Electronic Theses and Dissertations

M. Greg Horn

Date

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Counseling Psychology

Committee Chair

Sara Bridges

Committee Member

Eraina Schauss

Committee Member

Yonghong Xu

Committee Member

Elin Ovrebo

Abstract

Residential treatment (RT) has shown a minimal effect in the treatment of aggression and delinquency in adolescents. Adverse childhood experiences predict these externalizing behaviors, and it is theorized that problems of self-regulation are involved. Neurofeedback has been used to facilitate self-regulation. Little research has examined how problems with self-regulation mediate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and externalizing behaviors. Participants in the current study were male and female adolescents between ages 11 and 17 enrolled in a residential treatment facility. Participants were randomly assigned to either the treatment-as-usual or neurofeedback with treatment-as-usual condition. Multiple regression was utilized to examine a mediation model in which dissociative experiences and difficulties in emotion regulation would mediate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and externalizing behavior. Although, the data did not support the multiple mediation model, effect sizes suggest promising results should the study be repeated using a larger sample size. Further, repeated measures ANOVA examined the effect of neurofeedback on dissociation and emotion regulation. Evidence for an overall decline was found supporting the effectiveness of residential treatment. Between-groups analyses were consistent with the power analysis suggesting that differences between the neurofeedback and treatment-as-usual groups would not be detected give the sample size. Limitations of the study are discussed.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest

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