Romantic couples with children struggle to balance the needs of their romantic relationships with the responsibilities of parenting and mothers report difficulty viewing themselves as sexual beings after having children. Understanding the risk and protective factors for sexual and relational outcomes for couples with children or those that may have children in the future may provide insight into the dynamics of these couples and the ways in which parents can preserve relational health over time. The current study utilized Basson’s Model of Sexual Response (2000) as a conceptual theoretical framework and the Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Kenny et al., 2006) as an analytic framework for conducting couple-level research on sexual desire, sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, sexual rewards and costs, and infidelity. The current study had the following four aims: 1) to develop and validate a reliable tool to measure individuals’ Attitudes Towards Mothers as Sexual Beings (ATMSB) in a sample of couples with and without children. 2) to assess differences in ATMSB and sexual/relational outcomes of ATMSB among couples with children and couples without children, 3) to examine the role of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in influencing sexual and relational outcomes among couples with children, and 4) to investigate the impact of positive communication, partner appraisals, and sexual rewards and costs on sexual and relational outcomes among couples with children. The current study collected data from 294 individuals in mixed sex (one man and one woman) couples through an online questionnaire. In the first study, the ATMSBscale items were developed and an exploratory factor analysis was conducted yielding the following three scale factors: 1) Quality of Motherhood and Sexuality, 2) Mothers’ Sexual Functioning, 3) Mothers’ Sexual Pleasure and Enjoyment with high construct validity. A series of multiple linear regressions and structural equation models (SEM) were conducted predicting sexual desire, sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and desire discrepancies. Results indicated that ATMSB total scores and individual subscale scores predicted sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, dyadic sexual desire and desire discrepancies with varying actor and partner effects among men and women with children and without children. These results indicated that when men and women endorse beliefs that mothers and sexuality are compatible, they have higher levels of sexual and relational health within the couple. Additionally, couples with children had more positive ATMSB overall and there were similarities and differences in the impact of ATMSB (and subscales) on sexual and relational outcomes between couples with children compared to those without children. In the second study, the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) score on sexual desire, desire discrepancies, sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, sexual rewards and costs, and infidelity was measured among couples with children. A logistic regression and a series of multiple linear models were conducted with results indicating that for women, ACE score predicted the equality of sexual costs (EQcst). For men, higher ACE scores predicted a greater likelihood of engaging infidelity. Results from the SEM indicated that men’s ACE score predicted women’s sense of equality of sexual costs among partners (EQcst). These results indicate that ACE scores are associated with negative sexual and relational outcomes among couples with children. In the third study, the impact of positive communication, partner appraisal, and rewards and costs of the sexual relationship on sexual desire, desire discrepancies, sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction was measured among couples with children. A series of multiple linear regressions and a SEM were conducted with results indicating that when individuals engage in more positive communication strategies, they have significantly higher levels of sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction as do their partners. More positive partner appraisals were associated with higher levels of relationship satisfaction for men and women and their partners. As a whole, a number of risk and protective factors were identified for sexual and romantic relationships among couples with children. Implications for future research, clinical work and health promotion programing targeting parents are discussed.

The fact that adolescents commonly initiate drug use in social settings is well established. Both clinical and preclinical research has investigated how social interaction is altered by a variety of drugs of abuse. What is less understood is how the rewarding value of drugs of abuse is affected by the presence of social peers. This dissertation aimed to investigate the interaction of morphine and social play on conditioned place preference (CPP) in adolescent male Sprague Dawley rats, using both behavioral and immunohistochemistry (IHC) methods. Rats were exposed to morphine (0, 1, or 3 mg/kg; s.c.), social interaction, or a combination of both and tested in a modified CPP procedure. Behavioral results indicate that, while doses of morphine used produced only weak CPP across experiments, they were sufficient to reduce the rewarding effect of social interaction. IHC results suggest that this finding may be due to reduced activation in NAc shell. Taken together, the results of this dissertation may help to provide an explanation as to why persons with opioid use disorder spend less time interacting with social peers, compared to non-dependent persons.

The predominant model of general personality structure is arguably the Five Factor Model (FFM), consisting of the five broad domains of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The FFM of personality disorder (FFMPD) has proposed maladaptive variants at both poles of the FFM. The purpose of the current study was to identify a subset of FFMPD scales, utilizing factor analysis, that illustrate, and provide a potential measure of, the bipolarity present in the FFMPD. All of the FFMPD scales were administered to 443 community participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Bipolarity was evident in a series of factor analyses of subsets of FFMPD scales, with the exception of openness. The current study also demonstrated that the presence of bipolarity is impaired by a number of concerns, including the presence of non-diametric scales, bloated specific factors, general factor of personality disorder, and occupation of interstitial space.

Michelangelo Phenomenon provides an interpersonal model of goal pursuits and suggests that close partners sculpt one another and help them move toward their ideal selves. Attachment theory also provides a parallel explanation of how close others can help one another move toward their goals. The purpose of the current research was to look at the influence of attachment on the Michelangelo Phenomenon and test whether it best fit as a predictor, mediator, or moderator. The hypotheses were tested across three studies (two longitudinal and one cross-sectional) using a maximum likelihood estimation path analysis following APIM assumptions. The results provided strong support for the link between attachment and the Michelangelo Phenomenon. Across three studies, attachment acted as a predictor of the Michelangelo Phenomenon with higher levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance predicting lower levels of affirmation. Relevance to therapy and future directions are also discussed.

Careless responders have a large impact on a study by causing issues such as Type II errors (failing to reject a false null hypothesis), which then waste researchers’ time and money. Research on careless responding has focused primarily on detecting and removing careless responders rather than on reducing careless responding before data collection begins. The purpose of the present study was to test the use of honor codes with or without the presentation of a picture of watchful eyes to increase self-awareness thereby reducing careless responding. Participants (N = 305) were randomly assigned to one of five honor code conditions (control condition, read-only condition, type condition, read-and-eyes condition, or type-and-eyes condition) and then completed a number of personality measures. Participant’s responses were screened for careless responding. I found that when participant’s only read an honor code without a picture of watchful eyes on the screen, they were significantly more likely to engage in careless responding than were people in the control condition. There was no significant difference in careless responding in the control condition compared to the other three conditions (type condition, read-and-eyes condition, or type-and-eyes condition). This finding indicates that participants being presented only with an honor code, and no other cues of moral behavior, might lead to psychological reactance (i.e., participants perceiving their freedom or control was threatened). This psychological reactance was likely due to participants feeling coerced to respond honestly by the honor code rather than participants responding honestly on their own accord. Additionally, there were no differences on participant’s responses across conditions on a number of personality measures that may be sensitive to increased self-awareness. A number of exploratory analyses were also conducted to further examine psychological reactance. The present study provides answers and possible directions to a number of useful questions that could improve data quality and reduce potential negative effects of honor codes under certain circumstances.

Divorce is an event that can have profound psychological consequences for children of all ages. Vast research has shown that children from divorced families suffer from short and long-term negative effects such as mental health problems (i.e. anxiety and depression) and interpersonal relationship issues. Exposure to parental conflict and triangulation are two of the strongest influences in a child's adjustment to divorce and their psychological well-being. Previous literature has focused on predominately white populations. Much less is known about minority cultures; specifically Iranian populations and the impact of divorce on child adjustment and mental health. Only a few studies have focused on Iranian children and divorce, however these studies were conducted in Iran and information was limited. Iranian culture greatly values family stability. Ethnic group memberships and culture are central elements in an Iranian-Americans sense of self. With divorce, these individuals typically lose all three. The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the impact of culture on Iranian children experience of parental divorce in the United States. 41 Iranian-American and 2 Iranian-Canadian adult children of divorce, ranging in age from 18 to 46 years, participated in an online self-report survey measuring adjustment to divorce, beliefs about separation, anxiety, stress, resilience, and perceptions of divorce. Open-ended questions were used to capture unique aspects of culture that influenced their experience. Specifically questions were designed to explore how Iranian children perceive their experience of divorce compared to divorced children in other cultures. Overall quantitative results indicated that adult Iranian children of divorce who had lower levels of adjustment to the divorce and higher reports of irrational beliefs about parental separation as children/adolescents also had higher levels of stress and anxiety as adults. Additionally, individuals who perceived that Iranian culture had an impact on their divorce experience also reported lower levels of adjustment to divorce and higher prevalence of irrational beliefs about parental separation/divorce. Qualitative results included important cultural aspects and perceptions of divorce that are unique to the Iranian community. Aspects of divorce that were related to being Iranian included cultural stigma and judgment, loss of culture and familial support, and psychological distress and shame. Furthermore, results from this study provide new insight into how cultural aspects impact the child's psychological well-being, overall adjustment, beliefs about separation, stress, and anxiety. Therapeutic implications are discussed as well as limitations, strengths, and suggestions for future research.

In a study investigating the ability of subjects and their close friends or relatives (close-others) to recognize subject personality test results under conditions which controlled for the Barnum effect, 64 male and female undergraduate psychology students were administered the California Psychological Inventory (CPI). Each subject later attempted to choose his or her own unidentified CPI profile from among three, and a close-other of the subject independently made the same selection. It was found that 57.81% of subjects and 45.31% of close others were able to correctly identify subject profiles; these results were significant at the .0001 and .05 levels respectively. The 53.12% rate of agreement between subjects and close-others in profile selection also proved significant, p < .001. In contrast with results from a previous study (Carlson, 1985), it was found that subject self-perception and CPI description correspond to a highly significant ·degree.

Research in sex-roles has found masculinity and androgyny to be correlated with self-esteem while femininity has a low or negative correlation with self-esteem. Much of the research in this area is based in studies of androgyny. Androgyny is the ability to respond in a feminine or masculine manner, depending on the situation rather than being limited to only feminine or masculine behavior because of sex-role stereotypes. In the research on self-esteem some studies have reported androgynous individuals measure high in self-esteem. Other studies have found that masculine characteristics contribute more to the self-esteem than androgynous characteristics. These results, taken together, suggest people with androgynous and masculine characteristics have high self-esteem while those with feminine characteristics have lowered or negative self-esteem.

Thousands of service persons and veterans may be leaving military service annually without required skills and not receiving timely career counseling and interventions needed to aid in their career transitions. Knowledge about service persons' career adaptability, confidence, and readiness could enhance the actions of all stakeholders to address the challenges that accompany career transitions and may aid in identifying needed counseling and interventions. Using a survey containing the Career Transitions Inventory and the Career Futures Inventory-Revised, perspectives were obtained from service persons (N = 264) while attending Transition Assistance Program workshops. Two research questions for the study examined associations between individuals' career adaptability and 2 transition variables: confidence and readiness. Statistical testing was accomplished using Pearson correlation coefficient, t test, and 1-way analysis of variance. Correlations of transition confidence and overall career adaptability scores indicated a low negative correlation (r (262) = -0.4299, p < .01), and correlations of transition readiness and overall career adaptability scores indicated a low positive correlation (r (262) = 0.3988, p < .01). In addition, significant differences were noted when examining survey results based on demographic variables such as race, education, marital status, highest pay-grade achieved, and years of service. This study contributes to social change by demonstrating techniques for assessing personal traits. Implications are discussed for using self-reported data for counseling and interventions for individuals, which could enhance their career transition experiences.

Presence of the Dark Triad traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy in the workplace, especially among managers, has received increased attention due to the implications for organizations. One way to influence behavior in business organizations is through controlled interventions to change individual mind-sets. A review of the extant literature indicated that the relationship between Dark Triad traits and mind-set had not been sufficiently examined. A quantitative study was conducted to examine whether a manager's Dark Triad traits predict their mindset. To explore this relationship, a sample of 153 managers' responses was collected online. The Short Dark Triad measure was used to assess participants' Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy and the Implicit Theory Measure was used to assess mind-set. Regression showed that only Machiavellianism predicts mind-set, accounting for 7% of the variance in mind-set as the criterion variable. The findings indicate that the relationship between Dark Triad traits and mind-set is weaker than a review of the extant psychological literature might suggest. Additionally, this study found that the Dark Triad traits are significantly negatively correlated with manager age, which might provide a new direction for further research. Further research on how and why Dark Triad traits tend to decline with age is recommended. The present study suggests that a better understanding of the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and mind-set and the knowledge that controlled interventions aimed at promoting a growth mind-set are most likely not a useful tool to mitigate the level of Dark Triad psychological traits of managers in business organizations.