Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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The link between anxiety in parents and children is well established, yet the physiological correlates of this intergenerational link in anxiety remain underexplored. This study examines the...Show moreThe link between anxiety in parents and children is well established, yet the physiological correlates of this intergenerational link in anxiety remain underexplored. This study examines the physiological correlates of emotion processing between parents and children. The primary aim of the current study was to explore the link between parents' and children's pupil responses to negative versus positive expressions. The secondary aim was to study the links of parental anxiety to the child’s pupil responses to emotional expressions. A community sample of 90 children (8–12 years old, M = 10.13, SD = 1.32, 47 girls) and their parents (47 mothers) viewed positive and negative dynamic facial expressions while an eye-tracker recorded their pupil dilation. Parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their anxiety. Both parents and children exhibited stronger physiological responses to fearful and sad faces compared to happy faces, suggesting heightened arousal to these negative emotions. In contrast only parents, but not children exhibited a significantly stronger physiological reaction to anger. The link of parental anxiety to children's pupil responses varied by emotion type. The strength of the link between parental anxiety and pupil responses was the strongest for fearful expressions, followed by happy and sad expressions, and weakest for angry expressions. The study is the first to show a link between the physiological correlates of emotion processing between parents and children and support the idea that parental anxiety explains variance in child emotion processing.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Objective: The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) is the gold standard to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although the CAPS-5 was developed and validated in Western...Show moreObjective: The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) is the gold standard to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although the CAPS-5 was developed and validated in Western populations, many clinicians and researchers also use it to assess PTSD in non-Western refugee populations. In this study we investigated whether PTSD as assessed with the CAPS-5 has the same structure and meaning across trauma-exposed, treatment-seeking individuals with either a Dutch (i.e. Western) background or a non-Western refugee background. Method: We evaluated commonly accepted DSM-5 PTSD factor models and tested different levels of measurement invariance (configural and scalar invariance) in a clinical sample of non-Western refugee patients (N = 710) and Dutch patients (N = 1162) suffering from prolonged complaints of psychotrauma, using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Results: CFAs showed that the Hybrid model of PTSD fit the data best in the Dutch and non-Western refugee subsample, as well as in the combined sample, indicating that configural invariance was met. The model representing scalar invariance showed a worse fit compared to the model representing configural invariance, indicating that factor loadings and/or symptom severity differed between the subsamples. Further investigation showed that this result could mainly be attributed to non-Western refugee patients often manifesting higher scores on the CAPS-5 items than Dutch patients. Conclusions: Non-Western refugee patients showed a similar structure of DSM-5 PTSD symptoms as Dutch patients. Furthermore, the relative contribution of the majority of symptoms to its belonging symptom cluster was similar between non-Western refugee patients and Dutch patients. This meant that both groups understood these symptoms in the same way. However, non-Western refugee patients often manifested a higher symptom severity than Dutch patients.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
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Both youth with a substance use disorder (SUD) and youth who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) show heightened vulnerability to psychopathology. We aimed to quantify the risk of...Show moreBoth youth with a substance use disorder (SUD) and youth who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) show heightened vulnerability to psychopathology. We aimed to quantify the risk of comorbid disorders in SUD youth with ACE-history. Additionally, we aimed to examine relations between ACEs, overall household experience, and general distress. We used cross-sectional YIT-study data from interviews with Dutch youth (aged 16-22) upon SUD treatment entry for cannabis, alcohol, or stimulant use. We measured ACE-types experienced up until 15 years of age, past-year DSM-5 disorders, general distress (DASS-21), and overall household experience rating. Logistic regressions quantified relations between ACE sum score and anxiety, depressive, behavior, and any disorder. Higher ACE sum scores related to increased risks for a(n) anxiety (OR = 1.12, highest odds = 2.84; χ2(1) = 6.71, p < .010; Nagelkerke R2 = 0.2), depressive (OR = 1.21, highest odds = 5.43; χ2(1) = 18.11, p < .001; Nagelkerke R2 = 0.6), behavior (OR = 1.20, highest odds = 5.24; χ2(1) = 17.41, p < .001; Nagelkerke R2 = 0.6), and any (OR = 1.25, highest odds = 7.58; χ2(1) = 17.26, p < .001; Nagelkerke R2 = 0.7) disorder. Exploratory analyses revealed that frequency of parental fighting, being hit/abused, getting belittled, emotional neglect, physical neglect, insufficient household income, long parental sickness, and overall household experience positively related to DASS-21. In a hierarchical regression analysis with all ACEs and overall household experience, only emotional neglect related to DASS-21 (B = 3.68, t(373) = 2.41, p = .017). Overall household experience did not improve the model (F(12) = 3.51, p < .001; R2change < .001). In hierarchical regression analyses containing ACE sum score and overall household experience, overall household experience was not uniquely related to DASS-21 (t = -0.22, p = .824; R2change < .01). In conclusion, ACEs relate to comorbid disorders in SUD youth. Our exploratory research suggests that ACE frequency might influence this relation, while overall household experience does not further explain this relation. Further research should investigate which ACE measures (a.o., type, frequency) strongly relate to SUDs and psychopathology and examine improved treatment options.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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The medieval period marks a turning point in the history of human-animal relationships, since the proliferation of medieval cities throughout Europe resulted in an ever-increasing demand for animal...Show moreThe medieval period marks a turning point in the history of human-animal relationships, since the proliferation of medieval cities throughout Europe resulted in an ever-increasing demand for animal products, like foodstuffs and raw materials. However, in comparison with the prehistoric period, medieval human-animal relationships have received considerably less attention and have often primarily been focused on the economic aspects of these relationships. This thesis used radiocarbon- dated material from the medieval castle of Albarracín (Teruel, Spain) to study the intensity and character of human-animal relationships through time by comparing material from the Islamic (10th-11th century CE) and Christian (15th-16th century CE) periods. The results demonstrated the importance of functional animals, especially of domestic livestock, at the site in both periods and show how the role of these animals changed through time. The assemblage is dominated by caprines, particularly by sheep who played an important role in the development of transhumant movement in medieval Spain. Furthermore, the archaeofaunal data also shed light on non- economic relationships between humans and nonhuman animals, for instance on the role of domestic carnivores and wild birds as scavengers of organic debris deposited by humans in urban environments. These results highlight the importance of archaeozoological studies on medieval contexts, since they have the potential to contribute more than a purely economic perspective on historical human-animal relationships and how these developed through time.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Humans have the unique ability to process and organize sensory input into meaningful concepts, a capacity that is compromised in clinical populations, such as semantic dementia (SD). Our study...Show moreHumans have the unique ability to process and organize sensory input into meaningful concepts, a capacity that is compromised in clinical populations, such as semantic dementia (SD). Our study proposes that these concepts are shaped by the interaction between internal neural networks and external environmental interactions, and understanding this process in the healthy brain will inform our knowledge of degenerative disorders like SD. Therefore, our study aimed to examine changes in neural activation patterns in healthy individuals by utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a conceptual decision task before and after concept generation training. The primary analyses did not reveal significant changes in neural activation patterns in the anterior temporal lobes (ATL) or inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). A slight increase in behavioral accuracy suggests that some conceptual learning has occurred, however, this effect was not robust enough to induce detectable neural changes in the targeted brain regions. Exploratory analyses revealed expanded neural engagement following the conceptualization task in early visual cortices (V2). This revealed that while traditional regions, such as the ATL and IFG did not show significant decoding accuracy patterns, early visual areas process task-dependent information independently, constituting a possible shift of visual processing strategies towards a more dynamic and integrative role after conceptual learning. These findings challenge the traditional view of concepts as fixed internal representations and highlight the need for expanded research including larger sample sizes and advanced methodologies to deepen our understanding of these underlying neural and cognitive mechanisms. Such research could provide important implications for clinical populations, such as those with SD, where these mechanisms may be disrupted.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Within depression research, there is an abundance of measures to assess various aspects of the disorder. However, research has rarely taken into account whether different instruments are capable of...Show moreWithin depression research, there is an abundance of measures to assess various aspects of the disorder. However, research has rarely taken into account whether different instruments are capable of measuring the same components of depression. The present study compared whether three self-report methods led to the same conclusions regarding shifts in depressive symptom severity. For this study, 238 participants of the WARN-D study completed a pre-post measure, an EMA measure and a single-item measure. The pre-post and EMA measures both contained the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9). To assess the convergence between the methods, Kendall’s Tau correlations were run. Additionally, to assess the robustness of the results, multiverse analyses were conducted for different depressive symptom severity categorizations and for different thresholds of compliance with EMA measurements (50% and 75%). Results indicated negligible to weak convergence between the self-report methods (rτ ranged between .06 and .22, depending on the comparison). The findings were robust across the different multiverse analyses, save for one comparison. Overall, the present study indicated that different self-report measures might lead to different categorizations of changes in depressive symptom severity for the same participant. This means that future studies should consider which self-report method would be best suited to answer their research question or whether it might be more appropriate to use multiple methods to be able to draw more informative conclusions.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Adolescent’s prosocial behaviour is likely related to their social context and relationships. This social context drastically changes during adolescence, with peers becoming more important relative...Show moreAdolescent’s prosocial behaviour is likely related to their social context and relationships. This social context drastically changes during adolescence, with peers becoming more important relative to parents. This pilot study therefore investigated the relative contribution and interaction of adolescents’ quality of parental and peer attachment in predicting their prosocial behaviour towards unknown peers. Forty-two adolescents aged 9-12 completed the brief Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment and an adapted version of the Prosocial Effort Task. In this task, participants choose whether to earn rewards for themselves and others by exerting physical effort. Computational modelling was used to quantify the rate at which rewards lose subjective value to adolescents when effort increases, both when earning rewards for others and for themselves. The difference in this effort discounting rate for others and for themselves was used as measure of prosocial behaviour, as well as the difference between the number of times participants chose to exert high effort for others and for themselves. We show that adolescents are generally less willing to exert effort for others than for themselves, and that their willingness to exert effort for a reward is more strongly affected by the effort needed to obtain it when someone else will receive this reward. These findings support the cost-benefit framework of prosocial motivation. Linear models fitted using nonparametric bootstrapping show nonsignificant trends in the expected directions, namely higher quality parental and peer attachment being related to more prosocial behaviour and peer attachment generally being a stronger predictor than parental attachment. We found some evidence that girls show significantly more prosocial behaviour than boys. Future research should further investigate these potential effects using larger samples with a broader age range across adolescence, to also study developmental effects.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a public health issue affecting mental and physical well-being of individuals across the lifespan. The literature so far suggests that CM is a risk factor for the...Show moreChildhood maltreatment (CM) is a public health issue affecting mental and physical well-being of individuals across the lifespan. The literature so far suggests that CM is a risk factor for the development and severity of EDs in adulthood. This study aims to build upon and update the findings of Molendijk et al. (2017) by integrating both pre-2016 and post-2016 literature on the relationship between all types of CM (physical, sexual, and emotional) and all types of EDs. A random-effects meta-analysis with moderator analyses was performed to assess the associations between all types of CM and all types of ED, focusing on their prevalence, severity, and related comorbid conditions. The prevalence of CM was consistently and significantly higher in ED patients (18.4- 57.7%) than in healthy controls (7.2-29.2%) and mostly higher compared to psychiatric controls (21.2 - 31.1%). The odds of developing EDs were significantly elevated in individuals exposed to CM, with ORs ranging from 2.81 to 4.60. CM exposure was associated with greater severity of EDs (r = .21, 95% CI [0.10, 0.32], p < .001) and was also associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety (r = .19, 95% CI [0.11, 0.26], p < .001). Additionally, we found that CM exposure significantly increased the likelihood of comorbid mental health disorders in patients with EDs compared to non-exposed counterparts (ORs 1.15 to 3.96), with the strongest associations observed for Axis I disorders, especially depression and anxiety. Moderator analyses revealed that recent studies reported slightly higher CM prevalence in AN samples. Sample size influenced the sexual CM-BED relationship (R2 =0.42, p =.04), and higher study quality was linked to lower prevalence rates (R2 = 0.07, p < .001), though these factors explained only a small part of the heterogeneity. Our findings highlight that all types of childhood maltreatment (physical, sexual, and emotional) are associated with a range of EDs in adulthood and influence both the severity and course of EDs.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Objective: This study aimed to clarify the relationship between the course of core depressive symptoms and the course of insomnia symptoms in older adults with a depressive disorder, and to...Show moreObjective: This study aimed to clarify the relationship between the course of core depressive symptoms and the course of insomnia symptoms in older adults with a depressive disorder, and to identify predictors of an unfavorable versus a favorable course of core depressive symptoms and insomnia symptoms. Method: We examined 329 older adults (median age 69 (IQR 65-75), 66.9% women) with a depressive disorder within the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older persons (NESDO), a naturalistic cohort study with a six-year follow-up and assessments every six months in between. Core depressive symptoms and insomnia symptoms were assessed with 14 and 3 items, respectively, from the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS). We applied growth mixture modelling to identify classes of participants with similar trajectories of core depressive symptoms and insomnia symptoms. The association between core depressive and insomnia symptom trajectories was examined with a chi-squared test. Finally, we investigated predictors of class membership for core depressive symptoms and for insomnia symptoms using multinomial logistic regression. Results: We identified three trajectories of core depressive symptoms: high and stable (22.2% of participants were assigned to this class), moderate and declining (37.4%), and low and declining (40.4%). We identified four trajectories of insomnia symptoms: high and stable (23.1%), moderate and stable (55.6%), low and increasing (7.6%), and moderate and declining (13.7%). There was a significant association between core depressive and insomnia symptom trajectories, in particular for the most and least favorable trajectories. Number of chronic diseases, a comorbid anxiety disorder, and functional limitations predicted less favorable core depressive symptom trajectories. We found no predictors for insomnia symptom trajectories. Conclusion: Persistent insomnia symptoms are highly prevalent in older adults with depression, even in those with improving core depressive symptoms. This highlights the need for separate treatment of insomnia symptoms in addition to depression interventions.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
under embargo until 2025-08-31
2025-08-31T00:00:00Z
This thesis discusses the first study of stone tools in the Darién region of eastern Panama and northwestern Colombia by examining the collection of objects from the sites of San Antonio and Santa...Show moreThis thesis discusses the first study of stone tools in the Darién region of eastern Panama and northwestern Colombia by examining the collection of objects from the sites of San Antonio and Santa Maria la Antigua del Darién. No prior archaeological analysis of lithic material has been conducted in the region while the study of the stone tools has been pushed by a limited number of scholars and investigations in adjacent Panama. As such, the clean canvas of the Darién region allows for a renegotiation of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches to lithic investigations in the region. To renegotiate the approach to the study of lithic material, the thesis introduces several case studies illustrating the state of affairs in Panama as well as the entire lack of work of this kind conducted in northwestern Colombia. Through these case studies the key aspects of typological-driven approaches in Panama are identified and inform the formulation of a methodological approach to renegotiating the conceptualisation of the material category from the perspective of Darién. In subjecting the materials from San Antonio and Santa Maria to the same typological analytical approaches, key issues are identified while additionally forming the first discussion of lithics from the Darién. By renegotiating the key issues of lithic analysis in Panama, the aspects of nonlithic material for similar tool tasks as well as the extensive presence of expedient, multiuse and redesigned are identified as core aspects in creating a new conceptualisation and methodological framework for studying stone tools. As such, the thesis proposes the concept of strategic expedience as a hypothesis for the discussion of lithic in Darién and adjacent areas as well as proposing a task and assemblage-based approach to the study of tools that goes beyond the confines of typology and incorporates the site or regional level as the key unit of analysing tool task rather than focusing on form. In this, the thesis identifies the ‘clean canvas’ of the Darién as a unique opportunity to push archaeological discourse through broader hypothecation and refocus on the creation of archaeological narratives rather than hunting for intrinsic Truths in the archaeological record.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Western Eurasia took place between 50,000 and 35,000 years ago. At the start of the transition, the region was inhabited by Neanderthals, and perhaps...Show moreThe Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Western Eurasia took place between 50,000 and 35,000 years ago. At the start of the transition, the region was inhabited by Neanderthals, and perhaps by a few scattered groups of Anatomically Modern Humans. However, by the end of the transition, only Anatomically Modern Humans remained. Our understanding of how this came to be is fragmentary, as sites without preserved organic remains cannot be dated with high-precision methods. However, around 41,000 years ago there was a profound temporary change in the Earth’s magnetic field, named the Laschamps event. This event can be identified through using paleomagnetism and can potentially help in greatly constraining the chronologies of archaeological sites by offering a margin of error of less than 1,000 years. This thesis assesses the potential benefits and pitfalls of using the Laschamps event as a geochronological marker in archaeology. This is done by combining a literature study with a paleomagnetic case study. The literature study focuses on assessing the quality of the previous identifications of the Laschamps event at archaeological sites. This literature study is the first ever on the Laschamps event at archaeological sites and found that most of the previous claims were not well supported by the available evidence. In particular, the methods used for demagnetising the paleomagnetic samples and recognising the potential effects of post-depositional processes was found to be important for interpreting the paleomagnetic signal. The paleomagnetic study uncovered reversed directions in several of the lower units at the cave site at Quinçay, France. This thesis shows the first record of the Laschamps event ever found at an archaeological site in Western Europe. The likely position of the Laschamps event in the site stratigraphy straddled the final Mousterian and Châtelperronian layers, which could indicate that the cultural succession at the site happened rapidly. But this interpretation is made with several caveats, particularly the need for better age control of the lower levels at the site.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Adolescents’ future expectations (FE) regarding the attainability of desired life goals are variable, and, compared to allistic peers (i.e., non-autistics), are often more pessimistic. One reason...Show moreAdolescents’ future expectations (FE) regarding the attainability of desired life goals are variable, and, compared to allistic peers (i.e., non-autistics), are often more pessimistic. One reason may be that autistic adolescents have more difficulties on the social domain, and therefore perceive their own social competence as poorer than allistic peers. Importantly, FE may inform adolescents goal-directed actions, such that expectations for the future influence actual future outcomes. Thus, the importance of assessing which factors influence future expectations is evident. This study assessed the extent to which autistic and allistic adolescents differ on self-perceived social competence (SPSC), and FE (on the romantic and self-development domains); and the extent to which autistic adolescents’ SPSC was related to their FE compared to allistic peers, controlled for global self-esteem. Autistic adolescents’ were expected to have lower FE than allistic peers’, related to lower SPSC. Preliminarily, the uni-dimensionality and reliability of constructs was tested with factor analyses. Mediation analyses on a total of 142 adolescents, 88 allistic and 54 autistic (Mrange 12-21; Mage = 16.31, SD = 1.94), revealed that, though autism was not directly related to having less optimistic FE for either romantic or self-development goals, SPSC mediated the relationship between autism and FE for self-development (i.e., having a job/career, or continuing their education). That is, autistic adolescents’ lower SPSC was related to poorer FE for self-development compared to allistic peers, when controlled for global self-esteem. Clinical implications and future directions for research are discussed.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis explores to what extent water bodies in ancient poetical texts materially influence the poetics of the text in which they appear. Ancient poetical texts, such as self-reflexive poems...Show moreThis thesis explores to what extent water bodies in ancient poetical texts materially influence the poetics of the text in which they appear. Ancient poetical texts, such as self-reflexive poems and literary-critical treatises, often use water bodies as metaphors to formulate aesthetic value judgements or poetical ideas. When scholarship on such texts chooses to concentrate on the text’s water bodies, the focus has been predominantly put on their function as metaphor. As such, there has been a lack in the interpretative discourse on ancient poetics in which water is not only treated metaphorically, but literally and materially as well. Employing recent advancements made in the emerging, ecocritical field of Blue Humanities, in specific the theory and methods provided by hydropoetics, this thesis offers a viable way to read water in ancient poetical texts literally. Taking as main case studies Callimachus’ Hymn to Apollo, Longinus’ On the Sublime and Catullus 64, the thesis investigates how water’s material formations such as seas, rivers, springs, flows, trickles and whirlpools autonomously contribute to the poetical constructs of these texts. It thereby serves to further classical scholarship on ancient poetics, as well as employ and reflect on present-day reading methods that help or fail to do justice to the material agency of water bodies. (Formally, this thesis is a double thesis in order to fulfill both the programs of Literary Studies and Classics and Ancient Civilizations.)Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
under embargo until 2026-08-30
2026-08-30T00:00:00Z
Alcuin of York was the most influential author during the first generation of the Carolingian renaissance. He wrote multiple prose works, a substantial number of letters survive, and he left a...Show moreAlcuin of York was the most influential author during the first generation of the Carolingian renaissance. He wrote multiple prose works, a substantial number of letters survive, and he left a large corpus of poetry. In this thesis the representation of books, texts, and writing in Alcuin’s verse will be analyzed in order to draw the following conclusions: 1) Alcuin’s numerous book epigrams frame Bible manuscripts as relics; 2) Alcuin uses his poetry to invigorate the study of Latin and the production of texts by linking it to religious performances; and 3) the reflexivity and literary self-consciousness of Alcuin’s poetry have a didactic function.Show less
