Perfectionism And Burnout In University Students: The Influence Of Resilience, Laura M. Ulrich

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

This study investigated the relationship between perfectionism, resilience, and risk of burnout among university students. The sample consisted of 55 (53 female and two male) Psychology 1000 students from Brescia University College. Self-report questionnaires assessed perfectionism, academic resilience, risk of academic burnout, and perceived stress. Participants were divided into four perfectionism groups: non-perfectionism, pure personal standards perfectionism, pure evaluative concerns perfectionism, and mixed perfectionism. Participants were also divided into a high and low academic resilience group. Individuals with pure personal standards perfectionism had a significantly lower risk of academic burnout compared to those with non-perfectionism, pure evaluative concerns perfectionism, and …

The Effects Of Aromatherapy On Stress In A University Population, Theresa L. Flagler

Undergraduate Honours Theses

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether aromatherapy has an effect on stress responses in a population of undergraduate university students at a liberal arts college. To do this, participants were brought to a laboratory room and asked to complete a task designed to increase feelings of stress and anxiety by having participants perform a song in front of the researcher. During this, either water vapor infused with a small quantity of lavender oil or unadulterated water vapour was diffusing into the room. To measure stress, participants wore a heart rate monitor throughout the duration of the …

Understanding Burnout In Undergraduate Students: The Role Of Social Media, Paige Walker

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

This study investigated different factors relating to undergraduate burnout and whether social media could act as a protective factor. The study group was comprised of 66 female undergraduate psychology students at Brescia University College. Participants completed one questionnaire with seven subscales which measured the following variables: subjective well-being, student subjective well-being, personality traits, social support, stress, online support, and burnout. The participants were divided into three groups based on their burnout scores. The results of the ANOVA indicated that there were significant differences between the three burnout groups on: subjective well-being, student subjective well-being, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, social support, and …

Anxiety And Stress In First Year University Students, Kimberly Mccready

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

The purpose of the study was two-fold: to confirm the finding that anxiety and stress increases as exams draw near, and to provide evidence that smokers will have greater increases in anxiety and stress than non-smokers, as well as increased smoking urges as exam draws near, to deal with the related increase in anxiety and stress. To investigate this, participants were asked to fill out the DASS-21 at three-time points (4 weeks, 2.5 weeks, and 1 week) before the Psychology 1000 midterm examination. Smoking urges of smokers was also to be assessed, however, due to lack of smoking participants, no …

Understanding Workplace Incivility Experiences And The Moderating Role Of Mindfulness, Rima C. Tarraf

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Rude treatment at work can lead to many negative consequences, as evidenced by the wealth of research available. This dissertation, addressed two important questions that have yet to receive adequate attention. First, how does an employee experience incivility, and second, what is a practical and cost-effective way of mitigating the negative outcomes associated with incivility and promoting positive ones? Incivility research has mainly employed quantitative methods to understand incivility experiences. Using qualitative methods however, would complement the knowledge and potentially move the field of inquiry in new directions. As such, the goal of Study One was to obtain a narrative …

Quality Of Life And Sources Of Stress In Teachers: A Canadian Perspective, Jessica R. Danilewitz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Previous research has reported that teaching is one of the most stressful occupations in the world. The present study examined the experience of teachers’ Quality of Life (QOL) and stress, and the relationship between QOL and the source (home life, work-life, or work-life balance) of stress in Canadian teachers. Data for the study was obtained from a comprehensive online survey of female full-time elementary and secondary school teachers across Canada (n = 227). Results demonstrated that all QOL scale scores were lower in the present study, as compared to previously published community sample literature. Of the three sources of stress, …

The Effects Of Self-Care Meditation Behaviour On Undergraduate Students’ Reported Stress, Anna Smallwood

Undergraduate Honours Theses

The goal of this research study was to provide undergraduate post-secondary students with a self-care behaviour that: a) was self-help based; b) could become a routine part of their schedules; and c) was effective in lowering their stress responses. One group of participants was asked to rate their stress on a 7-point scale, twice a day, for 10 business days. A second group of participants was also asked to rate their stress following the same instructions however they were also asked to perform a 5-minute mindfulness-based meditation twice a day, immediately following the stress ratings. A 2 (Week 1 vs. …

Interactions Between The Basolateral Amygdala And Ventral Striatum During Probabilistic Learning In Children And Associations With Individual Differences In Free Cortisol, Haley J. Fallowfield

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Stress can drastically alter the behavioural and functional correlates of feedback learning; however, the functional correlates of these effects are poorly understood, particularly in children. In the present study, typically developing children between the ages of 9- and 11-years-old completed a probabilistic learning task with both appetitive and aversive outcomes in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Anticipatory stress to the experimental environment was measured via salivary cortisol at baseline and prior to completion of the task. Although baseline and pre-MRI cortisol values were not reliably different at the group level, subsequent analyses revealed that the basolateral amygdala was less responsive …

Associations Between Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis System Gene Variants And Cortisol Reactivity In Preschoolers: Main Effects And Gene-Environment Interactions, Haroon I. Sheikh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Exposure to stressful events during early development has consistently been shown to produce long lasting effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which may increase vulnerability to mood and anxiety disorders. Recently reported genetic association studies indicate that these disorders may be influenced, in part, by gene-environment interactions (GxE) involving polymorphisms within the corticotrophin-releasing hormone and monoaminergic system genes. However, little is known about how genetic variants and life stress work to shape children’s neuroendocrine reactivity and emerging symptoms. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to examine main effects of candidate genes and GxE on the neuroendocrine stress response and …

Children's Mental Health, Yvonne A. Asare-Bediako

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The study of children’s mental health has largely been the domain of developmental psychologists and psychiatrists. These studies focus on parental mental health, and examine its direct and indirect effects, through a family’s psychosocial environment. Relatively little attention is given to socio-structural factors. By contrast, the sociology of mental health focuses on such structural factors as poverty and income, examining the extent to which stressors and strains may pattern the effects of these factors on children’s psychopathology. Adding to the divergence in research is the use of maternal reports in the assessment of children’s mental health. These reports often reflect …

Interpretive Bias In The Context Of Life Stress And Depression: An Examination Of Stress Generation And Diathesis-Stress Models, Pamela M. Seeds

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Purpose: Researchers have recently demonstrated interest in interpretive bias, the tendency to interpret ambiguous information more negatively and/or less positively. The extent to which interpretive biases influence the occurrence of life stressors and potentially compound the negative effects of life stress in the development of depression is presently unknown. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate interpretive bias for ambiguous social information within the context of stress and depression. This study examined interpretive bias in the context of two theoretically and empirically supported models of depression – stress generation and diathesis-stress – to determine the mechanism through which …

Coping Experiences Of 911 Communication Workers, Sarah G. Horsford

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research explored coping experiences among emergency communications personnel. Ten individuals from a communication centre of a policing unit in Ontario participated in semi-structured interviews. Seven themes emerged to form the content analysis including Meaning-Focused Coping, Emotion-Focused Coping, Problem-Focused Coping, Reappraisal, Comm Centre Culture, Occupational Dimensions and Organizational Structure. Themes were compared to workplace stress, coping and burnout literature in addition to literature regarding organizational interventions and emergency responders. Implications were presented for counselors working with communications personnel and emergency responders.