Psychology Theses and Dissertations
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This collection contains some of the theses and dissertations produced by students in the University of Oregon Psychology Graduate Program. Paper copies of these and other dissertations and theses are available through the UO Libraries.
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Browsing Psychology Theses and Dissertations by Subject "Adolescence"
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Item Open Access Adolescent Social Motives: Measurement and Implications(University of Oregon, 2019-01-11) Flournoy, John; Pfeifer, JenniferThe study of decision making during adolescence has received considerable attention throughout the history of developmental psychology, justifiably, given the marked increases in morbidity and mortality that belie otherwise robust health. Although the dominant theories invoked to help explain decision-making during adolescence acknowledge the existence of motivations that are thought to be central to this developmental period, there is little work that investigates the effects of these motives, per se. In particular, motivations toward developing sexual and romantic relationships, as well as toward navigating peer status hierarchies have both been acknowledged as especially relevant for this period of development. Almost all research in this area focuses on self-report, and is heavily weighted toward the domain of status and popularity. A major gap in this literature is an understanding of how adolescent-relevant motivations affect basic behavioral processes, and of the consequences of individual differences in motivations. The current investigation uses reinforcement learning to examine the effects of social motives on stimulus salience. This may allow both indirect, behavioral measurement of motivations, and is itself a potential mechanism by which motivations affect behavior via experience of the environment, and learning. Adolescent (N = 104) and college student (N = 230) participants learned four social-motive-relevant, and two baseline face-word associations. Learning was characterized using both proportion of optimal responses in the last half of the learning task, and a Rescorla-Wagner-like computational model. Results showed greater learning, and higher learning rates, in the social-motive conditions. In order to explore the validity of behavior on the task as a measure of particular motivations, individual learning differences between social and baseline conditions were compared with developmental indices, self-report traits, and self-report health-relevant behaviors. Older participants were better at the learning task, but social-motive learning enhancement was constant across development. Measures of social-motive effects on learning did not correlate with self-reported traits or health-related behaviors. The effects of motive-relevant words on learning may be due to factors unrelated to motivation, but research design may also be problematic. Self-report trait instruments performed well, but a more comprehensive taxonomy of motivational constructs and measures would be beneficial.Item Open Access Dating and Mating in Adolescence: How Hormones and Puberty Influence Adolescent Mating Motivation(University of Oregon, 2022-10-26) Donaldson, Sarah; Pfeifer, JenniferPuberty marks the physical transition towards sexual maturity, culminating in the ability to reproduce. It follows that maturing cognitive, affective, and social skills develop concurrently to support reproductive competence, transitioning the mind towards identifying and exploring mating relationships. While there is much research on the link between earlier pubertal timing and earlier onset of sexual behaviors, the specific underlying psychological changes occurring prior to the enactment of these behaviors is understudied. This dissertation explores how different aspects of puberty influence the development of mating motivations in early to middle adolescent girls. The first section of this dissertation reviews the literature on the development of adolescent social cognition and points to key ways in which these processes may support mating-relevant psychology. The following two empirical studies explore the development of mating motivation and behaviors in early to middle adolescence, and investigate whether testosterone or other pubertal indices play a role in these emerging romantic ideations and experiences. Results suggest that age of menarche has a more nuanced relationship with mating indices than previously thought, as an older age of menarche is associated with increased enjoyment of mating behaviors and a greater number of romantic partnerships (Chapter III), while an earlier age of menarche is associated with poorer performance in a mate-learning task. However, neither changes in T nor current levels of T were related to the development of mating motivation as assessed in this dissertation (Chapter III) and did not influence performance on a social learning task (Chapter IV). It is likely that more detailed explorations of romantic development will provide additional clarity on emerging romantic experiences in early to middle adolescents, and whether other hormonal mechanisms influence mating motivation in adolescent girls.Item Open Access Dyadic regulation and deviant contagion in adolescent friendships: Interaction patterns associated with problematic substance use(University of Oregon, 2008-09) Piehler, Timothy Farr, 1978-Peer influences on adolescence substance use have been widely demonstrated. In particular, social interactions that are centered around and reinforcing of antisocial values, known as deviant peer contagion, are predictive of a variety of antisocial outcomes, including substance use. However, much less is known about the interpersonal dynamics between friends that are associated with resilience to peer contagion. Recent work has associated self-regulation with resilience to the effects of associating with deviant and substance-using peers. Limited resource models of self-regulation have proposed that social interactions may tax regulatory resources to the point that self-regulation becomes impaired. Youth with more limited regulatory resources may demonstrate increased susceptibility to influence from peers. However, in friendship interactions, self-regulatory behaviors are highly dependent on the self-regulation of the partner. Therefore, the present study examined dyadic regulation in friendship interactions consistent with the idea of a dyadic process. In addition to investigating the construct validity of dyadic regulation, it was hypothesized that dyadic regulation would moderate the impact of peer contagion on problematic substance use. Furthermore, consistent with a limited resource model, it was predicted that adolescents with declining dyadic regulation over the course of an interaction would be more susceptible to peer contagion. Problematic substance use and interaction patterns within friendships were assessed in a sample of 711 (355 male, 356 female) ethnically diverse 16- and 17-year-old adolescents. Using videotaped observations of friendship interactions, dyadic regulation was assessed by rating responsiveness, self-focused intrusions, attention, and conversational turn-taking. Deviant peer contagion was assessed through the proportion of the interaction spent discussing deviant topics. Contrary to the hypothesized self-regulatory resilience model, those dyads that were more highly regulated while discussing deviant topics demonstrated the highest levels of problematic tobacco use. Consistent with a limited resource model of regulation, however, dyads with decreasing regulation over the course of an interaction appeared to be the most vulnerable to deviant peer contagion, demonstrating greater problematic marijuana use. These results are encouraging of further investigation in this area and may have implications for direct interventions targeting risk for substance use as well as reducing iatrogenic effects in group interventions.Item Open Access In the Spirit of Full Disclosure: Maternal Characteristics that Encourage Adolescent Disclosure of Distressing Experiences(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10) Gamache Martin, Christina; Freyd, JenniferThe purpose of the current study was to investigate the dynamic process of disclosure within the adolescent–mother relationship by examining maternal characteristics that encourage adolescent disclosure of distressing experiences and risk factors that may interfere with mothers’ abilities to be supportive. A community sample of 66 mothers and their adolescent children (M = 14.31 years, 58% female) participated. The adolescents disclosed an emotionally distressing experience to their mothers for the first time. Mothers’ validating behaviors and emotional distress in response to their adolescents’ expressions of negative emotion were predictive of adolescent disclosure. Adolescents who perceived their mothers to be validating of their negative emotions made more substantive disclosures and found disclosing to their mothers to be more beneficial. In contrast, greater maternal emotional distress was associated with less substantive disclosures, and maternal emotional distress was further indirectly associated with less substantive and beneficial disclosures through less maternal validation of negative emotion. A developmental model of maternal risk for emotional distress in response to adolescent negative emotion was also supported. Maternal history of childhood trauma perpetrated by someone close to the mother (i.e., high betrayal) was associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing subsequent interpersonal trauma as an early adult; maternal interpersonal trauma in early adulthood was associated with mothers’ increased difficulty regulating their emotions; and greater maternal emotion dysregulation was associated with higher levels of maternal distress in response to adolescent negative emotion. An indirect association between maternal childhood high betrayal trauma and emotional distress was also supported through continued trauma and emotion regulation difficulties. These findings suggest that when disclosing distressing experiences to their mothers, adolescents consider how validating their mothers are of their expression of negative emotion, as well as how distressing their emotions are for their mothers. Mothers’ histories of childhood trauma, ongoing interpersonal trauma in adulthood, and emotion regulation difficulties were further implicated in mothers’ reactions to their adolescents’ expressions of negative emotion. Interventions targeted to increase maternal emotion regulation skills and validation of children’s negative emotions may be an effective way to promote better mother–adolescent communication, especially in regard to distressing experiences.Item Open Access Individual Differences and Adolescent Psychosocial Development(University of Oregon, 2002-08) Ellis, Lesa K.Individual differences in temperament, executive functioning, and pubertal maturation play an important role in adolescent psychosocial outcomes, as do parenting and risk variables. These studies examined relations between temperament, pubertal maturation, and psychosocial outcomes in early adolescence. In addition, relations between temperament, executive functioning, parenting and risk variables, and psychosocial outcomes were examined in later adolescence. Pubertal maturation in early adolescence was associated with increased depressive mood in both males and females and, after controlling for the effects of age, increased aggression, frustration, and affiliativeness in females. Self-regulation and fear also decreased with pubertal maturation in females. Individual differences in pubertal maturation, self-regulation, frustration, affiliativeness, and approach tendencies all contributed unique, significant variance to prediction of depressive mood scores. Self-regulation and gender contributed significant variance to prediction of aggression scores. In older adolescents, performance on computerized measures of executive attention was related to mother-reported adolescents' self-regulation and negative affectivity. In addition, performance was related to teacher assessment of risk for developing antisocial behaviors. Executive attention scores, mother- and self-report self-regulation, and parental monitoring all contributed unique variance to the prediction of problem behavior scores, with individual difference variables accounting for relatively more variance than parenting variables. Mother- and self-report self-regulation, and self-report affiliativeness and approach tendencies, along with gender, contributed to prediction of depressive mood scores. Parenting variables did not add significant variance. Aggression was best predicted by risk group and self- and mother-report self-regulation, while parenting and family variables significantly predicted scores on prosocial behavior. Individual differences in temperament, executive attention, and pubertal maturation proved to be important predictors of psychosocial outcomes. Further, executive attention and temperament were related to problem behaviors, even when controlling for the effects of parenting and risk variables. These findings argue for the importance of including individual difference variables in studies examining adolescent psychosocial development.Item Open Access Neurobiological Foundations of Self-Conscious Emotion Understanding in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10) Jankowski, Kathryn; Pfeifer, JenniferThis dissertation explored the subjective experience and neural correlates of self-conscious emotion (SCE) understanding in adolescent males with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and age-matched neurotypical (NT) males (ages 11-17). Study I investigated group differences in SCE attributions (the ability to recognize SCEs conveyed by others) and empathic SCEs (the ability/tendency to feel empathic SCEs for others) in 56 adolescents (ASD = 30; NT = 26). It also explored associations between SCE processing and a triad of social cognitive abilities (self-awareness/introspection, perspective-taking/cognitive empathy, affective empathy) and autistic symptoms/traits. Study II investigated the neural correlates of SCE processing in 52 adolescents (ASD = 27; NT = 25). During an MRI scan, participants completed the Self-Conscious Emotions Task-Child, which included 24 salient, ecologically-valid videos of adolescents participating in a singing competition. Videos represented two factors: emotion (embarrassment, pride) and perspective-taking (PT) demands (low, high). In low PT clips, singers’ emotions matched their performance (sing poorly, act embarrassed); in high PT clips, they did not (sing well, act embarrassed). Participants used a 4-point Likert scale to rate how intensely embarrassed and proud singers felt. They made congruent ratings, which matched the conveyed emotions (rating how embarrassed an embarrassed singer felt), and incongruent ratings, which did not match the conveyed emotions (rating how proud an embarrassed singer felt). Outside the scanner, participants rated how empathically embarrassed and proud they felt for the singers. The ASD and NT groups made similarly intense inferred congruent and empathic congruent SCE ratings, suggesting that emotion attribution and affective empathy are intact in ASD. However, the ASD group made more intense inferred incongruent SCE ratings, suggesting that emotion attribution in ASD may be more strongly impacted by the situational context. An over-reliance on contextual cues may reflect a strict adherence to rule-following and serve as a compensatory strategy for attenuated mentalizing. Neuroimaging results support this interpretation. The ASD group recruited atypical neural patterns within social cognition regions, visual perception regions, salience regions, and sensorimotor regions. These findings similarly suggest an over-reliance on abstract social conceptual knowledge when processing discrepant affective and contextual cues. Implications for intervention are discussed.Item Open Access When “Self-Harm” Means “Suicide”: Adolescent Online Help-Seeking for Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors(University of Oregon, 2024-03-25) Lind, Monika; Allen, NicholasThe sensitive period of adolescence facilitates key developmental tasks that equip young people to assume adult roles. Adolescence features important strengths, like the need to contribute, and some risks, like vulnerability to the onset of mental ill health. Adolescence increasingly occurs online, where existing in-person dynamics and new affordances of digital technology combine. Online help-seeking suits the needs and preferences of adolescents, and online peer support capitalizes on adolescent strengths. The success of online peer support communities for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB) may depend on the balance of social support and social contagion in these communities. In this study, we investigated adolescent help-seeking and peer support for SITB online. We used topic modeling, machine learning classification, and multilevel modeling in pursuit of three aims. In the first aim, we discovered the topics that characterized help-seeking expressions of over 100,000 posters who chose to post in the “Self Harm” category of an online peer support platform. In the second aim, we measured the amount and type of social support provided in over a million comments in response to these posts. In the third aim, we tested whether the topics of help-seeking expressions predicted the presence and type of social support provided. The over-arching goal of these aims was to help inform policy and guide the design of online spaces to support healthy adolescent development, especially amongst adolescents experiencing mental health challenges. From the first aim, we learned that adolescents seek help online for serious problems and suffering. From the second aim, we learned that their peers provide social support most of the time, but this social support often lacks specificity and elaboration. From the third aim, we learned about the power of help-seeking expressions focused on “hopeless suicide,” “self-harm abstention,” and “hiding self-harm” to elicit social support. Across all three aims, we learned that platform design matters, and platform designers can do more to support healthy development. Adolescent online help-seekers need help that makes them feel connected. Academic researchers and corporations must work together to help young people help each other.