Student Research

Vignette Study IV on Racial Bias in Diagnosing and Axis V

by Danny Burgess

In the practice of diagnosing and determining level of functioning, one variable that has been of interest for several decades is the influence of the client's race. Past research on this highly sensitive issue has been inconsistent. Many findings suggest that the race of the client offers no bias in determining diagnostic features; whereas, a comparable number of studies reveal different forms of biases that influence diagnostic decisions. This current study teaches participants the Global Assessment Functioning (GAF) scale by using a training method that exposes them to different forms of racial biases. It is then of interest to see if the biases reveal themselves in making GAF ratings on case histories.

The following list is a selection of diversity related dissertations and theses conducted in Clinical Psychology at Auburn University from 1993 to 2004.

Click on the links below to read the abstracts of the student research:

Barry Steven Wood (1993)

Mentor : James F. McCoy, Ph.D.

Thesis: Teaching public telephone access skills to developmentally disabled adults.

Sara Carolina Castillo (1993)

Mentor : Malcolm D. Gynther, Ph.D.

Dissertation: The relationship between hardiness, social support, family environment, and stress-related behaviors in college-age siblings of mildly handicapped children.

Linda Foltz (1993)

Mentor : James F. McCoy, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Characteristics of parents attending C.H.A.D.D., a support group for parents of children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Leah Annette Herod (1993)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Thesis: Diagnostic utility of visual and auditory tasks in the assessment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Marcia Allison Hendry (1994)

Mentor : Richard K. Fleming, Ph.D.

Disssertation: Effects of multiple-component cue discrimination training on demented and healthy older adults' patterns of responding to single-component stimuli and combined component stimulus complexes.

Dawn Noelle Riggs Symuleski (1994)

Mentor : Malcolm D. Gynther, Ph.D.

Thesis: What is a hyperfeminine woman?

Jamie Lynn Wasilewski (1995)

Mentor : Barry R. Burkhart, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Women's responses to sexually oriented manuals.

Scott Haden Kollins (1995)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Thesis: Differential effects of reward on the behavior of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Barbara June Warner Martin (1995)

Mentor : James F. McCoy, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Primary prevention of AIDS-HIV infection with a developmentally disabled population.

Jodi Ann Polaha (1996)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Thesis: The effects of medication information and goal orientation on the achievement attributions of boys with ADHD.

Polly Suzanne Blake Dunn (1996)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Thesis: Gender differences in the achievement goal orientations of children with ADHD.

Judy Lynn Seichter Williams (1996)

Mentor : Malcolm D. Gynther, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Hyperfemininity in Women: its effect on behaviors, beliefs, risk for date rape, and response to rape education.

Heather Lynn Ringeisen (1997)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Thesis: The influence of maternal self-reported cognitions on the behavior of mothers and their children diagnose with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Leslie Diane Bessellieu (1997)

Mentor : Malcolm D. Gynther, Ph.D.

Dissertation: The meaning of weight and body image in African-American women.

Harriet Ann Marsh Lee (1997)

Mentor : James F. McCoy, Ph.D.

Dissertation: An analysis of discriminative learning in elderly subjects with and without dementia.

Leah Annette Herod (1999)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Auditory and Visual CPTS in ADHD: a comparison of sensory modalities, age, and response to methylphenidate.

Allison Jane Moore (1999)

Mentor : James F. McCoy, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Predictors of early breast cancer screening behaviors among ethnically diverse low-income psychiatric outpatients.

Polly Blake Dunn (1999)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Dissertation: The application of signal detection theory to the assessment of ADHD.

Alicia Strickland Perry (1999)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Training techniques for parents of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Heather Lynne Ringeisen (1999)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Compliance and attention training in children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Rebecca Susan Blakeman (1999)     

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Dissertation: ADHD and distractibility: The role of distracter appeal.

Jacqueline Alabama Folsom (1999)     

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Family functioning and ADHD in adolescents with and without a comorbid anxiety disorder.

 

Cherrolyn Catreace Mays Smith (2000)

Mentor : Barry R. Burkhart, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Effects of acculturation and contributory factors of acculturative stress on alcohol consumption and related problems among African American women.

Dawn Noelle Riggs (2000)           

Mentor : Barry R. Burkhart, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Hyperfemininity and romantic attachment style.

Amanda M. Olson (2000)

Mentor : Jalie A. Tucker, Ph.D.

Thesis: Helping individuals at-risk for eating disorders: an investigation of eating behaviors, health habits, and help-seeking preferences of college women.

Sylvia Denise Baker Blair (2003)

Mentor : James F. McCoy, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Correlates of depressive symptomatology among rural African American adolescents.

Heather Marie Austin (Shepard) (2003)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Use of self-management techniques for the treatment of students diagnosed with ADHD: an empirical investigation of the self-regulation of behavior.

Michele P. Godwin (2003)

Mentor : Roger K. Blashfield, Ph.D.

Dissertation: The influence of race in clinical psychology: An assessment of bias using novices and the Global Assessment of Functioning.

Anastasia Christine Sullwold (2003)

Mentor : Steven K. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Dissertation: Relationship of sluggish cognitive tempo to symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in clinically referred college students.

 

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Last updated on August 31, 2004