Theses and Dissertations from UMD

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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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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2011 - 20122

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Author: search.filters.author.Wilson, Amy

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    Parsing Hedonic Capacity in Schizotypy: A Multi-Method Assessment of Consummatory and Anticipatory Pleasure
    (2012) Wilson, Amy; Blanchard, Jack J.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study was an attempt to examine anhedonia (or a reduced capacity to experience pleasant emotion) in individuals with elevated schizotypy. Anhedonia deficits in schizophrenia have been well-documented in studies utilizing self-report and clinician interviews; however, research has also shown that when presented with emotionally evocative stimuli, individuals with schizophrenia respond in a normative manner. One explanation for these paradoxical findings is that individuals with schizophrenia do not lack the capacity to experience pleasure (termed consummatory pleasure), but instead have a deficit in anticipating how pleasurable an event will be outside of the context of an immediately experienced event (known as anticipatory pleasure). Research is beginning to indicate that anticipatory pleasure deficits are evident in the schizophrenia population; however, a number of confounding variables are associated with this population which render conclusions about hedonic capacity difficult. A complimentary approach to examining individuals with schizophrenia is to identify nonclinical individuals with elevations in traits that are considered to be within the schizophrenia spectrum, namely, schizotypal traits. Utilizing the schizotypy concept first described by Paul Meehl, this study examines hedonic capacity using a multi-method approach (consisting of self-report, clinical interview, and an emotionally evocative stimulus) in schizotypy within a sample of undergraduate college students. Results were able to confirm that individuals with schizophrenia spectrum psychopathology both self-report and are rated as experiencing impairments in the ability to anticipate future pleasure. No group differences in anticipatory pleasure were identified on the laboratory stimulus, raising questions about our understanding of the nature of the anticipatory pleasure deficit in schizophrenia spectrum psychopathology.
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    Taxometric Analysis of Negative Symptoms in An International Sample of Ten Countries
    (2011) Wilson, Amy; Blanchard, Jack J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Negative symptoms have emerged as a replicable factor of symptomatology within schizophrenia. Although rating scales provide assessments along dimensions of severity, categorization of a negative symptom subtype is typically concluded. Despite an accumulation of findings that support categorical conceptualization, the data are also consistent with a dimensional-only model where negative symptom subtypologies simply reflect an extreme on a continuum of severity. Previous studies (Blanchard, et al, 2005) have used taxometric statistical methods to confirm the existence of a negative symptom subtype; however, the nature of taxometric methods requires replication (Waller & Meehl, 1998). The current investigation is a taxometric analysis of the World Health Organization Ten-Country Study of Schizophrenia. Data from a subset of 694 individuals were analyzed using the taxometric methods of maximum covariance analysis (MAXCOV) and mean above minus below a cut (MAMBAC) and a latent class with a base rate of approximately .14 - .16 was identified.