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Oklahoma Psychological Association 2024 Convention

November 11, 2024 by PEANUTs Lab

Two of the lab’s students presented at the convention of the Oklahoma Psychological Association on November 8!

Undergraduate Honors student McKenna Nhem was invited to present a talk on her research examining environmental sensitivity to discrimination on the prediction of adult mental health. This summer fellowship project followed up McKenna’s scoping review and honors thesis finding limited research examining how temperament/personality can capture environmental sensitivity in adult mental health research. McKenna’s project also examined psychological distress and well-being after finding that previous research focused exclusively on psychopathology.

Recent undergrad alumni Zoe Childers-Rockey presented the protocol of her new independent project, a systematic review of the moderators of the association between peer influences and adolescent delinquency. Her poster got a first place award!

New student paper! Moderators of the Association Between Parental Separation and Adolescent Externalizing Behaviors and Substance Use

November 1, 2024 by PEANUTs Lab

Madison Bissa, who is now a PhD student in clinical psychology at the University of Tulsa, recently published her Honors thesis completed in the lab in the peer-reviewed journal Adolescent Research Review.

Madi conducted a systematic literature review examining the moderators of the association between parent divorce and adolescent externalizing behaviors and substance use. In other words, her review helped understand for which adolescents and when parental divorce/separation has a larger or smaller association with externalizing behaviors and substance use. This work was conducted with the contribution of five undergraduate research assistants who are co-authors on the paper: Parker Haley, Ashley Wells, Jenna LaBelle, McKenna Nhem, and Delaney Fulp.

Find the paper here! http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40894-024-00249-9
Read-only free version: https://rdcu.be/dWNLN

Infographic about Madison's article. Main findings are that divorce earlier in an adolescent's lifetime is more strongly related to externalizing behaviors in adolescence, positive family relationships are protective, and cultural factors should be taken into consideration.

Society for Research in Psychopathology Conference

October 23, 2024 by PEANUTs Lab

On October 17-20, undergraduate students Christina Personette and McKenna Nhem attended and presented their research at the Society for Research in Psychopathology international conference in Montreal, Canada!

Christina and McKenna together in front of their posters

Christina presented her research findings on environmental sensitivity to recent stressful experiences predicting prenatal mental health. Results showed that recent stressful experiences predict depressive symptoms only for individuals high on the temperament trait of sensory processing sensitivity.

McKenna presented her findings on environmental sensitivity to discrimination predicting adult mental health. Results showed that individuals high on aesthetic sensitivity, a facet of sensory processing sensitivity, benefited most from low discriminatory environments. High levels of discrimination had negative impacts of psychological distress and well-being regardless of temperament.

2024 UReCA showcase presentations

October 7, 2024 by PEANUTs Lab

Congratulations to McKenna Nhem and Christina Personette who presented their results at the University of Oklahoma UReCA showcase on October 4!

They conducted research on environmental sensitivity to discrimination (McKenna) and recent stressful experiences (Christina) through the UReCA summer fellowship.

McKenna in front of her poster — *McKenna Nhem*

New student paper! Exploring whether measuring gender in pregnancy research results in participant loss

September 14, 2024 by PEANUTs Lab

Madison Bissa, who completed her Honors thesis in the lab and is now a PhD student in clinical psychology at the University of Tulsa, recently published as first author in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM. This work was conducted in addition to her Honors thesis as part of independent research under the supervision of Dr. Rioux for her minor in Women’s and Gender studies.

Madi found that in a recent pregnancy cohort (Experiences of Pregnancy), asking several questions about gender identity, modality, and binary did not lead to participant dropout. This answers researcher concerns that cisgender participants offended by gender-related questions may drop out of their study, in turn supporting that the academic and social benefits of measuring gender identity outweigh worries about participant dropout.

Find the paper here! https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajogmf .2024.101484

Graphic with pregnant people and text saying that measuring gender in pregnancy research does not lead to participant dropout.

Cover of article entitled Exploring whether measuring gender in pregnancy research results in participant loss.

Conference of the Society for Research in Adolescence

April 24, 2024 by PEANUTs Lab

Madison Bissa, who graduated from her undergraduate degree in December, presented her Honors thesis work at the conference of the Society for Research on Adolescence last week in Chicago! Madi’s poster speed talk was on a systematic review of the moderators of the association between parental separation and adolescent externalizing behaviors. Dr. Rioux also presented her work on alcohol use age of onset and substance use disorder symptoms conducted with colleagues at the University of Montreal.

Provost’s UReCA Summer Fellowships – Summer 2024

April 18, 2024 by PEANUTs Lab

Congratulations to Honors thesis student McKenna Nhem and undergraduate research assistant Christina Personette, who both received the OU Provost’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (UReCA) Summer Fellowship! The fellowship will support their independent research over the summer.

McKenna will work on a research project examining how individuals differ in their sensitivity to experiences of discrimination in the prediction of mental health in a national sample of adults in the United States.

Christina will work on a project examining how pregnant individuals differ in their sensitivity to recent stressful experiences in the prediction of mental health in the first trimester of pregnancy using data from the Experiences of Pregnancy cohort study.

Oklahoma Psychological Society Conference

April 10, 2024 by PEANUTs Lab

Several of our lab members presented their research at the Oklahoma Psychological Society (OPS) annual conference on April 5, 2024! Click on the students’ pictures to see their poster!

Fily Wahidin (graduate research assistant) presented her poster Prevalence and Frequency of Cannabis Use in Adults and State Cannabis Legislation: A National Study in the United States. Her project finds that cannabis use prevalence and frequency in adults (18+ years old) did not differ based on state-level cannabis legislation.

LaMauri Franklin (Honors thesis student) presented her poster Adverse childhood experiences and perinatal depression, anxiety, and depression. Her project finds that both household and community level adverse childhood experiences predicted symptoms of depression, anxiety, and anger during pregnancy.

Madison Bissa (Honors thesis student who graduated in December 2023) presented her poster Is measuring gender associated with participant dropout in a pregnancy cohort? Her project finds that including three questions on gender identity, modality, and binary in study questionnaires did not lead to study dropout among pregnant participants.

McKenna Nhem (Honors thesis student) presented her poster Environmental Sensitivity to Social Environments in Adult Mental Health: Scoping Review. Her project finds that (1) most studies examined genotype as an individual sensitivity factor, (2) most studies examined internalizing problems as a mental health outcome, and (3) most studies did not properly test their data within current theoretical models.

Zoe Childers-Rockey and Emily Flesher (undergraduate research assistants) presented their poster Pregnancy Longitudinal Cohort Recruitment via Social Media Ads with Zoom Calls: Cost, Effectiveness, and Representativeness. Their project finds that social media advertisements were an efficient way of recruiting pregnant participants and that while the resulting sample was less diverse than the US population, it was more diverse than pregnant participant cohorts recruited in person.

Zoe was also the recipient of the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award! Congratulations Zoe!

Christina Personette (undergraduate research assistant) presented her poster The interaction between sensory processing sensitivity and recent stressful experiences in prenatal mental health: Diathesis-stress or differential susceptibility? Her project finds that recent stressful events were associated with depressive symptoms in pregnancy only for individuals with a highly sensitive personality.

Christina’s poster was the recipient of one of the awards for best poster! Congratulations Christina!

Megan Waldron and Delaney Fulp (undergraduate research assistants) presented their talk The Highly Sensitive Personality and the Sensory Profile. Their project finds that the highly sensitive personality is related to a sensory profile characterized by a combination of low stimulus registration, high sensory sensitivity, and high sensation avoidance

The lab’s students also received several awards!
(1) Zoe Rockey received the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award following her nomination from Dr. Rioux. (2) Christina Personette received one of the Best Poster Awards. (3) Finally, McKenna Nhem, Madison Bissa, Christina Personette, and Fily Wahidin got second place representing the University of Oklahoma in the Psychology Bowl Trivia Competition!

McKenna Nhem, Christina Personette, and Madi Bissa with the Psychology Bowl awards.

The students’ presentations and accomplishments were celebrated with a post-conference dinner in Oklahoma City!

TOPS scholarships!

April 9, 2024 by PEANUTs Lab

Congratulations to our research assistants Delaney Fulp and Christina Personette on receiving the University of Oklahoma Department of Psychology’s TOPS (The Outstanding Psychology Student) scholarships!

The scholarship is given each year to outstanding students with excellent coursework records who contribute significantly to research, service, and/or community engagement in the department.

Delaney received the General Psychology scholarship and Christina, who is completing a statistics certificate along with her psychology major, received the Quantitative Statistics scholarship. Both were recommended by Dr. Rioux for their outstanding work in the lab along with other campus involvements.

Oklahoma Psychological Association Convention

November 7, 2023 by PEANUTs Lab

Several of our lab members presented their research at the Oklahoma Psychological Association (OPA) annual convention on November 3, 2023! Click on the students’ pictures to see their poster!

Madison Bissa (undergraduate Honors thesis student) presented her poster Moderators of the association between parental separation and adolescent externalizing behaviors: A systematic review. Her review finds that factors at the individual, family, and broader community levels moderate the association between parental separation and adolescent substance use and externalizing problems. Madison’s poster was the recipient of one of the awards for best poster! Congratulations Madi!

Zoe Childers-Rockey (undergraduate research assistant) presented her poster Parent Preferences for Peer Connection in Virtual Mental Health and Parenting Support Platforms. This research conducted in collaboration with the Hearts and Minds Lab finds that parents have strong preferences for connecting with peers if participating in a virtual (online or app-based) mental health and parenting program.

Madison Donohue (research assistant; graduated with her BA in Spring 2023) presented her poster Mental Health and Digital Media Use in the First Trimester of Pregnancy. Her project found that anxiety and depression are associated with more social comparisons on social media as well as being more comfortable asking for and sharing information online than in person.

Emily Flesher (undergraduate research assistant) presented her poster Cost and effectiveness of participant recruitment via social media ads with Zoom calls for a study on mental health in pregnancy. Her research finds that social media is an efficient recruitment method for pregnancy cohorts, with Facebook being the most cost-effective, followed by Instagram and Reddit (Twitter was not effective).

McKenna Nhem (undergraduate Honors thesis student) presented her poster Studies of person-environment interactions in adult mental health still focus on diathesis-stress: Initial results from a scoping review of studies citing environmental sensitivity theories. Her scoping review finds that studies on person-environment interactions in the prediction of adult mental health still tend to examine only one theoretical model (diathesis-stress) while citing but not testing competing models.

Annika Testerman (undergraduate research assistant) presented her poster Adverse childhood environments and substance use in pregnancy during COVID-19. This research conducted in collaboration with the Healthy Families Lab, Developmental Neuroimaging Lab, and Developmental Psychobiology Laboratory found that adverse childhood experiences were a stronger predictor of substance use in pregnant individuals during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic than pandemic-related stressors/hardship.

Annika Testerman in front of her poster.

Fily Wahidin (graduate research assistant) presented her poster Cannabis Legislation and Use Before and After Pregnancy: Descriptive Results from a National Cohort in the United States. Her project finds that cannabis use prevalence in the year before getting pregnant as well as during the first trimester of pregnancy did not differ based on state-level cannabis legislation.