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- Creator:
- Dai, Jiahui
- Description:
- The objective of this research study was to examine the associations between being overweight or obese and self-perceptions of: current health conditions, current body shape and ideal body image, as well as emotional issues. A total of 91 California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) students participated in this study. The sample was divided into normal weight, overweight or obese groups based on the BMI categories (WHO, 2014). The results stated being overweight or obese was not associated with self-perception of health conditions, self-perception of current body shape and ideal body image, as well as self- perception of emotional issues among CSUSM students. However, gender was associated with a perception of a healthy current body shape, and race or ethnicity was associated with emotional issues.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Public Health
- Creator:
- Bchir, Luciana
- Description:
- Introduction: Oral diseases significantly affect Mexican migrants who consequently are at greater risk for poor oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). This study aimed to understand the relationship between an individual’s demographics (age and gender), socioeconomic (education attainment, employment status, monthly household income and dental health insurance access), oral health behavior (frequency of brushing teeth with fluoride toothpaste, frequency of dental floss use and time since last dental visit), self-reported oral symptoms and conditions (presence of dental sensitivity, bleeding gums, chewing difficulties, toothache pain, abscessed tooth, number of natural tooth removed, teeth appearance satisfaction, missed work or school days in the past 12 months) and overall general health and oral health as predictors of OHRQoL in Mexican migrant adults from northern San Diego County. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed self-reported survey data from 120 Mexican migrant adults from northern San Diego County, CA. Socio-demographics, oral health behavior, self-reported general and oral health status, oral symptoms and conditions and oral health impact were assessed by a survey from a community-based participatory research (CBPR) study. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analyses examined participants’ characteristics, the proportion of reporting problems, and the association between predictors of interest and their impact on OHRQoL, respectively. Results: Participants mean age was 40 years old, 90.8% were female, and 81.7% didn’t have dental insurance. The most frequently reported current dental symptom problems was dental sensitivity (58.3%) while the presence of abscessed tooth (19.2%) was the least frequently reported symptom. According to the OHIP-14 seven subscales, psychological discomfort (76.5%), physical pain (68.4%) and psychological disability (62.2%) were the most frequently 6 participants’ reported problems. OHIP’s total mean score was 18.13. The linear regression analyses identified gender, presence of chewing difficulties, toothache pain, and an abscessed tooth, not being satisfied with teeth appearance and having missed work or school because of problems with natural teeth as responsible for causing an impact on OHRQoL. They accounted for 47.4% of the variance in the OHIP-14 total score. Conclusion: In this study, factors such as gender, self-reported presence of chewing difficulties, toothache pain, abscessed tooth, dissatisfaction with teeth appearance and having missed work or school due to dental issues were significantly associated with oral health-related quality of life.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Public Health
- Creator:
- Illingworth, David A
- Description:
- Working memory (i.e., the capacity to maintain, manipulate, and retrieve multiple bundles of information) has been shown to be independent of, albeit correlated with, intelligence (g), and is variable across the population. As a result, the question has arisen as to what, if anything, accounts for differences in working memory capacity (WMC). Research addressing this question has had minimal success testing for differences in aptitude for encoding and retrieving between samples of individuals with high and low WMC. Prior research has been further limited by difficulties with empirically discriminating encoding and retrieval, as well as confusion about what factors related to encoding result in enhanced (or diminished) performance on measures of WMC. This study explored the relationship between encoding and WMC by controlling for depth of processing in a word recall paradigm (i.e., levels-of-processing task) that included a near-span length memory load in some conditions. The anticipated interaction between levels-of-processing and memory load was found, suggesting that deep processing is not susceptible to the effects of increased memory load in the same way memory loads affect lower domains of processing. All main effects were qualified by an interaction between WMC, memory load, and level-of-processing. Differences in patterns of performance between high and low WMC groups were only detectable at the deepest level of processing
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Identifier:
- LD729.6.S57.H8 I2956 2011
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
37534. Work-based and Nonwork-based Support: The Moderating Effects of Social Support on Job Insecurity
- Creator:
- Labeau, Whitney
- Description:
- Due to the current economic decline, numerous employees are faced not only with financial concerns, but with the additional stressor of potentially losing their jobs. This feeling of powerlessness in the workforce is referred to as job insecurity. When individuals experience job insecurity, their attitudes about work, job satisfaction, relationships, and overall life satisfaction suffer. Social support may act as a moderator to improve job-insecure employees’ attitudes at work and in the home. Data were collected from full-time employees online to determine the moderating role of work-based support (e.g., manager, co-worker, organization) and nonworkbased or personal support (e.g., family, friends) for the consequences of job insecurity. The results of the regression analyses revealed that job insecurity was related to employees’ higher levels of cynicism, noncompliance, emotional exhaustion, and lower levels of psychological well-being. Support received within the workplace was found to buffer noncompliant behaviors among women in the workplace. Furthermore, support received outside of the workplace improved employees’ psychological well-being. The implications of these findings for research and organizations are explored.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Smith, Monique Leana
- Description:
- The noncompetitive NMDA antagonists PCP and ketamine are valuable in research aimed at understanding a variety of disorders. Current findings are generating an interest in the mechanisms by which these drugs modify behavior, a process which is not fully understood. Currently, a prominent hypothesis suggests that certain behavioral effects of dissociatives are the result of an increase in glutamate release (Moghaddam, 1997, Olney & Farber, 1995), however this has not been fully examined using drugs that directly inhibit glutamate release. The aim of the current research is to address this gap and determine the role of glutamate release in PCP- and ketamine-induced locomotor behavior, stereotypy, ataxia and reward
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Identifier:
- LD729.6.S57.H8 S6556 2011
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Fernandez, Priscilla
- Description:
- Infidelity is a ubiquitous phenomenon that is experienced by a multitude of individuals in exclusive relationships. The revelation of a partner’s unfaithful transgression can elicit numerous negative emotional responses and potentially lead to the dissolution of a relationship. Although various theoretical models exist to explain unfaithful behavior, normative theories address the influence of perceived approval, perceived behavior of others, and personal morals in intention to engage in unfaithful behavior. The present study used scenarios to manipulate high or low prevalence of unfaithful behavior (descriptive norm), approval or disapproval of infidelity (injunctive norm), and high or low likelihood of a partner discovering the involvement of infidelity. In addition to these variables, gender differences, permissive sexual attitudes, and personal norms were assessed. Three hundred twenty college students, 160 males and 160 females, were recruited for this study. Results demonstrated that the descriptive norm and injunctive norm were not influential in unfaithful behavior intention, whereas the likelihood of partner discovery was. Results also showed gender differences that suggested males were more likely to report intention of engaging in both emotional and sexual infidelity than females. Lastly, individuals with more permissive sexual attitudes and weaker personal norms of infidelity reported the highest intention to engage in unfaithful behavior. Implications of the results are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Wrzeciona, Kimberly N.
- Description:
- Previous research has demonstrated that lower emotional awareness, lower conscientiousness, and higher neuroticism scores correlate with substance use. Additionally, substance users have been found to have more difficulty controlling their impulses. Nonetheless, research has not examined whether drug use behaviors can be specifically predicted by intrapersonal emotional awareness (IEA; an inability to recognize and manage one’s own feelings). Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine if IEA is a predictor of drug use behaviors, and if it is more predictive of drug use than impulsivity or personality characteristics. It was hypothesized that lower IEA would have greater predictive power of drug use frequency and intoxication in a sample of college students than the influence of personality characteristics or ability to control impulses. To assess these hypotheses, the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11, NEO-FFI, MCSD-scale form C, and two drug use questionnaires were administered. Participants (N = 181) reported using alcohol most commonly, followed by marijuana. Results show that when suppressed by conscientiousness, IEA predicted both frequency of substance use during the past two weeks and intoxication from substance use during the past six months. Although these results do not support the hypotheses that IEA was the most robust predictor of substance use, it does give evidence that IEA is a predictor when conscientiousness acts as a suppressor. This study contributes to existing empirical evidence, demonstrating the etiologies of drug use and the importance of examining both IEA and conscientiousness together when substance use programs are designed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
37538. Normative Social Influence across Conservation Behaviors: Spillover, Plasticity, and Elasticity
- Creator:
- Messina, Alyssa
- Description:
- Social norms approaches have emerged as promising intervention strategies in promoting individual-level conservation behavior. In order to maximize the effectiveness of these approaches, it is important to further understand what factors moderate normative influence and the extent to which social norms can change behavior. Of recent interest in conservation research is the potential for positive behavioral spillover to occur, where an intervention targeted toward one behavior may induce future conservation efforts in other behaviors. This study investigated the extent that a norms-based approach could produce positive behavioral spillover across three household behaviors: energy consumption, water consumption, and recycling. Three one-way ANCOVAs did not reveal significant main effects for each of the behaviors, and planned comparisons did not reveal significant spillover effects. Additional analyses explored the potential moderating effects of personal norms on the treatment, however no significant moderation was found. Plasticity, defined as the extent to which a behavior can be changed, was assessed for each behavior by comparing the effect sizes of each treatment and by comparing participant responses to two self-reported difficulty items. Participants indicated that, if they wanted to, they could most easily reduce their water use and least easily increase their recycling. Conversely, participants indicated that it would be most difficult to convince them to reduce their water use, and least difficult to convince them to increase their recycling. Elasticity, or the variability of each behavior, was calculated using a coefficient of variation. An ANOVA comparing the coefficient of variation of each behavior indicated that recycling was the most elastic behavior, while energy and water did not differ in elasticity.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Willey, Chela
- Description:
- The ocular-vestibular system integrates visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive information in order to aid individuals in navigating the environment. Individual differences arise in the relative weight that individuals give to visual information over kinesthetic information. Individuals relying more on visual information tend to experience a greater fear of heights than those accurately interpreting bodily information. Previous research has suggested that a fear of heights correlates with a greater over-exaggeration of vertical surfaces. However, no research has linked cognitive ocular-vestibular mechanisms to individual differences in visual height perception. The current study investigated how visual dependency as well as static and dynamic postural control related to height anxiety and estimates of vertical surfaces. Although the current study did not find the predicted relationship between height anxiety and vertical distance estimates, both balance and visual field dependence measures related to these variables in the predicted directions. Results suggest that greater visual field dependence and poor dynamic balance play an important role in the overestimation of vertical surfaces. Results replicated previous findings that poor balance and visual field dependence positively related to height anxiety, perhaps through the interaction with individual differences in vertical perception. Data from this study suggest that development of navigational abilities may influence visual vertical perception and height anxiety in a relatively similar yet independent manner. Implications may include the treatment of height anxiety through exercise of bodily kinesthetics. Future research focus on determining the malleability and causal effects of balance and visual field dependence.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Abraham, James
- Description:
- Recent studies in eyewitness identification have pointed to an advantage in accuracy for witnesses to identify suspects from a sequential, rather than simultaneous, lineup. Under the sequential procedure, some witnesses may wish to see another viewing (or lap) of the lineup if they did not get a good look at the suspects during the first viewing. Should police detectives allow multiple-lap lineups? Previous research shows that identification accuracy decreases from one lap to two laps, and some detectives may want to warn witnesses of this possibility before proceeding with a second viewing. The present study tested which presentation method (one lap, two laps, or two laps with a warning) produces the highest rate of correct decisions among culprit-present and culprit-absent lineups. All participants viewed a one-minute video portraying the theft of a laptop and then completed a distracter task for five minutes. In the identification phase, one-lap participants answered whether each of six mugshots was the culprit in the video, as well as their confidence in each decision. All two-lap participants viewed the lineup once without answering and a second time while answering as the one-lap participants did. Warned two-lap participants were given a warning of the possible detriment to identification accuracy before proceeding with the second viewing. Results indicated a lap effect – two-lap participants identified fillers more often than one-lap participants regardless of culprit presence. A warning effect also emerged, but only under the culprit-absent lineup: even though two-lap participants had a higher rate of filler identifications, those who received a warning chose a filler less often than those who did not. These findings imply that witnesses should be strongly encouraged to make a decision after only one viewing, but those witnesses who absolutely require multiple viewings should be warned to take care in identifying a suspect.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science