Psychology Theses

Sexual minority women have been repeatedly overlooked in violence against women research. As a result, we know little about the experiences and needs of non-heterosexual or gender non-conforming survivors. Given the paucity of information available on this topic, this study was exploratory in nature and used a phenomenological approach. Open-ended, unstructured interviews focused on the lived experience of surviving sexual violence and the impact that this experience has had on the survivors’ same-sex sexuality.

While a number of reoccurring themes generated from this project are well represented within the broad and well-developed canon of sexual violence research, participants also introduced features unique to LBQ and same-sex attracted women. Results from this project are intended to begin a long overdue dialogue about the needs of this understudied community of survivors.

It has been assumed that mathematics testing indicates the development of mathematics concepts, but the linguistic demands of assessment have not been evaluated, especially for children with mild intellectual disabilities. 244 children (grades 2 – 5) were recruited from a larger reading intervention study. Using a multilevel longitudinal SEM model, baseline and post-intervention time points were examined for the contribution of item linguistic complexity, child language skills, and their potential interaction in predicting item level mathematics assessment performance. Item linguistic complexity was an important, stable, and negative predictor of mathematics achievement with children’s language skills significantly and positively predicting mathematics achievement. The interaction between item linguistic complexity and language skills was significant though not stable across time. Following intervention, children with higher language skills performed better on linguistically complex mathematics items. Mathematics achievement may be related to an interaction between children’s language skills and the linguistic demands of the tests themselves.

Alcohol and drug abuse are strong predictors of suicide. While screening methods have proven effective at identifying and treating substance abuse in non-treatment-seeking users (e.g., screening and brief intervention [SBI]), less attention has been given to the co-occurrence of suicidality among this population, including its correlates and etiology. The current study addresses this gap by presenting data from early adult emergency department (ED) patients (mean age = 27; N = 505), screened for substance abuse and suicidal ideation. Prevalence of past year ideation was high (15%). Results demonstrated a significant and positive indirect effect of cocaine use severity on likelihood of suicidal ideation, mediated through family support. The implications for SBI practices in the ED and suicide etiology among non-treatment-seeking substance abusers are discussed.

The present research explored the effects of Situational Attribution Training (Stewart, Latu, Kawakami, & Myers, 2010) on affective bias utilizing facial electromyography (EMG). Participants viewed a slideshow of randomly presented photographs of both and White and Black American men while rating how “friendly” each individual appeared. Simultaneously, corrugator and zygomaticus region activity, linked with positive and negative affect, respectively, was measured. Of these participants, half were randomly assigned to complete Situational Attribution Training beforehand. Results for EMG activity suggested no significant differences in EMG activity for White compared to Black photographs for either the training or control participants; thus, this study did not find evidence of affective bias by way of corrugator or zygomaticus activity. However, errors in slideshow presentation prevent clear interpretation of these results. Suggestions for future research and ways in which bias errors can be avoided are discussed.

This study described the effect of a non-augmented (Spoken Communication, SC) and two augmented language interventions (Augmented Communication-Input, AC-I or Augmented Communication-Output, AC-O) on the upper-body, gross and fine motor skills of toddlers at the onset and conclusion of the intervention. The data presented are from a longitudinal study by Romski, Sevcik, Adamson, Cheslock, Smith, Barker, & Bakeman (2010). Three standardized assessments and five observational measures examined the participants' motor skills used to activate the speech generating device (SGD), language abilities and outcomes. The AC-O intervention decreased physical prompting, increased error-free symbol activations, and increased developmentally appropriate gross and fine motor use. An augmented intervention that utilizes a SGD may facilitate both language and motor development through the combination of the communicative goals and increased motor learning opportunities when accessing the SGD device.

Longitudinal substance abuse research has often been compromised by high rates of attrition, thought to be the result of the lifestyle that often accompanies addiction. Several studies have used a standardized follow-up protocol to minimize attrition, however it is unclear whether this protocol is equally effective for participants struggling with varying levels of housing stability, support for sobriety, and substance abuse severity. The current study extends research supporting the effectiveness of this protocol by demonstrating the importance of two central aspects of the follow-up protocol: locator form completion and continual verification contacts. Results indicated that each additional piece of locator form information and verification contact significantly and independently increased the odds for completing a follow-up interview, and that these effects were not moderated by participant characteristics. Practical and theoretical implications for longitudinal substance abuse research are discussed.

Children with Down Syndrome (DS) experience cognitive delays with language being one of the most impaired domains. Exploring the effects of congenital heart defects (CHD), hospitalization, hearing impairment, and parental concern can provide a more precise view of factors affecting language development. Participants were 49 children with DS, 22 to 54 months of age. Expressive and receptive vocabulary size was obtained using a word count with the MacArthur Communication Development Inventory (MCDI). Medical information was obtained from the child’s medical file. Results showed expressive vocabulary was marginally significantly different between children with DS and no CHD, a CHD that did not require surgery, and a CHD that did require surgery, such that children with a CHD requiring surgery had the smallest vocabulary. Children had significantly more health problems when they had a CHD that required surgery. Expressive and receptive vocabularies were significantly smaller for children with hearing impairment.

Faces provide humans with information on the age, sex, individual identity, and emotional state of others. Although comparatively less is known about nonhuman primates’ face processing abilities, several gregarious group living species are able to discriminate conspecific faces. Here, we tested a less gregarious species, orangutans, to determine if they exhibit similar skills. Using a matching-to-sample paradigm, orangutans matched two identical portraits of unfamiliar orangutans. Next, subjects matched two different photographs of the same individual across viewpoints. During testing, subjects successfully transferred to novel photographs of familiar, but not unfamiliar, individuals with their first exposure to these stimuli. However, performance was not maintained throughout continued exposure to these stimuli, suggesting a possible novelty effect. Interestingly, orangutans performed significantly above chance when individuating familiar males, but not females. Further examination is needed to understand social organization and other social factors which were important in the evolution of face-processing.

Deficiencies in mathematics skill constrain students’ educational achievement and subsequently, their employment outcomes. This study included 265 school-identified students with mild intellectual disabilities. The research questions investigated the extent to which phonological awareness, color naming speed, and vocabulary knowledge, was related to mathematics skill after controlling for grade level via regression analyses. Further, the mediating effects of expressive vocabulary on the relationship between receptive vocabulary and mathematics skill as well as the indirect effect of receptive vocabulary knowledge on mathematics skill through expressive vocabulary were examined. The findings indicated that after controlling for grade level, phonological awareness, naming speed, and vocabulary knowledge were significantly related to mathematics skill. The mediating effects of expressive vocabulary as well as the indirect effects of receptive vocabulary knowledge on mathematics skill were also significant.

Black South Africans account for a majority of HIV cases in South Africa, highlighting the need for greater understanding of risks specific to this group. Within the HIV prevention and risk literature, little information exists regarding the familial and neuropsychological contributions to HIV risk in youth. The current study addressed this gap. In a group of black South African parent-child dyads, the researchers investigated the independent and interactive contributions of parenting quality and executive functioning in the prediction of HIV risk. Child report of relationship quality was negatively associated with risky sexual attitudes and externalizing behaviors. Parent report of parental monitoring/involvement was negatively associated with child pre-coital behaviors. Cognitive inflexibility interacted with child report of parental monitoring/involvement in its relation with externalizing behaviors. Results indicated that parenting may protect black South African youth with respect to HIV risk, and that executive functioning may play an indirect role in this relationship.

This study investigated how emotion-regulation would moderate the relationship between shyness and joint engagement and how joint engagement would mediate the relationship between shyness and language skills. Fifty-three mother-child dyads were observed in the laboratory according to the Communication Play Protocol (Adamson & Bakeman, 1999) when the toddlers were 24 and 30 months of age. Mothers completed the Temperament Behavior Assessment Questionnaire-Revised (Rothbart & Goldsmith, unpublished). Toddlers also completed the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-III; Dunn & Dunn, 1997) and Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT; Williams, 1997). The relationship between shyness and the percentage of time spent in non-symbol-infused coordinated joint engagement was moderated by a toddler’s ability to self-soothe. Shyer toddlers had significantly lower receptive language scores than less shy toddlers, and this relationship was partially mediated by the percentage of time toddlers spent in symbol-infused supported and coordinated joint engagement states. INDEX WORDS: Temperament, Shyness, Emotion-regulation, Language Skills, Joint Engagement

Adults commonly use spatial motion to talk about time. These metaphors are of at least three different types: moving-time, moving-ego, and sequence-as-relative-position-on-a-path. But when children grasp the meaning of spatial metaphors for time and what cognitive factors account for this understanding? In this study, we aim to answer these questions by studying young children’s comprehension of three different spatial metaphors for time. Our findings show that children begin to understand metaphors for time by age five and to explain the meaning of these different metaphors by age 6. Additionally, children’s comprehension varied by metaphor type, with moving-time and moving-ego metaphors being mastered earlier than sequence-as-relative-position-on-a-path metaphors. Moreover, we found children’s comprehension ability to be associated with their understanding of the time concept. Overall, these results suggest that comprehension of time metaphors is an early emerging linguistic ability that has strong ties to children’s cognitive understanding of the time concept.

Agency, a behavioral and psychological concept, is an individual’s sense of what they can do and what they think they can do. It is imperative to understand how a sense of agency in youths can be fostered and transformed into constructive action. This study builds on previous research to better identify predictors of agency, focusing on social and political involvement and opportunity structure. Additionally, it analyzes and proposes the use of a new measure of agency, the Community Leadership (CL) scale. Eighty-five teens (ages 13 to 18) were administered surveys. Involvement was found to be significantly related to agency. It was also related to opportunity structure, but opportunity structure was not significantly related to agency. Opportunity structure seems to partly influence the relationship between involvement and agency. When compared to previously validated measures of agency, the CL scale proved to be a shorter and psychometrically sound alternative measure.

Given the increase of Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual students in US schools, identifying the predictors of reading in this group of students is of significant importance to developing appropriate screening measures and intervention strategies. Thus, the current study evaluated the pattern of language preference in an elementary school bilingual (Spanish-English) population and its relationship with expressive and receptive vocabulary, and broad reading ability in English and Spanish. Participants were 58 Latino students ranging in age from 7 years, 5 months to 11 years, 1 month (M = 8.98, SD = .98) with 48% born in the United States. Results indicated that English expressive vocabulary partially mediated the relationship between outside language preference and English broad reading ability. In contrast, neither Spanish expressive nor receptive vocabulary mediated the relationship between outside language preference and Spanish broad reading ability.

Humans are exceptional in their willingness to and frequency with which they help one another. However, nonhuman primates also exhibit prosocial behavior. Recently, a number of laboratory studies examining prosociality among primates have yielded conflicting results. These contradictory findings may be due to a reliance on human interaction, tokens, or interactions in the direct context of food, a highly valued resource for animals. The current study examined prosocial behavior among capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) in a tool task designed to address these issues by examining whether capuchins would transfer a necessary tool to a partner in different payoff conditions. Some capuchins’ behavior indicated that they understood the task, passing the tool when a partner and food were present. Notably, tool transfer in both tasks was overwhelmingly active rather than passive, which is unusual in the context of food; indicating active prosocial behavior is present amongst primates other than cooperative breeders.

Problematic levels of eating disorder (ED) spectrum problems are becoming increasingly pervasive on college campuses, especially among female college students. Research suggests that ED cognitions and a lack of body image acceptance are linked to diminished psychological flexibility (PF), which is linked to ED and other negative health symptoms. Two hundred thirty-six undergraduates completed an online survey, and mediation analyses were conducted. PF fully mediated the relation between ED cognitions and non-specific psychiatric symptoms and partially mediated the link between ED cognitions and ED symptoms. PF also partially mediated the link between body image acceptance and non-specific psychiatric symptoms, but not the relation between body image acceptance and ED symptoms. Findings suggest that clinical symptoms and one’s coping style are both important factors to take into consideration in case conceptualization and treatment, and suggest that therapies such as ACT that target PF may be beneficial in treating ED spectrum problems.

Little is known about how maternal positive affect (PA) relates to maternal patterns of emotion socialization about positive emotions. The current study examined the hypothesis that mothers’ self-reported PA, independent of their negative affect (NA), is associated with increased and more appropriate modeling of verbal and nonverbal expressions of positive emotions in mothers. I examined associations between self-reported maternal PA and behaviors during video-taped discussions of times when the mothers and children were happy in 53 healthy mother-child dyads. These tapes were coded using standard observational coding schemes. Results suggest that mothers with higher ratings of PA, independent of NA, positively predicted levels of observed maternal positive involvement and communication while reminiscing. Maternal PA was unrelated to observed dyadic mutual enjoyment, positive emotion words and teaching during mother-child reminiscing. Results add to the existing literature on positive psychology in important ways. Theoretical implications for understanding positive emotions are discussed.

The most devastating effects of climate change may be avoided if humans reduce activities that produce greenhouse gases and engage instead in more sustainable ecological behaviors. The current mixed methods study of 279 undergraduate students explored whether environmental worldview, belief in climate change, knowledge of climate change, personal efficacy, and intention to address climate change influenced participants’ engagement in ecological behavior. Results indicated that those with a stronger intention to address climate change and a more ecocentric worldview reported significantly more ecological behavior. Next, the study examined whether participants’ intentions to address climate change mediated the relationship between their belief in climate change and engagement in ecological behavior and whether intentions mediated the relationship between efficacy and ecological behavior. Intentions to address climate change did not mediate the relationship between belief and ecological behavior but fully mediated the relationship between efficacy to address climate change and ecological behavior.

Homework compliance has been identified as a robust predictor of treatment outcome for depression and, to a lesser extent, anxiety disorders, including social phobia. The current study tested the following hypotheses: (1) homework compliance is positively related to ratings of global improvement, (2) homework compliance is negatively related to symptom reduction, (3) the relation between homework compliance and treatment outcome varies according to the nature of the homework exercise, and (4) expectancy is positively related to early homework compliance, in a clinical sample of individuals with social phobia. Results provided limited support for the relation between compliance and ratings of improvement, but did not support a negative relation between compliance and symptom reduction. Further, the results provided limited support for the hypothesis that compliance with exposure versus non-exposure homework would differ significantly in terms of their relation to treatment outcome, but did not support the relation between compliance and expectancy.

Multiple theories suggest that the early parent-child relationship plays an important role in development. Past research has shown linkages between parenting style and aggression as well as between language and aggression. Emerging evidence suggests that attachment security is an important predictor of language development. It was hypothesized that there would be an effect of parent-child relationship quality at 36 months on aggression at school entry via language ability at 54 months. To test this hypothesis, path analysis in M-Plus was used. Data for this study were collected as a part of the NICHD, Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,364). Mediation was tested with bootstrapped estimates of indirect effects. The results did not support the hypothesized m