Theses and dissertations

This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students. 

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Impact of Family Support on Early Childhood Dysregulation in the Context of Maternal Depression

Description
The ability to regulate emotions, attention, and behavior develops early in life and impacts future academic success, social competency, behavioral problems, and psychopathology. An impairment in regulation is known as dysregulation. Past research shows that children of mothers with postpartum depression are more likely to show impairment in regulatory abilities.…

The ability to regulate emotions, attention, and behavior develops early in life and impacts future academic success, social competency, behavioral problems, and psychopathology. An impairment in regulation is known as dysregulation. Past research shows that children of mothers with postpartum depression are more likely to show impairment in regulatory abilities. There is an established link in the literature between family support and maternal depression, which in turn can impact child behavior. However, further research is needed to explore the impact of family support on early childhood dysregulation in the context of maternal depression. Using a sample of 322 Mexican-American, mother-child dyads, two models were examined. Model one hypothesized family support would buffer the effects of maternal depression on child dysregulation at 24 months. Model 2 hypothesized that family support is related to child dysregulation through its effect on maternal depression. Results showed that increased family support was related to more child dysregulation when there were high levels of maternal depression. There was no evidence to support the hypothesis that maternal depression mediated the relationship between family support and child dysregulation.
ContributorsRodrigues, Samantha Jean (Author) / Luecken, Linda (Thesis director) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
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The Comparison of Frontostriatal Tracts Between Adolescents with ADHD and a Typically Developing Adolescent Control Group

Description
The frontostriatal reward circuit serves an underlying role in reward processing, cognitive planning, and motor control in the context of achieving a goal. Furthermore, research suggests a relationship between the reward circuits and behavior expressed in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); however, the specific structural differences of the reward circuits…

The frontostriatal reward circuit serves an underlying role in reward processing, cognitive planning, and motor control in the context of achieving a goal. Furthermore, research suggests a relationship between the reward circuits and behavior expressed in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); however, the specific structural differences of the reward circuits in those with ADHD remain ambiguous. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) techniques were used to analyze diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) data in order to examine the structural connectivity of frontostriatal reward pathways in ADHD adolescents compared to typically developing (TD) adolescents. It was hypothesized that measures of impulsivity would be predicted by white matter tract integrity measures in frontostriatal tracts related to affective processing (ventromedial prefrontal cortex to ventral striatum, vmPFC) in adolescents with ADHD, and that there would be reduced tract integrity in tracts related to executive control (dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex—dlPFC and ACC, respectively). Frontostriatal tracts as well as the hippocampus and amygdala were examined in relation to age and impulsivity using both correlation and regression models. Results indicated that impulsivity declined with age in the TD group while no significant trend was identified for the ADHD group. The hypotheses were not supported and results for both predictions on the affective and executive circuits showed opposite trends from what was expected.
ContributorsHarrison, Sydney Rae (Author) / McClure, Samuel (Thesis director) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12