UNT Theses and Dissertations - 68 Matching Results

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Bipolar Spectrum Traits in Day-to-Day Life: Ecological Momentary Assessment of Reward Sensitivity, Circadian Timing, and Experience of Reward in the Environment

Description: The current study examined 236 undergraduate students in a week long twice-per-day ecological momentary assessment exploring the influence of baseline reward sensitivity and interactions between circadian variables (i.e., total sleep time, sleep quality) and daily measures of reward. Though primary study findings did not support reward sensitivity related moderation of sleep-reward pathways, a number of notable findings emerged. We found evidence of specific domains of reward sensitivity (antic… more
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Date: August 2019
Creator: Smith, Patrick M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
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open access

An Examination of Risk and Resilience Factors Predicting Executive Functioning in Women following Psychological Trauma

Description: Psychological trauma may affect higher-order executive functions, which include selective attention, inhibition, and task-switching processes. Difficulty in these executive processes can in turn influence individuals' daily functioning and may also negatively affect the psychological treatment of post-trauma symptoms. Women may be most at risk for developing problems with executive functioning following trauma, consistent with their overall greater risk of developing post-trauma symptoms. Yet, … more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Sullivan, Erin
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Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch? The Importance of Object Relations in Modern Assessment

Description: The Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale—Global (SCORS-G) is a relatively new scoring system for the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) that provides information about an individual's functioning in a variety of domains, including intrapsychic and interpersonal. Participants in this archival study had been administered a variety of measures as part of a routine clinical assessment, including the TAT, Rorschach, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, and the Wechsler Adult Intellige… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Weber, Katherine Mary
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open access

Therapeutic Assessment as Preparation for Psychotherapy

Description: This study examined the impact therapeutic assessment (TA) had on participants recruited from the UNT Psychology Clinic's waiting list. Using a pretest-posttest design, participants completed measures prior to and following their assessment. UNT Psychology Clinic archive data was used to compare this sample to clients who received traditional information gathering assessments with implicit measures, those receiving assessments relying on only self-report measures, and those who did not receive… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Vance, Jeffrey Michael
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
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An Experimental Study of Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Skills for Internalized Ageism in Older Adults and College Students

Description: This project explored whether mindfulness and acceptance-based practices (MABPs) for older adults would reduce the negative effects of ageism and negative attitudes and beliefs related to aging. In addition, state affect and stress were explored. This study used an experimental design to compare two groups of older adults and two groups of undergraduate students – those who received a MABP and those who did not, after being presented with negative ageist stereotypes. Condition and condition by … more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Lester, Ethan G.
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open access

External Validation of the MMPI-A-RF with Youth with Mental Health Needs: A Systematic Examination of Symptom-Based Correlates and Interpretive Statements

Description: Over the last several decades, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - Adolescent (MMPI-A) has remained one of the most extensively studied and commonly used adolescent assessment measures. Most recently, the MMPI-A was revised, published as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - Adolescent Restructured Form (MMPI-A-RF). Given the infancy of the extant MMPI-A-RF literature, the current dissertation sought to be one of the first criterion studies since the test manual to est… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Sharf, Allyson J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
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open access

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
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open access

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
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open access

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
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open access

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
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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
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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
open access

Impact of Yoga on Mental Well-Being

Description: The present study sought to more rigourously explore outcomes of psychological well-being immediately following a psychotherapeutic yoga class. Specifically, the study hypothesized improvements in state anxiety and subjective well-being as well as an observable relationship between state and trait mindfulness following a yoga intervention, all while controlling for differences between yoga instructors, prior yoga experience, and participant endorsements of psychological symptoms. Previous yoga … more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Gerber, Monica
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Role of Self-Criticism in Direct and Indirect Self-Harming Behaviors

Description: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a form of direct self-harm that involves willful damage to bodily tissue without suicidal intent; it includes behaviors such as cutting, burning, carving, biting, scraping, and scratching of the skin, as well as hitting and skin and scab picking. Engagement in NSSI has been shown to relate to a host of maladaptive states and outcomes, including depression, anxiety, poor emotion regulation, and suicidal ideation and attempts. Socially sanctioned forms of body … more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Tucker, Molly Salome
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Co-Occurrence of Rape Myth Acceptance and Intolerant Attitudes in a Military Sample

Description: Sexual trauma within the military is a widespread issue, and rape myth acceptance has been shown to contribute to its prevalence. Given that the military culture has been shown to lend itself to hypermasculinity and traditional gender role adherence, both of which facilitate aggression toward women, this effect warrants investigation within a military sample. The present study replicated and expanded upon Aosved and Long's (2006) study examining 85 veteran and active duty military members' resp… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Holtz, Pamela M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Psychopathy in Male and Female Offenders: Validating the CAPP-IRS and Investigating the Impact of Gender Role Conformity

Description: Recent conceptualizations of psychopathy are moving toward more inclusive, purely trait-based models. However, researchers continue to heavily rely on assessments of psychopathy that include categorical behavioral elements. The newly developed Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality – Institutional Rating Scale appears to be a promising interview-based measure of psychopathy, but research on its reliability and validity is in its infancy. As a second issue, the vast majority of … more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Carter, Rachel Marjann
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Assessment of Competencies among Doctoral Trainees in Psychology

Description: The recent shift to a culture of competence has permeated several areas of professional psychology, including competency identification, competency-based education training, and competency assessment. A competency framework has also been applied to various programs and specialty areas within psychology, such as clinical, counseling, clinical health, school, cultural diversity, neuro-, gero-, child, and pediatric psychology. Despite the spread of competency focus throughout psychology, few stand… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Price, Samantha
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Trajectories of Treatment Change among Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: Predictors and Associations with Outcome

Description: Previous research has revealed heterogeneity in outcome trajectories among individuals seeking psychotherapy. However, questions remain as to the number, nature, and predictors of these trajectories. Therefore, the present study had three aims: 1) to identify heterogeneous latent groups among treatment trajectories of 212 clients with major depressive disorder (MDD) seeking psychotherapy at a community mental health training clinic; 2) to identify significant associations between clinical and d… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Kilmer, Jared N.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Role of Self-Compassion in Posttraumatic Growth

Description: Although the experience of trauma is associated with a great deal of psychological distress, it may also lead to meaningful positive change, known as posttraumatic growth (PTG), evidenced as progression in areas of life appreciation, intimacy in relationships, sense of personal strength, new possibilities, and spiritual development. Utilizing an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) perspective, the current study explored whether self-compassion helped to explain the willingness to approach a… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Connally, Melissa Londoño
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

How Exposure to Parental Intimate Partner Violence Affects College Students' Dating Violence: A Structural Equation Model with Adult Attachment and Social Information Processing as Mediating Factors

Description: The effects of childhood exposure to parental intimate partner violence (EPIPV) on dating violence (DV) were examined through two layers of mediations. Based on attachment theory, individuals who are exposed to parental intimate partner violence are less likely to experience secure parent-child attachment, which in turn transfers to insecure adult attachment that is prone to perceive significant others as less trustworthy and less reliable as well as higher likelihood of over-reacting and/or st… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Chong, Chu Chian
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A Comparison of Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: Memory Specificity Training (MeST) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

Description: The effectiveness of memory specificity training (MeST) was compared with standard cognitive processing therapy (CPT) in treatment of individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder. Eighteen adults aged 18-36 were randomly assigned to the MeST intervention (n = 9) or to the active control group (n = 9) of CPT. Both treatments were administered in group format across 6 weeks. MeST consisted of 6 weekly sessions, while CPT consisted of 12 biweekly sessions. The trial was undertaken in the Psychol… more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Maxwell, Kendal Lynn
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open access

Attachment Insecurity, Emotion Regulation Difficulties, and Mindfulness Deficits in Personality Pathology

Description: A growing body of research has documented associations between personality disorders (PDs) and attachment disturbance, and yet, attachment disturbance does not necessarily guarantee the development of PD pathology. Thus, understanding the mechanisms mediating the relationship between attachment disturbance and PD pathology remains an open area of research. One area with sound theoretical and empirical evidence has shown that attachment disturbances are associated with emotion regulation diffi… more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Lewis, Jonathan James
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open access

Feigning ADHD: Effectiveness of Selected Assessment Tools in Distinguishing Genuine from Simulated ADHD

Description: Research indicates that some college students may be strongly motivated to feign AHDD symptoms for desired external incentives, such as stimulant medication or academic accommodations. To date, literature examining feigned ADHD has been primarily focused on ADHD specific self-report measures (e.g., CAARS) and continuous performance tests (e.g., CPTs); however, little attention has been devoted to the use of multi-scale inventories in detecting feigned ADHD. For CPT measures, virtually no litera… more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Robinson, Emily
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Phases of Change in Psychotherapy Across Levels of Clinician Training

Description: Given the alarmingly high rates of premature termination in training clinics, research aimed at understanding the course of change and treatment outcomes in training clinics deserves considerable attention. Additionally, more research is needed to understand the effectiveness of psychotherapy training and whether more training is actually associated with better client outcomes. Thus, this study sought to investigate whether clinicians' level of training and experience were related to a variety … more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Connor, Dana R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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