Meghan Ritchie '12, psychology
 Science Poster Session, April 26

"The Relationship between Anxiety and Sleep in College Students"
Previous research suggested a correlation between anxiety, worry, and sleep. A study was conducted in order to examine the relationship between sleep and anxiety in undergraduate college juniors and seniors. It was hypothesized that higher self reports of anxiety would be correlated with poor sleep efficacy, high sleep onset latency, and poor total sleep. Participants were given actiwatches to wear on their non-dominant wrist for one week in order to monitor their sleep functioning. Repeated measures were used because several participants were tested on sequential weeks. Self reports of sleep, anxiety, anxiety arousal prior to sleep, and worry were all assessed through questionnaires and surveys. According to the findings, average sleep onset latency from actigraph results was significantly correlated with self reports of sleep onset latency, sleep disturbance, and cognitive anxiety arousal prior to sleep. This shows that people are good at estimating the amount of time it takes them to fall asleep, and they also believe longer sleep onset latency leads to sleep disturbance. It also appears that cognitive thoughts such as racing thoughts and worries prior to sleep may cause longer sleep onset latency.

Hayley Ruitenberg '13, biology
Mind Over Major Conference, April 21

"Ignorance of the Domination of the Greek Gods is a Blindness that Brings Only Ruin"

Emily Runey '12, psychology
Science Poster Session, April 26

“College Students Academic Stress and its Relation to Their Anxiety, Time Management, Leisure Satisfaction, and Mood States”
A review of relevant literature indicates that stress in college leads to a variety of symptoms including anxiety, insomnia, somatic symptoms, depression, tension, and fatigue. Research also documented differences in the prevalence of mental health problems between men and women. The study used a convenient sample of 29 Saint Anselm College undergraduate students. Five self-report questionnaires were administered twice to the participants over the course of a three week span: The Undergraduate Stress Questionnaire (USQ), the Coping with School-Related Stress Questionnaire (CSQ), the Time Management Behavior Scale (TMB), the Leisure Satisfaction Scale (LSS), and the Profile of Mood States Questionnaire (POMS). As expected, significant correlations were found between stress-depression, stress-anxiety, stress-tension, stress-fatigue, stress-confusion, and stress-time management. Although research indicated a greater correlation, no real significant correlations were found between male and females.

Meaghan Ryan '12, psychology
NHIOP Social Science Scholarly Presentations, April 17
Science Poster Session, April 26

“The Cognitive-Emotional Results of a Multi-Day Charity Walk and What Motivates People to Take Part in Them”
Every August 40 students from a small liberal arts college in New England participate in a 130-mile, 8-day charity walk that extends from Lewiston, ME to Manchester, NH. The current study aimed to examine (1) how participants’ self-efficacy affected their ability to walk and overall experience, (2) how pain, sleepiness, soreness, daily rating, mood and walking partners affected one another and (3) why students chose to participate in the Road for Hope. The current study was unable to fully answer the first research question but did find that people with high self-efficacy tended to cope and overcome challenges by positive thinking and dissociation (or distraction) while people with low self-efficacy depended on peers to help them overcome a challenge. This study found that pain and sleepiness negatively correlated to the individuals overall rating of their day, meaning that as pain and sleepiness increased, the daily rating decreased. The study also found that the main reason for choosing to participate in this walk was for the charities and to overcome a challenging task.

Isaac Saidel-Goley '12, psychology
Outstanding Student Research Symposium, April 17

“Emotion Regulation and Major Depressive Disorder”
The Emotion, Brain, and Behavior Laboratory (EBBL) is a psychology laboratory at Tufts University. Research at EBBL focuses on the integration between brain & body, and the experience, expression, and regulation of emotion. The study which I assisted in (ResDep) investigated the role of emotion regulation in risk for and resilience to depression. This study included a group of remitted recurrent depressed individuals, as well as a control group of never depressed individuals. Performance on emotion regulation tasks developed by the lab was hypothesized to predict whether participants relapse, recover, or remain never depressed throughout the testing period (1+ years). Preliminary results from this longitudinal study suggest that spontaneous suppression of sadness predicted lower depression in the depressed group, while it predicted higher depression in the control group. Possible explanations for this finding are discussed.

Isaac N. Saidel-Goley '12, psychology, Erin E. Albiero, Kathleen A. Flannery, Ph.D.
Science Poster Session, April 26

“Nonclinical Dissociation, Memory, and Attention in a Virtual Environment”
Dissociation is a mental process resulting in the disruption of memory, perception and sometimes identity. At a nonclinical level, only mild dissociative experiences occur. The nature of nonclinical dissociation is disputed in the literature, with some asserting that it is a beneficial information processing style and others positing that it is a psychopathological phenomenon. Forty-five undergraduate students participated in our study. Support for the theoretical model portraying nonclinical dissociation as a beneficial information processing style was found in this study. Regarding cognitive functioning, dissociation scores were positively correlated with better performance on a visuo-spatial working memory task (Corsi backward) and two attentional tasks (Trail Making Tests A and B). Dissociation scores were also positively correlated with more false positive memories for objects in a virtual environment. This may be due to the tendency of high dissociators to create more elaborative schemas, as a result of enhanced memory and attentional capabilities.

Morgan Seney '12, psychology
Science Poster Session, April 26

“Teammate Response to Identity Threat of Team”
The present study examined the strength of one’s identity to a group, determined by the amount of commitment one had to this group. If one’s commitment is high and the group’s identity is threatened, then the individual’s response should be to protect this group. To test this theory, a hypothetical threat was presented in order to illicit a response. It was hypothesized that those who thought their team was in danger would be more likely to protect their team. The level of commitment was related to the anger one felt to the presence of a threat. Those who had a higher anger score were more likely to volunteer their time in order to protect their team. Overall, this study found that the level of commitment to one’s team and the level of anger one felt to this threat determined one’s like likelihood to volunteer to protect the identity of this team.

Carly Staab '12, nursing
Outstanding Student Research Symposium, April 17

“Bench to Bedside: Linking Research and Practice for Excellence in Nursing Care”
The purpose of this experience was to increase knowledge of the multi-dimensional roles of nurses involved in research including: the nurse researcher, clinical research nurse, and the nurse involved in the application of research, evidence based practice, and quality improvement. This was achieved by completing three or four weeks working alongside a nurse research mentor in each of the aforementioned roles. Areas of research concentration included: early implementation of Alzheimer’s disease screening, management of sedation medication in ventilated pediatric patients, and medication reconciliation in the geriatric population. The primary aspect explored during this experience was the importance of the application of research and evidence based practice in order to provide optimal nursing care to patients in the clinical setting.

Vallerie Stein '14, philosophy
Modern Language and Literature, April 20

“The New Stereotype”
Through a comparison of women in advertisements from the Weimar Republic to women in advertisements today from both Germany and America, it can be concluded that the advertising world has created a new stereotype for women. Living in a society that is constantly exposed to multiple images of women, it is important to understand the subliminal, submissive messages that advertisements display. Despite the progression of the role of women in professional society, the role of women has regressed in the world of advertisement. The overall image of women in advertising has drastically changed from women selling objects to women being objects. This examination of advertisements uses six standards established in a study by Katherine Lindner to reveal an unexpected hidden inequality that exists in cultures today.

Christina L. Sullivan '12, psychology, Paul E. Finn, Ph.D.
Science Poster Session, April 26

“Exercise, Mood, and Perceived Control’s Impact on Academic Efficacy”
This research investigated academic locus of control (ALOC) along with mood on days where a Sorts and Exercise Psychology class was preceded by exercise or no cardiovascular exercise. Exercise was validated with heart rate monitors and behavioral observations. As predicted, ALOC was significantly more internalized on days of exercise as well as significantly improved vigor and diminished fatigue. No significant results were found for academic self-efficacy. Results are discussed in the context of factors potentially influencing ALOC.

Kathryn Swider '12, nursing
NHIOP Social Science Scholarly Presentations

"Holodomor: Genocide in the Ukraine"

Kevin Rocco Ward '12, communication
NHIOP Social Science Scholarly Presentations, April 17

“Regional Reporting: An Examination on how the Arizona Immigration Bill was in Newspapers and Magazines”
This research study looks at how the media reports on the Arizona Immigration bill differently by region. Nine news articles on the Arizona Immigration bill were analyzed; three from Time Magazine, three from The Dallas Morning News and three from The Baltimore Sun. The literature researched showed that the media creates tension within its articles which creates tension in the reader and persuades the reader to construct their opinion in a certain way. It also shows that generally the topic of immigration is reported negatively in the media. I also found that the location of the news source or highlighted in the news source would slightly contribute to how public opinion is formed. From this I gather that the conflict and the location that the media portray do affect public opinion on legislation.

Hannah M. Watkins '12, psychology, Kathleen A. Flannery, Ph.D., Ashlee M. Duval & Erin E. Albiero
Science Poster Session, April 26

"Restrained Eating and Memory in a Virtual Environment"
Research indicates that restrained eating has an impact on attention and memory. This study examined the impact that restraint would have on both neuropsychological tasks of memory and a virtual grocery store task. Restrained eaters (REs) were found to differ in their attentional processing of food related words. It was hypothesized that for the virtual environment, REs would show impaired memory on recall for target items and the non-trigger incidental condition, but would show greater memory for the trigger condition due to their hypersensitivity to these food items. Non-restrained eaters were expected to show similar recall ability regardless of recall list type condition. On tests of memory, it was hypothesized that REs would show a deficit in verbal memory, but not visuospatial memory. This study did not indicate that restraint type was related to memory using the virtual reality task. The research did establish concurrent validity to study memory outcomes.

Katherine Winner '12 sociology
NHIOP Social Science Scholarly Presentations, April 17

“Society’s Attitudes and Perspectives toward Disabled People without the Use of a Service-Dog”
This study aimed to look at society’s perspectives toward disabled people with or without a service-dog. The hypothesis stated that society’s perspective or regard for a person needing assistance with a service-dog is more positive from society’s perspective or regard for a person needing assistance with no service-dog. Three main topics were focused on within the review of literature: the human/animal connection, society’s perceptions on disabled individuals, and society’s perceptions on the use of service-dogs. These topics were used as a foundation in understanding society’s perspectives in regards to this study and were used to connect those results to the results of this study. The perspectives of focus in this study were gained through the use of a survey that presented 10 statements that connected with disabled people with or without a service-dog. Surveys were taken by 30 participants at a small New England college; the majority was compiled of white females. Participants were also asked a few demographic questions for further analysis. Results showed that the majority of participants had a positive attitude toward disabled people in general. In addition, the majority of the participants were neutral to the use of service-dogs. These results suggest that society has become more accustomed to the use of service-dogs by the disabled and do not find it to be as different or noticeable as past studies have found.

Aly Zappen '12, psychology
Science Poster Session, April 26

“Gender-Role Attitudes: Positive and Negative Attitudes towards Women’s Sports”
In an extension of research examining sport spectatorship in a gendered context, the present study experimentally examines the effects of gender-role attitudes on positive or negative feelings towards women’s ice hockey. Female college students (N=62) watched a video of a hockey game in which half of the participants were told it was a video of a women’s game, while the other half were informed it was of a men’s game. The gender of the video was therefore manipulated. Participants completed the Attitudes Towards Sport Scale (ATS) to measure positive or negative feelings towards the video and the Attitudes Towards Women Scale (ATW) to measure gender-role attitudes. Participants with a pro-feminist attitude were found to rate the women’s hockey video positively as well as the men’s hockey video. On the ATS, significance was found for intelligence and marginal significance was found on dedication and hard-work for the women’s hockey game.