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open access

Acculturation, Acculturative Stress, and Anxiety Among Hispanic Undergraduates

Description: First generation college students face some unique challenges in the pursuit of higher education. Aside from academic stressors, there are stressors related to social and cultural transitions which may exacerbate pre-existing emotional or psychological distress. Research suggests that acculturation influences psychological well-being and development. The current study examined the relationships between acculturation, acculturative stress, socio-economic status, and symptoms of anxiety among fir… more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Durón, Kelly M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

ADHD Symptomology and Overweight Among College Men

Description: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood disorder that often persists into adulthood. Among adults, ADHD is highly comorbid with addictive behaviors (e.g., substance abuse and dependence), and depressive disorders. Recently, an association between ADHD and obesity has been reported in the literature; emotional and binge eating may be “addictive behaviors” that contribute to weight gain in this population. The purpose of this study was to test competing models of the hypoth… more
Date: December 2011
Creator: Johnson, Leslee M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Anticipating Work and Family: Experience, Conflict, and Planning in the Transition to Adulthood

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the development of work and family plans in young adults, and to clarify the long-term stability, prevalence, and consequences of anticipated work-family conflict. The study utilizes Super’s model of career development and social cognitive career theory, as well as research on current work-family interface, as a framework for understanding the period of anticipating and planning for multiple role integration that occurs between adolescence and adulthood.… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Campbell, Elizabeth L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Assessment of Feigning with the Trauma Symptom Inventory: Development and Validation of new Validity Scales with Severely Traumatized Patients

Description: Currently, only the TSI assesses complex traumatic reactions and patient response styles. However, its feigning scale, ATR, uses a flawed detection strategy and is potentially confounded by experiences of complex PTSD. As a consequence, clinicians using the TSI to evaluate severely traumatized patients have no useful method for discriminating genuine and feigned responding. Several detection strategies have demonstrated utility within evaluations of feigned trauma including the assessment of ra… more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Payne, Joshua W.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Biopsychosocial Approach to Understanding, Subtyping, and Treating Depression: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey - Replication.

Description: The most effective and useful way to diagnose and subtype depression has been a long debated topic which even now does not have a definite answer. The biopsychosocial approach to diagnosis may be a solution to this problem by linking various etiologies to symptom presentation. The biopsychosocial model, in regard to depression, takes into account biological risk factors/contributors, psychological or cognitive risk factors/contributors, and social risk factors/contributors to depression when ma… more
Date: May 2011
Creator: McGill, Brittney C.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Bipolar Disorder in the Family: Impact on Functioning and Adjustment to College

Description: Bipolar disorder is a serious mental disorder, affecting anywhere from 2 to 4 percent of Americans. Though research has indicated that this disorder can be devastating for patients, less is known about how the disorder impacts family members. There is no research that has considered impacts on family members adjusting to college. The purpose of the current study was to determine the extent to which having a family member with bipolar disorder impacts adjustment to college, as well as factors th… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Crandall, Erin
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Chronic Insomnia and Healthcare Utilization in Young Adults

Description: Chronic insomnia is a highly prevalent disorder in general and young adult populations, and contributes a significant economic burden on society. Previous studies have shown healthcare utilization (HCU) is significantly higher for people with insomnia than people without insomnia. One limitation with previous research is accurate measurement of HCU in people with insomnia is difficult due to a high co-morbidity of medical and mental health problems as well as varying operational definitions of … more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Bramoweth, Adam Daniel
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Coaches’ Influence on Male Adolescents’ Achievement Motivation, Psychological Factors, and Sport Participation

Description: The motivational climate, as created by coaches, and athletes’ goal orientations are key constructs in understanding children’s experiences with sport. In this study, the relationship between the perceived motivational climates, male adolescents’ goal orientation, and their experiences of self-esteem, sport competence, enjoyment, and ultimately, intention to continue participating in sport was examined. Participants were 405 male adolescents (Sample A: n = 200; Sample B: n = 205) aged 13-15 yea… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Johnson, Dustin M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Development of Disordered Eating Among Female Undergraduates: A Test of Objectification Theory

Description: Objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) has been used to explain how mechanisms related to socialization, sexual objectification, and psychological variables interact to predict mental health difficulties. Among a sample of 626 undergraduate women (age 18-24), this study empirically tested components of Moradi and Huang’s (2008) model and extended it by including additional socialization experiences (i.e., sexual abuse, societal pressures regarding weight and body size). Structural… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Phillips, Sarah Ramby
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effect of Relationship Quality on Mental Representations of Social Support and Cardiovascular Reactivity

Description: The aim of the current study was to examine how thinking about qualitatively different social network members may differentially affect cardiovascular reactivity to a subsequent stressor. Eighty-two undergraduates were asked to think and write about different types of relationships preceding a social stressor. No differences between conditions in CVR were found during social support induction phase or the stressor task. Women in the supportive condition were found to have slower SV recovery th… more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Prather, Courtney C.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effectiveness of Substance use Measures in the Detection of Denial and Partial Denial

Description: Many substance users deny their substance use to avoid negative consequences, thus diluting the accuracy of assessment. To address this issue, indirect items are often included on substance use measures to identify those who deny their use. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of complete denial and partial denial on substance use measures. Partial denial, also termed denial of effects, is the denial of substance use interfering in multiple domains of a person's functioning. The … more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Wooley, Chelsea Nichole
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effects of Defensiveness on the Reporting of Personality Disorder Symptoms

Description: Personality disorders are not granted the same clinical attention accorded Axis I disorders despite their instrumental role in treatment and outcome. Even when standardized assessments are used, their clinical utility may be limited by an overly favorable self-presentation. The current study focused on defensiveness, the intentional denial of symptomatology, by examining individuals’ ability to minimize their presentation on personality disorder diagnostic measures. Using a within-subjects simu… more
Date: December 2011
Creator: Fiduccia, Chelsea E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Priming, Culture, and Context on Perception of Facial Emotion, Self-representation and Thought: Brazil and the United States

Description: Individualist and collectivist cultural approaches describe the relationship between an individual and his or her social surroundings. the current study had a two-fold purpose. the first was to investigate whether Brazilians, like other collective peoples, displayed more group self-representations, categorized items more relationally and paid more attention to context than Americans. the second purpose of this study was to investigate if counter-cultural primes played a role in activating ei… more
Date: December 2011
Creator: Hoersting, Raquel Carvalho
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Evaluating Process Variables in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Description: Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) was developed to specifically target experiential avoidance (EA) rather than any specific diagnostic category. A functional ACT manual was presented and used to treat diagnostically diverse clients in a large sliding fee-for-service training clinic. A multiple baseline across participants and behaviors research design was used to evaluate session-by-session changes in EA, values identification, valued action, and clinical distress. The Acceptance and Acti… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Vander Lugt, Amanda Adcock
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Parent training Protocol Based on an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Philosophy of Parenting

Description: Thirty-four parents were referred by their CPS caseworkers to participate in one of two ACT for Parenting workshops. These workshops followed a 12 hour treatment protocol based on an acceptance and commitment therapy philosophy of parenting. Briefly, an ACT philosophy of parenting maintains that effective parenting requires awareness and acceptance of thoughts and feelings as they occur in the context of the parent-child relationship. An ACT philosophy of parenting also relies heavily on the id… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: O'Brien, Karen M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Examination of Contextual and Process Variables Influencing the Career Development of African-American Male Athletes and Non-Athletes

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the career development of African-American male athletes and non-athletes. The study utilizes Gottfredson’s circumscription and compromise model of career development as a framework for understanding the way individuals go about selecting different career paths based on various contextual variables and career development processes. A sample of 71 African-American male college students completed self-report questionnaires measuring different aspects of th… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Bader, Christopher M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Examination of Maternal Acceptance among Mothers and their Children with ADHD Symptomatology

Description: The current study examined the role of self-reported and child-reported maternal lack of acceptance in increasing the likelihood of developing internalizing and externalizing symptoms among children with ADHD symptomatology. The effects of a social desirability bias on mother’s self-reports of rejection were controlled for. Mother-child agreement about parenting behaviors like warmth/affection, hostility/aggression and indifference/neglect was also investigated. In addition, variables with the … more
Date: August 2011
Creator: McKelvy, Tara N.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Examination of the Relationship Between Values, Family Environment, and Risk Behaviors Among College Students

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the roles that values and the family environment play in young adult engagement in risky behavior. One hundred seventy-two male and female college students between the ages of 18-25 completed a demographics questionnaire, the Aspirations Index which measures seven life-goal contents that represent different values, the Cognitive Appraisal of Risky Events that assesses young adults’ perceptions of the risks and benefits associated with involvement in risk… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Wilson, Jamie D.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Executive Control of Craving: An Examination of College Students

Description: Previous research has shown that alcohol abuse may cause a deficit in frontal lobe functioning, specifically, areas of the frontal lobe that are related to executive function. Additionally, problems with executive function have been related to increased difficulty in managing cravings to addictive substances. The current study explored the relationship between alcohol use and performance on measures of executive functioning in a sample of 121 traditional college students. Students were given 5 … more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Yates, Robert Dean, III
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Family Variables in the Cultural and Psychological Adjustment of Third Culture Kids

Description: Third culture kids are children raised in globally mobile families who have left their culture of origin to reside in a host culture. As this relocation occurs during childhood, the child combines the values, traditions, and norms of both cultures thereby creating a third culture, a unique culture created by the parent’s integration of the home culture, the host culture, and the domains of the organizational culture. Emotional Stability was found to mediate the relationship between family of or… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Wilson, Jennifer L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Impact of Training on Employee Advancement

Description: In recent years, organizations have invested increasing financial and labor-related resources on employee training. The assumption is that training will benefit the organization through improved performance which will result in greater efficiency, greater customer satisfaction and, ultimately, increased revenue and profits. Further, employees are assumed to benefit because their improved performance should lead to career advancement and increased compensation. However, measuring the effect of t… more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Bradley, Lori
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Implementation of a Therapy Group for Wives of Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Development and Preliminary Outcomes

Description: The purpose of this study was to develop a manualized therapy group for wives or significant others of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder and to evaluate its effectiveness in reducing wives' psychological symptoms. A second aim of the study was to determine if women's involvement in the wives group resulted in decreases in their husbands' PTSD symptoms. Women recruited for the study were administered pre-test measures during a screening session. They then participated in a 9-session ma… more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Reck-Gordy, Jennifer K.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Influences on Grief Among Parentally Bereaved Adults

Description: The parent-child relationship is significant throughout the life course, although both positive and negative changes occur as children reach adulthood and develop an identity independent of their family of origin. Grief resulting from parental loss during this time may be a product of many variables including age, relationship quality, and sex roles. The current study examined several variables potentially influencing grief after the death of a parent. As part of a larger study, adults (n = 180… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Schiffner, Kellye D.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Intimate Partner Violence Among Female Undergraduates: The Role of Language in the Development of Posttraumatic Stress

Description: Research findings across a variety of samples (e.g., clinical, shelter, hospital) estimate that 31% to 84% of women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) exhibit symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study sought to further investigate the abuse-trauma link by examining the relationship between lifetime trauma exposure, type of abuse (i.e., physical, psychological), and perspective-taking abilities (i.e., here-there, now-then). The role of experiential a… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Larson, Christina Mary
Partner: UNT Libraries
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