Masters Thesis Titles

2024

Clary Beery
Director: Courtney Baker
Proactive behavior management: Prevention for escalating physical aggression in early elementary school?

Dehan Elcin
Director: Paul Colombo
Effects of acute and long-term mindfulness on cognitive conflict monitoring

Allison Pequet
Director: Sarah Gray
Social class socialization in first-generation college students: A qualitative study

Tristen Peyser
Director: Michael Hoerger
Quality of life among patients with advanced cancer and informal caregivers: Variation based on caregiver personality

2023

Joseph (Nam) Huynh
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Investigating student behavioral data and acceptability of a mindfulness-based intervention targeting behavioral interactions at a high-achieving selective enrollment high school

Audrey Hwang
Director: Jeffrey Lockman
The object as an extension of the hand: Hand-to-mouth coordination in 2- to 6-month-old infants

Caley Lowe
Director: Laurie O’Brien
Perceived discrimination in hiring: Attributions to discrimination when one outgroup is selected over another

Ramal Rauf
Director: Michael Cunningham
Protective factors for mental health outcomes among African American adolescents

Annabelle Reese
Director: Jeffrey Lockman
The development of body knowledge in the first 18 months of life: exploratory self-touch during passive locomotion

Hilary Skov
Director: Sarah Gray
Biomarkers of self-regulation moderate associations between COVID stress exposure and child externalizing symptoms

Tyler Waldon-Lee
Director: Laurie O’Brien
Shared identity and dehumanization of currently incarcerated people

Yinjiie (Giselle) Yao
Director: Jeffrey Lockman
Development of chopstick use by Chinese children

2022

Renee Lamoreau
Director: Sarah Gray
Childhood exposure to intimate partner violence: Examining parent-child emotion dialogues and preschoolers’ self-regulation development

Brenna Mossman
Director: Michael Hoerger
Improving Caregiver Palliative Care Knowledge and Attitudes: Evaluating the Impact of a Psychoeducational Intervention Among Friends and Families of Those with Cancer

Stephanie Oshrin
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Facilitators and Barriers to School-Based Mental Health During Times of Crisis: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021

Monica Daniels
Director: Courtney Baker
Do Teachers’ Attitudes about Trauma-Informed Care Predict Trauma-Informed Behaviors in the Classroom?

Riana Gaudet
Director: Jeff Lockman
Monolingual and Bilingual Children’s Visual Processing of Words During Handwriting: An Eye-tracking Study

Miguel Velasquez Vasquez
Director: Paul Colombo
The effects of neural entrainment on sensorimotor synchronization

2020

Maya Cohen
Director: Laurie O'Brien
Masked behind the screen: Dominant group perceptions of sexual racism in online dating profiles

Raquel Gutierrez
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Predicting behavior problems in schools using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire

Jarrad Hodge
Director: Michael Cunningham
Believe and Achieve: Examining how Academic Self-Esteem promotes Academic Achievement and College Aspirations in Black Adolescents

Kyra Ness-Lanckriet
Director: Damian Murray
Motivations for safe sex: How fundamental social motives influence safe sex behaviors

Andrew Orapallo
Director: Courtney Baker
Examining the Effectiveness of the ARC Training Framework in the Head Start Trauma Smart Program: Preschool Staff Satisfaction, Knowledge, and Attitudes

2019

Zachary Airington
Director: Damian Murray
Smelling trouble: Investigating the potential role of olfaction in negative evaluations of outgroup members

Whitney Davis
Director: Stacy Overstreet
School suspensions: Identifying protective factors for urban Black youth exposed to community violence

Lauren DeBlanc
Director: Jeff Lockman
The development of infant self-touch in the first half-year after birth

Brianna Keenan
Director: Julie Markant
Differential development of race- and species-based selective attention biases

Sally Merritt
Director: Janet Ruscher
Do stressed female role models hinder women's interest in male-dominated domains?

Stephanie Moberg
Director: Courtney Baker
ABCs of ACEs: Adverse outcomes and buffers of adversity in preschool children

Elsia Obus
Director: Sarah Gray
Communicating with young children about police, arrest, and incarceration: Black mothers' perspective

Haley Peele
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Teacher perceptions of Black female and male student behavior and resulting exclusionary discipline practices

Casi Rupp
Director: Courtney Baker
Identifying Parenting Practices Important in the Development of Oppositional Defiant Behavior in an Urban, Racial and Ethnic Minority Population

Freya Woods
Director: Janet Ruscher
"Calling out" or "Calling in": The Impact of Confronter Communication Style on Lay Perceptions of Confrontation Motivation and Outcome

2018

Nicholas Kerry
Director: Damian Murray
Does formidability influence moral and political attitudes?

Megan Saybe
Director: Courtney Baker
Examining the effects of classroom climate on aggression and victimization in low income, ethnically diverse preschoolers

Laura Perry
Director: Michael Hoerger
Development and validation of the palliative care preferences scale (PCPS)

Lea Petrovic
Director: Stacy Overstreet
Examining STS, burnout, and self-efficacy among teachers

Leah Walsh
Director: Michael Hoerger
End-of-life cancer care in the deep south: The role of race

Sydney Wing
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Cross-cultural analysis of elementary school children's values and perceptions of support systems: A secondary analysis of the promoting psychological well-being globally project

Ashlee Yates
Director: Mike Cunningham
Social networking site use, racial identity, racial socialization and the African American iGeneration: A glimpse into the future

Blair Youmans
Director: Jeff Lockman
Shapes within shapes: Relating negative space to positive space in object perception and fitting tasks

2017

Justin Carreras
Director: Sarah Gray
Parental emotion regulation: Relations with sensitive and engaged parenting and psychological distress

Laura Cornell
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Administrative support of SEL: School staff perspectives on what is necessary for successful implementation

Chinwendu Duru
Director: Courtney Baker
Drinking to cope in college aged students: The relationship between negative affect, stress, avoidant coping, and alcohol and drug use

Emily Lewis
Director: Jeffrey Lockman
Dynamics of cup-to-mouth transport: Spatial planning in infants

Emma Lewis
Director:
Frequent family meals: Implications for the comorbidity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and overweight/obesity in United States youth

Meagan Magaldi
Director: Laurie O'Brien
Pregnant on campus: The stigma of undergraduate pregnancy

Elizabeth McIntyre
Director: Stacy Overstreet
Teacher acceptability of trauma-informed approaches following professional development training

Lauren Ruelens
Director: Lisa Molix
Is African American the New Black? The Effects of Racial Ideology on Whites’ Differential Perceptions of Race Labels

Amanda Van Camp
Director: Laurie O'Brien
Understanding the consequences of incompetence on the visibility of ethnic minorities in STEM

Juliana Vanderburg
Director: Stacy Overstreet
Creating positive attitudes about trauma-Informed Schools: Examining the influence of a professional development training on teacher attitudes

2016

Lisa Chinn
Director: Ed Golob
Dynamics of Cognitive Control and Midline Theta Activity Across Multiple Timescales

Nick Fears
Director: Jeff Lockman
The Development of Vision and Basic Reading Skills in Handwriting

Jessie Gomez
Director: Sarah Gray
Parental Insightfulness and Parenting Behavior: A Two-Dimensional Analysis of Parent Contributions to Child Outcomes

Leah Herrick
Director: Courtney Baker
The Effect of Maternal Depression and Maternal Parenting after Divorce on Low-Income Preschool Children’s Internalizing and Externalizing Problems

Kathryn Simon
Director: Stacy Overstreet
Is knowledge enough? The relationship between student social emotional learning and behavioral and mental health outcomes

2015

Emiliya Adelson
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Sexual Health and Psychological Well-Being of Unmarried Adolescent Females Living in an Urban Slum in India

Corey Black
Director: Courtney Baker
The Role of the Teacher-Child Relationship in the Socioemotional Outcomes of Ethnically Diverse and Low Income Children in Daycare Settings

Veronica Coriano
Director: Courtney Baker
Cultural Adaptation in Mental Health Programming: Are We Doing Enough to Promote Change

Brittney Jurgen
Co-director: Stacy Overstreet and Courtney Baker
Predictors of metabolic control in youth with type 1 diabetes: examining racial disparities in the relationship between depressive symptoms and adherence

Samia Lalani
Director: Joseph Constans
Sex differences in the role of criminal behaviour in predicting violent injury

Xzania (White) Lee
Director: Michael Cunningham
Academic achievement, substance use, and the importance of valuing school in African American adolescents

Aaron Moss
Director: Laurie O'Brien
Does motivated reasoning help people maintain an unprejudiced self-image?

Jennifer Rious
Director: Michael Cunningham
Altruistic prosocial behavior as a protective factor for African American adolescents exposed to community violence

Catherine Rochefort
Director: Michael Hoerger
Personality, health behaviors, and physical health in non-clinical and oncology samples

2014

Michael Brachfeld
Director: Oscar Barbarin
The relationship between parents' personal mastery, depressive symptoms and children's behavior

Heather Henderson
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Using mental health self reports to identify African American students at risk for school dropout

Idan Mark
Director: Oscar Barbarin
Early vs late entry into school: The effect of maturation versus early exposure on mathematic skills and executive function in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten

Zainab Siddiqui
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
A qualitative study of stress perception and reactions to stress in urban African American children and adolescents

Meredith Summerville
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
The ecomap as a measure of psychological well-being: Results from primary school children identified as at-risk for psychological distress

Melza van Roijen
Director: Jill Daniel
Influence of estradiol on the ability of IGF-I to impact hippocampal-dependent memory and hippocampal synaptic proteins

Jorge Verlenden
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Using ecomaps to assess social emotional functioning in school-based universal screening

2013

Michael Girgis
Director: Ed Golob
Motion perception: A closer examination of velocity's effect on representational momentum

Trenesha Hill
Director: Enrique Varela
Weak central coherence and social skills in children with autism spectrum disorders: The role of anxiety and cognitive functioning

Kathryn Jones
Director: Enrique Varela
The role of negative emotions and cultural acceptability in explaining somatic symptoms in Latino and White non-Latino children

Brooke Rappaport
Director: Lisa Molix
Ambivalent sexism and psychological well-being: Examining the role of stigma consciousness

Lily Rabinow
Director: Jeff Lockman
Infants' use of spoons with floppy and rigid handles

Alexandra Roselli
Director: Laurie O'Brien
Predictors of long-term mental health outcomes among Hurricane Katrina survivors

Caroline Tipler
Director: Janet Ruscher
Kittens and cougars: The effect of distinct dehumanizing metaphors for women on perception and behavior

2012

Kevin Barry
Director: Mike Cunningham
Antisocial behavior in the urban context: The effects of family, peers, and hypermasculine attitudes on high achieving Black male adolescents

Daniel Bayless
Director: Jill Daniel
Sex differences in impulsive choice in prepubescent and adult rats: Role of neonatal testosterone exposure

Patrick Bell
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
A qualitative approach to emic-etic modeling of psychological well-being for use in designing school programs

Amanda Borja
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Phenomenology of education stakeholders about teacher competencies in New Orleans and Sri Lanka: Implications for teacher well-being

Jeff Brown
Director: Oscar Barbarin
Explaining trajectories of emotional functioning in Black boys from kindergarten through the 5th grade

Christopher Burchett
Director: Laurie O'Brien
Attributions to Discrimination at the Intersection of Race and Gender

Meaghan Crawley
Director: Paul Colombo
Response learning increases histone acetylation and is enhanced by histone deacetylase inhibition

Jennifer Maldarelli
Director: Jeff Lockman
The development of early handwriting: An eye movement analysis

Laura Marques
Director: Stacy Overstreet
Exploring the relationship between hurricane exposure and child emotional and behavioral functioning two years post-Katrina

Dustin Mars
Director: Laurie O'Brien
Consequences for learning about American history: How learning about historical trauma might not be equal for everyone

Shereen Naser
Director: Stacy Overstreet
Evaluating the effects of substance use on posttraumatic stress symptoms in a community sample of female adolescents following Hurricane Katrina

Lauren Peterson
Director: Enrique Varela
Childhood anxiety and the effects of children's appraisals of parental control in Latin American and European American cultures

Kristin Scott
Director: Oscar Barbarin
From higher-order thinking to higher-order behavior: Exploring the relationship between early cognitive skills & social competence in Black boys

Stefanie Simon
Director: Laurie O'Brien
Confronting sexism: Exploring the effect of nonsexist credentials on responses to confrontations

Allysin Swift
Director: Bonnie Nastasi
Parental stress and socialization practices of black parents: Qualitative research and analyses to inform interventions

Tara Van Bommel
Director: Janet Ruscher
Looking up and thinking positive: The effect of embodied metaphors on ageist attitudes

2011

Berre Burch
Director: Stacy Overstreet
The Synergistic Effects of Violence in Multiple Contexts in Predicting Mental Health Outcomes

Max Daigh
Director: Lisa Molix
Parental Reactions to Sexual Minority Disclosure: Examining the role of social dominance orientation

Gordon Franke
Director: Dave Corey
Delayed Auditory Feedback Impacts on Speech: Evidence for Sensory Feedback Control of Movement

Wendy Jung
Director: Jeff Lockman
Development of Motor Planning in a Fitting Task in Toddlers

Jackleen Leed
Director: Jeff Lockman
Perception-Action Foundations of Early Graphic Instrument Exploration

Laura Niditch
Director: Enrique Varela
The Relation between Perceived Controlling Parenting and Anxiety in Youth: Effects of Self-Efficacy and Metacognition

Alexandra Sims
Director: Stacy Overstreet
Posttraumatic Stress and Posttraumatic Growth in Adolescents following Hurricane Katrina

Claire Yanta
Director: Jeff Lockman
Planning and Orienting Handled Objects During Tool Use

 

2010 - 2000

1999 - 1994