Psychology Theses and Dissertations
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Item TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN? ASSESSING THE DISTINCTNESS OF STIGMA CONCEALMENT AND DISCLOSURE PROCESSES(2013) Jackson, Skyler; Jackson, Skyler D; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Past scholarship is divided regarding whether stigma concealment and disclosure represent a unidimensional construct. This study used an online survey to investigate the distinctness of these stigma management processes among 298 sexual minority undergraduate and graduate students. The association demonstrated between stigma concealment and disclosure in this investigation suggests that they are related but ultimately distinct aspects of identity management. This finding was reinforced by numerous cases in which these stigma management variables uniquely predicted factors of psychological health (depression and life satisfaction) or aspects of identity adjustment (self-stigma, acceptance concerns, membership esteem, and identity strength). Additionally, as compared to stigma disclosure, stigma concealment was found to be a better predictor of both factors of psychological health and one aspect of identity adjustment (acceptance concerns). The implications of these results are discussed in light of literature on individuals with indiscernible stigmatized identities and may inform clinical practice and future research.Item PREDICTING YOUNG WOMEN'S CAREER PLANS: DO FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHILDREN PREDICT OUTCOMES OVER AND ABOVE INSTRUMENTALITY?(2013) Savela, Alexandra; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study assessed factors related to career development in a sample of undergraduate women. The roles of instrumentality, anticipated work-family conflict, and willingness to compromise career for children in the prediction of career choice traditionality, career aspirations, and occupational engagement were examined. Additionally, the moderating role of willingness to compromise career for children on the relationship between instrumentality and each career outcome was tested. Results indicated that instrumentality predicted leadership aspirations, recognition aspirations, and occupational engagement. Anticipated work-family conflict predicted career choice traditionality, leadership aspirations, and occupational engagement over and above instrumentality. Willingness to compromise career for children added to the prediction of occupational engagement after controlling for instrumentality and anticipated work-family conflict. No moderation findings were detected. Findings are discussed in terms of future research directions and in the context of career counseling with undergraduate women.Item The relationship of internalized stigma with symptoms, social behavior, and emotional responding in schizophrenia(2013) Park, Stephanie Grace; Blanchard, Jack J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Internalized stigma refers to the process by which affected individuals endorse stereotypes about mental illness, expect social rejection, apply these stereotypes to themselves, and believe that they are devalued members of society (Corrigan et al., 2005; Corrigan et al., 2006; Ritsher & Phelan, 2004). Studies in clinical populations have found that internalized stigma is associated with a host of negative psychosocial variables, including decreased self-esteem and self-efficacy, hopelessness, demoralization, poor quality of life, and reduced motivation to work towards recovery goals (e.g., Livingston & Boyd, 2010; Ritsher, Otilingam, & Grajales, 2003). However, the relationship between internalized stigma and symptoms in schizophrenia is still unclear. Further, though evidence suggests that individuals with schizophrenia who are high in internalized stigma tend to actively avoid others, have reduced social contact, and maintain insular support networks (e.g., Yanos, Roe, Markus, & Lysaker, 2008), actual behavior and emotional responding during social interactions have not been explored. Thus, the current study examined 50 outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder on a battery of self-report measures, clinician-administered interviews, and a social affiliation interaction task to examine the associations between internalized stigma and symptoms, functioning, and emotional responding. Results showed that lower levels of Stigma Resistance were significantly correlated with greater deficits in clinician-rated experiential but not expressive negative symptoms. The present study replicated previous findings of a significant relationship between internalized stigma and other psychiatric symptoms, including depression. Using a multi-method approach to assess functioning, this study found that individuals with higher levels of internalized stigma and lower Stigma Resistance demonstrated impairments in communicative functional capacity and immediate social network relationships. Further, individuals lower in Stigma Resistance were rated as less affiliative and less overall socially skilled during a social affiliation interaction task. However, internalized stigma was not associated with positive or negative affect after the interaction controlling for affect before the task, and there were no differences in willingness to interact or reactions to partner. Importantly, these findings may ultimately contribute to the further development of psychosocial interventions that target internalized stigma.Item Characterizing Therapist Self-Disclosure in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy(2013) Pinto-Coelho, Kristen Giddens; Hill, Clara E; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This mixed-methods study examined therapist self-disclosure (TSD) in 16 cases of naturalistic therapy to describe how real therapists use self-disclosure with real clients and to explore which characteristics of TSD contribute to its effectiveness. Judges coded 185 TSD events from 115 sessions of psychodynamic psychotherapy for type (facts, feelings, insight, strategy); whether disclosures were reassuring, challenging, both, or neither; intimacy level; quality level; and initiator. Relationships among these characteristics and clients' session outcome ratings (Real Relationship Inventory and Working Alliance Inventory) were examined using Hierarchical Linear Modeling. Likelihood of disclosure occurrence and certain disclosure types and characteristics were related to client post-session ratings of the real relationship and the working alliance. Higher-intimacy disclosures (moderately intimate) were associated with stronger client ratings of the real relationship and the working alliance. It is argued that therapist self- disclosure is multifaceted and complex. Implications for research, training, and practice are discussed.Item CLIENT ATTACHMENT AS A PREDICTOR OF THERAPIST INTERVENTIONS, THE WORKING ALLIANCE, AND THE REAL RELATIONSHIP IN THE INITIAL, MIDDLE, AND FINAL PHASES OF PSYCHOTHERAPY(2013) Jackson, John Lawrence; Hill, Clara E; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study investigated client attachment style as a predictor of (a) therapist interventions in an early, middle, and late session of psychotherapy; (b) client and therapist post-session ratings of the working alliance over the course of therapy; and (c) client and therapist post-session ratings of the real relationship over the course of therapy. A total of 41 clients and 14 therapists completed measures prior to and throughout open-term courses of psychotherapy ranging from 8 to 106 sessions. Client attachment style was measured using the anxiety and avoidance subscale scores from the Experiences in Close Relationships scale (ECR; Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998). Therapist interventions were coded by trained observers using the Psychotherapy Q-Set (PQS; Jones, 2000). A factor analysis of therapist interventions revealed four factors: Therapist Facilitative Approach (TFA), Therapist Psychodynamic versus Behavioral Interventions (TPB), Therapist Supportive Approach (TSA), and Therapist Process Comments (TPC). Client attachment avoidance was positively associated with Therapist Supportive Approach (TSA), such that therapists were more likely to use directly supportive interventions with clients who endorsed higher levels of attachment avoidance at the outset of therapy. Otherwise, client attachment ratings were not significantly associated to overall levels of therapist interventions or change in therapist interventions over the course of therapy. Neither client attachment anxiety nor avoidance significantly predicted initial levels, mean levels, or patterns of change in client or therapist ratings of the working alliance or the real relationship over the course of psychotherapy. The findings are discussed in the context of findings and methodological differences from other investigations of client attachment, therapist interventions, and client and therapist ratings of the working alliance and the real relationship. Implications for future research and clinical practice are also discussed.Item THE EFFECT OF ANXIETY ON REPETITION PRIMING FOR VISUAL STIMULI(2011) Norwood, Earta; Smith, Barry; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Anxiety strongly influences a person's experience by affecting, among others, cognition and learning. Theoretical models of anxiety indicate that the level of anxiety experienced by an individual affects how they analyze threat-related incoming information. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between anxiety and the difference in the time it takes to make simple decisions about repeatedly presented photographs. The study included 71 participants who completed a task based on the repetition priming effect. The photographs used for this task depicted human faces displaying a happy or fearful expression. The participants were presented twice with each photograph and were asked to indicate the gender of the face presented in the photograph. The outcome measure was the time that it took for each participant to react to the presented photographs. The findings indicate that anxiety, worry, and intolerance of uncertainty affect the perception of visual stimuli, such that people with higher anxiety, worry, or intolerance of uncertainty react differently to such stimuli. People with a history of a DSM-IV anxiety disorder diagnosis reacted faster to visual stimuli relative to healthy controls. The differences in information processing between people with high and low anxiety seem to provide support for cognitive theories that explain anxiety as the result of lack of habituation due to excessive avoidance and those that explain anxiety as the result of disproportionate allocation of cognitive resources.Item A TRIPARTITE MODEL OF THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP: INTERRELATIONS AND SESSION OUTCOME(2013) Bhatia, Avantika; Gelso, Charles J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The components of a tripartite model of the therapeutic relationship, namely the working alliance, the transference configuration, and the real relationship were examined in terms of how they relate to one another and to the outcome of a psychotherapy session. Licensed psychotherapists (n = 249) were recruited from two Divisions of the American Psychological Association. Therapists completed measures of the therapy relationship components and session outcome for the last session they had with a client. Results revealed that from the therapist's perspective the real relationship and working alliance related positively to session outcome, countertransference behavior related negatively to session outcome and transference did not relate to session outcome. The four components together contributed to 27 percent of the variance in session outcome. The components related to each other as predicted, and a principle components analysis revealed the presence of four distinct factors resembling the components of the tripartite model.Item An Experimental Investigation of the Functional Relationship between Social Phobia and Cigarette Smoking(2013) Dahne, Jennifer Renee; Lejuez, Carl W; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Individuals with Social Phobia (SP) represent a large group with elevated rates of cigarette smoking and cessation rates lower than that of individuals without psychopathology. For individuals with SP, cigarette smoking may be used to reduce social anxiety in anticipation of and during social situations, however, no study to date has experimentally examined this function. The aim of the current study was to experimentally examine the functional relationship between cigarette smoking and SP as a function of induced social stress. Results indicated that high SP individuals experienced significant decreases in negative affect following smoking a cigarette when experiencing social stress. This effect was specific to high SP individuals under social stress condition and was not observed among individuals average in SP or when examining changes in positive affect. Findings are discussed in the context of understanding risk factors for smoking initiation and maintenance as well the development of efficacious interventions.Item An Experimental Study Of Mentoring Practices In An America Reads Program: Measures of Intervention Fidelity And Implementation(2013) Nelson, Janaiha Faith; Gottfredson, Gary D; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The America Reads (AR) program at the University of Maryland serves approximately 350 local elementary school students per semester, and trains undergraduate tutors to teach reading using techniques drawn from Reading Recovery methods. Previous research implies that the implementation of interventions should be evaluated prior to gauging their effectiveness. The present study assessed aspects of program implementation for America Reads at the University of Maryland. In addition, it examined the efficacy of a self-monitoring and corrective feedback procedure for improving level of implementation. AR tutors were randomly assigned to the experimental self-monitoring and feedback procedure or to usual and customary monitoring to assess the effects on mentor implementation. Controlling for school assignment, the effect of this self-monitoring and feedback procedure on mentors' self-reported level of implementation was not significant in the small sample of mentors. Descriptive results including information about the effectiveness and utility of existing procedures for monitoring program implementation, and tutor training have a number of implications for strengthening the Maryland realization of AR; they have implications for the use of monitoring and feedback in the design of similar educational service programs.Item Cognitive and Physiological Mediators of the Link Between Maternal Attachment and Self-Reported Responses to Child Distress(2013) Brett, Bonnie Erin; Cassidy, Jude A; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Given recent evidence that caregivers' responses to their children's distress are predictive of a host of child outcomes, the goal of the present study was to examine attachment related differences in maternal responses to child distress. In addition, I examined whether the link between maternal attachment and maternal responses to child distress was mediated by maternal negative attribution biases about infant distress and maternal electrodermal reactivity in the context of infant distress. Path analyses revealed that (a) maternal attachment-related anxiety was positively related to maternal distress reactions to child distress, (b) that maternal negative attribution biases were negatively related to supportive maternal responses, and (c) that maternal electrodermal reactivity was positively linked with unsupportive maternal responses. These findings advance the literature on the maternal characteristics associated with supportive and unsupportive maternal responses to child distress.