Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 4-30-2025
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Laura Dixon
Second Advisor
John Young
Third Advisor
Kristin Austin
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Misophonia is a disorder of decreased tolerance to certain sounds (Swedo et al., 2022). Studies in adults with misophonia show that individuals experience functional impairment across domains (Jager et al., 2020). However, very few studies have investigated differences in specific areas of functional impairment between individuals with and without misophonia. Therefore, the current study was conducted to understand these differences in order to better understand potential treatment targets. We hypothesized that individual’s with misophonia would report greater functional impairment across domains of daily living than individuals without misophonia. Participants (N = 156; 71.6% female; 69.8% White; Mage = 28.2 years, SD = 11.2) were recruited from the community. Individuals who met screening criteria for the misophonia group (n = 81) or the control group (n = 75) were invited to participate in the study and completed self-report measures of demographics and functional impairment as part of a larger project focused on characterizing features of misophonia. Chi Square and t-test analyses were conducted to investigate differences between groups. The misophonia group demonstrated significantly higher functional impairment across areas of physical mobility, bodily pain, general health, social functioning, and mental health. As expected, results suggest that individuals with misophonia experience higher levels of functional impairment than those in the control group, indicating consideration for multidisciplinary treatments to improve quality of life. Future research should aim to further investigate long-term therapeutic interventions for individuals with misophonia-related functional limitations.
Recommended Citation
Mueller, Madeline P., "Examining Differences in Functional Impairment in Individuals With and Without Misophonia" (2025). Honors Theses. 3216.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3216
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