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Youth Relational History Affecting Mentoring Relationship Quality, Brittanie Nicole Gage

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Black youth in low-income communities have a heightened risk of exposure to poverty-related stressors, increasing the risk of poor youth outcomes. Proven moderately effective, youth mentoring programs were created to decrease the risk of negative outcomes and promote positive development. A primary relational experience, the parent – child relationship shapes a youth’s relational history and influences their relational capacity, or ability to connect with a mentor. The mentoring relationship quality (MRQ) is a key determinant in mentoring success. Emerging research suggests youth with moderate relational histories experience the most benefits from mentoring, demonstrating a curvilinear relationship.

This study investigated two …

Examining Covid-19 Long-Haulers Along Gender, Race Stress And Social Support Variables, Brianna Mabie

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Unfortunately, the United States has experienced approximately 620,000 deaths as a direct result of COVID-19, with elderly, Hispanic, and Black Americans experiencing the greatest risk (CDC, 2021). Although most individuals recover from mild to moderate COVID-19 infections within a few weeks, some may experience lingering symptoms for many months (Mayo Clinic, 2020). These individuals are commonly known as COVID-19 long-haulers. In order to properly assist in the well-being of COVID-19 long-haulers, more needs to be understood in terms of how gender, race, stress, and social support impact symptomatology within this population. The present study seeks to address this gap in …

To Engage Or Disengage: The Impact Of Coping Strategies, Sex, And Stress History On Cortisol Reactivity Among Urban Adolescents, Madeline Curzon

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Stress affects people daily and can prove maladaptive to mental health if chronic or acute. Effective coping responses may mitigate the negative effects of intense or prolonged stress through physiological processes such as HPA axis activity. Previous research has found one specific coping dimension, engagement/disengagement, to be predictive of cortisol reactivity in response to lab-induced stressors. Sex and stress history also contribute to the relationship between coping and cortisol reactivity. However, these processes are not as well understood in adolescent populations and have not been explored across different types of stressors. The present study explored the relationship between coping and …

Measuring Allostatic Load In An Urban Adolescent Sample: The Profile And Role Of Biomarker Dysregulation In Depression Outcomes, Heather Marshall

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Accumulated, chronic stress exposure is well established as a precursor for allostatic load (AL). Both stress exposure and AL have been associated with depression in the existing literature. While many studies have focused on biomarkers representative of various physiological systems, a clear understanding of how physiological AL results in depression is yet unclear. Further, variability of hypo- and hypercortisolemic profiles have been associated with depression. A review of the existing literature supports hypocortisolemic profiles in relation to female depression and hypercortisolemic profiles in male depression across both adolescent and adult populations. The function of alpha-amylase (AA) dysregulation within the context …

Office Clutter And Its Influence: Assessing Engagement, Satisfaction, Tension, Stress, And Emotional Exhaustion, Trina N. Dao

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Psychological home is a relatively new topic within the field of psychology, defined as a person’s need to self-identify with a physical environment. Clutter, defined as the over-accumulation of material items, is even less studied. Previous research has shown that clutter in the home may negatively influence a person’s well-being, but this tendency has not been investigated in workplace settings (Crum & Ferrari, 2019a; Crum & Ferrari, 2019b; Roster, Ferrari & Jurkat, 2016). Within workplace research, there is a construct called work-related well-being (Narainsamy & Van Der Westhuizen, 2013; Rothman, 2008), consisting of job satisfaction, employee engagement, burnout, and occupational …

Overcoming Exposure To Complex Stressors: An Examination Of Protective Coping Mechanisms For Low-Income Urban African American Youth, Molly Cory

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Low-income urban African American youth experience multiple uncontrollable stressors (e.g. community violence) that may then impact the severity of controllable stressors (e.g. school stressors) and combine to produce negative life outcomes. In light of these negative outcomes, it is important to understand individual protective factors, and the coping response in particular. Past research has emphasized the advantages of primary control engagement coping, but recent evidence suggests that low-income urban African American youth facing complex and uncontrollable stressors may benefit more from disengagement strategies in response to uncontrollable stressors. Although it is expected this population would additionally benefit from applying engagement …

Beyond Access Towards Success For First-Generation College Students Of Underrepresented Ethnic Backgrounds: The Role Of College Adjustment And Perceived Stressors On Academic Achievement During The First Year, Shannon Williams

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The current study explored the first year college transition between traditional and underrepresented student groups (ethnic minorities and first-generation college students; N = 500; M age = 18.34) at a diverse institution, comparing GPA and college adjustment over time. Using Tinto’s retention model (1975), the aim of the current study explored whether social and academic adjustment differences would explain any gap in academic achievement among underrepresented students groups. Results indicated that first-generation college students (FGC) of minority ethnic backgrounds reported significantly lower GPA scores, and had lower adjustment subscale scores compared to all other student groups by the end of …

Meaning As A Buffer Against Adolescent Psychopathology, Ellen Shaina Dulaney

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the function of meaning in life in adolescence to ascertain whether specific psychological resources may protect youths against threats to subjective well-being. Meaning in life and the search for the meaning in stressful occurrences were independently examined for their influence on stress impact and depression symptomatology. 201 American middle-school and high-school students between 12 and 19 years of age were recruited for this study. Participants reported on questionnaires targeting frequency of negative life events; depressive symptoms; sense of meaning; and tendency to reframe stressors in terms of their meaning, termed “stressor meaning seeking”. It was expected that …

Using A Resiliency Framework To Examine Natural Mentoring Relationships And The Coping Efficacy As Buffers Of The Negative Impact Of Stressors On Academic Outcomes In Urban, Low-Income Ethnic Minority Youth, Rachel M. Feuer

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This paper used Resiliency theory to examine natural mentoring and coping efficacy as protective factors that may buffer the negative impact of stressors on academic and psychosocial outcomes in urban, low-income, Latino youth. Research has demonstrated that natural mentoring may serve a protective role for youth who are experiencing high levels of stressors, and that coping efficacy may correlate with positive outcomes. The present study used Structural Equation Modeling to test the compensatory and protective factors models of resilience to examine the ways in which stress, coping efficacy and natural mentoring interact to predict a variety of academic outcomes for …