This dissertation discusses the effects of dyslexia on reading behavior and cognition. It does so by first outlining the overall incidence of dyslexia, providing current definitions, giving a history of scientific inquiry and discussing relevant contemporary research. Thirteen different analyses are then discussed (ten a priori and three post-hoc). Individuals with dyslexia were found to have increased fixation duration, first run dwell time, total dwell time, and refixation probability. The dyslexia group was also highly sensitive to lexical predictability. Within the reading network, the BOLD response was depressed in dyslexia during reading in the following regions: the left medial and inferior temporal gyrus, the left temporal pole, the right cerebellum, right occipital gyrus and the right parahippocampal gyrus. A second regions of interest analysis in the reading network revealed dyslexia was associated with a depressed BOLD response to lexical predictability in the following regions: left supplementary motor area, posterior middle frontal gyrus, and the left temporal pole. A regions of interest analysis in the oculomotor network revealed a depressed BOLD response in the following regions during reading: the left parietal eye fields and the cerebellum. One oculomotor region had a depressed BOLD response to lexical predictability due to dyslexia: the left frontal eye fields. This sensitivity to lexical predictability and depression in the BOLD response is suggestive of reduced input into higher cortical areas. Future study should be focused on finding the common origin of this bottom-up deficit.

Older adults often show declines in subjective and objective memory performance relative to younger adults. One potential path for helping older adults with memory may be compensatory memory training programs. Compensatory memory training programs teach strategies to manage memory impairment. Traditional compensatory memory training programs tend to be highly specific to a task and often do not generalize to other memory tasks. Ecologically Oriented Neurorehabilitation of Memory (EON-Mem) is a method for teaching memory strategies that may generalize for efficient use in everyday contexts. We performed a feasibility study to determine the value of pursuing a group-based version of EON-Mem with older adults in a future larger-scale randomized controlled trial. The current feasibility study took place in two phases with two separate samples. The first sample consisted of five separate groups of healthy young adults (n=39). The second sample consisted of three separate groups of older adults (n=26). We collected data on recruitment, treatment adherence, memory improvement, drop-out rate, cost, time spent, and participant-report data on barriers to successful implementation of EON-Mem treatment. We also collected data on memory performance and overall cognitive functioning. In order to assess improvement before and after treatment within our sample, reliable change indices were calculated using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) delayed memory index score. Participants first performed a baseline assessment (traditional and ecological memory tasks, general cognition tasks, emotional functioning, demographics). After the baseline assessment, participants attended one treatment session (90 minutes) per week for a total of seven group-based EON-Mem treatment sessions. Thirty-nine young adults and 26 older adults enrolled in the study; 20 young adults and 10 older adults completed the treatment sessions. We prematurely ended older adult group treatment sessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All participants performed a post-intervention assessment using alternate versions when available. Attendance rates were low for the young adult sample (51% completed the treatment) and as expected for the older adult sample when accounting for COVID-related changes (77% eligible for completer status prior to cancelling sessions). Twenty percent of each sample reliably improved on the RBANS delayed memory index score before and after treatment. Costs were higher than expected ($345 and 18.6 research hours for each young adult participant; $319 and 16.9 research hours for each older adult participant). Subjectively, both samples reported enjoying the interactions with others and the presentation of the treatment, but disliked peg words. Overall, although a randomized controlled trial of group-format EON-Mem in older adults is feasible, such a study may or may not be cost-effective depending on the resources and goals of the researcher.

The presence of and/or search for meaning has divergent and salient outcomes for individuals’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Although numerous domains of meaning have been examined, the literature on the meaning of sex is sparse and lacks a quantitative measure. In this study, I aimed to validate a general Meaning of Sex (MOS) Measure that captured the presence of (MOS-P) and search for (MOS-S) the meaning of sex that predicted salient relational and sexual outcomes (i.e., relationship stability and satisfaction and sexual satisfaction). The MOS measure was based off of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) created by Steger and colleagues (2006), which also used the subscales of presence and searching. All participants (N = 856) reported engaging in what they considered to be sexual intercourse and were either single or in a relationship. The two subscales were distinct from one another and had good reliability. The MOS-S had a stronger (and negative) association with relationship stability and sexual satisfaction than the MOS-P. Further analyses revealed that there were significant interactions between the MOS-P and MOS-S. When individuals scored high on the MOS-P, searching for a meaning of sex no longer had a significant association with relationship stability or sexual satisfaction. Creating this measure is meaningful because it provides a more holistic picture of sexuality that has not been addressed in the literature.

Pediatric neuropsychological evaluations are often used to help with diagnostic clarification, aid with treatment planning, and propose recommendations. Yet, little is known about the effects that a neuropsychological evaluation may have on psychosocial outcome and functioning. The present study sought to replicate customer satisfaction results and recommendation adherence results from previous studies while including a longitudinal measure of psychosocial functioning to determine change over time in a pre-test post-test design. Parents of children who underwent a neuropsychological evaluation between May 2016 and December 2020 were invited to complete a survey including the consumer satisfaction questionnaire and treatment adherence questions. They were then sent the Behavioral Assessment System for Children – 3rd Edition (BASC-3). Parents provided consent for access to their children's medical records to extract baseline BASC-3 scores as well as other demographic information. Results indicated that parents were very satisfied with the neuropsychological evaluation. Recommendation adherence ranges from an average of 48% for school counseling and 89% for autism therapies. Changes in psychosocial functioning were only detected on the internalizing index of the BASC from baseline to follow-up, t=2.63, p=0.01. A significant correlation was found between time since evaluation and change in the adaptive functioning index of the BASC-3, Pearson r=-0.36, p=0.002.

The verity of conclusions drawn from psychological research hinges on the reliability and validity of the measures used to collect the data. Any research conducted using measures with low reliability or validity is rendered essentially useless; thus, reporting reliability and validity evidence for measures employed in research is an essential component in creating rigorous, replicable research. Multiple reporting standards have been implemented and revised over the years with the intent to improve measurement and reporting practices within clinical psychology, though few guidelines have been suggested regarding adequate reporting practices for studies' measures. We reviewed a representative sample of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) published in the Journal of Clinical and Counseling Psychology in 1994, 2002, 2010, and 2018 for reported reliability and validity evidence. We examined whether the implementation of reporting standards led to improvement in reporting measures' reliability and validity evidence over time, along with how frequently articles recently published in one of the top clinical psychology journals reported reliability and validity evidence. We found that only 58.1% of measures used in articles published in 2018 reported reliability evidence, and only 12.4% reported validity evidence. Furthermore, although reporting of reliability and validity evidence has improved when comparing articles published in 2018 to those published in 1994 or 2002, such reporting practices were not significantly different from articles published in 2010. We provide a discussion of the importance of these findings and recommendations for improving reporting practices in future research.

Pornography use has become widespread and mainstream in American society, with estimates that 60% of men and 35% of women have viewed pornography at some time in the last year. Pornography use has been associated with both positive and negative outcomes depending on the user, and some of these conflicting results may stem from problematic measurement. Using a newly validated measure that assesses frequency, duration, arousal, and deliberate or accidental exposure to seven common types of pornography, we sought to understand if the motivations to view pornography differed depending on biological sex of the user and the type of use he or she engaged in. With an MTurk.com sample of 312 participants, we used a variable selection to explore the most consistent predictors of pornography use. Results found that sexually based motivations were consistent motivations to use pornography for both males and females. Educationally based motivations reliably predicted accidental exposure to pornography, while emotions like sadness and tiredness reliably predicted longer durations of pornography use. These results indicate that motivations to view pornography are similar for males and females, and that sexually based reasons and emotions are primary in an individual's decision to use pornography.

Anxiety is the most common mental health diagnosis for adolescents. Among important etiological factors are parent anxiety and parenting behavior, which can increase anxiety in adolescents. Adolescent anxiety can also act as a source of stress for parents that then increases parent anxiety and negative parenting behaviors. Using the Family Stress Model, this study aims to examine the longitudinal and bidirectional relationship between parent and adolescent anxiety with parental psychological control acting as a mediator. Structural equation modeling was used to examine these relationships across five waves of data for 457 families. Adolescents (51.86% female, mean age 13.34 at wave one) and their parents (352 fathers and 457 mothers) participated in this study. While results did not fully support the hypotheses, interesting relationships among study variables indicated the importance of adolescent gender and development when studying the impact of parents and parenting on anxiety. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Thesis advisor: Erika Sabbath / As college degrees become increasingly standard expectations for middle-to-high wage positions in the workforce, growing numbers of children and parents in the United States are accruing and repaying loans for postsecondary education. At the same time, the United States is witnessing unprecedented rates of longevity and a subsequent need for more intentional financial planning for retirement that starts earlier in life. The goal of this three-paper dissertation is to explore how student loans are experienced within families and discover the ways in which borrowers of different ages perceive and prioritize retirement and longevity-planning in light of their student loans. Utilizing qualitative and quantitative data collected through a concurrent triangulation mixed methods study design, the first two papers explored how student loan borrowers make, negotiate, and experience student loans within their family of origin. Paper 1 focused on the family context of borrowers repaying loans for their own education, and Paper 2 focused on the family context of borrowers repaying loans for a child or grandchildren education, several of whom were also repaying additional loans for their own educational expenses. Ultimately, the ways in which families communicated about student loans during repayment played at least a partial role in how they experienced the loans as part of their overall family dynamics. Shifting from a focus on family dynamics to longevity planning, Paper 3 focused on ways in which borrowers perceive and plan for longevity in light of the loans they carry for themselves and/or family members. Results suggest that planning for future financial security for oneself and/or family members may be less achievable with the presence of student loan debt. The main contribution of this dissertation is its attempt to understand the ways in which borrowers experience student loans in family systems and longevity planning contexts. This dissertation has also highlighted gaps in knowledge that policymakers, practitioners, and scholars can begin to address with current and potential student loan borrowers. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Healthy sexuality includes relational, emotional, and physical elements (Busby et al., 2021). However, there are gaps in what is known about the physical aspects of sexual relationships. Genital acceptance and physical sexual knowledge are two areas of physical relationships that may have an effect on the satisfaction of sexual relationships. Attachment, namely levels of anxious and avoidant attachment, is another factor that has been related to sexual relationships (Allsop et al., 2021; Bennett et al., 2019; Busby et al., 2020). Results from a dyadic sample of 515 couples who had been in a relationship for at least two years were studied. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the direct and indirect actor and partner effects of physical sexual knowledge and genital acceptance on sexual satisfaction, working through mechanisms of anxious and avoidant attachment. Findings indicate the importance of considering genital acceptance and physical sexual knowledge, especially in regard to female bodies, to help move couples toward lower levels of insecure attachment and improved sexual relationships. Findings also denote the specific influence of avoidant attachment on sexual satisfaction in couple relationships as well as the importance of examining genital acceptance for men and women in a partnered context.

Current literature focusing on those exposed to disaster includes calls for more studies with populations who have regular exposure to extreme weather events. The current study reported on a secondary data analysis with a sample of 240 heterosexual couples living in or near coastal regions in the southeast US, who were at risk of experiencing disaster events during the 2019 hurricane season (June-December). An actor-partner interdependence model was fit to the dyadic data via path analysis to test the mediating effect of grit on the relationship dyadic coping (mental health and attachment behaviors) and disaster-related losses, accounting for trauma history. Negative, indirect actor effects suggested women's trauma history is associated with their own attachment behaviors, through lower levels of grit. Direct effects were also found, women's higher levels of trauma history were associated with lower levels of grit for themselves and their husbands. Lastly, male and female partner's higher grit levels were associated with lower levels of male's mental health outcomes (e.g., post-traumatic stress symptoms). Clinical implications were provided for how couple and marriage therapists can best serve couples facing trauma history and disaster-related loss.