This study examines the integration of Care ethics as a distinct factor into the Ethical Perspectives Scale (EPS; Diegel et al., 2024). In contrast to typical ethical theories centering on consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethics reasoning, Care ethics prioritizes relational and situationally appropriate moral judgment. In the conduct of four experimental studies, we made Care an independent factor by utilizing Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses, assessed its predictive validity regarding moral dilemmas, tested its temporal stability, and generalized the findings to a population outside of the student group.

Results confirmed that Care ethics is conceptually and statistically distinct from Virtue ethics, predicting moral judgments in relational and compassion-based contexts. Care ethics correlated with political ideology, religiosity, and subjective well-being, further differentiating it from other ethical dimensions. However, ethical decision-making remained highly context-dependent, with different perspectives becoming salient across dilemma types.

The findings of this research promote the integration of Care ethics into models of moral decision-making, thus highlighting its relevance to practical uses. Future studies should examine its applicability in various cultures and its impact on professional ethics training.

In 2023, a national survey found that less than 1% of adults diagnosed with substance use disorder sought treatment. Examination of past research revealed stigma as a potential barrier to seeking treatment, with higher levels of stigma associated with a lower likelihood of receiving treatment services. Understanding how sociodemographic factors shape stigma perceptions is essential for curating targeted interventions that promote treatment-seeking behavior. This study examined how sociodemographic factors influence perceptions of stigma related to seeking substance use treatment in a community-based environment. Community members were recruited (N = 77) at bus stops, community centers, and public parks in Tarrant County and asked to complete a brief paper survey. Analysis of the data revealed no significant differences in levels of stigma to seeking treatment for substance use across sociodemographic variables. Although there were no significant differences among sociodemographic factors, other barriers could be influencing the lack of service utilization that were not measured here. Further community-based research is essential for understanding the relationship between stigma and sociodemographic variables, as well as developing effective interventions to reduce stigma-related barriers to substance use treatment.

Research has found that a sense of mattering, the perception that one is recognized and valued by other people and/or society, contributes to people’s well-being (e.g., reduced burnout & stress). Although some research has been done in university samples (i.e., undergraduate students), little work has explored the psychological benefits of mattering in graduate students. Thus, the aim of this research is to examine the relation between mattering and several well-being outcomes (e.g., satisfaction, stress, burnout) among graduate students at Texas Christian University (TCU). The study survey will be sent to approximately 1900 graduate students at TCU. It is hypothesized that a higher (vs. lower) sense of mattering will be positively related to increased school/job satisfaction and reduced stress, burnout, depression, and frustration. Additionally, research has shown that women in male-dominated fields such as STEM (i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) receive less recognition and credit for their work, which may contribute to a lower sense of mattering for them. Although yet to be empirically examined, the second aim of the current research is to explore whether there is (a) a gender difference in the level of mattering between females and males for graduate students and how area focus (i.e., STEM vs. non-STEM-related majors/careers) moderates potential gender differences. It is hypothesized that females (vs. males) in STEM-related professions (as compared to their non-STEM counterparts) will report reduced mattering scores, with associated detriments to their psychological well-being.

Sleep quality refers to an individual's overall feeling of restfulness. Lower sleep quality is reported in many psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, and substance use disorders. In addition to the relationship between traumatic life experiences and sleep quality, childhood unpredictability—one’s perceived level of uncertainty in their environment as a child—has been noted to impact one’s quality of sleep. This study will seek to examine whether participants’ childhood unpredictability is related to sleep quality. Furthermore, we are looking to see if unpredictability beliefs could serve as a mediating variable between childhood unpredictability and sleep quality. The implications of this study include the identification of a psychological process that could be intervened upon to improve sleep quality in general and clinical samples with a history of childhood unpredictability.

In 2022, over 50 million adults were diagnosed with a mental illness, however, only half of those individuals received mental health care. This marked disparity between diagnosis and service utilization reflects the need to understand barriers impeding individuals from seeking mental health treatment. One commonly experienced barrier to seeking treatment is stigma. Stigma can result from cultural attitudes to structural limitations within communities which impacts how its members seek and interact with mental health services. Community-based research is necessary to understand the nuances regarding barriers within specific communities and the impact of sociodemographic factors on the perceived level of stigma. This direct work with communities helps identify various lived experiences and identify where stigma is most prevalent. Participants were recruited at community centers, bus stops, and public parks in Tarrant County (N = 77) and asked to complete a brief paper survey. Analysis demonstrated that males reported higher levels of stigma towards seeking mental health treatment compared to females. No other comparisons of sociodemographic variables were statistically significant. These results suggest that interventions targeting mental health treatment engagement in Tarrant County should target stigma primarily among males. Further research is needed to understand other barriers within this community to seeking mental health treatment.