<p> This study examined the application of experiential avoidance to understanding anger, a universal emotion that is not presently well-understood despite its pervasiveness in both clinical symptomatology and general experience. Theories including the anger avoidance model (Gardner &amp; Moore, 2008) and the cognitive-neoassociationistic perspective (Berkowitz, 1983) proposed that anger is related to avoidant behaviors and lack of control. Experiential avoidance (EA), a concept introduced in Relational Frame Theory (Hayes, 2004b), describes the avoidance of unpleasant thoughts and negative emotional experiences. Historically, EA has primarily been used to examine anxiety, but may also present a valuable theoretical approach to other emotional experiences, including anger. </p><p> To clarify the link between experiential avoidance and anger, correlations between subjects' scores on subtypes of anger and levels of experiential avoidance were examined. A non-clinical sample of 215 graduate students completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II). Scores were analyzed for correlations between levels of experiential avoidance and types of anger experiences. Results suggest that experiential avoidance is related to higher levels of trait anger, increased inward expressions of anger, and decreased control over anger experiences. Implications for research, theory, and clinical approaches to anger and aggression are discussed.</p>

<p> Retrospective emotional frequency appraisals are often used in clinical assessment measures, but their suitability for use with children has not been well studied. The aims of this project were to (a) examine whether items that use retrospective frequency structures gather more or less information than items that do not use such structures and (b) examine whether the information gathered by such items differs across children's ages. <i>Method</i>. Data were gathered from 9- to 12-year-old girls who participated in a larger study of a depression treatment protocol. Two sets of five pairs of items were sampled from two children's depression measures. The item pairs contained one item from each measure. One set of item pairs was matched for content and the use of retrospective frequency structures. The other set was matched for content only. <i>Results</i>. For the first research question, information curves for the two item sets were generated using Samejima's (1969) Graded Response Model (GRM). Visual analyses of the information curves provided inconclusive results as to whether the presence of retrospective frequency structures is associated with differences in item information levels. The second research question was conducted in two parts. For both, only data from the 9- and 12-year-old participants were analyzed. In the first part, confirmatory factor analysis was used to analyze measurement invariance across the two groups' responses. Theses analyses showed signs of measurement non-invariance in both item sets. The second part of the analyses was conducted by generating separate GRM information curves for the two age groups and conducting visual analyses of the information curves. These analyses showed that the model which had been used throughout the remainder of the study did not fit the 9-year-old group well. They also showed that the 12-year-old group's information curves varied more in height across measures and item sets than did the 9-year-old group's curves. <i>Discussion</i>. Although the findings failed to shed light on the effects of retrospective frequency structures on children's responding, they highlighted potential differences between the 9- and 12-year-old groups' factor structures and indicated that the 9-year-olds displayed decreased sensitivity to differences in item structure.</p>

<p> People with intellectual disability have historically been excluded from the benefits of psychotherapy, despite the higher incidence of mental illness, in general, and PTSD, in particular, in this population. It had been thought that intellectual disability precluded the cognitive and emotional ability required to participate in therapy. A growing body of literature is reporting successful application of a number of these therapies, established as empirically effective for the general population, with people with intellectual disability. Typically, minor modifications are required. Criticism continues, now based on the problem of using therapies with a population for which they have not been empirically established as effective. The current study contributes to the empirical process of establishing effectiveness of a specific trauma therapy for people with intellectual disability. It applies the EMDR therapy to six participants in a multiple-baseline, ABA, time-series experiment design. EMDR has previously been used with people with intellectual disability, reporting improved symptoms and functioning for the more than 35 cases published. For the current study, the participants were all diagnosed with PTSD and other diagnoses reflecting the emotional distress associated with histories of multi- and poly-traumatization, beginning at an early age. They received weekly assessments on multiple measures: self-report, physiological, observer ratings, and continuous actigraph recordings. Each participated for a minimum of 60 weeks, which included: an A phase, the Baseline; a B phase, the Intervention; and, a second A phase, Maintenance. After a Hiatus of six weeks, participants returned for Follow-up testing. The EMDR therapy was delivered during the Intervention phase, only. All participants lost the diagnosis of PTSD and showed emotional and functional improvement on a number of measures. The self-report measures produced the most descriptive time-series data, providing indication of change in a number of dimensions, visually interpretable from graphs of the data, included in this document. Linear regression analyses support visual analysis. Additional research in using the EMDR therapy with people with intellectual disability is recommended, with the purpose of establishing it as appropriate for use with this population. Limitations of the study are addressed. </p>

<p> The present study investigated differences between individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and non-anxious controls (NAC) on measures of thought processes and anxiety responses surrounding an anxiety-provoking situation. Participants gave a spontaneous speech to an audience and reported their anxiety throughout. Measures of trait decentering and anxiety, situational anxiety, negative thoughts and believability, and willingness to repeat the task were administered. Compared to NAC, individuals with SAD reported a higher prevalence of negative thoughts, found the thoughts more believable, reported lower levels of trait decentering, and reported less willingness to repeat an anxiety-provoking task. Collapsing the groups, we found an inverse relationship between the amount of negative thoughts and willingness to repeat the task, and a positive correlation between decentering and willingness. We did not find evidence to support that decentering and believability moderate this relationship. The present study partially supports the proposed model of SAD, as the SAD and NAC groups differed at each step of the proposed model, however moderation analyses were not significant.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: B, page: 4834. Adviser: R. Chris Fraley. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-78) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Syracuse University, 2008. / "Publication number: AAT 3333596."

<p> Narcissism is a well-known psychological construct that bears implications for personality, development, adjustment, and relationships. Insecure attachment is also a part of well-developed psychoanalytic theory in psychology. Much research has been conducted on the two constructs, but little has been empirically discovered about how the two relate to each other, particularly for the developing age group of early adolescence. Morf and Rhodewalt [<i>Psychological Inquiry</i>, 12, 4, (2001)] propose that narcissism and insecure attachment are associated, and that whereas narcissistic boys are more likely to report an avoidant attachment, narcissistic girls are more likely to report an anxious attachment. Further, the associations between narcissism and insecure attachment may hinge on the degree to which individuals have internalized prevailing gender stereotypes regarding attachment styles (i.e., that an avoidant style is normative for boys and that an anxious style is normative for girls). A sample of early adolescents (N = 159, 77 boys, 82 girls, Mean age = 12.05 years) responded to measures of narcissism, own-gender stereotypes in attachment styles, and insecure relationship styles to a close friend. Results from hierarchical regression analyses countered what was hypothesized, finding that narcissism negatively predicated the avoidant style, and that gender did not moderate this relationship. Further, results indicated that for the anxious style, narcissistic children who endorsed having an own-gender stereotype of the anxious style were less likely to endorse having an anxious style. Results suggest that there may be something unique about attachment to a close friend and narcissism in early adolescence that warrants further investigation.</p><p>

<p> Indirect exposure to a traumatic event is associated with the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Indeed, emerging research demonstrates that exposure to media coverage of violent acts has the potential to cause PTSD symptoms. Theoretical conceptualizations for the development and maintenance of trauma- and anxiety-related disorders suggest that avoidance behaviors of trauma-related stimuli may ultimately lead to the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms through negative reinforcement processes. Assessing learned associations between environmental stimuli and anxiety may help identify those at risk for the development of PTSD such that those individuals with more learned associations between environmental stimuli and anxiety may engage in greater avoidance behaviors. A highly publicized traumatic event occurred in Lafayette, Louisiana in the summer of 2015. Following the trauma, the community held several vigils and slogans, and banners were displayed throughout the city to show support for the victims. For some individuals, these community support stimuli may have been associated with comfort; however, some may have developed associations between these community support stimuli and the traumatic event and anxiety. As such, the current study sought to examine the learned associations between community support stimuli and comfort and anxiety. Additionally, this study sought to explore the relation between these learned associations and avoidance behaviors, as well as PTSD symptoms. Overall, participants exhibited greater implicit associations between community support stimuli and anxiety stimuli than with community support stimuli and calm stimuli (<i>M</i> = 0.10, <i>SD</i> = 0.31, 95% CI [0.05, 0.16]). These associations did not predict PTSD symptoms or avoidance behaviors. Findings indicate that although community support stimuli were associated with anxiety, these associations may not contribute to the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms. Rather, community support stimuli may serve to facilitate effective coping strategies through exposure to anxiety- and fear-eliciting stimuli.</p><p>

<p> On any given day, one in 28 children loses a parent to incarceration, creating a higher risk for mental health concerns and antisocial and criminal behavior. This study examined negative outcomes, such as antisocial behavior and criminal behavior, of children who have experienced a parent&rsquo;s incarceration. A closer look was taken at the effects of mix timing incarceration, in and out of prison, on children. There was also an analysis on the influence of intergenerational criminal behavior on a child&rsquo;s wellbeing and long-term outcome. The results of this study indicated that a parent incarcerated with mix timing during their children&rsquo;s childhood and adolescence leads to a higher risk of mental health concerns in the minors. Depression was significantly higher in children with a history of parent imprisonment (<i>M</i> 54.6, <i>SD</i> 14.8) in comparison to children with a stable household (<i>M</i> 46.3, <i>SD</i> 9.6). All effect sizes showed that parental imprisonment with mix timing was associated with higher rates of child mental health concerns. Furthermore, findings showed that parental imprisonment was associated with higher rates of antisocial or criminal behavior among children. Children with imprisoned mothers reported being convicted for criminal activity at more than double the rate of the control group. Meanwhile, a significantly higher proportion of inmates had a history of paternal imprisonment (39%) than the control group (7%). As for aggressive and antisocial behavior, the odds ratio for children with parental imprisonment was 2.2 (<i> CI</i>= 1.6-3.0) for boys and 1.7 (<i>CI</i>= 1.3-2.4) for girls. The results of the study provide insight and awareness of the increasing numbers of children falling into a pattern of intergenerational incarceration, as well as mental health concerns and antisocial or criminal behavior. This dissertation provides evidence of the need for resources, awareness, and further prevention.</p><p>

This study examined how emotion and discipline differed in response to children's relational and physical aggression in African American and European American women. Affective (e.g., concern) and discipline responses of adults toward physical aggression have been linked with children's behavior problems. However, these reactions have not been explored as a function of ethnicity and only little examined as a function of gender. Even less is known about reactions toward relational aggression. Better knowledge about adult perceptions of children's aggressive behaviors could improve theoretical understanding of the development of these problems, and guide efforts at improving treatments. In the present study, hypothetical vignettes depicting a boy or a girl engaging in physical and relational aggression were used to assess how participants report they would respond to such behaviors in their own children. Consistent with initial hypotheses, adults were more concerned and embarrassed about physical aggressive behavior among children than relationally aggressive behaviors. Additionally, adults were more lax for relational aggression and more overreactive toward physical aggression. Adult behavioral responses toward relational aggression were more likely to include discussion and they were more likely to provide a consequence for physical aggression (i.e., adults displayed more reparation and reprimands for physical aggression). With respect to ethnicity, African Americans generally reacted more strongly to aggression, though European Americans made more reparation responses than African Americans for physical aggression. With regard to gender, participants were more overreactive to boys being relationally aggressive than girls and less overreactive to boys being physically aggressive than girls, and this finding appeared to be largely accounted for by African American participants. Results point to the need for psychoeducation regarding the seriousness of relational aggression.