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Culturally-Relevant Factors That Influence Healthy Eating Among African American College Students, Danyel Smith
Culturally-Relevant Factors That Influence Healthy Eating Among African American College Students, Danyel Smith
Theses and Dissertations
Obesity is a national epidemic in the US, disproportionately affecting African Americans, such that the obesity prevalence in African Americans (49.6%) surpassed the national prevalence (42.4%) in 2018. Those same disparities exist at the collegiate level, such that 27.4% of a sample of African Americans college students had obesity, surpassing the national prevalence of obesity (12.1%) in 2018. Diet, an important driver of obesity, is influenced by several psychological, social, and environmental factors. However, cultural factors influencing diet are understudied among African American college students. The overarching goal of the current study was to identify culturally-relevant factors that promote healthy …
The Heart Of Strength: The Strong Black Woman Schema And Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Jasmine A. Abrams
The Heart Of Strength: The Strong Black Woman Schema And Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Jasmine A. Abrams
Theses and Dissertations
Black women are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease (CVD). While chronic stress has been identified as a key contributor to CVD risk, research has not identified the specific mechanisms through which stress influences CVD risk among Black women. Research suggests that in response to stress, Black women who internalize the SBW Schema engage in high effort coping, avoidant coping, postponement of self-care, and other maladaptive health behaviors and experience premature health deterioration. However, it is important to consider that internalization of the SBW Schema may exert differential effects on the physiological profiles of Black women due to varied interpretations of …
Forbearance Across Culture, Yin Lin
Forbearance Across Culture, Yin Lin
Theses and Dissertations
Forbearance is defined for the purpose of the present dissertation as, “the attempt to suppress the visible signs of negative emotion (i.e., emotional expression) and visible behaviors (i.e., the expression of negative vengeful or avoidant motives) in response to a hurt or offense, often (but not always) for the sake of group harmony.” I reviewed the literature on forbearance and cross-cultural studies in suppression of emotion or emotional expression under the framework of New Big Five personality processes and cultural models of self and relating. Then I offered three propositions about forbearance. Furthermore, I collected three samples and …
Notions Of Spirits As Agents Of Mental Illness Among The Akan Of Ghana: A Cultural-Psychological Exploration, Annabella Opare-Henaku
Notions Of Spirits As Agents Of Mental Illness Among The Akan Of Ghana: A Cultural-Psychological Exploration, Annabella Opare-Henaku
Theses and Dissertations
The study explores lay conceptualizations of mental illness among the Akans of Ghana as influenced by their cultural worldview. Akan, the largest ethnic group in Ghana, is noted for the use of supernatural attributions for various health-related issues. The supernatural attributions are based on Akan ontological belief that the universe is unitary such that there is no clear distinction between physical and spiritual occurrences. This worldview guides Akans in how they deal with a wide range of issues including their mental health. Clinicians and other mental health professionals who rely solely on biomedical approaches to mental health fail to meet …
Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: An Examination Of The Role Of Race, Ethnicity, And Cultural Factors In Presenting Symptoms And At Three Month (Or First Recorded) Follow Up, Stephanie Susanne Genser Wolf
Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: An Examination Of The Role Of Race, Ethnicity, And Cultural Factors In Presenting Symptoms And At Three Month (Or First Recorded) Follow Up, Stephanie Susanne Genser Wolf
Theses and Dissertations
Child traumatic stress is a pervasive problem that affects the well-being and healthy development of children from all races, ethnicities, and cultures. Major factors known to affect trauma symptoms include type of trauma, level or severity of trauma exposure, and age and gender of children. Utilizing Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, this study measured the additional influence of children’s race, ethnicity, and cultural factors on symptoms after trauma. A dataset of children in treatment after experiencing trauma (0-21 years, N = 10,115) from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), a federally funded initiative that collected longitudinal data across 56 research and …
Efficacy Of Reach Forgiveness For Foreign And Virginia Students, Yin Lin
Efficacy Of Reach Forgiveness For Foreign And Virginia Students, Yin Lin
Theses and Dissertations
People agree that forgiveness is a virtue in essentially all countries. However, different cultures have different ideas about how willing one should forgive and under what circumstances. Although the study occurred in the USA, I recruited both foreign-extraction and Virginia born-and-raised female college students (N=102) to participate a six-hour REACH forgiveness intervention, promoting their forgiveness through psychoeducational groups. In my thesis, I investigated whether students of foreign extraction and Virginia-born students would respond similarly to the intervention. I operationalized culture in two ways—by country and by individual self-reported self-construal. I measured forgiveness using two measures—decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness. I …
Parent And Professional Perspectives About Autism Spectrum Disorders In South India: Beliefs, Practices, And Parent-Professional Relationships., Neeraja Ravindran
Parent And Professional Perspectives About Autism Spectrum Disorders In South India: Beliefs, Practices, And Parent-Professional Relationships., Neeraja Ravindran
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experience of parents and professionals living in a large metropolitan city in South India who were raising and/or working with a child with an autism spectrum disorder. The study explored the unique perspectives of parents and professionals regarding their beliefs and practices about autism, as well as the nature of the parent-professional relationship. Nineteen parents (all mothers) and 21 professionals were interviewed in person at four schools, an early intervention program, a hospital clinic, and a physician’s office. Themes were developed using qualitative software, and reliability was established through multiple …
Cultural Factors And Communication During Medical Consultations With Hiv-Positive Racial/Ethnic Minority Patients, Lillian Stevens
Cultural Factors And Communication During Medical Consultations With Hiv-Positive Racial/Ethnic Minority Patients, Lillian Stevens
Theses and Dissertations
This study examined the relationships between cultural characteristics, communication variables, and medical outcomes in HIV-positive racial/ethnic minority patients. Participants included 33 patients and 5 providers across two urban, community medical clinics. The patient sample was 61% African American, 24% Latino, and 15% Other/Mixed. The majority (73%) were male. Providers included one White female physician, one White male nurse practitioner, two White female nurse practitioners, and one White male physician assistant. In this descriptive study, patients completed self-report ratings of their desire for engagement in decision-making prior to their scheduled medical consultation. After their consultations, patients rated their provider regarding engagement …
Forgiveness, Individualism, And Collectivism, Joshua N. Hook
Forgiveness, Individualism, And Collectivism, Joshua N. Hook
Theses and Dissertations
Although the scientific study of forgiveness has flourished in recent years, the study of the effects of culture on forgiveness has been minimal. The present thesis reviews the literature examining the effects of individualism and collectivism on forgiveness. In Study 1, four scales are created that are hypothesized to relate to the study of culture and forgiveness. Evidence for the reliability and validity of these scales are presented. In Study 2, the effects of individualism and collectivism are empirically tested. Collectivistic forgivers understand forgiveness within the context of reconciliation, social harmony, and relational repair. Collectivistic forgiveness primarily involves a decision …