Psychology Research Works
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1645
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Item The Impacts of Anti-Black Racism in Psychology: How "Whiteness" structurally sustains anti-Blackness in psychology(Psychology Today, 2024-12-19) Robinson, Ty A; Adelabu, Detris HThis article explores the pervasive impacts of anti-Black racism within the field of psychology, highlighting how the discipline has historically contributed to the marginalization and dehumanization of Black individuals. By examining the legacy of pseudoscientific research and the construction of "Whiteness" as the normative standard, the article demonstrates how these practices have informed harmful policies, including forced sterilization, segregation, biased intelligence testing, and exclusionary immigration laws. Despite contemporary efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, the authors argue that superficial initiatives fail to address the structural foundations of anti-Blackness embedded within psychology. The article calls for a fundamental restructuring of the discipline, advocating for the dismantling of systems that uphold White supremacy and the development of a more equitable and just psychological science. Through this critical analysis, the piece urges a transformative approach that moves beyond performative allyship and toward genuine systemic change.Item Hello World! Building Computational Models to Represent Social and Organizational Theory(2024) Grand, James A.; Braun, Michael T.; Kuljanin, GoranComputational modeling holds significant promise as a tool for improving how theory is developed, expressed, and used to inform empirical research and evaluation efforts. However, the knowledge and skillsets needed to build computational models are rarely developed in the training received by social and organizational scientists. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide an accessible introduction to and reference for building computational models to represent theory. We first discuss important principles and recommendations for “thinking about” theory and developing explanatory accounts in ways that facilitate translating their core assumptions, specifications, and ideas into a computational model. Next, we address some frequently asked questions related to building computational models that introduce several fundamental tasks/concepts involved in building models to represent theory and demonstrate how they can be implemented in the R programming language to produce executable model code. The accompanying supplemental materials describes additional considerations relevant to building and using computational models, provides multiple examples of complete computational model code written in R, and an interactive application offering guided practice on key model-building tasks/concepts in R.Item Emotion dysregulation and reward responsiveness as predictors of autonomic reactivity to an infant cry task among substance-using pregnant and postpartum women(Wiley, 2023-12-14) Bounoua, Nadia; Tabachnick, Alexandra R.; Eiden, Rina D.; Labella, Madelyn H.; Dozier, MaryMaternal substance use may interfere with optimal parenting, lowering maternal responsiveness during interactions with their children. Previous work has identified maternal autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity to parenting-relevant stressors as a promising indicator of real-world parenting behaviors. However, less is known about the extent to which individual differences in emotion dysregulation and reward processing, two mechanisms of substance use, relate to maternal ANS reactivity in substance-using populations. The current study examined associations among emotion dysregulation, reward responsiveness, and ANS reactivity to an infant cry task among 77 low-income and substance-using women who were either pregnant (n = 63) or postpartum (n = 14). Two indicators of ANS functioning were collected during a 9 min computerized infant cry task (Crybaby task): respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period. Mothers also completed self-reported measures of emotion dysregulation and reward responsiveness. Analyses revealed that trait emotion regulation was associated with RSA reactivity to the Crybaby task, such that greater emotion dysregulation was associated with greater RSA reduction during the infant cry task than lower emotion dysregulation. Reward responsiveness was not significantly associated with either indicator of ANS reactivity to the task. Findings revealed distinct patterns of associations linking emotion dysregulation with ANS reactivity during a parenting-related computerized task, suggesting that emotion regulation may be a key intervention target for substance-using mothers.Item Development and empirical test of the research-informed South African Relationship Functioning Assessment (SARFA)(Wiley, 2023-10-13) Belus, Jennifer M.; Hines, Abigail C.; Magidson, Jessica F.; Iwamoto, Derek K.; Rose, Alexandra L.; Li, Alison; Barnabas, Ruanne V.; van Heerden, AlastairIntimate partners play an important role in chronic diseases. Despite the chronic disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa, very few culturally relevant quantitative measures of intimate relationship functioning are available. We conducted an empirical investigation evaluating the psychometric properties of the South African Relationship Functioning Assessment (SARFA) assessing healthy relationship functioning in N = 150 community members (50% women; M age = 27.2 years) living in the Vulindlela area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Item development was based on prior qualitative research from two South African communities. All assessments were conducted in isiZulu, participants' primary language. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the initial 39-item measure. The best-fitting model consisted of one factor with 22 items. The SARFA's internal consistency was α = .94. Convergent validity was observed via significant positive associations (all rs ≥ .38, p < .001) between the SARFA's total score and measures of trust, emotional intimacy, constructive communication, sexual satisfaction, and relationship control (women only). Divergent validity was observed for women only. Encouraging initial psychometric properties of a culturally relevant measure of relationship functioning in KwaZulu-Natal may have relevance to other communities and potential to be used in research involving couples and health in chronic disease-burdened communities.Item Structural barriers explain the link between negative community re-entry experiences and motives for illegal behavior in street-identified Black men and women(Wiley, 2023-10-17) Bounoua, Nadia; Sadeh, Naomi; Payne, Yasser A.; Hitchens, Brooklynn K.This study examines how the re-entry process is related to structural barriers in the community and to motives for engaging in illegal behavior—two key risk factors for recidivism. We analyzed survey data collected on perceptions of community re-entry, employment opportunities, neighborhood violence, and illegal behavior motives from 379 formerly incarcerated and street-identified Black-American community members residing in Wilmington, Delaware (Mage = 32.3/8.9 years old; 77.0% men; 100% Black) by employing Street Participatory Action Research (Street PAR) methodology. We found that negative perceptions of re-entry correlated positively with (i) hardship caused by structural barriers in the community, specifically blocked employment opportunities and neighborhood violence, and (ii) motives for engaging in illegal behavior. Notably, the link between negative perceptions of re-entry and motives for illegal behavior became significantly weaker when the influence of structural barriers on these individual-level factors was included in a multivariate model. Results suggest negative views of the re-entry process reflect the resource-scarce and stressful environments people are living in, and structural barriers can account for the relationship between negative re-entry experiences and why individuals are motivated to engage in illegal behavior. Findings underscore the importance of improving the economic conditions of communities with high numbers of returning citizens.Item Dark Entanglement: Narcissistic Leaders, Their Followers, and the Contexts They Create.(Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2024-01) Forgo, Emily E.; Hanges, Paul J.; Gruda, DritjonThis chapter describes the complex interplay between narcissistic leaders and their followers and how different contexts influence this dynamic relationship. In contrast to the traditional narcissistic leadership literature, which has concentrated on the leader’s characteristics and tendencies, we apply a relational-based perspective to argue that followers can enhance or suppress these characteristics of the leader. We also discuss how contexts also have a similar effect on leaders and followers. Narcissistic relationships flourish under certain circumstances and whither under others. We argue that a complete understanding of narcissistic leadership requires understanding of and empirical study of the entangled nature of these three variables.Item Testing reciprocal associations between child anxiety and parenting across early interventions for inhibited preschoolers(Wiley, 2023-08-29) Novick, Danielle R.; Meyer, Christian T.; Wagner, Nicholas J.; Rubin, Kenneth H.; Danko, Christina M.; Dougherty, Lea R.; Druskin, Lindsay R.; Smith, Kelly A.; Chronis-Tuscano, AndreaBackground Given the robust evidence base for the efficacy of evidence-based treatments targeting youth anxiety, researchers have advanced beyond efficacy outcome analysis to identify mechanisms of change and treatment directionality. Grounded in developmental transactional models, interventions for young children at risk for anxiety by virtue of behaviorally inhibited temperament often target parenting and child factors implicated in the early emergence and maintenance of anxiety. In particular, overcontrolling parenting moderates risk for anxiety among highly inhibited children, just as child inhibition has been shown to elicit overcontrolling parenting. Although longitudinal research has elucidated the temporal unfolding of factors that interact to place inhibited children at risk for anxiety, reciprocal transactions between these child and parent factors in the context of early interventions remain unknown. Method This study addresses these gaps by examining mechanisms of change and treatment directionality (i.e., parent-to-child vs. child-to-parent influences) within a randomized controlled trial comparing two interventions for inhibited preschoolers (N = 151): the multicomponent Turtle Program (‘Turtle’) and the parent-only Cool Little Kids program (‘CLK’). Reciprocal relations between parent-reported child anxiety, observed parenting, and parent-reported accommodation of child anxiety were examined across four timepoints: pre-, mid-, and post-treatment, and one-year follow-up (NCT02308826). Results Hypotheses were tested via latent curve models with structured residuals (LCM-SR) and latent change score (LCS) models. LCM-SR results were consistent with the child-to-parent influences found in previous research on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for older anxious youth, but only emerged in Turtle. LCS analyses revealed bidirectional effects of changes in parent accommodation and child anxiety during and after intervention, but only in Turtle. Conclusion Our findings coincide with developmental transactional models, suggesting that the development of child anxiety may result from child-to-parent influences rather than the reverse, and highlight the importance of targeting parent and child factors simultaneously in early interventions for young, inhibited children.Item Neural sensitivity to social reward predicts links between social behavior and loneliness in youth during the COVID-19 pandemic(Wiley, 2023-08-04) Dziura, Sarah L.; McNaughton, Kathryn A.; Giacobbe, Elizabeth; Yarger, Heather A.; Hickey, Alexandra C.; Shariq, Deena; Redcay, ElizabethNeural reward network sensitivity in youth is proposed to differentially impact the effects of social environments on social outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to test this hypothesis within a context of diminished in-person social interaction. We examined whether neural sensitivity to interactive social reward moderates the relationship between a frequency of interactive or passive social activity and social satisfaction. Survey reports of frequency of interactions with friends, passive social media use, and loneliness and social satisfaction were gathered in 2020 during mandated precautions limiting in-person contact. A subset of participants (age = 10–17) previously participated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study examining social-interactive reward during a simulated peer interaction (survey n = 76; survey + fMRI n = 40). We found evidence of differential response to social context, such that youth with higher neural reward sensitivity showed a negative association between a frequency of interactive connections with friends and a combined loneliness and social dissatisfaction component (LSDC) score, whereas those with lower sensitivity showed the opposite effect. Further, high reward sensitivity was associated with greater LSDC as passive social media use increased, whereas low reward sensitivity showed the opposite. This indicates that youth with greater sensitivity to social-interactive reward may be more susceptible to negative effects of infrequent contact than their low reward-sensitive counterparts, who instead maintain social well-being through passive viewing of social content. These differential outcomes could have implications for supporting youth during times of major social disruption as well as ensuring mental health and well-being more broadly.Item Emotion regulation and reactivity are associated with cortical thickness in early to mid-childhood(Wiley, 2023-07-26) Ewell, Arcadia; Allard, Tamara; Botdorf, Morgan; Ji, Angela; Riggins, TracyThis study explored the neural correlates of emotion regulation and emotional reactivity in early to mid-childhood. A sample of 96 children (70% White, mid-to-high socioeconomic status) aged 3–8 years provided structural neuroimaging data and caregivers reported on emotion regulation and emotional reactivity. The amygdala, insula, inferior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, and medial orbitofrontal cortex were explored as a priori regions of interest (ROIs). ROI analyses revealed that emotion regulation was positively associated with cortical thickness in the insula, whereas emotional reactivity was negatively associated with cortical thickness in the inferior frontal gyrus. Exploratory whole-brain analyses suggested positive associations between emotion regulation and both left superior temporal thickness and right inferior temporal thickness, as well as negative associations between emotional reactivity and left superior temporal thickness. There were no significant associations between emotional regulation or reactivity and amygdala volume or cortical surface area. These findings support the notion that surface area and cortical thickness are distinct measures of brain maturation. In sum, these findings suggest that children may rely on a wider set of neural regions for emotion regulation and reactivity than adults, which is consistent with theories of interactive specialization across the life span.Item Early emotional caregiving environment and associations with memory performance and hippocampal volume in adolescents with prenatal drug exposure(Frontiers, 2023-11-20) Kohn, Brooke H.; Cui, Zehua; Candelaria, Margo A.; Buckingham-Howes, Stacy; Black, Maureen M.; Riggins, TracyEarly adversities, including prenatal drug exposure (PDE) and a negative postnatal emotional caregiving environment, impact children’s long-term development. The protracted developmental course of memory and its underlying neural systems offer a valuable framework for understanding the longitudinal associations of pre- and postnatal factors on children with PDE. This study longitudinally examines memory and hippocampal development in 69 parent–child dyads to investigate how the early caregiving emotional environment affects children with PDE’s neural and cognitive systems. Measures of physical health, drug exposure, caregiver stress, depression, and distress were collected between 0 and 24 months At age 14 years, adolescents completed multiple measures of episodic memory, and at ages 14 and 18 years, adolescents underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Latent constructs of episodic memory and the caregiving environment were created using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Multiple regressions revealed a negative emotional caregiving environment during infancy was associated with poor memory performance and smaller left hippocampal volumes at 14 years. Better memory performance at 14 years predicted larger right hippocampal volume at 18 years. At 18 years, the association between the emotional caregiving environment and hippocampal volume was moderated by sex, such that a negative emotional caregiving environment was associated with larger left hippocampal volumes in males but not females. Findings suggest that the postnatal caregiving environment may modulate the effects of PDE across development, influencing neurocognitive development.