Search Results

open access

Multiple Predictors of College Adjustment and Academic Performance for Undergraduates in Their First Semester

Description: College success, as defined by adjustment to college and academic performance, is a multidetermined with a number of contributing influences, including academic factors, personality variables, family characteristics, and environmental factors. This study attempted to provide an organizing model of the college success literature that was based on previous research (e.g., Aspinwall & Taylor, 1994) and current stress-coping theory (Moos & Swindle, 1990). Structural equation modeling analyses indic… more
Date: May 2001
Creator: Stoever, Shawn
open access

Guilt and Shame as They Relate to Combat Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): An Analysis of Trauma Content And Resulting Symptomatology

Description: This study began testing the Sewell and Williams (in press) model that differing trauma types yield differing presentations in social versus event processing domains. Other hypotheses explored trauma type with levels of guilt, and shame-proneness with anxiety. Volunteers were 44 male combat veterans being treated for PTSD. Data analyses determined whether trauma type related to guilt and perceived social support and whether shame-proneness related to levels of anxiety. High shame persons may pr… more
Date: May 2001
Creator: Taber, Iris

Reactions of psychotherapists in training to religious questions

Description: This project investigated the spiritual well-being (SWB) of psychotherapists in training and their physiological reactions to religious questions posed by a mock client. Electrodermal activity served as an index of physiological arousal interpreted as anxiety. Thirteen psychotherapists in training at the University of North Texas were recruited. They participated in a simulated intake session with a mock client who asked the psychotherapist neutral questions, personal-other questions (POQs), an… more
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Date: May 2001
Creator: Hutchinson, Geoffrey

Simulating Statistical Power Curves with the Bootstrap and Robust Estimation

Description: Power and effect size analysis are important methods in the psychological sciences. It is well known that classical statistical tests are not robust with respect to power and type II error. However, relatively little attention has been paid in the psychological literature to the effect that non-normality and outliers have on the power of a given statistical test (Wilcox, 1998). Robust measures of location exist that provide much more powerful tests of statistical hypotheses, but their usefulnes… more
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Date: August 2001
Creator: Herrington, Richard S.
open access

Masculine Gender Role Conflict and Psychological Well- Being: A Comparative Study of Heterosexual and Gay Men

Description: Masculine gender role conflict (MGRC) occurs when externally-imposed male gender role expectations have a negative impact on and consequences for men. The purpose of this study was to examine how men in a homogeneous setting (i.e., a college campus) compare on MGRC and psychological well-being, based on their self-identified sexual orientation. Utilizing canonical correlation analysis, 96 heterosexual men and 102 gay men were compared on four factors of MGRC (conflict between work and family, r… more
Date: August 2001
Creator: Shepard, William D.
open access

Historical Changes in Elderly Cohorts' Attitudes toward Mental Health Services

Description: Older adults' attitudes toward mental health services have received little research attention. Overall, older adults are thought to hold relatively negative attitudes. In this study, Analysis 1 investigated historical shifts in attitudes toward mental health services among three independent samples of older adults, separated by 14-year and 9-year intervals (1977 sample, N = 90; 1991 sample, N = 101; 2000 sample, N = 99). Analysis 2 compared two samples of older and younger adults, each separate… more
Date: August 2001
Creator: Currin, James B.
open access

Leadership, Ascendancy, and Gender

Description: By the year 2000 women will constitute more than 50 percent of the workforce in the United States, yet their representation in top management and executive-level positions continues to hover in the single digits. This “glass ceiling,” which is conceptualized as limiting women's advancement into these roles, has been the subject of much debate and research over the last fifteen years. As both an equal rights and key competitive issue, the topic of women and leadership is gaining ever-increasing … more
Date: August 2001
Creator: Hale, John P.
open access

Assessment of Psychopathy in Incarcerated Females

Description: Psychopaths constitute only an estimated 1% of the population, yet they are responsible for a disproportionately large number of violent and nonviolent crimes. The literature addressing this syndrome among male offenders is quite extensive. In contrast, psychopathy and its underlying factor structure remains understudied among female offenders. Research has suggested marked gender differences in the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and underlying dimensions of psychopathy. This study exami… more
Date: August 2001
Creator: Jackson, Rebecca L.
open access

Psychological Hardiness and Biochemical Markers of Acute Stress

Description: The establishment of physiological norms for psychologically hardy vs. non-hardy individuals was attempted by examination of levels of salivary cortisol and urinary norepinephrine before and after a mid-term examination stressor. Normative data was collected on the reported frequency of stressors and their severity one week prior to the examination, and self-reported ratings of stress immediately prior to the examination. Performance on the examination as a function of hardiness was explored. A… more
Date: August 2001
Creator: McCoy, Paula K.
open access

Differentiating Connectedness and Neediness as Two Forms of Dependency

Description: The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire Dependency scale has been used extensively by researchers to measure a personality style vulnerable to depression. However, subsequent studies have demonstrated that the DEQ-Dependency is composed of two distinct forms of dependency, "Connectedness" and "Neediness", which may have different implications for mental health. While Connectedness may represent a more mature form of dependency than Neediness, it may not represent an entirely "healthy" form of … more
Date: August 2001
Creator: Niemeyer, Kristin M.

The Effect of Punishment Threat on Children's Ability to Resist Temptation to Transgress and Lie

Description: Children's response to a resistance-to-temptation (RTT) task was investigated under three punishment threat conditions: negative consequence, removing an anticipated reward, and no explicit punishment. Ninety first and second graders participated in the RTT task and seventy-three parents completed the Behavior Assessment System for Children and the Psychopathy Screening Device. As only 4% of children transgressed, results are unclear. Hypotheses tested using approximations of transgression show… more
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Date: December 2001
Creator: Collins, Michelle
open access

Relations between Child Molesters' Self-Perceptions and Treatment Engagement

Description: Researchers emphasize the role of cognitions in sex offenders' molesting behaviors. Although cognitions are important, little research has examined child molesters' thoughts about themselves in relation to their engagement in treatment. In this study, the NEO-Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) was administered to 67 child molesters. Child sexual offenders rated themselves and their view of a typical child molester using two NEO-PI-R versions. The degree to which child sex offenders identify thems… more
Date: December 2001
Creator: Altman, Adrianne
open access

The relationships between insight, psychopathological symptoms, and neurocognitive function in psychotic disorders.

Description: Many psychotic patients fail to admit they are mentally ill. The current study evaluated the associations between insight, specific symptoms, and neurocognitive impairments. Thirty-three acute inpatients with a schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or psychotic disorder NOS diagnosis were rated on the SAIE, Birchwood's IS, and the BPRS. Neurocognitive assessments of attention and frontal lobe functioning were also conducted. Stepwise multiple regression analyses found composites represen… more
Date: December 2001
Creator: Gonterman, Andrea R.
open access

The mediating and moderating effects of women's attachment style on interrelationships among emotional abuse, physical aggression and relational stability.

Description: This purpose of this study was to combine two bodies of literature on relationships, attachment and violence. Given the impact of men's physical aggression and emotional abuse on women, it is likely that these behaviors would also affect attachment. A model proposing that women's attachment style mediated and moderated the relationship between partners' physical and emotional abuse and the stability of women's relationships was tested. Archival data were used from two waves of interviews with a… more
Date: December 2001
Creator: Weston, Rebecca
open access

Competency to Stand Trial: A Systematic Evaluation and Validation of the GCCT, MacCAT-CA, and ECST as Competency Measures

Description: Competency to stand trial cases constitute the largest percentage of forensic referrals for clinical psychologists. Furthermore, research suggests that the use of forensic measures facilitates the decisions of competency made by forensic examiners. This study investigated the construct validity of three competency measures: (a) the GCCT-MSH, (b) the MacCAT-CA, and (c) the ECST with 100 adult males incarcerated at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, TX. Construct validity was investigated via… more
Date: May 2002
Creator: Grandjean, Nicole Rae
open access

Automaticity and Hemispheric Specialization in Emotional Expression Recognition: Examined using a modified Stroop Task

Description: The main focus of this investigation was to examine the automaticity of facial expression recognition through valence judgments in a modified photo-word Stroop paradigm. Positive and negative words were superimposed across male and female faces expressing positive (happy) and negative (angry, sad) emotions. Subjects categorized the valence of each stimulus. Gender biases in judgments of expressions (better recognition for male angry and female sad expressions) and the valence hypothesis of hemi… more
Date: August 2002
Creator: Beall, Paula M.
open access

Psychological correlates of eating disorders: Exploring the continuum perspective.

Description: Psychological and behavioral characteristics of female undergraduates with varying levels of disordered eating, as measured by the Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnoses (Q-EDD; Mintz, O'Halloran, Mulholland, & Schneider, 1997), were investigated. Results suggest that the Q-EDD is an appropriate instrument for measuring eating disorder symptomatology. Greater disordered eating was associated with more bulimic, dieting, and weight fluctuation symptoms, higher impression management and appro… more
Date: August 2002
Creator: Cohen, Diane L.
open access

Efficacy of Juvenile Offender Assessments: Utilization of Recommendations, Measurement Constructs, and Risk Factors

Description: The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of juvenile offender assessments. Data from 104 juvenile offender assessments were analyzed and followed up with placement, subsequent offending, and outcome data from the juvenile and adult systems. Constructs consistently assessed included intellectual functioning, academic achievement, and personality functioning; however, under-diagnosis of intellectual deficits, learning disabilities, and personality disorders was found. Results indi… more
Date: August 2002
Creator: Van Drie, Barbara G
open access

Adolescent Psychopathy in an Adjudicated Male Population: The Role of Sensation Seeking, Impulsivity, and Externalizing Disorders

Description: Psychopathy, as conceptualized by Cleckley (1941), describes a constellation of psychological and behavioral correlates including superficial charm, untruthfulness, lack of remorse or shame, poor judgment, and failure to learn from experience. Based on Cleckley's initial work, Hare (1991) developed a two-factor model of psychopathy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the roles that sensation seeking, impulsivity, ADHD, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder have on adol… more
Date: August 2002
Creator: Vitacco, Michael J.
open access

The relationship of personality traits to depression in a geriatric population.

Description: In later life, adverse life events, disability, health problems, inadequate social support, and personality traits hypothesized to be important risk factors for depression. Sample included 35 older (65-84) physical rehabilitation patients in a large metropolitan hospital. Statistical analysis included Pearson Product Moment correlations and multiple regression results. Perceived physical health, instrumental ADLs, life satisfaction, extraversion, and conscientiousness are inversely related to d… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Wright, Anna M.

Cognitive and Perceptual-Motor Indicators of Lateralized vs. Diffuse Brain Damage in Adults.

Description: Among the goals of the neuropsychological assessment are to detect the presence of brain damage, localize which areas of the brain may be dysfunctional and describe subsequent functional impairments. The sensitivity of neuropsychological instruments in carrying out these functions is a question of some debate. The purpose of this study is to determine the utility of lateralizing indicators from the WAIS-III, McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (MAND) and Haptic Visual Discriminatio… more
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Date: December 2002
Creator: Gregory, Erin Kathleen Taylor
open access

Evaluation of the Situational Judgment Test

Description: This research attempts to confirm the reliability and construct validity of a personnel selection instrument called a Situational Judgment Test (SJT) through reliability analysis and factor analysis. The existing literature on SJTs is reviewed, including the advantages of using SJTs in personnel selection as well as the debate on whether SJTs measure a single construct or whether they can be multidimensional depending on the content. The specific SJT in this research was theoretically developed… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Conner, Lane A.
open access

Culture and Mental Health Help-Seeking Attitudes in Mexico.

Description: This study was designed to investigate 1) the cultural factors involved with Mexican citizens' attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help and 2) Mexican citizens' explanatory models of mental distress. Questionnaire data from 110 Mexican college students indicate that those who report a higher tolerance for stigma report lower endorsement of both the construct of personalismo and the machismo. Respondents who reported more interpersonal openness also reported a lower endorsement o… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Gomez, Steven David
open access

Personality and Rater Leniency: Comparison of Broad and Narrow Measures of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness

Description: Performance appraisal ratings provide the basis for numerous employment decisions, including retention, promotion, and salary increases. Thus, understanding the factors affecting the accuracy of these ratings is important to organizations and employees. Leniency, one rater error, is a tendency to assign higher ratings in appraisal than is warranted by actual performance. The proposed study examined how personality factors Agreeableness and Conscientiousness relate to rater leniency. The ability… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Grahek, Myranda
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