Browsing by Author "Tackett, Jennifer L."
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Item A Latent Class Analysis of Personal Values in Young Adults(Collabra: Psychology, 2017-12) Smack, Avante J.; Tackett, Jennifer L.; Walker, Rheeda L.; Tang, Rui; Herzhoff, KathrinHuman values and motivations are a powerful predictor of behavior, and Schwartz's taxonomy offers a meaningful organizational system for robust value dimensions (Schwartz, 1992). Although values clearly represent a meaningful and culturally relevant dimension of individual differences, they remain poorly understood particularly in regards to how values co-occur and manifest within individuals. The purpose of the present study was to examine how values co-occur and manifest within individuals. A racially/ethnically diverse sample of 1, 308 undergraduate students (351 males, Mage = 21.70, SD = 5.22) reported on their personal values and personality traits. Latent class analyses revealed support for two value classes: personal-focused (N = 210) and social-focused (N = 1098), which map onto hypotheses of value configurations based on Schwartz's taxonomy (Schwartz, 1992). The value classes also exhibited differences based on racial/ethnic composition, gender composition, and personality trait association, also consistent with previous research. The current study provides evidence for two value types that manifest across two countries in North America.Item Adolescent Personality Moderates the Testosterone-Externalizing Association(2014-05) Reardon, Kathleen Wade; Tackett, Jennifer L.; Sharp, Carla; Neighbors, ClaytonIn considering moderating factors of the complex association between testosterone, a steroid hormone, and externalizing behavior, previous research has mainly focused on environmental influences, including interpersonal relationships. I tested the hypothesis that self-regulatory personality, an individual-level variable that is relevant for other hormone-behavior associations, moderates the testosterone-externalizing behavior association in adolescence. I examined evidence for this moderation across age and subfactors of externalizing behavior (aggression and rule-breaking). Parents reported on their child’s personality and psychopathology for a sample of 106 adolescents (56 % female) aged 13-18 (M = 16.01 years, SD = 1.29 years). Adolescent testosterone levels were measured via passive drool samples. As hypothesized, both trait Agreeableness and Conscientiousness moderated the testosterone-externalizing problem relationships. Specifically, high testosterone predicted higher levels of Externalizing Behaviors, but only for adolescents low in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. In addition, self-regulatory personality acted as both a risk and a resiliency factor, with high levels of Conscientiousness—in combination with high testosterone—predicting lower than average levels of rule-breaking. These findings are similar to previously reported results regarding interpersonal relationships, which raises the question of how environmental and endogenous factors might jointly interact with high testosterone. Additionally, this work highlights the relevance of including personality moderators in future research on hormone-behavior associations.Item Childhood Personality Moderates Associations Between Parenting and Relational Aggression(2014-05) Smack, Avante J.; Tackett, Jennifer L.; Sharp, Carla; Neighbors, ClaytonNegative or harsh parenting strategies are a risk factor for many maladaptive childhood outcomes, including relational aggression (Kawabata et al., 2011). However, research has not previously investigated whether the association between negative parenting and relational aggression is dependent on the personality of the child. This was the aim of the current study. Participants were mothers of 368 children (172 males, Mage = 11.61, SD = 0.82). Mothers reported on their parenting practices, their child’s relational aggression and their child’s personality traits. Analyses indicated that four child personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) moderated the relationship between inconsistent discipline, but not other parenting dimensions, and relational aggression. Specifically, inconsistent discipline was associated with the highest levels of relational aggression in children low on trait Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness and high on trait Extraversion. These results highlight the importance of examining child personality as a moderator of parental influences on psychopathology development.Item Childhood Sleep Problems as Predictors of Adolescent Internalizing Problems: the Intermediary Role of Emotional Reactivity(2014-05) Reynolds, Katharine C.; Alfano, Candice A.; Tackett, Jennifer L.; Yoshida, HanakoPersistent sleep problems in childhood are predictive of internalizing problems in adolescence (e.g., anxiety and mood disorders), yet limited longitudinal data exist examining the specific types of sleep problems that forecast adolescent internalizing symptoms. Furthermore, possible mechanisms linking these problems over time has received limited empirical attention. The current study examined predictive relations between bedtime and middle of the night sleep problems during third grade and internalizing problems at age fifteen. The mediational role of emotional reactivity in fifth grade (i.e., during pre-adolescence) also was examined. Method: Participants (N=1085) were recruited as part of a large multi-site NICHD study assessing child health and development. Mother reported sleep problems (bedtime problems and nighttime waking problems) during third grade, emotional reactivity during fifth grade, and internalizing symptoms at age fifteen were entered into a series of regression-based Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) process models. Conditional process analyses were used to predict direct and indirect effects of child sleep problems on adolescent internalizing problems through emotional reactivity. Sex was examined as a moderator of mediational models. Results: Bedtime sleep problems, but not nighttime waking problems, were a significant predictor of adolescent internalizing problems. For girls, but not boys, emotional reactivity in fifth grade partially explained the relationship between bedtime problems and internalizing problems in adolescence. Conclusion: Longitudinal associations between childhood sleep difficulties and later internalizing problems appear to vary based on the nature of sleep disturbance. Specifically, problems before the sleep period but not during the sleep period predict later internalizing problems, suggesting that later anxiety may be preceded by behavioral problems possibly related to bedtime anxiety in youth. Findings also suggest that higher levels of emotional reactivity in late childhood/early adolescence serve as a mechanism through which these problems are linked for girls only. These results add to a growing literature underscoring the reciprocal relations between sleep and emotional functioning across development. Limitations of the study and implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.Item Comorbidity of alcohol and gambling problems in emerging adults: A bifactor model conceptualization(Journal of Gambling Studies, 03/22/17) Tackett, Jennifer L.; Krieger, Heather; Neighbors, Clayton; Rinker, Dipali; Rodriguez, Lindsey M.; Edward, GottheilAddictive disorders, such as pathological gambling and alcohol use disorders, frequently co-occur at greater than chance levels. Substantive questions stem from this comorbidity regarding the extent to which shared variance between gambling and alcohol use reflects a psychological core of addictive tendencies, and whether this differs as a function of gender. The aims of this study were to differentiate both common and unique variance in alcohol and gambling problems in a bifactor model, examine measurement invariance of this model by gender, and identify substantive correlates of the final bifactor model. Undergraduates (N = 4475) from a large northwestern university completed an online screening questionnaire which included demographics, quantity of money lost and won when gambling, the South Oaks Gambling Screen, the AUDIT, gambling motives, drinking motives, personality, and the Brief Symptom Inventory. Results suggest that the bifactor model fit the data well in the full sample. Although the data suggest configural invariance across gender, factor loadings could not be constrained to be equal between men and women. As such, general and specific factors were examined separately by gender with a more intensive subsample of females and males (n = 264). Correlations with motivational tendencies, personality traits, and mental health symptoms indicated support for the validity of the bifactor model, as well as gender-specific patterns of association. Results suggest informative distinctions between shared and unique attributes related to problematic drinking and gambling.Item Cortico-cerebellar connectivity in reading impaired children: A probabilistic tractography study(2014-08) Fernandez, Vindia; Fletcher, Jack M.; Juranek, Jenifer; Stuebing, Karla; Tackett, Jennifer L.Very little is known about cortico-cerebellar connectivity as it relates to individuals with dyslexia. Building on previous findings of decreased volume in the anterior lobe of the cerebellum, we utilized novel cerebellar segmentation procedures and probabilistic tractography to examine tracts that originate in the anterior lobe of the cerebellum and project to cortical regions typically associated with reading: the temporoparietal region (TP), occipitotemporal region (OT), and inferior frontal region (IF) in 29 children with impaired single-word readings skills and 27 typical readers. We found greater FA for the poor readers in the tracts terminating in the TP and IF regions. In the OT region, differential FA trajectories were identified such that FA was greater for the older poor readers. Additionally, behavioral correlations were found primarily within the group of typical readers. FA was inversely related to decoding. Behavioral measures were associated predominantly with TP and OT regions. This study provides evidence for discrete, regionally-bound functions of the cerebellum and suggests that the projections from the anterior cerebellum appear to have a regulatory effect on cortical functions important for reading.Item Counterproductive Work Behavior as Coping: An Examination of Beneficial Outcomes and Repercussions in the Workplace(2013-12) Rhodes, Dena 1988-; Penney, Lisa M.; Witt, L. Alan; Tackett, Jennifer L.Researchers have previously suggested that counterproductive work behavior (CWB) can be a form of coping with job stressors (Krischer, Penney, & Hunter, 2010; LePine, Podsakoff, & LePine, 2005; Podsakoff, LePine, & LePine, 2007; Spector & Fox, 2002). This study incorporated CWB with Folkman’s (1997) coping model to explain why CWB may function as a form of coping and possibly yield beneficial and consequential outcomes for employees. This study found indirect evidence that individuals may solve problems more frequently through CWB, as CWB was positively linked with problem-focused coping (PFC) strategies. Furthermore, findings indicated that employees who experienced high hindrance or challenge stressors tended to use CWB as a PFC strategy. When employees experienced low levels of these stressors, individuals who frequently engaged in CWB tended to experience reduced emotional well-being, PFC, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and goal achievement compared to those who infrequently used CWB. However, individuals who engaged in CWB often received a variety of repercussions for their actions. A final component of the study examined the role of individual differences. In particular, I examined whether politically skill employees were more likely to benefit from CWB while escaping repercussions from the organization. Hypotheses regarding political skill were not supported.Item Efficacy of personalized normative feedback as a brief intervention for college student gambling: A randomized controlled trial(Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2015-06) Neighbors, Clayton; Rodriguez, Lindsey M.; Rinker, Dipali; Agana, Maigen; Gonzales, Rubi G.; Tackett, Jennifer L.; Foster, Dawn W.Objective: Social influences on gambling among adolescents and adults have been well documented and may be particularly evident among college students, who have higher rates of problem and pathological gambling relative to the general population. Personalized normative feedback (PNF) is a brief intervention designed to correct misperceptions regarding the prevalence of problematic behavior by showing individuals engaging in such behaviors that their own behavior is atypical with respect to actual norms. The current randomized controlled trial evaluated a computer-delivered PNF intervention for problem gambling college students. Method: Following a baseline assessment, 252 college student gamblers scoring 2+ on the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) were randomly assigned to receive PNF or attention-control feedback. Follow-up assessments were completed 3 and 6 months postintervention. Results: Results indicated significant intervention effects in reducing perceived norms for quantities lost and won, and in reducing actual quantity lost and gambling problems at the 3-month follow-up. All intervention effects except reduced gambling problems remained at the 6-month follow-up. Mediation results indicated that changes in perceived norms at 3 months mediated the intervention effects. Further, the intervention effects were moderated by self-identification with other student gamblers, suggesting that PNF worked better at reducing gambling for those who more strongly identified with other student gamblers. Conclusions: Results support the use of PNF as a stand-alone brief intervention for at-risk gambling students. Extending this approach more broadly may provide an accessible, empirically supported gambling prevention option for universities and related institutions.Item THE EFFECTS OF READER CHARACTERISTICS, TEXT FEATURES, AND COMPREHENSION PROCESSES ON READING COMPREHENSION(2014-05) Kulesz, Paulina A.; Francis, David J.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Barnes, Marcia A.; Tackett, Jennifer L.When the psychological processes underlying test performance are understood, psychometric theory dictates that item difficulty can be explained through these processes. The goal of the project was to improve understanding of reading comprehension and the role of reader characteristics, passage features, and comprehension processes in understanding text through the application of explanatory item response models. Participants were 1,190 students from 11 to 20 years recruited from eight schools within four districts. Students represented a range of reading comprehension skills in terms of their word reading, semantic language and operational (i.e., inference making, working memory capacity) skills. Measures included the grade appropriate Gates-MacGinitie reading comprehension and vocabulary subtests, letter word identification and numbers reversed subtests of the Woodcock & Johnson tests of cognitive abilities, test of word reading efficiency, as well as a researcher-developed test of background knowledge. The results indicated that reader characteristics including vocabulary, background knowledge, working memory and reading fluency were the most influential in explaining variation in reading comprehension item performance. Passage features explained some variation in item difficulties, with expository passages and deep cohesion being the most influential. Most importantly, a few text-reader interactions affected reading comprehension test scores. However, their effects were not pronounced, as good readers tended to perform better than poor readers regardless of the text they read. Better word and world knowledge was found to be the most helpful in understanding texts of variable difficulty. These findings are consistent with research that targets the building of vocabulary skill and background knowledge in order to improve reading comprehension, and suggests that the benefits of such development would apply to a wide variety of texts and to both memory for what has been read as well as drawing inferences from the text. The study further showed that explanatory item response models can be applied in a meaningful way to operational standardized tests, while also highlighting the limitations inherent in such application for explicating the general effects of text characteristics and reader abilities on the comprehension of written language.Item The Relation Between Adolescent Depression and Interpersonal Trust(2014-08) Mellick, William; Sharp, Carla; Tackett, Jennifer L.; Ernst, MoniqueDepression has been conceptualized as a highly interpersonal illness. In the study of social cognition, behavioral economic games (or games of social exchange) provide a novel means to examine interpersonal relations in individuals with psychological disorder. Recently, there have been several behavioral economic studies of adult depression, and the current study downwardly extends this investigative approach to adolescent depression. N = 76 age-matched adolescent girls (depressed inpatients, n = 38; healthy controls, n = 38) played a modified version of the trust game to examine the prospective relations between adolescent depression and interpersonal trust. Depressed girls were found to make significantly larger mean investments in the trust game, as compared to healthy controls. This relation between depression and excessive trust was similarly found using another measure of depression by which the total sample was divided into groups based on severity of depressive symptoms. Severely depressed girls made significantly larger mean investments in the trust game, as compared to minimally depressed girls. Linear regression analyses revealed dimensional scores from the YSR affective problems scale to be a significant predictor of trust game performance. While further replication is needed, these preliminary findings suggest that adolescent depression may be characterized by excessive trust.Item TOO OVERQUALIFIED TO CARE: THE EFFECT OF CYNICISM ON OVERQUALIFICATION AND COMMITMENT(2013-12) Oki, Tunji A.; Penney, Lisa M.; Eisenberger, Robert; Tackett, Jennifer L.The purpose of this study was to understand the underlying process that takes place in the overqualification and commitment relationship. Based on conservation of resources theory and relative deprivation theory, I expected cynicism to mediate the relationship between overqualification and affective commitment, and relative deprivation to mediate the relationship between overqualification and cynicism. By using the job-demands resources model and equity theory, I also hypothesized that perceive organizational support would moderate the relationship between overqualification and cynicism, and that entitlement, benevolence, and equity sensitive would moderate the relationship between overqualification and deprivation. Results from 590 staff members at a southern university demonstrated that cynicism was shown to partially mediate the overqualification and affective commitment relationship, and relative deprivation showed to partially mediate the overqualification and cynicism relationship. Results for the moderation hypotheses were not supported. Implications and future directions are also discussed.