Browsing by Subject "anxiety"

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The Effect of Maternal Anxiety on Parenting and Relationship Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic
(2021-05) Posner, Alexandra; Jacobvitz, Deborah
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges to mothers and their perceived levels of anxiety, relationship stress, and parenting stress. Research in the past has looked at the effects of pandemics and the effect of such variables on one another but not in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examined 1) whether levels of anxiety, relationship stress during COVID-19, and parenting stress increased from the closure of all states in April/May of 2020, Wave 1, to December of 2020 and January of 2021, Wave 3; 2) whether any increases in anxiety from Wave 1 to Wave 3 were related to increase in relationship stress over the same period; and 3) whether increases in anxiety from Wave 1 to Wave 3 contributed to heightened parenting stress over the same period. Approximately, 298 mothers with children under 3 were recruited through Prolific. During each of the two time periods in this study, each lasting 6 weeks, mothers completed the GAD-7, PSI-4, and Stressful Experiences Related to COVID-19 scales. Four separate regressions, two of which tested bidirectional relationships between the variables, were conducted to see if maternal anxiety levels influenced both the change in relationship and parenting stress. After controlling for household income, it was found that anxiety at Wave 3 predicted increases in mothers’ reported symptoms of relationship stress over the 10-month period. Concurrently, it was found that anxiety at Wave 3 did not predict increases in mothers’ reported symptoms of parenting stress over the same period above and beyond initial levels of anxiety. Bidirectional effects revealed that both relationship stress and parenting stress at time 1 significantly forecasted increases in anxiety from Wave 1 to Wave 3, after controlling for family income. Additionally, once exploring bidirectional effects, it was revealed that the level of mothers’ reported relationship stress during COVID-19 and parenting stress at time 3, predicted above and beyond reports of relationship stress experienced at time 1. The results provided insight into the effects of anxiety on relationship stress and parenting stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and vice versa. Such findings revealed potential future directions for interventions for mothers regarding future, unpredictable pandemics to come.
The Effect of the Structure of Jazz Music on Anxiety
(2019) Punske, Joseph; Shah, Hriman; Buck, Kevin
Elevated C-reactive Protein as a Predictive Marker of Clinical Depression and Anxiety
(2024) Oloyo, Jeanelle; Jabbi, Mbemba
Previous research has documented an association between elevated peripheral blood inflammation and depression diagnosis and symptom severity1. We investigated the association between inflammation and depression as well as anxiety symptom severity and response to treatment by assessing patients reporting depressive and anxiety symptoms for a period of three to six weeks, with quantified anxiety and depressive symptoms being documented weekly. The depressive and anxiety symptom severities were quantified using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), respectively. The sample included 472 patients (55% male, mean age = 27.5 years, mean duration of stay = 69.4 days, mean baseline MADRS score = 26.1, mean baseline HAM-A score = 19.6), of which 195 individuals reported depressive symptoms, while 198 individuals reported anxiety symptoms. Three blood samples per individual were collected and assessed to detect any elevated inflammatory responses as measured with blood serum levels of C-Reactive protein (CRP). The samples from each group of interest underwent a high-sensitivity assay for CRP levels during the pre-treatment and post-treatment periods. The relationship between patients’ baseline CRP levels/inflammatory responses collected at admission was cross-referenced with their response to treatment during the course stay at a psychiatric rehabilitation clinic as measured with reported symptom severity over time to determine if inflammation was a predictive marker of depression and anxiety treatment responses. We found that elevated CRP levels were positively associated with depressive treatment response as measured with ratings of reduction in depression symptom severity levels over time using the MADRS (p=0.004). In contrast, elevated CRP levels were not significantly associated with anxiety treatment response as measured with ratings of anxiety symptom severity levels over time using the HAM-A (p=0.109). Specifically, high CRP levels at admission correlated with less reduction in depressive symptoms over time, as if the effects of mental health rehabilitation treatment for depression were dampened by increased levels of inflammation as measured with CRP levels at the start of treatment. These findings suggest that baseline CRP levels at admission are a predictive marker for lingering depressive symptom severity over time even in people receiving treatment, but less so for anxiety symptom severity. Numerous limitations regarding the sample pool and the type of treatment administered were present in this study, including the lack of inclusion of healthy controls to account for the effects of low to no inflammation. Race and gender, factors that influence baseline inflammatory levels, were not controlled for when measuring CRP levels in the reported findings. Limitations regarding the structure and sensitivity of the outcome measure scales may have also skewed the reported MADRS and HAM-A scores. Future studies need to control for these limitations in order to better understand the association between inflammation and mental disorder treatment response as measured with symptom severity.
Executive Functions In Children With ADHD Or Internalizing Symptoms
(2018-05) Barnes, Emily
Children with disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, or depression often struggle academically and face poorer life outcomes. Impaired cognition in children with disorders could be the result of deficits in executive functions (EFs). EFs are attentional processes that coordinate and control other cognitive processes, and support goal directed behaviors. Large behavioral studies have reported four main factors of EF: inhibitory control, switching, working memory, and updating. Literature is mixed as to whether ADHD and internalizing disorders such as anxiety or depression are related to consistent EF difficulties. The strongest evidence is that ADHD may be linked with inhibitory control and working memory deficits, while anxiety and depression may be linked with switching and working memory deficits. This study examined the relationships between three tests of EF ability and symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and internalizing problems in children, using continuous measures of symptom burdens and EF abilities. Response times on the switching task related most strongly to disorder symptom burdens, with faster responses correlated with lower parent rated ADHD symptom burdens and higher self-rated internalizing symptom burdens. However, these scores were not significantly different based on presence or absence of a diagnosis. Our results indicate that continuous measures of symptom burdens across a large sample of children were more sensitive than diagnostic information in identifying relationships between EF abilities and symptoms of ADHD and internalizing disorders. Results are discussed in the context of diagnosis, EF variability, and child-parent scoring consistency.
The Influence of Video Games on the Mental Health of College Students and Adolescents
(2021-05-11) Taylor, Andre; Mackert, Michael
As video games experience a rise in popularity, the issues of participating in this hobby become more concerning. For mental health, problems with video games can lead to an exacerbating effect on psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. This thesis gathers sources from across psychology and communication disciplines to determine the effects of video games on the mental health of adolescents and college students. This literature review finds that the effects of video games on the mental health of adolescents and college students are complex. I examined and compared the results of various studies over the last 20 years and offer conclusions and propose solutions to these issues. Using the existing literature, I show that playing video games obsessively can be an issue. However, in the absence of addiction, video games can be used to treat symptoms or aid therapists for mental health issues as they relate to psychiatric disorders. Simply playing video games will generally not affect college students or adolescents negatively. When paired with addiction or obsession, however, video games are correlated with the development of psychiatric disorders. But addiction and obsession are not defined by the amount of time that video games are played. In the case of depression, playing video games through an addiction or obsessively can worsen symptoms or correlate with their development. Some studies show anxiety can be correlated to video game addiction, and others show the opposite result. There is little research in this field of study, and as such, more studies and experiments should investigate this phenomenon. Specifically, research should be done to determine if video game addiction, usage, and psychiatric disorders are correlated and whether video games can be used by health professionals to combat these disorders.
The LIBERATOR Archive, February 2019
(University of Texas at Austin, 2019-02) University of Texas at Austin
Mind Over Matter: Application Of The Social-Ecological Model In Understanding Help-Seeking Behavior For Treatment Of Depression And Anxiety In Asian Americans
(2019-05-01) Chyu, Joann; Zuniga, Julie
This thesis aims to examine factors that affect help-seeking behavior for the treatment of anxiety and depression among Asian Americans, using the social-ecological model as a framework of analysis. Although Asian Americans have the highest median income and the highest postsecondary graduation rates of all racial groups in the U.S., Asian Americans exhibit lower utilization rates for mental health services than the general U.S. population. Moreover, a significant literature gap exists in the field of Asian American mental health research, highlighting a need to better understand mental health concerns of the Asian American population. A meta-analysis was conducted using the PubMed database. Only English-language studies published in the last 10 years with experimental designs and quantitative results were included. Factors affecting help-seeking behavior were examined across four levels of the social-ecological model: the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and societal levels. On the individual level, etiological beliefs were found to promote help-seeking behavior; on the interpersonal level, peer connection promoted help-seeking attitudes; on the institutional level, financial and language barriers discouraged help-seeking behavior; and on the societal level, stigma and Asian values discouraged help-seeking behavior. Findings were synthesized across multiple levels of the social-ecological model, and compared to those of previous studies on Asian American help-seeking behavior. Lastly, recommendations for reform on each level of the social-ecological model are proposed. Future directions in clinical and research settings are also recommended, in the hopes of improving mental health service utilization among Asian Americans in the future.
Undergraduate Research Journal, Volume 22, No.1
(University of Texas at Austin, 2023) Shears, Dylan; Castro, Kaitlyn D.; Hoeflingg, Meghan; Carr, Natalie; Hinds, Jacob F.; Missimo, Ashley Lynn; Gupta, Neerul; Hoffman, Ashley; Gullapalli, Sriya
Valence, Working Memory Capacity, and Rumination Influence Efficiency of Updating in Working Memory
(2021-05) Mallya, Meghan; Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A.
Psychiatric illness can cause impairments to executive function, including deficits in working memory capacity and processes. Working memory (WM) is a limited capacity cognitive system that temporarily maintains and actively manipulates information relevant to current tasks and goals. Manipulation of information is a fundamental process of working memory, but not everyone’s working memory functions similarly. For example, we are able to update irrelevant information, such as negative thoughts that are not serving the tasks or goals on hand. However, when this mechanism no longer works efficiently, people may fixate, or ruminate, on negative information in a maladaptive way. Our goal was to examine individual differences that influence working memory processes. Here we investigated how characteristics of psychiatric illnesses, such as rumination, affect a person’s ability to efficiently update emotional information in mind. Through a working memory updating task, we presented participants with negative and neutral stimuli and tested them on whether they had properly updated the information in mind. Participants were slower and less accurate at responding to negative stimuli. They also took longer and were less accurate with responding to previously shown images that should have been updated (lure response probes). With these lure response probes, people with a high propensity to ruminate (high ruminators) and low working memory capacity (WMC) had faster responses, but worse accuracy. Furthermore, within the low WMC people’s responses to lure probes, high ruminators reacted faster than low ruminators to negative stimuli. Moreover, they reacted faster to negative stimuli than neutral stimuli. We saw that across the board, participants were less efficient at updating negative information. Some participants were also incorrectly identifying lure items as stimuli that are currently being held in mind, when they should have been rejected. This was especially the case with low WMC individuals that were burdened by high rumination, suggesting that rumination impairs updating processes in low WMC people. We also saw how presentation of negative stimuli drove reaction time differences between high and low ruminations. With further research, we will better understand individual differences affecting working memory function.