Psychology

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    Individual and Interactive effects of child and parent anxiety on behaviorally inhibited youth's RSA across social stressor tasks
    (2023) Bui, Hong Nhu Thi; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Children with elevated behavioral inhibition (BI) show context-inappropriate fear and dysregulated RSA across stressor tasks. However, few studies have examined dynamic RSA within tasks and relations to parent and child anxiety. Using piecewise growth modeling and multi-method baseline data from an intervention study of 151 3.5-5 year old children and their parents, the individual and interactive influences of child social anxiety (SA) and parent anxiety (via diagnostic interviews) in predicting children’s RSA across social stressor tasks (e.g.,learning about unfamiliar peers, Trier Social Stress) were tested. Children high in SA showed RSA responses indicative of avoidant coping, whereas those low in SA showed responses suggesting attention in anticipation of meeting unfamiliar peers. The relation between child SA and RSA across tasks was moderated by parent anxiety, specifically for dyads matched in anxiety. Findings provide support for the influence of both child and parent anxiety on children’s RSA response across specific stressor and non-stressor tasks.
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    The Effects of Discrimination on Black Mothers’ Internalizing Symptoms and Parenting Behavior
    (2020-01-20) Williams, Amber; Dougherty, Lea; Dunbar, Angel
    Can discrimination impact mothers’ mental health and parenting? Based on prior literature, I formed four hypotheses: Black mothers’ experiences with discrimination will be positively correlated to depressive and anxiety symptoms; depressive symptoms would be positively correlated with punitive and minimizing parental responses; anxiety symptoms would be positively correlated to punitive and minimizing parental responses; and, discrimination will be positively correlated to parental punitive and minimizing responses to children’s emotions. I conducted a secondary data analysis using data from the School Transitions and Academic Readiness Project (STAR) at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (N=277). Participants (n=86) included Black mothers and their 4-6 year old children, and measures assessed discrimination, depression, anxiety, and parent emotional socialization in relation to punitive and minimizing parenting practices. Results revealed a trend association between mother-reported racial discrimination and their depressive symptoms, r = .18, p < .10, and a significant positive correlation between mother-reported discrimination and anxiety symptoms, r = .22, p < .05. There was a significant positive correlation between mothers’ depressive symptoms and parental punitive responses, r = .43, p < .05, as well as between mothers’ depressive symptoms and parental minimizing responses, r = .34, p < .05. There was a significant positive correlation between mothers’ anxiety symptoms and parental punitive responses, r = .31, p < .05, and a significant positive correlation between mothers’ anxiety symptoms and parental minimizing responses, r = .24, p < .05. There was no significant correlation between mothers’ discrimination experiences and parenting for either parental punitive or minimizing responses. Results suggest that mothers’ discrimination experiences were related to their internalizing symptoms but not the mothers’ parenting behaviors. Future longitudinal work is necessary to examine whether discrimination may impact parenting over time via parents’ depressive or anxiety symptoms.
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    A Longitudinal Examination of the Relationship between Childhood Emotional Abuse and Anxiety among Youth: Distress Tolerance as a Mediating and Moderating Factor
    (2014) Banducci, Anne Nicole; Lejuez, Carl; MacPherson, Laura; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Background: Anxiety is the most common psychological problem experienced by youth. A number of factors are associated with the emergence of anxiety, including individual and environmental factors. Two such factors include childhood emotional abuse (CEA) and low distress tolerance (DT). The current study aimed to understand how more severe CEA and lower DT impacted anxiety symptoms among community youth. Specifically, we examined low DT both as a moderator and mediator in the relationship between CEA and anxiety. Methods: Participants were two cohorts of community youth. Cohort 1 included 244 youth (54% male, 50% White, 35% Black, 3% Hispanic, 11% mixed/other) with a mean baseline age of 12.01 years (SD = 0.82) assessed annually over five years. Cohort 2 included 109 youth (60% male, 11% White, 79% Black, 10% mixed/other) with a mean baseline age of 10.87 years (SD = 1.28) assessed annually over three years. Measures included the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and Behavioral Indicator of Resiliency to Distress. Results: In cohort 1, more severe CEA was associated with higher anxiety at baseline and with sharper decreases in anxiety over time. Lower DT was associated with higher anxiety at baseline, but did not predict changes in anxiety over time. Distress tolerance significantly moderated the relationship between CEA and anxiety, such that youth with both low DT and more severe CEA had the highest anxiety across all five assessments. Results using data from cohort 2 were not significant. Conclusions: These findings suggest lower DT amplifies the relationship between CEA and anxiety, such that youth with lower DT, who have been abused, are less likely to experience normalization in anxiety symptoms over time compared to youth with higher DT. These findings are in line with diathesis-stress models common to developmental psychopathology.
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    Social Phobia and Occupational Functioning
    (2005-07-26) Yeganeh, Robin; Beidel, Deborah C; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: SOCIAL PHOBIA AND OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING Robin Yeganeh, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation directed by: Professor Deborah C. Beidel Department of Psychology Although there is substantial research on the psychopathology and social functioning of socially anxious adults, there has been little effort to study how this disorder impacts occupational functioning. The few studies that exist to date indicate that adults with social phobia have impaired occupational functioning due to their social fears. For example, 92.3% of one socially phobic sample reported some type of occupational impairment (Turner et al., 1986) and in another study, social fear affected attainment of employment and acceptance of job offers or job promotions (Stein et al., 2000). Objective: This study was designed to further elucidate the type of occupational impairment found among those with social phobia by conducting a comparison to a non-anxious control group. Method: Study participants were those who meet DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for a primary diagnosis of Social Phobia and work at least 20 hours a week. Semi-structured interviews were used to diagnose psychiatric disorders. In addition, self report measures and a daily work diary will be used to examine anxiety, satisfaction with work, and work behaviors. Results: Socially phobic patients were significantly less likely to initiate conversations and engage in interactions with coworkers. Likewise, they reported higher levels of anxiety than non-anxious controls during interactions. Their anxiety prevented their ability to communicate with coworkers, despite a desire to do so. They also report greater hardship in relationships at work in comparison to normal controls. Conclusions: Additional studies on the relationship between anxiety and work functioning are needed. Treatments developed to increase work functioning are warranted. The findings of this study have implications for organizational interventions aimed at increasing quality of work life and work related social functioning for employees with social anxiety.
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    Internal and Environmental Buffers of Terrorism-Related Anxiety
    (2005-03-31) Spiegel, Eric Baron; Gelso, Charles J.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The current study focuses on the adjustment of Washingtonians to living under the threat of terrorism. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships of six predictor variables - resilience, spirituality, perceived social support, perceived controllability, denial, and previous trauma - with terrorism-related anxiety. The author hypothesized that resilience, spirituality, and perceived social support would all be negatively associated with terrorism-related anxiety. Furthermore, it was posited that spirituality would moderate the relationship between previous trauma and terrorism-related anxiety, and that perceived controllability would moderate the relationship between denial and terrorism-related anxiety. A cross-sectional design utilizing correlation and regression analyses was selected to assess the relationships between the predictor and dependent variables, as well as a series of demographic variables. A total of 154 individuals completed a questionnaire packet containing reliable and valid self-report items, which was posted on a secure web site accessible only to study participants. Of the three main effect hypotheses, only the hypothesis involving resilience and terrorism-related anxiety was partially supported. Resilience was significantly and negatively correlated with one of two measures terrorism-related anxiety; it also had significant negative relationships with both measures of terrorism-related anxiety in separate regression analyses. In addition, the interaction effect involving spirituality and previous trauma was partially supported. For one of two measures of terrorism-related anxiety, the spirituality-previous trauma interaction term had a negative relationship with the criterion. Based on the results of this regression, we see that for those who reported high levels of spirituality, higher amounts of trauma were associated with less terrorism anxiety. For people low in spirituality, the level of anxiety stays roughly the same, regardless of the amount of trauma. The significant and non-significant findings for the present study provide tentative directions for future research into terrorism-related anxiety.