Undergraduate Research

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Childhood Trauma and Substance Use in an Undergraduate Population: Revisiting the Role of Impulsivity
(University of New Brunswick, 2025-04) Scherf, Julia; Caroline Brunelle
The comorbidity between traumatic childhood experiences and subsequent substance use has been well established. Negative urgency is defined as a need to act rashly in response to negative emotions, and positive urgency is the urge to act impulsively in the context of positive emotions. The purpose of this study is to explore if negative and positive urgency partially account for the relationship between childhood trauma and the use of substances in university students. A total of 209 students (Mage = 20.81, SD = 4.68) were recruited from the University of New Brunswick and completed a questionnaire package online, which included measures of childhood trauma, urgency, frequency of substance use and problematic use of various substances. Results showed significant positive correlations between childhood trauma and cannabis/alcohol problems, between childhood trauma and positive and negative urgency and between alcohol and cannabis problems and positive and negative urgency scores. Mediation analysis showed a significant indirect effect of negative urgency between childhood trauma and alcohol problems, but not for cannabis problems. The study suggests that interventions that reduce negative urgency may be promising to mitigate the effects of trauma on substance use behaviours.
Examining the Effect of Fermentation Medium on the Antibiotic Activity of Fungal Extracts
(University of New Brunswick, 2025-04) Smith, Emilee A.; Christopher A. Gray
Fermentation medium can influence the production of bioactive compounds by endophytes, affecting their antimicrobial properties. This study employed a panel of 10 microbial pathogens to examine the antimicrobial activity of extracts derived from 35 endophytes grown in potato dextrose broth (PDB) and malt extract broth (MEB). Factorial ANOVAs showed that extract bioactivity was significantly influenced by growth medium (p < 0.001 for 31 isolates) and pathogen (p < 0.001 for all isolates) and revealed a significant interaction between these factors (p < 0.001 for all isolates). Extracts of isolates grown in PDB generally exhibited greater activity in our bioassays, suggesting that it promotes the production of antimicrobial compounds. However, no consistent trend linked medium-dependant activity to pathogen type, indicating that metabolite production is also influenced by the metabolic ability of individual endophytes. These findings highlight the importance of selecting an appropriate fermentation medium to maximize the bioactivity of endophyte extracts.
Growth Mindset in Intelligence and Personal Attributes: Examining the Role of Personality Traits, Self-Efficacy, Resilience, and Coping
(University of New Brunswick, 2025-04) McLellan, Liam R; Lilly Both
The purpose of this study was to examine the role of personality traits, self-efficacy, resilience, and coping as predictors of mindset in intelligence and personal attributes. Mindsets can be defined as mental frameworks in which people hold beliefs about themselves or others, and these mindsets can have a large impact on the way individuals navigate situations. Fixed mindsets involve a belief that traits are unchangeable, whereas growth mindsets refer to traits as malleable. Personality traits, self-efficacy, resilience, and coping have all been correlated with mindsets, but these variables have not been examined in one model to assess their unique contributions. Questionnaires examining each of these variables were administered to 136 participants on Qualtrics. These participants were recruited from psychology classes at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John. The results indicated gender differences, with women scoring higher on mindset in intelligence, agreeableness, and negative emotionality, but lower on resilience compared to men. The two domains of mindset were highly correlated. Growth mindset in intelligence was correlated with higher scores on agreeableness, self-efficacy, and resilience. Growth mindset in personal attributes was significantly correlated with higher scores on agreeableness. Regression analyses revealed that self-efficacy contributed significantly to mindset in intelligence, as did resilience in a separate model. Regression analyses predicting mindset in personal attributes did not produce statistically significant models. These results are discussed in the context of factors impacting mindsets in undergraduate students.
Movement as Medicine: The Moderating Effect of Physical Activity on the Mental Health of Adolescents Impacted by a Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury
(University of New Brunswick, 2025-04) Reilly, Tristin; Vanessa Morris
Research has demonstrated a positive relationship between traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), mental illness, and physical activity, though much of this work has been cross-sectional or limited in follow-up. The current study used longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study to explore the long-term effects of childhood TBI on adolescent mental health, specifically symptoms of anxiety and depression. This study addressed three research questions: (1) Are childhood TBIs associated with increased symptoms of anxiety in adolescence? (2) Are childhood TBIs associated with increased symptoms of depression in adolescence? (3) Does physical activity moderate the relationship between childhood TBI and symptoms of anxiety and depression in adolescence? Data from 8,374 participants were analyzed. Correlation and moderation analyses were conducted to assess associations between TBI and mental health outcomes, and the moderating role of physical activity. Correlational analyses revealed that childhood TBI was weakly but significantly associated with higher anxiety and depression symptoms. Physical activity was weakly associated with lower symptoms of both. Moderation analyses showed that physical activity did not significantly moderate the relationship between TBI and either mental health outcome. However, TBI and physical activity were each significant independent predictors: TBI was associated with greater symptom severity, while higher physical activity was associated with fewer symptoms overall. These findings suggest that while physical activity may broadly support adolescent mental health, it does not buffer the specific effects of childhood TBI. This underscores the need for early intervention and continued investigation into long-term outcomes.
Police-Citizen Mental Health Call Duration and Associations with Call Outcomes
(University of New Brunswick, 2025-04) Carey, Amy; Mary Ann Campbell
An understudied factor in police-mental health calls is the influence of call duration. The longer a call takes to resolve, the greater the opportunity for use of crisis intervention to de-escalate the situation. Alternatively, longer calls may have significant resource impacts on a shift with other waiting calls. To clarify whether call duration matters in police response, the current study assessed the average duration of police mental health calls, factors influencing call duration, and the degree call duration relates to crisis intervention response by police officers using a sample of 200 police-mental health calls in New Brunswick, Canada (52% men; 82% White/European; age range: 10-87 yrs). Variables were extracted from body worn camera and police records. Calls lasted a median of 43 min, with much variability (range 2 to 642 min). Hierarchical regression found that longer call duration was significantly predicted by being a non-White client, displays of non-communicative/non-responsive behaviour, and intimidating/threatening behaviour towards others, whereas shorter call duration was predicted when clients displayed generally aggressive behaviour. Weapon presence, uncooperative behaviour, causing a disturbance, or voicing violent ideations were unrelated to call duration. Longer call duration was correlated with higher volume of crisis intervention skills used but not the overall quality of the crisis response. These findings provide a window into the factors that influence how long an officer takes during mental health calls and the factors that may shape the immediacy of their actions.
Preparing for the Inevitable: Investigating the Role of Anticipatory Grief and Psychological Flexibility on Mental Well-Being
(University of New Brunswick, 2025-04) Moore, Robyn; Lisa Best
Anticipatory grief (AG) arises when individuals process emotions before an expected loss, often due to terminal illness or decline. Various factors influence AG, including coping strategies and psychological flexibility (PF), which is the ability to stay present and adapt behaviour to align one’s behaviours with personal values. PF may help mitigate AG by reducing experiential avoidance (EA), the tendency to suppress distressing thoughts. Research examining the impact of AG on psychological well-being after a loss is mixed. Thus, the primary goal of this study was to examine the impact of AG and bereavement on the well-being of individuals who experienced either sudden or anticipated loss of a loved one within the past 24 months. A total of 195 participants completed a questionnaire package to assess variables associated with bereavement, anxiety, depression, coping, and PF. Results indicated that individuals who experienced an anticipated loss reported lower anxiety and higher overall PF than those with sudden loss. AG, bereavement, and EA were correlated with depression and anxiety. Interestingly, PF and coping were not positively correlated. Regression analyses indicated that bereavement, not AG, significantly predicted anxiety and depression. Aspects of PF and EA accounted for significant variance in models predicting anxiety. Qualitative responses describing relationship to the deceased provided further support that AG exacerbates depression and anxiety. Overall, the findings highlight the need to understand the distinction between bereavement and AG, emphasizing AG’s unique emotional impact on anxiety in those facing an expected loss.
The Effects of Visual Masking on Recognition: A Replication of Westerman and Greene’s (1997) Study
(University of New Brunswick, 2025-04) Chaaban, Kamal Abou; Jonathan Wilbiks
Masking is the impairment of perception of visual stimuli when they are quickly followed by other stimuli. The perceptual interference effect occurs when visual stimuli are obscured and the brain activates pathways to compensate for the lack of information, and in turn, improves later explicit memory. Many models of word recognition suggest that the speed and ease with which this higher-level information is attained is proportional to the word’s linguistic frequency and familiarity. The purpose of this study was to replicate Westerman and Greene’s (1997) study by testing the theory that there is a mnemonic benefit for masking high frequency, familiar words. A total of 71 psychology students from the University of New Brunswick Saint John Campus participated in an online pilot experiment that tested the familiarity of select words, and an additional sample of 41 students participated in a subsequent in-person replication experiment that tested their ability to recognize masked and unmasked words. Two repeated-measures analyses of variance were conducted. The results supported the hypothesis that there is a mnemonic benefit for masking high frequency, familiar words, and no effect for low frequency, unfamiliar words. The results are discussed in the context of the word frequency effect and automatic processing.
The Relationship Between Authoritarianism and Mental Health Moderated by Religiosity
(University of New Brunswick, 2025-04) Wood, Jarrett; David Speed
Authoritarianism, which is the obedience to an authority figure and proclivity to use censorship and aggression to enforce the beliefs of the authority figure, is negatively correlated to various health outcomes. Religiosity, which is the strength of an individual’s religious belief, is also associated with many health outcomes. Religion and authoritarianism have been found to be positively correlated but no research has been done to see if they interact with each other. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether authoritarianism is associated with worse mental health and to see if higher religiosity in conjunction with higher authoritarianism has an amplified negative relationship to mental health. Data from the 2021 American General Social Survey (N ≥ 980) was used to explore the relationship between authoritarianism, religiosity, and mental health. A hierarchical linear regression was used to examine whether authoritarianism was moderated by religiosity in the relationship with health outcomes. The results suggest that allowing a communist to speak is positively correlated to mental health but allowing a Muslim and allowing an anti-religionist to speak are not correlated to mental health. Religiosity was not found to be correlated to any mental health outcomes either, which does not support the previous Belief-As-Benefit-Effect literature. When the relationship between mental health and allowing a communist to speak was moderated by religiosity, it was found that individuals who would not allow a communist to speak were more likely to report better mental health at higher levels of religiosity.

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Browsing Undergraduate Research by Subject "Psychology"

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