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Pathways To Obesity In Women : The Role Of Coping And Emotional Eating, Veronica Nicole Stotts

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Obesity is a major health crisis in the United States, with approximately two-thirds of the population qualifying as overweight and, of those, almost one half qualifying as obese (CDC, 2007). While there are a myriad of causes of obesity, a great deal of evidence shows that many individuals, and particularly women, eat as a coping response to stress (e.g., Greeno & Wing, 1994). Therefore, one's ability to cope, or the process by which individuals deal with situations that involve stress or threat, may be a factor that contributes to increased body mass index, or BMI, a common measure of obesity. …

A Model Of Responses To Race-Based And Gender-Based Stereotype Threat In Computer Science, Lara Tedrow

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The perception of stereotype threat among computer science students was examined at two universities. A model of stereotype threat was developed and tested among students enrolled in three undergraduate computer science courses at two universities. The goal of this model was to provide an understanding of the underlying mechanisms through which stereotype threat works.

The study tested relationships among the following variables: race-based stereotype threat, gender-based stereotype threat, goal orientation, CS self-efficacy, active coping, behavioral disengagement, effort, and performance. Structural equation modeling was used to test the measurement model and a series of nested structural models. Findings supported the proposed …

Religious Orientation And Religious Coping In Adolescents With And Without A Chronic Illness, Jacqueline Beine Brown

Dissertations

Religion plays an important role in most people's lives and can greatly affect how individuals cope and interpret stressful situations. However, very little is known about how adolescents incorporate religion into their lives (e.g., is it central or peripheral to their lives, do they utilize religious coping). Furthermore, given the additional stressors experienced by adolescents who have a chronic illness, it is likely their religious orientations and religious coping strategies are different from their healthy peers. Thus, the present study was designed to examine the constructs in both typically developing and chronically ill adolescents. Additional constructs of hope, general coping, …

Resiliency Factors And Pathways To Incarceration In Female Survivors Of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Kia Asberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies find consistently that survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are likely to suffer from depression, post-traumatic stress, and problematic substance use, and may experience also a variety of adjustment difficulties in several emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal domains. Involvement with the legal system is one such outcome to consider, especially given the increasing number of women serving time in correctional facilities with nearly two-thirds of these women being survivors of CSA (e.g., Browne, Miller, & Maguin, 1999). The current literature lacks comparisons between female survivors of CSA who have legal involvement and those who do not; hence, the current study …

Resilience In Mothers Who Had Been Victims Of Physical Child Abuse: An Exploration Of The Mediating Effects Of Personality Characteristics, Coping Skills, Social Support, And Family Characteristics, Denise A. Traina

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Mediational Effects Of Perceived Child Control And Parental Coping Assistance On Peer Problem Outcomes In Families Of Children With Developmental Disabilities, Kara E. Snead

Psychology Theses

Literature to date suggests that child coping is often a direct result of coping assistance provided by parents. Findings have not considered aspects of the stressor that may impact what the parent suggests; specifically, the child’s role, and the controllability of the stressor particularly for children with intellectual disabilities. The current study examines how the child’s disability status and parental perceptions of the child’s control over a peer problem influence the type of coping suggestions parents offer and how specific types of coping assistance affect the outcome of the coping situation. Results indicated that mothers of children with mental retardation …

Role Of Trauma In Social-Cognitive Adjustment Strategies And Moral Disengagement Among African-American Urban Youth, Kendell Lamonte Coker

Theses and Dissertations

The role of trauma has been implicated in the etiology of juvenile delinquency (Esbensen & Huizinga, 1991; Dulmus, 2003). This is especially pronounced among inner city minority youth. Traumatic experiences can hinder an adolescent's social-cognitive development, prevent the use of adequate coping mechanisms and cognitive processes, such as social problem solving, and lead youth to disengage their moral controls (Ng-Mak, Salzinger, Feldman, & Stueve, 2002). The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of trauma and adjustment strategies among African American urban youth and how moral disengagement can be averted via mediation by the use of social problem …

Maternal Caregivers' Organization Of And Reasoning Behind Coping Suggestions To Deal With Community Violence Exposure, Melinda B. Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Children and adolescents exposed to community violence can experience a plethora of negative outcomes including both internalizing symptoms and externalizing problems. Coping strategies can either buffer the effects of violence exposure or exacerbate negative outcomes following exposure. Given the diversity of strategies youth use to cope with violence, one unanswered question is how youth come to learn coping strategies to deal with community violence, and the roles that proximal others such as caregivers play in that process. The current study had several aims including understanding (a) how caregivers organize and conceptualize the suggestions they give to their children to cope …

Posttraumatic Growth Among College Students At A Large Urban University: The Role Of Social Support And Unsupportive Social Interactions, Wendy E. Balliet

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between both social support and unsupportive interactions and psychological outcomes, in a sample of college students who recently had experienced a stressful event. The research design was cross-sectional, and data were collected from 142 college students. As hypothesized, a significant positive association was found between unsupportive interactions received by participants and depressive symptoms. Contrary to hypotheses, no significant associations were found between unsupportive interactions and positive emotion or posttraumatic growth. Additionally, no significant relationship was evident between received emotional support and the outcome variables. Exploratory analysis revealed that positive reappraisal …

Religious Coping Among Sexually Abused Adolescent Girls: A Phenomenological Investigation., Ndiya Nkongho

Psychology Dissertations

Sexual abuse is defined as any act which forces or coerces a child into engaging in non-consensual sexual activities that they may not understand. As child sexual abuse is recognized as a mental health and public health concern, increased research efforts have been directed towards identifying the physical, emotional, and cognitive effects of child sexual abuse. The majority of such research uses adult survivors of child sexual abuse and is quantitative, retrospective, and correlational in design. Qualitative approaches with adults are few; thus far, descriptive research with children is largely limited to forensic applications. Pargament (1997) proposes the existence of …

Sleep Quality Of College Students And Its Relationship To Coping Styles And Well-Being, Cathy Alison Word

Doctoral Dissertations

College students suffer from more sleep disturbances than the general population. Sleep difficulties in college students can lead to lower levels of performance, memory, and cognitive ability, as well as increased levels of anxiety and decreased levels of well-being. Sleep quality is known to impact individuals' physical and psychological health, which are indicators of well-being. Sleep also appears to influence individuals' choices of coping strategies. Sleep quality is also highly correlated with college students' emotional response to stress. The relationships between and among sleep quality, well-being, and coping style have not been fully examined. The purpose of this study was …

A Processing Model Of Emotion Regulation: Insights From The Attachment System, Jungeun Hwang

Psychology Dissertations

A processing model of emotion regulation (PMER) was investigated by assessing the attachment system and the two types of emotion regulation strategies (adaptive and maladaptive) in undergraduate students (N = 307) at Georgia State University. The analysis of the data revealed an interesting set of findings: (a) attachment anxiety was a stronger indicator of whether people use adaptive or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies than was attachment avoidance; (b) self efficacy, and not cognitive inability to suppress unwanted thoughts, partially mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and adaptive emotion regulation strategies; and (c) cognitive inability to suppress unwanted thoughts, and not …

Understanding How African-American Middle School Students Cope With Peer Victimization: A Mixed-Methods Approach, Suzanne C. Linkroum

Theses and Dissertations

A mixed-methods approach was used to determine how African-American middle school students cope with peer victimization and to identify factors that inhibit and promote the use of prosocial coping strategies. In a previous study, participants had been categorized into four social clusters: well-adjusted, rejected, passively-victimized, or aggressively-victimized based on a cluster analysis of self-reported psychosocial variables. Interviews with a sub sample of 80 students focusing on identifying both how students thought they would respond and how they thought they should respond to hypothetical situations involving peer victimization were analyzed. Interviews also elicited factors that would support or impede the use …

The Effect Of The Death Of A Child On Midlife Mental And Physical Health: An Exploration Of Risk And Resilience Factors, Catherine Hilary Rogers

Psychology Dissertations

The study examined the long-term effects of a death of a child on a variety of parental psychological and physical outcomes, incorporating several methodological and conceptual innovations over previous research. Prior bereavement research typically has focused on functioning within a short time period after the death and often has utilized self-selected samples of grieving parents; thus current models of grief may be inadequate. In contrast, this study broadened the timeframe in which bereavement is studied (average time since death= 20 years), and examined a sample of bereaved parents who were not self-selected. Participants were members of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study …

An Investigation Of Reactance, Coping, Quality Of Life, And Well -Being, Monique Maria Matherne

Doctoral Dissertations

Psychological reactance (reactance) is a personality variable receiving a great deal of attention. Reactance has been defined as the motivational force aroused in an individual when a behavioral freedom is lost or threatened (Brehm, 1966). The current study assessed the interrelationships among psychological reactance, coping, quality of life, and well-being. A total of 353 participants were analyzed for this study. Participants completed four self-report instruments: (1) the Therapeutic Reactance Scale, (2) the Coping Styles Questionnaire, (3) the Overall Quality of Life Scale, (4) the General Well-Being Schedule, and a demographics questionnaire. Significant gender differences existed for reactance, detachment coping, emotional …

Life Event Perception: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach To The Antecedents Of The Life Stress Response, Christopher Aaron Myers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has been often argued that life events have an impact on our physical and psychological well-being. In general, research supports this connection between life events and general health, though some argue that simply experiencing life events has a measurable and predictable impact our health, while others contend that this effect is mediated by the appraisal process. Further, research has identified a number of different factors (hypothetically stratified into pre-existing beliefs, external resources and demands, and behavioral activation and coping strategies) that may influence appraisal and general health. The current study attempts to integrate these findings by testing structural models …

Perceived Stress, Coping, And Adequacy Of Social Support: Implications For Subjective Well-Being In College Students, Kia Asberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stress is a widespread concept commonly associated with psychological and medical problems that may impair an individual's functioning and incur costs on society. Alarming rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and other stress-related problems have been found among college students. This study (N = 241)argues that reducing emotional and financial stress-related costs may be possible through increasing public and professional awareness of moderating variables, such as social support and coping resources. Results indicated that stress, inadequate social support, and escape-avoidance coping were related to higher levels of depression and lower life satisfaction in both males and females. Social support functioned …

Patient Perceptions Of Receiving Bad News : Individual Coping Styles And Receiving The Diagnosis Of Cancer , Kyle B. Holsinger

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States (CDC, 2005). Physicians who disclose the cancer diagnosis to patients are faced with limited professional training and few consensus clinical guidelines for communicating this diagnosis to their patients (Buckman, 1992; Girgis, Sanson-Fisher, & Schofield, 1999). Use of guidelines for delivering bad news and tailoring the bad news message to individual patients is recommended, but it is unclear if this is followed in the medical community (Baile, Lenzi, Parker, Buckman, & Cohen, 2002). The current study was conducted through a mail-in survey, of 186 surveys delivered, 111 were returned, …

The Role Of Stress Resiliency And Perceived Procedural Fairness In The Coping Processes Of Layoff Survivors, Sue E. Schonberg

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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The Role Of Initial Coping Strategies On Subsequent Appointment Attendance In Individuals With Hiv: A Longitudinal Analysis, Deann Morris Johnson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With advances in HIV treatment regimens, HIV has become a treatable chronic illness that requires extensive clinical management (Kelly, Otto-Salaj, Sikkema, Pinkerton, & Bloom, 1998). Nonadherence to HIV medical regimens is a primary reason for treatment failure. HIV medication regimens are complicated and require extensive time and effort from the patient (Friedland & Williams, 1999). Since the effectiveness of HIV medication regimens can be severely limited by poor adherence, much research has been conducted regarding the influence of psychosocial factors in adherence. However, this research has primarily focused on medication adherence and has not investigated psychosocial aspects associated with other …

Stress And Coping Experiences Of Women In Transition: From Welfare To Work, William Jesse Gill

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Welfare reform and the consequent emphasis on employment represent a stressful sequence of events in the lives of women who are already facing the chronic stressors associated with single parenting and poverty. The current study assessed the levels of distress, factors contributing to distress, and coping resources utilized among a sample of 60 mothers who were making the transition from welfare to work. Ninety percent of the women were single or separated, and 71 percent were African American. All were receiving public assistance from two neighboring social services agencies in Virginia.

Psychological distress was measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory …

Attitudes Toward Violence And Reasons For Living In Adolescents With High, Moderate, And Low Self-Esteem., Rhonda Marie Blevins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes toward violence and reasons for living in adolescents with high, moderate, and low self-esteem. An attitudes toward violence scale was devised for the purposes of this study. Self-Esteem was assessed using the shortened version of Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (SES). The Brief Reasons for Living in Adolescents (BRFL-A) was utilized to assess adaptive characteristics. The independent variables were gender and self-esteem. The dependent variables were total reasons for living score and attitudes toward violence score.

Participants included 138 males and 95 females, ages 11 to 15 years old (M = 13.3) from …

Coping And Depression In Residentially Placed Female Adolescents, Mary Cozzens-Hebert

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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The Significance Of Dispositional Optimism And Coping In Predicting Psychological Distress, Life Satisfaction, Health Perception, And Frequency Of Discharges In The Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (Aicd) Patient, Paul B. Damin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Dispositional optimism, as a stable outcome expectancy, has been shown to predict health outcomes in several contexts. Research has demonstrated that health-impaired subjects with optimistic outlooks fared better than those with a pessimistic outlook. Choice of coping strategies has been theorized as the mediating factor through which optimism operates. However, the construct of dispositional optimism has been challenged as a polar opposite of neuroticism, thus contending that optimism is not an independent notion.

The present study was designed to evaluate further the theoretical underpinnings of dispositional optimism theory. Subjects were selected from a population of cardiac patients who received an …