Psychology Dissertations

The Influence of Stereotype on Maintenance and Retrieval Errors: Does Working Memory Capacity Matter?

Leslie R. Knuycky — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:51:14 PDT

I explored the influence of stereotypes on performance in cognitive tasks as a function of individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) in a multi-part study. First, I established that low and high WMC persons maintain equivalent knowledge of common racial stereotypes. Next, I tested whether stereotype-based responses in cognitive tasks that require controlled processing are influenced by individual differences in WMC. Given that stereotypical associations are automatic and cognitively efficient, I predicted that without sufficient resources to suppress these associations, persons with low relative to high WMC will be more susceptible to the influence of stereotype-consistent errors on tasks which have been demonstrated to induce performance differences in low and high WMC persons (Unsworth & Engle, 2007). Engaging WMC is not required in all cognitive tasks; thus, low and high WMC persons were not expected to perform differently on tasks that rely on more automatic processes.

Results provided general support for predictions as persons with more inherently limited cognitive resources committed a higher number of stereotype-consistent errors when performing a maintenance task and accurately recalled fewer stereotype-consistent words when performing a retrieval task. However, persons completing inhibition and familiarity tasks, which are methodologically similar to the maintenance and retrieval tasks but involve less controlled cognitive processes, performed similarly regardless of WMC.

Examining East Asian American College Students' Mental Health Help-Seeking

Louis K. Chow — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:01:28 PDT

This study examined underutilization of mental health services by East Asian American (EAA) college students and the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at increasing mental health outcomes. The literature presents discrepant findings of whether behavioral or values based acculturation measures were more predictive of mental health outcomes. Previous researchers have also identified cultural and practical barriers that lead to underutilization of services. It was hypothesized that relative to behavioral acculturation, values acculturation would be more predictive of attitudes and intentions to seek counseling. Additionally, recent studies highlighting the importance of practical barriers, a brief education based video intervention was developed in hopes of increasing attitudes and intentions of mental health help seeking. The role of gender in these relations was explored. A total of 60 EAA college students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, either the counseling information intervention video or a comparison video about career services offered at the university. It was found that after controlling for behavioral acculturation, increased adherence to Asian values was associated with decreased intentions to seek counseling about personal problems and there were no significant gender differences. Regarding the intervention, unexpectedly, information provided in the comparison condition about career services led to increased willingness to see a counselor about academic/career problems. Overall, the counseling intervention video was not effective in increasing mental health outcomes. Notably, participants in the counseling video intervention had higher perceptions of knowledge and ability to seek counseling, which was positively correlated with increased willingness to see a counselor about personal problems. Gender differences were not significant in the analyses. Implications of the study include further development and examination of interventions developed to address practical barriers, presenting topics related to academic concerns as a way to increase counseling use by EAA college students, and further investigation of the role of self-efficacy in predicting mental health utilization.

Gambling and Decision-Making Among Primates: The Primate Gambling Task

Darby Proctor — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 06:11:05 PDT

Humans have a tendency to engage in economically irrational behaviors such as gambling, which typically leads to long-term financial losses. While there has been much research on human gambling behavior, relatively little work has been done to explore the evolutionary origins of this behavior. To examine the adaptive pressures that may have led to this seemingly irrational behavior in humans, nonhuman primates were tested to explore their reactions to gambling type scenarios. Several experiments based on traditional human economic experiments were adapted for use with a wider variety of primate species including chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys. This allowed for testing multiple species using similar methodologies in order to make more accurate comparisons of species abilities. This series of tasks helps to elucidate risky decision-making behavior in three primate species.

The Moderating Influence of Strength on Depression and Suicide in African American Women

BRANDEIS H. GREEN — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 06:11:04 PDT

Strength for African American women and its psychological ramifications are being newly conceptualized and explored empirically in psychological research. The Strong Black Woman Attitudes Scale, (Thompson, 2003) was created to empirically test a three factor theoretical model: self reliance, affect regulation, and caretaking as a reliable culturally relevant coping mechanism for African American women. The primary aim of this study is to explore if cultural coping (SBW) moderates the relationship between depression and suicide in African American women. Other aims include, replicating the factor structure of the SBWAS with a community sample, and examining relationships between the SBW, racial identity, traditional coping, and depression. The Strong Black Woman Attitude Scale (SBWAS) was used to measure cultural coping, and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WOCQ) was used to measure traditional coping. Racial regard and centrality subscales from the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI) measured racial identity and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Suicide Scale (BSS) measured depression and suicide respectively. Results showed significant moderations for the total SBW score and the affect regulation subscale. Additionally, racial identity was positively associated with cultural coping, and cultural coping was negatively associated with traditional coping. Depression was positively related to the SBW and suicide. The three factor model was also upheld. The results of this study support the notion that strength for African American women can have detrimental psychological effects on women utilizing this coping style.

Investigating Speech Perception in Evolutionary Perspective: Comparisons of Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and Human Capabilities

Lisa A. Heimbauer — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 06:11:02 PDT

There has been much discussion regarding whether the capability to perceive speech is uniquely human. The “Speech is Special” (SiS) view proposes that humans possess a specialized cognitive module for speech perception (Mann & Liberman, 1983). In contrast, the “Auditory Hypothesis” (Kuhl, 1988) suggests spoken-language evolution took advantage of existing auditory-system capabilities. In support of the Auditory Hypothesis, there is evidence that Panzee, a language-trained chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), perceives speech in synthetic “sine-wave” and “noise-vocoded” forms (Heimbauer, Beran, & Owren, 2011). Human comprehension of these altered forms of speech has been cited as evidence for specialized cognitive capabilities (Davis, Johnsrude, Hervais-Adelman, Taylor, & McGettigan, 2005).

In light of Panzee’s demonstrated abilities, three experiments extended these investigations of the cognitive processes underlying her speech perception. The first experiment investigated the acoustic cues that Panzee and humans use when identifying sine-wave and noise-vocoded speech. The second experiment examined Panzee’s ability to perceive “time-reversed” speech, in which individual segments of the waveform are reversed in time. Humans are able to perceive such speech if these segments do not much exceed average phoneme length. Finally, the third experiment tested Panzee’s ability to generalize across both familiar and novel talkers, a perceptually challenging task that humans seem to perform effortlessly.

Panzee’s performance was similar to that of humans in all experiments. In Experiment 1, results demonstrated that Panzee likely attends to the same “spectro-temporal” cues in sine-wave and noise-vocoded speech that humans are sensitive to. In Experiment 2, Panzee showed a similar intelligibility pattern as a function of reversal-window length as found in human listeners. In Experiment 3, Panzee readily recognized words not only from a variety of familiar adult males and females, but also from unfamiliar adults and children of both sexes. Overall, results suggest that a combination of general auditory processing and sufficient exposure to meaningful spoken language is sufficient to account for speech-perception evidence previously proposed to require specialized, uniquely human mechanisms. These findings in turn suggest that speech-perception capabilities were already present in latent form in the common evolutionary ancestors of modern chimpanzees and humans.

Visual Scanning of Dynamic Affective Stimuli in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Susan M. McManus — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:37:07 PDT

The accurate integration of audio-visual emotion cues is critical for social interactions and requires efficient processing of facial cues. Gaze behavior of typically developing (TD) individuals and individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was measured via eye-tracking during the perception of dynamic audio-visual emotion (DAVE) stimuli. This study provides information about the regions of the face sampled during an emotion perception task that is relatively more complex than those used in previous studies, providing both bimodal (auditory and visual) and dynamic (biological motion) cues. Results indicated that the ASD group was less accurate at emotion detection and demonstrated less of a visual-affective bias than TD individuals. Both groups displayed similar fixation patterns across regions during the perception of congruent audio-visual stimuli. However, between-group analyses revealed that fixation patterns differed significantly by facial regions during the perception of both congruent and incongruent movies together. In addition, fixation duration to critical regions (i.e., face, core, eyes) was negatively correlated with measures of ASD symptomatology and social impairment. Findings suggest weaknesses in the early integration of audio-visual information, automatic perception of emotion, and efficient detection of affective conflict in individuals with ASD. Implications for future research and social skills intervention programs are discussed.

Development of Activism: The Elders of the Anti-nuclear Movement

Emma JF Ogley-Oliver — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 08:55:49 PDT

The US anti-nuclear movement formed in opposition to the development of nuclear weapons and energy. Anti-nuclear activists have rallied since the late 1970’s opposed to the construction of Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, Georgia due to the social and environmental justice issues related to the nuclear industry. In 2010, the nuclear industry proposed a nuclear resurgence in the US, proposing to construct new reactors at Plant Vogtle. This represented the first time new nuclear reactors had been proposed since the moratorium on new reactors as a result of the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979. The aim of the study is to understand the experience of “first wave” anti-nuclear activists in Georgia (those engaged for twenty years or more). Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Framework was employed to locate anti-nuclear activists’ perceived facilitators and barriers to their activism. Semi-structured interviews with these activists yielded rich descriptions about their experience in the anti-nuclear movement. Activists endorsed facilitators and barriers related to individual characteristics however, the majority of activists perceived facilitators and barriers beyond the individual level. Specifically, the majority of activists mentioned facilitators and barriers relating to the media and political systems and the power and resource imbalances within society. The role of community psychology is discussed in relation to this field of inquiry.

Creating an Opportunity for Self-Empowerment of Immigrant Latina Survivors of Domestic Violence: A Leadership Intervention

Josephine V. Serrata — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:17:21 PDT

Latina survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) experience IPV at similar rates as other ethnic groups. However, the intersection of multiple cultural factors, including acculturation, can greatly influence a woman’s experience of IPV. For example, research suggests that Latinas experience unique forms of control and unique barriers to service in addition to positive coping. Nevertheless, a scarcity of culturally relevant interventions plagues the IPV field. Moreover, evaluations of such programs are remarkably scarce in the research literature. The current study evaluates an innovative peer leadership intervention, the Líderes program, which is grounded in a self-empowerment framework. The Líderes program is a peer education leadership initiative that taps into the natural leadership skills of Latinas. Although the effectiveness of similar peer leadership models addressing public and occupational health concerns, education outcomes, and nursing leadership can be found in the literature, this is the first documented attempt to include survivors of IPV as participants in such a program.

The study used a mixed methods design. The quantitative component included a multiple baseline research design including nine participants. The survey measured variables related to leadership development and a facilitator rating was utilized to measure behavioral change. The qualitative component included analysis of journals written by the participants documenting their experience of the program.

Results revealed that the Líderes curriculum was effective in influencing the self-empowerment of participants across the intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral domains of leadership. The qualitative results supported this finding and provided evidence for the important role of a supportive environment for this change to occur.

The Líderes training program is the first training program for Latina community leaders who are also survivors of IPV. This study highlights the advantages of a peer-intervention training program as a way to develop existing strengths among Latina survivors of IPV.

The Role of Frontal Lobe White Matter Integrity and Executive Functioning in Predicting Adaptive Functioning in Alzheimer's Disease

Matthew A. Mumaw — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:17:19 PDT

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is characterized by a gradual deterioration of the patients’ ability to independently perform day to day activities. Researchers have discovered significant changes in neuroanatomy, cognition and behavior that are related to the disease process of AD and researchers continue to uncover new variables, such as the presence of vascular risk factors, which may further increase our ability to understand and characterize the disease. The purpose of this study is to identify the neuroanatomical, cognitive and behavioral variables that best predict impairment of instrumental activities of daily living in individuals with probable AD.

Reduced white matter integrity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as well as the presence of vascular risk factors significantly predicted impairments in activities of daily living (ADLs). Executive functioning skills, typically described as frontal lobe system behaviors, were positively associated with ADLs. Further, executive functions fully mediated the relationship between frontal lobe white matter integrity and ADLs. A better understanding of the variables responsible for diminished ADLs in AD will allow researchers and clinicians to better target prevention and intervention strategies and ultimately help individuals with AD to maintain their independence for a longer duration.

Temperament as a Predictor of Infant Immunization Distress and Response to Treatment

Naomi E. Joffe — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:17:18 PDT

There is a growing body of research on interventions to decrease infant distress during painful procedures, and distraction is a particularly practical option. However, the effectiveness data for distraction for infant pain relief are mixed. Inconsistencies in response to distraction might be explained by unique characteristics of the infant patient. Some researchers argue that temperament is the best predictor of differences observed between individuals and also the most sensitive to novel environmental factors such as exposure to pain. This study examined whether infants’ temperament is predictive of response to immunization injection pain and whether temperament moderates the relation between a distraction intervention and infant distress. Data for this study came from two prior studies of healthy infants receiving immunizations (Cohen, 2002; Cohen et al., 2006). Participants included 252 healthy infants and toddlers who ranged from 1 to 22 months of age. Infants were randomly assigned to “typical care” condition or “distraction” condition. The period of time before, during, and after the injection was videotaped and observational coding was used to assess infant distress. Prior to the immunization, parents completed six pre-injection visual analogue scales about their child’s temperament. An oblique rotation factor analysis was conducted with the temperament data and provided two temperament factors that map onto the ‘easy/difficult’ and ‘time-to-warm-up’ dimensions documented in the literature; these two factors were used for analyses. After controlling for site and gender, regression analyses revealed that neither easy/difficult temperament (p = .098, b = .109) nor time-to-warm-up temperament (p = .572, b = -.037) was predictive of distress. There was a significant treatment condition and time-to-warm-up temperament interaction, b = .0011, SE = .0005, p = .0254, such that distraction decreased distress in infants that were slower to warm up, or warmed up neither slowly nor quickly. No other significant distraction x temperament interactions were found. Temperament was not found to impact infant distress during immunizations in this study but results speaking to whether temperament serves as a moderator of the relation between distraction and distress were mixed. Results suggest that temperament is a factor that warrants closer attention when examining how infants respond to interventions around pain.

Developmental Trajectories of Marriage, Coparenting, and Parenting Stress for Parents of Adolescents and Young Adults with Intellectual Disability

Shana S. Richardson — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:17:16 PDT

This study assessed marital quality, coparenting, and parenting stress over time for parents of children with intellectual disability by creating developmental trajectories from longitudinal data. Both mothers and fathers (N = 152 couples), with children ages 6-18 at the first wave, evaluated their relationship and parenting stress on up to 4 occasions over a 14-year period. The study provided separate models of change over time for mothers and fathers which showed that marital quality, coparenting, and parenting stress are dynamic relationship constructs that changed during the child’s development. Overall, marital quality was found to follow a curvilinear pattern, with declines when children were adolescents and increases as children entered young adulthood. Positive coparenting increased linearly over time for mothers and fathers, and negative coparenting declined linearly for mothers. With an emphasis on transition periods in the family life cycle, trajectories included indicators of the child’s development to allow for periods of discrete change in the trajectories based on the child’s entrance into adolescence and young adulthood. The child’s entrances into these developmental periods were associated with changes in levels of marital quality and coparenting for mothers only. Patterns for stress over time depended on the parent reporting, with mothers reporting decreases in parent and family problems over time and a quadratic trend for pessimism, with initial growth in reported pessimism followed by declines as the children exited adolescence. Fathers, however, did not report significant changes for parent and family problems and perceived increases in pessimism with time. The study also assessed how support in the marital and coparenting roles with time is associated with levels of parenting stress. Marital quality consistently predicted lower levels of parent and family problems for both parents, but findings for associations between marital quality and pessimism, and coparenting with both types of stress, varied depending on the parent reporting.

An Exploration of Pathological Gambling Among Diverse Populations

Ayana N. Perkins — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:14:35 PDT

This study used an ecological perspective to identify pathological gambling (PG) risk and protective factors, nonclinical resources, and prevention strategies based on the perceptions of Georgia stakeholders. With an ecological perspective, human behavior is perceived as an outcome of the interaction between the individual and various factors in their social environment. The ecological perspective is especially suitable for examining the higher PG prevalence among ethnic minority groups since these populations have been documented as encountering greater exposure to PG social and environmental risk factors (Smedley & Syme, 2000). To assess prevention needs, data were obtained from a 2008 needs assessment where diverse perspectives were collected through semi structured focus groups and interviews. A qualitative approach was used to address the study's aims. Grounded theory was used to guide the data analysis. Findings indicated that community perceptions of risk and protective factors, nonclinical resources, and prevention strategies were present at multiple levels of analyses. Furthermore, data trends also indicated that charitable gambling and other social norms should be considered in prevention.

The Moderating Influence of Strength on Depression and Suicide in African American Women

Brandeis H. Green — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:14:34 PDT

The Development and Lived Experience of African Centered Identity: A Qualitative Investigation

Obari Cartman — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:35:03 PST

The purpose of this study is to explore cultural identity within African Americans. The primary construct of interest is African centered identity, which is comprised of two parts: 1) cultural values with origins in African cultures that have been unintentionally retained, and 2) a social and political ideology that intentionally incorporates elements of an African worldview. This study utilizes qualitative research methodology to investigate the lived experience of African centered identity, and incorporates a developmental perspective.

Semi-structured interviews of 14 adults are analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The results reveal many themes in the participants’ lived experience of their cultural identity that are consistent with prominent descriptions of African centered worldview. Less consistent results regarding participants’ development of their cultural identity are discussed within the framework of racial and ethnic identity stage models. Finally, respondents’ narratives are discussed with regards to their implications for identity measurement, the social construction of identity, and the influence of environment on identity development.

After-School Programs: Do Parents Matter?

Michelle A. DiMeo — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:36:33 PST

Previous research suggests that parents can benefit from youth participation in after-school programs. However, little research has explored parent involvement in after-school programs as an important program characteristic leading to youth development. Bioecological Systems Theory suggests that individuals are influenced by the interactions of others within their environment. Building from this theory, it was posited that parent benefits resulting from involvement in after-school programs can facilitate positive youth development. Surveys were completed by 117 parents whose daughters participated in the Cool Girls, Inc. after-school program, a program serving primarily low-income, African American, urban youth. Using Exploratory Factor Analysis, a three factor structure of parent benefits was identified. Parent benefits include increased (1) parent-child communication, (2) parent social capital, and (3) parent-school involvement. A fourth parent benefit of help for working parents was identified in subsequent analyses using a smaller sample of only working parents (n = 86). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that more parent after-school program involvement was associated with increases in each of the four parent benefits. As predicted, each of the four parent benefits mediated the association between parent involvement in after-school programs and parent reported changes in positive youth development outcomes due to participation in Cool Girls, Inc. These results suggest the importance of further research into ways parents benefit from their child’s participation in after-school programs and how those benefits can influence youth developmental trajectories. These findings also demonstrate the importance of involving parents in after-school programs.

Examination of Perceived Norms and Masculinity Threat as Predictors of College Men's Behavioral Intentions as Bystanders in a Party Gang Rape Situation

Doyanne A. Darnell — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:05:40 PDT

Sexual assault of women is a well-documented phenomenon in U.S. samples, particularly on college campuses. Innovative approaches to prevention encourage men and women to intervene as bystanders in sexual assault situations; however, bystander behavior is notoriously inhibited by various situational factors. This study used a mixed-method approach to better understand the role of situational factors in college men’s bystander behavioral intentions in a party gang rape situation. The first aim was to develop an experimental paradigm using vignette methodology to manipulate the amount of masculinity threat present in a party gang rape situation, which could then be used to explore the effect of masculinity threat on men’s bystander behavioral intentions. Although I was unable to heighten masculinity threat, findings indicate that a previous relationship with the offenders results in men expecting a typical male college bystander to experience less negative affect in the situation. The second aim was to use the vignettes to examine whether men’s perception of the rape-supportive and traditional masculine gender role norms among the offenders involved, as well as indicators of masculinity threat, would predict men’s bystander behavioral intentions. Boding well for bystander intervention programs, the majority (98%) of men reported intention to intervene to stop the assault to some degree, although this intention was lower for men who perceived the party gang rape situation to result in more negative affect for a typical college male bystander. Data depicts the party gang rape situation as one in which masculine norms and masculinity threat are salient; however, these aspects did not play a role in intentions to intervene. Eighteen percent of men reported some intention to join in the assault, which was predicted by perceived masculine norms and men’s demographic characteristics. Findings point to the importance of culturally competent programming and the utility of incorporating a social norms approach in bystander intervention programs. Programs may benefit from addressing concerns about retaliation, particularly as a function of men’s relationships to the offenders. A limitation is the exclusion of individual difference variables to explore whether men’s own attitudes interact with situational factors to predict bystander behavioral intentions.

Using Q Methodology to Explore College Students' Conceptualizations of Sexual Consent

Elizabeth R. Anthony — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:05:37 PDT

The high prevalence of sexual violence warrants continued research into its prevention. Understanding consensual sexual experiences holds promise for sexual violence prevention; however, sexual consent is a surprisingly understudied phenomenon. Existing research focuses on the tactics used to coerce consent and the ways in which college students initiate and indicate consent. Research that begins to articulate a theory of consent may help engineer situations antithetical to sexually violent experiences. This study is a first step toward that objective. This paper presents findings from an exploratory research study on college students’ conceptualizations of sexual consent. The purpose of this study was twofold: To investigate how college students define consent and to understand how context influences the consent process. To explore these research questions, quantitative and qualitative data were collected using Q methodology. Exploratory factor analysis revealed two groups of college students who conceptualize consent differently. One group focuses on the importance of consent to rape prevention, the other to healthy sexuality promotion. Qualitative interview data suggest contextual variables such as definition of consent and relationship type influence consent to a lesser extent than alcohol use, personal sexual experience, discrepant levels of sexual experience between partners, and feelings for a potential sexual partner. Results support replacing the current model of consent, in which consent is a contractual obligation between sexual partners, with one of sexual communication, where consent is woven into a broader conversation about healthy sexuality. The strengths and limitations of doing so are discussed and directions for future intervention research are presented.

Food for Thought: A Strengths-Based Approach to Examining the Biomedical and Psychological Health of Latino Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers in Georgia

Joanna R. Weinberg — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:05:34 PDT

Inherent in their living and working conditions, Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers (MSFWs) are exposed to a multitude of environmental and psychosocial stressors that make them susceptible to adverse health outcomes. Utilizing a resilience framework, the current study examined both the physical and psychological health functioning of MSFWs in Georgia, a state heavily reliant on farm worker labor where relatively few research studies with MSFWs have been conducted to date. Based on a sample of 120 Latino, male, MSFWs in South Georgia, results indicated that approximately 1 out of 3 farm workers were at risk for iron-deficiency anemia. Similar to other psychological health studies conducted with MSFWs located in the Eastern U.S., the prevalence rate of depression in the current sample was elevated. MSFW stress was found to be a risk factor for psychological health and positive well-being and accurate farm worker expectations were found to be assets associated with better psychological health outcomes. Farm worker expectations was also found to be a protective factor for physical health such that having accurate expectations buffered the relationship between MSFW stress and adverse biomedical health. Results show the usefulness of the resilience framework, and highlight the importance of establishing prevention, intervention, and policy efforts for MSFWs that aim to increase assets and minimize risk in this population.

South African Youth and Parents: A Mixed-Methods Examination of Family Communication about Sex, HIV, and Violence

Lindsey Zimmerman — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:34:10 PDT

South Africa retains the highest HIV prevalence in the world, with the incidence of infection growing fastest among youth. The purpose of this investigation was to inform preventive family-based interventions designed to reduce youth HIV risks. In 2009, 38 black South African caregivers and youth (ages 10-14) participated in key informant interviews and focus groups, which were coded for themes related to family communication about sex. Findings highlighted a cultural taboo against communication that among some caregivers was shifting. Informed by this qualitative data, in 2010, 97 black South African caregivers and 97 youth (ages 10-14) completed measures designed for quantitative comparisons between the caregiver and youth generations. Results were that youth reported significantly more communication about sex topics than did their caregivers, and significantly lower perceptions of caregiver responsiveness to communication than their caregiver’s self-report. Importantly, although youth reported that they would prefer to ask their mother first a question about sex, currently few do so. Male youth and their caregivers were significantly less likely to report communication about sex topics than were female youth and their caregivers. Correlations indicated that youth-reported perceptions of their caregivers’ responsiveness are likely one of the best indicators of whether and how communication occurs, and that being a younger caregiver is associated with higher self-reported caregiver responsiveness. Regarding safety, nearly twice as many caregivers reported feeling that their neighborhood was “not safe” than did youth and the majority of caregivers reported talking to their youth about sexual violence.

The Impact of Sickle Cell Disease on the Family: An Examination of the Illness Intrusiveness Framework

Josie S. Welkom — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:11:37 PDT

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder that affects approximately 1 out of every 600 African-American newborns (NHLBI, 2006). SCD and its associated symptoms can have widespread impact on both the psychological functioning of the individual diagnosed with the illness and their families. The purpose of this study was to apply the illness intrusiveness framework to better understand the relations among vaso-occlusive pain crises (VOC), child age, pediatric health related quality of life (QOL), and parental psychosocial adjustment. Participants included 103 parent-child dyads. Parents completed a background form, the Brief Symptom Inventory-18, and the Illness Intrusiveness Rating Scale. Children completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Results revealed that experiencing a greater frequency of VOC’s was related to decrements in QOL across domains. However, this relation was not mediated by parental perceived illness intrusiveness. Further, results revealed that the effect of frequency of vaso-occlusive pain crises in children with SCD on parental psychosocial maladjustment is mediated by parental illness intrusiveness, which is contingent upon child age.