Psychology
Presenter(s): Tristyn Acasio, Sierra Segal
Advisor(s): Dr. Amy Moors
Drawing on an internalized homonegativity and minority stress framework, the present study seeks to address whether people engaged in consensual non-monogamy (CNM) internalize stigma toward their relationship style, and if internalized CNM negativity is associated with poorer relationship quality and functioning. We recruited a community sample of 339 people engaged in CNM (open, swinging, or polyamorous relationship) with at least two concurrent partners. Participants completed a newly developed measure of internalized CNM negativity (which assessed personal discomfort, social discomfort, and public identification) and four measures of relationship quality for each partner. Regression analyses show that personal discomfort with CNM (e.g., wanting to change one’s relationship style or endorsing CNM as unnatural) was associated with lower relationship satisfaction, satisfaction with romantic and sexual relationship agreements, and commitment (but not sexual satisfaction) in both concurrent relationships. The other two dimensions of internalized CNM negativity, social discomfort and public identification, were not related to relationship quality with either partner. These findings provide support for the notion that prevailing mononormativity (idealization of monogamy in society) can become applied to the self and negatively impact relationship quality. Understanding the processes in which broader societal stigma toward CNM can become internalized and affect well-being provides a new direction for research at the intersection of public health, psychology, and sexuality.
Witnessing Micro-Aggressions on Campus: Effective and Ineffective Ally Behaviors
Presenter(s): Nina Dours, Riley Murphy
Advisor(s): Dr. Amy Moors
Micro-aggressions are common, intentional or unintentional everyday insults towards a minority group (Sue et al., 2007). Despite their everyday occurrences and links with low well-being and academic performance (Keels et al., 2017), there is limited research on effective behaviors to combat microaggressions. This study examined ways students respond to microaggressions based on gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. Building on previous research (Toomey & McGeorge, 2018), we hypothesized that women, ethnic minorities, and sexual minorities will show more effective allyship behaviors than those who do not identify as a minority. We recruited 218 first year college students (74% women, 24% men, 2% trans/non-binary; Mage = 18) to take a three part online study. Participants were asked questions about their campus experiences, knowledge about microaggression, and ally behaviors. Participants were asked about typical reactions to a microaggression, using a scale from 1 (does not describe my typical response) to 5 (describes my typical response extremely well). These questions ranged from ineffective (“laugh”), neutral (“wait to hear/see what the victim does”), to effective (“ask the victim if they are okay”) behaviors. Inconsistent with our hypotheses, we found no effect of gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity on effective or ineffective ally behaviors (B range .06 to .43, p > .05). As for neutral ally behaviors, a statistically significant effect was found for the variable of gender on the use of neutral strategies (B = 0.39, p < 0.05) as cis-gendered women reported to be more likely to use neutral strategies than cis-gendered men. No significant effect was found for sexuality (B range = - 0.0080 to 0.29, p > 0.05). Although our hypotheses were not supported, interesting insights can be drawn from this study. Participants may have felt pressure to answer in socially desirable ways by reporting more allyship behaviors. Furthermore, most participants identified as minorities, suggesting an unwillingness from majority group to participate in a micro-aggression study.
Coding Microaggressions Committed by First-Year Students
Presenter(s): Katherine Kindy, Meghan Dunn
Advisor(s): Dr. Amy Moors
Background: Microaggressions are forms of sexism, racism, and homophobia communicated through derogatory slights, including telling harmful jokes or making judgements about someone’s perceived identity. Previous research has shown microaggressions have a significant impact on college students sense of self and belonging, often making them feel isolated on campus (McGabe, 2009). In order to assess exclusionary behavior, we asked first year students if they have committed microaggressions and, if so, in what context. Methods: We recruited 218 first-year Chapman University students (74% women, 24% men, 2% trans/non-binary; Mage = 18). Participants took a 20-minute survey asking about their overall college experiences and, in an open-ended format, whether they have intentionally or unintentionally committed microaggressions. Of the 218 participants, 122 left responses. Using thematic coding (Braun & Clarke, 2006), two undergraduate research assistants independently coded the responses. Results: Qualitative coding of the responses yielded 11 major themes and 8 minor themes. The most common response was that 50% of students had never committed a microaggression and of those, 23% couldn’t think of a time it may have occurred and 9% didn’t understand what a microaggression was. Among those who reported committing a microaggression, 12% were race/ethnicity-based, 7% were gender-based, and 4% were sexuality-based. In terms of the context of committing these microaggressions, 8% said it was intentional, 8% reported it was unintentional, and 6% indicated it was a joke and, of those, only 5% of those felt inclined to change their behavior. Conclusion: As early as the first year of college, students are committing intentional and unintentional microaggressions. We discovered that not only are students unaware of when they’re committing microaggressions, those who are committing microaggressions are rarely changing their behavior. Better education needs to be provided about microaggressions to encourage behavior change and foster greater campus inclusion.
Speak Up! Challenging Microaggressions by Intervening as an Ally
Presenter(s): Gabi Siguenza, Carsyn Knebel, Sierra Segal
Advisor(s): Dr. Amy Moors
The primary diversity strategy of many institutions focuses on admissions to increase the representation of women and people of color (Bowen & Bok, 1998). Yet, changing the campus climate to foster belonging is a critical strategy to increase diversity (Stewart & Lavaque-Manty, 2008). To bring these issues to light, we are developing and implementing a workshop that teaches first-year students evidence-based strategies to combat microaggressions. Adapted from a previous workshop, Speak Up in STEMM!: Challenging Microaggressions to Foster a More Inclusive Workplace (Moors & Mayott, under review), our project remedies the inclusion training gap by using the prejudice habit model and ally development theoretical frameworks (Ada Initiative, 2015; Casey & Ohler, 2012). Methods: First, first-year students are actively recruited and sign up to participate in a workshop and a 3 part survey process. Participants report their attitudes towards campus climate and personal experiences prior to the workshop. They are randomly assigned to attend the workshop in Fall or Spring. Those assigned to the Fall condition participate in a 90-minute ally development workshop. Although the survey data is collected, our focus is on feedback from the workshop independent of online responses. Results: Of the 12 participants, all rated the workshop as living up to their expectations, stimulating their learning, providing sufficient practice, and all would recommend it to a friend. Many participants enjoyed the roleplaying scenarios, learning about microaggressions and the evidence-based strategies. For future workshops, participants suggested allowing the audience to share their personal experiences and refining our role playing scenarios. Conclusions: In fall of 2020, we plan to continue running workshops and recruiting participants through the subject pool system in the Department of Psychology. We believe that by expanding our recruitment to the subject pool, we will receive more first-year students and generate more traction as it relates to challenging microaggressions.
Pediatric Postoperative Pain Medication: Child Sex and Ethnicity Interact to Predict Parent Medication Attitudes
Presenter(s): Vivian Luong, Harshitha Venkatesh
Advisor(s): Dr. Brooke Jenkins
Over 85% of children experience significant pain after surgery. Despite this presence of pain, research suggests that a quarter of these children receive very little or even no pain medication at home. Such poor pain management in children can have harmful long-term consequences, both physically and psychologically. Previous research indicates that the amount of pain medication administered to children in the home may be significantly impacted by beliefs and attitudes parents have regarding analgesics. Given this, the purpose of the present study is to identify which demographic factors are associated with certain parent analgesic attitudes or misconceptions among pediatric patients ages 2-13 who have undergone elective surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (N = 112). Prior to surgery, parents completed surveys to report demographics and medication attitudes—fear of side effects, avoidance, and appropriate use attitude. Ethnicity was found to interact with child sex to predict parents’ fear of side effects, b = -4.750, p = 0.043. Specifically, among Hispanic households, parents of daughters expressed a greater fear of side effects from analgesics compared to parents of sons. The opposite trend was seen in White households, such that parents of sons expressed a greater fear of side effects compared to parents of daughters. This sex difference in Hispanic families may be due to the phenomenon machismo, a term characterized by the hypermasculine idealization of men. Specifically, Hispanic parents may express a significantly lower fear of side effects for their male children because they are encouraging their sons to be more stoic and “tough.” The hypermasculinity principles behind machismo, however, may not significantly transcend across other ethnic groups, as showcased by the opposite trend observed in White parents. These findings can be utilized to develop interventions that specifically target and educate parents who are likely to have misconceptions concerning analgesic use while still respecting the family’s culture, values, and practices.
How Positive and Negative Affect Relate to Postoperative Pain in Children Undergoing Surgery
Presenter(s): Stephanie Munduruca, Ryan Johnson
Advisor(s): Dr. Brooke Jenkins
Positive affect has been shown to be associated with lower levels of postoperative pain, while negative affect is associated with higher levels of pain. More recent research asks if subscales of positive affect such as calm, well-being, and vigor could be related to pain experiences. Studies of postoperative pain in children relating to positive and negative affect are limited, with none examining the connection between positive affect subscales and negative affect subscales (anger, anxiety, and depression) and children’s pain. This study addresses that gap by uncovering the relationships between the aforementioned subscales to postoperative pain in children. This study was conducted at Children’s Hospital of Orange County with children (N=56) aged 2-12 who had elective surgery and completed daily diaries assessing pain and affect at home on days 1, 3, and 7 post-surgery. State affect was associated with reports of pain on the same day such that children experiencing higher levels of calm, well-being, and vigor on day 1 had lower levels of pain that same day (calm: r(56) = -0.49, p < .001, well-being: r(56) = -0.52, p < .001, and vigor: r(56) = -0.51, p < .001). This pattern held for same-day measurements on day 3 (calm: = r(49) = -0.36, p < .05., well-being: r(49) = -0.50, p < .01, and vigor: r(49) = -0.52, p < .01), but not for day 7 when only well-being was associated with pain (r(51) = -0.29, p < .05). Depression was the only subscale of negative affect that showed a positive association across all three follow-up assessments of pain (ps <.01). The findings demonstrate that associations of positive affect subscales and pain diminish over time and investigating negative affect subscales may be warranted since only depression was consistently correlated with pain at all three assessments.
The Association Between Ethnicity and Anxiety with Sleep in Pediatric Patients Recovering Post-Surgery
Presenter(s): Maya Weintraub
Advisor(s): Dr. Brooke Jenkins
Proper sleep is beneficial for pediatric patients recovering from outpatient surgery. Sleep related problems such as insomnia, nightmares, reluctance to sleep alone, etc. can have detrimental effects on a patient’s physical health, which can lead to greater utilization of medical services in the future. Emotional functioning can be associated with experiencing sleep disturbances. Unsurprisingly, anxious children have a higher incidence of postoperative sleep problems. Evidence suggests that aside from the biological need for sleep, sleep behavior can be impacted by social, environmental, and cultural factors. Prior research indicates that this is the case for adult patients, however the association of both ethnicity and anxiety together and their effects on sleep have not yet been researched for pediatric patients undergoing surgery. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine how children’s ethnicity and postoperative state anxiety may predict sleep behavior post-surgery, with the hypothesis that non-Hispanic White and Hispanic families have different cultural values that may have implications for sleep. Our sample included pediatric patients ages 2-13 years who underwent surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. We evaluated the state anxiety levels and sleep behaviors of children (N=121) post-surgery, as reported by their parent or guardian as a part of a follow-up measure one day after surgery and collected information on child ethnicity. Results demonstrated that Hispanic children experienced worse sleep (i.e. having difficulty sleeping), the day after surgery, compared to non-Hispanic White children (OR = 31.943, p = 0.051). Children with higher anxiety experienced worse sleep the day after surgery (OR = 3.712, p = 0.023). These results show that patients with higher state anxiety or Hispanic patients experience worse sleep the day after surgery, compared to White patients or patients with less anxiety.
Searching for Neural Mechanisms of Social Cognition
Presenter(s): Chandler Siemonsma, Cristina Uribe
Advisor(s): Dr. LouAnne Boyd, Dr. Aaron Schurger, Dr. Deanna Hughes, Tian Lan
Social cognition involves the integration and pruning of perceptual information which leads to the formation of an abstract representation, which is also known as the perceptual gist. This study examined differences in visual perception of Mooney face stimuli of differing sizes and the relationship to gist formation in ten individuals with autism compared to neurotypical controls. Parents of both groups completed the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2) to assess social functioning in real-world scenarios.
Student Employee Life
Presenter(s): June Nakayama
Advisor(s): Dr. Tara Gruenewald, Eunice Choi
Perceived organizational support is a topic that has been widely researched in an attempt to better understand organizational culture and work experiences. However, most studies have been conducted in a single organization or department with full-time employees. As college tuition rises and more people are struggling with student debt, many college students have opted to enter the workforce while pursuing their degrees. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the role of perceived organizational support in organizations who employ full-time college students, and whether perceived organizational support is associated with students’ academic performance, work-life balance including academic life, and turnover intentions. It was hypothesized that individuals with high perceived organizational support will demonstrate higher academic performance, higher work-life balance, and lower turnover intention compared to individuals with lower perceived organizational support. Students from the Chapman psychology subject pool who were employed in the Fall semester of 2019 were invited to complete an online survey which included measures of perceived organizational support, turnover intention, academic performance, and work-life balance. Data collection is ongoing, but it is expected that the proposed analyses will shed light on the associations between these variables, which will provide organizations who employ students with a better understanding of how to help their employees as well as themselves.
A Data-Driven Approach to Mood Classification and Neurofeedback
Presenter(s): Jake Gavenas, Emma Chen, Natalie Richardi, Bahram Saber, Elnaz Lashgari, Jye Bold
Advisor(s): Dr. Uri Maoz
The current standard of care for depression consists of antidepressant medication coupled with psychotherapy. However, critical shortcomings with this route (e.g., variable efficacy, adverse side effects, and treatment-resistant depression) indicate a need for alternative treatment methods. Neurofeedback is a type of therapy in which patients learn to regulate their brain activity by way of real-time external feedback, and has previously been used for depression treatment (e.g. Choi et al., 2011). Unlike previous studies, however, we adopt a data-driven approach, using machine-learning to identify ideal neural regulation targets for each individual based on their own brain activity. We first record electroencephalography (EEG) from a mood-induction paradigm, then train machine-learning algorithms to decode each participant’s mood. Then, we will bring subjects back and give real-time external feedback based on personalized algorithms, allowing subjects to regulate brain activity underlying their mood. Here, we demonstrate the efficacy of classifying mood from EEG, a critical first step for this project.