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- Creators: Department of Psychology
Description
Limited research has analyzed how culture might influence the utilization of social support. To address this deficiency, the present study investigated preferences for social support among East-Asian, Hispanic, and White participants. In this set of studies, a comprehensive social support taxonomy was constructed in order to better identify and conceptualize the various support subtypes found in the literature. Based on the taxonomy, a questionnaire measure for preferences of different types of social support was developed. Participants were asked to rate how helpful they would find each supportive action made by a friend or family member on a seven-point Likert scale. Based on the responses of 516 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers, a five-factor solution for an 18-item scale emerged from a factor analysis. The social support subscales supported by the factor analysis were emotional, tangible, self-referencing, reappraisal, and distraction. The questionnaire was used to assess similarities and differences among East-Asian, Hispanic, and White participants in terms of preferences for providing and receiving social support. Based on the results of 299 college-age students, an analysis of variance on individually standardized ("ipsatized") responses was conducted in order to eliminate the positioning effect of culture. A main effect of ethnicity (p=.05) and an interaction between ethnicity and sex (p=.02) were significant for the preference of tangible social support. A main effect of ethnicity (p=.04) and an interaction between ethnicity and sex (p=.05) were significant for the preference of reappraisal social support. Clinical implications of our research findings are discussed.
ContributorsCampagna, Allegra Xiu Hong (Author) / Shiota, Michelle N. (Thesis director) / Campos, Belinda (Committee member) / Yee, Claire (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Women are now living longer than ever before, yet the age of spontaneous menopause has remained stable. This results in an increasing realization of the need for an effective treatment of cognitive and physiological menopausal and post-menopausal symptoms. The most common estrogen component of hormone therapy, conjugated equine estrogens (CEE; Premarin) contains many estrogens that are not endogenous to the human body, and that may or may not be detrimental to cognition (Campbell and Whitehead, 1977; Engler-Chiurazzi et al., 2011; Acosta et al., 2010). We propose the use of a novel treatment option in the form of a naturally-circulating (bioidentical) estrogen called estriol. Due to estriol’s observed positive effects on synaptic functioning and neuroprotective effects in the hippocampus (Ziehn et al., 2012; Goodman et al., 1996), a brain structure important for spatial learning and memory, estriol is promising as a hormone therapy option that may attenuate menopausal- and age- related memory decline. In the current study, we administered one of the three bioidentical estrogens (17β-Estradiol, 4.0 µg/day; Estrone, 8.0 µg/day; Estriol, 8.0 µg/day) or the vehicle polyethylene glycol by subcutaneous osmotic pump to ovariectomized Fisher-344 rats. We compared these groups to each other using a battery of spatial learning tasks, including the water radial-arm maze (WRAM), Morris water maze (MM), and delayed-match-to-sample maze (DMS). We found that all estrogens impaired performance on the WRAM compared to vehicle, while 17β-estradiol administration improved overnight forgetting performance for the MM. The estriol group showed no cognitive enhancements relative to vehicle; however, there were several factors indicating that both our estriol and estradiol doses were too high, so future studies should investigate whether lower doses of estriol may be beneficial to cognition.
ContributorsStonebarger, Gail Ashley (Author) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Engler-Chiurrazzi, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The transition from high school to college is associated with considerable life strain for adolescents, including higher reported levels of daily stress and negative affect (NA), and alterations in stress physiology have been linked to poor health. The purpose of this thesis was to use an ecological momentary assessment design to study associations between momentary experiences of negative affect and cortisol levels in a sample of adolescents transitioning to college. I also examined the potential moderating effects of two potential vulnerability or protective factors, alone status and perceived social support from friends. Adolescents provided salivary samples and completed paper-and-pencil diary reports of socioemotional experiences and alone status five times per day for three consecutive weekdays, as well as completed self-report questionnaires on perceived social support from friends. Within-person increases in momentary negative affect were associated with momentary cortisol reactivity. Alone status significantly moderated this association such that the association between momentary negative affect and momentary cortisol levels was only significant when individuals were with others and not when they were alone. Perceived social support from friends did not significantly moderate the within-person associations between negative affect and momentary cortisol levels. The findings add to our understanding of physiological correlates of socioemotional experiences, as well as contexts in which these associations may be exaggerated or attenuated. The findings inform our understanding of potential pathways by which physiological reactivity to socioemotional experiences may affect the health of adolescents as well as how prevention efforts could reduce potential poor health outcomes associated with heightened stress reactivity.
ContributorsKomarnisky, Sydney-Paige Milan (Author) / Doane, Leah (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to explore if any correlation exists between the proposed components of happiness with overall self-perceived happiness. This thesis also explores how introversion and extraversion, gender, and working status affects the proposed components of happiness for college students and how their happiness influences engagement, motivation, preference of organizational culture, and the activities that they engage in. This research was gathered from secondary sources and a survey that was given to undergraduate students at Arizona State University. We found that well-being, gratitude, achievement, psychological empowerment, and affection contribute to both extraverts and introverts' happiness. In addition, we found that extraverts reported higher means than introverts in each factor; including happiness in general and what contributes to it. Contrary to popular belief, our research shows that autonomy either had no correlation or negatively correlates with happiness. In addition, we found that both extraverts and introverts participate in social and nonsocial activities rather than solely on their expected type of activity. Our research also shows that females reported higher means than males on gratitude, achievement, and autonomy. One significant implication of this study is that it can help individuals to better understand themselves and people they interact with.
ContributorsVasquez, Delia (Co-author) / Lopez, Miguel (Co-author) / LePine, Marcie (Thesis director) / Arce, Alma (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
This paper explains what factors influence mental health issues and what type of care is provided in various countries. The countries in this study will include the United States, Japan, Ethiopia and South Africa, all of which have varying degrees of ethnic diversity, economic status and understanding of mental health issues. It discusses the specific healthcare systems in each country, as well as the attitudes and problems associated with depression and schizophrenia, two prevalent mental health disorders. This paper examines the different ways that a diagnosis is reached for schizophrenia and major depression in these different countries, as well as what methods are used for treating individuals with these disorders. It will also examine the prominent notion that schizophrenia has better outcomes in developing countries than in places that have wider medical care available. It then discusses what treatments are available in each country, as well as social constructs that exist regarding those treatments in order to understand the ways that treatments can be expanded to improve outcomes. This paper will then examine the different outcomes of these mental health disorders that are common in each country, and conclude with ideas on how to make global mental health a reality.
ContributorsOlsen, Rachel Lindsay (Author) / Gaughan, Monica (Thesis director) / Wood, Reed (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Brief memory tasks for use with pet dogs were developed using radial arm maze performance as a standard comparison measurement of memory capacity. Healthy pet dogs were first tested in a radial arm maze, where more errors made in completing the maze indicated poorer memory. These dogs were later tested with five novel memory tests, three of which utilized a treat placed behind a box with an identical distracter nearby. The treat placement was shown to each dog, and a 35 second delay, a 15 second delay with occluder, or a 15 second delay with room exit was observed before the dog could approach and find the treat. It was found that errors on the delayed match to sample (35 second delay) and occluder/object permanence (15 second delay with occluder) tasks were significantly positively correlated with the average number of errors made in the 8th trial of the radial arm maze (r =.58, p<.01** and r =.49, p<.05*, respectively) indicating that these new brief tests can reliably be used to assess memory in pet dogs.
ContributorsBoileau, Rae Nicole (Author) / Wynne, Clive (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Although it has recently been demonstrated that source monitoring (SM) processes may mediate the relationship between working memory (WM) and false memories, little research has investigated whether the quality of monitoring processes can account for this reduction. In the current study, participants performed multiple false memory, WM, and SM tasks. Consistent with previous research, SM abilities mediated the relationship between WM and false memories (regardless of whether or not participants were warned of the illusions at encoding). High SM individuals were better able to recall contextual information from study to correctly reject lures, whereas low SM individuals were more likely to rely on the quality of retrieved details to reject lures. These results suggest that individuals low and high in SM abilities rely on qualitatively different monitoring processes to reduce errors, and that individual differences in diagnostic monitoring strategies may account for previous relationships found between WM and false memories.
ContributorsCoulson, Allison Rose (Author) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis director) / Ellis, Derek (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
As the daughter of Mexican parents, I was raised with family-centered values which conflict with the values of independence, freedom and individuality stressed in the United States. Being a minority has become part of my identity, thus influencing how I make decisions about finances and traveling. Minorities are faced with many more concern, like familial concerns and financial obligations which hinder their desire to attempt to travel (Salisbury, Paulsen, & Ernest, 2011). My main concerns were convincing my parents that traveling to Nicaragua and studying abroad in Greece and Italy would be beneficial to my college experience, along with financially being able to go through with each experience. The main purpose of my thesis is to share what it is like to be a minority faced with cultural and financial obstacles that make it difficult to travel and how the experience is shaped due to these obstacles.
ContributorsValtierra, Nancy Jazmin (Author) / Larson, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Facinelli, Diane (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Graduate College (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Menopause is associated with a wide array of negative symptoms. As average lifespan increases due to advances in healthcare and technology, more women are spending a larger portion of their lives in a menopausal state low in estrogen and progesterone. Hormone therapies such as Conjugated Equine Estrogens (CEE) and the bioidentical estrogen, 17-estradiol (E2), are commonly prescribed to treat the negative symptoms of menopause. Our laboratory has previously shown that CEE has differential effects on cognitive ability depending on whether menopause is transitional (VCD) or surgical (ovariectomy, OVX). Further, the negative impact of CEE on cognitive function in a transitional ovary-intact model of menopause was associated with high levels of serum androstenedione; the primary hormone circulating in a follicle-deplete menopausal state. Here, we investigate the cognitive effects of these two common hormone therapies separately, and in conjunction with the hormone androstenedione, in a "blank-slate" OVX mouse model. We assessed cognitive ability using two behavioral tasks such at the Water Radial Arm Maze (WRAM, measuring spatial working and reference memory) and the Morris water maze (MM, measuring spatial reference memory). In the WRAM, every treatment group saw impaired performance compared to Vehicle but the combination group of E2 plus Androstenedione. In the MM, the combination group of E2 plus Androstenedione actually enhanced performance in the maze compared to every other comparable group. Translationally, these results suggest that CEE given in the presence of an androstenedione-dominant hormone milieu is impairing to cognition, E2 in this same manner is not. These results yield valuable insight into optimal hormone therapies for menopausal women.
ContributorsGranger, Steven Jay (Author) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Hiroi, Sheri (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MSBR) is a clinically standardized meditation process that has been shown to facilitate the treatment of a variety of mental and physical disorders. The known efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction is derived from research on participants who are defined as unhealthy in some form. The potential benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction for individuals who are considered to be healthy is under-studied, as less attention has gone into this subject area. Information Measurement Theory is a predictive theory that simplifies reality, and through this logical simplification, allows people to predict and see into the future. The concepts that are central to Information Measurement theory are natural laws, unique conditions, and relationships of unique conditions between the past, present, and future and the event model. This project aims to answer the question of if individuals, who are considered to be healthy, experience the same beneficiary results, that mindfulness-based stress reduction models execute, through the conception and knowledge of Information Measurement Theory. This study aims to compare MBSR and IMT in order to determine the consequences of each on the individual. The purpose of this study is also to highlight the promising success that Leadership Society of Arizona has achieved through the teaching of IMT in leadership courses.
ContributorsPirotte, Genevieve Katherine (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12