The Psychological Impact Of Adolescent Violence Exposure: The Roles Of Coping And Social Support, Kelsey Gnade Coulthard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research demonstrates that children and adolescents experience a wide range of exposure to violence with rates ranging from 20% and 50% (Finkelhor & Dziuba-Leatherman, 1994; Finkelhor et al., 2005; Zimmerman & Posick, 2016). Violence exposure has been associated with several negative outcomes including biological, psychological, family-based, and academic problems. Further, studies have examined potential protective factors that may buffer against these consequences, with inconsistent results surrounding the roles of coping and social support. However, many of these studies use either an overly generalized definition of both violence exposure and/or social support or use very specific type of violence within a …

Development And Validation Of A Measure For Social Support: Perceived Social Support Inventory, Lindsay Marie Clark

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

The literature consistently acknowledges the protective function of social support against various negative psychological and physiological outcomes (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Dunst et al., 1986; Taylor, 2011; Uchino, 2009). Further, social support can emerge from different members that comprise an individual’s social network, such as friends, family, teachers, colleagues, and members of common interest groups. Given the important role that social support plays in health outcomes, the importance of psychometrically sound measures for assessing the construct is essential for use in research and clinical settings. However, many of the current measures of social support are outdated, are limited in …

General Versus Person-Specific Models Of Psychotic-Like Symptoms, Thanh Phuoc Le

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disease and carries a profound burden of illness and disability. Schizotypy, reflecting personality traits associated with a vulnerability for schizophrenia-spectrum pathology, is characterized, in part, by a tendency to experience psychotic-like symptoms (PLS). Perceived social support, or lack thereof, plays a role in the intensity of PLS. Etiological mechanisms underlying PLS, such as monolithic social support, are putatively expected to be common across individuals sharing elevated schizotypal traits. This “nomothetic” model fails to appreciate that social support is multidimensional and likely idiographic in its effects on PLS. Another salient issue that arises when attempting to …

An Investigation Of Athletic Buoyancy In Adult Recreational And Sport Club Athletes, Jackie Rae Victoriano Calhoun

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Athletic buoyancy is the ability of an athlete to effectively handle the daily setbacks and challenges they face during training and competition. Although buoyancy has received ample research in the academic domain, a dearth of information exists regarding buoyancy in the athletic domain. Therefore, the overall purpose of this dissertation was to investigate athletic buoyancy’s independent contribution to sport psychology while also exploring antecedents and outcomes in adult athletes.

Study 1 compared athletic buoyancy to other cognate constructs, or similar constructs, to determine their conceptual boundaries. A one-time, online questionnaire was distributed to 294 recreational athletes (M age = …

The Influence Of Social Support And Mental Illness On Punishment For Rule Violations Among Male Prisoners, Missy T. Malone

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Mental illness among prisoners is higher than the general population (James & Glaze, 2006). The purpose of this exploratory-descriptive study was to investigate the social support and mental health factors that best predict punishment severity for institutional rule violations among prisoners. I conducted a secondary data analysis on 2004 Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The survey participants in this study consisted of a sample of 11,569 male prisoners. Bivariate analyses of interrelationships were conducted to assess whether significant relationships exist between the severity of punishment …

The Repertoire Of Understanding: The Linguistic Patterning Of Repetition And Alignment Within Supportive Conversations, Kaitlin Emily Cannava

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores a fundamental feature of all human interaction, behavioral coordination. Since early work on motor mimicry, scholars of human communication have invested tremendous energy to discover patterns of behavioral adaptation and the impact these patterns have on individual and relational outcomes. Outcomes such as individual health and well-being, as well as relationship satisfaction and divorce are all contingent on the ability to adapt and coordinate actions (Niederhoffer & Pennebaker, 2002; Stehl et al., 2008; Kulesza et al., 2013; Ireland et al., 2011). Several decades of research have advanced our understanding of specific characteristics of supportive messages and their …

Organization Benefits - The Panacea For All That Ails You? A Dyadic, Dual-Earner Investigation Of Organization-Offered Benefits And Their Effect On Individuals And Their Partners, Suzanne Marie Booth-Ledoux

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In an effort to attract and retain top talent, organizations often offer and implement various organization benefits. The focus of this dissertation is on the outcomes of those offered organization benefits on employees and their partners. Three types of organization benefits were assessed: family-friendly benefits, financial and compensation benefits, and health care and wellness benefits. Additionally, the connection between the offering of these benefits with family-supportive organization perceptions was also examined. Family-supportive organization perceptions was shown to directly and indirectly link to individual-level outcomes including work-to-family conflict and psychological wellbeing. Moreover, because individuals do not exist in a vacuum (i.e., …

Assessing Social Support In Children: Development And Initial Validation Of The Social Support Questionnaire For Children, Arlene Tayag Gordon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research examining risk and protective factors associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children has established social support as one of the strongest predictors of psychological health and overall adjustment post-traumatic event (Vigil & Geary, 2008). Greater perceived social support, generally, has been related to more positive outcomes in children (Borja & Callahan, 2008; Cryder, Kilmer, Tedeschi, & Calhoun, 2006; Pina, Villalta, Ortiz, Gottschall, Costa, & Weems, 2008). Understanding the impact of social support on coping with traumatic events such as natural disasters or exposure to community violence is limited by the lack of psychometrically sound measures. The current study …

The Structure Of Social Networks: Examining Gender Differences And Effects On Social Support And Psychological Distress, Lacie Lin Marie Michel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Empirical research demonstrates that social networks — the aspatial social structures created through social relations — constitute a critical context that affects individuals’ health and well-being. Net of individual characteristics, social network structures can increase perceived adequacy of social support and psychological health, particularly in the aftermath of a natural disaster. However, the question of whether social contexts affect men and women differently remains largely unanswered. This dissertation examines the effects of social structural characteristics on social network structures for both national and regional data. The General Social Survey (GSS) provides the nationally representative data on social networks; the 1985 …

Apolipoprotein Status And Cognitive Functioning In Adulthood: Role Of Physical Health And Social Network Characteristics, Jennifer Lee Silva

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the relationships among cognitive function, physical health, social network characteristics, and apolipoprotein (APOE) genotype in participants from the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study. Prior literature has shown that the ε4 allele of APOE is associated with cognitive deficits (Wisdom, Callahan, & Hawkins, 2009). This study failed to find any relation between APOE genotype (ε4 carrier vs. non-carrier) and cognitive ability after controlling for age and education level. Tests for physical health mediation and social network moderation did not alter the ε4/cognition null results. This finding conflicts with prior research suggesting that physical activity and health modify the association …

Lost In Transition: Welfare To Work In Louisiana, Theresa C. Davidson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The decline in welfare rolls coupled with the increase in work activity among former recipients since the mid-nineties might indicate that welfare reform legislation has been a success. This is only part of the story describing the impact of welfare reform. Although many have exited the rolls, a significant number still have not found work, others remain on aid, and some struggle through the transition relying on a combination of welfare and work. Even those who fit the narrow definition of "success" and have left welfare for formal employment experience significant hardship. Overall, regardless of work and welfare status, most …