I am (not) a man: Intimate partner violence as a response to the emasculation of racial discrimination
Brooke Di Leone
Is it possible that experiencing racial discrimination leads to increased intimate partner violence (IPV) among Black men? This proposal seeks to investigate that possibility in a series of 5 studies. Our reasoning is that, if Black men experience racial discrimination as a threat to their masculine self-concept, and masculinity threats contribute with IPV, then racial discrimination may be responsible for some elevated rates of IPV among Black (as opposed to White) communities. Study 1 employs a structural equation model analysis to explore the relationship between racial discrimination, masculinity threat (and its correlates), and IPV. Study 2 employs an experimental methodology to test the hypothesis that racial discrimination contributes to behaviors correlated to IPV among Black, but not White, men. Study 2 also tests the hypothesis that this increase in IPV-related behaviors stems from the feelings of emasculation that Blacks, but not Whites, experience following an encounter with racial discrimination. Study 3 investigates whether or not women are aware that racial discrimination may increase the likelihood of IPV among Black, but not White, couples. Study 4 solicits women’s strategies for reducing masculinity threat. Finally, Study 5 investigates the effectiveness of women’s affirmation strategies (learned in Study 4) on reducing male partners’ tendency for aggression and IPV. Taken together, the proposed research attempts to unify the literature on racial discrimination and the literature on racial differences in IPV by examining the role that masculinity plays in both. The goal is to provide a coherent theoretical and applied model for IPV reduction across racial groups.
The Physiology of Interpersonal Interaction in BPD
Joe Beeney
The primary aim of the proposed study is to examine the role of frontal asymmetry in anger and hostility in response to interpersonal stress in women with Borderline Personality Disorder within a diverse and representative sample of BPD patients, individuals with Depression and healthy comparisons. Neuroscience research has found consistent evidence that anger is associated with increased activation in the left frontal lobe relative to the right frontal lobe. This research is surprising given that past research found that the left frontal lobe is also associated with positive emotions like happiness, while the right frontal lobe is associated with negative emotions, like sadness. Although other disorders characterized by negative affect are associated with greater right frontal activation, do BPD patients show greater left frontal activation related to aggression in response to an interpersonal stressor? We test this using an interpersonal stressor and a performance-based assessment of hostility. Funds awarded by the Ph.D. completion project will be used to increase the diversity of the research sample. Lack of diversity would be problematic, because it would border understanding of these processes to only a limited cultural sphere, and thus, would be extremely limited.
Worry and Reactivity to Emotional Exposures in Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Author List: Sandra J. Llera, M.S., Michelle G. Newman, Ph.D.
Theory and research indicate that individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) view their emotions as threatening. It is hypothesized that worry may be used for emotional avoidance via the temporary suspension of physiological responding. However, research also suggests that reduced emotional experiencing may lead to future pathologies. Moreover, worry leads to reduced heart rate variability (HRV) and increased skin conductance level (SCL), having implications for healthy cardiac functioning in general. Therefore, a greater understanding of the role of worry in emotional avoidance is paramount to the future of GAD research. The purpose of the current study is to examine the effect of worry versus relaxation on both physiological and subjective responding to subsequent emotion exposures representing fear, sadness, and happiness. Approximately 40 analogue GAD and 40 non-anxious control participants will engage in either worry, relaxation, or neutral thought inductions, followed by exposure to three stimuli representing each emotion. Subjects will complete subjective emotional reactivity ratings, and physiological responding including HRV, SCL, and non-specific skin conductance fluctuations (NSCFs) will be monitored throughout. Implications of these results for the treatment of GAD will be discussed. (Research is being conducted by a student of under-represented minority background.)
The Effects of Patronizing Speech on the Stereotype Activation and Cognitive Performance of Older Adults
Author list: Kristine A. Schlenker, Dr. Theresa K. Vescio, Dr. Jon F. Nussbaum, Srijana Shrestha, and Dr. Steven H. Zarit
Older adults are stereotyped as warm but incompetent individuals who need to be cared for paternalistically protected. When addressing older adults, people often adjust their speech based on these patronizing stereotypes about the elderly. Although benevolently motivated, patronizing speech is anger inspiring and leads to a variety of negative psychological consequences for older adults (e.g. Baltes et al., 1991; Giles et al., 1993). More...
Cognitive Reappraisal in Reaction to Racial Discrimination:A Potentially Ruminative Thought Process
Christopher R. Perez & Jose A. Soto
The frequent occurrence of discrimination and its negative impact on the mental and physical health of ethnic minorities has been well documented (Kessler, Mickelson, & Williams, 1999; Williams, Neighbors, & Jackson, 2003). Given this reality, it is imperative that we explore and understand different strategies for mitigating the negative impact of discrimination. More...
Causal heterogeneity in ADHD: Understanding the relationship between motivation and cognition in diverse populations
Sarah Karalunas & Cynthia Huang-Pollock
The dual-pathway model of ADHD (Songua-Barke, 2002) suggests that there are multiple causal pathways leading to this disorder. One implication of this model is that motivational style in early childhood contributes to the cognitive deficits often seen in school-age children with ADHD; however, this model has primarily been tested in middle-class, Caucasian samples drawing into question the applicability of these etiological pathways to a broad range of ethnic and socioeconomic groups. More...
Emotional, behavioral, and physiological responses to discrimination in an Asian and Black college student sample
Elizabeth A. Lee & José A. Soto
Cultural prescriptions for regulating emotions and behavior could help explain people’s diverse reactions to stressful situations. The purpose of this research is to investigate cross-cultural differences in targets' reactions to discrimination. More...
Features and Stereotyping in Perceptions of Own and Other Race Faces
Robert G. Franklin, Jr. Reginald B. Adams, Jr. & Michael T. Stevenson
Previous research has shown that merely having the facial features of a certain race is sufficient to activate the stereotypes that are associated with this race. This research, however, only used the facial features associated with faces of African descent (Afrocentric features) and Caucasian viewers. More...
Quality of life among elders in urban Nepal
Srijana Shrestha
Nepal, like other countries around the world, is facing social changes in response to the increase in the number of people living into old age. Traditionally, care-giving of older members is fulfilled by the family. More...
The Relationship between Emotion Regulation and Depressive Symptoms in a Culturally Diverse Sample
José Soto, Kaitlin Hanley, Elizabeth Lee, Christopher Perez
Current literature regarding emotion regulation has explored two commonly used emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, and their effects on well-being outcomes. Previous research on suppressing emotionally expressive behavior has demonstrated both adverse short-term consequences, in terms of heightened sympathetic nervous system arousal (Gross & Levenson, 1997), and a correlation with negative longer-term consequences, particularly greater reports of depressive symptoms (Gross & John, 2003). More...