Matching Items (72)
Description
Approximately one-third of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans develop mental health problems, yet only 35-40% of those with mental disorders are seeking mental healthcare (Hoge, et al., 2004; Vogt, 2011). Military spouses may be an important resource for facilitating treatment seeking (Warner, et al., 2008), especially if service member mental health issues are impacting the marriage. Military spouses might be hesitant to encourage service member help-seeking, however, due to perceived threat of adverse military career consequences. For this study, 62 military wives completed an online survey. As part of the survey, participants were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes containing a description of a hypothetical military husband with mental health symptoms. Each vignette presented different combinations of marital conflict (high versus low) and service member concerns about adverse career consequences (high versus low). Wives rated on a five-point scale how likely they were to encourage the hypothetical military husband to seek help. It was hypothesized that spouses would be more willing to encourage help-seeking when concerns about adverse military career consequences were low and marital distress was high. No main effects or interaction effect were found for marriage and career. Perceived stigma about seeking mental health treatment in the military, psychological identification as a military spouse, and experience and familiarity with military mental healthcare policies failed to moderate the relationship between marital conflict, career concerns, and encouragement of help-seeking. Correlational analyses revealed that (1) greater experience with military mental healthcare (first- or secondhand), and (2) greater perceptions of stigma regarding seeking mental healthcare in the military each were associated with decreased perceptions of military supportiveness of mental healthcare. Therefore, although the experimental manipulation in this study did not lead to differences in military spouses' encouragement of a hypothetical military service member to seek mental health services, other findings based on participants' actual experiences suggest that experiences with military mental healthcare may generate or reinforce negative perceptions of military mental healthcare. Altering actual experiences with military mental healthcare, in addition to perceptions of stigma, may be a useful area of intervention for military service members and spouses.
ContributorsHermosillo, Lori (Author) / Roberts, Nicole (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Tinsley, Barbara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Researchers have found inconsistent effects (negative or positive) of social relationships on self-control capacity. The variation of findings may depend on the aspects of social relationships. In this study, rather than examining overall social relationships and self-control, characteristics in social relationships were clearly defined, including social support, social connection and social conflict, to determine their specific effects on self-control. An online survey study was conducted, and 292 college students filled out the survey. For data analysis, path analysis was utilized to examined the direct effect and indirect effect from social relationships to self-control. Results showed social connection and social conflict may indirectly associate with self-control through stress, but social support does not. It may suggest, in traditional stress buffering model, it is the social connection in social support that really reduce the stress. Concerning the direct effects, social support and social connection were significantly associated with self-control directly, but social conflict does not. This result may support the Social Baseline Theory that positive social relationships have direct regulating effects. Results are good for guidance of experimental manipulation of social relationships in study of social influences of self-control.
ContributorsGuan, Xin (Author) / Burleson, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Roberts, Nicole (Committee member) / Schweitzer, Nicholas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
As many as one-third of OEF/OIF soldiers and combat veterans may be struggling with less visible psychological injuries. Military/veteran students may face heightened difficulties as they are not only adjusting to civilian life but also transitioning to college life. University administrators and staff have been charged to address their transitional needs and to promote their academic success. Despite significant influx in enrollment with the passing of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, research on OEF/OIF service members and veterans in higher education remains limited. Utilizing self-report measures, the current study examined the psychosocial functioning of 323 military/veteran students enrolled at Arizona State University who served at least one combat deployment as part of OEF/OIF. The study further investigated whether enlisting for educational benefits and utilizing campus programs/services were associated with more positive academic persistence decisions. Participants were also asked to rate ASU's programming for military/veteran students as well as suggest campus programs/services to promote their academic success. More PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety, and anger/aggression were found to be associated with less cultural congruity and lower perceived social support. Cultural congruity and social support were significant predictors of academic persistence decisions. Participants who reported utilizing more campus programs/services also tended to endorse more positive persistence decisions. No significant differences in persistence decisions were found between participants who enlisted in the military for education benefits and those who enlisted for non-educational reasons. Approximately two-thirds reported utilizing academic advising services and Veteran Benefits and Certifications. Library services, financial aid services, and ASU sporting events were the next most frequently utilized. More than 91% rated ASU's programming satisfactory or better. Over 71% of participants indicated that increasing recognition of their military experience would facilitate their academic success. Nearly 40% recommended a military/veteran student lounge and improvements to VA education benefits counseling. Another 30% recommended that ASU provide professional development for faculty/staff on military/veteran readjustment issues, improve the re-enrollment process following deployment/training, offer a veteran-specific orientation, and establish a department or center for military/veteran programming. Findings are discussed in light of Tinto's interactionist model of college student attrition, and implications for university mental health providers are presented.
ContributorsWeber, Dana Joy (Author) / Robinson Kurpius, Sharon E. (Thesis advisor) / Robinson Kurpius, Sharon (Committee member) / Roberts, Nicole (Committee member) / Homer, Judith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This study investigated the potential influence of scent on women's mood and perceptions of men's attractiveness. Participants were 58 heterosexual female college students between the ages of 18-35 who were in decent health, did not smoke, and were not pregnant or nursing. They were asked to rate the physical attractiveness, datability, likability, sexual desirability, and perceived age of men in photographs. Photographs were taken from two online databases. During the ratings, the participants were exposed to either a pleasant scent with the putative human pheromone androstadienone or to the same pleasant scent without the pheromone (between subjects design). Analysis of covariance was used to compare effects of pheromone on ratings and pheromone on mood. Although there was a pheromone effect, it was not in the predicted direction. Participants gave higher ratings on datability when smelling the fragrance without the pheromone, suggesting the pheromone actually seemed to cause lower ratings of this quality. On the other hand, the scent with the pheromone may have reduced an increase in negative moods from pre- to post-task. Scent pleasantness was discovered to be an important predictor of both photo ratings and changes in mood during the photo rating session. Although the current study did not provide further evidence that androstadienone is associated with higher attractiveness ratings, it did support the idea that the pheromone may influence mood.
ContributorsDuncan, Cayla Jessica (Author) / Burleson, Mary (Thesis director) / Roberts, Nicole (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Females' attractiveness ratings of male faces have often been attributed to the male faces' physical characteristics. Multiple studies have determined that male faces are perceived as more attractive when they show the following characteristics: masculine and feminine features, facial age, neotenous signs, symmetry, and averageness. However, certain traits of the rater, such as mood and romantic relationship status, also influence the perceived attractiveness of those faces. This study was designed to address whether female raters' mood and romantic relationship status were associated with their ratings of men in photographs. We recorded the romantic relationship status and current mood of 115 heterosexual females, who then rated ten male photographs on their: likeability, datability, physical attractiveness, sexual desirability, and perceived age of the face. Four separate one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were carried out to test the differences in ratings (i.e., physical attractiveness, datability, likability, and sexual desirability) between single and partnered women. Also, among partnered participants, correlations were calculated between relationship happiness and photo ratings. Finally, correlations between attractiveness ratings and mood-related variables were calculated. Results suggested that the participants' mood was associated with the photo ratings. These findings are consistent with previous literature suggesting that mood can influence people's perception of others. We can then infer that physical traits are not the only defining factor of attractiveness.
ContributorsGonzalez Garcia, Silvio Adrian (Author) / Burleson, Mary (Thesis director) / Roberts, Nicole (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Menstruation has been characterized as powerful, magical, and mysterious. Historically, it was believed menstrual blood could cure leprosy, warts, birthmarks, gout, goiter, hemorrhoids, epilepsy, worms, and headaches. Menstrual blood was used as a love charm and as a means to ward off river demons or evil spirits, and could be used to honor a god (DeLaney, Lupton, & Toth, 1988, pp.8-9). Contemporary studies reveal that women around the world continue to celebrate their power to create. The World Health Organization studied attitudes of women of all socioeconomic classes in 10 countries (Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Pakistan, Philippines, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Korea) and found that most women saw menstruation as a positive event (DeLaney et al., 1988, p. 14). In a similar study, Mexican-American women perceived menstruation positively, as a process that "cleans" the body (DeLaney et al., 1988, p. 14).
ContributorsAzmat, Alia (Author) / Burleson, Mary (Thesis director) / Roberts, Nicole (Committee member) / Trevathan, Wenda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Critical flicker fusion thresholds (CFFTs) describe when quick amplitude modulations of a light source become undetectable as the frequency of the modulation increases and are thought to underlie a number of visual processing skills, including reading. Here, we compare the impact of two vision-training approaches, one involving contrast sensitivity training and the other directional dot-motion training, compared to an active control group trained on Sudoku. The three training paradigms were compared on their effectiveness for altering CFFT. Directional dot-motion and contrast sensitivity training resulted in significant improvement in CFFT, while the Sudoku group did not yield significant improvement. This finding indicates that dot-motion and contrast sensitivity training similarly transfer to effect changes in CFFT. The results, combined with prior research linking CFFT to high-order cognitive processes such as reading ability, and studies showing positive impact of both dot-motion and contrast sensitivity training in reading, provide a possible mechanistic link of how these different training approaches impact reading abilities.
ContributorsZhou, Tianyou (Author) / Nanez, Jose (Author) / Zimmerman, Daniel (Author) / Holloway, Steven (Author) / Seitz, Aaron (Author) / New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2016-10-26
Description
Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a serious lifelong condition, its underlying neural mechanism remains unclear. Recently, neuroimaging-based classifiers for ASD and typically developed (TD) individuals were developed to identify the abnormality of functional connections (FCs). Due to over-fitting and interferential effects of varying measurement conditions and demographic distributions, no classifiers have been strictly validated for independent cohorts. Here we overcome these difficulties by developing a novel machine-learning algorithm that identifies a small number of FCs that separates ASD versus TD. The classifier achieves high accuracy for a Japanese discovery cohort and demonstrates a remarkable degree of generalization for two independent validation cohorts in the USA and Japan. The developed ASD classifier does not distinguish individuals with major depressive disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder from their controls but moderately distinguishes patients with schizophrenia from their controls. The results leave open the viable possibility of exploring neuroimaging-based dimensions quantifying the multiple-disorder spectrum.
ContributorsYahata, Noriaki (Author) / Morimoto, Jun (Author) / Hashimoto, Ryuichiro (Author) / Lisi, Giuseppe (Author) / Shibata, Kazuhisa (Author) / Kawakubo, Yuki (Author) / Kuwabara, Hitoshi (Author) / Kuroda, Miho (Author) / Yamada, Takashi (Author) / Megumi, Fukuda (Author) / Imamizu, Hiroshi (Author) / Nanez, Jose (Author) / Takahashi, Hidehiko (Author) / Okamoto, Yasumasa (Author) / Kasai, Kiyoto (Author) / Kato, Nobumasa (Author) / Sasaki, Yuka (Author) / Watanabe, Takeo (Author) / Kawato, Mitsuo (Author) / New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2016-04-14
Description
Chronic pain is devastating and highly prevalent among Veterans in the United States (Johnson, Levesque, Broderick, Bailey & Kerns, 2017). While there are various treatment options for chronic pain, opioids remain high in popularity. Although opioids are fast-acting and effective, potential consequences range from unpleasant side effects to dependence and fatal overdose (Baldini, Korff & Lin, 2012; Park et al., 2015; Kaur, 2007). The effects of opioid treatment can be further complicated by a history of alcohol abuse. Past alcohol abuse is a risk factor for opioid misuse (McCabe et al., 2008). One alternative to opioid medication is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain (CBT-CP). CBT-CP has shown small to moderate effects on chronic pain after the end of treatment (Naylor, Keefe, Brigidi, Naud & Helzer, 2008). The current study examined the effect of CBT-CP on opioid prescriptions, as well as the role of past alcohol abuse in CBT-CP efficacy, through an archival data analysis of Veterans Affairs patient charts. In order to determine the effect of CBT-CP on opioid prescriptions, an opioid change score was calculated from treatment start date to twelve months post-treatment. An analysis of 106 patient charts demonstrated no statistically significant difference in opioid prescriptions between Veterans who were referred and attended treatment (n = 24) and those who were referred but did not attend (n = 82). Veterans from both groups showed a reduction in prescribed opioids during a 12-month period. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference between Veterans with versus without a history of alcohol abuse in terms of the change in opioid prescriptions over a 12-month period (both groups showed reductions). This research suggests that opioid prescriptions may decrease over time among Veterans referred for CBT-CP, even among those who do not participate in the groups. More work is needed to understand the relationship between opioid prescriptions and actual opioid use over time among Veterans who do and do not choose to participate in CBT-CP. Continuing to address poly-substance use in chronic pain patients also is critical to ensure that Veterans suffering from chronic pain receive appropriate intervention.
ContributorsMiller, Stephanie C (Author) / Roberts, Nicole (Thesis director) / Gress-Smith, Jenna (Thesis director) / Burgess, Lisa (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This study was been influenced from the perspective of clinical psychology. The main research question was: What personality traits and/or characteristics (in this case emotional characteristics) can influence dating violence? Aspects such as gender, age, sexual orientation, and current relationship status were considered. Given the evolving culture of relationship dominance, it has been difficult to detect when, and if, people can become potential victims of relationship violence.
Results of the dating violence assessments were reported as well as the results of a personality assessment. The comparisons between the three relationship assessments were inconclusive. This research should be taken as a guidance into the factors of dating violence by taking into consideration the characteristics and personalities of potential victims. It can also be seen as a snapshot of the current time period on the topic of relationship violence and its ideas and its prevalence.
The research conducted was at Arizona State University in three psychology classes. The results included participants relationships, abuse screening scores, and personality assessments. The True Colors personality test showed that the majority of the participants were associated with being emotion driven.
Results of the dating violence assessments were reported as well as the results of a personality assessment. The comparisons between the three relationship assessments were inconclusive. This research should be taken as a guidance into the factors of dating violence by taking into consideration the characteristics and personalities of potential victims. It can also be seen as a snapshot of the current time period on the topic of relationship violence and its ideas and its prevalence.
The research conducted was at Arizona State University in three psychology classes. The results included participants relationships, abuse screening scores, and personality assessments. The True Colors personality test showed that the majority of the participants were associated with being emotion driven.
ContributorsValadez, Saily (Author) / Lewis, Stephen (Thesis director) / Roberts, Nicole (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05