Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: College students
- Creators: Corbin, William
Description
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated alarming increases in psychological distress and alcohol use behaviors and has caused the greatest increases in depression and anxiety symptoms among college students. Prior studies have examined the impact of COVID-19 broadly on mental health and alcohol use outcomes; however, few studies have examined these impacts in college students. Previous studies have examined individual factors that could moderate the relation between COVID-19 related stressors and mental health and alcohol use outcomes, but knowledge is lacking regarding the role of emotion regulation. The present study aimed to examine the role of emotion regulation in the relation between both COVID-19 stressful experiences and COVID-19 related worry and mental health and alcohol use outcomes, and to explore racial/ethnic differences in their associations. Four hierarchical multiple regression models were conducted to assess main effects of COVID-19 stressors and emotion regulation, as well as moderation of the effect of emotion regulation on depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, alcohol consumption, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms during the past year. COVID-19 related worry was associated with greater symptoms of both mental health outcomes, whereas COVID-19 related stressful experiences were associated with both mental health outcomes, more alcohol consumption, and more AUD symptoms. Difficulties in emotion regulation had significant main effects on mental health outcomes and AUD symptoms, but not alcohol consumption. Hispanic/Latinx students reported higher experiences of both COVID-19 related stressors, but consumed less alcohol than did White/European students. This study provides further insight into the nature of COVID-19 related stressors and their subsequent impacts. Implications for prevention and intervention on college campuses are discussed.
ContributorsConroy, Isobel (Author) / Su, Jinni (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2021-12
Description
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) affects over 300 million people worldwide, with the hippocampus showing decreased volume and activity in patients with MDD. The current study investigated whether a novel preclinical model of depression, unpredictable intermittent restraint (UIR), would decrease hippocampal neuronal dendritic complexity. Adult Sprague Dawley rats (24 male, 24 female) were equally divided into 4 groups: control males (CON-M), UIR males (UIR-M), control females (CON-F) and UIR females (UIR-F). UIR groups received restraint and shaking on an orbital shaker on a randomized schedule for 30 or 60 minutes/day for two to six days in a row for 26 days (21 total UIR days) before behavioral testing commenced. UIR continued and was interspersed between behavioral test days. At the end of behavioral testing, brains were processed. The behavior is published and not part of my honor’s thesis; my contribution involved quantifying and analyzing neurons in the hippocampus. Several neuronal types are found in the CA3 subregion of the hippocampus and I focused on short shaft (SS) neurons, which show different sensitivities to stress than the more common long shaft (LS) variety. Brains sections were mounted to slides and Golgi stained. SS neurons were drawn using a microscope with camera lucida attachment and quantified using the number of bifurcations and dendritic intersections as metrics for dendritic complexity in the apical and basal areas separately. The hypothesis that SS neurons in the CA3 region of the hippocampus would exhibit apical dendritic simplification in both sexes after UIR was not supported by our findings. In contrast, following UIR, SS apical dendrites were more complex in both sexes compared to controls. Although unexpected, we believe that the UIR paradigm was an effective stressor, robust enough to illicit neuronal adaptations. It appears that the time from the end of UIR to when the brain tissue was collected, or the post-stress recovery period, and/or repeated behavioral testing may have played a role in the observed increased neuronal complexity. Future studies are needed to parse out these potential effects.
ContributorsAcuna, Amanda Marie (Author) / Conrad, Cheryl (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Olive, M. Foster (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12
Description
The present study examines the role of uncertainty and how it relates to variables pertinent to student success such as anxiety, future self-identification, and academic self-efficacy. The present study consists of two parts. Part 1 of the study aims to address whether levels of perceived uncertainty predict levels of state-anxiety, future self-identification, academic self-efficacy, and perceived predictability. Part 2 of the study aims to test the efficacy of a web-based manipulation among a sample of first-year students at Arizona State University. The experimental manipulation utilizes elements of self-compassion to attempt to mitigate the effects of uncertainty and anxiety, and their negative effects on cognitive performance. Additionally, the manipulation aims to increase academic self-efficacy and future self-identification. The study was administered online and consisted of 170 participants. For part one of the study, all participants were used in the correlational analyses. For part two of the study, the participants were randomly divided into two groups, the control condition and the self-compassion condition. As hypothesized, findings show that uncertainty of one’s future predicted (a) higher state-anxiety, (b) weaker future self-identification(b) less perceived predictability of the future, and (c) less academic self-efficacy. Analysis also revealed that perceived uncertainty and anxiety predicted a higher level of cognitive interference as evidenced by the number of errors on the Stroop Task. Nevertheless, the proposed manipulation did not demonstrate statistically significant effects to reduce students’ perceived uncertainty and anxiety about their future. In conclusion, the present findings support the theorized relationships between uncertainty, anxiety, future self-identification, self-efficacy, and cognitive performance. Implications, limitations and future directions of this research are discussed.
ContributorsThomas, Maitreya (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
Before the introduction of mobile/online forms of gambling, “brick and mortar” gambling was the typical form of gambling. Now, the use of mobile phones allows for greater accessibility and convenience to gambling. This modern method of gambling has attracted newer younger audiences such as college students which poses an increasing concern about problem gambling among younger individuals. Since alcohol use problems tend to co-occur with problem gambling, it is important to consider alcohol use as a predictor of problem gambling. Other factors that could potentially influence the relation between alcohol use problems and problem gambling are financial stress (as an indicator of socioeconomic status) and sensation seeking; however, the potential interactive effects of these variables with problem alcohol use in predicting problems remain unclear. The main goals of the current study were to examine the unique and interactive influences of alcohol use problems, sensation seeking, and financial stress in relation to problem gambling. The sample for the current study was taken from the Psychology participant pool enrolled at Arizona State University and met the minimum age requirement of 18 (N = 793, 64.1% Male). All analyses were conducted using R Studio (R Core Team, 2023). I ran a a series of logistic regression models for my covariates only, main effects (alcohol use problems and financial stress or alcohol use and sensation seeking) models while controlling for covariates, and interaction models (alcohol use problems multiplied by financial stress and alcohol use problems multiplied by sensation seeking). Results showed that alcohol use problems and sensation seeking were not significant predictors of problem gambling. However, financial stress (SES), sex (male), and age proved to be significant predictors of problem gambling. There were no interactions found between alcohol use problems and socioeconomic status or sensation seeking on problem gambling outcomes. Although some results from the current study are inconsistent with existing literature, the significant findings provide insight into potential future directions and treatment programs for problem gambling among college students. Further studies are needed to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the complex interactions between alcohol use problems, socioeconomic status, and sensation seeking in relation to problem gambling.
ContributorsIn, Noah (Author) / Cruz, Rick (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Meier, Madeline (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-12