Digital Commons Network^™

High School Nutrition Education Modules For Homeschooling, Miranda J. Baker

Nutrition Masters Projects

The increasing prevalence of obesity is increasing in the adolescent population. Many preventable diseases that may manifest later in life are associated with modifiable risk factors established during this time. Adolescents are at risk for chronic diseases related to diets consisting of increased fat, sodium, and sugars combined with decreased consumption of fruits, vegetables, and high fiber or calcium-containing foods. General nutrition knowledge questionnaires demonstrate that students receive inadequate nutrition education. Homeschooling is growing in popularity in the United States, which allows the opportunity to integrate nutrition education because the instructor or parent accompanies their students during cooking, tasting, and …

Language, Culture, And Identity: A Case Study Of Korean American Transnational Adolescents, Myoung Eun Pang

Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations

Despite the increase of diversity in transnational youth in the United States, little research has studied this unique population of transnational youth and their transnational contexts. In particular, little research has been conducted to investigate the identity of transnational youth in adolescence with their own voices in terms of language and culture. Thus, this study aimed to explore the linguistic and cultural experiences of 1.5 generation and 2nd generation Korean American transnational adolescents as well as their sense of identity in transnational contexts. Drawing on Norton’s (1995) identity theory and Vertovec’s (2007, 2017) transnationalism, research questions that guided this study …

Cocaine Intake And The Gut Microbiota In Adolescent And Adult Male Rats: A Vicious Cycle?, Gregory Suess

Neuroscience Institute Dissertations

Drug addiction is an intractable psychiatric disorder exerting deleterious impact on public health in the United States and beyond. While the neurobiology of addiction has become clearer over the last few decades, addiction therapies remain largely ineffective. Given recent evidence that a gut-brain axis might influence neuropsychiatric disorders, we explored possible links between gut bacteria and cocaine-related behavior. We hypothesized that gut microbial communities and cocaine intake are linked in such way that microbiota profiles can predict susceptibility to drug use and that drug use alters microbiota composition to enhance drug reward, hence resulting in a vicious cycle of drug …

Research-To-Resource: Initial Steps In Vocal Technique For Boys Experiencing Difficulty With Phonation During The Adolescent Voice Change, Patrick K. Freer

Music Faculty Publications

This research-to-resource article reports pedagogical implications of several types of research literature. This literature collectively focuses on boys’ adolescent development, with specific attention to psychological and sociological implications on the teaching of vocal technique during the period of voice change. From this foundation, the concept of breath control is identified as a relatively stable process during adolescence, providing teachers and their students a beginning point for conversations about the developing voice and explorations of rudimentary vocal technique. This article describes a step-by-step process for approaching these pedagogical conversations and singing explorations.

Nutritional Outcome Measures Of Preadolescents And Adolescents Diagnosed With Anorexia Nervosa After Receiving Nasogastric Feedings Versus Oral Diet Upon Hospitalization, Anita Nucci, Sarah T. Henes, Jessica Williamson

Nutrition Masters Projects

The purpose of this project was to review the literature related to the demographic, clinical, anthropometric, and nutrition therapy characteristics of inpatient preadolescents and adolescents diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (AN). The literature review includes an overview of the prevalence and diagnostic criteria for AN, screening and evaluation of patients, inpatient treatment protocols, the complications associated with AN, and nutrition treatment options (oral diet, enteral feeding, and parenteral nutrition).

The Association Between Illicit Drug Use And Suicide Attempts Among Adolescents: Electronic Bullying As An Effect Modifier, Alexandria Blake

Public Health Theses

INTRODUCTION: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescence as “the period in human growth and development that occurs after childhood and before adulthood, from ages 10 to 19” (Adolescent Development). The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that people are most likely to begin abusing drugs during adolescence and young adulthood and adolescents who use drugs often have mental health issues (Principles of Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Treatment: A Research-Based Guide, n.d.). Cyber bullying is defined as “using technology, like cell phones and the Internet, to bully or harass another person”, and can include anything from sending mean messages …

The Changing Voices Of Male Choristers: An Enigma . . . To Them, Patrick K. Freer

Music Faculty Publications

This paper reports a study designed to identify the understandings and perceptions of boys enrolled at the London Oratory School about the male adolescent voice change, singing, and choral pedagogy. The study took place on the twentieth anniversary of researcher John Cooksey’s 1992—1994 study concerning the vocal development of boys at the London Oratory School. A secondary goal of the study was to determine any long-term impact of Cooksey’s work at the school itself. Twelve boys aged 12-18, representing continuous and non-continuous singers, participated in individual interviews. Interviews focused on boys' knowledge of their changing voices, the perceived effects of …

Observed Racial Socialization And Maternal Positive Emotions In African American Mother-Adolescent Dyadic Discussions About Racial Discrimination, Mia A. Smith-Bynum, Riana E. Anderson, Breanna L. Davis, Marisa Franco

Counseling and Psychological Services Faculty Publications

This study examined patterns of: (1) racial socialization messages in dyadic discussions between 111 African American mothers and adolescents (M age = 15.50) and (2) mothers’ positive emotions displayed during the discussion. Mothers gave more total racial socialization responses to a hypothetical dilemma involving potential mistreatment by a White teacher than a dilemma involving rude treatment by a White salesperson. Mothers displayed more advocacy on behalf of their adolescents in response to the teacher dilemma than to the salesperson dilemma. Mothers displayed consistent emotional support of adolescents’ problem solving across both dilemmas but lower warmth in response to the …

Suicide Ideation Amongst Adolescent American Indains In A Longitudinal Context, Jerreed Ivanich

Criminal Justice and Criminology Theses

The objective of this study is to compare suicidal thoughts amongst American Indian/Alaskan Native's (AI/AN) to a non-AI/AN comparison group, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally-representative, longitudinal study. At wave one a statistical difference is present between NA/AN and comparisons, but at wave four the difference is no longer significant. Using Agnew’s General Strain theory as a theoretical framework, factors that may contribute to these differences addressed in this study include: alcohol abuse, exposure to suicidal behavior of friends and family, depression, and weapon access. Implications for prevention and treatment are discussed.

Parenting And Youth Sexual Risk In South Africa: The Role Of Contextual Factors, Nada M. Goodrum

Psychology Theses

Black South African youth are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic, and risky sexual behaviors increase youths’ vulnerability to HIV infection. U.S.-based research has highlighted several contextual factors that impact sexual risk, but these processes have not been examined in a South African context. In a sample of Black South African parent-youth dyads, this study examined relations among parenting, neighborhood quality, maternal social support, coparenting, and youth sexual risk. Hypotheses were evaluated using structural equation modeling. Results revealed that better neighborhood quality predicted less youth sexual risk via higher levels of positive parenting. Social support was positively related to parenting …

An Evaluation Of The Delivery Of Sexuality Education In A Youth Development Context, Jessica Thomason

Psychology Dissertations

The present study is a mixed-method evaluation of the delivery of sexuality education in the context of a youth development program called Cool Girls, Inc. Part one was a quasi-experimental, pre and post-test design for which 216 program participants and 92 demographically matched comparisons were surveyed on variables associated with healthy sexual decision-making. It was hypothesized that participation in the program would be associated with increases in these variables, increases in helping resources for questions about sex, and that helping resources would mediate the relationship between participation and study outcomes. Participation predicted one of the sexual efficacy items: at the …

Monsters In My Bed: Accounting For The Popularity Of Young Adult Paranormal Romances, Whitney Young

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses

Using textual analysis of 49 young adult paranormal romances, I answer what it is about the cultural milieu that makes these novels popular right now? This thesis argues that the discourse which emerges from the novels reflects contemporary discourse and narrative about the girls and young women who read the genre and who place themselves within this discourse and narrative. The novels respond to this discourse by offering instances where the girls' ideologies, built on the discourse taught to them, can be temporarily restored when the narrative proves false. These novels also undermine the confining discourse which the girls find …

Changes In Genetic And Environmental Influences On Trait Anxiety From Middle Adolescence To Early Adulthood, Sarah Garcia, Erin C. Tully, Nick Tarantino, Susan South, William G. Iacono, Matt Mcgue

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Middle adolescence to early adulthood is an important developmental period for the emergence of anxiety. Genetically-influenced stable traits are thought to underlie internalizing psychopathology throughout development, but no studies have examined changes in genetic and environmental influences on trait anxiety during this period.

Method: A longitudinal twin study design was used to study same-sex twin pairs (485 monozygotic pairs, 271 dizygotic pairs) at three ages, 14, 18, and 21 years, to examine developmental shifts in genetic and environmental effects on trait anxiety.

Results: The heritability of trait anxiety increased with age, particularly between ages 14 and 18, no significant …

Parental Distress, Parenting Practices, And Child Adaptive Outcomes Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Jackie L. Micklewright, Tricia Z. King, Kathleen O'Toole, Christopher C. Henrich, Frank J. Floyd

Psychology Faculty Publications

Moderate and severe pediatric traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are associated with significant familial distress and child adaptive sequelae. Our aim was to examine the relationship between parental psychological distress, parenting practices (authoritarian, permissive, authoritative), and child adaptive functioning 12–36 months following TBI or orthopedic injury (OI). Injury type was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between parental distress and child adaptive functioning, demonstrating a significantly stronger relationship in the TBI relative to OI group. Authoritarian parenting practices were hypothesized to mediate relationship between parental distress and child adaptive functioning across groups. Groups (TBI n=21, OI n=23) did not differ significantly on …

Neural Responses To Peer Rejection In Anxious Adolescents: Contributions From The Amygdala-Hippocampal Complex, Jennifer Y.F. Lau, Amanda E. Guyer, Erin Tone, Jessica Jenness, Jessica M. Parrish, Daniel S. Pine, Eric E. Nelson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Peer rejection powerfully predicts adolescent anxiety. While cognitive differences influence anxious responses to social feedback, little is known about neural contributions. Twelve anxious and 12 age-, gender- and IQ-matched, psychiatrically-healthy adolescents received ‘not interested’ and ‘interested’ feedback from unknown peers during a Chatroom task administered in a neuroimaging scanner. No group differences emerged in subjective ratings to peer feedback, but all participants reported more negative emotion at being rejected (than accepted) by peers to whom they had assigned high desirability ratings. Further highlighting the salience of such feedback, all adolescents, independent of anxiety levels, manifested elevated responses in the amygdala-hippocampal …

Attenuated Effects Of Opiates In Adolescent Vs. Adult Male Rats: Reinforcement, Relapse, And Withdrawal, James M. Doherty

Neuroscience Institute Dissertations

Adolescence in humans is a vulnerable period for illicit drug use, and teenage onset of drug use is associated with long-term addiction. Adolescent sensitivity to drug reinforcement, relapse, and withdrawal has not been explored thoroughly in animal models, especially considering opiate drugs such as morphine and heroin. The present series of studies profiles adolescent sensitivity to opiates using adolescent and adult male rats to test for age differences in opiate self-administration, reinstatement, withdrawal signs, locomotor sensitization, and even brain activation during drug-seeking. To test for acute sensitivity to the reinforcing effects of morphine or heroin, we compared patterns of self-administration …

Child Sexual And Physical Abuse As Precursors For Homelessness In Adolescence, Jacqueline Nicole Rion

Public Health Theses

Introduction: Homelessness is a living condition associated with a number of adverse health outcomes. Unaccompanied homeless youth are at risk for many of the same health outcomes as other homeless persons, but these youth are especially vulnerable because they are young and without the protection or support of an adult caregiver. Aim: The purpose of this capstone project is to present a basic overview of the topic as well as to highlight what more needs to be done to address this issue. Methods: This project involved a review of the literature related to homeless youth, child sexual or physical abuse, …

Family Processes Promoting Achievement Motivation And Perceived School Competence Among Latino Youth: A Cultural Ecological-Transactional Perspective, Natalie Jayne Wilkins

Psychology Dissertations

This longitudinal study uses a cultural ecological-transactional perspective (Garcia-Coll, et. al., 1996; Kuperminc, et al., in press) to examine whether relational factors (familism and parental involvement) predict processes of motivation and achievement one year later among 199 Latino adolescents from immigrant families. Parent involvement predicted higher present-oriented and future-oriented motivation, and familism predicted higher present-oriented motivation. Future-oriented motivation predicted higher perceived school competence, while present-oriented motivation predicted lower perceived school competence. Both future and present-oriented motivation increased over time for recent immigrants significantly more than for US-reared youth. Findings suggest that 1) familism and parent involvement relate significantly to processes …

Boys’ Descriptions Of Their Experiences In Choral Music, Patrick K. Freer

Music Faculty Publications

This report centers on the words of six boys about their experiences in school choral music. The narrative excerpts are drawn from the stories of boys enrolled at a private school in the southeastern United States. The study sampled three types of boys: those who have sung continuously, those who sang but later withdrew from choral music, and those who did not sing at all. Analysis of the boys’ broad narratives revealed allusions to components of optimal ‘flow’ experiences identified by Csikszentmihalyi (1990) and others. Such ‘flow’ experiences are characterized by high levels of both perceived challenge and perceived skill, …

Behavioral And Neural Representation Of Emotional Facial Expressions Across The Lifespan, Leah Somerville, Fani Negar, Erin Tone

Psychology Faculty Publications

Humans’ experience of emotion and comprehension of affective cues varies substantially across the lifespan. Work in cognitive and affective neuroscience has begun to characterize behavioral and neural responses to emotional cues that systematically change with age. This review examines work to date characterizing the maturation of facial expression comprehension, and dynamic changes in amygdala recruitment from early childhood through late adulthood while viewing facial expressions of emotion. Recent neuroimaging work has tested amygdala and prefrontal engagement in experimental paradigms mimicking real aspects of social interactions, which we highlight briefly, along with considerations for future research.

Childhood Healthcare Experience, Healthcare Attitudes, And Optimism As Predictors Of Adolescents’ Healthcare Behavior, Tina Jones, Melissa Demore, Lindsey L. Cohen, Cara O'Connell, Deborah Jones

Psychology Faculty Publications

Late adolescence and early adulthood is a time when people establish many of their life-style behaviors. Thus, in order to promote optimal health, it is important to identify factors predictive of young adults’ healthcare behavior. This study evaluated the relationship between measures of childhood healthcare experience, healthcare attitudes, and optimism with young adults’ healthcare behavior in a sample of college students (n = 100). Results suggested that prior healthcare experience, attitudes about healthcare, and optimism are associated with current healthcare behavior. In addition, the relation between childhood healthcare experience and current healthcare behavior was moderated by optimism, such that …

Organizational Characteristics And Adolescent Political Development: Exploring The Experience Of Youth Activists In Youth Development Organizations, Michael N. Armstrong

Psychology Theses

Interest in youth civic engagement continues to increase and a small but growing group of organizations are seeking to get young people involved in political activism. At the same time, researchers are giving more attention to the features of adolescent settings and how they relate to the overall development of young people. What remains to be absent is a contextual understanding of how the characteristics of adolescent settings contribute specifically to political development. The purpose of this study is to identify organizational level characteristics of youth organizations that promote the political development of adolescents. Semi-structured interviews and grounded theory analysis …

Disentangling Pathways Of Adolescent Sexual Risk From Problem Behavior Syndrome, Kathryn Amanda Brookmeyer

Psychology Dissertations

Understanding the development of adolescent sexual risk behavior is complicated by the co-occurrence of sexual risk with substance use and delinquency, conceptualized as “problem behavior syndrome,” with common causes and influences underlying all three problem behaviors (Jessor & Jessor, 1977). Explaining the development of sexual risk becomes even more complex given the changing patterns of adaptation and maladaptation over the course of adolescence (Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). Research also suggests that multiple pathways may forecast adolescent engagement in sexual risk behavior, underscoring the ideas of equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology (Cicchetti & Rogosh, 1996). To understand the diverse nature …

Governmentality And U.S. Congressional Discourse Regarding Abstinence-Only Sexuality Education, Wm S. Boozer

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

To investigate how federal discourse constructs adolescence, the author analyzed discussions of abstinence-only sexuality education from the U.S. Congressional Record from 2001 to 2007. He used grounded theory methodology to identify theoretical codes and construct a model from the data. The grounded theory developed focused on Congress’s maintenance of its role in mediating concern over the sexual behavior of adolescents as opposed to finding a solution to the problem it had identified. The author relates this theory to Foucault’s (1974/1991) concept of governmentality. He discusses Congress’s discourse about adolescence using Lesko’s (2001) confident characteristics of adolescence as a framework.

Tobacco Use By Youth: A Surveillance Report From The Global Youth Tobacco Survey Project, Charles W. Warren, Leanne Riley, Samira Asma, Michael Eriksen, Lawrence Green, Curtis Blanton, Scott Batchelor, Derek Yach

Public Health Faculty Publications

The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) project was developed by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track tobacco use among youth in countries across the world, using a common methodology and core questionnaire. The GYTS is school based and employs a two-stage sample design to produce representative data on smoking among students aged 13–15 years. The first stage consists of a probabilistic selection of schools, and the second consists of a random selection of classes from the participating schools. All students in the selected classes are eligible for the survey. In 1999, …