39 Matching Results

Results open in a new window/tab.

Inflammatory Biomarker Levels and Vaccine Response

This study was conducted as part of a parent grantwhich examined the relationship between components of sleep and antibody responses to the flu vaccine in a population of 392 nurses working at two large hospitals. During/after sleep data was collected, nurses had blood drawn at four time points: immediately pre-vaccination, 1-, 6-, and 11-months post vaccine to obtain serum for detection of anti-influenza antibodies measured with an HI (hemagglutination inhibition) assay. Additionally, the inflammatory biomarkers IL6, IL1-β, TNF-α and CRP were measured at the pre-vaccine time point only to determine any correlation between the markers and antibody response. Data was analyzed using a hierarchical regression. In the first step, analyses assessed whether each change/average in cytokines over the one-month period had an impact on vaccine response for each of the four viral strains in the flu vaccine. In a second step, analyses assessed whether variables such as insomnia, stress, age, smoking, BMI, and race had any impact on vaccine response beyond the effects exerted through inflammation. The change in association (β) between the primary independent variable and primary dependent variable were examined in order to determine whether there are any suppression effects caused by baseline covariates on the relationship between …
Date: May 2022
Creator: Alkire, Christopher B
System: The UNT Digital Library
Some Things Change and the News Stays the Same: Contextual Factors of Mainstream News Viewing and Racial Attitudes (open access)

Some Things Change and the News Stays the Same: Contextual Factors of Mainstream News Viewing and Racial Attitudes

Considerable media research has established that much of mainstream, United States based news is historically rife with content that both implicitly and explicitly reinforces popular cultural norms. Combined with a history full of inequities towards marginalized groups, many of which were based on race, consumption of mainstream news has been linked to increased hostility and more negative attitudes towards non-Whites in the United States. That said, much of this work views news from a monolithic perspective of news programming, irrespective of the differences in political orientation or broadcast integrity. By using quantitative assessments of how various mainstream news programs score on both left/right and fact/opinion-based dichotomies, the purpose of the present study is to address these gaps. As models for how mainstream news consumption is related to existing race-related attitudes, theoretical foundations of cultivation theory (how long viewers watch), the motivation and opportunities model (if viewers are motivated in their viewing) and social ecology theory (who viewers are), were used in relation to these dichotomies. However, overall results suggest that, while time spent with news, race, and gender appear to affect news consumption's relationship with race-related attitudes, preference for left vs. right wing news and fact vs. opinion-based was less …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Archibald, Audon
System: The UNT Digital Library
Untangling Relational Trauma: A Symptom Network Model of Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder within a Relational Framework (open access)

Untangling Relational Trauma: A Symptom Network Model of Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder within a Relational Framework

The recent inclusion of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) within the International Classification of Diseases, eleventh edition (ICD-11) prompted scholars to re-evaluate treatment guidelines for traumatic disorders. The present study aimed to conceptualize dyadic, community, and systemic connections within the context of ICD-11 traumatic disorders and investigate unique associations between factors capturing relational quality. The current study additionally utilized a novel network modeling approach to explore the CPTSD symptom network structure using a college sample of trauma survivors. Consistent with generations of theory and research, relational quality factors associated with the disturbances in self-organization (DSO) symptom cluster, and anticipated discrimination associated with both relational disturbance and sense of threat. Affect dysregulation, re-experiencing, and relational engagement emerged as most central within the CPTSD symptom network, providing evidence towards the role of affect regulation in relational functioning, while intersectional discrimination associated with both the PTSD and DSO symptom clusters. Findings from the present study provide context to the potential application of a relational and systems focused intervention.
Date: August 2022
Creator: Archuleta, William P
System: The UNT Digital Library
Computational and Statistical Modeling of the Virtual Reality Stroop Task (open access)

Computational and Statistical Modeling of the Virtual Reality Stroop Task

The purpose of this research was two-fold: (1) further validate the Virtual Reality Stroop Task HMMWV [VRST; Stroop stimuli embedded within a virtual high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle] via a comparison of the 3-dimensional VRST factor structure to that of a 2-dimensional computerized version of the Stroop task; and (2) model the performance of machine learning [ML] classifiers and hyper-parameters for an adaptive version of the VRST. Both the 3-D VRST and 2-D computerized Stroop tasks produced two-factor solutions: an accuracy factor and a reaction time factor. The factors had low correlations suggesting participants may be focusing on either responding to stimuli accurately or swiftly. In future studies researchers may want to consider throughput, a measure of correct responses per unit of time. The assessment of naive Bayes (NB), k-nearest neighbors (kNN), and support vector machines (SVM) machine learning classifiers found that SVM classifiers tended to have the highest accuracies and greatest areas under the curve when classifying users as high or low performers. NB also performed well but kNN algorithms did not. As such, SVM and NB may be the best candidates for creation of an adaptive version of the VRST.
Date: May 2022
Creator: Asbee, Justin M
System: The UNT Digital Library

Common Strategies for Regulating Emotions across the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) Model

The hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology (HiTOP) is a novel classification system that adopts both a dimensional and hierarchical approach to psychopathology to address shortcomings. However, the HiTOP framework is descriptive in nature and requires additional research to consider potential mechanisms for the onset and maintenance of psychopathology, such as cognitive-behavioral emotion regulation strategies. To redress this gap, a sample of 341 adults who endorsed ongoing mental health concerns completed self-report measures of emotion regulation strategies and psychopathology. The data revealed a three-spectra HiTOP model consisting of internalizing, thought disorder, and antagonistic externalizing. Results found that psychopathology was most strongly associated with avoidance, catastrophizing, expressive suppression, and self-blame. In contrast, adaptive strategies were generally unrelated to the HiTOP spectra. This pattern was strongest for internalizing, distress, and detachment. Fewer, yet noteworthy unique relationships between the strategies and specific spectra/subfactors were also found. These findings suggest that psychopathology may be best conceptualized as an overutilization of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Furthermore, the results indicate there is added benefit to considering these strategies within a hierarchical approach to psychopathology. These associations alert clinicians to potential treatment targets and contribute to an ongoing literature that seeks to identify underlying mechanisms of the structure of …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Bennett, Charles B.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Bicultural Identity Integration and Psychological Wellness among Adult Children of Immigrants: Role of Cognitive Flexibility, Affect Regulation, and Adaptive Coping

Guided by the framework of bicultural identity integration (BII), a conceptual model depicting the direct and indirect effects of BII, cognitive flexibility, affect regulation, and coping on psychological wellbeing indicators (i.e., life satisfaction, depression) of adult children of immigrants (ACI) in the U.S. was developed. It was hypothesized that greater BII would contribute to greater cognitive flexibility and affect regulation, which would be associated with more utilization of adaptive coping strategies and greater psychological wellbeing. A total of 240 young ACI from across the U.S. completed the online research questionnaire that measured all variables of interest. Results from structural equation modeling analyses showed adequate model fit with the data. Findings provided support to the indirect effects of BII factors on wellbeing through affect regulation, however, the indirect effect paths are more complicated than what were hypothesized originally. Specifically, higher levels of identity harmony and identity blendedness contributed to more difficulties in emotion regulation, and subsequently, poorer wellbeing. Additionally, both cultural identity harmony and identity blendedness contributed to greater levels of cultural and relational maintenance strategies (i.e., avoidance, forbearance) in the context of intergenerational conflict through affect regulation, but not through cognitive flexibility. Notably, the latent variable of cultural coping strategies …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Bismar, Danna
System: The UNT Digital Library

Effects of Enculturation in Neuropsychological Test Performance on the African Neuropsychological Battery in African Americans and First-Generation Sub-Saharan African Immigrants to the United States

This study used an archival data set of 26 healthy adult immigrants from a sub-Saharan African country to the United States (Mage 39.0, SD = 11.36; Meducation 16.33, SD = 2.88; 40.7% male). Additional archival data was used for 32 healthy African American adults (Mage 34.06, SD = 11.18; Meducation 16.16, SD = 2.49; 53.1% male). A bivariate correlation indicated that acculturation to African culture, as measured by the mBIQ (M 49.29, SD = 8.66), was significantly positively correlated with ethnicity, r = .632, p = .000, ηp2 = 0.399. Two-way ANOVAs revealed that African Americans were able to name more animals than African immigrants (F(1, 54) = 4.82, p = 0.32, ηp2 = 0.82) and exhibited greater organizational skills during a task of cognitive set shifting and problem solving than African immigrants, regardless of level of acculturation (F(1, 54) = 4.47, p =.039, ηp2 = 0.078). In contrast, African immigrants scored higher than African Americans on indigenous fruit (F(1, 54) = 7.60, p =.008, ηp2 = 0.123) and object naming (F(1, 54) = 5.59, p =.022, ηp2 = 0.094). Results of the study concluded that there are small variance effects in language tasks as well as strategy-based approaches to …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Braggs, Princess S
System: The UNT Digital Library

Diverging Perceptions of Emotional Black and White Female Leaders

Stereotypical beliefs about emotion have been shown to influence perceptions of competence. While emotional White women are often presumed to be generally less competent, emotional Black women receive variable competence ratings due to the intersecting stereotypes concerning both their race and gender. However, it is unclear how perceptions of competence fluctuate in response to anger, a stereotypically male emotion, in comparison to sadness, a stereotypically female emotion. The project at hand utilized participants' responses to a scenario of White and Black leaders engaging with subordinates in their workplace expressing either neutral, angry, or sad responses to an interaction. We aimed to identify if a Black woman leader's expression of anger garnered a more favorable response than a White woman leader's expression of anger in addition to whether both leader's expression of sadness would garner similarly low ratings of competence. Results reveal that perceptions of a woman leader's competence can be influenced by race alone with no significant influence from emotional expression. Specifically, a Black woman leader's competence can on average be rated lower than a White woman's competence regardless of emotional expression. This study provides further evidence that group stereotypes manifest differentially based on context.
Date: May 2022
Creator: Briggs, Madasen
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Uncivil Student and an Antagonistic Professor Walk into a Classroom: How Instructor Behavior During Class Conflict Impacts Learning (open access)

An Uncivil Student and an Antagonistic Professor Walk into a Classroom: How Instructor Behavior During Class Conflict Impacts Learning

Exceptional classroom management (CM) for face-to-face and online classes is vital to instructor success, and importantly, directly impacts students' ability to learn. Classroom conflict may disrupt an instructor's CM and can occur when a student is uncivil (e.g., sidetracks from lecture) or when an instructor misbehaves (e.g., antagonizes students). A small but meaningful line of work suggests that uncivil students and misbehaving teachers negatively impact the learning environment. However, no work has examined how the interaction between an uncivil student and misbehaving teacher impacts learning. As such, the purpose of the current study is to empirically investigate how teacher responses to student incivility impact cognitive learning in an online learning environment. The project evaluated approximately 252 undergraduate students via an online study. Participants watched a video of an online class in which the professor responds to an uncivil student in one of three different ways: antagonistically, positively, or neutrally. Participants then took a cognitive learning quiz based on the lecture and answered questions about their perception of the instructor, uncivil student, and the learning environment. Results of the one-way ANOVA suggest that how an instructor responded to student incivility did not significantly impact cognitive learning. Secondary analyses also indicated that …
Date: December 2022
Creator: Carey, Caitlyn Nicole
System: The UNT Digital Library
Prediction is Not Enough: Towards the Development of a Multi-Faceted, Theoretical Model of Aggression and Violence (open access)

Prediction is Not Enough: Towards the Development of a Multi-Faceted, Theoretical Model of Aggression and Violence

Violence and aggression continue to be both public health and economic concerns. The field of violence prediction has undergone a series of changes in an attempt to best assess risk including using unstructured clinical judgment, actuarial measures, and structured professional judgment. Although prediction has become more accurate with improved measures, a new generation has recently emerged with an emphasis on understanding violence, as opposed to merely predicting it, to shift the focus towards violence prevention. In addition to the creation of measures, researchers have sought to identify specific risk factors for aggression and violence including static and dynamic risk factors. Despite research demonstrating associations between neuropsychological and social-cognitive factors, violence risk measures continue to omit these variables. The current study developed a multi-faceted, theoretical model of aggression including social-cognitive, neuropsychological, personality, and psychiatric factors. A community, male sample (N = 1,192) collected through Amazon's MTurk responded to a series of self-report measures and neuropsychological tasks. Utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM), I created a model predicting aggression. Several important paths were significant including from entity theory to aggression, mediated by hostile attribution bias, schizotypy to aggression, mediated by both hostile attribution bias and disinhibition, substance use to aggression mediated by disinhibition, …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Cohn, Jonathan Reed
System: The UNT Digital Library
Moral Injury Development and Repair in Service Members and Veterans: The Roles of Self-Forgiveness, Perceived Social Support, and Causal Attributions (open access)

Moral Injury Development and Repair in Service Members and Veterans: The Roles of Self-Forgiveness, Perceived Social Support, and Causal Attributions

Moral injury (MI) among military personnel is a harmful condition caused by perpetrating, failing to prevent, or witnessing atrocities that violate one's deeply held morals or values. The current study built on the existing literature by exploring predictors of MI, specifically trait self-forgiveness (TSF), state self-forgiveness (SSF), perceived social support (PSS), and causal attributions (CA) following potentially morally injurious experiences (PMIEs) in service members and veterans. Participants were 92 U.S. military service members and veterans. The main findings were that TSF and PSS were both significantly negatively associated with MI in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Further, TSF and PSS were examined as potential moderators of the relationship between PMIEs and MI, but these moderation analyses were not significant. Given that some studies provide evidence for different symptom profiles between categories of PMIEs (i.e., PMIE-Self, PMIE-Other, and PMIE-Betrayal), the relationship between the different categories and TSF were explored. Of the three PMIE types, only PMIE-Betrayal was a significant negative predictor of TSF. Finally, CA was explored as a potential mediator of the relationship between TSF and MI outcomes, but this mediation analysis was not significant. Limitations, directions for future research, and implications for clinical practice are included for discussion.
Date: August 2022
Creator: Coomes, Steven P.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Racial Microaggressions, Racial/Ethnic Identity, and Sense of Belonging among Students of Color

Victims of racial discrimination often experience negative consequences that extend into all aspects of well-being (e.g., psychological, subjective, social). Racial microaggressions describe a series of verbal and non-verbal behaviors that cause harm, perpetuate negative stereotypes, and negate the experience of racial/ethnic minorities. Research has found a negative relationship between experiencing racial discrimination and psychological well-being, as well as a potential buffering effect of racial/ethnic identity. However, less information is available about the existence of these relationships with social well-being. The purpose of this dissertation is to fill a gap in the literature in regard to racial microaggressions, racial/ethnic identity, and social well-being in 453 racially diverse undergraduate students. Quantitative results indicated that African Americans reported higher levels of racial microaggressions and racial/ethnic identity than other groups, racial microaggressions were negatively associated with sense of belonging, racial/ethnic identity was positively associated with sense of belonging, and the association between racial microaggressions and sense of belonging was not moderated by racial/ethnic identity. Qualitative analyses using the conventional content analysis revealed two clusters of facilitative behavioral expressions of university/community inclusion: (a) interpersonal expressions of inclusion and (b) systemic expression of inclusion. I conclude by discussing limitations, areas for future research, and implications for …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Davis, Cameron W
System: The UNT Digital Library
Differential Treatment and Outcomes of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Psychotherapy (open access)

Differential Treatment and Outcomes of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Psychotherapy

Therapeutic alliance has been consistently demonstrated as a robust predictor of treatment outcomes, though the time in psychotherapy at which therapeutic alliance best predicts outcomes is unclear. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that racial and ethnic minority clients typically form weaker therapeutic alliances in treatment. The weaker development in therapeutic alliance among racial and ethnic minority clients may mediate discrepancies in treatment outcomes, including higher dropout rates. The purpose of this study was to explore this possibility by (1) investigating the temporal relationship between therapeutic alliance and treatment outcomes and (2) examining differences in therapeutic alliance ratings and treatment outcome, including unilateral termination, among racial and ethnic minority clients. The findings of this study may be integral to identifying and addressing psychotherapy treatment disparities that are tied to racial or ethnic minority status.
Date: May 2022
Creator: Dimmick, A. Andrew
System: The UNT Digital Library

Examining the Role of Emotion Dysregulation and Rumination in the Relationship between PTSD Symptom Severity and Sleep Disturbances

Emotion dysregulation and rumination are involved in the development, maintenance, and treatment of both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and sleep disturbances. We examined if and how these factors influenced the nature of the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and subjective sleep disturbances among trauma-exposed individuals. Using data gathered from a community sample of 199 trauma-exposed individuals (Mean age = 35.48; 59.80% female), we examined whether there were stronger significant associations between greater PTSD symptom severity and poorer sleep quality/lower sleep quantity at higher (vs. lower) levels of (1) negative emotion dysregulation and positive emotion dysregulation (both included in the same model) and (2) rumination. Participants recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk completed the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, Brief Version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale – Positive, Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire, and sleep quality/quantity items from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results of simple and additive multiple moderation analyses showed that neither negative/positive emotion dysregulation nor rumination moderated the relationships between PTSD symptom severity and sleep quality/quantity. Exploratory analyses showed that negative emotion dysregulation (when examined independently) moderated the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and sleep quality. There were also significant associations between poorer sleep …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Dolan, Megan A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Investigating the Motivation-Cognition Interface: The Influence of Motivation on the Recognition Old/New Effect and Metamemory (open access)

Investigating the Motivation-Cognition Interface: The Influence of Motivation on the Recognition Old/New Effect and Metamemory

The purpose of this study was to thoroughly review previous work and to create a new experimental paradigm combining recognition memory with value-based incentives and metacognitive confidence judgments, which may provide convergent evidence for the motivation-cognition interface. This paradigm involves a game-like task administering global and local motivational incentives. Furthermore, trial-level metacognitive confidence ratings were gathered to understand the relationship of metacognitive accuracy and value as a function of strategic control of attention and memory and incentive-based motivation. Paired samples t-tests and a repeated measures ANOVA were used to identify differences in recognition performance based on reward incentive, and Goodman-Kruskall gamma correlations between performance confidence estimates were used to measure metacognitive accuracy. The results showed the mean number of recognition hits (correctly remembering previously seen items) were indeed greater for high-value items compared to low-value items. I also report an unanticipated effect of block, such that the hit rate increased for low valued items from Block 1 to Block 2. Unfortunately, I did not find meaningful results for the metacognitive judgments. This study lays important groundwork for subsequent research incorporating physiological testing to provide a much-needed link between mind and brain with respect to motivation and cognition. Moreover, this study …
Date: May 2022
Creator: Doshier, Kirby
System: The UNT Digital Library

Queer Resilience: A Mixed Methods Examination of LGBTQ+ Positive Identity, Community Connectedness, and Mental Health Outcomes in Sexual Minority Emerging Adults

Despite significant progress in the acceptance and celebration of LGBTQ+ individuals, there is overwhelming evidence that sexual minorities still face disproportionate levels of health inequity compared to their heterosexual peers. Relative to their heterosexual peers, LGBTQ+ emerging adults may encounter unique challenges with discrimination, stigma, and limited social support as they navigate changes in their educational and occupational environments. Additionally, within the broader public health and LGBTQ+ mental health literature, little is known about the mental health service utilization of sexual minority emerging adults. To address these empirical gaps, a sample of 98 LGBTQ+ emerging adults completed self-report measures of heterosexist discrimination experiences, mental health symptoms, LGBTQ+ positive identity, LGBTQ+ community connectedness, and mental health service utilization. The present study found that LGBTQ+ positive identity and LGBTQ+ community connectedness did not attenuate the significant positive relationship between discrimination and negative mental health outcomes. The present study also found that LGBTQ+ positive identity predicted greater likelihood of mental health service utilization, whereas LGBTQ+ community connectedness did not. Finally, exploratory qualitative analyses yielded deeper understanding of relationships between LGBTQ+ positive identity, LGBTQ+ community connectedness, mental health service utilization, and resilience among sexual minority emerging adults. Implications and future directions for empirical research …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Fondren, Alana Harrison
System: The UNT Digital Library
Middle Childhood Behavioral Attachment Dimensions (MCBAD):  Development and Validation of an Observational System for Coding Dimensions of Attachment Security in Middle Childhood (open access)

Middle Childhood Behavioral Attachment Dimensions (MCBAD): Development and Validation of an Observational System for Coding Dimensions of Attachment Security in Middle Childhood

Middle childhood is the least understood developmental period in the attachment literature, likely due to active reorganization of the attachment system during this stage. Coinciding with increased cognitive and socioemotional competencies, middle childhood attachment begins to transition from relationship-specific attachment to general attachment representations. While parents continue serving as the primary attachment figure used as a secure base and safe haven, noticeable shifts occur in terms of the need for availability over proximity to attachment figures and the child's involvement in maintaining the attachment relationship. Currently, there is no dominant conceptual or methodological approach for studying attachment in middle childhood. The present study sought to develop and validate an observational coding system examining middle childhood attachment using a dimensional approach. The Middle Childhood Behavioral Attachment Dimensions (MCBAD) system demonstrated mixed reliability and validity compared to other established attachment measures. Compared to traditional categorical attachment measures, this study provides evidence for the utility of an anxiety-avoidance dimensional attachment scale in childhood. Additionally, the MCBAD is the first observational system that examines both nonverbal and verbal attachment behaviors in an unstructured separation-reunion episode, and findings suggest a need for further examination of verbal attachment during this developmental stage.
Date: August 2022
Creator: Geerts-Perry, Ashley
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cross Validation of the Juror Questionnaire of Values and Viewpoints: Sentencing Decisions and Impression Management in Eligible Capital Jurors (open access)

Cross Validation of the Juror Questionnaire of Values and Viewpoints: Sentencing Decisions and Impression Management in Eligible Capital Jurors

The current dissertation had three primary objectives, categorized into two MTurk studies with capital juror-eligible community members: (a) cross-validate the psychometric properties of the JQVV, (b): explore the role of legal attitudes via the JQVV in mock capital sentencing decisions, and (c): examine the JQVV's ability to detect juror social desirability in capital voir dire. Impressively, Study 1 (N = 552) and Study 2 (N = 313) provided strong and consistent evidence for the JQVV's reliability and construct validity. In the mock juror paradigm, punitive legal attitudes on the JQVV (i.e., Crime-Neg, Convict, and Death-Pos), did not directly affect sentencing decisions, however they indirectly influenced the perception of nearly all other legally relevant variables (e.g., evidence type). For example, participants with more punitive criminal justice attitudes evaluated aggravating evidence more favorably which, in turn, increased death sentence verdicts. Study 1 also underscored the concerningly low levels of comprehension jurors have regarding judicial instructions and other relevant legal knowledge (e.g., the definition of aggravating). In Study 2, the support-life and support-death groups evidenced divergent patterns of social desirability, although support-death participants did not dramatically alter their scores between the genuine and social desirability condition. Additionally, the JQVV Pros-Cyn and Justice-Pos scales …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Hartigan, Sara E
System: The UNT Digital Library

Elucidating the Effects of Pre-Treatment Expectation Measures on Therapeutic Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis

Client pre-treatment expectations have a significant impact on psychotherapy outcome, therapeutic alliance, and attendance. Client expectations are thought to account for approximately 11-14% of variance in premature termination from psychotherapy. However, measures that conflate treatment beliefs and distinct measurement techniques for the same outcome construct obscure the relationship between expectations and psychotherapy outcomes. Clarifying these associations is necessary to support development of useful methods and processes that support client retention in evidence-based treatments. With drop-out rates of approximately 20% across treatment settings, and as high as 69.4% in psychology training clinics, risk of attrition is a significant liability to effective treatment. The meta-analytic findings presented herein clarify the association of pre-treatment expectations with psychotherapy outcome, considering competing definitions for client expectations and discrepant psychotherapy outcome measurement. Implications for attrition, treatment outcomes, and therapeutic alliance are discussed.
Date: December 2022
Creator: Herrera, Christa N.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Experiences of Divine Grace in Mainline Protestants: A Consensual Qualitative Approach (open access)

Experiences of Divine Grace in Mainline Protestants: A Consensual Qualitative Approach

The empirical study of grace, a relational virtue nestled within the fields of positive psychology and the psychology of religion and spirituality, has had a relatively slow start. Since research on experiences of grace is in the beginning stages, the purpose of the current study was to provide rich, context-based, qualitative data to describe (a) mainline Protestants' experiences of, and beliefs about, grace (e.g., common grace, justifying/saving grace, sanctifying grace, accepting grace), (b) how mainline Protestant Christians experience the interplay between divine grace and forgiveness (i.e., self-forgiveness, other-forgiveness), and (c) how mainline Protestant Christians experience the interplay between divine grace and humility. Interviews were conducted with 28 community adults who were affiliated with a mainline Protestant church. Results indicated that mainline Protestant Christians have varying beliefs about divine grace and how it is related to both the present moment and the afterlife. Divine grace was often defined as, or associated with, other relational virtues (e.g., forgiveness, love), and participants occasionally defined grace as a gift. Divine grace was further described as being instrumental in mainline Protestant Christians' experiences of (a) self-forgiveness, (b) other-forgiveness, (c) acknowledgement of personal weaknesses and limitations, and (d) connecting with others who are different. I conclude …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Hodge, Adam Scott
System: The UNT Digital Library
Experiences of Black Student Athletes in the Advent of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic: A Qualitative Study (open access)

Experiences of Black Student Athletes in the Advent of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) a public health emergency of international concern. In March 2020, the United States government imposed impactful safety and confinement measures issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) all over the country to prevent community transmission of COVID-19. Institutions of higher education rapidly transitioned to online learning and eliminated in-person engagements in the spring of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) followed a similar trajectory by shutting down all athletic activities due to the global pandemic. While college students in general notably experienced increased pandemic related distress and mental health concerns (e.g., depression, anxiety) during the early stages of the global pandemic, the disruption of collegiate sport competitions and seasons uniquely and significantly impacted collegiate student athletes and their overall well-being. In this qualitative study, I sought to document and understand the narrative of Black student athletes' experiences of stress and coping during the first two months of the COVID-19 global pandemic and cancellation of collegiate sports. Through reflexive thematic analysis, I found that psychosocial resources such as avoidance, acceptance, mindful self-compassion, health …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Jackson, Randi D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cognitive States while Mind Wandering and Associated Alterations in Time Perception (open access)

Cognitive States while Mind Wandering and Associated Alterations in Time Perception

Time perception is a fundamental aspect of consciousness related to mental health. One cognitive state related to time perception is mind wandering (MW), defined as having thoughts unrelated to the current task. Little research has directly assessed the relationship between these two constructs, despite the overlap in clinical significance and the shared importance of attention for healthy functioning. In the present study, I addressed this by having a sample of 40 adults in the United States complete an online sustained attention to response task remotely while answering thought probes related to thought type and time perception. Multilevel modeling results indicated that cognitive factors were related to the judgements of passage of time (JOPOTs; the feeling that time is passing quickly or slowly) while they had little relation to the estimated duration or the accuracy of those estimations. Specifically, JOPOTs were related to attention to task and emotional valence, and the addition of MW, intentionality, and fixed/dynamic thoughts to the models explained additional variance. Duration estimations and JOPOTs were unrelated to each other, suggesting JOPOTs and duration estimations have different relationships to cognitive factors and should be studied as separate constructs. Additionally, results suggested that the heavy use of dichotomization in …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Kelly, Megan Erin
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Development and Validation of a Comprehensive Stereotypicality Measure

Racial stereotypicality refers to the degree to which an individual looks like a "typical" member of their ethnic or racial group by considering multiple phenotypical features such as skin tone and nose width. Prior studies have utilized real and photoshopped images to assess perceptions of individuals high in racial stereotypicality. However, no known studies have allowed participants to engage in the self-assessment of their own facial features outside of skin-tone. In the present study, I develop and investigate the underlying structure of a scale which allows Black individuals to self-assess their perceived degree of racial stereotypicality. I accomplished this by developing items, soliciting expert feedback, conducting cognitive interviews, disseminating the proposed scale, and conducting an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on a sample of 308 Black adults. EFA results produced a three-factor structure influenced by item wording and reverse coding. Findings also indicated that items which assessed one's overall degree of stereotypicality loaded onto a singular, separate factor as originally theorized. Results suggest that reverse coding, item wording, and response labeling may influence factor structure and negatively impact scale validation procedures. Additionally, items assessing overall stereotypicality may address something distinctly different from other items which assess individual features. Therefore, perceived overall …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Latimer, Kyjeila
System: The UNT Digital Library

How Much Does Sleep Vary from Night to Night? A Quantitative Summary of Intraindividual Variability in Sleep by Age, Gender, and Racial/Ethnic Identity

Habitual (i.e., average or typical) sleep duration and sleep efficiency vary widely by demographic characteristics, including age, gender, and racial/ethnic identity. Despite a wealth of studies on demographic patterns in habitual sleep, these results are often based on cross-sectional surveys, which ask participants to retrospectively recall their "typical" or "recent" sleep. Yet, sleep is a highly dynamic behavior and may fluctuate substantially from night-to-night. This intraindividual variability (IIV) in sleep/wake patterns can be captured a multitude of ways, most commonly by using formula-based calculations. Although there is growing attention on the importance of IIV in sleep, findings on demographic differences are still inconclusive, and there are no guidelines for typical values of IIV in sleep. The present study quantitatively synthesized 8 international data sets (N = 2847 participants, 29,832 total days of sleep data), focusing on examining age, gender, and racial/ethnic identity differences in IIV in sleep measured via sleep diaries, actigraphy, and electroencephalography. Sleep duration and sleep efficiency varied widely from night-to-night within people (duration: 64-119 minutes; efficiency: 5-8%). Different metrics of IIV were strongly correlated within and across sleep measurement types. Younger adults had more IIV in diary and actigraphy sleep duration. Gender differences in IIV in sleep …
Date: May 2022
Creator: Messman, Brett A
System: The UNT Digital Library