Dr. Trey Asbury, assistant professor of psychology at Campbell University, has lent a helping hand to his students’ research projects. He recently directed and co-authored a study entitled, “Comparing Stress and Social Support between Biological and Adoptive Families” with Melissa Johnson and Elaine Franklin, of the Fort Liberty campus, and advised main campus students Catherine Allen, Katy Peverall, Tyler Price and Jon Buchanan on their project, “Perceptions and Potential Differences between Rap and County Music.” The study on stress, conducted by Melissa Johnson and Elaine Franklin, was designed to determine if there is a higher stress level when raising biological or adopted children. According to the research conducted, very few to no differences were found. A total of 100 participants were surveyed in the study nation-wide. The project was presented in Atlanta, Ga., at the Southeastern Psychological Association regional conference earlier this year. “It took around nine months to collect the data,” Asbury said. “We found different parenting organizations on the Web and called for participants. We then sent out packets of questionnaires regarding the standardized assessment of stress and social support.” The four students who researched Rap and Country music and their impact on listeners, presented their paper to the Conference of the Carolinas in April at Meredith College co-sponsored by NC State University. The research method employed by students Catherine Allen, Katy Peverall, Tyler Price and Jon Buchanan was to take lyrics from an early folk song with aggressive, sexually explicit lyrics that one would expect to find in today’s music and present them to 93 Campbell students broken up into Rap and Country control groups. The students predicted that a negative bias would form towards Rap and Rap artists. But findings did not show a difference between perceptions of negative bias to one genre of music. The research did show participants were against congressional control and censorship from the government in terms of music and that they favored parental censorship.
Campbell psychology students present at conferences