Fear of crime is a well-explored field within criminology. Although inconsistencies exist, it is mostly defined as an emotional reaction to crime or aspects of crime. Consequences can affect society indirectly but are mainly on an individual level. For example, an individual can decide to avoid certain environments. One of these environments can be cyberspace, the internet, as individuals can experience fear of online criminal activity. This area of research has not been explored as much as fear of traditional crime. A systematic literature review is conducted to analyse the body of research that applies the concept fear of crime to cybercrime. With the purpose to assess the much-discussed concept fear of crime to a new subset of crimes within criminology, cybercrime. This review has shown that challenges and limitations from traditional fear of crime research are still present in fear of crime research of the online environment. Findings are in part in line with previously published studies on the subjects and provide a knowledge base for future research. The paper concludes that the online environment does not seem to stand on its own when it comes to feelings of fear, and that the broader context of an individual’s experiences should be considered.

The purpose of the study was to find out if children ages 4- 5 who were experiencing nighttime fears could be taught coping behaviors to decrease their fears. Five children and their parents participated in the study. A treatment package consisting of teaching the children brave self- statements, relaxation exercises, and the introduction of a token economy was used. Results indicate a reduction in fear behavior at post treatment, and further decreases in fear related measures at follow- up.

Exposure therapy is considered to be a first line treatment for a variety of anxiety disorders as supported by several review studies. However, there is no clear understanding of how it works. The present study examined how framing exposure exercises impacted outcomes in socially anxious individuals. We conducted a brief two-session exposure-based intervention, including experiential exercises from each therapeutic rationale, with homework assigned between sessions. We were specifically interested in the efficacy of four brief skills interventions: (a) fear reduction, (b) psychological flexibility, (c) values rationale, and (d) control for reducing public speaking anxiety from first to second exposure session. By combining participants at Utah State University and the University of Colorado Boulder, 81 individuals were randomized to participate in the study. Consistent with our prediction, individuals receiving an active intervention improved to a greater extent on major outcome measures of social anxiety compared to the control group. No significant differences were found between active interventions. Results showed no significant group differences in SUDs change at session 1 or session 2. Additionally, at session 1 those who received an active intervention displayed more within-session exposure engagement than individuals in the control condition. Importantly, there was no difference in between-session exposure engagement (number of exposures attempted) between groups. Overall, the results from this study suggest that there may not be one right way to implement exposure. Furthermore, there may be an overarching mechanism by which exposure works.

M.S.

No description available.

Fear is an adaptive emotion that typically increases across infancy to help keep infant exploration in check. Too much fear, however, can become maladaptive and lead to psychopathology later in childhood. Thus, it is important to understand how both fear reactivity and regulation develop early in life in order to identify at-risk children early on. Maternal factors, such as parenting behaviors and personality, are associated with both fear reactivity and regulation, but results have been mixed, possibly due to a trait-based approach to assessing maternal personality. The goal of my dissertation was to examine the growth trajectories of fear reactivity and regulation across infancy and toddlerhood both unconditionally and within the contexts of maternal parenting and personality functioning. Infants and mothers were assessed when infants were 10-months (n = 48), 14-months (n = 42), and 18-months (n = 34) old. At each age, infant fear reactivity was assessed using behavioral coding during the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery fear tasks and infant fear regulation was examined via respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity during the fear tasks. At 10- and 14-months, maternal parenting behaviors were coded during an interaction task and maternal personality functioning was assessed via maternal self-report. Hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated that maternal personality functioning moderated the association between maternal affect and infant fear reactivity growth and maternal personality functioning moderated the association between maternal directiveness and infant fear regulation growth. These results aid in the understanding of how maternal factors relate to infant fear development. / Doctor of Philosophy / Fear is an adaptive emotion that increases across infancy to help keep infants safe as they gain the ability to explore their environments independently. Some infants, however, exhibit heightened levels of fear that set them on a path for negative consequences, like anxiety disorders, in childhood. This typically occurs when infants have high levels of fear without appropriate regulation strategies to manage such. Maternal factors, like parenting behaviors and personality, have both been shown to affect the development of fear and the regulation of fear, but results are not consistent. Given this, the goal of my dissertation was to examine how level of fear (fear reactivity) and management of fear (fear regulation) develop across infancy and toddlerhood under the context of maternal parenting and personality. Infants and mothers were assessed when infants were 10-months (n = 48), 14-months (n = 42), and 18-months (n = 34) old. At each age, infant fear reactivity was assessed using behavioral coding during the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery fear tasks and infant fear regulation was examined via physiological means based on heart rate. At 10- and 14-months, maternal parenting behaviors were coded during an interaction task and maternal personality functioning was assessed via maternal self-report. Results demonstrated that maternal personality functioning moderated the association between maternal affect and infant fear reactivity development and maternal personality functioning moderated the association between maternal directiveness and infant fear regulation development. These results aid in the understanding of how maternal factors relate to infant fear development.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Neuropeptide B (NPB) and neuropeptide W(NPW) are endogenous neuropeptide ligands for the G protein-coupled receptors NPBWR1 and NPBWR2. Here we report that the majority of NPW neurons in the mesolimbic region possess tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity, indicating that a small subset of dopaminergic neurons coexpress NPW. These NPW-containing neurons densely and exclusively innervate two limbic system nuclei in adult mouse brain: the lateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the lateral part of the central amygdala nucleus (CeAL). In the CeAL of wild-type mice, restraint stress resulted in an inhibition of cellular activity, but this stress-induced inhibition was attenuated in the CeAL neurons of NPW-/- mice. Moreover, the response of NPW-/- mice to either formalin-induced pain stimuli or a live rat (i. e., a potential predator) was abnormal only when they were placed in a novel environment: The mice failed to show the normal species-specific self-protective and aversive reactions. In contrast, the behavior of NPW-/- mice in a habituated environment was indistinguishable from that of wildtype mice. These results indicate that the NPW/NPBWR1 system could play a critical role in the gating of stressful stimuli during exposure to novel environments.