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  Comparing White Students & Students of Color on Job Interference and Ease of Remote Learning During the Pandemic

  Isabella Alcarese, Emily Robinson, and Helena Lucia Swanson

  Previous literature identified that between 50-70% of college students work while attending school. During the COVID-19 pandemic, balancing work and school may have become increasingly difficult for students. The aim of this study is to analyze group differences between students of color and White students on ease of remote learning during COVID-19 and job interference measures. Data was collected during the Summer of 2020 from students from a midsize Catholic university in a Metropolitan Midwestern city (N = 1956). For this study, two questionnaires were utilized: Job Interference Scale and Ease of Remote Learning Scale. Additionally students responded to the following question, “Between all your jobs (including Federal Work-Study), in a typical week how many hours do you generally work?". A t-test was conducted to test group differences among the variables and concluded that only Ease of Remote Learning Scale had a significant difference. In almost all ease of remote learning categories, students of color had more difficulty compared to White students. Based on these results, university recommendations will be presented on how to better support students of color during remote learning.

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  PSY 358- Fieldwork/Internship Amy Zier & Associates

  Natalie Altenburg

  This presentation will be describing an internship experience at Amy Zier & Associates (AZA). AZA aims to provide occupational therapy services to children, with the average age of clients being three to six years old. AZA aims specifically to treat sensory processing disorders. However, social, emotional regulation, and motor skills are also developed through working on sensory integration. Due to the wide range of areas that AZA can assist with, children with a variety of needs and diagnoses receive services from AZA, including those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Apraxia, and ADHD diagnoses. Using the DIR/Floortime model, therapists at AZA use an approach that is meant to build strong, therapeutic relationships with clients. Along with that, each session is individualized to each child. By doing this, treatment is catered to each individual’s strengths, weaknesses, and personal interests. Sessions are play-based, meaning that each session revolves around games and pretend play. These sessions can be individual or done in groups. AZA also provides feeding therapy, summer camp programs, and intensive programs in bike riding and handwriting. While therapists work with children individually, they also encourage parents, siblings, caretakers, and other adults in the child’s life to participate in sessions. The presentation will include application and contact information for future students.

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  Residential Impact on Home, Place Attachment: Where You Live Matters

  Safa Asad, Ryan D. Claudio, Helena L. Swanson, Devki A. Patel, and Joseph R. Ferrari

  Understanding the contextual setting we live and reside in is a cornerstone concept to community psychologists. Researchers have explored one’s sense of community and place attachment but only recently examined psychological home – a non-physical sense of peace and comfort experienced outside the confines of a physical structure. In this study, we gathered data from a USA community sample of DePaul University students to examine if the type of residential community an individual grew up in had potential developmental impact on one’s sense of psychological home later in life.

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  The Retention, Education, and Attainment Lab (REAL)

  Mariana Bednarek

  The Retention, Education, and Attainment Lab (REAL), led by Dr. Ida Salusky, is a research lab in the psychology department of DePaul University that conducts research on the educational experiences of first-generation college students. Specifically, the REAL Lab aims to understand the factors that influence the persistence and retention of first-generation college students. The primary activities of the REAL Lab include, but are not limited to conducting literature searches, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, and writing manuscripts. Contact information will be included for those interested in being a volunteer, intern, or undergraduate research assistant for the REAL Lab.

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  Senior Fieldwork Experience at ONE Northside

  Callie Beier

  This poster highlights my senior year fieldwork experience. I interned at ONE Northside Chicago as an affordable housing intern under my supervisor, Ms. Dordie Hester. My experience at ONE Northside strengthened my skills in base building, working with community members, targeting elected officials, and communicating with multiple organizations/coalitions.

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  Youth Outreach Services

  Max Bromberg

  This presentation describes Max Bromberg’s internship experience at Youth Outreach Services (YOS) in Melrose Park, IL. The mission statement of YOS is to promote “the strengths and abilities of youth and families by providing community-based services that empower and enrich each to face life’s challenges with confidence, competence and dignity.” Max’s goal for their internship was to gain experience in the field in an organization that works with at risk and justice involved youth. Some, but not all, of the services that YOS provides include, substance use prevention and treatment, after school programing, summer employment programs, behavioral health counseling, group and family therapy, and crisis intervention. Some of the groups offered by YOS are art therapy and LGBTQIA+ groups in addition to activities and programs including game nights, cooking classes, community outings, and more. The presentation includes information to reach out to Max and to their manager at YOS to inquire about applying for future internships.

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  Race, Ideology, & Perceptions of the 2020 BLM Protests

  Ellie Buebendorf, Karolina Skoczen, and Christine Reyna

  The Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 have been quite divisive along political and racial lines. Previous literature suggests that White and Conservative groups tend to be less supportive of protests in general and are more supportive of police use of deadly force. This informed our research question: how do White individuals vs. BIPOC and Liberals vs. Conservatives differ in support for the BLM protests, their causes, and authoritarian responses to the BLM protests? We surveyed a large, representative sample and measured responses for our variables of interest: demographics, support or opposition to the protests, protest theories, authoritarian response, and racial inequality. We divided our sample by race (White vs. BIPOC) and by ideology (Liberals vs. Conservatives) and ran a MANCOVA to examine the differences in our variables between these groups of interest. We hypothesized BIPOC and Liberal individuals to demonstrate higher overall support for the protests and be less supportive of authoritarian measures in response to the protests. Conversely, we hypothesized White and Conservative individuals to be less supportive of the protests and be more supportive of an authoritarian response to the protests. Our findings supported all our hypotheses.

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  Students of color and experiences with racism in high education

  Florina Chlay, Carlos Reinoso, Johan Lopez, and Helena Swanson

  Previous literature found an association between negative racial campus climates and higher rates of student depression and negative academic outcomes. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship the number of students of color within a college has with experiences with racism and perceptions of university commitment to diversity. Data from a 2020 online study at a large midwestern Catholic university was collected from students (N = 1956) to assess university climate. Responses from the study were analyzed using chi-squared, ANOVA, and correlation analyses. A chi-square analysis concluded that there was a significant difference between college type and percentage of students of color within the college. Additionally, there was a significant difference between college association and experiences with racism on campus and university perceptions of diversity. A correlation analysis showed that the number of students of color does not have a significant relationship with the rate of negative racial experiences within a college. However, the results indicate that the greater number of students of color within a college the higher recorded perception of university commitment to diversity. This research conducted assisted with gaining a greater understanding about the type of communities that exist in universities.

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  NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENCY: Time in the Community Impacts Psychological Home

  Ryan D. Claudio, Safa Asad, Devki A. Patel, Helena L. Swanson, and Joseph R. Ferrari

  We live in complex, global societies; people do not stay in the same geographic regions for extended times. People move between different continents, countries, states, cities. It is unknown how mobility impacts one’s sense of psychological home. Psychological home is something beyond a physical dwelling - more than place attachment or sense of community (Sigmon & Snyder, 2000). Community psychologist examine psych home on how connected persons feel beyond a current house referred as their "home". We examined psychological home affected by the time spent where it located. Participants were students from a medium size urban university (n = 142). Participants filled a survey including the psychological home scale and determining the amount of time spent in their current community. Home is something we experience, for safety, comfort, and security without a specific site.

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  Internship- Advocate

  Elizabeth Connors

  This abstract will be describing the position and internship experience in the nutrition department at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital. The intern position title is Nutritional Assistant, this role helps provide hospital patients with their meals during their stay. As part of this role, it is the interns responsibility to ensure that all diet orders follow along with both dietary restrictions as well as allergy restrictions if any. You will interact with nurses and patients via phone and face to face interactions. Interns should understand each diet order in order to answer any questions the patient or patients' family members may have regarding diet plans. Interns will also be expected to maintain patient satisfaction and patient confidentiality protected by HIPAA. As an intern you will encourage and ensure each patient has the opportunity to order meals during the appropriate meal times if they choose.

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  LIFE Intelligence

  Alba Corney

  This project is summary of my internship experience at LIFE Intelligence. LIFE Intelligence is a company, started in 2019, that offers a self-therapy app and information on a blog. Over the course of 12 weeks, I was required to write articles on a range of mental health topics. This presentation will include an overview of the services provided by LIFE Intelligence, my role as an intern, my supervisor, and the catalog of articles completed.

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  Dr. Ashraf Salhi Clinic

  Noor Dababneh

  This presentation will describe an internship experience at Dr. Ashraf Salhi Clinic. The mission of this organization is to provide psychiatric and mental health services to individuals ranging from ages 2 years-old and up. There are various clinicians who are specialized in different fields so as to better assist clients’ needs. The clinic aims to create a safe space for individuals suffering from mental illness by exhibiting the five principles of Trauma Informed Care: safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. Another goal of this internship site is to be welcoming to anyone regardless of gender, religion, race, ethnicity, sexuality, social status, and economic status. There are various services offered by Dr. Ashraf Salhi clinic such as psychiatric care, counseling services, family and group therapy, couples’ therapy, substance abuse and addiction treatment, medication management, and neurodevelopmental disorders services. Clients are welcome to schedule appointments or request home visits from the psychiatrists and psychologists on the team. The presentation will conclude with application information for future interns who are interested in interning at Dr. Ashraf Salhi Clinic. Dr. Ashraf Salhi accepts applications at any time and responds in a timely manner regarding their decision.

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  Responses to Social Exclusion: The Impact of Relationship Closeness and Perceived Intent

  Megan DeLire

  All persons experience exclusion and its negative effects during their lives. Exclusion has been shown to reduce a person’s psychological needs and increase negative affect, especially sadness and anger (Williams, 2007; Chow, Tiedens, & Govan, 2008). The distinction between anger and sadness is particularly important due to their differing negative effects on social functioning (Butler et al, 2018; Chow et al, 2008; Liu, 2018). Additionally, research has failed to detangle how the closeness of relationship can impact the emotional intensity of these negative effects. We have hypothesized that exclusion perceived as purposeful will result in anger and that exclusion perceived as accidental will result in sadness. We have also hypothesized that if the participant has a close relationship with the excluder they may experience more intense emotional responses compared to those that have a non-close relationship with their excluder. Undergraduate psychology students at DePaul University completed a survey where they were assigned to one of four conditions (2X2 design) to reflect on a time where they were excluded (IV1: Purposeful vs Non-Purposeful Exclusion; IV2: Close vs Non-Close Relationship). They were then asked questions about the exclusion event, their emotional responses, and their demographic information. Data collection is still in progress.

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  Sexism Uniquely Predicts Prejudice Towards Gays and Lesbians

  Milena Demario

  The US Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation is illegal because it’s a form of sex discrimination. For example, employers who fire a female for dating women but don’t fire a male for dating women are discriminating because of the employee’s sex (if she were male, she would not be fired for dating a woman). However, Justice Alito claimed, “An employer who discriminates on this ground might be called “homophobic” but not sexist” (2020, p. 21). In our study, we tested if sexist attitudes predicted prejudice towards gays/lesbians after controlling for variables that could provide alternative explanations for this relationship. We used data from the American National Election Studies (ANES, 2016), a publicly available dataset from a national political survey. Multiple regression analysis was conducted, with prejudice towards gays/lesbians as the dependent variable and sexist attitudes as the predictor variable. After controlling for participants’ political ideology, religiosity, social dominance orientation, authoritarianism, symbolic racism, age, income, education, and gender, sexist attitudes still significantly predicted prejudice towards gays/lesbians (although the effect size went from moderate to weak). These findings highlight how people’s prejudice towards gays and lesbians might also be called sexist.

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  By Your Side- Autism Therapy Services

  Samantha Earls and Amy Cochran

  This presentation will be about the internship site, By Your Side. This site is a therapy center for kids on the spectrum. It provides services to kids with autism all the way up to 21 years old. The services provided include Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, Speech Pathology, Occupational therapy, and Feeding therapy. The center also offers group-based therapy that prepares the kids for school and social situations. A few goals that By Your Side strives for is to provide quality therapy and keep families informed on progress or problem behaviors. In order to provide quality therapy, the therapist must be understanding just as the child will try to understand what is being taught. It is the responsibility of the therapist to be aware of potential problems with the child or mood swings to adjust therapy accordingly. Parents are also very involved at By Your Side. They are told what to do at home to increase effectiveness of therapy. They are also updated after every day of therapy on the progress and the general activities in therapy. To apply to one of their locations (Morton Grove, Tinley Park, Schaumburg, St. Charles, and Darien), visit their site at https://byyoursideac.com/.

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  Cytokine Networks in Pediatric Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

  Caroline Gaglio, Mohammed Islam, and Leonard Jason

  Background. Studies have demonstrated immune dysfunction in adolescents with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), however, evidence has been varied. The current study uses network analysis to examine the relationships between cytokines among a sample of pediatric patients with ME/CFS. Methods. 10,119 youth aged 5–17 in the Chicagoland area were screened. 209 received a physician examination and blood draw. Youth were given a diagnosis of ME/CFS if they met criteria for selected case definitions; controls were those who met no criteria (n = 43), those meeting one case definition were termed ME/CFS (n = 23), and those who met more than one set of criteria were termed “severe ME/CFS” (S-ME/CFS; n = 45). Patterns of plasma cytokine networks were analyzed. Results. Inflammatory cytokines IL12, IL17, and IFNy have a weak relationship and are disassociated from the primary grouping in controls. In the ME/CFS group, these cytokines are strongly connected and are included in the primary grouping, suggesting activation of inflammatory mechanisms. The S-ME/CFS group shows a strong relationship between IL17 and IL23, a connection associated with chronic inflammation. Conclusions. The changing pattern of proteins implies that there may be biological differences between our three groups of participants.

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  The Cities Project: Community Support Mentor Internship

  Lily Goldstein and Melanie Feith

  The Cities Project is a mentorship program that seeks to mitigate inequality through education. Mentoring relationships are created by partnering high-resourced DePaul University students with low-resourced Chicago public school students. The Cities Project believes that every Chicago public school student should have the opportunity and support to seek higher education. To fulfil a Human Services internship experience, interns will work with students predominantly in grades 6-8 who attend public schools in the Southside of Chicago. The Cities Project hopes to resume in-person sessions in Fall 2021, with a time commitment from 2:45pm to 6:30pm. A designated supervisor will provide transportation to one of three schools: Cook elementary, Joplin elementary, or Wentworth elementary school. An intern will be assigned to a school and to the corresponding supervisor. The Cities Project provides homework help, coping mechanisms/stress management, and social-emotional learning techniques to mentees. Community & identity, creative writing/academics, clinical therapy days (reserved for graduate externs only), physical education, and music & art are the themes that guide mentees into acquiring the previously listed skill. To apply, go to https://thecitiesproject.org and go to the ‘contact’ tab. Email Dr. Grant about a potential human service related internship.

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  White System Justification and Condemnation on Perceptions of Benefit

  Daniel Hansen, Karolina Skoczen, and Andrea Bellovary

  We examined how system justification and system condemnation influence perceptions of system benefit among White Americans. We used the political and criminal justice systems, measuring the extent to which participants perceived differences in system benefit between Whites and Racial/Ethnic minorities. Our data was collected in 2016 through M-Turk and community sampling, and used only White participants. Using linear regression analysis, our results indicated the more participants justified the systems, the more they believed the systems benefited Whites and Racial/Ethnic minorities to a similar extent. The more participants condemned the systems, the more they believed the systems benefited Whites and Racial/Ethnic minorities to different extents.

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  The Role of Socioemotional Factors in Motivation to Exercise Among Older Adults

  Tessneem Hasan and Alyssa Minton

  Approximately 75% of active adults in the US do not meet the recommended levels of physical activity. To address this, Fit & Strong! (F&S!), an 8-week long, evidence-based group exercise program, was created to improve the health and wellbeing of older adults. It is proposed that positivity resonance-- a caring interpersonal connection involving shared positivity and synchrony-- is impactful in improving psychological and physiological wellbeing. Given the intrinsic association of behavioral-physiological synchrony with positive affect, group exercise may be a conducive context for experiencing positivity resonance, the effects of which include flourishing mental and physical health. We explored to what extent social, health, and emotional factors influenced older adults to participate in F&S!, and the frequency with which older adults experienced positivity resonance in the program. Results indicated that older adults predominantly exercise for social and health reasons, and that exercising as a group is conducive to positivity resonance.

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  By Your Side - Autism Therapy Services

  Alina Huynh and Melissa Liautaud

  Interning at By Your Side (BYS) has been filled with incredible memories. This internship provided multiple instances where helping these amazing children achieve their long- and short-term goals is so rewarding. Their mission is to hire great people and empower them. They also want to their employees to have fun doing what they love to do without compromising the quality to these precious beings. BYS provides in center and in home. Those are the two key environments provided to the Autism community. Within in center and in home, they provide ABA Therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis), Occupational Therapy, Speech-Language Therapy, Feeding Therapy, Social Groups, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, BYS Academy-School Readiness, and diagnostic evaluations. When considering BYS, it is important to understand that working with Autism Children takes a lot of patience and energy. They are precious beings that needs lots of attention and patience. To apply, click on the link at the top right-hand corner of the poster and that will lead to the main page of BYS. Then go to the 3 bars on the right-hand corner of the front page and under the bars, find careers. From here, it will provide the locations and job titles that are available.

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  Revolutionary Oak Park Youth Action League

  Skylar Jackson and Sydney Jackson

  This presentation will describe an internship experience at Revolutionary Oak Park Youth Action League (ROYAL). The mission of this organization is to center and uplift the voices of Black and Latinx youth who are often overlooked and invalidated. Furthermore, ROYAL is an abolitionist organization that supports the defunding of police in order to support other community resources such as mental health facilities, community centers and affordable child-care. As an intern, the mission is to provide further support to the youth by providing safe spaces for healing and reflection. Moreover, interns also aim to provide academic, social and emotional support in an accessible way to the youth. Interns are granted a lot of freedom to use their personal skills and knowledge in order to support the youth of ROYAL in various ways. Furthermore, interns are responsible to continue their self-education in abolition and other social justice work. ROYAL youth are strong advocates in the Oak Park community and come together to organize community healing spaces, host outdoor rallies and marches, creates petitions that advocate for students of color, and uses their social media platforms to further support BIPOC communities. The youth participate in weekly meetings and are creating their own podcast.

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  DePaul FCS

  Bonita Johnson

  The DePaul’s Family and Community Services organization is a community center at DePaul that offers services to the public to strengthen and empowers families and children. The mission statement, specifically, for their organization is “DePaul Family and Community Services strengthens and empowers families and communities through innovative, evidence based, community-oriented services and the training of culturally competent, socially responsible professionals.” There is a plethora of services that they provide such as: Outpatient Child and Adolescent Program, Psychological Testing, Psychiatric Services and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. There are other programs within the organization that specializes in specific populations and other treatments. The internship site has specialty team that this intern worked at and what the presentation that you will see will be on the specific internship site, The Cities Project which is a program working with children in low-income neighborhoods regulate and strengthen stress coping mechanisms with the support of mentors. The team has done plenty of research on the benefits of stress reducing techniques in collaboration with mentors to work with the children to get a positive result. In the presentation, you will learn more about what the interns do to benefit the population at DePaul’s Family and Community Services.

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  HARC Lab-Senior Intern/Social Justice and Anti Racism Intern

  Khadeejah Kurdi

  The presentation will focus on the experience working as the Senior Intern/ Social Justice and Anti-racism intern of the HARC Lab. The HARC Lab’s work is dedicated to researching how best to assist homeless populations as well as researching the variables that affect individuals that may lead to homelessness. The internship focuses on educating the team on recent social justice movements and actively posts live updates on any news events that relate to the topics of social justice and anti-racism. Lab members are educated about opportunities to get involved in the social justice based movements as well as utilizing their voices to speak out against injustices happening. Lab members are encouraged to attend events and come back to the group to share what they learned. The duty of the intern also extends to leading discussions about accountability in each lab meeting in order to hear what everyone has done and to encourage lab members to share any knowledge they may have recently learned. The presentation will contain contact information for any future interns who are actively involved in social justice and/or any who feel strongly for social justice.

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  Social Status Insecurity and Future Emotional Difficulties in Adolescents: An Examination of Gender Moderation

  Mingqi Li and Kacper Pachut

  The present study examined gender as the moderator of the associations between social status insecurity (SSI) dimensions and future emotional and behavioral difficulties in a sample of Chinese seventh to ninth graders. Longitudinal relationships between dimensions of social status insecurity and emotional difficulties were found in adolescent boys only, not in girls. Social status insecurity was not found to be longitudinally associated with behavioral difficulties in neither boys nor girls. SSI was positively related to emotional difficulties in boys, offering partial support for our hypotheses. The findings that SSI was not longitudinally related to emotional difficulties in girls suggest that emotional difficulties displayed in girls in the current sample may not be accounted for by the level of SSI they experienced previously. In fact, regardless of how much SSI they experienced, these girls had undergone relatively high emotional difficulties. Moreover, SSI dimensions were not related to future behavioral difficulties in neither group, suggesting that the longitudinal effect of SSI may be more salient in relation to emotional difficulties. Overall, the present findings demonstrate some important gender differences in the relations between SSI and adolescents’ emotional adjustment such that boys may be longitudinally more reactive to SSI.

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  Family Matters: Social Support and Physical Activity Habits in Female College Students of Lower SES

  Dana Mansfield, Dee Bekelja, and Jocelyn Carter

  This study explored the differential impact of family and friend support on PA in female college students from poor, low income, middle income, and high-income backgrounds. The sample was 150 female undergraduates (ages 18-24). Participants completed self-report questionnaires about PA habits, supportive social relationships, and life stress. Moderated regression analyses and correlations examined the influence of SES on family and friend support and PA. The overall model was significant (R2 = .39, F(8, 112) = 8.13, p < .001). SES moderated the impact of family support (β = -1.4, p < .01) and friend support (β = .84, p < .01) on PA. In the lowest income group, family support and PA were positively correlated (r(14) = .72, p < .01). For middle income, both family support and friend support were positively correlated p < .05) and (r(80) = .32, p < .01), respectively. For the highest income, neither family nor friend support was significantly correlated with PA. Family support is related to PA in lower income, but not high-income groups. Friend support is only related to PA in middle income students. Family may be especially motivating for PA in individuals with lower SES which has important physical health implications.