Scholarship & Research
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Item Mindfulness and self-compassion: associations with sleep heath and pre-sleep arousal(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Deutchman, Dagny R.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Cara A. PalmerMore than half of college students are not getting adequate sleep. Burgeoning research suggests that mindfulness and self-compassion are both associated with better sleep health, potentially via a reduction in pre-sleep cognitive and somatic arousal. This study seeks to delineate: 1) how trait and pre-sleep mindfulness and self-compassion are associated with measures of sleep health (subjective sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, sleep duration, sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, sleep timing, and sleep regularity), 2) how mindfulness and self- compassion relate to measures of pre-sleep arousal, and 3) whether the effects of mindfulness and self-compassion on sleep health outcomes is mediated by cognitive and somatic pre-sleep arousal. Participants (n = 75) completed questionnaires and one week of daily diary reports and actigraphy. Results suggest that trait mindfulness and self-compassion were not significantly associated with pre-sleep arousal or sleep health. Pre-sleep mindfulness was not associated with cognitive pre-sleep arousal; however, pre-sleep self-compassion was negatively associated with cognitive pre-sleep arousal. Associations between mindfulness and sleep, and associations between self-compassion and sleep were not mediated by pre-sleep arousal. This study adds to a growing body of research to help illuminate possible protective factors such as mindfulness and self-compassion for increasing overall sleep health in college students.Item Early family environments and memory: the role of physiological and psychological responses to acute stress(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Counts, Cory; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Neha John-HendersonChildhood family environments have important implications for outcomes in adulthood. Specifically, the experience of adversity in childhood is related to numerous maladaptive outcomes later in life. It is currently unknown how early adversity affects memory consolidation and processing. Previous research has established an association with anxiety and depression possessing a negative memory bias. A negative memory bias is defined as attentional and perceptual favor towards information that is contextually negative or threatening. Research has not examined the relationship between negative memory bias and childhood adversity after the induction of stress. Stress has previously shown to be disruptive to memory outcomes. Further, a growing body of research has shown that early childhood adversity associates with blunted physiological responses to stress. It is possible that through the pathway of blunted reactivity, early childhood adversity associates with negative memory bias. To test these hypotheses, a sample of college students (N=64) studied a 50-word list that included 25 emotionally negative words and 25 emotionally neutral words. Participants then completed the Trier Social Stress Test, an evaluative stressor well known for inducing stress. After the stress task, participants were asked to freely recall words they previously studied. Results showed that higher ratings or risk and emotional abuse in childhood associated with increased negative word recall. The relationship was partially mediated through blunted heart rate reactivity to the stress task. Implications and future directions are discussed.Item Self-compassion, unwanted sexual experiences, and revictimization among college students(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2017) Gameon, Julie Ann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Monica SkewesSexual assault is a common problem on college campuses and women between the ages of 18 and 24 are at greatest risk, with 20-25% of female college students experiencing a sexual assault in any given year, compared to 5-6% of male college students. When conducting sexual assault research among college students, it is important to consider risk factors that contribute to revictimization and protective factors that buffer against negative outcomes. Although research has shown the effect of self-compassion on many of the negative outcomes associated with sexual victimization, little work has been conducted with a population of sexual assault survivors. In Study 1, participants with a history of unwanted sexual experiences (N = 16) completed a packet of surveys and a semi-structured interview about coping with and healing from their experience. The interview transcripts reflected many of the key domains of self-compassion, suggesting the need for additional research to understand the association between self-compassion and healing from unwanted sexual experiences. In Study 2, introduction to psychology students (N = 231) completed a battery of measurements to assess their sexual victimization history and associated negative outcomes, as well as protective factors including self-compassion. Analyses tested the hypothesis that greater self-compassion would predict less sexual revictimization among those who reported an unwanted sexual experience earlier in life. Although previous unwanted sexual experiences were positively associated with recent unwanted sexual experiences, there was neither a direct nor indirect effect through self-compassion. Findings from Study 1 suggest that different facets of self-compassion represent factors that both help and hinder coping and healing following an unwanted sexual experience. Although Study 2 failed to find a significant relationship between self-compassion and revictimization, self-compassion was associated with other variables previously shown to predict sexual assault and revictimization. More research is needed to understand the role of self-compassion in healing from sexual trauma and preventing revictimization.Item I know who I am : a true self-knowledge intervention to improve college students' anxiety, depressive symptoms, and alcohol use(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2016) Leal, Stephanie Ann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Matthew VessThe transition into college is fraught with the potential for anxiety, depression and risky health behaviors. The goal of my thesis was to design and test an intervention focused on perceived true self-knowledge, or the feeling of knowing who one really is. I hypothesized that increasing perceived true self-knowledge would decrease depression, anxiety, and risky alcohol use. Undergraduate students (N= 91) first completed an online survey that included baseline measurements of anxiety, depression and alcohol use. The day after completing this baseline survey, participants were randomly assigned to complete conditions of the intervention. The intervention phase consisted of four days of writing tasks. Participants in the true self-knowledge intervention condition identified characteristics that define who they truly are daily for four consecutive days. Participants in the control condition did the same thing but were asked to identify office supplies. Two-weeks following the intervention, participants (N=61) completed a second survey that assessed anxiety, depression, and alcohol use. I hypothesized that, controlling for baseline, participants in the true self-knowledge condition would report lower levels of anxiety, depression, and alcohol use compared to the control condition. The results indicated that the intervention did not successfully increase perceived true self-knowledge. Additionally, the results did not support my hypothesis. The only significant effect to emerge was an unexpected increase in the self-reported number of drinks consumed in a typical drinking event among those in the true self-knowledge intervention condition. The limitations of the intervention and potential avenues for future research are discussed.Item Understanding the role of stereotype consistency in college athletes' judgments about teammates(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2015) Burns, Maxwell Steven; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jessi L. SmithHow do men use masculinity and sexuality norms to make judgments of other men? Past research provides mixed evidence in answer to this question. This project aimed to untangle the conflation of masculinity with heterosexuality norms to examine differences in how stereotype consistent (masculine/straight; feminine/gay) and stereotype inconsistent (masculine/gay; feminine/straight) men are judged. Using the highly masculinized context of collegiate football, two studies were conducted, one with a highly relevant sample and the other with a more generalized sample. Study 1 (n=86) was a field study in which current collegiate football players made judgments about a potential athletic recruit after being put under threat. This study manipulated the information given about the (fictitious) recruit's sexual orientation and gender role interests. Participants then completed several judgment ratings about the recruit. Results indicated that the threat manipulation was not successful. However, results did reveal a consistent pattern in which the feminine gay recruit was the most derogated of all recruits. The other recruits were all rated equally. Study 2 (n=107) used a more general sample of male athletes and attempted to experimentally induce high versus low threat levels for participants before rating the gay recruit who was described as either masculine or feminine in their gender role interests. Again, the participant's threat levels were unchanged by the induction. Among this more general sample, results of Study 2 found no difference in prejudice directed toward the gay recruit as a function of the gender role interests. When threat was examined at the trait level, under high threat the feminine gay recruit was derogated the most. Taken together, results suggest acceptance was shown toward recruits who were either gay or feminine. It was only when the recruit was both gay and feminine that they were derogated. This suggests that the culture athletics, while not totally accepting, is becoming more accepting of gay athletes unless they're perceived as highly feminine. The findings from these studies provide evidence suggesting that men who reaffirm their manhood (either by being masculine or by being straight) are less derogated than men who are unable to reaffirm their manhood.Item Pedestrian traffic on the MSU campus(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1974) Ballas, James AnthonyItem Fear of victimization among college students in Bozeman, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1998) Mayer, Mara Lynne