Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

An Investigation Into College Induced Stress & Coping Mechanisms And Its Effect On Mental Health, Gráinne Morgan, Madeleine Quinn, Clíodhna Ní Shúilleabháin

International Undergraduate Journal of Health Sciences

No abstract provided.

Psychosocial Risk Factors And Cardiovascular Disease And Death In A Population-Based Cohort From 21 Low-, Middle-, And High-Income Countries, Ailiana Santosa, Annika Rosengren, Chinthanie Ramasundarahettige, Sumathy Rangarajan, Jephat Chifamba, Scott A. Lear, Paul Poirier, Karen E. Yeates, Rita Yusuf, Romaina Iqbal

Community Health Sciences

Importance: Stress may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Most studies on stress and CVD have been conducted in high-income Western countries, but whether stress is associated with CVD in other settings has been less well studied.
Objective: To investigate the association of a composite measure of psychosocial stress and the development of CVD events and mortality in a large prospective study involving populations from 21 high-, middle-, and low-income countries across 5 continents.
Design, setting, and participants: This population-based cohort study used data from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study, collected between January 2003 and March 2021. Participants …

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Psychological Outcomes Of Mobile Guided Resonant Frequency Breathing In Young Adults With Elevated Stress During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Al Amira Safa Shehab

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Deep breathing practices have shown promise in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression in different populations, including young adults. Specifically, resonant frequency breathing can exert an impact on stress response systems through the vagus nerve and the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This may induce reductions in stress and improvement in emotion regulation. Young adults, including college students, tend to be at a higher risk for psychological distress, as they face several psychosocial challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed new and unique stressors that resulted in higher levels of stress and emotional symptoms and it has been shown that this may have placed …

Psychological Problems Among Patients With Chronic Medical Disorders During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Ali Akbar Asadi-Pooya, Seyed Ali Nabavizadeh, Saeid Sadeghian, Mina Shahisavandi, Zohreh Barzegar, Abdullah Nezafat, Nahid Ashjazadeh, Hamed Bazrafshan Drissi, Ali Sahraian

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

The aim of the current study was to investigate the rates of stress, anxiety, and depression among people in south Iran (a group from the general population without a history of any chronic medical problems, and cohorts of patients were recruited from epilepsy, diabetes, and cardiac disease clinics). We surveyed a sample of people during September 2020: a group of the general population without a history of any chronic medical problems, people with epilepsy, people with diabetes mellitus (DM), and people with cardiac problems. The survey included four general questions and two COVID-19 specific questions [contracting COVID-19, relatives with COVID-19]. …

Examining Treatment Acceptability Of An Eight-Week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Protocol, Blake William Palmer

Dissertations

The goal of this study is to examine whether levels of perceived stress, experiential avoidance, personality traits including openness to experience and agreeableness, and demographic variables will predict the treatment acceptability (indicated by responses on the Treatment Acceptability and Adherence Scale) of an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. This study collected data in the Spring of 2019. The final number of participants in the study was 116 (40 females, 76 males, Mage = 36, age range: 22-69 years). Participants completed measures including the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), the agreeableness and openness to Experience domains …

The Disproportionate Impact Of Covid-19 On Women, Ava Stallone

Honors Scholar Theses

The impact of COVID-19 is placing a large strain on women. This can be seen through reports of mental health and financial concerns. Women are more vulnerable to COVID-19 related economic effects due to existing gender inequalities, which in turn may also have a negative effect on mental health. Through this study gender disproportion is looked at between mental health and COVID-19 financial concerns among women and men. The aim is to asses how COVID-19 financial concerns may be contributing to stress, anxiety, and depression. It is hypothesized that; women will report worse mental health and greater economic concerns than …

The Influence Of Self-Compassion On Perceived Stress Reactivity, Emily C. Helminen

Theses - ALL

Contemplative psychological traits (e.g., mindfulness and self-compassion) have become a popular area of research in recent years, often in the context of their influence on stress (Creswell & Lindsay, 2014). One promising subset of contemplative science research demonstrates that higher levels of contemplative traits are associated with decreased physiological stress reactivity during psychosocial stress induction. This is important due to the negative health outcomes that are associated with persistently heightened stress reactivity. Research investigating self-compassion has demonstrated that higher levels of trait self-compassion are associated with lower levels of stress reactivity (Breines et al., 2015; Luo et al., 2018). Currently, …

Exploring The Usefulness Of Mindfulness Practices Through Zoom Meetings In Reducing Anxiety And/Or Stress Of Adults With Learning And Developmental Disabilities During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Thatiane Abra

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explored which mindfulness meditations or mindfulness practices could be beneficial in the online sessions, the extent to which adults with learning and developmental disabilities could learn the practices remotely, and how stress and anxiety disorders could be reduced through online mindfulness interventions. Furthermore, it was also necessary to address the online sessions as the only mental health treatment possibility during the Coronavirus pandemic for the clients observed and the benefits and limitations of these interventions. Additionally, the importance of structure and routine for this population, the multi-modal structure of the interventions, and how attunement plays an important role …

Academic Stressors, Perceived Stress, And Coping Strategies Among Undergraduate Students, Danielle J. Levin

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Stress is common among college students and is a predominant factor interfering with academic performance. This study evaluated how college students perceive their level of stress, the coping strategies used, and the use of resources to offset stress offered by the university. This study showed that overall, undergraduate students at JMU experienced moderate levels of stress. Pressure to succeed, balancing coursework, and lack of motivation were the most prevalent academic stressors experienced by students. This study provides evidence that perceptions of stress greatly impact student behavior and use of coping strategies. Variation in coping strategies among students highlights the importance …

Dance/Movement Therapy In Response To Continuous Race-Based Trauma, Aliesha Bryan

Dance/Movement Therapy Theses

Trauma is concomitant with a lack of safety; as such, where there is a threat to safety, there is likely to be trauma. Afrodescendants living in the United States, through an ongoing lack of human regard, are often powerless to ensure their safety, and are regularly subjected to continuous, race-based trauma. Racism is deeply embedded in the nation’s institutions as well as in every relationship, and this deeply pervasive and penetrating ideology influences strongly how individuals of any race interact with others. Race-based aggression, from micro- to macro-, has a profound and continuously traumatizing effect on Afrodescendants, with similarly profound …

Comparison Of Alexithymia And Burnout Amid Perceived Stress Levels Of Nursing Students, Kamela Harmon

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Graduate level nursing students are exposed to overload and exhaustion due to academic and professional demands, increasing exposure to stressors resulting in elevated levels of perceived stress, burnout, and alexithymia. This quantitative research, utilizing an online methodology at a midwestern university, explored the prevalence of perceived stress, compassion satisfaction (CS), compassion fatigue (CF), burnout, and alexithymia among master’s level nursing students. The descriptive analysis utilized the Pearson correlation coefficient (Pearson r) by use of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL), and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The researcher discovered statistically significant negative correlations …

Oxytocin, Cortisol, And Cognitive Control During Acute And Naturalistic Stress, Shari Young Kuchenbecker, Sarah D. Pressman, Jared Celniker, Karen M. Grewen, Ken D. Sumida, Naveen Jonathan, Brendan Everett, George M. Slavich

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

Although stress is a strong risk factor for poor health, especially for women, it remains unclear how stress affects the key neurohormones cortisol and oxytocin, which influence stress-related risk and resilience. Whereas cortisol mediates energy mobilization during stress, oxytocin has anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic, and analgesic effects that support social connection and survival across the lifespan. However, how these neurohormones interrelate and are associated with cognitive control of emotional information during stress remains unclear. To address these issues, we recruited 37 college-aged women (M_age = 19.19, SD = 1.58) and randomly assigned each to a one-hour experimental session consisting of …

Mental Health Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Parents In High-Risk, Low Income Communities, Dana Alonzo, Marciana Popescu, Pinar Zubaroglu Ioannides

Covid-19 Digital Research

COVID-19 has spread across the globe, resulting in significant changes in virtually every aspect of life. Mitigation efforts, like shelter-in-place orders, have taken a particular toll on parents who have had to navigate disruptions in work and/or school schedules. Research from high-income countries demonstrates increased parental anxiety, stress, depression, and burnout resulting from the pandemic. It is unclear if these outcomes are the same for parents in high-risk communities in low-income countries where pre-pandemic conditions were deleterious. This study addresses this gap and examines the mental health impact of the pandemic on parents in high-risk communities in Guatemala.

Prenatal Maternal Psychological Distress And Fetal Developmental Trajectories: Associations With Infant Temperament, Mariann A. Howland, Curt A. Sandman, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Associations between prenatal maternal psychological distress and offspring developmental outcomes are well documented, yet relatively little research has examined links between maternal distress and development in utero, prior to postpartum influences. Fetal heart rate (FHR) parameters are established indices of central and autonomic nervous system maturation and function which demonstrate continuity with postnatal outcomes. This prospective, longitudinal study of 149 maternal–fetal pairs evaluated associations between prenatal maternal distress, FHR parameters, and dimensions of infant temperament. Women reported their symptoms of psychological distress at five prenatal visits, and FHR monitoring was conducted at the last three visits. Maternal report of infant …

A Predictable Home Environment May Protect Child Mental Health During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Laura M. Glynn, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Joan L. Luby, Tallie Z. Baram, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective

Information about the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent and adult mental health is growing, yet the impacts on preschool children are only emerging. Importantly, environmental factors that augment or protect from the multidimensional and stressful influences of the pandemic on emotional development of young children are poorly understood.

Methods

Depressive symptoms in 169 preschool children (mean age 4.1 years) were assessed with the Preschool Feelings Checklist during a state-wide stay-at-home order in Southern California. Mothers (46% Latinx) also reported on externalizing behaviors with the Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire. To assess the role of environmental factors in …

Oral Cbd Administration: Assessing Bioavailability And Behavioral Outcomes In A Rodent Model, Jordan Skully

Wayne State University Theses

There has been a recent surge in popularity for cannabidiol (CBD), a major non-psychotropic constituent of cannabis, due to numerous claims of potential therapeutic properties, which include, but are not limited to, anxiolytic, antinociceptive, and anti-inflammatory effects. However, as previous scientific literature on CBD's effectiveness in providing such therapeutic effects is limited, this project was aimed to evaluate the potential beneficial properties of a hemp derived 99% pure CBD compound provided from Ellipse Analytics (Denver, CO) in a rodent model. We analyzed the pharmacokinetics of this CBD product as well as the behavioral outcomes after acute and chronic administration. Pharmacokinetics …

Sex Differences In Stress-Induced Sleep Deficits, Andrew T. Gargiulo, Varuna Jasodanand, Sandra Luz, Lauren O'Mara, Leszek Kubin, Richard J. Ross, Seema Bhatnagar, Laura A. Grafe

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Sleep disruptions are hallmarks in the pathophysiology of several stress-related disorders, including Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), both known to disproportionately affect female populations. Although previous studies have attempted to investigate disordered sleep in women, few studies have explored and compared how repeated stress affects sleep in both sexes in either human or animal models. We have previously shown that male rats exhibit behavioral and neuroendocrine habituation to 5 days of repeated restraint, whereas females do not; additional days of stress exposure are required to observe habituation in females. This study examined sex differences in sleep …

Stress, Coping, Resilience, And Sleep During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Representative Survey Study Of Us Adults, Andrew T. Gargiulo, Laurel M. Peterson, Laura A. Grafe

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health emergency resulting in widespread death and substantial disruption to daily life. Previous research has shown that novel disease outbreaks are associated with high stress levels and sleep impairments that lead to neuropsychiatric consequences. Therefore, it is vital to study both stress and protective factors such as coping and resilience that may hinder or help sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, as gender disparities exist in sleep quality, it is important to understand the relationship between pandemic-related stress, coping strategies, resilience, and sleep in bothgenders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Our study …

How Duty Rosters And Stress Relate To Sleep Problems And Fatigue Of International Pilots, Marion Venus, Martin Grosse Holtforth

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

While previous research focused on pilots’ fatigue, rosters, potential performance-impairment and aviation-safety, this research investigates, how pilots’ work-related and psychosocial stress and rosters can affect their sleep and fatigue. A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 192 pilots flying for European operators, 180 Australian pilots and 34 pilots from UAE, Turkey and Asia Pacific. Pilots reported their actual duty- and flight-hours, flown sectors, standby, rest, vacation days, number of early starts, night-flights and sports-hours for the last two months. Schedule-related data, way to work, age, flight-hours on the present type of aircraft, subjective job-security and psychosocial stress were used as …

Viability Of Physiologically Timed Relaxation Interventions In Children With Asd, Nicholas Mendez

CMC Senior Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an increasingly common developmental disorder that changes how people experience the world and affects individuals’ social interactions and often leads to many adverse behaviors. Current literature dictates that a primary contributor to these adverse behaviors is that those with ASD have difficulty determining their own emotional states and determining the physiological signals that their body sends them. A study by Dr. Sarabadani et al. determined that it was possible to monitor the physiology of an individual with ASD and correlate certain signals to emotions, such as stress. These findings indicate the feasibility of establishing a …