New York University’s Applied Psychology Online Publication of Undergraduate Studies, also known as OPUS, was established in 2009. OPUS provides Applied Psychology undergraduate students with a forum for sharing their independent work. This publication is entirely written, edited, and designed by Applied Psychology undergraduates, and is one of the only undergraduate psychology journals in the United States.
We are thrilled to present our Spring 2021 issue this year. Specifically, the Spring 2021 issue reflects the clinical and research interests of our contributing writers and demonstrates a desire to understand the nuances of psychological phenomena in order to improve the lives of a range of groups, thus embodying the ethos of Applied Psychology.
Our issue this semester contains further explorations of psychological theories with real-world applications. In the first section, “Reviews,” Janean Cuffee examines how racial discrimination impacts anxiety in African-American adolescents. Anjali Mehta’s piece focuses on an Ari Aster film, Midsommar, drawing parallels between the cult depicted in the film and aspects of social psychology. In the final piece in this section, Gizem Kurtbolat investigates the impact of media literacy education on adolescents’ attitudes about sex.
The following section, “Proposals’’ includes Samantha Ruggiero’s research proposal about the effect of remote learning on college students’ academic self-efficacy during COVID-19. Vion He proposes a study to examine how CBT mobile apps affect the outcomes of treatments for depression in LGBTQ+ college students. Julia Leschi’s concluding proposal focuses on treatment entry motivation for people with substance use disorders.
The final section, “Research,” includes two qualitative studies examining effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on different populations. The first, by Macarena Kruger and Joy Shen, is a novel study about burnout levels among parents of young children during the pandemic. The final piece, by Ana Warner and Callie Hilgendorf, explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated symptoms of anxiety in LGBTQ+ college students.
Thank you so much to our enthusiastic and talented writers for their scholarly contributions, as well as Sydney Liang, Grace Park, and Chloe Carlson, the OPUS administrative staff for their hard work and commitment to the journal. Additionally, we would like to acknowledge and thank Mel Pagliaro for contributing their artwork to be displayed on the cover of this issue. We are also grateful to Dr. Gigliana Melzi, the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Applied Psychology, and Erica Rodriguez, the OPUS advisor for their continuous support of OPUS. Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Adina Schick, our faculty mentor, for her guidance, wit, and dedication to OPUS, without which this issue would not be possible.
Best,
OPUS Editors