Monthly Archives: September 2018

Velinka recently gave her Senior’s Thesis presentation titled “Youth Perceptions of Intergenerational Discordance and Immigrant Well-being”. Velinka is interested in studying acculturation, the process of adapting to a new culture, and how differing rates of acculturation between immigrant youth and their parents can lead to family tension and potential youth distress and maladjustment. This explanation of immigrant youth distress is known as the Acculturation Gap Distress model and has been expanded to take into account intergenerational, contextual, and individual differences. Velinka plans to take a mixed methods approach to examine youth-perceived parent-child gaps and assess their relation to depression, anxiety, post-traumatic growth (PTG), and somatic symptoms in immigrant youth. This is an exploratory study designed to quantitatively and qualitatively examine the role of perceived gaps between immigrant parent and child in acculturation and emotion processing and awareness on youth distress and to explore if stress related to perceived parent-child discrepancies leads to PTG. Velinka hopes to contribute to the Acculturation Gap-Distress Model, clarify the relationship between gap-distress-related stress and PTG, and provide information to educators, clinicians and physicians to assist those who struggle with immigration. We are excited to see what Velinka finds!

Whitney recently presented her dissertation proposal entitles “Psychological Growth, Distress, and Educational Impact of Dolphins and Dolphin Assisted Therapy in Children”. Whitney’s research is divided into three studies. The first study will examine the effect of a Wild Swim-With-Dolphins program on several variables of children including posttraumatic growth, social support, emotion regulation, and more. For the second study, she plans to empirically examine the impact of wild DAT on psychological factors among children, document physiological change across program using heart rate, and assess participant & guardian perceptions of the program. For the third study, Whitney will collect data from a Captive-Swim-With-Dolphins programs. She plans to assess the impact of physical touch with dolphins, assess emotion regulation, social support, and empathy changes, and assess conservation behavior and attitudes in children from the dolphin interaction. Upon completing these three studies, Whitney will be able to address the relationship between posttraumatic growth and dolphin interactions, compare captive versus wild swim-with-dolphin programs, and determine the mechanisms of effective animal assisted therapies with the goal of developing clinical interventions. Whitney has been collecting data and plans to continue next spring and summer! Good luck Whitney!

Several PTG lab members recently had the opportunity to travel to San Fransisco, California and present their studies at the 126th meeting of the American Psychological Association from August 9th-12th.

Jenna, Alvin, and Dr. Taku developed a poster presentation of their project, titled Impact of Life Events and Stressors Related to Posttraumatic Growth. The aim of the study was to investigate how how particular life stressors (e.g., death of a loved one, academic issues) would relate to specific PTG domains (i.e., Appreciation of Life, Relating to Others, Personal Strength). Alvin did a great job presenting their work. Jenna also worked on another project with Dr. Taku and Dr. Matthew McLarnon, title Resiliency, Posttraumatic Growth, and Growth Motivation in U.S. Military Personnel, in which they examined the relationship between two perspectives of resiliency and their relations to growth motivation and posttraumatic growth. Dr. Taku presented the poster on behalf of the group. Jess presented the project she worked on with Lauren and Dr. Taku, titled The Influence of Dark Triad Personality Traits on Perceived Trauma. The purpose of the study was to assess how certain aspects of the Dark Triad influence an individual’s perception of a most impactful event when multiple events are experienced.

Jess and Velinka presented their project with Dr. Taku, titled The Relationship Between Interpersonal Stressors, the Dark Triad, and PTG.  The purpose of their study was to examine how the relationship between individuals with Dark Triad traits and PTG changes depending on types of interpersonal stressors. Lastly, Lauren, Velinka, and Dr. Taku developed a project titled How Narratives of Authentic and Illusory Growth are Perceived. The purpose of the study was to assess differences in perceptions of authentic and illusory growth through the use of narrative vignettes.

APA 2018 proved to be another rewarding experience and even allowed for the opportunity meet Dr. Taku’s colleague and friend, Dr. Jane Shakespeare-Finch who traveled from Australia. Overall, lab members were excited for another opportunity to share their work and learn about research being conducted around the world.