Browsing by Author "Radetzki, Phillip A."

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    Escape theory and materialism: an experimental paradigm for self-blame
    (2017) Radetzki, Phillip A.; Watson, David
    Escape theory proposes a six-step process in which materialists’ forthcoming self-awareness reveals a general dissatisfaction with life, thereby stimulating a pursuit toward the attainment of tangible objects as a form of compensation. Although there is sufficient evidence supporting the overall plausibility of escape theory, Donnelly and colleagues acknowledge that further research regarding specific steps would enhance its strength. Moreover, a significant portion of findings on materialism are correlational, thereby making research utilizing experimental paradigms of particular value. The present study will investigate escape theory’s second step, self-blame, with an experimental design. The participant pool (n=300) will consist of undergraduate students with materialistic orientations. As a cover story, participants will be presented two unrelated studies regarding perceptions of interpersonal conflict and the impact of website design on the psychology of the online shopper. In the first portion, participants will be randomly assigned to a neutral condition or a condition designed to induce self-blame. Both conditions involve exposure to a vignette with a filler questionnaire. In the second portion, participants will explore a fictitious online store and purchase desired items. There will be 30 categories of product. Each category will contain three versions of the product corresponding to different levels of materialistic value. Within a materialistic population, those primed to experience self-blame are predicted to demonstrate significant bias toward products high in materialistic value. If the hypothesis is supported, the proposed study will add experimental evidence for the causal role of self-blame in the maladaptive attitude toward wealth and material objects.
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    The implications of high-conflict divorce on adult–children: five factors related to well-being
    (2021) Radetzki, Phillip A.; Deleurme, Kendall A.; Rogers, Sean
    Offspring of divorce are generally more vulnerable to negative mental health outcomes than counterparts of intact marriages. However, not all cases of divorce are equivalent. The present study aimed to contribute to divorce literature by investigating the role of interparental conflict during the divorce process on offspring well-being. A convenience sample of 144 adult undergraduates from divorced families completed questionnaires pertaining to perceptions of interparental conflict and psychological well-being, interpersonal competence, irrational beliefs, materialistic orientations, and emotion dysregulation. Perceptions of interparental conflict during divorce positively correlated with irrational thinking and emotion dysregulation, and negatively correlated with psychological well-being and interpersonal competence. A MANOVA revealed that participants' perceptions of interparental conflict had significant predictive power on all factors of interest except materialism. In the model, interparental conflict had the greatest effect on emotion dysregulation. Participants with perceptions of high interparental conflict had greater impairments in all variables (except materialism, which was non-significant) compared to the low perception group. They also presented greater impairment in interpersonal competence, emotion regulation, and rational thinking than the medium perception group. Overall, the results suggest interparental conflict during divorce is relevant to offspring outcomes, perhaps particularly within emotion regulation.