Previous research indicates that exposure to simulated and real natural environments can reduce negative and increase positive emotion; few studies have researched the effects of exposure to nature on aggression and/or physiological variables. We measured ranked aggression, mood, and heart rate, and hypothesized: (1) exposure to a video clip of a mixed martial arts fight (aggressive stimuli) will produce an increase in heart rate, a decrease in mood and higher ranked aggression scores, and (2) exposure to a video clip of nature scenes vs. urban environment will decrease heart rate, increase positive mood, and lower ranked aggression scores. Participants (N=16; mean age 22.67; sd = 3.23) answered demographic questions, a mood questionnaire, and a ranked aggression measure, then recorded their heart rate. Next, all participants viewed a mixed-martial-arts video and recorded their heart rate subsequently. Participants were then randomly assigned to view either a nature or an urban video followed by recording their heart rate. Lastly, they repeated the mood scale, ranked aggression and a final heart rate measurement. Results indicate the MMA video did not increase heart rate nor did it increase ranked aggression. Heart rate decreased and mood increased following the nature video, but not significantly. Heart rate increased and mood decreased following the urban video, but not significantly. Our preliminary results suggest a transient effect of nature on mood and heart rate.

Students face socio-scientific issues on a day to day basis. Is the COVID19 vaccine really necessary? Do I really need to wear a mask? It is imperative that students have the ability to make appropriate decisions on these socio scientific matters based on evidence and reasoning. Notably, instructors stress the importance of using evidence and research to determine how students make decisions, however, we know very little about students' reasoning behind the decisions they make. Further, it is vital that we understand the rationales held by students who are not majoring in science and analyze their decision process in these cases. Students without a science background make up the majority of the voting population, therefore, the goal of this research was to target undergraduate students. The students in this study were enrolled in a general biology education course, but were not biology majors. Students were given a pre-test with questions on an important socio-scientific issue and then exposed to an educational module on that socio scientific issue. After the module, they were given the same question and asked to give a rationale for their response. The responses were then analyzed and coded to see if students used evidence based reasoning from the topics learned in that biology course or even from other aspects of their lives.

The present study examines mindfulness, preferred coping methods, and the perceptions of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on mental health conditions. Furthermore, this research explores gender differences and how the role of religion impacts the perceptions and acceptability of mindfulness. Additionally, the study provides suggestions from previous studies on ways to enhance mindfulness-based interventions tailored for African American communities, which could potentially increase the acceptability of mindfulness practices. African American students ages 18-25 from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater are included to fill gaps in the research on mindfulness and African Americans.

The current opioid epidemic increasingly impacts women of childbearing age and pregnant women, creating an urgent need to identify optimal ways to support women with opioid use disorder (OUD) who are parenting. While it is understood that women with OUD and their children face significant challenges, the nature of these challenges are poorly understood, making it difficult to provide targeted interventions for this population. The reward-stress dysregulation model of addicted parenting put forth by Mayes and colleagues highlights reward sensitivity and stress reactivity as overlapping core processes involved in addiction and parenting. The model postulates that low reward sensitivity and heightened stress reactivity among women with substance use difficulties will contribute to parenting difficulties and increased likelihood of ongoing addictive behaviors. The proposed project will examine several key elements of this model that remain untested, and consider the role of inhibitory control, a key component of executive functioning, which plays an important role in both addiction and parenting. It will focus on the postpartum period since it is a critical time period for both the mother and the newborn. As such, it represents a time of potential vulnerability and opportunity for women with OUD and their children. This project is designed to provide critical information to facilitate increasingly precise intervention efforts, with regard to timing and targets, to address the unique challenges of women with OUD who are parenting.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is prevalent across gender identities (Grant et al., 2008) and racial groups (Newhill & Vaughn, 2009). Previous literature has investigated gender differences in BPD trait expression; however, racial differences in BPD trait expression have yet to be investigated. The Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline Features Scale (PAI-BOR; Morey, 1991) assesses the severity of adult borderline traits within professional and research settings and consists of four subscales: negative relationships, affective instability, identity problems, and self-harm. Prior studies have shown that women reported more negative relationships, affective instability, and identity problems than men; however, there were no observed gender differences on the self-harm subscale (De Moor et al., 2009). In a college student sample (n=65), we sought to replicate the gender findings of De Moor et al. (2009) and to examine racial differences in an exploratory manner. Compared to Black participants, White participants scored significantly higher on the identity problem subscale (F(1, 64)=4.032, p=.049). Women reported more issues with negative relationships than men consistent with the results of De Moor et al. (2009) (F(1, 64) = 9.781, p = .003). There was no effect of gender or race on any other subscale. These results suggest that an individual’s race and gender may affect borderline trait expression. Furthermore, caution should be exercised during the diagnostic process to ensure that these differences are accounted for and that the correct diagnosis is reached.

Health and fitness mobile applications make health improvement intervention more accessible to the public by providing tracking and goal-setting tools to individuals with smartphones. Despite this, health apps suffer from low user engagement. Most apps send push notifications to remind users to complete in-app tasks. Research suggests that notifications may be ignored due to a lack of perceived relevance to the user. Our research explores if notification customization settings could combat non-engagement by allowing users to determine how and when to receive reminders? Further, it asks if customizing notifications will increase a health app user’s intention to engage with the app. Our research is framed using the theory of planned behavior, which states that the intention to make behavioral change is predicated by beliefs that the behavior will have the expected outcome. Through an online survey (n=258, age=18-85) we inquired about attitudes, subjective norms and behavioral control relating to the use of health apps and push notification customization. We hypothesize that individuals with higher subjective norms and/or higher perceived behavioral control, will have increased intention of customizing notifications preferences. Additionally, we hypothesize that individuals who customize notifications will have higher intended engagement with health apps. This exploratory study also probes attitudes towards privacy, location-sharing and reasons for use and non-use of health apps. The insights gained from this study will aid both app designers and users in understanding how to fully realize the potential of health apps.