UNT Theses and Dissertations - 35 Matching Results

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The Revised Stress-Related Growth Scale: Improving the Measurement of Posttraumatic Growth

Description: This study evaluated a revised version of the Stress-Related Growth Scale (SRGS-R). The SRGS-R has two major differences from the Stress-Related Growth Scale (SRGS). It uses neutral wording of items instead of the original positively worded items, and it uses positive and negative scaling choices. This study included participants (N = 764) recruited through Amazon MTurk. There were three versions of the SRGS-R tested - the SRGS with neutral wording of items only (SRGS-R-N), the SRGS with positi… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Bedford, Lee
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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An Investlarks and Hearts: Circadian Mismatch and Effort Intensity

Description: My experiment concerned the influence of chronobiological (circadian) rhythm on fatigue, effort, and cardiovascular (CV) response. It evaluated responses of morning people (Larks) presented an easy or difficult recognition memory task at a time congruent or incongruent with their rhythm. Based on an extension of a conceptual analysis of fatigue influence, my central prediction was that circadian rhythm would combine interactionally with task difficulty to determine effort and associated CV res… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Carbajal, Ivan
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
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Feeling Fat and Depressed: Positive Dimensions of Self-Concept Lessen that Relationship for College Men

Description: The purpose of the current study was to examine if positive family, social, and/or academic dimensions of SC weaken (i.e., moderate) the direct relationship between physical SC (i.e., a person's evaluation of their physique, adiposity, and weight) and depressive symptoms in a sample of adult men. A convenience sample of 239 college men completed self-report measures including the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale-2 (TSCS-2) and Symptom Checklist-90 Revised. Hierarchical regressions revealed that fam… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: McGregor, Carlie C.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
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Effects of Bodily Arousal on Desire to Drink Alcohol among Trauma-Exposed Emerging Adult College Students

Description: Alcohol consumption on college campuses is a major public health concern, particularly among emerging adults. Extant literature has identified trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress as robust risk factors for problematic alcohol use. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are less well-studied. Research indicates that bodily arousal is a fundamental feature of trauma exposure and posits that internal stimuli (e.g., heart pounding) at the time of trauma may manifest into condition… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Kearns, Nathan T
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
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Examining the Clinical Utility of Research Domain Criteria in an Outpatient Sample

Description: This study examined the clinical utility of the recently released National Institute of Mental Health's (NIMH) research domain criteria (RDoC) by replicating and extending earlier work by using a demographically novel sample. Information retrieval and natural language processing of archival clinical records was used to achieve two main objectives: (1) estimate how well the RDoC domains match language used by clinicians by creating domain scores and (2) examine the differences between the DSM's … more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Love, Patrick K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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From Childhood Maltreatment to Depressive Symptoms in Adulthood: The Roles of Self-Compassion and Shame

Description: We hypothesized that the formation of malevolent introjects undermines the development of self-compassion, which in turn produces greater feelings of shame. We hypothesized that these feelings of shame account for concurrent depressive symptoms in adulthood. To test these hypotheses, we proposed a multiple mediator mediation model in which our independent variable was childhood maltreatment. We modeled child maltreatment as negatively predicting our first mediator, self-compassion, which in … more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Ross, Nicholas Dutra
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Association of Personality Facets with Unique Dimensions of PTSD

Description: The present study aims to examine which maladaptive and Big Five personality traits, as well as which lower order facets, are related to symptoms specific to PTSD (i.e., intrusions and avoidance). Unique effects were isolated by controlling for nonspecific general depression that occurs in the disorder but is not specific to it. 707 undergraduate students were administered a self-report online survey to assess their personality, trauma history, PTSD and mood symptoms. Additionally, data from 5… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Shteynberg, Yuliya A
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Physical Activity and Relationship Functioning: Mediation Roles of Sexual Satisfaction and Self-Esteem

Description: Little research has examined the role of physical activity in relationship functioning. Utilizing two heterosexual subsamples of 618 females and 155 males, results indicated that physical activity was positively correlated with sexual satisfaction and self-esteem for the female subsample, but was not significant for the male subsample. For both subsamples, although physical activity was not a significant unique predictor of relationship functioning in regression analyses, sexual satisfaction an… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Schumacher, Matthew Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Putting Bullying into Perspective: Peer Aggression as a Function of Perspective Taking, Empathy, and Psychological Willingness

Description: Bullying has long-term negative effects on the mental health and wellbeing of everyone involved. School-wide interventions have been successful in some contexts, but they often require significant institutional and financial resources. Empathy is comprised of a cognitive component (perspective taking) and an affective component (empathic concern), both of which may be necessary for prosocial behavior. According to relational frame theory (RFT), empathy involves a transformation of stimulus func… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Moyer, Danielle N.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Nature of Cognitive Impairment in Multiple Sclerosis

Description: Cognitive impairment is common in multiple sclerosis (MS), with as many as 70% of patients with MS affected. Individuals with MS who experience cognitive deficits are less likely to be employed, and may have more difficulty performing independent activities of daily living. Most commonly, deficits are observed in processing speed, complex attention, and memory. Because lesion location varies widely among individuals, no clear pattern of cognitive dysfunction in MS has emerged. However, a number… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Carlew, Anne R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Interpersonal Functioning and Experiential Avoidance: Considering New Measurements and Their Implications

Description: Interpersonal functioning can be conceptualized as being comprised of social skills, connectedness, social cognition, and intimacy. A concept that is related to an examination of interpersonal functioning is experiential avoidance (EA), which can be defined as an unwillingness to experience or remain in contact with unpleasant private events through attempts to avoid or escape from these experience. An examination of EA and interpersonal functioning has not previously taken place. This study… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Steinberg, Daniel
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Keep Calm and Play On: The Effects of Grit, Mindfulness, and Goal Orientation on Sport Anxiety and Performance

Description: Achievement motivation theory suggests there are two primary approaches to achievement tasks: to appear competent or to develop a skill. These two different approaches to performance yield different affective and behavioral responses. Athletes holding a performance goal orientation tend to respond to challenges with behaviors exemplifying learned helplessness and increased anxiety. Athletes holding a mastery goal orientation tend to respond to challenges with greater effort and experience less … more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Auerbach, Alex
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A Cross-Cultural Study of Adult Attachment, Social Self-Efficacy, Familismo, and Psychological Wellbeing

Description: Although Latinos are the largest minority group in the country, research examining how different psychological and cultural variables affect Latino individuals' wellbeing is disproportionately developed and cross-cultural comparison studies are particularly scarce. To address these issues, this dissertation research examined cross-cultural adult attachment-social self-efficacy-psychosocial wellbeing conceptual mediational model while investigating the moderator effects of country membership and… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Zamudio Leal, Gabriel Mario
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Effectiveness of the PAI in Identifying Minimized Substance Use and Predicting Poor Treatment Outcomes in an Offender Population

Description: The accurate evaluation of substance use is a critical component of forensic assessment due to the well-established link between drug use sentencing issues and risk of recidivism. Due to limited resources and chronic time constraints, practitioners typically rely only on self-report measures to assess substance use (SU) patterns. As these measures directly inquire about SU patterns, they remain vulnerable to response distortion. This can lead to ineffective treatment recommendations made to … more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Henry, Sarah
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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An Exploratory Mixed Method Study of Gender and Sexual Minority Health in Dallas: A Needs Assessment

Description: Gender and sexual minorities (GSM) experience considerably worse health outcomes than heterosexual and cisgender people, yet no comprehensive understanding of GSM health exists due to a dearth of research. GSM leaders in Dallas expressed need for a community needs assessment of GSM health. In response to this call, the Center for Psychosocial Health Research conducted a needs assessment of gender and sexual minority health in Dallas (35 interviews, 6 focus groups). Competency was one area highl… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Bonds, Stacy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Psychosocial Predictors of Eating Disorder Classification: Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Analyses

Description: There is growing concern for eating pathology and body dissatisfaction in sports; particularly, in sports that emphasize a lean body type. In 325 female collegiate swimmers/divers and gymnasts, we examined psychosocial well-being (i.e., perception of weight pressures, levels of internalization, body satisfaction, dietary intent, negative affect) at the beginning and end of an athletic season and predict their eating disorder classification at the end of their athletic season. Logistic regressio… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Tackett, Bailey Price
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Cultural Influence on Attachment and Psychopathic Traits

Description: Individuals evidencing psychopathic personality traits have been shown to have problematic attachment to others. Moreover, research suggests that culture affects attachment style as well as the expression of various psychopathic traits using the four-factor model of psychopathy. However, the majority of this research has included only white college students, which is a limiting factor. The current study assessed the relations among attachment representations and psychopathic features across two… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Lasslett, Heather Elicia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Self-Weighing: Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Relations to Retired Female Athletes' Disordered Eating Attitudes and Behaviors

Description: Elite and collegiate athletes are subpopulations at increased risk for the development of disordered eating and pathogenic weight management strategies; such risks may extend beyond sport participation into sport retirement. As athletes self-weigh, whether during their time in competitive sport or in retirement, it would be expected that they also experience increases in body dissatisfaction and psychosocial distress. Results suggest both a longitudinal impact, as well as continued cross-sectio… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Carrigan, Kayla
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Pathways to Prolonged Grief and Posttraumatic Growth: Examining the Roles of Attachment, Identity Distress, and Shattered Assumptions

Description: The sudden or violent death of a loved one (e.g., suicide, homicide, accident, etc.) poses unique challenges for the bereaved. Research has found such losses to be associated with higher levels of chronic psychological distress, now termed Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder in the DSM-5 and Prolonged Grief Disorder in the forthcoming ICD-11. The present study, developed through the lens of Multidimensional Grief Theory (MGT; Kaplow et al., 2013), explored underlying mechanisms and risk and… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Captari, Laura E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Predictive Utility of Personality Facets in Examining Risk and Resiliency in Transient and Chronic Stress

Description: Chronic or prolonged stress has been shown to have deleterious impacts on mental health, physical health, and cognitive functioning. However, not all individuals show the negative effects of continued exposure to stress. Past research has identified personality as a contributor to resiliency, while also identifying it as an important predictor of negative outcomes, such as psychopathology. More recently, personality researchers have emphasized the importance of examining personality at the leve… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Janis, Beth M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Mental Illness Stigma, Parent-Child Communication, and Help-Seeking of Young American Adults with Immigrant Parents

Description: This study examined a mediational model of mental illness stigma, parent-child communication about mental health concerns, and help seeking attitudes/behaviors among young adults with at least one immigrant parent while considering the possible moderating effect of acculturation gap. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether the acculturation gap changed the relation between mental illness stigma and communication about personal mental health concerns with immigrant parents, which i… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Bismar, Danna
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Transitioning from Sport: Retirement and Former Female Collegiate Athletes' Satisfaction with Life, Depressive Symptomatology, and Body Satisfaction

Description: Retirement from elite sport can be highly distressing for athletes, and many athletes report elevated depression and anxiety or body dissatisfaction when going through this transition. Factors that may be important in determining a higher level of adjustment in retirement include feeling in control of when and how retirement occurs, planning occupationally for after sport, and having achieved sport goals. Thus, we examined how such factors related to former female collegiate athletes (N = 218) … more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Wartalowicz, Karolina Maria
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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An Examination of the Language of Psychopaths: Differences in Prosodic Channels of Communication in Psychopathic and Non-Psychopathic Offenders

Description: Natural speech contains a wealth of information relevant to understanding cognitive and affective psychological processes, which are reflected in both prosodic and semantic channels of communication. While differences in semantic channels have been demonstrated among psychopathic versus non-psychopathic individuals, research on the role of prosody in psychopathy is scant. The Computerized Assessment of Natural Speech protocol provides adetailed assessment of macroscopic-level prosody variables … more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Walsh, Hannah C
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Meaning in Life and Psychological Wellness among Latino Immigrants: Role of Attachment, Belongingness, and Hope

Description: Guided by attachment theory and principles of positive psychology, a conceptual model was developed depicting the direct and indirect effects of attachment insecurity, state hope, belongingness, and meaning in life on wellness indicators (i.e., life satisfaction, physical health, and depression) of first generation Latino immigrants in the U.S. Specifically, the present study proposed that the effects of attachment insecurity on Latino immigrants' wellness would be mediated by two tiers of fac… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Shelton, Andrew Jonathan
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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