Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Student Perceptions Of A High School Wellness Center: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Qualitative Study, Devan Audrey Clayton

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescents face many challenges at home and at school which impact various areas of their lives, including their academics. Schools have worked to ensure better student mental health outcomes by hiring school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers. School wellness centers can be an additional resource that students utilize to address mental health challenges during their school day. The purpose of this study is to understand adolescent perceptions of a school-based wellness center. Perceptions of populations who utilize the wellness center and those who do not utilize the wellness center were studied within one high school to understand how …

Eating Disorders And Adolescents: A Plea For Early Childhood Intervention, Abby Smiley

Student Works

According to Gerbasi et al. (2014), eating disorders are considered a global health crisis, if not a worldwide epidemic. Early intervention in adolescence may be effective in slowing the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors in this at-risk demographic. Bills et al. (2023) concluded that physical complications may come from participating in disordered eating and may eventually attribute to the development of an eating disorder; these complications may include diminished brain function and health, as well as diminished heart function and health. It was also concluded that eating disorders may be linked to suicidal ideation and other mental health issues (Bills …

Quantifying The Effects Of Involvement In Aesthetic Sports On The Development Of Eating Disorders In Pre-Teens, Ella Cook, Melissa Hewitt, Anna Sherrill, Alyssa Tolman, Erik J. Nelson

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

Approximately 2.8 million people (ANAD, 2023) in the United States are affected by eating disorders, and more than 1 in 5 children (Holcombe, 2023) around the world suffer from disordered eating symptoms. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, and children involved in “aesthetic sports” (dance, wrestling gymnastics, swimming) are at a higher risk of developing symptoms than their non-participating peers. (Davison et al., 2002) Eating disorders are often associated solely with an older teenagers or women, but heavily impact children as well. It is impossible to address mental health concerns among America’s youth without addressing …

Team Moms And Tiger Moms: Formal Sports Participation And Closeness To Mothers: Supplementary Materials, Tom R. Leppard, Mikaela J. Dufur

Faculty Publications

Recent research highlights that relationships with parents are among those strengthened when youth play sports. This recent work, however, largely focuses on fathers, arguing that because of the persistent emphasis on masculinity in sporting spaces, youth sports might be especially effective at facilitating stronger relationships between fathers and children. This chapter asks how the mother-child dyad is influenced by youth formal participation in sports during their adolescence, including whether these patters differ for daughters and sons. The intense time investments the entire family unit incurs to support youth sport participation might be borne primarily by mothers; this in turn might …

Intrapersonal And Interpersonal Predictors Of Hope In Adolescents, Megan M. B. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Hope is a variable that is defined in research as a positive outlook on one's future and a plan to achieve that future. Hope has been found to be positively correlated with self-esteem, optimism, and life satisfaction, and negatively correlated with suicide ideation and suicidality. However, there is a lack of research on predictors of hope in adolescents. Adolescents compose the age group that could arguably use the goal-oriented and positive outlook that hope provides the most. This study identified predictors of hope (i.e., depression, maternal and paternal support) in adolescents so as to know how society can give adolescents …

Improving Transition Care: A Transition Toolkit Implementation Project, Julieanne Cox, Bret Lyman, Matt Anderson, Marie Prothero

Student Works

The purpose of this project was to develop an easy-to-use transition toolkit for clinics serving children and young adults with chronic illnesses who are transitioning from a pediatric model of care to an adult model of care. GotTransition’s six core elements served as a guiding framework for the toolkit. The toolkit was developed through an iterative process with substantial stakeholder input. Stakeholders included patient, parents, clinicians, and transition care experts. Project evaluation data were gathered from clinic stakeholders using a quantitative post-then survey based on GotTransition’s six core elements of transition care, as well as three open-ended questions. All six …

Inclusion And Deliberative Dialogues: Exploring Outcomes Of Transformative Experiences For Adolescents, Hadley Robertson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore outcomes of participating in a deliberative dialogue for adolescents. Participants attended a deliberative dialogue facilitated by the primary researcher. After the dialogue, participants completed journal prompts that asked about their experience participating in the dialogue. Results indicated that participation in the dialogues impacted adolescents’ confidence and open-mindedness. Findings also indicated components of atmosphere that contributed to willingness to engage, and strategies participants can use in future conversations. Deliberative dialogues are an avenue for transformative experiences and the data from this study can help experience designers understand these types of experiences for adolescents. …

Religiousness And Risky Behaviors Mediated By Moral Attitudes, Benjamin Curth

Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is a lot of existing research on religiousness in adolescents and risky behaviors such as sex alcohol. However, one understudied aspect of it is why the connection. Very few studies have explored this area, and a mediation model may aid in that research. For this study, a sample size of 364 adolescents ages 14-18 were surveyed (M = 15.64). Some mediations models have been attempted which suggests that it should be successful. In this study, a mediation model is used to explore the relationship between religiousness and risky behaviors in adolescents mediated by conservative attitudes. After finding significant …

Society’S Responsibility To Prevent Rising Mental Illness In Youth, Spencer Smith

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

The increasing rates of mental illness in the world is becoming an issue that has been ignored for too long. Stigma and ableism, “discrimination against individuals with disabilities or the tendency to be prejudiced against and to stereotype them negatively,” are contributing factors to the delay of seeking mental health treatment and worse prognosis (VandenBos & American Psychological Association, 2007). Preventing mental illness in youth requires changes in education. By increasing education at school, from parents, and understanding personal responsibility, it may be possible to prevent or mitigate mental illness development. Though there seems to be no one best practice …

Exploring Mentions Of Pornography In Popular Television Shows, A. Lucia Pollock

Theses and Dissertations

While pornography has become highly accessible, another way in which pornography is present in media is through discussion in movies and television shows, which is often framed through casual reference, by way of a joke, or in a teasing manner. A content analysis of 55 episodes that reference pornography—looking specifically at the framing of pornography in individual scenes—provides valuable insight into the media ecosystem surrounding pornography and its potential impact on adolescents. Using cultivation analysis and framing theory as a theoretical basis, this study analyzes the inclusion of the terms, “porn,” “porno,” and “pornography” in popular television shows.

Warning! Explicit Material: The Effects Of Adolescent Pornography Use On Risky Sexual Behavior Over Time, Emily Jensen-Schvaneveldt

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the longitudinal effects of adolescent pornography trajectories on risky sexual behavior, as well as predictors of pornography trajectories. Data was taken from Waves V-X of the Flourishing Families Project, which included a sample of 463 families. A zero-inflated Poisson growth mixture model was run to determine class participation and growth trajectories. Findings revealed that gender and religiosity significantly predicted class participation, and class participation significantly predicted risky sexual behavior. While this study did have limitations, this study adds to the previous literature by examining adolescent pornography trajectories over an extended period of time.

Parent Anxiety, Parental Psychological Control, And Adolescent Anxiety: Mediation And Bidirectional Relationships, Iesha R. Gibbons

Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is the most common mental health diagnosis for adolescents. Among important etiological factors are parent anxiety and parenting behavior, which can increase anxiety in adolescents. Adolescent anxiety can also act as a source of stress for parents that then increases parent anxiety and negative parenting behaviors. Using the Family Stress Model, this study aims to examine the longitudinal and bidirectional relationship between parent and adolescent anxiety with parental psychological control acting as a mediator. Structural equation modeling was used to examine these relationships across five waves of data for 457 families. Adolescents (51.86% female, mean age 13.34 at wave …

Determining Predictors Of Peer Relations: A Study On Youth Inethiopia, India, Peru, And Vietnam, Susanna Fullmer

Theses and Dissertations

Across the world countries are currently striving to eliminate poverty, improve the quality of education, optimize well-being, among other areas of improvement. In an effort to help such improvements, a group called Young Lives ran a longitudinal study on youth in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam that studied the many facets of poverty. The purpose of this study is to utilize the Young Lives dataset to determine how countries can more readily improve social-emotional skills by looking at important experiences in adolescents' lives. Specifically, this study examines what factors increase a child's ability to socialize with peers, which is shown …

Balanced Parenting: The Effects Of Family Functioning On Suicide And Non-Suicidal Self-Injury In Adolescents, Stephen Bahr

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents. Suicidal behavior is also highly correlated with non-suicidal self-injury. Many studies show a correlation between the level of family functioning and these adolescent self-harming behaviors. In this review specifically, a compilation of synthesized studies shows that two factors of family functioning—cohesion and flexibility—have a high association with self-harming behavior in adolescents. Families with low levels of cohesion (disengaged) frequently cause feelings of loneliness and isolation, which may lead youth to self-harm. Inversely, adolescents of families with extremely high levels of cohesion (enmeshed) often feel unable to express their true feelings …

Recommendations For Perioperative Care Of Adolescents At Risk For Suicide, Rachelle Huber Dustin Rn, Bsn, Blaine A. Winters Dnp, Acnp-Bc

Student Works

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for the adolescent population, and as such, should be addressed when adolescents have any contact with the healthcare system, including perioperative appointments. Although some surgical facilities screen patients with a history of suicide attempt or severe mental health conditions, many adolescents who have died by suicide do not have official mental health diagnoses or history of previous suicide attempt. Because of the impact surgery can have on mental health, each adolescent should be screened for suicide risk during pre-surgical consult appointments to assess suicide risk and take proper precautions, as needed. …

Non-Parental Family Members As Brokers Of Family Social Capital: Compensatory Time Use In India, Melissa Alcaraz, Ashley Larsen Gibby, Nancy Luke

Faculty Publications

Non-parental family members are understudied but important brokers of family social capital, especially in contexts without a nuclear-family norm. We used rich time diary data from a sample of 1568 South Indian adolescents to examine the relationships between any time spent with parents, parents’ residency status, and the time spent with non-parental family members. We found that adolescents with at least one non-resident parent spent significantly more time with siblings, on average, when compared to adolescents with resident parents. We further found that adolescents spent more time with siblings in educational activities, such as studying, when they had at least …

Perceived Parental Psychological Control Predicts Intraindividual Decrements In Self-Regulation Throughout Adolescence, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, Adam A. Rogers, Madison K. Memmott-Elison

Faculty Publications

The present study examined the intraindividual, longitudinal, cross-lagged associations between adolescents’ perceptions of mothers’ and fathers’ psychologically controlling parenting and their self-regulation from ages 11–17. Using 7 waves of data involving 500 families and their adolescents (Mage 11.29; SD 1.01 at Wave 1), results indicated that adolescent-reported increases in mothers’ and fathers’ psychological control prospectively and uniquely predicted intraindividual decrements in their self- regulation, controlling for prior levels of self-regulation. Sex differences were largely absent except for one, where fathers’ psychological control predicted adolescent females’, but not males’, declines in self-regulation, and where reverse associations manifested. Implications for intervention efforts …

Determinants Of Hiv-Risk Sexual Behaviors Among Zambian Adolescents: The Role Of Gendered Power, Sherinah K. Saasa, Orion Mowbray

Faculty Publications

Sub-Saharan African adolescents account for a disproportionate share of the global HIV infection rates with adolescent females carrying the heavy burden. Vulnerability to negative sexual health outcomes have been attributed to varying life contexts and power differentials influencing adolescent sexual behaviors. Using social dominance theory and the four bases of gendered power, this study examines the relationship between gender based power and adolescent HIV-risk sexual behavior. Data was derived from the 2013‐14 Zambia Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS). We utilize gender stratified multivariate logistic regression to determine whether the four bases of gendered power are predictive of condom use and multiple …

A Light In The Dark: A Case For Ya Literature Through The Lens Of Medical Dystopias, Thomas Jace Brown

Theses and Dissertations

By examining critical studies of the dystopian genre from Gregory Claeys, Fátima Vieira, and Keith Booker as well as the studies of young adult dystopian novels from Roberta Trites, Kenneth Donnelson, and Sean Connors, I argue that young adult literature (YAL) has literary merit and is worth studying. This literariness stems from a novel's ability to explore complex themes like religion, sacrifice, and societal contracts. I introduce and analyze a subgenre of YA dystopian literature, which I classify as the medical dystopia, a genre that is uniquely positioned to explore the complex moral questions that surround advancing medical technologies and …

Children As The Power Of Shakespeare, Samantha Rowley

Student Works

An dive into how children are used in Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. While there has been some extensive research on numerous of Shakespeare’s minor characters, some of his other characters, the minors, have been focused on less. Because they fly under the radar, Shakespeare uses these “minor” characters in order to subtly manipulate his audience, using them as a source of pathos in much the same way adults use children to manipulate audiences while silencing the actual opinions of the children they claim to represent. However, though he may often use children for this effect due to their fragility, Shakespeare …

Social Outcome Following Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: A Meta-Analysis, Jonathan James Mietchen

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Children and adolescents with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are at increased risk for developing social incompetence and impairment in broad psychosocial functioning. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between history of TBI, social competence, and broad psychosocial functioning using meta-analytic methods. Methods: Studies relating to social outcome following pediatric TBI were searched for using scientific, academic databases. Sixteen studies (N=2,005) met inclusion criteria, and relevant data relating to social functioning was extracted. Meta-analytic methods were used in order to obtain Hedges's g effect size data for mild, moderate, and severe TBI groups. …

Parenting Practices And Disordered Eating Behaviors In Adolescents, Rebekah Johnson

Student Works

Background/Purpose: Eating disorders are a common chronic condition among adolescents. Some parenting styles have been associated with adolescent disordered eating behaviors (DEB), which can lead to eating disorders and a variety of other psychological and physical complaints. Healthcare practitioners and parents need to identify these DEB early and intervene in hopes of preventing the sequela of other health problems. The purpose of this article is to review current research on the association between parenting styles or practices and DEB as well as associated psychological symptoms in adolescents.

Methods: CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO databases were searched for English-language …

Where Have All The Rebels Gone? Ideology And Conformity In Young Adult Dystopian Literature, Meghan I. Rimmasch

Theses and Dissertations

By employing the critical studies of adolescence from Nancy Lesko, Roberta Trites, and Maria Nikolajeva and the study of positive and negative symbols of rebellion examined by Robert Lindner through Leerom Medovoi, I will interrogate the popular notion that female protagonists in dystopian Young Adult Literature (YAL) are strong, self-aware rebels who are positive role models to YA readers. Using the didactic nature of dystopian literature, I will examine how adult authors consciously (or unconsciously) set ideological standards for their YA readers through the female protagonists and how these standards are not as empowering as they initially seem. To address …

The Effects Of Family Stressors On Depression In Latino Adolescents As Mediated By Interparental Conflict, Jenny Carolina Mondragon

Theses and Dissertations

Extensive literature suggests that Latino youth experience higher levels of depression when compared to youth from other ethnic backgrounds yet relatively little is known regarding why this particular population is especially susceptible to depression. This study focused on family level stressors and the link between interparental conflict and adolescent depressive symptoms in Latino families. The sample consisted of 400 girls and 290 boys, they were distributed into four groups based on gender and family structure. Written surveys were completed in their respective English classes measuring the aforementioned variables. Results indicated a significant relationship across all four groups between family stressors …

Internet Gaming Disorder In Children And Adolescents, Douglas A. Gentile Phd, Kira Bailey Phd, Daphne Bavelier Phd, Jeanne Funk Brockmyer Phd, Hilarie Cash Phd, Sarah M. Coyne, Andrew Doan Md, Phd, Donald S. Grant Phd, C. Shawn Green Phd, Mark Griffiths Phd, Tracy Markle Ma, Lpc, Nancy M. Petry Phd, Sarah Prot Phd, Cosette D. Rae Msw, Florian Rehbein Phd, Michael Rich Md, Dave Sullivan Lcsw, Elizabeth Woolley Ascis, Kimberly Young Phd

Faculty Publications

The American Psychiatric Association recently included Internet gaming disorder (IGD) as a potential diagnosis, recommending that further study be conducted to help illuminate it more clearly. This paper is a summary of the review undertaken by the IGD Working Group as part of the 2015 National Academy of Sciences Sackler Colloquium on Digital Media and Developing Minds. By using measures based on or similar to the IGD definition, we found that prevalence rates range between ∼1% and 9%, depending on age, country, and other sample characteristics. The etiology of IGD is not well-understood at this time, although it appears that …

Hopelessness And Youth Violent Behavior: A Longitudinal Study, Janie Demetropoulos

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how hopelessness impacts youth engagement in violent behavior over time. The data are from waves I and II of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Poisson regression was used to analyze contributors to violence in just wave I, and then again across time in wave II using explanatory and control variables from wave I. Results indicate that hopelessness is positively associated with violent behavior. Furthermore, while hopelessness and most of the other explanatory variables predicted violent behavior in wave I, almost all the variables became non-significant or negative except hopelessness and a measure of …

Substitution Of Religiosity For Socioeconomic Status And Its Correlation With Adolescent Drug Use, Jordan Coburn, Mikaela Dufur

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Adolescents with higher socioeconomic status participate in fewer negative activities. Religiosity is correlated with more positive activities. Religiosity can help through socialization: interacting with people who influence pro-social norms.

Depression, Religiosity, And Parenting Styles Among Mormon Adolescents, Courtney Kinneard, Mark Ogletree

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

We examined how religiosity and the parent-child relationship are associated with depression in 12-14 yr old teenagers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint. A random sample of 493 revealed three correlations: girls who have a strong connection with their mother have a negative correlation with depression; daily spiritual experiences are negatively correlated with depression, and negative religious coping is positively correlated with depression symptoms.

Similarities And Differences In The Influence Of Paternal And Maternal Depression On Adolescent Well-Being, Kevin Shafer, Brandon Fielding, Douglas Wendt

Faculty Publications

Depressed parents may negatively influence the well-being and outcomes of their children. However, prior research has mostly addressed mother's depression and early childhood outcomes, whereas fathers and adolescents have been largely ignored in the literature. Using data from the sixth grade and age 15 waves of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, this study addresses similarities and differences in the influence of paternal and maternal depression on adolescent behavior. Results from structural equation models showed that paternal depression had direct effects on both internalizing and externalizing …

Parental Experience-Based Change: Positive And Negative Changes In Monitoring, Expectations, Nurturing, And Discipline, Joseph S. Rand

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to create a measure of parent's perceptions of parental experience-based change (PEBC), or parents' perceptions of the changes they make to their parenting of secondborn children as a result of experiences with firstborn children. The measure assessed PEBC in the domains of monitoring, expectations, nurturing and discipline. Participants were 401 mothers or fathers of 2 or 3 adolescent children. Factor analyses revealed an 8 factor solution that assessed increasing and decreasing in each of the 4 domains. Criterion validity was evaluated using regression analyses to examine the relationships between each factor and parenting outcomes thought to be …