Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Influence Of Minority Stress, Coping, And A Pandemic On The Relationship Between Sexual Orientation And Mental Health: A Mixed Methods Study, James Michael Macchia

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

For decades, scientific literature has shown that sexual minority individuals across populations are disproportionately affected by negative mental health outcomes when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. These disparities are largely attributable to minority stress. Coping is a significant factor that can impact the content and severity of mental health outcomes and coping behaviors have been shown to vary based on sexual orientation. Mental health outcomes may also differ between sexual minority subgroups due to additional factors such as double discrimination and bisexual invisibility/erasure. Moreover, factors such as internalized homophobia and community connectedness have demonstrated strong associations with sexual minority mental …

The Indirect Association Of Personality With Perceived Stress As Mediated By Humor In University Students During Covid-19, Jacqueline Sterghos

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Humor is known to be an effective coping strategy due to its stress-reducing capabilities (Overholser, 1992; Peterson & Seligman, 2004). However, more recent research into humor has revealed it can also lead to increased levels of stress (Fritz et al., 2017; Martin et al., 2003). Extraverts tend to have positive emotions and are better able to cope with stressful emotions (Ford et al., 2016). However, individuals higher in neuroticism are more likely to engage in maladaptive types of coping strategies and humor (Greengross et al., 2011), putting them at a higher risk for increased stress levels. The current research utilized …

Adaptive And Maladaptive Coping As Mediators Of The Relationship Between Impostor Phenomenon And Help Seeking Intention, Victor Mosconi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The modern workplace and public media have reported on the influence of the impostor phenomenon (IP) on leadership mental health and workplace effectiveness. The choice of coping strategy may influence leaders’ intentions to seek psychological help. Guided by the impostor cycle model, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the extent to which adaptive and maladaptive coping mediates the relationship between IP and help-seeking intention in a convenience sample of 162 participants in leadership positions. The Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale assessed strength of IP, the Brief COPE measure assessed adaptive and maladaptive coping, and the Beliefs About Psychological …

The Role Of Confrontation Effectiveness For Women's Psychological Wellbeing After A Sexist Event, Shelby Helwig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation includes three experimental studies investigating how confronting sexism impacts college-aged women. In Studies 1 and 2, we investigated how confronting effectively versus ineffectively influenced women’s imagined (Study 1) and actual (Study 2) psychological wellbeing. In Study 3, we investigated how imagining the costs and benefits of confronting sexual harassment impacted women’s confrontational behavior and negative affect. All three studies supported the conclusion that an effective confrontation is a goal for most confronters (Study 3) and whether or not a confrontation is effective influences women’s imagined (Study 1) and actual (Study 2) psychological wellbeing. Beyond this, all three studies …

Coping With Climate Change, Andrea Yj Mah

Masters Theses

Climate change is a source of anxiety and stress. To be resilient to the changes that are occurring, individuals must cope with that stress. Because there are many ways that people might manage stress we examined variation in coping strategy use among Americans who reported some concern about climate change to understand generally how people cope with such stress, and whether it can be predicted from individual difference factors, namely degree of climate change concern and political ideology. We examined these variables specifically because in the study of responses to climate change, conservatives and liberals often report divergent beliefs, attitudes, …

Individual Differences In Response To Hostile And Benevolent Sexism In A Stem Interview Context: The Moderating Role Of Behavioral Activation, Elizabeth Kiebel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women continue to face sexism in workplace contexts, especially those that are male dominated, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Yet, women often fail to confront the sexism they experience, despite confrontation being an effective way to cope with and prevent future harassment (Fitzgerald et al., 1995; Magley, 2002). To date, no one has assessed the potential moderating role of personality differences related to approach motivation on women’s confrontation of sexism. In this study, women were exposed to either a hostilely sexist or benevolently sexist question during a mock job interview that was purportedly being conducted as part …

Emotion Regulation And Coping As Mediators Of The Association Between Perfectionism And Self-Esteem In Athletes Compared To Non-Athletes And Honors Students, Hollie Minichiello

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increased levels of perfectionism have been shown to be associated with increased levels of burnout, feelings of depression, heightened levels of anxiety, decreased self-esteem, and hindered overall performance. The current study aimed to investigate whether coping mechanisms and emotion regulation mediate the association between perfectionism and self-esteem in athletes compared to non-athletes and honors students. Four hundred ninety-three primarily white (n = 60.0 %), female (n = 83.0 %), psychology major, participants aged 18-49, completed a series of questionnaires including: the Self-Esteem Implicit Association Test (Greenwald et al., 2002), the Self-liking and Self-Competence Scale (Tafarodi & Swann Jr, …

Black American Millennials Coping With The Myth Of A Post-Racist Society, Edward Charles Hinton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For generations, Black Americans depended on religious coping strategies to counter the impact of racism; the idea of giving the problem to God was shown to alleviate powerlessness and racism-related stress among pre-Millennial generations of Black Americans. However, the shift to an allegedly post-racist society has complicated recognition of racism and the coping process for Black American Millennials (BAMs). The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether BAMs and pre-Millennials perceive racism as an ongoing problem and whether generation (i.e., pre-Millennial Blacks and BAMs) moderates the effectiveness of religious coping strategies to mitigate racism-related stress. The theory of …

Use Of Facebook As A Social Support System To Maintain An Individual's Resource Pool, Michelle Fontaine

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Stress affects individuals' physiology, mood, behavior, and cognitive abilities. Social support has been found effective in buffering stress. The social networking site Facebook allows individuals to connect to others to share stories, pictures, and general life events and, in so doing, offers a means of social support that bridges geographical distances for friends and family. There is limited research, however, on whether using Facebook buffers against stress. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the use of Facebook for social support using the conservation of resources theoretical model of stress management. Fifty-seven Facebook users over the age of …

Exploring The Impostor Phenomenon's Behavioral Characteristics: How Do Gay Male Leaders And Impostors Cope?, Donald B. Scott

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to explore and describe the coping skills used to overcome 9 behavioral characteristics by gay men serving in civic or nonprofit leadership roles who are identified as experiencing the impostor phenomenon (IP) by the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS; Clance, 1985).

Methodology: This study used a mixed-methods, descriptive case study approach to collect both quantitative and qualitative data about 14 study participants. Each completed the 20-question CIPS that represented the quantitative strand of the study prior to an interview that included 10 semistructured interview questions designed to collect rich, descriptive data. …

Yes We Can: A Dyadic Investigation Of Cognitive Interdependence, Relationship Communication, And Optimal Behavioral Health Outcomes Among Hiv Serodiscordant Same-Sex Male Couples, Kristine Elizabeth Gamarel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research suggests that couples who adopt a "we" orientation in relation to illness demonstrate greater resiliency and an increased capacity to cope with stressors. HIV serodiscordant couples (one partner is HIV-positive, the other is HIV-negative) have been identified as a critical mode of HIV transmission. The present study integrates dyadic coping models and interdependence theory to examine whether cognitive interdependence (i.e., the extent to which couples include aspects of their partner into their self-concept) and communication strategies are associated with sexual behavior, antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, depressive symptoms, sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction. The study also tested whether the associations …

Correlates Of Help-Seeking Following Stalking Victimization: A Study Of College Women, Saige E. Jutras, Katie Edwards, Kateryna Sylaska

Honors Theses and Capstones

The current study explored factors related to college women’s coping processes associated with stalking using an online survey methodology. Results (N= 305 college women reporting stalking victimization within the last three years) showed that 85% of women disclosed their stalking experiences most commonly to female friends. Additionally, women used a variety of coping mechanisms in response to their stalking victimization; although avoiding thinking about or acting on the stalking experience were the most common strategies, victims rated direct forms of coping as more effective in deterring the stalking behavior. Women’s coping responses to stalking were related to a …

Managing Sibling Conflict And The Relation Between Mothers' Emotion Socialization Beliefs And Children's Coping With Peer Victimization, Melissa Anne Faith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the degree to which children's strategies for coping with peer victimization were related to their strategies for coping with sibling victimization. Also examined were the relations among mothers' sibling conflict management strategies, their emotion Socialization beliefs, and children's coping with peer and sibling victimization. Data were obtained from 98 4th grade children and their mothers. Results indicated that children's peer victimization coping strategies were significantly related to their sibling victimization coping strategies. I found that mothers who value and accept children's negative emotions were more likely to coach their children through sibling conflict. Unexpectedly, I found that …

Predictors Of Bullying In An Adolescent School Sample, Schell Hufstetler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author's abstract: Bullying is a pervasive problem in our society. Contributing to this problem is the fact that bullying is not well understood. This makes it difficult to design successful interventions. The current study aims to create a complete picture of bullying in order to increase understanding of this behavior. For this study, 59 adolescents completed a survey packet including measures of bullying behaviors and other variables expected to relate to bullying. The results revealed that bullying is a problem for both genders. Multivariate analyses revealed males to be more directly and indirectly aggressive, but there were no significant gender …

Resilience In Western Australian Adolescents: A Model Of The Processes That Occur Between Risk And Success, Mandie B. Shean

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aim of this research was to develop a model that represents how adolescents in the Western Australian context navigate their way to resilience. Resilience was defined as “the outcome from negotiations between individuals and their environments for the resources to define themselves as healthy amidst conditions collectively viewed as adverse” (Ungar, 2004a, p. 342). The philosophical approach was social constructivist and the methodology was mixed, employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies through grounded theory. The techniques used to gather data included interviewing, focus groups, and questionnaires. There were three stages in the research: namely, developing the model of resilience, …

Interrelations Among Personality, Religious And Nonreligious Coping, And Mental Health, Jude Martin Henningsgaard

Dissertations

Religion's involvement in the coping process remains an underexplored area of coping research despite most psychologists agreeing that religion is integral to this process for many individuals. Interestingly, there is some disagreement among psychologists regarding whether religious coping can be "reduced" to nonreligious coping (Siegel, Anderman, & Schrimshaw, 2001). To better understand how religious and nonreligious coping contribute uniquely to the prediction of mental health outcomes, the study's first and second goals were to determine the incremental validity of each type of coping, above and beyond the other. The study's third goal was to determine whether select coping strategies mediated …

A Model Of Responses To Race-Based And Gender-Based Stereotype Threat In Computer Science, Lara Tedrow

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The perception of stereotype threat among computer science students was examined at two universities. A model of stereotype threat was developed and tested among students enrolled in three undergraduate computer science courses at two universities. The goal of this model was to provide an understanding of the underlying mechanisms through which stereotype threat works.

The study tested relationships among the following variables: race-based stereotype threat, gender-based stereotype threat, goal orientation, CS self-efficacy, active coping, behavioral disengagement, effort, and performance. Structural equation modeling was used to test the measurement model and a series of nested structural models. Findings supported the proposed …

Religious Orientation And Religious Coping In Adolescents With And Without A Chronic Illness, Jacqueline Beine Brown

Dissertations

Religion plays an important role in most people's lives and can greatly affect how individuals cope and interpret stressful situations. However, very little is known about how adolescents incorporate religion into their lives (e.g., is it central or peripheral to their lives, do they utilize religious coping). Furthermore, given the additional stressors experienced by adolescents who have a chronic illness, it is likely their religious orientations and religious coping strategies are different from their healthy peers. Thus, the present study was designed to examine the constructs in both typically developing and chronically ill adolescents. Additional constructs of hope, general coping, …

An Investigation Of Reactance, Coping, Quality Of Life, And Well -Being, Monique Maria Matherne

Doctoral Dissertations

Psychological reactance (reactance) is a personality variable receiving a great deal of attention. Reactance has been defined as the motivational force aroused in an individual when a behavioral freedom is lost or threatened (Brehm, 1966). The current study assessed the interrelationships among psychological reactance, coping, quality of life, and well-being. A total of 353 participants were analyzed for this study. Participants completed four self-report instruments: (1) the Therapeutic Reactance Scale, (2) the Coping Styles Questionnaire, (3) the Overall Quality of Life Scale, (4) the General Well-Being Schedule, and a demographics questionnaire. Significant gender differences existed for reactance, detachment coping, emotional …