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open access

Construct Validity of the I-SIP and Its Clinical Utility in Differentiating between Factitious Psychological Presentations (FPPs) and Malingering

Description: Forensic researchers and practitioners continue to face challenges when attempting to differentiate deceptive response styles, notably when comparing malingering and factitious disorder. However, due to the great disparities in research available, forensic examiners may not be adequately informed for considering factitious presentations as a competing hypothesis to malingering. De-emphasis of factitious disorders may also be attributed to the lack of empirical research and poor conceptual under… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Velsor, Sarah Frances
open access

Parenting Styles and Psychopathic Traits Demonstrate Differential Relationships and Measurement Invariance across Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Male Offenders

Description: Using a strong invariance structural equation modeling approach, the current study explored the role of parental styles, along with age and IQ, on the expression of psychopathic personality facets in a large (N = 734) male sample of Hispanic and non-Hispanic offenders. Multiple group confirmatory factor analyses revealed evidence of strong invariance across ethnic groups for the psychopathy and parenting scales (CFI = .95; RMSEA .03). Person-centered analyses examining psychopathic versus non-p… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Delisle, Alexa
open access

Facets of Positive Affect and Emotion Regulation in Daily Life

Description: Positive affect, which has been broken down into four lower-level facets (i.e., joviality, attentiveness, self-assurance, serenity), has demonstrated numerous ties to physical and mental health. The experience of positive affect can be regulated by emotion regulation strategies. However, few studies have assessed their relationship, and no studies have examined the relationship using the lower level facets of positive affect. The link between positive affect and emotion regulation may be of par… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Dornbach-Bender, Allison
open access

The Applicability of the PICTS-SV in Offenders with Severe Substance Use Histories

Description: Two important developments are addressed by this dissertation. First, the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles-Simplified Version (PICTS-SV) was examined in relation to the original PICTS. Second, the vulnerability of the PICTS-SV to intentional risk minimization (RM) was tested. Two separate studies recruited a total of 150 offenders from a court-mandated residential substance use treatment facility. As expected, Study I established the PICTS-SV's good concurrent validity with t… more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Williams, Margot Maryanne

An Investigation of the Influence of Attributional Complexity, Intolerance, Optimism, and Experiential Avoidance on Personal Psychological Distress

Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of low attributional complexity, intolerance, optimism, and experiential avoidance (EA) on psychological distress (stress, anxiety, and depression); specifically, the mediating role of EA in these relationships was examined. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the hypothesized model. The overall model accounted for 62% of the variance in psychological distress. The direct negative effect of intolerance on psychological … more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Ergüder, Leyla
open access

The PICTS, Trauma, Experiential Avoidance, Criminal Thinking and Behavior in an Online Community Sample

Description: This study sought to generalize the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) factor structure using the PICTS-Layperson (PICTS:L) in a community sample. The current study also sought to replicate previous findings that criminal thinking mediates the relationship between trauma and criminal behavior. Additionally, this study sought to explore if and/or how experiential avoidance (EA) contributes to the relationships between post-traumatic symptoms (PTS) and criminal thinking, … more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Hulsey, Teresa

Validation of an Outcome Tracking System for Use in Psychology Training Clinics

Description: The ability to monitor client change in psychotherapy over time is vital to quality assurance in psychotherapy as well as the continuing improvement of psychotherapy research. Currently there is not a free and comprehensive outcome measure for psychotherapy that meets current research and treatment goals. This study took further steps to validate a suite of measures to aid in treatment and research, theoretically based in the research domain criteria (RDoC) and the phase model of change frame… more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Kilmer, Elizabeth Davis

Association of Trainee Psychotherapist Competency and Client Outcomes

Description: Client outcomes in psychology training clinics have been shown to be generally worse than other outpatient settings. Although this finding has been repeatedly demonstrated, no consensus of cause has emerged in the literature. One possible explanation of such findings may relate to psychotherapist effects, a historically neglected variable that has received increased attention in more recent literature. Among psychotherapist effects researched, competency has emerged as a compelling factor wor… more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Dziurzynski, Kristan

Assessment of Feigned Neurocognitive Impairment in Retired Athletes in a Monetarily Incentivized Forensic Setting

Description: Compromised validity of test data due to exaggeration or fabrication of cognitive deficits inhibits the capacity to establish appropriate conclusions and recommendations in neuropsychological examinations. Detection of feigned neurocognitive impairment presents a formidable challenge, particularly for evaluations involving possibilities of significant secondary gain. Among specific populations examined in this domain, litigating mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) samples are among the most rese… more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Smotherman, Jesse M.

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.
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
open access

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
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
open access

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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
open access

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
open access

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.
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
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
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.
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