UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Schizophrenia-spectrum Behavior and Peer Responses to Individuals with Social Anhedonia(2012) Baker, Bryann Renee; Blanchard, Jack J.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Individuals with social anhedonia experience difficulties in several domains including social interaction, cognition, psychophysiological abnormalities, and poor long-term functional outcomes. These individuals also exhibit high levels of behaviors of schizoidia and schizotypy in comparison to healthy controls. This study aimed to examine behavior related to schizoidia and schizotypy, their longitudinal stability and whether these behaviors are related to social functioning. For the first time, this research moves beyond self-report data and evaluates how peers respond to individuals with social anhedonia in a brief time frame. The current study utilized a psychometric high-risk sample of individuals with social anhedonia and healthy controls that participated in a three year longitudinal study and examined the stability of the sample's schizoid and schizotypal behaviors. Further, this study investigated peer reactions to these individuals as well as the relationship between peer reactions and schizoid and schizotypal behaviors. Individuals with social anhedonia demonstrated higher levels of both schizoid and schizotypal behavior at the baseline period, as expected. These differences persisted into the follow-up assessment for schizoid behavior, but not for schizotypal behavior. Peers reported that they were less willing to interact with individuals with social anhedonia and that these individuals were less likable, less friendly and more odd than healthy controls at both the baseline and three-year follow-up period. Further, in regression analyses several patterns emerged to suggest that schizoid behaviors explain a significant amount of variance in these peer responses. This study is the first study to examine the relationship between schizophrenia-spectrum behaviors and peer responses in individuals with social anhedonia and healthy controls.Item Error Observation in Schizophrenia(2009) Mann-Wrobel, Monica Constance; Blanchard, Jack J.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Despite the pervasive and impairing nature of social difficulties in schizophrenia, the causes of these problems are not fully understood. It has been suggested that problems with cognitive functioning contribute to the social deficits of schizophrenia. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms that underlie cognitive processes directly linked to social dysfunction in schizophrenia. Recent studies of the mirror neuron system have focused on the error-related negativity (ERN), a negatively-deflected event-related brain potential that is elicited following the commission of an erroneous response. This study examined ERN activity in schizophrenia patients and psychiatrically healthy controls during performance and observation of a confederate performing a computerized flanker task. The lateralized readiness potential (LRP) allowed for a direct comparison of brain activation reflecting response readiness verses error signaling. Correlations between ERN activity during flanker observation, social cognition (i.e., theory of mind), and community social functioning were explored. Finally, correlations between verbal memory, executive functioning, and social functioning were examined and social cognition was explored as a mediator between neurocognition and social functioning. Results indicated that controls produced a robust ERN during execution of the flanker task, whereas ERN activity among patients was comparatively attenuated in amplitude. During observation, there were no significant group differences and no identifiable observation ERN; however, there was greater negative activity following error than correct trials in this condition for all participants. LRP activity did not parallel that of the ERN, supporting the differentiation of motor activity and error-related processing during observation. The only significant correlation to emerge between ERN activity and social cognition and social functioning was between occupational status and execution ERN activity among controls only. Unexpectedly, neurocognition and social functioning were negatively correlated in the patient group. Expectedly, these variables were positively correlated among controls. Therefore, regression analyses were conducted separately by group; however, neither neurocognition nor social cognition predicted a significant proportion of the variance in social functioning. Despite limitations, this research is discussed as a starting point for integrating the study of psychophysiological activity with social behavior and functioning, particularly in a clinical population with pronounced social deficits.Item Basic Psychometric Properties of the Child Social Functioning Inventory (CSFI)(2004-08-04) Ferrell, Courtney; Beidel, Deborah C.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)To date, interventions for childhood social phobia have examined outcome primarily in terms of symptomatic reduction or efficacy. Although more emphasis is being placed on reporting clinically relevant outcome, few studies have provided a systematic assessment of treatment effectiveness, perhaps due to a lack of an appropriate assessment inventory. The current study presents the initial psychometric characteristics of the Child Social Functioning Inventory (CSFI), a self-report inventory designed to assess social functioning of preadolescent children. The CSFI contains 24 items with a 6-factor structure. The results indicate that the CSFI has good internal consistency and adequate test-retest reliability. In addition, assessment of the construct validity, including concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity suggest that the CSFI is a valid inventory of social functioning for children ages 10 or above. Implications for assessment and treatment outcome are discussed.