Search Results

open access

The Determinants and Consequences of Empathic Parenting: Testing an Expansion of Belsky's Model of Parenting Using SEM

Description: An understanding of factors that enhance empathic parenting behaviors is of considerable importance to the study of child development and to the development of parenting interventions to promote child adjustment. Moreover, gaining a better understanding of the factors that predict empathic parenting with older children is of interest since most research examining parental empathy focuses on infants. These were the goals of the current study. Guided by Belsky's 1984 process model of the determ… more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Morse, Margaret K.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Understanding Quality of Life in Older Adults

Description: I analyzed the 2004 and 2006 Health and Retirement Study data to test structural equation models of the quality of life (QOL) construct. The participants (N = 1352) were non-institutionalized individuals aged 42 and older (M = 65.70, SD = 10.88), with an average education of 12.73 years (SD = 2.96) and of varied ethnicities. The results indicated that physical functioning, affective experience, life satisfaction and social support could serve as indicators for a second order QOL factor. Further… more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Cardona, Laura A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

QEEG and LORETA findings in children with histories of relational trauma.

Description: Abuse and neglect occurring in childhood have been associated with a number of functional and physiological effects on the brain. This study extends previous research that investigated the quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) patterns in children with histories of relational trauma through the inclusion of additional participants and measures. As in previous studies, the relative power, absolute power, and coherence values in children with histories of abuse were compared to the Neuroguide … more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Bigby, Janice A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Overgeneral Memory and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Adults Exposed to Family Violence

Description: Childhood exposure to familial violence increases risk for adult pathology, namely posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Primary PTSD symptoms of hyperarousal and avoidance are implicated in overgeneral memory (OGM) theory in prior research. Individuals with trauma history tend to report OGMs, or non-specific autobiographical memories, perhaps to avoid unpleasant arousal elicited by recalling specific events. OGM, PTSD, depression, and arousal were assessed in adults with and wit… more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Amador, Amy R.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Is Mattering what Matters: A Validation Study of the Meta-Valuing Measure of Flexible Valuing

Description: Freely choosing a life direction, or flexible valuing, is a core component of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Initial research suggests that valuing behavior may contribute to psychological well-being, but has been stymied by a lack of an efficient measure. The current study examined the psychometric characteristics of a new measure of flexible valuing, the Meta-Valuing Measure (MVM), in a sample of 532 undergraduates. Exploratory factors analysis revealed 3 orthogonal factors, Valuing… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Taravella, Cicely C.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Relationship between Physical Activity and Sleep

Description: The current study aimed to examine the naturalistic relationship between physical activity and sleep by exploring frequency, type, and timing of exercise and their association with a variety of sleep variables (e.g., sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, sleep efficiency). Young adults (n = 1003) completed a variety of self-report questionnaires, including a week-long sleep diary and a survey of typical frequency, type, and timing of exercise completed in the past week. Increased frequen… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Tatum, JoLyn Inez
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Optimism, Delay Discounting, and Physical Exercise: The Role of Delay Discounting on Individual Levels of Exercise

Description: Deciding to exercise requires trade-offs between immediate and delayed benefits. These momentary decisions may be moderated by personality such that patterns of individual behavior emerge. The aim of the current study was to determine if higher levels of optimism and lower levels of delay discounting were related to exercise frequency. A sample of 360 undergraduate students completed a survey study related to understanding the choices made by undergraduates and how other factors relate to their… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Smith, Lauren Marie
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Impact of Training on the Frequency of Internal Promotions of Employees and Managers

Description: In this study, the relationship between formal training opportunities and internal promotions in organizations was examined in order to support the value of organizations investing in employees through training opportunities, as training is often seen as an expense to be cut in difficult times. Differences between general and specific training topics on the impact of frequency of promotion in an organization were addressed, as well as assessing differences between employees and managers. Trai… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: West, Lindsey Straka
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Utility of the Spatial Span from the Wechsler Memory Scales in a Geriatric Population with Cognitive Impairments

Description: Performance on the Spatial Span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale has been viewed as an indicator of working memory and visuospatial processing. A number of factors including age and gender have been posited to effect performance on Spatial Span by older adults. The current study examined the impact of various forms of cognitive impairment and severity of impairment on Spatial Span performance. Five hundred thirty-eight individuals between the ages of 65 and 89 were evaluated in a university… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Wiechmann, April
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Differences Among Abused and Nonabused Younger and Older Adults as Measured by the Hand Test

Description: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of participants' abused or nonabused status as it interacted with their age and gender in producing different patterns of Hand Test responses as a function of the age or gender of the card. Participants, 61 young adults (M age = 23) and 60 older adults (M age = 73), were presented with the original Hand Test cards, as well as four alternate versions (e.g., young male, young female, older male, and older female). Expected effects varying by ag… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Sergio, Jessica A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Relationship Between Sleep Variables and Headache

Description: Headache pain impacts most of the population at some point in life, at an enormous cost to day-to-day functioning. Determination of the variables that are associated with prevalence and severity of headaches has been inconsistent. One area that deserves more attention is the relationship between headaches and sleep. For instance, several sleep parameters may precipitate or exacerbate headaches, but previous research often used inconsistent and limited assessments of both headaches and sleep, ma… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Grieser, Emily Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Relationship Between Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Disorder Symptomatology: An Examination of Moderating Variables

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine whether Psychological Well-Being (comprised of self-esteem, optimism, satisfaction with life, and self-determination), perfectionism, body surveillance, and neuroticism moderated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and bulimic symptoms after controlling for social desirability and actual physical size. 847 female undergraduate students participated in the study. Participants completed an online questionnaire packet. An exploratory factor analys… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Brannan, Megan E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Organized Semantic Fluency and Executive Functioning in an Adult Clinical Sample and a Community Sample

Description: The study investigated an organized semantic fluency task, (the Controlled Animal Fluency Task - CAFT) as a measure of executive functioning (EF) in adults, and the relationship with instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Participants (N = 266) consisted of a clinical sample (n = 142) utilizing neuropsychological assessment data collected at an outpatient psychological center, and a community sample (n = 124). The clinical sample was a heterogeneous mixed neurological group including a… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Chlipala, M. Linda
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Validation of the Spanish SIRS: Beyond Linguistic Equivalence in the Assessment of Malingering among Spanish Speaking Clinical Populations

Description: Malingering is the deliberate production of feigned symptoms by a person seeking external gain such as: financial compensation, exemption from duty, or leniency from the criminal justice system. The Test Translation and Adaptation Guidelines developed by the International Test Commission (ITC) specify that only tests which have been formally translated into another language and validated should be available for use in clinical practice. Thus, the current study evaluated the psychometric propert… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Correa, Amor Alicia
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effects of Adult Romantic Attachment and Social Support on Resilience and Depression in Patients with Acquired Disabilities

Description: The acquirement of a disability (e.g., spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, amputation, multi trauma) is a risk factor for psychological disturbance (e.g., depression). Research has established that social support and secure attachment are protective factors against psychological disturbance. Attachment patterns have also been associated with differences in perceived social support. Secure attachment and higher perceived social support have been implicated in greater levels of resilie… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Dodd, Zane
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Factors Affecting Revictimization in Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Description: Structural equation modeling was used to examine how childhood sexual abuse (and other associated variables, such as family functioning and experiencing multiple forms of abuse) relates to revictimization and psychological distress. Participants were women who participated in Project HOW: Health Outcomes of Women interviews, a longitudinal study that spanned six waves of interviews. Only women with a history of childhood sexual abuse were included in the present study (n=178). Experiencing nons… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Ericksen, Stephanie J.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effect of a Brief Acceptance-Based Protocol on Health Related Relational Framing

Description: Behavior analysts who study verbal behavior theorize that people derive relationships between stimuli - forming stimulus classes such that psychological functions transfer among stimuli and therefore affect behavior. Verbal processes are thought to play a role in cancer patients' behavioral flexibility. The current study examined if an analogue intervention produced changes in relations between health-relevant stimuli from pre- to post-test in patient and student samples. A matching-to-sample (… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Madrigal-Bauguss, Jessica A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Identifying the Level of Prognostic Information Desired by People with Cancer

Description: The study explored whether certain factors might be used to distinguish between people with cancer who do or do not want detailed information about their disease progress, do or do not want to be informed if their disease is no longer considered curable, and who do or do not want an estimation of life expectancy if their disease is no longer considered curable. The factors included whether an individual has an internal versus external locus of control, uses an active coping strategy or a planni… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Mallory, Laurel J.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Natural Course of Adolescent Insomnia: Patterns and Consequences

Description: Approximately 2-11% of adolescents report chronic insomnia. The study used an archival data set from ADDHealth that assessed adolescent health and health-related behaviors. Adolescents (N = 4102) provided data at baseline (Time 1) and at 1-year follow-up (Time 2). Participants were excluded if no ethnicity, gender, or insomnia data were given at Time 1 or 2. Females were more likely to report insomnia than males at Times 1 and 2. In addition, adolescents with remitted insomnia were significantl… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Roane, Brandy Michelle
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effect of Loneliness on Older Adults' Death Anxiety

Description: Previous research, as well as theory, has supported the existence of a relationship between death anxiety and loneliness in older adults but a causal examination has not been possible until now. A hypothesized model was developed which states that loneliness will lead to death anxiety mediated by cultural worldview. Longitudinal data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling in order to more fully explore this potentially causal relationship. The primary model was supported suggesting tha… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Pinson, Melissa Ward
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Positive Emotion, Negative Emotion, Flourishing, and Languishing on Cardiovascular Risk

Description: Positive psychology has led a movement that concentrates on positive characteristics. The current study examined the relationship between positive emotions, negative emotions, flourishing, languishing, and cardiovascular functioning. The study uses guided imagery to help participants recall a negative emotional event and positive emotional event in a counterbalanced order. The reverse order allowed us to examine the differential contributions of stress buffering versus facilitated recovery effe… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Purdum, Michael B.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Measuring Male Body Dissatisfaction: Factorial and Construct Validity of the Body Parts Satisfaction Scale for Men

Description: Given the centrality of body dissatisfaction in the manifestation of health risk behaviors (e.g., eating disorders, muscle dysmorphia) and psychological distress in men, the ability to measure it accurately is essential. Across two studies, the psychometric properties and factor structure of a new measure of male body satisfaction were established. The Body Parts Satisfaction Scale for Men (BPSS-M) was found to have three scores: full body muscularity and leanness (18 items), upper body (12 ite… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: McFarland, Michael Blaine
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Parent Psychopathology, Marital Adjustment, and Child Psychological Dysfunction: The Mediating Role of Attachment and Sibling Relationship

Description: This study is part of a larger research project examining family attachment processes. The current study tests a family process model that postulates the mediating role of parent-child attachment and sibling relationship quality in the associations of parent psychopathology or marital adjustment to children's psychological dysfunction. A community sample of 86 families with at least one school-aged (8-12 years) child was recruited from area schools and organizations. Families came to the UNT Fa… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Hindman, Jason M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep Disorders: Their Relationship and Reduction with Neurotherapy

Description: This study investigated the relationship among anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances and the treatment of these three disorders through neurotherapy. Research suggests that these conditions commonly co-occur in the general population and that central nervous system (CNS) arousal may play a primary role in the development and maintenance of these disorders. Several recent studies suggested that neurotherapy, a biofeedback-based treatment for CNS dysregulation, might be an effective treatme… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Fisher, Christopher, Alan
Partner: UNT Libraries
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