During the deinstitutionalization movement in the 1960s, community mental health centers and supportive and affordable housing for people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) was concentrated in economically disadvantaged urban centers. Today, these urban centers are becoming increasingly gentrified and unaffordable for people with SMI. Affordability is no longer synonymous with urban living, and supportive housing for people with SMI is increasingly found in non-urban areas. Given this shift, it is important to understand the potential impacts of non-urban living on people with SMI. Non-urban environments provide potential benefits for the general population, including reduced traffic and increased proximity to the outdoors. However, people with SMI living in non-urban areas may perceive higher levels of mental illness stigma than their urban counterparts, leading to negative outcomes. I hypothesized that the relationships between perceived stigma and psychological distress and perceived stigma and sense of community would be moderated by urbanicity, such that these relationships would be stronger in non-urban settings. Data collected from 300 adults with SMI living in a range of urban and non-urban areas were analyzed using a moderated regression design. Correlations were found between primary study variables, but the moderation by urbanicity hypotheses were not supported. The broad construct of urbanicity needs to be explored further to understand which components impact perceived stigma and outcomes. The associations between urbanicity, perceived stigma, sense of community, and psychological distress support the need to address mental illness stigma across all settings.

Obesity is an epidemic that can lead to a wide range of physical and mental problems. When traditional weight-loss methods are not effective, bariatric surgery is a viable weight-loss option. While previous researchers have investigated the role of psychological factors in relation to obesity, few have investigated psychological factors as predictors of weight loss and complications after bariatric surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of psychological disorders/conditions (e.g., depression and abuse) in the study population, evaluate weight and psychosocial variables before and 6 months after weight-loss surgery, and identify psychosocial factors that are predictors of weight loss and complications at 5 years post surgery. Three theoretical foundations were important to the present study: the transtheoretical model of behavior change, interpersonal processes, and protection motivation theory. Methods included a retrospective review of archival data of 93 individuals who elected to undergo bariatric surgery, were age 18+, had a BMI > 40kg/m2, and had obesity-related medical conditions Paired sample t tests were used to determine statistically significant changes before and after surgery. Multiple regression was used to predict success of bariatric surgery (measured by weight loss and no or few postsurgical complications). Results indicated that a high proportion (66.7%) of this sample had a behavioral health condition. Weight, depression, and obesity-related quality of life improved at 6 months post surgery. Poor obesity-related quality of life was significant at predicting more weight loss at 5 years postsurgery. Potential social changes may include future development of generalizable methods/tools to determine proper candidates for bariatric surgery, leading to a healthier community and lower healthcare costs.

Many children fail to achieve academic success despite an average or above average intellectual capacity, unimpaired motor ability, intact sensory functions, and an absence of major emotional disturbance. These same children have been assigned such descriptive terms as "underachievers" and "children with psycho-neurological disabilities." It may be more apt to assume that these children who are underachieving and obtaining poor grades do so from lack of feeling of personal initiative and personal control over events in their lives. This study attempts to investigate initiative as clinically observed and its effect upon tasks requiring an active analytical approach to problem solving. One hypothesized objective was to determine if students matched for I.Q. and sex, who also reported that they assume more responsibility and had greater control and responsibility for their actions, did better on tasks requiring high motivation and elaboration of the structure imposed upon ambiguous stimulus. Also investigated was the degree to which the personality variable of initiative affected a person's performance on figure ground tasks. Further, the study examined the relationship of the personality variable cited above to subscales on the WAIS, and performance on an achievement test. Results were statistically supportive of the hypothesis that subjects feeling greater initiative and responsibility for their lives were able to impose structure and greater constructive elaborations to an ambiguous stimulus (Rorschach Cards), versus those subjects with less self initiative-responsibility. Also, the hypothesized relationship of initiative to performance on the Witkins Embedded Figures Test and academic achievement tests were in the hypothesized direction, but not significantly at the .05 level. Other hypotheses were not supported. Further research is necessary to determine those common denominators that aid individuals to be productive, positive, and successful in solving life's tasks.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common condition among military personal and veterans. Despite strong empirical support for first line treatments for PTSD, many veterans do not complete or respond to treatment. Research suggests that experiential avoidance is a contributing factor to both treatment dropout and minimal treatment gains. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an empirically supported cognitive behavioral intervention that aims to decrease experiential avoidance while increasing psychological flexibility. Research has shown ACT to be a promising intervention for the treatment of PTSD; however, its effectiveness in veterans with PTSD is limited. In conjunction with Utah State University (USU) and the Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Ellen Bluett, a USU doctoral psychology student and staff psychologist at the VA conducted a study to examine a next-step treatment for veterans with PTSD. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an 8- week closed group design ACT intervention for veterans with PTSD and subclinical PTSD who had previously completed a first line intervention for PTSD. Thirty-three veterans enrolled in the intervention, which focused on vitality (e.g., increasing valued living and decreasing experiential avoidance) rather than symptom reduction. Symptom and process of change measures including PTSD symptoms, valued living, and quality of life were measured at pretreatment, posttreatment, and again at 1-month follow-up. Findings from this study showed that 64.7% of veterans showed a favorable response to treatment as measured by a 5-point change in PTSD symptoms. Additionally, outcomes of interest including PTSD symptoms, valued living, depression, wellbeing, and moral injury by transgressions improved from pretreatment to posttreatment. Of note, a majority of treatment gains were not maintained at follow-up. Overall, results provide preliminary support for ACT as a second-line intervention for veteran PTSD.

The effects of interpersonal competition on schizophrenics were studied to determine if competition facilitates or impairs task performance of schizophrenics and to further determine if schizophrenics respond to interpersonal competition differently than nonschizophrenics. Forty-one hospitalized patients diagnosed as schizophrenics, 36 hospitalized patients diagnosed as personality disorders, and 36 employees of the Wyoming State Hospital were used as subjects. Each group of subjects was randomly divided into competitive and noncompetitive research groups, thus forming three competitive group s and three noncompetitive groups. Each of the six groups of subjects was administered two equivalent forms of four standardized tests. Each group was tested under noncompetitive conditions. The subjects comprising the competitive groups took the second form of each test under paired competition conditions, whereas the noncompetitive groups took the second form of each test under the same, noncompetitive conditions which were used during the ad ministration of the First forms of each test. The results for each test were treated by analysis of covariance using a two (competition vs. noncompetition) by three (schizophrenics vs. personality disorders vs. normals) model. The tests used for the study were the Associative Memory Test from the Wechsler Memory Scale, the Number Completion Test from the Babcock-Levy Revised Examination, the Digit Substitution Test from the Babcock-Levy Revised Examination, and the Form Perception Test from the General Aptitude Test Battery. Statistical treatment of the test scores indicated that competition does not significantly affect the performance of any of the three groups of subjects. The three competitive groups performed better on the Di.git Substitution Test under competitive conditions, but the improvement failed to reach a desirable level of significance (p < .10). The three competitive groups obtained lower scores on the Associative Memory Test than did their controls, but this difference also failed to reach an acceptable level of significance. With ability held constant by means of analysis of covariance, the two nonschizophrenic groups performed significantly better on the Digit Substitution and Associative Memory Tests, The improvement by the competitive groups on the Digit Substitution Test is consistent with previous competition studies which have shown competition to be effective primarily with visual motor tasks requiring speed. The results of the study are interpreted as supporting previous research using normal subjects which have shown the effects of competition to be highly task specific. The results further indicate that competition affects schizophrenics no differently than nonschizophrenics, nor is there any indication that competition impairs schizophrenic functioning. Previous studies showing impairment of schizophrenic performance under competitive conditions may reflect qualities of the task used in the study rather than reflecting an inability of schizophrenics to de al with competitive conditions. To generalize from these past studies that competition has a general debilitating effect on schizophrenics appears unwarranted when the results of this study and past studies using normals are taken into account. The effects of competition on schizophrenics might better be understood by assessing long-term competitive conditions on schizophrenic adjustment rather than generalizing from short-term competitive performance on task s since competition has been shown to have task-specific and ungeneralizable effects. This study indicates that the task-specific nature of competition effects holds true for schizophrenics as well as for normals.

This study used the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the Decision Space Worksheet (DSW; Peterson, Lenz, & Osborn, 2016) to examine the relationship between personality and the complexity of the career decision space. The sample included 95 undergraduate students enrolled in 5 sections of a career planning course at a large southeastern university. The NEO-FFI was used to measure the Big Five domains of personality. The DSW was used to measure the frequency of endorsement to a content category and the magnitude, or area, devoted to the content category. Correlation, multiple regression, and exploratory factor analyses were used to analyze the data. A Pearson Product Moment correlation resulted in a significant positive relationship between Conscientiousness and the frequency of the content category Opportunities. Negative relationships were found between both Openness and Conscientiousness and the content category of Higher Order. When the correlation between the NEO-FFI and the magnitude of DSW content categories was tested, a significant relationship was found between Neuroticism and Higher order. There were no significant correlations found between the NEO-FFI personality factors and the total magnitude of used space for the categories on the DSW. Findings of a multiple regression analysis revealed Opportunity and Higher Order predict Extroversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness. Thus, Extroversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness appear to exercise influence on the frequency of content category endorsements of Opportunity and Higher Order. However, there was no influence found between the NEO-FFI factors and the magnitude of the content categories on the DSW. An Exploratory Factor Analysis found shared variation between Conscientiousness and the frequency of DSW content categories Higher Order and Close Personal. There was no shared variation between the NEO-FFI personality factors and the magnitude of any of the content categories on the DSW. An analysis and discussion of the findings are provided, along with implications for theory, practice, and research. / 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. / Spring Semester 2019. / March 28, 2019. / Big Five, Career Decision Making, Complexity, Problem Space, Readiness / Includes bibliographical references. / Debra Osborn, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathy Guthrie, University Representative; Gary W. Peterson, Committee Member; James P. Sampson, Jr., Committee Member.

Psychopathic personality traits are prominent risk factors for persistent and severe expressions of antisocial behavior in youth. Historically, psychopathy in youth has been assessed via the psychopathy checklist (PCL) model, which indexes specific antisocial indicators such as past cruelty to others and reckless irresponsibility. Although it is known that these behaviors can identify a subgroup of delinquent males who are at high risk to engage in antisocial behavior, there is concern that content overlap between the behavioral indicators of the psychopathy construct and its behavioral outcomes accounts for too much variance in prediction. This overlap limits the validity of the PCL's model within populations that display lower rates of antisocial behavior (e.g., girls and community youth). Furthermore, extant research has failed to identify a consistent factor structure for the PCL model in youth. A novel triarchic model that employs the three trait dimensions of meanness, boldness, and disinhibition as trait indicators of psychopathy was recently proposed to specifically address these concerns about the PCL model. Despite the strong theoretical basis for the triarchic model, it remains untested among youth. Within a mixed-gender sample of community and adjudicated adolescents, the present study found that the Boldness and Disinhibition factors of the Triarchic Personality Measure (TriPM) were significantly associated with clinically relevant external criterion variables but dependent variables hypothesized to be associated with Meanness were better accounted for by Disinhibition. TriPM total scores concurrently predicted antisocial behaviors over and above common PCL-based measures of youth psychopathy and, independently, the TriPM accounted for a greater proportion of variance in youth antisocial behavior than did PCL-based measures. The TriPM also demonstrated superior internal consistency to PCL-based measures. A pilot Confirmatory Factor Analysis did not support the putative factor structure of the TriPM, but fit was likely impeded by sample size. Post-hoc factor analyses attempting to probe the possible factor structure of this measure suggested possible shortcomings of the items and latent factor meant to capture trait meanness. Altogether, this study provided first evidence for the triarchic model as a valid means for assessing psychopathic traits in youth and identified possible shortcomings of the TriPM for future research.

The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the degree to which parents' instrumental and expressive expectations are predicted by their instrumental and expressive personality characteristics, (2) to determine the degree to which these parental trait and expectation variables predict several selected early adolescent outcomes, and (3) to examine differences between the findings for sons and the findings for daughters. The subjects were 174 seventh-grade girls and 103 seventh-grade boys and their mothers and fathers. All members of these triads filled out questionnaires and participated in interaction sessions. Data from the parental and child expectations Q-Sort, parental responses to the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), and child responses to questions concerning their self-esteem, self-consciousness, educational aspirations, and views of their parents were all employed in this study. The PAQ was viewed as measuring instrumental and expressive traits rather than the global constructs of masculinity and femininity. It was hypothesized that parental traits would be positively but moderately predictive of parental expectations. It was also predicted that parental traits (to a lesser degree) and parental expectations (to a greater degree) would be predictive of all child outcomes (the androgyny hypothesis). Differences between sons and daughters were predicted with respect to all of the child outcomes. Analyses were run separately for each parent-child dyad via hierarchical regressions (with forward selection procedures being applied at each step). Also, the median split technique was applied to the PAQ data and differences between the four resulting groups were assessed with ANOVAs. Differences between the son and daughter findings were assessed with t-tests. It was found that parental traits were predictive of parental expectations only for the father/daughter dyad. Fathers' expectations were predictive of many of the male child outcomes and mothers’ traits were predictive of many of the female child outcomes. It was hypothesized, on the basis of the present findings, that same-sex parents are more influential with respect to their children than Opposite-sex parents. Other implications of these findings were discussed. Parental expressive traits were predictive of child self-esteem for same-sex dyads. The importance throughout early childhood of parental warmth and acceptance for resulting child outcomes may underlie such findings. These stable parenting behaviors may be tapped by parental report on the FAQ. Parental expectations were predictive of child self-expectations but only for sons. Also, the androgyny hypothesis was not supported by these data. The median split and regression analyses yielded similar findings, with regressions being the preferred method. It was found that girls experience lower levels of self-esteem and higher levels of self-consciousness than boys. Such a finding was in line with the Gender Intensification Hypothesis (Hill & Lynch, 1983). It was also found that both instrumental and expressive expectations were seen as more important by parents of daughters than by parents of sons. To explain such results, additional analyses were run whereby pubertal status was taken into account. Directions for future research were discussed.

The concept of learned helplessness assigns a mediating role to the recognition that events may be unrelated. However, current representation of individuals as "intuitive statisticians" unveils a lack of these information-processing abilities. This is particuIarIy apparent in the skill required to recognize noncontingent events. Similarly, in a series of experiments on the detection of contingent and noncontingent events, Allo and Abramson (1979) demonstrated that this “illusion of controI” couId discriminate between depressed and nondepressed students. In extending their research, the concept of "contrast effects," on animal Iearning phenomenon, was introduced as a competing motivational framework to account for differences between depressed and nondepressed populations in judging relationships. Within this context, a paradigm was established which hypothesized that noncontingent exposure to two Teveis of reinforcement density woqu provide enough of a subjective transition to reject any notion of a controlIable task. The present research, in proposing this paradigm, offered the opportunity to examine several interactive systems in response to subjective vs. objective judgments of noncontingent reinforcement. The component responses included: perceptual, cognitive, affective, behavioral, and motivational. The most convincing demonstration of this experiment was the failure of the participants' subjective representations of non contingency to reflect the objective experimental relationship. Another salient aspect of the data was the observation of enhanced judgments of control or “facilitation effect” by the nondepressed, low-reinforcement control group. These findings from the main dependent measures combined with supplementary discoveries portraying the nondepressed groups as being more actively involved in the experiment added credence to the position that the "illusion of control“ is a persistent phenomenon, especially in nondepressed students, and that individuals suffer a motivational deficit.

Humankind has been interested in the study of individual differences throughout recorded history. Plato discussed the issue of individual variations in aptitudes and suggested having tests for selecting those persons most suited for the military, artisans and rulers (Tyler, 1965). Hippocrates proposed a two-fold classification system of body builds which he called ”habitus apoplecticus” and ”habitus phthisicus” (Tyler, 1965). The nineteenth century German astronomer, Bessel, discovered discrepancies among individuals in recording the time of the passage of stars across the meridian at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. This source of error, due to individual differences, became known as the ”personal equation" (Murphy & Kovach, 1972). The founder of modern experimental psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, was strongly interested in physiological variations and developed various indices of human differences in sensation and perception (Sheridan, 1971). The field of "psychological studies” (Koch, 1976) has been vitally concerned with individual differences since its inception including variations in intelligence, achievement, aptitude, creativity, interests, cognitive style, personality and values. It is these latter two areas and the implicit relationship between them which have specific interest for this investigator.