Search Results

open access

A Biopsychosocial Model of Dietary Restraint in Early Adolescent Boys

Description: The current study replicated and extended previous research by examining empirically the direct and indirect influence of social pressure (to lose weight and diet), social body comparisons, internalization of the thin ideal, body dissatisfaction, self-esteem, and cardiorespiratory fitness on self-reported dietary restraint in a diverse sample of middle school boys (n = 663); Mage was 12.49 years (SD = .99). With IRB approval, parental consent, and child assent, during annual FITNESSGRAM testing… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Mitchell, Sara H.
open access

The Pursuit of Optimal Performance: The Effect of Mastery- and Ego-Oriented Feedback on Sport Performance, Task Difficulty Selection, Confidence, and Anxiety

Description: Within an achievement motivation theoretical framework, there are factors thought to most heavily influence performance and task difficulty selection. More specifically, motivational climates, feedback, confidence, and anxiety have all been identified as important factors influencing outcomes within performance settings. Much of the literature in the area of achievement motivation has focused on on the effects of mastery- and ego-oriented feedback on performance within academic settings and h… more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Moles, Troy
open access

The Influence of Separation, Attachment and Family Processes on the Career Exploratory Behavior of Late Adolescents

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the idea that a late adolescent's career exploration activities may be influenced by levels of attachment to and psychological separation from family, family health, and family structure. It was proposed that higher levels of self and environmental exploration would be associated with positive family relationships and adequate levels of psychological separation and attachment. Cognitive and demographic variables were included as control measures. Measure… more
Date: December 1992
Creator: Moreault, Anne-Marie
open access

Underlying Structure of the Ecological Q-Sort: A Self-Concept Instrument for Use with Elderly Persons

Description: Self-concept has been defined as being both contextual and multidimensional, varying with different situations and states of being. In this light, the Ecological Q-Sort was developed to measure the varying nature of self-concept in older persons. The purpose of this study is to determine what contextual selves are represented within the framework of the Ecological Q-Sort. The cards of the test were rated and Ward's Hierarchical Clustering technique was utilized to categorize the cards along two… more
Date: August 1989
Creator: Morgan, Melanie Dawn
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.
open access

The Effects of the Type A Behavior Pattern and Aerobic Exercise on the Allocation of Attention

Description: This investigation examined the effects of aerobic fitness and the Type A behavior pattern on cognitive functioning in the split-attention (dual task) paradigm. Sixty-four adults were classified as Type A or B by means of the Jenkins Activity Survey, and as Runner or Sedentary using self-reports of physical activity. Under challenging instructions, subjects performed a primary task (Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices) and secondary task (Backward Digit Span) alternatively under single and dual… more
Date: December 1986
Creator: Morton, Anne Aldredge
open access

Spiritually-Oriented Expressive Writing and Positive Psychological Outcomes Following a Natural Disaster

Description: Many religious/spiritual (R/S) individuals receive meaning from R/S and utilize R/S to help them cope with stressful life events. However, natural disasters can disrupt the R/S meaning-making process (e.g., positive R/S coping strategies) because natural disasters can elicit cognitive dissonance between one's core R/S beliefs and personal disaster experience. R/S individuals suffering from a disaster experience could benefit from interventions that allow them to process their R/S experiences. … more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Mosher, David K
open access

Facilitative Effectiveness of Elderly and Adolescent Volunteer Counselors in a Nursing Home Setting

Description: This study examined the effects of volunteer counselor training (empathy training versus information only) and age of volunteer (senior citizens versus adolescents) upon depression level of nursing home residents. Results showed that residents who received a volunteer counselor significantly improved (p < .01) in level of depression compared to the no volunteer control group. The empathy trained counselors were not significantly more effective than the information only group. The age of the. vo… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Nagel, Joseph
open access

Premarital Contraceptive Behavior: Attitude Among Adolescents

Description: This study investigated attitudes toward personal use of premarital contraception among sexually active adolescent males and females. All students within the selected classrooms were asked to complete questionnaires assessing attitudes toward contraception, contraceptive knowledge, and sociodemographic and sex-related life history variables. Subjects were rated with regard to their effectiveness of contraception (high, moderate, or low). Separate univariate analyses indicated the following: The… more
Date: May 1980
Creator: Nelson-Wernick, Eleanor
open access

Neurocognitive Effects of Gist Reasoning Training in Student-Athletes with Concussions, ADHD, and Learning Disabilities

Description: Concussions, attention-deficit disorder (ADHD), and learning disabilities can adversely impact learning and academic achievement, particularly with respect to attention, memory, and executive functioning; fortunately, cognitive training can be beneficial and remediating these weaknesses. One such program, strategic memory advanced reasoning training (SMART), utilizes a top-down approach to train individuals in executive, higher-ordered thinking strategies including strategic attention, integrat… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Nguyen, Thomas

The Interface of Personality Processes and Cognitive Abilities: A Comparative Study of Elderly and Young Adults

Description: Although research has shown that the complex constructs of intelligence and personality are necessarily intertwined, studies exploring this issue in elderly individuals are rare. The importance attached to this interface in older adults becomes particularly clear in light of the debate over the cause and extent of age-related decrements in cognitive performance as well as whether such losses can be ameliorated or not, especially given societal shifts toward increased life expectancies. The pres… more
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Date: August 2000
Creator: O'Brien, Dina Paige Ragow
open access

The Relationship of Assertiveness and Bulimia to Psychological Separation

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine how parental separation is related to eating disturbances and assertiveness in females who struggle with bulimic symptoms. Two-hundred ninety-two undergraduate females from the University of North Texas comprised the subject group. Using pen and paper measures of assertiveness, bulimia, and parental separation, support was found for the prediction that there would be a relationship between assertiveness and parental separation. Likewise, partial support … more
Date: August 1995
Creator: O'Loughlin, Mary Ann, 1957-
open access

Perceived Attractiveness and Personality Attributes: A Gender and Racial Analysis

Description: Subjects rated 12 female body shapes with respect to their physical attractiveness, and the extent to which they would be expected to possess various personality characteristics. The shapes were varied using 3 levels of overall weight and 4 levels of body shapeliness. The sample was modified to control for socioeconomic factors and results are based on 297 undergraduates from Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic racial backgrounds. Loglinear analyses revealed that men and women, regardles… more
Date: May 2000
Creator: Olby, Brian C.

Gender Role Beliefs, Adult Attachment, and Parenting Competence: An Exploratory Analysis

Description: Research suggests that adult attachment is associated with various social roles, such as parenting, with insecure attachment patterns corresponding to lower levels of parenting competence. An increasing amount of research suggests that attachment patterns and social roles are interwoven with gender role beliefs. With family systems theory as an overarching framework, the current study extends the literature by examining dyadic associations between these variables in a sample of 61 cohabitating… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Oosterhouse, Kendra K.
open access

Psychosocial Influences on Bulimic Symptoms: Investigation of an Emprical Model

Description: The emerging consensus among investigators seems to be that bulimia is a multidetermined disorder with a number of contributing factors, including biological components, sociocultural factor, personality, and family characteristics (Garfinkel & Garner, 1982). An etiological model was examined in this study integrating two important theoretical perspectives in the bulimia literature: the stress-coping perspective (Cattanach & Rodin, 1988) and the family systems perspective (Minuchin et al., 1978… more
Date: August 1996
Creator: Owen-Nieberding, Amy
open access

Fear of Alzheimer's Disease in Middle to Late Adulthood: a Two Year Investigation of Change Versus Stability

Description: The term dementia refers to a progressive decline in cognitive functioning resulting in a significant impairment in daily living. Given the devastating impacts of the disease and lack of a cure, it is reasonable to expect people fear developing a dementia. Alzheimer's disease ranks high among the most feared diseases in national samples of the American population. As a topic of study, little is known about the determinants of fear of Alzheimer's disease and how this fear may change as a functio… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Page, Kyle S.
open access

Personality as a Predictor of Draft Selection and Performance in Professional Baseball Players

Description: Research has demonstrated that personality factors are associated with sport performance as measured by coach ratings and objective performance outcomes, as well as factors/behaviours that are understood to be facilitative for performance, such as problem-focused coping and quality of preparation. Given the potential utility of personality assessment, professional sport organizations have integrated it into their pre-draft procedures. However, it remains unclear whether such data, particularly … more
Date: August 2022
Creator: Palmateer, Tess M

An Exploration of Disordered Eating and Exercise Behaviors, Risk Factors, and Intersectional Minority Stress in Queer Men of Color

Description: Although the prevalence of disordered eating and exercise behaviors (DE/EBs) among queer men of color (Q-BIPOC) is higher than their heterosexual and white sexual minority peers, little is known about the mechanisms behind these differences. We evaluated a series of hypotheses to test DE/EB models on a sample of 78 Q-BIPOC men, who were recruited online during the COVID-19 pandemic and given a questionnaire measuring DE/EBs, body dissatisfaction, depression, mesomorphic ideal internalization, g… more
Date: August 2021
Creator: Pereira, Andrew G
open access

African American Father Influences on the Career Development of Emerging Adults

Description: The current study examined the paternal influences on the career development of African American emerging adults. While statistics have shown that many African Americans remain in the lower socioeconomic status bracket and have worse academic and career outcomes, still many African Americans are successful. The literature seems to attribute lack of success to low socioeconomic status, but attributes success to close family relationships. However, most of these studies have focused on materna… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Perry, QuaVaundra A.
open access

Death and Ethnicity: A Psychocultural Study-Twenty-Five Years Later.

Description: his study compares ethnic, age, and gender differences concerning attitudes and behaviors toward death, dying, and bereavement among Caucasian, African, Hispanic, and Asian American adult participants in north Texas with the results of a 1976 study by Kalish and Reynolds on death attitudes and behaviors of Caucasian, African, Mexican, and Japanese American adult participants in Los Angeles, California. A modified version of Kalish and Reynolds' study questionnaire was administered to 526 respon… more
Date: December 2001
Creator: Peveto, Cynthia A.
open access

Childhood Fears and the Impact of Divorce and Remarriage

Description: Different family structures and levels of parental and financial stress were investigated in relation to children's overtly expressed fears, and secondarily, covertly measured fears and concerns. The family structures consisted of divorced and remarried families divided into those divorced less than two years and those divorced greater than two years. Intact families were used as the control group. One-hundred-twenty-one children from six to eleven years of age and their biological mothers from… more
Date: May 1989
Creator: Pickard, David C.
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
open access

Correlates, Antecedents, and Consequences of Reading Disabilities in 11-Year-Old Children with ADHD as a Major Correlate

Description: The purpose of this study was to follow the development of children with reading disabilities only, reading disabilites and ADHD, ADHD only, and a comparison group from the ages of 3 to 18. Differences were examined on the following variables: (a) Antecedent variables- Reynell Developmental Language Scales, Temperament, and Family Adversity; (b) School-age variables- behavioral and academic self-concept ratings; and (c) Psychological adjustment variables at age 18- self-reports of delinquency. … more
Date: August 1996
Creator: Pisecco, Stewart (Stewart Anthony)
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