Part 1:
Your blog assignment this week is to find an empirical research article from a peer-reviewed journal. As a student, you have access to a plethora of research journals both in the library and form online databases. To access the library's online databases, follow these steps:
- Go to the library's website.
- Click on the blue "databases" tab.
- From there, you have a variety of search options, either by the name of the database or the subject of information you are looking for. However, I suggest using psycINFO. To access psycINFO, click on the small "p" and scroll down and find psycINFO.
- Sign in with your USD username and password (if you haven't already).
- From there, you'll see some search bars where you can put in keywords about whatever you are interested in.
- If you need further assistance, please ask me or a reference librarian for help!
The purpose of this particular assignment is to familiarize you with academic research. Because of this, you can choose whatever topic you want to research - whatever interests you. To receive credit for this week's blog assignment, please select an article and complete the following:
- Provide the correct APA citation for the article. Please consult the APA manual or Purdue Owl for formatting help. There is also a handout and Powerpoint on D2L that may be of assistance.
- In general, what were the researcher(s) examining?
- More specifically, what was the hypothesis? (there may be more than one)
- Who were the participants?
- If your research is experimental: What was the dependent variable and how was it measured?
- If your research is correlational/survey: What relationship are they testing?
- Results - what did they find?
- What was your overall reaction to the article? Were you surprised by the findings, do the findings relate to your life, etc.
I encourage you to try to write this post in paragraph form, as opposed to a simple listing of the information asked for in the bullet points. For example, "College students completed 2 self-report measures related to their college experience. Specifically, the participants were asked to report information related to their involvement in student groups and the amount of time they typically spend studying. Results suggest that....."
Reading academic research can be difficult for students who have never done it before, so do not get discourage if you don't understand the article you chose. If you are having a difficult time understanding the article, try to find one that is more simplistic and/or ask for help!
Reading academic research can be difficult for students who have never done it before, so do not get discourage if you don't understand the article you chose. If you are having a difficult time understanding the article, try to find one that is more simplistic and/or ask for help!
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Part 2:
Respond to any 2 existing blog posts (not including this one or posts that you have responded to previously) to get credit for your "blog comments." Each post has its own instructions to follow in regard to commenting. Note: Replying to other students' comments on blog posts does not count toward your grade, although I encourage you to engage in conversation with one another. You may comment on posts from previous weeks, but I encourage you to stay up-to-date with what we will be discussing in class.
This assignment is due on Monday, Sept. 9 at 11:59p.
Marsac, M.L., K.A. Donlon, F.K. Winston, & N. Kassam-Adams. (2011) Child coping, parent coping assistance and post-traumatice stress following pediatric physical injury. Child: care, health and development. 39 (2), 171-177. PsychINFO. Database. 4 Sep 2013.
ReplyDeleteThe researchers were examining children and the differences in their coping strategies and the amount of different coping strategies they used based on when they received assistance from their parents. They also researched the outcomes of PTSS symptoms and the duration of the symptoms of the children based on their coping strategies. The main examination process was looking at the relationship between the PTSS coping process and the assistance of coping from a parent.
The hypothesis of this study is that children will be able to seek help and have a faster coping process from PTSS if their parent helps them with their coping. Another hypothesis is that by having parental assistance with coping, the children are more willing to have others help them when injured and or needing help.
The participants included 82 children and one parent for each of the children.
The dependent variable is the coping time and the social dependency of the child. These were measured by follow-up appointments in intervals such as during the 2nd week and 3rd month of coping.
The results of this study were that when the children had the assistance with coping from a parent, they were able to have more coping strategies along with a faster coping time. They also found that the children were more apt to ask their parent for help and support through the coping process.
I wasn't very surprised by their findings because I inferred that by having a parent around this would cause the child to want to open up and ask their parent for more help and it would also cause a short coping period. I was kind of surprised by the fact that the child's coping time was shorter because I didn't think that by being social with a parent, the coping would be drastically different. I think that the findings relate to my life because I find myself talking to my parents about my everyday problems and that tends to help me with coping through my problems more than just keeping them bottled up inside.
Ji, M. F. (2002). Children's relationships with brands: 'True love' or 'one-night' stand?. Psychology & Marketing, 19(4), 369-387. doi:10.1002/mar.10015
ReplyDeleteI chose an article called “Children’s relationships with brands ‘True love or one-night stand,’ because I work in a daycare with children from ages 6 weeks to 6 years old. The researchers were examining the relationships that children develop with brands in family settings. The participants were children and the researchers gave group and individual interviews. They concluded that brands serve important functions for children’s relationship, with brands, in their lives and it will make a huge impact on the marketers. I wanted to see what they meant by the second part of the title. As I read, I was first kind of uncertain about how much the people who wrote this article really knew when they stated the fact that children start to eat solid food at age of 2. Things they say they eat are simple foods, such as cereal and Cheerios. Being that I work in a daycare, I know that most children start eating oatmeal and cereal at the age of 6-8 months old and are on table food by, usually, a year. Though, the research she did was really interesting and how when the interviews were done, children really had connection to some brands and not others. Also, how when a child receives a bike, will later on determine what their interest in types of cars is. A child is very influenced by other social environment aspects, such as, parents, siblings, friends, schools, and what they see on television. Such as if the parents drive nice vehicles, the children will most likely be interested and want nicer vehicles in their older age. I did enjoy this article, but I still do truly wonder how well the researcher really knew about child development.
Great observation and critical evaluation of the article. Critical thinking when reading research is key!
DeleteJust looking throughout various lists of personality traits associated with Type A and Type B, I have discovered that I definitely have a Type B personality. I do not get too stressed about anything and work steadily. Although I have a couple characteristics of Type A personality, such as competitiveness and caring for others, I am overall a Type B personality.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were originally assigned this blog, I was simply interested in finding out my personality, Type A or Type B, but as I discovered more and more research, I found an article pertaining to car accidents and Type A personality. I was interested in this topic for two reasons. First, my personality is the opposite, and I was curious if Type A personalities were more at risk. Second, my sister passed away in a car accident where she was a passenger, and the driver was speeding. I am not sure if the driver would consider herself a Type A personality or a Type B personality, but again, I was curious.
Type A personality has been linked to characteristics such as impatience, neatness, competitiveness, time pressured, and hostility. The article stated that time pressure was the most prevalent cause in accordance with Type A personalities. As we were talking about in class on Tuesday, sometimes Psychology studies seem to be common sense, and other times, Psychology studies do not seem to be common sense. To me, time pressure would be an obvious major factor relating to car accidents. If a person is in a big hurry, an “accident” seems to be much more likely to occur.
APA Format:
Karlberg, L., & Unden, A. (1998). Is There a Connection Between Car Accidents, Near Accidents, and Type A Drivers?. Behavioral Medicine, 24(3), 99.
Link:
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&sid=d8e9e6b0-0055-417a-8566-28c79fc5c417%40sessionmgr113&hid=113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=psyh&AN=1998-11966-001
Brunborg, G.H., Johnsen, B.H., Mentzoni, R.A., Myrseth, H., Molde, H., Lorvik, I. M., Bu, E.T.H., & Pallesen, S. (2012). Diminished aversive classical conditioning in pathological gamblers. Addition. 107(9), 1660-1666.
ReplyDeleteThe researchers were studying whether a group of pathological gamblers and a control group differed in aversive classical conditioning. The hypothesis was that the control group would show a large difference in responding to the positive and negative conditioned stimulus. The researchers also predicted that the pathological gambling group would show a small difference, indicating diminished aversive conditioning.
Participants included twenty pathological gamblers (17 male, 3 female) and twenty control (17 male, 3 female) participants, ages ranging from 22-76. The dependent variable was the duration of seven cardiac interbeat-intervals (IBIs) following the tone stimulus presented to each participant.
The results showed that pathological gamblers have a diminished capacity to form associations between aversive events and stimuli that predict aversive events. They concluded that aversion learning is likely to be an ineffective treatment for pathological gamblers.
The article was very interesting due to the complexity of the study. It was a very well done and thorough experiment. The findings surprised me because I thought that aversion therapy would make a person give up gambling if it was associated with a negative effect. These findings do not directly relate to my life at the moment, but it was a fascinating study to read.
Heron, K. E., & Smyth, J. M. (2013). Body image discrepancy and negative affect in women's everyday lives: An ecological momentary assessment evaluation of self discrepancy theory. Journal Of Social And Clinical Psychology, 32(3), 276-295.
ReplyDeleteStudy: The researchers were examining a women’s view of her body image and how it can cause a negative affect on their everyday lives. Researchers believe that individuals hold discrepancies in their self-image, which can cause depression and/or anxiety. The hypothesis was if women had a body image discrepancy towards themselves, would it affect their daily lives. The participants in this study were female undergraduate students. The age range was from 18-22 year olds and most were Caucasian. The researchers used the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS), which presented nine silhouette drawings of females. Participants would have to rank the drawings of female body figures from a 1-9 scale (1=thinnest, 9=thickest). There were three questions they were asked during the CDRS. One was how they ranked their current body image (actual), second was how they wished they looked (ideal), and third was how they felt society wanted females to look(ought). The females were then tested on the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS). This scale was a four-point scale, which asked questions about their current emotional state. The dependent variable of this study would be from the DASS scale. They are measuring whether the females are feeling anxious or depressed due to their body images. The result from the CDRS study showed 98% of women ranked their “actual” body image higher than their “ideal” and “ought” figures. Women had selected “ideal” and “ought” images approximately two figures smaller than their “actual” body size. The DASS results were positively skewed. There were not patients that were reported depressed or anxious. Although this study explains that the participant number should have been more.
Reaction: I found this article very interesting. In our society today, women want the ideal sleek body, which in most situations isn’t the case. If this test had more participants, I think that depression or anxiety would have shown up more. It was interesting how they had the women rank their own body images from silhouette drawings. The fact that women rank their actual body figure as larger than their ideal and societal way is sad. Being a woman myself, I find that being a certain look or weight can be hard at times. I wish our society didn’t judge people on their weight or personal appearance.
Koch, W. H., & Pratarelli, M. E. (2004). Effects of Intro/Extraversion and Sex on Social Internet Use. North American Journal Of Psychology, 6(3), 371-382
ReplyDeleteResearcher's were examining if being an introverted or extroverted person played a role in your internet usage and why? They were trying to find out if sex played a role into the amount of time spent on the internet and also if it was their sole interaction with the outside world. This study was conducted at a college in the southwest, in this study there was 240 students (143 women, 97 men). All these student's were volunteers, and majority of them took the survey for credit in a social science class.
The hypothesis was that introvert's (males) spend more time on the internet trying to find social interaction. Some of that social interaction was for the purpose of sexual needs. The participant's felt that having relationship's online was less damaging then if they were in real life. Feeling that if something bad would happen as in a break up it would be easier to get over it. Not truly knowing the physical characteristic's of the person they thought would make it easier.
Participant's was 240 college students, mainly freshman level student's who was using the survey for credit in a social science class. The variable would probably be the fact on if the students answered the question's accurately. Knowing that the survey was confidential they might not of answered 100% accurately. There is no way of making the student's answer honestly because they was just doing it for a grade.
The survey proved that the internet is a safe environment for social interaction. While a it it isn't what the internet provides it is what the internet allows for these introverts to do...eliminates social fear.
I was not shocked by the study, I think the internet is a good thing for some of the people who have anxiety about going out in public and meeting new people. I have known people that finally started going out into public with some of the friend's they meet on the internet. The introvert's where not using the internet for sexual pleasure they were using it to gain friend's. For some of them the fear of going out and being made fun of because they are different physically. The internet has it's downfall's but it has helped many people get out of their shell and start to interact, and with the help of program's like skype they are turning around a little faster.
Andrew Bulloch, Dina Lavorato, Jeanne Williams, & Scott Patten. (2012). Alcohol Consumption and Major Depression in the General Population: The Critical Importance of Dependence. Retrieved from http://ejournals.ebsco.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/Direct.asp?AccessToken=23Y3L9A8SMY1BBSZ9BB2ZWHBX31A8A1YS&Show=Object
ReplyDeleteThe researchers in this study were trying to find out if Major Depressive Episodes (MDE) were linked to alcohol use, binge drinking, alcohol dependence. They did a longitudinal study over a period of twelve years and the participants were the general population of Canada from 1994-2006. The researchers did a questionnaire over the phone every two years. The hypothesis to this study was that MDE's would increase when linked to usage of alcohol. The dependent variable was time over the 12 year period. The results of this study concluded that MDE's were in face linked to alcohol use but only when it was alcohol dependence. When an alcohol dependent subject was interviewed then MDE's increase. When it was either a alcohol using or binge drinking subject was interviewed, there was not a significant increase in MDE's. I was not surprised by this study but I did think MDE's would increase on more occasions rather than just alcohol dependence.
Great post, it makes sense to me as well as to why binge drinking would increase as depression increases. The correlation makes sense.
DeleteBlodgett Salafia, E., & Lemer, J. (2012). Associations Between Multiple Types of Stress and Disordered Eating Among Girls and Boys in Middle School. Journal Of Child & Family Studies, 21(1), 148-157.
ReplyDeleteThe researchers in this study were examining the correlation between stress levels and eating habits/disordered eating in middle-school-aged children. The researchers also observed and recorded the differences between the sexes of individuals and compared the results between boys and girls. The hypothesis of the study was that disordered eating is usually directly correlated with stress; if an individual is displaying patterns of disordered eating, he or she is likely to suffer from moderate to large amounts of stress, thus perhaps being a cause. The participants were middle-school students from a school in Fargo, North Dakota.
The dependent variable used as a tool in this study were surveys about stress levels and eating habits. Questions on the stress level questionnaire were topics about family stress, relationships, and performance. Questions about eating habits also included questions about body image and body satisfaction/dissatisfaction. The researchers of this study found that both boys and girls were more likely to present with symptoms of disordered eating with a variety of these factors listed above; not one question was a telling factor in determining a probable cause.
I thought this was a very interesting article, as not a lot of studies have been done with eating disorders of such young children, as the topic is a little more taboo than researching about eating disorders in general. I thought the information presented as very interesting and I was intrigued because I have a younger sibling who is just starting middle school this year.
Cerulo, K. A. (1984). Social disruption and its effects on music: An empirical analysis. Social Forces, 62(4), 885-904. doi:10.2307/2578553
ReplyDeleteThe researchers in this study wanted to see if war had any effect on classical-style music composed during World War II. Cerulo hypothesized that composers living in noncombat zones would continue making their typical style of music and the war would have no effect on them whatsoever. For artists actually living in the war zones, Cerulo proposed that the war would have an effect on the style in which music was written. It was also hypothesized that music would return to traditional roots or stay the same, but never move forward. Data was found in sheet music from the years 1939-1947. Eligible pieces had to fit three forms of criteria: they music must have a war theme and somewhere, whether it be biographical or autobiographical, the composer must state the intent of the piece. Third, pieces written by the government must be excluded. The study found that war did affect music. Music in combat zones saw the most change, with there being more "interruptions" in pieces and no uniform rhythm throughout composers' works. Music written in noncombat zones saw little to no change from prewar works.
This article caught my attention because it examined how what's going on politically can affect music. I know that environment can affect compositions, but I never thought that external influences had major effect. When I think of someone writing something, I think of what must have been going on with them internally. Obviously the composers, especially those in the war zones, were affected internally as well as externally, however, I didn't think that it would be to the point where it came out so much in classical music.
I somewhat agreed with Cerulo's hypotheses. I thought the war would affect music, but not exactly how the hypotheses suggested. I thought that the composers living in the noncombat zones would be more fascinated by the war and include aspects of it in their music and that those living in combat zones would compose as they had before the war in order to hang on to the notion of peace that existed before World War II broke out, not the other way around.
Pedrelli, P., Bitran, S., Shyu, I., Baer, L., Guidi, J., Tucker, D. D., Vitali, M., Fava, M., Zisook, S., & Farabaugh, A. H. (2011). Compulsive alcohol use and other high-risk behaviors among college students. The American Journal on Addictions, 20(1), 14-20. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e583e096-bf9e-48f7-88d4-52398606b65d%40sessionmgr115&vid=24&hid=108.
ReplyDeleteThe researchers in this study were examining the impact that compulsive alcohol use has on other high-risk behaviors among college students. They hypothesized that compulsive drinking would be associated with an increased likelihood of licit and illicit substances use, unsafe sexual activities, and gambling. The participants consisted of 904 undergraduate college students, who were predominately female (54.8%), Caucasian (57.1%), living on campus with roommates (39.5%), and with an average age of 20.1 years.
The dependent variable in this study is the likelihood of partaking in high-risk behaviors while intoxicated. It was measured using the Consumptive Habits Questionnaire (CHQ). This questionnaire is a brief, self-report questionnaire including items on number of standard drinks consumed daily, daily caffeine consumption, and on several compulsive behaviors. Once the data was collected and stored in the SPSS statistical package, it was analyzed using various methods. The researchers discovered that their findings supported their initial hypothesis. Both females and males who reported compulsive drinking were at greater risk for other risky behaviors. Males who reported compulsive drinking were at a greater risk for street and prescription drug use, compulsive sexual activities, and gambling than those males who did not report compulsive drinking. Similarly, females who endorsed compulsive drinking were at a greater risk for compulsive street drug use and compulsive sexual activities than those who did not report compulsive drinking; however, there seemed to be no significant association between compulsive drinking and prescription drug use or gambling among females.
I chose this study not only because I plan to work in the substance abuse field post-graduation, but also because it is a study used to analyze the lifestyles of college students. Drinking is a big issue among college students that can sometimes be taken too far. I see no problem with casual drinking in moderation, but it becomes a problem when doing so results in high-risk behaviors such as street and prescription drug use and compulsive sexual activities.
Lonczak, H., Fernandez, A., Austin, L., Marlatt, G., & Donovan, D. (2007.) Family structure and substance use among American Indian youth: a preliminary study. Families, systems, & health, vol 25, no. 1, 10-22. DOI: 10.1037/1091-7527.25.1.10
ReplyDeleteThe researchers were studying relationships between both family structure and living with extended family, and substance abuse among American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents.
The hypothesis of the study is “… to examine (a) the overall impact of the following independent family configuration types: original two-parent biological or adoptive families, single-parent families, two-parent stepfamilies, and families consisting of other, nonparental, family members on AI/AN adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use; (b) the association between living with extended family members and AI/AN adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use; and (c) whether relationships between family configuration types and substance use are diminished when the effect of family substance use modeling and parental limit setting is statistically adjusted.” (Lonczak, Fernandez, Austin, Marlatt, & Donovan, 2007).
The participants of this study were 97 American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents.
The dependent variable was whether the family was what family situation the adolescent was in and it was measured by survey.
The researchers were testing if family structure affected substance use in American Indian or Alaska Native adolescents. The results were that those with nonparent family members were more likely to have tried marijuana, single mother families were more likely to drink alcohol and use tobacco and marijuana.
My overall reaction to this article was not surprising being that most nonparent adolescents may struggle with identity issues and therefore turn to substance use. The findings in this article don’t specifically relate to my life, but I do have Native American cousins who live in single mother homes.
Jovanovic, T., Smith, A., Kamkwalala, A., Poole, J., Samples, T., Norrholm, S. D., & ... Bradley, B. (2011). Physiological markers of anxiety are increased in children of abused mothers. Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, 52(8), 844-852. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02410.x
ReplyDeleteIn this article that I found the researchers are examining the relationship between African American mothers in urban environments that are high risk for trauma exposure and abuse, who had experienced childhood abuse and the responses of their children to dark enhanced startle test and heart rate variability. The researchers what to know if the mothers abuse can have intergenerational effects on their children. The hypothesis for this experiment was that the children who had mothers that had experienced abuse would react differently to the tests than children whose mothers had not experienced abuse. The test was done on 36 comprising mother-child pairs. All of the children where 6-13 years old and the mothers ranged from 18-65. This research was correlational and the researchers where looking for the relationship between mothers who had suffered childhood abuse and how that affected their children. The researchers did a test called a dark enhanced startle test. The children of abused mothers had a higher cortisol level response as opposed to children that had mothers that were not abused. The children of abused mothers also had higher sympathetic nervous system activation. The results showed that children with abused mothers had a different response to the tests then the children with non-abused mothers. These findings give support that abuse can be intergenerational.
I found this article to be very interesting. I was somewhat surprised from the results, because I thought that the way the children reacted would be more environmentally influenced rather than an internal response.
Jovanovic, T., Smith, A., Kamkwalala, A., Poole, J., Samples, T., Norrholm, S. D., & ... Bradley, B. (2011). Physiological markers of anxiety are increased in children of abused mothers. Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, 52(8), 844-852. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02410.x
ReplyDeleteIn this article that I found the researchers are examining the relationship between African American mothers in urban environments that are high risk for trauma exposure and abuse, who had experienced childhood abuse and the responses of their children to dark enhanced startle test and heart rate variability. The researchers what to know if the mothers abuse can have intergenerational effects on their children. The hypothesis for this experiment was that the children who had mothers that had experienced abuse would react differently to the tests than children whose mothers had not experienced abuse. The test was done on 36 comprising mother-child pairs. All of the children where 6-13 years old and the mothers ranged from 18-65. This research was correlational and the researchers where looking for the relationship between mothers who had suffered childhood abuse and how that affected their children. The researchers did a test called a dark enhanced startle test. The children of abused mothers had a higher cortisol level response as opposed to children that had mothers that were not abused. The children of abused mothers also had higher sympathetic nervous system activation. The results showed that children with abused mothers had a different response to the tests then the children with non-abused mothers. These findings give support that abuse can be intergenerational.
I found this article to be very interesting. I was somewhat surprised from the results, because I thought that the way the children reacted would be more environmentally influenced rather than an internal response.
ReplyDelete“The Influence of Depressive Symptoms on Suicidal Ideation Among U.S. Vietnam-Era and Afghanistan/Iraq-Era Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”
The researchers in this study were trying to determine if two psychological disorders known as posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder had any correlation to suicidal ideation. The main reason that this study was performed was because these scientists believe that these disorders “co-occur”(578).
The researchers had the hypothesis that when both PTSD and MDD are present, suicidal ideation will be present as well. They also believed that the worse the PTSD and MDD was, the more suicidal ideation will be present. The participants in this experiment were soldiers from two different wars, which allowed two different age groups. These wars included the most recent Iraq/Afghanistan war, and the Vietnam war. However, the number of soldiers from each war was different. They had 164 soldiers from the Vietnam War, and 98 from the Iraq/Afghanistan war.
This study was correlational/survey experiment as it would be hard to find a way to be able to measure suicidal ideation any other way. These psychologists were trying to discover if there was a relationship between MDD/PTSD and suicidal ideation. According to the article they brought soldiers that were diagnosed with MDD and PTSD by the VA, and had them fill out a survey on their initial visit. They would then conduct a clinical interview. They also took into account marital status, whether they drank or not, gender, age, education, etc.
The results showed that there was a strong positive correlation (.61 correlation coefficient) between MDD/PTSD and suicidal ideation among soldiers. However, it was stated in the article that, “Veterans with a higher educational level reported lower levels of suicidal ideation” (580).
I really enjoyed this article as I have seen what PTSD can do to a person as my brother has been diagnosed with it after serving in the war on drugs in Juarez, Mexico. Many believe that PTSD is not a real disorder. I for one strongly disagree with them. I was not surprised by the findings that these researchers discovered. I believe that when a person has seen a horrific event such as someone being killed, or even killing someone on the battlefield it sticks with him or her for life. They can’t get the image out of their head. This is why I am not surprised in the findings that these researchers discovered.
Pukay-Martin, N.D., Pontoski, K.E., Maxwell, M.A., Calhoun, P.S., Dutton, C.E., Clancy, C.P., Hetzberg, M.A., Collie, C.F., Beckham, J.C. (2012) The influence of depressive symptoms on suicidal ideation among U.S. Vietnam‐era and Afghanistan/Iraq veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(5), 578-582
"Anxiety, Depression, and Coping Skills Among Mexican School Children" The researchers are trying to compare severity and risk for anxiety and depression among 130 kids with a learning disorder and 130 kids without an LD.
ReplyDeleteThe participants were 4th and 5th graders attending eight different schools in one city in Mexico. The kids with LD were identified through school records. The researchers also had a meeting with the kids parents to make sure that they were okay with the study. After they got the okay, they had the kids do a questionnaire (which had questions about things that would give them anxiety or depression but in a ways that 4th and 5th graders would understand) then they scored the questions.
The results stated a big difference between kids with an LD and kids without an LD on the severity of their anxiety symptoms. Based on the scores of the tests. kids with an LD reported higher anxiety scores, and also the same way with the depression scores. The frequency of kids at risk for anxiety and depression with 22.3% of kids with an LD compared to just the 11.5% of kids without an LD.
Gallegos, J., Langley, A., & Villegas, D. (2012). Anxiety, depression and coping skills among mexican school children: A comparison of students with and without learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 35(1), 54-61. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=4ec8a164-4841-4122-b2e3-bb8a84d772f8@sessionmgr198&hid=121
Kashdan, T. B., Farmer, A. S., Adams, L. M., Ferssizidis, P., McKnight, P. E., & Nezlek, J. B. (2013). Distinguishing Healthy Adults From People With Social Anxiety Disorder: Evidence for the Value of Experiential Avoidance and Positive Emotions in Everyday Social Interactions. Journal Of Abnormal Psychology, doi:10.1037/a0032733
ReplyDeleteThe academic journal that I found was called "Distinguishing Healthy Adults From People With Social Anxiety Disorder: Evidence for the Value of Experimental Avoidance and Positive Emotions in Everyday Social Interactions." Basically in this study, researchers were examining healthy individuals with individuals with SAD. The researchers wanted to find out whether individuals with SAD would experience fewer positive emotions, rely more on experimental avoidance, and have greater self-control depletion. This is what the researchers hypothesis was. The researchers thought that healthy individuals would have more positive emotions, and not rely as much on experimental avoidance. The participants in this study were individuals with and without a diagnosis of SAD. The research that the researchers did was more of a survey. The individuals were asked a series of questions on a computer about how they felt in different types of situations. The relationships that they are testing are whether or not individuals with SAD experience more anxiety in social situations than individuals who have not been diagnosed with SAD. The results explained that individuals with SAD experienced weaker positive emotions and greater experimental avoidance, but there were no differences in self-control depletion between groups. My overall reaction to this study is that I thought the researchers hypothesis would be right. That individuals with SAD would experience more social anxiety than individuals who have not been diagnosed with SAD. I was not surprised by these findings. These findings do not relate to my life but I was interested in finding out the difference between individuals who were diagnosed with SAD, and individuals who were not diagnosed with SAD.
The results of this experiment does not surprise me either, it seems as though someone with social anxiety would most definitely experience weaker positive emotions because the person struggles to socialize with others, resulting in limited friends.
DeletePlunkett, S., Henry, C., Robinson, L., Behnke, A., & Falcon, P. (2007). Adolescent Perceptions of Parental Behaviors, Adolescent Self-Esteem, and Adolescent Depressed Mood. Journal Of Child & Family Studies, 16(6), 760-772. doi:10.1007/s10826-006-9123-0
ReplyDeleteIn this psychology related journal researchers are examining the relationship between adolescents and their parents. The specific analysis is the depression level and level of self-esteem are being related to parents and the differences between fathers and mothers. The hypothesis of this study is that adolescents with low self-esteem would negatively reflect the adolescents’ depressive mood. There was also a hypothesis that parental support and control are direct links to the self-esteem of adolescents. The final hypothesis was the parental control and support is directly related to depressive moods and indirectly relative to depressive moods through self-esteem. The participants examined were 161 adolescents living with both of their parents. The research is a correlation; the researchers a testing the relationship between adolescents and their parents. The affect this relationship has on the adolescents’ mental health.
The results that were found from this experiment showed a negative correlation between adolescent self-esteem and depressed mood. The experiment also displayed that support were positively related to self-esteem and negatively related to depressed mood from either of the parents. The mothers’ psychological control and the fathers’ psychological control exhibited negative correlation to self-esteem and positive correlation to depressed mood in the bivariate correlations. The differences if gender were very minimal. I feel like this experiment was somewhat pointless. I think the information being tested and the conformation of the information was quite obvious. Certainly adolescents’ self-esteem and depression would be reflective of the parents of the individual. I think they ran the experiment well, although I didn’t think the entire thing was necessary.
Aselton,Pamela. (2012). Sources of Stress and Coping in American College Students Who Have Been Diagnosed With Depression. http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=ecc0b969-2b1f-4498-bf26-bb7e8f1f2c89%40sessionmgr104&hid=121
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of this study was to find out the stress and coping mechanisms of American College students that are already treated with depression. They tested 13 college students. They found that the causes of stress were from academics, roommate issues, financial and career problems, and pressure from family. To deal with the stress a lot of the students preferred dealing it with their own instead of medical treatment. They preferred to listen to music, exercise, smoke pot, journal, and talk with friends to help deal with their stress. I would say the dependent variable would be how they deal with the stress/depression. I wasn't surprised by what they found. I'm a college student and I have the same stresses as the people in the article. I also do a lot of things they do to cope with the stress.
D'Cruz, H., & Stagnitti, K. (2010). When parents love and don't love their children: Some children's stories. Child & Family Social Work, 15(2), 216-225.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of this study was to examine what children defined love and care as. The end results were to help improve professional practice with children and early outcomes, showing the importance of seeking children's perspectives. The researches interviewed White anglo-Australian children ranging from 6 to 8 years old. The goal of the interviews were to determine how and if children understand if parents love and care for children and if the parents are not loving or caring for the children. As a result to the study researches found that children do have an understanding of how parents are to love and care for children. This showed that it is important for family welfare to take a notice in the child's point of view. After reading this article and seeing how responsive the children were to their feelings I do think it is important to include them in the family welfare process in the future. I was shocked to see how in-tuned the children were to their emotions at such a young age.
Seymour, M., Wood,C.,Giallo,R.& Jellett, R.(2013). Fatigue, Stress, and Coping in Mothers of Children with an Autism Spectrum DOI 10.1007/s10803-012-1701-y
ReplyDeleteThrough this particular experiment, the researchers were examining the influence of maternal fatigue and the coping relationship between children's problematic behaviors. This test was conducted on the maternal stress for sixty five mothers of young children, 2-5 years old, who had autism spectrum disorder. The hypothesis that was conducted for this experiment was that the children's behavior problems would be associated with the increase of stress in the mother. The second hypothesis was that the behavior problems would be associated with higher levels of maternal fatigue. This test was conducted online by sixty five mothers, with a majority of them living with a significant other, who had a children suffering from the autism disorder ranging from ages 2-5. This experiment was a survey that was testing the relationship between maternal fatigue, maternal stress, maternal coping, and the child's behavior. The results suggested that child behavior difficulties may contribute to parental fatigue, coping, and higher stress levels.
I found this article to be very interesting but as soon as I read the purpose and hypothesis of the experiment I agreed with the hypothesis that they had proposed. Children suffering with any mental or physical disability can cause high levels or stress, coping, and fatigue within both parents. The mother may experience more stress because of the constant contact with the child but in some families the father plays that role. I found this article to be very interesting because of all the variables that they tested considering the location of the family, the household environment, education, and occupational status. With the parents better understanding of coping and fatigue issues, they will understand the importance of taking care of themselves can be just as important as taking care of their child.
Furr, S. R., Westefeld, J. S., McConnell, G. N., & Jenkins, J. (2001). Suicide and depression among college students: A decade later. Professional Psychology: Research And Practice, 32(1), 97-100. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.32.1.97
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the study was to answer the following questions, "Are suicidal thoughts and depression increasing or decreasing among college students?" and "What life circumstances are the most critical to explore with depressed or suicidal college students?" I struggled to find a concrete hypothesis but from what I gathered I presumed it to be that rates of depression and suicide have increased in college students. Dr. Furr compared her study to a study done previously by Schwartz and Whitaker (1990). The study was done over a 60 year period and at 12 universities and colleges. Dr. Furr's study was considerably smaller and not done over such an extensive period of time. It involved 1,455 college students amongst four universities between the ages of 18-24. 35% of the participants were male and 65% were female. The group of students were asked a series of questions pertaining to; 1)if they had experienced depression since college and if so, the reasons behind it; 2) if they had thought about or attempted suicide since arriving to college and if so, why;3)if they had received counseling and if so, was is helpful.
The results of the study showed that the levels of depression and suicidal thoughts amongst college students have lowered. Compared with the previous study done in 1987, depression rates have lowered to 53% (83% in the '87 study) and rates of suicidal thoughts have lowered to 9% (compared to 32% in the '87 study). Both the causes of depression and suicidal attempt rates were the same from the original study.
I found the results of this study to be interesting. I am skeptic that the results found from the '87 study were so high. Maybe the depression rate was really 83% but it just seems awfully high to me. Also, I was surprised that the rates of depression and suicidal thoughts have dropped. With the current pressures and problems in today's society I figured the rates would have gone up and not down.
Citation: Olson, K. R., Shutts, K., Kinzler, K. D., & Weisman, K. G. (2012). Children associate racial groups with wealth: Evidence from South Africa. Child Development, 83(6), 1884-1899.
ReplyDeleteThis article details research concerning how children associate high-status racial groups with higher levels of wealth. The research was conducted in South Africa because for many years South Africa had an extremely strict social hierarchy in which Whites were considered the highest status, followed by Coloureds (individuals of mixed racial background), and Blacks were the lowest status. While this system was abolished years ago, large financial gaps still exists between these groups.
In this study, children were asked to associate a particular individual (White, Coloured, or Black) with a higher-status (more expensive car or house) or a lower status (less expensive car or house). The studies found that children in early primary school (age 4-6) associated particular racial groups with certain levels of wealth. Children were more likely to say a White individual owned an expensive car or lived in an expensive house. This suggests a correlation between certain racial groups and wealth, a measure of social status. The authors completed a second study to determine if the preference could be partially explained by gender. Their results indicate that the children’s trend of relating higher value belongings with higher status races was not simply a strategy of gender preference. They also found that children do not particularly want to associate any individual with lower value belongings. This provides an interesting insight. It appears that children experienced some internal conflict. From social cues, children relate Blacks with a lower status resulting in lower value belongings. However, there was an innate reluctance to assign anyone a lower value object.
In contrast to earlier research, it appears that children perceive social cues and demonstrate an understanding and reinforcement of them at a young age, early primary school. This study closely relates to race dissonance, a topic discussed in class. Race dissonance occurs when minority children indicate preferences for majority people. The results of this study show that from a very young age, children understand social hierarchy. If a child belongs to a lower status group, race dissonance may occur as the child tries to associate himself or herself with a higher status group. Continuing this study in other countries where a social hierarchy may exist in more subtle tones would provide a great deal of insight how children perceive the “status quo” and how this perception shapes development. I thought this article was very interesting. I am particularly interested in childhood development because I want to work as a pediatrician.
Luke Strongman (Summer and Autumn 2012). Déjà Vu Explained? A Qualitative Perspective. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=beb6819c-3cb6-47a7-ba5f-a4a0bc122cfc%40sessionmgr104&hid=120.
ReplyDeleteThis article examined whether or not there is a single explanation for Déjà vu, they suspected that there is somewhat of an explanation and they were right. In their findings after studying many different people in all ages, in different intelligence and economic states, they came to a conclusion that there are some triggers such as stress and anxiety that may lead to the feeling of Déjà vu although it’s hard to pinpoint and recreate this fleeting sensation.
I thought this article was very interesting and informational. I found out many things about Déjà vu such as that people ages 20-24 are most likely to experience Déjà vu because that’s when our brains are still developing and experience change in speed in the neurological brain region and that displacement of the temporal lobe may also cause us to have Déjà vu like symptoms. Another interesting thing that I read in this article is that there may be up to 30 different Déjà vu ‘phenomenon’, I will definitely think more about why I'm experiencing Déjà Vu the next time I feel an unexplainable familiarity to a situation.
Then article I chose was called, "The Relationship Among Trauma, Stress, Ethnicity and Binge Eating." The test determined weather ethnicity, trauma or stress played any roles in binge eating. The hypothesis was that trauma and stress would effect binge eating. In the article it was noted that both trauma and stress can cause eating disorders. The article also noted that eating disorders can be a way for a person to feel in control. To test the theory, female undergraduates between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one were used. The study used a mix of 40 percent Caucasian and 38 percent African American. The participants were given a survey. The survey contained questions regarding stress levels and trauma in their lives. They were also asked questions about what caused the most stress in their day to day lives. The results proved the hypothesis true. There is a direct correlation between stress/trauma and binge eating. Caucasian women however, were shown to be slightly more conscious of their food intake as opposed to African American women. As a woman in college, I was not surprised at all by the findings. Stressful situations can overwhelm us. Binge eating allows people to forget about there problems, just briefly. I really enjoyed reading about such a prevalent topic in my life.
ReplyDeleteAPA:
Harrington, E. (2006). The relationship Among Trauma, Stress, Ethnicity and Binge Eating. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic minority Psychology, 12(2), 212-229. Retrieved July 5, 2013, from the EBSCOhost database.
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=22c0743a-2aff-4352-9739-0833cef5b3ae%40sessionmgr198&hid=127
Degenhardt, L., Coffey, C., Romaniuk, H., Swift, W., Carlin, J. B., Hall, W. D., & Patton, G. C. (2013). The persistence of the association between adolescent cannabis use and common mental disorders into young adulthood. Addiction, 108(1), 124-133. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04015.x
ReplyDeleteThe researchers in this article are looking at the relationship between cannabis use and common mental health problem in adolescents. The hypothesis in this article is that adolescents with mental health problems such as depression and anxiety are more likely to use cannabis. The participants in this experiment were teenagers that were randomly selected from different high schools. This research was not experimental, the teenagers were randomly selected and then interviewed. The relationship being tested is common mental health problems and the use of cannabis. In this study, they found that adolescents that are experiencing mental health problems such as depression or anxiety are more likely to use cannabis.
I found this article very interesting because I feel that it is very common for adolescents to use cannabis instead of dealing with their problems. I can relate to this because, as a teenager, I was very stressed and dealt with a lot of peer pressure when it came to drugs and alcohol. I think that everybody, no matter where they went to school, has had to deal with peer pressure of some sort. I do agree with the study because teenagers do not want to ask for help or admit they have a problem. It may be easier for them to self medicate with cannabis to deal with mental problems.
Villani, D., Cognetta, C., Cipresso, P., Grassi, A., Toniolo, D., Riva, G. (2013). Self-help stress management training through mobile phones: An experience with oncology nurses. Psychological Services, 10(3), 315-322. doi: 10.1037/a0026459
ReplyDeleteThe article “Self-help stress management training through mobile phones: An experience with oncology nurses” looks at how the stress of working with oncology patients takes a toll on oncology nurses. The stress can affect areas such as job performance and the health of nurses leading to possible job burnout. The goal of this research was to “study the short-term effects of an innovative self-help stress management training for oncology nurses, supported by mobile tools” (pg. 320). The researchers in this study hypothesized that “social support, namely, helpful social interactions available on the job from coworkers and supervisors helps reduce the effects of job strain on health.
The participants of this study were oncology nurses recruited from oncology units in Milan, Italy. The requirements for the participants included being a “current oncology nurse with at least five years’ experience in an oncology unit and have permanent job status” (pg. 316). The study completed in this research article was experimental. The dependent variable was the nurses’ levels of stress. The overall goal of the research was to look at how different self-help procedures affect the level of stress oncology nurses face. The results of this research found that self-help stress management tools do have a positive effect on the level of stress felt by oncology nurses. The nurses who participated in the experimental ground experienced less stress than the nurses in the control group.
My main reaction to this study was that I could not believe that it was not completed earlier. Nurses especially oncology nurses are under extreme amounts of pressure because they are ones observing patients around the clock, and they are the ones that must notice any slight changes that could possibly be troublesome for the patient. The results really did not surprise me because it makes sense that if you use self-help stress management techniques your stress level is going to decrease. I believe it is important for all nurses to know how to use stress management techniques while on the job so that they can perform their jobs to the best of their abilities.
Sorhagen, N. S. (2013). Early teacher expectations disproportionately affect poor children's high school performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(2), 465-77. doi: 10.1037/a0031754
ReplyDeleteThis study aimed to assess the nature of student-teacher relationships and later academic performance when a teacher either over- or under- estimated the students’ abilities early in life. The study also analyzed this effect regarding socioeconomic status.
Pregnant women from 24 hospitals in 10 cities were recruited in 1991 to have their babies followed to the age of 15. Mothers had to be 18 years old, staying in the area, with healthy babies, among other criteria. This resulted in a 1,364 mother-sample that was socioeconomically and ethnically diverse. In the longitudinal study, these children were assessed at 6, 15, 24, 36, and 54 months old, as well as in the first, third, and fifth grades, and at age 15. Assessments included standardized test scores, family and school environment observations, and parent and teacher behavioral reports. Demographics and family income were also recorded factors. Throughout the study, children also took the administered the Woodcock-Johnson—Revised (WJ–R) Test of Achievement (WJ–R ACH) and Test of Cognitive Abilities (WJ–R COG). In addition, teachers rated student abilities for listening, speaking, and early reading and writing behaviors on a 1-5 scale. Teacher over- or under-estimation was calculated using the teacher ratings described previously and the students’ actual performance on standardized tests.
This study supported the hypothesis that students whose teachers over-estimated their academic performance did better later in life than predicted by their early test scores, and those with teachers who under-estimated their performance did even worse later in life than predicted through early test scores. Regarding reading comprehension, word knowledge, and verbal reasoning test scores, children from lower income families were more affected by teachers’ over- and under- estimation of language skills. This study shows the not-so-surprising importance of student-teacher interaction and teacher expectations early in a student’s academic career, for this initial exposure to academics creates a long-lasting impression on a student’s academic performance and “self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Tobin, K. J. (2013). “Fast‐food consumption and educational test scores in the USA”. Child: Care, Health And Development, 39(1), 118-124. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2011.01349.x
ReplyDeleteIn this research article, the researchers were examining whether or not there is a relationship between a child’s academic performance and the amount of fast-food that they consume. The researchers didn't state a hypothesis in this article. The article states that there is little known about the relationship between high-fat, sugary foods and academic learning. The researchers did however ask questions about the relationship between these types of foods and learning, as well as asking if students who originally have low scores in reading and math perform worse after eating more fast food.
The participants in this study included a group of children that were tested from kindergarten until fifth grade. This study started with collecting information on 22,666 children in their Kindergarten year, to 12,029 by the time that the children reached fifth grade. The data used to evaluate these children came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort data from the National Center for Education Statistics. This study is a correlational study, since the researchers are testing the relationship between children’s academic performance in the areas of math and reading, and the amount of fast-food that the child consumes.
The results of this study concluded that an increased consumption of fast food does in fact lead to lower scores in both reading and math. Eating fast food 4-6 times in a week lead to a loss of 8.33 test score points in comparison to the group of children who ate nutritious food. I suppose I am not that surprised by the outcome of this research, since fast-food isn't good for you for many other reasons. This research article makes me wonder if these same findings would occur if college age students were tested, since fast-food is such a quick and usually cheap option for students.
Falkenhain, M., & Handal, P. (2003). Religion, death attitudes, and belief in afterlife in the elderly: untangling the relationships. Journal of religion and health, 42(1), 67-76.
ReplyDeleteThe researchers examined the relationship(s) between Religion, death attitudes, and belief in an afterlife in the elderly just like the title says.
The researchers hypothesized that there would be a positive correlation between belief in an afterlife and death anxiety regardless of religion. Previous studies had assumed people who were more religious were less worried about death because they had a strong belief in an afterlife.
This particular study (there have been others) consisted of 71 elderly participants who were surveyed.
The study investigated/tested the role which belief in afterlife may play as a mediating variable in the relationship between religion and death anxiety. An elderly population was used as the sample and so age may be another variable that influences the relationship. In previous studies it had been found that there was a positive relationship between age and religion, but a negative one between age and death anxiety. (which makes sense, old people don’t want to die and look to a greater power for comfort)
Based upon the results the sample was found to be:
- Relatively intrinsically religious
- Within the average range of death anxiety
- Relatively death acceptant
- Believers of an afterlife
Calculations were done for the correlations, for example:
- (--.76) = belief in afterlife and death anxiety
- (.35) = intrinsic religion and death anxiety
- (--.28) = religion and death acceptance
There were many other breakdowns and correlational findings, but the end result was this:
- The relationship between religion and death acceptance
was originally --.52 (shockingright?) which is
statistically significant and a moderately strong
relationship.
- But when the effects of belief in afterlife are removed
from the relationship between religion and death
acceptance, the resulting correlation is low and
statistically insignificant at only --.28.
I thoroughly enjoyed this article and found the results to be surprising and dull at the same time. Surprising because the relationship between religious belief and death acceptance was found to be significantly negative (e.g. religious people tend to fear death more than non-religious). Dull because the study basically found that people who do not believe in afterlife are more death accepting than others, regardless of religion. Of course someone who believes that there’s more to life than death will accept it more willingly, religious or not.
Parker, P., Ludtke, O., Trautwein, U., & Roberts, B. (2012, August). Personality and relationship quality during the transition from high school to early adulthood. Journal of Personality. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=b6cf2c2b-0b38-4a68-8c75-aabcdc53e836%40sessionmgr111&hid=124&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=psyh&AN=2012-18433-010
ReplyDeleteThe researchers were examining personality and relationship quality during the transition from high school to early adulthood. They went into three issues, changes in participants’ relationship characteristics during transition period, roles of personality traits as antecedents of these changes, and the association between change in relationship characteristics and personality during the transition. They thought relationship characteristics are positive than in high school and support gained from relationships were also higher. Personality traits may fluctuate because this transition period provides young adults to explore different ideas and activities. The association between the two is thought to be caused because individuals of similar ages tend to share many similar developmental challenges.
The researchers tested over 2,000 German emerging adults and surveyed them before leaving high school and then again two years after the transition from high school. The relationship they were testing was to see how much they changed and if they changed in the same manner. The results they got from this experiment were that relationship characteristics were on average positive, conflict and insecurity decreased, and closeness increased. Also, personality at school was important to the changes of relationship quality in further education. Finally, relationship characteristics from school to further education were associated with changed in personality.
I thought this article was remarkably interesting because it relates to me as a second year student here. It is a study over my age group and peers and it is very accurate to what I’m going through now.
APA Citation: Anderson, D. M., & Skemp, K. M. (2012). Self-image differences as related to body image of students in a middle school. American Journal Of Health Behavior, 36(4), 533-541. doi:10.5993/AJHB.36.4.10
ReplyDeleteIn this study, the researchers were examining whether gender and ethnic self-image differences exist among Asian and white adolescents within the context of body image. The hypothesis was that there are difference in self-image and body image between Asian and whites. The participants in this study were 177 Midwestern middle school students. The dependent variable is the students self-image. This was measured by giving the students a survey. From this study, the results found were that asian students have a lower self-image.
The article said that there was a lot of studies that had been conducted on the US and African Americans, but not a lot on Asians. I think it is good to see where all of the races stand on how they feel about their self-image. I was kind of suprised by the findings because I thought that Americans would have lower self-images than Asians. The findings don't really relate to my life that much. I do however feel that I have a lower self-esteem and body image than a lot of people.
Choi, Heejeong, and Nadine Marks. "Marital Quality, Socioeconomic Status, and Physical Health." Journal of Marriage and Family 75.4 (2013): 903-19.Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Sept. 2013.
ReplyDelete.
In this article, the researchers were analyzing recent claims that socioeconomically disadvantaged people can benefit from a happy and healthy marriage just as people with higher income. Current statistics show that people with lower educational attainment and lower income are more likely to report marital problems and end problems in a divorce. The researchers’ hypothesis was that there would be greater health benefits associated with marital happiness and that health costs of marital conflict will vary by education and income levels. For instance, the researchers believed that people of a lower socioeconomic status will have greater health costs from an unhealthy marriage than people with a higher socioeconomic status.
The researchers gathered data from a sample of 1,849 married adults. This research study did not have a defined dependent or independent variable because it was survey and interview based. The sample of adult population was chosen at random and there were three parts to the study that occurred over a 15 year span. The interviews and surveys are focusing on a few main issues: self-rated health, functional limitations (injuries and disabilities), marital conflict, marital happiness, education, income, parental status, depressive symptoms, and work status.
This research study formulated two major conclusions. First of all, it was found that increases in marital happiness correlate with higher self-rated health for individuals with more education. Secondly, increases in martial conflict were directly associated with higher increases in functional impairment for persons with lower income. The overall conclusion that was drawn as a result was that marital happiness may be less beneficial for health and marital conflict correlate to considerably lower overall health for those with lower incomes and less education.
My reaction to the article is very surprised. I thought that people of lower socioeconomic status would benefit more from having a happy marriage. The idea that if a marriage is happy then there will be little overall impact and if a marriage has conflict there will be major negative health implications. This almost seems to be feeding into and showing explanation for the high divorce rate in the country. To me, these findings are disappointing because I believe in the traditional marriage forms a bond that shouldn’t be broken.
Mesman, E., Nolen, W. A., Reichart, C. G., Wals, M., & Hillegers, M. J. (2013). The Dutch bipolar offspring study: 12 year follow-up. The American Journal Of Psychiatry, 170(5), 542-549.
ReplyDeleteThe study I read about was a longitudinal study relating to determining “the onset, prevalence, and early course of mood disorders and other psychopathology,” of children with bipolar parent(s). The main hypothesis of this article was that children of bipolar people are more likely to have some sort of mood disorder including bipolar disorder. This was a Dutch study so the participants included 108 bipolar offspring between the ages of 12 and 21. The participants were continuously evaluated at 1, 5, and 12 years after the beginning of the study. The relationship that was being tested was the genetic factor associated with a bipolar parent. The results found that 54% of the bipolar offspring developed a mood disorder and 13% developed bipolar spectrum disorders.
I found this study really interesting as my grandmother struggled with bipolar disorder for most of her life but was not diagnosed until she was in her late 50’s. My mother and her sibling however have never been diagnosed with or showed symptoms of any mental health disorder. So even though the rate of developing some sort of mental or mood disorder was high luckily it didn’t effect my family that way.
Rhodes, R. E., Berry, T., Craig, C. L., Faulkner, G., Latimer-Cheung, A., Spence, J. C., & Tremblay, M. S. (2013). Understanding parental support of child physical activity behavior. American Journal Of Health Behavior, 37(4), 469-477.
ReplyDeleteThis study was conducted to test levels of parental support of their children's physical activity. Researchers hypothesized that parents were more likely to have positive attitudes toward their children engaging in physical activity, which was shown to be true; mothers included in the study ranked the importance of physical activity as high as homework when given a list of five common priorities in family time. Participants included a representative sample of Canadian mothers with children ranging in ages from 5 to 17 years of age. The mothers were asked to complete measures of family priorities, social cognition, and child physical activity.
As this was a survey, the relationship being tested was the correlation between parental support and child physical activity. Results of the survey showed that, as could be expected, mothers are highly supportive of their children being physically active. There was, however, the complication of children being unwilling to participate in such activities. Even though things like playing sports and moving around are extremely beneficial for children, mothers showed low perception of control when it came to actually getting their children moving. It seems as though mothers are attempting to do what's best for their children, yet the children themselves are resistant.
The results of this article were not very surprising. With all the benefits of exercise and staying active, it stands to reason that mothers would want their children to partake. Also not surprising is the fact that children showed little to no interest in getting active; with all the technology, homework, and other distractions, it is easy for children to leave exercise out of their daily routines. This is a problem! Physical fitness is a natural deterrent for ailments for high blood pressure/cholesterol, depression, and obesity. With this in mind, it is imperative that children get into the habit of getting outside and moving. This study is important to me because I intend to work with children, and it would be great to make them aware of all the ways they can benefit by something as simple as playing outside.
Huffman, L. C. (2011). Management of Symptoms in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comprehensive Review of Pharmacologic and Complementary-Alternative Medicine Treatments. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 32(1), 56-68. Retrieved September 9, 2013, from the PsycINFO database.
ReplyDeleteThis article discusses the various medicines being studied for their affects on ASD, autism spectrum disorder. While many medical treatments have been studied in children with ASD, the options for medical management in ASD are lacking in regards to both pharmacological and CAM, complementary alternative methods, therapy treatments. This article reviews 115 studies of individuals ages 0 to 22 using both pharmacological treatments and CAM treatments for ASD. The dependent variable for this experiment was amount of autistic systems present measured with a multidimensional analysis rating scale from to 5, 0 being little to no symptoms 5 being strong symptoms. The relationship they were testing was the amount of symptoms present with each treatment, CAM and pharmacological treatments. The results were found to be inconclusive, no significant correlation, which is not uncommon in ASD research.
I found this article interesting because my sister has a mild form of ASD, and I find it interesting what new treatments, methods, etc..they're trying. I've always liked the idea of CAM treatments vs. drugs alone especially in children and adolescents because we don't these drugs will do, so having some alternative therapy will help. It has the benefit of the pharmaceuticals and therapy at the same time. This article showed that not all people responded to CAM therapy and not all people responded to just pharmaceutical therapy which makes sense in a spectrum disorder. With a spectrum of symptoms, its hard to standardize the therapy which is why I think ASD is one of the harder mental illnesses to treat and one of the most fascinating.
Priest, J. (2013). Anxiety Disorders and the Quality of Relationships with Friends, Relatives, and Romantic Partners. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69(1), 78-88.
ReplyDeleteThe article I chose was about anxiety and relationships. What I was expecting to find was how anxiety and romantic relationships correlate. While there were many articles over this topic, I managed to find one that was about anxiety and relationships but was a little different to what we are used to hearing. The article I found was research done on anxiety disorders and the quality of relationships with friends, relatives and romantic partners. In this study, the researchers were examining if there is any correlation between anxiety disorders and the quality of relationships. They wanted to more about this correlation because there hasn’t been much research. Going into the study, they pretty much assumed that they were going to find a correlation between the two. The participants in this study were 9912 people who were varied from divorced, married, or single. This was done by using a survey to conduct face-to-face interviews with households that were eligible. The relationship that is being tested is how their anxiety disorders would affect their relationships with friends, relatives, and spouses. The results that they found were that people who were single or divorced had relationships with relatives and friends that were associated with many anxiety disorders. People that were married had relationships with their relatives and partners that were generally associated with anxiety disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.
I was not very surprised by the findings because being single or divorced creates a different environment that is hard to learn to deal with. Someone else has to take the role of what a partner offers for emotional support. This role could be taken over by a friend which can make things hard and create anxiety.
Aselton, P. (2012). Sources of Stress and Coping in American College Students Who Have Been Diagnosed With Depression. Journal Of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 25(3), 119-123. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6171.2012.00341.x
ReplyDeleteCollege students who had been previously diagnosed with depression were asked to participate in a series of online interviews. The researcher’s intent was mainly to examine the different sources of stress in college students and to try to understand their different methods of coping with that stress. Out of the 26 that signed up for the experiment only 13 students actually completed the interviews. Their age, gender, and nationality were also equally mixed as to show no biases in the experiment. The results of this were not all that surprising either. Many causes of stress in college students were related to roommate issues, financial problems, and academic pressures. Some of the coping strategies to the stress included exercise, listening to music, writing in a journal, and even marijuana use.
The results of the experiment in this article were not very surprising to me. Being a college student I can relate to the stresses of college life. Also, some of the coping methods described were similar to what I use to help lower my stress. I chose this article because I thought it would relate to me and many of my friends who are also in college. It was interesting and gave me more ideas to dealing with my stress and also in helping my friends deal with theirs.
I chose to read an article about ways in which Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and eating disorders are related in symptoms. Through the experimental study, researchers were aiming to find the ADHD symptoms level in eating disorders and whether the ADHD symptoms level is associated with character traits. Their hypothesis was that there is a positive association between ADHD and eating disorders.
ReplyDeleteIn the study, 191 females were involved; 43 had Anorexia Nervosa, 95 had Bulimia Nervosa, 29 were eating disorders not other specified and 24 binge eating disorders with the mean age of 28.3 years. The dependent variable was measure for ADHD,
In conclusion, the level of symptoms in ADHD was similar in eating disorder not otherwise specified, bulimia and binge eating. They found it was lower with a anorexia nervosa patients. Both ADHD and eating disorder patients have effortful control with their actions.
I was attracted to this article because I have ADHD and I have always been a little too concerned with my weight so I was immediately interested when I found an article that talked about the association between the two. I was surprised to find this type of article but when I finished reading through it, I came to the conclusion that it all made sense. Both eating disorders and ADHD are a lot about being able to control your actions, in which both disorders have a hard time with doing so.
Works Cited
Fernández-Aranda, F., Agüera, Z., Castro, R., Jiménez-Murcia, S., Ramos-Quiroga, J., Bosch, R., & ... Menchon, J. (2013). ADHD symptomatology in eating disorders: a secondary psychopathological measure of severity?. BMC Psychiatry, 13(1), 1-8. doi:10.1186/1471-244X-13-166
Nelson, E.L., Campbell J.M., & Michel G.F. (2013). Early handedness in infancy predicts language ability in toddlers. Journal; Peer Reviewed Journal. 1-7. doi: 10.1037/a003303
ReplyDeleteIn this article, the researchers were testing the motor skills of infants and comparing their choice of hand usage (left or right) to the development of their language skills as they became toddlers. The hypothesis of this research is stated as such: "We hypothesized that early hemispheric specialization in motor skills, manifested as consistent infant handedness is related to another specialized hemispheric function which is the development of language." In other words, the researchers were comparing which hands the infants used the most to their language development. Right handedness uses the left hemisphere more while left handedness uses the right hemisphere more. The researches tested this by taking 38 infants from North Carolina and visited them 16 times. The visits occurred from 6-14 months and from 18-24 months. At each visit the researchers performed 22 actions for the infants. These actions included anything from pulling something from a jar to having the infant sit on their parents lap and reach for an object in the distance. This test used independent samples and nothing was manipulated in the research, mainly observed. This study is a correlation study that again was testing the relationship between an infants motor skills while choosing a preferred hand, and their developing language skills around age 2. The results were very one sided.
Overall, 95% of the participants turned out to prefer their right hand. 26 chose their right hand, 8 chose their left hand, and the rest had no preference. The researchers then tested the children with a the Bayley language test. The children who turned out to prefer their right hand had better motor sills with multiple objects. These meant that they could move the objects better from hand to hand and could pick something up at the same time that they were putting something else down. If a child consistently used the same hand they were considered consistent. If not, the child was considered inconsistent. The children who were more consistent with their right hand scored significantly higher on the language test.
I found this article to be very interesting. I chose this article because technically I would consider myself to be right handed but I often use both hands to multiple things and I was curious as to how this might have happened to me. Because this is a correlation study, I know that being right handed does not cause somebody to be better at language but it was interesting to find out that the results were so one sided. I was hoping for more lefties to pull through in the end!!! However, I was not extremely surprised that 95% were right handed because finding another left handed person seems to be rare.
Stice, E., Marti, C., & Rohde, P. (2013). Prevalence, incidence, impairment, and course of the proposed DSM-5 eating disorder diagnoses in an 8-year prospective community study of young women. Journal Of Abnormal Psychology, 122(2), 445-457. doi:10.1037/a0030679
ReplyDeleteIn this study, they are examining the incidence, impairment, prevalence, duration, and course for the proposed DSM-5 eating disorders in a community sample of 496 females age 12-15 over a span of eight years, an investigation of adolescent mental and physical health; there wasn’t really a hypothesis within this research. The relationship being tested here is the relationship between adolescent girls and eating disorders. After reading the article, the results come up to a large amount of statistics that don’t really make any sense to the average person, making it difficult to determine what the particular results are.
Upadhyaya, H. P., & Carpenter, M. J. (2008). Is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd) symptom severity associated with tobacco use?. The American Journal on Addictions, (17), 195-198. doi: 10.1080/10550490802021937
ReplyDeleteThe researchers in this article are looking at the associations between alcohol, tobacco and marijuana and the severity of ADHD symptoms. The primary hypothesis was that uncontrolled ADHD symptoms are associated with tobacco use. The secondary hypothesis examines the relationship between ADHD symptoms and alcohol and marijuana use. The participants in this study were 334 college students located in the southeastern United States. The research method used is the surveying method and the relationship they are testing is between uncontrolled ADHD and tobacco, alcohol and marijuana use. The results of the study suggest that the severity of ADHD symptoms were associated with the increased use of these three substances. My overall reaction to this article was that I was not overly surprised. I have heard of quite a few people that I know with ADHD self medicating with all three of these substances. The son of a family friend has severe ADHD and he hates the side effects from all stimulant based ADHD medications. He has told me numerous times that medical marijuana works far better for him and has far fewer negative side effects.
Schmidt, R. E., & Van der Linden, M. (2013). Feeling too regretful to fall asleep: Experimental activation of regret delays sleep onset. Cognitive Therapy And Research, 37(4), 872-880. doi:10.1007/s10608-013-9532-5
ReplyDeleteIn General, the researchers sought to find the effects certain emotions have on a person’s sleep pattern, in particular the effects of feeling regret (negative emotion) or pride (positive emotion) and how it compared to a neutral state. They went further into this idea by seeing if the feeling of regret was more prevalent do to the idea that it is a counterfactual emotion. They tested a 3-part Hypothesis the first part being “that individuals who have difficulties anticipating potential future regrets are at an increased risk of blindly running into situations or adopting behaviors that are prone to evoke regrets. As a consequence, they should experience more actual regrets and related counterfactual emotions, which have been shown to interfere with sleep,” the second part being “that activation of preexisting regret in the evening would impair sleep the following night (as assessed by sleep-onset latency, total wake time in bed, and total sleep time), as compared with the neutral condition,” and the third part being “that activation of pride in the evening might facilitate sleep the following night, as compared with the neutral condition” (pg. 2).
They had 182 undergraduate students participate as the sample group, 6 participants were excluded because they did not fully complete the questionnaire. Of the final sample group (176 participants),155 were women and 21 were men, all between the ages of 17 and 45. The research conducted through experimental research. Before the subject would go to bed they were told to open an envelope and answer a question. The student was told to either: (a) ‘describe in detail the most burdensome regret in your mind, either something you have done or have not done”, (b) ‘write don’t the action that you are most proud of, recent or remote’, or (c) describe in a neutral objective manner a typical day during the work week that is representative of a habitual day’. The two independent variable are (a) description of the regret and (b) the description of a proud moment. The dependent variable or control group was (c) describe a typical day in an objective manner. When student was awake, they had a morning envelope that had a questionnaire with a wide variety of questions. Through this morning survey is how they recorded the way the emotion effect their sleep on that particular night, as well as how they recorded their normal sleep behaviors and feeling. This was to get an overall long term view of how the student thinks and sleeps on a day to day basis.
Once the analysis was completed, they found that participants “with habitually high levels of regret, focusing on regret prior to sleep significantly delayed sleep onset in comparison with the neutral condition. This effect was independent of preexisting levels of insomnia severity and trait anxiety. In contrast, focusing on pride prior to sleep did not significantly alter sleep, as compared with the neutral condition. These findings suggest that emotional arousal may contribute to sleep disturbance and should be clearly distinguished from cognitive arousal in the etiology of insomnia” (pg. 1).
Overall I really enjoyed this article. It was a very relatable article, who hasn’t lain awake at night thinking “what if”. It was neat seeing that there is data that pointing to regret hindering sleep. I often have trouble sleeping so I enjoyed seeing how different emotions may be affecting my sleep cycle. I was surprised that the positive or proud feeling showed little to no effect on the participant. I was in agreement with the third part of the hypothesis, saying of how pride and sense of accomplishment may facilitate sleep.
Andreescu, C., Kornblith, S., Lenze, E, J., Nguyen, H., Petkus, A, J., Wetherell, J, L., White, K, S., Zisook, S. (2013). Antidepressent Medication Augmented with Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Older Adults. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.12081104
ReplyDeleteIn this article the authors are examining maintenance strategies for older people diagnosed with GAD. They wanted to know whether or not sequenced treatment combining pharmacotherapy and CBT boosts response and prevents relapse in older individuals with this disorder. Participants included adults 60 years or older with a DSM-IV diagnosis of GAD. The dependent variable in this experiment would be the combination of CBT and medication (antidepressant). In this study, the authors found that the addition of CBT to SSRI treatment actually increased participants response and provided long-term relapse prevention after the SSRI was tapered, although not in all participants. I found this article to be interesting because I never took age into a factor, when considering how individuals respond to different types of treatment for anxiety disorders. Typically, antidepressants are used to treat anxiety disorders. Antidepressants are highly controversial, however, I believe that sometimes they are necessary.
Alexander, J., Waldron, H., Robbins, M., & Neeb, A. (2013, April 1). Research on change mechanisms. Functional family therapy for adolescent behavior problems (pp. 27-36). PsycINFO.
ReplyDeleteAlexander, Waldron, Robbins, and Neeb’s goal in Functional Family Therapy for Adolescent Behavior Problems is to share how researchers have contributed to answering two critical questions: “What do therapists need to do to assist in having positive outcomes in troubled teens’ home?” and “What are the mechanisms of change?” Youth with behavioral problems are too often branded with negative labels. Whether you know them as at risk youth, juvenile delinquents, or difficult to treat adolescents either label may be harmful to use in terms of them bettering themselves. Even though family members are disgruntled with their behavior their main focus should be the need for their teens to change. Often times the teens themselves are unaware or unaffected by their behavior and aren’t enthused for treatment. Over the past four decades, numerous researchers and clinicians have established, verified, and distinguished Functional Family Therapy (FFT) which is a short-term, arranged, rigorous family intervention model for negligent and substance-using adolescents. Then the researchers go over FFT’s conceptualization of change whereas they more so see it as a process. This process contains five treatment phases, which are: Engagement, Motivation, Relational Assessment, Behavior Change, and Generalization. Usually it’s reported that twelve sessions are conducted over a three to four month period. In one case they take Anthony, who has had a history of behavioral problems not only at home but at school and around the community as well and submit him to FFT with a therapist who was a licensed mental health counselor with a three year experience in the FFT involvement. For four decades FFT has become a well-established treatment for a variety of adolescent behavioral problems including those whom experienced substance abuse. This article caught my attention beginning with the discussion of family therapy and how these researchers would work to change the behaviors of these misbehaving teens. It was interesting to read and informative and kind of made it hard to disagree with FFT’s structure because it has been working for forty years now.
Mirzaei, T., Oskouie, F., & Rafii, F. (2012). Nursing Students’ Time Management, Reducing Stress and Gaining Satisfaction: A Grounded Theory Study. Nursing and Health Sciences, 14(1), 46-51. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=068f9d4a-cb1f-42cb-aa7c-e57cec94d5dc%40sessionmgr13&hid=25
ReplyDeleteThe researchers examine nursing students how they schedule their time in their life to succeed in the nursing school. Also they take a look at factors that affect the nursing students in their daily lives. The hypothesis is how nursing students use time management while going through school. The researchers will do interviews on Iranian nursing students on time management and satisfaction.
The participants are Iranian undergraduate nursing students going through their nursing program. Results came from the interviews they wanted to reduce stress and gain satisfaction. They first need to accept their field they were put into other reasons was that they wanted to be knowledgeable nurses and wanted their parents to be proud.
My overall reaction to the paper was that it was interesting. I am going through the nursing program right now and it showed that so people get put into nursing even though it was not their decision. The nursing program is a big commitment no matter where in the world a nursing student is getting their education. Students here have the same problem of time and stress just like the Iranian nursing students.
Mori, K., & Arai, M. (2010). No need to fake it: Reproduction of the Asch experiment without confederates. International Journal Of Psychology, 45(5), 390-397. doi:10.1080/00207591003774485
ReplyDeleteIn this experiment the researchers were examining the effect of conformity by using MORI technique. The experiment was very similar to the Asch experiment, but in this experiment, unlike the Asch experiment, none of the participants were confederates. All of the participants did not know that the experiment was examining. All of the participants wore glasses that changed the length of the lines on the slide. The glasses were similar to 3D glasses. This was how none of the participants were confederates. The hypothesis of this experiment was that there would still be conformity even without the confederates. The participants in this experiment were 104 undergraduates (40 men and 64 women). The dependent variable in this experiment was the level of conformity of the participants. This was measured by what the participants answered when asked “what line is the same length as the line standing alone”. The results to the experiment did show conformity, like the Asch experiment. The main question the experiment answered was did the MORI technique cause conformity. The results of the experiment show that minority women erred more because they conformed to the majority. Men on the other hand did not error as much as the women. The first male had the most errors out of the four participants. This study did show similar minority error in the woman as the Asch experiment, but not for the men. This is something to look at because in the Asch experiment there were only male participants. I have heard of this experiment since my first psych class in high school. One interesting aspect that I found was how they created a situation where all the participants were no aware of the experiment. This does take away from some bias or error that might be created if you did have confederates. Another thing that I found interesting was how compared to the Asch experiment, the woman were the ones to have the closes error rate, even though only men participated in the Asch experiment. How different genders act when it comes to conformity would be an interesting thing to do research on. All in all this experiment was a very well way to recreate the Asch experiment.
In the article "The association between nightmares and daily distress", the researchers wanted to know more about nightmares and their relationship with daily distress. To begin with, they gathered 56 participants who had frequent nightmares to begin with. Questionnaires and a 10 day diary served as the way to gather information. According to the DSM-IV-TR, "Nightmares are defined as extremely frightening dreams that lead to awakening."
ReplyDeleteOut of the original 119 volunteers, 56 made the cut to participate in the study. The diary was used to record whether or not the participant had a nightmare the night before or not, along with the intensity of it based on a scale from 1-7. Other questionnaires recorded the amount of daily distress. In this study, the dependent variable would be the nightmares that participants had.
After testing, it was concluded that having a nightmare does in fact improve daily distress the following day.
I find this journal entry interesting because every now and then I have really bad nightmares. I have not been able to pin point any correlations, but it does make sense that there is generally more distress the following day. It is hard to get a good, full night's worth of rest if you are tossing and turning and waking up in the middle of the night.
Laance, J., & SCHRIJNEMAEKERS, N. (2012). The association between nightmares and daily distress. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, (11), 14-19. Retrieved from http://ejournals.ebsco.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/Direct.asp?AccessToken=5WQ4W49TRWN4Q9FNYFSRYBB96YQNT9JQR&Show=Object
Gillen, M. M., & Lefkowitz, E. S. (2011). Body size perceptions in racially/ethnically diverse men and women: Implications for body image and self-esteem. North American Journal Of Psychology, 13(3), 447-468.
ReplyDeleteI chose an article about how women perceive their body image as compared to what others say about their body image. This interests me because fitness, diet, and size are all becoming more of a concern in our “obese” society here in America and I myself have struggled with body image. The researchers were examining how women and men from different ethnicities and races view their size and others’ sizes. The participants that took part were 164 people: 50% men and 50% women. 25% of them were African American, 26% were Latino American, and 47% European American. The participants were between the ages of 18 and 21. The hypotheses formed for this experiment were the following:
-European American and Latina American women will have greater actual-ideal discrepancies than will their male counterparts, but there will be no difference to actual-ideal discrepancies between African American men and women.
-European American and Latina American women will be more likely to think their bodies differ from the size they believe their peers see as most attractive, than will their male counterparts, but there will be no gender difference among African Americans.
- European American and Latina American women will rate their body size as more discrepant from independent observers than will their male peers, but once again there will be no gender difference among African Americans.
- Individuals who perceive that their bodies are more different from the size they think their peers see as ideal, and whose ratings of their own body size differ to a greater extent from independent observers’ ratings will have poorer body image and lower self-esteem.
The research is correlational/survey, so the relationships being tested are the relationships between the ethnicity of the women and men rating silhouettes as they would prefer to look like and how they see themselves and see others. The results they found proved their first hypothesis right, their second hypothesis right in terms of other-sex peers but not in terms of same-sex peers, their third hypothesis right in terms of African Americans but not in terms of the other racial/ethnic group, and their fourth hypothesis right in terms of peer discrepancies but not in terms of interviewer discrepancy.
It is surprising to me that views of body size differ between ethnicities and races as much as it does. I kind of just had this idea that most women’s brains worked the same no matter where you were from or how you grew up. It also was interesting to me that African American males and females didn’t differ in their opinions. Like I said about thinking all women have the same mindset, I thought the same about males. I also think that all men and all women see things differently, but apparently not.
The researchers were examining the safety issues related with older drivers, indicators showing driving cessation, and the consequences of the social and physical well-being of older people. Research was mainly done on older adults, testing their reaction to having their driving privileges having been taking away.
ReplyDeleteSince the research is correlational, the findings discovered by the researchers is that loss of the ability to drive indirectly affects older adults. Not been able to drive limits them in the things that they are able to do such as hanging out with friends or going for poker night. So the limitations inhibit their interactions with other people and also inhibits them move physically getting active by moving around.
The Hypothesis of the article states that developing a model of how loss of privileges of driving affect others parts and compponents of aging.
On reading this article I actually wasn't surprised by the findings or the researchers. The research actually reminds me of the volunteering article we read earlier on for one of the blogs. Older people like being in the midst of others and like to get their body in motion. So it is quite understandable if they experience sickness or depression whenever they are away from people especially in times like these when having transportation is very crucial in the United States in order to get around.
Work Cited:
Choi, M., Adams, K., & Mezuk, B. (2012). Examining the aging process through the stress-coping framework: Application to driving cessation in later life. Aging & Mental Health, 16(1), 75-83. doi:10.1080/13607863.2011.583633
Rutledge, T., Stucky, E., Dollarhide, A., Shively, M., Jain, S., Wolfson, T., & ... Dresselhaus, T. (2009). A real-time assessment of work stress in physicians and nurses. Health Psychology, 28(2), 194-200. doi:10.1037/a0013145
ReplyDeleteIn this article, the researchers studied whether or not sleep deprevation and work load effect the amount of stress people undergo. More specifically they tested this in the health care field. They tested nurses doctors and practitioners o see how their stress was influenced. They gave added work stressors to these subjects to see what parts of this experiment affected them more. The depedent variable was those participants that just had a normal workload and the independent variable was those who had added stressors in their workload like more hours and less sleep.
The hypothesis was that those with more work would have more stress. The way it turned out was that nurses had high levels of stress, but other people such as practitioners and doctors had higher stress levels then them.
Overall I thought this was a very interesting article, and it was quite detailed. It must have been hard to test this, and had to be very anal aobut the research. I think it would have been hard to test because of how hard it is to control someones workload, but it still was a cool idea.
Whisman, M. A., Davila, J., & Goodman, S. H. (2011). Relationship adjustment, depression, and anxiety during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Journal Of Family Psychology, 25(3), 375-383. doi:10.1037/a0023790
ReplyDeleteThis research article shows how a poor marriage arrangement or relationship can cause many depressive symptoms in women who are pregnant or had currently conceived. They show that poor relationships during a pregnancy can directly be related to postpartum depression. It talks about depression occurring just as much during the pregnancy as it does after the child is born. This study was done to evaluate the associations between relationship adjustment, and depression and anxiety symptoms in women who have had a history of major depressive symptoms who are pregnant or postpartum. The women in this study had to have experienced at least one major symptom of depression. They had to be healthy and pregnant at the time and live in a stable situation. This was a correlational study testing depression in pregnant women. They concluded from this experiment that when the relationship adjustment was lower, the depression and anxiety symptoms were on the rise. Women with lower relationship adjustment worry more about what their partner is doing and whether or not they will be there for them, causing anxiety levels and symptoms to occur more often. It is interesting to me to see how much a relationship and being able to adjust to changes can affect someone. I wasn't surprised by the fact that everything feeds off of one another though. When there are changes within a relationship, it is likely that the female will become more anxious and could experience symptoms of depression if things don't go as planned.
ReplyDeleteModrego, P. (2010). Are paradoxical cell cycle activities in neurons and glia related to the metabolic theory of Alzheimer’s disease? (4th ed., Vol. 21, pp. pp.1077-1087). Netherlands: IOS Press.
The researchers were examining whether depression medication would help in Alzheimer patients, because depression is a pretty common symptom of Alzheimer disease. The researchers did 7 small clinical trials using the placebo effect to see if any Depression medication would be affective. The surveys were so small that the researchers did not get very many useful results. Larger randomized clinical trials are going to have to be done to see if there was any effectiveness with the depression medication on Alzheimer patients. I have a great aunt that has Alzheimer disease and it has been something that I have been looking into. It would make complete sense for these patients to be depressed, they are losing not only their minds, but their families and friends and everything they know, along with it. I was not very surprised that they didn’t get very good data, Alzheimer patients might be pretty difficult to run tests on.
Landis, J., & Lansing E. (2012). Marriages of mixed and non-mixed religious faith. American Sociological Review, 14, 401-407. Retrieved from http://www.ebscohost.com
ReplyDeleteThe researchers in this article look to examine the role that religious beliefs play in a marriage, whether they are the same beliefs or not. They examined several groups of people with varying religious backgrounds and found that most marriages between Catholics and Protestants failed more often than marriages with a single religion. Also, they found that the children of mixed religion marriages tend to follow the religion of the mother. I was surprised to find how high the divorce rates were in the mixed religion marriages.
Mori, K., & Arai, M. (2010). No need to fake it: Reproduction of the Asch experiment without confederates. International Journal Of Psychology, 45(5), 390-397. doi:10.1080/00207591003774485
ReplyDeleteIn this experiment the researchers were examining the effect of conformity by using MORI technique. The experiment was very similar to the Asch experiment, but in this experiment, unlike the Asch experiment, none of the participants were confederates. All of the participants did not know that the experiment was examining. All of the participants wore glasses that changed the length of the lines on the slide. The glasses were similar to 3D glasses. This was how none of the participants were confederates. The hypothesis of this experiment was that there would still be conformity even without the confederates. The participants in this experiment were 104 undergraduates (40 men and 64 women). The dependent variable in this experiment was the level of conformity of the participants. This was measured by what the participants answered when asked “what line is the same length as the line standing alone”. The results to the experiment did show conformity, like the Asch experiment. The main question the experiment answered was did the MORI technique cause conformity. The results of the experiment show that minority women erred more because they conformed to the majority. Men on the other hand did not error as much as the women. The first male had the most errors out of the four participants. This study did show similar minority error in the woman as the Asch experiment, but not for the men. This is something to look at because in the Asch experiment there were only male participants. I have heard of this experiment since my first psych class in high school. One interesting aspect that I found was how they created a situation where all the participants were no aware of the experiment. This does take away from some bias or error that might be created if you did have confederates. Another thing that I found interesting was how compared to the Asch experiment, the woman were the ones to have the closes error rate, even though only men participated in the Asch experiment. How different genders act when it comes to conformity would be an interesting thing to do research on. All in all this experiment was a very well way to recreate the Asch experiment.
Burke, M. J., Salvador, R. O., Smith-Crowe, K., Chan-Serafin, S., Smith, A., & Sonesh, S. (2011). The dread factor: How hazards and safety training influence learning and performance. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 96(1), 46-70. doi:10.1037/a0021838
ReplyDeleteThis experiment looks the “Dread Factor” of training safety training in the work force. The hypothesis states if a job has a higher risk of danger and more traumatic events; showing what could happen could scare the workers into listening and learning what they have to do to keep themselves out of that particular situation. Also on the contrary, if a job did not have this “dread factor” worker are less likely to listen and learn the safety precautions for their particular job. In this study they took samples of many different people and many different occupations, to get a good idea of the spectrum. They looked at not only what the dangers of the jobs were, but also looked at the training they were given to help them avoid injuries. They also looked at the at how engaging the training was and the difference between high risk and low risk jobs. They found that more engaging safety instructions lead to more learning when it came to higher risk jobs. But on lower risk jobs it doesn’t matter how engaging the safety instructions are, they are learned about the same. I am not surprised with their findings. I think us as humans make a predetermined judgment about what kind of danger we are in. And because we don’t feel in danger we do not listen and learn some of the safety instructions no matter how in-depth they are.
Sacks, Oliver (2006). The power of music. doi:10.1093/brain/aw1234
ReplyDeleteThe researcher, Oliver Sacks, examined what kind of power music has over us. Sacks quotes Nietzsche who says that "We listen to music with our muscles." Which is very true because our brain is a muscle that controls our feet to tap along with the beat, move our bodies along with the music, hum, and conduct music. This was just the beginning of how Sacks tried prove that music has power over us. He continues by saying that music also has the power to bring people together and put people in a trance; which is an actual genre of music. A trance is when we cannot control our bodies when we are lost in the music. Although Sacks did not create a study he did look at other studies and examined them more closely. While researching this topic closely, Sacks found that music has the ability to reach to those with medical issues who are at constant struggle with their bodies to cooperate; while listening to the "right" music their bodies were able to relax and be at peace which is another example of how our bodies listen to music with our muscles.
Sacks concluded his article about the power of music by stating that "In the last 20 years, there have bee huge advances here, but we have, as yet, scarcely touched the question of why music, for better or worse, has so much power. It is a question that goes to the heart of being human." So to answer the question of what Sacks found after researching and writing this article is that there is truly no answer to why music of any kind have such a strong hold over us. My reaction to this article was one of understanding. I could understand how music can calm a person; I mean look at parents that play or sing their babies to sleep. I picked this article because I can see it relating to my life. I don't have any mental or physical illnesses that were stated in the article but music has the same affect on me as it did on those in the article.
I wasn't able to access the USD journals, however I did look up some articles and journals on JSTOR and was able to read (briefly) through an interesting journal questioning emotions. I found it very interesting that the author determines that some emotion is simply 'natural' that is, given to us by nature while some are learned behaviors. They hypothesis of the article is something along similar lines, as well as looking towards the future of understanding emotion, being able to clearly define it and continue research into how it affects psychology.
ReplyDeleteEmotion is a very interesting subject and I was slightly surprised to see that this article was dated in 2006, which is fairly recent as far as research goes. I agree with the author that the first step in determining the extent of emotion in the use of psychology (or any major field) is to define it. But how does one define something so subjective? My vision of anger might be different than that of one of my classmates. I find it an interesting predicament and can clearly see the slow movements of this progress.
The author also raises the points of emotions at a global level, this is demonstrated as several different cultures and countries all over the world have the same basic concept of emotions, the 'natural' emotions referred to in the article. I think it would be interesting to see how this compares not only to different countries and cultures, but to different demographics as well. Do young adult African Americans view sadness the same way that middle-aged Asians do? Just how much does emotion affect our psychology? Our personality? It's an interesting question and one I hope to continue to read about.
Work Cited:
Barrett, F., Lisa (2006). Perspectives on Psychological Science. 1(1), 28-58. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40184196
Halm, M. A. (2008). The healing power of the human-animal connection. American Journal Of Critical Care, 17(4), 373-376.
ReplyDeleteThe researchers were experimenting on the human and animal relationship to see if it has an effect on physical healing. They tested this experiment on people of all ages if they were hospitalized. They didn’t just look at the patient’s mental health after being with a test animal, but their physical health, and social effects. Their hypothesis is that animal therapy will benefit a patient by making them healthier than they would without having animal contact. The independent variable was the animals provided by the researchers and the dependent variable was the hospitalized peopled. They did not allow testing on people with disabilities or psychiatric diagnoses. It was shown that the animals helped patients become more relaxed and they were calmer than those without pets.
There was a greater perception of happiness and relief was one of the emotions that were felt when interacting with an animal. Taking care of an animal, such as a fish, gave patients delight and control by feeding the pets and also naming them. The children involved in the study mentioned that they had unconditional love and it provided them with motivation to get better. Animal interaction helped lower body temperature, slowed respiratory rate, and matched the breathing between the patient and the therapy animal, resulting in reducing pain. The way it helped the patients socially with the animals, was that snuggling with them provided company at night so they weren’t lonely anymore and it helped them connect and touch the outside world. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Hospital said that people who own animals report to have a high significant reduction in minor health problems and improvements in the psychological well-being of a person. Overall, it helped the patient’s healing of the mind, body, and spirit.
My Reaction: I didn’t know how much a pet could benefit someone so much when they are trying to heal physically. Just by interacting with an animal can help reduce one’s pain and make them more relaxed. People in critical condition really should consider having contact with an animal, because they might be able to survive a little bit longer. I think that with the results shown, hospitals should have an animal room or something of that sort in them for patients who would like such contact. I have a dog and I agree that he makes me happier. He is always so happy to see me and it really can change my mood around.
Le Grange, D., Crosby, R. D., Engel, S. G., Cao, L., Ndungu, A., Crow, S. J., & ... Wonderlich, S. A. (2013). DSM‐IV‐defined anorexia nervosa versus subthreshold anorexia nervosa (EDNOS‐AN). European Eating Disorders Review, 21(1), 1-7. doi:10.1002/erv.2192
ReplyDeleteIn this article, the researchers are comparing women with anorexia nervosa and eating disorder not otherwise specific (EDNOS). Researchers compare the participants’ eating behaviors and their psychopathology measures. The researchers are trying to prove that EDNOS is the most common form of eating disorder and that EDNOS’ different elements do not rely anorexia nervosa symptoms. The participants were 118 women who were ‘at least 18 years of age, met the American Psychiatric Association criteria for anorexia nervosa, had the criteria for body mass index, and non-treatment seeking.’
In this research, they were testing the relationship between behaviors and physical symptoms of anorexia nervosa and EDNOS women. They had the women submit to self-reported questionnaires, interviews, physiological assessments, and statistical analysis. The results proved that it is difficult to tell apart people who suffer from anorexia nervosa and EDNOS. There were few differences between the women who suffered from anorexia nervosa and EDNOS. Some differences include: women who suffer from anorexia nervosa have lower counts of white blood cells and are more likely to binge-purge, women with EDNOS are more probable to make sure their thighs don’t touch and checking for fat.
I really enjoyed reading this article. My best friend suffered from anorexia nervosa and I spent the majority of my time with her throughout her journey. Reading through this though, I am rather surprised that she was diagnosed with anorexia; I feel that she fits more of the EDNOS symptoms. I am very interested in learning about eating disorders and their effects on the people around them.
Tomaka, J., Morales‐Monks, S., & Shamaley, A. (2013). Stress and coping mediate relationships between contingent and global self-esteem and alcohol-related problems among college drinkers. Stress And Health: Journal Of The International Society For The Investigation Of Stress, 29(3), 205-213. doi:10.1002/smi.2448
ReplyDeleteThis study examined the independent relationships of global and contingent self-esteem to alcohol consumption, as well as alcohol related problems. This study was designed to examine the hypothesis that contingent self-esteem would be positively associated with alcohol related problems and that global self-esteem would be negatively associated with alcohol related problems. It also examined a second hypothesis, which examined the relationship of high stress with maladaptive coping in regards to the mediation of such relationships (relationships in the first hypothesis). The study was comprised of 402 college students, whom all voluntarily took part in an alcohol risk reduction program. Participants ranged in age from 17 to 39 years of age. The studies correlational variable analyses indicated that alcohol related problems were positively related to contingent self-esteem and global self-esteem negatively related to the alcohol related problems. A relationship between maladaptive coping and stress was also established. The result of the study established a relationship between contingent self worth and the adaptive nature of non-contingent self-esteem and the potentially harmful consequences that arise from such a relationship. Overall, I really enjoined the article. I can completely understand how self-esteem can relate to problems involving alcohol, as well as how coping can play a role in the various relationships studied.
Nyklíček, Ivan Mommersteeg, Paula M. C. Van Beugen, Sylvia Ramakers, Christian Van Boxtel, Geert J. ; Health Psychology, Vol 32(10), Oct, 2013. pp. 1110-1113.
ReplyDeletethe article I viewed was a study on the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction on acute stress there were 88 participants all experiencing acute stress, during the study 44 participant's partook in 150 min of mindfulness education, and meditation practice, along with 45 min of at home meditation for 6 weeks. keeping a steady track of saliva cortisol levels along with blood pressure. The other 44 participants remained on the waitlist not receiving any treatment as the control group. The study found no difference in the stress cortisol levels or heart rate between the control and mbsr group, however the mbsr group was found to have lower blood pressure in both stable and higher stress situations. coming to the conclusion mindfulness-based reduction may reduce blood pressure in participating individuals.
I was surprised that the group participating in mindfulness practices didn't show reduced stress levels and found the jargon a little disorientating but overall enjoyed it.