Digital Commons Network^™

Adolescence And Stress: A Longitudinal Examination Of The Role Of Stress On Health Outcomes And The Moderating Role Of Self-Regulation And Social Support, Joshua T. Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

Stress impacts all individuals during each developmental period of their lives. Stress has been linked to various physical and mental health outcomes across the lifespan. However, adolescence may prove to be a unique time to examine stress and its potential effects on various health outcomes, as well as possible mediating or moderating factors. The purpose of this study is to examine the link between stress and body mass index (BMI) percentile while incorporating the potential mediators of anxiety, depression, and externalizing behaviors as well as the moderators of social support and self-regulation. Using a sample of 500 adolescents living in …

Effects Of A High School Yoga Program On Student-Reported Stress, Resilience, And Academic Outcomes, Stephanie Martha Vance

Theses and Dissertations

High school yoga programs are gaining popularity throughout the United States. The many perceived benefits of such programs among adolescent groups have shown promising outcomes. This mixed-method evaluation of a high school yoga program aims to evaluate the effects of the program on student-reported stress, resilience, and academic outcomes. Program participants include high school students in yoga classes (n = 61) and comparison classes (n = 37), who completed pre- and post-measure surveys along with social validity measures. Overall findings showed a decrease in stress levels among yoga students compared to comparison students, which approached statistical significance, no significant differences …

Factors In Word-Final /T/ Reduction And Deletion In German, Kellie C. Busath

Theses and Dissertations

Sound reduction and deletion have been studied across many languages for some time. Usage-based approaches suggest that the more often a word is used, the more likely it is that some of the sounds are reduced. Phonetic environment, stress, and speech rate have all been studied as reasons for sound reduction or deletion. Most recently, frequency in reducing context (FRC) has been included when studying sound reduction and deletion. FRC in this thesis measures the portion of word tokens of a given word type that are followed by a reducing context. This thesis focuses on word-final /t/ reduction and deletion …

Understanding And Working Through Self-Harm, Maya Wilde

Student Works

Self-harm is a coping strategy used by many adolescents dealing with mental disorders. Fifteen articles from academic journals published between 2012 and 2022 were examined. Those who struggle with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) experience overactivation in the fronto-limbic system of the brain, which includes the amygdala (Kaess et al., 2021). Self-harm decreases activity and stress in the amygdala and increases the amount of dopamine in the brain (Kaess et al., 2021; Reitz et al., 2015). Self-harm may be used as a way to regulate negative affect. Seeing blood might be a significant part of an episode of NSSI, but it is …

How Brazilians Used Media To Cope With The Issues Brought By The Covid-19 Pandemic, Vivian De Melo Campos

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world faced lockdown and quarantine restrictions that encouraged or forced people to stay home. Along with the rest of the world, Brazil faced many difficulties during this period and it became one of the countries that lost more lives due to the Coronavirus infection worldwide. This study focuses on showing how people in Brazil coped with the challenges brought by the pandemic. It also focuses on showing if and how participants used media as a coping mechanism. The research was done through qualitative methods with semi-structured interviews with 25 adults who were living in …

Effects Of Positive And Negative Emotion On Picture Naming For People With Mild To Moderate Aphasia: A Preliminary Investigation, Tyson G. Harmon, Courtney Nielsen, Corinne Loveridge, Camille Williams

Faculty Publications

Purpose: To investigate how emotional arousal and valence affect confrontational naming accuracy and response time in people with mild to moderate aphasia compared with adults without aphasia. We hypothesized that negative and positive emotions would facilitate naming for people with aphasia but lead to slower responses for adults with no aphasia.

Method: Eight participants with mild to moderate aphasia, 15 older adults, and 17 young adults completed a confrontational naming task across three conditions (positive, negative, neutral) in an ABA case series design. Immediately following each naming condition, participants self-reported their perceived arousal and pleasure. Accuracy and response time were …

Podcast Review: Fraser Bullock On Measuring Success And Managing Stress, Mark Larsen

Marriott Student Review

Review of Measuring Success Right episode, with Fraser Bullock.

The U.S. Burnout Crisis And Mindfulness: How Meditation Improves Work-Life Balance, Brigham Blake

Marriott Student Review

In today's world, a busy and rigorous schedule is practically inevitable. But despite the constant stress and pressure of day-to-day life, there is a simple solution that can help to avoid the negative physical and mental effects of a heavy workload—the solution is mindfulness, the ability to be present and non-judgmentally observe a situation. Brigham Blake found himself suffering both mentally and physically as he faced a depleting routine each day, as many American adults do. But by practicing mindfulness exercises, he started successfully managing his stressful circumstances. He is now thriving. Scientific research supports that mindfulness practice can help …

The Effect Of Depression, Anxiety, And Stress On Heart Rate Variability During Self-Critical And Self-Compassionate Exercises, Derek C. Bartlett

Theses and Dissertations

The cognitions of individuals who experience symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress have been well documented, but their physiological reactions have not. The present study examines the physiological reactions of individuals with elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and stress during a self-critical and self-compassionate writing exercise to see if there is a difference in comparison to healthy participants. This study is a secondary analysis of data that was collected from a randomized controlled trial where participants followed a protocol. This protocol consisted of a 5-minute baseline, a 10-minute breathing exercise or nature video, 5-minutes of a self-critical writing exercise, 5-minutes …

Mindfulness: A Promising Practice To Reduce Accountant Stress, Abigail Anderson

Marriott Student Review

This article considers the practice of mindfulness as an approach to reduce stress within the lives of accountants. Mindfulness has existed for centuries as a Buddhist tradition and has only recently become popular in the Western world as a stress-reduction technique that can lead to improved mental and emotional well-being. This article also examines the prevalence of mindfulness within the Top 10 accounting firms in the United States and some results regarding employee performance. As more and more firms begin to utilize mindfulness as a low-cost method to better employee performance and well-being, university accounting programs should consider incorporating the …

Do Patterns Of Distress Vary In First-Generation College Students Seeking Psychotherapy?, Candice Gonsalves

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, we examined distress levels of first-generation college students at intake from an average of 137 university and college counseling centers that participated in data collection with the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) between the 2012-2015 academic school years. We gathered descriptive data from the CCMH Standardized Data Set (SDS), and then examined itemized responses from the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms 62 (CCAPS-62). Students completed the SDS and CCAPS-62 at intake, and both measures rely on self-report. We divided student data (N = 184,334) into groups based on educational status: first-generation (FG) or non-first generation …

Stress And Performance Anxiety Intervention For Musicians:A Biofeedback And Compassion Focused Therapy Intervention, Tara Austin

Theses and Dissertations

Performance anxiety and stress are forefront problems for performers in the music industry. Within music training programs, these problems are particularly debilitating. These students are concerned both about performance situations and also their personal lives. The following study compared two treatments, heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) on the effects of cortisol and self-reported stress and mood before and after a required end of semester performance. Thirty students enrolled in a college music program participated in the five-visit intervention (14 in the HRV biofeedback group and 16 in the CFT group). Stress levels, measured by self-report, …

Cognitive Demands Of Mothers Of Young Children In The Presence Of Emotional Distraction, Michelle Duersch

Theses and Dissertations

Stress and parenting often go hand in hand, with high physical and emotional demands from children often coupled with pressures and responsibilities adults bear from work, school, and other involvements outside the home. Parents often prioritize their children's needs above their own physical, emotional, and social needs. While current literature addresses stress in mothers, it has yet to understand under what circumstances her children may modify her stress levels and whether her stress response, in turn, affects cognition. This study seeks to investigate the impact of such a taxing environment on mothers' stress and cognition using a challenging mnemonic discrimination …

Is Binge Watching Bad For You? Escapism, Stress, Self-Controland Gratifications?, Weipu Wang

Theses and Dissertations

The relatively new phenomenon of binge watching presents a dramatic shift from the norm of traditional television viewing. However, is this ubiquitously popular media marathon that contains negative connotations really bad for you? A survey administered to 157 television binge-watchers identified the role of stress and self-control in influencing both the gratifications sought and the consequences of binge watching through the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The current study found that binge watching to avoid problems is a commonly employed strategy for individuals to cope with stress. However, engaging in binge-watching behavior as a coping mechanism to purposefully avoid problems …

Personality And Coping, Alyssa Seely

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Sleep, Stress, And Sweat: Implications For Client Physiology Prior To Couple Therapy, Christina Michelle Rosa

Theses and Dissertations

Physiological state greatly influences one’s ability to emotionally regulate and connect to a partner in couple therapy. As individuals encounter real or perceived threats in relationships, they are likely to experience sympathetic nervous system (SNS) responses of fight, flight, or freeze, thereby inhibiting the ability to connect with a partner or therapist made possible by the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). This study, guided by the Polyvagal theory, examines the influence of client sleep, daily stress, and exercise on physiological baseline prior to a couple therapy session. Participants included 23 married couples who attended couple therapy at the Brigham Young University …

Keep Calm! My Stress-Busting Tips, Carly Atchley

Children's Book and Media Review

Anna is just like every other young girl: she has homework, chores, tests, and soccer games to think about. When each of those activities add up, she can feel stressed or worried about all her responsibilities, and that stress compounds. Anna can see that everyone in her family worries about different things, and that recognizing stress is the first step in overcoming it. Stress can make her tired, grouchy, or even forgetful of her responsibilities. But with support from her family and a few tips like exercising and playing with friends, Anna realizes she can beat stress and keep calm.

Book Review: Beyond Juggling, Marianna Richardson

Marriott Student Review

No abstract provided.

Associations Of Ambivalent Leadership With Distress And Cortisol Secretion, Wendy C. Birmingham, Raphael M. Herr, Frenk Van Harreveld, Bert N. Uchino, Adrian Loerbroks, Joachim E. Fischer, Jos A. Bosch

Faculty Publications

Ambivalent social ties, i.e., whereby a relationship is evaluated simultaneously in positive and negative terms, are a potential source of distress and can perturb health-relevant biological functions. Social interactions at the workplace, in particular with supervisors, are often described in ambivalent terms, but the psychological and psychobiological impact of such interactions has received little scientific attention. The current study examined associations between ambivalent attitudes towards one’s supervisor, perceived distress (general and work-related), and diurnal dynamics of the stress hormone cortisol. 613 employees evaluated their supervisor in terms of positive and negative behaviors, which was combined into an ambivalent index. Higher …

The Relationship Between Experiential Avoidance And Physiological Reactivity, Brodrick Thomas Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the universal nature of stress, and its impact on physical health, it is important to understand how it is related to other psychological variables. The current study was undertaken in order to investigate whether an individual's cardiovascular reactivity to stress is impacted by their level of experiential avoidance, as measured by the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II). Individuals who are experientially avoidant are more likely to attempt to escape or prevent certain experiences and make effort to change them or avoid the contexts in which they occur. Previous research has indicated that experiential avoidance is related to some …

Relationship Between Physical Activity And Stress Among Junior High School Students In The Physical Education Environment, David C. Barney, Frank Pleban, Terrance Lewis

Faculty Publications

The study purpose was to explore grade level differences (7^th, 8^th, and 9^th) among junior high school students’ perception of participation in physical education class on individual environmental stress. Physical activity’s role as a stress reduction tool has been well documented. However, physical activity as a stressful event in the school and physical education environment has been less established; particularly in junior high school students. Study participants were comprised of 872 junior high school students, 585 males (67%) and 287 females (33%), enrolled in four junior high schools. Stratified by grade, 315 7^{th …}

Early Rearing History Influences Oxytocin Receptor Epigenetic Regulation In Rhesus Macaques, Maggie Baker, Stephen G. Lindell, Carlos A. Driscoll, Zhifeng Zhou, Qiaoping Yuan, Melanie L. Schwandt, Isaac Miller-Crews, Elizabeth A. Simpson, Annika Paukner, Pier Francesco Ferrari, Ravi Kumar Sindhu, Muslima Razaqya, Wolfgang H. Sommer, Juan F. Lopez, Robert C. Thompson, David Goldman, Markus Heilig, J. Dee Higley, Stephen J. Suomi, Christina S. Barr

Faculty Publications

Adaptations to stress can occur through epigenetic processes and may be a conduit for informing offspring of environmental challenge. We employed ChIP-sequencing for H3K4me3 to examine effects of early maternal deprivation (peer-rearing, PR) in archived rhesus macaque hippocampal samples (male, n = 13). Focusing on genes with roles in stress response and behavior, we assessed the effects of rearing on H3K4me3 binding by ANOVA. We found decreased H3K4me3 binding at genes critical to behavioral stress response, the most robust being the oxytocin receptor gene OXTR, for which we observed a corresponding decrease in RNA expression. Based on this finding, we …

Stress And Psychotherapy Outcome: Implementation Of A Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Intervention To Improve Psychotherapy Outcome, Louise Fidalgo Wheeler

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that psychotherapy patients experience increased physiological responsivity to stress which might negatively impact their experience in psychotherapy and their overall progress and outcome. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of a heart rate variability biofeedback intervention on the physiological stress responsiveness and the psychotherapy outcomes of participants in psychotherapy. Forty college students attending psychotherapy at their university counseling center were divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group participated in a 6-week biofeedback intervention and we assessed their physiological stress reactivity before and after implementation of the intervention, …

Stress Exposure Training As A Means For Athletes To Prevent Paradoxical Performance, Adam M. Fulton

Student Works

Paradoxical performance has been studied for years, with an emphasis on helping athletes prevent choking under pressure. However, although progress has been made, too many athletes are still underperforming due to anticipated and unanticipated stressors (Baumeister & Showers, 1986, p. 362). Stress exposure training is suggested as a solution to choking under pressure, even though little research has been done. A review of the literature on paradoxical performance is presented, emphasizing skills that appear to be effective and could be inserted into a stress exposure training program. Skills such as self-consciousness training, positive self-talk, self-confidence, pre-performance routines, and others could …

Role Of Exercise And Stress In Memory And Learning Of The Hippocampus, Paul Baker, Jeff Edwards

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Some of the most devastating diseases today are diseases of the mind. Common side effects of Alzheimer’s disease are dementia and memory loss and more than 44 million people suffer from the disease worldwide [1]. Other mental diseases such as Parkinson’s also have a dramatic impact on the memory and learning pathways. Understanding the mechanism involved with memory and learning will bring science that much closer to finding a permanent cure to these devastating diseases.

Preserving Optical Confinement In Pecvd Sio2 Waveguides By Control Of Thin-Film Stress, Steven Jay Hammon

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers at Brigham Young University (BYU) have developed an optical biosensor that can quickly analyze a sample to detect any type of nucleic acid based organism, such as viruses or bacteria. The biosensor's reliability over time is compromised due to water absorbing into the SiO₂ waveguides of the chip. It was hypothesized that keeping the thin-film stress of the waveguides close to zero would slow or stop water absorption from occurring. Completion of this thin-film study relied upon a new plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) machine and a new 3-D optical profilometer, both of which were installed in …

Preliminary Identification Of Coping Profiles Relevant To Surrogate Decision Making In The Icu, Jorie M. Butler, Eliotte L. Hirshberg, Ramona O. Hopkins, Emily L. Wilson, James F. Orme, Sarah J. Beesley, Kathryn Kuttler, Samuel M. Brown

Faculty Publications

Objective The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a stressful environment for families of critically ill patients and these individuals are at risk to develop persistent psychological morbidity. Our study objective was to identify individual differences in coping with stress and information presentation preferences of respondents exposed to a simulated ICU experience.

Methods Participants were recruited from a university and two community populations. Participants completed questionnaires that measured demographic information and characteristics that may be relevant to an individual’s ICU experience. Quality of life was measured by the EQ5D, personality dimensions were examined with the abbreviated Big Five inventory, coping with …

Associations Among Respite Care, Uplifts, Stress, And Marital Quality Of Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Down Syndrome, Jamie Kaye Easler

Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the relationships among respite care, uplifts, stress, and marital quality across two different groups of caregivers' 102 heterosexual married couples with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 111 heterosexual married couples with children with Down syndrome (DS). This study also investigated if the effect of respite care on stress and marital quality varied as a function of the amount of uplifts these caregivers experienced. Participants completed self-report surveys. Three two-group Actor Partner Interdependence Models were estimated to calculate the direct, indirect, and partner-effects among these variables. Respite care was not related to stress for either groups …

The Neuroprotective Effect Of Exercise On Memory Impairment Induced By Stress, Jeff Edwards

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The objectives of this award were met, especially in regard to the mentoring focus of the award. The students have been mentored and trained in an effective manner as outlined in my Mentoring Plan (abbreviated below). This includes mentoring students in research, writing, publishing, presenting at conferences, etc. Indeed, one measure of the success of mentoring is demonstrated by the fact that all the students graduating from my lab during this time were accepted to the professional school of their choice (see students listed below). Research, especially where the students are actually involved in all aspects of it including data …

Polymorphisms Of The Glucocorticoid Receptor Gene And The Association With Stress, Randall Beck, Michael J. Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Polymorphisms in the GR gene are an interesting and important area of research as these polymorphisms may be associated with an attenuated ability to cope with stress. This project bridged an unexplored gap between cellular and environmental stress and the expression of the GR gene—specifically the Bcl1 polymorphism of the GR gene. Cellular stress is any damage caused to the cell that alters its ability to function properly (Milisav, 2011). The Bcl1 polymorphism has what are known as C and G alleles that are genotyped as either homozygous GG, homozygous CC, or heterozygous CG (Srivastava et al., 2011). The homozygous …