage Of The 'Wira-Wiri Suroboyo' Feeder: Insights From The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Gisela Geraldine Pamula, Hilary Christy, Chiara Hanifah Syahnufi, Johanna Natalia, Marselius Sampe Tondok

Psychological Research on Urban Society

Traffic congestion is a major transportation issue in Surabaya, prompting the city government to introduce solutions such as the "Wira-Wiri Suroboyo" feeder service. While the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been widely used to explain public transportation use, it has not yet been applied to this context. To fill this lacuna, this study used TPB to explore the public perceptions of the Surabaya to use or not using the "Wira-Wiri Suroboyo" feeder. A qualitative approach was used with six purposively selected participants. Data were gathered through interviews and analyzed using interactive techniques. The research findings indicate that the reasons …

An Affinity For Alignment: Spontaneous Convergence Of Stance-Taking In Topical Conversations, Carmen Tu, Stacey Zoutis, Steven Brown

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Alignment in stance-taking is a foundational behavior in conversation, but few studies have quantified the degree to which conversationalists converge in their attitudes toward a topic. We attempted to quantify this convergence in terms of three parameters related to alignment: intensity (low to high), prevalence (percentage of time in alignment), and content (use of open-ended versus closed-ended statements). To examine the utility of these parameters, we compared the content of conversations between unacquainted dyads in either a free conversation condition or a topical condition in which the individuals were mismatched for their attitude toward the topic to maximize disalignment between …

Shared Family Identity And Emotional Abuse From A Childhood Caregiver As Predictors Of Self-Censorship Willingness, Jillian Theryon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Childhood emotional abuse may be underreported and unnoticed. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to examine whether shared family identity (SFI) with an emotionally abusive childhood caregiver was linked to self-censorship of social and political opinions in adulthood. The study also examined whether this relationship is intensified among those with a strong sense of SFI with that caregiver. Linear multiple regression analysis of survey data collected from 119 participants, recruited through Survey Monkey Audience, revealed that willingness to self-censor was significantly shaped by the interaction between SFI and emotional abuse, especially overcontrol. Although SFI is often seen as …

Who Intervenes When Jews Or Muslims Are Persecuted? Replicating A Profile Pattern From Holocaust Rescuers, Magnus Lindén, Fredrik Björklund, George R. Wilkes

Heroism Science

This study examined whether the characteristics that motivated non-Jews to rescue Jews during the Holocaust also predict morally courageous intentions among contemporary high school students. A sample of Swedish students (N = 231) completed a survey measuring parental role modelling, empathic concern, risk-taking, and identification with outgroups, and then indicated whether they would intervene to help persecuted Jews and Muslims in various hypothetical scenarios. All factors were significant predictors of intention to intervene; however, parental role modelling lost significance in a hierarchical regression analysis. Risk-taking accounted for the largest proportion of explained variance, followed by empathic concern, with a significant …

Cross-Cultural Perspectives On Psychological Research Practices And Opportunities: Do We All Have The (Same) Chance?, Irena Boskovic, Nisali Perera, Henry Otgaar

Psychological Research on Urban Society

The dominance of "WEIRD" (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) authors might indicate significant differences in research practices between them and non-WEIRD researchers or highlight issues such as inequality and publishing bias. In this survey, using a convenience sample of researchers worldwide (N = 72), we examined current research practices and researchers' views on the feasibility of advancements in employed methodologies among and between researchers in both WEIRD and Non-WEIRD countries. Our results showed that research practices are fairly uniform across cultures, by researchers commonly relying on (student) convenience samples, using statistical packages such as SPSS and R, utilizing …