Ethnic/racial minorities often face challenges associated with adjusting to a dominant or new host country. These challenges, known as acculturative stress, include difficulties with behavioral, emotional, and social adaptations, and are linked to adverse outcomes. Understanding the degree to which, for whom, and in what contexts acculturative stress may affect mental health is important in designing culturally-informed interventions. Yet, there are several limitations in the current literature on acculturative stress. First, most studies focus on Latino or Asian ethnic groups or international students/cross-national migrants; it is unclear how acculturative stress is differentially associated with health across populations. Second, most studies have focused on mental health outcomes, whereas other important outcomes (academic, relationship) are neglected. Using records from a large-scale meta-analysis project, we conducted a scoping review of research on acculturative stress to characterize the heterogeneity across studies. We performed literature searches using keywords (e.g., “acculturative stress,” “bicultural stress”) in databases including PsycINFO, and identified 3746 relevant studies. Abstract and full-text screening yielded 681 published and unpublished articles eligible for quantitative analysis. Primary studies were included if they measured acculturation in the context of intercultural adaptation and migration, acculturative stress, and health, academic, and relationship outcomes. We coded and summarized sample characteristics of all articles (e.g., % immigrants, % female/woman, mean age). We will randomly select 50 articles that examine acculturative stress and its associations with mental health, academic, and/or relationship outcomes. We will review and present common outcome measures, instruments assessing acculturative stress, and conclusions. We expect the scoping review to indicate patterns, variability, and gaps in the acculturative stress literature. Results will inform future research on overlooked outcomes and understudied populations, and shed light on necessary basic scientific information (e.g., mediators, modifying conditions) that will support the development of culturally-informed interventions and policies.

Alcohol and other substance use are associated with a range of negative physical, mental, and social consequences including blackouts, unintended injuries, involvement in interpersonal violence, and other health problems. Young adults in college are particularly at risk for alcohol and other substance use. While existing research on reduction interventions often emphasized individual responsibilities of those that engage in alcohol and substance use, peer interventions remain an overlooked approach to harm reduction. Bystander interventions have been shown to be effective in preventing and reducing the harm of sexual assaults among college students. However, there is less empirical attention on applying bystander interventions to reduce the negative consequences of substance use. An important first step of understanding how to incorporate bystander interventions to address substance use is to have a reliable and valid measure assessing these behaviors. This study aims to develop and examine the psychometric properties of a new bystander behavior scale specific to substance use. Data came from a large multi-site survey study with 930 college students (Mage = 19.39, 69.6% female, 58.1% White). I will conduct exploratory factor analysis to extract underlying factors that best explain the observed correlations between the items. Next, I will examine convergent and discriminant validity of the scale scores by correlating them with established instruments such as Drinking Refusal Self-Efficacy Questionnaire and Personal Assessment of Responsible Drinker Identity. Individuals who score higher on the bystander behaviors measure are expected to score higher on self-efficacy in resisting alcohol and be more likely to identify as responsible drinkers. Results will provide initial validation data for the bystander behaviors measure and can be used in future research and intervention implementation that address substance use among college students.

In recent years, organizations have debated whether elements of “white supremacy culture”, including a sense of urgency, may create inequitable environments for people of color. We aimed to empirically investigate whether cultures of urgency in professional settings undermine the recruitment of racially minoritized groups. Undergraduate participants (N = 219) read job advertisements for two jobs: one where urgency culture is highly valued (e.g., “swiftly reset priorities at any given time”) and one with less sense of urgency (e.g., “adjust priorities based on capability”; order counterbalanced). Participants then reported how likely they would be to apply to each job. We hypothesized that individuals from racially minoritized groups will be more likely to apply to lower-urgency jobs over high-urgency jobs. The results show that most participants preferred lower-urgency jobs. However, countering our hypothesis, individuals from racially minoritized groups held more positive attitudes towards high-urgency jobs (e.g., how well they think they'd perform in the job) when compared to white participants. This finding casts doubt on the proposed elements of "white supremacy culture". It urges for more empirical research on how different racially minoritized groups may perceive these elements in work settings. Furthermore, our sample consists mainly of Asian Americans, which does not speak for the experiences of other racially minoritized groups. Our future research will focus on diversifying samples collected.

Mentoring is an effective way to improve diversity and retention in STEM fields. The UW Psychology Undergraduate Mentoring Program (PUMP) matches psychology students from underrepresented groups with mentors, including undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and alumni. Matches are made based on a combination of career interests and personal identities. In this study, we aim to understand predictors of mentees’ success in the program, defined by feelings of belonging, academic preparedness, and satisfaction with the mentoring relationship. These predictors include meeting characteristics and match characteristics. We hypothesized that in-person meetings, more frequent meetings, and greater similarities between mentors and mentees would be linked with greater success. 32 out of 168 mentees completed our survey on Qualtrics in Spring 2023. We measured meeting frequency (“How often did you meet with your mentor during [quarter]?”), format (“In what modality did you meet with your mentor? In-person, video/phone calls, texting, email”), match characteristics (e.g., whether the mentor and mentee shared similar demographics such as BIPOC, first-generation, or gender; how far apart they were in their class levels), belonging (e.g., “I know other people in the psychology major”), preparedness (e.g., “I feel prepared to pursue the psychology major at UW”), and satisfaction (e.g., “My mentor and I have had a successful mentoring relationship”). We will conduct correlations and multiple regression analyses to test the prediction that in-person meetings, more frequent meetings, and greater similarity between mentors and mentees will be linked with higher feelings of belonging, preparedness for the major, and satisfaction with the mentoring relationship. We hope to demonstrate that controllable variables such as these can improve program outcomes. Identifying the most effective program strategies, like in-person meetings or demographics-based matching, can aid mentees in our program and may also guide the development of new mentoring programs in other departments.

Prior research has shown that parent spatial language use predicts child spatial language use, and as a result, a child’s spatial ability. In our current study, we seek to identify factors that influence differences in both parent and child spatial language use. Using a picture book called “Flashlight”, which contains no words, parents were instructed to read aloud to their children (N=75 dyads, range: 2-4 years). Parents created their own story based on the pictures. After the storybook task, the parent and child were given blocks to play with for 5 minutes. Both these tasks seek to examine what types of language are naturally produced between parents and children, such as spatial words, questions, and number words (e.g., “at”, “What animal is that?”, and “one”). The videos of these sessions were manually transcribed. Parents also completed a series of questionnaires on their beliefs about the utility of play and their child’s language, motor, and communication skills. We hypothesize that the more questions a parent poses, the more spatial language a child will produce. This study is multifaceted in that it examines total language used overall (tokens), different types of language, free play, and spatial abilities. Studying these aspects of communication and underlying factors that impact the type of language parents use can lead to a better understanding of children’s spatial development and the factors influencing it. For example, parents who believe that play offers children unique opportunities to learn spatial concepts might use more spatial language with their children during play, which could scaffold their child’s spatial development. By identifying these factors, we can develop ways to increase spatial language use between parents and children, thus facilitating spatial development.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a psychiatric treatment which has shown promise for experimental treatment of memory loss in Alzheimer’s Disease. rTMS uses a coil and electric current which is able to create a magnetic field that can depolarize neurons noninvasively and induce synchronized activity of large populations of neurons, ultimately inducing, lasting changes through synaptic plasticity. Alzheimer’s disease patients show disruptions in the Default Mode Network (DMN), a network of brain regions which is typically active at rest. The DMN has an important role in memory consolidation and is disrupted in Alzheimer's Disease. We hypothesize that strengthening the default mode network through rTMS applied to area left 8AV of the frontal cortex will create improvements in patient memory. To answer this question, we are performing a single-blind, single-arm, randomized cross-over trial of rTMS on early-stage Alzheimer's disease patients. Region 8AV is located by using MRI scans obtained before patients receive either the sham or experimental procedure. This region was chosen due to its connection to the default mode network and previous promising TMS research. Our primary outcome measure is the speed of forgetting, a new, reliable index of memory function obtained by fitting a computational model of episodic memory to behavioral data from an adaptive memory test. Due to the frequent use of rTMS in mood disorder treatment, we are using depression and anxiety scales to track possible mood improvements as a secondary outcome measure. MRI scans will also be analyzed to see if the experimental treatment caused any structural differences in patient brains. Should our hypothesis be correct, we expect to see improvements in memory or cessation of memory decline in patients. Successful treatment would provide a novel target for Alzheimer’s Disease treatment using rTMS, and additional evidence for the continued investigation of rTMS for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Mind-wandering, characterized by the inward direction of attention towards thoughts, represents a widespread cognitive phenomenon that can disrupt task-related attention. Evidence indicates that the frequency of mind-wandering increases during sustained attention tasks, and previous research has proposed several hypotheses, such as resource-depletion, control-failure, and resource-control hypothesis, to explain the increases as well as the declines in task performance from their perspective. This study first aims to investigate the impact of incorporating a strategy of break on the frequency of mind-wandering during a Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). It seeks to determine whether a break strategy can mitigate the frequency of mind-wandering and to identify which of the aforementioned hypotheses best fit the experiment outcome. Specifically, it examines whether a rest break or a task-switching intervention can reduce the frequency of mind-wandering, comparing these effects to a no-break condition. Forty students from the University of Washington will participate in a four-part experiment that includes two 480-trial SART tasks, an intervening break condition (rest break, task-switch, or no break), and a concluding questionnaire. Mind-wandering will be measured through thought-probe methodology, and task performance will be assessed using error rates and response times. Additionally, subjective workload and fatigue level will be assessed using NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) questionnaire. Based on the three existing hypotheses and behavioral data, the second aim of the study is to construct three cognitive architecture ACT-R models, and by comparing different models to reflect potential mechanisms of the role of breaks in mind-wandering.

Challenges with social-emotional reciprocity, such as initiation of and response to social interactions, are a core diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and many children with ASD experience challenges with expressive language. Prior research demonstrates parents are accurate reporters of language and fine motor skills development, but may under report social emotional reciprocity. The goal of my study is to discern how well parent concerns around child social-emotional reciprocity and language correspond to observed virtual interactions with their child. In a larger study investigating interventions for children with social communication concerns, parent participants of toddlers aged 25-41 months (n=41) completed the Toddler Autism Symptom Interview (TASI), a structured interview about core autism symptoms, over Zoom. Parent-child interactions were recorded in the same session while they completed the TELE-ASD-PEDS (TAP), a telehealth ASD assessment for toddlers. As part of the larger study, I am assisting with coding child expressive language, including use of words and multi-word combinations. For my independent research, I am coding child behavior on two tasks from the TAP, ‘calling the child’s name’ and ‘approaching others to play’. ‘Calling the child’s name’ is coded as the number of times the child stopped what they were doing to look at their caregiver when their name was called, while ‘approaching others to play’ is the number of times the child approached their caregiver during a 2-minute period where their caregiver was instructed to sit back and ignore their child. I will compare coded behaviors with corresponding items on the TASI. I hypothesize that parent reports will be more consistent with coded observations for language concerns than for social-emotional reciprocity behaviors. Understanding whether social-emotional reciprocity is being accurately reported by parents can help clinicians provide accurate diagnoses for ASD, especially given the critical role of parents in the diagnostic process.

Primary care providers are responsible for utilizing well-child-check-ups to screen toddlers for autism spectrum disorder and immediately refer children with increased likelihood to diagnostic and intervention services. Participating in intervention services at young ages is extremely impactful as it often allows children to develop their social, cognitive, and language skills. However, it is estimated that only 40% of children who screen at an increased likelihood for autism are being referred to recommended services by their providers. It is especially important to look at autism referral rates as autism is half as likely to receive a referral from a provider than other developmental concerns. This mixed-methods study used a video vignette and focus groups to investigate factors influencing primary care providers’ decision- making regarding autism referral in a well-child-check-up setting. We examine the role of provider attitudes, autism knowledge, and distribution of attention (information providers attend to during a visit). We anticipate that providers will exhibit low knowledge of autism and intervention, and believe information about autism that has empirically been proven to be false. Additionally, we expect that providers pay less attention to clinically significant behavioral information than physical information during a well-child-check-up. Overall, we aim to understand what influences provider’s referral decisions to provide insight on a development of a future primary care provider intervention that supports the increase of autism referral rates. Ultimately, improving the developmental prognosis of children with autism.

The potential cognitive benefits of mindfulness meditation, such as its effects on memory processes, are gaining increasing attention. The growing interest in mindfulness meditation as a technique to improve cognitive functions, particularly long-term memory, motivates this investigation. The purpose of this study is to determine how mindfulness meditation affects the individual’s rate of forgetting in long-term memory as practice days increase. Using a computational model of episodic memory fitted to data obtained from an adaptive memory test, the study is able to monitor and predict the rate of forgetting for each individual and acquire a deeper understanding of how mindfulness meditation influences individual differences in memory retention and retrieval. The study will recruit thirty healthy participants through the Psychology Subject Pool of the University of Washington. The participants will be randomly assigned to either a group that practices mindfulness meditation or a control group that engages in podcast listening. For six days, participants will complete online memory tasks before and after each mindfulness meditation session or podcast listening session, while their performance data will be analyzed to model the rate of forgetting. To assess the principal effects of mindfulness meditation on the rate of forgetting, statistical analyses, such as linear mixed models, will be employed. We hypothesized that participants who participate in mindfulness meditation will have a lower rate of forgetting than those in the control group who engage in podcast listening after six days. Moreover, the study also hypothesizes that participants engaging in mindfulness meditation will demonstrate a decreasing rate of forgetting as the number of practice days increases. The finding of this study may inform interventions using mindfulness to enhance memory retention, benefiting those with age-related cognitive decline or stress-related memory challenges. It contributes to understanding the potential of mindfulness in cognitive function and memory-related disorders.

Anxiety and depression are becoming more prevalent and are an increasing public health concern. People with certain personalities are particularly vulnerable to developing anxiety and depression. Personality is commonly measured using the Big Five Personality test, which groups personality traits into five scales that a person can score high or low on. One of these traits is Neuroticism (N), which measures people’s propensity towards anxiety, depression, and self-consciousness, as well as the degree to which people find the world distressing and threatening. Emotion reactivity (ER) is a facet of N and falls under the former half of this definition. Past research has shown that those with high N and ER are at risk for developing anxiety and depression. One possible way to reduce this risk is through studying how people regulate their emotions. While past research has already shown that certain regulating strategies reduce the risk of anxiety and depression, my project is examining their efficacy for people with high ER. Specifically, my research is predicting anxiety and depression symptoms from participants’ levels of neuroticism with emotion regulation use as a moderator. I am measuring ER with the Emotion Reactivity Scale (ERS), emotion regulation with the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), depression with the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) depression scale, and anxiety with the PROMIS anxiety scale. Data was collected from a baseline study on students at the University of Washington (n=268). Due to past research on different emotion regulation strategies, I predict that participants with high emotion reactivity who use maladaptive strategies will score higher on the anxiety and depression scales. In contrast, people who score high on the emotion reactivity scale and use adaptive strategies will score lower on the anxiety and depression scales. Broadly, this study hopes to further our understanding of potential risk and protective factors related to internalizing disorders in at risk populations. If results are consistent with my predictions, the analysis could suggest possible means of providing relief for people with anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Spatial skills are crucial for understanding and navigating the physical world around us. Previous research indicates spatial development begins in infancy, with sex differences present early on. These skills are predictors of later STEM achievement, highlighting the importance of nurturing them from a young age. Our study explores the impact of spatial language and play style on infants’ spatial development. We replicated a change detection mental rotation task for infants using an eye-tracker (N = 115, 47 girls, M age = 11.21 months). As infants preferentially look at novel stimuli, we recorded looking time as a measure of recognition of a change in stimulus. Additionally, we observed parent-infant dyads during play, and parents completed a survey on their infant's play, language, and motor skills. We hypothesized that parents would use more spatial language during spatial play than non-spatial play. We were also interested in whether play and language use varied by child sex. Infants showed no preference for the novel stimulus in the mental rotation task, suggesting it might not effectively measure mental rotation in infancy. Parent-infant dyads varied in engagement with the spatial toy, and no significant sex differences emerged from these measures. Due to the null findings in our change detection task, we will be designing and testing a new task for measuring mental rotation ability in infancy. Furthermore, we will also conduct analyses on the relationship between individual differences in spatial language and play to explore how these factors impact the development of spatial abilities. These findings provide insights to better support spatial development in early life.

Current trends indicate that while adolescents and young adults are starting to engage in sexual activity later in life and less frequently, there is a notable shift towards experiences characterized by low commitment and higher risk. Despite numerous studies on sex-related attitudes and practices among young people in the United States, broader insights are necessary to achieve a holistic understanding of the newly emerging landscape of youth sexuality. Against this background, our research examines sexual attitudes and reported behaviors in a sample of 1,200 undergraduate students at the University of Washington. Our study employs a comprehensive survey to identify patterns in sexual attitudes and behaviors among a representative sample. Administering online questionnaires is crucial in ensuring increased reliability and validity of responses on sensitive topics. These include but are not limited to, pornography viewership, kink and fetish interests, sexual self-concept, and more. Preliminary findings indicate a complex interplay between cultural, educational, and social factors in shaping sexual norms and practices among young adults. This study contributes to the broader discourse on sexual health education and highlights the need for nuanced approaches in addressing the dynamic and multifaceted nature of young people's sexual relationships. The results of this investigation aim to inform the foundation of modern sex education in order to address the evolving challenges of today's sexual landscape.

Latino people constitute the largest minority in the U.S., and diabetes is an urgent health issue that impacts the Latino community at twice the rate as white Americans. Existing literature on Latino populations suggests that culturally competent care is critical for important health outcomes like satisfaction, and interventions to improve cultural competency in diabetes care for Latino patients significantly impact clinical outcomes. However, there is limited research on how Latino patients define culturally competent diabetes care. Previous research in South Asian communities demonstrates that the pathologization of culturally relevant foods may cause diabetic patients to face poor metabolic control and increased risk of complications, leading to higher healthcare costs and lower quality of life. Despite research indicating that food pathologization is a barrier to high-quality diabetes care for some minoritized groups, previous research on diabetes care in the Latino community does not focus on food pathologization in diabetes care.Through an ethnographic study in clinics in the Greater Seattle area, we seek to understand the experiences of Latino people managing type 2 diabetes related to discussing culturally relevant foods with providers. We will recruit Latino patients to participate in structured interviews exploring how providers discuss culturally relevant dietary choices in diabetes care appointments. We will conduct content analysis to uncover themes related to food pathologization and the downstream impacts of how providers discuss food choices with Latino patients. By studying the relationship between possible food pathologization and diabetes care, we hope to contribute to a holistic understanding of the benefits of culturally competent care. Ideally, our findings may help to reduce food-related stigma and prejudice experienced by Latino diabetes patients.

Experiencing a stressful situation in the presence of another person can lead to two distinct outcomes: a decrease in fear response (social buffering) or an increase (social contagion). Understanding these phenomena and the factors influencing them is essential for advancing the treatments for anxiety and fear-related disorders. In this study, I am investigating how gender and social context can impact fear response and risky decision-making. To do this, I am using a naturalistic foraging task that allows rats to exhibit a wider range of behaviors and provides data that more accurately reflects real-world scenarios beyond the laboratory. The study involves alternating between paired and single trials where rats (n = 10) venture from a safe nest to retrieve food in an open arena where a realistic aerial predator can emerge. I am measuring fear responses to the predator through various quantitative variables, including the latency to leave the nest, the latency to retrieve the pellet, and the number of attempts made. I have concluded data collection on the male pairs, revealing an unexpected trend: male rats displayed greater fear responses in paired trials, indicating social contagion rather than the anticipated social buffering. This preliminary finding suggests that the presence of a single companion may heighten fear responses. I hypothesize that female rats will show a similar (intensified) trend because they tend to be more cautious foragers.

Individuals differ in how easily they perceive and internally represent visual and verbal information. However, these differences in information processing style are not all or nothing; individuals vary not only in the direction of attentional bias, but also its strength. Prior research found that when forced to choose between competing visual and verbal stimuli, people exhibit different degrees of bias when selecting what information to attend to. The present study examines whether individuals with greater visual or verbal attentional biases, relative to neutral attenders, show different levels of sensitivity to conflict between visual and verbal information during a categorization task. Data will be analyzed from 185 participants who completed a card sorting task in which they were asked to sort stimuli into one of three card suits. Each trial contained visual (shape) and verbal (word) representations of the card suit. On 75% of trials, the word and shape matched (congruent) and the other 25% of trials contained inconsistent information (incongruent). Our analysis will compare response times on incongruent and congruent trials (incongruency effect) in high- and low-biased individuals, to measure conflict experienced. We hypothesize that individuals showing a greater attentional bias towards either task modality will ignore information that is misaligned with their preferred information processing style, resulting in a smaller incongruency effect. These results would suggest that biased attenders have quicker access to the information that aligns with their processing style, while neutral attenders notice both information types and experience conflict when they are incongruent. Alternatively, if attentional bias is unrelated to incongruency effect magnitude, this suggests that people process information similarly, and experience biases only at the decision phase. This study has important implications for understanding how individual differences in information processing style affect how much information individuals process in situations with attentional competition.

What is personal space? It describes the “invisible bubble” immediately around an individual, where intrusion by others may feel uncomfortable or even threatening. Despite personal space being important for determining the size and dynamics of large groups and how animals behave, it is unknown how animals generate and maintain their sense of personal space. I explore this question using Drosophila flies, a powerful model system for studying behavior. Individual flies communicate via a large set of behaviors (e.g. kicking, flicking the wings, flying, and running) that can shape group interactions. Between pairs of flies, there is a rich repertoire of interactions that cause them to either move away (e.g. appendage touching) or move closer (e.g.courtship behaviors). To capture these behaviors, I use high resolution cameras running at 150 fps to collect videos of flies interacting in a circular arena and deep-learning software for annotating body parts (SLEAP). I use this data to track the poses of multiple flies throughout time and quantify appendage touching behaviors in addition to an estimate of each fly’s personal space. Using optogenetics, I model a situation in which a wild-type fly responds and adapts to being surrounded by other flies that crowd tightly. One expected outcome is that the wild-type fly will increase appendage touching in response to the space around itself shrinking. My goal is to determine exactly how the dynamics of such inter-fly interactions form a sense of personal space for each fly. My work will uncover the patterns of interactions that develop personal space and how these patterns scale out to larger social networks.

Gun violence is a prevalent and rising issue in the United States. However, limited research assesses the connection between gun prevalence and public health outcomes. Previous research indicates healthcare professionals are hesitant to have a role in addressing the rising gun violence statistics. Another previously drawn implication is that gun violence is associated with worse behavioral and physical health. These findings led us to pursue our research. This project aims to acquire quantitative insights into the relationship between neighborhood-level gun prevalence and violence and neighborhood-level utilization of primary healthcare. Within the context of this study, neighborhood gun prevalence and violence are defined as instances of violence encompassing firearm-related fatalities or the mean quantity of firearms within households. We define utilization of primary healthcare as a composite of a variety of healthcare variables, including, but not limited to, the percentage of dental check-ups, the percentage of the population with established primary care providers, health indicator screenings, and vaccination rates. We are using data from the Seattle & King County Public Health Database to examine the association between our variables of interest at the neighborhood level. We will conduct a linear regression model to statistically examine the correlation between the utilization of primary health care and neighborhood gun violence statistics. We anticipate that the findings of this study will elucidate a discernible correlation between indicators of primary care access and firearm-related violence at the neighborhood level in the Puget Sound region. We intend to employ this data to aid local public health officials in understanding and addressing the correlation between healthcare disparities and gun violence. Subsequently, this information can serve as a foundation for their efforts in formulating population-level legislation aimed at mitigating healthcare disparities to alleviate firearm violence at the neighborhood level.

Social connection is fundamental to human well-being, encompassing mental and physical health, and overall quality of life. The importance of forging deep, meaningful relationships is a key focus within relationship sciences. Evidence from 140 studies highlights the significant impact of loneliness on health, equating its risk to that of severe health behaviors and conditions, such as heavy smoking. This underscores the essential role of close relationships in maintaining health. The process of building these relationships, according to relationship sciences, involves mutual disclosure and perceived responsiveness. While extensively studied in individual interactions and laboratory settings, group dynamics remain less explored. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), a treatment developed at the University of Washington that is practiced by clinicians worldwide, indicates that relationships strengthen when vulnerable disclosures are met with validating and compassionate responses. The principles of FAP, distilled into the concepts of Awareness, Courage, and Love (ACL) are now being disseminated to the general public through the ACL relational model. A randomized-controlled pilot study with 10 participants evaluated the impact of a three-week ACL group intervention on depression in a clinically depressed sample, using the Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale for assessment. The intervention, focusing on exercises in self-disclosure, reflection, and compassionate response, demonstrated promising results. Participants showed significant reductions in depression symptoms and increased self-compassion compared to a control group engaging in self-guided, personally meaningful activities. This study indicates the potential of ACL group interventions in enhancing self-compassion and alleviating depressive symptoms, highlighting the importance of supportive group dynamics in mental health improvement. The findings advocate for the integration of relationship-focused practices in mental health interventions, emphasizing the value of vulnerability and mutual support in fostering psychological well-being.

Heschl’s gyrus (HG) is a region of the brain containing the primary auditory cortex. The extent of folding within the HG shows high morphological variability across individuals. Interestingly, increased HG folding is more likely to be found in expert than amateur musicians, suggesting a possible role of auditory experience in shaping HG gyrification. In my research, I examined HG folding in blind individuals—another population with extensive auditory experience. I hypothesized that, if experience alters HG structure, then individuals with early-onset blindness might have increased HG gyrification compared to those with late-onset blindness or those who are sighted. I analyzed T1-weighted images collected from previous MRI studies at the University of Washington, University of Pennsylvania, and Oxford University. The combined dataset included 6 anophthalmia (individuals born without eyes), 48 early blind, 18 late blind, and 28 sighted control participants. I created hand-drawn HG regions of interest for each participant in both hemispheres and measured HG gyrification in two ways: 1) by visually categorizing the extent of HG folding (single, partial, or complete duplication), and 2) by obtaining continuous metrics (gyrification index and curvedness index) using FreeSurfer. A chi-squared test revealed that the degree of HG folding was not different across the four groups. A linear mixed-effects model (controlling for the effects of age, hemisphere, and scan location), similarly showed no effects of group on the gyrification index or the curvedness index. To conclude, my findings show that blindness does not affect HG gyrification. The results challenge the idea that auditory experience alters HG structure and offer important insights into previous findings in professional musicians. Our results suggest that the prevalence of duplicated HG in musicians may be the result of individuals with larger processing capacity within the auditory cortex being more likely to take up music as a profession.

There is a growing emphasis on providing "equitable" mental health care, and yet ‘equity’ is seldom defined clearly. Publicly-funded community mental health clinics’ (CMHCs) clinicians often serve clients from minoritized and underrepresented backgrounds, and thus may regularly observe and address equity issues, making their perspectives invaluable. This qualitative study explores CMHC clinicians’ perspectives of equity in their clinical practice. Our data was obtained from an online cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) training initiative in Washington State targeting CMHC clinicians serving youth. Participating clinicians (N = 245) received nine consultation sessions from CBT experts over a six-month period and completed pre-training and post-consultation surveys. In the pre-training survey, we asked clinicians to define equity and list resources they would want access to that can improve their consideration of equity in their practice. Descriptive statistics summarized clinician demographics. Using thematic analysis, clinicians’ open-ended responses were coded to identify emerging themes. Clinicians were predominantly female (74.7%), White (58.8%), had a master’s level training (90.2%), and a mean age of 34.2 years (SD = 9.3). After coding clinicians’ definitions of equity, ‘accommodation’ (i.e., tailoring services to clients) was the most endorsed theme (38.8%, n = 95), followed by ‘equality’ (i.e., treating clients the same; 19.6%, n = 48) and ‘fairness’ (i.e., treating clients with justness, 17.6%, n = 43). When asked about resources that could improve their considerations of equity, clinicians’ responses most frequently included diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainings, expanding reach to more diverse populations, equity-focused supervision, and financial aid (e.g., gas cards, food pantry). While CMHC clinicians’ perceptions of equity included common themes, their understanding may at times conflate equity and equality. These findings highlight the importance of increasing access to DEI-focused trainings and supervision along with other resources to assist CMHC clinicians in delivering equitable care.

One of the current challenges with evidence based practices (EBP) is addressing social risk factors (SRF) in conjunction with mental health therapies. SRFs are adverse social conditions which impact the physical and mental health of an individual, group, or community. Addressing SRFs in low-resource settings increases access to and engagement in EBPs by reducing immediate threats presented by SRFs. Training in EBPs does not typically include how to address SRFs. To understand possible ways to address SRFs in EBPs, we examine whether counselors delivering EBPs in a low-to-middle income country are addressing SRFs and how the strategies impact the implementation and delivery of an EBP. This study builds on the parent study, “The Building and Sustaining Interventions for Children (BASIC)”, which examines the implementation and sustainment of an adapted version of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, called Pamoja Tunaweza (PT) implemented by lay counselors in Kenya.To examine strategies used to address SRFs in PT, twelve PT counselors from the BASIC study participated in semi-structured interviews with trained interviewers. We conducted an inductive thematic analysis to identify codes and themes derived directly from the interview data. We identified and organized segments of the interviews into codes which were further categorized into themes. Themes include types of strategies counselors used to address SRFs as well as their impact within the context of PT. We report the frequencies of the codes and themes as they relate to their impact. Preliminary results indicate that when counselors reported using strategies to address SRFs, such as referring guardians to resources and collaborating with school administration, counselors saw increases in child self-esteem and PT attendance. Understanding how addressing SRFs impact mental health and implementation outcomes can help inform training of counselors to effectively improve use and engagement of PT and other EBPs.

While research on burnout has focused specifically on service-oriented roles (e.g., healthcare), recent trends indicate a growing prevalence of burnout in academic settings. Burnout syndrome (BS) is a set of psychological symptoms arising from interplay of chronic occupational stress and individual factors. These symptoms often manifest as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished professional satisfaction. Academic burnout has become a concern due to its association with poor academic performance, dropout rates and mental health symptoms (e.g., depression & anxiety). This study employed a pre-and post-design, assessing burnout before and after a burnout management workshop. An online survey via Qualtrics gathered data from community college students in the Pacific Northwest (N = 28, primarily women (78%), aged 16-20 (63%), including dual enrolled high school students. The survey employed a revised Purdue Burnout Questionnaire and collected demographic information. The burnout management workshop, facilitated by two psychology faculty members, addressed burnout facets and various management techniques. We hypothesized that participating students would show improvement after attending the workshop. Initial analysis revealed a reduction in total burnout scores before and after the workshop. Despite a noteworthy decrease, the change did not reach statistical significance. This nonsignificant trend suggests a positive direction, and further qualitative data, scheduled for collection in Spring 2024. Understanding and addressing academic burnout is crucial as it directly correlates with students' academic performance and mental health. By examining burnout in the college setting, we hope to contribute valuable insights that can inform policies and interventions to create a more supportive academic environment. 

Are we happier when we experience more comfortable weather, or do we prefer seasons that provide increased social opportunities? Current studies have shown improvement in mood due to warmer, more tolerable climates or spending more quality time with loved ones. There is a gap in the relation of these two factors combined towards an individual's mood. We hypothesized change in relationship between mood and social activity throughout fall and winter. After our second survey period, we will review and organize data points based on temperatures and climates, time in and out of school sessions for students, levels of socialness, and those who changed their answers after reflecting on the social aspects of the questions. In this study, we surveyed 260 Washington State residents aged 18-64 (M = 24.46, SD = 10.03), 56% from Eastern Washington and 44% from Western in the fall prior to the holiday season (September-November 2023) and again in winter (January-February 2024) to measure changes in mood changes. Both surveys, administered through Qualtrics, asked participants about weather types experienced during each season, followed by a Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) regarding their last two weeks and the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) scale of weather tolerance (0°F-104°F). Participants then were asked about socialness during each season and potential seasonal affective diagnoses. We had two target populations: participants under 23 and those who are students and those who are not students or are 23 or older. We expect students to favor periods not in school regardless of socialness, as opposed to those who are not students, who we expect to favor the times they spend with those they care about over periods of isolation as they tend to have more defined schedules.

Burnout presents a significant challenge for mental health clinicians, affecting not only their well-being and turnover rate but also the quality of care provided to clients. Moreover, studies have shown that clinicians working in community settings face more burnout compared to those in private practice. Among the factors that have been implicated in clinicians’ burnout are the level of education, limited experience and training opportunities, individual variables, and demographic factors. In this study, I examined how clinicians’ reported competencies in core cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills for treating anxiety, depression, trauma, and behavioral concerns are associated with their experiences of burnout. I further evaluated whether the relationship between competencies in core CBT+ skills and experiences of burnout is moderated by CBT+ training. The study draws on a diverse sample of 200+ community mental health clinicians who took part in Washington State’s CBT+ training initiative. I employed t-test and multiple regression models to analyze the data. Based on these analyses, there are anticipated insights of uncovering clinician experiences in how clinicians’ level of CBT skills and professional training experiences intersect with burnout. Findings are expected to inform targeted interventions aimed at reducing burnout and enhancing clinician retention across the workforce.

This study explores how experiences with mental health issues affect stigma and outlook on life. An experience with mental health issues can have an enormous impact on a person's functioning and wellbeing. Stigma and bias against mental health can hinder help-seeking behaviors and increase distrust in professional treatment. One's attitude toward life, such as how optimistic a person is, can significantly mediate a mental health experience. I explored the following questions: (1) How do experiences with mental health issues relate to a person's stigma against mental health topics? (2) How do experiences with mental health issues relate to a person's outlook on life? (3) Is there a difference in the significance in the different forms of or lack of an experience relate to stigma and outlook? Surveys were collected digitally through an undergraduate campus, poster on the same campus, and multiple social media campaigns. 242 participants (M_AGE = 27.4, SD_AGE = 16.6) completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale, Revised Life Orientation Test, Stigma Scale for Receiving Psychological Help, Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale - Revised, and investigator written assessment of mental health experiences. All measures were reliable. There were significant correlations between experience, stigma, and outlook. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed experience significantly predicted the variance in stigma (R² = .03, R²_ADJUSTED = .02, F (2, 239) = 3.67, p < .05) and the variance in outlook (R² = .11, R²_ADJUSTED = .098, F (2, 239) = 14.04, p < .001). Experience of someone close with mental health issues significantly predicted outlook (Beta = .14, p = .05). These findings suggest that sharing experience and promoting optimism would improve wellbeing and foster positive attitudes. 

Adolescents increasingly use digital technology. However, there might be variability in how important adolescents perceive their interactions with media and technology 1) to bridge online and offline experiences, 2) to go outside one’s identity or offline environment and 3) for social connection. This study aims to validate the Spanish version of the Adolescent Digital Technology Interactions and Importance Scale (ADTI), originally developed for US adolescents, with a sample of Peruvian adolescents. In addition, we investigated developmental and gender differences in these subscales. A total of 1,425 Peruvian adolescents (10 - 17 years, Mage = 13.2; 52% female) completed the ADTI remotely via Qualtrics in April 2020, a few weeks after adolescents had started remote schooling. I ran descriptive statistics and linear regressions to test for age and gender differences. Factor 1 (bridging online and offline experiences) was the highest ranked M = 15.1 (5), followed by Factor 2 (going outside one’s identity or offline environment), M = 14.2 (4.6). Factor 3 (social connection) was the lowest ranked M = 12.6 (4.5). Age was significantly correlated with Factor 1 and Factor 3 indicating that older adolescents endorsed higher levels of importance of technology for bridging online and offline environments as well as social connection. There was no significant age difference for Factor 2. We investigated gender differences. Girls had significantly higher levels for Factor 1 compared to boys Mgirls = 15.4 (4.7); Mboys = 14.7 (5.2) and for Factor 3 Mgirls = 13.4 (4.6); Mboys = 11.9 (4.3). There were no significant gender differences for Factor 2. This work can lead to better understanding of the role that technology plays in the lives of adolescents, and to implementation of safer practices in media and technology.

This poster describes a qualitative study highlighting the intersection of ethnic identity and Christian faith in shaping South Asian college students’ perceptions of LGBTQ+ individuals. Current sociopolitical climates toward LGBTQ+ individuals in South Asian countries tend to be hostile, and even South Asian communities within the United States can reflect similar beliefs. Zaidi (2014) found that shame in the South Asian community was in conflict with a desire to express one’s queer identity among South Asian youths (Zaidi, 2014). Moreover, environmental factors such as the religious setting might contribute to varying perspectives regarding LGBTQ+ individuals; in the current study, we highlight faith-based higher education institutions (i.e., Christian university) as an institution that can shape views regarding LBTBQ+ folks and their experiences. We conducted 6 semi-structured interviews with South Asian college students enrolled in a Christian university located in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. Our three-member research team transcribed the interviews, coded the transcriptions, and placed the codes in themes according to Braun and Clarke’s (2006) guidelines for Thematic Analysis. The four themes that we identified include support for LGBTQ+ people on campus, Christian messaging around LGBTQ+ identity, South Asian communities, and participant’s own attitudes. These major themes also included subthemes, some of which are campus advocacy and protests influenced participant’s beliefs, feelings of an internal struggle, attitudes of South Asian communities, and individual affirming attitudes. Broadly, we found that the participants viewed their own South Asian communities as generally silent or passive in LGBTQ+ dialogues, and that their Christian campus promoted both helpful and unhelpful conversations about the topic. We will present some implications for practice in higher education around fostering an inclusive space for LGTBQ+ individuals, especially as they pertain to intentional integration of culture-specific (e.g., South Asian) and religious (e.g., Christian) perspectives.

We looked at the effect of age on location discrimination and reversal learning in horses. In location discrimination the animal learns to select a reinforced location and ignore other unreinforced locations. In reversal learning, the reinforced and unreinforced locations are switched. Research with humans and animals has found that while age has no effect on initial learning, older animals show impaired reversal learning since this task requires greater cognitive flexibility. Based on this information, we predicted that older horses would learn the location discrimination as quickly as younger horses, but would show impaired reversal learning due to age-related cognitive decline. We recruited 27 horses aged 5-27 years from Overlake Farm in Bellevue. All horses learned to discriminate between two locations, approaching a location that had a pan with food more quickly than a location with an empty pan. We then examined reversal learning by switching the location of the pan with food and the empty pan. As predicted, compared to younger horses (aged 5-17 years), older horses (aged 18-27 years) learned the location discrimination task as quickly as younger horses, but showed impaired reversal learning, primarily as a result of their inability to inhibit previously reinforced approach responses. Horses showed signs of frustration and aggression during reversal trials, so we conducted a systematic analysis of anticipation and frustration behaviors for 15 horses that participated in 2023. We predicted that they would show positive food anticipation behaviors when approaching reinforced locations, and frustration behaviors when approaching previously but no longer reinforced locations during reversal trials. This research is the first to explore the behavioral indicators related to cognitive processes involved in reversal learning, and these tests of cognitive flexibility serve as a potential use for future diagnoses of cognitive decline in older humans and animals.

Adolescence is a critical stage of development, a time in which social relations are pivotal to feelings of connectedness, belongingness, and wellbeing. Amidst the rise in usage of widespread social media platforms, adolescents have begun to seek out online-only friendships (OOFs), prompting our lab to explore the prevalence and quality of these social connections. We first gathered data from adolescents (n = 5756, ages 10-18) in Peru in 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown. In 2023, we repeated and refined our prior analyses after gathering data from adolescents in Bolivia (n = 1071) and Uruguay (n = 647). We administered a Qualtrics survey asking participants to self-report on the number and perceived quality of OOFs and IPFs (in-person friendships), using the Network of Relationships Inventory (Furman and Buhmester, 1985). I served as a Research Assistant (RA) for the interACT Lab. I reviewed the literature on online friendships, performed data cleanup, and assisted on statistical analyses of our data. Given the lack of prior research on the topic, our lab sought to explore the quality of online friendships in order to provide a foundation for future investigations. Currently, our lab is analyzing the quality of IPFs vs. OOFs on the basis of self-reported levels of support, closeness, trust, and similar-interests. 79.8% of adolescents in our sample have OOFs. In addition, preliminary findings indicate that IPFs have more negative qualities than OOFs, and that OOFs have more negative qualities than IPFs . This work is important because not only does it examine adolescent technology usage in regard to social connectivity, but it also presents findings from the Global South, which is often underrepresented in psychology research. Our findings provide an understanding of the benefits and downsides of engaging in online-only friendships for adolescents in South America, a region that is too often underrepresented in psychology research.

Plainfin midshipman (Porichthys notatus) are seasonally reproducing teleost fish found along the Pacific Coast of North America. During the non-reproductive months (December-February), midshipman live offshore in deep waters. Between March and July, they migrate to the intertidal zone to reproduce. During the reproductive period, dominant (type I) males build and defend nests and hum to attract female mates. Unlike most vertebrates, courtship (humming to attract mates) and parental care (egg cleaning, nest defense) are both conducted only by type I males. These males therefore face energetic and temporal trade-offs between courtship to parental care within a single reproductive season. Our research investigates the neural mechanisms underlying the transition from courtship to paternal care in type I males during the reproductive period. We propose that this behavioral shift is regulated by steroid hormones (i.e. testosterone and estrogen) and neuropeptides (i.e. galanin). We are measuring hormone levels in blood and brain of midshipman fish across various conditions of courtship and parental care. We show the relationship between changes in steroid and neuropeptide levels in both blood and brain and changes in courtship and parental care behavior in type I males. Understanding these mechanisms in midshipman fish is crucial, as the steroid and neuropeptide pathways that regulate social behaviors share similar pathways across vertebrates. Therefore, studying this in teleost fish can provide valuable insights into the broader regulatory mechanisms of reproductive life-stage transitions in vertebrates.

Smartphone use among adolescents has dramatically increased in the past decade, with adolescents allocating more time inside on their screens and less time outside in nature. Given these shifts in behaviors, there has been a rise in concerns about the impact of smartphones on adolescents’ mental health. Studies on nature exposure have found that spending time in nature promotes human well-being; however, a limited body of research exists exploring how smartphone use impacts our ability to experience these physical and psychological benefits of nature exposure. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted a between-subjects experiment with college students at the University of Washington (N ~ 40) randomly allocated to one of two conditions to spend 20 minutes in nature: a smartphone condition and a no-smartphone condition. Participants self-reported on positive and negative affect and rumination before and after their experience in nature. After completing these scales, participants reported on their experience of Presence, a state of being in which the mind is highly aware but without active thought, by self-reporting on a recently validated 14-point scale and writing about it for further analysis using an interaction pattern approach. I anticipated that participants who feel more attached to their smartphones spend more time using them in nature and, in turn, are less likely to experience the emotional benefits of nature. If the findings reflect this, future research should explore how smartphones impact adolescents’ mental health and the extent to which smartphone-free time spent outside in nature can improve their well-being.

People are more likely to stigmatise the mental health of an out-group compared to an in-group member. People are also more likely to distribute resources toward in-group than out-group members. The present study applies these findings to understand how likely a person is to appraise another’s mental health experiences as legitimate and share mental health resources with them based on identified social groups. Participants recruited from the University of Washington Psychology Department subject pool were randomly assigned to one of four different conditions. They read a vignette about a hypothetical individual with or without a specified diagnosis of OCD who attends the University of Washington or Washington State University. The participants reported their legitimacy appraisal of the outlined mental health challenges and their willingness to share mental health resources with the target. I hypothesise that participants who read a description of an individual from Washington State University without a specified diagnosis will rate the individual’s mental health condition as less legitimate. I also hypothesise participants who read about an individual from Washington State University without a specified diagnosis will be less likely to share mental health resources with them. The findings of this study will help shed light on the type of stigma surrounding mental health and resource sharing from the perspective of social groups. In turn, the findings can help the public recognise more acute mental health biases they may hold and thus work towards dismantling them. This can foster the growth of a more empathetic and united community.