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open access

Benefits and Costs of Social Interactions Among Firefighters

Description: Despite high levels of exposure, firefighter posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rates are unclear. Likewise, questions remain regarding how social interactions and beliefs about emotion might interact to influence PTSD in firefighters. In this study, U.S. urban firefighters (N = 225) completed measures of social support, negative social interactions, and fear of emotion which were then used via regression analyses to predict PTSD symptoms. Each independent variable predicted PTSD beyond varia… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Farnsworth, Jacob
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Personality Characteristics Associated with Pet Ownership: Validating the Theoretical Propositions of Boris Levinson

Description: The purpose of the present study was to provide validation for Levinson's theory about pets and human personality development. Levinson (1978) proposed that the personality development of individuals who have pets to which they are attached differs from that of those who do not have pets and that pets play an important role in facilitating the development of certain adaptive personality traits. In the present study, specific areas that were addressed included differences in certain personality … more
Date: August 1990
Creator: Esparza, Jana Scoville
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Client-Therapist Interaction and Perceived Therapeutic Outcome

Description: This study sought to determine the therapeutic effectiveness of client-therapist dyads in a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed adolescents. The theories of George Kelly's personal construct psychology were utilized in assessing the dyadic relationship. The four elements investigated were organizational similarity, understanding, organizational congruency and predominant selves. The sample consisted of 140 dyads comprised of 10 adolescent boys and girls and 14 therapeutic sta… more
Date: December 1988
Creator: Fogle, Joseph Edwin
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Demographic and Psychosocial Contributions to the Expression of Schizotypal Personality Traits.

Description: Previous research suggests there are a number of variables that are associated with the expression of schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) symptoms. Such variables include childhood trauma, depression and anxiety, substance use, normal-range personality traits, ethnicity, and gender. However, research to date has not examined all of these variables in a single study to determine how they may be interrelated or differentially related to SPD symptom domains. Of particular interest is the associ… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Hernandez, Nikki
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Evaluating Social Factors in Diabetes Management by Mexican American Ethnicity

Description: Differences in Mexican American ethnicity, family and friend social support, and importance of diabetes self-management as related to diabetes management in the older adult population were evaluated with the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS) 2003 Diabetes Study. Comparisons were made between Mexican Americans with Type II diabetes and similar non-Hispanic Caucasian and African American individuals with Type II diabetes. Neither family/friend social support nor importanc… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Huerta, Serina
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Methodological Issues in Malingering Research: The Use of Simulation Designs

Description: The accurate determination of malingering relies on the use of validated and clinically relevant assessment measures. Simulation design is the most often-used research design to accomplish this. However, its external validity is sometimes questioned. The goal of the thesis was to systematically evaluate these major elements: situation, incentives, and coaching. The situation in simulation studies can vary from relevant (academic failure in a college population) to irrelevant (capital murder) fo… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Gillard, Nathan D.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Forensic Hypnosis and Memory Enhancement: Recall, Recognition, and Confidence

Description: The recent finding of memory enhancement using either cognitive mnemonic or standard hypnotic interviews (Geiselman et al., 1985) suggests the possibility of additive forensic utility when these methods are combined. The present crime-analogue study compared waking and hypnotic cognitive mnemonics to investigate this and potential problems previously unaddressed. Recall and recognition accuracy and confidence were measured for low and high density stimuli in a videotaped murder, including centr… more
Date: December 1989
Creator: Wiley, Stephen K. (Stephen Kenneth)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Improving Adherence: Use of Relapse Prevention Instructions in Clinical Nutrition Programs

Description: The possibility that faulty expectations about success and relapse recovery contributed to poor adherence was examined in this study. Support for such an expectancy model was sought through comparing an index of relative task magnitude to adherence rates. Instructions designed to improve adherence through changing expectations about relapse and relapse recovery were also administered to 46 clients in two clinical nutritional programs. Their adherence rates <in days) were compared to the rates o… more
Date: December 1986
Creator: Snowden, James E. (James Edward)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Comparison of Measures of Masculinity/Femininity in Predicting Instrumental Behaviors

Description: The development of measures of masculinity/femininity in psychology has reflected historical interest in categorizing gender differences. Recent measures have characterized masculinity as instrumental/agentic behavior. In this study, a traditional measure (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Masculinity/femininity scale) was pitted against a more recent measure (the Personal Attributes Questionnaire) in predicting instrumental behavior of mixed sex dyads in laboratory sex stereotype… more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Roesel, Rosalyn
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Children's Cognitive and Moral Reasoning: Expressive Versus Receptive Cognitive Skills

Description: Past research has shown that there are differences between children's ability to express verbally moral judgment or social cognitive principles (cognitive-expression) and their ability to understand and utilize these principles when making evaluations about others (cognitive-reception). This study investigated these differences.
Date: December 1986
Creator: Parker, Deborah A. (Deborah Ann)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Health Attribution, Client Motivation, and Problem Imagery in the Rehabilitation Applicant: A Study of Rehabilitation Outcome

Description: One hundred persons applying for services with the Texas Rehabilitation Commission with reported disabilities of alcohol/substance abuse or back injury/pain were selected for study. Subjects were assigned to two groups (alcohol or back) according to their reported disability. They were tested within one week of application and after 60 days were checked to see what rehabilitation status they were in to determine success or failure. Alcohol clients were administered the Health Attribution Test … more
Date: December 1985
Creator: Drake, Roy Vernon
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Causal Attributions, Attributional Dimensions, and Academic Performance in a School Setting

Description: The attribution model of achievement motivation has been applied to academic achievement as a way of understanding underachievement and as a basis for developing intervention programs. There has been little applied research in this area, however, that supports the use of the model in school settings. The purpose of the present study was to test the applicability of the model to an actual school setting. Subjects were 149 tenth grade students in a large urban school district. In accordance with … more
Date: December 1987
Creator: Huffine, John Harold
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Influence of Self-Monitoring on Return Rate Following Intake at a Child Guidance Clinic

Description: Research has yet to identify any characteristics of clients, therapists, or treatment dyads which consistently identify those clients most likely to drop out of treatment. A frame of reference which may prove useful in identifying such clients is the social psychological construct of selfmonitoring. This theory proposes that individuals involved in any social encounter differ from each other in their approach to constructing a relevant self-presentation. High self-monitors emphasize matching th… more
Date: December 1986
Creator: Matthews, Catherine Henson
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Facial Expression Decoding Deficits Among Psychiatric Patients: Attention, Encoding, and Processing

Description: Psychiatric patients, particularly schizophrenics, tend to be less accurate decoders of facial expressions than normals. The involvement of three basic information processing stages in this deficit was investigated: attention; encoding; and processing. Psychiatric inpatients, classified by diagnosis and severity of pathology, and nonpatient controls were administered seven facial cue decoding tasks. Orientation of attention was assessed through rate of diversion of gaze from the stimuli. Encodi… more
Date: May 1988
Creator: Hoag, David Nelson
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effects of Parenting on Marital Quality: A Causal Analysis

Description: A theoretical model of eleven antecedents of marital quality (education, family life cycle, sex, work status, sex role attitude, social network, role accumulation, role conflict, parental competence, parental strain, and marital strain) was developed and tested using Path Analysis. Subjects were 119 married couples (238 individuals) who had at least one child. They completed the Parental and Marital Interaction Questionnaire which had measures for each of the antecedent variables.
Date: August 1984
Creator: Otero de Sabogal, Regina
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Clinical Scales of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Test Battery, Form II

Description: The factor structure of the Luria Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (LNNB) Form II was examined. A principle components factor analysis was performed on a sample of 102 psychiatric and neurologic subjects. It was necessary to remove 45 items from the analysis due to perfect performance by most subjects. The results were orthogonally rotated to simple structure using a Varimax method of rotation, and then compared to previous LNNB Form I and Form II results. Thirty-three factors were generated… more
Date: May 1990
Creator: Nagel, Jeffrey A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Children's Perceived Contingencies of Teacher Reinforcements, Perceptions of Competence, and Academic Performance

Description: There are two principal definitions of response-reinforcer contingency in the current literature which Scott and Piatt (1985) have labeled the phi coefficient and Rescorla index. For both definitions, contingencies are sensitive to two conditional probabilities of reinforcement, that given the occurrence and that given the non-occurrence of the criterion response. However, phi coefficient is sensitive also to the probability of the criterion response. In order to examine the relationship betwee… more
Date: August 1988
Creator: Dietz, Don Anthony
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Holistic Stress Management Training: A Burnout Strategy for Mental Health Workers

Description: This study investigated the effects of an individually administered versus a group-administered stress management training program on various measures of stress, job satisfaction, and burnout among mental health workers. A total of 36 subjects, who were employed in Texas community mental health facilities, participated in the study. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: an experimental group (N = 12) which received training on an individual basis, an experimental group (N … more
Date: August 1981
Creator: Ray, Cathy Anne
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Cognitive Indices of Criminal Thought: Criminals Versus Non-Criminals

Description: The ability of several psychometric instruments to differentiate between criminal and non-criminal subjects was investigated. The subjects in the study consisted of fifty male individuals between the ages of 18 and 55, half of which had been convicted of one crime and half of which had no history of criminal activity. The tests administered consisted of the Psychopathic Deviation Scale from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Psychopathic Deviation Scale of the Clinical … more
Date: August 1988
Creator: Krusen, Richard Montgomery, 1954-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The relationship of personality traits to depression in a geriatric population.

Description: In later life, adverse life events, disability, health problems, inadequate social support, and personality traits hypothesized to be important risk factors for depression. Sample included 35 older (65-84) physical rehabilitation patients in a large metropolitan hospital. Statistical analysis included Pearson Product Moment correlations and multiple regression results. Perceived physical health, instrumental ADLs, life satisfaction, extraversion, and conscientiousness are inversely related to d… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Wright, Anna M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Dependent Personality Characteristics and Clinical Symptomatology in Three Clinical Syndromes in Inpatient vs Outpatient Settings

Description: The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the differences between dependent personality characteristics and clinical symptomology as measured by the MCMI-II, in three major psychiatric syndromes in inpatient and outpatient treatment settings. Results show differences in profile in all groups. Treatment setting differences show higher scores on alcohol and drug dependence and major depression for inpatients. The affective group exhibited higher scores on dependent personality, dys… more
Date: August 1992
Creator: Cross, Robert Michael
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Investigation on the Impact of Task Characteristics and Cognitive Style on Cognitive Process in a Decision-Making Environment

Description: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between task-related attributes and the elicited cognitive processes of a human decision maker. Previous findings on the feasibility of using cognitive style as a guideline for information systems research and design were inconclusive. It is vital to design a system that meets users decision behavior, but the inherent hazards of information systems design based exclusively on user cognitive styles is suspect. This study provides a bas… more
Date: May 1991
Creator: Tsai, Ray Jui-Ming
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Physiological and Psychological Parameters of Human Touch

Description: The purpose of the present study was to investigate a human being's basic responses to being touched by another human being in a nonreactive context and the effects of an illogical rationale on system disorganization. Two hypothesis were put forth: 1 - that persons in similar circumstances who are not touched, and 2 - that persons who are touched for a reason that makes sense will display less psychological and physiological variability than persons who are touched for a reason that makes less … more
Date: August 1992
Creator: Kohl, Rita Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries
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