Supervision is a hierarchical and evaluative relationship extending over time between a supervisor and a supervisee that permits quality control of service delivery of neophyte practitioners (Bernard & Goodyear, 2009; Watson, Zizzi, Etzel, & Lubker, 2004). It is a cardinal part of the training and a requirement to become a certified consultant of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (Certified Mental Performance Consultant [CMPC]). This study aimed to: identify the structure of supervision and effective supervision practices used in enhancing the competence of sport psychology trainees, recognize the challenges and mistakes of providing effective supervision, explore the necessary competencies of sport psychology supervisors, and discuss the preparedness of graduates who are CMPC eligible to provide supervision. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 supervisors and directors of supervision (4 female) representing nine doctoral programs in the U.S. Supervisors had 6-35 years of experience providing sport psychology services (Med = 20.3) and 2-26 years of experience providing supervision (Med = 17.3). The programs were diverse in terms of department affiliation (psychology = 4; sport science = 4, other = 1) and institutional affiliation (R1 = 4, R2 = 1, R3 = 1, other = 2). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and data were analyzed both deductively as guided by research questions, and inductively as themes emerged. A total of 927 meaning units (MU) emerged under the six issues: structure of supervision, supervision practices, challenges to providing supervision, mistakes made regarding supervision, competencies of a supervisor, and preparedness to provide supervision. The structure of supervision in the different programs is unique, dynamic, and represents the resources and constraints within which supervisors operate. Despite substantial variability in supervision across the different programs and the varying resources available, supervisors tended to discuss similar supervision practices utilized in the programs. Time constraints represent the primary challenge to providing effective supervision. The inability to establish a trusting relationship with the supervisee is the most repeated mistake. Competencies necessary to provide supervision exceeded those needed for service provision, and are usually attained only after working as a professional in the field for a few years. Necessary competencies of supervisors are further discussed in the framework of structuring and providing effective sport psychology supervision. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / November 6, 2017. / Sport psychology, Supervision, Supervisor competencies, Training / Includes bibliographical references. / Graig Michael Chow, Professor Directing Dissertation; Thomas E. Joiner, University Representative; Gershon Tenenbaum, Committee Member; Martin Swanbrow Becker, Committee Member.

This study examined the effects of different tempo music selections on effort-related thoughts, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), affect, heart rate, and performance of isometric strength exercises. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions: silent control, fast tempo music first followed by slow tempo music, and slow tempo music first followed by fast tempo music. Participants performed a baseline test of two different isometric strength exercises and then completed the exercises two additional times under the assigned condition. Measures of HR, RPE, and effort-related thoughts (i.e., attention) were taken throughout each exercise and participants reported their levels of arousal and pleasantness at the end of the three trials. Three-way mixed RM ANOVAs were performed for HR, RPE, and attention to determine differences among the three conditions for 30 and 60 seconds and 30, 60, and 90 seconds of each exercise. A RM ANOVA was performed to test for differences in time until volitional exhaustion among conditions and a one-way ANOVA was performed on each measure of affect. No significant differences were found between conditions during any of the trials for any repeated measures; indicating both the presence of music and music tempo failed to influence HR, RPE, and attention. No differences between conditions in time to exhaustion emerged, indicating that contrary to hypotheses neither the addition of music nor the tempo of music effected time until volitional exhaustion. Lastly, no differences between either music condition and the silent control condition was observed, indicating music was unable to influence emotion affect during exercise. Conclusion: The presence of music nor the tempo of music was able to influence physical or psychological aspects of isometric strength exercise as it has been shown to do in aerobic and other strength-type exercises. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester 2017. / November 10, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / Gershon Tenenbaum, Professor Directing Thesis; Graig Michael Chow, Committee Member; Qian Zhang, Committee Member.

Sibling relationships have a great impact on children's social and psychological development. This thesis provides an all-encompassing examination of the precursors and outcomes of sibling bullying through three quantitative studies: the first study, a meta-analysis, provides a foundational schema of the factors associated with sibling conflicts; the second study, a short-term longitudinal study, examines the individual and proximal precursors of sibling bullying and its short-term outcomes (one and two years later); the third study, a long-term longitudinal study, examines the distal precursors of sibling bullying and its long-term outcomes (five years later). The first study assessed the strongest effect sizes associated with sibling conflicts. It examined the link between parent-child relationships, familial factors and sibling conflicts. Studies were identified through a systematic search, coded, and selected based on criteria relevant for this study resulting in 60 studies (178 effect sizes), which in total involved 43,270 participating children and adolescents. Studies were categorised as proximal and distal factors. Those involved in sibling conflicts were significantly less likely to have authoritative, and warm and affectionate parents, and less likely to come from families with affluent socioeconomic-status, positive family climate and good marital quality. Conversely, more sibling conflicts were significantly related to abusive and neglectful parents, and parent-child conflicts; and more likely to come from families with poor mental health, low SES, adverse family atmosphere and parental conflict. The factors were moderated by assessment methods, study design, direction and form conflict, gender constellation, and continent. This study served as a building block for the two following studies, as it highlighted key factors to focus on in further assessing the precursors and outcomes of sibling bullying. The second study, which was based on the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transition and Crime (ESYTC, 2014) found that parenting factors were crucial to sibling bullying. Parental involvement, parent-child conflict and parent-child leisure time were precursors and outcomes of sibling bullying, so that more parental involvement and parent-child leisure time were associated with less sibling bullying perpetration and victimisation. Further, sibling bullying perpetration and sibling victimisation were precursors of peer bullying perpetration and victimisation one and two years later. However, the strength of the association declined over the course of two years. Impulsive behaviour and social alienation seem to be fundamental influencing factors in the development of sibling bullying and sibling victimisation, respectively. Additionally, children who were involved in peer bullying were more likely to have been involved in sibling bullying, compared to peer neutrals one and two years later. The third study, which was based on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC, Boyd et al., 2012) found that maternal somaticism was the strongest predictor of sibling bullying. Further, the strongest predictor of sibling victimisation was partner-to-mother verbal violence. Symptoms of depression at 16.5 years of age was the strongest outcome of sibling bullying perpetration and victimisation at 12.5 years of age. Children who were peer bully-victims when they were 17.5 years old were more likely to have been sibling pure bullies and sibling bully-victims, compared to children who were peer neutrals. The results suggest that familial factors significantly influence the quality of sibling relationships. Additionally, the findings show that sibling bullying is related to peer bullying, so that children mirror bullying behaviours across social contexts (i.e. family environment and school environment). The findings of this thesis are important for clinical practitioners, social workers, parents and schools. Based on these findings practitioners could tailor family and parenting intervention programs that prevent siblings from establishing conflictual relationships with one another. Particularly, it is suggested that bullying intervention programs should integrate three aspects: family members should play an integrated and active role in their plans to reduce bullying and victimisation; bullying intervention and prevention studies should commence at preschool ages; positive family climate should actively be nurtured, in addition to lowering hostility.

<p> Multiple theories claim to explain the phenomenon of worldview defense. Terror management theory claims that people defend their beliefs because of the fear of death; other theories (e.g., meaning maintenance model) claim that is instead a specific feared aspect of death (e.g., meaninglessness) that causes worldview defense. Past research has attempted to resolve this issue of competing theories; however, researchers do not agree on whether or not meaning threats are distinct from mortality salience. To clarify this issue, 371 participants were recruited via Prime Panels and assigned to one of the following conditions: a dissonant incongruity condition, an irrelevant incongruity condition, a mortality salience manipulation or a neutral manipulation. All participants subsequently completed a logical fallacy task related to political bias. Results indicated that mortality salience caused a conservative shift rather than worldview defense, whereas incongruity caused participants to make fewer worldview-dependent logical errors when compared with the control condition. These results suggest that incongruity does not cause the same effects as mortality salience and support the notion that they are distinct existential threats. However, further research is needed to resolve this issue. </p><p>

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Psychology. Thesis. 1966. Ph.D. / Bibliography: leaves 68-70. / Ph.D.

Previous research demonstrates that depressed individuals have difficulties with prospection. For example, compared to non-depressed individuals, they predict negative events as more likely to happen, and positive events as less likely to happen, in their future. Recent work suggests that episodic simulation of positive events may prove a useful strategy for improving these prospective biases. The experiments within the current thesis investigated positive episodic simulation as a method of modifying predictions regarding likelihood of occurrence, perceived control, and importance for both positive and negative future events. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated the positive impact of a newly devised paradigm, the Future Simulation Intervention Task (F-SIT), on future event predictions in a non-depressed sample. Experiment 3 investigated the parameters under which the F-SIT modifies these predictions, by using various modifications of the paradigm. These findings suggested that both single cue words with positive instructions, and positive cue scenarios were equally effective at modifying future event predictions. Experiments 4 and 5 extended the findings to show that various versions of the F-SIT beneficially modifies predictions in both a depressed and dysphoric sample. Finally, Experiment 5 also made preliminary investigations into the mechanisms that underlie the modifications evident following the F-SIT, specifically investigating the role of affect. Findings suggested that the modification in predictions about future events that occur as a result of the F-SIT are not merely a by-product of mood improvements. Therefore, the underlying mechanisms of the prediction modification is in need of further investigation. However, overall, the findings from the current experiments suggest that training in future episodic simulation can improve future outlook and may represent a useful tool within cognitive therapeutic techniques.

Previous research has reliably demonstrated that people can form false memories or beliefs of certain events from their personal past, and that these false memories and beliefs can have effects on attitudes and behaviour. When someone forms a false memory or belief of a positive/negative experience relating to a specific attitude object, they tend to change their attitude (and sometimes their behaviour) towards that attitude object accordingly. The research presented in this thesis attempted to build on past research by determining whether false memories and beliefs reliably elicited explicit attitude change across a range of attitudinal domains, whether they affected implicit attitudes as well as explicit attitudes, and whether certain individual difference variables and phenomenological characteristics of false memories had an influence on explicit or implicit attitudinal effects. It was consistently found that false memories and beliefs of a positive experience regarding an attitude object resulted in participants reporting significantly more preferential explicit attitudes towards that attitude object. Tentative evidence was found that false memories may be sufficient to affect implicit attitudes, but false beliefs may not. Results highlighted the potential influence of certain phenomenological characteristics of false memories on attitude change, but found limited evidence to suggest any influence of individual difference factors. The predictions and results of these experiments were considered within the context of theoretical frameworks of social cognition.

The dissertation investigated the relationship between acculturation, acculturative stress, locus of control, and perceived social support on the mental health of Chinese immigrant adolescents. Study participants included 81 first generation Chinese immigrant adolescents. Mental health was operationalized using the BASC emotional symptoms index and somatization score. As hypothesized, acculturative stress and perceived parental support were significant predictors of both emotional symptoms and somatization. Locus of control and perceived peer support were significant predictors of emotional symptoms only, while acculturation was not a significant predictor of either emotional symptoms or somatization. Furthermore, the results suggested that locus of control and social support had a direct impact on mental health outcomes, rather than an indirect, stress buffering role. Future research and study implications are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the perceived quality of the student-teacher relationship in second grade predicted reading comprehension gains over the course of one year in a model that included variables known to effect reading comprehension: quality of classroom instruction, social economic status, engagement, and peer relatedness. Reading comprehension gains for 255 second grade students in a high socio-economic school district were obtained in a pre-post fashion from school records over a single academic year. Teachers' rated each student in their class on one occasion in terms of the degree of conflict and closeness in the student-teacher relationship, the quality of peer relatedness, and classroom engagement. The CLASS (Pianta, Paro, & Hamre, 2008), an observation system, was employed to measure several important classroom variables including emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support, yielding a teacher competence score. Because the 255 students were nested within seven different elementary schools with 14 different teachers, a hierarchical linear model (HLM) was used with classroom engagement as a mediating variable. There were an insufficient number of teachers and elementary schools to use HLM so an alternative model that estimated the overall relationships among the variables and corrected the significance tests for the nesting of the students within classrooms, and the nesting of the classrooms (teachers) within schools was employed. The hypothesized model fit the data well (÷2 = 9.17, (4), p < .06, RMSEA = .07, CFI = .98). Significant direct paths were found for student-teacher closeness, peer relatedness, and fall reading scores on classroom engagement. Significant indirect paths were found from student-teacher closeness, peer relatedness, and fall reading scores to reading comprehension gains via classroom engagement. Finally, classroom engagement had a positive direct effect on reading comprehension. Teacher competence and conflict in student-teacher relations were unrelated to reading comprehension gains. Study findings have implications for future educational focus such as improving classroom engagement, fostering close student-teacher-relationships, enhancing peer relatedness, and training teachers. Future research should be conducted with larger and more diverse samples, and examine the student's perception of the student-teacher relationship.

This study examined the future orientation, or attitudes about the future, of traumatized youth with and without Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) relative to the future orientation of a non-traumatized comparison group. Participants included youth between 6 and 17 years of age who were previously evaluated for a larger trauma study at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City. Youth presenting with major comorbid psychiatric disorders were excluded from participation. Child diagnostic interviews identified 30 youth with PTSD, 62 traumatized youth without PTSD, and 40 non-traumatized controls. Children and adolescents completed the Children's Future Orientation Scale, a multi-dimensional self-report measure assessing future thinking regarding having a family, social relationships, work, as well as general life outlook. Statistical analyses indicate that the total future orientation ratings of youth with PTSD were significantly lower than the aggregate ratings of traumatized youth without PTSD and non-traumatized controls. Youth with PTSD had substantially lower expectations about future social relations and more pessimistic general expectations about the future than controls. On the other hand, the traumatized groups did not significantly differ with regard to future socialization expectations. Moreover, traumatized youth without PTSD had considerably more negative future social expectations relative to the controls. Though these results offer preliminary support for the DSM-IV contention that PTSD is associated with negative expectations about the future, deficits in future orientation were not exclusive to diagnostic status and varied as a function of the type of future expectation. Future research should strive to compare youth with PTSD to youth with other psychiatric disorders in order to increase our understanding of future expectation across diagnostic categories and increase the external validity of empirical findings.