Paranoia is increasingly considered to be a common phenomenon in the general population and is not just a symptom of diagnosable psychiatric disorders. Recently, Ellett, Allen-Crooks, Stevens, Wildschut & Chadwick (2013) argued that distrust-based competition in the Prisoners Dilemma Game (PDG) is a novel behavioural marker for nonclinical paranoia. The present study sought to replicate the finding of Ellett et al. (2013) and to extend their research by looking to the social psychology literature on human values as additional potential motivations for competition in the PDG. Additionally, the study sought to examine relationships between paranoia in the nonclinical population and human values, and offer support for a recently refined theory of human values (Schwartz et al., 2012). Consistent with prediction, higher trait paranoia was associated with valuing face, that is, holding a commitment to security and power through maintaining one's public image and avoiding humiliation, and lower trait paranoia was associated with valuing universalism-tolerance, that is, showing acceptance and understanding for others. Secondly, and consistent with prediction, the current findings replicated that of Ellett et al. (2013) to show that distrust-based PDG competition is a behavioural marker for nonclinical paranoia. Thirdly, the present research offered a secondary behavioural marker for nonclinical paranoia based on a commitment to valuing power. Lastly, the study offered support for the circular structure of values in Schwartz's (2012) refined theory. Collectively, the current findings provided further evidence for the role of the PDG in the measurement and investigation of nonclinical paranoia, and more specifically provided a foundation for further research into the role that values could play in furthering this understanding.

Over a 6-year period, 106 women involved with men who cross-dress (mostly heterosexual transvestites) completed a questionnaire regarding themselves, their male partners, and their relationships. Interview data supplemented these questionnaires for 75% of the respondents. All respondents were recruited from nonclinical settings. The "modal" female partner was a 40-year-old Protestant, Caucasian woman, who was a firstborn child, in her first marriage. She was more likely than other women her age to be childless, and to have earned at least a 2-year college degree. She was no more likely to have had lesbian experiences or substance use problems than comparably aged American women. She had been married to her cross-dressing mate for 13 years and had known of his activities for 9 years. A quarter of women reported at least occasional sexual arousal to their mate's cross-dressing. The two variables associated with low acceptance of cross-dressing were discovery of their partner's cross-dressing after marriage and lack of sexual arousal to cross-dressing stimuli. Low acceptance was unrelated to firstborn status, amount of exposure to cross-dressing activities, or having had children. This group may be more representative of women in relationships with cross-dressing men than previous reports limited to cross-dressers and spouses who are in treatment.

A growing body of research demonstrates that paranoia is common in the general population. Four studies are presented that investigate factors associated with paranoia and naturalistic change in non-clinical groups. First, two experimental studies examine paranoia in the context of the Prisoner's Dilemma Game (PDG), an interpersonal research paradigm, where two players have the choice to cooperate or compete with each other. The dominant and rational choice for both players is to compete, however each players' individual reward would be greater if they both played cooperatively. Study 1 found that higher state paranoia was associated with the choice to compete. However the competitive choice can be selected due to distrust of the other player, or in order to maximise personal gain. The second experimental study employs a Three-Choice version of the PDG (PDG-Alt) that includes the option to withdraw, the rational choice when distrust of the other player is high. Higher state paranoia was associated with the withdrawal choice. These studies conclude that the withdrawal choice in the PDG –Alt provides a potential behavioral marker of state paranoia. Second, two studies examine naturalistic change in nonclinical paranoia. Idiosyncratic accounts of a single past paranoid experience are elicited and variations in dimensions known to be important in clinical paranoia are examined. Results show that levels of preoccupation, distress, impact on well being and conviction that harm was intentional significantly reduce over time. However the amount of time passed since the experience occurred is not significantly associated with level of change. Finally, in Study 4 a qualitative investigation is presented that identifies themes associated with change in nonclinical experiences of paranoia. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the theoretical, clinical and research implications of the findings.

Child abuse is highly prevalent in the United States, as prior research has shown that 21% of the child population reports experiences of sexual abuse, 28% experience physical abuse, and 11% are emotionally abused. Many studies have assessed the prevalence and consequences of child abuse, but fewer have considered the differences between individual experiences of childhood abuse. The current study investigates possible differences between nonclinical and clinical samples, specifically with regard to victim-perpetrator relationships. We hypothesize that clinical inpatient samples experience greater rates of abuse than a nonclinical sample, and also that participants from clinical samples experience more abuse by family members than those in a nonclinical setting. Our sample (N=521; 53% female; 78% Caucasian) Page 60 2016 Appalachian Student Research Forum consists of participants who report a history of childhood emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse in samples of university students (n=342), randomly-selected forensic adult inpatients from a maximum- and intermediate-security psychiatric facility (n=90), and youth males receiving treatment for sexual misconduct in residential care (n=89). Data were self-reported in the study of university students and retrieved from archival records in the latter two samples. Within the subsample, 69% experienced emotional abuse, 54% had been physically abused, and 45% were sexually abused during childhood. Chisquare analyses were conducted to examine the occurrence of familial versus nonfamilial perpetrators of physical and sexual abuse between two subsamples (clinical inpatient samples versus nonclinical university sample). Individuals with a history of sexual abuse in the clinical sample were more likely than those in the nonclinical sample to be sexually abused by family members,  2 (1, N=230)=11.67, p = .001. Additionally, individuals who were physically abused in the clinical sample were more likely to have been physically abused by relatives than those in the nonclinical sample,  2 (1, N=235)=7.94, p = .005. In contrast, physically abused participants in the nonclinical sample were significantly more likely than those in the clinical sample to be physically abused by nonfamily members,  2 (1, N=235)=19.10, p = .000. There was no significant difference in the likelihood of experiencing extrafamilial sexual abuse between the clinical and nonclinical samples,  2 (1, N=230)=1.96, p = .162. Our results suggest that there are significant differences between the experiences across the subsamples in this study. Additional analyses will include further investigation of the various types of perpetrators (e.g., mother, father, acquaintance, etc.) between the subsamples. Future directions and limitations will be included.

Research indicates the existence of an eating disorder continuum. The two-component model of disordered eating suggests that certain personality traits may increase an individual's vulnerability to develop more severe variants of disordered eating symptomatology. The present study investigates pre-clinical elevations on a measure of personality based on the Five-Factor Model (FFM) and pre-clinical elevations on a measure of eating disorder symptomatology in a sample of nonclinical undergraduates. The personality dimensions Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Agreeableness accounted for 7% of the variability in Body Dissatisfaction. Subcomponents comprising the personality dimensions of the FFM as determined by Saucier (1998) (see Appendix A) were analyzed. The Self-Reproach and Intellectual Interests subcomponents were the strongest predictors of Drive for Thinness and Body Dissatisfaction. The subcomponent Sociability was the strongest predictor of Bulimia. Findings present implications for prevention and treatment interventions. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine the temporal directionality of personality and disturbed eating.

Distorted thinking about food is common in both clinical and nonclinical populations from dieters to diabetics and eating disorder patients. This type of thinking is triggered by exposure to dieting culture (including related social media), familial dieting, and internalization of the thin ideal, among other factors. The consequences of distorted thinking about food include disordered eating, weight management problems, body dissatisfaction and many others. Despite these findings, distorted thinking about food in nonclinical samples remains poorly understood. Thus, the current research sought to investigate distorted thinking about food within a broad theoretical model that includes societal antecedents important to understanding the nature of this construct in the general population. This model, which is based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1991), was investigated in two studies. The first study is a psychometric validation study of a tool designed to measure distorted thinking about food, the Calorie Catastrophizing Scale (CCS; Monaghan & Santor, 2017) as well as the tool designed to measure dietary misinformation, the Dietary Misinformation Questionnaire (DMQ; Monaghan & Santor, 2017). Results lend support for defining and measuring distorted thinking about food as a distinct construct in nonclinical individuals and suggest that dietary misinformation is an important antecedent to this type of thinking and unhealthy eating behaviours. The second study is a randomized controlled trial of a CBT- and TPB-based workshop intervention aimed at reducing these antecedents. Results show that this intervention led to a significant reduction in distorted thinking about food, dietary misinformation, and other important clinical variables such as symptoms of eating pathology. These findings have a number of important implications for how subclinical eating problems are conceptualized, measured, and prevented.

Research suggests that the causal attributions utilized by children with attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differ from those of nonclinical children. Additionally, research indicates differences among the mothers of children with and without ADHD regarding parenting behaviors and attributions for child behavior. In this study, children' s attributions , maternal attributions , and maternal discipline styles were examined in ADHD and non-ADHD populations Participants included 26 children diagnosed with ADHD and their mothers as well as a nonclinical sample of 24 children who had never been diagnosed with ADHD and their mothers. The results support the hypotheses that child and maternal attributions would differ between these two groups. The hypothesis that discipline styles would differ between the two groups was not supported Results suggest that while maternal discipline styles are correlated with children's attributions, the nature of this association differs within AD.HD versus nonADHD populations.

The purpose of this study was to examine sociocultural and psychological correlates of bulimic symptomatology and drive for thinness in a sample of nonclinical female adolescents.