Date of Award
Fall 2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Baskin-Sommers, Arielle
Abstract
A wide range of behaviors, from hostility and defiance to more severe forms ofnorm violations, such as theft and violence, comprise the spectrum of externalizing behaviors. The psychological, physical, and social consequences associated with externalizing behaviors place a significant burden on the individual, their families, and society. Research has made substantial advances in identifying environmental-level and individual-level risk factors for externalizing behavior. However, despite work indicating that both externalizing behaviors themselves and several risk factors associated with externalizing behaviors are related to disruptions in trust and distrust, limited work has considered interactions between environmental- and individual-level risk factors and levels of trust and distrust, and further, the influence of these interactions on the development of and engagement in externalizing behavior. In this dissertation, I present three studies that address gaps in our current understanding of how risk factors for externalizing behavior interact with trust and distrust, measured at various levels, to influence externalizing behavior. Study 1 (Chang & Baskin-Sommers, in press) investigates the moderating role of generalized distrust on the association between deviant peer affiliation, an environmental-level risk factor, and later externalizing behavior in a sample of adolescents. Findings from Study 1 show that generalized distrust buffers against increased risk for externalizing behaviors conferred by greater deviant peer affiliation and that this buffering effect is specific to Black adolescents relative to their White peers. Study 2 examines if the effects of trait impulsivity or impulsive choice, individual-level risk factors, on later externalizing behavior are affected by neighborhood social cohesion in a sample of adolescents. Findings from Study 2 indicate that high neighborhood social cohesion protects against the effects of positive urgency on increased externalizing behavior, although it does not moderate the relationship between other dimensions of trait impulsivity or impulsive choice and later externalizing behavior. Finally, Study 3 (Chang & Baskin-Sommers, 2020) explores whether or not the relationship between neighborhood disorder, an environmental-level risk factor, and externalizing behavior is moderated by neural processing of facial trustworthiness in a sample of adults. Results from Study 3 suggest that individuals who perceive high levels of neighborhood disorder show less neural differentiation between untrustworthy and trustworthy faces and that less neural differentiation may reduce the variety of externalizing behaviors individuals living in neighborhoods with high disorder engage in. Overall, findings from this dissertation emphasize how contextualizing individual differences in trust and distrust in relation to various risk factors can enhance our understanding of who is at greatest risk for engaging in externalizing behaviors.
Recommended Citation
Chang, Shou-An Ariel, "The Maladaptive and Adaptive Effects of Trust and Distrust on Externalizing Behavior" (2023). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 1218.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/1218
