Digital Commons Network^™

Autonomic And Behavioral Reactivity To An Acute Laboratory Stressor, Jeremy C. Peres

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Stress has been widely shown to directly influence people’s emotional and behavioral processing as well as their underlying biological systems. This project examined physiological and behavioral responses as indicators of stress and coping in the context of a psychosocial stressor in a controlled laboratory setting. We examined the association between indicators of behavioral coping and underlying physiological reactivity within participants while experiencing stress. Participants included 68 emerging adults. Physiological measures include autonomic biomarkers (e.g., heart-rate, skin conductance) at rest and during the stressor while behavioral indicators that were coded include acute verbal and non-verbal actions exhibited by participants during the …

The Influences Of Caregiver-Child Interactions And Temperament On Cortisol Concentrations Of Toddlers In Full-Day Childcare, Helen Morris Lane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the influences of caregiver-child interaction and temperament on cortisol concentrations of toddlers in full-day childcare. Sensitive and responsive caregiving is critical to the quality of children's early experiences. Caregivers who are attuned to unique needs of young children can support and guide child growth and development. In the context of relationships the child grows, develops, and learns to biologically respond to events in his or her world that he or she may perceive as threatening, with the production of cortisol. Studies show that regulation of cortisol release later in life may be …

Psychological Well-Being And Dietary Quality Of College Women: Examining The Confounding Influence Of Sleep And Physical Activity, Whitney Ann Hebbert

Theses and Dissertations

Objective. To determine the relationship between overall psychological well-being and stress on diet quality among young adult women and to examine the potential confounding influence of season, physical activity and sleep on these relationships. Design/Participants. The study used a cross-sectional design. Three hundred and fifty-one women were recruited to participate in the study. All participants were university students (20.2 ± 1.6 y). Overall psychological well-being was assessed using the General Well-being Schedule (GWB) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Diet intake was measured using three 24-hour recalls over a seven day period. The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) was calculated to …

The Health Of Rural Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, Kimberly Y. Robitaille

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction: Grandparents are becoming increasingly responsible for raising their grandchildren. Previous studies have noted physical and mental health limitations for custodial grandparents. Grandparents face numerous challenges in raising grandchildren and consequently, experience high stress levels. However, coping and social support have been found to mediate grandparent stress. Rural custodial grandparents have been an understudied population. Using the Stress Process Model, this study extends the knowledge of rural grandparents raising grandchildren by describing the relationships among physical and mental health, stressors, coping, and social supports for custodial grandparents living in Western Kentucky.

Methods: A mixed methods approach was used to examine …

House Finches, Carpodacus Mexicanus: Hormones, Stress, And Song Control Regions, Katherine Olivia Ganster

Master's Theses

Song production in songbirds is controlled by parts of the brain known as the song control regions (SCRs). During spring, gonads increase in size, males sing to attract mates, and SCRs become larger. This neuroplasticity is controlled by the change in day length and increased plasma testosterone (T) levels. Plasma T can be reduced by stress through the production of corticosterone (CORT), through the production of beta-endorphin, or through direct effects on the testes via the nervous system. We determined the T, estradiol, and CORT hormonal profiles of wild House Finches by capturing and sampling blood from the finches every …

The Effects Of Personal Grief On Organizational Outcomes: A Qualitative Investigation, Charlotte Ann Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most individuals experience considerable emotional pain and grief due to the death of someone near and dear to them in their lifetimes. These painful experiences have the potential to affect individually-valued and organizationally-valued outcomes. In most organizations, employees are provided with a very limited amount of time for coping with the grieving process before they are expected to perform the normal duties and responsibilities associated with their work roles. Even though we know that the process of grief associated with the loss of a loved one can have traumatic consequences for the employee, there is little in the research literature, …

Ecological Momentary Assessment And Time-Varying Factors Associated With Eating And Physical Activity, Amy Jeffers

Theses and Dissertations

The obesity epidemic is a significant problem in the United States. It is well established that lifestyle factors, such as unhealthy eating and physical inactivity, are key contributors. These causes are generally voluntary activities and it is important to examine health decision-making with respect to these behaviors. The current study examined time-varying factors of stress and mood and their relationship with healthy eating and physical activity in a sample of undergrads (N = 26). Ecological momentary assessment via one's cell phone was used to collect multiple measurements over six days. Positive mood was found to follow physical activity episodes for …

Negative Event Appraisals, Cognitive Processing, And Adjustment, Kristen E. Riley

Master's Theses

Appraisals of stressful events are linked to their adjustment to those stressful events. Appraisals can include perceptions of an event as threatening, uncontrollable, controllable, central, or challenging (Peacock & Wong, 1990). Many studies have examined effects of these appraisals on adjustment and cognitive processing (Aldwin, 2007; Lazarus, 1993; Tan, Jensen, Thornby, & Anderson, 2005), and a few have suggested that cognitive processing mediates relationships between appraisals and adjustment (Peacock & Wong, 1996). We tested cognitive processing in mediation models between appraisals and adjustment, and compared to active coping, in the context of ongoing stressors. Active coping appears to be particularly …

A Hybrid Bishop-Hill Model For Microstructure Sensitive Design, Ribeka Takahashi

Theses and Dissertations

A method is presented for adapting the classical Bishop-Hill model to the requirements of elastic/yield-limited design in metals of arbitrary crystallographic texture. The proposed Hybrid Bishop-Hill (HBH) model, which will be applied to ductile FCC metals, retains the `stress corners' of the polyhedral Bishop-Hill yield surface. However, it replaces the `maximum work criterion' with a criterion that minimizes the Euclidean distance between the applicable local corner stress state and the macroscopic stress state. This compromise leads to a model that is much more accessible to yield-limited design problems. Demonstration of performance for the HBH model is presented for an extensive …

Regional Rarity: Consequences Of Dispersal Limitation And Strategies For Reintroduction, Steven James Kroiss

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Understanding factors that limit species distributions within restored habitats has been a longstanding goal of restoration ecology, particularly with respect to differences between rare and widespread species. Numerous mechanisms have been proposed to contribute to rarity, including species traits, propagule limitation, ecological requirements, and population level processes such as demographic and environmental stochasticity. Yet, our understanding of species rarity remains limited since few studies have examined how these factors act in concert. This dissertation examines how these mechanisms may interact to influence the distribution and population establishment of plant species in restored xeric glades in the Missouri Ozarks: USA). First, …

Stress In Harmonic Serialism, Kathryn Ringler Pruitt

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a model of word stress in a derivational version of Optimality Theory (OT) called Harmonic Serialism (HS; Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004, McCarthy 2000, 2006, 2010a). In this model, the metrical structure of a word is derived through a series of optimizations in which the 'best' metrical foot is chosen according to a ranking of violable constraints. Like OT, HS models cross-linguistic typology under the assumption that every constraint ranking should correspond to an attested language.

Chapter 2 provides an argument for modeling stress typology in HS by showing that the serial model correctly rules out stress patterns …

The Effects Of Early Corticosterone Treatment On The Development Of The Avian Song Control System, Mahin Shahbazi

Neuroscience Institute Dissertations

Stress has long lasting effects on physiology, development, behavior, reproductive success and survival. These effects are mediated by glucocorticoids, such as corticosterone (Cort), via glucocorticoid receptors (GR), though the exact mechanisms underlying these effects are unknown. Early developmental stress affects the size of the avian song control nuclei (particularly HVC; proper name) and song quality in many songbirds, suggesting a direct link between brain and behavior. HVC is required for song learning and production. The complexity of the male zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) courtship song is important in female mate choice. Although the mechanisms behind the effects of …

The Relationships Between Perfectionism, Stress, Coping Resources, And Burnout Among Sign Language Interpreters, Tomina J. Schwenke

Counseling and Psychological Services Dissertations

The multidimensional construct of perfectionism is well studied as it relates to coping with stress and burnout (Flett & Hewitt, 2002). Bontempo and Napier (2011) identify the personality trait of conscientiousness, which includes perfectionistic traits, as beneficial to an interpreter’s job performance. In contrast, several studies suggest that constructs related to maladaptive perfectionistic traits play a role in the development of burnout among interpreters, although perfectionism has not been explicitly identified or used as a research variable (Qin, Marshall, Mozrall, & Marschark, 2008). These studies identify key components of both adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism in the assessment of stress-related outcomes, …

The Effects Of Rumination On Psychological And Biological Recovery From Stress In Depression, Joelle Lemoult

Open Access Dissertations

Diathesis-stress models of depression highlight that stress triggers the onset of a depressive episode. Increasing evidence, however, suggest that increased risk comes not from the initial response to stress, but rather from difficulty regulating emotions in a way that facilitates recovery. Rumination is a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy shown to prolong negative affect in response to distress. The current study extends past research by comparing the effects of a rumination versus distraction induction on biological and psychological recovery from stress among individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls (CTLs). Participants were exposed to a psychosocial stressor and then …

The Intersection Between Home And School: Developing A Scale To Measure Parental Perceptions Of Childhood School Stress, Teresa Marie Henke

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Parents in the home and educators in the schools are key adults in the most important contexts in the daily lives of school-age children. In the demanding, achievement, and accountability oriented culture of today, it is expected that children experience normal everyday stressors as they move between these two environments. The impact of stress related to daily hassles has been reported to have both cognitive and physical effects on the present and future well-being of children. This study represented an attempt to advance the understanding of childhood stress in the intersection between school and home by investigating the perceptions …

Mindfulness And Self-Compassion: Exploring Pathways To Adolescent Emotional Well-Being, Karen Leslie Bluth

Doctoral Dissertations

Adolescents today are confronted with the compounded stressors of life in our high-pressured society and the cognitive, physiological, and emotional changes that are characteristic of this stage of development. As a result, they often struggle with self-doubt, leading to depression, anxiety, and maladaptive trajectories. Mindfulness, or paying attention in the moment in an intentional and purposeful way, has been reported to have positive effects on emotional well-being in adults, and shows promise for similar results in recent research with children and adolescents.

Moreover, the mechanisms through which being mindful achieves positive outcomes has only recently been explored, and has not …

A Study Of Factors Related To Teacher Attrition, Leslie Ann Beaugez

Dissertations

This study examined factors related to teacher attrition. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the level of teacher satisfaction that could motivate a teacher to remain in the profession in a national sample could be predicted from selected factors. Furthermore, this study examined teachers’ perceptions of worry/stress based on student performance on state and/or local tests.

The participants in the study were in two groups: teachers in a national sample that responded to items on the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey and certified teachers from a southeastern school district who also responded to one of the items …

The Organization Of Self-Knowledge And Race: Does Self-Concept Structure Impact The Responses Of Black Individuals To Stereotype Threat?, Aisha Denise Baker

Dissertations

Stereotype threat is defined as “the concern or worry that a person can feel when he or she is at risk of confirming or being seen to confirm a negative stereotype about his or her group” (Steele & Davies, 2003, p. 311). Stereotype threat has been examined in a variety of stereotyped groups, but the primary focus of this research has been Black individuals because they often encounter negative stereotypes about their race in the course of their daily lives. Some researchers have suggested that stereotype threat may partially explain the achievement gap between Black and White individuals (Steele & …

The Use Of Humor For Emotion Management On The Job: An Exploration Of 911 Communication Centers, Jennifer Dell Mclaughlin

Dissertations

This study sought to understand how humor affects a person’s ability to cope and manage their emotions in a high stress organizational environment. 911 communication centers are work environments where stress is commonplace, and the work environment can instantly become erratic and chaotic.

This study explored the role humor has in assisting organizational members with emotion management in a high stress job and the types of humor used by members to handle their job and cope with the stress.

The results suggest that humor is pervasive in 911 communication centers, and dispatchers use humor for personal coping, co-worker bonding, and …

A Longitudinal Study Of The Effect Of At Birth Adoptions On Anxiety, Stress Hormones And Adolescent Alcohol Intake: A Nonhuman Primate Model, Whitney Faith Maxwell

Theses and Dissertations

Adopted individuals have an increased risk for a variety of psychopathological disorders. Studies of the effects adoption in humans are difficult to perform because of the difficulty separating genetic risk and treatment effects. This is a developmental study investigating the effects of at birth adoption using a nonhuman primate model. Three experimental paradigms were used to assess maternal treatment, stress-related behavior, and physiology late in infancy and again later in life. Rhesus monkeys were reared for their first six months of life by either their biological mother or an unrelated, lactating adult female. Adoptions occurred immediately following birth. At six …

Understanding The Relationship Between Perceived Levels Of Stress, Mindfulness, And Meditation Practices, Michael Gallagher

Master's Theses

Mindfulness meditation has become increasing popular in the Western world the last few decades. Although the research in the area of mindfulness is just beginning, many studies report positive benefits to individuals who learn this type of meditation. This study compares the perceived stress levels of college students who report common characteristics of individuals who practice mindfulness meditation against college students who do not report those common characteristics of mindfulness. The student’s level of mindfulness was measured using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire while the Measurement of Stressful Life Events was used to determine the student’s perceived stress levels to …

Interpretive Bias In The Context Of Life Stress And Depression: An Examination Of Stress Generation And Diathesis-Stress Models, Pamela M. Seeds

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Purpose: Researchers have recently demonstrated interest in interpretive bias, the tendency to interpret ambiguous information more negatively and/or less positively. The extent to which interpretive biases influence the occurrence of life stressors and potentially compound the negative effects of life stress in the development of depression is presently unknown. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate interpretive bias for ambiguous social information within the context of stress and depression. This study examined interpretive bias in the context of two theoretically and empirically supported models of depression – stress generation and diathesis-stress – to determine the mechanism through which …

The Effects Of Stress On Delay Discounting Performance For Higher And Lower Intelligence Individuals, Rebecca Brodoff

Honors Theses

Maintaining self-control can be a draining and arduous task, which may be affected by several external factors, such as stress or IQ level. An experiment was conducted on the effects of induced stress on Delay Discounting (DD) performance, or a measure of self-control, and the extent to which IQ level moderated this effect. Participants recorded their SAT or ACT scores (which were later converted to IQ scores), were exposed to a stress-inducing or control task requiring them to place their arms in ice-cold or luke-warm water, respectively, and then completed a DD task where they made a number of hypothetical …

Physiological Politics: Stress And Dominance Responses To Political News, Erin Strauts

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Stress Responses And Attachment Of Listeria Monocytogenes In Food, Dongryeoul Bae

Theses and Dissertations

The rates of the US hospitalization and mortality caused by Listeria monocytogenes was estimated to be the highest of 31 food-borne pathogens including Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter, and Clostridium. This pathogen has an ability to survive under extreme conditions widely found in the natural environment and food. Among 13 serovars L. monocytogenes serovar 4b, 1/2a and 1/2b are mainly associated with human listeriosis outbreaks. The deadliest outbreaks of human listeriosis and massive product recalls in multi-states were associated with ready-to-eat (RTE) food products such as mexican-style cheese, turkey deli meat, cabbage, and cantaloupes contaminated with the bacterium. Thus, contamination of …

Examining Differences In Stress Symptoms Based On Sexual Orientation, Ashley Danielle Dickson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined stress symptoms in relation to self-identified sexual orientation and identity-related constructs among gays and lesbians. Multiple identity constructs have played a significant role in determining anxiety levels in ethnic minorities but have not been examined among gays and lesbians. Secondary data analysis was conducted on a sample of participants who completed an online survey "Study of Attitudes about Sexual Orientation." Results indicated homosexuals reported higher levels of public and self-stigma and lower public regard than heterosexuals. Additionally, higher self-stigma and lower private regard about sexual orientation were related to increased stress. Finally, gays and lesbians reported …

Biocultural Perspectives On Gender, Transitions, Stress, And Immune Function, Leo Zachary Dubois

Open Access Dissertations

Health disparities, including higher rates of mental or physical illness, are found among members of minority or marginalized groups including people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. However, there is a paucity of research incorporating both experiential components and measures of physical health, particularly among trans men during their transition from female to male. Trans men transition through the use of testosterone therapy (T) and surgical procedures in order to align their internal male gender identities with their physical presentation. This study combines the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in order to understand trans men's experience of …

Effect Of Social Status On Social Defeat-Induced Neural Activation In The Dorsal Raphe Nucleus, Danielle M. Gerhard, Kathleen E. Morrison, Matthew A. Cooper

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Gender Differences In Autonomic Nervous System Reactivity To Stress, Brittany Verret

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to disentangle the psychobiological mechanisms and social-evaluative conditions that mediate the process by which the Autonomic Nervous System reacts in male and female humans. We used the original Trier Social Stress Test, as well as two modifications to this original social stressor: a punishment modification and a reward modification. We obtained measures of autonomic (heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia; HR and SA respectively) reactivity before, during and after the stress test. To distinguish the contribution of the different modifications and any additional difference in reactivity due to gender, the participants were randomly separated …

The Use Of Self-Service Technologies In Stress Management: A Pilot Project, Carissa Morris

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

This research describes a pilot program created to help St. Catherine University’s Associate nursing students receive education regarding stress management and practice relaxation techniques. The program was developed using three key elements: 1) practicing a variety of relaxation and mindfulness techniques 2) practicing these techniques through the use of self-service technologies, and 3) participating in group sessions where psychoeducation regarding stress, depression and anxiety was provided.

Six participants completed the stress management program. They practiced breathwork, mindfulness and guided imagery exercises through podcasts and apps on internet-capable, mobile devices. Results showed decreases in stress and anxiety levels among participants. Additional …