Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Weaning Strategy On The Physiology And Performance Of Beef Calves, Cristina Campistol

Masters Theses

Two experiments examined growth performance and physiological measures of stress in pre- and postweaned Angus steers (313 ± 24.5 kg; n = 48/Exp.), where steers were fitted with (YD) or without (ND) an anti-suckling device (Exp. 1), or provided (YS) or not provided (NS) a grain supplement (Exp. 2) for 7 d and weaned by fenceline (FS) or total separation (TS). Steers in Exp. 1 were weighed and bled on d 0, 3, 7 10, 14, 21, and 42, and in Exp. 2, on d 0, 7, 10, 14, and 21 and provided a grain supplement on d 7-21. In …

Validation Of The Masculine Gender Role Stress Scale In A Diverse Population, Amanda Eliza Sherman

Masters Theses

Adherence to traditional masculinity has been associated with negative physical and psychological health outcomes. Specifically, the standards of masculinity imposed on men have been associated with high levels of stress reactivity, interpersonal violence, and substance abuse. However, previous research has been limited to primarily Caucasian samples. In order to better understand masculinity and the stress associated with adherence to masculinity across ethnicity, we examined the validity of the Masculine Gender Role Stress scale in a diverse sample. We hypothesized that the MGRS in a diverse sample would function similarly to the MGRS in a primarily Caucasian sample in that it …

Daily Emotional Experiences, Stress, And Ptsd Symptoms Among Midlife Women Exposed To Intimate Partner Violence : An Experience Sampling Study., Rebecca Ann Weigel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Described as important long-term consequences of trauma exposure, disruptions in emotional processes are regarded as central features of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, the nature of these posttraumatic emotional disruptions remains poorly understood. The present study attempted to further understanding of these emotional disruptions by using experience sampling methodologies and electronic diaries to assess experiences of emotion, stress, and PTSD symptoms as they occurred in the day-to-day lives of midlife women exposed to intimate partner violence. Three sets of hypotheses were advanced and were tested using multilevel modeling approaches, with results demonstrating partial support for hypotheses overall. First, although past-month …

Effect Of Social Status On Behavioral And Neural Response To Stress, Daniel W. Curry, Kathleen E. Morrison, Matthew A. Cooper

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Stress On Mucin Expression In The Gastrointestinal Tract Of Mice., Bupe Martha Habiyambere

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of chronic stress on mucin expression in the GIT of mice. Sixteen ICR male mice were randomly divided into treated and control animals. Restraint stress was applied to the treated group for 21 days. Body weight (BW) changes and feed consumed (FC) were regularly recorded. After 21 days mice were euthanized and blood, GIT mucosa, and GIT sections were collected. Serum corticosterone levels were determined. The GIT sections were fixed, paraffin embedded, sectioned, and stained with AB-PAS to visualize goblet cells. Mucin expression was determined using qPCR. As expected stressed mice showed higher corticosterone than …

Health Disparities In A Diverse County: Investigating Interactions Between Residents And Neighborhoods, John P. Barile

Psychology Dissertations

This study evaluated the associations of individual and neighborhood level risk factors with physical health, mental health, and stress in a diverse urban county. Relatively little research has attempted to disentangle the interactive individual characteristics and neighborhood conditions underlying health outcomes and disparities. To address this, survey data were collected and analyzed from 1,107 residents living in one of the 114 census tracts in DeKalb County, GA. Using multilevel structural equation modeling techniques, this study found that neighborhood level measures of the social and built environment were not associated with the health outcomes under study after controlling for neighborhood level …

The Relation Between Sensation Seeking And Life Satisfaction, Stephanie Stegman

Master's Theses

The present study examined the relation between sensation seeking and life satisfaction. Participants completed four online surveys. One survey included a number of questions designed to measure personal sensation seeking level (Sensation Seeking Scale Form V). Another asked questions regarding life satisfaction (Satisfaction With Life Scale). A third survey included questions regarding one’s feelings about one’s self (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale). The final survey asked questions regarding perceived stress level (Perceived Stress Scale). Results indicated that higher levels of Disinhibition and Boredom Susceptibility were associated with lower levels of life satisfaction. Results also demonstrated that higher levels of Boredom Susceptibility were …

The Relationship Between Measured Levels Of Stress And Coping Preferences Of North Carolina Elementary Principals, Devon Carson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine the sources of stress and the coping preferences of elementary school principals in North Carolina. Secondary analysis addressed demographic differences and any relationships between stress and coping preferences.Data were collected through the survey research method and was primarily descriptive and correlational. A questionnaire was emailed to 500 participants randomly selected for this research, 222 responded. The first section of questions consisted of the Administrative Stress Index (ASI), which comprised 35 stressors principals confront in their work.The second set of questions included the Roesch Coping Preference Scale (RCPS), consisting of 21 statements to …

So Many Choices, So Little Time: Religiosity And The Stress Of Making Decisions, Joshua David Boeke

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Numerous studies have appeared in the literature demonstrating that religiosity and mental health are positively related. However, although investigators have identified several variables that partially mediate the effects of religiosity on mental health, much of this relationship remains unexplained. The goal of this survey study was to examine to what extent religious individuals experience better mental health outcomes because they experience less stress when making decisions. Specifically, this study evaluated whether religious individuals reduce the number of decision alternatives they consider when making decisions, which in turn should make decision making easier and reduce decision-making stress. Participants were asked to …

Associations Between Mindfulness And Symptoms Of Anxiety., Leisa L. Wells

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional exploratory study considered the associations between mindfulness and symptoms of anxiety. The participants in this study were 183 undergraduate students at a regional university in the southeastern United States. The general hypothesis was that higher levels of mindfulness would be associated with lower levels of anxiety. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to examine the association between a variety of aspects of mindfulness and symptoms of anxiety while controlling for a variety of demographic and historical variables, including previous experience with meditation. Results suggest that not all aspects of mindfulness were related to anxiety. Of the 12 specific …

Perceived Workplace Discrimination As A Mediator Of The Relationship Between Work Environment And Employee Outcomes: Does Minority Status Matter?, Nicole Ellis Jagusztyn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to explore the role of six organizational factors (Equal Employment Opportunity, minority segmentation, diversity climate, instrumental social support, emotional social support, and token status) in the perception of discrimination in the workplace by minorities and majority-group members. Five outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intention to turnover, physical health, and psychological health) were investigated in response to perceived discrimination. Moderated mediation was used to test hypothesis where perceived discrimination mediated the relationship between organizational antecedents and outcomes; minority status served as the moderators. Support for the mediating role of perceived discrimination was found in …

Autonomic Reactivity And Recovery In Healthy Black, White, And Hispanic Women With And Without A Family History Of Cardiovascular Disease, Mardís Sara Karlsdóttir

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity and impaired recovery to psychological stress is independently related to cardiovascular disease (CVD), and may play a causal role in its development. I examined autonomic reactivity and recovery in 136 black, white, and Hispanic women who were predisposed to CVD, as indicated by a positive family history (FH+). Pre-ejection period (PEP; sympathetic) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; parasympathetic) were measured during public speaking, mental arithmetic, and cold pressor tasks. Overall, FH+ participants exhibited greater RSA reactivity, while black participants exhibited impaired RSA recovery. These findings suggest that a hereditary predisposition for CVD is related to altered autonomic …

Activation Of Gabaa And 5ht1a Receptors In The Raphe Pallidus Abolish The Cardiovascular Responses To Stress In Conscious Rats, Nhut Minh Pham Le

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Serotonergic neurons of the raphe pallidus area of the brainstem are involved in the cardiovascular responses to stress. However, the manner in which they mediate these responses is not well understood and severe abnormalities in this system have been associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. In the current study, microinjections of muscimol and 8-OH-DPAT (GABAA and 5HT1A receptor agonists, respectively) into the raphe pallidus abolished the increase in mean arterial pressure and the tachycardiac responses following air jet, handing, and restraint stress that were observed following microinjections of artificial cerebrospinal fluid. The stress responses following muscimol microinjections suggest that this …

The Lived Experience Of College Sudents Who Have Been Medicated With Antidepressants, Pamela Joan Aselton

Open Access Dissertations

Increasingly in the last two decades college students have been diagnosed with depression, with estimates of major depression higher than the general population (American Psychiatric Association {APA}, 2005). According to the literature, the stresses of college life along with increased rates of substance abuse, and binge drinking have contributed to the rise in depression in this population. In a large survey of American college students, over half reported some depression since entering college (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse {NCASA}, 2003). Correspondingly, the percentage of young people treated with antidepressants has grown over the past decade, and there is …

High-Stakes Testing And Its Relationship To Stress Levels Of Secondary Teachers, Sonya Colman Christian

Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between high-stakes testing and the stress levels of secondary teachers in Jackson’s Jackson Public School District. The independent variables of age, gender, subject taught, teaching experience, degree and school level were used to determine the differences of the various groups. A survey was piloted and used to determine teachers’ levels of stress. There was not a statistically significant difference between the stress levels of teachers who teach subjects that are measured by high-stakes testing and those who do not. There also was not a statistically significant difference between the stress levels of veteran teachers and …

The Ability Of The Coping Competence Questionnaire To Predict Resilience Against Learned Helplessness Among Undergraduate College Students: An Experimental Study, Cindy L. Ollis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Coping Competence Questionnaire (CCQ), based on the reformulated learned helplessness theory, was designed to assess a general stress resistance versus a propensity towards learned helplessness with a brief, 12-item self-report questionnaire. In this study the CCQ was administered to 247 undergraduate students, who were then paired, in groups of around 24 at a time, and then randomly assigned to either success or failure conditions on the computer game TetraVex. Mood was pretested using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) depression subscale; the experimental condition, success or failure at TetraVex was conducted; then outcome measures including 20 five letter anagrams …

The Effects Of Aerobic Exercise On Embryonic And Fetal Development In The Pregnant Mare, Jason Anton

All Theses

Horses are natural athletes and are commonly competed during early pregnancy. Because horses have singleton pregnancies and are conditioned to human interaction, they may prove to be a useful model in lending greater understanding of the numerous etiologies of intra-uterine growth restriction that is found in women and other mammals. Currently, there has been little research conducted to determine the effects that stress, in the form of aerobic exercise, has on early embryonic and fetal development in the horse. More research is needed to further understand the effects that stress has on early conceptus development in the mare.
The research …

A Description Of The Influence Of Nclb Accountability Mandates On Administrator Job Satisfaction Of A Combined Middle-High Principal In Rural Georgia, Boyd K. English

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the influence of No Child Left Behind accountability mandates on administrator job satisfaction of a rural combined middle-high principal. The researcher identified a gap in research associated with the influence of accountability mandates on the job satisfaction of a combined middle-high principal. Therefore, the focus on a combined middle-high principal in rural Georgia allowed the researcher to conduct a qualitative case study to address the gap in current educational research. The overarching question and sub-questions guided the case study and provided the necessary framework essential in describing the influence of accountability on …

Immune Redistribution To Skin In Wild And Domesticated Songbirds, Joshua Ryan Kuhlman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Implantation of dental sponges under the skin of lab rodents has been used to evaluate whether acute stress enhances leukocyte infiltration to a surgical site. First, I replicated this technique in house sparrows to test whether transient stressors cause similar immunoredistribution (i.e., movement of immune cells out of circulation and to the periphery) in a wild animal. As placement into captivity alone may serve as a stressor to wild animals, I compared sponge infiltration over different periods of captivity. Second, I compared how domestication affects immunoredistribution by comparing results of wild sparrows to domesticated zebra finches. Zebra finches were chosen …

Selected Demographic Characteristics And Social Interest As Predictors Of Teacher Stress, Barry J. Morales

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the research was to study stress in teachers in Louisiana by utilizing a descriptive/comparative research design. Hypotheses were tested concerning relationships between each of seven independent variables and the dependent variable (teacher stress). The independent variables were (a) years of teaching experience, (b) educational levels of teachers (college degrees), (c) age, (d) gender, (e) social interest, (f) geographical location (North and South Louisiana), and (g) educational levels of students taught by teachers (elementary, middle, high school). The procedure for choosing the participants involved a sample of convenience whereby superintendents provided access/permission to specific schools. Nine schools (three …

Spring Design Optimization With Fatigue, John L. Porteiro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to look into the fundamental issues regarding spring design and develop a new, easy to use software program that would allow for optimal, flexible spring designs. Most commercial programs that address this function are basic and do not allow the designer much control over the variables hindering design. This is so because most programs start from the premise that the spring is a general purpose part of the system or that other design parameters can be altered to accommodate the chosen spring. In cases where this is not so, such as in hydraulic cartridge …

The Effects Of Counselor Trainee Stress And Coping Resources On The Working Alliance And Supervisory Working Alliance, Philip B. Gnilka

Counseling and Psychological Services Dissertations

Counselor trainees’ stress and coping resources have the potential to influence the relationships formed with supervisors and clients. Two hundred thirty two (N = 232) Master-level counselor trainees completed surveys designed to measure perceived stress, coping resources, the working alliance, and the supervisory working alliance. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Working Alliance Inventory – Short Form Therapist Version (WAI-S; Tracey & Kokotovic, 1989), the Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory – Trainee Version (SWAI-T; Efstation, Patton, & Kardash, 1990), the Perceived Stress Scale – Short Form (PSS; Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983), and the Coping Resources Inventory for Stress – Short …

In A Strange Place, Benjamin Goldman

Art and Design Theses

My work is about stress and strain in our modern times. I am using self portraiture as a way to discuss the world around me and hope that the viewer will relate to my experiences. Drawing, painting and video are used to convey different aspects of my observations, and old techniques are mixed with new technologies. Personal observations, artistic and scientific influences, and the art-making process have shaped this body of work.

Does Chronic Stress Accelerate Late-Aging Cognitive Decline In Memory And Executive Functioning?, Diane Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Few studies exist examining the relationship between self-reported stress and cognitive function in healthy nonpsychiatric older adults, and even less studies have examined whether high levels of self-reported stress accelerate the cognitive decline found in normal late-aging populations. A group of older nonpsychiatric adults, ages 54 years and above, were asked to complete three measures assessing their self-perceived stress over the past month, past year, and their lifetime. Sixty-one adults between the ages of 54 and 88 (52% female) participated in a second phase in which neuropsychological tasks were administered to assess three cognitive domains; memory, learning, and executive functioning. …

The Effect Of Combat Exercises On Cardiovascular Response: An Exploratory Study, Melisa Gantt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PURPOSE: Hypertension (HTN) affects one in every three adults in the United States. Often associated with the older population, this silent killer has emerged in an unsuspecting group, young military soldiers. With the rapid succession of multiple deployments, long intervals between blood pressure (BP) assessments, and the absence of cardiovascular (CV) measures during the pre and post deployment health screenings; soldiers may be at higher risk for HTN than their civilian counterparts of the same age. The purpose of this study was to explore real-time continuous CV measures of soldiers before, during, and after exposure to a simulated combat stressor …

The Effect Of Urban Hassles On The Subjective Well-Being Of Low-Income Urban Adolescents, Kimberly Vacek

Dissertations

Low income urban youth have been identified as an understudied and important population to explore. The psychological effects of stress on the well-being of children and adolescents are of particular interest, and the stressors faced by low income urban adolescents are unique in that they are more chronic in nature and due to adverse environmental circumstances. While researchers have examined the effect of stress on the subjective well-being of low income urban adolescents, none have done so utilizing a measure of stress developed specifically to assess the unique stressors experienced by such populations. The Urban Hassles Index (UHI) is a …

The Effects Of Uncontrollable Stress On Subjective Well-Being And Coping Behavior In Urban Adolescents, Laura Darr Coyle

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine whether uncontrollable and controllable stressors differentially affected levels of subjective well-being in a group of ethnically diverse urban adolescents. Additionally, the researcher examined what types of coping skills were utilized in the face of high levels of uncontrollable stress. Lastly, a moderational model was proposed, wherein active coping was hypothesized to strengthen the inverse relationship between uncontrollable stress and subjective well-being. Results revealed that higher levels of uncontrollable stress were related to higher levels of negative affect. Additionally, the use of active and adaptive coping strategies was associated with higher levels of …

The Effects Of Web-Based Interactive Emotional Disclosure On Stress And Health: A Randomized, Controlled Study, Jonathan Beyer

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the relative effectiveness of two novel alternatives to standard written emotional disclosure for coping with stressful traumatic experiences. In addition to standard emotional disclosure and time management writing control conditions, two guided feedback conditions were created with a goal of enhancing the disclosure paradigm by eliciting the most effective components of disclosure writing. All of the writing conditions in the study utilized the internet for both completion of the writing and receipt of feedback in the indicated conditions. The guided conditions included a feedback writing condition in which guidance was …

Evaluating Outcomes And Response Profiles Of A Psychological Treatment For People With Chronic Pain, Amanda J. Burger

Wayne State University Dissertations

Chronic pain is a leading cause of suffering, disability, and high health care costs. Traditional treatment approaches such as medical or cognitive-behavioral interventions have produced variable and often limited results. Research has suggested

that increased rates of stressful life events, emotional disorders, and emotion regulation deficits contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic pain problems that lack clear, peripheral, biological causes. This study examined the effectiveness of an

innovative, emotion-focused treatment that directly targets patients' unresolved stress and emotional avoidance and sought to identify predictors of treatment outcome. Additionally, this study explored the effects of a novel, emotional assessment …

A Comparison Of Parental Self-Efficacy, Parenting Satisfaction, And Other Factors Between Single Mothers With And Without Children With Developmental Disabilities, Raymond Phillip Small

Wayne State University Dissertations

Depression and stress occur among single mothers and raising a child with a developmental disability can be a difficult burden. The purpose of this study was to determine if having a child with a developmental disability was a source of stress and depression among single mothers, and if this impinged on parental self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction, and social support. The moderating potential of having a child with a disability was examined on relationships between stress, depression, parental self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction, and social support. Understanding these relationships could be useful in the service delivery system to single mothers and families of children …